OUR CRUISE: Mexican Riviera

One of the best and most memorable weeks of my life! We had so much fun, I was so grateful for this time with family and for the family who watched all of our kids.
(so forgive all the pictures, and these are just mine, probably more to come)...

Matt & Katie (Ned's sis), Mark & Lindsay, Steve & Amy (Ned's sis), and Ned & I.


The beaches of CABO SAN LUCAS were probably my most favorite beach port.

This is our ship from where we ate lunch, on top of a little restaurant. And with my cheapo camera, isn't it beautiful?

We rented sea doo's and had a BLAST! We saw sea lions right next to us, beautiful water, the iconic cliffs on the tip of Cabo. It was SO beautiful and SO fun!


Puerto Vallarta
This was probably our favorite destination of the three, mainly because we took an excursion to this beautiful little port town (see 1st picture below). It started with a boat ride in the ocean, a Swiss Mercedes army jeep ride, a mule ride, rappelling down waterfalls, jungle bridges and the longest and highest zip-lines in Mexico. It was AWESOME! I will do a separate post on this trip alone.



Mazatlan:
It was really windy the day we were in Mazatlan and so we basically had fun taking crazy taxi's all over town. They blasted their music for us and we danced and sang (I even got in trouble by local military, another story). I have a few videos but I don't know if I want to post them, or if my counterparts would appreciate it. REMEMBER we had no kids...we got a little silly/goofy/crazy...however you want to put it.
We ate yummy food (and got free shrimp from Virgina, remember guys? ha ha ha) and had tasty margarita's!

We also did some shopping and walked through a few markets and found a few interesting things you don't usually see in the US on the streets. It made us all vegetarians for about 1/2 a day.

Cruising:

We enjoyed so much while cruising on the ship! Eating to our hearts content (+10 times more) on delicious food. We had the BEST servers that were so fun, played trivia games with us every night at our table, and sang with and to us. We enjoyed all the entertainment (some GREAT and some not so great shows). Going to the CLUB. Eating at the buffet (cookies, pizza, etc.) at midnight EVERY NIGHT (yes I gained 5lbs!). The Climbing wall, ice skating "tag", diet coke for DAYS, laying by the pool, soaking in the hot tub, dying in the sauna and steam rooms.

The boys acting silly and dressed alike too...

Every night they would take a picture of the couples at the table and then the ladies ALONE. After the 3rd night I said really I don't want a picture by myself I wont ever buy it. So then my husband steps in and says "I'll take her photo"...so then he does his Uncle Rico pose (below) and I loved it so much I BOUGHT it! Sure enough every night after that they took pictures of all the men at our table too.

Eating escargot...

The climbing wall.

Amy and I even got on stage and did some karaoke. Which if anyone has heard me sing knows that is hilarious because I have the WORST voice ever, REALLY! We did Straight Up by Paula Abdul and you can see I even threw a few hot dance moves in there.

PS... Our cruise theme song is posted to the right. LOVE TODAY!

MY CRUISE

SO EXCITED FOR:

• all you can eat food
• basking in the sun
• 1 on 1 time with my hubby
• relaxation
• shopping
• excursions and shopping
• and more

WHAT I WILL GREATLY MISS:

Why does my son love helmets so much?

Hmmm...a little worried he looks TOO "special" if ya know what I mean?

New Years Eve 2009 (Kids Celebration)

So my friend Danielle (SUPER MOM!) always has fun ideas, activities, etc. So she invited us to Rain Forest Cafe for the kids celebration of New Years. They had a buffet line for the kids, a balloon drop, and other cute activities.

But Ella was most excited to be with the other kids, especially her little friend Addison (who is a DOLL)!

Our friends (and old neighbors) the Trasks (both: Mark & Jeanette and Kevin & Hayres) joined us as well! Isn't Troy so cute!


The girls doing cheers with their glass cups.

New Years Eve 2009 (Adult celebration)

So late on New Years Eve we knew we couldn't do much with the kids, so my mom invited us over so we could just hang out, play Wii, etc. So we invited our close friends the Jones family to join us (they live about 3 minutes from my parents house). My mom ended up going to bed with the kids and we ended up having a blast, acting goofy, playing games in our pj's, and taking these silly NEW YEARS pictures:

MY FAVORITE PICTURE!!!!!

LATE...but not NEVER

Ella and I making our Gingerbread house (and NEVER again)! Messy, ugly, disaster...ha ha ha

It SUITS me

So you couldn't pay me to post a picture of myself (like this) in a swimsuit. BUT I am SO so excited for my cruise with my sis in-laws (oh yeah and the husbands, mine included) NEXT MONTH, so I went out and bought THREE new bathing suits which I LOVE!!!

My friend Danielle told me about this site of modest, cute, affordable bathing suits and I am SO sold for life. LOVE em' and thought I'd share.

http://limericki.com/default.aspx

A Stroke of Bad luck

So many people have been wondering where I have been lately. Not returning texts, calls, no F.B., or blogging... so here's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Ned and I have had our FOURTH flat tire in a month (yes you heard me right, 4)! Just luck I guess. Two on each car. So after all that frustration and time....

I picked Ella up from preschool during the bad rains last week, with Asher in the car as well. And took my regular route (shortcut streets) home. Well not thinking proactively I pass a HUGE dip in the road at one point. Of course as I drove through it my entire engine was flooded and covered in water. The car immediately shut down in the middle of the intersection and luckily cruised to the side of the road. At which point my cell phone was not working and I waited TWO HOURS for AAA to come. Asher was so tired and upset he cried himself to sleep in the car. April & Wes (After an hour and a half ordeal got the kids and took them home to nap). And I waited longer, ready to pee my pants in the pouring ran, got the car TOWED home a few hours later.

Next day I'm going to pick up a new battery for my broken car to see if that will help. Driving on the freeway (not raining mind you). And I got a ticket for speeding (going 67 mph) on the freeway. I couldn't believe it! The cop even said well 67 is not 65 and you were speeding, as people were flying past me. I felt like I was in a movie, it was crazy. There was nothing I could do or say to help the situation and I felt so shafted. I mean I have speed before where I totally deserve a ticket (I wont lie or anything), but in this particular incident I was NOT SPEEDING! At this point I just starting crying and was so upset (o.k. hysterical) and thinking cut me a break already (and to make matters, uh, more ironic, I was listening to my scriptures/bible in the car at the time, REALLY?!)

All the while the kids have been sick, Ned threw out his back and couldn't walk or lift the kids or anything for about a week, Ella wasn't sleeping through the night (isn't, I should say) again, so Ned and I are taking turns with her walking her back to her room from about 3am to 5:30am most nights. So yesterday morning after a LONG night and then FIGHTING to get her dressed to get to preschool, she just kept crying and saying she wanted to stay in her pj's. I finally got her dressed and to school a 1/2 hour late, only to realize I hadn't gotten the memo it was PAJAMA DAY. Seriously! "Isn't it Ironic, don't ya think?"

Then yesterday we got a call and email from our VISA credit card company stating that our credit card number was stolen and someone was making charges. This is the 4th time this has happened. Needless to say we are closing this account for good.

With all that being said I am SO SO SO BLESSED and so so so:

• Grateful for a WONDERFUL (perfect!) husband that decided I needed AAA a few months ago.
• Grateful for family willing to help me out in a pinch.
• Grateful for "A" singular mode of transportation.
• Grateful for two beautiful children (who drive me crazy and leave me sleep deprived) but who also give me the most joy I have ever experience in my life and are my greatest source of happiness.
• Grateful for a husband who will stay up under the hood of a car until 2am trying to figure out what the problem is.
• Grateful for a home to keep us warm and safe from the rain, wind, and world.
• And grateful to God who loves me unconditionally and gives me trials and challenges so I can continually grow and progress!

Family Pictures

http://sarahhullphotography.blogspot.com/

So my friend Holly's sister in-law came out to Redlands last Sat. and did a few mini-sessions and this was our first family picture EVER. She did such a GREAT job, especially considering Asher was trying to get away at all costs AND Ella really thought she was a super model, so she kept running away from the rest of the family doing Heidi Klum poses as she went...interesting kids, but nevertheless we have some cute pics. THANKS SARAH!!!!

Next thing I knew I was PASSED OUT in the closet...

So I am ALWAYS in a hurry, rushing, and doing a million things at once. Well on Tuesday morning I was of course trying to get everything done I needed done before I had to run off to work for the day. So I had done my 15 min. run on the treadmill, check. Kids were down stairs eating breakfast and watching cartoons, check. I had taken my shower, done my make-up and hair, check. Now I was throwing on my clothes in the closet....this is where it all began...

...While I was throwing on my shirt in the closet, I hit my "FUNNY BONE" (who the HECK thought to call it that!!!!!!!!!) on the door frame and one of the most intense pains I have EVER felt proceeded. I remember saying a prayer that I would be OK, I remember my whole body tingling and feeling a little sick, and the last thing I remember was thinking maybe if I move my fingers it will feel better....NOPE....

....next thing I knew I was PASSED OUT, COLD OUT in the closet. When I came too I had no idea where I was or what was going on! (Now I have passed about about 10 other times in my life before, yeah I know crazy, story for another blog post) but I had NEVER been so disoriented in my life. I just heard my sister (April) & her husband (Wes) were downstairs (they watch my kids for me). So I had no idea how long it had been since I was out, I yelled my sisters name then must have blacked out again.

Next thing I knew they were both over me, I heard them talking and asking me questions. April was telling Wes to pick me up and put me on the bed (with my shirt half on, don't worry, not exposed or anything, thank goodness). Wes was asking if I was OK. I told them I was fine and finally came to. They said I was stark WHITE as a ghost, and I was completely clammy!

Yes I had eaten that morning. No I am NOT pregnant. And I have had my blood work done several times to check why this happens to me, and I am fine. Needless to say I went on about my regular day and have felt fine since. My elbow is a bit sore, but nothing more. But I swore to my husband (who was worried) that it was just the pain from my elbow...

So I did some more research on the Internet and found this interesting bit of info as well:

Can you pass out from striking your funny bone?

Q: Somebody at my work place passed out, and they don't have any history of blood pressure problems or anything. As a matter of fact, his most recent physical was just a couple of months ago, and his doctor said he was fine. When he came to, he said he had struck his elbow on one of the shelves in the office. He had the cold sweats and a pale complexion, but then seemed fine. I've never heard of that .

Look up psychogenic shock:

Psychogenic shock (aka: Fainting) is usually related to a sympathetic response causing a temporary decrease in cerebral perfusion. Usually, very temporary, and when the body performs it basically goes into a preservation mode, shunting blood supply (i.e. reason for being pale) and adjusts accordingly.