El San Diego

The Alston side of the family had a (first ever?) official reunion in San Diego at the end of July. Jon's dad put it together in celebration of Jon's mom turning 60 this year. It's the first time we've all been together since mine and Jon's wedding in 2005, and the first time we've been together since Kassidy isn't the only grandkid anymore. Here are some of my fav pics from the trip!

View from the stairway of our vacation rental - the house we stayed in is on the left:

View from the dining area inside looking out over the patio:

Of course the first thing we did was go down to the beach and check it out.

Dave caught a HUGE sand crab:

Beth:

AnnMarie:

Jackee telling me that she doesn't do pictures:

Sunset, day 1:

 The next day we started out on the beach right after breakfast:

Jon's mom / aka the birthday girl:

Isaak:

Kassidy:

Beth:

For lunch we had a BBQ complete with homemade root beer!

AnnMarie and Issak loved playing together. The best part of the beach house were the tile floors, so everyone could come in and out as they pleased, even with wet ocean feet!

Dinner was Italian food by Mike / Amanda and Beth. Crab raviolis made from scratch:

Mike worked hard on an awesome beach themed cake:

Sunset, day 2:

That night we had cake and presents for Chris' birthday:

The next day was a trip to the beautiful San Diego Zoo!

A wild Steph in her natural habitat:

Feeding time!

Audrey said her favorite part about the San Diego trip was being a princess:

Isaak's favorite part about the San Diego trip was riding the train across from the Zoo:

Kassidy's favorite part of the trip was everything:

Jon's favorite part of the trip was no school!

Historians believe that there were ancient birds this size! Jon poked him in the eye on purpose:

My favorite part of the San Diego trip was the zoo and seeing the koalas :)

I even got this awesome sea turtle necklace from the zoo!

That night we went into Old Town San Diego for mexican food!

This mariachi band sang Happy Birthday to Jon's mom:

 The next day we tried some kite flying:

Mike, Amanda & AnnMarie:

Me & Jon:

Steve & Chris:

Jackee, Steve, Kassidy, Audrey & Isaak:

Steve & Chris with the Grandkids:

Steve, Chris, Dave & Beth:

(aka, the single children)

After pictures we headed down to the farmer's market in Oceanside:

The kids got balloon animals:

Back at home we played in the ocean and the kids watched Jon play Angry Birds:

Naps were taken:

Puzzles were put together:

And Grandpa did some face painting:

Even Auntie Beth got her face painted! Kassidy decided that she would be the ocean:

Audrey and mom hanging out before dinner:

Beth prepared an awesome dinner of southern food! The fried okra was my favorite part. We also had fried green tomatoes, potatoe salad (mmmmm) black eyed peas and chicken and rice:

The next morning Jon, Beth and I headed over to the San Diego temple, and even though it was closed for maintenance we took some pictures around the grounds:

That day Jon and I hung out at the beach house with Mike, Amanda and Dave while everyone else took the grandkids to Lego Land. I think eating lunch at the edge of Oceanside pier was better!

Sunset, day 5:

The kids LOVED the hot tub:

On Saturday we all donned our ALSTON t-shirts (designed by Dave) and headed onto the beach one last time for pictures and a seashell hunt!

The kids sure found a lot of them!

The whole Alston family:

From left to right: Jackee, Audrey, Isaak, Steve Jr, Kassidy, Steph, Jon, Beth, Dave, Mike, AnnMarie, Amanda, Chris & Steve Sr.

We sure had an awesome time! The week went by so fast. We had delicious food, good sun, and it was pretty much the best family vacation ever. Hopefully we will be making the reunion a little more of a regular thing (like every 3 years instead of 6 or more). Can't wait to go back to the beach!

Creating Individually

Jon and I are both creative in our own ways. This year (being the year of creation) we have each tried to pursue our creative sides a little more.

I actually changed "careers" (if you will) and am now working at Beverly's fabric and crafts where I get to make things, and cashier a little too :) On your first day of work you get a yard of whatever fabric you want to make your own apron. I picked out this blue "floral" pattern and splurged for an extra little bit of polka dots to accent it with pockets and straps:

Now I was going to be all amazing and document each step and post a tutorial on making the apron... but I didn't use a pattern. I just made it up as I went, and because of that, it became too tedious to also try and keep track of steps... So instead you just get to see the finished product! I added buttons and made the bow that is in the center just to give it some final touches:

Needless to say, my job is as fun as my apron is adorable (yes I'm very happy with how it turned out) and I am loving my new job! I just wish I had changed years ago, but actually I think that this was perfect timing. I got to meet awesome people at my last job and make great friendships, and now I can have a job that I just enjoy, and I still get to work with my best friend!

In the meantime, Jon is hard at work on his master's in Creative Writing. I'm telling you, he has improved SO much since he first started this major in his BA 4 years ago. It's really fun to watch him grow and do something he loves. He recently challenged himself to write a story a day for a whole year. You can read his post here and keep up with how he is doing! He just started August 1st, so it's not too late to catch up on his flash :)

That's what we've been doing lately. Check back soon for more!