The Recent Haps

Recently, we had the fun opportunity to meet up with some local bloggers and welcome beautiful Maggie from Gussy Sews to California! Andrea, from For the Love of hosted a little get together/date night at her gorgeous home. We mingled, ate super yummy food and had a great time chatting and laughing and getting to know one another in "real life!" It was a really fun night! 

Bryant also had fun chatting with all the husbands of bloggers! Here we are before we left, I wore high hills for the first time in forever! Bry was nervous I was going to fall all over the place (I don't have a good past record when it comes to high hills), but I managed to stay upright!!

Such fun gals who all have huge hearts and so much passion behind their words! It makes reading their blogs even more fun now that I know them in "real life!!" 

In other instagram news...

Every Wednesday I weigh in as part of the five week biggest looser program that I am in. Usually, I drop the girls off and head over to Belmont Shores where I weigh in. However, since the time change, we have all been up and ready by 6 AM! So this Wednesday I took the kids with me to weigh in before school started, to show them what it is all about. When we got there, we were greeted by the new Ms. Southern California, just crowned last Saturday! She was helping with the weigh in's last week! The kids loved meeting her and loved watching me ring the weight loss bell!! It was a treat having all my littles with me to celebrate 12 pounds gone in four weeks! 

I LOVE these ladies. My little leisure world friends. I have grown up knowing most of these sweet ladies at church. Some of them can not make it on Sunday to church any more, so the sweet ladies of our ward help to bring church to them. Recently, I had the opportunity to give them a little Relief Society lesson on Peace and Prayer. They were all so sweet and it was a wonderful experience. I always feel inadequate attempting to teach them when I always learn more from them and their amazing comments than they do from me.

Loving the non crowded beach and pier these days

Its boutique season and so my sister, Sandy and I have been keeping busy going to boutiques. Here we are at the Queen Bee in Orange County. I love boutique days because not only are they so fun, but I love spending the day with my sister! She is a hoot! 

Speaking of boutiques, make sure to save the date for the Holiday Boutique on December 1st. More info and a sneak peek here.

It's also the busy season for Little Penelope Lane bow parties! Above, my new cute friend Nora, hosted a great bow party in her back yard! She has the sweetest friends and family! I loved chatting with them all! 

This little guy loves to draw and his scribbles from just a few months ago have turned into real drawings! It's so fun to see him get excited about art! 

 He has also been excited about making paper airplanes! Such a boy! 

Ohhhh, this weather is so fun! The littles and I took a walk to go pick up some hot soup for dinner last week! It was so cozy! 

This little guy got his first suit last Monday and could not wait until Sunday to wear it! He asked every day when he woke up "Is it Sunday yet? How many more days?" Finally, the day arrived and by 6:30 a.m. he was dressed and ready for church! Then it was "how many more minutes until we can leave for church!" 

Melt my heart!! 

ohhh, this Bunny gets so much love. Ella is especially good to her and loves dressing her up in doll clothes! 

Buzz helping me make muffins! 

 This is exciting news! After two years of playing a variety of wheelchair sports with the younger kids, Katie has officially moved up to play and train for wheelchair basketball! Her coach felt like she was ready for the next step and we could not be more excited for her! We also have our fingers crossed that she will be getting her very own sports wheelchair (via a special grant that our coach told us about)! This is big news because with that she will be able to train throughout the week (not just on Saturday when she has access to the sports chairs) and start getting involved in wheelchair races! She is so excited and so are we!

practicing their dribbling skills! 

On Saturday I had the lucky opportunity to spend almost the entire day with my mom, just the two of us! It was so fun to chat and laugh and spend the busy day together. First stop we went to the hospital where my brother works to give him cookies and surprise him for his Birthday. Next we went to the awesome Cinnamon stik holiday open house. So many cute items, gifts and decor for the holidays. Then we headed to the Disneyland hotel for the annual CUW holiday boutique and luncheon. What a fun day spent with my sweet mom! 

We were so excited about the speaker this year, Amy Roloff from "Little People, Big World!!" I have watched this show for years and have always loved Amy! I have always thought she was such an awesome mom. I even wrote her a letter about seven years ago thanking her for her example. So on Saturday, when everyone was going into the luncheon I saw her at her table with no one around, so I hurried and took the opportunity to go talk with her one on one! What a REAL and AWESOME lady she is! I have met other TV personal and by far Amy was the most genuine. She seemed so interested in me and what I had to say. I felt like I was talking to a friend! She also has a child with a shunt, so we mostly spoke of that and connected on that level, but I loved how she took the time to really talk with me! Such a wonderful woman who was such a joy to meet! 

And that's a wrap!

More updates coming soon as I am excited to share about a fun friend reunion I had this weekend! 

XO