The Adventures of Joel and Matthew

... that I was better about taking pictures when I am on vacation. We spent an amazing week in Southern California at Grandma and Grandpa Gonzales' house, and I barely have any pictures!!! We really did have an AWESOME time... I guess I will just have to tell you about some of the highlights: 1. Joel slept through the night EVERY night that we were there... SWEET! 2. My Mom, James and Kathryn drove up to Camarillo (where Mike's parents live) to celebrate Easter with us. It was fantastic, they hadn't seen Joel since December. Luckily, Mike took a couple of pictures of Joel and my mom: Sorry, James and Kathryn, apparently you two didn't make the cut. 3. My mom-in-law recently bought a beautiful Arabian horse! He is a 14 year old, brown male. He has a georgeous white star on his nose, and is the sweetest thing! You are going to have to take my word for it, though, because I was way too excited to be around a horse again to even consider taking pictures of him. 4. ...

Last night, Mike told me that my most recent post had too many words and not enough pictures in it. Since he works so hard for our family and I appreciate everything that he does for us (and I love him to pieces), I resisted the urge to remind him that it's my blog, and I will write what I want to.... Lucky for him, I just received about 200 pictures from my dad that I am just dying to share. So enjoy, Mike!

In a blink of my eye, Joel is mobile. He won't sit still. And he won't play with his toys anymore, he would much rather destroy my house. And go places that he shouldn't. And try to escape into our patio area when I turn my back for 5 seconds. I find myself lying awake at night worrying about all the dangers that lurk in my home. Or other homes that I may visit. Seasoned parents warned me to enjoy Joel's infant days since before Joel was even born. They told me it would go too fast. They told me that when he becomes mobile, everything changes. But just like all other advice that I have received since I was first pregnant, I didn't believe them. Why don't I just listen?! Here are some other Truths that friends and family warned me about that I just didn't believe until I experienced them for myself: Pregnancy Truths: 1. I will get bigger than I ever thought was possible by the end of my pregnancy 2. No amount of lotion will prevent stretch marks 3. 9 (10) mon...

...and dirt don't hurt!! Mike was watching Joel on Saturday afternoon while I was making some nachos. When I looked out the window, this is what I found. Joel had traded in his Nuk for some good old fashioned Dirt.

In my opinion, Paso Robles is a little piece of heaven in California... it probably has a lot to do with the location of our friend's home- with an unobstructed view overlooking rolling hills, horse stables, and ostrich farms. Now that I think of it, it probably has everything to do with their location; transport our neighborhood (including the neighbors) to Paso, and I would definitely be singing a different song (horribly out of tune, of course). Anyways, we went to Paso this weekend and stayed with our awesome friends., in their awesome house. They were even so wonderful as to accomodate my Dad and Trish as well. Yeah! It was a great time! I am waiting for my Dad to send me more pictures, but this is what I have for now: The sunrise, taken from our friend's backyard: The sunrise, taken from my backyard: Actually, it isn't as bad as I imagined... in any case, I get this: He doesn't care that we don't have a view!

Santa Cruz is still one of my favorite places to visit during the weekends, I love how close it is to our house, and it still feels like a different world. We took Joel there on Sunday, took a long walk along Westcliff, and ate lunch on the warf. I can't think of a more perfect day! I think that this would make a perfect vacation home... right across the street from the Beach! What do you say, Mike? I would also consider living here full time...