Tuesday, August 27, 2013

I'm 31!!!





My 30th year of life came and went! So much has happened in the last year. I am truly blessed and I felt just that as I woke up last Saturday, on my 31st birthday!

One of the biggest things I was truly grateful for was making it to 12 weeks of pregnancy!!!!


This is my official 1st time mentioning Baby Bell #3 on the blog! I will share much much more details of of how the pregnancy is going in the near future!

I am also thankful for my wonderful Inlaws who think about me and treat me so well. My Mom and Father Inlaw treated my family of 4 to breakfast, as part of my birthday gift.



It was so fun going to one of our local and favorite restraunts with them, Mr. Wonderful, and the kids!
After breakfast Mr. Wonderful, the kids,and I took a 2 mile walk on a new trail. Mr. Wonderful then gave me the opportunity to nap after working out!



I woke up to get dressed for dinner plans with my Mom, Sisters, and their Guys!

We all hopped on the BART to take us to one of my favorite Restraunts in Downtown Oakland!


On the BART I sat back and looked at my beautiful family! I am so glad that I live so close to my Mom, Sisters, and brother. On days like my birthday and holidays we do not have to travel far to celebrate together.


I am so thankful for the Mother and Sisters that God has given me!I can truly say they are some of my closest friends.


I am also thankful that my husband can call them family and enjoy them as friends too!!!


Flora Restraunt in Oakland once again did not dissappoint!


It was my family's 1st time coming and they were really impressed.


The atmosphere


The ambiance


The food


and even the presentation of the ice cubes were amazing!


Everyone tried eachothers food and just kept on saying this is so so good!


We had full stomachs and smiles on our faces!


Our conversations are always filled with so many laughs and just memorable.


It was time for the birthday song and they put a candle on my favorite dessert!


Carmalized Pudding!!!!



It was a trick candle so it took some time to completely blow it out!



After I shared my little pudding we headed back to the streets and back to the BART.





Can you tell that we get our fashion from our Mom?




Our next destination was San Francisco!

My Mom will stike a pose anywhere...even on BART!



My husband will always be up to imitating my Mom! LOL



Sweet Inspirations was where we had dessert in San Francisco!


We walked almost a mile for this dessert and it was so so worth it!!!




My birthday seem like it went so fast. The saying is true, "time flys when your having fun! The love I recieved from my family and friends is truly priceless and overwhelming when I think about it. I am glad that I made it through another year to experience them and life!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

My Daddy & the Tire Swing




A couple weeks ago my little Sis had her wedding! A wedding post will come in the near future!


My Sister having her wedding brought my Texas family to town!


My Daddy,Step-Mommy, Brother, and his fiancé!


We were so excited to have them all in town!


This was my Dad and Step-Mom's 1st time seeing our home in person!


I had the pleasure to have them spend the night! I was honored to cook dinner & breakfast for them. It was so nice to have them sitting across the table & break bread with my Texas family! Our conversations are always filled with love, laughs, and stories.


My Daddy started on a sweet & special project to bless our home that night.



A tire swing for the kids in our very own backyard!



The anticipation by my kids & my darling niece was really precious.


My Dad was very proud of making his 1st tire swing! I think I have one of the smartest & most hard working Dads in the world !


He was also proud of the smiles & laughs he helped produce that day! I will always think of him as our own family & friends enjoy the swing over time!


The truth of the story is that my step-Mom was the mastermind behind creating a swing in the backyard after seeing pics of our backyard. They make a great team. We appreciate & miss them so much!!!



3 weeks later


The kids are still using the swing faithfully & with creativity!!!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Part 5: End of Bell Family Vacation 2013





Every vacation has to come to an end. We stretched our end by a day.




We called up one of our friends( my husbands old roommate) and told him how we were not ready to leave beautiful San Diego.



Our friends generously opened their home to us for the night!



We broke bread at a local restraunt and caught up on the kids & life.


The next morning we watched the kids have fun with water, toys, bikes, and each other!


After breakfast we took a nice walk to their beautiful local park!


It was so nice to see the kids play together so well.



We knew this couple before we were a couple & before they had kids.



We attended the same church for 9 years.


My husband was in his wedding & he was in ours! I attended her 1st baby shower & we delivered them food when they came home with their brand new baby.


It was quite special sitting back and reminiscing about old times.



They are such beautiful family inside & out!



Mr. Wonderful and I kept on thanking them for letting us end our vacation in such a special way with special people.



I think the kids love being able to run,



explore,




play,





and scream before a long car ride home.


A vacation where we can relax, explore, and hangout with friends was just perfect for us !



After lunch we packed up & sad our goodbyes. It was do hard to leave that we stopped at another family's house but just for 30 minutes. We left late which meant the kids slept half the ride home!!!