Happy Anniversary

Can't believe we've been married 6 years already...and been together for 13 years this November...we're about to hit the point where we've been together more than half of our lives!!!!

These past six years have been a blast...we've lived in 4 different homes, three different states, and had lots of great adventures together...especially since Riley has graced us with her presence. We've survived two deployments, countless TDY's, and two PCS's...and we've made the best of them all! Here's to many more years of adventures...both fun and challenging...with my best friend!

So what did we do to celebrate this year?

Why Napa of course!

We have learned that Napa is the most fun with a group of friends so we met up with some fine people...the Caruso's and the Welch's...and we had a blast!

We started off at St Supery...just in the nick of time! We have wanted to become members here and we were able to get all that taken care of and make it upstairs for a tasting before they closed up for the day! So if you come visit we will definitely be taking you here!

The wine is great...the tasting room is very laid back...and the grounds are beautiful too!

Once we finished up at St Supery we headed to Mondavi where the Welch's are members...they had to pick up wine so we figured we might as well taste there too! I had never been there but it was beautiful!

After Mondavi we headed to Rutherford Grill to have a fabulous dinner!

We had to wait awhile but since none of us had kids in tow it was no biggie! We enjoyed some mojitos and just chatted it up until it was our turn!

Dinner was so yummy...cornbread (the best you've ever tasted) and the best French dip I've ever eaten...and of course dessert to end the night!

A huge thanks to Nicki for camping out at our house pretty much all afternoon and evening to watch Riley...we owe you big time!

Here's to 6 great years!

Thanks to the wonderful Karuso's and Welch's for celebrating with us...and watch out Little Rock peeps...the Welch's are moving there next year and they are lots of fun!

Davis...family time

One Sunday afternoon we decided to head up to Davis to eat and hang out...it's such a cute college town with GREAT food! We tried out The Dumpling House and it didn't disappoint!

Me and my girl...rocking her sunglasses and her tutu!

Rileys and her daddy sitting on the back of Jason's new toy that Riley has named Bubba Buford!

We sold my Honda before he deployed and I have been driving the Tahoe so when he came home it was time to get him something to drive. We weren't in a rush as we knew we could survive on one car, but we happened to find this and it was exactly what he wanted and a good deal so we decided not to pass it up!

We love that Riley has come up with such a unique and funny name and we have no idea where it came from! She loves riding in it!

After lunch we of course had to get yogurt and then we headed to the park!

Not quite sure how to title this photo...what can I say...she's crazy...but we love everything about her!

Back home having fun!

Well we made it back home to Cali in an eventful, yet uneventful way! We had the fine luck of choosing to fly out of Austin the same day that President Obama was...and at virtually the same time. And wouldn't you know he got priority to leave over us! I was annoyed at first but it really didn't effect our trip much at all and it was pretty cool to watch his entourage arrive, load up, and fly away!

It is so great to be home...we had a great trip but being gone almost two weeks is a long time and home is always good! It took us a few days to settle in between unpacking, getting groceries, and all that fun stuff!

Nicki and I took the kids...Riley and Will...to the park one Saturday morning and had breakfast together!

Here's Hollywood owning the park!

I sat with this sweet little thang while Nicki wanted to slide with Riley!

WEEEEEE!

More sliding!

What a fun day! We did all of this while Jason was out fishing with a buddy of his that he was deployed with...he had a great time too!

Our last night...

We had such a great time at the lake and our last night we went out with a bang!

My parents sweet friends, Ron and Charlotte, just put in a wine cellar in their home and had us over to see it and drink some of their wine...it was so much fun!

Riley was very well behaved and had so much fun!

Charlotte brought out two bags full of scarves and Riley kept us all entertained!

Thanks Ron and Charlotte for such a great evening!

After our visit Jason and I took advantage of babysitters and went out to a very late dinner at a great steakhouse at Horseshoe Bay...we had a lot of fun!

That wraps up our Lake 2010 trip...can't wait to do it again!

BFF's Reunite

We had some special visitors while we were at the lake...the Habbestad family!!!

If you remember they were stationed out here at Travis with us and we hung out all the time...but as life in the military would have it they moved. Fortunately for us they are in Texas for the next few years and they came and spent a few days with us and it was a blast!

Riley and Maddie were literally screaming, giggling, and running in circles for the first half hour in total excitement about seeing each other!

It was super cute!

Before we headed to play in the lake the girls chatted it up and enjoyed a nice drink of milk!

We decided to head up to the Colorado River to swim!

Amanda "Mena" with her girls!

We found a good place to anchor the boat and a sandy beach for the girls to play in.

Our first problem was that we forgot the bottle opener and John had this brilliant idea to try and bang the top off on a concrete wall...nice!

Fortunately he and Jason figured out a better trick after that and our problem was solved!

The girls swimming!

The boys paddle boating...haha!

The best part was when Maddie jumped ship...she literally jumped out of the paddle boat all on her own!!!

She was loving being in the water and had no fear!

We had a fish fry that evening with all of the fish Jason and Frank caught and it was delish!

The next morning the girls sat together again to drink their milk!

Then they headed to the dock and played on the tube...they were telling us it was time to get them out on it!

Not without Uncle John having some fun with the girls first...Riley watched in anticipation and slight fear for Maddie...

and then it was her turn!

Then it was time for the tube...John and I got out there with the girls and we all had so much fun!

So great to see you Habbestad Family!

Family Time

We savored the house full of family before every one started heading back home!

Riley made sure JoePa was making the homemade ice cream just to her liking!

She and I also had impromptu pedicures out on the porch...she was hard to keep still and although I used fast drying polish the 150% humidity kept it from actually drying fast...so I kept having to fix the messups! It's tough being a girl!

My mom bought Riley this little bubble blowing toy and we couldn't get it to work properly...literally 7 of us spent time disecting the toy and trying to figure out the engineering flaws to pinpoint the problem...Riley got it in her hands and it started blowing bubbles immediately. She promptly followed with "I fix it!"

We had a great dinner with all kinds of yummy food...here's Jason and Gaby before dinner!

Girls in the kitchen!

After dinner we played with blank recipe cards and had a tea party with them...this girl's got some imagination!

Saturday morning we found a pear tree near my parents house and Riley was off to pick pears before the LoRusso clan hit the road!

Yummy pears!

Once all the pears were picked we had to say our goodbyes...we had such a fun time having lots of Jason's family at the lake and can't wait to do it again!

Back at it!

Friday we were back on the lake all day...Riley had been watching everyone ski and wakeboard and she so wanted to try it out!

I can't wait until she can actually get out there and try...she will do great!

CJ tried some new tricks and did great!

Lance stayed close by with the waverunner and swapped out taking everyone on rides!

I attempted to wakeboard...actually I did wakeboard.

I have skiied for as long as I can remember and I have tried wakeboarding before with no success...but I figured I'd give it a shot again!

I managed to get up several times...

Getting up, however, was the easy part and once I was up I could not get a feel for how to control the board and every time I ended up shooting out of the wake and letting go in an attempt to avoid a major spill although I had a few of those too.

All in all I had a blast but I eventually had to get my ski back on and do something I know how to do!

Poor Riley was pooped and she slept on Barbara most of the time we were out on the boat!

Jason got out and did some skiing too...

He made a great attempt at dropping a ski and going slalom...

but this is how it ended...

We had so much fun!