My 40th Birthday!!!

I had such an amazing 40th birthday! First of all, I have the best husband ever! He is completely amazing. He did so much in preparation for my special day – he’s just wonderful! He set up everything and began preparations months in advance for this special day and weekend! He and the kids were waiting outside our room and when I woke up they all came in and sang! He made a terrific breakfast and we enjoyed a very relaxing morning together.

Then … I played ALL day with Tessa! It was so much fun. We did all of our favorite things … Starbucks, pedis & manis, and shopping! We went to lunch at another favorite … The Cheesecake Factory and met my mom there . Thankfully Tessa took pictures of us throughout the day playing .

The Grand Finale was dinner at Los Dos Molinos, my favorite little Mexican Restaurant . The guys and kids were meeting us there with my parents or so I thought …
SURPRISE …
my brothers & sister hid and surprised me!!! So awesome . They all flew down that day to get there for dinner on my b-day. So terrific they are I love my family. Here are the surprisers …

My hubby bought me roses …

Enjoying my favorite margaritas EVER with my mom, sister & Tessa …

My mom & dad with our waiter (my parents surprised me on the Saturday before but I don’t have pictures of that) …

me catching on fire with dessert …

The group …

and that’s not all!!! Friday and Saturday celebrations to be posted next!

Happy New Year!

Amazing it’s 2010! We celebrated with Tessa & Alan going out to dinner, to our friend Liz’s house and then back home to ring in the New Year with the kiddos.
Here are some pics …

Two of the kids were ready to ring in the New Year when we arrived …

The other two … not so much …

Merry Christmas!

What a terrific Christmas we had. Eric’s folks came down so it was extra special to have family in town. Here is a full slide show of our Eve and Christmas Day …




Make a Smilebox slideshow

Kids Christmas Wrapping

Today the kids are wrapping their very special dollar store items. They ran around the small store last weekend with their ideas and were so excited … hiding from each other as they carry gifts to one another and giggling as they share what they got other people in the store. Getting to check-out and home is always a bit of a challenge but we manage with the mystery of what is to be opened tomorrow morning!! Haley shared last night that shopping at the dollar store is her favorite tradition. I love seeing what they have in mind for each person and how carefully they consider what they’d like. As they get older, there is more thought involved and it’s so precious to see their eyes light up as they give their gift and see how much fun it is to give for Christmas. (without it costing us a fortune)

At this very moment, our bedroom is filled with gift wrapping paper of various sizes and shapes as the kids cut randomly to fit odd shapes of presents to make them fit in their unpracticed art of gift wrapping. Connor is using large strips of scotch tape to wrap around the entire present. I saw big balls of wadded up wrapping paper that were evidently too big or too small to fit after the cut was made. I have provided a small instruction on how to wrap but in the excitement of it all … I think it just gets covered. Isn’t that the whole point … that you won’t know what’s inside? A few extra crinkles and scotch tape will make it that much harder to guess.

DayZ’s List to Santa

Haley wanted to be sure that Santa didn’t forget DayZ this year so she wrote up this list …

p.s. She also asked Grandma to make her a stocking … she knits, you know so she should be able to make that happen in a day, right?

Christmas Caroling!

What fun we had last weekend Christmas Caroling with friends. Our friends Anita & Mike have made this activity extra special by providing dinner and hosting a great time before we even head out to sing! We had so much fun at their house and then all loaded onto the trailer with out hot cocoa in hand.

and then, a funny noise as we start driving … uh oh …

Change of plans … walking. We had a great time even though some of the kids got pretty tired. We went after the Christmas Play at the church so it was a long night for them. We realized it was 9:30 when we stopped at the last house!!! So much fun we didn’t realize the time. Luckily no one was in bed when we rang their doorbells

Haley was such a cute helping with little Olivia and Connor & Ray were having so much fun off to themselves, actually not sure if caroling was “cool” anymore?

Children’s Choir Christmas Play

Christmas in Reverse was an adorable musical that the kids’ choir did at our church last weekend. Haley was the star carrier and took her job very seriously. It’s great to see her having fun on stage with her friends and singing out to the Lord!
Here it is …




Make a Smilebox slideshow

Kids Holiday Family Night

Wow, what an amazing family night at the kids’ school! Here’s a couple videos of Connor’s performance, thanks to a friend who posted the video . I’m thankful Connor was near her son .

Here’s some cute pics of Haley in her performance …

I posted my video clip from my camera so you could hear her cute song … Arizona Wonderland …

School Christmas Parties

I’m so glad that both the kids had fun teachers that allowed them to enjoy the last day before the break. Connor’s activities started at lunchtime and it was awesome that Eric got to go too . Haley had a cookie party at the end of the day.
Here are their classes …

Sensaria Spalidays …

Fun spa events this month including making custom gift baskets! This was so much fun …

I spent a lot of time this month at parties, on orders, gift baskets and at events. It’s been a lot of fun to meet other women and enjoy an evening encouraging them to take care of their skin and take the time to have a fun night out with their friends.

I already have 8 spa experiences planned for January so I’m looking forward to another busy and fun month of having a great time while building this new business for myself.