The Purcells

Six Flags Christmas

2011-12-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hannah and I ventured out with the kids for Holiday in the Park at Six Flags...the last time we went they didn't have everything set up and they do Christmas big so it's always a fun time!

It was a nice and chilly day again and to say these two were excited is an understatement!

Ollie didn't want much to do with the characters but Riley sure did!

They flew airplanes!

We took a carousel ride and Riley wanted to ride Racing Stripes as usual!

Then it was time for the swings!

Silly girl!

We had never visited the walruses before but Ollie had so we checked it out. It was one of the coolest things. This walrus is the famous "Jocko" from the movie 50 First Dates and he is such a ham. He would literally make eye contact with the kids right up in their face and they could give him commands and he would do all of them. It was hilarious to watch and Riley and Ollie had a blast...and I think he had a little crush on Riley because he just kept looking right in her eyes!

Once it got dark we went and watched them light the huge tree!

They had the snow park set up again and I knew this would be a hit so we headed that direction next!

The kids had fun playing in the snow and making snow balls!

Then it was time to sled down the hill. I couldn't go down because it's quite bumpy and I wasn't sure if Riley would be up for doing it by herself but she certainly was. Such a big girl!

Off she went..and loved it!

We ended the night with the dolphin show and some hot chocolate and then drove through Inn N Out on our way home for dinner...a fun full day!

A Baby Shower Like You've Never Seen!

2011-12-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

Since so many of my friends are pregnant (9 of us) we didn't want everyone to be bombarded with showers...so there are 4 of us due in January and all of us are having second babies so we decided to have a joint baby shower! It ended up being a dance party and it was awesome! It was like no baby shower I've ever been to! As Ashley said "second time moms don't need onesies...we need a night out"...and that it was!

Here are the preggos...Amy (baby girl due late Jan), Ashley (baby girl due late Jan), Me, and Janel (baby boy due same day as me)

The bellies!

Sara, Nicki, and Hannah...the hostesses and masterminds behind this whole night! Sara also took all the pics and even made an awesome video for us!

The shower was hosted at my house since we had enough room to transform it to a dance floor!

Transform is an understatement...these girls came over the night before and worked their magic decorating...Riley absolutely loved it and would have been happy if the decorations had stayed up for months!

There was even a disco ball in the middle!

The party was on a Friday night which worked out well since Riley went to Parents Night Out at the gym where she takes dance class. It didn't start until 7 so the girls served dessert and mocktails!

There was a chocolate fountain with TONS of things to dip in it!

Hannah made all the drinks...Preggatinis...they were all delish!

After we all talked, ate, and drank it was time for the dancing to begin!

They girls had come up with a playlist of songs that all included "Baby" in them and lots of dance off games! Everyone got into it and we had a blast...I don't think I've laughed so much in one night!

Heather did a full Brittany Spears routine and it was AWESOME!

There was even a hula hoop contest...the preggos did not win that one!

Then there was a preggo dance off and all of us preggos had to dance to Justin Bieber's Baby...somehow I won..it was so much fun!

I had to leave before the party was winding down to get Riley and she was so excited to come back and dance with everyone...my silly girl!

It was such a fun night and we were all sore the next day from all the dancing!!!

Festival of Trees

2011-12-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

Vacaville has a Festival of Trees every year where they auction off decorated Christmas trees with lots of goodies. They have a children's day with lots of fun activities so we went to check it out this year!

Many of the local pre-schools have tables with lots of fun stuff to do!

Riley got a candy cane painted on her face!

She played with some play-dough, made reindeer food, and a few more crafts! When we were finishing up Nicki and Will met us up there and we checked out all the beautiful trees and the kids got to sit on Santa's lap!

After the festival of trees Nicki and Will came over and we gave them their Christmas gifts!

Riley wanted to help Will unwrap his...

But he was just fine on his own!

Why do these guys have a Victoria's Secret box? HeHe!

They were helping Nicki open her present!

Fun times!

Christmas time!!!

2011-12-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

When we got home Riley and I had fun getting the Christmas decorations out!

We put the tree up one night and had some hot chocolate!

We put up Riley's pink tree!

I wanted to sit back and let her do her thing!

She was able to put the hooks on and hang the ornaments all by herself!

I thought it would keep her occupied for quite some time but about 10 minutes in and she wanted me to do the rest! So I obliged and we got her tree all finished!

Next we got our living room tree decorated while we watched Elf one night...which means I did most of the decorating while Riley watched the movie!

She did help some and was so cute thinking about where she wanted the ornaments!

All finished!

We got the stockings hung...this will be the last year for these stockings since we'll need one for Tessa next year!

One day we picked out some ornaments for Riley to paint for all our family and she did such a great job!

We talk about the true meaning of Christmas a lot and Riley decided she wanted one of the ornaments to be for Jesus for his birthday...so sweet!

Christmas time is so much fun and I love doing fun things to celebrate with Riley!

More Vegas fun...

2011-11-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

Our last few days with Jason were spent exploring fun things to do.

He had his final test for his course the Monday after Thanksgiving so unfortunately he had lots of studying to do. He spent a few hours Saturday afternoon studying and then we went and had dinner when he was done. Sunday he studied ALL day so we had a Mommy/Daughter day so he could stay focused!

We found this great park and started the morning off there.

I couldn't help but get a few pics of my sweet girl!

They had a giant sand pit where you could dig for dinosaur bones and she had a blast doing that!

Then they had a gigantic climber...it's just like the one at Six Flags and she loved it.

At Six Flags they don't let her slide down the big slides yet so she was determined to try it out here and she did great!

There were tons of ducks so we had fun playing with them too!

After the park we headed to the movies to see Puss and Boots!

After the movies we grabbed some lunch...silly girl!

We got to spend some time with Jason to give him a study break when we got back and then we just relaxed the rest of the evening while he went up to school to study...it was a late night / early morning for him.

Monday we headed to a different park to play!

When we got there we were the only ones there so Riley decided to do some swinging!

Then we checked out all the fun things to play on...there were lots of new types of play toys and I showed her how to maneuver them!

After a bit lots of kiddos showed up and there was a little girl just her age and they played Rapunzel until it was time to go...she had a blast!

After she napped we headed to this awesome jump house place that Jason had seen. They had the typical bounce houses but they also had a 10,000 square foot trampoline and I had never seen anything like it! I have to admit I was bummed I couldn't get out there and jump with her!

Once again a little girl just her age showed up and they had a blast playing together!

They jumped and jumped and hit up the bouncy houses and slides too!

Needless to say after a full hour of bouncing she was exhausted!

We thought Jason would have the night off since he had a test that day but just as this course had proved in the past he didn't get a break. They got a big group assignment due the next morning so he had to work on that. We picked up Chipotle and ate dinner together in his room and then he headed off to meet his group and get their project done.

This was a very intense course and we knew we wouldn't get much down time with him after Thanksgiving but even the little bit of time during the mornings, lunch, and dinner made it totally worth it.

Tuesday we headed home but not before doing a little more playing. Jason had class so we took his truck and headed to a park near the airport before it was time to leave.

It was a great park in a nice shopping area and they had a full house and bakery to play in!

Riley loved this unicorn and sat on it for a very long time playing princess!

She made a couple friends here too and they had fun running all over the place.

I spun her really fast on the merry go round too which was a big hit!

After the park we headed to the airport. They have valet parking at the airport which worked out so Jason could pick the truck up later. The valet guys got all our luggage loaded on a cart and it worked out well. I have to say though we had a lot of walking to do once inside the airport and by the time we got to our gate both Riley and I were tired, hungry, and cranky! Traveling 35 weeks pregnant is exhausting!

I got us some food and we were ready to get on the plane.

I was getting all of our stuff together and when I turned around I found my traveling buddy looking like this! She wanted everyone on the plane to see her teeth! I just love this girl!

The few days prior Riley was being a bit of a toot to her mama...arguing about EVERYTHING, talking sassy, and negotiating everything. When we got on the plane she was giving me a hard time about not having one of her toys on the plane (it was in our checked bag). I was explaining that the bag was in the belly of the plane and she was arguing that the plane didn't have a belly. She started talking sassy to me so I told her she would lose access to her backpack full of toys if she didn't stop...then she elbowed me...three times! So needless to say she lost her backpack, cried and cried, apologized in an effort to change my mind, and then she was asleep before we even crossed the Vegas mountains. Girl needed a nap...and mama did too!

Vegas Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

This year we had a Vegas Thanksgiving...and it was a blast!

We knew Jason would only get a few days off and he had a lot going on with his school right after the Thanksgiving break so we decided to head out to Vegas for a week to spend some time with him...and my parents decided to meet us out there for Thanksgiving!!!

We left out of SFO late Tuesday night and this was Riley's first flight where she got to sit like a big girl!

She is almost 4 and I was not about to lug her big carseat on the plane being 34 weeks pregnant so now was the time...and she LOVED it! She was so enamored with her new way of flying that she didn't even want to watch a movie or do anything...it was a pretty quick flight and we got some hot chocolate and before we knew it we were there!

We were both so excited to see Jason but nothing beats this little girl running through the airport to jump in her Daddy's arms. Before we got down to the baggage claim she was quickly thrown into the world of Vegas...we were about to go down an escalator and there was a huge Chippendale's sign and Riley spotted it and said "ooohhhh why are those boys naked?" I hadn't seen the sign so I was caught off guard but quickly figured out what she was talking about and she said it loudly so there were many people around us tickled with her comment. Oh goodness!

We got to Jason's room and got all settled. We were in tight quarters but just happy to have some time as a family! Jason had made a special fort for Riley next to our bed and her tent fit under it perfectly...she loved it and we got her to bed!

Jason had class the next day so Riley and I found a park on base and she got some swinging in !

We got to join Jason and his classmates up at their school for lunch...the cadre brought in Mexican food and they had a "GraciasGiving" lunch! It was fun to meet everyone. Riley was a hit...especially when they dressed her up!

Jason was done for the day after lunch and we all went and took naps before we packed up for a few nights on the strip!

My parents flew in that evening and we picked them up and headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner!

We stayed at the MGM Grand and my parents stayed at Paris.

The next morning was Thanksgiving and we met my parents at their hotel to start the day off checking out the strip.

There are lots of people looking to make a dime by dressing up as characters which of course is a big draw for kiddos.

Riley spotted Batman and Spiderman off the bat so she had to get her picture with them!

We walked across the street to check out the Bellagio first. They always have a great display in the atrium and we had heard there was a talking tree that Riley needed to check out!

Silly girl posing with Grammie and JoePa!

Family pic!

The talking tree...Riley did love it and just kept talking away to it as if she were the only one in the room!

After the Bellagio we walked over to Caesar's Palace...and Riley decided she needed to dance for a bit!

She had two dance partners and they each got their turn to dance with her!

We eventually made our way to the Venetian where we had a fabulous Thanksgiving brunch. The food was great and the company was even better...no leftovers but also no cooking!

We had a good walk back to Paris so we were able to walk off some of that food!

Of course we saw some crazy things on our walk back...check out this dog with huge sunglasses and a hat...only in Vegas!

Riley stayed with my parents and Jason and I headed back to our hotel to take a nap...Riley was supposed to nap too but she was having too much fun playing with Grammie and JoePa!

We met back up in their room later to watch the Aggie game...that's all I have to say about that..a bad ending to a great day!

The next day we decided to spend the day away from the strip...you can only be in Vegas for too long (especially with your kiddo) before it's just time to get away. Since Jason had been in Vegas for a few months he knew of some other places to go and see. Our plan was to head to Red Rock Canyon to walk around and take pics...but first we had to grab some lunch.

We headed to the Red Rock Resort and Casino and found had lunch at Yardhouse. We were checking out the resort which had a casino, several restaurants, a movie theater, and a bowling alley. It was VERY nice and there were no seedy people like you find on the strip. Jason went walking around and realized they had a Kid's Quest where Riley could go play for a bit while we had some adult time. We checked it out and it was AWESOME...they had a full playset with tunnels, a basketball court, an iPad station, dress up area, and much more. She saw it and decided she wanted to play right away so while she played we went and did some gambling with my parents. Basically the way things went was that I won money and then Jason would go and lose it...haha! After a couple hours we went to get Riley and she said "are you just checking on me?" She was having fun but we told her it was time to go!

They had a cool arcade next door that was basically a much nicer version of Chuck E Cheese and we spent some time playing games and winning tickets with her!

First off was air hockey which is one of my favorites too!

Next was some guitar hero with her Daddy!

And some Deal or No Deal with Grammie!

We all played and won tickets so Riley could pick out some good loot before we left!

Her choice of items was priceless!

She picked out a crown, a princess bracelet, a sparkly pink ring....AND THESE TEETH!

I love this girl and her oh so fun personality!

We all got a kick out of the teeth...they were surely a hit!

What started out as lunch ended up being an all afternoon adventure but we all had a blast!

Finally it was time to head to Red Rock Canyon just before the sun went down!

It was beautiful and we got some good family photos!

Riley insisted on a funny face photo too!

We let Riley ride in the front seat between her Daddy and JoePa since it was a scenic road with very slow traffic...she LOVED it!

We drove a little further and got a few more pics from another scenic view!

We were able to get all our pics in just before the sun went down!

We took my parents and Riley back to their hotel...Riley spent the night with them and we got a date night...woohoo!

We had already checked out of the MGM and I just assumed we would go back to the base that night but my hubby had different plans! He got us a room at another off the strip resort called the Aliante and it was great!

We had an awesome room and we had dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort and did some gambling...same trend as earlier...I won..he lost :)

We had a great night just the two of us...it was possibly our last date night before we have 2 kids! Thanks to Grammie and JoePa for giving us that time!

We had plans to have brunch at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill the next day so we got ready and picked up my parents and Riley and headed to brunch.

She had a great time...they went to the M&M store, to the movies, and to see the Fountains at the Bellagio. She hadn't had a nap that day and it was a late night...so you know some drama was in store! Apparently she was all tucked in with JoePa and it was looking like she was about to head off to sleep when all of a sudden she said she needed her teeth...you know the beautiful teeth she had won earlier in the day :) My parents told her she didn't need them and she tried to convince them that those teeth were her nightguard and the dentist said she had to sleep with them every night...oh my goodness! You see I just got a night guard and she had been to all of my appointments with me so that's why she had all this knowledge about a night guard. They still weren't buying it and that led to a total breakdown and she pretty much didn't let it go until she passed out in shear exhaustion...crazy girl!

So off to brunch we went and one of Jason's classmates and his daughter were able to eat with us as well. The food was amazing...everything was great and it was fun to try lots of different things. We were totally stuffed by the end!

Riley had fun meeting Steve's daugher Terren and they kept each other entertained during brunch!

Silly girls!

After brunch it was time to take Grammie and JoePa to the airport.

We had such a fun Thanksgiving...Vegas style!

Thanksgiving Feast

2011-11-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

Riley had a Thanksgiving Feast at school and I volunteered to help and got to hang out with her!

It was funny because their feast consisted of chicken nuggets, cornbread, fruit, and jello...not your traditional meal but kid friendly for sure!

We cooked all the food in a tiny kitchen and I had fun meeting some of the parents!

Here's Riley and her friends getting ready to feast...she felt the need to bust out a silly face!

Riley and Maddy...her BFF

Chowing down!

Riley and Wyatt...oh how she loves Wyatt! These two have a little crush going on...good thing he's a sweet boy and his dad is a cop so I think we're good!

Six Flags Fun!

2011-11-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Two summers ago we bought season passes to the Six Flags close to us and absolutely loved it! We didn't get them this past year just because we were busy I guess...really not sure why! So before the holiday celebrations in the park started we got our season passes for next year and access to the park for the rest of this year! Woohoo...lots of fun in store!

Hannah and I headed out one Saturday to take the kids!

We started out checking out the dolphins...I love this picture...Ollie was not happy because we turned him away from the dolphins to take a picture and Riley was just posing away!

Shortly after this there was an incident where Ollie sort of kicked Riley right out of the stroller...yikes...she had no idea it was coming and was pretty upset and Ollie got in some trouble. After that...they were both good to go and the rest of the day went very smooth!

We were off to ride rides...the helicopters were up first!

Hannah and Ollie

Then the kids rode on the frogs all by themselves!

Then we all rode the jeeps and went on a safari!

Then it was time to check out the animals!

Me and my girl!

After checking out all the animals we headed to see the killer whale, Shouka! The kids were so excited and stood through the whole show!

We had run into our friend Tahlia and her daddy earlier so they came to the show with us and the kids had a blast!

And the true sign of a successful day...two sleeping kids!

It was a chilly day but so much fun and perfect for hot chocolate for the mamas!

Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Riley had decided many months before that she wanted to be Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, for Halloween!

She was one beautiful Sleeping Beauty! I blow dried her hair, put a little makeup on her, and she picked out a new pair of earrings to wear that her Daddy had just bought her!

We had taken Jason back to Beale AFB the night before but he and his class were headed to Travis AFB for the next couple days so he got to come back home for one more night. We were hoping he would make it back to get to spend part of Halloween with us but we didn't know how it would all work out!

Hannah had all of us over to her house and we walked up to the local church for their Trunk or Treat and then did some trick or treating on the way back.

Here's the best shot of most of the kiddos before we took off! Riley...with all her boys! :)

Riley loved the Trunk or Treat and especially loved talking to the police man! Everyone was so sweet and made her feel like royalty!

Me and my princess!

Madelyn met us at the Trunk or Treat and the girls were so excited to see each other!

After getting lots of loot Riley had fun playing games and bouncing in the bounce house!

As soon as we finished up at the Trunk or Treat Jason had called and said he was about to be dropped off at our house so I left Riley to trick or treat with her friends and ran home to pick him up. It worked out perfect and he made it back in time for the last house they had stopped at to Trick or Treat...she was so excited!

After all the festivities we went back to Hannah's house and she had made a wonderful tortilla soup for all of us...it was a great night!

Jason spent the night at home and then we all got up super early to take him to base to meet up with his class and have breakfast with all of them. Riley loved meeting everyone and chatting away. We were in the lobby of the base hotel and after she had eaten her breakfast she went off with Jason to meet more of his classmates while I was chatting with some of the others. When I went to find them I turned the corner to see a bunch of grown men with the lobby television turned on to the Disney Channel watching Chuggington with Riley...it was so cute!

Daddy's Weekend Home!!!

2011-10-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

After many weeks of Jason being gone it worked out that he got to spend some time at home with his girls and we were SO excited!

Part of his course they visited Beale AFB and Travis AFB and his trip happened to fall over Halloween weekend so it was great timing!

We drove about an hour to Beale AFB on Friday afternoon to pick him up and bring him home...first we stopped to get the Tahoe all cleaned up...we know how much he loves a clean car!

This little girl was super excited to see her Daddy!

Once we picked him up we headed to On the Border in Sacramento to grab dinner...these two and their silly faces!

And of course Riley had lots of smooches for Daddy!

Saturday morning we headed up to Davis to go to Impossible Acres!

Riley once again loved seeing and holding all the animals!

Cute bunny!

Love my girl!

Riley loved the hay bale maze and so did Jason..the two of them had quite the time playing chase and hide and seek!

There may have been a little rough-housing too!

Such great family time!

This time we made it over to the pumpkins and picked out a couple to carve!

The joy in her face says it all!

After all the fun at the pumpkin patch we headed to Burgers and Brews to grab some lunch and then it was home for all of us to take naps...such a great day!

That evening I made PW's meatloaf and these two carved their pumpkins!

Riley, who has her Daddy's strong sense of smell, was not too keen on the smell of the pumpkin or the yuckiness of the seeds. She loved the carving part though!

She did a great job getting all the seeds out!

She drew the faces on the pumpkins and then Jason carved them...she did such a good job!

The finished product!

She wanted to carve a little one for Tessa..so sweet! We had to turn all the lights off and check out the glowing pumpkins...too bad they were covered in mold just three days later..yuck! They were fun while they lasted!

Sunday we went to church, had sushi for lunch, and then had a lazy afternoon. Jason took Riley to shop for some earrings and some feathers for her hair..he's such a good Daddy! Then we had to head back up to Beale AFB to get him back...it was a quick stop at home but we all needed it and soaked up the family time!

Our little butterfly!

2011-10-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

Riley got to have a special Animal Party at school!

Since her class had been studying the rain forest they each were to come dressed as a rain forest animal! Since I knew we were going to have a princess for Halloween I didn't want to invest too much in an animal costume. We had a cute tutu already and I found some dainty little butterfly wings at the mall one day so a buttefly it was...we weren't the only ones with this idea but it turned out cute!

The parade started about 20 minutes after drop off time so I, along with all of the other moms, drove through Starbucks and I got my pumpkin latte so I was in the mood! :)

There was a big parade and all of the classes strolled through the playground showing off their costumes...here comes Miss Stacey with all the class!

Riley was so excited to see me...love her little wave!

Our sweet little butterfly!

After all the parading around each class sat down on a blanket so everyone could take turns hitting the pinata! All of us parents were amazed at how patient all the kiddos were as they waited for their turn!

Finally it was Riley's turn to take a swing at the pinata!

Then the kids got to pick up all the loot!

Here's Riley's class...such cuties!

Fun at Scientopia and Real Fish Tails!

2011-10-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

We are always looking for new fun things to do...one Wednesday my friend Jill texted me and said they were heading to Scientopia, a fun play place in Napa, to check it out.

Riley and I first took a meal to my friend Erin who just had a sweet baby boy and then we headed to the brand new Chick-Fil-A and ate lunch on the drive to Napa.

Scientopia turned out to be a great little find...lots of fun things for the girls to do!

We started off in the smaller age room with lots of mats and soft toys for the littler kids and then we headed to the big kid room where Riley and Vanessa had a BLAST!

They had this huge castle with lots of prince and princess figurines and Riley loved playing with this!

The girls each played their desired roles and rescued each other and had many "happily ever afters"

I think Riley could have stayed here for hours but there was much more to do and see!

They had an art area, a science area, a grocery store, and of course a dress up area!

Now...here's where I will divert with a little story about this girl. It seems that she will always have a specific item she requests from Santa. Last year she wanted "a doggy and a leash" and she got Macy, her Fur-Real pet. This year she has specifically asked for a "real fish tail." Let me explain and give my appreciation to Disney for this one (note the sarcasm here)! As of late her favorite princess is Ariel and Riley wants "a real fish tail" so she can swim like a mermaid. Obviously this has been quite the tricky thing to acquire. She has a mermaid dress up dress but it only goes about mid calf and you can see her feet. So I wasn't sure if a mermaid costume that would cover her feet and give the illusion that she was a mermaid would suffice or not. She would also talk about using her "real fish tail" in the pool to "really" swim like a mermaid so I was assuming she meant much more. Alas we were at Scientopia and she found this Ariel dress up dress and claimed it had a "real fish tail"!!!

You see how this "real fish tail" sort of covers up her feet so I was pretty relieved when I realized that a costume meeting these requirements would most likely suffice. Jason was relieved too because when she started talking about wanting this "real fish tail" we sort of directed her to ask Santa for it but she has mentioned to Jason several times that when he comes home he needs to bring her a "real fish tail." So...this costume she found must be an older Disney one and I couldn't find it anywhere but I did find this one and since it will completely cover her feet I think she will love it...and even better it's already wrapped and ready for her Daddy to give it to her when he comes home! :)

To top it off my friend Nicki, who knew about this crazy request for a "real fish tail", sent me a link to this mermaid swim fin the other day and it's EXACTLY what Riley is talking about so I had to get that too but I think that will be a special gift from Santa!

Back to our fun day at Scientopia...I think these two girls had fun...don't you?

After all this fun I decided to treat me and Riley to a special sweet treat...we were so close to my favorite little bakery, Sweetie Pie's, so we stopped and shared a huge Oreo cupcake...yummy!

We hit some traffic on the way home and Riley took a snooze...it was a good thing because we had to head to the Commissary to get groceries so I needed her to get a little rest so we could get through all our shopping!

DiDi and Doc come to town...

2011-10-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

DiDi and Doc came for a special visit with Riley and we had such a great time!

We were worried they wouldn't be able to come because DiDi got pretty sick right before their trip but thankfully she recovered quick and they still made it out! Riley was really looking forward to it and so was I...they entertained her and gave me a little break which was so nice! I am lucky to have such great in-laws! Riley didn't quite understand why Bubba and Gaby didn't get to come too...she sure loves her aunt and uncle...but they were busy with sports and school. This also gave Frank and Des special time to just be with Riley.

They got in late Thursday night and we picked them up from the aiport and of course made our usual run through Inn-N-Out for a snack on our way home. It was a late night for Riley but she wasn't phased by it with the excitement of DiDi and Doc being here!

Friday they had a fun full day...

First off there were some piggy back rides for the princess!

Then they were off for some soccer at the park. Doc is a great soccer player so he gave Riley some tips!

They grabbed lunch at McDonald's and then they headed to the Jelly Belly Factory!

I made some headway on the baby bedding while they were out and I also got a super special package from the mail man!

Jason had gotten Riley some special presents the week before and he had shipped them to her because he wanted her to have the joy of getting a package! He told her about it a little too soon because she literally checked the mail moments after he told her he shipped them and every day after looking for her "treats"...finally the package had arrived while she was out with DiDi and Doc so I left it on the doorstep for her to open after her nap!

To say she was excited was an understatement...it was so fun to watch her open it!

She got a princess video camera, a fun splashy pig toy, and Ariel and Prince Eric dolls...they were truly a hit and she literally didn't go anywhere without them for days!

As soon as we got all 500 pieces of plastic off the dolls and got them out of the package...she let them have true love's kiss!

Such a great Daddy!

We went out for a nice dinner that evening at Vintage Cafe..one of our favorites! I knew Frank and Desiree would love it!

Riley wanted to wear DiDi's glasses and she looked pretty cute in them!

The she started making funny faces and so far this is my favorite funny face from Riley...she is such a hoot!

Saturday morning we headed to Suisun to eat at Bab's Delta Diner...a fun spot for a scrumptious breakfast!

We walked around a bit before our table was ready...it was a gorgeous day!

We got some pics with DiDi and Doc!

And of course we had to do funny faces too!

Ariel and Prince Eric came to breakfast with us...of course!

I just can't get enough of this sweet girl!

We all cleared our plates at breakfast! I headed home to get some more sewing done and DiDi and Doc took Riley for more soccer at the park and a trip to the pumpkin patch!

She had fun in the corn bath...and can you find Ariel in the pic? :)

I got a text from DiDi when they were on their way home that said "headed home with a tired, dusty, hungy girl :)" so I made some homemade pizzas and salad and had dinner ready shortly after they got home. We got Riley fed and bathed and it was off to bed for her! DiDi and Doc were wiped out too but we had rented Lincoln Lawyer and watched that after Riley was asleep!

Sunday we went to church, came home for lunch, and then spent the rest of the day checking out Muir Woods!

It was a busy day but the weather was great and it's just so beautiful!

It's just amazing how big these trees are!

We had a blast and a workout...when we got all the way inside the park almost to the point where you would turn around Riley had to go potty...and badly. Thankfully Doc pushed her fast in the stroller and we made it back to the bathrooms on time. Then we went all the way back in to keep looking around. I didn't think we would need the stroller but I'm so glad we ended up taking it...Riley was still worn out from the few days before so she actually spent quite a bit of time riding around rather than walking.

After Muir Woods we went into downtown Sausalito and ate at a restaurant overlooking the bay...we had a great seafood dinner and then headed home...we were all pretty wiped out! DiDi and Doc had to leave bright and early the next morning so it was straight to bed for all of us! We had such a great time and Riley got to do so many fun things while they were here and I got to work on some projects and get a little bit of a break...it was wonderful!

Thanks DiDi and Doc for everything!

School Pictures

2011-10-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Riley had pictures at school and she was so excited about it!

We got up early so she could have her hair "long and straight" and she got to wear a new dress and boots!

I had volunteered to help with picture day...getting the kids in and out and keeping them entertained while waiting and I had so much fun.

Riley's class went first and she took some great pics!

It was so funny...being a mom of only a girl...to see how the little boys behaved! There are four classes in her preschool with the youngest ones being 2 1/2 and the oldest being 5 and it didn't matter which age group was getting their pics taken..."most" of the girls would sit in a row and wait patiently for their turn and there were always one or two boys who were pushing other kids out of their seats, wrestling, and just couldn't contain themselves. Too funny! We got those boys in and out as quickly as possible so they could go back to their classrooms!

Shopping Day!

2011-10-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

What's more fun than turning a day of having to go to Sacramento for airport runs and doctors appointments into a fun shopping day!

Nicki had to get her mom to the airport in Sac and then had a doctor's appointment later in the afternoon...since I was watching Will for the appointment we decided to just all go to Sac and make a fun day of it!

We dropped Will's Grammy off at the airport and headed to Roseville where they have great shopping and restaurants!

Will is pretty much in love with Riley these days...just smitten with her! It's so cute!

They were both very good while we strolled through the mall!

They were so good we let them ride the Fun Bus before we left!

We headed to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch...yummy!

It was a beautiful day and we got to sit out on the patio and enjoy it!

I got some cute pics of the kiddos before we ate!

See how he looks at her with those eyes? The boys have all been after Riley lately...not sure if I'm ready for all that yet but considering that Will's not even two yet I think it's pretty innocent! ;)

Me and my girl!

Will and his Mama!

After lunch we dropped Nicki off at her appointment and I headed home with the kids...the goal was to keep them awake on the way home and then put them both down for naps! I was successful with Riley but I could hear Will snoring about two minutes into our drive home...he was so tuckered out! When we got home I was able to get him back down though and they both slept for a little bit!

It was a great day!

Two Silly Girls

2011-10-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

One Sunday afternoon Riley had her friend Izzy over to play. This is the same friend she had her first sleepover with and Izzy had never been to our house so we invited her over!

The girls had so much fun and played so well together. They only fought once and it was a miscommunication...neither of them were being mean. You fellow moms will understand how great it is when your child has friends that they just play well with...makes it more fun for everyone!

I think there were approximately 35,456 wardrobe changes between the two of them but they shared everything so well!

I got to see some beautiful brides!

I put the princess tent up for them in the playroom and they just had a great time. I worked on some of my sewing projects and just let them do their thing...and I kept checking in and ease dropping on their conversations...so fun to listen to!

After a bit it was snack time. They found a cute cafe where they could bring their sleeping babies and had some applesauce...I got to be the waitress!

Then came the silly faces!

These girls are two peas in a pod when it comes to silly faces! Riley LOVES to make silly faces...apparently Izzy does too...they literally cracked me up!

These are just a few of the many faces I got to see!

What fun girls!

Stamping fun!

2011-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

While I've been sewing I've been coming up with fun crafty things for Riley to do at the table with me. I thought to bring out all my stamp stuff one day...it hasn't been out and used in quite some time and she loves getting stamps at dance class so I thought this would be fun for her!

She was pretty intense checking everything out!

She doesn't look like she's having too much fun here!

But this was her a few seconds later!

She had fun stamping and got her hands nice and covered in ink...craft project success!

Love the simple things and this smile of course!

Loving Fall

2011-10-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

I love the time of Fall...leaves changing color, cooler weather, pumpkin EVERYTHING...just love it all!

We didn't really have cooler weather yet and while some leaves change around here it's not like in other places but I made all of that up with the amount of pumpkin things I've been baking lately.

Another fun thing about Fall is pumpkin patches!!

We met Janel and Madelyn at Impossible Acres...this great pumpkin patch for some fun!

My pumpkin

I've been sewing a lot lately with all the projects to get ready for Miss Tessa's arrival and I decided to sew Riley a cute shirt for Halloween...it was my first one and I learned a few lessons and it has several imperfections but all in all I love how it turned out!

Riley was ready to be done with taking pictures because she could not wait to see the animals!

Unfortunately I didn't realize that they cater to school groups during the week so we had to kill some time before they just let anyone into the petting zoo. She was not happy about that but got to see the baby goats through the fence and that held her over!

We decided to go to the hay maze and let's just say it was so much fun!

I would hide and jump out and got this reaction EVERY time!

Riley and Madelyn...sweet girls

I love this picture of her..it captures it all...the joy, the energy, the fun!

Janel and Madelyn

Me and my girl

We spotted a super furry caterpillar and the girls had fun checking it out...Riley was all about touching it and trying to pick it up!

At last it was our turn to see the animals...we started with the baby kittens and they were so cute! This was Riley's favorite and she talked about this for days...she even named this little guy Butterscotch!

Chit chatting with the bunny!

Running around in the pig pen!

Giving Kisses, the miniature horse, some love. The sign said he was grumpy because of an injured back so I just let her pet a few times!

We never even made it to the pumpkins to pick any out before it was time to go..the girls were having too much fun with the animals and the hay maze!

I had a doctor's appointment to get to and this was the first one Riley was able to go to. The clinic I transferred to off base is FABULOUS! I can't say enough great things about them and the care I am receiving. They encourage you to bring your kiddos and I knew Riley would love it! She took her Ariel doll in with us and pretended that was her baby. Jennifer, the midwife I saw, let her help get the doppler in the right spot to hear Tessa's heartbeat and Riley was in awe. She asked me if it hurt because it went "boom boom boom"...so cute! I love getting to take her with me and seeing her wrap her head around all of it...she always has great questions and they always have great toddler appropriate answers!

Dinner Date...

2011-10-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

When Jason's gone we try and keep busy...and we especially try to keep busy with our friends whose Daddy's are also gone!

We met some new friends through FitMoms, the weekly mom/kiddo exercise class my friend Ashley teaches that we go to every Friday.

Janel, her hubby, and their sweet little girl Madelyn just moved here last Spring and it's been fun getting to know them. She also works part time from home (for a different company than me) and is pregnant with her second...a baby boy...and we share the same due date!

Madelyn just turned two and she looks up to Riley and loves playing with her...Riley loves her too!

Janel's husband left for training about a month after Jason and they both come home about the same time so I invited them over to play and have dinner with us one night. I made some enchiladas I found the recipe for on Pinterest (I'm addicted to this but I think it's a "safe" addiction if I can actually do/make the things I pin).

The girls were having fun slurping the juice from their oranges and giggling! Speaking of I'm so glad they started making these fruit cups with 100% juice...I never let Riley drink the juice from the syrup ones so now she loves to drink it and I'm ok with it!

Silly girls!

The girls did lots of playing and us moms got to chat and relax...it was a great night!

Riley put all the jewelry and hair accessories from her Little Mermaid jewelry set on her Ariel doll...so fun!

Long straight hair!

2011-10-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Riley seems to live in a princess world these days..it's just her thing!

She was born with her mama's hair, thin hair but lots of it and curls! Everyone always loves her curls and wants to touch her hair and some people even ask me if it's natural...duh! Who would take their child to get a perm at this age and do people even get perms anymore? Yes it's natural, and naturally she would want straight hair...just like her Mama! That's the thing with us girls...it seems we're never happy with what we have!

I had never thought of blow drying it until about a year ago when she had her first hair cut and Christi blew it dry...on my gracious it was so cute!

I blew it dry a few times after that but it was a constant struggle...every brush stroke hurt, the dryer was too hot, and she just didn't have the patience!

Now, though, since our trip to Disneyland she has realized that if her hair is blow dried straight she looks like she has "princess hair", mainly like Aurora's! So every now and then if we have time she asks me to make it "long and straight" and I blow dry it for her. She is now very well behaved and very patient so it's not too big of a deal!

The thing is she looks SOOOO different when she has curly hair and straight hair...I think it makes her look older and it adds about 4 inches to the length.

One morning we blew it dry for school and she said "my friends will think I'm a new friend"...even she recognizes how different she looks!

The good thing about our hair is that it's easy to blow dry...and I just use a round brush and blow it dry and it makes these perfect curls at the end...so cute and so long!

She's just like me too in that she likes to put her hands through it when it's blow dried...she also loves to run around the house and make it "fly" meaning that it bounces off her shoulders...such a girl!

I have already warned Jason that if we end up with three girls in this house that have curly hair and prefer it straight he's going to have to learn how to blow dry some hair or we'll NEVER be anywhere on time!

She still has great curls though and I love them too!

Let the showers begin...

2011-10-01T23:21:00.000-07:00

Well...let's just say that pregnancy is becoming a pretty common thing amongst my friends these days! I have several great friends from Arkansas that either just had or are about to have babies and there are 8 of us in my Bible study that are pregnant...CRAZY!

Here are the Arkansas girls from when we visited in August...two of those babies have already been born!

And here are my Bible study girls here in Cali...we are in order of birth and the two girls in front of me just had their sweet boys so I'm next!

Our Bible study has always called ourselves the Bible Babes but one of the hubby's thinks we should change that to Bible Baby Making Babes..ha!

With all of these miracles making their debut soon the showers have begun!

We had a shower for my friend Becky and I offered to make the cupcakes. She wanted chocolate on chocolate and I had no problems with that!

As usual I had some help from my sous chef, Miss Riley!

I kept a few extra cupcakes for her to ice "all by herself" and she had a blast!

And of course she got to do her favorite thing...taste our baking creation!

They turned out pretty yummy and looked cute too!

We had a great time eating and showering Becky with lots of fun gifts!

Ashley, Me, Amy, Becky, Jennie, and Erin...such a fun day!

It Never Fails...

2011-09-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

Every time Jason leaves, whether it's a short trip or a long one, the idea of something breaking is always looming. It seems like it never fails that as soon as he leaves something goes wrong.

Well this trip is no exception!

A few weeks into this TDY I was doing laundry and went to get the clothes out of the dryer and they were wet and it was cold inside the dryer. I knew something was wrong but I didn't know the first place to start...was it the heating element, a thermometer, or would we just have to get a new dryer?

Nicki and Chad were so nice to come over one evening to help me check things out. With the help of some videos we found online we got the back off and the heating element out but still couldn't tell if that was the issue or not. The next day I found a local appliance store that carried the heating element I needed and they were so nice...the guy told me to bring in the heating element and both thermometers and they would test them all to find out which one was broken so I would know what part to buy!

So off I went with all the parts in hand...when I got there he actually found a broken coil in the heating element that we never saw so that was obviously the problem. $32 later and I was out the door...now we just had to get it reinstalled.

Nicki came over one morning and the two of us let the kids fend for themselves and we worked on getting the dryer back together. We realized we had not documented the electrical wires and where they hooked in quite as well as we should of so we had to make a couple of changes through trial and error but after a bit there was hot air blowing and it was a success!

We never knew we could add "Dryer Repair" to our resumes one day but now we can!

After the dryer incident I thought perhaps that would be the one thing I would have to deal with this time and I was in the clear...until one night when I went to get something out of the car and I saw a mouse jump out in one corner of our garage! YUCK!

I have never lived anywhere that I had to deal with mice. Apparently they are sort of common here but that's still not OK with me. A few days later I was talking to a couple of my neighbors and they were telling me about all the mice they had trapped in their garage...and it freaked me out. We had a huge grass fire very close to our house several months ago and everyone is speculating that the fire has pushed the mice into the neighborhoods. So I went and got a couple of mouse traps and baited them with peanut butter. Never a dull moment around here!

BBQ and a sleepover!

2011-09-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Lynden and her husband had a great cook out on a great Saturday afternoon and Riley and I went for all the fun!

She had lots of friends to play with and she had a blast!

I got to chat with the girls, eat some good food, and we even made s'mores in their firepit!

While we were there my friend Sara who is a VERY talented photographer took Riley outside to practice using her new lens...here are the shots she got of our sweet girl!

When it was time to go Izzy and Riley had schemed up a sleepover...I wasn't sure because I didn't know how Riley would actually do. Or perhaps I didn't know how I would actually do!

Lynden and her hubby were up for it and since they live just a few streets over from us I figured it was pretty much the best situation. We told the girls they could have a sleepover and they were ECSTATIC! They set up a big "bed" of blankets and pillows on their living room floor and I got Riley all ready for bed. I asked her several times if she was sure and she grabbed my face gently and said "I will miss you mommy but don't cry. I'm going to have lots of fun." Oh my gosh when did she get so big?

So I headed home All.By.Myself. I didn't know what to do! I have never spent a night alone in this house all by myself. I was talking to Jason and he was telling me to get some sleep but I was worried...what if Riley needs me? what if she doesn't make it all night? I finally enjoyed my freedom and did a few things and then went to sleep...and never got a phone call!

I went over to there house about 9:00 the next morning to pick Riley up and get her ready for church and she had done great! No accidents, they did some sleeping, and most importantly they had SO.MUCH.FUN!

I found out later she was exhausted from all the fun because she took almost a 4 hour nap that afternoon!

Science Museum Fun!

2011-09-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

The third Wednesday of every month the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has a free day so Nicki and I decided to head to the city and take the kiddos!

Riley was not excited about the "long" ride...and there was a little drama between her and Will...at some point she started crying big time and said Will bit her finger. It was reminding me of the infamous "Charlie bit my finger" video on YouTube and she had some bite marks on her little finger for proof! I had to explain that Will is younger and a boy...she didn't quite understand but she toughed it out and we all made it to San Francisco!

We got there early and that was a good move because by the time we left it was getting pretty crowded!

Me and my girl!

Nicki and Will

There were tons of great exhibits to check out!

One of our favorites was the rainforest! It was several stories showing all the different layers of the rainforest and we learned all about them and see all the different kinds of animals that live in each layer!

It was very humid inside and felt like we were really in the rainforest!

The sun shining through the top!

Beautiful birds flew all around!

There were some awesome bright colored frogs to look at!

Butterflies were also flying all over the place!

At the very bottom was an aquarium that you could walk under...super cool!

After checking out the rainforest we headed to the penguin exhibit just in time to watch them get fed!

Riley loved watching the the penguins being fed and she stayed after to ask lots of questions from the girl who told us all about the feeding. She had some good questions..and some silly ones too!

We saw some awesome turtles!

After checking out most of the exhibits we headed to this awesome play area and Riley and Will had a blast!

They had a big pretend ship that had sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and all sorts of fun things to play with!

Riley was very busy and Will was anxious to keep up with her!

After some fun playing we headed to the cafe in the museum and grabbed lunch!

Both kids took naps most of the way home and it was a great day!

We have talked a lot about this fun day since and Riley had fun at the museum but she talks about what a long ride it was to the museum. She has had long rides on her mind since we drove to Disneyland which was the longest she had been in the car since we moved out here...and she doesn't remember that trip. So now whenever we are going somewhere she asks "is it gonna be a long ride?" and then she says "can't we just fly there?"...gotta love my little jet setter but we are not going to be flying 50 miles to San Francisco anytime soon!

Our Shepherd girl...

2011-09-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Riley started her new preschool in August and it has been GREAT!

She goes to Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran. Jason and I were both raised in the Lutheran school system but we went to rival schools in San Antonio. He went to Shepherd of the Hills and I went to Concordia. Our high school was supported by all the schools. Jason and all of his friends were always referred to as the "Shepherd Boys" and we always kept the rivalry going even through high school about which school was better. So...when we enrolled Riley at Shepherd of the Hills I had to wave the white flag surrendering to the battle because my little girl is now a "Shepherd Girl"!

She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and stays for the after school program called Cherubs. I get to pack her lunch and she is in a room with 8 other 3/4 year olds and she is LOVING it!

One Tuesday night they school had an Open House for us parents to see what the kiddos do all day long...

We headed to school after dance class and there was a special scavenger hunt the kids did to show us around...we had to meet one of their friends, find the circle area, etc.

Riley was showing me one of the puzzles she likes to do!

September's theme was Farm animals...here is Riley the farmer!

Here's some of the other animals on the walls!

This is Riley's teacher..Miss Stacey...she is GREAT!

After checking out all the fun they have in their classroom we headed outside for ice cream sundaes...what a treat!

Ballerina Birthday!

2011-09-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Riley got to go to a special ballerina party for her new friend Ella!

Ella turned 4 and her mom did an AWESOME job planning a very special party for her!

All the girls wore their ballerina outfits to the party!

Here's my sweet ballerina!

Posing...silly girl!

All the girls got special tutus when they arrived and the biggest surprise of all...a REAL ballerina came to the party!

Riley and all the girls were enamored with her and Riley even asked her if she was a princess and if she knew Ariel and Rapunzel...so cute!

She danced for the girls and let them ask all kinds of questions!

How special it was for these little ballerinas!

Other fun things at the party were getting their nails done, hearing a ballerina story, hitting a pinata, doing a fun craft, and having some yummy cake pops!

It was a beautiful morning and we had a full day because Vanessa and her brother came home with us and I had all three kids all day...it was lots of fun! The girls played, Max took a nap, and we all survived!

Make room for baby...

2011-09-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

With another girl on the way I have lots of projects up my sleeve!

First off was to get all of Riley's clothes re-organized. I have kept EVERY outfit and they were all somewhat organized but I wanted to organize them more, get all of the clothes into spacebags, and possibly get rid of some things!

I started out with random tubs / bags of clothes...

It took about a week altogether but it was a fun process.

We are blessed to be having another girl and born in the same season as Riley so we should get to reuse pretty much everything. I sorted it all by size / season and had so much fun reminiscing as I went.

It was amazing how an outfit would bring back so many memories. Riley had so many clothes for her first year of life that many of them she only wore once or twice so I would remember specific things we did when she was wearing a certain outfit.

It was fun for her to see all the little things she used to wear too!

I started putting them in space bags which saves so much space.

I also set aside clothes that were more worn or just things we didn't need and my friend had a yard sale so I organized it all and sold it there. The things that didn't sell at the yard sale I ended up selling in lots on eBay.

Tada! Ths finished product!

I ended up getting all of these clothes into three tubs...so nice!

A few fun things I learned in this process...

1. I have a "slight" problem with buying baby girl shoes!

I can't get this picture to turn the right way but these are just the 12 pairs of shoes I had for Riley when she was 6-12 months old...not even a walking child...but they are so cute!

2. Some things are more suitable for Miss Riley now than when she was a baby!

Now I can cross one of my projects off the list...baby clothes / baby gear is all organized!

Our Riley girl...

2011-09-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

With all the blogging hiatus I think it's about time I just write about this sweet girl.

She is such a big girl these days and I can't wait to see her experience her role as a big sister!

She is inquisitive, smart, funny, loving, spunky, and always keeps us on our toes!

She has such a childlike faith and I have loved seeing her learn and try and grasp all the things she's learning about Jesus. The other night she said "Mommy...Jesus is in my belly." I asked her if she was pretending and she said "No...my heart is in my belly and Jesus is in my heart"...well that makes sense then doesn't it? We have read all the way through her Bible and started it over again and it's amazing what she has grasped from all the stories. We were at some friends one night recently and there were two other girls her age and they were all playing...I went to check on them and heard Riley say "but Jesus healed me" and then I popped my head in and she said "we were playing that I was sick but Jesus healed me"

Now I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I also didn't share that she has learned to use Jesus against me to. When I have found her doing something that I don't think she should be doing she has responded with "Jesus told me to and Jesus is my boss"...not sure how to respond to that but I have had to tell her numerous times to either talk to Jesus again or to remember that Jesus wants her to obey her Mommy and Daddy. Faith like a child!

Riley has made great strides in grasping some of the tough parts of being a kid...learning to share and be a good friend. I am so proud of her but there have definitely been some tough moments. To see her heart for her friends and learn that it truly feels good to be nice, to put others first, and to genuinely care for others is just so awesome! One experience that I remember vividly was when her friend Vanessa came over a few days after we got home from Disneyland. Riley had already told Vanessa about her Rapunzel hair and I knew that this Rapunzel hair was probably going to be a tough thing for Riley to share. I had a choice...put it away while Vanessa came over or try and make a teaching moment. We were on a walk that morning and talked all about sharing...even our most special toys...with our friends. I thought Riley was prepped and on board. As soon as Vanessa arrived the girls wanted to dress up and Vanessa wanted to be Rapunzel...uh oh! So this sent Riley into hysterics and she was crying away...another thing that we are working on because I think she turns to crying too quickly for a big girl. I sent Riley to her room until she could stop crying and Vanessa then decided to be The Little Mermaid...and she was totally content. When Riley calmed down and was ready to play I let her put on the Rapunzel dress and hair since Vanessa was happy as the mermaid...but I made it clear that it would next be Vanessa's turn. The girls were playing and having a grand 'ol time!

So about a half hour later it was time for Vanessa to get a turn and I told Riley "two more minutes." The girls went down the hall and I heard Riley say to Vanessa "but you like being Ariel don't you? Don't you just want to be Ariel?"...wow...Riley was trying to convince her friend that she didn't want to be Rapunzel so she didn't have to share. Smart? Yes. Nice? Not so much. I immediately interceded and made Riley take off all of the Rapunzel stuff. She was not happy and was again sent to her room until she was done crying. In the meantime I got Vanessa all set up to be Rapunzel...

Eventually Riley calmed down and came out of her room and just melted into my arms...it was as if she knew what she had done and I could feel her just let it all out as I held her. We talked about how pretty Vanessa looked and how it's fun to see our friends have fun. From that moment on the girls shared the Rapunzel stuff fabulously the rest of the day..Riley decided to be Belle while Vanessa was Rapunzel and they had a lot of fun. I felt like we made a huge stride that day and in the moment I wasn't sure it would have long term effect or if all the drama was worth it but now that it's been a few weeks I am positive it was a good decision. We have referred back to this day many times since and she has had a much more open heart to sharing...phew!

Riley has had the hardest time with Jason being gone this time...I just think it gets tougher EVERY time. She is older and understands so much more yet she still doesn't have an understanding for time. Having to say goodbye to Jason at the airport was so hard on her and she cried in a way that I've never heard her cry. The first couple of days she would say "I see Daddy's truck...he's coming home" or we would be on our way home and she would say "I know Daddy's there". She would start crying during our night time prayers because she was sad she missed her Daddy. One day we were driving and listing to Dirt Road Anthem...a song we often listened to in Jason's truck...she often requests to hear it and to "jam" to it. She had been singing and all of a sudden she stopped. I turned around and just saw tears streaming down her face. When I asked her what was wrong she said "this song reminds me of my Daddy and I just miss him so much" Uugghhh...broke this mama's heart and of course Jason's too when I told him. I'm so thankful she has such a strong love and bond with her Daddy but this separation thing is just so hard on her.

He's not too far away yet it's as if he's half way across the planet. After the first couple of weeks I'm happy to see that she is settling in and she is dealing with it all without any breakdowns. Jason tries to video chat with us every night before she goes to bed and that truly makes all the difference. She loves to make silly faces with him and ask him about his day. She refers to us as "Daddy's girls" because that's what he always call us and I love it. We are settling into our routine and I have let her sleep with me one night on the weekends, but we sure can't wait to be under one roof as a family again. She will be over the moon when her Daddy is home!

She's so determined. When she finds something she can't do or hasn't learned yet, she will become fixated on it until she can get it done. Back at the CDC when she moved up to preschool the monkey bars were new and a challenge. She worked on them every single day and would come home with blisters on her hands...but after several weeks she was able to get across all the monkey bars.

Over the past couple months every week at her dance class when they have switched from ballet to tap she has been determined that she could tie her own shoes. She honestly hadn't been taught anything but every week we would go round and round when it came time to put her tap shoes on. Finally I told her we would work on tying her shoes. I started teaching her with the two bunny ears approach but that was tough so we went to the one bunny ear approach and wrapping the lace around. We would work on it every now and then and she would practice on my shoes sometimes but when I started going through all of her old clothes and shoes she found a pair of tennis shoes with laces and tied them right up... I had no idea she had really grasped it but see for yourself!

At her new school her big project has been the swings. They didn't have swings back at the CDC and she has been determined to be able to swing all by herself. She has shared with me how the teachers will help them get started by saying "One for the money...two for the show..pump your legs...and go go go!" and they would help her get started. However, she can now get on the swings all by herself, get started, and before you know it she's flying so high she's giving me a heart attack! I'm so proud of her determination and how motivated she is to tackle something that is challenging for her.

Here are just a few funny stories I want to remember:

* One night after a bath she was pretending she was Mary and her Daddy was Joseph. Jason went to get her princess jammies and she said "Where did you get those?" He told her he got them in Bethlehem and she replied "at Target?"

* On the way to school one day we were talking about how God made her and she said "Jesus made me so special...with stars! He gave me those stars with his blue wand...and Mary has a pink wand."

* We saw a tree with no leaves on it and she said "oh no that tree has no leaves...God will be so sad"

* On one of our recent plane trips she said "look Mommy at the mountains...they are chocolate ones"

* Riley has named her baby sister Coco since we first told her about the baby. One day she noticed that perhaps my belly wasn't the only thing getting bigger on me. She said "oh mommy..your booty is so big. Is Coco sad that she's in your booty now and not in your belly?"...wow...I'm totally embarrassing myself on this one but you know it made me laugh so hard and I want to remember this...and perhaps remind her of it one day long from now when she's pregnant :)

Fun Times!

2011-09-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Once we got back from Disneyland Riley and I got into our routine.

My girl and I totally miss Jason but we know how to have fun too!

Riley goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays at her new pre-school and I use that time to get my work done! The rest of the week we have plenty of time to have lots of fun!

We have met friends at Kids Gone Wild a couple of times!

She and her buddy Carter have a blast together and Riley never wants to leave the huge slide!

We may or may not go to Inn N Out after Kids Gone Wild (wink wink). It has sort of become a tradition and I can't complain...and since I've been introduced to their neapolitan shake I am really not complaining!

We have had lots of fun lunch dates...just my girl and I...I had to go up to Davis one day to take care of some paperwork at my doctor's office so we went to my favorite Thai restaurant!

We got some ice cream afterwards and Riley thanked me with lots of kisses that afternoon!

On many mornings if we don't have to be somewhere early she cuddles in bed with me and watches cartoons...and sometimes we have breakfast in bed!

We enjoy the nice weather lots too! My friend Ashley teaches a FitMoms class and we always go to it on Friday...Riley is great and she runs around with all us moms getting a work out and then it's play time at the park for her afterwards!

At home we have been riding her bike, playing soccer and tee-ball, and taking lots of walks!

Sometimes she gets a special treat and gets to play with her make-up...I go back and forth with this because she wants to do this every day but I don't want her thinking she needs to put make up on every day either. She knows that she can't leave the house with make up on and most of the time I limit her use of it and only when I know we're not going to be going anywhere the rest of the day...she sure has fun though!

She even gave me a face sticker!

We've made several shopping trips and we always have to stop at the carousel for a ride on Racing Stripes!

And one day I even surprised her and took a nap with her...this was the picture we sent to Jason before we took a snooze. As Riley said, "Daddy's girls are tired"

Where Dreams Come True...Day Three

2011-09-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

Our third day started out with a little girl who was begging to paint her mama's nails! When she had her makeover at they Bippity Boppity Boutique they sent her home with the nail polish they used and she claimed she had sweet dreams about painting my nails.

I couldn't let her down so while I laid in bed I let her start off the day with painting my nails!

Here's the finished product! Honestly I kept it like this for a few weeks before I had the heart to take it off...she kept saying how beautiful my nails looked!

Her princess outfit of choice was Cinderella and since not one piece of hair had come out of her updo we let her wear it up again!

When we first entered the park we came across a Jedi training class and Riley was up for it and wanted to try and get in the class so we waited for the next one to start and she practiced up on her dance moves while we waited!

They just picked kiddos randomly from the audience and we were so hoping she would get picked and sure enough she did...she was the tiniest one and of course the best princess in the group...they had so much fun with her!

She had some trouble getting the light sabre to work but she got lots of help, listened to all of the directions, and had a ball...I love this expression she shot at us!

Our little princess fought Darth Vader with all her might!

The graduating Jedi class!

After the Jedi class Jason went to ride a "Daddy ride" and I thought I would take her on the Buzz Lightyear ride...we stood in line and got to the very front and she wigged out and got completely scared. So that was a no go!

We decided then that she was so over the rides and we would spend our last day just meeting characters because that is what just made her day!

So off we went to Pixie Hollow to see some fairies!

On the way we ran into the Fairy Godmother!

Once we got to Pixie Hollow Riley got to meet Silvermist first!

Then she got to meet the one and only Tinkerbell!

She loved talking to the characters and often we would have to remind her that other people were waiting in line too...she could have talked to them ALL day!

When we left Pixie Hollow she realized she forgot to ask Tinkerbell for some pixie dust...so cute!

We headed off then to meet more Princesses!

She got to meet Tiana...

Then Belle...she just adored Belle and Belle seemed to adore Riley too!

Next up was Jasmine!

They had a princess coronation that we got seats to watch but they had technical difficulties and the show didn't end up happening...so we chowed down on some cotton candy and then they announced that more princesses just might come out!

Riley got to practice her Princess skills!

The princesses that came out she had already met at the breakfast and they were different girls but she didn't even notice and loved getting to see them again!

The one and only Aurora!

Cinderella was next and she was so tickled to be dressed like her!

Next up was Snow White!

Riley was super chatty with Snow White reminding her not to eat apples but also asking if she ate her vegetables!

After all the princess fanfare we decided to heat to Toon Town adn check it out!

Riley had a blast riding this roller coaster with her Daddy!

We had one special princess that we hadn't gotten to meet yet and she had her own house that you could visit to meet her...Rapunzel!

The line was a bit long but TOTALLY worth the wait! Riley made some friends while we waited and they all showed off their loot and played with each other!

Finally it was Riley's turn...and to her surprise Flynn was there too...I think this might have been her most magical moment!

Rapunzel asked Princess Riley if they could be best friends forever...don't you know this just made her day!

Getting their autographs!

She talked non stop and even told them about painting my nails that morning. Then she told them that if her Daddy ever fell asleep on the couch she was going to paint his toenails...they got a kick out of that!

One more hug before we had to leave!

Riley had her eye on this Rapunzel hair from day one so after we met Rapunzel we told her she could go get it...one happy girl!

She then danced all around in front of the castle with her hair swinging all over the place...people were stopping just to watch her because she was just in her own world having so much fun!

We wanted to end our time at Disneyland with Mickey and Minnie's parade so we headed that direction and our little princess was totally tuckered out! We claimed front row seats for the parade and let her snooze until the parade started!

Once the parade started Riley was awake and ready to watch and it was an AWESOME parade and a perfect way to end our trip!

Just love this look of wonder in her face looking at all the dancing and details on the floats!

Ariel came along...

Then the princesses...

One happy girl!

The Lion King...

Tinkerbell

She got a handshake from Mr. Smee...fun!

Everything was magical through her eyes!

It was sad to say bye to Disneyland but we truly had the best time and can't wait to go back...with both girls!

We headed back to our hotel and ate dinner in the lobby...they had a great set up for the kids where they could eat in these comfy chairs and watch movies...lo and behold Tangled was playing so our little Rapunzel got to watch it while she ate her dinner. We took turns eating and packing up...the bittersweet part to this trip was that the next morning would be goodbye for us. Jason drove onto Las Vegas for AMOS and Riley and I flew home.

Where Dreams Come True...Day Two

2011-09-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

Our second day started out with something very special for Riley...a full makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boutique!

We let her pick out her princess attire for the day and she decided to be Belle!

Riley was so excited and they were running a little behind but she was so patient as we waited for a Fairy Godmother in training to come get her!

Finally it was her turn!

Her hair got combed, sprayed, and put up in the Fairy Tale updo with a tiny little tiara!

Next came some nail painting!

A little bit of makeup!

And of course some glitter pixy dust!

At last she was swung around in her chair, the curtains were pulled back, and the magic mirror revealed our beautiful princess!

Family pic!

Our beautiful girl...inside and out!

Our timing couldn't have been any better...as soon as we left the boutique we spotted The Beast and we had to go meet him...after all Belle had to get a picture with her beast!

It was so sweet...he bowed down to Belle and danced her around!

Beauty and the Beast

Next we spent time riding rides...the Dumbo ride, the storybook boat ride, and of course It's a Small World!

This was also the time I went to get Fast Passes and ended up getting them for the wrong ride and then preceded to lose my park 3 day hopper ticket...who would think to put a preggo in charge of such important things? No harm was done and they reprinted my ticket...thank goodness!

After all of that fun it was time for lunch...and we had been told by the Welch's that we must have corn dogs at some point during our trip so that's what we did for lunch. OH.MY.GOODNESS! Just picture a huge corn dog with super thick funnel cake breading...so yummy!

After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel for naps so we could come back and stay late for the fireworks!

We spotted Mickey and Minnie Mouse so we had to check them out!

Riley dance around through their whole show and had a blast!

We all relaxed for several hours and got some sleep and once we were up we were ready to head back to Disneyland.

We had made reservations to eat at Blue Bayou...a great restaurant within the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It had such a great atmosphere and felt like we were sitting outside having dinner!

Riley liked her pirate hat!

And we got her this special punch that came in a cup with a light up Tinkerbell on it...score!

After dinner we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and surprisingly this was the ride Riley got the least scared on...and it had a few drops on it but it was fun!

Next we went to check out the Finding Nemo ride..it's a submarine ride and I thought Riley would love it. She was getting slightly scared on all of the rides...moreso with each ride..but I knew this one wasn't scary!

My sweet girl while we were waiting in line.

Turns out she fought getting on the ride and basically hid under the seat the entire time...poor thing.

She was much more into the actual rides rather than the movie themed rides so she drove a car with her Daddy at Autopia and had a blast!

After Autopia we heard an Elvis band and Riley was ready to dance the night away!

Then it was time for fireworks...Riley got the best seat in the house...on her Daddy's shoulders!

The castle all lit up!

The fireworks show was great and the perfect way to end the night!

Where Dreams Come True...Day One

2011-09-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

We had been talking a lot about taking Riley to Disneyland but as time slipped away from us we were thinking we would take a big trip next summer. While we were in Arkansas Jason just said one day "we need to take her now...before I leave". We only had two weeks back at home before Jason left for AMOS, a 4 month intense leadership course in Las Vegas. But we started getting to work and made it all happen over Labor Day weekend! We decided to keep the whole thing a surprise from Miss Riley.

You see...she is COMPLETELY in princess world these days. She loves to dress up, pretend, and dance around like a princess all the time. Every now and then we will get a Disney magazine in the mail with the picture of the Disneyland castle on the front and she literally gasps and then says "Daddy...will you take me to that castle one day?" Well we were about to make her dream come true!

We picked her up from school on Tuesday with the car all packed and loaded and the iPad set up for her to watch some movies on the way down. We told her we were going to see some friends and to stay in a hotel. With her love for detail I was sure she would ask a million questions and we would have to fabricate this entire story by the time we made it to Southern California but that honestly sufficed her so off we went.

The drive to Anaheim is mostly blah and boring...just middle of nowhere driving. But as we got close to LA it started to get beautiful again!

We stopped for dinner before we drove to LA to miss the traffic and found a Chipotle with an outdoor patio and a great view!

We made it to our hotel around 9:30 and had to ask everyone that worked there to not reveal anything Disney as to not give away our secret. I whisked her up to the room quickly so she didn't see anyone in mouse ears or a souvenir bag from Disneyland...she would have figured it out real quick.

She got to sleep in her own bed like a big girl and was ecstatic about that...so off to sleep we went!

Friday morning we woke her up, she went with her Daddy to get us our daily Starbucks since there was one in the hotel, and then when they came back we decided it was time to give her the news. We sat her down, Jason gave her a fun Minney Mouse doll, and we told her!

We have some great video of the whole trip but I haven't put it all together yet so I'll share that when I do. Basically we don't think she fully understood and her first assumption was that we were going to the Disney store..hehe! She was obviously excited and then we told her the first things we were doing was having breakfast with the princesses so it was time to get ready.

I had brought several of her princess dresses and she chose to be Rapunzel the first day. She wanted me to blow dry her hair because she loves how long it is. Here she is checking herself out in the mirror before we left!

Our hotel had a shuttle that left every 30 minutes for Disneyland and it was great...just 10 minutes and we were at the park gates. We got there a little early and California Adventure wasn't open yet so we decided to take a quick look at "the castle" in Disneyland!

Family pic!

The characters were greeting us as we walked in and Riley was loving all the attention!

Her first view of "the castle"

After checking out the castle and a little bit of Fantasy Land we had to head to California Adventure to get to Ariel's Grotto for our special breakfast with the Princesses!

Riley got to meet Ariel first and she was SO excited!

Ariel was so sweet and Riley was just talking away with her...I love how endearing all of the characters were and how they made it so real for Riley!

Ariel even taught her a special pinky promise and said to her "Princess Riley, do you pinky promise that we can be best friends forever?" How cute!

We had to pry her away and get seated at our table. They had lots of yummy food but it was tough getting her to eat anything with the princesses coming and all! The would announce a new princess about every 10 minutes and then they would make their way around all the tables giving each little girl attention!

She met Mulan who she really doesn't know but it's a princess so it was still exciting!

Snow White was next and she was so beautiful and gave Riley a huge hug!

Then Cinderella...here she is with Riley making a princess pose!

Hugs from each princess were in order too!

Then one of Riley's favorites...Aurora who is Sleeping Beauty!

More hugs!

Breakfast was a blast and I think Riley was just in shock to see so many princesses. She talked about this being one of her favorite things we did!

We decided to spend the day in California Adventure and started figuring out what we were going to do when we spotted Lilo and Stich!

They wanted to dance with Riley before taking a picture with her!

We started off watching the Pixar Pals parade with the Monsters, Inc crew! It was great!

Can't imagine the excitement going on in her little mind!

Getting jiggy with the characters!

We made a pit stop in the bathroom and saw Mr. Incredible on the way so we had to stop!

We decided to head to the Disney Jr show next since Riley loves watching this channel in the morning!

It was a GREAT show and featured Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates...three of her faves!

She was so interactive with the show and one lady came up to me afterwards and said "your daughter is just precious...she was just as much fun to watch as the show"...love it!

After the show we rode the Monster's Inc ride and then we headed to Bug's Life...first there was a short show to watch that was 3D...it had one part where spiders and all sorts of creatures were all over the room and Riley was literally screaming...we couldn't help but laugh but thankfully it was over soon!

Thankfully they had a lot of fun kiddo rides to redeem us from the scary show!

When we were first waiting for the park to open we had met a sweet family with a 3 year old girl and another baby due in January...what a coincidence! We kept running into Mike, Carrie, and Libby and the girls had so much fun together so we spent the rest of the afternoon with them and that kept the girls going!

We rode a fun train first!

The the bumper cars with Daddy!

The swings!

We decided to ride the Toy Story ride next and made our way across the park!

The line was a little long and Riley took a little power nap while we waited!

Next up was a ride on King Triton's carousel!

We got lots of advice from the Welch's on where to go, what to eat, what to wait in line for etc. and it was SUPER helpful! We decided to adopt their rule of "a cotton candy per day keeps the crankies away"...so it was time to get the girls some cotton candy!

Here's Riley and Libby being silly!

Next we headed to this adventure park where there was lots of playground type things to do...we had to burn off all that sugar energy!

The girls rode slides, crawled through tunnels, and just ran around for a while!

We had to say bye to Libby here...we actually ended up running into them again on Sunday...such a small world...but we had a great time getting to know them and spend the day with them and the girls were just too fun to watch!

We stumbled upon the Phineas and Ferb Dance party so we had to check it out!

Riley had a blast out their dancing with all the kids and even had to run over for a wardrobe change to put her Rapunzel dress back on half way through! The girl loves to spin and twirl in her princess dresses!

After the dance party we rode the new Little Mermaid ride..it was good but Riley got scared when Ursulla came out!

We decided to head on out of the park to Downtown Disney for dinner and call it a night. We had been there all day and no nap had occurred so we didn't want to wait to long and end up with a worn out toddler on our hands...oh and this preggo mama was tired too!

We ate at a blue's cafe and had a yummy dinner and then it was back on the shuttle to get some sleep!

Our first day was great...the park didn't seem too crowded at all and Riley had a blast and to see it through her eyes was truly magical!

Well heeellllloooooooo...

2011-08-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello to the one person out their who might still be checking this blog...hi mom! :)

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger over the last few months...life got crazy...I got behind and honestly it's been a daunting task to think about getting caught back up. However, since my goal behind this whole blog has been to have a blog book for Riley to look back on when she's older I will get it caught up...one post at a time.

I had a few posts done just not posted so I'll post those then I'll start with some current things while also trying to play catch up along the way!

Stay tuned for more!

Month of the Military Child

2011-04-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

Riley's school celebrated the Month of the Military Child with a fun parade!

Ironically the parade happened on the brink of a government shutdown but thankfully that never happened.

Riley's class had made tye dye t-shirts for the parade and they were so cute!

Here's Riley's class from Room 9!

Ms Shea with some of the kiddos!

Daddy's little fishing buddy

2011-04-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows Jason knows his love for fishing...it's definitely his dream for Riley to love fishing with her Daddy!

She has a fishing pole at my parents lakehouse but Jason got her a fishing pole for our house too and then he brought home some worms.

She was not so into the worms at first, but when he pretended to eat them she thought that was hilarious and was much more into checking them out!

Before we knew it she was outside picking up the worms and loving life!

Don't get too close there little girl!

Oh the memories she will have fishing with her Daddy!

Barbara comes to the West Coast!

2011-04-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

Barbara came out for a girls weekend in early April and we lived it up for the few days she was here! She left Atlanta bright and early on a Friday and I took the day off and picked her up at SFO for a girls day in the city!

We figured we better get some grub before the arduous task of shopping so we headed to the patio of Cheesecake Factory for a yummy lunch!

Then we made our way through the streets of San Francisco and did some shopping..even though we now have a Forever 21 in Fairfield I still can't pass up the three story one in San Fran!

Saturday Jason had to work in the morning so we took Riley to the park to fly her kite and play! We happened to run into several friends while we were there and got her kite stuck in the tree...I say that's a successful visit to the park!

After the park we went for lunch at In-N-Out!

That afternoon Jason went golfing and Riley was a silly girl outside while we watched Daddy golf by!

Sunday was a day I had been looking forward to ever since Barbara planned this trip...spa day in Napa!!!! We found this awesome spa attached to a hotel and they had their own tasting room...even better!

Hannah joined me and Barbara for our fabulous day...her hubby had promised her a spa day after one of his long trips. He had to trump us though because while we were enjoying our spa day he called while on another trip to say their plane broke in Europe and he was headed to Paris for the day..punk!

The spa was actually in a cave underground and it was FABULOUS!

We had all picked which treatments we wanted...I had a massage, a body scrub, and a facial...and of course we all took advantage of the sauna and jacuzzi beforehand!

After we were all done we showered and then headed to the tasting room in this attire...haha!

Then we "hammered" as my Dad would say and got all gussied up to meet up with some more friends for a great brunch!

We went to Brix for their Sunday brunch which I had heard about but had not yet gotten to try...oh my goodness it was absolutely some of the best food ever. We had the perfect table outside and it was just a picturesque day in the wine country with great food and great friends!

After brunch we headed to Freemark Abbey, the winery that Lance and Barbara are members at, and had some wine!

Nicki was out of control...not really...but this pic is funny!

Barbara, Nicki, and Jennie

Me, Hannah, and Paula

We headed home and Barbara then caught a shuttle back to SFO for a red eye back to Atlanta. It was quick trip but it was so much fun! Thanks Barbara for coming to visit!

Jason and Riley had a fun daddy daughter day while we were being pampered and I came home to his first batch of smoked salmon for dinner...it was a great end to a great weekend!

It's the little things

2011-04-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

It's the little things that can sometimes be the funnest things!

Like having her friend Vanessa over one afternoon to play before they had dance class!

They were both princesses and were getting their dancing practice in!

Then it was time to get dressed...and of course play with Macy, the "doggie and the leash"

Or like flying a kite with her Daddy!

Jason bought a BEAUTIFUL princess kite to fly with Riley and she loved it!

We usually have a pretty steady wind at our house but this day of course there was NO wind...but thanks to YouTube we figured out the trick to flying a kite with no wind and we were successful!

Love how she's following her Daddy!

Then they had a better idea...she could ride on his shoulders and fly the kite! Much more fun for her but not as successful at getting the kite in the air! What a fun afternoon!

And of course having a popsicle on the driveway with Mommy is one of our favorite things to do!

Sometimes the little things give us some of the greatest memories!

Off to Texas...

2011-03-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Riley and I headed to Texas for a quick weekend trip to attend my uncle's funeral. We headed out VERY early on a Friday morning...me and my little traveling buddy!

I have to stop and just comment at what a great traveler Riley is. She has flown A LOT in her short life and she does have her own Rapid Rewards number now! She knows the drill...as soon as we get to security she takes her shoes off, she rides in her carseat with wheels all through the airport, and she sits in her carseat during the whole flight! She either sleeps or watches movies..of course we have snacks and drinks along the way too! Oh...and most importantly she always double checks the safety brochure before we take off...safety first!

We landed in San Antonio just a few hours before the service...we went to the funeral home first to make sure the memorial DVD I had put together worked with their system and then we went to my parents apartment to grab a bite and change clothes and then it was time to head to the funeral.

Riley had already had a long day but she did great...she watched some Caillou with my mom before the service while the rest of us reminisced and looked over pictures of my uncle.
I had to get up with her in the middle of the service because she was talking and making commotion but I was able to eventually bring her back in.

It was a very nice service...standing room only, great pastor, great memories shared, and a life lovingly remembered. I also was able to see so many people that I hadn't seen in many years...bittersweet day.

After the service we all headed to Los Barrios to eat.

Here's a pic of my and my cousins...Kramer, me, Karson, Quincy, Riley, and Kassie

Quincy is Kassie's adorable baby girl and Riley loved meeting her and taking care of her...I wish these sweet girls could spend time together more often.

After dinner we rolled through Sonic for some ice cream and made the trek to the lake...it had been a long and emotional day and I was looking forward to relaxing at the lake for the rest of the weekend.

As soon as Riley woke up she was ready to get outside and play.

First things first...she had to fish..made her Daddy so proud!

Then she asked when we could ride in the boat!

JoePa said not until she cleaned the boat and the dock!

So she got to work!

Later that morning we went to pick strawberries and my sweet friend Nicki and her little guy Will met up with us. Nicki lives out here in Cali with us but she is from Austin and happened to be in TX while we were so we had to have her up to the lake!

Grammie and Riley...ready to pick!

Nicki and Will

Riley..the best taste tester!

Tuckered out from picking strawberries!

Nicki and I took the kids home for naps while my mom went shopping...she picked up a blow up pool for the kiddos to play in since the lake was still pretty chilly!

Will got to swim commando and they both had a blast!

Love this girl!

We did some swinging!

and some piano playing!

Then we took a nice evening boat ride and look who got to do a little driving!

My parents cooked a wonderful meal and Riley had fun doing some dancing on the porch after dinner!

Riley and Nicki

Wonder where she learned this pose from? I see some Grandma June (my dad's mom) in that pose too!

It was definitely a bittersweet weekend but such great family time.

Party Party Party

2011-03-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

This particular Sunday Riley had quite the social obligations...TWO birthday parties! Funny thing is that her bounce house had just as many social obligations...we have loved getting to share the bounce house with all of Riley's friends for their parties and this was day was no exception!

First off was her best friend from school, Vanessa's, book birthday party! Everyone brought a book for a book exchange and it was so much fun!

Here are Riley and Vanessa in the princess dresses!

Here is one of Vanessa's friends reading Riley a book!
Between the parties we decided to just run some errands rather than try and head home...and Riley convinced us she wasn't tired!

Jason went to get his hair cut so us girls headed to Old Navy...and look who was not tired at all!

Don't you know I got many chuckles and comments from fellow shoppers as I enjoyed my time to shop while Riley snoozed. It was hard to imagine she was comfortable and keep her head from falling over but a mother knows how to make it work...if your child is sleeping and you are shopping you will do anything to keep it that way! :)

After our errands and Riley's snooze we headed to her friend Carter's party!

The kids bounced and had lots of fun!

Carter was a little shy when it was time to sing and do cake...poor guy...the other kids had no sympathy..they were ready for CAKE!

Happy Birthday Vanessa and Carter!

Grammie and JoePa Visit!

2011-03-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

My parents had this trip planned for awhile but when my uncle passed away we weren't sure if they would be able to make it out.

It all worked out and it was great for my Dad to get away from everything he was having to deal with and get some time with Riley (and us I guess) to cheer him up...if this girl can't put a smile on your face than I don't know what will!

They got in late Thursday evening and we were trying to make it to PF Changs before they closed...when leaving the airport the highways can be a bit tricky and J took a wrong turn and before we knew it and before we could get out of it we were on the Bay Bridge and we were committed...oops! Normally an accidental trip to San Francisco would mean a great meal but it was nearly 9:00 and we didn't know what would be open so we just headed home and had a very late meal at Chili's...it was a fun adventure!

The weather couldn't have been more yucky the ENTIRE weekend but we made the best of it and just enjoyed our time together!

Riley got to go to a movie on Friday with Grammie and JoePa...they saw Gnomeo and Juliet and had a great time!

Friday night we took my parents to one of our local favorite finds...Vintage Cafe. It's in Suisun Valley just a short drive from our house and next to a few wineries. It's quaint and the food is delish!

We took a bottle of Oak Chardonnay that we had purchased from Mondavi and decided this was the night to uncork this great bottle and share it over dinner...it was some of the best wine I have ever had...worth every penny!

JoePa and his girl!

Me and the hubs...

Grammie and Riley

It was such a fun night and a scrumptious dinner!

When we got home guess who put on the "princess hair?"

Saturday morning we relaxed and decided to head to Bab's for breakfast...another one of our favorite finds! We had a great breakfast on a rainy day and then headed home to all take naps :)

Riley felt it very important to get her morning stretches in...my Dad had his bands to stretch his torn rotator cuff and she loved playing with it!

Check out these twinkies in their almost matching shirts!

After nap time we headed up to base to do some bowling!

It was so much fun...we had some healthy competition going on and Miss Riley was right in the middle of it!

Our girl is so inquisitive she was watching everyone bowl and she noticed how people crossed their leg back after letting the ball go and so she started doing it on every one of her turns...it was the cutest thing!

Getting some help from JoePa!

After bowling Grammie and JoePa babysat while Jason and I went on a date...woohoo!

It was a yucky, rainy, cold weekend but we had the best time.

We love when Grammie and JoePa get to come visit and play!

Uncle Kim

2011-03-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

The last day that Josh and Andrea were visiting we got the horrible news that my dad's brother, my Uncle Kim, had passed away.

He lived too short a life and left behind lots of friends and family that loved him very much.

We thank God for the blessing of his life.

Big Girl Bed!

2011-03-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

We had been talking about moving Riley into a big girl bed for a short while and one day Jason came home from lunch and we decided that was the day!

After I picked her up she and I headed to Target to get her new bedding! I wanted to get something that would still match most of her furniture and other decor in her room and they had the cutest pink comforter and we got everything we needed!

She was so excited about her big girl bed so we figured now was as good a time as any to also encourage her to get rid of her binky...so throughout the afternoon I would casually mention that big girls that sleep in big girl beds don't use binkies anymore.

When we got home we let her watch some fun shows while we got her room all set up...we wanted it to be a surprise for her!

Finally we unveiled the finished product and she was so excited!

After all the hinting she caught on to the binkie idea and made a decision on her own to go without. I thougth for sure it would last all of 5 minutes and we would have a screaming girl but I was wrong.

She slept great and we were all shocked and so proud that she moved into her big girl bed and gave up her binkie all in one night!

The Bakers come to visit!!!

2011-03-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to get a visit from The Baker fam...they fit a visit in with us as they traveled to Southern California to visit family and we're so glad they did!

We had several jam packed days and it was all so much fun!

Riley and I picked them up on Thursday around noon and our first stop was In-N-Out for burgers...yum!

We came back to let the kids take naps and we all did a little relaxing!

Once the kiddos were up we played outside. It didn't take long for Riley to get her princess clothes on and Reed was just beginning to understand how girly this house is!

He took a stroll on Riley's bike while she did some dancing!

Slide time!
Monkey see monkey do!

Jason got home a little late from work and we got a late start on dinner...so it was almost 9:00 before we ate but it was yum!

Andrea and I...so glad I got to spend time with one of my best friends!

Just a few hours after their arrival Reed had officially been sucked into the world of dress up...Josh was terrified but we were all cracking up!

Check out Reed's beautiful shoes!

Here he is with the stroller and the dog carrier on his arm...ready to go!

Jason was planning on taking Friday off sort of "under the radar" but we knew that it was going to be tough when his phone started ringing at 3 am due to the horrific tsunami that hit Japan that morning. What a tragic event.

He had to go into work first thing and he wasn't sure if he would end up being able to take the day off but in the end it all worked out.

Our plans were to check out the beach...but we were under a tsuami warning so all the beaches were closed.

These two were looking pretty cute and were ready to have a fun day so off we went!

Reed and Riley held hands on the way!

We were adventurous and found a private access to Stinson Beach and snuck on.

It was a beautiful day!

Beach cuties!

Family pic!

We found some seagulls and Andrea had some snacks on her so the birds were swarming around us and the kids loved it!

We headed to a great little cafe for lunch and then found a cute spot to take some pics of the kiddos...gotta watch this girl!

Next we headed into San Francisco to do some sight seeing and eat some good seafood!

We started walking along the Embarcadero and as is standard in San Fran...there are lots of crazy people!

Unfortunately there are also lots of beggars lining the streets and sometimes it's hard to see all of that. We learned the hard way that having kids makes it even worse...this one guy made balloon figures for the kids and of course we had to pay him for them...it was all worth it because these balloons provided endless entertainment for these two!

We had to keep Reed from hitting random people with his balloon on the stroll!

We headed to Pier 39 to see and smell the sea lions!

These two had so much fun together!

Another family shot

After the sea lions we headed to ride the infamous trolley...it was a little bit of a wait and not as exciting as all of us expected but we had never ridden them either so just another fun thing to cross of the list!

On our way to the trolley Jason was being pestered by someone on the street and he had fallen behind the rest of us...I saw him getting frustrated with this dude who kept talking to him and wondered what was going on. Turns out this guy kept telling him he was going to give Jason a citation and Jason couldn't figure out what for and he was getting ticked. When Jason asked what he did or what law he broke the guy said "I'm going to give you a citation for not smiling"...haha...and then he preceded to hand Jason a smiley face sticker...gotta love San Fran!

Riley had fun hanging on the handles!

We saw this huge line wrapped around an entire block and asked the trolley driver what was going on...his response "there was an Elvis siting"...ha...turns out this was the day the iPad 2 came out and this was the line for the Apple store!

We rode the trolley to Union Square...showed Andrea lots of the big shops like the three story Forever 21 but much to Josh's relief we didn't actually do any shopping but instead just got back on the trolley for our ride back!

One of the funniest moments of the day...Josh and Andrea had made a bet before coming out to Cali that if gas went above $4.00/gallon he could get a new duck blind...unfortunately that's not a common price for gas out here but with the events of the tsunami gas prices happened to go up Friday morning. When we first drove into the city both Andrea and I had spotted many gas stations with gas over $4.00 but neither of the guys noticed so we just chuckled to ourselves and went on...they never knew what we thought was so funny until literally that evening when we were walking to eat after riding the trolley when Josh finally clued in to the gas price at a station we passed and claimed his victory!

We had a great seafood meal at Scoma's...one of our go to places and then headed home for the night!

Saturday morning I came out to find the bounce house blown up and the boys "watching" the kids!

Jump time...the bounce house was out the entire time they were here and the kids just turned it on and off as they pleased!

Miss M came over to watch the kids all day while we headed to Napa for some adult fun...it was a perfect day!

We took Josh and Andrea to Rutherford Grill for a great lunch and our friends Todd and Hannah met up with us as well!

After lunch we headed to the St Helena Olive Oil company and did some tastings of olive oils, vinegars, and all kinds of yummy stuff!

Such a cool place...Jason and I had never been there so it was all new to us too!

Josh deciding on which olive oil to buy!

We started our tastings at St Supery!

Jason being silly...what's new!

Hannah and Todd

The girls...Andrea, me, and Hannah

We then went to Mumm for some champagne tastings...beautiful place with great views!

Me and my sweet hubby

We checked out the art gallery at Mumm where they were featuring an artist who had taken photographs of families in the same exact location over periods of 10-30 years...it was amazing.

After we were done tasting we stopped in downtown Napa at a great little bakery called Sweetie Pie's for some sweet treats...I caught Andrea digging in to her cupcake!

Fun times!

The kids behaved very well for Miss M and had a great day of fun themselves. When we got home we decided to make pizza for dinner and Reed and Riley were anxious to help Andrea make the dough!

Sunday we went to church, took them to our favorite sushi place, and then hit up the outlet mall for a little shopping!

The guys were actually more on a shopping mission than Andrea and I so we took the kids to a little play area and let them burn some energy off!

Reed had to take a little juice break!

That evening the boys went and picked up In-N-Out for dinner because Josh hadn't gotten his fill yet and Andrea and I decided to heat out for a movie...I'll be honest...we both wanted to see the Justin Bieber movie so we faced our Bieber Fever and saw it in 3D!

Monday morning we took the kiddos to the Jelly Belly Factory and Josh braved the tasting line and tasted several nasty flavors..yuck!

Then it was off to the aiport so the Bakers could continue on with their vacation!

We had such a fun time with them here...Riley asked about Reed for days after and I think he did the same. We did a lot while they were here but it was all super fun!

Thanks for coming to visit...can't wait to see you guys again soon!

Tutus and Tap

2011-03-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Riley started going to a tap and ballet class in March and has had such a fun time!

She goes to dance class with her sweet friend Vanessa and it's just as fun for us Mom's to watch!

She was all dressed in her Aggie tutu for her first dance class!

She is doing great...she listens to her teacher Miss Brie and all of the girls just laugh and giggle the entire time!
Some days Vanessa comes over to play before dance class...and the princesses come out!
Then it's time to get ready for dance class!

These girls have so much fun and I just love that!

Here's some cute video of my litlle ballerina!

Our little chef!

2011-03-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Riley...or Snow White...loves to help in the kitchen and she is a good helper!

Of course she has a TON of independence in her so she is confident she can do anything that we are doing! Here she is cutting up some onions under the close supervision of her Daddy!
Jason's been doing a lot of the cooking around here...and I'm not complaining!!! We've been eating low carb meals and he is great at just making up recipes and they all taste great!

I'm a recipe girl and my passion is baking...so I love when Riley is my little helper when I'm baking!

I am always asked to make sweets whenever the Bible study girls do a potluck so Riley and I made some cookie bites...got the recipe from none other than Pioneer Woman but really there's not much to it. Cookie dough in a flavor of your choice with candy of your choice dropped in just as they come out of the oven...oh my goodness these are dangerous!

I used chocolate chip cookie dough and put in dark chocolate kisses and reese's...yummo!

Riley also like to do dishes...boy am I lucky...with Jason cooking if I can get Riley on board to clean up the kitchen every night I should be set!

Time to rinse...she could do this for hours!

Love this little girl...and the chocolate on her face...I'm sure I had some on mine too!

Girls Day!

2011-03-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

Since Jason was pretty sick when I got home from my work trip Riley and I took off Saturday for pretty much the entire day to avoid his germs and let him get some rest!

My friend Jennie had planned a girls pedicure and lunch for her birthday so Riley and I got to join her to celebrate!

Riley got her nails done like a big girl and I got a pedicure...she did great in the salon and was so excited about her "sparkle" polish...we both got a cool turquoise color and then she got sparkles on top of hers!

After our pedicures we went back to my friend Ashley's house for a great lunch...we put all the kiddos down for naps and had a great time!

Happy Birthday Jennie!

Working girl...

2011-02-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

The company I work for has been through a lot of transition over the last several months as we were bought out by a very large company based in France...it has had its ups and downs but things have somewhat settled down and I got the opportunity to travel to Austin for a week to meet all of the new management. Jenn was in Austin with me so it was great to spend time with her too! We worked A LOT but had fun doing it...most of the time :)

I flew in Sunday and got to meet up with my family for dinner as soon as I got in!

My mom made us reservations at Bess Bistro...Sandra Bullock's restaurant on 6th street!

My cousin Kassie who lives in Austin was able to join us and we all got to meet her precious little girl Quincy June for the first time!
Quincy was a doll...the greatest thing was after I took this picture of her I would show it to her and she would literally crack up at the sight of herself...of course I kept doing it over and over because it was just so cute!

She was such a good little girl and we all took turns holding her during dinner!

The food was great and we had a blast!

I sure did miss Jason and Riley but got to video chat with them every day. It was sort of a rough week for me to be gone because Jason's commander was on leave and he had to fill in as the squadron commander all week...so he had his hands full to say the least! I was happy to meet all of the new leadership at my company and it was good for me to spend some time "in the office"!

He handled it great but I think the exhaustion caught up with him because by the time I got home Friday night he had no voice and was pretty darn sick...Riley was tickled to see me and lucky for Jason she did all of the talking on the way home!!!

A Princess "Pack Pack" from Tinkerbell

2011-02-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

Riley has been waiting for preschool ever since she turned 3 but all of the preschool classes in the CDC were full. I was getting ancy...or shall I say impatient waiting to see when a spot would open up for Riley and the week after our trip to Tahoe she started acting out for her favorite teacher which was very abnormal...I knew it was just time for her to move into a new classroom. Just about that time the CDC made a modified room for 2.5 - 3.5 year olds and had one of the preschool teachers come and lead the room. It was a baby step transition to preschool and I knew it would be great for Riley.

We told her about her new room and decided to go ahead and tell her it was preschool...it kind of worked. Deep down she knew it wasn't preschool but she was excited about the change. She had been asking for a "pack pack" when she went to preschool so it was time to get the girl a backpack. She had specific requests... "pink with wheels and all the princesses on it!" I had looked around a few places including the Disney store but we were out of luck...apparently they only keep a lot of backpacks on hand during Back to School season...so Amazon was where we searched.

We found the PERFECT "pack pack" and I showed Riley a picture of it...that was Saturday morning. We ordered with one day shipping but knew it wouldn't come until Monday or Tuesday and Riley didn't quite understand why she couldn't have it right then. So I did what I always do and conjured up a story to make it understandable in her world...or as my friend Nicki says I just make up lies...you can believe what you like. :)

Nonetheless, I told Riley that her backpack was being made by the one and only Tinkerbell and that when Tinkerbell was done making it special just for Riley the mail man would come and deliver it. Wouldn't you know that afternoon she was outside in the driveway yelling "mail man....mail man!"

That Sunday I had to head to Austin for the week for work...so it was a Daddy Daughter week!

On Monday I was sitting in a slew of meetings and got a text from Jason "the pack pack is here!!!!!"

So he got to unwrap it and set it out for her and to say she was tickled is an understatement!

Ready for her pre-Preschool class!!!

Sending the Welch's to Arkansas...

2011-02-25T20:55:00.000-08:00

Being a part of the military means always having to say "see you later" to some great people...unfortunately it will continue to happen and it doesn't get easier.

Luckily we just got to say "see you soon" to the Welch family as they PCS'd to Arkansas...we know we'll always be visiting Arkansas so we will get to see them when we do. We sure do miss them though...what a great family!

We had them over for dinner and the kids had a blast playing and running around like crazy!

Riley, Ellie, and Easton

Easton and Riley secured this "secret" corner and they all kept standing up here and scaring each other!
It was hilarious to watch!

The best was when Jason got them all to go in Riley's room and then when they came out he scared the bejeebers out of all of them...there were all kind of screams going through the house...but the good kind!

We were able to get them connected with some of our good friends in Arkansas and we made sure they were prepared for tornados...yikes! Unfortunately Arkansas has broken them in quite a bit with the recent storms that keep coming through...I don't miss that...but we do miss the Welch's!

We can't wait to go visit!!!

Meet Dolly Doll!

2011-02-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

After dropping of Jason's family at the airport we headed home to get unpacked and get our house put together from the party...I'm so glad we had most of the day to do this because it was a daunting task!

Riley spent much of her day playing with her Baby Alive....whom she named Dolly Doll!

It was time to feed her baby and see what happened!
Dolly Doll talks to her Mommy and tells her that she wants to eat and play!

Riley fed her some peas...and then Dolly Doll said "I make a stinkie" and that pretty much sums up our day!

Feed the baby, give the baby a bottle, and then clean up the baby's diaper! I think we changed over 10 diapers...or shall I say I changed over 10 diapers!

It was so fun to watch Riley interact with her and talk back to her like they were having a conversation! She loves her Dolly Doll and she's such a good Mommy!

Since this day Dolly Doll has only gotten pretend food and bottles...Riley is just as happy and I am not cleaning up diapers all day!

Family Tahoe Trip!

2011-02-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

So after Riley's party and our family Christmas we hit the road for a 4 day trip to Lake Tahoe. It was a great trip up and we saw the most incredible double rainbow during the drive!

We made it in time to grab a yummy dinner at Jax on the Tracks...another Diner's Drive Ins and Dives pick and it did not disappoint!

CJ and I...check out all that snow out the window!
This was my pot pie...yummy!

After dinner we headed to our condo to settle in!

We had a great little place with plenty of room for the whole gang! Riley slept in her tent in a room with Gaby and did pretty well.

The next morning we were ready to get all of our gear and hit the slopes!

Funny faces all around!

Riley loves the snow...and she loves to eat it too!

We could barely get her to stop eating in order to get in the car and go!

We headed to Homewood the first day and it was a blast! Riley had fun playing and climbing in the snow...it was the best powder and she just sunk right in!

Riley and her Bubba...one of her most favorite people in the whole wide world!

Riley got on her skis too with her Daddy and she did great!

We headed into Tahoe City for a great dinner and then it was home to get some sleep!

Someone didn't even make it home and Riley was so out that we got all of her ski gear layers off without her even waking up. I honestly kept making sure she was breathing because she was out cold! Skiing does wear you out!

Our second ski day we headed to Squaw Valley...where the 1960 olympics were held. We had not skiied at Squaw yet and wanted to check it out! It is a great mountain with a great village and we loved it!

We put Riley in ski school all day and hit the slopes!

Jason and I are off!

The LoRusso fam after a stop at Starbucks!

Riley had a great day at ski school and the rest of us had a great day on the slopes as well! We found some great runs and got the swing of the mountain!

We headed home for a homecooked meal and we ended up with a with a pooped out snow bunny!

It was only 5:00 when Riley fell asleep and we didn't think she would make it through the night but we could not wake her up either. Desiree and I made a grocery run and Jason's job was to get her to wake up...no such luck. She was out! So when I got home Jason got to work cooking his famous minestrone... and I got to work putting Riley in the bath to wake her up. Well..she woke up but it was not pretty...let's just say it was a quick and loud bath. She did finally calm down and wake up to be a happy girl!

She got a little pep in her step and put on a dance show with Bubba!
Then she chilled on the couch and watched Shrek with Gaby and we got her down to sleep pretty easily!

We headed back to Squaw Valley for our last day of skiing and took Riley up the mountain with us. We started off the morning at the very top of the mountain for some professional family pictures and that was a lot of fun.

We then headed to a great area of green slopes to work with Riley but it was a cold and windy day and she was just miserably cold. So we went to a restaurant to get her a snack and get her warmed up!

What a great view!

Jason skiied all the way to the bottom while I took care of Riley and he got her some more layers so she would be warm.

She loved her new pink gear and was ready to hit the slopes again!

She skiied the entire mountain down with Jason and did a great job!

The rest of the afternoon we took turns playing with her and skiing...this was a girls trip to ski!

We called it a day and went to check out all the pictures that we had taken that morning and they turned out great!

Rock Band Family

All around the snowboard!

We love this family and all the time we had to spend together...lots of great memories!

We grabbed some pizza for dinner that night and then hit the hay...we had to leave early the next morning to get the LoRusso's off on their flight home!

What a great trip!

Christmas in February?

2011-02-18T23:59:00.000-08:00

After Riley's pary wound down, the guests left, and we did a quick pick up of the house it was time for Christmas...that's right Christmas!

This was the first Christmas that Jason has ever been gone and we waited to celebrate with his family until they came out to visit...so we transitioned from Riley's big party to family Christmas!!!

We were also leaving the same day for our family trip to Lake Tahoe so we crammed a lot in and there were a few moments where I thought we were crazy for jamming so much into one weekend but it was so much fun! The deal was we had to get the house picked up and the car loaded before opening our Christmas presents. I hadn't packed anything for Tahoe since I had been busy focusing on Riley's party so I quickly got all of our gear together and the boys schemed up a way to get us all up to Lake Tahoe in one vehicle!

Once we were all set to go it was present time and these presents were the only thing keeping Riley awake because she was exhausted!

Here's the fam...getting ready to open presents!

DiDi, Doc, and the infamous "Buddy" CJ got some Aggie gear...he did ask for this we aren't just brainwashing him! He lives in Arkansas and is surrounded by a ton of Razorback fans but he still loves the Aggies too! Riley got a Baby Alive and a doctor kit...not to mention the princess castle that she accidentally "found" before her party!

Gaby got some Tom's shoes...I think she was excited!

We wondered how Riley would do getting new toys and having to leave them so quickly but she gave her baby who she named "Dolly Doll" a quick bottle, put her in a safe place, and she was ready to get to Tahoe!

We had a quick but fun family Christmas...thanks LoRusso fam for all the great presents!

I'm not sure how the guys pulled this off but we managed to get all of us and all of our "stuff" in the Tahoe...every seat had a person in it, we loaded up the car top carrier with 5 suitcases, and we used the hitch carrier to carry all of our gear and ice chest! I'm so glad we could all fit in one car because it made the road trip that much more fun!

What a full day...birthday party by morning, Christmas by afternoon, and off to Tahoe by evening!