HELLO AUSTIN

Thanks to the bravery of my mother-in-law and sister--in-law to watch the 4 girls, Ben and I were able to have a full day to ourselves. San Antonio is only about 1.5 hours away from Austin and we were behind in celebrating a couple milestones in our lives, so we took the day to do so. However, we did also meet with an old buddy of his for lunch at Garrido's (Oyster tacos?! Yes! Please!), but spent the rest of the day together exploring. We had been to Austin before, but it is a city you never tire of and it was good to visit familiar places like Uncommon Objects and discover new ones. 

We did find a couple uncommon objects to bring home, one of which is that 1960's carnival bear cutout that will be a quirky little piece hanging in our home (and sometimes maybe for playing too). We grabbed cupcakes thanks to the suggestion one of you gave me on instagram! Mostly we spent time going in and out of vintage shops looking for clothes for Ben. I was a good girl and didn't get anything (there was one dress that was really tempting me though), but I really could cry from joy of Ben finding stuff. Five shirts to be exact. He rarely does, so when he does, I get so giddy! 

We ended the day trip and did our celebrating at La Condesa. Gosh oh gosh. That food was yum. We debated between that place or Uchiko, but since we aren't so fond of the Mexican food options in the L.A. area, we went with Tex-Mex over sushi. We indulged in ceviche, fish, and maybe I had a little bit of fun with my margarita! And their beet cake... oh yeah, definitely trying to recreate that at home. That was the best dish to end the celebration dinner.

It's so strange to be without the girls for a full day, but it was a much needed break and good time to reconnect and just laugh and chillax with Ben. I may or may not have tried to get fresh with him all day long, but seriously, I just couldn't resist. I think that boy is pretty darn hot. Like real hot. And before I make you gag with all this lovey dovey stuff, don't worry, we really do have spats too. We get on each other's nerves just like any other couple. That's what makes the choice of staying together and working on our marriage even more meaningful. We both choose to be here despite our ugly sides... and boy do we have them!

All in all, the day was just grand. We came home to girls already sleeping in bed, a box full of cupcakes, Grandmama and Auntia with loads of funny stories about the girls, and a bit more rejuvenated from just having some time off to focus on each other. We pretty much love Austin and will make sure to take another day trip when we come back to San Antonio for Christmas!

on me: shirt, vintage via ms. tips. shorts, vintage thrifted and altered. shoes, madewell. necklace, homako. purse, anthropologie. sunglasses, c/o sunglasses shop.
on ben: shirt, vintage. jeans, diesel. shoes, nikes.

HELLO SAN ANTONIO

If you follow me on instagram, then you may know that we are not in California and are enjoying the Texas heat. Well, kind of enjoying. I think it takes a bit of time to get used to this heat and humidity, though we do like that the sun is pretty much out until well after 9pm over here. 

The trip here is kind of special because it marks the 10 year anniversary of Ben bringing me home to Texas. It was 10 years ago he first brought me and we had just officially become boyfriend and girlfriend. We made the long trek, with his little cousin in tow, so I could get to know his family and attend his annual family reunion. During that visit, and after seeing him interact with his family, I knew that I loved this man. Maybe that part should be left for the continuation of our love story, so I won't go into too much details. 

Here we are 10 years later, back in San Antonio to spend time with his family and to attend his annual family reunion. This year it will be on his cousin's ranch, so the girls are especially excited for the hay rides and horses. Actually, I am too. We haven't been to the reunion since that first time I came to Texas and things have changed a lot now that we are married and have four kids in tow. 

There are so many memories attached to this city and different phases of our relationship that it is always good to come back. I love seeing all the trees here (I don't understand why California doesn't have very many), love the Tex-Mex food (oh man, we never find really good Mexican food in California like they have here), and love spending time with family. Every time we are here, we call it "laughter-noon" because we are always laughing and having a good time. San Antonio definitely equals good times. 

Any of you from or live in San Antonio, Texas? 

on me: shirt and skirt, thrifted and altered. necklace, homako. shoes, c/o modcloth.

HUZZAH!

When I look up at the sky, I am reminded of how small I actually am, how great God is, and how the world is so much bigger than me and my wants and needs. If I had the ability to pan out, I would see that I was barely a dot compared to the grandness of the entire universe. Barely a dot, imagine that. When I need a reality check of life, I look up. 

Learned and links...

I really am bad at praying. Ugh! It's such a cycle. 

Soul has been using the potty these past couple days! Thanks to my MIL getting started on the potty training. 

True and Brave are growing in their responsibility. 

Family and friends are so important. I am thankful for all those God has brought into our lives.

I really like Tex-Mex food. Oh boy yummy!!!

Mosquitos like me too much. Though I sure don't like them! 

We are excited about this weekend as we have Ben's annual family reunion! It's on a ranch, so there will be hay rides and horses and I just know the girls will be superly duperly excited about that. Happy weekending friends!!! 

HOME STYLE: 1

Oh how my girls love dressing up. You should see their room! There are clothes strewn all over the floor. It is horrendous. They change a gazillion times a day. One minute it is for a birthday party, another for a wedding, next minute because they are princesses. At times, okay, most times, their messes are maddening, but at the same time I am glad they are having fun playing together and using their imagination. I remember having lots of fun doing these silly things as a kid too. I also remember my mom getting mad at me for not cleaning my room.  Though I have to say, their dressing up and crazy room with clothes everywhere is kind of making me nervous for when they hit teenage years... oh boy! 

This particular outfit is their princess outfit. I think it's kind of cute how True stole my shirt and layered it and it became a dress of sorts. And Brave is always wearing that dress. Always. I am sure you will see it about twenty more times in this space. I have hid it a number of times and somehow she always finds it and ends up wearing it. Oye!

These cute little babouches, gifted from Maison Marrakech, are our house slippers. They were the first things we gave the girls once the wood floors came in. When I was little I remember I always had to wear slippers around the house because my mom said if I didn't, I was going to grow a lot of veins on my feet. I really think that was one of her myths and legends kind of thing, and while I don't think that is necessarily true, I do like it better when my girls wear some slippers on the hard wood floors. Plus, I got my own, mine are the white ones, and they really are so comfy to wear around. It's an extra bonus that they are so pretty and funky!

We usually do the no shoes in the house rule, but now that we have (whitewashed) wood floors, we especially try to keep to that. The girls know they have house slippers and outside shoes. Though my question is, how do you relay to visitors that we are a "no-shoes-inside" home? Any of you do the same rule? If so, I would love to hear how you handle visitors coming over. 

SUMMER DAYS

Running around the house playing games and making messes are what summer has been about so far. It's a good life for these girls. And for some reason I tolerate the messes a bit better on the wood floor. Strange, I know. It looks better on wood than carpet. Watching these girls definitely make me wish I was a kid again. One of my favorite makes about these messes is the paper drawn chess set they made using their my little ponies as pawns. So cute! Love the creativity and resourcefulness that kids come up!

What have your summer days been filled with?

THIS YEAR'S TOMATOES

Last year we grew 34 varieties, the year before we did 29, this year we are growing 22 varieties of tomatoes. I think we get slightly better at this every year, but we have yet to harvest any, so we will see. Every year we learn something new, try a different recipe on the soil and prep, and take note of the tomatoes that did well for us and those that didn't. One thing is always the same though... we are always so excited for our tomatoes! 

After researching online, Ben decided to do this special little concoction for the tomatoes and the little ones were involved in all the preparation. This little recipe involved egg shells, aspirin (2 tablets), worm castings, fish bone meal, bone meal, and Gardner & Bloome Tomato Organic Fertilizer. Now, we planted these little babies over a month ago and they seem to be doing really well. We think this little recipe might have made the difference. Most of the tomato plants are growing so fast, we've already had to put the tall stakes in to start stringing them up. One of the things we love most about our summers are the tomatoes. 

Of course, the teacher and homeschooling mama in me turned this into another sequencing lesson (love those!) and had True create her own sequencing chart as she was helping her Papi garden. Her charts are always so cute and informative. If you want to make your own special tomato rub, then just follow True's directions. You're guaranteed fantastic tomatoes... promise. 

LIFE'S PEACHY!

Our neighbor's have all sorts of fruit trees in their yard, so when they share their harvest with us, we get superly duperly excited about it, especially when they involve donut peaches. We all plowed through these little babies at the dinner table one night and its deliciousness left us wanting more. We secretly hope our neighbor will ring the doorbell again to give us another bag. 

It is so sweet to just indulge in the simple things nature gives us. What fruits have you been indulging in lately?

GLOW AND HER PINK CHAIR

nine months.

She loves to eat her baby food, but doesn't like peas too much. She loves her o's and drinking water from a bottle. She gets super cranky if she doesn't get her proper naps and she her hair is pretty wild most days. I can hardly believe her first birthday is not too far from now. My baby is growing!

Here is 8 months, 7 & 6, and 5 to 1.  

*inspired by nicole from making it lovely.

HUZZAH!

This week was a semi-normal week. Baseboards are still not in and we haven't had the time to put the knobs in the kitchen, but there was home-cooking and lots of cleaning with playing and creating thrown in for good measure. Ben and I also realized we need to work on talking to the kids more during dinnertime because sometimes we get so caught up in catching each other up on our day that True is like, "How come no one is talking to the kids?!" Must work on that.

Ben has been spending evenings tending the garden and the girls go out with him. Then they come in and bring me tons of flowers! I border telling them to stop picking at all my flowers and just letting them have fun picking to their hearts' content. I guess I can't complain much because I am at the receiving end of their flower picking and it is always nice to have fresh flowers inside. I am totally working on taking a chill pill and just stopping more often to smell the roses. Life's fast and you just gotta enjoy it!

Learned and links...

Soul is getting more and more to be a tough kiddie. I am nervous for her teenage years...

Listening to True and Brave's conversations are funny.

Thankful for sisters that come over so I can do errands.

Definitely want to make this. So cool.

Salt on art sounds fun. Totally wanna try this too.

Always love this ladies emails and encouragement.

Trying this soon for sure.

Want these shorts.

I am already loving my new camera. It's been about 6 years, so it is about time I upgraded. Dear Nikon D40... you have been so good to me!

We have some fun plans this coming week, so we can hardly wait for the weekend to get started. Ben's off so that fact alone just makes me excited. I like being with him everyday, all day. Well, except when I'm mad at him, but that doesn't happen too often. Enjoy your weekend!!!