Halloween

Ok, I know I'm late posting these, but better late than never, right?


Here's Ellie Halloween day, before she got in her "real" costume.


Andrielle with uncle Carson. Ellie is a nurse and Carson's a dragon.

Pumpkin Land

My mom, Carson, myself, and Andrielle went to Pumpkin Land Yesterday. It was a lot of fun. We got to walk through a little corn maze, see some farm animals, and enjoy this nice Fall season :) Andrielle and Carson wore their costumes. Andrielle is a nurse and Carson said he was an astronaut (I think it was an old Power Rangers costume...)


Andrielle with Grandma (my mom)



Andrielle and my brother, Carson



Andrielle and Carson with a blow up Halloween pumpkin.

Trip to San Francisco

For Gavin's birthday this year, we took a trip to California to see his family.


Here's Andrielle in her car seat. She was such a good traveler. She just kicked her feet up and relaxed, lol.

We spent a day in San Francisco on Pier 39


Here's Gavin at a display. I can't remember exactly what it was for....



Here's Gav in front of a big submarine


Golden Gate Bridge


This was at a little place we stopped at called Treasure Island just before heading into San Francisco. This is also where Gavin's pic was taken (above)

We also visited a Reserve Zoo where they bring injured and endangered animals. It was really cool. I saw animals I've never seen before in real life, like a skunk, a fox, and wolves. They didn't have typical zoo animals.

While we were in San Francisco, we found this little arcade full of old-time arcade games, fortune-telling machines, and wind-up movies. It was really cool. I think it was my favorite part of the entire trip.

Here's Gav with a pin-ball machine

Here is a fortune teller machine that you had to put your palm on and it would spit out a card with your fortune on it.

Here I am with another fortune telling machine

This "grandma" fortune teller was kind of creepy because the lady moved around and talked to you.

We really had a good time visiting family and spending some quality time with just our little family.

Hogle Zoo

For Carson's birthday, we went to Utah's Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. It was really fun. Here are a few pictures from the day.

At the entrance to the zoo. I don't really know why Brady is making that face.

These were some little monkey-like animals. I don't remember exactly what they were called. Andrielle enjoyed watching them climb all over in the cage.

Here are the giraffes! :)

Here we are at a bird show. Carson's holding Andrielle. He's such a nice uncle.

This is the merry-go-round. I think we're riding a lion...

Soggy Pretzels

I left a bag of Snyder’s pretzel bites (Honey Mustard and Onion flavored) on the couch and Andrielle was helping herself to them. I went to grab a handful and got a handful of soggy pretzel bites. Andrielle had sucked off the powdered flavoring off the outside of a bunch of them and then stuck them back in the bag. I don’t think she actually ate any of them. Gotta love kids! :)

Favorite Things

A not-so-all-inclusive list (I'm sure I forgot lots!) of things I love in life

*Gavin
*Andrielle
*Long afternoon naps
*An empty sink / dishwasher
*Bubbles
*The exhausted feeling right after a great workout
*Thunderstorms
*Drive-through car washes
*Really great blinkies/tearpads/freebie coupons
*Low OoP's at the grocery store
*Big Bang Theory and The Bachelorette
*Guys (or anyone really) who open doors for me when I'm pushing Andrielle in a stroller
*Fettuccini alfredo
*a full sheet of stamps
*Nail polish
*A night's sleep with no one crying or needing a bottle at 3 in the morning
*Thrift stores
*Roadtrips
*Kisses on the forhead
*Gummy worms
*Haircuts
*Getting fun mail
*New makeup

Family Cruise May, 2010

We just got back from our 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise on Sunday. We cruised on the Mariner of the Seas, one of Royal Caribbean's cruise ships, and visited Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. It was a lot of fun

Here, we are at the very front of the boat on the helicopter landing pad.

This was our state room. It was small, but we didn't want to spend a lot of time here anyway. When you closed the door and turned off all the lights it was pitch black. We could sleep forever in the room because it was hard to know what time of day it was when it was so dark.

These pictures were taken on a beach at Cabo San Lucas. We had to tender (meaning we had to take small boat from the cruise ship to land). Then we walked close to a mile to get to this beach.

In Mazatlan, we visited an aquarium. They had a shark feeding show where the man feeding the sharks actually got into the shark tank and fed them by hand. It was crazy! In this picture, we're in front of the sea turtles.

Here's my family all together before going to the dining room for dinner one evening.

These pictures were taken in Puerto Vallarta. We found a nice beach with these nice cabana things.

Here we are before one of the formal dinners.

This was our waiter, Mevin. He was so nice. He brought Carson chicken finger and french fries every night for dinner.

This is Foustino Walters. I think most of us called him Walter (or maybe that was just me?). He was the assistant waiter who brought us bread and refilled our water glasses.

This man was the waiter for the table next to us. Every night he would come over and talk to Andrielle. Here she is trying to share one of her french fries with him.

Fun Surprises

I tried posting yesterday, and just as I went to save my post, I lost my internet connection and lost my entire post. I was so ticked off about the whole thing, I just walked away. So, I'm back today to post what I was going to post yesterday. :)

First fun surprise: Gavin surprised me with a super fun one-night trip to Vegas for Valentine's Day. It was SO fun. We stayed at a Holiday Inn express. While we were in Vegas, we went thrift store shopping. I L-O-V-E thrift store shopping, and Vegas has much better ones than Utah. We also stopped in St. George on the way home to go to the D.I. there. There D.I. is TONS better than Utah County D.I.'s. The stuff here is crap and is priced ridiculously high for used, donated stuff. St. George, on the other hand, has pretty nice stuff and it's priced low. It was such a relaxing 2 days. I really enjoyed the car trip. Andrielle is such a great traveler, she just sleeps the whole time, so Gavin and I were able to just talk. It was really nice.

Second fun surprise: My brother, Jeff, got his mission call!! He's going to be serving in Des Moines, Iowa. He leaves at the end of May. We're really excited for him. I think he's excited, too, that he will be serving state-side, and speaking English. He's such a great "kid" - I'm proud of you, Jeff!!

Third fun surprise: My parents surprised my whole family (Gavin, Andrielle, myself, and all my brothers) with a 7-day Mexican Riviera Royal Caribbean cruise in May before Jeff leaves. I am so so SOOO excited! This is my first cruise ever, and I am so excited to be going with my whole family.

Catching Up

It has been way too long! I guess there's a lot I need to catch up on!

Andrielle is now 14 months old. It is crazy how fast the last year has gone for us. She's turning into a real person, and it's so much fun! She is so close to walking - she's taken a few steps, but mostly just walks around holding onto furniture. I'm sure she'll be walking around on her own really soon. She's talking a little bit, she says mom, dada, uh-oh, and yum. In addition to giving regular kisses (on the cheek), she has started blowing kisses and it is SO CUTE! We love her so much!

Gavin and I just celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Monday. Again - how quickly time flies! It has been the best 2 years of my life. I can't imagine being any happier - I'm living the life I always dreams of, and it is wonderful!

Here are a few pictures from the last few months:


She likes watching Ellen with me :) :) :)


Here she is eating her birthday cake - yum



We're in San Francisco. Another fun trip to CA


Christmas morning - almost awake, I think mom & dad were more excited than Andrielle.