Uncle Mikes Visit

Uncle Mike came in for a visit for a long weekend. One of the days we went to the beach in La Jolla. That is where most of these pictures were taken. Isabella remembered Uncle Mike even though it had been over a year since she saw him last in Chicago. She remembered that she went sledding and built a snomwan with him so when I told her he was coming she asked if he was going to bring snow!!!

looking at the seals

the family 1

The family 2

Mike, me, and Bella

Mike and Gwen


Uncle Mike and the girls

our sleeping beauty

Our almost always smiley baby

serious Olivia



A video of uncle mike doing his favorite thing!! Playing dollies

The Parks Visit

My long time friend Tina and her husband and 3 kids came out to visit the last week of March. It was the first time they have been to San Diego and they were worried about staying with us for a full week and possibly making us crazy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We had a fantastic time with them and enjoyed every minute of their company. We would have loved for them to stay longer and really hope they will consider another family vacation here. Our kids had a blast together. And every night after the kids were in bed we hung out and drank, went in the hot tub, played guitar hero, etc. Here are some pics from their visit.

A pic of all the kids on our daybed. These were the easiest pics to get, and we were dreading doing them. The kids were so good!
Here they are being silly

Tina and I

the 2 familys

Another pic of the Park-Garey clan. We referred to it as communal living and it was quite handy to have the extra help. Especially when we Brad went to work and we took the kids to the zoo. Couldn't have done that by myself.

Olivia in the cute onesie the Parks brought for her.

Ava and Bella at the zoo.

At seaworld

The girls being silly in our living room

on one of the sesame street rides as seaworld

Tina, Josie, and Aaron all playing with Olivia

Olivia enjoying the attention.

The standard "movie watching" face

little man Aaron

what playing in the sun at the beach does to a little one

yes that is ava asleep under all the covers on a beach chair!

The Figueroas and then some

So I just dropped my brother off at the airport and we have no more visitors planned for a few weeks. So I am going to try to catch up to date with more pics. Below is some pics from the weekend the Figueroas came to visit with their little boy Mateo. Mateo watching Bella play her computer gamesMy old college roommate Kathy whom I have haven't seen in over a decade. We were able to find each other again through facebook and she and her family came out to So cal for their boys springbreak. I was so fortunate that she was able to grab some time to drive down to meet Brad and my girls. It was just so great to see her again.
Olivia doing the sprinkler

Ava being her goof self!

Isabella and Aubrey (neighborhood friend) being silly in our park.

Aubrey, Paige, and Bella being silly on the table!

The Christianson's Visit

So one of the reasons I got behind on my blogs is because we have had an endless stream of visitors. We are so lucky we live where people vacation so we can spend more time with our family and friends. Here are some pics of when the Christiansons came to visit

in our neighborhood

Even Gunnar was surprised that he liked baby Olivia so much. He told his mommy that he wanted 100 brothers and sisters. I don't think Jen and Eric were having any of it!!!

One of those infrequent pics with me in it!

Gunnar and Bella had a great time together. I know she really misses him. Here they are helping me mixing pancake batter.

So who knew you fit so many people in our hot tub. To kids it is like a pool and Gunnar is clearly outnumbered here. My friend Cheryl came to visit with us and the Chrisitiansons and brought her 3 girls!

Jen buried Gunnar and Bella and as you can tell they hated it!

Isabella went to a grassy area next to the beach and started picking flowers. I thought it would make a great picture.

Jen, Hannah, and Eric

Ava found that she was completely entertained by splashing in the bay

Ava spent almost a full hour straight picking up sand and throwing it into the water. She definitely is our free spirit

Olivia and daddy at the beach

Gunnar and bella running down the beach. This eventually turned into rolling through the sand, they had a ball.

Eric and Hannah

Jen and Gunnar building sand castles

These were some of our favorite pics taken with brads iphone. These were taken on a different day than the previous ones after we spent the day at the pool with our friend Lisa and the Christiansons

Our favorite of Ava and Hannah. We joke that it was the only time that they actually interacted with each other.

The girls

So it has been a while and I have been behind again so I will just post a few of the girls from the beginning of March!
The Garey Girls

Ava is a croc obsessed and usually has on two different ones and most of the time they are 2 different sizes. She lines them up and switches them out constantly throughout the day and even sleeps in them.

Ava's first haircut, just her bangs at 2 years old. Bella didn't get her hair cut til she was over 3 years old.

My girls being bribed with fruit snacks to sit still for a picture