Santa Barbara and Baby Niece Briley Turns 1 Month

SANTA BARBARA, CA

We decided to take advantage of the 3-day MLK holiday weekend and drove five hours down to beautiful Santa Barbara. We stayed at Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort thanks to Mike's Hilton points. We've had a fairly mild January in California and enjoyed temps in the low 60s and partly cloudy skies. However, as I'm writing this blog, the San Francisco rainy season has hit!

We enjoyed walking along the beach with the pups, hiking the mountains, eating Mexican food (we even found a restaurant that served chili con queso!), walking State Street to shop, and just sightseeing around town. I recommend for anyone to plan a mini getaway to Santa Barbara! It's absolutely beautiful with plenty of beach to relax on and moutains to hike. Given that it's such a short drive away, we hope to visit Santa Barbara again.

BABY NIECE BRILEY TURNS 1 MONTH OLD!!

Sweet lil' pumpkin!

Check out that belly!

So stylish!

Anyone want a hug from me?

Happy 1 month, Briley! I love that she's becoming a lil' chunk! :)

A Star Is Born!

Our new niece, Briley Michelle, was born on Thursday, December 22 at 5:09 pm weighing 5 lb 8 oz. She is the sweetest, cutest baby! Mike and I arrived in DFW at 1pm and made it to the hospital with my dad at 4pm. We made it just in time for Briley's arrival! It was so nice to see Lauren beforehand...both her and baby did great.

As you can see, our household is quite obsessed with photographing Briley. She's just so darn cute! Mike and I had a wonderful visit with our families during the Christmas break, and the timing of Briley's arrival was perfect because we were able to spend so much time with her. I'm going to miss hanging out with Briley, Lauren and my family every day, but I've already booked a ticket back to DFW in 6 weeks to see Briley again. :)

We wish you and your family a wonderful start to the New Year! Enjoy the photos below of Briley.

Here's a picture of Briley soon after she was born.

Here's a picture of Briley in the NICU.

Lauren is feeding Briley.

Beautiful Briley all ready to come home....on Christmas Day! She is the perfect present to our family.

Mom and Briley dressed in her Christmas best.


She made it home! Aunt Erin loves (is obsessed with) Briley!

A future Rangerette in the making...Briley loves to kick her legs!

A special delivery from Santa...

Can you find tiny Briley in this photo?

What a lil' angel.

Briley's first Christmas!

I love to hold Briley...especially between 9pm-12am...that's my Briley time!

Proud grandparents....Nana and Papa.

The uncles!

There she is kicking her legs again!

Sweet baby angel butterfly...

This is my favorite photo...I can't wait to frame it when I get home.

What a sweetie.

Haha...I love this one! A mini Marilyn Monroe....check out her arm behind her head....she's already such a lil' poser.

I love her chubby cheeks!

Diva in the making...