I guess I really like Oreos

The other day I opened a package of Oreos. I guess I was so excited to eat the cookies, that I failed to read the new packaging instructions. This is how I opened it....

I ripped through it in two seconds. Notice how in big letters on the yellow arrow thingy it says, "New, Easy Open Pull Tab." There is even an additional stop sign on the side of the package(right where I was ripping it apart in my moment of weakness)that says"Stop! Open with Pull Tab on Top!" Shoot. These people went to great lengths to not only make opening this package easier for me, but they even tried to help my cookies stay fresher longer. Then I go and totally screw it up. I guess I love these things too much to read, pause, stop or think before opening.

I just tore the sucker open. And I will probably do it the next time I open Oreos. Accidentally. Because I'm an idiot. Or because I'm just real hungry.

Goin to Miami

3 more days and we are off to Miami baby! Many of you may remember that Joey won an award last year called Tops in Ops at his work(I blogged it a while back). This award honors employees that have gone above and beyond. Its one of the highest recognitions T-Mobile gives. Yea Joey!This award also includes an all-expense paid vacation to Miami! Woo hoo! We are staying at the 5 star Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I don't think I've ever stayed anywhere that is even on the star rating system! So, when I found out, I darn near peed my pants. Check out the pictures of this place. And its going to be just the 2 of us, no kids! Heaven....simply heaven. Joey is super stoked to golf hereI am super duper stoked to get a massage here

I know this post may seem braggy "we get to go here, we get to do this", but whatev. This blog is about us and our life, so how can I not blog this fantastic trip? I am so excited that I have to share the excitement with you! We leave Thursday afternoon and will get home Sunday afternoon. It has been over three years since we have traveled without our kids. We so need this getaway! I think every parent does! And its FREE, doesn't get better than that. I live for free stuff. Thanks Joey for working so hard and for winning this for us babe! And a BIG THANK YOU to Joey's parents for coming up to watch the kids. We couldn't be doing this without you! We love you!

We choose the right! And Cali walks a lot: Its a double feature!

Ella came home from church today so excited to have this CTR sign that she had made in her Primary class. Aubrey had stayed home because she was running a low-grade fever, she also picked out her own clothes. . .just fyi:) Anyways, Ella loved her CTR sign so much that she decided to have a parade around the living room singing, "We choose the right!"over and over again. It was so cute, I had to get it on video. Then I got an extra bonus, Cali decided to walk a LOT! She has taken a 3-4 steps here and there, but never this many! And since this video was taken, she has just decided to walk all over the place. Its incredible how fast they learn!

The Relay for Life Experience

Sorry for my lack of a post-I've been catching up on sleep from last night:) Last night was awesome! It was a great night to get together as a group of friends to remember Peter Barr, remember all of those who have gone before us because of this disease, and help in the fight against it. Anyone not familiar with how it works, each person on the team takes turns walking laps for one hour so that someone is always walking. It symbolizes how cancer never sleeps. And when you aren't walking, you are eating, hanging out, watching live entertainment, dancing, and eating-did I already say eating? Thats because I ate WAY too much! Good thing I walked it all off:)

Peter's Polar Bears 2008-It was a privilege to be part of this group

Joey and the girls came for the first couple of hours to join in the potluck dinner and watch some entertainment. The kids enjoyed being around other kids from the ward and most of all, candy sticks! I had never seen these candy sticks before. Some group hot glued candy to wooden sticks and sold them for a buck. Every childs dream. All the kids were getting them so of course,the girls were dying to have one too. How could I say no to these cute faces? :)

Aubrey and Ella loved playing in the tent with some of the other kids.

There was a hip-hop group performing and Cali started to jam to the music

Me and my walkin buddy, Melissa
Me freezin my booty off. It was in the 50's and I had no blanket. So, I used my pillow for a mini-sleeping bag. Genius, wasn't it?

Jen, Sally(our fearless captain!) & Laurel

Melissa, Nicole & Melanie

Emily and Kim Robertson(Kim is the eyes behind the chair:), Cindy and Gina

So, I admit I didn't stay up the entire night. I stayed long enough to have a little fun and walk Melissa's lap with her(we made a deal-she walked with me on my 10pm shift and I walked with her on her 1am shift:) I ended up getting home around 2:45am, but I was still pretty tired this morning. Luckily, Joey let me sleep in and even made a big breakfast. He is such a stud!

It was an awesome experience. I was able to raise money(thanks so much everyone that supported me-it meant the world to me!) and was able to feel like part of something bigger than myself. Some parts of the evening saddened me, thinking about the struggles of families having to deal with this disease, the lives that have been lost, and suffering that many people are having. But then so many parts of the evening brought a smile to my face. I mostly loved the feeling I had being part of a group that was all there together for the same purpose. I really look forward to next year's Relay!

Tomorrow night!

The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life is tomorrow night! I'm getting excited to participate for my first time ever.

Oh, and the real reason for this post is to remind(or beg) you people for money. I'm a loser and I haven't met my goal yet, so donate here if you can :) C'mon, lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor!

Once again, the baseball game that wasn't

For those of you who have been reading my blog for the past few months, you may remember a post back in July where we went to a Roughriders game only for it to be rained out. Well, we decided to try it again. Joey's work had a suite reserved for T-Mobile and Joey hooked us up with some tickets to last nights game. On our way there, the storm clouds started coming. We arrived at the park with ugly looking clouds above us, but it didn't rain.....at first. We got our food and watched a little bit of the game(which was better than the last time-at least we got to watch some baseball this time!) Then it started to rain a little bit more. We decided we didn't want to run to our cars and get sucked up by a tornado on the way out, so we decided to go home before it got bad(we made the right choice-it poured hard last night!). Even though we had to leave early, it was still fun and a good memory for everyone. At least baseball was played so that in itself was better than our last attempt:) So, if you ever want to go to a Roughriders game, don't invite us. We tend to bring rain with us:)

Before the game began
Aubrey was making this face the last ten minutes we were there. The poor thing kept looking at the sky waiting for a tornado to form. This whole tornado siren thing recently has really traumatized her. We kept having to reassure her that we would be okay. Ella could care less. She just enjoyed her hot dog and chips.
Cali trying to grab my camera

Happy Happy Birthday Sarah dear!

Today is my dear friend, Sarah's, 25th birthday! Welcome to the older twenties Sarah-you've joined ranks with some pretty cool people:) Sarah was the first friend I made when we moved to the Dallas area. We were both new to the area and were sometimes the only two people that showed up to our ward's playgroup, which ended up being a great thing I say! We got to know each other really well and became friends fast. We both became pregnant at the same time, with our due dates only being a couple of weeks apart. Then we both found out we were having girls. Then in March of last year we both had our babies only 9 days apart! It was lots of fun to have a good friend to be pregnant with at the same time. Thanks Sarah for being my first friend here and remaining such a wonderful friend for the past couple of years. I hope you have an awesome birthday today!

To help her celebrate, me, Katie, Melissa & Sarah(the Fab Four:) went out to Chili's for dinner a couple of nights ago. Then we headed over to Katie's house for delicious birthday cake and a movie. We, of course, had to continue the sombrero tradition we started at Melissa's party and made Sarah wear the sombrero too. But, thats not all, Katie whipped out some maracas for her to shake too:) Good move Katie. I'll have to think of something extra for you to wear on your birthday coming up:) Maybe I'll rent a mule.

Sarah knows how to shake it

Katie, me and Sarah smiling for the cameraCan you find one thing different between this picture and the last? Give up? Okaaaay, I'll tell ya:) Me and Melissa swapped-she was the photographer that night. Thanks, Melissa!Here is Sarah kissing the gift I gave her-thats how much she loved it! Actually it was part of the card. I bought her this "grow a man" card. Its one of those things you put in water and it grows. It was so hilarious. He promises to do the dishes,make dinner and flex his biceps !) What a great boy toy. Hope you don't mind Dave, but you've got some competition now:)

Could I not have found a better song to go with this post? :)

Three cheers for Ella!

Anyone that knows Ella, knows that she has loved sucking her left index finger since she was a baby. She didn't do it constantly, just when she was tired or bored. She has sucked it so much though that her finger is actually has a callous from it. I hoped it would stop on its own by the time she was 4, but the past few months it actually became worse and I was getting worried. Both her pediatrician and dentist talked to her about stopping so that it wouldn't affect her teeth in the future. I mainly wanted her to stop because its a bad habit, it seemed that she was picking up every germ in the world this year, and also because her finger was becoming deformed. So, to try and solve this problem, Ella and I talked about it, we made a prize chart together, I had her wear a glove on that hand for a couple of days, night and day, and ta da! She is finger sucking free! She has gone 3 weeks without that finger in her mouth. I owe it to the glove idea that I found on the internet(what would I do without the net?) She didn't want to suck on the glove and once she went a couple of days without being able to suck her finger, she was cured! We are soooooo proud of her! It was hard for her. She had gotten so used to it and dependent on it for comfort. But she did it! Her pediatrician told her that when she stopped sucking her finger she could come to the office for a special prize. Here she is with her prize cup! It had a sticker, jewelry, magic wand, lollipop, and a hair accessory-we love this doctor and her nurse so much! Rosa, the nurse, gave her the prize today and told her how proud they all were of her and really made her feel good:) Shout out to Dr. Frank and nurse Rosa at Pediatric Healthcare Associates!

Her prize from mommy & daddy was a new blue hippo Webkinz. She loves him and is currently trying to think of a name for him. I told her she should name him Hippie... she didn't go for it.

Yea Ella! We love you!

Book Tag

This book tag was on my friend, Melissa's, blog a few days ago. I thought it would be fun!


Heres what you're supposed to do:

Pick up the nearest book (one with at least 123 pages)
Open to page 123
Find the 5th sentence
Post the next 3 sentences
Tag 5 people


I picked up the book, The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks(hoping to get a spicy part of the book:) He he. The 3 sentences were, "Everything felt right. The fire, the drinks, the storm-it couldn't have been more perfect. Like magic, it seemed, their years apart didn't matter anymore." Darn, just 2 paragraphs shy of the "fun" parts of the book !) I'm bad, I know.

I tag Kim, Laura, Erica, Anayansi & Amber.

Just the two of us

Yesterday, Joey spent the day with the kids and I went to Six Flags, just me and my sister, Tara. I can't even remember the last time I spent that much time away from the kids. I also can't remember the last time I had some sisterly time with Tara. It was nice to get to hang out with her and scream together(well, okay, I was doing most of the screaming and she was laughing at me:). Anyways, it was LOTS of fun! We found happiness with the camera throughout the day that I thought I'd share with you. . .enjoy.

There are these weird signs throughout the park. I thought I'd have Tara imitate a couple.

Tara didn't want to go topless for this one. What a party pooper:)

My "I'm having fun riding in this big log" face. Tara flirting with the photographer with her sexy scrunched up nose. Ew Tara, that photographer was me.

Tara and I think we are the queens of facial expressions. We love to try and see who can look the most ridiculous in photos. I'm not sure who won on this one. We both look pretty hilarious. I bet the workers at Six Flags thought we were mental.

It was getting sunny and quite hot, so I used my map as a makeshift sun visor. I also was trying to make a Napoleon Dynamite-ish face. Basically, I just looked stupid.

3-D adventure ride. I loved these glasses so much that I wanted to take them home with me. I didn't......or did I? Thats something you'll wonder the rest of your life.

The story behind this photo: For one of the rides, there is this sign(see pic below) that says there is a standby entrance for "flash pass" and "single riders" which we have used in the past and gone as single riders. It saves having to wait in the huge line, only downside is having to ride separately. So, anyways, we go up there and the guy tells us its only for flash pass users. We argued a little bit saying, well then why does the sign say single riders? Why is it that just a few weeks ago we came up here and used the line as single riders? He didn't seem to get that the sign said so. Idiot. Anyways, here is me with my angry face looking at the sign that proves me and Tara were right! Change the sign if it ain't right people!

A little something we saw on the ground as we were walking to our cars. Disturbing...why yes! I immediately had Tara get her camera out and take a picture. I mean, how often do you see a chewed off baby doll foot in the middle of a parking lot? I'm still laughing about this. . .nice photography Tara....you are so artistic.

And a special thanks goes to my wonderful husband, Joey, for being Super Dad for the day. He took the kids to Chuck E Cheese, 2 different parks(one to go on a walk, one to ride bikes and play), popped the girls popcorn for their movie they watched together, played legos, put together a 100 piece puzzle, and made them dinner and root beer floats. He really went all out for his Daddy Day with the girls. I guess I need to step it up a notch now:) Thanks Joey-I love you! It was a much needed break!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor. . .

Our first ripened strawberry! Isn't it beautiful? Its even shaped like a heart!

The family taste test....we all had a bite:)

Ella's shopping list

Ella is such a funny, creative and smart little girl. The other morning I told her we were going to go grocery shopping. She then got paper, scissors, and crayons out and made her own "grocery list." She cut out several squares, drew pictures of each item on each "page" and drew little boxes in the corners of each page for her to check off each item once we got it at the store. She thought of bananas, bread, cheese, milk, yogurt and cereal. She also thought of a cake(smart girl). I asked her what the cake was for and she looked at me like "duh" and said, "Our party tonight!" Uh huh(I admit I bought a small one! How could I not help her check off all of her items? :). She then had me help her staple her book together. It was like a little grocery shopping list book. It was the cutest thing! I got a lot of smiles and "ahhhhs" from older women (grandmas I'm sure) in the store that day.

Check her out with her stylish purse and grocery list. She looks so grown up!

Bananas, check.
Cali sitting patiently and staring at me with those big beautiful brown eyes like, "Are we done yet?" She and Ella are both so good at the store for me. I'm a lucky mama.Also, just so you don't think I'm strange, I don't usually bring a camera with me to Wal-Mart. I just knew when I saw Ella making that list that I HAD to take pictures at the store that morning, so I threw it in my purse before we left:)

Quite the combination

What happens when you mix... +
+ Cali on a lovely Sunday afternoon?

A child that just had the time of her life in the back seat of a car.

Messy, but oh so happy.

Note to moms(and self in case self forgets by the time baby #4 comes): Don't buy those Gerber biter biscuits for your toddler! I thought I'd give em a whirl. Well, first of all, when I opened the box I saw that they seriously look like doggie biscuits and I almost felt guilty handing her one. I almost impulsively said, "Good girl!" before handing her one. Secondly, they are hard as a rock. I tried biting into one and about broke my jaw. And lastly, they are the messiest baby finger foods ever created! Once wet, they create a paste that sticks like glue to everything in its path. I'm glad it provided Cali with a smile though...and me too :)

ABC Tag

I was tagged for this a while back and I forgot about doing it. So, here it finally is! I know you all have been waiting and waiting for this. The moment has finally arrived.....:)

A- Attached or single: Attached for eternity to the hottest man EVER
B- Best Friend(s): Joey and many galpals who are now all over the U.S. (you know who you are)
C-Cake or Pie: Chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I love chocolate.
D- Day of Choice: Saturday
E- Essential Item: Joey !)
F- Favorite Color: Green
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Chocolate covered gummi bears please
H- Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas
I-Indulgence(s): Blogging, girls night outs, sweets
J- January or July: July
K-Kids: 3 little gals, Aubrey, Ella & Cali
L-Life is incomplete without: Jesus Christ, my wonderful family, and dear friends
M- Marriage Date: July 6, 2000
N- Number of Siblings:4, Tara, Mark, Austin & Taylor
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples, especially green apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Public speaking
Q- Quote(s): "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."
R- Reason To Smile: When someone lets one rip, I can't help but smile. Unless it was right in my face, then I ain't smilin'.
S- Season: Definitely Autumn. I love when the weather cools down after the summer and the leaves turn red and orange.
T- Tag: Anyone who hasn't done this that wants to!
U- Unknown Fact About Me: Hmmmm....I'm pretty sure I told it all in my 100 Things About Me post. Um, let me think-I can wiggle my ears. Oh, and I can make an awesome quacking sound. Don't you wish you were me? :)
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oppressor of Animal, many many poor and defenseless animals.
W- Worst Habit: Not keeping my cell phone charged or not being able to find my cell phone. Oh, and same thing with my keys, well, except keeping them charged. You can't do that with keys.
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds? Weird question....I guess whoever made this ABC thing up couldn't think of anything too great for the letter X.
Y- Your Favorite Food: I LOVE me some good authentic Mexican food. And also warm chocolate chip cookies fresh outta the oven.
Z: Zodiac: Virgo

Crib buddies

The other morning,when Joey went into Cali's room to get her out of bed, this is what he found. . .

Cali and Ella were having their own little crib party! I don't know when the invitations were sent out, but its clear we weren't invited:) I love these pictures. They were havin a grand ole time!

Why are bibs made to be cute?

I was just thinking about bibs. Why don't bib makers just make them all one color? They should all be an orangish brownish color....thats the color they all end up turning anyways. There are so many adorable bibs out there. Some I have received are so adorable that I want to put a bib over that bib to protect the original bib from stains.

Man, that just don't make sense.

Pro-Biker Aubrey

Aubrey learned to ride her bike(without training wheels) yesterday! We are so proud of Aubrey for overcoming her fears and not giving up. She got pretty upset a few times, even got a few scrapes, but never wanted to quit. It was not easy for her, but she did it! The video clip below is of her first bike ride(for more than a couple seconds). It was exciting to watch her do it. Check out Ella's dance of joy at the end. She was happy for her big sister and ran over to give her a hug right afterwards saying, "Great job Aubrey!" :) Cali watched, smiled, and clapped.

At the Ho-Down

We had a root-tootin good ol' time at the "Ho-Down"(as Ella kept calling it) last night! There was lots of yummy chili, homemade cornbread, salads and desserts. There was even a real square dance caller there to teach square dancing and line dancing. The kids loved doing the "Hokey Pokey" and the "Chicken Dance" the most. And of course, they loved all of the desserts. A massive amount of sugar is always a must-have at church events:) Here are some of the pictures from the night. . .