Part 3: Family and a beautiful wedding

The remainder of our trip was spent in Banning where a lot of my dad's side of the family lives. It really is my second home and I have a lot of wonderful memories there. Both of my dad's sisters live there and a lot of my cousins. It is where Grandma June and Grandpa Seth lived, whom I miss so much.



We arrived the day before Kate and David's wedding and were excited to be included in the rehearsal dinner activities at my Aunt Kel's house.

It was a bit hotter in Banning than San Diego (by about 20 degrees) so as soon as we arrived we had to go for a quick dip next store at my Auntie Sue's and Uncle Bob's house. Our second cousin's Ethan and Haley were there swimming, what a nice after school activity. Grandma Sue picks them up a lot and they get to go have sweets and swim....

Mason loves other kids and all the cousins had so much fun together.

Grandpa Will had to get in on the swimming action. I think my dad was a fish in a previous life:) Our love for the water comes from both of my parents and I hope Mason can share the same joy.

After we got our swimming fix we headed back to Kelly's to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. I guess I was so excited to catch up with everyone that I forgot to take pictures (it could also have something to do with the whiskey and cokes I had what can I say we are a big Irish Family).

We finally got to meet sweet Karly Anne. My cousin Kelsie and her husband Ricky had their first baby two months after Mason was born. Its great because a lot of us have blogs so we are able to keep up with each other and we couldn't wait to meet Karly and kiss those sweet cheekies. She is one cute lil' bug. For the most part the two got along, I think Karly was more interested in being friends and Mason had to decide if he was game or not. Girls are so much more mature:)

Diaper time. Awww, we miss you Karly.

Karly is becoming quite mobile, I think the next time we see her Mason better watch out.

Just a silly picture of Mason getting into a house plant (have I mentioned he is into EVERYTHING?)

The morning of the wedding, our sexy little bride was excited the big day was finally here.

The wedding was about an hour away at a gorgeous little winery in Temecula. I love weddings and this one was truly beautiful.

Before the ceremony we took some photos. This is my Uncle Mike, whom I was named after, kind of. If I would have been a boy I would have been a Michael. Anyway he is my dad's only brother and the two of them are quite the comic duo. It was so great to see him and he loves kiddos so you can imagine how he gravitated to Karly and Mason.

Everyone was dressed for the affair....

Ethan look handsome as usual.

And Haley was gorgeous in her purple dress.

The flowers were spectacular.


Grandma and Grandpa were glowing and happy.

Mason was adorable.

The bridesmaids looked radiant and flower girls just darling.

The ring bearer, Owen was so cute and full of snails and puppy dog tails.

And of course the bride stole the show. Kate is such a graceful, kind and real person. She is the kind of girl you want as a friend. The two have dated since high school so David has been part of the family for a while, September 18th it became official. He is thoughtful, smart, and funny and they are perfect for each other.

My handsome husband.

Armstead Siblings: Mike, Sue, Kelly, and Will.

The bride and groom sharing a moment before they great all their guests.

The gorgeous couple.

A beautiful sunset on a lovely day.

Happy Trails to you....

Part two: San Diego

After flying into Orange County and getting the car with car seat rental we headed south to San Diego. I found a really great deal for a five star hotel for a quarter of the price. We stayed at the US Grant in the gas lamp district. The hotel was built in 1910 and recently underwent a 16 million dollar renovation, 10 US presidents have stayed there and the decor inside was gorgeous. So when we arrived shabby from traveling with 9 month in toe, we had to laugh. I had reserved a crib and they gave us a corner room (I am assuming to provide quietness for the rest of the guests). We were one happy family in that room.

Mason loved to play on our big bed.

We enjoyed sleeping in our big bed sans our son who slept very well in his crib near us.



There weren't many safety issues in the room so we let Mason go crazy and motor everywhere.

He was fascinated with the bathroom so we had to keep the door shut.

Both nights we were there we had dinner with Mike. He is such a good friend of ours and we love visiting with him. He was one of Matt's best men at our wedding. The first night we had a nice fish dinner on the water. Mason and I called it an early night so the boys could go watch the rest of the Rockies game at a nearby bar and catch up....but before they did I had to get a few photos.

Cerbo is not the most experienced with small kiddos but he can borrow ours anytime he wants to use him to pull ladies:) "Hey I'm just the kids uncle ladies."

The next morning we went to the San Diego Zoo. I have been to San Diego several times and never seem to get to the zoo. Finally we made it there and let me say it was AWESOME! Matt and I love having a kid and one of the reasons is you get to do all the fun kid stuff all over again. We rented a stroller and spent the entire day seeing the zoo. I think we saw 90% of it and got a workout too. For those who have not been it is very hilly.

There were a lot of monkeys.

This bear is from Asia and he reminded me of our chocolate lab Hunter.

We took a lot of animal pictures and I have made them into a book for Mason but I will not post all of them on here. The one animal we forgot to get a picture of was the mountain lion. We stood 3-feet from that amazing creature and I was mesmerized by its beauty and the fact I could run into one in my backyard.

That evening we headed to the beach to meet Mike and some of his friends who were playing a beach volleyball game. Matt and I LOVE the ocean and it was really cute to see how mysterious it seemed to Mason. The water was chilly so we only touched Mason toes.

My two handsome guys.

Matt is doing a Baywatch pose and really that is ocean spray on his pants.

The next morning we ventured around the city a bit on foot and found a neat little city market to have breakfast.

Mason is so serious about his food, he gets that from his mom.

The boys in front of our hotel.

After breakfast we packed up and headed east to Banning where my family lives, a 1.5 hour drive. We enjoyed our San Diego trip immensely and we look forward to going back when Mason is older.

Next post is family and wedding photos!!!

Week 41 and 42: Car wreck and Part 1 of our trip

The day before we left for California we had to go and release my car. It is officially "totalled." It was kind of sad. It was the first car I bought and helped me get where I needed to be the last 5 years (kind of the point of a car, right?) The most important part is that Mason, myself and the driver of the other vehicle are fine.

The F250 I hit definitely won that battle.

Our trip to California was refreshing, wonderful, and surprisingly easy. I have so many pictures that I am going to post in a few parts. We decided to go without car seat and stroller...risky but it worked out fine.

We let Mason go crazy in the airport prolonging his morning nap.

After he was nice and tired we submerged him in hand sanitizer and boarded. We are big believers that kids can read your mood (much like your pets) so we decided for our first time traveling we would be positive and easy going. It seemed to work.

He slept during take off and for the first 45 minutes. He woke refreshed so we pulled out our bag of tricks....all worked beautifully EXCEPT for the sucker. It was everywhere. He also had a massive blowout on decent and we had to sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes for our gate to open, a little stinky. All in all both airplane trips were easy. Next post in a few days, San Diego:)

Week 40: Stoked its September!!!

We kicked off the holiday weekend on Thursday evening with a family dinner on Clear Creek in Golden.

Cade and Cormic or "bean" as they have nick named him had some cuddle time.

Grandpa got some bean time as well.

Keegan is becoming a big boy now, always making us laugh. If he does something wrong he instantanly says "it was an accident."

The restaurant is hit or miss for food but the location is great because not only is it close to home but there is a nice play area for kids nearby. Keegan doesn't need slides when he can get his shoulder dislocated by his dad and grandpa?

Friday night Mason and I headed downtown to an art show (Matt needed to study for the PE exam he is taking in October.) The first Friday of every month the "Santa Fe" district in Denver opens the galleries for the evening. Mason's care taker, Marilyn, had some of her art on display and we were excited to go and support her. The painting in the upper right corner is Mason when he was about 3 months old.

I have to say we are so blessed to have found Marilyn. Mason loves her and she loves him. The peace of mind I have every time I leave Mason with her (2 x a week) is so comforting. She is a wonderful mom and grandma and we know she will be a part of our lives for a long time.

My good buddy Josh met us there as well. He usually has a lot more hair but he shaved it to support a good friend who has breast cancer. I think the new look scared Mason.

This is what a 9 month old does in an art gallery.

Where's Mason?

Here I am.

"Sorry fellow art viewers just letting my kid play with curtains and eat cheerios, you are welcome to some if you like."

Mason also spent time with one of his favorite people, Hillary. She is Marilyn's youngest daughter and quite the sweet heart.

The night was fun. We enjoyed all the art and mingling.



Saturday night I headed out on the town solo to have dinner with Wes and Amanda, it was suppose to be a girl's dinner but we felt bad for Wes so we let him stay for Sushi. This was some killer sushi and great company. These two our getting ready to tie the knot on the 18th and we are so excited for them!

We wrapped up the weekend with some much needed downtime. We cleaned the house, set up a new craft area for me, took some walks, I cooked and of course we spent time with our favorite baby in the whole world.

I have to report that the crib transition was much easier than I thought. The first night I slept in there on the floor. I had a feeling that moving him was going to be harder on me than it was him and I was right. I cried really hard that night, can you imagine how I will act when I send him to his first day of school? Anyways, he woke one time the first night and cried on and off for an hour. I sat in the hall crying. I kept telling myself if he cried for 5 minutes straight I would go in there and comfort him but he would only cry for a minute or two and than stop. It seemed to make it worse if he saw me so I just hung in the hall until he fell asleep.

The next night I slept in our bed and he slept through the night. We are now on night 10 of successful sleeping. I feel human again, having our bed back is amazing.

Life is full of amazing blessings and these our two of mine.