A Picture Princess for Shabby Apple!

Shabby Apple is having a contest to find the

Picture Princess for their Spring Line!

Of course I had to enter my sweet little Alexa! Why would she be the one chosen? Well that's simple! She IS a princess! The day she picked up her purse, cell phone, and sunglasses and strutted over to the door, shakin' her booty..I knew I was watching her walk into her world..where she owned it and she is the Princess! She loves to twirl around in her dresses and loves to sit up on the counter while I do her hair! One of my favorite things in the world to do, is to dress her! She loves to get dolled up and be girly! She is such a flirt with the camera and cant get enough of seeing herself in pictures!

She would be a PERFECT choice!!

{Miss Alexa Dawn - 14 months}

My absolute favorite is the Hibiscus dress {little girls and girls dresses from Shabby Baby}. Alexa would look darling in this dress! I love the blue, green and brown combo! As much as she is a princess, she has an older brother and she cant be decked out in pink constantly if she wants to roll with the big boys! I adore the unique style this dress holds!

Cold, Cold, Go Away..and don't come back another day!

Well we have all been hit by that nasty cold bug that is going around! I got it 12 days ago and am still trying to get over it the last of it. Chayse is doing much better. Brandon and Alexa came down with it last, and Alexa is just over the worst of it I think..I hope! This cold is bad..it takes you out for a couple weeks! I dont think I have been sick this long...EVER! So please..Cold bug...GO AWAY!

Speaking of cold..we have a lot of snow outside..maybe not a lot for winter time..but a lot for spring time! To make it worse..its supposed to snow and rain this entire week! Seriously..what the heck?

When times like this, make it tough to see the rainbow through the rain...I try and think of things that make me happy....

Do not report us to CPS! Haha! Brandon was standing right there and only let go for a sec..Chayse thought it was pretty fun!

This was before Alexa got hit with the cold bug...Excuse the fact that she looks homely and dirty! I ran out of bibs, and I was too lazy to do her hair that day. Haha!

Chayse felt so sick, but he still managed a smile for me! I love that little dude!

Oh and Brandon makes me really happy of course! I just dont have a picture he wouldnt kill me for putting on here! Haha! No he really is awesome and I appreciate all the things he does to make me happy! I feel like we have "reconnected" the last couple weeks and its been fabulous! Love you babe!

"..i just wanna be bigger..."

I cant remember if I blogged about this..so if I did..you get to read it again!

About a month or so ago..Chayse and I were talking in the car.

Chayse: Mommy I just wanna be bigger!

Me: Why? I want you to stay my little buddy! Why would you want to be bigger?

Chayse: I just want to be able to reach the cereal!

I about died laughing!

So last night we were talking in the car on the way home and Brandon had said something about him being bigger and Chayse said, "Im not bigger yet, I still cant reach the cereal!"

Weekend in Boise!

K! So Im going to be a totally lazy blogger because I have a million and one other things to do..so if you want to know about our weekend in Boise..look at Kimber's blog!

One thing I do have to mention is the fun girl's lunch we had at Amber's! She made chicken salad wraps and cute little sandwiches for the kids and yummy desserts, of which I could not partake of and it killed me! It was fun as always to hang out with the girls and let the kids play. It's fun to see how much they have grown in the last couple years we have done this! I wish I would have taken pictures..but I took my mind out of photo zone and relaxed haha. Thanks so much Amber for having us over to your house! Can't wait til the next one!

Oh and real quick! I love my Grandma dearly! Being able to celebrate her 80th birthday with all the family (we were missing a few)..was so awesome! We had a blast at her party! She is a great example to me and is seriously such a strong woman! I love you Grandma!!!

Picture Tag

My sister indirectly tagged me. I always forget to respond to tags lately..so I'm turning over a new leaf! That does not mean everyone can bombard me with tags...because then I would be forced to go back to my old ways... ANYWAY..on to the tag....

Post the 6th picture in the 6th folder....

I asked Chayse what in the heck he was doing here..and he said "Playing doctor with Pooh..."

That's one banged up Pooh!

I tag everyone!

San Diego Trip Wrap Up

So I decided for the sake of time, I would do a slideshow of the rest of our trip.

On the 4th day we went to Fashion Valley Mall with my mom. Unfortunately Vince was sick, and Im thinking my husband probably would have liked to joined him, as we dragged him from store to store! No, he was a good sport about it! It was my first experience in any of the high end designer stores. I must have been a site with my double stroller full of kids..but whatever! It was fun!

Then after that we headed to Mission Bay and had frozen yogurt and played at the beach til it was time to head back to the resort.

On the 5th Day we hit San Diego Zoo! Chayse was so excited to go there! It was cool to see the animals, though I about died pushing my two children, camera bag, diaper bag and whatever else was wedged in the double stroller, up and down and all over. It was a good workout! I was proud that I didn't keel over at the end! Chayse must have been exhausted because he fell asleep right when we were getting to the Children's petting area. Alexa got out and loved it. She is fearless and loved trying to feed the animals. When Chayse did wake up..he was a little hesitant to get near them. I love how they are so different! After we went to the zoo, we went to my favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden and had a delicious dinner!

On the 5th day, my mom got hit with the bug..and we were tuckered out, so we decided to hang out at the resort. We had a picnic and went swimming at one of the jillion pools they had there. I didn't take any pictures, because I didn't really feel like toting it around by the pool and chance getting it wet. We got packed up and ready to head out the next day.

On the 6th day, we went to eat breakfast with my mom and Vince at the same yummy place we went to the day we got there. They are really kid friendly, and didnt kick us out the first time for our kids' mess (which we tried to clean up a little), so we figured it was safe to go back! After that we dropped off the car..(totally easy unlike the pick up experience) and then we headed off to the airport. Alexa slept the whole plane ride and Chayse fell asleep as we were landing...but he was good and loved looking out the window.

Thanks to Mom and Vince again. They made this trip so memorable for us and did so much! My mom stocked us up with food, diapers, wipes, sun screen, toys, coloring books, and souveniers to bing home! Thank you guys so so so so much!

San Diego Trip Day 3: La Jolla Beach

LA JOLLA BEACH

Sea World wore us out, so the next day we decided to take it easy and go to the beach and have a picnic. It was so fun to see the kids experience it for the first time. They were both so in the their element! They absolutely loved it!!! My little Alexa isnt afraid to get a little dirty..or a lot dirty! (Wait for upcoming photos from another beach!)

San Diego Day 2 : Sea World

Let's just say we loved loved loved Sea World! Chayse was in complete amazement and awe at all the animals! Alexa loved it as well! She liked to point at the animals and try and talk gibberish with them, even yell at them sometimes. We aren't for sure on why she would yell. Ask her.

~*~
Our favorite part was the Dolphin Show! I love the see them do their tricks! Alexa had about had it by that point, and was so tired. So my mom kindly took her down from the bleachers and off to the side and stood by a lady in a wheel chair; thinking she was safe and out of the splash zone. Well she had just gotten Alexa to sleep, when a huge splash hit her and Lex and gave them a mouthful of water. Didn't phase Alexa too much, but soaked them both. No one is safe from the splashing dolphins!

~*~
Thanks to Mom and Vince who got us the tickets to go in and filled our tummies while we were there! It was a blast!!!

San Diego Day 1: Travel Day

Okay, so I took 271 pictures while we were in San Diego. I know, I know..there are support groups out there. Believe me, I'm looking into it. Of course I think everyone that involves my family is the best..so I am trying really hard to downsize the pictures to only a select few, as to not completely overwhelm and drive people away from looking at "the crazy picture lady's" blog.

~*~

SAN DIEGO DAY 1 : TRAVEL DAY

We left my dad's house around 8:45am and headed to the airport for our flight that left at 11:10am. SOMEONE wanted to be there really early...like 2 hours early! In his defense, we had to deal with 2 kids, 2 suitcases, 2 carseats, 2 duffle bags and a double stroller. So I guess plenty of time to get there and get settled wasn't a bad thing. (Unless you have a crazy one year old who can't sit still or stay standing up for the life of her.)

My friend Jenny recommended dramamine for Alexa on the plane ride. Oh how I wish it had worked on Alexa, like it did for her little swet pea. Alexa screamed most of the plane ride, and I could tell people were getting a little annoyed. Really though, what were we to do. We apologized after the plane landed and the annoyed people said it was "fine", "no big deal", "we had little ones once"..blah blah blah.

Anyway, we landed and went to get our rental car. Mind you..it took 2 hours!!! It was this little podunk building on the corner of a crazy busy street. The inside where you check in to get your car, was very small. I had to sit outside with our two kids hoping they didnt get smashed by the cars whizzing in and out of this parking lot. I will be calling Dollar ( or my husband will..because he is so much tougher than me! ;) ) and getting a refund. Everyone around me was so mad and were calling and complaining. I'm still bitter about it.

Well by the time we got done with that it was about 4:00 and my kids hadnt really eaten besides a few snacks, since breakfast. Alexa hadn't been let down to run around since 10. We were all starving, tired and cranky. We finally met up with my mom and her husband at their hotel and went to a family diner restaurant and chowed down. They knew we had a hard day of traveling, so they gave us some food for free before our orders came up. Nice place! I cant remember the name, but if you are ever in San Diego, and are staying at Hotel Circle, it has green on the outside! Haha!

We finally made it out to Escondido to The Welk Resort. It is a fabulous resort! Our villa was the size of an apartment, had a full kitchen, nice huge tub, lcd tvs and a nice patio with a great view! I highly recommend staying there! You can check it out here.

So that ends Day 1. It was a crazy day of traveling, hunger and tiredness..but we made it and were ready to have a blast in sunny San Diego...

(P.S. Notice how there aren't any pics from the first day? See, I can control myself on occasion!)

We are back!

We are back from our fabulous vacation in sunny San Diego!! Not too happy about this totally LAME weather we had to come back to..but its good to be back!

Many pictures are coming soon!

Seriously..there is A LOT!