Christmas 2009

This year we mixed up Christmas a little bit and decided to head out to Sacramento to spend it with Dan's family and I am very glad we did. It was really nice to get to know Dan's sister better and spend time with his nieces. Shad definitely go to know his cousins better and I can't say he loved all of it. Shad's cousins are 2 very loving and adoring little girls. Kaileigh is 4 and Kaidence is 5 so you can only imagine how much fun that had with a real live doll known as Shad. They were so excited every time he had a poopy diaper so they could help me change it or when it was getting late they would ask me again and again if they could put him in his jammies. They even fought over who he would help open their presents on Christmas. The night before Christmas I helped the girls get out treats for Santa and write letters, I had to include Kaidence's letter cause it was adorable! The weather was awesome...well maybe I only thought so because we came from a 20 degree snow storm so 50 degrees felt like paradise. Most of the trip we just visited with Dan's family and some good childhood friends it was very relaxing. The trip home was a little crazy only because of the attempted bombing in Detroit. We heard that check-in was super slow so were arrived to the airport 3 hours early only to find a normal paced check-in and a very delayed flight. I am so glad I had a laptop with me to help kill some time. The vacation was great but as with and trip I am glad to be home again and Shad is even more so, I dont think i have seem him so excited to be on familiar grounds. He keeps running in and out of this bedroom and playing with all the toys we didn't take. I cant wait to sleep in my own bed tonight!

I NEED HELP!

So Dan and I have been talking a lot lately about being healthier and so far it has been that...just talk. Well Dan found a program that he thinks he can stick to and I think it is only because it is connected to MMA (mixed martial arts). We are going to attempt the 100 day fighters diet challenge. I is really strict so I am hoping my great friends will help me out with some meal ideas. We will be restricted to lean meats, veggies, fruits, herbs, olive oil and complex carbs. We cannot have any dairy products, processed food, sugar, or pretty much anything else that tastes yummy.We start on Jan 4th I think so let me know if you have any ideas and pray for me. I am really hoping we can make it the whole 100 days, I know it will make me feel and look better than I do now.

Oh Christmas Tree

No more mascara!!

A friend of Angie's is trying to get certified to do eyelash extensions so I thought I would try it out since she is charging less than half of what it usually costs and I have been wanting to do it for a long time. As it turns out I LOVE IT. Here are some pictures so you can remember what I used to look like. It was totally worth it.

Pre-Halloween Fun

I know its a bit late, I am really behind on my blogging. Before Halloween I sat the kids down one day to make Halloween cookies. On this day I just got out a kit I got at Target (which I will never get again). The cookies were like bricks, the frosting was ok, the sprinkles tasted like wax but the kids didn't seem to mind, well until they got to the eating part and didnt eat much of the cookie which they would normally devour. One of the cookies fell on the floor and even Juno (Angie's dog) wasn't able to bite through it.
Violet was very meticulous with her decorating with was a lot of fun to watch.
Shad was already a royal mess after just the orange frosting so I figured what the heck he might as well enjoy the black as well. He probably didn't really care but it was fun to watch.
Yes the is a Pile O Sprinkles that the Lily decided would suit the cookie best.

Las Vegas

A few of my siblings and I went to Vegas to see U2 in concert but we decided to make a weekend of it since we were there. We drove down Thursday morning, the drive was pretty uneventful which is actually really good considering we were traveling with 3 kids. Shortly after we got there we had to hit up a Buffet so we decided to go to the Bellagio since we had heard such good things about there buffet. The buffet was pretty good however I was a little dissapointed, the desserts were worth it. As you can see Shad LOVED the chocolate pie:)After the dinner we went outside to the fountain to see the water show. I was really excited to see how Shad and the other kids would like it. Well I am terrible mom to not notice that Shad was actually sitting on the speaker for the show so when the show started with a bang Shad was freaked out to say the least and refused to look in the direction of the fountains after that:( He was still freaked out when we made our way into the Bellagio gardens so he still would not look around. I am afraid that i have traumatized my kid for life and he will never like Vegas...I guess that is not such a bad thing.



I couldn't believe that Shad feel asleep on the way back to the hotel it was like a 5 min drive, and he fell asleep with his hand in his snack cup.
If you have not seen these snack cups you are missing out (well if you have a toddler). I think it is called a Munchie Mug and it is a snack cup that has an elastic type of material over the top of it so that the toddler can get his hand in but the snacks dont get all over the car, house etc.

shad had a lot of fun exploring the hotel room and found himself a nice cozy spot in between then sofa and the bed.
Yes this is the actual size of the pancakes they serve at one of our favorite places to eat in Vegas called the Hash House a Go Go. Needless to say Shad hardly touched it, well he actually touched it a lot but didnt eat very much.
The main reason we went to Vegas in the first place was to see U2. It was the closest to UT that they were touring so we decided it was worth the drive and IT WAS! This is the line we stood in to get into the concert although we found out when we got to the front that this was the General Admission line and we had assigned seats so that was a waste of time although we got to see a fight break out right in front of us so it was worth it in the end:)
The stage set up was incredible and over the top you could actually see it from outside the stadium from the freeway a few miles away.
I went with my sister Angie and brother in law Stefan who are both huge U2 fans as well so it was a blast. Dan wanted to go but he had to work so we will be going again in June to Anaheim so that he can see them in concert.
Even though it is fuzzy Im sure you call can recognize this dude. Overall it was an amazing concert especially because Black Eyed Peas opened for them and they were very entertaining as well. It was even worth the bottle of beer that got dumped on us by the hammered girl behind us.

The trip to Vegas was a blast I only hope that Dan can join us next time we make the trip.

Happy Halloween

Goodbye Elder and Sister Beachley

A few days before my parents left we got together at the park for my nieces birthday and to say goodbye.We got a new picture of all the grandkids with my parents as well as the whole family together, well except for Dan because he was at work:)
I let Shad enjoy a piece of cake and ice cream and instead of eating the ice cream he decided to man handle his cousins cake and eat it. I thought it was pretty funny but his cousin didn't think so.

I thought this was a cute picture of my Dad and the older grand kid Hannah.

Shad's first battle wound

I love that Shad is now walking. He is having fun getting around faster and I love that he spends less time on the ground, it was especially nice while traveling. Well we have learned the downfall of walking and that is falling. A few days ago he fell and scrapped his nose on the cement. I thought it was just a little sore and red but a day or two later we noticed that it was a bit worse than that and turned into a scab. It is nice that he is such a tough kid.
And yes that is a dog toy he is playing with:) EWWWW!!

Trip to San Diego

Shad and I went to San Diego but only for a couple days. We flew there then drove back with my aunt. The flight there was the best we have ever had...I LOVE JETBLUE! Because the flight was not full they let us have a whole row to ourselves and let me take on Shad's car seat even though I did not pay for a seat for him. It was so nice to have Shad in his own car seat because he was comfortable and sat up higher so he could see out the window. She did not cry for even fuss the whole flight. He watched TV, ate some snacks and stared out the window throughout the flight, I loved it.

I couldn't take a high chair with me since I flew so we had to made due with what we had and this is what we came up with. It worked ok for the few days we were there but not a long term solution, he kept crawling around on the seat and getting food everywhere.

While we were there we visited my aunts best friend who runs a preschool down in Chula Vista so he got to interact with some other kids and even did his first painting. It was a bit of a mess but worth it.
Overall it was a nice short getaway. My favorite part of the trip was on the drive home when we stopped in Primm Valley for a little shopping spree at my favorite store, William Sonoma Outlet! I got a bunch of gift cards for my birthday so to make it even better I didn't have to spend any money.