BDay GDay

It's kind of weird to be blogging my own birthday but I wanted to share the big news of the newest member of Samour Sounds.  It's not a person, but her name is Taylor!

 

I mentioned to Rob that I was thinking it was time for me to upgrade my guitar and off to the races we went.  We spent almost an hour in Guitar Center and two whole hours in Sam Ash and finally decided on this one, bag included.  It is a Taylor guitar, one of the best acoustic brands.

 

 

 

Here she is at home.  I call her "she" because her name is Taylor, but actually that's a misnomer since the creator of the company is a man.  But of course I'll refer to it as a "she" since it's a pretty guitar that has the name Taylor on it, and let's face it, it's hard not to picture Taylor Swift with all those signs!

 

 

A little bit closer.

 



 

So Taylor came a week premature to my birthday - she just couldn't resist - and neither could Rob!  I couldn't resist posing with it either!

 

Guitar-me!

 



 

Do you want to hear what she sounds like?

 

 

That is "Easy" by Sheryl Crow, a song Rob, Spenser, and I have been working on.

 

 

Today, on the actual birthday, I took Sienna to practice at 6:45 a.m. and then had a nice breakfast at Mimi's Café. 

 

 

For dinner, we all went to Chili's and then it was time for cake!

 

 

If you're not sure how old I am just check out the numbers I'm holding up!

 

 

I'd say that was a great birthday! 



 

17

Seventeen years ago today Rob and I were saying our "I do's" amongst our family and friends.  What great recollections we have of that day.

 

To celebrate we enjoyed dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.

Sienna joined us too and played photographer.

 



 

After dinner it was time for presents and cake!  Check out the pretty roses, and can you find Sienna?

 



 Vanilla cake left over from Sienna's birthday, with an added touch of raspberries!

 

 

Anniversary amazingness!

 



15!

Our little Sienna turned 15 today!  Remember this day?

 

 

Here she is 15 years later!

 

The cake is homemade and in the shape of the Angelic Rune from the Mortal Instruments Book Series, her current book/character/movie obsession.  I'm happily reading the series as well!

 

 

Birthday decorations!

 

Happy Birthday Miss Sienna Rose!

 

 

 



First Day - Check!

First day jitters are over and everyone is home from new classrooms, classmates, and teachers.

Here is Sienna, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a 6:15 a.m. drop-off!  She's wearing a new dress we got in a downtown SLO boutique. Cuteness!

 

Spenser may not have a new outfit, but he is sporting a shockingly awesome haircut! 

 



 

Watch out 10th and 8th grades because here they come!

 



Back to School - Back to Short

School starts Monday and truth be told, the kids have had enough time off.  I think their computers deserve a break now!  Spenser is all day and all night computer gaming, and Sienna is all day Tumblr-ing and Fangirling.  New backpacks and school supplies have been purchased and all systems are go for the first day - even SPENSER'S HAIR!

I love his long hair look, but not as much as I love his short hair look.  Here he is getting the ponytail cut off. 

 

And voila!  Pony gone, and now it looks like a bob.  After trimming and shaping -

 

 

here is the new and improved Spenser Allan Samour!

 

 

I love seeing that face out from under all that hair!  Yes, he has ears too!

 

After the cut it was time to celebrate with a shopping spree at Target.

 



 

Of course a new computer game card is not the real pay-off for the haircut.  The pay-off is a relief from the heat and sweat, a release from the burden of painful hair-brushing sessions, and an easy get-up and go style for school mornings.

 

Another added benefit - it will be easier to see him in his 3 musical groups:  Jazz Band, Drumline, and Samour Sounds.

 

 



 

 

Tree Gone Wild

In preparation for monsoon season, our tree was trimmed today.  From this picture you can see how the branches of the tree are impeding on the house.  Even the neighbor's tree was touching the house.  So another visit from Tree Pros was in order.

 

Here is what the tree looks like now.  You can see the branches hitting the house have been removed.

 

 

 

And the tree also got a hair-cut.  Ready for monsoon season!

The Cliffs Revisited

One of the things I always mean to do when I'm in SLO is go to The Cliffs.  For some reason we never seem to fit it in.  But this time, we did!  I think the last time we did so was for our anniversary and Sienna was just a tot at the time!  Now that the kids are both almost teenagers, we thought they might appreciate seeing where their parents were married.

 

Here are the grounds as we walked down from the lobby to access the pool and wedding area.  Notice the bushes cut into dolphins!

 

 

Here is a view from the grass to the pool, restaurant, and ballroom.

 

 

Here is a view of the back of the rooms and the area where the wedding chairs were set up.

 

 

Here is a farther view of the hotel and restaurant area.

 

 

Both Sienna and Spenser acted as photographers for the next series of pictures -

 

 

 

 

We tried to take them from several different angles, recreating what you may have saw and experienced almost 17 years ago -

 

 

minus the tuxedo and wedding gown of course!

 

 

Remember the mariachi photo?  Rob and I posed with the band right outside these sliding glass doors.

 

 

 

Here it is recreated, this time with Sienna and Spenser too!

 

 

 

I'll consider sharing this memory with our kids an early anniversary present!