Birthday Shoutout...

I'm not starting a trend here...I just so happen to be on my computer while a birthday is fresh in my mind...and I happen to owe these guys a peek at this photo...so be not offended that your birthday was forgotten...you see that's the norm around here =)

Here's my little brother Chris who's birthday is today...and his wife Sally who also just had a birthday!! They gave up their Valentines to watch my little munchkins and I felt putting up this smashing photo of them was a great way to say thanks!! We'll have to do more photos of them soon since Sally has lost a whole person of weight and really wants a post wedding, pre-baby "couples/non-engagement" session since we never really did a session for their engagement!!

Happy birthday you two...enjoy our favorite place for dinner...my mouth waters just thinking of the yummy bread, salad and steak I could have if we were joining you!

What a difference a year makes...

A year ago today I woke up feeling very heavy (literally) and excited...it was to be my last pregnant day as the next morning I was going to be induced and have my Valentines baby. She was due on the 13th, my best efforts to get her here long before that to not compete with Valentines didn't work, so I decided my first little girl should just debut on Valentines Day, with all her pink glory.

She had another plan...I remember about 9am I walked into labor and delivery alone (there was no parking, my hubby dropped me off and went to park). I was all dolled up, showered, hair done and make up applied...if I was going to have a daytime baby, it was going to be in style. I walked up to the desk, completely composed and told the many nurses I was there to have a baby. They looked at me with glares like I was really stupid. My water had broken almost 2hours before and it only took another moment until a contraction came on strong and they could see I was for real...I rather enjoyed this exchange with those nurses =)

Little Emery made her way a short 6 hours later and made her mommy a very happy lady! I sure needed a baby girl! One of the first things I asked them was to double check she was really a girl!! She's been an angel from the start, always sleeping well, rarely crying and honestly, she's so easygoing, Reuben and I can't believe there are such babies that are so manageable from the start! I'm in total denial that she's ONE...it went WAY too fast!! Here's a few photos I pulled off my point and shoot camera since I didn't have all my files to access. I'll try to do a one year shoot and post those soon! This next one is when I was saying goodbye to her at the airport...she cried after this and reached out to me...I cried too, she sure loves me I knew it'd be hard to leave her...especially on her birthday!!

This sums her up...her jammies that say "I like to dream of mommy" I'm dreaming of you too baby girl and I'll see you in a few days! Happy Happy Birthday!

It's Russ's birthday too...send him a message on facebook...he's spending his birthday with Mickey Mouse...fun!

Not in that business...

Thanks to a nasty infection...you know the kind that makes you go to the Dr. three times in one week? Oh, and that requires more shots you can count. Oh, and the kind that requires your (squeamish) husband to perform mini surgery on you while you scream out from the pain...

Yeah, it's been a rough one and thanks to that nasty infection...this girls work and blogging has sure suffered. I can get over the blogging, but with only 4 days left til I leave for a conference, how on earth was I supposed to give up a week of editing to ILLNESS!

I'm not sure of the infection cuz lab results must have to come from another country around here...it may be a staph infection...whatever it is, it took over my hip in a fierce way and forced me to wear sweats most the week...cuz it hurt too bad to wear jeans!

But, no worries, Janelle took great care of me with my many calls to her (thanks) and aside from medicine that continues to make me feel like I need to throw up (like right now)...I think I'm getting better.

And it's about time, cuz my husband, he's not so into that business of mini surgery...and frankly neither am I. I'm ready to go back to the work I do best, and I'll leave that yucky medical stuff for the people that get excited to see oozing...eeeeeewwwwww!

A new leaf

Miss Emery is coming up quickly on her 1st birthday...are you KIDDING ME? I did NOT sign up for this...she's supposed to stay so little and cuddly and be my BABY! In honor of her turning of age, she's turning over a new leaf as well, for instance...

after taking 9 months of life to learn the excitement of ROLLING...

at 11months she FINALLY took off to crawling, and that's when it happened...

out went content, simple, sweet, baby

in came attitude, anger, stiff body, back arching, kicking and loud shreiking SCREAMS when she's mad!

Boy is that girl ready to make up for lost time!

For instance...Ms. Confused wants to get out of bed after a "forced" nap. Pick her up and she goes ballistic, whines, cries, throws her body around and wants OUT of your arms...so, you set her on the floor for her desired freedom and then...her world just crumbles, she's a crying, dramatic mess, how could you put her on the floor where she was telling you she wanted to be?

It's still manageable, heaven knows my boys could out tantrum this girl any day. She's still fairly distractable and it's mostly still funny (except when it's CLEARLY sleep time and she won't have it). Daddy says she's mean, she's very obvious in her forced dislike of him taking her from me...two hands to shove the kissy lips away...but hey, I'm frankly overdue for a little love from this house of "Daddy worshippers"...so that makes me happy!

we still love her to pieces and we're happy to see some personality emerge from our content little angel, it must mean she is developing at least!

Where did it go?

It's over...how does it come and go SO FAST? So...even though I really only feel I got to "get into the holiday spirit" like 4 days ago when I decided to focus on Christmas fully, I'm sad that it went by so fast, at least now it's "vacation time" for me and my family and by vacation I mean...

staying at home

doing home chores

spending time together as a family

having fun with out of towners

sleeping in?

maybe a date night?

working on my new business blog...coming soon!

I'm super excited about all this part, but I wish one year that I could have the WHOLE MONTH of December to just play and bake and shop...I'm sure it's overrated though right?

Today was EVENTFUL...we've been running non stop and after hosting BOTH BIG family gatherings at our house...we have some CLEANING to do! Not to mention SLEEP...we crashed at 3am last two nights even though I REALLY thought we were going to get to go to bed earlier on Christmas eve...oh well, it's always worth it! Here's some pics of the children in the Christmas garb...I got to dress a girl for Christmas for the first time...LOVE IT!

I decided to not be traditional and do PINK! The boys matched in grey and the best part is that it was ALL ON SALE and I got it all so cheap! =)

Emery 10 months

Dawson 4

Brennan 6

Here are my boys...they are pretty funny (when they aren't fighting...)

Dawson wants to do everything Brennan does

I can't believe this is MY LITTLE GIRL!! It's still seems weird and I STILL love every bit of having a girl. She got her ears pierced, is starting to have enough hair for a pony tail and just loves her mommy to death...

I love her to death too...her eyes which just might be brown, her cute little smile and the way that she stares at me from across the room just to see if I will look at her or pick her up at which point she smiles ear to ear and buries her face in my chest...does it get ANY better?

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and to all a good night...we need some sleep!!

Sleep in heavenly peace...

I'm finally sharing photos of my little baby girls nursery after months of promising it to my out of town family...I LOVE baby nurseries...there is something so fun and sweet about putting together a place for a new baby to sleep, I always hope to make it a little piece of heaven! This nursery had so much love put into with MANY homemade gifts from people much more crafty than me...thanks everyone for those!

No question who's room this is...she happens to have the biggest room too, just worked out that way since she had to be near our room.

THE BEDDING!!! I couldn't find bedding online ANYWHERE that I LOVED, I was sad, finally having a girl and couldn't find bedding for her. So after some motivation from Marnee and her very talented seamstress mother...I enlisted my mom to make her granddaughter some bedding and she agreed, although I wonder if she really wishes she had agreed once I showed her all the fabric and gave her my "vision."

My mom, Pam and my Aunt Debbie did an AMAZING job sewing it all and we LOVE it!

You'd think a girl could get some pics for those frames...yeah, working on that...really I am, RIGHT NOW!

Emery loves her room and her bed, I just have to walk her in there with a blanket and her pacifier and cuddle or rock her for one minute. She immediately starts humming to herself and I lay her down awake in her bed...she MELTS, cuddles her blanket and rolls over to go to sleep. She never cries, has slept through the night most her life and is so good at falling asleep on her own..I love this because I firmly believe it makes my kids better sleepers, it develops healthy sleep habits early on which will help in the tough toddler years!

She loved her mobile...until her brother's broke it...

I think this picture is telling me something...Reuben's really happy.

Daddy labored many hours to perfect this room, here's the new closet doors he painted and put in along with each tongue and groove wall paneling piece. He's a perfectionist too. Everything was leveled, painted and caulked. We even had to remove the baseboards, repaint them because I wanted cream, not white...then reinstall them over the paneling! I'm sure Daddy's efforts will last many years in the little darlings palace!

SERIOUSLY...this is MY baby.

And a quick update...Emery's 9months old in these pics although she's going to be 10 months in a few days! She's FINALLY getting around by rolling and is still pretty content MOST of the time. She only likes mommy and disses Daddy even if he hasn't held her all day long. She loves to put her fingers in your mouth trying to get your tongue and she loves to grab the skin on your face by the handful and just pull on it...it's especially fun when she hasn't had her nails cut! She's the BEST baby ever and she knew I needed a momma's girl cuz her brothers sure have an obsession with daddy! Love you Miss Emery!

Holy Day of Shopping Recap...

After a wonderful turkey day with both of our families I settled into a short restful night of slumber...3 1/2 hours later it was time to get to work, there was shopping to be had!

3:40am - alarm sounds, nausea and disbelief set it, I can't possibly get up this early to SHOP, ugh!
4:15am - arrive at Walmart to a parking lot FULL, park at the back and take book it inside.
4:40am - all of our group (5 total) take our assumed positions around the store to get our items.
5:00am- I'm LITERALLY on the ground in a pile of people (this was a first for me) wrestling pretty good with my arms around an unnameable item...don't worry, I came up with it only for Elisha to point out the pallet a few feet away of the same item that NO ONE knew about therefore it was untouched...oh well, my way was a much bigger high, even if I did HATE being in a dogpile with WALMART shoppers!
6:00am - off to Target, more great deals and the store wasn't even that busy, YIPEE!
8:00am - Breakfast break at Paradise.
9:00am - More shopping, Costco, Old Navy, Children's Place, Bath & Body etc etc ( I bought myself an early present at one of these stores, maybe I'll post a picture later!)
1:00pm - Stop for lunch...man I am TIRED
3:30pm - Can't do it any longer...off for a pedicure then ditched the girls to go home and SLEEP!

The remainder of the weekend was just as busy, a visit from Janelle and Jill which was such fun, Russ's wedding most of Saturday and then an honorary girls night since those girls were in town...Sunday morning I finally crashed at 4am and honestly I am STILL paying for the lack of sleep, I think today I finally feel a little more normal!

It was a whirlwind, but I got a LOT of Christmas Shopping done, had tons of fun and saved a lot of money even though I think I countered the savings with spending that I wasn't planning on...oops, just don't tell my husband.

Gearing up...

Calling all "HOLY DAY OF SHOPPING" FANS

I'm gearing up for another year and another fun and crazy shopping event! I'm already bummed, some places are opening at midnight, others at 4am...when's a girl supposed to get her beauty sleep?? I'm sure this year won't disappoint because really its more about the fun with my ladies than it is about the sales! Holy Day of Shopping would NOT be fun without a group of girls (and of course NO KIDS ARE ALLOWED, some people are CRAZY to bring those little ones).

Thanks to Janelle for sending me a link to the ads early...here you go for your viewing pleasure...

If you're unfortunate enough to live in a depressed family where people sleep in and don't venture out to the stores, leave me a comment and I'll tell you where to join us Friday for our before sunrise madness. And when I say madness, I promise that we will have none of this!

I mean it, you have to go with trained Black Friday shopping professionals, cuz we have a system!

Check out my handsome date...

I went on a date last night. My date was a perfect gentleman. He told me great stories with lots of fine details, most of which were made up. He held my hand and he even held the door for me once! He did really like to flex his muscles for the camera though, I didn't tell him this wasn't good date etiquette

cuz I liked how he smiled when he flexed.

(don't be jealous of my 1.0 megapixel camera phone...if the mean people wouldn't have taken my point and shoot camera, I would've used that!)

We went to As You Wish to paint some pottery. After steering him away from the snakes and dogs that wouldn't have a good place to sit in our home (I know I know...who's date is this?), we settled on the perfect piece...a football helmet piggy bank! Perfect for his sports themed room and much better than the empty peanut butter jar he is currently using.

Daddy had warned me before we left that he didn't think Brennan would like this date and that I shouldn't get disappointed if he doesn't. Brennan raved about the date the whole night and LOVED painting. I did realize that maybe painting isn't my thing, I'm sort of a perfectionist and it's pretty frustrating to TRY to just paint a helmet 2-3 colors without them bleeding on each other when people around you are creating beautiful masterpieces! Oh well, I got over it, and I'm sure the helmet will look great when we get it back from the kiln.

This is his "I'm an ASU football fan pose"

The whole drive home I told my date all the reasons that I love him. Then I surprised him at the end with a chocolate shake. That was his favorite part...

oh wait, when I told him he didn't have to share it with his brother

that was actually his real favorite part.

And my favorite part was the whole thing, but especially the end
because I got a kiss goodnight!

Halloween and birthday party...

With school parties and sweets and candy and ending it all with a birthday party and cake...I can safely say it's time to get back to the gym!! Here's our weekend...

being the avid baker I am...I whipped up these fancy treats for school handouts...yes, I know you are jealous of my wonderful skills! The boys actually were a huge help and LOVED this little project...and at the end when bedtime was WAY PAST DUE I suggested that Daddy was a good spider cooking maker too and begged for his help to wrap up our night. The next morning the boys proudly exclaimed to our cousin every bit of the details of our cookie fest...

Brennan "my DADDY made these super cool spider cookies and they have 8 legs and red eyes..."

Dawson "yeah, my Daddy made these cookies, you want to see..."

Me "who made those cookies??"

B & D " DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!"

I guess having the idea, getting the supplies and working on them for over an hour doesn't count...you just have to join (against your will) the last 10 minutes or so to get ALL the credit!

Halloween brought us to my sister's house where there's always great chili, cornbread and over 100 kids trick or treating...and the occasional mom (yes I'm serious mom's with bags that WEREN'T their kids bags) we set up camp out front around a cozy fire in case the weather dips below 80 and our toes become slightly chilled! This year there was a precious pink poodle...

she had her eye on a cute little dalmation...

it was love at first sight, a perfect pair...until....

he really liked her tag...

oh and those eyes, he really liked her eyes, a little too much...

our pink poodle was super sad after the attack...

but the dalmation moved on, there were more eyes to be had!!

thankfully we found some other friends....

for the record two dedicated moms spent countless hours visiting countless stores and calling many others to find tigger and piglet costumes...you'd think that would be EASY!!!!! In the end, our "free" pooh and eeyore worked out well even though at the last minute Pooh decided to be more true to HERself and changed into a beautiful tinkerbell...

Oh yeah, word on the street is that a really cute red headed, RED NINJA was racing through the streets of Texas with his cousins and Grandpa Friday night! I wish I had a photo to share...at the very least he had the TIME OF HIS LIFE on his first solo vacation! Thanks Grandpa, Annalee and Husk family for taking him in =)

OK, last but not least...check out this cute boy who just turned ONE! Here's a few pics from my nephew Aidan's party

Have you ever seen a better looking pinata? You might want to wait before you answer that...

It's a bit disturbing when he comes apart...

Don't worry, we're providing counseling to any scarred children...

Aidan was the best cake eater...first he did it without his hands...

he quickly gave up and just sucked the life out of that frosting...

the finished product...Happy Birthday Aidan!

It's a hard knock life...

This week my boys have been ultra cute, super rowdy and have had an incredible amount of energy. It's been interesting to watch them and remember how easy and careless it is to be 6 and 3. I wish that life was always so innocent and just plain "fun." It's been a hard week, I might even venture to say the hardest week of my life from a "fear and emotional" stance at least. On Tuesday our home was broken into in a short 30 minute period I was gone. I've feared this type of thing my entire life and I always hoped it wouldn't happen to us.

And it did
and it is hard
really hard.

It's not the stuff, it never is...the stuff is a loss and while I work from my desk right now instead of my BRAND NEW MACBOOK PRO that I no longer posess, the stuff isn't what I mourn! It's the loss of security, the violation of privacy and the realization that people really have no respect and will stop at nothing to fulfill their sense of entitlement. This realization has kept me in fear this week although I know somehow I will overcome this fear and not give up my power to selfish, non working, lowlife people! The problem is, the world is full of these people and I don't really fear the people coming back to my home as much as the average person that is just as crazy as the ones who kicked my front door in!


I'm convinced my mind has thought more this week than it ever has...I am still processing thoughts, emotions and trying to focus on getting back to life. What I have learned and become impressed by is the tender mercies I've experienced despite the violation of my home where we are suppposed to feel the most safe. These are just a few of those things I can be grateful for...

• A friend who was on the phone with me as I walked into my front room and realized that my house indeed was broken into, I'd already been in the home 30 minutes at this point and had no idea if someone was still inside...I do not wish the feelings I felt in this moment on anyone, it still pains me to think about it, but that friend was a true blessing, a "security blanket" of sorts who proactively responded and helped me as I left.
• My neighbor...oh I don't know what I would have done without my sweet neighbor who ANSWERED the door, held my baby as I cried, called the police with me and kept me safe in a very traumatic moment. I still think I would have been a bigger mess if I had no secure place to run to in that moment, Im SO grateful she was HOME!
• My husband who was smart enough to leave the office immediately even though he couldn't understand what was wrong through the phone cutting out and my emotion...I was so glad he was there to hold me when I saw my bedroom and realized they'd been in there.
• My decision to grab my wallet that morning which was randomly sitting on the counter when I left for preschool, it's ALWAYS in my purse, this time it wasn't and as I walked out I stopped, saw it, almost kept walking because i didn't need it, but grabbed it anyway. So much less hassle not losing all the cards, money, license etc.
• My Dawson was crying to go to school that morning, he does this often and I stayed a bit to comfort him...I wish I came around the corner sooner, but I'm so grateful my baby and I were safe and especially that my boys were NOT home to experience the fear of this.
• Friends who came to stay with me so I didn't have to be alone, friends who came to visit so I could take my mind off of it, my brother in law for sleeping here with us the first night, help with my kids so we could work on securing the house etc etc!
• A thoughtful friend who brought cookies over, doesn't cookies make anything better? It helped me to remember that there are wonderful people who are willing to serve!
• Brother in laws...to help secure doors, install deadbolts and install new lighting to feel safer.
• Having cash in my dresser...yes I now think of this as a blessing because I now think it helped them feel they had enough and left quicker sparing my office....which is another huge blessing, it was left virtually untouched.
• A sweet prayer of peace and comfort offered for me by my husband to help me relax and try to sleep, his touch helped me to feel the Spirit in the very room that gave me the most heartache to have violated...

There's so much more I could say, what I do know is we ARE safe and we will be stronger from this! As someone mentioned to me last night, "I don't think fear is of the Lord." I believe this and don't want to live in fear all my life, I'm anxious to get to a place where fear can not reside within me because I do know the Lord has a plan for our lives and he will protect us in his very own way.

And he did...and I have these little munchkins to love and hold still...and as they bounced off the walls cracking each other up, laughing, playing, running through the halls Tuesday night completely oblivious to the events of the day...we were SO EXHAUSTED to deal with the energy, but they provided a distraction and gave us a chance to remember what REALLY matters...

You're FIRED!

That's what you should tell me...I should officially be fired from blogging with my recent blogging history! I'm hoping this week is my redemption week...but maybe I have said that before? Well, at any rate, I have THREE GOOD REASONS my blog has been neglected lately...

1...EMERY

2...DAWSON

3...Brennan...(especially his baseball schedule, who would've known the committment it would be)!

Yes, and so it goes...the kids are keeping me busy and not surprisingly, good help is sure hard to find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am working on it though...

In the meantime before I fill up my blog with new entries of old and new stuff...here's a little something to hold you over...

Emery is now 7 months old...and even though we are STILL working on that thing called ROLLING OVER...

We are getting started on sitting up...

(Note to self...don't let 6yr olds be the baby catcher for new sitters...she fell after this happy shot and he just wasn't fast enough, oops, sorry baby!)

Now tell me, who would pass up this sweet little face to get more blogging and work done....
Yeah, I knew you would understand!

31...not so fun!

I mean let's be honest...after 30 it goes downhill and birthdays aren't something to look forward to anymore =)

This pic I am reluctantly posting of my big surprise birthday party last year that my hubby and friends threw me for my big 30!! I loved and hated it...you see, I had this BIG problem with my BIG belly (being pregnant) and I REALLY didn't want to be on show when I felt super uncute!! I did have a great time though, my hubby booked a room at the Camelback Inn that had a huge balcony, we were supposed to be "staying" there after our night out, we walked out onto the balcony to food, fun and lots of my wonderful friends! And with that came lots of HORRIBLE pictures of me in my uglier days pasted all over the wall, (thanks girls).

Today was my birthday again...I'm 30 again and I will be for the rest of my birthdays, because it just sounds better that way!!

Today's highlights...
1. Waking up to beautiful red roses on my kitchen counter...thanks baby love!
2. Lunch with one of my greatest friends, thanks Nicole!
3. Blog post with hideous and fun pictures of me and "my girls," thanks Aly!
4. Text messages and phone calls from lots of people, thanks everyone!
5. A sweet email from my honey, thanks again babe!
6. Poopy diapers back to back that covered my shorts, thanks Emery!
7. 20 minute+ tantrum in the garage (that woke up sleeping baby) from a tired, sad boy, thanks Dawson!
8. Russ not forgetting this year, he never does and I always hope he will just ONCE (he chimed in after 11pm), thanks Russ!
9. Email from Becca, I should've known it would come, she has NEVER forgotten (and we don't even talk annually) Sadly I forget hers EVERY year, I remember, but never on that day, thanks Becca! 10.Brennan telling me with complete seriousness "mom, you are going to have the BEST birthday ever, you get to watch my baseball practice!" Thanks, Brennan, that was one of the best parts of my day!

I hope to have a proxy birthday in which my husband doesn't have to be gone for 12 hours and I can eat something better than fast food for dinner...when that comes I will have to let you know!

Here's to 30 again...for the rest of my life!!

Quittin' time

There's no such thing...I've decided that the single hardest part of being a parent is the fact that you can't just "clock out," this job just never ends.

10 days ago Emery came down with a fever, a trip to the Dr. showed nothing, chalked it up to teething. Then came higher fever, more crankiness, night wake ups and even more fever. 6 days later we were back at the Dr. with a 104 fever to prove illness was present! This time we had to find something that was making this baby so sick...finally the Dr. found the culprit, a bladder infection. Poor baby had been suffering and there was no way for us to know.

We were running on fumes from lack of sleep and Daddy had just left for a 3 day fishing trip...I had a feeling it would be a tiring weekend, I don't think I had any idea really how tiring. Every night included wake ups for more than an hour and morning came with early to rise Dawson complete with his perfected and quite loud whine, "mooommmmmmyyyy get me brrrreeeeeeaaaakfaaaaaaaaasssssst". Patience was thin but I prevailed and Daddy finally came home, just in time to spend Saturday night helping me prepare a pretty difficult lesson for church and help his sister most of the next day with a really tough project for school.

Can this really be Monday? What happened to the downtime I was supposed to get before my husband was back at work?

Emery's fever has subsided, unfortunately her new found way to get my attention hasn't, lots more tears, screaming, especially if I walk away, back arching (aren't you young for this little missy?), she's really exhausting right now, I suppose this is what I get for getting a pretty easy baby for most of her infant life?

So how are we compensating?

My house...neglected

My children...neglected

My blog...neglected

My work...neglected

Me? neglected...and now I get to have my turn of being sick and it's not very fun!

Summer Vacation

As my fellow bloggers continually put my blogging turn around time to shame, I suppose I better finally get all these vacation photos on here! We had a fabulous time on our trip to San Diego, it was done in typical Garbett fashion which means...busy, busy, busy! Here goes...

Friday... leave around 4pm, hours later than planned! What do you do for entertainment when you are in the middle of no where with kids that are SOOOOOO DONE with the car and ready to get out? Put their animals in time out of course!!

The boys were cracking up at the "animal play" we had and it took up a good 30 minutes of time. After stopping for dinner, nursing, baby blowout, a re-check of the stroller on top of the car and an A/C quick fix, we finally arrived around midnight to our hotel in La Jolla!

Saturday...Wedding day, we were up at 6 to get everyone dressed and ready and had to shoot first thing at 8am. Thankfully we were able to take the kids to Justin and Andrea, our wonderful friends in San Diego. They were gracious to add our three to their three kids and my boys had a BLAST! Dawson especially loved Andrea, she is so sweet and just cuddled and bonded with him while we were gone, Thanks Andrea...and Justin!!!

Andrea's such a nice mommy, she made them all snow cones!

Sunday...A double excursion day, San Diego Zoo AND Sea World...wow what a tiring day! The bears were one of my favorite exhibits...
Dawson mesmerized by something...
Other noteworthy zoo adventures...riding the sky ride, we even got Brennan on this thing and they LOVED it! And seeing at LEAST 5 different animals pee, including the rhino who then drank from the pee soaked waters...yucky!

Next up...Sea World! I have very few pics from here...we mostly went to the night shows which I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone heading that way, night shows are way more fun than day ones and LOTS less hot!

Emery was a trooper for the constant "on the go" we did for days!Monday was spent at the beach playing in the sand and water...We were underprepared for sand castle building but made do with the few buckets we had...
Tuesday we ventured to LegoLand...the perfect little theme park for little tiny persons! It was great, very mild rides and not crowded. They could have allowed me to take Emery on some things like Disneyland has done...some of the rides are like sitting in a golf cart going 2mph but they won't let you take babies. We went on the dragon roller coaster much to Brennan's dismay...he cried and never wanted to do it again, Dawson went on with Daddy after us and wanted to go again he loved it so much!
Here's Emery crashed in the hotel getting away with her favorite past time that I continue to discourage!

Of course like any of our vacations we did Reuben's favorite thing...an attempt at nice photos of the kids...thank hon for suffering once again! We drove the coast of La Jolla and found this beach to stop and take pics, Emery was slightly more cooperative which helped but I still didn't get the perfect shot of all three that I have continually worked for!

I'd like to think these two will always be best friends...here's hoping!

Brennan 6 years old...

Dawson 3 years old...

Emery 6 months old...

Who says these two look alike...I hardly see what you are all talking about!

more cute pics...

Good times!

August 11th...a busy day around here

As we come to the close of the SECOND week of school I realize how much I suck at being on top of my blogging! So, here's goes...

August 11th...Reuben's birthday...I will spare him more embarassment BUT we did have a great day since it was also Brennan's first day of school. I made bagel sandwiches for breakfast and served them up on the Special plate for Brennan for his first day of school, he was so proud, but was worried that Daddy wasn't getting it, I assured him Daddy would be ok (he got his turn at dinner time)!

We headed off to the LONG walk to school...one block! Here's Brennan covering his eyes from the sun...both my boys do this religously when they walk outside, they have such sensitive eyes!

We got a quick shot of Brennan with his new FIRST GRADE teacher and of him at his desk(front row works for me, can't get in trouble there right?)...
then a quick shot of brothers before we had to say goodbye...Dawson did NOT want his brother to stay at school, it was very cute.

Then we left with Dawson on Daddy's shoulder crying. We rounded the corner to the kindergarten area and there was this little girl holding on to the gate for dear life screaming "Daddy, Daddy" with all of her might, tears just streaming down her face and on my side of the fence, her dad was there, in his somewhat macho state doing all he could to not lose it himself...he called out to her, "baby, baby, I know, you'll be ok" and then he tried to get out of sight when he started to lose it and of course, I started crying...it IS so emotional and hard for these little ones...ugh, it broke my heart! I know the teacher and I knew the little girl would be ok and she was when I saw her later that day laughing at the end of school, even still, it just reminded me how little and dependent our babies still are! I am SO glad Brennan doesnt have a hard time letting us go, it's going to be killer if our other two do...makes it so much harder to leave them.

Dawson soon had me smiling in his cranky state as he tried to "hit" me and the camera on the walk home for taking his picture! He was cranky!

It didn't last long though...it was his friend Preston's birthday on August 11th too so we got to go to Chuck E Cheese for a mini party and playtime, he LOVES it there and forgot all abot the sad events of leaving his brother that morning!

All in all, the day was SO exhuasting, cleaning and cooking AND even BAKING (reuben's favorite cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip), a surprise visit from family, laundry etc!! Once dinner was cleaned up and the kids were in bed...I was INCREDIBLY exhausted, I had done THREE full load and unloading of the dishwasher and washed two sinkfuls of pots and pans from that day and weekend...it helped me to remember why I HATE cooking...is it really worth the work for the 10 minutes of consumption??? At any rate, I hope my two special boys felt special for their day...I'll get some pics of what I got Reuben for his birthday on here soon...

9 years and counting...

Ths past week I celebrated my 9th anniversary, I really can't believe it's been this long, I guess we are getting old! Here's the ONLY pics I could find of us that were taken 2 years ago...oops, you'd think we'd know a photographer! I'm ok with it, until I cross of #69 on my 101 list I'm happy to stay away from the camera.I'm definitely more in love with Reuben now than 9 years ago, it's kind of hard to believe that's possible, cuz I was pretty love struck! He is seriously the most loving, gentle, giving and caring man I know and I feel so blessed to have him! He's quite thoughtful and romantic when he wants to be...although he used to work more at this part pre-marriage =) He graciously accepts gourmet meals like $5 pizza he doesn't like the taste of, or pancakes for dinner he also can't stand; there's also the frequent nights where he gets to cook for us after a day of work, but he never complains. He supports me in my business despite the hours I spend in my office or at conferences away from our family. He always supports girls night and girls trips, he knows I need to get away and has never held me back from the opportunity to spend time with my girls!! He lets me take my Sunday naps when the opportunity is there, usually staying up with one or two children so I can sleep....oh I love Sunday naps!! He's always changed diapers and dealt with all three of our kids spit up and since they've all had reflux , there's been a lot of upchuck! He shares the responsibitility of middle of the night wake ups with the kids, especially the older ones cuz I take FOREVER to fall back to sleep if I have to completely wake up, to handle a middle of the night bad dream etc. Many of nights he has sat outside on the patio or in a hot steaming bathroom holding one of our boys with their recurrent croup attacks; he even does fussy newborns in the night if I need a break!! He's always helping me get out the door if he's home...packing up things, buckling kids or getting my camera equipment in the car; usually I don't even have to ask!! He'll watch a chick flick with me even though I won't watch a sci-fi or action packed movie with him; he even watched gymnastics on the Olympics with me this week (I'm sure he's so glad I am telling you this!). I never have to ask permission to buy something I have deemed necessary to buy, and in girl world this means another pair of jeans or cute shoes (sometimes these things are necessities) he trusts my judgement and frugal nature...thanks hon!
In 9 years of marriage this is what I've learned about him...
1. He hates dishes in the left side of the sink, they all need to congregate to the right...I consistently break this rule...

2. He has a lot of rules about clothes like work shirts to have not too many stripes or too thin of stripes...or it can't have too much of a sheen to it or be just slightly off in color! He also doesn't like his pants too tight on the waist even when I insist his butt looks better in the more "fitted" pair!

3. He can't stand to sit around on the weekend thus "wasting it away" I so wish I had this disease with him, he is ultra productive, in fact today he actually said "when the family goes down for a nap on Sunday, I am like "sweet, I can do whatever I want" and then he goes outside to fix a sprinkler head in the 110 degree weather, what the heck, who does that?

4. He doesn't like breakfast, unless you count diet coke.

5. He doesn't like bags or things cluttering the console when we drive, this really frustrates him.

6. He has only ONE speed to get ready, doesn't matter if we are late or early or overslept or in a hurry, he has ONE speed and frankly I think he could step it up a bit...

7. He hates ordering fast food, recently we were ordering and the guy had it wrong THREE times each time Reuben repeated it right (in the employees defense, there was a lot of background noise and Reuben could have spoken louder), after the third time he just looked at me and said in all seriousness... "I'm done, no, I'm not answering him anymore." We sat arguing over this at the drive thru speaker while the man waited for Reuben to repeat it one last time...

8. He often takes a long time to respond to even simple thoughts or questions, sometimes I think he's not listening or ignoring me, but really he's just still thinking!! I actually have to exercise patience with this at times as he really does take longer than most would to respond and in an intense conversation this gets frustrating! The good side of this is he is always well worded and expresses himself very well!
9. He definitely does not enjoy the attention or outward display of appreciation I put on this blog...I'll probably be in trouble for this one!

10. He's seriously the most loving and caring person, he'd do anything for anyone. I always knew this, it was something that attracted me to him in the beginning, but I suppose I didn't realize the magnitude of his compassion and love for others! Many of times he's been a sounding board for our families in their times of stress, most of which flock to him and his personality. He's a great listener and is very empathetic to others!

Happy Anniversary Baby Love, I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with you, you're my favorite!!!

My little Monkey

My little munchkin whom I've nicknamed "monkey" is 6 months old today! Wow, this is going by way faster than I want it too! She's such a fun little girl yet I'm also just WAITING for some personality to emerge from her little easygoing self! She is however a stinker consistently when it's time for a photo shoot and one of the RULES for coming to our family is to LOVE to have your picture taken. She seemed to have that down the first month, but she certainly isn't cooperative with me since then. I STRUGGLE and am lucky when I pull of ONE good shot out of so many! Here's a good shot I got of her a couple of months ago, we had this made into a canvas to add to our wall with the boys photos, I just LOVE IT!

She pretty much cried before and after these shots, actually the whole shoot, I just happened to grab that shot with her cute little painted toes together and loved her non smiling...non crying face! This next one daddy was holding her up and she was relatively happy as in, not screaming!
This is what I usually get out of her...and no this water isn't freezing cold...

She's also notorious for "faces" like the tongue out or squinty eyes...I have LOTS of photos like these...

Once in awhile though I get lucky and catch my cute little girl with a smile...here's a recent one at the beach...

Yes you can say it...everyone does...she is a MOLD of our boys, just with a bow! Poor girl, she just gets to be her brother's twin...looking at them I suppose that's not too bad, they are pretty cute boys! Well her big 6 month accomplishments are few and frankly, if it's any insight into her personality being mild, I'll take it! She's my weakest baby of the 3! She STILL doesn't stand strongly on her legs and only likes tummy time for awhile then gives up and puts her head down. She falls forward in her bumbo chair...she's just too tired to sit all the way up for too long! She's finally getting the hang of eating and loves her cereal and food, but she's only rolled over ONCE...yes only ONCE (tummy to back) and doesn't even come close to sitting up yet! She's even hard to get laughing and I've really only heard her laugh a good chuckle a few times! Totally opposite my boys! She's just content to be...and I hope that means she's just going to be laid back! So far she seems to still be in the range of learning and the age range for taking on these new motor skills, so while I do worry about it, I've tried not to stress since "every baby develops at their own pace" as the doc's tell you! She sure loves her mommy though, she stares at me from afar and says "mama" the ONLY thing she's taken on early saying it at 4 months old! I definitely think its about time that one of our kids thinks I am the greatest since Daddy is worshipped so much it's definitely my turn =)

Love your brother time...

As a parent, there are certain goals and characteristics I want for my children. Most of these I try to instill in them through my example and in the direction we give them as parents. I want my children to love each other, to be compassionate, empathetic, friendly, accepting and most of all to be close to each other throughout their lives.

Thankfully, for the most part, my kids seem to really get along and love each other. However, my kids do fight as most kids do, and its those times I can attempt to teach them the things I hope for them! My sister tipped me off to this idea as she came up with it to do with her daughters, I have found it to be very effective. So, when my boys are having one of those days where they seem to be fighting often I give them "love your brother time" and they have to go in their room for any amount of time until they are happy and love each other. Brennan learned quickly that he could get out faster if he could just get his stubborn brother to laugh and is usually the reason this works so well. I love this because it's another way of disciplining, yet it doesn't have to be negative at the same time.

Instead of another useless time out, I just say, "oh, it's time to have love your brother time in your room." In come the groans, cries, whines and the refusal to go, especially from Dawson...but within a couple of minutes in their room I hear laughter! I'll go in to see them playing hide and seek, having a pillow fight or play wrestling on the floor. And then we talk about why they had to go in their room and they each say I'm sorry and I love you and then they hug and are allowed to get out of their room! Inevitably this "discipline" makes them play much better and happier once they come out...which is ultimately what I am wanting from them anyway! These are some photos from a session I attempted to do on my bed a month or so ago and when it wasn't going well I let them have a pillow fight to get out their energy! I couldn't pick a favorite so I thought I would put a few of them!

And I thought I would add this one too! It's kind of cute, them pouting in the background while I attempted to get Emery to cooperate! They appear a little jealous...but it's all good!

The Greatest Show on Earth...

Last night we had a first for our whole family (except for Emery, she opted not to join the loud fun and instead stayed home with my sister), we all went to the circus for the first time! Maybe I went once as a child, but this is my first memory of the circus and it was so fun to take my boys and let them experience it as a first with us! I always WANT to go to this but never actually do, but last week I got wind of a great deal on tickets, less than $10 so we decided to go!



We saw the tigers...the boys loved it but I personally think they underperformed...they didn't really do anything cool, just a few easy tricks! Granted there were 7 of them being tame in a cage with a human, I guess that's impressive in and of itself!

We saw the dirt bikes perform in a cage like this! Now THIS WAS IMPRESSIVE, CRAZY impressive! They didn't just go around in circles, they ended up having 6 bikes in there total and they would go in circles but then they'd weave in opposite directions, I can't imagine how they do it without crashing! The boys are still fighting about this though...motorcycle vs. dirt bike! Dawson insists they are motorcycle's, Brennan, while wiser, has not realized it's a losing battle to convince his 3yr old brother anything different!

There were AMAZING, strong, bendy people like this that did all kinds of cool acrobats the whole time! WOW, I can't imagine the kind of muscles those people have, they were REALLY cool! I seriously got nauseous watching all the spinning these people did...I had to look away a few times to relieve the motion sickness just from watching the spinning, I don't know how they do this stuff.

All in all though, just as Dumbo taught us as little kids...the Elephants stole the show! Definitely my favorite part for sure! Dawson LOVES his "elephant" his one and only snuggly item of choice. He enjoyed watching real elephants perform at the end of the show.

They put their feet on each other's backs, stood up on these relatively small stools with all 4 hooves, one little baby elephant skipped for us, another did a "handstand" type move where it went forward on it's trunk and front hooves, but MOST impressive for me was the elephants one by one KNEELING. Here they are, big, MASSIVE bodies thousands of pounds of weight and they can KNEEL down and then lay flat in front...it's amazing and painful looking to watch! And then they get up similar to how we do when we are laying down by swinging a leg up to get some momentum to pull them up! It was cool! I only had one question after the elephants, if they can train these animals to do all these amazing tricks...why can't they train them to not poop in the middle of the show as one did last night? Poor guys with that job, can you imagine?

I want to print this pictures and show it to the next groomsmen who complains of bad knees when I ask him to kneel for a photo grouping at a wedding! =)

By the way, if you are feeling bad that you missed out on the great low price, don't. Add to it $10 for parking, $10 for one drink and snack that we ALL shared (I even snuck in popcorn so we wouldn't have to buy that), $7 for a homeless man that pulled on Reuben's heartstrings (and two others denied before he came along), and of course the crazy cost to DRIVE there with the gas prices =) In the end, the boys left crying and mad that we hadn't bought them these light up spinning toys they each wanted, that would have been another $40! I reminded Brennan that he had gotten to do Summer Movie Fun, swim and go to the Circus all in one day and tried to help him realize it was the memory and time spent that was most important and would last much longer than that toy! He was still a little bugged, but ultimately he got over it =)

Little ball of cuteness...

Look what I get to cuddle and love each day! She's a super fun cuddler! She's getting so big, already 4 months old, I hate it, I just want her to STOP!

Today she's having a rough day, doesn't want to eat as much and crying more than usual! I think it's her reflux, we finally got some medicine for her but I keep not making the 1/2 mile drive to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription BEFORE they close at 9pm. Doesn't Walgreens know that that's when my kids are finally asleep and I have time to run errands without them? I won't forget today, she made a big deal of crying for an hour so I would really really remember! So Emery, I promise I will!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday...she's not one to like to get in front of the camera...so since I have tortured her enough with photos on my blog...I thought I'd put this one up, so she can be truly grateful for less wrinkles than this little guy!

I've been REALLY REALLY busy trying to get caught up on my work lately! My husband left town as well which slowed all extra work time to a minimum as I was clearly outnumbered with 3 kids! Meanwhile I have also been coordinating the efforts of some very important service opportunites as well (more on these later). All in all I am super tired, still really behind and only barely staying afloat! What's that got to do with my mom having a birthday? Well, nothing, but I did call her today and fully neglected to say a thing about her birthday even though I did remember earlier in the day! I was just in focus mode and had to find out if she still had access to a wheelchair and shower seat for my friend! Hours later it dawned on me that I earned the lame daughter award since I didn't even say Happy Birthday! So, I hope it was a good one mom! And here's to really having less wrinkles next year, don't worry, your secret's safe with me!

"Being 6 is SO MUCH better than being 5!"

"Dad, when I wake up, does that mean I am 6?"

Well, not technically, you'll actually turn 6 at 11:11am.

"Ok, I can't wait to be 6"

Happy birthday to my super cute, charasmatic, smarty pants, sporty little redhead! 6 years ago today, on a very special Memorial Day, he entered our lives and changed our world as we new it, FOREVER! Wow, what a boring life we'd have if it weren't for our kids. Brennan gets us more compliments in random public outings than anyone! People can't get over that red hair of his and most people that know him just ADORE his cute personality! He is such a sport nut and can out run and out throw his mommy, even if I am in denial. He's gone from pretty a determined little fit thrower to a people pleasing, respected little man. I just love him and am so grateful for him in our family. I seriously couldn't narrow down the many cute photos that show who he is, so you'll jsut have to deal with a LOT of pictures...I know nothing new, stop complaining! Here's a good sampling of his last 6 years!!

Wow, he really did start out THIS small, 6lbs, 12 oz! I can't believe I have taken him from baby to 6!

One week old.

4 months old

6 months and super smiley all the time!

A big one year old!

18 months, some of the fun and definitely HARDER days!

TWO! More fun and definitely more difficult. Boy did he have some fire in him, and NOT just his red hair!

I love this photo in the truck, he loved his "papa trucks."

More with TWO. Love this "slam dunk," not bad for a two year old!

Also the Santa picture, that is shows who Brennan was, incredibly nervous and apprehensive about ANYTHING. This included characters, rides and especially ANY loud noise. I am so surprised he isn't like this anymore, Disneyland at age 3 was his WORST NIGHTMARE, he was terrified of EVERYTHING! Thankfully he has outgrown most of this.

THREE! More strong willed fits this year! This day I came in to a very quiet (and naked) Brennan to see he had found lotion and sunscreen and had it ALL OVER himself, the counter and the mirror, I am glad I opted to take a picture instead of get really mad. Another great 3 story...he threw the biggest fit one day and after 45 minutes of him slamming doors and kicking walls and being horrible, I was in tears and left him with a sitter to get a break! I came home and talked calmly to him and told him I had to take ALL of his toys away until he could behave. This didn't go over well, but Daddy got home and we put all the toys outside in my studio and locked it up. Well at 1am our house alarm went off, I woke up in paralyzed fear to it and laid there waiting for the intruder to enter my room. Brennan terrified of the alarm had jumped in my bed and his heart was pounding against me also very scared. The alarm people called and we started to look around, turns out their was no intruder, Brennan woke up and since we were asleep he went out front on his own to get to the studio and take back the toys we took away! Yeah, he was pretty determined!

Ok, borderline inappropriate for this blog, but how could I not post what has become a signature photo of Brennan's?? This is on his 3rd birthday, he was running around naked with this mask on and Aunt Sally told him to turn and pose for this! Classic and definitely great for blackmail someday =)

FOUR! Things are looking up for us now, behavior is better, sensitivity and fear of everything lessened, I think I can really enjoy this kid!

This photo is decieving, I didn't put him on a huge cliff where he could fall into the ocean below...he wasn't THAT bad his first 3 years of life!

Five. Now very charasmatic and loving. Much more mild tempered and incredibly active, smart and fun to be around. He's also our little cuddler and would give anything to sleep wtih and cuddle Dawson every night! Dawson on the other hand has no interest AT ALL!

Last, here's a photo of him today getting his breakfast request of Funny Face Mickey Pancakes, on the SPECIAL PLATE...look out IHOP! Happy birthday buddy, I love you!

What did you have at school today?

What do you think, did they serve sno cones today? This is how I got him after school a few weeks ago!

Wise beyond their years...

My husband had a funny conversation the other day with our 5 year old, Brennan. Lately he has become pretty addicted to the tv. He comes home from school and always wants to watch something. I don't mind him getting in a show or two, but I always make him turn it off and go outside or play with his brother or friends. I have often found myself telling him "you are becoming a couch potato, turn that tv off."

So, the other day Brennan came into my office and visited for a bit and later asked his dad, "daddy, is mommy an office potato?"

I suppose I probably am, and I suppose I better start finding something more to do with my days so I model better behavior for him!

My Birthday Boy!

Dawson turned THREE today (Friday)! He's definitely got the hang of this birthday thing too, unfortunately! So far he's ONLY asking for the following: a yard blower, a saw, a tractor, a small trampoline, a helicopter, a motorcycle and of course, a dog! For weeks we've been hearing about the blower, saw and tractor, so thus the invite above I put together.

I can't help but share some of my favorite Dawson photos from the last 3years, here goes!
6 MONTHS

ONE YEAR
He would ALWAYS stuff his mouth with food and then hold it in with his fingers!
His 1st birthday invite...he did a LOT of crying, now its turned into lots of whining!
I guess he likes cake!

18 MONTHS

His hospital stay for pneumonia.

2 YEARS


A recent shot when he dressed himself...


Brothers...



Happy Birthday, I love you buddy!!

Birthday Extravaganza!!!!!!!

April is just the MONTH of Birthdays for me! I almost HATE it, it's too much to keep up on! Couple that with taxes and usually lots of weddings for me and it's a recipe for me to forget people!

So, this is my birthday shout out to the April Birthdays I can currently remember =)

APRIL 11TH - First and foremost...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE DAWSON! My baby boy is now 3 years old! I am going to do a separate post on him since I have lots to share, so for simplicity, I will limit this post to the others!!

APRIL 8th - Happy BELATED birthday to my sister Stephannie, her's was on Tuesday! I am sure she turned 21 again! Here's a recent shot of her and cute little Aidan.

Happy BELATED birthday to my friend Lindsey! She shares my sister's birthday...quite convenient for me to remember! Today my friend Tricia and I went to lunch and did a quick shop with her for her birthday! SOrry I don't have a photo of all of us!

APRIL 11TH - Happy Birthday today to my Dad in California, he and Dawson share the same birthday despite Dawson's insistance that it's not his Grandpa's birthday, he doesn't want to share. Here he is with his wife Annalee at my cousin's wedding in San Diego.

The 3rd birthday on the 11th is my wonderful friend Bradie! I was going to post one of her gorgeous wedding photos, but instead decided to do a photo that just shows Bradie's fun loving personality instead, now I will see if she kills me for it!

This photo was taken when we were in San Diego over a year ago for a photo seminar we both went to. We went out to San Diego after it and did some photos of each other on the beach. Not more than a few minutes into the session Bradie slipped into this puddle and while that was REALLY funny, the more hilarious part was the fact that she continued to sit in it for the longest time while she laughed!

April 13th - Happy early 30th birthday AMY! My sister in law in Texas whom I adore and miss! =) Here she is with my brother Jason on my recent trip to Texas (more on this later).

April 21st - Happy Birthday Becca. I have no idea if she ever reads my blog, but she's a GREAT friend from my younger days who has never ONCE forgotten to call ME on my birthday and I never remember to call on hers...but I do still think of and love her, Happy Birthday Becca!

April 30th - Happy Birthday Tricia! My great friend and former neighbor who just had a baby girl 3days after me!

And I know there are others...sorry I have forgotten you...can you blame me?

Emery and Aidan's blessing day!

Well, I am a slacker mom, we had Emery's baby blessing about a month ago and with being out of town twice and my need for perfection in getting the PERFECT photo of her in her dress (which by the way I still want one more re-shoot) I never posted photos, so in my hope to catch up on blogging, here are a few photos from our special day! Here's Emery in her dress,

This is my nephew Aidan who also was blessed that day, double the sweetness!
Here's a photo of my entire family, thanks Uncle Jeff for decent framing, but we have to work on you learning to FOCUS now!
This is my husband Reuben's entire family. As you can see from the family shots, we both have big families so the get togethers we do have are quite the large group!
Uncle Chris with Aidan.
Here's a cute shot of Emery sleeping on the blanket made for her big day by Grandma Garbett. It's pink and white and I love the daisies around the edge!
My sister Stephannie and her family, isn't Aidan's smile just adorable?
My dad who lives in California, his wife Annalee and some of my family.
Last but not least, the reason I STILL want another reshoot! We had such a GREAT DAY! I am so thankful to all of our family and friends who came and celebrated with us! After the blessings we had lunch at our house outside with the beautiful weather, thanks everyone!

Sports Fanatic

Here's a cute shot I came across today of Brennan playing t-ball when he was 4! Not bad form for a 4yr old huh? He was so cute and could always hit the ball into the outfield and it would take forever for a bunch of 4&5yr olds to field it, so often times he could get a few bases, that is IF the kids in front of him remembered to run! T-ball for this age is incredibly comical! =)

Today he found a baseball game on tv and was so excited that he just had to call his Daddy at work to tell him to come home and watch it with him! He'll be our little sport nut, I guess my days of not watching Sportcenter are numbered!

Spring break...

Today was a fun filled day, all for my kids! A rare occurence since I always have so much work to do, but since I am taking a little break with my new baby, and because it's Spring Break, I am trying to spend time with the kids. We started the day heading out to McCormick Stillman Railroad Park. It's a super fun park with lots of space, a couple of trains and a carousel. It was a beautiful, warm day and I even got a little farmer's tan, which I think is better than my current ghostly skin =) I was going to bring my camera and had visions of great photos I could take, then I realized I was completely delusional since I had taken a couple extra kids and that meant I had one 5yr old, a 4yr old, TWO 2yr olds and a newborn and stroller so a camera wasn't in the cards...just one more thing to stress about losing! =) The kids had a blast and I realized how I need to go out there more often, its seriously such a huge park and has lots of fun stuff to do!

Tonight was date night for my kids, Brennan with me and Dawson with Dad (he got Emery too, they needed some bonding time). The boys love having date nights and we've been out of the habit for awhile so we are starting back up! I highly recommend doing it with your own kids, it is seriously so huge to them and it typically takes me an hour or two and sometimes only costs me time and maybe an ice cream cone!

Brennan and I went bowling! It was sad cuz the first place we went to couldn't take us cuz they had leagues and he was SOOOO bummed. So we found another place and bowled two games. I bowled probably my best game ever, 120, nevermind that the gutter guards were up...we'll pretend I earned it fair and square =) Actually right off the bat I got TWO strikes and both were fair, straight down the middle! I never get that lucky. On my first date with Reuben we went bowling and that was my WORST game ever, a MERE 42!!!!!!!! Nerves must have been high on the first date with my true love...I can't believe he took me out again! The second game I got 102 and Brennan scored 80! He did good beating me the whole game except at the end...I told him he still beat me since he didn't see it add my final score in. I FORGOT to bring my camera, I was so bummed, Brennan was SUPER cute bowling and SUPER excited, all he could say was that he wants to go bowling for EVERY date night now! We finished the night with Ice Cream at this FABULOUS place called Desert Swirl, it has frozen yogurt that is only 8 calories per ounce and it tastes SO GOOD! It also has no fat, no cholesterol and low carbs!

Anyway, I will report more spring break fun later! Hopefully with pictures this time!

Parenting drama...

Well, instead up putting up Easter pictures of my cute kids from our Easter Sunday experience, I am sitting here unable to get my memory card to download and nearly two hours into a bedtime routine with a pretty stubborn two year old who hasn't given up his battle to stay awake! Dawson is pretty determined, sadly I think he gets it from me! Tonight he raised the stakes on the bedtime fight and we raised the stakes as well in our fight to win! Sadly, I think we've lost the battle but hopefully as Tammy says, I might actually WIN the war over him! He gets up unlimited number of times after being put to bed. He renegotiates EVERYTHING we do and consistently calls for us from his room or comes out to discuss something random just to have an excuse to get up. Tonight his cousins were over so we couldn't do our typical "close the door" routine and after everything we tried didn't work, we moved him to the playroom and shut that door! Over an hour later we had a long "talk" with him and calmed him down and let him go back in his bed so long as he promised to go to sleep! That promise lasted about 1 minute and he's back to the same game we started TWO hours ago! Needless to say, we are frustrated, but I am smarter than he is and I will devise a plan to consistently implement and hopefully keep him in bed without all the drama every night! If you have any great ideas, send them my way =)

On a funny note though, Dawson is quite humorous with his nighttime negotiations right now. This past week he starts crying and comes out complaining that we didn't take him to Home Depot and that for his birthday he wants and I QUOTE, "a blower, a tractor, a saw AND A DOGGY" and he wants us to get a trailer to bring the tractor home with our car, yes, he wants a REAL tractor! And he hasn't asked for this only once, he cries about it every night convinced that we should give it to him for his upcoming birthday! You gotta give him credit for creativity and determination! Hope your Easter was a great one, I'll have pictures from ours as soon as I get my new card reader working! =)

Evergreen Idol

Last week Reuben and I went to his company's annual dinner which is always an enjoyable and often unpredictable evening. Reuben works for a smaller Commercial Real Estate Development company. Most the time when we tell people that they have no idea what that really means or what he really does...I wouldn't either! Reuben's company develops various commercial real estate including Walgreens, shopping centers and their newest client, Fresh and Easy stores! Reuben is a manager of Project Managers, where he helps his team work with the various cities, contractors, land owners etc to complete these commercial projects. We feel very blessed cuz he really loves his job, and they are a great company to work for. The event was located at the Tempe Center for the Arts, the funky shaped building right by Tempe Town Lake. There were cocktails and appetizers and also this magician that wowed us with his talent! He had this girl right her name on a card and managed to have the card with her name written on it come out of all different places like another deck and even this sealed envelope. There were seriously 6 of us right in front of him watching and we COULD NOT figure it out...the handwriting was too unique to have a duplicate, not to mention he wouldn't have known her name ahead of time...anyway, fun and baffling at the same time!

One of my favorite things about this company is all the creativity they put into their annual meeting and other events for the employees. Past annual meeting dinners have had very funny and whitty skits or "game show" reenactments as our entertainment. Here's some of the past entertainment they've done, "Jeopardy" complete with sound bites of the music a perfect rendition of the blue board and dollar amounts and hilarious questions asked to the 3 "contestants" which were the 3 Partners of the company! Another year was "Partner Olympics" where they made the three partners perform various olympic challenges on video ahead of time and we got to vote who would win each task. The funny part was the different tasks...3 adult men riding a tricycle, racing on one of those small jumpy balls kids play on, jumping into a cold pool to retrieve an object etc etc. It's funny cuz the partners are such great sports and make it so funny. Last year they played "deal or no deal" complete with silver cases, a pretty good Howie Mandell (one of their talented employees who comes up w/these ideas and impersonates all these game show hosts VERY well) and of course 10 "ladies" (a few ladies from the office mixed with some guys from the office in dresses and heels with wigs and make up)! Of course the game had all kinds of funny jokes and twists. I am always amazed at how real and similar they make these to the original shows. Well this year they did "Evergreen Idol" another funny rendition of the original show. They had "judges" who played pretty good Paula, Simon and Randy and they had about 50 of the 70 employees in the office go in front of the judges with their "talents" to include some singing, juggling, hoola hooping, dancing, piano etc! All of the acts were previously recorded and put together into a lengthy presentation for us. Of course it didn't disappoint in entertaining and making us laugh, 4 people received the "golden ticket" to come to Phoenix and those 4 people actually performed that night for us. Here's a few shots from the night. Evergreen's Company logo "American Idol" style! See how real this is to the original logo?

One of the acts that performed after recieving a "golden ticket."
Emery was too young to leave so we brought her along and she slept the entire time! Of course she also got a lot of attention too!

Reuben was recognized by Bruce, one of the Partners for his 5 years of service! It's actually a few months shy of 6 years but they celebrate every year AFTER you reach the milestone. They said many great things about him, his personality and service and again they always make recognitions funny as well!

So now you know a little more about what my husband does and where he works in case you cared =) I am definitely grateful for his great job, they truly care about their employees and their families, something you don't get very often these days!

Happy Birthday Emery

Ok, so one month old isn't really a "birthday" but I'll use anything to talk my husband into coming home from work, "honey, it's your daughter's birthday, you should come home to be with her." He says, "are you kidding, she's already 4 weeks?" It's funny how fast it goes for the husbands who are less sleep deprived, not still trying to physically recover and definitely not dealing with the daily struggles and soreness of nursing =), but hey, you gotta love the dads and as mentioned in my previous post, he's a great helper!

So, our little munchkin is already a month old, I have to say while I am dying for her to get bigger cuz of all the cute outfits I want to put her in, and also to get some personality and smiles from her...I really just love my little cuddle bug and how she's so sleepy and how she keeps her knees curled up when you lift her (MY FAVORITE PART OF BABIES) and how super tiny she is! To properly celebrate her one month "birthday" Emery smiled in response to looking at someone for the first time today!! The only problem with that...well, Mary, my wonderful friend was over today and she was holding her and Emery didn't just smile at Mary once, she did it OVER and OVER and OVER again...I was thinking how unfair that is since CLEARLY I was more deserving of this special moment with my daughter, not Mary who really had only held her once or twice =) Thankfully it was right when we were taking pictures so I was able to grab a shot of these first smiles from her for her one month photos...
She's already changing so much. She's filling out more in her face, more aware of her surroundings and promptly breaks out into a really mad, sad, scared cry when startled! Her eyes while still really dark are looking like they might go blue, that'd be our 3rd blue eyed kid despite Reuben's brown eyes! Her hair while still brownish seems to be lightening and I think it's got a reddish tint to it. She's got a great "scowl" look she often sports and continues to just look exactly like her brothers did at this age...just with pink and bows rather than blue and hats =) I'll try to find some photos to compare of the boys and her at similar ages!

WAIT NO LONGER Emery makes her debut!

Emery's Slideshow
YES YES, it's been 2 weeks ALREADY! Wow, how time flies! I had hoped to have this up much earlier, but as life would have it, when you are the recovering mom of 3 AND the photographer/slideshow preparer, these things take much longer than planned! =) We are so excited to finally share some photos of our newest addition to the family, Emery Kate Garbett! She is such an angel, seriously the best baby and I of course couldn't be happier, I have done my time and was DUE for a good baby! Please pray it stays this way for me! Emery was born February 13th and despite a little bit of jaundice where she had to stay in the nursery under lights for 24hours, she has been very healthy! If you've seen one of my babies, you've seen them all, she is a spitting image of her brothers, the exact Garbett Mold. She doesn't like to show her eyes much and often sports a scowl on her face, but she's so far very easy to please! Big brothers Brennan and Dawson have taken well to her. Dawson insists he CAN feed her anything he wants, but is thankfully gentle, attentive and not too jealous of her. Brennan is quite the proud older brother, he constantly washes his hands and asks to hold her. He wishes she was bigger already so he could play with her. Reuben is super cute with her and like always, very helpful to me as well! And I of course am just enjoying the girly stuff and enjoy looking at clothes for her or getting her dolled up. This is Emery's first of many slideshows. Click HERE to watch it.

Announcements have been ordered as well, they are my best yet (if I do say so myself) of course they are probably overkill, but girls are just so fun and I have waited a LONG time for this little girl =) If you want one and weren't the lucky recipient of my hoilday card, please email me your address so I can be sure to get you one. I tried not to share all the great photos as to not spoil the announcement! Thanks for so many well wishes family, friends and clients!

And baby makes 3!

We are so very blessed to welcome our little baby girl to our family! She arrived Wednesday, timing it right with her expected due date despite my desire for her to come early! She's such a good baby, her brothers love her and mommy of course is enjoying playing dress up with her! It's been a very tiring few days and I can't wait to get more images to share, but this will have to hold you off for now! We are so thankful for the well wishes and prayers on our behalf and look forward to sharing more of her with you soon!

A Trip to the ZOO!

Today we took a trip the Wildlife World Zoo and the boys sure had lots of fun! I was a bit hesitant at first as it was more expensive than the Phoenix Zoo and it's smaller I think, so I was thinking that it wouldn't be worth it, especially since we would only have about half the day for play...but I think in the end it was worth the price and I couldn't have stayed much beyond that anyway! I can't believe we've never been here since its not a far drive from our side of town!!

These are the "baby white tigers" you often see on the commercials for the zoo! They were super cute and playing with eachother, Dawson enjoyed watching them through the glass!
These things are SOOOO COOL! This mama Tamarin is carrying not one but TWO babies on it's back and it just runs around and they can just hold on! It was quite impressive! I am also loving the clarity since this photo was taken in a dark exhibit through the glass! Everyone else had their point and shoot cameras with flash...I love being able to do this =)

I watched an exchange between these two colorful birds...the bigger one wanted more space and finally went over to move the other over with his head...it was comical.
All my favorite boys...
As you can see Brennan is officially in that STAGE of silliness and I struggle to get a normal look from him for a photo!

For the first time ever we have a small pet turtle for our kids...the turtle found his way to our friends garage and then they passed him onto us which was supposed to be temporary but Reuben couldn't give him up! The boys do love him and he's pretty low maintenance, so I have gotten over it. But today, there must have been SOMETHING in the air getting to Reuben, after checking out this turtle he's convinced it's the new "PET" our family needs in our backyard! He was pretty excited about it since the turtle just walks around eating grass! Keep in mind the photo doesn't truly depict the ACTUAL size of this beast...um, not happening by the way =)

The GIRAFFE...definitly one of the BEST reasons the additional cost of this zoo is worth it, you get SOOO much closer to the animals...look at this Giraffe, he is so close to me I can reach out and touch his FACE!! This was the highlight of the day for the kids...you can walk up on this platform and hand feed giraffes! Brennan was a bit nervous but gave in, Dawson never thought twice, he was READY!!

Check out their long tongues that roll in and out of their mouth!
A couple of shots of Dawson feeding them with the help of dad. I didn't have my widest lens so these were the best shots I could get!
Here's one of Brennan reaching out to feed. It just looked so much like the giraffe was sticking his tongue out at Brennan...kind of funny.

This was Dawson's other favorite part...he LOVES trains and could have watched this one all day!


Last but not least, who would have guessed that penguins can live in this climate? Apparently they can and do...look how close I am to this little guy! They have an outdoor area with water and a cooler indoor area to go into as well! That's all for our zoo trip, it was my hope that the zoo would send us to the hospital afterwards, but all my best efforts seem to fail, I think I am going about this the WRONG way and maybe I will now try to just sit back and RELAX and see if THAT will work =) We'll post photos as soon as our baby girl arrives ANY day now!

"SWIPER NO SWIPING"

Got kids? Then surely you've heard this phrase some 1000 times from Dora the Explorer! Our kids are very vivid dreamers and they often talk or cry out in their sleep. Actually this past Christmas Eve, Dawson even hallucinated consistantly reaching and grabbing for fish, monkeys and bees which he SWORE were in our room. In his defense, he was running a fever and after about 10 minutes of this behavior I was ready to take him to the ER as he was so convinced and wouldn't stop reaching for them! Anyway, so two nights ago I heard Dawson's little feet come running down the hall as he was crying, calling out for Daddy! He came in the room and through a load of tears said, "Dad, Swiper just swiped me on my back and it HURT." I couldn't help but laugh out loud, which Reuben later told me was so rude...but seriously it is funny isn't it? So he proceeded to show us where and remind us how much it hurt before cuddling with Daddy and falling back asleep! Gotta love their imaginations!! This photo is from a few months back that I don't think I have ever posted...

NAME MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright...4 weeks to go and still undecided on the PERFECT name for this little girl!! I would LOVE to hear your fabulous GIRL names for us to consider! As you know, we have NAMING ISSUES...and after learning my lesson "settling" on a name for my second child and changing it a few months later, I figure I better get it right this time. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO...what is our NAMING STYLE you ask?? Well, I am not sure...the middle name will be after a family member and the first name can't be TOO common. I love different names that aren't TOO different. Soooo...give me your ideas so I can start considering them. PLEASE! BY the way, I am totally into girl names that end with a "y" or "ly" or "ee" makes it more girly =)

The toothfairy rides on Santa's Sleigh!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it is true that on Christmas Eve, the toothfairy rides along with Santa for all of her visits as well =) So Christmas came and what a CRAZY & FUN few days it was...not to mention BUSY and TIRING! We spent Christmas Eve at my sisters sharing a wonderful turkey, ham and all the fixings meal and playing games, reading stories about the Savior and His birth and of course the "christmas eve one present opening" jammie tradition so many share! But this year was a little different, Brennan had his FIRST very, very LOOSE tooth! This is new ground for us and guess what I learned? I learned I am in this ALONE! My very strong, very handy husband is apparently VERY SQUEAMISH about teeth! Surprising as he does fine with cuts and bruises, diapers don't bother him ONE bit and he's been a GREAT coach in the birth of our two boys, but who would've known that teeth can make this man want to vomit in one second flat? So, Brennan was anxious for this loose tooth to be freed so he could eat easier and Reuben was begging me to "not ruin his dinner" by pulling the tooth when we had such a nice meal to eat, and no I wasn't making him be a part of it at ALL! He was just on the sidelines, in the room as we dealt with the drama! Here are a few pics of Brennan trying SO hard to be BRAVE despite it hurting him so bad!
Brennan insisted his Aunt Jessica do the duty, which I of course didn't argue, apparently she has pulled two of my niece Hannah's teeth so he felt she'd do the best job at it! And for the record... we did not FORCE him into this and we did give him breaks a few times...I guess you really do have to EARN that money you get from the toothfairy! We let him eat dinner and told him to just move it on his own and sure enough a couple of hours later, he came running in to me, toothless and so excited it was out! He had pulled his own first tooth! The only problem? Where was the tooth? He pulled it at the sink, in front of the mirror so we assumed it was long gone down the drain & Uncle Tim and Papa wouldn't accept that, the tools were out and the drain was about to come apart...thankfully I did a carpet search and found it before we spent a lot of time trying to disassemble the sink! Here is the cute toothless boy now!
Now onto Christmas morning! We got to slip into bed in the wee hours of 4am after being housecleaners, present wrappers, Santa and toothfairy, and it wasn't 5 minutes of us in bed that our 2yr old came running in, sick with a fever and really worked up over a dream! After about 10minutes of him literally "seeing" and grabbing for bugs and animals he insisted were in our room (hallucinations w/fevers? this was a new one for me), we finally settled for a few hours of broken up sleep with a sick, restless toddler! The morning was great despite the lack of sleep! Here's Brennan proudly sporting his money that after reviewing the photos again CLEARLY wasn't enough!
And the cute brothers waiting for Daddy to get moving so we would let them see what Santa brought...
And yes honey...this photo and their first expressions IS WORTH blocking off all the laid out gifts the night before so I can catch it on camera!! So get used to the idea, we WILL keep this tradition! No, I am NOT bitter that I was left to do this part alone as he quickly told me the tradition of them seeing gifts AFTER we are ready w/cameras was no longer and went to bed...granted it was 4am!!
A few other cute expressions...all they wanted was skateboards...I didn't argue too much, did you know they are only like $10-$15, wow Santa got to be cheap!


Here's a shot of the tree with only a PART of the gifts we opened with ALL of my family, they all brought their presents over and we took a couple of hours doing the gifts...it is pure CHAOS, but of course fun!
My gingerbread house couldn't go unnoticed after the hours I spent working on it! I know it looks like I spent 5 minutes...I could never do those contests!

And to end on a sweet note...here's my nephew Aidan, about 2 months old now and looking cute as ever! I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well, I am so thankful to have family and friends so close that I could be with them on these special holidays!

Christmas? What? When?

WOW! I can hardly believe it's been another week! Sorry for the lack of posting, I have definitely been in cruch mode trying to get loose ends finished up for clients! Meanwhile, the world around me seems to be celebrating this holiday I hear is happening and I was wondering if I might find some time myself to get my shopping going! If it weren't for Black Friday I wouldn't have much of anything yet! My husband and I are NOTORIOUS for shopping on Christmas eve and the few days before it...not that we plan it that way, it's just I don't have time until everything for clients is complete which is usually a few days before Christmas! Thankfully I am finally getting to the point tonight that I think I can take a couple of days to focus on my favorite holiday...even if I do feel like I got robbed of it AGAIN! I swear every year it seems like it will be better, but every year it's the same or WORSE! I am thankful for all the card orders, the canvas orders and the patience of everyone as I struggled through this season with 2 little ones, a baby on the way and way too much to keep up on! I think I am more thankful for my husband and next door neighbor "on call" sitters that supported me through all the long days and late nights! Now let's get to the fun! Let me post a few images of the last week...then a few more client items I've been behind on! Here is a visit Dawson and I made to Brennan's school for a very special visitor! Dawson was especially excited to be in Brennan's class and it was cute to see ALL the boys in the class SWARM him, I didn't think 5yr old boys cared about little brothers!! Brennan was especially proud to have his brother in his classroom!
Ok, I guess it's safe to say who the special visitor was since little kids don't read this...but...just in case...here's your warning! Dawson got to see Santa A.K.A. Papa in the lobby of the school here's the shot of him seeing him...He LOOKED HIM UP.... AND HE LOOKED HIM DOWN... and as long as Santa didn't try to hold him, he was content to be right by him, unlike Brennan at his age who couldn't be convinced no matter what! Here's a shot of Brennan's face surprised to see Santa, none of the kindergarteners knew Santa would be coming!
We are blessed that "papa" has been a great Santa for many many years, and even more blessed that our children grow up and don't quite figure it out until they need to! Funny thing is, they don't put things together like..."why did Santa just show up at our house conveniently when we were decorating the tree" or the fact that Santa sounds JUST LIKE Papa...he has a very distinct voice, but they overlook that as well, then there's the whole not figuring out why when Santa showed up at Brennan's school Grammy just happened to be there with too and Dawson and I...but thankfully they don't piece that together yet! Here's the boys getting their moment with Santa, as you can see Dawson was more into the candy and Brennan was a bit nervous being that close to Santa's face... And last but not least...today I was able to go to Brennan's school to help with their gingerbread houses, here's a few shots of that. I've learned the big camera is a bit distracting and bulky to bring along so I have to settle for the red eye and poor image quality...having a camera that fits in my pocket however, is very NICE! This is Brennan's cute friend Jacob, they've had a few play dates and just love to hang out and be boys!

Lesson learned

How could a little red ball teach such a grand lesson? Well, this is the little ball Brennan picked up when we recently visited a store. I allowed him to play with it as I shopped so it would keep him occupied. Right before leaving, I asked him to put it down so we could go. Not surprisingly for him lately...he didn't listen & didn't put it down! I of course didn't realize this and we went on our way home. Later that night out came the red ball, being thrown around at home. I looked at him and said, "where did you get that?" he looked at me with guilt and said, "at the store." He was promptly sent to his room until Daddy got home and we could all talk about it. My husband and I were taken back by this as he is really quite an honest child, we wondered if he really understood what he did. So, we talked, I asked him if he was told to put it down before we left and he recalled he was. We discussed the magnitude of this event for awhile, never seeming to really phase Brennan as he didn't seem as remorseful as we'd hoped! We discussed the 10 Commandments and how Jesus would be very unhappy (to which he was more worried how Santa would feel about it)! We taught him about repentence and told him he would have to take it back to the manager and hope that he or she was nice and would not be angry. At this point, he STILL seemed unphased but was willing to face the consequences! It was then that my husband mentioned that it was AGAINST the LAW to steal and that he could in fact GO TO JAIL! I was surprised, but happy to see Brennan finally GETTING IT!!!! Ah ha...lightbulb moment, THIS IS A BIG DEAL! It was just what we were looking for that he understood how important it was to not steal! So, the tears finally came and my generally very gentle husband kept on it telling Brennan he should really be worried about where he might sleep that night! So, we ate dinner and drove the whole family back to the store despite it being the kids bedtime. Brennan didn't seem too nervous so Reuben again mentioned that he should be concerned for what the weekend had in store for him. So we asked for the manager and this younger lady came out and walked up to us, I motioned that my child had something to tell her, she was confused and obviously didn't pick up on what we were doing. He handed her the ball and said, "I took this today and I am sorry and I won't do it again" he was at least nervous and slightly emotional by now...the woman happily responded "oh sweetie, it's ok, thank you so much!!" I looked to my husband with HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT...clearly this woman didn't get that we were trying to TEACH him a lesson here, while we didn't need her to freak him out, a simple stern response or reiteration of the law and importance of NOT STEALING from her store would have been GREAT! So, that was that. Brennan has to earn money to pay us for stealing a ball and we HOPE that he has learned a lesson from his experience despite getting off TOO EASY from the store!

Getting in the spirit!

My kids were SUPER excited to get our house ready for Santa this year! Daddy on the other hand is a well known grinch and wasn't quite as excited! =) Thankfully we were able to take some time this week to decorate the tree with the boys and share some hot chocolate while we burned a fire...a new thing we are LOVING about this home, we've never had a fireplace before and it is so fun for us! We purposely open up all the windows to cool the house down JUST so we can light a fire...gotta love Arizona! Here are a few images of the boys decorating the tree with the help of Daddy!

And for some reason I told the boys to hug and say "I love my brother..." and guess what...they did it, and they didn't even fight! WOW!

Holy Day of Shopping report!!!!

Ok, so it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO exhausting it took me 5 days to write about it =) Well, not really, but I am STILL recovering from the lack of sleep. So here is the LAST of the snapshots since I am having serious problems posting images from a point and shoot on this blog. So the Holy day started out at 3:45 for me, but 30 minutes earlier for my aunt and mom! We left the house just after 4am to WalMart where I didn't have anything fabulous to get, but I did help out and still managed to spend some $$. Here is a photo when we are LEAVING our first stop...can't believe it is still dark and I was already over $100 into my shopping!

We stopped for breakfast at Paradise Bakery, we needed the food to get us through a long day ahead! My mom was the lucky one that got to take the picture...none of us wanted to be in these =) REFER TO RULE#1

It was a good year, no fights to speak of, no tackling was even necessary! One lucky man did get this sweatshirt handed to him by my sister after he totally earned it by being a jerk in the parking lot when she WASN'T trying to take his spot. It was pretty funny cuz we saw these sweatshirts right when we saw him, so they couldn't resist the urge! Otherwise, everyone was VERY FRIENDLY and helpful as usual! This is the ONLY day you can shop and strangers will stop and talk to you or tell you where you can get a better deal on something you have in your cart!

Just as in previous years, our day came to a close in about hour #12! I can't believe I made it, 3 hours of sleep for me and everytime we drove even just across the street I was negotiating a nap in the car to keep going...the girls wouldn't let me and somehow I survived! We ended the day with our traditional pedicure which we all practically fell asleep for! Our feet were so happy to be pampered and given cute toes!

And once home we still kept going having dinner, building our first fire in our home...YIPEE and the kids were so happy to roast marshmallows!

The adults played a couple of games and by that time we were all so delirious we seriously laughed harder than I ever remember laughing in my life! It was a BLAST!!!!!!!!!! My Aunt, Uncle and cousins all left the next day, we were so thankful to have them all here for such a special holiday and great memories!
By the way, I would LOVE to hear from any of you BLACK FRIDAY FANS and ALL of you that choose not to venture out! Any good stories or deals to speak of???

All good things must come to an end!

Days later I am STILL recovering from so much lack of SLEEP! =) We managed to host a thanksgiving dinner with about 30 people, and days of festivities with almost that many people! That's hard to do when you're pregnant and not getting sleep too! So here are some images from our FUN FILLED THANKSGIVING with lots and lots of my family! Please excuse the image quality, much of these taken with a point and shoot for quick shots!! We kicked off the holiday with the women making lots of pies on Wednesday night...I think 11 to be exact!

There is HOPE for me, check out my attempt to pull off a "martha stewart" table! This was my first year to host a nice meal such as this...so I had to do SOMETHING! Ok, so it doesn't compare to hers, or any of the beautiful weddings I shoot, but I did learn how to properly fold cloth napkins, aren't you impressed?

This is a close up of my centerpiece!

Here is the family sitting at the super long table I insisted on creating so everyone could sit together!

Here are most of the cousins enjoying play time on the trampoline.

After dinner the boys decided to show us a MIRACLE...check them out cleaning up the kitchen! I had to get a shot of it in case we need it for future bargaining!

Can't forget the boys playing football! Brennan is the one with the Cardinals helmet...he LOVES to dress in full sports gear so I am surprised he doesn't have the full uniform and pads on!


Of course there is the all important HOLY DAY OF SHOPPING planning session for the women. It is here we map out the deals, decide where we are starting and when, and put initials in the ads of who needs what at each store to help us keep track!

Lastly, a peek at our entertainment! This is our Turkey pinata that just didn't want to break!

And a cute shot of my cousin's daughter Caitlyn trying to hit the pinata even though they raised it above her!

And the night came to a close after some fun time singing Christmas songs and visiting around the fire in our backyard!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is my cousin Ashley's birthday!! What makes it even more fun is that she lives out of town and is here and staying with me!!!!!! Here is a photo of her and her cute family back in August when we visited them in Utah!

This is a fun shot I thought I would post of Ashley's husband Mike, he'll be joining us later tonight. Mike and Ashley have a boat and we had a great time boating with them and their family in Utah in August! Mike is becoming quite good at wakeboarding!

We are so excited to have our cousins and their families here for Thanksgiving! It will be a first for all of us to be together on Thanksgiving although my entire family tries to meet up with this big gang every year at least once for some sort of vacation. We have so much fun with them, late game nights, lots of kids and loud chaos...it's great! Unfortunately, we will miss my cousin Jared and his family, they weren't able to come. Here's another boating shot with Jared wakeboarding and his wife and son watching.

We'll also miss my brother and his family who are in Texas...the Holy Day of Shopping just won't be the same without Amy! Oh and certainly more to come on that beloved HOLY DAY OF SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WE ALL LOVE!

More with my big family and our fun filled chaos to come! You haven't met them all =)

Favorite Image of the Day

I came across this image and thought I would do a quick post with it! Here's the boys awhile back. It's so great how much they really LOVE each other although Dawson really doesn't like Brennan's affection usually! Ever since Brennan started school the two have become much closer, laughing and playing better together since they miss each other all day! The other day Dawson told me while we were driving..."mom, Brennan is my bestest brodder..." And today Brennan is having a friend over after school and he promptly told me this morning, "I will tell Jacob that we have to include Dawson too ok mom." These are the moments that make it all worth it right?

Halloween Fun

With as much as I heard about Halloween and the constant countdown and overwhelming excitement this year...I am a bit nervous about Christmas! Brennan is definitely really into holidays now and is already asking "is tomorrow Valentines" (which he knows is when our baby sister comes). So...needless to say, the boys had a blast, it was so hard for them to wait for Daddy to get home so they could leave to their cousins to Trick or Treat! Here is Brennan and Dawson in their costumes after waiting over an hour at the door for Daddy who was stuck in traffic forever!!!

We brought the jeep over and the kids took turns driving to trick or treat. This was a big hit for them last year and this year was no exception...we've definitely got a tradition of this on our hands!

Here are cousins Hannah (Snow White) and Ashlyn dressed as a pig who we spent the evening with!

Our little school boy...

I realize school did start some time ago, but it took us awhile to get settled and set up this blog, so I really wanted to post the pics of my proud Brennan on his first day of Kindergarten!! He has been talking about going to school for months and his first day brought no nerves for this formerly timid and anxiety ridden child!! He proudly sported his backpack, lunch box and new school clothes and was sure to remind me as we walked him in for his first day that "when the bell rings mom, you have to leave ok."

Despite my constant worrying all day that he would be SO TIRED or SAD from being away for 6 long hours, I picked him up and he quickly jumped into a full report of what child was naughty for the teacher and gave me a list of all the things he had to do in order to stay out of trouble and the principals office! I am thankful he has continued to remember and a couple of months in he has yet to be in trouble at school...phew! Here he is sporting his backpack and lunchbag, both of which are nearly as big as he is!

Dawson sure wanted to stay and sit with his brother at his desk...

Me and my baby...I can't believe he is going to SCHOOL!

Flagstaff Fall Festival

Today we drove up to Flagstaff in an attempt to get some cooler weather and some great shots with the few trees that change colors in Arizona!! I was a bit disappointed to see that of the Aspens we had to choose from, which weren't many, lots of the leaves had already fallen!! Bummer! At any rate, we went to the Flagstaff "Autumn in the Aspen's" festival and had a good time. It was only their second year, so it was a smaller scale event, but the kids had a blast and didn't notice a lack of activities compared to Schnepf Farms where we usually go this time of year. Here are some pictures with some of my family who joined us for the day trip.
Two of the cutest kids...

Jessica #1 and Jessica#2 (the one on the right is my sister, on the left, her friend who is becoming an adopted member of the family)

Hannah and Ashlyn, my nieces

Grammy and Papa, my mom and stepdad

Meet US...

Here is a little more about us...
My husband Reuben and I have been married for 8 years!! He works in Commercial Real Estate Development and really loves his job! He is seriously the BEST husband anyone could ever ask for, not to mention the best dad! I am incredibly blessed to have him in my life.
Brennan is our oldest son. He sports strawberry blonde hair that gets lots of attention when we are out! While I know I am partial, he is seriously the cutest red head boy I KNOW!! Here is a picture when he was 2.

He is now 5 and has always loved the camera...

Now, meet Dawson!! This photo should tell you a little about him...This image was taken when he was one.

He is now 2 1/2 and despite being the crier of the bunch, he is at a pretty fun age right now!! He has such a fun personality and is incredibly talkative and too smart for his age!!
While he isn't quite in love with the camera like his brother,
I do get lucky sometimes...
Oh and in February we will welcome our first baby girl!!! We are very excited for that!