My PB + J

windansea beach

last month when my in-laws were visiting from new jersey we surprised my mother-in-law, julie, with a family photography session as her mother’s day present. i was lucky enough to have snagged a great deal from living social with jana morgan photography. i picked la jolla’s windansea beach for the location and despite the overcast weather and the kids not napping the entire day it was a lot of fun. it is definetly something we can all look back on to remember this great vacation!

here we go ’round the mulberry bush {a recipe}

over the weekend we walked on over to our neighbor’s house, the aunt and uncle’s, and walked around the property looking at all of uncle al’s fruit trees. i had never been on one part of the property, which was weird after knowing them for twelve years and living there for three. there is absolutely every fruit tree you could imagine: papaya, tangelos, cherry, avocado, guava, banana and almonds just to name a few. but the really cool thing is that they have three mulberry trees. the largest one sits right as you enter their driveway but it’s a fruitless mulberry, hence, why i never thought mulberries ever existed until yesterday! when we walked around the front side yard we saw the fruit filled mulberry tree, and no, i did not trot around humming the childhood song. i was in awe, the fruit looked like colorful caterpillars hanging from the branch. the fruit tastes like a cross between a plum, blackberry and a fig, it was like nothing i had ever eaten before. uncle al and aunt kathy had picked all the ripe fruit earlier and had prepared it for grandmom phyllis and i to bake a pie. so that’s what we did and then we waited and waited for it to bake. it was heaven on earth, hands down the best pie i have eaten in a long time.

one variety of apples found on the property. 
one of five tortoises. two were babies living in a cage when we first started dating. now their digging deep tunnels on the property. 

a mulberry hanging from the tree. 

the cleaned berries ready for phyllis and i to get started. 
we used this recipe. we omitted the cinnamon and i added in the zest of one lemon. we skipped the homemade crust and used store bought. when rest of the fruit is ripe i plan on trying it with fresh cherries or even apples. 

after one hour this was the finished product. one bite in and al and i decided it needed ice cream, he ran off to the store. we were the only two that waited. even better. 

ugh. i wish i ate two slices. delish! if you can track down a mulberry tree with fruit make a pie, it will make your day! 

legoland, in-laws and margaritas

two weeks ago while my in-laws were in town visiting from new jersey we made it up to carlsbad to visit legoland. i had won a four pack of tickets on SDMOMfia’s anniversary giveaway at the end of the year and knew i would save the tickets for their trip. the day was great once i got over being cranky. payton loved every moment of it and is still asking to go back. during the week they were here we ate mexican food for nearly every meal, which like previously stated i did not mind. jim had actually taken off the entire week as well so we were in vacay mode while closing escrow, etc.. so a few (ten) margaritas were enjoyed. on cinco de mayo we went to all our fav’s, casa de pico, probably some of the best mexican food in san diego. we have many memories at their previous location in old town but now that they moved into the grossmont centre we plan on making many more there. we capped off the week with a session at la jolla’s windansea beach for my mother in-laws mother’s day present. as always, the week flew by, tears were shed when they left and the saying of, “pizza!…french fry…apple pie…CHEESEBURGER!” is still being said amongst all of us. we cannot wait for them to come back, hopefully sooner than two years! 

look, it’s r2-d2! 

brady boo and his first big boy hat

playing with the legos

grandpa tony and brady 

one of the many margs.

grandmom julie impressed with the size of p’s fried ice cream

the best flan ever consumed. 

saying “pizza, french fry, apple pie, cheeseburger” with tony. 

a quick trip home for a snow day!

my sister’s family along with ours headed up to my parents house last wednesday night. jim was taking ethan snowboarding for the first time. we packed up both cars early thursday morning and headed to the schack’s cabin in big bear. the schack’s cabin is in the ideal spot, right on big bear express. their garage has bunk beds lining the walls and the other remaining walls are like a rental shop. we found boots, a board, pants and gloves for ethan and jim got him all setup. they were all ready to go within thirty minutes and walked down big bear express. we headed out to breakfast, which is never relaxing for me because payton always wants to run around and then brayden decided to have a blowout up to his neck. fun! luckily for me his easter shirt was still in my car so he got to wear that a few days early. we went to starbucks, pondered going bowling but decided to just go play in the backyard of the cabin with what snow was left. it was relaxing, hearing the amazingly good snowboarders ride on by as i sipped on my starbucks double shot. there was a red bull event going on so the talent was amazing! plus, my friend suzanne stopped by on her lunch break and got to meet brayden, we miss her and travis a lot! all in all, it was a great relaxing day getaway, wish we would’ve had more time but jim had to go to work on friday. 
jim fitting ethan on the board. i don’t know if i’ve ever mentioned that he used to be an instructor until they almost killed him. that’s why he has that super cool backwards nike swoosh on his forehead. 

my brother-in-law jason and the girls

ethan did really well for his first time. they took about ten runs and he didn’t want to stop. 

all of us. 

jim took the girls one-by-one and skated with them.  they loved it, despite payton’s super excited look here. she was over tired. 

the last shot of the day. which actually was perfect timing, i just wanted to snap a picture of the girls sitting together but then they started waving and yelling at jim who was just coming in from a solo run. 

holiday lights

I am obsessed with holiday lights. Ever since I was a young child I have loved hanging Christmas lights, I looked forward to spending the frigid afternoons with my Dad and now I look forward to seeing our house twinkling in the evenings leading up to Christmas. This year has been especially fun with Payton! We started driving the neighborhoods close by that go all out right after Thanksgiving and have done so a couple nights a week to see the progress and that little bit of joy that gets Payton all excited before bedtime. Last year we were introduced to Christmas Card lane and Candy Cane Courts that are literally in our backyard. While they do not compare to some of the nationally acclaimed “tacky” streets they definitely go all out and make the list for our family to visit year after year. We always discuss how our next house has to be in one of these neighborhoods, I would die to have a house like those pictured below, maybe not their electric bill but, oh! the lights! Our close friend has a friend that lives on Candy Cane Court and there is an ordinance that you cannot use your microwave from 5 to 8 PM. NUTS! Do you have a favorite neighborhood you visit? What kind of lights do you decorate with/prefer? LED, classic, crazy colored? I am a classic girl, love the whites and reds. Next year we are adding more, taking on our huge palms and additional elements to create a tastefully tacky holiday house. If you in live in the San Diego area I highly urge you to head on over to any of these North County neighborhoods
for some holiday fun.

Holiday of Lights in Del Mar 

We visited the Holiday of Lights at the Del Mar Racetrack, it costs $14 at the gate or $12 at your local Albertson’s. While you can go around the track as many times as you would like the $14 for this attraction is a little steep. Not to mention the free Santa photos at the end or rather their attempt to sell you on the newly remodeled Welk Resort isn’t worth the time with the scary Santa or the ditzy not-to-nice Santa’s bimbo helper. Pay still loved the lights but we joked that when their older they’ll tell us how boring it really is. 
Candy Cane Courts in Poway
grab a mug of cocoa, the kiddos and your best karaoke voice. I love that this street is just a few over from ours.
 – visit this site for galleries –


Christmas Card Lane in Rancho Penasquitos 
There are about 200 families that participate in this yearly tradition that began in 1985. Take a sleigh ride, drink some cocoa, listen to Mt. Carmel High School students sings carols and take in the beautiful Christmas “cards” that are displayed on every lawn. 
Point Loma’s Garrison Street
Point Loma’s Garrison Street is fun for Christmas and even Halloween. I loved when I worked down by the bay because this street is amazing! Jim took the kids along with our friend Geoff a few weeks ago while I was out to dinner with my girlfriends. Payton loved it, like we knew she would! Check out her jump at 32 seconds, she is constantly doing this in her boots, I guess she is practicing for her snowboarding jumps! 
and our house. Probably should’ve done this first so it didn’t look so boring but there are a lot of small things you cannot see in the photo. More next year!