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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What a Productive Day

Today was such a productive day! We have been wanting to take Drew's train table out of his room but knew it would be an all day project because I would want to clean every inch of his room! Well....since it was raining today that is EXACTLY what we did! Now we need to get the bookcase/wall unit that we have been wanting to store all his legos put together on. Drew loves legos and is GREAT at putting them together.
The girls cleaned their room too! All the bedrooms look so good and fresh now! Great job kids! Garbage bags full of junk....donation pile....pile for friends....decluttered clean rooms is always a great way to start a new year off!

Lauren is patiently waiting to play pictionary on the U-Draw! It is so fun to play together as a family.




Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Great Giveaway on Girls With Good Taste!

There is a GREAT giveaway on www.meandjilly.blogspot.com. Go take a peek!

We BELIEVE in Santa!

One of our good friends asked if he could come over and play Santa for us this year! We have never done this but thought Drew would LOVE it! We got the text that he was 5 minutes away. Andy quickly put some fresh water (we figured he had had enough milk) in Santa's cup and stuck a few gifts out front on the porch then woke up the kids. I think I was more excited then they were! We stood at the stairs and listened to the jingle bells and knew he was here. Drew wanted to run back to bed since Santa wouldn't come and leave a gift if he was awake. I made him stay with me and we quietly watched. Santa ate the cookies and drank the "milk" and even left a few gifts. He stayed for 5 minutes or so and then told Rudolph he was needing to move to the next house. Drew's face was just priceless. This is all he has been talking about. Of course nobody believes him when he tells them that he saw Santa! We believe..... do you??

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Break

This has been one of the most relaxing breaks we have had...no trips!! We were hoping to go to Hawaii on Christmas day but the loads were just too full. So instead here is a glimpse of what we have done:

* Emily and I spent two full days making headbands, flowers and clips! LITERALLY 2 full days....we had so much fun doing this together. We are now working on our blogs together.

* Lauren hasn't been around much. I think from Sunday-Thursday, I saw her once when she "dropped in" to ask for some money and quickly left again. "Mom...it is break" is her answer to me letting her know we miss her at home.

* Drew has stayed up late almost every night....not a good habit to get in. He has enjoyed staying up late/sleeping in. Next week is going to be hard for him. Drew has found a new love for the Wii.

Our family gift this year was U-Draw for the Wii. SO MUCH FUN! It is a game that we can all play together and have played it everyday since Christmas. Here is Lauren's picture of a stork!Has our house been spotless...NO! But I am liking the relaxation.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Well....I think I must have forgotten that we are 3 hours ahead of our normal time.......3:00am bedtime isn't good when the alarm will be going off at 6:30! YIKES

We headed out to the Animal Kingdom today. Never been but thought we would try it. Disney goes all out and this was no exception! There was NO reason to shower and do hair because the minute we stepped outside it was flat and gross! HENCE....no pictures of me!

I finally got Andy to go on the rapids! Let me start by saying Drew and I were SOAKING wet......Andy was the driest of us all. It was our second ride so I looked even more like a drowned sewer rat! My favorite part of the day was the safari. It felt like we were in Africa. The giraffes were literally FEET from our jeep! So many things to see..parade, Lion King show, Nemo Show. It started to cloud up around 3pm. When we came out of the Nemo show it was POURING down rain. Luckily, we already bought our ponchos! No exception....we stayed until the park closed. Rain won't stop our family from having fun!

On the down side....Lauren doesn't feel too good. She didn't drink much today and is already asleep because of a headache. We kept telling her all day to keep drinking. The humidity makes us appreciate Arizona's DRY heat! Hopefully tomorrow she will feel better! We have a LONG day.....9am-midnight!! Magic Kingdom here we come!

One last note.......Andy went to the car to grab our ponchos so they can dry out and what did he find......a FREAKING SNAKE on the porch of our condo! Just my luck!

Hope everyone from our soccer team gets hear safely! We can't wait to see our girls play again.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

We made it!!!

We were a little scared this morning when we woke up because most of the flights were overbooked! That is the BIG downside to flying standby! We decided that if 2 could go Lauren and I would go. With the door closing in approx 1 minute they called 2 for Ragusa (we used our SA1's for priority). We both started walking up and this LATE passenger came running......UGH....only 1 could go. Panic! I said, I will go! What was I thinking. I am not a flier let alone by myself! PLUS 6 bags of checked luggage! I guess when I was walking down (little groggy from my meds) Drew started crying for me! Sniffle sniffle.....I said to Andy when I left...try the southwest direct flight. I wasn't too sure if he would but it was worth a try....no luggage...just 2 kids! I got on the plane and was dozing before we left! Needless to say, I slept most of the flight. But about 1 1/2 hours before we were here (4 1/2 hour flight), the captain came on....we are going to have light to moderate turbulence due to the hurricane! Oh crap is what I was thinking. It wasn't too bad.

Once I landed, I got a few texts from the kids/Andy. The actually got on the southwest direct flight and were due to arrive about 1 hour after me. So I grabbed the luggage and got the rental car. Once I was done with that they had arrived and picked them up on the curb!

FIRST STOP: Steak and Shake! YES!!! A must have. It is one of my FAVORITE places to eat! So much better then In and Out. I can't even eat there! Oh that vanilla shake...I can still taste it!

Stopped and got a few groceries and then off to bed!! Gotta rise early tomorrow for Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Priceless!

My girls went to camp for the week of my birthday, my mom was going to my sisters, so it was just me and Drew. I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to go with her! So off we went. Anyone that knows me knows that I DO NOT LIKE TO FLY! Anyway, we got to my sisters (Iowa) in one piece, but had to land at another airport due to the weather and the fly to Cedar Rapids about an hour later after the storm passed.

On my birthday, we all went shopping at the mall. Drew was PRICELESS! I love Brighton jewelry and was picking out a gift from my mom (LOVE IT MOM!!!). There was a cute necklace that says mom with a bunch of words that describe a mom on the back. But I thought it would be more appropriate from my kids at another time. So I put it back. Drew grabbed it and took it to the lady at the counter and asked if she liked it. She said why yes. He said....today is my mom's birthday and she really wants this. Can you wrap this up for her? I was kinda paying attention to him while I was picking something out. The lady got out all the different Brighton tins he could choose from and he wanted the LOVE one because he loves me. He then asked her to wrap it up in that tin. Well......how on earth did he think he was going to pay for it. I just couldn't break his heart and tell him no. I paid for it and she gave it to him in his own little bag. The rest of the time in the mall he kept telling me...don't peek! Drew was so proud of "his" purchase. He even asked if he could buy something with my sister's money for me for my birthday. I kept telling him to wait until we got home and daddy would take him. That wasn't good enough because TODAY was my birthday. It was so important to him that HE got me something that day. So we got home and he went straight to our bedroom we were staying in. I walked in and he was quietly walking and made me leave. Well....a few minutes later, he came out with my gift wrapped in HIS dirty, stinky blanket (the only one left from when he was an infant) along with a little container of fudge that I bought the girls! I love this little guy! His soft side is so sweet. He is priceless. As often as I get frustrated with the "boy" side of him, moments like this just make me smile! I love you son!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter - Well....sort of.....

Drew was so excited for Easter. He wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt. We had one for preschool on Wednesday and he was so sad that he didn't get to do it so I hid some eggs for him after school. I told him we would have BIG one on Sunday.

Friday night, I got sick and slept on the couch. I thought it might have been a touch of having yucky food. Guess I was wrong because Drew was puking all day Saturday. YUCK! He woke up today and we thought he was feeling much better. Of course not......but he only got sick once today.

Pretty boring at our house since we weren't planning on cooking. We had to take a rain check with my parents for dinner.

Here is a picture of our sick boy and one of him when he thought he was feeling better! He loves being outside.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Hawaii - last few pictures

Here is the condo/property that we stayed on! It was a mini village in itself.
What is wrong with this sign? This is what we saw as we entered the property that we stay at.
It was so wild to see the lava literally on the side of the road!
Here is our sweet Drew with his necklace on that Grandma got him! He loves it.
You can see the different shades of blue in the ocean from this view.

Thank you mom for a wonderful trip!! We had an a great time!
Happy 16th birthday Emily!

Hawaii - Day 4

Well today is our last day in Hawaii. We decided that we wanted to "lap" the island and see the Hilo side of it. Hawaii was nothing like I thought it would be. Each part of the island really is different. We started by going up north to Waimea. The scenery was so amazing. It reminded me of rolling hills you would find in Europe....so beautiful and looked so peaceful, didn't have the fast past life that we live in Arizona.It started raining as we headed towards the rain forest/Hilo. We stopped at Akaka Falls. WOW.....there is something about being in a rain forest. I felt a little out of place because it was pouring down rain, we had no umbrellas, I was in a dress with sandals. We looked like a bunch of wet sewer rats! But seeing it was so worth it...plus some fun memories!Back in the car and off to Rainbow Falls. It had quit raining by now (3 hours of straight rain)! We got out to stretch our legs. Oh to have property in Hawaii for relaxation.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was unforgettable. To see an active volcano was something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. WOW!!! The steam vents, lava tubes, to touch and walk on lava....see the active spout. It was cold and raining off and on so we were kinda party poopers on this! After all, our clothes still weren't dry!One of the last stops was to see the BLACK SAND BEACH! It was really pure black sand!We grabbed a quick bite for dinner and had a little time left so we drove to the Kona Temple to see it at night. It is a smaller temple but still so beautiful. The temple was in the middle of a neighborhood, off the freeway and next to a stake center. Once you got on the temple grounds, it was so peaceful!
Back to the airport! We took the red eye flight home! This airport was so different. It was all outdoors! But with the weather they have there, who needs an indoor airport.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Hawaii - Day 3

This morning we woke up and headed straight for the beach. Today we went to "A Bay" (Anaeho'omalu Bay) right by our condo to do some more snorkeling. There were only a few other people there, I guess because it was so early in the morning. Drew had so much fun in the sand...just being a boy. Emily wanted to get a little sun. Lauren is our little fish and wanted to snorkel with Andy. It wasn't nearly as good as the first place we went because the water was more cloudy and not as many fish. Lauren was out with Andy and looked up and had a HUGE sea turtle in her face. She loved it!!! The kids had so much fun on the beach today. We found a sea cucumber. It was neat but yet gross if that makes sense. Soft and mushy but shaped like a pickle. YUCK!
After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the condo to eat lunch and shop. We ended up going to the Kona International Marketplace and a little Farmer's Market in downtown Kona. Lauren completed her shopping list, Emily found a few things, Drew wanted EVERYTHING. I was holding out for my Brighton Hawaii bracelet. I was determined to find it! The cutest gifts were for my nieces that mom bought. The CUTEST coconut purses. I sure hope they like them because they were so stinkin' cute!

Mom gave Emily her birthday gift tonight. My sister and her family and mom/JD gave Emily a cross necklace from Tiffany's. Her first (and maybe only) real piece of Tiffany jewelry. I think she is afraid to wear it! It looks so cute on her! I can't believe our Emily is almost 16 years old. Happy early birthday Em! You are a very special girl.
Tonight we took my mom to the airport. Sad to see her leave but she wanted a day of rest before she went to my sisters. We loved having her around. After we dropped her off we headed down to Keauhou Bay to watch the manta rays at night. The hotel shines lights int the water so you can see them. Unfortunately we only saw one manta ray but it was still so neat to watch him swim around. I could have stayed there for hours just watching the waves crash into the lava.Here are some nightly shots from "A Bay" by our condo.

Another great day in the BEST place in the whole wide world! What could be better! We definitely found our favorite place to visit!