Happy Birthday Victor!!!

This weekend was jammed packed with Victor's Birthday stuff. Saturday night we went out with some friends from Victor's work. Had a really great time. Started off at Oggi's - best pizza place ever! Although we didn't have pizza, we had fun! Then headed out to the Orange Circle to a place there we sometimes like to go dancing. But when we got there we learned that the DJ wasn't there and it was Elvis. As funny as he was looking, the music sucked and we didn't want to dance there... so where do we go when we like to dance?? Pierce Street of course!! We had a great time as we normally do. I have a few pics but Crystal has my camera so I'll post them another day. Victor and I got to sleep super late but up early to head out for our day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs! MOST RELAXING DAY EVER!!! It was Victor's first time there and my 3rd. He loved it and soaked it all up! He loves laying in the sun and swimming so this was perfect for him.


After awhile of laying out and swimming we headed over to club Mudd to get covered from head to toe in mudd! It was great! Here are our mud faces!


Then after exfoliating with all the mud... we headed down to the Grotto to get painted in Seaweed! This seaweed treatment is so amazing! You are down in a cave with this seaweed painted all over your body. It soaks in and then when you rinse it off your skin feels amazing for weeks! Can I tell you how lucky I am that my husband loves to do this stuff. He was maybe 1 of 10 guys at the whole place! And I LOVE you for it!

We spent most of the day drinking, laying in the sun, swimming, laying in the lounge pool drinking... side by side, iPods in ears. No care in the world! We both really needed a day like this. This was our life before Alana and it was SO weird to lay with my ipod in my ears and not have to worry about where Alana was or who she was with, or just being a mom and always wanting to have an open ear, just in case. Weird but great feeling! I've had a hard time getting my mind to relax lately with all that's been going on with my mom, so it was nice to let my mind relax for a change and of course to spend the day with my birthday boy!

Today Alana and I baked some cookies to take to Victor's work so he can share with his co-workers! They are my famous Cake batter cookies (well only famous to people I don't even really talk to anymore, not sure if that counts) But they were yummy anyway!

Tonight we are heading over to Victor's parents house to have dinner. Nothing like a homemade cooked dinner from his mom...... YUMMY!!!

Happy Birthday love! Thank you for loving everything I try to do for you! It's times like this that we grow closer as a couple, stronger as husband and wife and reminds me of why you are a best friend to me! Love you babe!

Silver Lining

This is my silver lining in the dark clouds I've been in lately.


She's loves to kiss everything and everyone! She makes the "mmmm" sound as she's kissing.

Her smile warms my heart. Her hugs and kisses melt me. She knows when I need a hug and she always makes me feel better.

The Word

Terminal by definition:
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe an active and malignant disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer or advanced heart disease than for trauma. In popular use, it indicates a disease which will end the life of the sufferer.

My definition:
The worse possible word anyone can EVER hear about their best friend in the world, their mom.

9-9-09

COMING SOON.... to a home near you!!!!!!!!!!

Stuck

Alana loves to climb everywhere... on top of tables, on the couches, in the park, anywhere she can find a spot she might fit, she'll climb up there. Today she got stuck climbing up onto the dinning room chair. She was on the chair between the table and the chair! It was too funny not to share!

Let's go Angels!!

Last night we went to an Angels game! Sometimes we go and take Alana and sometimes we go and leave Alana with Grandma so we can have a few drinks at the game, but I always enjoy seeing Alana chant and clap and love the stadium!


Alana tried to stay still long enough for me to get a picture.


Then back to climbing the stairs. It makes her so happy!


Singing the Star Spangled Banner.

Alana loves when she gets her own seat!

She's great at clapping! She claps along to the chants and anytime any team does something good, she claps! She's to young to teach to boo the other team right?

Even though the Angels lost (because Crystal was at the game, happens EVERY time she's there), it was still a fun time!

Happily Ever After

My cousin Jennifer married the man of her dreams this weekend, Kwasi! The wedding was at the most beautiful place ever! Most of it was outside in the gardens. Jennifer and Kwasi put together a beautiful wedding with beautiful people. They said their own vows and made me cry! The minister that married them knew them very well and had such great things to say about them! It makes the service so much more personal and real! Jen looked AMAZING and sooo skinny in her wedding dress!


Their first dance was so cute, Kwasi was twirling her around, they seemed to really enjoy dancing with each other, as they should!

My family and I helped to make Jen's day great with helping decorate the tables and do all the centerpieces. Everyone really helped to pull the whole thing off.

The tables were so beautiful and elegant!

Their cake!

Me and the hubby, enjoying the reception!


All the tables were themed to places they had been to before, we were lucky enough to sit in Aruba! Actually we got put at a table with some of my cousins and we ended up having the "Party Table" that everyone wanted to hang out at! We made a cool table! No fluffers needed!

Gorgeous Husband and Wife!

Congrats to you guys! Everything was so beautiful!

The place was lit up so nicely.

We had a great night! We stayed at the Ayers hotel and Spa the shuttle took us back and fourth to so we didn't have to worry about driving! It was a nice little getaway for Victor and I. My great husband was nice enough to book us massages the next morning in the Spa. They were AMAZING!!! It was a couple's massage, we laid next to each other and got full body massages! We haven't done that since our honeymoon in the Bahamas. It was very much needed! Thank you babe!

Better late then never??

My niece Ellie turned 4 years old on Wednesday!! So sad, but I remember the day she was born, I packed up the mom and mom in law and headed out to Port Wahneime (Can't spell). It was my second niece and I was just as happy! Here are some of my favorite pictures of me and Ellie throught the years!

Me and Ellie when she was 4 days old, enjoying the fresh air.

She was such a cuddle bug with me!

She loves her Aunt Jamie

Ellie's 1st Birthday!

Out for lunch

One of my most favorite pictures of her!

Ellie's 2nd birthday


**Cheese**

Bigger Cheese

Such a big girl now!

Ellie's 3rd birthday, flying in an airplane!

Happy Birthday dork! I love you so much!

Learning so much!

Alana is such a little girl now, it's crazy how they go from baby to toddler to little girl! Every day when we get out and take our walks I try to teach her something new. Lately Kali and I have been teaching Alana how to turn around in a circle. I think she's got it down pretty well. She doesn't normally do it on que so I had to tape it for Daddy.

We've also been working on teaching her how to hop. Since Kali is a "pro" hopper, she is such a good example for Alana. If Kali can do it, Alana thinks she can, which is GREAT! This is Alana attempting to hop. She squats down and then goes up onto her toes, it's so funny. But she thinks she's hopping. Soon enough she will be able to get off the ground.

I've been trying to get video of Alana doing all of her animal sounds, but no luck yet. When I say, what does a dog say? She barks. She's got some of them down, she knows dog, cow, tiger, pig, kitty... we are still trying to perfect each of them. But it's so funny to listen to her. She's such a smart girl and she speaks in such a tiny girl voice, I love it! Hopefully more video to come!

Disneyland

It's been years since just my niece Hailey and I have gone to Disneyland by ourselves. I starting working at Disneyland when Hailey was 3 so she was pretty much raised going to Disneyland ALL the time with me! This is one of my favorite pictures of us when she was little on the Farris Wheel.


My Hailey is a little bit more grown up now.


I took this picture for Alana because she and I love to watch "Handy Manny". It was weird being at Disneyland without Alana. But there is no way Hailey and I could have gone on all the rides if she was there.


Hailey loves the Tower of Terror! It's been years since I've been on it because I was pregnant several times we went and since then I've had Alana. It was a great ride and I forget how scary and exciting it is!

We also stood in line for Space Mountain for over an hour! CRAZY! We finally got up to the part where we were about to go inside and the ride broke down! UH... How much longer could I possibly wait? So we sat down in line with everyone else for about 10 minutes and then it finally came back up. We got on the ride and it was great! Maybe not worth the hour wait, but I forget how fast and crazy that ride is! So much fun!

Of course we had to ride the usuals too!


Waiting for Fantasmic is one of my favorite things to do! So Hailey and I parked it 2 1/2 hours to show time to get a good seat! Had dinner and dessert and then FINALLY it started!!!! Fantasmic makes me SOOO happy! It goes back to my days working at Disneyland, standing at the Ice Cream cart right there in New Orleans Square, standing watching the show EVERY night during the summer! I know every word and movement to the whole show. It makes me so happy to see it!!! It started and I had the biggest smile on my face!!!!

Less then 5 minutes later it stopped and all the lights came on.......... Technical Difficulties.. REALLY??? 2 1/2 hours of waiting for my favorite show and it stops? UH! I was soooooo MAD! So we made our way out to Main Street with the other 60 thousand people that were there that day to stand and watch the fire works. I wasn't impressed. I really like last years fireworks, the "believe". This year I thought wasn't as good. Or maybe it was just the fact that Fantasmic had just been cancelled and I was tired... But either way, we left and got passes to come back for another night of Fantasmic! So until next time Fantasmic....

Personal Trainer?

Meet Jamester! She is my Wii Active Avatar... Victor bought this Wii Active Personal Trainer game a few months ago and it's so awesome! I've been trying to do it several days a week for the last couple weeks. It KICKS MY BUTT! It comes with a leg strap and an exercise band. It sets up work outs for you based on what you are looking for. Keeps track of your calories, workouts and everything. I swear this is almost as good as my personal trainer. (Aaron, I said almost). I sweat just as much as I did when I was working with him. It takes you through cardio and all around workout. Running, boxing, squats, jumps, dancing... anything you can imagine that is good for getting your heart rate up. You can work out with a friend, Victor also has a Avatar. You should see us in the living room doing it. It's pretty funny. Last week I tried it a few days that the girls were awake and they were trying to punch and dance just like me. Super funny! So every day at 1:00pm after I put the girls down for a nap it's "Jamie time" and I get some time to myself for whatever I want to do and lately it's been this awesome workout! Anyone who has Wii and wants to get into the workouts, it's super fun and next thing you know you've just worked out for 30 minutes and burned tons of calories!

Pool time!

Gotta love California! Most days it's summer days! We've been spending lots of time in the pool this summer. Between the beach and our pool, Alana loves being in the water. With the excpetion of yesterday... she was a bit cranky, but that could have something to do with all 10 of those teeth trying to break through her gums all at the same time. Never the less, we were in Corona at my mom's house and enjoyed the pool.


Since Ellie knows how to swim, she was giving Kali pointers. Those two girls together crack me up!


Kali did really well with just a noodle around her and swam all over the pool.


Ellie was showing off her jumping in skills.

Alana cuddled with Grandma to keep warm!

More and more pool and beach pictures to come... I know Summer is almost over BUT we live in CA so...

Daddy's girl

Moments like this make me so happy! I came home from work to Alana and Daddy time, laying together watching Finding Nemo. She loves her time with her daddy! The days and nights I work, Alana gets to spend great quality time with Victor! It's so cute to see them, she loves to snuggle with her daddy.