More Elsie!

Jim and I had a great weekend in Bakersfield meeting out little niece. She is so precious. I just want to hold her all day long...which Jen was kind of enough to let me do over the weekend we were there. Elijah is such a great big brother. He loves his little sissy. I can't wait to see them both in another week!

Four Generations

Mommy's girl

Welcome Elsie Riess Prince!

I am so excited that my niece has arrived. I can't wait to meet her next weekend. There will be more pictures to follow.

Adventures in LA

Over Labor Day weekend Jim's brother, Dan, came out to visit for a mini-vacation. Jim and Dan had a great time surfing, boogie boarding and checking out San Diego while I had to work.

I didn't want to miss out on all the fun so I took a day off of work to spend time with the boys in LA. Dan had never been to Hollywood or Beverly Hills so we thought it would make the perfect day trip. We checked out Mann's Chinese Theater, walked the "walk of stars", took pictures with Samuel L Jackson and Marilyn Monroe, and caught a sight of the Hollywood sign.




Since Jim moved out to California, he has been wanting to go the famous Pink's hot dog stand. We picked the perfect day to go...it was nice a warm as we waited in the long line for our food. In the end it was worth it to Jim and Dan.





As we continued on our way, we drove through Beverly Hills and walked Rodeo Drive. Jim was kind of enough to let me make a purchase on Rodeo Drive... a bottle of water... that was all we could afford. To add a little fun to the drive, we just started driving up into the hills with all the insanely large homes and awesome views. We pretended that we belonged there but know the reality we will never live there.




To end our LA adventure, we were lucky enough to attend a live taping of "Accidentally on Purpose", a new comedy this fall starring Jenna Elfman. I never knew how much goes into a thirty minute episode...or how much could be shot in a studio. There were nine different sets within the studio! All of the actors were very personable and interacted with the audience throughout the night. I can't wait to see the episode when it premiers...or hear our laughs!

Weekend Getaway!

A few weekends ago I decided to go up and spend the weekend with Jim in Costa Mesa. It wasn't really a getaway for him since he lives there but it was for me. It was a nice break and relaxing weekend. We were able to spend time together, including Maddux, and I got to have a sneak peak into Jim's life in the OC.

Since I brought Maddux up, we decided to take her to Central Bark, the dog park in Irvine. She did a great job, wasn't too anxious, and made some new friends. We even took her back again on Sunday after church.

Maddux loved looking out from the balcony

Saturday evening was our date night. We got dressed up and went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, P.F. Chang's.



One thing that is really important to me, if we end up eventually moving up to Orange County, is to find a church that both Jim and I like and can get involved. Jim came across a website for Rock Harbor church. He tried it out one weekend and told me he could see us going there. After going, I agree with him. Rock Harbor will be our church away from home.

Overall we had a great weekend and I was glad that I was able to save Jim from sitting in traffic since I drove up there. Believe it or not, I did not have to sit in traffic going up or coming back down!