What We Have Been Up To

I have been trying to write this post in what seems like forever. No really, my computer wouldn't download the photos, sign into my blogger account, and then write this. It took me way longer than it should have. And now I know that I need to do a major overhaul on my home computer. She runs slow.

Anyways, I have been traveling and super busy, so I thought I would do a little photo dump on what we have been up to.

First up, we celebrated my birthday on Friday August 2nd. I went out with my girlfriends and had the best time.

 Stacey sitting in a child's carseat with their leftover McDonald's. No it wasn't my car. It was Becky's and her leftover auntie duty.

My favorite, an Old Fashion from Death & Taxes

The day after I celebrated my birthday with my husband. Yes, we celebrated the day before, but on Saturday, he took me up to Lake Tahoe for dinner at The Soule Domain.

The next day I left on a work trip to San Diego and Phoenix/Tucson. I can't really say what I did in each place, but know I walked a ton (in San Diego), ate a lot of good food, was really hot, worked out and had a pretty good week.

 San Diego Marina

 Some amazing ramen

 Salt and Straw ice cream

 Really good coffee at Bean Bar by the Padres Stadium

 Del Mar race track

 Del Mar beach

 View from Coronado Island to San Diego

And then I headed to Phoenix and the heat was crazy. It was 109 when I arrived and it stayed that way most of the time. And it wasn't much better at night...well at least the sun was down.

 The best tacos at La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop

 Indian food at a new restaurant, Khazana Indian Bistro

 Sausage meatballs with a spicy sauce at The Sicilian Butcher

 Lunch in Scottsdale

 Mysterious bug bites that I got at the Phoenix airport on the way home.

Then I had breakfast with these beauties the day after I got home. It has been a crazy couple weeks, but it has been pretty good. And I am still busy. I hope to get back to comments to you all on Monday. Fingers crossed. Have a great weekend!

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Meet @ the Barre and Becky.

Have a great weekend!

Collaboration with Pink Blush

* This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

I was recently contacted by Pink Blush to work with them. I have purchased a few items from them over the years and love their clothes. I wish I had known about them more when I was pregnant with the girls. They have the best dresses for maternity photos. But I never got the chance to take maternity photos.

When they contacted me, I was very happy to work with them. Not only do they have maternity clothes, but they have clothes for women too and that is where I fit in. I wanted a new dress for my birthday and for fun nights out with my girlfriends. Enter the Fuchsia Pleated Layered Dress. This dress is fun. It comes in bright pink and green, but pink just suits me more.

Pink Blush Fuchsia Pleated Layered Dress

This dress covers the girls up, is long enough to dance in and is flattering for all shapes. This would work on a pregnant woman as well.

I went back and forth on pairing it with a pair of black or nude heels. I think both work here.

I wore this out for my birthday dinner with my husband and I felt amazing in it. I felt dressed up and confident in this dress.

I can't wait to work with Pink Blush again! Thank you Pink Blush!

And now for the best part. You can win a $75 gift card to Pink Blush by entering below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open internationally and any person who has not won a PinkBlush giveaway in the last 6 months is eligible to win.

Good luck!

I received this article of clothing in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own and are 100% honest and true.

Big Bear Trip

We went to Big Bear Lake, California at the end of July for a family reunion. Rory's dads side of the family holds a family reunion (in a different place each time) every 4 years or so. We were not able to attend the last one as the girls were about 6 months old and I just had umbilical hernia surgery not long before. Some of our immediate cousins were not able to attend, but we had a pretty good crowd there.

We left on Saturday early morning to fly to LAX. It was a lot cheaper to fly into there and on Saturday. After landing, we headed to Manhattan Beach for breakfast at North End Caffe. It was soooo good. I definitely recommend it. I didn't snap a photo as I chowed down too quickly. After eating, we headed to the beach and walked around.

Then we drove up to the Griffith Observatory, but parking was insane and I knew the girls wouldn't walk the mile uphill after parking. So we headed to The Grove for some shopping, sightseeing, cupcakes and for a place to hang out.

After shopping and eating, we headed to Philz Coffee in Pasadena since it was close to our hotel. I got an iced coffee with a splash of cream and it was the best coffee I have ever had. Soooo good. And totally worth the hype.

We then tried to check into our hotel, but they had a check in at 4 pm instead of the normal 3 pm. So we had to wait around the pool for about 20 minutes which sucked since it was hot, the girls wanted to go into the pool and we were not able to. We wanted to go in later, but they had a wedding out at the pool at 5 pm.

So we got situated in our hotel, relaxed and then went to dinner at Bun Street, a highly rated burger place. After dinner, we stopped at Trader Joes for some water and wine and headed back to the hotel. We all crashed early.

Sunday morning we got some coffee and muffins in Monrovia and then walked around the cute town.

Then we headed to the Ontario Airport to pick up family. We grabbed a quick lunch and then back to Trader Joes for food and drinks for our time in Big Bear. Then we drove up. The road is very windy and we had to stop a few times, so no one would get car sick. But we got to see views like this.

We arrived, got settled into our cabin and then met up with family. We had a huge pasta dinner and hung out with family all evening.

Monday morning they had a pancake breakfast followed by some games and then we spent the day going in the pool, on a boat and just hanging out. That night they had the BEST taco food truck come cater. It was amazing. I soooo want them to come to Reno and cater our events. They had these tacos where they grill cheese, put a meat or veggies in it and then roll it and put it in a tortilla. I had way too much to eat, but it was soooo worth it. Then they did a birthday celebration, but I opted for more tacos and guac.

The kids played on the swings and with their cousins the whole time!

We tried this. It takes like peanut butter. It is really good, but only for one drink. Ha.

I snapped this photo of the girls sleeping.

Tuesday morning we had some coffee and then breakfast at one of the families RV's. We hung out there and then headed back for some family photos.

After photos, we headed to the Alpine Slides at Magic Mountain. We did go-karts, the alpine slides and water slides. Plus some video games for the kids. I haven't done a water slide in forever. It was a ton of fun.

After the slides, we headed back to the cabins where the kids napped and the adult women went into Big Bear for some shopping. We shopped, snacked and then headed back for a bbq dinner. We did some family celebrations and chatted the night away.

Wednesday morning, we got up, got ready and headed back to Ontario. On the way down, several people got car sick, but only Sutton puked. She puked twice and we felt so bad. It was everywhere and in our rental car. We got her changed, most of everything cleaned up and headed back to the airport. It was a rough start to the morning. Then we flew from Ontario to San Francisco where we had a 2 1/2 hour layover and then back to Reno. We picked up Walter, did a bunch of laundry, ate some pizza, got ready for the rest of the week and then went to bed.

It was a short trip, but a good trip. Have you ever been to Big Bear Lake?

Amazon Prime Purchases for July

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

So I made sure to start this post back in July with it being empty other than this little blurb. I wanted to make sure I could get my post done and scheduled for the right day. Sometimes blogging is hard. Ha.

So what did we buy on Amazon Prime in July?

linking up with Tanya

First, I bought more Shea Moisture Detangler. I feel like I buy this stuff every other month. Ha. But it is amazing stuff.

Shea Moisture Kids Detangler

Tom's Kids Fluoride Toothpaste This is the toothpaste that I have been using for my girls for quite awhile. They love the strawberry flavor the best. I bought the three pack because we needed more and amazon had the best pricing on it.

Tom's Kids Fluoride Toothpaste

Affresh Washing Machine Tabs Rory told me we needed more of these, but in reality, we still had 4 left at the house. So now I won't need these for at least a year.

Affresh Washing Machine Tabs

Basic Kindle Reader I had been wanting a kindle reader for awhile now since I love to read on vacations and my iphone/ipad just doesn't work well in the sunshine. So when Prime Day happened, I scooped this one up. I bought the basic one because that is all I really needed. 

Basic Kindle Reader

Chicco Kidfit 2-in-1 Booster Car Seat I bought 4 of these during the Prime Day sale. Yep, FOUR. Since we were going to need booster car seats in the near future, I figured I would get a deal on them. And after some research and Consumer Report reviews, we thought these would be a good fit for us. We had the Chicco Keyfit seats for the girls when they were newborns to 1 years old and we LOVED them.

Chicco Kidfit 2-in-1 Booster Car Seat

Stomp Rockets We bought three more of these last month for birthday gifts. They have been a huge hit at each birthday. It's my go-to present now.

Stomp Rocket Dueling Rockets

Cinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner I bought this after it was recommended to me by another blogger. I have used it twice since getting it and it really does get out all of the leftover make up. I waited too long to use it the first time, so it took quite awhile to get all of the make up out. But the next time I only waited 2 weeks and it came right now. It has a vanilla smell to it that can be overpowering, but it didn't bother me at all.

Cinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner

Just Play PJ Masks Turbo Blasts - Catboy We bought this as a birthday gift for one of the girls parties they went to last month. The boy was into PJ Masks and this one got good reviews. My girls wanted to keep it for themselves since they also love PJ Masks.

Just Play PJ Masks Turbo Blasts - Catboy

What did you buy this last month on Amazon?

Friday Favorites

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

I am not going to lie, it has been crazy around here. I thought I was on top of my game with post planning, but I am not. I am pretty much not around the next two weeks (to write) and I thought I planned better. I will still be able to answer comments and read your posts, but it is hard to write full posts while I am on the road. Ugh. 

Anyways, onto Friday Favorites and Happenings.

ONE. Today is my birthday. Yep. I didn't even plan a post like I did the last couple years. I did write a great one for my 34th birthday with 34 things about me. I probably should have done that again, but life has been kicking me in the pants. Ha.

I am not a big birthday person. I like to be acknowledged, but I never go all out for my birthday. Maybe for my 40th? So what do I have planned for my birthday? Tonight, I am going to have dinner and drinks with my friends. Rory couldn't find a sitter for tonight, so he said I should celebrate with my girlfriends. I am totally ok with that. And then tomorrow night, he has something big planned for me. Dinner, drinks and a night out!!

TWO. As I said above, we are sooo busy this month. I have an appointment, a vacation, work travel or something almost everyday this month. Just take a look. Every dot means that I have something going on everyday. Most days have several things. I told you August was a busy month.

THREE. While we were in LA, I made a pit stop to The Grove. We needed something to do, Rory has never been, the fountain is pretty there and I promised the girls cupcakes from Sprinkles. Ha. But my real reason for going there was the Uncommon James pop-up store. I have been wanting a pair of Girl Boss earrings and didn't want to pay for the shipping. Nor did I want to wait for them to arrive. And I couldn't decide between the medium and large.

Well, we went to the Grove and I was able to try on the earrings. Don't worry, they sterilize and sanitize them after each try on. Well after trying on both pairs, I went with the medium ones. They are more for everyday use and are sooo pretty. Plus they aren't heavy at all, so you can most definitely wear them all day. 

Uncommon James Girl Boss Earrings

FOUR. Weekly funnies.

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Meet @ the Barre and Becky.

Have a great weekend!