We have arrived back to our home from our 10 day vacation extravaganza in Palm Desert California, and a three day blissful time in Anaheim at Disneyland. This has been our first major family vacation ever, and by that I mean that typically for holidays we pack up the family and drive to visit our parents and family. So going away to some new land “just us” felt perfectly decadent and thrilling to us.

I had no gage at all as to how the kids would travel on a plane, handle all the waiting in lines at Disney, brave the 100+ weather, airports at 5 in the morning, and enjoy each other 24/7….I just didn’t know what to expect. I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised by my sweet children who did so very well with the heat, upheaval, and change and were able to sink into vacation mode along with us without many issues at all. They LOVED it, and I found my love for them expanding throughout our experiences together. You just can’t beat the wonder in your child’s eyes when they discover sometime new, its precious. I feel so very blessed that we were able to go all together and share in many memories. That’s what it’s all about to me, giving my children great experiences together because I saw so much interest, excitement and hilarity in them experiencing new things they’d never done before.

While on our vacation, Nathan and I also celebrated our 8th Anniversary on Aug. 12th! I must say that I feel so lucky to have Nathan as my companion, he is my rock and my supporter in everything I do. I just love him so deeply and love him far more 8 years later, even though I have discovered a few minor flaws over the years! LOL! He’s my prince and my dream guy all rolled up into the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen. Thank you Honey for the best 8 years so far of my life - as we have always said “The honeymoon never ends, now we just take more little people along with us!” I love reflecting back on our wedding day and get butterflies at all we felt then, and all we have gone through together since. (this pic was taken at Newport Beach, see what I mean?? HOT!!)

I’m just going through our holiday pics right now and will be sharing shortly. For now, it’s nice to be home and I appreciate that the weather is almost comparable in temperature to what we’ve been dealing with in the desert! Nice not to have a shock to the system with snow or something crazy.