Molly & Ella's Birthday Party

{Such a sweet picture}

{he could be in a catalog with this pose}

{Look at those baby blues!}

Although it stinks that Andrew has been working a lot and we don't get to spend as much time together as we would like, the upside to that is I get to spend a lot of time with my friends. One of my favorite families to hang out with is the Sola fam. Since Kristy is only here for a limited amount of time before packing up the kids and heading back to Colorado, I take full advantage of every opportunity I get to hang out with her and her adorable kids! This past Saturday was Kristy's nieces' birthday party. Ella and Molly celebrated their birthdays at Lake Mission Viejo and I was lucky enough to be invited.

About a month ago while hanging at Becca's house, Ella drew me a picture and said that it was my invitation to her upcoming birthday party. She even drew me a picture of the gift she wanted me to bring her...gotta love kids - and their lack of tact! Of course when someone invites me to a place where there will be a million little kids and babies, food, and birthday cake, I'm all in! We had a lot of fun watching the kids swim in the lake and playing water balloon toss (more like pick up a water balloon and throw it on the ground to watch it explode!) I had fun chasing the kids around and playing hide and go seek. Becca made the most adorable birthday cakes for the girls. She did such a great job putting the party together - its amazing what that girl can do being a mom of three! Everyone had a great time!

Molly Moo & Ella - thank you for inviting me to your birthday party! It's fun days like this that remind me how lucky I am to have such great friends - even friends that are 3 and 5!

Fathers Day

{Some pics from Father's Day at Andrew's family brunch - I love these kids! (& my hubby too)}

Happy Birthday Avery

June 3rd was my niece Avery's 9th birthday. Avery wanted to celebrate her birthday at Lake Mission Viejo on a party boat with 6 of her closest friends. Guess who was one of her friends?? Me!! I was so honored she chose me to be part of her birthday party celebration. My sister-in-law packed a lunch for all the girls and got us all goodie bags with a pair of flip flops and some candy. We cruised around the lake listening to Michael Jackson who is Avery's favorite artist! I never though hanging out with a bunch of nine years old could be so much fun!

I can't believe that Avery is a nine year old. I have known her since she was 2 years old and it has been so much fun watching her grow up. She is the sweetest girl and has such a funny personality. The best thing about her is that she absolutely adores her Auntie Kym. In fact, she insisted that there be an "Auntie Day" since we celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. Could she be any more adorable?? She has decided that Auntie day is June 19th. I am excited to see what she has planned for us! Avery and I have so much fun when we hang out, especially now that she is getting into shopping, pedicures and just hanging with the girls. It's kind of like having a little sister. She is always telling my that I'm her favorite Auntie - and of course I tell her that she is my favorite niece (even though she's my only niece).

I am so blessed to have married into such an amazing family. Not only do I adore Avery, but I also love Landon, Jeff and Erin. They have always made me feel like part of their family...even when we weren't sure if I would ever officially join! :) I love the Otsuji's and I can't wait until we have kids of our own because I know Avery and Landon will be the best cousins ever!

Happy Birthday Avery! We love you!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Sunday, June 6th, Andrew and I will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary (7 years that we’ve been together). I can’t believe that it’s already been one year since we got married! This past year has brought its share of ups and downs. They say your first year of marriage is often the “roughest” and it has definitely been one of the hardest years of my life. But not because of Andrew or our marriage…but because this year I experienced not only the best day of my life but two of the most difficult.

Looking back, getting married was one of the easiest and best decisions I've ever made! Our wedding day couldn’t have been more perfect because I got to marry my best friend and all of our favorite people got to celebrate with us! It was a party that we never wanted to end! We spent our first week as a married couple in Belize on our honeymoon and it was amazing! For one whole week, we got no phone calls, text messages or emails and we got to spend every minute of every day together. From the minute we arrived back to LAX our everyday life has been far from that. Between my full time job and wedding coordinating business and Andrew’s job at Dick’s Sporting Goods, it seems that one of us is always working in one way or another. We rarely get to hang out with each other for more than a few hours at a time which has been hard for the both of us. Not to mention, soon after our wedding we added a little girl to our family – a Boston Terrier we named Charlee. She has been such a joy in our lives and has taught us a lot about each other. It has taken a lot of hard work and patience but we both agree it’s been worth every minute!

When we exchanged vows on our wedding day we promised to laugh together and cry together. As cliché as that sounds, I didn’t expect to cry together so soon. Just 2 months after our wedding, my grandpa passed away. I hate replaying that night in my head when I first found out. I have never cried so much and so hard. I couldn’t believe how life could be so good and then in an instant, your world could seem flipped upside down. It was a rough time for my family, especially over the holidays. To make things worse, just 3 months later when things started to get better my boss and close friend Clint passed away. I couldn’t believe it was happening all over again. I know I wasn’t myself for a good part of this past year and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who was there for me through all of it - even when I just needed to sit on the couch and be held while I cried.

Life has been crazy this past year, but when it comes down to it, we both agree on one thing - we love each other more than anything and are so blessed by God to have the life we have. We also agree that we need to try to slow down a bit, even if it means saying no to networking events, meetings, soccer games, or rounds of golf. We want to cherish the time we have with each other as much as possible before the babies come along and its no longer “Conners, party of two”. Thank you to everyone who has been there over the past year to help support us as a couple and as individually as friends.

Baby – I love you to the moon and back and can’t wait to see what the next year brings us. Thank you for making me “Mrs. Conners”. Happy Anniversary!

Forever,
your wifey
xoxo