Foster Family Happiness

3 Day Weekend Fun

2012-01-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Adrian had a 3-day weekend (one of those perks of being a teacher). We had so much fun spending time together. We kicked off the weekend on Friday night by going on a date. We found this new Italian restaurant that was absolutely delicious and then we went and saw New Year’s Eve. Yep, my husband loves me and is willing to endure cheesy chick flicks occasionally. Since I had actually done my hair and makeup I figured we should take an updated pregnancy photo. Here I am at just about 36 weeks:

Hurray! Only 4 more weeks left. Unfortunately Adalynn is still laying across my belly rather than head down so it makes it a little painful when she stretches out. We’ll see what the doctor wants to do about it when I go in on Thursday.

On Saturday we had originally planned on going to the zoo (we’ve been enjoying absolutely gorgeous weather) but my mom needed some help cleaning out one of the rooms of her house so we headed over to help her instead. After finishing up we headed to the park for a picnic. Mackenzie had so much fun playing on the playground. My dad even met us there when he got off work. It was so nice outside and we just sat around enjoying yummy food. That night my parents treated us to dinner at The Melting Pot. It’s a fondue restaurant. Adrian had never been to one before. Mackenzie did pretty good. She ate a ton. The food was all absolutely delicious. Obviously my favorite part was dessert.

Sunday was a little bit of a sad day for Adrian because the Green Bay Packers lost. We didn’t actually get to watch the game since we don’t have TV, but that’s probably a good thing. Adrian had the Gamecast going on the computer though. Here are Mackenzie and Adrian all ready for the game:

During the game we decided to make some cookies as a family for our family dinner that night since we were hosting. Mackenzie has really loved helping cook lately. For Christmas She and I got matching aprons so of course we had to wear them.

On Monday we got up and went to the zoo! We decided to go to some of the parts that we never normally have time for, like the tropical birds, the primates, and the children’s zoo (that includes a petting zoo). We just took our time since I had to sit down a lot. We had so much fun! And we even found out that since we have a zoo membership we get carousel tickets for only $1.25, so we let Mackenzie do that. She is always begging us to let her go whenever we are there so we were happy to let her.

Mackenzie is growing up so much! She speaks in complete sentences and I’m not sure I could even count how many words she has in her vocabulary. She is still very much into anything princessy, but she’s never afraid to get dirty and run around. She’s my tomboy princess. I love it. Since our weather has been perfect (except for one awesome day of thunderstorms last week in which Adrian had to spend 45 minutes in a tornado drill at his school) and so Mackenzie has literally spent every single day outside, mostly on her trampoline. I don’t mind at all because she’s getting exercise, having fun, and it gives me a few minutes at a time (because I go out and check on her and such) to get some things done.

Though she definitely has her sassy moments, overall Mackenzie is very sweet and very polite. She loves to tell us she loves us and give us hugs and kisses. The other day we were making cookies (nope not the Sunday batch…) and she turned to me and said, “Mama, you’re my best mommy ever”. My heart just melted right then and there.

She also adores her daddy and the time she gets to spend with him. Daddy-daughter dates have become a must at our house, which I love. Usually it’s a date to the park or the mall play area. Last week she wanted a date with daddy so while he was at work I made some signs like they were in a movie theater. I set out popcorn and candy. When he got home I locked myself in my room and they enjoyed a movie theater date in our living room. Very sweet.

It’s hard to think that in a few short weeks Mackenzie will no longer be our only child. Though I am obviously very excited to have Adalynn added to our lives, I am realizing what a special time this is. Adrian and I are both making a special effort to cherish this time as much as possible.

Coming Home

2012-01-09T13:55:00.001-07:00

Sadly, our trip to Wisconsin had to come to an end. Though I think I was pretty ready to come home. Being uber pregnant and traveling is not necessarily the best mix. On our last full day there we spent the majority of the day at Becca’s. We had to go get Mackenzie from there anyway. Mary, Mary Jo, and Shane also came. Becca grilled up some brats and hot dogs for everyone to enjoy for lunch and we had fun just hanging out together. Oh and getting tinsel put in our hair :).

Mackenzie having fun putting stickers on Shane’s face.

That night we went back to Amanda’s after stopping by Art’s work to say goodbye to him. We are so grateful to them to let us sleep there. Mackenzie had so much fun playing with her cousins and always asks to go play Isabella’s. Shane had actually been sleeping over at Art and Mary Jo’s, but he spent the night at Amanda’s so we could get an early start the next morning.

The next day was full of more goodbyes. We drove Shane to Indiana and had to say goodbye for a very long time. We will not get to see him until he gets back from his deployment. Even Mackenzie understood how sad the situation was. But I have to say we are all so proud of him. After dropping Shane off in Indiana (it was like 7 hours from Wisconsin) we drove another 4 hours to Nashville. This is where my sisters live! Woohoo! Both my sisters’ families were waiting for us when we got to Marisa’s house. We had some yummy tacos and spent a little bit of time together before the Phillips had to leave. we even opened some presents. The Phillips gave Mackenzie a Belle doll that she ADORES.

Marisa and I also had each other’s name for Christmas so we exchanged presents then. I had made Marisa some sugar scrub and an eye mask and she got me a bunch of yarn and a crocheting book. I have to say I’m pretty excited to learn more from the book. She started teaching me over Thanksgiving so I really appreciated the gift.

Unfortunately Mariah, Derrek, and the kids couldn’t stay long so we had to say bye to them. I’m so glad we got to see them though, even if it was briefly. After they left we put Mackenzie to bed and stayed up a bit longer to talk to Matt and Marisa.

The next morning we headed to Starbucks with Matt and Marisa for breakfast (Adrian got like 6 Starbucks gift cards from his students) and then it was time to hit the road again. It was 13 hours to home. We actually drove home on New Years Eve. Before going home we stopped at my parents’ to say hi and give them some presents from the Phillips but then we headed home for some much needed sleep. Yep, no New Years celebrations for us this year. Oh well.

2011 was a great year though! We went to Disney World AND Harry Potter World, my brother got married, we found out we were expecting our second girl, found out my brother and his wife are expecting a girl, got settled into our house, Adrian got transferred to a closer school, and so much more. We have so much to be grateful for over the past year and I’m excited to see what 2012 brings, including the birth of our new baby girl! Only 5 more weeks!

And with that I will leave you with the most recent belly photo of me at 34 weeks (so this was actually last week):

5 Years of Bliss

2012-01-09T13:32:00.001-07:00

This year Adrian and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Sometimes I can’t believe it’s already been 5 years. I mean, where has the time gone? Weren’t we just getting married?

To celebrate Adrian planned a very special day for us (we take turns planning). I don’t have any pictures from the day, sorry. We started by dropping Mackenzie off at Becca’s. Then after picking up our trampoline at Mary’s (Becca had gotten it for us at Walmart on Black Friday..score!) we headed to the Dells for some lunch. We decided to go Pizza Pub because that’s where our niece Ashley works. We knew we wouldn’t be seeing her again before we left so we wanted to make sure to see her on last time and say goodbye.

After lunch we drove down to Madison. Adrian had a surprise planned for us, but apparently we were early for it so we walked around the mall some. Man I can’t wait until I can buy some normal clothes again! There were so many good sales! Then we still had some time to kill so we drove up the street to the capitol and drove around that. Like most other capitols it was gorgeous.

Then it was time for our surprise! Adrian had booked a couples massage for us! Prenatal for me of course. I was so super excited. I’ve only had one professional massage before and it was great. Adrian had never had one. Both of our massages were excellent. They didn’t have a prenatal table so they had me lay on my side all cushioned with pillows. It was just what this aching pregnancy body needed. Very sweet and thoughtful of Adrian.

After that we headed across the street to Red Lobster for dinner. I was so proud of myself because I ate an entire Ultimate Feast in one sitting! Considering my stomach is all squished by the baby that is quite the feat. It was all delicious.

We then picked up a movie (Crazy Stupid Love) and headed to his Aunt Mary Lou’s cabin. They are always so generous and let us stay there when we want. The movie was so hilarious!

We both slept so well that night considering we didn’t have to share a room with Mackenzie (news flash: apparently she talks in her sleep! Like full on sentences! One night she asked Adrian what he wanted for Christmas, another time she exclaimed that Daddy had turned into a dragon, and so much more!).

Then it was back to Becca’s for our last day in Wisconsin. More on that later.

I am so grateful for these past 5 years. I am so lucky to be married to Adrian. He is so kind and funny and supportive and considerate. I could go on and on. He is a wonderful husband and father. Each day I fall more and more in love with him. These past 5 years have brought so much change to our lives and I am so grateful to have been with him for those changes. I look forward to what the next 5 years have for us and eternity after that!

I love my family!

Ripley’s Believe It or Not

2012-01-09T13:12:00.001-07:00

Like I mentioned in last post, a bunch of us headed over to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum one afternoon. So much fun! It’s basically a museum full of weird and crazy things, all based on the TV show and comics and such. I was afraid Mackenzie would be scared cause some of the stuff is a little freaky but she did great. This world is definitely full of bizarre things!

This cow had 2 legs coming out of it’s back!

Am I Really 27???

2012-01-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

So I had another birthday. Those darn things just keep coming! But I didn’t mind so much because I had some awesome celebrations! So Christmas is my actual birthday. On that day my sweet daughter woke me up with kisses and by whispering ‘happy birthday’ in my ear. So cute. And everyone was so sweet, wishing me happy birthday all day long. plus my day had started with biscuits and gravy…a present from Amanda and David. My favorite breakfast! Oh and I should mention that Adrian had actually bought me some fabulous boots on Black Friday as my birthday present!

We actually celebrated my birthday on Monday, the day after Christmas. This is when everyone was able to be together. We started the day over at Amanda’s. I had brought some vinyl sayings with me so we picked up some wood and spray paint and spent the morning making some fun signs! A craft day is always good with me.

While we were crafting the kids were all playing on Amanda’s family’s new Kinect. It was hilarious to watch Mackenzie jumping up and down. The boys all went to the movies to see the new Mission: Impossible. When we and they were done we met up in the Dells to go to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, but I’ll save that for a separate post because I have so many pictures for it.

That night everyone got together for some birthday awesomeness. I decided I wanted pizza as my birthday dinner so we got some yummy Pizza Hut delivered. We ate until we were all completely stuffed.

Then it was present time!

Art and Mary Jo got me Packers and Wisconsin ornaments for our tree. I’m so excited to put them out next year!

Boots from my brother! I love them!

The Deardens got me a laminator! Pretty excited. I’ve already used it to make labels for our now organized garage and pantry (nesting much?)

After I opened presents (including a gift from Eva and a couple of gift cards from Mary and Becca) our food had settled enough for cake! I requested Better Than Sex cake, though it’s referred to as Better Than Anything cake in their family.

What a fun birthday! To be honest I wasn’t expecting much since Grandma’s 90th birthday was this year and 27 just seems so insignificant compared to that. But of course my in-laws made it awesome! Thanks everyone!

Christmas Eve and Christmas

2012-01-09T12:13:00.001-07:00

Christmas Eve is the day of celebration, tons of food, and presents in the Foster family. there are lots of reasons for that but it doesn’t really matter why. We all went over to Art and Mary Jo’s apartment for Christmas Eve. They have this big gathering room in their complex which they rented out so we could all fit somewhere. We had an absolutely delicious dinner. Classic Christmas food…turkey, ham, salads, casseroles, potatoes, etc. I also made sweet potato casserole for them this year and it was a big hit. Of course there were lots of treats to enjoy too.

After dinner we read the nativity story and sang songs. It’s tradition for people to act it out as the story is read. Mackenzie got to be an angel and Shane was a wise ~~guy~~ man.

The whole cast. You can see Mackenzie was very excited to be there.

This picture is a perfect example of Mackenzie’s angel debut. She just ran all over and was not interested in sitting still with her cousin Ashley (who we put as another angel to help take care of Mackenzie). Oh well. She still looked cute.

Singing songs

After the nativity it was time for presents! There were tons of people there so it took forever but we still had fun!

Art with the gospel puzzle blocks I made them. Each side has a different gospel picture.

Isabella with the memory board I made her (we had Amanda’s family this year)

Mary Jo made all of the grandkids blankets this year. I have to say I’m majorly impressed. Here is Mackenzie with her Rapunzel blanket. She absolutely loves it!

Sporting her new apron from the Deardens. I have a matching one! She also got a couple pjs and a Green Bay Packers cheerleader dress from them.

Princess pjs from Mommy and Daddy

Sign I made for Amanda and David

Mary Jo made a blanket for Shane too :)

Shane got batman pjs from my parents

We had lots of fun. I actually got to meet a couple of our nephews that I hadn’t met yet, Grant and Sidney (well I had met Sidney briefly but it was years ago). We were really grateful they could be there.

Christmas morning I was a complete photography failure. I had accidently left the camera in the car the night before and I did not want to go out and get it before Mackenzie woke up. But she absolutely loved going downstairs and finding her stocking with her presents from Santa. Santa brought her a Disney princess CD (which we are listening to right at this moment), candy, bubbles, play make up, coloring pencils, and a coloring book, as well as some random odds and ends. Then we ate some yummy breakfast. After breakfast we had Mackenzie open her two presents from us that were under the tree. I made her castle mirror for her room (which she loves). Then we showed her the box from the big family present…a trampoline! She was very excited when we explained that we would get to play with it when we got back (ok not me for a couple months but that’s ok). And play with it she has! It’s been absolutely beautiful weather so she has been outside every single day playing on it. Today we are having thunderstorms and she is so bummed that she can’t go outside and play on it. Here are some pictures from when we first set it up:

After presents we hurried and got ready for church. We decided to go to Adams for church so Adrian could see the people he grew up with. They put on a really nice music program. Then we headed over to Art and Mary Jo’s for the rest of the day. Mary Jo actually had to go to work, but that’s ok. We played canasta, watched movies, and gorged ourselves with too much food. Uncle Shane had gotten Mackenzie An American Tail and Fievel Goes West so she enjoyed watching those, as well as a Barbie movie Aunt Eva got for her. Not everyone was there, but we did get to spend time with Becca, Mary, Art, and Eva.

Christmas was great. Mackenzie was starting to really understand and it was so much fun getting her presents. Adrian and I chose to forgo presents for each other this year, but it was ok because we got to spend lots of time together and seeing our daughter happy made us happy. And that’s what the spirit of Christmas is about, right?

Celebrating 90 Years Plus Other Fun

2012-01-09T11:24:00.001-07:00

This year we spent Christmas break up in Wisconsin. I know I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love that Adrian gets a full two weeks break for Christmas. So much family time plus it means we get to maximize our time in Wisconsin. We had completely prepped Mackenzie. She was so excited to go to Wisconsin and see Grandma and Grandpa and play in the snow. Wait, you’re telling me that Wisconsin did NOT have a white Christmas??? Yep. I know. We had promised our daughter some wicked awesome snow play and, well, it didn’t happen. Oh well.

It did actually snow one night a few days before Christmas so we went out and played (ok I just took pictures) as much as we could before it melted. Which it did within about 2 days. It wasn’t deep enough to do much but Mackenzie did learn to make great snowballs and snow angels. Plus daddy taught her all about rolling down the hills in Amanda’s backyard.

Mackenzie and her cousin Jonny. He wasn’t as impressed and went inside after a few minutes.

Snowball fight!

She loved being able to wear her sparkly pink coat. I think she looks so adorable all bundled up!

One of the days leading up to Christmas Adrian’s oldest sister Eva took us out for a day of fun. We went out to lunch for some yummy brats (ok I actually had pizza, but that’s besides the point), then we headed over to one of the indoor amusement parks for some fun. We started out with bowling, which I have to say was pretty hilarious considering my huge belly and sense of balance. I’m not the world’s greatest bowler, but this was definitely my worst bowling score in a long long time. But I still had fun. Plus it was Mackenzie’s first time bowling. They had a ramp for her. She loved pushing the ball down it.

After that Adrian took Mackenzie on her first go kart ride. She loved it! In fact she loved it so much that they went twice!

Standing in line for the go karts

Ready to go!

On December 23 we had a couple of awesome things happen. First we headed to the train station to pick up Uncle Shane! He’s stationed in Indiana for his deployment training and they got Christmas leave. So he took the train up to Wisconsin and spent the time with us. Mackenzie was so excited to have him there (though at one point Shane asked her who her favorite uncle was and she promptly replied, “uncle Matt”. Hilarious! Uncle Matt is pretty awesome though so I understand). From the train station we immediately headed straight over to Adams (the town Adrian grew up in) for a birthday celebration for his grandma. She turned 90 years old this year! She actually shares a birthday with yours truly so they decided to have the party a couple days early. There were tons of people I didn’t know but then lots of family I did!

Poor Shane was so tired…

For her birthday Adrian and I decided to make a family tree depicting all of her descendants. I absolutely love how it turned out, though I could be a little biased. Here’s the birthday girl with it:

The night consisted of dinner and of course lots of yummy treats. Grandma was also presented with a a book of letters that tons of family and friends had written for her.

We were so glad we were able to go up and celebrate with her. Adrian is very close to his grandparents (his grandpa passed away when he was a teenager). He spent tons of time with them when he was a kid. We’ve even decided to use his grandmother’s middle name, Josephine, as Adalynn’s middle name. We love you Grandma! Happy Birthday!

Early Christmas

2012-01-04T15:20:00.001-07:00

So since none of our Texas family was going to be together for Christmas we decided to hold an early Christmas to exchange presents. Everyone gathered at our house since we actually had a Christmas tree set up to put the presents under. We ate some yummy dinner to start the night off.

Then it was present time! Of course the girls had the majority of the gifts to open and it was so fun to watch them.

Thanks a lot Auntie Lauren….this is a lenticular puzzle and gives me the WORST headache….so of course Mackenzie loves it!

Lauren had Adrian’s name and got him two Taylor Swift CDs. That smile is genuine…we’ve listened to the the CDs so much!

My parents got Mackenzie a chest of dress up clothes and a set of princess shoes. So of course that meant that the girls immediately had to start dressing up!

We also took some time to take a couple family photos.

We had lots of fun spending time as a family. Of course Mackenzie (and Skylar too) were pretty spoiled. We let Mackenzie open one of our presents to her as well so we’d have just a little less to travel with. We gave her a Barbie and walking horse, which has been a huge hit. My mom got me some beautiful jewelry. Adrian also got some really old maps of the US. I may not enjoy them but he was pretty darn excited.

Sitting on Santa’s Lap

2012-01-04T08:39:00.001-07:00

If you recall, Mackenzie wasn’t too keen on sitting on Santa’s lap last year. I’ll be honest when I say that I didn’t have high hopes for this year. Sure, she’s older and not shy at all, but I still didn’t want to have my hopes dashed to pieces.

But it was a huge success! She was so excited and walked right up to him and let him put her in his lap. Then she even smiled for the picture! She didn’t say very much excited hi, goodbye, and thank you, but still! It was very sweet. I was so proud of her and the picture they took was adorable!

Shane’s Deployment Ceremony

2011-11-29T14:11:00.001-07:00

Though our Thanksgiving was jam packed with fun, Sunday was a little more solemn. We hopped in my dad’s truck with my parents and grandpa and headed out to Austin for Shane’s deployment ceremony. It was FREEZING and really windy but it was worth it. They had a couple speakers talking about what the troop would be doing overseas and the long history of this particular National Guard troop. Afterwards they gave the soldiers the rest of the afternoon to spend with their families. Here we are right after the ceremony:

Mackenzie is in every picture because she REFUSED to let go of her Uncle Shane. She sure is going to miss him.

The other family who came over for Thanksgiving also came to Austin for the ceremony. We all headed to Texas Land and Cattle for some dinner. So delicious! Then it was time to say goodbye. Granted, for Adrian, Mackenzie, and I it wasn’t very sad because we get to see him in a few weeks for Christmas. But for everyone else it was the last time they would see him until he returns next year. We then drove back home. Shane flew to Indiana Monday morning to start his intensive training. From there is where he’ll leave for Afghanistan.

I have to say I am so incredibly proud of my brother. We had a couple talks before he left and he was recognizing more this time (this is his second tour after all) that life was going to go on without him. He is going to miss the birth of both his new nieces. he is sacrificing so much for his country and I hope he knows how much we appreciate and love him.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T13:45:00.001-07:00

Holy cow what a week! I’m still exhausted just thinking about it! Our Thanksgiving week actually started the Friday before when my grandpa came in and surprised Shane with a visit (the rest of us knew he was coming but Shane had NO IDEA). Mackenzie loves her great-grandpa, though she’s not necessarily a big fan of his roaring. That night we went out to eat with the whole family plus some of Kevin’s friends to celebrate his birthday, which was the following Monday. We sang him happy birthday and then of course to get the attention off himself Kevin reminded everyone that he shared a birthday with grandpa so we sang to him too.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, Monday and Tuesday were spent with the Barbers. Then it was back to Thanksgiving festivities. On Wednesday Adrian had the day off so we all headed over to my parents. Lauren and I spent the day baking (I made a pumpkin roll for the first time) and cleaning. I have to say, pregnancy does NOT agree with me being on my feet. I was pretty sick and sore by the end of the day. My sister Marisa and her husband Matt actually got in that night but we didn’t wait around because I felt so awful. Plus Mackenzie and I were both coming down with colds.

Oh! I forgot to mention that Wednesday morning I had a check up. I am now 29 (28 at the time of the of the appointment) weeks. So hello third trimester! And hello check ups every two weeks! Everything is looking great. I’ve gained about 15 lbs. and I’m measuring right on time. Here’s a picture:

Anyway, Thursday morning we headed over as soon as we could to participate in the Thanksgiving festivities. I was so happy to see my sister! Adrian and Matt thoroughly enjoyed watching football together. We ate so much good food. My parents also invited another family that Shane is really close to over, as well as the widow of songwriter Jimmy Duncan. He recently passed away. They live a couple streets over and my parents would go over and help out a lot before he died. It was a full house but we managed!

Friday we headed over for some leftovers. After lunch Marisa, Lauren, Adrian, my dad, and I went and did a little mild Black Friday shopping at Kohl’s and Target. We still got some great deals even in the afternoon. It’s funny, though, because I hadn’t planned on spending any money. All the money we spent was because of Adrian! Let’s just say he’s a sucker for his wife and daughter. He’s so great to us.

Later that afternoon we had to say goodbye to Shane. He had to go to Austin to get ready for deployment (don’t worry, we got to see him one last time, but that’s a separate post). After he left we all headed over to our house for some homemade Foster chili and games. We had so much fun hanging out.

On Saturday we headed over for leftovers again and to say goodbye to Marisa and Matt so they could drive back to Nashville. It was so good to see them. While they were here Marisa even took some time to teach me how to crochet (just the basic stuff). I’ve been practicing and I think I’m getting the hang of it!

Here’s the family before they headed out:

Sunday was the last day of Thanksgiving break but I’m going to save that for a post all of its own. But man! What a week! Great company, great food, and great fun!

Barbers Come Visit

2011-11-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

Last week we got a *somewhat* surprise visit from my best friend from college, Shiloh, and her two little boys. I say somewhat because it was actually supposed to be a complete surprise but Adrian never checked his email so he didn’t confirm to her so Shiloh just ended up calling me a couple days prior and making sure it was ok that she came down and visited. Duh! Of course it was ok!

They got in on Monday and Mackenzie and Andrew got along so well. They just played together a whole bunch. No fighting. They did play outside for a little bit but the mosquitos are relentless this year and started eating away at our sweet little ones. Oh well. After the kiddos went to bed that night Adrian went to the grocery store so Shiloh and I could just hang out. We did some crafty stuff and just sat and talked.

The next morning we had planned on going to the zoo since I have a membership but OF COURSE the one day I don’t want it to rain….it does. A lot. So those plans were scrapped. Instead we went over to my dad and Shane’s fire station so Andrew could see a fire truck up close for the first time. He absolutely loved it. And of course Mackenzie always loves seeing the fire truck.

Then we headed back to the house for lunch and a bit more playing.

Shiloh was heading to another friend’s house for the afternoon and evening so on her way out we headed to Ritter’s Frozen Custard (a very important stop here in Katy) and had some yummy ice cream.

Unfortunately then it was time to say goodbye. Mackenzie of course gave lots of hugs and kisses. She walks about Andrew all the time now. I’m so glad they got along so well and I’m so glad they were able to come visit!

Holocaust Museum

2011-11-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

The Saturday before Thanksgiving Adrian, Lauren, and I had the opportunity to go to the Holocaust Museum with Adrian’s History Club. I had never been to this one so I was pretty excited to go. We all drove separate and then a docent was there to give us a tour. To be honest, I would have preferred to explore the museum on my own so I could have time to read everything and see all the pictures, but the students seemed to enjoy the tour. I definitely want to go back.

Rail car that carried prisoners

This boat saved thousands of Danish lives by smuggling them out of the country. They could only take like 8 people at a time because that’s all that would fit hidden below the deck.

After our tour we had the opportunity to meet a survivor. His name was Zoly and he was from Romania. He told Adrian the story of how he survived the Holocaust:

When he was about 14 they stopped allowing Jews to go to school (not even Jewish-only schools). Side note: he kept telling all the students to stay in school…no wonder! He went out and found a job. He found a job at a hotel as an elevator operator. It turns out that hotel was where all the German officials were staying while planning the takeover of Romania. They were all plain-clothed though so Zoly didn’t know it. Zoly was green-eyed and blonde though so the Germans didn’t recognize him as a Jew (kind of goes against so many of their theories but whatever). One official asked him to take him around the town and help him get familiar with it. Zoly spoke perfect German so the official actually thought he was German. Eventually that hotel became the official headquarters for the Holocaust in Romania. The German official told the other officials that Zoly was a German citizen and he was given a paper stating so. One night the Germans went around rounding up all the Jews and shipped them off to work and death camps. Zoly put that paper on his door so the Germans skipped over it and Zoly and all his immediate family were spared.

Isn’t that amazing? He had other stories but Adrian mostly heard them (I had to sit down a lot).

Halloween and 25 Weeks

2011-11-01T13:03:00.001-06:00

Before I get into a recap of all our Halloween festivities I wanted to share another picture of me as my pregnancy progresses. I like to have these pictures for the future. I know Mackenzie loves looking at pictures of me when she was in my belly so I hope Adalynn does too. Here I am at 24 (almost 25) weeks:

I promise I am getting bigger even if I don’t look it. Instead of my belly going out, it has gone up and my uterus is already up to my ribs, meaning my organs are already smushed up too. Adalynn is active and I can feel her move a lot. I can even see her move most of the time. Mackenzie has absolutely no interest in feeling her move, mostly because it means she has to sit still. Oh well. I’m sure Adalynn will get LOTS of loving from her sister once she’s here. My nausea is finally starting to let up. I actually don’t think I’ve thrown up in like a week which is awesome. I am still very tired and go to bed pretty early though. At my doctor’s appointment last week everything looked great (though I’ve only gained about 10 pounds…go ahead…hate me).

Halloween this year was lots of fun. Mackenzie of course wanted to go as Rapunzel. She looked so cute in her costume. On Friday night we headed to our ward Halloween party. They had yummy food, a costume parade, a pinata, and of course trunk or treat. Here’s Mackenzie in the parade:

We also carved pumpkins for FHE last week. Unfortunately they didn’t last all the way to Halloween before we had to throw them out, but that’s ok! We still got pictures of our “scary” and “silly” pumpkins.

Last night we headed over to my parents’ house to trick or treating. Mackenzie and Skylar went together. Adrian and I hadn’t planned on dressing up but then at the last minute I saw these great ideas and so I had to make them. That’s a steak in his belly.

I also saw another idea for a maternity costume that I made for Lauren and Kevin. Her shirt says “I’m making a human, what’s your super power?” and they both have capes. The E stands for Emma, which is what they are going to name their little girl.

Here’s a little photo shoot of the two princesses before we left:

My mom and Shane…he stayed home to pass out candy.

Mackenzie did so awesome trick or treating! We hardly even went up to the door with her. Though at times she did con some of the people out of more candy. She would say “one more ok?” and then reach in for another piece of candy! Oh goodness we were laughing so hard at her. At one point she had been eating a sucker while trick or treating. She finished it and at the next house proceeded to give it to the man after he gave her candy! He was like, uh thanks. Well at least she’s not a litter bug right? On one of the streets these people had set up a haunted house in their garage. Mackenzie was pretty much terrified and keeps talking about the “scary man” but we still had fun. She got tons and tons of candy. And one house even gave her little mini tubs of playdough! I was pretty excited about that. Needless to say Mackenzie and I have been playing with them all morning.

We had lots of fun this year and it was great seeing Mackenzie enjoy herself. She was so kind to everyone who opened their door and did not hesitate in starting a conversation with them. My little social butterfly.

And because it was Halloween and I really wanted to play in picnik…a final pic to say Happy Halloween!

Another Photo Shoot

2011-10-24T08:58:00.001-06:00

The other week Mackenzie looked absolutely adorable for church (not that she doesn’t always look adorable, but this week she was extra adorable). So we took her out back for a little photo shoot to show off her cuteness.

I think I have a pretty darn good looking family! And I’m sure Adalynn (oh yeah did I mention we decided on a name? Adalynn Josephine..I think it’s so beautiful) will be no exception!

Zoo Boo

2011-10-24T08:25:00.001-06:00

So because I have a fabulous mother-in-law we have a membership to the zoo, meaning we can go as much as we want. We’ve definitely already made it worth the money (which wasn’t very much considering it’s free admission for a year). During the weekends in October they do this thing called Zoo Boo. They have booths set up all over the zoo with trick or treat candy, tattoos, coloring, dancing, and more. Plus you’re at the zoo so you get that usual excitement! The kids are invited to dress up in their costumes. Oh and they get to decorate and take home a little mini pumpkin. So fun! Last weekend Adrian took Mackenzie by himself on a date. They didn’t take any pictures because we knew we were going again this past weekend. We took Skylar with us too. Lauren and my mom were supposed to go but my mom was sick and Lauren was on bedrest for the weekend.

Ariel and Rapunzel before we went into the zoo

Getting Zoo Boo tattoos

Coloring Wall

Hula hoops. Mackenzie was LOVING the dancing!

They had a bunch of different little games to play and gave out little prizes to each of the kids

Posing with the elephants…I love seeing the two little baby elephants!

Painting their pumpkins

Little fall backdrop they had set up around the pumpkin patch

Playing in the pygmy huts

Playing the African drums

The rhinos. This is the point where Mackenzie started getting tired

Getting eaten by the lion.

Overall we had so much fun! The girls were really well behaved and we loved seeing all the animals as well as do all the Halloween things. Plus seeing all the little kids in their costumes was so much fun!

Fire Fest 2011

2011-10-23T10:53:00.001-06:00

A couple weekends ago the Cy-Fair Fire Department put on their annual Fire Fest. I wasn’t able to go to the daytime events that were open to the public because I was teaching at Super Saturday with our ward. But Adrian took Mackenzie with my family and they had a great time together.

That night they took all the fire trucks away and had a special event set up for the firefighters and their families. On our way over Mackenzie fell asleep so this is what she looked like the first part of the event:

There were so many fun things for kids to do though so we decided to wake her up so she could enjoy them. And I’m so glad we did! They had a bunch of different bounce houses that Mackenzie loved playing on. I think the best part, though, was this little airplane ride they had. The airplanes went up in the air and around in circles. I lost count of the number of times Mackenzie rode on it.

She just waved and waved the whole time she was going around. It was adorable. They also had a little mini merry-go-round that she loved. Once again she just waved and waved. So fun!

We had dinner that night (it actually was kind of disappointing and ended up making both Lauren and I very very sick). They had a raffle going on as well. Last year I won a gift card to a restaurant so I was really hoping for something this year. But this year they only gave out one ticket per family instead of individually. This meant that since we were considered part of my dad’s family we didn’t get one. Oh well. Kevin won a “bubba keg” which is just an oversized water jug and my parents won this cheesy homemade “crystal” spider. Also disappointing, but that’s ok! We had lots of fun with the other stuff so that’s what matters!

Monkey Joes and Singing Time

2011-10-11T08:55:00.001-06:00

Last week my sister in law Lauren called me up and wanted to see if Mackenzie and I wanted to go to Monkey Joes with her and Sky. Of course! If you’ve never been to Monkey Joes, it’s a place full of those bounce houses, inflatable slides, and obstacle courses. Pure awesomeness, basically. Mackenzie was literally shaking with excitement. She just ran form each thing to the next and was so disappointed when we had to leave. I’m glad she was able to go and play to her heart’s content.

Thanks for taking us Auntie Lauren!

Last week Adrian also thought it was time to start teaching Mackenzie Christmas songs, much to my dismay (I’m not anti-Christmas songs, just anti-Christmas-songs-before-Thanksgiving). Well we got this adorable video of her singing with her Daddy.

Makes me laugh every time. I wonder if the next little girl is going to be as crazy and outgoing as her sister. I’m always wondering how she is going to be different and similar to Mackenzie.

Fort Worth

2011-10-04T07:44:00.001-06:00

Two weekends we had the opportunity to go up to Fort Worth for the weekend. Adrian’s parents were there for a Family and Marriage Therapy conference that his dad was attending. They got a big enough hotel room for all of us so we could see them. We were so excited to see them. Adrian left work a couple hours early on Friday and we drove up, getting there around 7. It was nice to have a few hours to chat and such before going to bed (Mackenzie had a hard time falling asleep and didn’t go to bed until 11 that night). Mary Jo, Mackenzie, and I rode the free trolley that goes around downtown so Mackenzie could see all the lights.

The next morning while Adrian and I were getting ready Mary Jo took Mackenzie across the street to see the water gardens. There are a bunch of different water fixtures to see. Pretty cool.

When we were all ready we headed out to explore downtown Fort Worth. I had been to Fort Worth just once before for the TCU v. BYU game and let me tell you, the parts I had seen had not left me impressed. But downtown is really nice! We first headed to this museum that was in the very first firehouse. It was all about the 150 years of Fort Worth.

After that we walked around some more. Mary Jo had this book of coupons from Art’s conference so we used one to get some free delicious chocolate. Then we went and got some lunch from Uno’s pizza (so good!) and brought it back to the conference center to eat with Art during his lunch break. After lunch Adrian, Mackenzie, and I headed back to the hotel for a little break. We were pretty tired, especially me. I napped a little while Mackenzie watched a movie. Then that afternoon my best friend and college roommate Shiloh and her family came to visit! They only live about 45 minutes from Fort Worth so we were glad we were able to see them. We hadn’t seen them since Sam’s blessing in February so their boys had sure grown a lot! First we headed over to check out the water gardens. One of the fountains had steps so you could actually walk down into it, which was pretty cool. We left Sam at the top with Mary Jo and headed down. Here’s a pic from the top of us at the bottom:

And here are our family’s at the bottom:

Here are some other pictures from exploring the gardens:

Then we decided to head back to the hotel and do some swimming. Mackenzie of course was in heaven being able to swim. Andrew hasn’t had as much experience so he was a little more nervous. Sam was so excited though. While I held him he just kept using my belly to bounce up and down. He was having lots of fun. Since it was an indoor pool the temperature was perfect.

After swimming we waited for Art to get back and then headed out to dinner. We decided to go to the BBQ restaurant that they had already tried. The food was really good but we had to wait FOREVER to get seated (and we got there pretty early). I felt really bad because the kids were really tired and hungry. Luckily I had graham crackers in my purse to keep them all happy. Then while Mackenzie was eating her grilled cheese (like literally while she was chewing) she started to fall asleep. It was like the chewing was lulling her to sleep. Finally she set her sandwich down and just turned to me wanting me to hold her. The minute she laid her head on my chest she was asleep. That never happens! But we had had a pretty long day. She slept all the way back to the hotel and through the night until 5 the next morning. Then, unfortunately, she was up for the day.

It was so good to see everyone. I loved spending time with both my in-laws and the Barbers. We headed home Sunday morning. Mackenzie had been such a good girl all weekend. I was so proud of her. And she didn’t have a single potty accident until we were on our drive home. Awesome!

Before we left we made sure to get one picture with Grandpa:

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the awesome weekend!

Another one!

2011-10-02T07:57:00.001-06:00

So this past weekend we went to Fort Worth but I don’t have all the pictures I want for the post because my mother-in-law took some great ones and I want to get them from her. So these posts will be out of order but that’s ok! I really wanted to get this post done!

This past Wednesday we had our big 20 week ultrasound. Adrian left work early and came home early and ate lunch with us. Then the 3 of us headed to the doctor’s office! The ultrasound tech asked us what we thought the gender was. We said boy cause that’s really what we thought. Nope! We’re having a girl! And there was no doubt about it! Here’s an ultrasound pic of our little girl:

If you can tell, she has her feet way up over her head. She’s completely curled into a ball. The ultrasound tech had a hard time getting some of the shots she needed because of the crazy position she was in! But she is looking great and measuring just what she needs to be for 20 weeks.

My doctor was surprised to hear that I still have really nauseous days. I’m also still completely exhausted. This is really different from Mackenzie, which is one reason we thought it was a boy. But we’re very excited to have a girl. Adrian says he’s used to being outnumbered (6 sisters and only 1 brother will do that). He’s super excited to have another little girl. And we think we’re doing pretty well with the one we have!

The names we’re leaning towards are Mackayla or Addalyn. Adele was included in there but I think we’ve ruled it out. We want to use Adrian’s grandmother’s middle name, Josephine, as her middle name. I think Mackayla Josephine flows a little better than Addalyn Josephine but I still haven’t quite decided. We figure we have 4 1/2 months to make up our minds.

Here’s my 20 week picture:

I’m definitely growing. I seem to be carrying a little wider this pregnancy. Baby girl is kicking lots and lots. She’ll especially start kicking if I have a waistband that’s too tight. I guess she doesn’t like being constrained. I was kind of hoping for a snuggler but I’m wondering if she’ll be more like her big sister. That’s ok too though.

We just can’t wait to meet our little girl!

Remembering September 11

2011-09-11T10:45:00.001-06:00

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since that fateful day. Like everyone says, I can remember exactly where I was when I found out. I wanted to record both mine and Adrian’s experiences so when I print this blog into a book our kids and grandkids can look back and remember.

Brittany

September 11, 2001: I was a senior in high school. School started at 7:30 and classes were an hour long. I remember after first period I was at the vending machines getting a snack (I had already been up for a long time…I had seminary at 6 that morning!) before I headed to second period. While I was there my good friend Sam Flash ran up to me and told me that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I didn’t believe him. He told me he found out during first. I was shocked. I remember rushing to my second period class, economics, to find the TV already on. Soon after I walked in the door the cameras switched to the Pentagon which had just been hit moments before. We watched the news the rest of class. During this time I watched both towers fall. I remember at times having to fight back tears. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. The rest of the day was spent going from classroom to classroom, TV to TV. The footage played over and over again and I remember just feeling numb. Many students’ parents came and got them from school. People were scared. There were rumors everywhere of more attacks on the way. Many were scared the Ship Channel bridge would be a target because of Houston’s tie to the oil industry.

I thought about my family a lot that day. My sister Marisa was living and working in DC. I wondered how she was doing in a city that I’m sure was in panic. In the days that followed she sent an email out documenting her experience. She had worked across the river from the Pentagon. My other sister Mariah lived with her family in New Jersey. I had just been to their house that past summer and we had gone to the World Trade Center on July 4. We took the subway to it and walked from there to a spot on the river to watch the fireworks. I also thought about my dad. I worried he would have to go to New York to help find people. Many firefighters were sent but he wasn’t.

In the weeks and months that followed life was definitely different. My mom had to get a smallpox vaccine because they feared biological warfare and she worked in a hospital. I remember all the anthrax scares. But I also remember how united the country was. American flags were everywhere. Neighbors became friends.

Since that time we have gone to war. My brother, brother-in-law, and several close friends have gone off to fight. I am so thankful to them and all military members who fight for our freedom. I am thankful for the everyday heroes in the firefighters and police officers who gave their lives that day because they simply rushed in to the buildings to help and do their duty. I’m grateful to have 3 firefighters in my family.

It is a day I will never forget.

Adrian

Like Brittany I first heard of the attacks on the Twin Towers at school. As I walked in the doors to AFHS I remember everyone was panicky and excited. I rushed to my first period class, with Mr. Hoernke, my AP U.S. History teacher, who was already watching the footage live. Many thoughts crossed my mind as I watched in disbelief as these great buildings were blazing and bellowing smoke. Was it an accident? No. Impossible . Who was responsible? How many people were still in those buildings? Were there going to be any more targets? One scene that remains scorched in my mind were the gruesome details of people, who were desperately looking for an escape from the intense heat and smoke, leaping from the buildings for a brief moment of freedom. It made me feel sick.

There was a very solemn mood at school that day, but unlike Brittany’s experience, we all felt a degree of relative safety knowing that no terrorists were going to go after the small dairy farms around Adams. I remember going home and watching the news with Daddy and talking about the different impacts it would have and how it could either tear the nation down or be a rallying point where Americans would unite. He kept stressing how people would need God’s help and feel his love more than ever in the United States in order to get through such a critical ordeal as this.

God did show up immediately after the Twin Towers fell. In school and at home the news was flooded by stories and accounts of heroic men and women sacrificing personal well-being, safety, money, clothes, and more to help the victims and their grieving families. At school we held benefits and blood drives to help them. “To love another person is to see the face of God”.

I am in an interesting situation now as I am confronted by the past every year around this time. As a History teacher I take the opportunity every year to discuss the attacks with my students. Talking about the attacks is still very difficult but it is something that is needed. I feel like I would be disgracing the memory of that day by not covering it. Most of them have only ever heard whispers about what happened that fateful day. None of them remember because they are far too young. I show them footage and images from the attacks. I read President George Bush’s address to America with them and discuss the situation. But, by far, the most effective and touching moment of the lesson comes from telling them about the attacks, how it affected millions of people and how it impacted me personally.

I gave that lesson this last Friday for the third year in a row. Each time it has made me choke up. Each time the classes have been silent. No horseplay, talking, or note passing. Even though this younger generations didn’t experience it, most of them feel the magnitude of the event and are sensitive to how people still feel about it. Hopefully by passing on my experience to them they will will have a greater love for America and their fellow men and women. Hopefully they will be more sensitive to the sacrifices that others have made before them. And hopefully it will give them an example and prepare them to withstand whatever crisis is sure to crash head-on into their generation.

Smoke on the Horizon

2011-09-11T08:48:00.001-06:00

For a couple days this week we had Skylar over to play. I’ll explain why in a minute. On the first day we decided to make pasta necklaces. I had some penne leftover from this delicious shrimp dinner I mad (seriously the best ever). I let the girls go outside with some of their paints and they had so much fun decorating them. After they dried (which didn’t take long since it’s so hot outside) we put them on yarn.

So Skylar came over this week for a couple of reasons. The first had to do with Lauren’s work schedule. The second day, though, was because my brother Kevin went to help out at a major wildfire we have about 50 miles from our house. Both Shane and Kevin have gone to help out. It’s been pretty bad between the hot, dry days, the drought, and the wind. I’m proud that my brothers were able to go help, though sad that they even had to. Even though the fire was north of us, we actually have still gotten tons of smoke. There were a few days where I didn’t really want the girls playing outside because the air was so bad. Our house smelled like a campfire, and I even had the doors closed! It’s definitely been interesting. The air’s gotten a little better.

This past week I also made Mackenzie a new dress out of one of my old t-shirts. since I’m going to be putting the tutorial on My Decoupaged Life I took some pictures of her modeling it. She had so much fun and I have to say I’m pretty proud of how both the dress and the pictures turned out.

Yesterday there was this HUGE craft fair at one of the local event centers. Besides just wanting to check out what people were selling and maybe do a little shopping, I also went to go see a good college friend of mine! My friend Kim and I went to BYU together and studied theatre education. She and her husband moved down to Houston around the same time we did (they had been living in Austin for a couple of years before that). I hadn’t really seen her much since college (just a couple times here and there) so I was excited to see her. She’s also pregnant, due a month before me. I also got to see her little boy who has grown up so much. She was selling the cutest baby stuff. You can check it out here.

Anyway, that was our week. I will be doing a separate post in a little bit to document mine and Adrian’s thoughts on September 11. I’m doing it mostly for posterity’s sake, but you are welcome to read it.

16 Weeks and Back to School

2011-09-06T14:43:00.001-06:00

Adrian started school again a couple weeks ago. Well, I mean he started teaching school again. He’s actually at a new school (same school system). It’s brand new and a whole lot closer. His classroom is a lot bigger and so far he’s really liking it. Mackenzie and I got to visit a couple weekends ago and I must say it’s pretty nice! He did get to have Labor Day off yesterday which was really nice. I have to say I actually really miss having him at home with us during the day, but I am so grateful that he is able to provide for our family. I wasn’t feeling super well yesterday so he took Mackenzie on a “date” to the park. She was so excited to go on a date with her daddy!

I’m now going to talk about my pregnancy and give funny Mackenzie stories so if you don’t want to read about those things, stop now!

Last week marked 16 weeks into the pregnancy. I’m still feeling tired and nauseous, though they have eased somewhat. I just have to think about how grateful we are to have a healthy baby growing. And thinking about holding our baby makes me smile.

Here’s a picture of me after church last week:

Last week was a little exciting in that I started feeling the baby move! That’s been fun. Adrian even felt it a little bit the other night when I had him press hard on one spot. He was feeling a little jealous so I’m glad he was able to feel it ever so slightly. But we both know it will just continue to get stronger.

Mackenzie is growing so fast. It’s amazing to watch how much she’s developed. She pretty much always speaks in complete sentences, though at times I still have to translate for other people to understand her.

She is super girly (though not afraid to get dirty at the same time). She absolutely loves dress up things, wearing dresses, and princess movies. She even knows all the songs to all the princess movies and is pretty much singing them all day long. It’s pretty cute.

Church has become a big deal to her. She loves going and even asks to go during the week. She loves going to nursery to “play with her friends”. She also loves talking about and looking at pictures of Jesus. She has this picture of Jesus that she loves to carry around. Anytime we say prayers (mealtimes and bedtime) she has to be the one to say them. She’s getting pretty good where she can do it with minimal prompting. And even if Daddy’s not home or has been home all day she ALWAYS says “thank you that Daddy got home safely”. I love it. Oh and the other day we got to teach her that Heavenly Father answers prayers. During the BYU football game we sat down to eat dinner. We had been losing and I had her bless BYU (is that sacrilegious?) and not even 5 minutes later they scored their first touchdown! We had a good laugh over that. Especially since they ended up winning.

Occasionally I can get her to sing to my belly or kiss my belly. I think as my belly gets bigger she might take more notice of it. She still doesn’t understand yet that she can’t jump on my belly (cause oh boy it hurts) and that sometimes Mommy needs to sit down on the couch for a little bit. We’ve watched a few more movies than I’ve really wanted to, but I do what I can.

So that’s been our life lately. I’ve been really busy on my other blog so you should pop over and check it out!

Surprise Utah!

2011-09-06T11:09:00.001-06:00

On our way back from Tahoe we decided to take a small detour and surprise Adrian’s sister Sarah in Fillmore, Utah. We hadn’t seen them in a year (since we moved away) so we were super excited to surprise them. Plus Sarah’s always the one surprising everyone else so it was good to get her instead. Only Richard knew we were coming. We called him when we were getting close to make sure Sarah and the kids were going to be home. Then we parked around the corner and just walked into the house. They were so shocked! It was awesome because they were all sitting together on the couch so we got to surprise them all at once.

Mackenzie LOVED playing with her cousins. I don’t think she hardly gave Adrian or I a second glance the two days we were there. She loved playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, running around the house, petting the bunnies, and more. And her cousins loved having her there.

The first full day we were there we headed over to see their horses and feed them. We brought a bag of carrots for the kids to feed them. Mackenzie hasn’t really been around big animals much so she was a little unsure, but she did ok as long as Daddy was holding her.

Playing on top of the haystack

Adrian and Sarah then also took the kids swimming at the local pool. I was content to sit out and read. The great thing about pregnancy is it gives you a great excuse if you’re not feeling like doing something. They had a small slide that Adrian took Mackenzie down a few times. She really liked it.

That night we decided to go camping up in the canyon. Richard’s parents have a small RV so we took that up along with Sarah’s suburban. All the girls slept in the RV while the boys slept in a tent. We ate yummy camp food and sat around the fire. The next morning Richard and Adrian took Richard’s motorcycle further up the canyon and went fishing most of the day. Apparently it was quite the successful fishing trip. While they were gone we took the kids for a little hike, then headed back down and hung out around the house.

Mackenzie wet her panties and we were out of pull ups so Adrian washed the panties in the creek and dried them over the fire.

Reading Harry Potter

Skipping Rocks

We also went to the cemetery to see Adrian’s grandparents graves. Adrian also enjoyed seeing all the REALLY old headstones. Here’s Mackenzie by one of them:

So like I mentioned, I was reading Harry Potter while I was there. Well our nephew Ean had refused to read the books. He loves to read and I knew he’d like them. So I started kind of telling him about them until he was intrigued enough that he started asking me questions. I then made a deal with him. I told him that if he read the books I would buy him the first three movies. Well it worked! He’s already finished the first three and moved onto the fourth! And what do you know...he loves them! I knew he would ;).

The morning we were going to leave we got a little surprise too. Our brother-in-law Jerry stopped by on his way back to Wisconsin. He brought Sarah some grapefruit that she graciously shared with us. Then it was time to go. We packed up our car (which was MUCH fuller than when we got to Utah because Sarah always sends us with food. Plus we bought the kids’ old art desk from them that they were going to sell in a yard sale) and headed home. It took us two days and boy were we ready to be home. It was so nice to sleep in our own bed and not have Mackenzie sleeping in the same room as us.

Us with Jerry

Cousins! I promise they did love being together even they are sitting 5 feet from each other! We love you Deardens!

Yosemite National Park

2011-09-05T20:23:00.001-06:00

While we were in Tahoe we had the opportunity to drive down to Yosemite for a couple days. If you’ve never been to Yosemite, go. Now. Seriously.

My aunt and uncle actually live up there and have lived there for over 30 years. So I’ve been there a lot. Adrian had only been there once before and the entire valley was covered in a thick haze from a nearby forest fire. So when my uncle invited him to come and hike North Dome (one of the numerous mountains) with him and my cousin he jumped at the chance.

We got down there in the afternoon and just kind of walked around. We sat out in their backyard and talked. Oh and by the way, their backyard looks straight at Half Dome. Talk about a gorgeous view! Anyway, for dinner that night we headed over to Curry Village. My mom, my aunt, Mackenzie, and I took the bus over and the boys walked. Man I wish we had walked with them because they saw a bear chilling in an apple tree! Yeah pretty awesome.

Mackenzie playing in the backyard.

That night my uncle, cousin, and Adrian drove up and hiked to Glacier Point for the sunset. Very romantic ;). Here’s a picture Adrian took on their way up. It’s all of Yosemite Valley. You can barely see Half Dome in the distance in the very middle.

The next day Adrian and the boys set off for North Dome. It was a 4 hour hike to the top so they were gone pretty much all day. Adrian took some great pictures though!

My uncle Dave feeding a chipmunk

I was really glad he was able to go. Here in Houston we don’t get tons of opportunities to do outdoorsy things and I know he’s missed it. Heck, pretty much our entire vacation was spent outside.

While the boys were gone and my aunt was at work, my mom and I took Mackenzie on our little hike to Yosemite Falls. It’s actually more of a short walk but she liked it. On our way over we found 2 does and a fawn. We got tons of pictures, but I won’t overload you. Mackenzie was fascinated and so excited to see the deer so close (they were literally 5 feet from us at times)

If you look, the deer are behind us.

Then we went on to the falls. Mackenzie just kept exclaiming, “water falling!” She definitely loved it.

The rest of the day we rode the bus around, visiting the Ahwanee Hotel (the really nice 5 Diamond hotel they have) and saw even more deer. We ate dinner at the local cafeteria and then headed in.

The next morning before we left Mackenzie and I took Adrian to see the water fall since he wasn’t with us.

But first we of course had to take a potty break since we have a potty training 2 year old. Here are pics of Mackenzie and I waiting for Daddy:

She’s so stinking cute!

Then it was up to the falls:

After some yummy pizza for lunch we headed back to Tahoe. It was so awesome to spend time with Dave, Heidi, and Eric. Eric (my cousin) was heading back to school soon so it was good we got to see him. Plus none of them had met Mackenzie yet so we were glad she was able to show them in person how cute she can be. Uncle Dave was certainly smitten.

Lake Tahoe

2011-09-05T19:04:00.001-06:00

So this year we actually weren’t planning on going to our family house up in Lake Tahoe, but my mom was already up there and with a few incentives, we were persuaded to join her for a couple weeks. Cause you know, our arms needed major twisting to go spend two weeks in the mountains at a beautiful lake.

We had lots of relaxing fun. We really didn’t do too much, which was fine by me. We sat on the deck and read (I actually read almost the entire Harry Potter series (again) on this trip!) while Mackenzie ran around. She absolutely loved walking around the cabin.

The view from our deck.

We also went to the beach a few times. Mackenzie loved playing in the sand and sometimes in the water. The water was pretty darn cold, but we still had fun! The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were there. I got a great tan :).

12 weeks pregnant :)

So there’s this pier that’s across the street from our cabin. It’s owned by the HOA of the neighborhood our cabin is in. The thing is, we don’t pay HOA dues so we technically can’t use it. Luckily our neighbors were kind enough to give us the gate code to go down when no one was there (they also had a really friendly dog, Penguin, that Mackenzie absolutely LOVED playing with). Mackenzie loved going down there and looking at all the fishies in the water.

While we were there my mom was kind enough to watch Mackenzie so we could go on a date (again, more arm twisting). There’s a mini golf place nearby that we love so we headed over there. Then we ate some yummy food (ok I may have just had salad because I still have major food aversion) at a restaurant overlooking the lake. We finished the night with some delicious ice cream.

At the end of our trip my grandpa rode the train out to come visit for a few days. Mackenzie absolutely adores her great-grandpa so it was great that she got to see him. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of that. We also went to Yosemite National Park for a couple days, but I’m going to put that in a separate post.

Feliz Cumpleanos Adrian!

2011-08-26T14:18:00.001-06:00

So this past July we celebrated Adrian’s 27th birthday. when I asked him what he wanted to do he said he wanted chimichangas. Not just any chimis, mind you, but his dad’s super-duper-delicious-chimis-of-awesomeness. So we decided to go all out and make it a Mexican themed party. All our family (minus poor Kevin who had to work and didn’t join us until the end) came over. My brother Shane had made a mix CD of his favorite Mexican music and both he and Adrian decided to dress up. Oh and I should mention…the night before Adrian’s birthday he decided he wanted me to cut his hair into a mohawk. Yeah early mid-life crisis. We shaved it off the day after his birthday but we have the pictures to immortalize it!

Whatever. That’s what I think of his outfit. I pretty much just rolled my eyes at him all night. But of course Mackenzie had to get in on the fun:

I also made a pinata out of a paper bag so we had fun tearing into that in the backyard. It was of course meant for mostly Mackenzie and Skylar but the boys couldn’t let them have all the fun.

Overall we had lots of fun. Lauren and my dad were there too but we three managed to stay out of the pictures. Adrian did an excellent job with the chimichangas. They were definitely delicious. Feliz Cumpleanos Adrian!

Summer 2011

2011-08-23T12:02:00.001-06:00

I know I haven’t been all that great at blogging this summer. Besides not feeling too great (I am starting to feel better though…hello second trimester!), we haven’t done a ton of things of note (besides our end of summer vacation that will be a post or two of its own). So I decided I’d just sum up our summer in one post.

We were really lucky that we had Adrian all to ourselves this summer. Being the wife of a teacher definitely has some perks :). He pretty much took over all cooking and cleaning this summer while I was feeling like I was on my deathbed. He was truly a saint. Seriously. How do I nominate someone for sainthood? Only except I think they have to be dead so scratch that. He also made sure to spend lots of time playing with Mackenzie. One day I walked out of the bedroom and discovered they had built a fort in our living room. Mackenzie was so excited.

We also spent some time at the zoo. Even though it is incredibly hot here they do a great job making sure you have chances to cool down. We spent lots of time at the indoor exhibits and in front of the misting fans. Mackenzie loves the zoo and now that' she’s older it’s nice not to have to lug a stroller around. I think we might even be going again this Saturday!

Going the wrong way in the fish tunnel. That’s my girl.

Oooh a white alligator.

That would be an enormous snake behind them. Oh and yes she insisted she had to bring her baby on this particular trip.

I think it’s actually hotter inside the pigmy huts than out.

We’ve also spent lots of time at Grampa and Grammy’s pool and going to the splash pad with playgroup. Any way to stay cool! We also celebrated Adrian’s birthday but I think I’ll do a post all by itself because it was quite the event!

Mackenzie won’t stop growing and luckily hasn’t stopped learning and getting smarter. She can now count to 10 though she’ll only do it when she thinks you aren’t listening (the other day she started counting animals on a wall in a teacher supply store very loudly…I was pretty proud). She can be incredibly sassy but she is also very sweet. She loves to gives hugs and kisses and tells us “I love you more!”. She’s still VERY girly and insists on wearing dresses most days. Dress up is a daily game and she loves all the Disney princesses. She knows who each one is and knows the songs from almost all of them. Her latest one to see is Princess and the Frog and she talks about Princess Tiana all the time. She’s hardly shy (if she is it’s for about 2 minutes and then she’s done) and loves to talk. We just adore her. It will be interesting to see how different and similar this next baby is compared to her. I can’t wait to meet the new little one and get to know their unique personality!

Well yesterday was Adrian’s first day back at school, though he actually started working last week since he had meetings to attend and had to get his classroom all ready. He’s at a new school this year (still within the Harmony school system) and he’s so much closer! It only takes him 20 minutes to get to work. He also has a bigger classroom with lots of windows. The school is brand new so it’s pretty nice. Mackenzie and I went and visited his classroom with him on Saturday.

So that was our summer in a nutshell. Lots of playing and spending time together…oh and seeing Harry Potter (I had to put that in there cause hello! it was freaking amazing!). I also reread the series.

You Are My Sunshine

2011-07-22T14:04:00.001-06:00

Lately Mackenzie has been singing “You Are My Sunshine” all the time. Today she found herself on microphone and I caught it on tape!

Guess What?!?!?!

2011-07-10T09:41:00.001-06:00

If you’ve read my previous posts and you’re not friends with me on Facebook you might be thinking, why on earth is she so tired and sick? Well folks, if you guessed that I have a rare communicable disease, then you’d be wrong.

But if you guessed that I’m pregnant then you are definitely right!

Hurray!

Yep on June 7 I got a positive pregnancy test. That was the day we went to the zoo and baseball game for those of you who follow the blog. We’re due February 13 and we are very excited. We had our first doctor appointment this week and everything looks good so far. She did give me medicine to help control my nausea (ok to control the vomiting….who am I kidding) and it has done miracles! I actually was able to go on a date with my handsome husband last night!

We’re kind of hoping for a boy, and to be honest I have more boy inklings, but obviously we’d be happy with a girl too. We want most a beautiful healthy happy baby.

And for posterity’s sake, here is a picture of the stick I peed on. :)

It’s faint, but trust me. It’s positive.

6 Hours of Crafting and more!

2011-07-10T09:32:00.001-06:00

Man, you’d think with all the time I have on my hands between Adrian being home and me sitting on the couch because I’m too exhausted to do anything else (and until recently….too sick) I’d be better at updating the blog. But alas, it’s like my brain has decided to stop functioning as well. Oh well.

So last I left off, we had just had our crawfish boil. On Saturday Adrian and Clark took Mackenzie down to the beach while Michelle and I went over and spent SIX hours crafting with Sienna. It was pure bliss :). We made hair pretties, apple candy dishes, door hangings, and necklaces. I even bought Sienna her very first hot glue gun for an early birthday present. We had tons of fun. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures.

When the boys got home we headed home for some dinner and got ready to go out that night. My parents came over to watch Mackenzie and we all (including Sienna) went out to Dave and Busters. If you’ve never been there…well we describe it as a Chuck E Cheese for big kids and adults. There are tons of different games, both arcade and ticket. We had tons of fun playing games. Sienna really enjoyed herself. We let the boys go off and play all the shooting games they wanted while we got tons of tickets. But once again, I didn’t take any pictures.

Sunday was pretty much normal with going to church and having family dinner all together.

On Monday morning we headed down to the Space Center. Adrian, Clark, Michelle, and Sienna all decided to take the tram tour first before the lines got too long. Having taken Mackenzie on the tour previously I knew she would hate it so she and I stayed behind to play on the enormous play structure they have.

When everyone got back we headed outside for some lunch (the food they have there is INCREDIBLY expensive…fyi if you ever go). We had packed a little picnic and ate lunch under the shade of some trees. Then we headed back in for more fun!

In this you watched a video of a space shuttle taking off and the seats rumbled as if you were inside.

Future astronauts.

We had lots of fun and learned lots about the space program. My favorite part is always visiting the Starship Gallery where they have tons of different artifacts from different missions, plus you can touch a real moon rock!

On Tuesday we drove down to the zoo. We get in free because my fabulous mother-in-law bought us a membership so we took advantage. Unfortunately Michelle was the photographer for the day and she hasn’t posted the pictures on Facebook yet (ahem….hint hint) so I don’t have any pictures. But we had lots of fun seeing the animals.

Tuesday night we decided to all head to an Astros game. My dad decided to come as well. We all just bought some cheap tickets and had lots of fun. Mackenzie and I did some walking to keep her entertained but it was still fun. The only thing I didn’t like is that they have this big play area but they wouldn’t let Mackenzie in because they said she was too young and that I would have to accompany her but I wasn’t allowed in. They were kind of rude about it but oh well. We had fun anyway.

Grandpa and Sienna

Albert Pujols

Enjoying some popcorn

Enjoying the game.

Clark and Michelle left early Wednesday morning and Sienna flew home later that afternoon. She did get to spend Wednesday with us while my dad was at work and she went with us to play group at the splash pad. We were so grateful to have both our wonderful niece and our good friends come to visit us!

Crawfish Boil

2011-06-21T17:54:00.001-06:00

So we got back to Houston on Thursday and on Friday our good friend Clark and Michelle came to visit. They just moved to Texas from Provo (though now they’re in Brazil for the summer!) so they drove down to see us. We actually had them meet us at our parents house so we could have a good ole fashion crawfish boil. If you’ve never been to one, you basically boil TONS of crawfish with some potatoes and corn, throw it all onto some newspaper, and chow down! Here are the little critters before they got cooked (yes they are alive)

We all decided to go swimming while we waited for the food to cook.

Mackenzie took a break from swimming to check out the crawfish that were still waiting to be cooked:

Then it was time to eat! The crawfish were a little on the spicy side but still yummy! I just couldn’t feel my lips afterwards. No big deal. I even got Sienna to eat some.

So when you eat crawfish you just tear their bodies from their tails and eat the meat in their tails. Some people then suck out the heads. My grandpa went through and found every ounce of meat in the little crawfish he could. He just sat there tearing them apart. That takes major patience.

Adrian and Clark waiting for more crawfish.

The food was absolutely delicious. Plus we had lots of fun swimming and spending time together. Now this post is already incredibly long so I think I’ll be breaking Sienna and Clark and Michelle’s visit (they were here the same time) into smaller posts.

The Happiest Place on Earth Part 2

2011-06-21T17:35:00.001-06:00

Even though we had had a late night the night before we still got up early on Tuesday morning to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom. Well, most of us. My parents and Grandpa met us there a little late. We actually got off the monorail right in time to see the end of the opening of the park. See, Mickey stands on the train and they do a little something with music. We didn’t see it but we saw Mickey as we came off the monorail! once we got inside the boys headed off to Tomorrowland while I got us breakfast and a stroller. Shane and Adrian took Mackenzie and Skylar on the Buzz Lightyear ride while they waited for me.

After that we hopped on the People Mover (it’s not anything terribly special…just goes around Tomorrowland and talks about it but the kids liked it) while we waited for my parents to get there. Then it was off to Space Mountain for Adrian, my Grandpa, Shane, and I. My parents took the kids on Buzz Lightyear again. Out of all the roller coasters we went on that one was the only one my grandpa said he wouldn’t go on and I can understand why. It’s really jerky.

After Space Mountain we met up with Mariah and her kids for some Fantasyland fun. First up was the teacups. Now I am not a spin-as-fast-as-you-can fan so I happily took pictures.

After the teacups Shane and Mariah and her kids decided to head over to Hollywood Studios while the rest of us stayed in Fantasyland. We went on the Carousel, It’s a Small World, and Winnie the Pooh (SO cute!!). Unfortunately while we were standing in line for Winnie the Pooh Mackenzie decided it would be fun to push on my nose as hard as she could and ended up giving me a bloody nose. Luckily we had lots of tissues to take care of it…but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing.

After that we met up with one of my former students, Bethany, for lunch. She is actually working there right now and took the day off to see us. After lunch the girls fell asleep so Adrian, Grandpa, Bethany, and I went and got fast passes for Thunder Mountain Railroad and then checked out the Hall of Presidents. Ok those robots are just a little bit too lifelike and therefore creepy. Anyone agree?

When the Hall of Presidents show was over we met up with my parents and the now awake girls for the Jungle Cruise. I don’t think the girls were quite as impressed after going on the Safari the day before but they still enjoyed it. Then it was time for our fast passes. As soon as we got off the ride the afternoon parade was about to start so we quickly grabbed the girls and headed over to watch it. This one had more princesses in it so the girls loved that. We decided to leave after that so of course we had to get a picture in front of the castle:

My parents and Grandpa decided to take Mackenzie back to the hotel for some swimming (she was getting pretty worn out) and Adrian, Bethany, and I took Skylar and headed over to meet up with Shane and Mariah at Hollywood Studios.

We started off on Star Tours which Skylar loved and Adrian thought was super lame. Oh well. After Star Tours Mariah and her kids actually headed to Epcot because they really wanted to go to the Michael Jackson attraction. The rest of us stayed in Hollywood Studios. We ate dinner and then headed over to Tower of Terror. Now, here I have to sing Skylar’s praises. That kid was just barely big enough to go on and she chose to go! I’ll admit, I didn’t even go on it. Though I love roller coasters I don’t like rides that just freefall drop. Bethany doesn’t either so we headed to the Rock n Roller Coaster while the boys took Skylar. I explained to her what happened ahead of tie and let her choose. She ended up loving it so much that they went on it a second time after Rock n Roller Coaster! Oh and I loved Rock n Roller Coaster. They blast Aerosmith music in your ears and it takes off super fast. It was REALLY fun. We topped off our trip with some shopping (we bought some really cute vintage looking popcorn tins for our family movie nights).

Wearing Uncle Shane’s hat outside the shop

Bethany and I. It was good being able to see her. She spent most of her senior year in my classroom between taking my classes and being my TA so we got pretty close. Plus it was fun to hear lots of behind the scenes secrets :).

So that’s our trip! Wednesday morning we met up with Mariah and the kids for breakfast and Sienna came home with us and spent the next week with us, which will lead to a bunch more blog posts! All in all a very fun vacation and Adrian and I are excited to go back again one day when our kids are old enough to go on all the rides and we don’t have to worry about strollers.

The Happiest Place on Earth Part 1

2011-06-19T09:01:00.001-06:00

Man, I am so behind on blogging! Besides my Disney World post(s) I have a bunch from when our niece Sienna came to visit. We were super busy with her. But I promise I have a good excuse!

So after visiting the magical world of Harry Potter, we went to our awesome Disney World resort, Shades of Green. If any of you are in the military or have a military family member….take advantage of this resort. They have some awesome discounts not just on their rooms but on tickets as well. And the resort is really nice. Here are Mackenzie and Skylar with the Mickey in the lobby:

Monday morning we headed over to Animal Kingdom bright and early. Since we were in a WDW resort we got to get in an hour early. We met up with Mariah and her kids (Marisa and Matt headed home to Tennessee). We started off the day well with a ride on Mt. Everest. One word: awesomeness. I thoroughly enjoyed that roller coaster. Then we all headed over to the Safari. The line was long so we got fast passes and went into “It’s Tough to be a Bug”. Ok so this is a 3D show about A Bug’s Life. Let me tell you now: this show is NOT for little (Mackenzie’s age) kids. It is actually kind of terrifying at times. Poor kid was just crying. It’s really loud and scary at times. Just so you know. I mean, it’s cool if you don’t have a poor scared kid you’re trying to comfort.

So then it was safari time! I have to say this was one of my favorite things we did. The animals are so close.

After the safari we took the little kids to see Mickey. but before we even got there we saw some fun things:

Monkey from Tarzan

Playing the drums

Baloo

Then we finally made it to Mickey. Mackenzie had not wanted to really go near the other characters we had seen. But the minute it was our turn to see Mickey she walked right up to him and gave him a hug and wouldn’t let go until our turn was over, not even to turn her head to take pictures.

We headed to the Lion King show next. Wow. It was absolutely amazing. I loved it.

Are you exhausted yet? Guess what…this was all before lunch! These kiddos were definitely exhausted:

After some shopping we headed to the Kali River Rapids. Skylar was big enough for this ride so she joined us. I was completely soaked. It was really fun, but not long enough. And Skylar loved the drops and rapids. After that headed to one more ride..Dinosaur. It was really fun, even if Sienna was squeezing my hand the entire time. But it’s ok cause it actually was pretty scary. After that it was time to head out of Animal Kingdom….and over to Magic Kingdom! My parents actually went back to the hotel but the rest of us (Adrian, me, Mackenzie, Shane, my Grandpa, Skylar, Mariah, Zoe, Zavior, Sienna, and Isaiah) all headed to Magic Kingdom. We went on Haunted Mansion (Mackenzie loved it) and Pirates of the Caribbean (pretty sure Mackenzie loved that one too).

Waiting in line at Haunted Mansion

Then Mackenzie and I checked out the castle while the rest went on Splash Mountain. We met up afterwards and got our places for the Electric Parade. We had perfect seats.

Waiting for the parade to start

Skylar waved the ENTIRE time…so cute

After the parade we headed over to a bridge (if you’re ever there…watch the parade by Splash Mountain and then head to the bridge to watch the fireworks overlooking the water). The fireworks were AMAZING. The girls were so excited to see Tinkerbell fly from the castle (ok I admit it…I was super excited too!).

Mackenzie fell asleep as soon as the fireworks ended.

So that ended our day. I have to give my Grandpa some props here. He went on every. single. ride we went on. Seriously. I was impressed. Well I think I’m going to put day 2 on a completely different post because this one is already so long! Definitely a jam packed awesome day!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

2011-06-05T09:40:00.001-06:00

On Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and drove the three hours to Orlando. I have to admit…I completely nerded out. I was so excited to be there. I have never been in a theme park with such amazing attention to detail. I really felt like I was visiting Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. It was awesome. My parents took the three little ones (Skylar, Mackenzie, and Isaiah) to Suess Land for the day since they wouldn’t be able to go on rides. Then we started off the day watching a wand choose a wizard at Ollivanders. While we waited in line we drank some delicious pumpkin juice (it’s seriously like drinking a pumpkin pie). Then we headed into the store. They choose a wizard from the group and have a wand choose them. Awesome.

Sienna got a replica of Hermione’s wand.

Oh I should have started from right when you walk in. This is the view when you walk in:

Oh and I wish that was real snow cause it was HOT.

After Ollivanders we headed to the Dragon Challenge roller coaster. It’s actually two roller coasters that intersect. It was great. We decided to try the Hungarian Horntail first. So fun! I love roller coasters where your feet dangle and this one did not disappoint! After the first dragon we decided to take a break for lunch. So we headed to ..where else? The Three Broomsticks! Adrian and I enjoyed some delicious cornish pasties and we all had Butterbeer.

After lunch we went on the Chinese Fireball. I have to say that I think I liked it even more because you can actually see the other roller coaster. There were a couple times I lifted my feet because it felt like we were going to collide!

We took a break after that to do some shopping at Zonko’s Joke Shop and Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop. We also had to take some pictures by the Hogwarts Express.

We decided to go on The Forbidden Journey ride next. It’s the one that is in Hogwarts castle. You go all through the castle while you wait in line.

Waiting out by the greenhouses

Looks like Griffindor is in the lead.

Entrance to Dumbledore’s office

The portraits moved and talked and couple went into other frames!

The pensieve

You can’t tell but Dumbledore is standing on the balcony welcoming us

This is the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on the balcony talking to us.

Unfortunately we got stuck in the classroom for a long time. The ride broke down and at first we were just told it was delayed and so this is Adrian waiting for the ride to get going again. But we never got to ride. They closed it down and said it would be at least 2 hours. It was time to go so we couldn’t wait. Boo.

As we were leaving we caught a glimpse of performances by Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students.

I absolutely loved going and would definitely go again. Next up…Disney World (though it’s going to take me a LONG time to write up a post!)

Ft. Lauderdale

2011-06-05T08:37:00.001-06:00

We had an absolutely jam packed trip to Florida this past week. For the most part is was a blast. My parents rented a 12 passenger van and we all drove out (minus Adrian who had to fly out Friday night so he could finish the school year) to Ft. Lauderdale for Kevin and Lauren’s wedding. Our hotel was literally right on the beach and we enjoyed spending as much of Saturday morning as we could on the beach.

Mackenzie absolutely loved being in the water and would just run straight at the waves. She is becoming quite the little fish. The water temperature was perfect and the water was clear so we all enjoyed time in the water.

My niece Sienna and my nephew Isaiah also enjoyed playing in the sand.

Adrian found this little guy on the beach. The kids loved seeing it.

Saturday afternoon was spent with the girls. We went to a spa to prepare for the wedding. I had a mani and pedi. I hardly ever do that so it was nice to get a little pampered. Lauren got her hair done there and then we all headed across the street to the mall so she could get her makeup done.

That night at 7 was the wedding. It took place on the deck that overlooks the beach. They cleared off one section but there were still hotel guests on the other half. I was kind of worried but it ended up great. The guests were really respectful and some even sat down early so they would have front row seats from the side! Everyone cheered for them and it was really fun. Lauren looked absolutely stunning.

Waiting with my sisters for the ceremony to start

Best Man and Groom

Our little flower girl

The wedding party

The happy family

The wedding was beautiful and I’m so happy for them both. Next to come…. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

Mackenzie Update

2011-05-22T17:03:00.001-06:00

I want to take some time and write about Mackenzie as she is now so I don’t forget.

She is in a really funny stage right now. She loves being the center of attention and loves to make us laugh. She’s very playful and loves to chase and be chased. She’s very imaginative and loves playing with her kitchen and doll house. She’s still very passionate and gets so excited over things.

Currently Mackenzie is obsessed with Harry Potter, Mickey Mouse, and Rapunzel. I think it’s kind of funny that she loves Harry Potter. We only let her watch the PG rated ones but she wants to watch them all.the.time. She’s always love Mickey but lately she’s been wanting to watch it more and more. It might be that I tell her we’re going to meet Mickey. She runs around calling for Toodles and after watching an episode that showed the “handy helpers” were under the floor she now lays down and tries to talk to them.

Mackenzie is very loving. She loves to give hugs and kisses, even to people who are not Adrian or I. Like today at church she sat and hugged another mom who was sitting next to us for like 5 minutes straight. She asks me all the time: “kissamy cheek, kissamy eye, kissamy lips, kissamy hair.” She also argues with me. She’ll say “I love you Mommy” and when I tell her back she says “No I love you!”. we argue back and forth for a few minutes :).

She is also a big helper and very polite. She always says please and thank you. She loves to help us put away the dishes, make dinner, set the table, etc.

Unfortunately Mackenzie is also very sassy and very bossy. Sometimes it can be really cute and funny whereas other times it can be really frustrating. She has mastered the art of the hands on the hips look. Her favorite phrase is currently, “stop it!” Usually this is accompanied by her putting her hands on my mouth to stop me from talking. She has definitely earned the nickname “Sassypants”.

I have to say we are actually really enjoying this stage. Her final molar came through and since then she’s overall been a real sweetheart and goodnatured kid. She’s very intelligent and articulate. We love our little girl!

Play Time

2011-05-22T16:41:00.001-06:00

There hasn’t been a lot going on these past few weeks. Lots of time spent playing together. We go to playgroup every Wednesday and Friday and Mackenzie absolutely loves it. Since it’s been warmer we’ve been going to the splash pad every so often. It took a little while but Mackenzie has warmed up to the water and now loves running through the water fixtures. Unfortunately this past time we went she went off to play on the playground and a couple minutes later came screaming back to me. She had fire ants all over her feet. I felt so bad. The next day I counted that she got 12 bites. She now has all the nasty pimple looking bites on her feet but they’re slowly getting better.

Mackenzie has been into playing with her dolls lately so we decided to have a tea party with all the dolls she has. Lots of fun. We had to feed each one with a spoon and little tea cup. So cute.

Some friends of ours moved about a week ago and I watched their two kids one day so Jessi could get some packing done uninterrupted. Their daughter Lily is Mackenzie’s age and they have so much fun together. They love to play at playgroup and up until the moved, in nursery also. Mackenzie loved holding “baby James” even though he was nearly as big as her!

Last weekend Adrian and I took a couple hours in the morning and built Mackenzie a little picnic table. I just kind of drew up some plans and we used the leftover lumber from when we built our deck. Mackenzie loves it and has already put it to good use painting some things and having picnic lunches (when it’s not too windy..which is not very often anymore).

This past Friday Adrian and I had the opportunity to attend a dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of the charter school district he works for. It was downtown and we got all dressed up. They had lots of politicians to speak (to be honest it kind of ended up sounding more like a rally). The important part was that the food was absolutely delicious!!! And we were glad we got there early because they ended up running out of food.

This Thursday we leave for Florida. We’re going to Ft. Lauderdale for Kevin and Lauren’s wedding and then we’re heading up to Orlando where we’ll hit Harry Potter Wizarding World first and then Disney World for 2 days. It’s going to be quite the adventure and I can’t wait!

Lauren’s Bridal Shower

2011-05-22T16:24:00.001-06:00

I realized that it had been far too long since I updated! And considering that after this coming weekend I’ll have a humungous post to take care of I figured I’d better get on the ball. So a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to throw my future (5 more days!) sister in law a bridal shower. She loves the color purple and butterflies so that was the theme I went with. You can read all about the decorations here.

When all the guests arrived we required them to bend at the waist and trace their hands on a posterboard. Little did they know we were writing down what they were saying while they bent over. Then after Lauren opened her presents I read them to her as things she would say on her wedding night. Pretty funny stuff. here are some of Lauren’s reactions:

We also had the guests divide into two teams and design toilet paper wedding dresses.

I had also recorded by brother answering some questions about himself and their relationship. Then I asked Lauren the questions at the party. After she answered each one I would play Kevin’s answer and if they didn’t match she has to put a piece of Double Bubble in her mouth. She actually did fairly well!

Then it was present opening time.

Overall the party was a huge success. We ate lots of food dipped in chocolate. Congrats Kevin and Lauren!

Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-25T10:53:00.001-06:00

So cheesy right? But that’s ok. People are allowed to be cheesy during holidays. ANYWAY…we’ve had a fairly enjoyable Easter this year. On Saturday Skylar came over and we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. The girls had so much fun and Mackenzie immediately knew what she was supposed to do. She ran all over picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. Way too much candy at our house right now.

On Saturday morning the Easter bunny had delivered a basket for Mackenzie with a Rapunzel brush (that sings and has changeable covers) and lots more candy. He also brought Adrian and I candy and Adrian Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the only one we didn’t own). Then we headed over to some friends’ house for a Easter morning brunch. It was fun to be able to eat and spend time with some of our newer friends from our ward. We headed off to church and enjoyed our time spent there. Then of course we came home and fixed a big Easter dinner for our family.

Easter dress :)

Coloring her picture of Jesus and His tomb she got from nursery.

Watching Tangled with Uncle Shane.

It’s been incredibly warm here (as in we went swimming for play group on Friday) so we’ve been spending lots of time outside. We love our deck (even if our backyard isn’t quite the best looking) and we enjoy sitting out there. This past week we decided to enjoy some ice cream cones out there. Well one disadvantage is that there are flies. Well apparently Mackenzie can’t stand them because this is what we caught on video:

And here are some adorable pics of her gobbling up her ice cream

Lauren’s Bridal Shower

2011-04-25T07:31:00.001-06:00

If you didn’t know already, my baby brother Kevin is getting married at the end of May. Being the sister-in-law I felt it was my duty to throw a rocking bridal shower. Plus who doesn’t love throwing a great party? So a week ago I threw a butterfly themed bridal shower.

If you can’t read it, the sign says ‘Bride to Be’.

I had these tissue paper balls hanging all over

And they had these little butterfly accents

And I made these little gift boxes for all the guests.

The party itself was a big success! We made toilet paper wedding dresses…

opened presents….

I also recorded what people said as they had to bend over to sign a posterboard and read them aloud as what would be said on the wedding night….

Overall we had a really fun time. The guests also colored fabric squares that I will be turning into a quilt. I was very pleased with how it went. Congratulations Lauren! Welcome to our crazy family!

The End of an Era

2011-04-03T07:54:00.001-06:00

This week marked the end of my watching Skylar. With summer coming Lauren decided to move her to daycare knowing I wouldn’t be able to watch her all summer. I have to say I have mixed feelings. Since I won’t be earning any more money towards Disney World we have to be really tight with our budget. But, on the other hand, I’m relieved. Watching her had become really stressful. I won’t go into details but it wasn’t my ideal situation. Plus now I’m really grateful to be able to spend time with just Mackenzie. We had Friday together and we had so much fun! The weather has been gorgeous so we had our lunch outside and played a bit.

The other day I realized that I had a bunch of videos on my Flip that I haven’t uploaded. So now is the time for videos!

This is Mackenzie when she was first really saying “I love you”. Pretty adorable.

I asked Mackenzie how old she was going to be. This is her answer.

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Mackenzie on her actual birthday.

So like I said, the weather here has been gorgeous. So yesterday we stopped at the store and picked up a little blow up pool to put on our deck. What a great idea! Mackenzie had so much fun. She was so upset when we told her it was time to come in. Here she is copying everything we do (she does that):

On Friday night I went to a Girls Night Out with some friends from church. We had so much fun! We met at a restaurant at 7:30 and didn’t end up leaving until 11:30 because we were having so much fun laughing and talking! I feel really lucky that we moved into such a great ward. I’ve made some really great friends. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of our crazy antics.

Well that’s been our week. Since I don’t have a car we don’t usually have much going on. We do get to get out for playgroup each Wednesday as one of the moms comes and picks us up. But most days are spent around the house or in the yard.

Mackenzie

So I want to update a little on how Mackenzie is developing and such so I can remember these fun times. She is such a funny girl. She loves to make us laugh. She is very playful and loves chasing games.

Mackenzie has also gotten really good at speaking lately. She speaks in sentences for the most part and tries to repeat all the words we say to her when we name something new. The other day I asked her if she want chocolate milk or regular milk. She was so frustrated because she was having such a hard time saying the word ‘regular’. It was so cute watching her try.

She has become a very passionate person. She loves very passionately. Whenever she gives hugs she ends up hurting kids because she’s just so passionate in her hugs. But it also means that she gives me lots of hugs and kisses. And it means she’s passionate in her tantrums. She can be a little dramatic when her feelings get hurt.

It turns out that Mackenzie is actually a little tall for her age. Who knew Adrian and I would produce a tall two year-old right? If the idea that two year olds are half their adult height then Mackenzie will be 5’8”! I highly doubt that’s how tall she’ll be but I guess you never know. My sister is tall and so are my brothers. I’m actually the shortest in my family.

My Sweetheart

2011-03-31T08:48:00.001-06:00

On Saturday night after Mackenzie’s birthday party Mackenzie and I had a conversation that went like this:

Mommy: Did you like your birthday party?

Mackenzie: (looking at me earnestly) Thank you Mommy.

She then wrapped her arms around me real tight and then gives me a kiss.

Mackenzie: I love you.

Oh my goodness my heart just melted! She may a bully sometimes, but she can also be the biggest sweetheart in the world.

By the Beach!

2011-03-27T20:18:00.001-06:00

Can you imagine having not seen the ocean for over 40 years?? I certainly can’t, though I am definitely a beach girl and granted I’ve lived in coastal states my entire life. Well apparently this was true though for my mother-in-law Mary Jo so I knew we had to take her down to Galveston. We went this past Friday once my mom got home from California. When we got there it was overcast and windy and actually kind of chilly. Poor Mackenzie was turning purple but she still had fun! Finally after a couple of hours the clouds went away and the sun came out. It turned out to be a beautiful day. And I have the sun burn to show for it! Mary Jo had so much fun playing in the waves. It was like watching a little kid. There was a little tide pool there so Mackenzie and Skylar thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I was happy it was there also because I didn’t have to hover over them like I feel like I need to in the ocean!

Mary Jo about to go in the water

Trying to stay warm

Relaxing when the sun finally came out

Overall it was a very fun day!

A Tangled Birthday Party

2011-03-27T19:58:00.001-06:00

Rapunzel! Let down your hair! So if you remember Mackenzie absolutely loves the movie Tangled. We saw it twice in the theaters so naturally we knew the theme of her birthday party! It was a huge success. I had so much fun making the decorations and such for the party. So first we’ll talk about those! Then we’ll get to the really fun stuff and talk about the party itself.

Can you see Rapunzel’s braid hanging from our roof? Yep that’s where we locked her up.

Bunting I made based on the bunting in the movie. Yes I really cut all those suns out by hand. I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law thinks I need to be institutionalized.

I hung floating lanterns all over our house

There are crayons hanging on the yarn. The kids got to “color on the wall” just like Rapunzel.

The birthday girl! I made that tutu and then used liquid stitch and some ribbon to decorate her shirt to look like Rapunzel. You’ll see close ups of the hats in a sec.

The party hats for the girls had those braids and the boys’ were just plain. I loved them!

I made these little bookmarks to put in the arty bags. I printed them from here (there are TONS of Tangled crafts and ideas) and then added the braid myself.

And now on to the more important part….the party! We had so much fun! When the kids first arrived (most from playgroup) they got to color on the wall and make their own 3D Pascals (Rapunzel’s chameleon friend, craft also from that website). After they had fun doing that we did a balloon pop. Basically Adrian put candy in a bunch of balloons and blew them up. Then the kids had to sit on the balloons and pop them to get candy. They LOVED it! It was hilarious to watch.

After the game we all ate some snacks. I made some pigs in a blanket, had some pretzels and some little cups of blue jell-o. The jell-o was supposed to have orange slices like boats on them but I forgot that part. Oh well. We also had some pretzels to snack on. Then it was present time. Man, Mackenzie made out like a bandit! We are so lucky to have made such awesome friends in our new ward. They were all very kind. Here are some of the pictures:

So to add to my insanity I also decided to make Mackenzie a present (to add the doll she has above (which I did NOT make, I’m not that talented). If you read my other blog you know that I’ve made a few activity mats. Well I decided to make a Tangled themed one. Here’s a kind of crappy shot of the finished product (you can’t see the bottom at all). I’ll try to get a better picture taken.

After presents it was time for cupcakes! Here’s Mackenzie blowing out her candles (a mysterious breeze seem to come out of nowhere and help her!)

So you should know that ever since everyone sang her the Happy Birthday song she has been singing it to herself. She loves it. This morning she even sang “happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me”. It was adorable. But I’m not surprised as she’s a pretty cute kid!

We had so much fun at the party and we’re grateful for everyone that was able to come! Thanks!

Mackenzie Turns 2!!!

2011-03-27T09:50:00.001-06:00

How on earth do I have a 2 year old already? I can’t believe it! We have had lots of fun celebrating Mackenzie this past week. Her actual birthday was on Monday. We had my dad and Shane over (my mom was out of town) for dinner and ate some yummy cupcakes. We also let her open some presents.

Super Bowl Champ bear from Grandma

Minnie card from Grampa

We got her this Rapunzel book. She makes us read it to her every single nap time and bedtime and she carries it with her and looks at the pictures constantly.

Presents from Auntie Marisa

Blowing out candles. We had so much fun! Stay tuned for updates on her awesome Tangled birthday party!

Space Center Houston

2011-03-27T09:17:00.001-06:00

The one place that Mary Jo really wanted to go on her visit here was Space Center Houston, so naturally we went as soon as we could! This past Tuesday we loaded up Mackenzie and Skylar and headed down there. Though I’ve been there before, I always like going again. My favorite part is the Starship Gallery with all the artifacts. Granted it wasn’t the most pleasant of days because the girls were not in the best moods, but it was still enjoyable to see everything.

Mary Jo has become an astronaut :)

Space shuttle cockpit

Old mission control

Astronaut training center

Front of Saturn V. It’s huge.

Saturn V

So we went to the Starship Gallery last (tram tour, playing, other exhibits came first). They show you a really good short movie about the space program before you go through the exhibit. Well this was Mackenzie after the movie:

Yep. She was like this all the way until I put her in the car. she was pretty worn out! Like I said, not the most pleasant trip but I always love learning about the space program and learning that the first space motels may be up and running as early as 2015!

Visiting the Zoo

2011-03-27T08:44:00.001-06:00

So right at the end of spring break my mother in law was able to come visit. The day after she got here we were able to go to the Houston Zoo. It was super busy but we had so much fun! Mary Jo was kind enough to buy us a membership so we’ll get to visit as much as we want. We look forward to doing that this summer while Adrian is home. Mackenzie especially loved the baby giraffe, baby elephants (we got to watch one nursing!) and the chimpanzees. Here are some photos from our trip:

That’s an okapi. I think it looks like a combination of a zebra, giraffe, and horse. Very odd.

I may not love pets but I absolutely love going to the zoo to see animals!

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-27T08:35:00.001-06:00

Ok I have to admit, I love that Adrian is a teacher! Granted the financial benefits aren’t that great, but they are enough. But, the other benefits rock! So the week of March 14 Adrian had spring break, which meant an entire week of him being home! It was wonderful, even if we were working the whole time. But it paid off. We decided to use all of spring break to work on our yard. Here is the before picture of our front yard:

And here is the after picture:

Those are encore azaleas in the front. Right now they’re struggling a little but my mom assures me they’ll make it. In the middle we planted lily bulbs (which are thriving!) and tulip bulbs that we actually found in our yard. We’ve also put some grass seed down in the bare areas. I’m loving it. I love that those windows are no longer blocked by the huge overgrown bushes and we actually get light in those rooms (game room and Mackenzie’s room). Plus I think it just gives our house a nicer look overall. Now we just have to work on the backyard….

I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night….

2011-03-27T08:06:00.001-06:00

and party everyday! So during spring break I had the chance to take Adrian to the KISS concert at the rodeo! We had so much fun. I had bought tickets on like the 30th row and we were right in the middle in front of the stage. We were so close. I actually had told Adrian that I bought nosebleed tickets because it was all I could get (the show was sold out). Imagine his surprise when we were walking over to the stadium and I told him where our seats were! Pretty awesome. And the concert was amazing. They put on a great show. Here are some pictures from the concert:

We also got some KISS gear. Here we are at home after the concert. Adrian is sporting his new shirt and I have my new rocking hoodie:

Another Month Gone…

2011-03-27T07:32:00.000-06:00

I wrote this post two weeks ago but it took me forever to get the pictures uploaded! Sorry!

How has it already been a month since I last posted? I mean, I know we were uber busy but when I think back on this past month only a couple things really stick out to me. Then again, life in general is just crazy between being a mom, caring for my niece, being a wife, keeping up my other blog, and owning a house. But, like I said, I do remember some things so here goes nothing…..

Valentines Day. We had a pretty low key V-Day. Adrian had taken me out for sushi (YUM!!!) the Friday before so we just ate at home. we had agreed not to get each other presents this year but Adrian surprised me when he got home from work with flowers and a really cute candy gram. For FHE that night we made and decorated sugar cookies. This was mine:

I was laughing. Anyway, unfortunately our night did not end on a romantic note because as we were going to bed we discovered Mackenzie had thrown up a ton. After we bathed her she threw up some more (this time in the toilet). The next morning was more of the same and she and I spent some quality time together (Sky didn’t come over). She fell asleep on the couch:

Anyway, it only lasted that day, thankfully. But unluckily I ended up getting sick a couple days later. And like 10 times worse too. Oh well. We’re all better now.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on the house lately. We got our tax refund so we were able to use towards things we needed. Like a loveseat and such for our living room. And paint. So here’s what our living room looks like now:

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go Austin to see my friend Shiloh’s baby blessed. Shiloh and I have known each other for 9 years now, which is crazy. I love that we are still so close. Anyway, it was so great being able to spend time with her and her sweet family. Adrian loved having some “man time” with Thomas and even Mackenzie played with her son Andrew for a little! Here’s proof:

Here are our families together before we headed back to Houston:

Sam was such a sweet baby. He loves to be held so I got lots of snuggle time in. It was great to be able to help Shiloh out and also spend time with her.

True Love’s Kiss

2011-02-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

Do you think Mackenzie has watched Sleeping Beauty (thank you Jessamyn!) and Enchanted too many times? See for yourself (she does this ALL THE TIME, but it’s ok because it’s so cute!):

Weekend Away

2011-02-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Like I mentioned in my previous post, we were gearing up for a weekend away in San Antonio. Well did I mention that our trip was FREE? Oh yeah. See last summer at an Astros game we were approached about going and listening to one of those timeshare schpiels. In return we got a free weekend stay in New Braunfels (just north of San Antonio). We were like, heck yeah. We have no problem saying no so we weren’t concerned about them trying to sell us something. And we had a fabulous time! My parents watched Mackenzie the whole weekend so we decided it was our Valentines celebration as well.

Well we drove up on Friday. We weren’t going to leave until the evening but Adrian’s school got cancelled because of the ice storm (on a related note: the ice was very bad. My poor baby brother wrapped the front of his truck around a light pole. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt). Since he didn’t have to go to work we waited until the sun came up and warmed everything up a little and headed out. We hit a little ice towards the end of our drive (about 2 1/2 hours) but that was it. First we headed to San Antonio and walked along the Riverwalk. Since it was cold it wasn’t crowded but it was still beautiful!

We also went shopping at the mall and got Mackenzie’s birthday presents. (ps I’m so excited about that!) Then we headed up to New Braunfels to check in to our hotel (we got a King size bed!) and went out to dinner. Then we spent the evening playing cards and just spending time together. It was great to talk and stay up without worrying about Mackenzie waking us up in the morning.

The next morning we slept in and almost missed breakfast! Then we spent the morning just hanging out. Our tour was at 12:30. The resort was in the hill country so it was very beautiful. After two hours of them trying to sell us the timeshare they finally accepted our no. We were able to accept our rewards ($40 American Express card, additional free trip, and a day pass to the resort) and head back down to San Antonio. This time we visited San Fernando Cathedral, which is supposedly where the remains of the Alamo heroes are entombed. It was a beautiful cathedral. Then we headed to the Hard Rock Café on the Riverwalk for dinner. We used our gift card so dinner was free! Woohoo! And very yummy. Plus we sat next to Steven Tyler’s guitar :)

Sunday morning after checking out we headed back to San Antonio for the moment Adrian had been waiting for all weekend…visiting the Alamo! I’ve only been once before so it was cool to be able to go again. We took our time going through the various exhibits. I feel lucky to live in a state with such rich history.

The day just got better as we headed home and got to watch the Packers win the Super Bowl! Hurray! The night was capped off with a viewing of Glee.

Here are some random videos and pictures of Mackenzie:

We actually just got a Flip video camera in the mail for something I’m doing on my other blog. You can read all about it next week! Have a fabulous week!

Pump it up!

2011-02-03T11:20:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s been awhile since I posted! Life has just gotten in the way I suppose. Just this past week we discovered a crack in our garbage disposal, our water heater broke (and won’t be fixed until Monday), and I came down with some horrible 24 hour flu bug.

At any rate, a couple weeks ago Skylar had her birthday party. It was at Pump It Up which is this place full of inflatables (slides, obstacles courses, basketball, etc.) We had so much fun! The place is great because they let the adults play too. Mackenzie had so much fun. She just ran from one thing to the next and didn’t want to stop. Here are pictures from our day:

So in this last one my mom was trying to help Mackenzie up the incline and all the other kids decided to use her to help themselves! I was laughing so hard.

There hasn’t necessarily been a lot of other major things going on. But we still have been having fun. This morning Mackenzie walked out of her room like this:

Then I took this video of her:

I thought it was pretty cute. She’s getting really good and making sentences. She also sings the first two lines of Twinkle Star. Sometimes I sit back and am amazed at how big she’s getting! Lately she’s really liked looking at her baby pictures and it’s amazing to see the difference.

Here are some random pictures:

She decided Daddy needed to hold nearly all her stuffed animals.

Notice that Barbie also has sunglasses…

Tonight it’s supposed to snow! In Houston! It’s funny because Adrian’s school actually already scheduled an early out for this afternoon because of the anticipated weather. It amuses us after living in Utah for so long. Also this weekend we’re going to San Antonio! I’ll post all about it on Sunday (after the Super Bowl of course…go Packers!)

Have a fabulous weekend!

Favorite Phrases

2011-01-16T10:11:00.001-07:00

This week has been fairly uneventful, especially compared to last week. So instead I decided to focus this week’s post on Mackenzie and some of her favorite phrases. I’m doing this mostly because in years to come I want to remember these moments because they are so much fun!Granted, she does have off days like any toddler, but she’s such a fun toddler! So here are some of her favorite things to say right now:

“please” and “thank you”: she actually will continue saying thank you until you say “you’re welcome”!

“I get you!”: she says this whenever she wants us to chase her or for her to chase us

“I funny!”: she loves making us laugh

“I pretty?”: she asks this all the time whenever she wears a princess crown or jewelry or…anything.

“Gosh!”: she mostly says this when something scares her or she falls down.

“See you!” pretty much any time she leaves the room

I’m pretty sure there are more phrases but I can’t think of them right now. Mackenzie did have her 18 month check up on Friday (yes she will be 22 months this Friday). She’s actually a little taller than average, but is still super skinny. Which is funny because she eats so much!

What a week!

2011-01-09T09:01:00.001-07:00

What an eventful week! If you’ve read my obituary I wrote for our car, you know that last Tuesday Adrian got in an accident. He was on his way home from work. It was pouring and he was behind a big full-size truck. Well apparently the truck wasn’t paying attention and swerved into another lane to avoid hitting a long line of cars that Adrian couldn’t see. By the time the truck swerved Adrian slammed on his brakes but the roads were slick so he ended up just skidding into the back of a pickup truck. He was not hurt at all (thankfully) but the front end of our car got smashed. The damage would cost too much to fix considering the worth of the car. I was pretty sad, not gonna lie. I loved that car. But yesterday we were able to go car shopping and we found a 2007 red Impala that we really like. Adrian was able to talk them down quite a bit so we bought it. It’s nice because it’s a full size car so it’s a bit bigger and will fit our growing family (eventually). Plus it has power everything which if you ever rode in our Neon you’ll know is kind of a big deal!

So I was able to get some really cute videos of Mackenzie this week. She absolutely loves to sing and dance. The first video is of her dancing around (which is mostly just running in circles). I tried to get her to sing Twinkle Little Star, but she just says “winkle car” a couple times.

The second video is her singing (ok me) Popcorn Popping. She knows all the hand motions. It’s super cute.

Well that’s our week in a nutshell. Mackenzie and I got to spend the day together on Friday by ourselves which was a lot of fun. I mean, taking care of Skylar is great and I love that Mackenzie has someone to play with but it’s fun to be able to spend time alone with my daughter. Oh and I’m still keeping up my craft blog so if you’re not following already, go ahead and check it out!

RIP Celeste

2011-01-06T18:36:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday, January 4th the Dodge Neon Celeste and her owner Adrian were involved in an accident in the rain. Though the driver wasn’t hurt, Celeste was left in critical condition. Two days later it was determined that she would not survive.

Her life began as a gift from Brittany’s father and served as a faithful car in the following years. In her six year lifespan she never had a single mechanical problem. The Foster family took good care of her and are sad to leave such memories behind. Celeste was a large part of their lives from their marriage, numerous road trips, a new baby, to buying their first house. She is survived by Adrian, Brittany, and Mackenzie. Private services have been scheduled.