Happy Fall

FiNaLlY!!! Fall is here!!! I'm so excited to bust out the long sleeve shirts. It's awfully chilly when Blake & I walk to school in the morning. It's nice in the afternoon too...not too hot...not too cold. So nice....ahh....Still behind on posts but will be updating soon. I've come across so many cool blogs. Can't wait to try my hand at some new craft projects for the Holidays. I've also been reading. Finished "Angels & Demons" a few weeks back & just finished "Wicked" this morning. Doing some research about starting a book club. I think it would be really fun.
(almost time to change my blog background too)

Baby Gifts

I had 2 baby showers recently & this is what I did. For my cousin who's having a girl I made a ragged edge baby quilt (the pink & red squares). It was really easy & super messy after you wash it but all in all I was pleased with the results. Then my friend Shamay had twin boys in August & had a baby shower just the other day. I wasn't able to attend (3 other parties going on that day) but it was still an opportunity for me to practice my sewing skills. I made bibs & a couple burp cloths. I did the snap buttons instead of sewing buttons because I could not find my foot for the button holes. The snaps are seriously so much easier. I think I will continue to do them that way. Well, I hope they both liked their gifts.

State Fair 2009

We went to the CA State Fair on the Saturday after Tahoe. We went with Bryan & Kimi & Libby. Bryan & Kimi were celebrating their 1 year anniversary!! Yay!!! We had lots of fun & were lucky that we went on a day that was only in the 80's & not 100's. It was still hot though. It's always hot @ the fair. The kids all had fun & so did the adults.

Happy 1 year Anniversary Bryan & Kimi!!!
This is so funny. Libby was entranced while watching kids go on the trampoline & decided she wanted to do it too. She absolutely ♥'d it. She probably would've done it over & over again.

(click on images to view larger)

Tahoe for a Day

On the Friday of Labor Day weekend Brad & I decided that we would go ahead & have Blake skip school & we'd go up to Tahoe for the day for the annual Westco Golf Tournament. We got up early & went to breakfast & then we were on our way. On the way there Sonny started wimpering & I kept asking Blake what was wrong & why was Sonny crying. Blake said he didn't know...of course I was thinking that he was poking him or something. Then all of a sudden there was this noise...like a deep belch or something & then......puke, puke & more puke. All over Sonny & his car seat. We pulled off to the side of the road & started to take care of this yucky problem. EWWWW. Of course I did NOT have spare clothes for either kid because I thought...no big deal...we're just going for the day. Boy was I WRONG!!! Anyway thank goodness for baby wipes & I kept the extra car seats (for babysitting) in the car. I had thought about taking them out before we left. Too bad I didn't take any pics of my little Sonny standing on the side of the road in just his diaper. He looked so cute. He actually didn't fuss or get mad while I was wiping him down ( I was surprised). Apparently he had been eating some popcorn that was in the car & the popcorn on top of bacon & pancakes was too much for his tummy. So we got back in the car & continued on our journey. We stopped at the Ross & Brad got him a new outfit & then gave him a bath when we got to the cabin. What a great Daddy!!!

Blake went with some of the older kids & Grandmother & Grandad to go min golf & Brad & I took Sonny & we went walking to go to all the shops. It was fun & we had pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express. It was so good. We stopped & got some cookies (I know...feed Sonny more junk...but he was totally fine after he puked in the car). We took Sonny to a different mini golf place to ride some of the rides.

After we met back up with everybody we took the boys to a beach that was near the cabin. It was fun to watch the boys play but it was a tad windy going that late in the afternoon.

After we went to the beach we took the kids to the arcade to have some fun. They had tons of fun & loved getting tickets to get prizes. Too bad the prices of the games aren't as cheap as Chuck E Cheese. Oh well. We had fun & that's what matters. After the games we went to the banquet for dinner & then headed home.

What a great day we had & we all got along all day...major plus!!!

8 Years & Counting!!!

HaPpY aNnIvErSaRy!!!

Brad & I have been married for 8 years!!! Woohoo!!

Congrats to us....remember Brad...you asked me to ENDURE throughout

Eternity with you & that's what I plan to do!!! Love you Babe!!!

We went out to dinner at a sports bar & had tacos. Some people may not like that but Brad loves football & it was monday night & I thought it would be fun to go. After that we went & saw the movie "Jennifer's Body". I didn't want to see it but it actually was FUNNY. I was surprised that it was rated "R". It was one of those movies that had serious parts that ended up being really funny. It was a fun night.

The Greatest Show on Earth!!!

Thanks again to our friend Jan who gave us FREE tickets to go to the Circus. I always think it's really fun to go check out the circus. It's amazing all the tricks the acrobats do & what the trainers can do with the animals. It was a great show. (I took way more pics than what's here but they didn't turn out all that great. I chose these because I thought they were the best).

I wish the pictures of all the acrobatic stuff turned out better. It was too dark & I don't know how to make my camera cooperate in the dark...oh well.

Brad & Sonny in front of the "official" Circus sign.
Blake & Sonny checking out a motorcycle.

Blake with a silly hat that came with the cotton candy.

Here's the cotton candy.

Guess how much it was....no really guess. $5....$7......$9......

Not even close!!!!

Ok it was $12.00!!!!

They wouldn't let you buy it from the regular concession stand inside Arco Arena...you had to buy it from the actual circus. They even had certain prices blacked out so you wouldn't see how much it was regularly. Crazy!!!!! Rip off!!! Oh well.

I guess it cost that much because we got a hat with it.

And of course...I couldn't forget a picture of the elephants. They are my favorite animal!!!

I'm so glad we got to go & take the boys to experience all the great tricks of the circus.

Singing, dancing, flipping, jumping, and of course all the animal tricks.

We ♥ Ice Cream

There's this show that we like to watch on the Travel Channel called Man vs. Food & on one of the episodes he went to an ice cream shop in S.F. He had to eat so much ice cream it would make anybody sick but it sure made me want ice cream. I told Brad that we should go there for our anniversary since it's coming up & we usually like to go to S.F. He suggested that we go to our local Leatherby's since it's way closer & we had coupons. Woohoo!! So off we went & here's what we got.

Both boys got the Clown ice cream sundaes.

(I wasn't quick enough to get the face of the clown before they started eating.)
I don't remember the name of the sundaes that Brad & I got but he got Rocky Road with Hot fudge .

I got Vanilla with Hot Fudge...mmmmm....Look @ all that hot fudge!!!
They were so good & neither of us finished our sundaes.

But Blake did & then he said.....Man wins!!!!

Sandcastle at the Park

I honestly don't remember when this was exactly, but I do know it was this summer (2009)!! LOL!! Pretty much every Monday we have a playdate at the park with mom's & kids from my old ward. This park is so fun for the kids it has sand, play structures & the Best part.....the water feature that shoots up from the ground. It's not a huge water feature but it sure keeps the kids busy & cool. Here's Blake & Sonny showing off their sandcastle of the week.

Fire Safety 2009!!

At the end of August my former ward had a preparedness fair & had some Firemen come & teach the kids about fire safety!! It really was a lot of fun!! They also did a lot of other stuff on being prepared & I gathered the info but the Firemen & Fire trucks were really fun. I am really grateful for all of the firemen & women that go out there to protect us from fires. The 3 firemen that came were so nice & fun to talk to. Thanks Tony, Greg & Russell.

Here's some pics of the Primary kids.

Here's Sonny with Benjamin, Kael (Sonny's twin) & Marina

If you look closer at the collage you'll see a picture of Benjamin trying to mack on Marina. His mom said they were sitting on the "Firetruck of LOVE"

Here's me & my awesome friend Jaime!! She's a great friend.

This was a fun day & after that we went to our new wards BBQ & that was fun too. I thought I took a few pictures....in fact I know I did....anyway it was fun & really really HOT!!

A moment to Vent....or 2

So some really lame jerks noticed that I had forgotten to lock my car & they helped themselves to whatever they wanted. Of course...ALL of my cd's were stolen...I think this is the 3rd time this has happened. And all of the change & some attachments that go to my ipod & the garmin & the manual to the car (what are you gonna do with that?) I hope they didn't get any real info from papers I may have left in the car. I hope they feel really AWESOME about the stuff they got. I mean....I really have awesome taste in music!!! I love my music. Maybe they'll get a spiritual high from listening to my church cd's too. Just pisses me off that people think they have an open invitation to take what's not theirs. Guess it's time to start rebuilding. Brad says he thinks most of my music is on the computer...so there's that. Guess it could've been worse. The whole car could be gone. Guess I need to 1) always make sure the car is locked &
2) take everything inside & make sure the car is super clean

On another note.....why are people so lame?

My 1st Grader!!!

It's official!!! Blake is a 1st Grader!!! Woohoo!!! The 1st day of school Blake & I were up bright & early (school starts @ 7:45am) & he got dressed & I gave him a light breakfast. We headed out the door a little early so we wouldn't be late because we were walking. As he & I walked he told me that his tummy was so excited that it was way ahead of us. Funny!! I'm so glad he didn't say he was nervous. I'm so excited for him this year. I hope he makes friends easily & excels at everything he does!!! No...I don't cry when I take him to school, although I do feel a sense of overwhelming JOY to know & see that he is growing up & learning. Wow!! What a feeling.

Walking up to the School.
Blake in his classroom.

Blake sitting at his desk.

(Once again with the tiny pics...these were from my cell phone.)

Went to Back to School night the other night & wow!!! Blake's going to learn a lot in 1st grade. I hope that we will all be able to work together so that he will be a really good student.

Updates for August

Sorry...no pictures for this post. For those of you who don't know....Brad got a new job at the end of July working as a teller for a bank. What a blessing it is for him to have been able to get this job. It's a start for him & hopefully he will do well & maybe continue climbing the ladder at this company. Anyway....we also moved in with Brad's mom for the time being so that we can get back on our feet. Thank Gooness & Thank you again to all the friends & family that helped us with our move. I never really knew how much "stuff" we really had. It was a good way to get rid of a lot of stuff that we really didn't need or even knew we had. Crazy how things just multiply. Things are going well & I got Blake transferred in to the home school where we are now. It's awesome because it's close enough that we can walk. We also had fun spending time at the Aquatic Center where Blake did his swim lessons & @ Sunsplash. Oh my gosh....the boys loved going there. They have the perfect area for kids & even Sonny goes down the slides with no problems. The last time we went he didn't even want me to sit next to him anymore. He has such an adventurous spirit. Not like my ever so cautious Blake. After the 1st time we went & I "pushed" Blake down the slide (I know....I'm terrible) he had tons of fun every time we went too. I'm trying to see if I can squeeze one more trip in before our Season Passes expire next week. We'll see. The summer has been fun & I think I've spent more time in a bathing suit (that is not exactly flattering) than I ever thought I would. It was worth it, but seriously....I NEED to get a new suit. Boys have it soooo easy. At least I can say I wasn't the WORST looking mom in a bathing suit....there was worse. LOL!!!

2nd Annual Alzheimer's 5k

So, the day after the FUN concert I went to we had the Alzheimer's 5k. Needless to say, I was exhausted but we were going to do the 5k bright & early. I think I got maybe 4 hours of sleep. Oh well, the things I do to go out & have a fun night. Anyway it's a huge thing for our family (Brad's side). His great-grandmother Joy had Alzheimers & this year it will be 2 years since she passed away. Westco Plumbing put together a nice big team & raised $$ for this great cause. So many people are affected by this disease & we need to learn more about what causes it.

This time we left the boys with Grandmother & Grandad so we didn't have to push any strollers & I could work on my time. I found this awesome program to help me so that when I finish the 9 week training I should be able to RUN/JOG the whole 5k. AWESOME!!! I think I was on week 4 this particular week. I improved my time by at least 1 minute. We crossed around 41 minutes & I wanted 40 minutes but oh well. Next time.

Here's a picture of the kids FUN RUN. It's always so cute to watch the little runners.
Team Westco's tent being manned by Grandmother & Grandad.

Here's Blake in his race...Go Blake Go!!

Here he is again!!

Here's me & Brad checking in after the run.

Well, I'm so glad we got to go & do this 5k. It's always fun to have Brad do something with me that I enjoy doing even if he is ALWAYS better than me. Oh well. Someday I'll be able to go at his pace instead of him going with mine. Love you Brad!!!

Paramore/No Doubt Concert

So after No Doubt performed on American Idol a few months back my friend Sonya & I decided it would be really fun to go & see them when they came in to town. Especially since their opening band was going to be Paramore & they are "freaking" awesome!! The 2 of us used to go to concerts all the time & we haven't been in some time so this was going to be really fun. She said she'd go ahead & get the tix & I could pay her back that night. Well.....she got 6 tix & then the order went through twice so she ended up with 12 tix & didn't know what to do. I told her I'd help her find people to take the tix. So I posted a note on Facebook that we had 6 extra tix if anybody was interested & they were only $15 bucks a pop. Who could beat that. Well I took an extra ticket for my friend Jaime cuz the only other concert she'd ever been to was Alanis Morissette (sp?) & I knew she had to go with me cuz "No Doubt"puts on an awesome show. I've seen them live before. Ok...1 down. Then my friends Julie & Amie said they wanted to go too...ok 2 more. Then my friend Hollie said she wanted to go too...1 more. So that was 4 tix down 2 to go. As the concert got closer Julie had 2 more people that wanted to go & finally all 6 extra tix had been accounted for. The day of the concert was so crazy. I had to work & then get my kids & Brad had to work too (yay) his new job at BofA but I was cutting it close. I needed to pick up Jaime...go to the bank....& pick up Hollie & get to Sonya's hotel room (that's another story) all by 5pm. Ya!!! Didn't happen. Well Sonya left the tix for me at the desk & then me, Jaime, & Hollie met up with Julie & Amie & friends off of HWY65 & Julie led us the back way to the venue. THANK GOODNESS for Julie's back way. We cut out so much traffic & made it to the concert before Paramore went on. Thank goodness there was another opening act. Finally met up with Sonya after the concert. I had sooooo much fun. I ♥ going to concerts. There's just nothing like it in the world. It's just awesome & Paramore & No Doubt totally ROCKED!!!! Gwen Stefani is amazing & I wish I had her body. Someday....maybe when I'm a ROCKSTAR (sigh)!! Here's a few pics that Hollie took with her phone. Too bad when I transfer them they turn out totally small. Lame!! Oh well.

The Marquis outside the venue
Jaime, Hollie & Me

Hollie & Me

Paramore's backdrop

Julie & her cousin.

(Apparently I have to copy the picture when it's big & then it will transfer normal size. I just learn as I go....LOL!!!) I'll have to ask Hollie why she didn't take any pics of No Doubt.