Mom Turns 50!

This year was extra special.  My Mom is exactly 20 years older than me, her birthday is 3 days after mine.  We were able to celebrate two epics.  Her turning 50 and myself turing 30.

We surprised her with a party.  She loved it!  She though she was coming over to babysit all four kids while my Brother, his wife and us head to lunch for my birthday.  Little did she know it was all about her.

The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Girl with her Grandbabies

Our adorable nephew

Our only adorable neice

Drinks… before

Drinks after… Brock proof

My Mom loves green chili burros. 

Brock got ahold of the girls’ chap stick.  LOL

Skyping my Aunt in Oklahoma.  My Mom LOVED this!  They talked for a long time.  The day was a success and so perfect!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

xoxoxoxoxo

The Big 3-0… part III

Saturday morning we headed over to Penfold for breakfast.  Fortunately we were sat right away.  By the time we woke up and got ready we were so hungry.  Shawn and I both ordered the same thing.  After a night of drinking “The Mess: Everything but the kitchen sink” sounded fabulous.  It came with a huge plate of biscuits and gravy.  So Good!  Neither of us ate even half of our meal but it was perfect. 

Our bellies were full and it was time to try some wineries out.  We headed back to our hotel and got a cab to a winery.  Our first stop was Hart Winery.  It was small and cozy.  The people were very down to earth.  We enjoyed their wine and the history. 

We checked out where they bottle and label their wine bottles.  Very cool. I looked into taking a group tour to the wineries but I just didn’t want be rushed or on their schedule.  plus I wasn’t planning to go to every winery or even half of them. A few was perfect.  We also looked into a personal shofar.  Definitely pricey as you could imagine.  So We decided lets just get a cab.  The cab cost us 50 bucks round trip including tip vs. the 350 for the shofar.  Our next destination was Callaway winery.  More elegant and modern looking.  Very expensive look to it for sure.  Callaway did have the most amazing views.  We had such a great time just chillin’ around the winery.  There was a restaurant but we wanted to eat in Old Town instead.  Plus the food was a little too fancy for me. 

After the wineries we headed to Old Town.  We stopped by this little bar called wine and beer garden.  Not sure if this is a biker bar, but there were a ton of them.  It was a cool place, they had a great selection of beer on tap. 

 

After a few beers we decided to get some lunch.  We ended up at Front Street Bar and Grill. 

We sat on the patio, the weather was perfect.  We enjoyed some great beer, Abbey Road from Refuge brewery.  A local brewery.  Chicken alfredo pizza for an app and then shared some tasty sliders.  Once we ate we headed back to Crush & Brew for some wine/beer.  We were both exhausted and decided to call it a night.  We got a cab back to the hotel and were asleep by 8.  Felt great.  Side note:  Shawn was in charge of holding the wine glasses we got from the wineries we visited.  Unfortunately, he forgot them in the cab .  Our cab driver ended up dropping them off at our hotel, so we got them back.  Thank Goodness.  I really wanted a souvenir.  The next morning after about 12 hours of much needed sleep we headed to Swing Inn Café.  It’s a small diner that the locals frequent so we knew it was consistently good.  Best breakfast I’ve had in a long time!  Then we decided to shop at some antique shops.  I ended up getting a really funky cool cake thingy.  Not sure what its called but it has the glass lid that you could put pastries in, anyway.  I like it!  We headed back home shortly after so we could get home at a decent time. 

… can’t wait to visit you again Temecula.  After all its only 5 hrs from our house!

Beautiful views on the way home. 

Home Sweet Home

We met up with Shawn’s parents at Fat Willy’s to get the girls.  Since it was St. Patrick’s Day we decided to hang out and have a beer.  It was way too crowded so we changed our mind and headed home for some green beer and delivery pizza. 

The next morning, my actual Birthday, I woke up to lots of hugs and kisses and my angels singing “Happy Birthday”  Priceless!  We hung out and were lazy all day.  Well I did go shopping at Nordstrom Rack.  Shawn did all the laundry and my other Monday chores.  

Birthday kisses xoxo

The girls enjoyed playing in the sprinklers and sunbathing. 

We headed to Joe’s Farm Grill for Linner.  Love it! 

yummy zucchini

Shawn opted for the bbq platter.  I got Ahi sandwich.  Highly recommended!

The girls shared grilled cheese with french fries. 

Not many places can you sprawl out to stretch on a blanket.  I had a great time. 

This past weekend I went out with a few friends in Scottsdale for a continued celebration.  Whoo hoo for girls night.  We started out at Saddle ranch.  Then we headed to Martini Ranch.  We danced in the upstairs area for awhile and then made our way down stairs to watch the band.  Which was awesome!  I ended up getting on stage to dance and sing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”  We ended up the night walking back to the car barefoot.  It was fun!

Love these Girls!

30 has been great.  I sure did have a month of great celebrating.  I look forward to my future!

The Big 3-0… Part II Temecula

 

I’m 30!  It actually, surprisingly, feels good!  I think my 30’s are going the best years of my life, so far.  A few years ago I came up with the idea of celebrating my 30th in Jamaica.  Don’t get me wrong I still desperately want to visit.  However, the desire to expand our family soon had led me to make a more practical birthday destination.  I chose Temecula, CA.  Neither us have been and seems to be a forgotten city, well at least I never heard of it before.  I thought a wine tour seemed like it would be fun!  I didn’t want anything that we’ve done before and didn’t want to make the drive all the way to Napa.  So, beautiful southern California it was.  We left just before 5am on Friday for our peaceful drive. 

I couldn’t imagine being so close to the ocean and not getting the chance to smell the sea water and watch the waves roll in with our toes in the sand.  LOVE the beach!  So, on our way we stopped at Mission Bay in San Diego.  At first I thought we should go to La Jolla Beach.  After some research it didn’t seem like my cup of tea. 

We decided to head to The Sandbar

It was a cool, chill place that serves breakfast until noon for all the partiers.  We enjoyed some yummy nachos and some local brews.  Once we were done we walked the board walk for a bit to take in our surroundings and then headed to Temecula. 

We stayed at Extended Stay America.  It was fine.  We got a screaming deal thanks to hotwire.  Our room did have a full kitchen.  It was a that time I decided when we travel with our kids a kitchen is close to a must.  Our hotel was just a few miles from Old Town Temecula.  Once we checked in we took a much needed nap and then freshened up and got a cab to Old Town. 

Our first stop was Crush & Brew, which got rave reviews from our hotel concierge and our cab driver. 

Crush & Brew was by far my favorite in Old Town and the only place we frequented twice.  They only serve food, wine, and beer.  LOVED absolutely everything about this place.  So Fun!!!

 

We started with some local brews and cheese board. 

My Flight (local wine)

Shawn’s beer tasting.

Shawn filling out his ballot.  They like to have customer ratings to determine what they should have on tap.  Like the idea!

After we were done we headed down the streets of Old Town.  We heard some load music coming from this little Mexican bar, The Bank.  Of course we had to check it out.  This was the turning tipsy point of the night.  Especially, after a shot of tequila courtesy of our bartender.

Our bartender and a craazzyy local we met.  They were so much fun!

He took this of himself just before he took our picture

Here’s to Thirty

After some chips and salsa and lots of drinks we thought it would be a good idea to stroll down to another place.  Possibly not the best idea, but so glad we did!

We again heard loud music and checked it out.  We ended up at Front Street Union where there was an awesome cover band. 

After enjoying the band and sipping on our last beer.  We got a cab and stumbled back to our hotel room.  It was such a fun night and it had been a long time since we had this kind of fun.