summertime.....

 and the living is easy!

living it up @ the Westin Kierland Resort!

it was a girls getaway

 with shopping, a lazy river, poolside tea, and a room with a view!

need i say more?

love summer

my favorite thing to do is spend quality time alone with my family.

during the school year we often get wrapped up in our work 

that we sometimes can go a few days without any time with each other until bedtime.

it depends on what is going on in our lives but sometimes there are days when 

somebody is missing from the family scene.
these kind of getaways ensures that we are all together.
i love it.

on our drive back to Phoenix we went a bit out of the way to
experience Julian, CA.
i had seen in a travel magazine that it was a cute historical place
that was famous for pies.
cute? historic? pies? of course i had to check it out.
after you turn off the the I-8 and head up the Mountains you won't be
disappointed you went 44 mi. out of the way.
Julian, CA is in the Cuyamaca Mountains and the whole way
up there the scenery is fantastic.
we sat and had the best pies and walked up the main thoroughfare.
we had strawberry rhubarb and apple pie, they were
warmed up and topped with a scoop of ice cream. YUM!
the place was extremely charming!

california week

these are a bunch of pictures from our week in california

here are the highlights:

1. Old Town -a spanish western style neighborhood!

2. fresh made tortillas 

3. a trip to LA to have dinner with friends

4. Venice Beach -just plain weird!

5. street performers

6. views, views, views! they are incredible

7. Coronado Island

8. sand castles

9. beaches

10. spotting dolphins jumping out of the ocean! this was exciting!

11. Mission Beach

12. plants, blossoms, flowers!

13. cute coffee shops

14.  mission beach carnival rides

15. found some LOVE and took as much as we needed

16. Seaport Village

17. all the delicious food and dining out in the Gaslamp Quarter

San Diego -it's lovely to have a little bit of it in your life!