Family Fun

Grace and I had a wonderful time at my parents house. We spent lots of time hanging out and getting ready for Elena's shower. Here are the pictures from last week. Grace loves spending time with her grandparents, and I always enjoy watching their interaction.
Within minutes of arriving, Grace is sitting on the kitchen counter eating a popsicle. Ahh, there is nothing like Grandma's house.

Tuesday we girls went shopping and bought a dress for Elena. Grace walked it up to the lady at the counter and said "I want to buy this dress for my baby cousin." Let's just say the lady that worked there was a huge Grace fan by the time we left.

Wednesday night my parents took us to my very favorite place to eat. Cafe Sevilla downtown is serves Spanish food, and we love the "tapas". The food is soo good, plus I love spending time downtown San Diego, one of my all time favorite places.

We hung out at Horton Plaza and walked around. My dad gave Grace pennies to throw in the fountain. The light was really funky at this point so the color looks really weird, and I don't really know what to do about it.

High-Five for Uncle Danny!

Maria and Grace both had on their pink jellies.

We never knew there is a huge chess board at Horton Plaza. We watched a game in progress and then Daniel tried to find someone to play with him. Grace was the only one really interested but apparently that wasn't really what he was looking for.

When in Mexico recently, my family bought Grace a little guitar. She loves her "Luke-alady" as she calls it. She and Uncle Danny played for a long time together. Actually she played so much she gave herself a blister.


Friday was mostly spent preparing for the shower. Grace did managed to take time out for a cookie break. The dogs were jealous.

Eating lunch with Grandma

Elena time!

As Gunnar was in Kansas City last week, Grace and I spent the week at the Hilton's. Usually when I spend the week in San Diego, I run around like crazy hanging out with old friends. This time I didn't have nearly as many plans, but I got to spend lots of time with my super cute niece Elena. Friday night we had a shower for Ann and Elena, which was lots of fun.

I have lots of pictures (of course) so I think I will start with Elena pictures and post other family and the shower pictures later.



Grace is absolutely enamored with her little cousin. For the most part she is really good with her too. She loves to kiss her and hold her and talk to her. Tuesday my mom bought Grace a doll in an attempt to divert some of the "love" away from Elena. Grace enjoyed taking care of Baby Beth along side of Ann. They are both such good mommies. :)

Elena is such a doll, and so incredibly cute! I could look at her all day.

On occasions she finds her thumb, it is so cute!

Grace and I bought Elena a dress while we were down in San Diego. It matches a dress Grace already has so we were hoping to take pictures of them together. Unfortunately, Michael's camera got stolen and I was not able to get the dress down to where we were staying so we will have to wait for another day. But here are a couple pictures of Elena in her dress, and you can see some of Grace in her dress here.

Such a cutie!

eeghhh?


She had super cute booties to go with her dress!


She wasn't thrilled with laying there to get her picture taken.

Her fingers totally remind me of Michael's, so long as skinny.

Really, is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby?

We all love holding Elena so much that we all have to take turns.

When Gunnar got home he even got in on some of the baby action.

I love being an auntie!

Kansas City BBQ!

Hello Everyone (This is Gunnar)

I am crashing Anna's blog in order to give a quick photo log of my trip to KC. Sorry, I am not going to take the care that Anna does in preparing this! You may or may not know, but over the last two years I have made six trips to Kansas City to pursue a doctoral degree. This was my last trip for some time now...until hopefully next year when I defend my dissertation. Anna insisted that I take some pictures this trip....so I did one afternoon very hastily for you all! They are in no particular order....

First, check out the gas prices! Isn't it just wrong that I think $3.62 is cheap?




This the sign that leads you into the seminary.....



Take another look at those gas prices.....boy, don't we wish! :)




The same sign...okay, I accidentally uploaded the gas and sign picture twice....sorry! I told you Anna does this better!




The best think about Kansas City is the BBQ...in six trips I have put away about 14 "Texas Hots"! This is the absolute best spicy pork burger you will ever taste! This trip was a little hard as I felt really convicted to exercise after eating them and watching the Olympics!




It is pretty green there....kind of weird....




This is the "Smokehouse" the BBQ joint where I get my eats in KC!! Mmmmm.....notice the little pig in the picture...that is how I feel after every trip to KC!




The "Texas Hot"! This is not for the weak-willed vegetarian. In fact, when I ordered my second one ever, I asked the guy to only put one patty of pork on it. His response was, "Deal with it, they come with two." Since then, my stomach has dealt with it just fine....





This is the school house....where it all happens. I usually pound a ton of Starbucks on these trips!!


This is the campus...I seriously think they mow the grass all day everyday during the summer to keep up.



The dorms....freezing inside...they are not afraid to run the AC full blast all the time....



Geese. I hate geese, they are mean to me. These are pretty cool as they are migrating to and from somewhere (please don't ask me where to and from)....seems they are here every summer.




Kids, don't try this at home. A self-portrait while driving....notice though, I was not talking on my cell phone so totally legit.




This is my apartment...second floor, reminds me of barracks, but nicer.




This is the library....I try to avoid this place, well except for Thursday afternoon when it is time to print my boarding pass to fly home!



I was trying to take a picture of the fountain....apparantly KC has a ton of them, but I never have enough time to explore....the Starbucks is just on the right side of the picture out of view....



Starbucks dead center, but you can't see it as it is inside the "Price Chopper"!




Another shot of the Kohen Myers Building of Evangelism or something. It is named after two medical missionaries who were shot to death a few years back in Africa....