Here Comes The Bride

Two weeks ago one of my closest and oldest friends, Alex, became a married lady!! I had the extreme honor of being her Matron of Honor and I am so glad I got to be a part of her special day. Alex chose a gorgeous wedding venue on a vineyard in Temecula called Villa De Amore. The weather was amazing, every detail had Alex's personal touch, and there was so much love!! The wedding colors were teal and red which turned out to be a really striking and beautiful combination. Our dresses were teal and the flowers and our shoes were red. There were red flowers in teal mason jars on the tables and a candy bar with red and teal candies in pretty jars. Some of Alex's other personal touches included signature drinks (Mint to Be Mojitos and Something Blue Margaritas), paper fans for the guests with the wedding program printed on them, handmade lacy cones filled with rose petals on the backs of the chairs to be thrown on the newly married couple, and wedding favors of a teal or red candle and box of matches printed with "A Perfect Match" and their names and wedding date. It was truly one of the most beautiful and fun weddings I've ever been to! I am so happy for the newlyweds and I wish them a lifetime of happiness!!





Here we are doing the Jersey Shore "fist pump". See? Now that's a fun wedding!


And that concludes Day 3 of guerrilla blogging!! Woo hoo! I actually stuck to it and it wasn't too hard! Even though I start back to work on Monday (boooooooooo!), I am hoping to keep up with blogging more frequently. Next post's topic: Hailey turns 2 on Saturday! Will someone please explain to me how THAT happened????

7 Year Itch

Day 2 of guerrilla blogging here we go!!

One of the other momentous things that happened in this whirlwind of a summer was my 7 year wedding anniversary. We pondered how best to celebrate this monumental event and the answer was clear.... VEGAS!! We decided to invite four of our close friends, dropped the munchkin with the in-laws, and off we went. We were supposed to leave on Sunday morning but since we dropped Hailey off on Saturday night, we decided to get a head start and drive to Primm that night. We spent the night at Whiskey Pete's and then were only a 45 minute drive from Vegas in the morning. (note to future self: do not ever stay there again. Is dirty and smells like the bottom of an overflowing ashtray. Spend the extra $10 and stay at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street. You'll thank me later.)

When we arrived at the MGM to check in, they were offering a suite for only a $75 upgrade from the room we originally booked. Since it was our anniversary, after all, we went for it and boy were we glad we did! We ended up with an $800 suite for 140 bucks! It was HUGE with 2 rooms, a great view of the Strip, and had a jacuzzi tub big enough to swim in! Such fun!



We spent the whole 2 days in the the lazy river and had a great time people watching. There's no better people watching in the world than at the pool in Vegas ;)



Since Sunday was our actual anniversary, Bryan and I had a lovely romantic dinner just the two of us at Olives Restaurant at the Bellagio. The food was absolutely delicious (as were the cocktails) but the best part by far was watching the fountains go off every 15 minutes through the giant windows by our table! What a memorable way to celebrate the 7 year mark. After dinner we met back up with our friends and gambled away Hailey's college fund.



The second night we all had dinner together at Wolfgang Puck's Bar and Grill at the MGM. The atmosphere was great (the whole restaurant is open to the casino floor) and the food was really yummy. After dinner, we went with one of the couples, David and Sarah, to see Phantom at the Venetian. Bryan and I had seen Phantom of the Opera many years ago but had the suckiest seats in the theater and missed all the action taking place in the back half and left of the stage. We treated ourselves to seats in the 3rd row center and it was totally worth it! The theater was built for the production and the show has been trimmed to a mere 90 minutes (about as long it takes for Bryan's ADD to kick in.)



After the show we met back up with Ashley and Chris for some more gambling and I actually managed to win some of Hailey's college fund back! We all had a fabulous time and I'm sure it won't be long until we're back.

Like Sand Through The Hourglass

WHERE DID MY SUMMER GO??? At the beginning of every summer I foolishly think I'm going to have 2 months of nothing but sweet, wonderful time on my hands, and then I blink and it's time to go back to work!! And I admit, the lack of blogging this summer is just pitiful. I had such high hopes for myself and yet....
So, in order to give myself a swift kick in the butt and hopefully jump-start some more regular blogging, I'm GUERRILLA BLOGGING! That's right, 3 blogs in 3 days! (Ok, that may not sound that ambitious to some, but since I've only blogged 3 times in the last 3 months, I'm trying to be somewhat realistic.)

To start us off, let's recap this year's annual trip to that magical island across the sea... Catalina!! This year started off with a bang, we packed more into the first 2 days than we usually do in the entire week! The first day, after we arrived, we threw our bags in our rental house, grabbed a quick bite, and then shooed Amy out the door because I had a baby shower to throw! Since we had limited time, I enlisted Alex and several members of Amy's family to pitch in by helping make food for the big event. In 3 hours Alex and I managed to shop, cook, make 3 dozen cupcakes, and decorate for the party. I decided to have everyone who agreed to help make some type of salad and the results were fabulous! We had taco, broccoli, bean, quinoa, fruit, etc. It was delicious and perfect for the hot weather. We played a few games and Amy opened her presents. I was especially excited for her her to open my gift because I crocheted a baby blanket using the colors she has chosen for her nursery. It was a little stressful but turned out to be a wonderful day!



The next day was 4th of July and was again spent cooking and celebrating. Last year I thought the fireworks would scare Hailey, and it was way past her bedtime, so I kept her inside. This year, even though it was still past her bedtime, I decided to see how she would do with the fireworks. We got mixed results, she liked the pretty colors but I had to cover her ears for her the whole time. She looked pretty darn cute in her glow-in-the-dark necklace too!


The rest of the trip was very relaxing and the weather was AMAZING! It was about 80 degrees everyday, which is actually kind of hot for Catalina in early July. We went for walks, ate outside at our favorite restaurants, and maybe, possibly, had a scoop of ice cream or two. I tried taking Hailey to the beach but the minute her feet touched the sand it was "uppy, uppy, uppy!" That girl did not like having even one grain of sand anywhere on her skin. (Unfortunately, she takes after me in that way. As much as I LOVE tropical locales, I don't really like having sand on me either.) It's a good thing she's so stinkin' cute in her pretty pink bathing suit!


The absolute best thing about this year's trip was spending quality time with my best friends before Alex's wedding (more on that to come soon!) and before Amy has her baby. I can't believe that I started going on this trip with Amy and her family 16 years ago and it's amazing to me how it has evolved as we've grown up. Next year Bryan will be coming with me and Amy will have a 1 year old!! I am so glad that this tradition is part of my life and I'm already looking forward to going back!

Alarmed

This is a picture of my newly installed alarm. Unfortunately, it took a violation of our home to initiate this new addition.

On Sunday at around 3:30 in the morning, Cookie started barking her little cockapoo head off. She is not a very bark-y dog but occasionally the random noise or cat in the backyard will get her going. We woke up but she stopped so we went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning and went downstairs, I noticed that the TV cabinet door was open but I didn't really think anything of it. Then I went into the garage and the side door was wide open. I thought that was weird but we had had a BBQ on Saturday and were in and out of the garage through that door so I thought maybe it accidentally didn't get closed all the way and the wind blew it open. We went about our morning and around 10am we went in the backyard to clean up from the BBQ and noticed that one of the ladders from our ladderball game was missing. I was positive it had been there the night before when I cleaned up a little and we couldn't figure out where it had gone. We started looking around and Bryan could see through the slats in our fence that the ladder was laying in the field behind our house. When he looked over the fence he saw that not only was the ladder back there, but some of the decorations from our fence and one of the tiki torches were back there too. It became obvious that someone had been in our backyard and suddenly my brain put all the little weird things together and I had the sickening realization that SOMEONE HAD BEEN IN OUR HOUSE!! I ran inside and checked the TV cabinet more carefully and sure enough, our Wii was gone! Then I realized that when I had been in the kitchen I hadn't seen my purse. I checked again and that along with Bryan's wallet were also gone. At that point I completely lost it. The thought of someone being INSIDE our house while we were sleeping and with Hailey down the hall made me absolutely sick to my stomach. The rest of Father's Day was spent dealing with the police, figuring out what else was missing (Bryan's racing bike and snowboards), making an appointment with the DMV, and cancelling our credit cards. We also made an appointment to get an alarm installed ASAP. Since then my mind has been racing with "coulda, woulda, shoulda's"... I should have double checked all the door locks before going to bed, we should have been more diligent about locking the door from the garage, we should have already had an alarm, what if Cookie hadn't barked and scared them away, what if they had wanted to hurt us, what if they had gotten to Hailey, etc. etc. I've realized that if I keep thinking like that I'm going to drive myself insane and the bottom line is, it happened and I can't do anything to go back in time and change it. All I can do is go forward and do everything I can to make sure my family is safe. And the number one thing on my list is setting my brand new alarm.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Guess where we've gone 3 times in the past 3 weeks?? The ZOO! Hailey just can't get enough! (And to be completely honest, neither can I!)

A few weeks ago the weather finally reached the 70's so Bryan and I thought it was the perfect time to take Hailey to the zoo for the first time. She has lots of animal books and had been watching the Signing Time "Zoo Train" video a lot lately so we thought she was probably old enough to enjoy going to the zoo. We all had such a great time!! Hailey was completely fascinated with the different animals and we heard a lot of "Oh WOW!" throughout the visit. Even though she enjoyed looking at the animals, she was a little intimidated by the size of them and wanted to be carried around the whole time. It was so much fun to watch her expressions and excitement and make this memory as a family.

The following weekend my mom and stepdad came up for a visit and we decided to head back to the zoo so they could get in on the fun. Hailey was like an old pro this time, she ran around the zoo like she owned the place! After each animal she'd say "Next!" and point to the next enclosure. We were having such a great time I decided to sign up for a membership so that Hailey and I can take advantage of my time off during the summer! My parents had so much fun watching Hailey experience the zoo and we even got a traditional picture with the flamingos like we used to do when I was a kid.

The week after my parents were here was my spring break from work. On Friday my friend and co-worker April and I decided to get our girls together and head to... you guessed it, the zoo! Hailey had just as much fun on the third visit as she did on the first! April's girls were such good helpers with her and it was so cute to watch them each want to be holding her hands at all times. It was a really fun day and I hope we get to go back with them again.

I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big so fast! I am having SO MUCH FUN with her every single day and doing these types of adventures and making these memories with her is my Mommy dream come true!

Hippity Hoppity, Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!

Easter hasn't been a big holiday for me in my adult life and because it bookends Spring Break, Bryan and I are usually on vacation during that week. Even last year, Hailey's first Easter went by pretty unnoticed because we were in Hawaii (don't you feel sorry for her?) About a week ago I finally realized that not only would we actually be in town this week, but Hailey would be old enough to get an Easter basket and hunt Easter eggs! Obviously she's not old enough to understand about the Easter bunny but I knew she would have fun finding the eggs and putting them in her bucket. She had the BEST TIME! She looked so pretty in her Easter dress and was so proud of herself for finding the eggs. And when she found out there were graham cracker goldfish inside? She was in heaven!

I love experiencing these moments and milestones with Hailey. It's what I always dreamed of when I envisioned being a mom but so much better than I ever imagined!!

Hailey's First Haircut!!

Hailey has reached another major milestone! Her first haircut!! For the last few weeks her bangs have been really bothering her because they were down to her nose. She was repeatedly pushing them out of her eyes and becoming quite disgruntled with them so I decided it was time for a little trim. Bryan gave me permission to do the haircut without him provided I PROMISED not to cut her curls off. Why on earth would I want to cut her curls off?!?!? Promise made, Hailey and I headed off to Cool Cuts 4 Kids where they specialize in kids haircuts. It's totally awesome!! The waiting area has toys and a movie playing so the kids are entertained while they wait. Once it was her turn, Hailey got to pick a movie and sit in a race car. She wasn't too sure about the whole experience (You may have noticed she's a little bit leery of new experiences. Especially ones where she doesn't have Mom or Dad to hold onto.) The staff were really great, distracting her with bubbles and singing silly songs. The stylist just trimmed a little off her bangs and then evened out the back and layered it a little to make her curls extra bouncy. It looked soooooo cute! They even gave me some of her clippings with a "First Haircut" certificate for her baby book. I will definitely be going back!
(You may have noticed there is an older gentleman in the background. It turns out they only charge $10 for an adult haircut so he got a smokin' deal. And he got to watch Toy Story during his haircut!)

Here are some pictures from later in the afternoon. It was after her nap so the curls got a little mussed, but I think she's pretty impressed with her new haircut, don't you? :)