Cupcake Party!

Some friends and I have started a weekly playgroup. It's been lots of fun for the kids and for us. We've started doing little crafts and this last week we made Halloween cupcakes. I think they turned out really cute. London is one of the oldest there, but the only one without a baby brother. Maybe it's a sign?

Here's all the cute kiddos. Notice how London finds it necessary to squint while saying "cheese".

For those of you who have heard non-stop talk from London about her best friend Sydney...here's a picture to put a face to the stories. Isn't she adorable!!!!

Jessie and Madden are also new found favorite friends!




Madden took London on a little tractor ride.

London also thinks saying "cheese" means to squish your cheeks together.

That's better.

Sleepover Friend

I went to check on London before I went to sleep and this is how I found her and her kitty. I like how they are pretty much sleeping in the same position.

Barca!!!

Tim and I and a bunch of friends drove down to L.A. for the Galaxy vs. Barcelona game. It was a great game. 93,000 fans were there to support. Needless to say we didn't get out of the parking lot for about three hours after the game, but I guess that's part of the experience. Here's a few things I found interesting about the game.

1. Everyone booed when Beckam had the ball, until he made this amazing goal, then all of a sudden he was the hero of the game. It's amazing how 93,000 people can be so fickle.

2. The fans around us were so RUDE to each other. This one lady came running out of the stands to push these two girls, who were standing up at the very bottom of the bleachers (not in anyone's way) over. Really weird.

3. Some guy in a visor (which is fine if you wear one, but it might just mean you can't offer fashion advice) yelled at this super cool looking kid to sit down and take his ugly shirt off (his shirt was very in style). I turned around and said "Oh, this coming from the guy in the visor." He looked right at me, but I don't think he heard me, but why did he have to pick on a guy who was just minding his own business?

4. The girl sitting next to me came in like ten minutes late, took one look at my purse that I had sat in her spot, then glared at me and said in a very snobby way, "These are OUR seats!" She then proceeded to be pretty annoying throughout the whole game to other people.

5. Eva Longoria was there at half time promoting a group that supports Latinos with cancer, but I don't think many people realized who it was just because there was so much other commotion going on. But I thought it was neat of her to come and promote such a great cause. She was the eye candy for the men because there was plenty there for the ladies!


6. And for those of you who want to hear about the actual game, it was great. Barcelona looked a ton sharper than L.A. and had much fancier foot work, but that's to be expected.

6 Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy!

My fabulous sister-in-law, Jen, had this on her blog and I thought it was a great way to appreciate the small things in life. Try it out. I am only going to tag one person, Cassie. I think she is a way cool girl and would like to know the six simple things that she loves!


I can't go a morning without this. I measure out the milk and it makes for a great breakfast of 350 calories. Not too bad. There's just something I love about drinking your breakfast. And don't get me started on how much the cute mug from Starbucks that I drink it out of makes me happy!


I have VERY high arches. If I was a ballerina, it would look great, but I have no interest in dancing, just sports, running especially. Running and high arches are a great way to get plantar fasciitis..which I now have. These arch supports make me SO HAPPY. It was getting to a point where the pain was making me cry, but these little puppies have soothed my soul.


My theory is, if your house smells good, it looks good too. So I try to keep these on hand and burning at all times!



I can think of two television shows I wouldn't want to give up, but the rest I don't really care about. It's movies that I love and I'm always excited to see that Netflix envelope in my mailbox. Plus, let's admit it ladies, we all have our Holleywood crushes (mine is Edward Norton, hands off please :)) so you can look up everything they've done and just Netflix them all. Plus there are tons of kid's shows you can watch online so you don't have to hear the same show over and over and over and over.


Every stay-at-home mom needs her saving grace. Mine is weekly volleyball. The women who go have all played in high school or higher so it's a pretty strict bump, set, spike regime, which I like. It's a great group of ladies and if the competition is right, it's a great workout and stress reliever.

O.P.I. nail polish. I love going online and seeing all the new names of colors these guys come up with. They are so funny. I'd love to meet the people who have this job. Very creative. You can't help but want your toes to be painted in "Kinky in Helsinki" "Shootout at the O.K. Coral" "Up the Amazon Without a Paddle" or "Paint My Moji-toes"

London's Second Birthday

Corpus Christi

Every year my family goes to Corpus Christi. The island we stay on is actually called Mustang Island. We rent condos right on the beach. It's really the only time we ever see each other, so I look forward to it every year. Now because my family is a bit high strung, there are usually a few fights during this trip. But I am proud to say there were no doors slammed, keys thrown, tires screeching across the pavement (you get the point). Everyone was very calm and nice. In fact I think the only curse words thrown around were those used in a joking format. So good job family. Nothing a little lithium can't cure :) (I'm kidding).


Okay, I'm a horrible wife, but a great mom. I sprayed sunscreen lotion on Tim's back, but was so worried about my little pale daughter in the sun, that I didn't rub in the sunscreen and this is the result. It does show how well the sunscreen works in the places it was applied. My family gave me a lot of crap for this one so you don't have to comment on it!



Our kite flew GREAT there.

London's sand castle.

My sand castle.


My fabulous sister-in-law and niece, Kim and Kourtney.

Our New Home

My brother, Todd, has been yelling at me to get some pictures posted of our new house. So this one's for you big bro. Love ya!




Here's the Living Room with my adorable American Bulldog doing what she does best, lying down. She's so lazy and chubby, but I love her to pieces! There's a spare room, eating area, and bathroom off of this room as well.



This is the Master Bedroom and Bath. I know, it looks purple. The previous owner's painted the whole upstairs this shade of brown and I'll eventually get it all changed. I just hate painting.


Hallway from Master Bedroom looking down to London's room. There's two rooms off to the left and a bathroom off to the right.

Back Porch. No grass, that's the desert for ya. New homes cannot have grass. But we have lots of fruit trees which should be fun.

Reno-Tahoe Odyssey

The Reno-Tahoe Odyssey is a 178 mile relay, divided between 12 runners, and about 24 hours. The race begins in Reno, goes all the way down to South Lake Tahoe, then back up through Carson and Virginia City, and finally ends again in Reno. Each runner is assigned three different legs throughout the race, with each leg varying in degrees of difficulty. Although I ran about 16 miles total, I had the second to easiest leg, so you can tell I ran with some pretty amazing runners. We called ourselves The Legs of Las Vegas and our vans had stuffed legs with shoes on hanging off of them. We wrote things like “Luscious Leg Syndrome” and “Leaving Las Legas” on our vans. We were an all women’s team and we took first place in the Women’s Open Division! For the overall results, there were 105 teams and we took 19th! So like I said, these women were amazing. I learned a lot from them and they had me running faster than I knew I could, at three in the morning, on two hours of sleep in a bar parking lot.  Sounds like good times right? It really was. My first leg went right around Lake Tahoe at dusk and it was so pretty! I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t running my hardest and adjusting to an elevation change all at the same time. I’ve done a lot of athletic events in my life, but never a team running race and the friendships you build with perfect strangers is amazing. How it worked is we had two vans of six women. While one van ran, the other van drove to the next exchange point to eat and sleep. We finally finished in 24 hours and 26 mins. I was the 12th leg so I got to run in to the finish line and by that time I was EXHAUSTED so I am just really happy I didn’t mess up our first place win. I think we only beat the next team by about two minutes. There was another women’s team, The Tahoe Trail Babes, who were in the Women’s Masters Division, and they did beat us by about two hours. I give them props though because to be in the Master’s category, you all have to be 40 or older. So way to go ladies! Here’s a couple of pictures of the event, and if any of my teammates are reading this, thank you for inviting me to be on your team. I hope I can increase my speed so I can keep up with you all for next year!