Reese's Party

We have been so lucky to make great friends down here in CA. We love our Kropf's and hope Reese had a wonderful first birthday. We had a Blast at Margaux's bash. Decked out to the nines. She is the master party inventor. She had beautiful food, and great decor. She had me do the cake and it was so much fun we hope we get to do another soon. Anyone who is in the market, we are in business. Happy Birthday Reese!

Personality!

If any of you have had the opportunity to hang out with Alec at all, you'd fast notice his large personality bursting from his little three year old body. I have been compiling these stories for way too long now. I just have to share.

Me: Alec, do we push Ella?
Alec: No.
Me: Do we shove Ella?
Alec: No. (A little annoyed)
Me: Do we Karate Chop Ella?
Alec: No, but I don't want Ella anymore....I want a new Ella!


Trying to tide Alec over till we got home from church, we gave him some seriously salt deprived chips from the mexican joint we had the night before.
Alec: Mom. These chips are NOT RIGHT! They are NOT GOOD!


After asking for the 10th time for more fruit snacks and I again said NO. Alec says after a few minutes.
Alec: Mom. I don't want to be big and strong like Steve. I just want to be little. Now can I have some fruit snacks?


I can't remember exactly the situation here so I'm sure you can conjure up something similar.
Alec: You go to your room mom. Right now!
Me: Alec. Only grown-ups get to send people to their rooms.
Alec: Mom! I AM a grown-up. I'm a LITTLE grown-up!

Preschool

Alec was way more excited to go to our academically souped-up joy school than I ever imagined. He surprised me by not even whimpering when I dropped him off for his first day. The all-boy, all high-energy group seemed to fare well as we found Miss Kristen still in one piece when we came to pick them up. I am in heaven. Thanks Kristen. We owe you big time!


Cupcakes

Check out our new monogram cupcakes. I literally had a dream about these about a year ago and finally made them this summer. The cookies take twice as long as the cupcakes, but I think the outcome was totally worth it.

The Earthquake

So we have now survived our first California Earthquake. 5.4 magnitude. Chino Hills was the Epicenter which is about an hour and a half north of us. At first I thought someone had snuck into our house and was behind the couch trying to pick it up and then realized that the walls and everything else was shaking as well. I'm yelling..."Oh my gosh!" and Alec started to freak out and asking me what was wrong. By the time we got up and knew what was going on, ran to the back doorway, it ended lasting about 15 second total. WIERD! Welcome to CA!!

Jessica & Del

Happy Anniversary you two!

Here's to Summer!

Somehow we got lost in the flurry of birthday parties, road trips and failed swimming lessons. Here's to summer!

Shiner!

Someone we passed today said "Big brother sock her one?" They seemed a little disgusted when we had to answer yes. Well, it wasn't intentional i suppose as he threw his sippy cup to the floor after he had guzzled down his juice. The thump on poor Ella's skull echoed through the house. OUCH for the second week. Poor baby Ella. Actually, tonight she rug-burned her other eye which is now all red. Watch out Will. Ella's headed in your footsteps!

Getting it done.

So I can't seem to figure out why I can totally kick it into gear and get so much done when Brady is out of town. I mean, is it that he makes me so weak in the knees that I just can't think straight or maybe I feel I'm counting the minutes till he comes home on his white horse to rescue me from a long day with the babes. Not sure, but I'm telling you. I KICKED some royal kiester today. Let me tell you about my superstar mom agenda. First We cleaned up the house and I washed not only Alec's sheets but my own that were long overdue as well as all 85 towels. After skipping around the house...okay just kidding about the skipping, after pulling some teeth and getting things all cleaned up from breakfast, we headed out the front door, which I'm ashamed to say I've only used about 3 times, and ventured up the "Elegator" to the fourth floor to check out the view. Then we packed lightly and walked down the block to Mother's Market. A little organic market that can either be a gold mine or a cookie gone Seriously WRONG. So we stroll though and see all the OC lunch hour crowd who either freak out at how cute Ella is waving and Saying "Hi" and Alec in his sunglasses that he wears inside and out because he HATES bright lights. Or, they look as if they would kick me out of the store themselves for being in the small isles with my side-by-side stroller. We get out quickly without too many outbursts of singing twinkle little star at the top of Alec's lungs. We head home in time to finish Go Diego Go and make dinner and then off to the park to play and take some pics. Brady, wish you could have been here.


"Check it out Mom!"
Lately Alec yells "Check it out Mom!" It cracks me up. We LOVE living in our place. It's kind of crappy to go back to renting again especially the countertops. BUT, we have a plan. We just rented our townhome and we are SAVING for a house someday down here in Million dollar land. Hopefully the prices will keep falling. So sorry to all those who own down here. I think the bank owns most of the homes down here now. It's really sad. But, hopefully we can capitalize on the market and buy when the buyings good. Plus, we'll really miss the pools, the landscaping and the complete absence of the word yardwork!

Serious business strut.


I really hope it's a snail dad.


Ella had an encounter with the counter.

Road Trip

Aunt Jamie & Uncle Travis were THE BEST to entertain us for four days this weekend. Thanks Brady for having to work in Pheonix!! We had so much fun. She made us pancakes, drove us all over the city and of course humored me by taking me to the ribbon store twice. She even hung out with both of her boys AND Alec at the mall for three hours till we figured out how to get Ella to hold still for her new earings! So cute! And Travis made sure Brady experienced the golf course at least once a day!

Hangin in the backyard!

Here comes trouble! These two were so "Hiwarius" to watch, as Alec says it. They jumped and jumped and jumped and played and played and played. Mostly with Lulu who tried really hard to just go with the 3yr old flow.


We had to totally stage this picture just to get them all in one shot. We were blowing Giant bubbles, feeding the Giant Gold fish, the ducks and we got lucky when a few turtles swam by.

Ella

Ella is busting out all her cuteness. Her new tricks include:
1. Clucking
2. Waving like princess Di
3. Taking her first few steps
4. Ooooohing at everything
5. Pointing to lights
6. Saying Daddy, Mama, Doddy (Doggy)

And you just gotta love the tiny little wisps of hair. Its all she's got. I spiked them all out today and found a touch of curl. SWEET! It even held a little clip for about 10 minutes. We're making progress little girlie girl!

Amazing Artists

I used to drool over a graphic designers site I swear was done by cindy ferguson and blog-surfing tonight I think I've found her again. Isn't she awsome!

Way to go Mom!

Wow, you know when you try really hard to be normal and all that comes out of your mouth is straight stupidity? Oh, don't lie like you don't know what I'm talking about. Please say there are others with at least occasional foot-in-mouth disease. Today I didn't really botch it horribly, I just stood there and looked like an idiot. I can't seem to get anything to come out of my mouth in times like these. Nice person says funny sentence, followed by a giggle and then it's my turn to respond and..........nothing. Not a dang thing comes out of my mouth. Like I've grown up in the middle of nowhere and have never had an actual conversation with another person before. So I sit there thinking...talk you dummy. And something wierd that makes no sense comes awkwardly stunmbling out of my mouth before I can stop myself. I wish I could say this is the worst experience of the kind but there have been worse. For example. Living in Orem with April and a few roomates right after college graduation. (Remember that I now have a college degree here!) I run my rent check up to the nice landlord couple living upstairs. The husband who is several years younger than I am standing at the door says "Oh you haven't met my wife so-and-so." She is embarrassed for being in her pajamas. Now do you ever have like two separate thoughts that try to sneek out at the same time? Stumbling out together and making you seem like you have mental problems? So she kicks in here and I say "Oh don't worry. You should see me in the morning.....oh the stench!" Now as I'm saying this I'm thinking gross breath, morning hair and the word STENCH has to come flying out of my mouth. Of course they look at me like I'm pshychotic and I just hurry and shut the door. So, to all of you who have ever thought I was just WIERD....now you know I just have problems!!!

The wooden door.

Let me just say that we found the most amazing little secret park in our complex tonight. Grammy and Grandpa Spencer had just left after dinner and we headed out for an evening stroll. I had a flowy skirt on with flip-flops pushing my impossibly-hard-to-turn but otherwise great little side-by-side double stroller around with Alec running along beside having near death experience after another. And as we passed through this unbelievably castle-like wooden door, we see a beautiful little fountain at the end of a palm tree lined courtyard and to our delight was the greatest little park tucked away in a little round nook to the left. I start thinking to myself, we may not want to find a house to buy here. I told this to Brady as we were walking back and he laughed at my silliness and said he was sure I'd like wherever we move next because it's going to be the last. So i guess that means we'll be here for a while. SWEET!!!

Photo Workshop

Katie from Peekaboo Photos and I went to this super fun photo workshop a few weekends ago. I haven't had more than a second to edit my pics and get them online but here is a preview. I learned a lot and talked Brady into buying a new lens. I love it. Blurs the dickens out of any background I can muster up. When we got to our hotel the first night, the front desk guy says "So, good news is you got THE very last room. Bad news is it has only one queen."

Farewell

To Josh. We love you and miss you more than you can imagine. The memories seem to slip into somewhere hidden now that we are trying so hard to hold on to them. All the times you tried so hard to run and hide from the ever adoring nieces and nephews who just couldn't get enough of you. All the Sunday dinners and the holidays at Grandma's house. I feel so lucky that I got to hear you say "This is the best grandma's house ever!" Thank you for being a sweet gentleman & making your little mother beam with pride. Thank you for helping so many times with Alec and Ella and every other little errand we needed you for and being so willing to help. We wait for the day when we will be able to see you again and hear "Waterfall" played with your own little fingertips. We hope the wait won't seem too long. We love you.

Finally!!!!!!!!

We can finally talk about our big move to California since Brady quit today. And being kind of a freak about any random person knowing too much about our family...thanks to a psycho old boyfriend, I'll give only basic details. This is us at our 4 star hotel thanks to priceline....$90 per night! And our second DEAL was our $15 per day rental car!!! Priceline kicks butt! (Although we got all of our incidentals paid for at the Hyatt Regency because a huge spider ran up my leg in the middle of the night sending me into a screaming fit at 2 am) But as for our temporary living arangements, we found a sweet place that has an attached garage, 4 heated pools, two small playgrounds, and a huge grassy area right outside our patio. We are 20 min from Disneyland, 3 minutes from Brady's work and 5 min from the temple. Is that giving direct coordinates to the psychos who are stalking my block? Anyway, We'll only be there for 6-9 months and then the 50/50 chance of staying or moving to AZ. Please...... let us stay!

Georgia & Ella Valentine

The whole idea was to take Georgia and Ella's pic together, but Ella kept trying this move you see here! More pics to come. Thanks Georgia for letting me use you as our super cute little model!

Tara tagged me!

10 years ago today...

Hmmm. Ok so I am so much older than you. 10 years ago I was 20 and at Utah State University. Second year in Graphic Design, living in a house with Melanie Hall and some weird girl who would get drunk off wine coolers in her bedroom with her giant fluffy dog. She was a culinary arts major who would make pans full of lasagna and leave them on the counter never eaten. So...we (My roomates and I) stuck it all in the fridge and had free leftovers whenever we wanted! Sledding and freezing our butts off! I loved it.


5 things on my to-do list today:
Great day to ask!

1. Check train schedule to see if the 10-12 inches of snow will keep Brady in Chicago overnight.
2. Make Cupcakes....pudding in the recipe....MMMMM.
3. Laundry Laundry Laundry...are you serious you finished??? Does that ever happen???
4. Hope I can live for a third night with brady being gone till after the kids are almost in bed.
5. Finish going through my filing cabinet...yet another task never done. But you wouldn't believe what I've just thrown away! Yay!

I enjoy:

Designing or creating anything. Photography has become one of my new passions as well. One of those mom things. Making cute cupcakes and or sugar cookies. Playing with my kids. Can I put in here that I hate cooking??? And talking for hours if I can corner Brady!


What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire?

Travel, learn to surf, play golf with Brady since he thinks it's the game of the Gods, decorate a new house any way I like, buy lighting and backdrop equipment, get a new mac pro with an enormous screen, a new cake studio for Jamie and I to make cakes all day....oh the list would be embarrassingly too long so I'll stop here!


3 of my bad habits:

Hmmm. This isn't any fun. Um, I bite my nails sometimes. I love sugar...maybe it's not a habit but more of a hereditary flaw ask uncle rich,or Steve!!. And....i can't think of a third.


5 places I have lived: EASY!!!

1. Miton, Utah
2. Barrington, Illinois
3. Guilbert, Arizona
4. Logan, Utah
5. Orem, Utah

5 jobs that I have had:

1-Sounds Easy Pizza (Burned down while I was working...I got to evacuate the building and my midget friend "little Bec"called 911) not a joke.
2- Tony Romas in Logan
3- Heidi Swapp (never thought I'd be a scrapbooker. I guess I'm still not, but do blogs count?)
4- Flagger on State Street in Orem right after high school. I have way too many funny stories to tell about this one. Does F-chick come to mind?
5- 4Life - all utahn's have to work for a network marketing company at one time or another right?


5 things people don't know about me:

1- I broke both my arms at the same time.
2- All four of my front teeth are fake.
3- I'm nervous in public
4- I hate girls camp
5- I've had my license revoked once and denied once.