Mackenna's 2nd Birthday

Mackenna turned 2 on August 15, 2009 and since her birthday fell on a Saturday, we got to celebrate all weekend long! Her first party was held at My Gym (her favorite place ever) and we had about 25 of her closest little friends come.
This is Mackenna with her aunt Ashley (I call them twins-their baby pictures are identical) eating lunch and getting ready to leave for the party:

Birthday kisses from Grandmas:

Family photo before the party-I just love taking pictures when I'm 8 months pregnant!

Mommy and Mackenna:

The theme of Mackenna's party was Little Einsteins and I found a new pastry chef to make her cake (I usually use bakeries) and it turned out amazing! It not only looked wonderful, but it tasted great as well. Check out http://www.myheavenscentcakes.blogspot.com/:

The snack table-since the party was from 2:30-4:30pm, we didn't have to serve a meal which was nice:

The favors-the boxes were filled with Little Einsteins stickers, bubbles, and candy:

The set-up:

Hailey and Mackenna jumping on the tramp waiting for all of the friends to arrive:

Having a party at My Gym is great because they customize it to your child, so you can choose their favorite activites. Mackenna's first item of business: riding Thomas the train. She loved the fact that she got to go first at everything that day and everyone else had to wait their turn:Playing with Maive, Ellah, and Jaylin in the "fort:"

Getting ready to blow out her candles:

Cake time-Most of the kids didn't want to stop playing to come eat cake, so I wasn't able to get a picture of everyone there:

The next day, Sunday, we had a family BBQ at our house with my family and Steve's family. Steven has been working so hard to get our backyard finished in time for Mackenna's birthday and, as you can see, we're almost there!

What We've Been Up To...

On August 2nd, 2009, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by leaving Mackenna with her grandparents and taking a weekend vacation to Coronado Island. We stayed at the Leows Coronado Resort and it was fabulous. We got to shop at my favorite mall, eat at our favorite places, lay out by the pool and drink strawberry daquiries (virgin of course), and go to the horse races.

This is the lobby of the hotel, there were a lot of weddings going on that weekend and it was so fun to see all of the wedding parties all dressed up:Steven posing with a mannequin in the lobby-don't really know why:

The only picture of the two of us together. I'm not one of those people who are comfortable asking complete strangers to take photos of us, so this is all we have:
Leaving for the Del Mar races then the Brigantine (best fish tacos ever, although every time we go there, I'm pregnant and can't eat them!):

View from our hotel balcony:
Coronado Bridge. I think we went over that bridge about 8 times in 2 days, so I've pretty much gotten over my terrible fear of heights:

One of my favorite places (Del Mar Racetrack). AAaaahhh...the memories:After our relaxing vacation, it was time to focus on getting ready for Mackenna's 2nd birthday. I had her pictures taken in her new outfit. Here are a couple that I shot with my own camera. I'll be posting the real photos as soon as the cd comes in the mail:

Nana's still trying to help Mackenna get used to holding a baby and being gentle. Poor little Colton endured the abuse, but not happily:

I did something I swore I would never do: let my child ride in one of those car-attached-to-the-shopping-cart things. She LOVED it and I've never had such a pleasant grocery shopping experience! In my defense, they were brand new to the store and I wiped the whole thing down before she got in:

Summertime playdates are the best. Mackenna's friends Samantha and Audree were so nice to have her come play in their backyard and eat popsicles:

We also got to have Mackenna's friend Ryan over to play a couple of times. When I take those 2 places, people always ask me if they are twins, then they look at my belly and think I'm crazy:

My wonderful sister and my friend Krista threw me a gorgeous (family) baby shower. It was so fun and so beautiful and of course I'm terrible at taking pictures and only have a couple. The theme was "Girls Only, No Boys Allowed" because I'm having another girl. So cute!

My sister made the darling diaper cake on the left and my talented mother made the darling "real" cake on the right:

That night, we went out to Ruth's Chris with Jason and Chrissi to (once again) celebrate our anniversary:
Here's Mackenna a few days before she turned 2. (I'll be posting her birthday party pics. in the next post):

Mourning

On Sunday, we got the horrible news that Steven's secretary of 2 years and my parents' next door neighbor of 20 years died. Nancy Maltez was hiking with her husband and 3 children when she fell off a 1,000 foot cliff. We are very much still in shock and can't believe that such a wonderful lady died in this most tragic way. I've been sick to my stomach since we got the news and Steven is just beside himself with grief. He can't believe she won't be walking into work anymore and seeing her desk, her notes, her pictures, etc. yesterday was just heartbreaking. My poor mom hasn't stopped crying for two days and the rest of my family is in shock and is having a hard time believing this nightmare is a reality. Please pray for her family's comfort.
Nancy was one of the most Christlike people I've ever known, always had a smile on her face, and adored her family. She was the first and only person Steven has ever hired that, from day one, he said, "Nancy is the best!" and never had one complaint about. She is and will be very missed.

If you missed the newscast, here is the link:
http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=111114@kcbs.dayport.com