A Birthday Party

A superfun, superhero birthday party. Luke and Mason turned 5 with a big bash. The pinata was bigger than most of the kids, the food was delicious and since the weather was great the kids were able to run and run until the sugar wore off.

Labor Day

Labor day weekend was work, work and a little more work on the new house. But, we were able to squeeze in some fun. Mark had a college football tailgate party at the club. We didn't have any college t-shirts so Drew and I borrowed some of Peyton's and did the best to make them work, which is why mine is so little. The weekend ended with drinks, swimming and relaxing with the Hershbergers. A favorite activity of ours.

Place your Bets......

Meet Team Brown......

and Team Black......



Meet my co-workers. Here's just another idea we've come up and ran with. The team names came from the show the Biggest Loser. Apparently Team Brown has always been very successful at winning and Team Black is pretty much because that's the main color of my wardrobe.



A friendly, somewhat competitive, completely voluntary version of Biggest Loser. We each complain of our weight. Some want to trim down, some want to bulk up on muscle, some want to stay the same but just be more toned. Well, we've decided to motivate each other. We've split into 2 teams. This is completely on the honor system and we have until the week of Thanksgiving to hit our goals and set out to do what we've claimed we want to do. The prize is excellent and will be explained as the deadline gets closer. Wish me luck! :)

The Lake

The Lake. Probably our favorite summer activity. A place to go that's so close to home. A place to hang out with family and friends, watch the kids play and beat the summer heat. I love it. It's where we learned to wakeboard 3 summers ago while the kids cheered us on from the boat. It's a place Mark and I talk about each winter as we're longing to go back. Not sure what it is, we may just be easily amused, but we love it there. The best part is now seeing the excitement on the kids faces. They are now loving it as much as we are.

Del Mar

We were invited to join some friends for a weekend in Del Mar. We couldn't pass it up. We picked Mark up from the airport when he came in from Napa and drove straight towards the beach. We were with 3 families and our kids got along great and became instant friends. We hung out by the hotel pool, had an awesome dinner at Il Fornaio then back to the hotel to hang out, talk and let the kids have hot chocolate. The next day was bagels for breakfast, a walk on the beach then Del Mar race track. An awesome weekend! Thanks for inviting us Romanos. Next trip....Temecula Wine tasting :)

Greystone-Napa

Mark was one of 12 Club Corp chefs chosen throughout the nation to head to Greystone CIA in Napa for a week to work. They worked most of the day creating new dishes for the company, taste testing, tweaking the recipes and tasting again. He said it reminded him of watching Top Chef. Each night was a planned function at either a winery or restaurant. They also visited a place where blasamic was made, the local farmers market and a local farm. Pretty much all the places chefs would want to go and be happy to see. We're very happy he's back though.

First day of School

First day of school has arrived again except this year Drew is officially in Kindergarten putting the kids in the first school for the first time. Mark started off the day with pancakes for each grade. Drew and Zoe are in the same class and Peyton once again has Griffin and Zach in his. The boys have been in the same class since kindergarten. It's been a lot harder for me than I thought it would be sending her off to school but I know she'll do great.

Del Mar

A day at Del Mar race track is a fun time for all. Plenty for the kids to do and of course for the adults. Normally we go with a large group but this year we went alone and still had just as great of a time. Such a fun time day trip to get away from the desert heat and enjoy the outdoors. Even though the kids had tattos, charicatures, funnel cake and jumpy houses, watching the horses intrigued them. Peyton picked horses by the number and colors they had and ended up being the winner for the day winning the 4 last races straight.