Mattea's New Hat

I brought this hat back from California for Mattea.  It's the craziest looking thing, but these hats are all the rage right now.  There are pieces that hang down over her ears on each side that are long enough for her to put her hands inside them as gloves.  Very genius.  I think she totally rocks this hat!

California... knows how to party!

I was fortunate enough to be able to fly to California last weekend to help my college friend, Lisa, celebrate her 40th birthday.  I flew out Friday afternoon in the middle of a blizzard that ended up dropping 20 inches in our neck of the woods.  Yikes!  I was happy to only have to shovel once before I left.  Jeff and the kids spent a LOT of time outside shoveling, sledding and playing in the snow.  I was happy to be away from it all!

When I got to Cali, Lisa picked me up at the airport.  We went back to her condo where I dropped off my bags and we walked to the community pool to relax.  It felt wonderful!  That night, we played cards and had some "beeritas"... a combination of beer and margaritas.  It sounds weird, but it was really tasty!  Lisa's mom, aunt, 2 sisters, 1 brother and a friend were also in town.  On Saturday, we went to the flea market where we picked up souvenirs for our families and walked around looking at all of the fun stuff for sale. 

After that, Lisa, her friend, Karen, and I went to Huntington Beach for lunch followed by pedicures and massages.  Ahhhhhhhhhh!  Finally, it was time to head to Dave & Buster's for Lisa's 40th birthday party.  Her family did a great job organizing a fun party!  It was nice to hear all the wonderful things people had to say about Lisa.  She is truly a special person. 

On Sunday, we went to the beach.  We ate cupcakes from Sprinkles, played volleyball on the beach, took LOTS of pictures, walked around on the rocks and saw the tide pools where there were anemones and hermit crabs, had a picnic lunch and relaxed.  It was pretty much an awesome day!  It was especially awesome considering that if I was at home, I would have been freezing my rear off!!!
 

After the beach, we headed back to Lisa's to watch the SuperBowl. We did it Cali-style... we pulled the TV, couch and chairs outside on her patio. What a life! It was a spectacular weekend and I was sad to see it end. I'm so glad I got to celebrate with my wonderful friend!!!

The Last Day of My 30's

So, I am turning 40 tomorrow.  I've been thinking about this for several months now and I have been totally fine with it.... all the way up until I realized that today was the last day of my 30's.  Wow... another decade of my life is gone.  That kinda freaked me out a bit.  But, then I got thinking about my life and where I am at and what is important to me.  I am happy, healthy and beyond blessed.  Age is just a number, so BRING IT ON!!!

My wonderful kids and hubby have been spoiling me all day.  Apparently, when you have a birthday on a weekend, you get to celebrate for more than one day.  I'm cool with that idea!  We went out for lunch and then Josh, Jeff and I saw a movie while Alex and Mattea chilled at home.  After the movie, we picked up Alex and Mattea to go to Mattea's indoor soccer game.  I ended up having to step in for the coach for most of the game which was a learning experience for me, but it turned out well.  The Stars won 4-3 and Mattea had two of the goals!  Woohoo!!!  We heated up some leftover pizza when we got home and then had a cupcake tasting party.  I bought some fancy cupcakes at Bliss since my Mom wasn't here to bake me a cherry chip cake like she did when I was a kid.  Ahhhhh... the memories!  After that, we had a three hour Kinect dance party.  It was SUCH a blast!  Just Dance 3 is a really fun game.  It was so dance with the kids and even more fun to watch the kids dance!  Mattea was having so much fun that she would giggle constantly.  It was hard to take the video since she made me giggle, too.  What a great way to end my 30's!

Letting Go of the Guilt

It's a new year and typically the time to make resolutions, organize, get on a health kick and all that jazz.  Well, I didn't make any resolutions for this year.  I have done some organizing and exercising and that's all good, however, I am taking a different approach to 2012.  As many people in the blogging world are doing, I am going to pick one word for 2012... one thing to focus on and make improvements.  My word for 2012 is GUILT.  I have been feeling rather unsettled lately.  I'm unsettled about many things that I won't go into here, but I finally figured out what to do about it.  I'm going to try to let go of the guilt!  Many of the things that make me feel unsettled are brought on because of guilt.  It's not going to be easy to let it go, but if I can let go even a little bit, it will make me a happier person and much easier to live with!!!

One thing that makes me feel guilty is not posting regularly to the blog.  No one makes me feel guilty about it or teases me about my irregular posting, but I know that some of you look at the blog on a daily basis and it must get annoying when I don't post regularly.  So, that is something that will change for 2012.  I'm going to post more regularly in addition to the weekly pictures I posted for 2011.  I do plan to keep posting pictures regularly (or sporadically as the case may be!), but I have found that putting together those weekly posts takes time and thought and then sometimes when I don't feel like I can get it all done, I don't do it at all.  There are also daily things that happen around here that I would love to share.  That's the kind of stuff I am going to do more regularly.  It's so much easier to just jot down a funny story or something great one of the kids did at school and I'm pretty sure that is the kind of stuff y'all want to hear anyway.  So, I am not going to feel guilty if I fall behind on weekly pictures.  It will help me knowing that I will also be enlightening and humoring you with stories from our crazy life.  : )
Also, I am done feeling guilty about not accomplishing much on my "39 things to do before I turn 40" list.  I am going to acknowledge what I did do and work on what I didn't.  No big deal and no guilt!  Below is a picture of the gallery wall (#6 on my list) that I finally finished.  It's right outside our bedroom and although some of the pictures ended up a little close together (let it go, let it go), I am super happy with the results.  Jeff loves it so much that he picked another wall in the house for me to do another gallery wall!  YAY!  Please note... several of the frames still need pictures added or updated.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... I feel better now.  Thanks for listening!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 52

We debated several different plans for New Year's Eve this year and finally decided to just stay home.  I'm glad we did since Josh ended up with a fever. 

 I bought some fun little poppers for the kids and we did a 9pm fireworks show of our own and called it good. The kids had a fun time and it was low key enough for Josh to enjoy himself as well. 

I stayed up until midnight to catch the ball drop on TV and then I promptly went to bed. Happy New Year!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 51

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Pete came to visit for Christmas this year.  We had a wonderful time.  We went shopping, to the movies, ice skating, played games, ate a lot and played outside.  Grandpa enjoyed being outside with the bright sunshine beating down on him.  I'm pretty sure Grandma loved taking Mattea shopping at Southlands! 

Grandma and Grandpa read the kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.  It was very sweet to see the kids all snuggled up with them on the couch... you could just feel their excitement.  Christmas Eve has to be the easiest night to get kids to go bed early. 

We told the kids not to wake us up until at least 7am and they kept their promise.  They went in to Grandma and Grandpa's room first and Grandma said "I've been waiting for you since 5am!"  I think she was almost as excited as the kids!!!  Christmas morning was very fun!  The kids were spoiled rotten with everything they received.

Uncle Terry and Duke drove down for a visit on Christmas Day.  We had turkey and all the fixin's, played some video games, watched some football, played some catch outside and enjoyed each other's company.

Pictures of the Week -- Week 50

The highlight of our week was attending the Broncos vs. Patriots football game at Sports Authority Field.  Wow... what an amazing experience!  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  It was 60+ degrees and sunny.  Gotta love it! 

We started off by "Tebowing" in front of the stadium.  Trust me... we weren't the only ones doing it. 

We got to the game about 2 hours early, so we took some pictures before the game started.  You could just feel the excitement in the air.  Alex is sporting one of the free orange beanies we got when we walked in.

We made a couple signs to hold up during the game.  Josh proudly waved his around until some annoying guy behind us asked him to put it down.  Fun hater.

I love this picture SO much!  You can see the crowd-filled stands, the players on the field and my 2 sweet boys by my side... one of them "Tebowing".  Yeah, we totally got into it!  We had such a fun day!