Friday, April 15, 2011

Disneyland

Disneyland for Spring Break.  What can I say, we just never get tired of this place!  This time we took Hailee & Hannah, twins that are our regular babysitters & whom we are crazy about.  We thought it would be a fun time & it was!  And no we did not take them to babysit, although they were a huge help.

Here they are.....Hailee & Hannah.  Cute girls huh?!

This was the first day & the start of FUN!
 We did buy this box of toys.  We kinda had to, the kids were in it.

 Goofy with the kiddos

Buzz Lightyear

 The 4 princesses & 1 prince

 Waiting for Aladdin to start

 Kiddos with Cinderella

Stopping for a bite to eat
Matthew & Luke checking out Mater & Lightning McQueen

 Pretty Princess Matthew

 A little story behind this picture.  We went to the Princess coronation ceremony (which we have never done before).  We were standing in line to have Hannah's picture taken with Sleeping Beauty.  I took the pic & we walked away.  Luke just came unglued.  He was so mad.  Through tears he said over & over "I want my picture with the princess!".  I couldn't get back in line so we found this cute princess-looking girl & took his picture with her.  He was completely satisified with that.  Whew! 

Belle aka Savannah & Haley.  Haley was not into this princess thing.  Stinker!

 Space Mountain

 The pier right before World of Color & our new blog background...for today.

 One little pic of World of Color.  It's a must see.

This mama & her babies were right outside of Thunder Mountain RR.  Aren't they cute?!  I assume that they are part of Donald or Daisies family. 

The exciting news of the trip was that our 2 year old was tall enough to ride Space mountain, Thunder Mtn. RR & Splash (had it been open).  Not only would he ride it but he loved Thunder Mtn. RR.  Every time the ride was over he would ask if we could do that again.  One time as the ride was ending I asked him if it was fun & he told me, while laughing, that he peed his pants.  Silly boy!  Anyway, he loved that ride.  He didn't make one peep on Space Mtn. but when we got off I wasn't too sure he liked it so he only rode it the one time.  Judd couldn't have been happier!

P.S.  I have over 400 pics of this fabulous trip so you should all feel grateful this is all I made you sit through!  You're welcome.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Jordan's Wedding

Disclaimer:  I will try to keep this brief but you know how difficult that can be for me.

My brother, Jordan, got married on Saturday, 2 pm at the Ridgefield chapel.  Because of this wonderful occasion we got to visit with lots of family who traveled to be here.  It was a nice & simple wedding & reception.

The happy couple

Tessa's dad put all this food together, very pretty food!

The cake

Matthew was the ring bearer

Pa, Ma, Jordan & Tessa

The Taylor family & Uncle Randy

There was some crazy dancing

Matthew & Judd deejaying the music

My happy family with the married couple

Jan, Adam & Chelsea

 Danielle, Ryan & happy family

Grandpa & Mom

They're too serious!

Leaving the reception

What pretty pink detail on the car.  I know Jordan really appreciated it sarcasm, right there.  I heard he drove straight to a car wash.

We tried to get a picture of all the grand kids & Grandpa & Grandma.  This is comical! 

Starting in the left top row....Tyson 'I'll smile but I have to see just how angry Cohen is, but I'll just keep smiling.' 
Bottom left row....Cade & Matthew 'What game are you playing?'  Oblivious to the fact that there are a dozen people yelling "Cheese", "look over here", etc. 
Next to those two clowns....Blake & Luke 'what the heck is his problem!' 
Cohen & Adalyn obviously upset.  Cohen, poor little guy, had the same open mouth scream in every picture I snapped. 
But my favorite is Harrison, brother to screaming twins Cohen & Adalyn.  He is oblivious to their screaming & really doesn't seem concerned or even bothered. 
LOVE IT!

Congratulations Jordan & Tessa!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

T-Ball

Matthew has started t-ball & is so excited about it!  He has had a few practices & 1 game so far.  Judd is helping coach the team & he is loving it too.  The only bummer is Matthew's allergies have been really bad.  He almost missed opening day & his game on Saturday.  But after a double dose of Aller-Tec & Benadryl he wanted to go.  You can see how blood shot his eyes are in the pic below.

His team is the Washington Nationals.

 Even though he's a lefty & throws left-handed we're thinking he is more comfortable batting right-handed.  Or at least it seems that way. 

 He & teammates in the dug out

 Running from second to third base.

Good game Nationals!

I just have to say how much I have loved going to practices & the game.  These kids are hilarious to watch & listen to.  If you have ever seen Brian Regan's (a comedian) skit on t-ball, then you can image how this goes.

I was standing by 3rd base & every time this kid would get there he would say, "I'm hungry, I want my ticket so I can get my hot dog.  Is it almost time for my hot dog?"  Honestly, EVERY time he came to 3rd base.  Between that & the dirt diggers, the flower pickers & the two boys who did handshakes & high-fives the whole time in the out field, I was busting up!  And let's not forget that this is usually the boys' first time wearing a cup. It was comical to watch!

I think it's been so good for Matthew.  He has definitely enjoyed the social part, but it's been great to run & release some energy.  We came home last night, ate dinner, took a bath & as I was reading him a bedtime book he feel asleep in my lap at 7:45.....all in a days work!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is a wonderful holiday.  It's not one that requires a whole lot of planning or thinking.  It's my kind of holiday!  Last year I made the kids a green dinner & by request I had to do it again.


Here was dinner; peas, green rice, green jello & chicken.  Judd wanted me to make the chicken green, but it wasn't going to happen.

The part I was most excited about was dessert.  I thought about doing some pot of gold thing, then I came across this idea & loved it.

The leprechaun's rainbow cupcakes.

Even the inside looks cool!

The kids went crazy over them!  Which made it all worth the labor intensive layering of colors.  And we topped them with a big fluffy cloud of whip cream.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Las Vegas, NV

Judd & I visited Las Vegas this past weekend.  This is the first time I have ever been to Vegas which I know is shocking since I'm a huge gambler, drinker & all around party girl!  Hahaha. 

Anyway we flew out Friday morning & got to our hotel, the Wynn. 

Here is our room on the 60th floor

Here is our view of the strip.  There was one thing about Vegas that I was shocked by.  Do you see the street?  Now all the stuff from the street down is the Wynn hotel.  I had no idea that each hotel owned a city block.  They each have their own shopping mall (essentially), restaurants (plural) not to mention the beautiful lobby's & they each have their own casino's (huge shocker!)  Anyway I had no idea.  I just assumed each hotel was just that, a hotel.  You could honestly spend an entire day in one hotel shopping, eating, checking out their stuff oh yeah & gambling too. 

We had planned to meet up with our friends Tom & Deb from Alaska (he is also an EFS).  They got there the day before & were excited for us to go out & pound the pavement.  Friday night we saw Phantom of the Opera which was AMAZING!  Just as an FYI if you're ever in Vegas....We bought our tickets that morning through a ticket office just there on the strip.  They were $60/piece in the balcony.  We went back 30 minutes before it started & asked the guy if we could get moved up.  We sat 5 rows from the stage & didn't pay a dime more.  Never hurts to ask!

Saturday we walked & walked & walked.  Actually this day we got a taxi that took us to the other end of the strip & worked our way back to our hotel.  Then when we got pooped out we took a taxi back.  Another fun Vegas thing I learned is that some of the hotels have free exhibits/things to check out.  MGM has a lion exhibit, Bellagio has a botanical garden, there's a dolphin exhibit but I can't remember what hotel. 

This is the botanical garden.  It was the last day for the Chinese New Year display.  Now it's a spring display, or I should say will be on Friday.  It takes a week to change, which they do about every season.

This is behind the check-in desk at the Bellagio.  So pretty!

This is the ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio.

 And since we're on the Bellagio here it is at night.

A night time shot of the Venetian.

This gondola ride is inside the Venetian.  I image you could be in there at 2 am & think it was 2 pm with that ceiling.

Treasure Island

New York, NY.  Which sadly we only saw from the outside.

I can't remember what hotel this beautiful ceiling came from.

This is inside the Luxor.  The picture does not do it justice.  It is one of the craziest things I have ever seen.  All of the lines, at the top of the picture, are hallways where the hotel rooms are.  Crazy!

We saw David Copperfield Saturday night.  Good magician, kind of a dry personality.  I don't know what strings the boys pulled but that is the stage right behind me.  We saw a 195? turquoise car appear 5 feet in front of us & we still couldn't figure it out. 

I'll leave you with 2 pics that I titled "Only in Vegas"

Deb & I with a little Elvis

Judd & Tom with a Lamborghini