Laguna Beach & LA Zoo

This past weekend, Andy, Atley and I set out for a little mini-vacation. We left Saturday morning, and went to the LA zoo. We had sooo much fun, and there were really so many cool animals to see there... some I had never seen before at any other zoos! To be honest, the zoo was really for me and Andy since Atley is really too young to appreciate the animals too much. But we LOVE zoos.

We stayed overnight in a hotel in Anaheim, and met up with Jess, Jen and Cayson! They had been at Disneyland all day Saturday. So sunday morning we had breakfast with them at the hotel, and then headed out for a fun day on Laguna Beach. The beach was BEAUTIFUL... it was such a warm day, and there were hardly any people... which is exactly what we like!! Atley LOVED the beach, and just sat on her little beach towel singing for over an hour to herself while she played with the suntan lotion bottles. You could honestly hear her singing over the waves of the ocean! She has such a high-pitched little singing voice!

Atley in her carseat on the way to the zoo! She's such a beautiful little angel...Atley and Daddy waiting in line to get into the zoo. We bought her this hat before we went in... I'm sure glad we did! She has such little hair, and the sun was so bright and warm that day!

Can anyone tell me what this weird lookin' animal is?? Kudos to whoever can!!! And no, it's not a funny-looking bear (which is what we thought at first). Hint: It drools a lot, (and it's nastY), and it has a high-pitched yelp? Ugh. Grosses me out. Look at its big ol' getto booty.

What is this animal? Half zebra? Half deer? I have a little prize for whoever comes up with the most creative names for these animals. :)

Isn't this flower beautiful? It grows on a certain type of tree here... not sure what the name is, but I love it!Here we all are at the zoo! Atley has her little grandma hat on! Finally, pics of Laguna Beach! Daddy showing Atley the waves! She loved watching them come in. Look how little she is!

Jess flashing me the peace sign, and Jen and Cayson playing in the water. Cays LOVED the water. He kept wanting to run in all by himself... it's good he has quick parents!

Little Cays enjoying some rays and cool water. Every little boys' dream. That big smile rarely comes off his little face! :)

Us at Laguna Beach! The sand felt sooo good.

Atley standing tall. This is her new thing. She stands with her little legs locked, chest puffed, and big proud smile on her face. She loves to stand. She can't do it on her own yet, but she's getting better at it everyday.

I love this picture. It's so sweet. Jess and Jen look so sweet helping their little boy into the water, and Andy looks so cute carrying Atley on his shoulders in the water. She loves this too. She just squeals with delight every time he puts her up there. She's such a happy little girl and we have so much fun with her!

This is the proud smile I'm talking about! Look how proud she is to be standing.

Saturday night: (this post is a little backwards) Atley welcoming us into our hotel room. I think she was just glad to be out of her carseat and out of the sun after a long day at the zoo!

The bed hog... literally. She had to sleep with us at the hotel, because she wouldn't sleep anywhere else. And guess who had the most room out of the baby and the two adults???

Well, Atley has to have room to move around 360 degrees. Seriously. :) Haha. Needless to say, Andy and I didn't sleep very well.

Daddy giving Atley a little bath in the hotel. I think her little nakey body is sooo cute!!! She loves bath-time, but was a little uneasy in the new tub and new surroundings. ;)

It was such a nice weekend... nice to get out of Bakersfield for a couple of days... but sooo nice to come back home as well!!! We had such a wonderful time with Jess, Jen and Cayson!! Thanks for asking us to meet you guys! We love and miss you! :)

By the way Jess, that dog we saw on the beach... I looked it up on the internet, and it's official species is the Albino(a) Bone Dog. Huh... funny official name, but whatever.

Presenting...

Miss Atley... today she is sporting a pink outfit, lovingly given to her by her grandma jensen. She is showing off her two bottom teeth, and is going for the 'excited' look.

Don't you love it when you grab the camera at just the right moment?? She looks so proper and lady-like here. The flower on her headband is one that Aunt Rach sent to her... and I am finally putting it to good use (instead of letting her play with it). :)

This pic is similar to the first one... except you can see her top row of teeth!!! She has 3 that have come in all the way, and one that is breaking through!! So exciting. Haha

*EaStEr*

Easter this year was so much fun! Atley and I had a fun little photo shoot outside in her easter outfit with our friends Tammy and Sadie. Tammy took the pics, while I got the smiles! :) I think she looks so beautiful in this little blue dress. I love having a girl to dress up for Easter! Oh, and I made the bow to match! She was the perfect little model.

Anyone want to tango?

Below, are the pics from Easter day. Just to give some history, my mom always hid our easter baskets for us in the morning, so when we woke up, we had to find them. So...we woke up for church on Sunday morning, and found our easter baskets. Mine was waiting for me at the front door, and Andy's was hidden very well in a closet. Atley's.... well, it was on the counter. She's not really old enough to look for hers yet.

Atley wanted to be the one in the picture to show everyone what SHE got. (she thinks it's alllll hers) As you can see, she got lots of candy ;), a new easter basket (the white one), her dress and bow, and a little stuffed lamb. She looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Later that afternoon, after church, we had our friends Tammy and Steve and their beautiful daughter Sadie over for an Easter dinner and a little egg hunt outside for their toddler. We had so much fun with them!! I made my first Easter ham this year (the good kind of course)... and it was sooo tasty!

It doesn't get much better than having the privilege of going to church on Easter sunday... remembering WHY we really celebrate the holiday. All of the eggs, and candy and baskets are all just little side-bonuses.

This is Atley sitting on our front lawn during the egg hunt. Not much fun when you're not mobile yet! If she weren't so stubborn, maybe she'd be crawling by now... haha. Fine by me though. No one to chase yet. :)

Andy and I on Easter day. We realized (well, okay, I realized) I haven't posted a pic of just us for a long time. So here we are. Haven't changed much... still very much in love. We have the greatest relationship, and have so much fun together.

That concludes our Easter weekend! It was a great one... we had a lot of fun. Happy Easter everyone!!!