Around here...

We haven't been up to much lately. A walk to the beach here and a sunset walk there. We are slowly easing into summer and don't have many plans for the upcoming months. I imagine we will spend most of our summer here at home. While that isn't overly exciting I'm going to try and make it as fun as possible for the kids. I'd love to be going on a vacation but sometimes that isn't in the cards (or the bank account). Hopefully by the end of summer I will have acquired a fun list of things to do at home that are inexpensive. We'll see!

Here are some recent pictures-



I made a mango banana sorbet last week and added a nut/date topping. It was yummy! I made little mini sorbet bites for the kids.





We went down to Balboa with my mom to see the lobster crabs that had invaded the beach.




Shane was very interested in these guys.

Thankfully the June gloom seems to ending and the sun is back out in morning which is very nice! It helps keep me motivated. Well, I have a house to clean, dishes that need washing and laundry to fold so I'll be seeing ya later!

♥ anne

PS- don't forget about my big sale! 60% off with coupon code "SUMMERSUN"!!! Come see if there's something with your name on it! You can enter my shop HERE.

Weekend Photos

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We had a really nice day filled with family, food and fun. I was busy cooking and chatting away so I didn't get too many pictures (none of Shane or Marianne :( I'm not sure how that happened!) but here are the few I did manage to get.

Leftover potato soup for breakfast while planning my Easter menu.



I made some roasted almonds that were very simple and very tasty.


Max and my Dad deep in conversation.

Easter dinner.

This was taken the other night at the beach. Moon rise and seagull.

Today Maggie is One! I've been replaying her birth day in my head all morning. What a great birth it was! I'm planning on taking some pictures of her today which I will share tomorrow :)

♥ anne

Last night Ruben and I got a rare few hours together alone. We decided to head to the beach for the sunset and what an epic sunset it was! It was so nice to just sit on the deserted beach and enjoy the evening together.

One of the biggest challenges of having a large family is making time for each other. Thankfully, it doesn't take much to feel connected again. A couple hours and some nature (and maybe a beer or two) and we're happy.


What are your favorite things to do on a date night?

♥ anne

Here and Now

Last Friday was my birthday and we celebrated with an evening at the beach.

My daughter Alex surprised me with a red velvet birthday cake which was very tasty!

This little lady is teething.

I made a new stamp.

Pretty plumeria.

♥ anne

An evening at the beach

I've realized that my favorite time to be at the beach is in the evening. After being in the house all day on Wednesday, I just had to get out and do something. The fact that it was 5 o'clock did not stop me from a beach trip. I figured we could eat dinner, watch the sunset and get a milk shake at Ruby's Shake Shack after. We hadn't been to Crystal Cove in a long time so I thought going there would be a nice change. I was right!


The water was warm and we jumped in the waves for as long as we could. Marianne was cackling the whole time and would have ran further in if I wasn't holding her hand. She is pretty adventurous and not afraid of the water at all which can be a little scary for me at times.


This was my view from where I sat. The beach house behind me has been in many movies, Beaches being the most recent one. They are all for rent (and pretty reasonably priced) and I dream of one day getting my act together and being online at the right moment to snatch one of them up.


I think the one above might be my favorite.

Pretty beautiful isn't it?

I had to include some Maggie pictures since I didn't get one of her at the beach. She's getting big and cooing up a storm!

So, how wants to come stay at a beach house with me?

♥ anne

A couple of evenings

The last couple of evenings have been very nice. On Wednesday we went down to the beach with my mom to watch the sunset. The beach is one place that all my children seem to get along and this night they had quite a bit of fun. As for Maggie, she did what she does best and slept through her first visit to the beach.




Yesterday evening Marianne, Margaret and I went for a walk on the trail by our house and I was pleased to see that all the wild flowers had bloomed. It was so pretty and just what I needed after spending all day indoors.



I've tried to capture the babe awake but have been unsuccessful so far...so, here's one of her sleeping.

♥ anne

2 0 1 4

Well, it's a new year friends! I'm glad to have a clean slate and a new beginning. I know a lot of people aren't fans of New Year's resolutions but I actually like them. I don't set unrealistic goals for myself but I do like to look over the areas in my life that I'd like to improve and set to work on bettering them. My main goal this year is greatly improve my spiritual life which has been on the decline for the last couple of years. I'd also love to be able to keep up on my laundry but with baby #5 on the way I'm already having my doubts :)

I have been living in this tube dress from Forever 21. I have a black one as well and they are perfect for this stage in my pregnancy. I rarely shop anywhere other than thrift stores but I was having a hard time finding basic pieces so these have worked out perfectly. It's funny, I would never wear this type of dress if I wasn't pregnant so it's a good thing that it will most likely been worn out by the time baby comes. Oh, and my sweet sweater! A surprise gift from Milla that I've been wearing almost daily. Isn't it a beaut?! Thanks again friend!

I hope your 2014 is off to good start!

♥ anne

crescent bay

last week we spent a day at crescent bay in laguna beach. the morning was quite overcast (hello june gloom) so we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. this is the same beach nicky and i met teeny and family at about a year ago. it really is a gorgeous spot and the tide pools make it especially fun for the little ones. we saw star fish, dolphins, pelicans and much more! and the sun did come out which was nice.









so summer has almost officially begun here. just a few more days of school and we will be free for a while. i'm looking forward to slow mornings, hopefully another camping trip, yosemite and more beach days. do you have any fun plans for the summer? 

♥ anne