Roxana ~ at ONE YEAR!

Have you noticed the serious lack of blogging that has happened over the last 6 months?  I have no good excuse.  But, I'm sad to report that I didn't even write about my baby girl at her 1 year mark, and now I have to try and remember... and I'm certain I won't remember much.

But, Roxi turned 1 in November.  She is such a joy and we love her.  We are all so glad she is part of our family.

~ Roxana weighs and is ____ tall.
~ She is barely learning how to walk.  I love watching new babies walk!  I think she'll have it within just a few more days. (Again, I'm fairly certain she had it sometime within a week of her birthday)
~ She has on occasion slept through the night, but (if memory serves me right), 3 nights in a row is the most she's been able to do.
~ She doesn't love stories or shows yet.  She pretty much just likes to play - and by play, I mean get everything out of every box and wonder off.
~ We started feeding her whole milk at a year, and she had a horrible reaction to it.  She had bad diarrhea and eczema.  So, we switched to soy milk, but I couldn't feel right about that.  So, then we switched to almond milk, which seemed to do the trick.  Too bad it's so expensive!

Yup, sadly this really is about all I can remember.  I keep thinking of new things, but then I remember that those are at 18 months.  Parent fail.

We did manage to get pictures though... even right on her birthday.  :)  So, that's something.  Sorry Roxi.  We still love you.

~ 23 November 2014 ~

#JamDiego2014

My teammate Natalie was on my flight!
But on her way to Cabo with her husband. 

I'm obsessed.  Completely.  I love Jamberry Nails.  It's ridiculous really, but I'm in deep.  So deep in fact, that I went to San Diego for a regional conference.  Steven kept making fun of me when I would talk about regionals and nationals (coming up in July '15!), like it was the NCAA tournament or something.  I, of course, think of regionals and nationals and think of cheerleading competitions, so to each their own.  ;)  But I digress... JamCon...

One of the main reasons I wanted to go was because it was in San Diego, where the weather was bound to be better in November than it was in Utah.  And, I wanted to go, because I miss taking random adventures by myself.  It's been a long time since I've had the chance to do something all by myself.  I'm not going to lie ~ I may have loved it a little too much.  It was so fun!

I got to San Diego and decided to go straight to the temple.  I had heard how beautiful it was inside, but nothing ~ NOTHING ~ could prepare me for just how beautiful it was!  Seriously, heaven.  That is exactly what heaven must look like.  I literally burst in to tears when I walked into the celestial room.  It was overwhelmingly beautiful.  I can't get over it.  So glad I went.  

On the way there, I was still getting used to my GPS (I really hate GPS and don't ever use it.  I'll take my chances with getting lost most of the time, after looking at a map.  But I had no map, so I had to use GPS).  Anyway, I was getting used to it, and took the wrong exit.  No big deal because it recalculates to get me where I need to go, but in this case, I was so glad to take the wrong exit.  I drove up this street, perched high atop the mountain, and these houses had the most amazing view.  The ocean out the front windows and the temple out the back!  I decided my new Jamberry goal needs to be to make enough money that we can live there!

Me and Liza

After the temple, I met up with my roommate, Liza, a girl I met via Facebook, who was looking for a roommate.  Have I told you how much I love random adventures like this?!  So fun, totally crazy.  We hung out and did our nails that afternoon.  (Of course) and then I met up with some other ladies for dinner that night.  I didn't know a soul there... my team is all new enough that no one could sign up for regionals, but Liza was meeting up with her team.

So, I posted on facebook that a lady named Kristin and I were going to dinner, and anyone who wanted to could meet us there.  We ended up having a great little group of 8 of us, and we sat around all night chatting about business, nails, parties, etc.  So ridiculous, so fun.

But the really ridiculous part hadn't even happened yet!  That night there was a welcome reception, and the next morning the party really began!  900 women all obsessed with direct sales, multi-leveling marketing and NAILS!  Holy cow, it was hilarious!  I really couldn't even take it too seriously, but I did learn a lot and felt really pumped to get business going, so that was great.

The best part was seconds... you could buy "seconds," which were cast off wraps that had been misprinted or were missing one wrap... all the ones Jamberry couldn't sell.  We could buy them in packs of 5 for really cheap, but the kicker was, you didn't know what was in your packs that you bought.  (Up to 4 packs) So, once we all got them at lunch, there was a mad frenzy to trade them to get ones you did want.  Seriously, it was like little boys with baseball cards, or a giant game of Pit.  It was nuts.  So ridiculous... So fun!  ha!

The training was really good.  There were all sorts of tips and tricks for parties, recruiting, etc.  Plus, I really enjoyed meeting all these great women.  

Me and Staci, who was my Team Manager when I joined... she is now my Lead Exec.  Cool!

Me and Kristin, with Jennifer H.  (one of Home Office's big wigs... you'd think I'd know, but alas, I don't pay attention to that type of stuff)

That afternoon, after the conference was over, a group of us headed to the beach.  I felt it crucial to go to the beach while in San Diego (some people didn't think so... crazy), so we went and hung out until the sun went down, and then went and had a great seafood dinner.

I headed home the next morning, so I was there for less than 48 hours, but it was so awesome!  I had such a great time and met all sorts of new friends.  Steven asked me if this was something that I would do every year?  Was there enough to learn to make it worth my time?
Enough to learn?  Heck no.  This isn't rocket science.  But would I do it every year?  Heck yes!  I'd do it every couple of months if I could afford it.  It was so fun!

I was really made for the beach.

~ 15-17 Nov 2014 ~

Playing in the leaves

There are a few really weird things that I really love to do... raking leaves is one of them.  I love it.  I think it is so fun!  Probably because growing up all we had was pine trees (and I subsequently hate pine needles and picking up pine cones).  But raking leaves is awesome.  Jumping in leaves is even more fun, and getting to do it with my kids is the best thing ever.  Our maple trees drop their leaves at different times, so we were able to capture pictures on more than one day.  Roxi wasn't a huge fan, but Noah loved it.  So much that on the second day, he actually asked me to take more pictures.  Yay!  That never happens!  There will be a massive picture overload here ~

Too many favorites.

~ 28 Oct and 20 Nov 2014 ~

Who dun it?

Steven and I were invited to a murder mystery party to celebrate our cousin Chris' 50th birthday.  I was to play the roll of a Vegas showgirl, and Steven was a former gladiator at the casino, who had just lost his job.  I called my friend Suzanne for costumes, because Steven helped remind me that she was single, and therefore still fun, so she would probably have costumes.  Little did he know, Suzanne is the queen of costumes!  She had just what I was looking for and then some!

When we picked up my costume, so asked what Steven was supposed to be and he said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm supposed to be a former gladiator, but I'm sure I can come up with something."  Well, Suzanne, being the awesome person she is, replies with, "You know, I think I have a gladiator costume."
Yup, I love that woman.

We didn't murder anyone, but had a great time at the party.  I hate to say we stole the show, but let's be honest... that wig is pretty impressive.  If there was a contest, I would have voted for us to win.

~ 7 November 2014 ~ 

Noah at 3 - in his own words (mostly)

1. What is your favorite color?  orange
2. What is your favorite toy? new kitchen and big motorcycle
3. What is your favorite fruit? orange
4. What is your favorite show?  Super Why (could have fooled me... I would guess Curious George.  We haven't watched Super Why in months)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  mac and cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit?  superheroes shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Hungry Hungry Hippos (possibly because he got it for his birthday.  I'm thinking he would have said "duck, duck, goose," a day earlier)
8. What is your favorite snack? goldfish and craisins and cookies and milk and water
9. What is your favorite animal? giraffe
10. What is your favorite song?  ABC's
11. What is your favorite book? "I like Fruit."  (Um, really???  With a little prodding, he said "Quest")
12. Who is your best friend?  Daddy
13. What is your favorite cereal?  The one with marshmallows (Marshmallow mateys)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Eat cupcakes
15. What is your favorite drink?  Water and Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday?  All of them
17.  What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  little motorcycle, Buzz and Lie-Lie (Lion)
18. What do you like to eat for breakfast?  waffles
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Daddy

Noah weighs 31 lb 13 oz, and is 36.7 inches tall.  25% for height and 50% for weight.
He fills our hearts with happiness and makes us laugh.  And sometimes makes us want to pull our hair out and scream.  But mostly laugh.  He is sweet and does well to behave, most of the time.  We are so glad his is ours.

~ 5 November 2014 ~

Noah turns THREE!

We have a full blown little boy on our hands!  Noah turned three, which is completely crazy.  He is in denial about it though, and still insists that he is two.  Not sure why, but we'll go with it.  He sure acts like he's in his "terrible two's" much more now than he ever did when we was actually two.

I was going to be creative and make cool "monkey George" cupcakes, but I asked Noah what he wanted and he simply said, orange cupcakes.  So I figured I'd mix yellow and red to get orange, but can you believe it... they actually make orange cupcakes!  :)  And they taste good!  Beyond the cupcakes, we decorated with streamers and balloons, which he thought was cool.  We opened presents in the morning, so he could play with them all day.  Friends came over in the afternoon to help eat cupcakes and play, and we had waffles for dinner, because those are his favorite, and called it a day.

 We asked Noah what he wanted for his birthday and he said pretend food.  I swear this kid is going to be on junior Master Chef someday.  He loves to cook and play with pretend food.  But, his wish was our command, so that is just what we got him.  We also got him Hungry, Hungry Hippos, which he really likes, but gets really mad when anyone else wins.  So, there are some lessons to be taught there!

 Grandma and Papa won the birthday though, with buying him this little motorcycle.  He loves it!  He is really good about sharing though, both on his birthday with his friends, and also with Roxi.  He will push the peddle for her, while I hold her on and steer.  It is pretty cute to watch.  Our new house is made perfectly for this motorcyle, because he can ride around the living room and kitchen/dining room area quite well.  He is great about always "parking" it back by the piano, when he is done playing with it too.  When the weather is nice, as it has been most of the fall/winter, we will go for rides around the block.  He loves this motorcycle!

 We also got him this chef hat and an apron to go with his pretend food.  Man, it just doesn't get cuter than this!

I'm not big into birthday parties (perhaps someday I will be, but not for the little kids), so we didn't do much.  We had a couple of friends over... Jack and a new friend William, who lives in our neighborhood.  William brought along his brother and sister too.  And of course, I had the mom's stay, because let's be honest... having friends over is important for me too!

  Jack brought him this little motorcycle, which is also tons of fun and he really likes.  It is cute to see him take it all over with us.  :)  I asked him what his favorite toys were one day after his birthday and he said, "My big motorcycle and my little motorcycle."  

I can't even tell you how much I love this picture!  I think it is so cute!  Hooray for good friends.  

 That night, we had another cupcake and blew out candles again, so that Daddy could be there.  And also because Noah just loves to blow out candles.  ;)

A successful birthday for my very favorite little man.

~ 5 November 2014 ~