The Mews Family | Giggles, Faith, & Cupcakes

Addilyn's 2nd Birthday Bubble Bash!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 May 2014 23:07:00 +0000

Hooray, it's party time again! Our spunky little Addilyn had her 2nd birthday party this past weekend, and I think it's safe to say it was SO. MUCH. FUN. After the party, Addilyn came over to Jeff and I and told us, "I'm so happy!" I think that means the party was a success.

For this year's theme I decided to go with something simple. Bubbles!!! I mean, who doesn't love bubbles!?! Addilyn could play with bubbles for hours on end, so this seemed like the perfect theme.

First off, the decorations. Of course I always have a little too much fun with decorations. ;)

This might have been my favorite part of the decor- 40 glass ornaments hanging above the table as "bubbles!"

And then the food....

As the party guests arrived, they ate, mingled, and the kids played with the bubbles at the bubble station as well as jumped on the trampoline and played with the roller coaster!

Once everyone had their food, and enjoyed the bubble station, our first activity was bubble snakes!!! These are the coolest, most simple activity. My kids and I do these all the time and they are so entertained by them. Here's what you need: water bottles, terry cloth, and a rubber band. Stick these little contraptions in some bubble solution, BLOW! and out comes a bubble snake!!! SO. COOL.

The kids (and the adults!) really loved these! I had to pry them away for the next activity, and even then I only got a few kids away.The bubble snakes were quite the hit.

Of course, looking back at my picrtures now, I didn't get a great picture of an actual bubble snake. Guess that means you just gotta get out the kid in you and make one for yourself to see how cool they. Trust me, you won't be disappointed!

Next activity: BUBBLE WRAP DANCE FLOOR! YAY!

Most the kiddos were still busy with all the bubble fun ourside, but this was defintely Lukas' favorite activity. It took everything in me to restrain myself from dancing and popping the bubble wrap with them- this looked like so much fun! They danced to the Chipmunks version of "Party Rock Anthem" and of course a little "Let it Go" by Demi Lavato. And amazingly, this bubble wrap lasted that whole time. I was shocked. It was like the ever-lasting bubble wrap and it was great.

Next up, the giant bubble activity! This was so great! The kids took turns standing on the stool in the middle of the bubble solution, and Jeff lifted the hula hoop over their heads, bringing a huge bubble up and around the kids! I love these pictures... They could have done this forever.

We even got Auntie Joleen, Daddy, AND GREAT GRANDMA in on the fun!

Isn't that picture just the best of Great-Grandma! Haha. SO. AWESOME!

And next, we sang to the birthday girl, she blew out her candles, ate cake and cake pops AND then opened the mountain of presents.

Ah, Addilyn was so happy! Isn't that what this is all about anyways? Yes, yes, it is.

Aaaaaand that's a wrap on the bubble party. Hope you all have a beautiful sunny day and I hope I inspired you to go blow some bubbles and enjoy the little moments....

The Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:07:00 +0000

So I love Cinnamon Rolls. I've tried several recipes over the years and this is my own personal recipe I've created from all my favorite recipes- taking the best of each and making one master plan. I made these this morning for a play-date and was inspired to do a post with the recipe. I get asked for the recipe a lot, so, here ya go! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 package of yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water

3 Tablespoons of coconut oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour (it will probably take a little more)

1 cup hot water

1 egg, beaten

1/2 Tablespoon salt

1 stick of butter

Lots of brown sugar

Lots of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Add yeast to cup of lukewarm water and sprinkle in a little sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes.

2. Add coconut oil, sugar, & salt to hot water and allow to cool to lukewarm- making sure all the coconut oil has melted. Stir in 1 cup of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast & mix again until smooth. Add in beaten egg.

3. Stir in remainder of flour, a little at a time until no more can be mixed in. Knead by hand, adding flour until the dough does not stick to the bowl. Remove from bowl and knead until the dough feels satiny and looks smooth.

4. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise about 30 minutes. (No less than 30, No more than 1 hr.) Lightly knead and roll out into a rectangular shape. Melt the butter slightly (about 15-20 seconds in the microwave!) and evenly spread the entire stick over the dough. Sprinkle with A LOT of brown sugar. And A LOT of cinnamon. I never measure mine, but I use a lot. Here's a picture to kinda see how much I use... Be very generous!

5. Roll into one long roll. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut each cinnamon roll. I usually make approx. 8 rolls from this. You can cut them smaller if you want more!

6. Place on a baking sheet and let rise. I've let mine rise as short as 30 minutes, and as long as 90 minutes. This often depends on when I want them done cooking, so adjust according to your time frame. I wouldn't go longer than 90 minutes if you don't want GINORMOUS rolls, however. ;) (PS this is the BEST backing pan ever! It might look a little gnarly- trust me its clean. Its the Pampered Chef stone baking pan- my baked goods have never turned out so wonderful!)

7. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and back for an additional 8 minutes to brown the tops.

8. Eat. Enjoy. And Eat Some More.

December 2013 ReCap

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 20:38:00 +0000

December. Of course December was filled with lots of Christmas CHEER! But that was a whole other post. So check that out for our Christmas happenings. Besides the fun Christmas-y things we did in December, there were plenty of other events too. I co-hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend...

....was a bridesmaid for my dear sweet friend, Alli,

aaaand to complete my running events for 2013 that consisted of two 1/2 marathons in May and September, I ran a full marathon. I think it was my first and last full marathon. Man, that was a long (4hrs 22 min to be exact) 26.2 miles. ;)

We also had more "Nana time" between all these events while staying with my parents, got to see a dear friend from years past, went to the Butterfly Wonderland...

...and celebrated our puppy, Zoe's 4th birthday.

Every year on her birthday, Zoe gets to sit at the table and eat her special dog-friendly cupcakes. Every year we have the most hilarious pictures of the kid's reaction to the dog at the table. This series of pictures cracks me up! Pay extra attention to Addilyn's faces... as it goes from confusion, to laughter, to Zoe about to eat her cupcake...

We got some more snow back home and go to go sledding a few times and even made a snowman!

Lukas got to take a special Christmas trip to Build-A-Bear with Nana and Grandpa. I've done this once before with my sister when she was little, and it is such a neat experience! They make it so special for the kids! Lukas got to pick a sound to put in his puppy (he picked the Star Wars theme song), a scent, a beating heart that he personally warmed and kissed before placing in the puppy, and got to push the pedal that filled his puppy with stuffing. Once he was stuffed, Lukas gave him a bath, picked out some undies for him, made a birth certificate, and picked out the coolest Yoda costume and named him "Yoda."

And to top off the month of December, we took a trip to Bearizona on New Years Eve and went to a fun New Years Eve Party at a friend's house. WooWee. It was a busy month. I'm actually glad January is looking rather boring. Sometimes I guess boring is good. ;)

WHAT?!?! Where is my signature that is always at the end of my posts?!!? It's always here just waiting for me to finish. Geez. That's my favorite part and its... GONE. Great. Well, I'll just make my own... With love & grace, Aleecia (defintely not as cool. look for my cool signature next time...)

September-October-November 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 22:54:00 +0000

Hey, what do you know, I'm posting another blog and it hasn't been 4 months! Maybe 2014 will be the year I keep up with blogging. But don't get too excited now. Since my blogging in 2013 took an abrupt end in August, lets re-cap the last 4 months. They were very exciting months, hence the time I never had to sit down and tell my blog about it. :)

September. September fun included a trip to the fair, a ride on the sky-ride, a 1/2 marathon, a trip to Phoenix to watch my sister play a few volleyball games, a cute pig cake and lots of time outside...

October. October was filled with more fun that included: a field trip to the fire station with some friends, a getaway trip for Jeff and I to Zion, Utah, our first snow of the season, indoor activities, another trip to Phoenix to see my sister's last volleyball games, fall weather and changing leaves, a trip to the pumpkin patch with more friends, a 1st birthday party for a sweet little girl, and of course a Spider-man and his side-kick Spider-girl on Halloween.

November. We have a lot of fun, can you tell? Because November was filled with more FUN! that included: A bridal shower for a wonderful friend, more indoor fun at home, another birthday party for a sweet 1 year old, some more snow, Thanksgiving with family, Black Friday shopping with my sister, Lighting of the Lights at Little America, and picking out our Christmas tree and decorating it.

So I had every intention of making this post cover December events as well... BUT Blogger is being difficult and maybe I met my picture max for this post? Could be. That was a lot of pictures. Looks like December gets its own.... So until next time, Friends...

So This is Christmas...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 21:03:00 +0000

Oh Snap. My last blog post was 4 months ago. Sorry ~~everyone~~ mom. Well since life seems to be slowing down recently I've found myself pinterest-ing again and then I thought to myself, hey I think I'll try this blogging thing again. Why not, let's do this. I'll re-cap the last 4 months in my next post (maybe it won't be in 4 months... but if it is, I'll then re-cap the last 8 months.. hmm.. that sounds daunting.) Anywho- lets focus this post.... on the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! CHRISTMAS! HOORAY! So really, I love Christmas. Anyone who even kinda sorta knows me, knows this well. After-all, whats there not to like? The week leading up to Christmas is always such a fun time of anticipation and excitement. Since having kids, we have started a few traditions that I adore and hope to carry on thru the years. And it makes my heart smile thinking that someday my children might do these same traditions with their children.*happy tear* We did lots of crafts. Like my kids did so many Christmas crafts they still probably have red and green glitter permanently stuck to them. But they loved it. Really. Here are a few of my favorites!

A tradition that I did as a kid and still carry on with these guys is gingerbread-house making. Our gingerbread houses have turned more into ummm... trees and ginger-dudes, but the kids and Jeff and I always have fun creating them. Addilyn defintely ate more sprinkles than I knew possible, but hey her "house" turned out perfect.

And our second-annual tradition of watching the Grinch and having some Grinch drinks. This is always one of my favorites!

(Grinch drinks: Green Sherbert + Sprite + Green Sprinkle-lined cups)

A few of our other traditions that weren't documented by my handy-dandy camera were: Elf & Hot Chocolate Night, Charlie Brown Christmas & decorate sugar cookies night, and a night where we read all our Christmas books! We were quite ready for Christmas to begin, can you tell?!
We celebrated Christmas with Jeff's side of the family actually on New Years Day, but to make it fit more in the spirit of this blog, lets pretend like it happened about now... Yep. That works perfectly for my blog. Ok, cool. ;) Jeff's mom prepared a delicious meal and we had so much fun just being with family and celebrating in their new house!

These cute cousins got matching pjs for Christmas and had so much fun hanging out with each other all evening!

Christmas Eve morning I made the kids a "Snowman Breakfast." I saw this idea on Pinterest and was so excited to carry out it's cuteness! I excitedly placed their plates on the table and called the kids over.. They both looked at their plates for a few seconds with jolly grins. Addilyn began devouring it and Lukas loudly exclaimed "I'm not eating Frosty the Snowman. Can I have cereal?" Oh yeah. I forgot Lukas doesn't eat "cute things." (This includes teddy grahams, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, or anything else shaped remotely cute). Needless to say Lukas' frosty survived breakfast, except for the few parts that "frosty didn't need" ( i.e.: his scarf, hat and the marshmallow snow balls). Oh well. Addilyn had no holding back when it came to eating Frosty and finished every last bite. YUM. Next year, I'll work on something less cute for Lukas. ;)

As part of tradition, we went to our Christmas Eve candle light service at church. Here are the kids all dressed up in Christmas-cuteness.

When we got home, the kids were super-hyper and excitedly put on their Christmas jammies. Daddy read the story of Jesus' birth from Lukas' Bible and then we read one of Lukas' books called "Santa are you for Real." I love this book. I love how it ties together the idea of Santa & Jesus and how there really was once a St. Nick who brought gifts to people because he loved Jesus! Yes, we do Santa. Don't judge. It's so fun. And if you ask my kids about him, they'll tell you he brings one special gift to them on Christmas morning to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We put together a plate of cookies and got a cup of milk for Santa and put out an orange for the reindeer. Lukas asked if he could put the plate in his room right next to his bed- so he might be able to see Santa eating them. Jeepers this kid is smart. Why didn't I ever think of that as a kid?

After about 15 minutes, Jeff went outside and loudly knocked on Lukas' window and shouted in his best Santa-voice " HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!" I waited by Lukas door to see what he would do- but heard nothing so I walked and asking if heard something. He replied, "Yes. For some reason Daddy is hammering outside BUT I THINK I HEARD SANTA! He's at the neighbor's house!" Haha, daddy is hammering. He fell asleep quickly and then it was time for mommy and daddy to get to work. Addilyn's "Santa" present this year was a play kitchen that took an entire 5 hours to put together. Cheers to Jeff for his hard work on putting this little gem together!

And eventually the job of the parents on Christmas Eve was complete. I must say, I love this night! There is just something so fun and exciting about staying up late (which is really anytime past 9:30, we must be getting old), putting out the Christmas presents while the kids are sleeping... and imagining their faces when they wake up in the morning. I remember the excitement as a kid, when my parents would tuck me in on Christmas Eve and we would all pretend like Santa was coming (yep, we talked about Santa coming and my dad left notes from Santa in the morning all the way until I got married. There was just something so fun and magical about it even tho we knew it was just pretend!!) and the joy was just so wonderful. Well that joy is totally matched, if not even better when you get to be on the giving side and see the joy of Christmas in your children. It's Awesome. Here is a small glimpse into our Christmas morning:

After we finished opening the gifts we had breakfast and mommy and daddy started packing up for our trip to my parents house. The kids were plenty occupied for the next several hours as we packed everything up, and headed down to Phoenix for a few days with my family. When we got there, my parents had all the presents out for our family and once again we got to celebrate Jesus' birthday by opening gifts! Addilyn loved her new broom set.. and that's my beautiful sister! :)

After we opened the presents, my mom and dad had a delicious meal prepared. As crazy as it was taking the 3 hour drive to their house on Christmas day, there's really no other place I would have wanted to spend Christmas dinner. My mom always made Christmas so special for us as kids, it just wouldn't seem right not to see them and celebrate with them on this special day. :) After dinner we of course had a birthday cake for Jesus and ate a ton of Christmas cookies.

And to end the most perfect Christmas day, the kids danced around in joy. And they kissed. Things like this only happen on Christmas day...

Phoenix Children's Museum and Great-Grandpa

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 22:12:00 +0000

We decided to take a last minute trip down to Phoenix because my Grandpa was preaching at his church. He has preached several times before but it never worked out to hear him. This time we decided to make it happen and down the hill we went! Of course we couldn't just go for the day, so we spent a few days with my family first.

Lukas sure loves his Auntie! And poor Auntie, sometimes she has to put up with a lot from him. Hehe. I love this picture- kinda sums up their relationship. ;)

We spent Saturday at the Phoenix Children's Museum with my mom and dad. Wow, what a place to have some fun! Check out all this awesome-ness!

Right? We had such a blast! If you haven't been and live relatively close, GO!

And then the main event, my grandpa's sermon! He spoke on the topic of Heaven. (I'll to link the sermon here this evening so you can listen if you would like!). My grandpa is 84 years old and just an inspiration to me and so many people. He's a true man of God and has created an amazing legacy in his family. Love him.

This trip was shorter than our usually trips to Phoenix, but Addilyn was happy to be home again with her sweet puppy friend Zoe girl.

Sun Flowers in August

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:53:00 +0000

We live in a mountain town which means right about this time of year the wildflowers are in full bloom and it is just stunning! Of course we had to take the kids out in them to capture the beauty. Here are some pics of our sunflower photo shoot. Enjoy! Side Note: brace yourself for some serious cuteness...

August - Other Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:43:00 +0000

Everyday life is pretty exciting around our home. I mean with kids this cute and fun, how can any day be boring? In a nutshell (and some pictures..) here's the rest of the fun we had in August...

This girl. 15 months old Love her!

We are still enjoying our lovely little backyard and the beautiful weather! Sometimes we even make our own adventure course. ;)

Lukas got to be my date to a beautiful wedding of some dear friends. Afterwards we got to take the boys of our friends who got married home for a sleepover and fun. It was a blast; and Jeff and I decided we can definitely do this 4 kid- thing someday... ;)

I think I've told you before that I always have my camera ready and I take a ton of pictures. And that's how you capture sweet little moments like these...

After afternoon nap-time we almost always have a little craft time. Sometimes we paint, do playdoh, or random pinterest crafts I find to try out like sidewalk chalk squirt paint...

It was a big hit! Only wish I made a bunch more!

Movie Date with my favorite little guy.

One night Lukas decided he wanted to go camping. Of course camping for reals is quite the adventure so we just decided to do some back-yard camping. Yep, we really slept out here too!

Our little town always has the best kids events. One such event is the annual Kids Art Festival. Here are the kids just having a ball. Bounce house, face paint (yep that's the Hulk you see), mini-train, musical instruments, bubbles, ice cream, clay, and well yeah, you get the point that it was AWESOME!

Coffee date...

My great friend, Alli, and her fiance came up to visit us for a few days. Sadly this picture is blurry and its the only one I got... :( But she is amazing and I am so thankful for her constant and awesome friendship.

We have made great friends with our local duck friends. We usually visit them on a weekly basis with lots of extra bread! Even Spider-man joined us for this particular duck-feeding.. ;)

Lukas and I have started our first official preschool curriculum and we are both loving it. The main focus in on Jesus and learning Bible stories along with basic preschool skills. Here he is making Noah's ark for a snack. Yum!

And there ya go! August in a nutshell. Hope you have a lovely day my friends!

Oh Phoenix, Here We Are Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Nothing like a last minute trip to see family, right? Oh the joys of being a stay-at-home mommy with no kids in school yet... You can take last minute trips to see family for a week. My brother and his wife are heading to Costa Rica to finish up some of his doctorate work until next summer so we decided to head down and spend some time with them before they left. The fun part? They moved in with my parents for the last week before they left and that's where we stayed too! Talk about a party from sun up to sun down! ;)
Besides hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law, my mom kept me and the kids very entertained. From a shopping trip to Ikea (a definite MUST), a splash pad, mall shopping, lunches out and much more.

Oh, and they have a pool. For Lukas, that's all he needed to do for 6 days straight.

Daddy got to join the fun over the weekend and enjoy the pool life with Lukas for a few days. I'm totally convinced that I have the bestest and most fun family ever. And since this is my blog, you can't really argue with me.Yep. Maybe we can adopt you every once in a while. ;)

July- Other Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Since I'm new to the blogging world I haven't really decided what to do about these in-between happenings that are just too cute to not document. So how about a month-end round up? Sure. That sounds delightful. You got posts on the bigger happenings in our life during July- here's a post on the little things that happened in July. ENJOY!

Little Miss Addilyn is in the phase of change. Every day she wakes up with a new word, a new skill, and I'm over here like WHHAT and WHHERe is my baby girl!?! Ugh. Is she cute or what?! ;)

She likes to try to use her "poon" for about 2 seconds until she realizes food is meant to devoured. Guess we have some basic manners to work on... ;)

This girl is a girlie girl. She loves shoes, hats and all accessories. And dressing up is a definite necessity.

The Princess riding her noble steed... She's thrilled.

The kids are loving the backyard. We spend at least an hour out there every single day and it is amazing! Outside= happiness. True that.

A dear friend of mine and old roomie is about to POP any day with her little bundle of cuteness and I got the privilege to help with her shower. I got to make the favors, which consisted of a cake pop and a hand sanitizer, and read "thank you for popping by and touching Katie's life. Now you can touch her baby too." Ha! Nope, Pinterest. I wish I was that clever.

We also had a great friend and her daughter come up to visit us for a few days! Amber and I have been friends since college and Addilyn and Harper are 2 weeks apart. So fun to see the girls play and have fun with each other!

Amber and I were also roommates in college and our other roomie has a baby about 5 months apart from Addilyn. Look at these cuties... can't wait to watch these forever friends grow up together.

Friends! Don't they make life so grand?

Speaking of friends, Lukas has so many friends, which makes life fun.We spend most days during the week on play-dates with different friends. Sure makes life wonderful when you surround yourself with such sweet people.

The kids and I get to go on lots of lunch dates which I adore. Chick-fil-A, Sams Club and the Mall seem to be our favs. And Lukas is working on the art of eating pizza with Chopsticks. Integrating cultures, I like it!

My little biking buddies! Love mornings trucking these two around town.

My dad has been blessed with an amazing job that takes him to our town every so often which means we get to see him all the more! We love our dinners out with Grandpa!

We live in a mountain town which of course means it could drastically change temperature at any given moment. We had an ice storm roll through a few weeks back and the kids were a little concerned with ice in huge amounts in the backyard. Say what?!

And that's a small-ish glimpse into our everyday lives. I love this beautiful thing called life. I really don't think I could dream of it being any better. Oh, and in case you thought she only dressed in princess costumes, Addilyn has also been seen being Hulk-Iron baby from time to time...

Swim Lessons & Sports Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:00:00 +0000

There's just something so exciting to me about swim lessons. I think it might be that it brings back so many fun childhood memories of my swim lessons and how much I loved it! Every summer since Lukas was born we have done at least one session of swim lessons. I truly think it has paid off for Lukas; he is an incredible swimmer for just being 3! And I'm a huge fan or learning to swim at a very young age. Addilyn started our summer off with swim lessons and just loved it! We got to do our lessons with some good friends which made it even more fun.

Addilyn learned to jump in, blow bubbles, kick her feet and of course a bunch of fun and adorable water songs.

Daddy came to swim with Addilyn several times too! Fun!

And of course, the girls graduated (with bubble-blowing honors) and got to celebrate with their Daddys and a fun day in the kids pool. Hooray!

Lukas was next up for swim lessons and this was his first time doing "big-kid" lessons. Which means mommy watches from the side-lines instead of being in the water with him. Sigh. I'll be honest I was a little like "say what?! 4 kids and a teacher?!" But they said he was ready and after lots of prayers and telling myself he would be fine, I let him go to the first day of class and he just loved it. He listened well to his teacher and never even fell off the step despite being his crazy little self in the pool. If you know him, you know what I mean, and he survived. ;)

Lukas learned to swim on his back, hold his breath for long enough that mommy would get really nervous watching, and he even learned how to jump in from the side with a life jacket on and bobbing back up to the top! Pretty amazing for a 3-year old!

Just like his baby sis, he also graduated and he gets to move up to the next class when we decide to do lessons again. One of the benefits of living in a mountain town is that despite getting snow 6 months out of the year, our pool does year round swim lessons! Nothing like coming to swim when its 15 degrees out and there's several feet of snow on the ground! Sweet. Anyways, check out this cute swimmer!

Lukas also got to do a Sports Camp which was so much fun! We got to see Lukas' competitive side and he got to make some new friends, burn off some extra energy running around and even learned to rock climb! He was surprisingly good at rock climbing and had no fear about falling off the wall or getting too high. Doesn't get that from me! My few rock climbing experiences were nothing I would want to repeat. If you've heard the stories, then you know just what I'm talking about. Oops. Glad my brother is still alive. hehe.

Its is such a blessing to watch these little people that God gave me grow up and do these "big-kid" things. It's actually very bitter-sweet... watching them grow up and do new things is so exciting and fun, yet then I realize all too soon I will be sending them off to kindergarten... and beyond. Sigh. Smile. Now I'm going to go find those sweet faces and kiss them 100 times and play with them till I tuck them in tonight and kiss their little noses good-night. Ah, if you have them gracing your lives too, then make sure you give them an extra kiss today and make sure they know that they are loved and appreciated and so incredibly special.

July 4th & a Camping Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 19:50:00 +0000

July Fourth. I love this holiday! There's just something about American Flags flying in the neighbors yard, being outside with family, parades, BBQs, watermelon, adorable red white and blue clothes, and fireworks that I have always adored. We had my mom, dad and sister still in town from Lukas' birthday to celebrate the 4th with. Our cute little town has concerts in the park, here we are enjoying the music the evening before the Fourth.

So our town has a 4th of July parade that runs downtown that is just awesome. Only issue is that the entire town (like literally and then some) comes out and it is just insane! Luckily, my awesome dad decided to head down around 6am and saved us some amazing front row seats in the shade. Yep, even in the shade. I told you he is just awesome. Look how cute my kids were in their red, white and blue! Eeeek, aren't Addilyn's piggies just adorable?! And her bow. Ugh. Love.

Along with my family, we met some friends in our sweet parade watching spot for some fourth of July fun. I had high hopes of an adorable little picture of these friends that they would have for years to come but this is the best we got. Lukas: "Seriously, mom? Where's my Thor hammer? I need to go fight something." Ember: "Ummm, I have a booty in my face."Addilyn: "Done. Just done." Yeah. Look for a better picture next year, k? Cool.

Told you Lukas was looking for his Thor hammer. Pictures typically turn out much better when he has a super-hero accessory.

Maybe we will enter him in the parade next year. I mean, he keeps us pretty entertained, might as well share this personality with the town, huh? Haha. Love him

Best part of the parade was seeing Jeff's dad (aka Loompa) playing his tuba with his band. Lukas was thrilled and beyond excited when Loompa even waved at him! WOW!

The kids did so great for all 140 + floats. Addilyn loved waving at the people, dogs and kids and watching all the entertaining things going by. Oh, and the candy. Of course she loved the candy being handed right to her. We came home with a rather sticky little munchkin.

My sister, mom and I came home from the parade and started prepping for our fourth of July party! Yum. We obviously had fun. Thanks, Pinterest, for the fun ideas.

That evening we heading out to see the local fireworks. Much to our dismay, they started 30 minutes earlier than we thought so we ended up watching from the side of the road. Good thing the kids didn't care and were super thrilled seeing the "big lights" in the sky!

My family headed home, and Jeff had the rest of the weekend off of work so we decided to take advantage of the time and headed out to the yurts for a little family camping trip. We've always loved camping, but adding kids to the fun is always a bit more of an adventure. (Side note: Definition of Adventure: A super exciting trip that at least once during it, you think "I wish we didn't do this"). My kids adore the outdoors so we spent the majority of the time before it got dark wandering the woods, finding giant sticks and admiring the bugs.

Love this adorable little family of mine...

Lukas loved showing Addilyn things about the outdoors. And she loves holding his hand. So they made a pretty cute pair.

Addilyn was quite thrilled to just sit and play in the dirt. And Zoe's water. And the combination was really exciting. Oh, and then feeding Zoe dirt. Nice.

Lukas helping Daddy with dinner on the BBQ.

Once it started getting dark and colder, Lukas couldn't wait to actually sleep in the yurt! Also, he got to sleep right next to Mommy and Daddy so this was super exciting for him. And then comes the part of the adventure where you say to yourself "Umm, maybe we shouldn't have done this." Addilyn usually sleeps really well but decided around 1 am that is was party time. We had yurt-neighbors that were literally like 10 feet away and I'm sure could here every little noise she was making, which of course was getting louder and louder as time went on. Needless to say, Jeff decided to go drive her around to see if she would fall asleep; she didn't so he headed home to put her in her bed. Our house is only about 20 minutes away, so it wasn't a huge deal. Overall, it was a great family camping trip and at least 1 out of 2 kids loved every second of it. For that, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Hope you enjoyed our little adventure! Now go get outside on this gorgeous summer day! Smell the summer air and take the time to see the sun shining thru the trees. Our God is truly amazing, isn't He?

Lukas' 3rd BirthDAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:40:00 +0000

So here we are again finishing up posts that happened weeks ago. Guess that will be the story of my life until, you know, forever. ;) Anyways, let me re-cap the week after Lukas' birthday party when we had family up to visit and the actual day of this little dude's birthday. My dad, mom, sister, brother and sister-in-law all stayed for the majority of the week after Lukas' party. Besides my sister, they all stayed in yurts (I know, you're like, a what?!?) and came to our house during the day. I always love having family around! Maybe its because they lived across the country for most of the past 10 years or maybe its just because my family is just plain awesome. We spent Lukas' birthday-eve in the great outdoors at the yurts. We had burgers for dinner and Lukas even got to open one present from Mommy & Daddy...

A Stomp Rocket! Rated best toy for a 3-year old boy. Yep, it was just as awesome as they say.

Addilyn hanging out with Nana and Grandpa.

Lukas was pretty concerned about Uncle Dude's new wardrope. He tried to keep reminding him that this was a girl shirt...

...Poor Dude.

Of course we had to celebrate with birthday-eve cupcakes too.

Monday, July 1st was the big day my sweet Lukas turned 3! We spent the day just celebrating this little guy and making sure he knew how much he was loved. We started off with some confetti pancakes for breakfast...

...and then headed to Sedona for the morning. We took Lukas fishing at the trout farm, which was just awesome! Jeff has taken Lukas fishing once before at a lake around our house and after about 30 minutes Lukas got very discouraged and upset that he hadn't caught a fish. Oh yeah, I guess we should have prepped him about fishing and patience... Oops. Needless to say, the Trout Farm was right up his alley.Grandpa and Uncle Dude showed him the ropes of catching a fish and within 30 minutes he had caught 4! I mean literally, it took him 15 seconds to catch the first fish. Perfect amount of time for the attention span of this 3 year old!

The look on his face as he pulled in that first fish was just priceless. And then he just stared at it for a good while like he couldn't believe it was real!

So HAPPY! So PROUD! Ah, they're a cute pair.

Hmm, must have missed Auntie Jo, but here's the rest of the crew on the b-day fishing adventure.

Me and my birthday boy. Love him.

After he caught 4 giant trout, Lukas watched the guy at the farm get them ready for us to take home and eat. Yum!

On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for some birthday ice cream and lunch and then home for his birthday nap. Yes, everything on your birthday has to have birthday before it; it just sounds that much more spectacular. Stop it. It's true.

Once the birthday boy woke up from his birthday nap, we played outside and Lukas had fun playing in his new sand/water table. The best part was obviously scuba diving...

And then it was time to prepare our freshly caught trout dinner. How cool, the birthday kid caught us his birthday dinner! Of course 4 fish couldn't feed our multitude so hamburgers were also prepared. Lukas ate an entire trout by himself and LOVED it! What?! I know.

After dinner Lukas opened some more presents from Mommy, Daddy and Addilyn, we had cake and just loved on and celebrated Lukas.

Lukas was thrilled to whip out his Thor skills on Uncle Dude with his new hammer and Thor helmet.

For the next several days he kept saying "it's still my birthday, you know" and I couldn't break his heart so we just kept the decorations up and ate cake and sang to him for the next several days. When you're 3 and love birthdays as much as your mom, its totally ok to celebrate for weeks... I mean days.

Thanks for stopping by, hoped you enjoyed seeing the fun that this birthday kid had. Ok, can I admit that I'm a little sad my kids birthdays are over for the year? Don't judge but I've already started Christmas shopping for that very reason. Yep, I'm for real. Haters gonna hate. Yay for birthdays and celebrating the gifts God has given us in our children. Have a beautiful day, my friends! If you're feeling it, maybe you can go rollerskate around the living room in your undies. Just make sure you close the windows first...

Calling all Superheroes! Let's PARTY!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 22:34:00 +0000

Lukas lives and breathes super-heroes. Like literally. He sometimes goes to sleep wearing a mask, wakes up and puts his cape on, can quote the entire last 10 minutes of the Avengers (the only part he's allowed to watch) and for those that know him well, you know it's not uncommon to see him in his super-hero garb around town. In fact I forget he's in costume and often wonder why so many people smile when we walk by and have even looked over my shoulder when I've heard someone say "look its Captain America!" Really!? Where!? Oh wait, that's my son! Why yes he is, and the cutest one around at that.



Anywho, as Lukas' 3rd birthday rolled around there was no doubt what kind of party this would be. I was thrilled and even more thrilled when I started searching Pinterest and there's, ummm like 5 million, other moms with super fun ideas throwing superhero parties around the world! Sweet! After much Pinterest-ing, and crafting and what-not, lets let the Super- Hero party unfold!

First off, the decorations. This was fun. Check out the city scape! Cool, huh?

These super fun and cute (who knew superheroes could be so cute!?) printables were my favorite. And they are personalized! Cool. Beans. I love matching- color coded personalized parties. In fact color coded anything is awesome. Yes. I loved the decorations for this party. But lets move on to the real fun.

As the super-hero friends arrived they picked a mask and cape and decorated them with little felt star stickers. Then, out to the training course they went. Dun dun dun.

After I prepped them that they were indeed real superheroes with their masks and capes, we walked to the beginning of the training course. Jeff did a very enthusiastic demonstration of the course...

                                                             ...and off the superheroes went.

First: The Slide of Terror.

Second: The Hoop of ummm... Just The Hoop.

 Third: Scale the buildings in one leap!

 Fourth: Walk the Plank! (Don't fall in the hot lava OR it will get yooooooou!!!)

Fifth: Shimmy thru the Dark Tunnel

Six: The Coaster (this was by far the best obstacle. Ever. Each kid could have done this one like 50 times.)

   And then to finish, to the bounce house to gather all the Heroes.

Once everyone reached the bounce house I told them how they all WON and are now real superheroes. Which means, if anything were to happen at the party we would need them to SAVE THE DAY! They all politely agreed and eyed the course again hoping for another go around. But much to their wandering eyes did appear, but a bad guy who tossed bombs (crumpled foil) all over!! No! Quickly, I told the Heroes we needed their help and only they could pick up the bombs and get the bad guy! Quickly they picked up the bombs and out came the water balloons for the attack. Yep. They did good. Uncle Dude was a good sport and didn't even seem to mind getting water balloons repeatedly thrown at his face. And Lukas thought he was the coolest Dude. Ever.

Next up, food. My dad smoked (for 17 hours mind you) some amazing pulled pork for sandwiches, and we had veggies, crackers and dip, Mac 'n Cheese (have you tried the crock pot version? To die for. Seriously. Google it, and make it.), watermelon, grapes, chips and 3-layered jello cups. Yum!

Oh look, another decoration picture! Haha. Ok I just loved the decorations for this party.

Once the kids finished eating we got out the Batman piñata. Na Na Na Na... BATMAN!

Someone got smart and finally made a "pull-string"piñata which is what we invested in. Coming off the piñata you have about 20 strings, and one opens the trap door to open the candy! I've never been a fan of kids whacking to death a regular piñata so lets say this was very exciting. Pulling strings vs Bat-whacking That's a no brainer. Anyways, the tension was high as we got to the last few strings and out came the candy! My favorite part? Lukas got one and was like "yes! I got one! I'm eating it right now!" When you're 3, it's all about the here and now. He wanted 1. 1 to eat right now. Love that kid.

And then we all gathered up and sang the birthday- hero his birthday song! Lukas started the singing but quickly realized everyone was singing TO HIM and just soaked it all in with a proud little grin and blew out the candle right on que. Look at the excitement in this kid! This face right here is what this party was all about. My son feeling like king of the world for the day.


Everyone ate cupcakes and cake pops while Lukas opened his presents. Every single present he opened he squealed and quickly said "can I play with it right now!?!" Every single present was also super-hero themed in some way. His friends and family know him well. 












We are so thankful to everyone who joined the fun and made Lukas' 3rd bday party a BLAST! You know who you are, and we appreciate you so much. 


















Gosh I just love birthdays! Tomorrow we celebrate Lukas' true 3rd Birth-day. I can't believe my little baby boy is turning 3! Ugh. I'm starting to see time go too fast which means I'm getting old. Double Ugh. 

Anyways, more to come on the birthday celebrations we will have tomorrow with my favorite little superhero! Hope your day has been SUPER. ( ha. Couldn't help it... Super.) Go enjoy this beautiful summer day and go run thru some grass or jump over... something! Maybe you'll find your inner superhero. hehe.

San Diego Family Vacaaay!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:16:00 +0000

Oh summer, how I adore you. Sunshine, sand, suntans, memories and the ocean. I'm still smiling and thanking Jesus for blessing our family with the opportunity to take this trip; and of course for the fun memories we made as a little family of 4. Lets just say it was an a.w.e.s.o.m.e. week! I took seriously over 700 pictures on the trip, so here's a small glimpse into our week. Yep I'm totally one of those moms that's like "pppppicture!!!" My kids will appreciate it someday, I know it.


We headed down to Phoenix on Fathers day to celebrate with my dad and to cut some time off our travels to Cali. We left bright and early around 4 am for San Diego. We figured we would drive as much as possible while the kids slept. Worked like a charm. We arrived at our first stop, Balboa Park, right around 10am. We rode the trolley around the park (Lukas thought this was amazing!), did some walking around the rose gardens, and rode the kids train and the carousel.

A

Addilyn was a bit unsure of the carousel ride, but loved the Rose Gardens!

Next stop, Mission Beach. I love the beach, I could have spent all week sitting on a towel, sinking my toes in the sand, soaking up the sunshine and watching the waves. But life with 2 little ones, ages 1 and 2, is not that peaceful. I'll save my beach bumming days for another time in life, huh? Anyways, watching my kids just light up at the sight of the ocean and discovering the wonders of the waves and playing in the sand was just awesome.

Lukas was ready right away to jump right in the waves. No holding back for that kid! Addilyn, however, took her time getting used to the water and watching Daddy and Lukas in the waves. In the end, the playing in the sand won over the water. ;)

 After some playing in the sand and waves, and swimming we walked around the boardwalk at Mission Beach, watched the roller coaster, Lukas kept reminding us that one day he will be bigger and can ride that thing, had dinner and headed to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Next day, Sea World!! We had been talking to Lukas about "seeing the whales" for like, ever, so you could say he was beyond excited to be at Sea World! The kid never stopped smiling for 8 hours straight!

We started the day at Sesame Bay where they have fun rides for the kids, a splash zone, a bouncing thing, a super awesome adventure course, and a bunch of other kid-friendly activities.

Lukas was set on seeing the whales ASAP but since we had a few hours before the first show, this was a good way to keep him occupied. Addilyn loved the rides, and walking around and climbing thru the fun tunnels. Next stop, the manta rays that everyone got to pet and on to Shamu stadium to wait for the Shamu show.

Lukas' face was so priceless when Shamu came jumping out of the water for the first time! It was like all he ever dreamed of Sea World being like, came true in that moment. There sure is something amazing about getting to watch your kids experience such things for the first time. Look at that smile!!

Addilyn liked it too, but you know, she's 1, and also loved to watch the birds flying overhead and loved pointing out all the "teeeees" (trees).

The shows were just amazing and so entertaining! We saw a dolphin show, a sea lion show, a pet show, Elmo and friends, and of course the Madagascar Live show! I must say Jeff and I were just as impressed with the shows as Lukas (and Addilyn was with the birds).

We also saw all the sea creature exhibits and rode the sky tower.

Somehow our kids made it 8 hours with no meltdowns. I'm still amazed.
Addilyn of course took several power naps but did SO great overall! She of course had to be sleeping during our family picture, haha, Oh well.

The kids each got a stuffed Shamu, and back to the hotel we went for showers and baths and the kids were sleeping by 7.

I think one day I will make an album of just the weird pictures of Lukas making faces and it will be awesome.

Despite the kids sleeping, Jeff and I weren't done at Sea World yet. You see Shamu does a "Rock Show" at 9:30 and, well, you can't miss a whale rocking out, right? So much to our kids dismay, we woke them up and back to Sea World we went. Good thing the hotel was only a few minutes away and good thing they both had smiles when they realized where we were going. Shamu did his rocking thing (and it totally rocked!), Lukas and I got on the mega TV for our sweet dance moves, and we got to watch the nightly fireworks before heading back to the hotel and to bed.

After sleeping in, we headed off to one of our favorite beaches, Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I love this beach. Mostly because it's not very busy, it's clean and has a super fun park for the kids to play at. We had a picnic lunch on the beach, buried Lukas and Daddy, made sand castles, played in the waves and played at the park pretty much the whole morning/ early afternoon. (My spacing is about to get really funky- not really sure what happened here, ugh blogger, sometimes you drive me crrraaaaazy!)

We headed home to freshen up, had some dinner and then to La Jolla to see the seals. I've been to La Jolla several times and it still amazes me. It is so beautiful. Check out the view!

We saw the seals in the cove and the kids chased some seagulls and squirrels around in the grass.

And back to our little haven we went. The boys went swimming, and the girls hung out in the room and snacked and read books.

We were planning on heading to Inflatable World in the morning, but that got delayed a bit when Lukas started feeling sick. Poor thing, he was trying so hard to pretend like he wasn't sick, but when you're 2 you're not very good at pretending such things. We let him rest all morning and then he seemed better so we headed to Inflatable World. I'm sure it wasn't the best parenting move we've ever made- take a sick kid to a place like this... ha.

Lukas played for about 15 minutes, and was obviously feeling sick again so I got to snuggle him in the shade and observe the fun. On the other hand, Addilyn and Daddy had a ball!! This place was so much fun! They had 20+ giant inflatable slides, obstacle courses, etc to play on and climb in! And the best part, even the adults can play!

We carried Lukas through most of it (I'm sure I got buffer after such a feat) and once Addilyn and Daddy had their fun, we headed off to do some shopping and let Lukas relax in the stroller.

This is Lukas' "ICK. I can't believe they drug me here and I feel like I'm going to puke" look. Aw. I just want to pick him up and snuggle that sweet kid!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel early and sweet sick Lukas was sleeping by 6. It was such a bummer that he got sick, but I must say he is the sweetest little sick boy ever. Ah, love him.

Thankfully Lukas woke up feeling almost all the way better and we headed off to my all time favorite place in Southern Cali, Coronado Island, for the last part of our trip. This little place is like a fairy tale, I just love it! Silverstrand beach is just beautiful and it is the perfect place to find the best shells and even sand dollars if you're lucky (we only found broken ones. Poo.).

Lukas still wasn't quite himself and took a nap on the beach, something he would never had imagined doing had he been back in full swing! Ha. While in Coronado Island we relaxed on the beautiful glittery beaches, played in the sand, chased some seagulls, had some yummy food and

walked the adorable streets.

Jeff and I officially decided that one day we want to move to Coronado Island. Someday. You know when we are old and gray and can sit in our little rocking chairs on the front porch and hold hands. And talk about these wonderful days raising these wonderful kids. This place is like a place out of a movie and I just adore it.

Ah. Again, I am just so thankful for the blessing of being able to take this vacation. It was a blast and we have these memories to hold on to for the rest of our lives! Hope your summer has been bright and beautiful as well, and full of memory-making SMILES!

Tucson!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 04:36:00 +0000

OK, so this post is late. Like way late. In fact I'm really only doing this post because I know I will hate not having the pictures from this event on the blog when I look back on it in 5 years. So maybe I'm starting my blogging life as a very bad blogger. Oh well, life could be worse. And now that I got the disclaimer to this post out of the way, time for the real fun! We headed to Tucson waaaaay back like 4 weeks ago to celebrate Jeff's lovely cousin, Madelyn, getting married to her dashing husband, Ben. It was also what some people call "a crowding of the rats." Which just means a family reunion. A family reunion where you eat a. lot. Like A.LOT. Yeah. So this little post is what I would like to refer to as a picture overload post. These will happen from time to time when I really just want the pictures from something up on the blog. Little words from me, lots of pictures to tell the story of our trip. Enjoy! On the road again..

Caught them in the act. Shame. On. Them. ;)

Brothers and their baby girls! Adorable.

Bubble fun with cousin Jason!

This wedding was FANCY! Check out the dessert table, my favorite part.

The beautiful bride! Isn't she just stunning? Lukas was completely and totally convinced Madelyn was a Disney princess and was totally shell-shocked when she came over to say hi to us. Who needs Disneyland when you go to weddings like this?! :)

Wedding: done. Next up: P.A.R.T.Y. BUUUSS!!!

(notice Lukas' death grip on his Coke. Ha. You gotta savor these things when you only get them like twice in your life. ;)

PARTAAAYYY bus took us all to the Gaslight Theatre to watch a play and have some yummy treats. Lukas just loved it! Especially because Miss Addilyn stayed home with a babysitter and he got one-on-one time with Mommy and Daddy.

We stopped in Phoenix to visit my parents and sister on the way home. Afterall, it was Memorial Day, and my dad is an amazing cook. ;)

And there you go. Our trip in a super simple little post that I am now totally satisfied about. Whew. Time for bed. Sweet dreams! And enjoy this totally random picture from our trip.

A Birthday Party Fit for a Princess

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:37:00 +0000

Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a little girl who dreamed of throwing super fun birthday parties for her future kids. Hello, that would be me for, ah, pretty much my whole life. I don't know what it is, but I have always ADORED birthdays (and pretty much every holiday for that matter. If you know me well you know this to be very true). I think I can thank my mom for instilling this deep love for celebrations in my life. She always made our birthdays very special growing up, and still to this day (even if she doesn't see us!) makes sure my siblings and I feel extra special on "our day." As far as the other holidays go, she decorates and celebrates them, but I might have taken that to a new level. What do you mean nobody else decorates for Christmas in October? And yes, actually, we do watch "Elf" all year long.

With that said, in my mind, a first birthday is almost as fun as Christmas. Hence, the fun I had preparing and putting togther this Princess party for our sweet Addilyn's first birthday. I mean, not only was it a first birthday, but I got to buy pink everything... sparkles, tutus and... oh my, it was fun. Here is our little princess on the day she was born, and then exactly a year later.

Ok, now for the party. I decided to go all out and make all the food from scratch for the Princess Brunch which consisted of: strawberry frosted donuts, baby quiche, deli circles, banana bread, cinnamon roll bites, hashbrown casserole, fruit kabobs and yogurt parfaits. AND my dad made some delicious frappachinos that had the cutest pink paper striped straws that I forgot to document with a picture. Dang it. All food wasn't out yet for this picture, but you get the idea...

Oh, and the cake... Since having kids I've found a new passion for making fancy birthday cakes. They are so fun! I told you I had much too fun preparing for this party!

Addilyn loved all the attention, toddling around in her giant tutu, the hashbrown casserole and homemade donuts, and especially watching her big brother open all her presents. Since the party, Lukas has made the declaration that "even pink princess toys are for boys" and is sure excited about every new toy Addilyn has received.

She really wasn't too impressed with my cake...

I think she tried one bite. Oh well, at least all the other party guests seemed to enjoy it. ;) Thanks to Pinterest, I stayed busy crafting and baking and whatnot for this party. I seriously had so much fun, it was kind of ridiculous. So you must see some of the projects because I spent too mcuh time preparing them. Below is a fun little chalkboard and the favors, which are pixie stick wands. The recipes for the food at the party will soon make their debut in the "recipes" tab of my blog. However I must first figure out how to get them there. Minor dilemma, yes. (Kalie, if you're reading this, another doughnut/coffee date is in order for more blog training...)

We are so thankful for all the friends and family that shared this special day with Addilyn. We loved having everyone over to celebrate with us!! Here are some family members that came to celebrate with us... ok really I just put this picture up because you can tell how overly excited I am. I know, ridiculous.

...SO that's the end of the party post, but I'm going to keep going with Addilyn's actual birthday celebrations in this post too. I'm a little slow when it comes to the blogging world so you'll have to bear with me here. I'm sure you won't mind, these pictures are just as cute.

The birthday girl woke up to some confetti pancakes to start her special day. She was a little concerned about the addition of sprinkles to her favorite breakfast item, but soon discovered they were quite splendid.

We then proceeded to go shopping and then to the park where we met Daddy and Mema and Loompa (Grandma and Grandpa on Jeff's side). We had some cupcakes, played with Addilyn's new princess ball, did lots of swinging, and of course the slides. It was the perfect morning to be outside!

The rest of the day consisted of Addilyn's favorite lunch of: mega noodle soup, strawberries, cheese sticks and chicken nuggets, lots of time playing outside, her favorite dinner: homemade mac n cheese, hamburgers, and peas, and another little celebration with just our family. Of course we had to have more cupcakes for the occasion. And I think after the 5th taste in the last several days, she decided she kind of liked it.

Addilyn opened a few more presents from Mommy and Daddy and Lukas, we had a dance party (which is Addilyn's second favorite thing to do next to playing outside!) and just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the birth-day. I loved that we got to celebrate our birthday girl for almost a whole week! Have I mentioned I just LOVE birthdays?!

Oh yes, remember in my last post I mentioned a surprise the kids came home to from Phoenix? I think I said something along the lines of "look for a post about it in a few days!" Oops. You could say I got a little distrated with some small-ish party preparations. Well, the surprise was... A brand new re-done kid friendly backyard, with some new grass and a sweet new clubhouse! WOOP! The kids were thrilled! My kids absolutely LOVE to be outside. Like they would live out there if they could. Maybe it comes from living in a place that gets snow 6 months out of the year? Yes, yes, probably. So having a place to play outside for hours on end is a big deal for the summer. Oh, and its not in this picture, but Jeff also got me a nice red lounge chair I can sit in to watch the kids play and soak up some sunshine. That man sure knows the way to my heart.

Ah. Life is grand, isn't it? Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a beautiful, sun-shiny kind of day.

Colorful Veggie Casserole

Ingredients

1 Cup chopped green onions

1 Large carrot, shredded

2 Celery Ribs, chopped

1 Small green pepper, chopped

1 Small sweet red pepper, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 T Veggie oil

3 lbs frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed

2 Cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 1/2 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

2 tsp. Dried parsley

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Paprika

In a large skillet, saute onions, carrots, celery, peppers & garlic in oil until crisp-tender. Transfer to a large bowl, add hash browns, soup, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, parsley & salt. Mix well.

Pour into a greased 3-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses and paprika. Bake, uncovered @ 350° 1 hour or until golden brown.

A Week in Phoenix

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:24:00 +0000

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing." That's a quote I read that sits on my parents desktop when I first sat down to start this blog post several days ago in the midst of our Phoenix adventure. Have you ever just taken a moment to sit back and realize all you have to be thankful for? As I sat down, read that quote, and just thought for a moment, I took that moment to realize how blessed I am and came through it with a big smile and a happy heart. I am so blessed, and our recent adventures reminded me of all the joys I have to be thankful for. This is a long one; thought I should warn you now. Feel free to take a cookie or coffee break at any time.

To start things off, my brother (AKA Uncle Dude) married his beautiful bride, Michelle, on May 4th. It was a beautiful wedding with the sweetest vows, the cutest ring bearer, a super fun photo booth and some delicious cupcakes. I might be biased about the ring bearer, since I also think he's the cutest little boy on the face of the planet, but that's for you to decide. The kid strutted his stuff down the aisle, decided to "swim" in the flowers the flower girl tossed, never left the dance floor except to cool off with a Capri Sun, flirted with all the little girls and won the hearts of all in attendance. What can I say, my son is a stud.

My bestest best friend, Stephanie, flew in for the weekend from Texas for the wedding. I think everyone has at least one really good friend that you have known for quite some time, yet sadly don't see very often. So you know what I mean when I say that every time we see each other, we can just pick back up on life as if we saw each other yesterday. Despite only seeing each other every few years, she's still that one friend I look to for advice, prayer and just to tell the most recent funny story. If you don't have a friend like that, well you should.

Anyways, she was accepted by all members of the family (immediate and extended) as "family," however, Lukas refused to say her name the majority of the weekend. He fondly referred to her as "that girl." Don't get me wrong, he loved her, but wasn't a fan of her name apparently. Stephanie's one request upon arrival to Arizona was to go on a hike. We almost blew off the mountain, Lukas found some turquoise and we somehow ended up off trail (I think I'm starting a trend here...) but eventually made it back to the car. Phew.
Lukas was sure to point out every airplane along the hike and was sure to remind us often that we were, indeed, climbing a huge mountain and it was awesome.

Family from across the country also flew in for the wedding. My cousin Melissa has 2 kids, Noah and Macy, who are around the ages of Lukas and Addilyn. They all had a blast together! The boys were constantly playing super-heroes, hide and seek, beat up grandpa ski-man, riding tricycles, playing at the park, flying kites and even hunting for scorpions with their black lights. Thank heavens they didn't find any. I feel like I might not have ever had a decent nights sleep at my parents house had they found some. Again, PHEW.

There was no shortage of super heroes around the house!
And to top things off, we celebrated my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. 60! You see, we don't have this much family together very often, so we had to celebrate all major events in the course of the next year pretty much all one time. And of course it meant another occasion to have more dessert. I'm down with that. My grandparents are a true example of a Godly marriage. I hope and pray that Jeff and I can reach 60+ years, be just as in love as they are and have an amazing legacy like they do to leave behind. My grandpa prays for every single family member every single morning by name, and has been doing so for the last 40 or so years. And my grandpa can still keep everyone laughing with his witty jokes and quite humerus personality. If you have had the pleasure of his company at any point in your life, you know just what I mean. I know, aren't they the cutest?
Other Phoenix-adventures included: swimming, shopping, mani/pedis, amazing pork sandwiches, too many desserts (I'm not complaining), lots of laughs, my sister giving me a side mullet for the wedding (thank goodness we took it out and it looked fine leaving it down right before the wedding), a mini 1st birthday party cake smash with Addilyn and her BFF Harper to celebrate their May birthdays, and a trip to the zoo with a sweet friend and her adorable kids; oh and Lukas and I got to ride a camel. (Check that one off the bucket list!) Once we got home, the kids had a big surprise waiting for them that Daddy worked on while we were gone. But that will be another blog post, so look for it in the next few days! And now that we are home I think we will stay here and relax for at least a week. No matter how much fun a vacation is, it's always good to be home. Anyways, kuddos to you if you made it this far reading! Did you take a cookie or coffee break yet? You totally missed your chance if you didn't.

Who knew an almost one-year old would LOVE the zoo so much! Monkeys are now officially her favorite animal; she could have watched them all day. And here we thought she loved puppies...

My friend Amber, and her daughter Harper. Addilyn and Harper have May birthdays 2 weeks apart. Of course we had to get together to celebrate. And of course they had to have matching outfits. And yes, we've already planned to do this every year until they are at least 18.

See what I mean? SO blessed. Thank you, Jesus, for my family and all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. Ok, now it's your turn. Take a moment and remind yourself how blessed you are, too. And now go and have a beautiful day. OH! And don't forget to enjoy the little moments, like eating bubbles.

Half Marathon and a Train Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:31:00 +0000

"Got my hands up, they're playing my song and now I'm going to be ok. It's a party in the USA!" Yep, that's Miley Cyrus and that's what I finished my half marathon listening to on Saturday. I mean who wouldn't want to jam out to that song? The girl can rock and I was inspired. And I needed some inspiration because I missed a turn during the race and ended up having to run an extra 2 miles. Ooops. I was happily running mile 9 when suddenly I came upon mile marker 13 and heard someone say "the first of the 1/2 marathon runners are coming in" Ah, yeah I don't run to win. I run to finish without stopping and maybe hit a time goal. I mean there's people out there decked out in their top-notch running garb. But me? No. I don't win marathons. So needless to say I was told I missed a turn (and 3 miles of the run) about a mile back. Awesome. Nothing like adding 2 extra miles to a half marathon. But continue I did and finished my half marathon or should I just say 15 miles (grrr) in 2 hrs 7 min 32 sec. The best part was seeing my stud-ly husband and 2 kids a little before the finish line cheering me on!

Lukas even ran the last part with me and got a medal at the end. Which he proudly wore the rest of the day and told as many strangers as possible that "I won the race!"

Since we were down in the lovely Cottonwood area, we planned that Jeff and Lukas would stay after the race and take a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. Being a typical 2 1/2 year old boy, Lukas adores trains. He was in total awe of this train, whom he so fondly named Thomas- you know because he was blue. During the 4 hour trip on the train, the kid made friends with every person on the train, told them all that he won the race and showed them all the coloring books and snacks mommy had packed him for the ride. Good thing he's so cute and good thing the majority of riders were elderly couples who seem to always take a liking to this very outgoing and friendly blonde child of mine. He's already asked when he gets to go again, which means I think he loved it!

There's Thomas in the background! And Lukas handing his ticket to the engineer. How fun!

Love them. And this is a typical picture of Lukas. Boys...

Since Daddy was taking so many pictures of him, Lukas wanted to make sure he got a good one of Daddy too. Thanks, dude.

Well those were the highlights of our weekend. The rest was spent laughing about how I almost won the half marathon, Lukas telling us about the tunnel the train went thru, a baby shower for a dear friend, fellowship at church, and rest. Thank you, Lord, for rest. Hope you all have a blessed week.