Halloween 2009

I love Halloween! Not just a little, but a TON!!! I generally ask the boys what they want to be, and then I go to work figuring out how to make the best use of old costumes, thrift stores and whatever else I can get my hands on. I also REALLY like to dress up - I'm still a kid at heart...

Anyway, this year was really fun because I had a baby girl to dress up. I looked online for ideas, shopped around a little bit and finally found the perfect one - Little Red Riding Hood. When I was buying the costume, the clerk asked if her dad was going to dress up as the Wolf and I replied "Um, I'm not sure..."

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I didn't want her daddy to be a 'bad' guy. Instead I decided to have daddy dress up as the Woodcutter, and I dressed up as Grandmother. I thought the costumes turned out pretty nice!

Shallon decided to be a vampire and Draven thought an army dude" (his exact words) would be fun.

NYC - Part III

Our last day in NYC was busy and fun! We started by taking the subway (all the locals call it the 'train'), had lunch at ESPN Zone, took a carriage ride through Central Park, went to the top of the Empire State Building, to Rockefeller Plaza and then, after much walking, decided we could leave the city and head to our hotel in New Jersey.

We both had a really great time in New York! I think one of the things I liked the best were the street vendors who sold the warm pretzels with mustard - yummy. I also loved the fact that since we were walking all over the universe, I could eat tons more than usual without the weight gain! It's the little things in life...

Ken had meetings Monday and Tuesday so I was just hanging out at the hotel. I'd told him that I planned on getting a pedicure one of those days since I knew my little peepers were gonna be sore. So Monday, I head to the mall for a little R&R. While my feet are soaking in the pedi water, I've got my phone sitting in between my legs in the chair so that if Ken calls I can quickly and easily grab the phone (I'm such a good wife that I don't want to miss a call from him). I'm sitting there, enjoying the warm water and the chair massage when my phone slips off the seat and into the water!

Ooopsies...the phone was fried! I thought about just going without a phone, since it was pretty lame the way it died, but then I realized that I had the rental car and Ken would have no way to get in contact with me, plus, all my babies were on the other side of the country from me. So, I had the opportunity to find a Verizon store to replace my phone with the least expensive one I could find (and still live with). The moral of the story - DON'T keep your cell phone in your lap while getting a pedicure with the chair massager going. It could turn out pretty bad!


I'm leaving you with the last picture we took in the Big Apple. We walked back to our hotel to pick up the car and this is standing on the street corner looking at the "R" for Renaissance as is lights up.

Now, I'm not sure how many more times we'll be in New York City, but if it never happens again, I know I had enough fun in NYC for my lifetime. (I'd like to be clear that I'm only saying New York - there's a lot more fun to be had in this world with that man!) Thank you honey, I love you!

NYC - Part II

We did get enough sleep and made our way to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was such a neat experience to have with my husband!

After checking out the Statue (and climbing like 200 stairs) we made our way back to the mainland and into the city. Now let me just say, there's a reason that all the travel sites you'll find say NOT to rent a car if you're going to New York. It's CRAZY! Ken did a great job!!! It's so packed and confusing and I think we drove past our hotel a couple of times before we finally found it. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel right on Times Square. It was a beautiful room and the all the staff were absolutely amazing!!!

We had a wonderful dinner AJ Maxwell's, before heading to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway. We were so close to everything that we just planned to walk everywhere. We walked to dinner, passing the restaurant and doubling back to find it. It was raining a bit, but not too bad. Well, since we were seeing a play on Broadway, I made sure I had a cute outfit to wear, including some awesome shoes. The thing about the shoes, the weren't made for walkin'! Especially that far after I'd climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty and walked all over Times Square! When we got to dinner, we asked about getting a cab to take us to the show. The maitre d' informed us we wouldn't be able to get a cab since there was a World Series game happening in the Bronx. He did call and get us a limo though. That turned out to be the best decision - it was pouring rain on our way to the theater and the driver was wonder and walked each of us to the theater with his umbrella. GREAT! I LOVED the play so much! It was done so well, with such a cute story line...really fun! After the show we walked back to the hotel, it had stopped raining by then, and I had Ken take a picture of my great shoes before I took them off for the night...

NYC - Part I

Last fall, Ken had a business trip to New Jersey. The office is really close to New York so we added a couple of days to the trip and I was able to tag along. It was so much FUN!!!

We left home on Friday afternoon, landing in Newark around midnight. The start of our trip was really quite comical (looking back - at the time it was pretty frustrating).

As we were boarding the plane, with our carry-on luggage, I realized that since it was the last flight back east on a Friday night, everyone else was flying with carry-on luggage and as we were some of the last passengers to board, we had to gate check Ken's bag. Not too big of a deal - we'll be fine.

Hours later, we land in Newark. We get off the plane, find Ken's bag and head for the monorail to take us to get the rental car. The monorail is broken and the one attendant doesn't know how long it will take until it's fixed. We go back by baggage claim so we can get a taxi to take us to get the car. It's raining lightly and we get in line...the line's pretty long and after 5-10 mins we find out that their computer is broken and so they have to write all the fares up manually before people can get in the cab to go to their destination. Okay...the line is moving, we'll get the car and get to the hotel...

We get to the rental place, Ken quickly checks in gets/gives all the necessary information. We're told that our car is in parking spot 83 and we head outside (this all was really quick - like 8 minutes!). Spot 83 is empty. I tell Ken I'll wait with the bags while he goes back in to get things straightened out. I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, 15 minutes later, Ken comes out and we get our car. Turns out that the woman who helped him when he went back in was new and she had to cancel his car and then redo it for the different car...

Alright, so now we are in the car, we have our GPS working and we're heading to our hotel. This hotel is right next to the airport and it would have been almost as fast for us to just walk there once we got off the plane! We get to the hotel, it's 1:30 am by now, I'm exhausted, Ken's tired and really concerned about how tired I am and how sore I might be in the morning since we're scheduled to tour the Statue of Liberty.

Ken pulls up front at the hotel, I stay in the car while he goes to check us in. Turns out he can't because the computers are doing their nightly maintenance. It'll take another 15 minutes. We can park the car and come in with our luggage and by then we should be able to get checked in. So, now we're in the lobby, I'm falling asleep in the chair, holding bags, and telling myself that I'll get enough sleep and I won't be sore. The clerk is unable to find our reservation. There's nothing in the computer for us. Ken's about to blow his top - poor guy! Thankfully he's really organized about confirmations etc. so he pulls out the confirmation number from his breifcase and now the clerk scrambles to find us a room. There's none of the room we booked, but he's going to upgrade us for free, blah, blah, blah (seriously, I'm so ready to be in a bed by this time!). We get up to our room, fall into bed and pray the night is long enough...

Family Pictures

So I'm finally thinking I can get caught up on my blogging...(maybe!)

The beginning of October we had family pictures done with Jessica Drew. I love all of our pictures - here's one for all of you to enjoy!

October Break

This year the boys had an extended break from school. Normally they get 2 1/2 days off in October, but this year it was 5 1/2 days. Shallon was invited to go camping and 4 wheeling with his best friend and their family so he was totally set.

The rest of us went south for a few days. We took Draven and Emma to Old Tucson Studios, Tombstone, and the Biosphere. It was really fun to see so many different things and have some time with Draven and Emma (while we knew Shallon was in good hands too). Here are a few pics from our adventures....

Happy Birthday

Our little angel turned one today! We sang her a birthday song this morning when she woke up, we played a little bit of dress up and put on some new shoes (the first shoes she's worn since she was a baby), had a fun little family dinner at IHOP and got her to bed early (she was tired and getting grouchy!).

She is such a sweet, wonderful baby and we are so thankful to have her in our lives. We are planning to have a party to celebrate with family and friends on Sunday.