Brace yourself....I've actually been busy

My sister came into town from Florida this past Saturday and we have been playing, playing, playing and going, going, going. It has been lots of fun. She is actually on her way to Disneyland today with her hubby, her son and Ashlyn, while Leah and I take a day off. We'll meet up with them tomorrow in Santa Barbara. Here are a few pictures of things we have been doing.

This is my sister Desiree, my brother Tyler and Me in the rec room at my brothers apt in Torrance. We grilled out and hung by the pool all day. It was a beautiful day.

Here's the fam in the pool.


The floor in the rec room was disgusting. Here is proof of what happens if you walk around barefoot. Yuck!!!

The girls loved jumping on Aunt Dezzies bed.

Monday we went to a Regae Fest at UCLA(my brothers grand idea). We paid $30.00 a person to sit and smell people smoking pot. But you weren't allowed to bring Alcohol. Just your marijuana. Ha....we stayed for about an hour and then went shopping in Westwood and ate at The Olive Garden. Ended up being a pretty fun day, despite the smokey beginning. (Don't worry, the girls stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. They weren't exposed to the pot smoking people.)

Here's us after gorging ourselves on breadsticks and salad. Yum yum yum....

On Tuesday, we hit the Hollywood scene. Our first stop was the wax museum.

Me and Ashlyn in front of Spidey. Still haven't seen the third movie.

Silly Brent Strikes again.

Then we headed over to the Guiness World Record Museum. This is what Ashlyn might look like if she ate. Ha...just kidding. After this we went over to Graumans, but I didn't get any pictures there.

Then thanks to wonderful Beth, we went to a restaurant, kid free. It was a cute restaurant, but the food turned out to be just okay. It didn't matter. We just wanted to hang out together.

We went to Magic Mountain on Wednesday. Here is a picture of me and my nephew Brent.

Yes, I went on this ride. It is called Tatsu and you face down like you are flying. It was the biggest thrill ride I have ever been on and I LOVE rollarcoasters. Yahooooo!!!!

This is the end of the day. The girls were great. They have a wonderful little kid area with at least 10 rides that even Leah could go on.

Silly little Brent.

Cadberry Creme Egg

I know it is almost June, but I had a Cadberry Creme egg in the refrigerator I had been saving. I don't know what I had been saving it for, so today seemed like a good day to eat it. Ashlyn was sitting next to me and of course as soon as I pulled the wrapper off, she asked me what I was eating.

The conversation continued as follows:

Me: It's a cadberry creme egg.

Ashlyn: Can I have some?

Me: Sure.

Ashlyn: (after taking her first bite) OOOH..that's good mommy. Maybe I should have some more? Maybe I should come up on your lap? (she climbs up and gets comfy) Can I have another bite?

Me: Sure.

(Then we get to the creme part in the middle).

Ashlyn: What's that white stuff?

Me: It's the creme center.

Ashlyn: Can I have some?

Me: Sure.

Ashlyn: Ooooh...that's really yummy. Can I have some more?

You get the point. As soon as she took one bite, she was asking for the next and before I knew it, the egg was gone and I had gotten maybe two bites. The she said,

Do you have anymore?

Me: No that's all.

Ashlyn: Maybe we can get some more later huh mommy? That was really really yummy. Thanks for sharing. (And she goes along her merry little way.)

Ah, so much for my egg....at least she helps me cut calories. Gotta love her for that.

Favorite Family Past Time

Do your kids have nightly bedtime rituals? You know...They usually include putting on your jammies, brushing your teeth and reading a book. Well, Ashlyn has adopted an additional ritual. Once Daddy gets home, it's either choo choo train, chasing game (which is just running around chasing each other), or hide and seek. She loves it and waits all day for Daddy to get home so they can play (apparantly Mommy doesn't play as well as Daddy does). I love it though. I'm so glad they look forward to having Daddy come home and that they want to play with him. And I'm glad Daddy is willing to play even though he's usually tired from a long day at work.

Farewell highchair

Leah constantly wants to be bigger than she is. She thinks she should be able to do everything Ashlyn does. So when she sees Ashlyn up at the table eating her food, she wants to be there also. It got to the point where she would throw a fit about being in her highchair, but every time I sat her at the table, she would bonk her forehead on the edge (since she is too short to sit in a regular chair). So I decided it was time to bust out the booster seat again. I put it up one night after she went to bed, and somehow the next morning Leah knew it was for her. She went right over to it, and tried to pull the chair out to get in. She's much happier there now and loves being able to sit right next to Ashlyn (although she usually tries to grab Ashlyn's food since Ashlyn eats at the speed of a snail).

A sad sad day for Television

I know most of you could care less, but I am really rather sad. Veronica Mars was cancelled today. It will not be coming back for a fourth season. *sigh*. So I say, Goodbye to one of the best shows on TV in a long time. You will be missed.

Nickelback - If Everyone Cared (video)

This is my favorite song right now. I wanted to put it in as an audio clip, but there were too many steps and I'm not computer savvy enough to figure them all out.

A Rare Family Photo

We so rarely get a picture with all four of us, that I just had to post it on my blog. Even if Ashlyn isn't really smiling and Leah has food on her face.

We went to Paul's work today for lunch. They were having a special "Shrek" day for the new movie coming out next weekend (the 18th. Everyone go see it. Our bonus depends on it doing well). It was quite the event. Most of our food was Green, Shrek was walking around taking pictures with everyone, decorations were everywhere, and they had people riding around on those portable people movers taking pictures ( I can't remember what those contraptions are called, but hopefully you all understand what I'm talking about). Anyhow, that is how we got the family photo. The second photo Ashlyn wouldn't get in, so it's just the three of us, but oh well. We tried.

Ashlyn's Art Class

These posts are for you GRAMMY!!! (A little birdie told me I was in trouble for not posting pictures and clips of the girls more regularly. Evidently my life isn't that interesting. HA HA....)

Ashlyn has been taking an art class through the park and rec center up here in Santa Clarita. It's a cute little class. They start with an art project and then do some simple piano. Then they get on a stage and practice speaking in a microphone, keeping rhythm, and singing (usually the "itsy bitsy spider"). Here are some pictures of her art projects. She didn't do these all entirely on her own. She is coached every step of the way on what to do and where to color. Then the teacher comes around and makes slight corrections if they happen to make a big mistake. I'm proud of her still. I think it's kind of a hard class for such little kids (even though it is suppose to be geared for 3-4 year olds). She loved making the pig out of clay, which didn't surprise me since she can play with playdough for hours. Next week they get to paint their pigs. Fun fun!!! Ashlyn's really excited.


This is suppose to be a picture of an orange. Their teacher was trying to teach them shading and shadows. I thought it was a bit much, but oh well. All the kids were looking at their teacher like, HUH???? This is Ashlyn's attempt.




This one is a simple landscape. They painted it on a canvas with oil paints.


And here is her pig made out of clay. She loved making a little snake and then twirling it up to make the tail. She was very attentive to detail during this class. She probably worked the hardest on this one. Then it almost got broken today (along with all the other little kids pigs) when Leah knocked over the tray in class. I was mortified. I was just so glad that none of them broke. I don't know what I would have done.

Party Hats

While I was in Florida, my mom took the girls to their step-cousins birthday party down in Yorba Linda. Ashlyn brought home a party hat (which Leah has on), and then wanted to make her own. She was quite proud of her version.

Sorry about the lousy picture of Leah. She wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good one. Surprise surprise!!!

Ashlyn's "Dancing with Myself"

Ashlyn loves the song "Dancing with Myself" from the movie "Flushed Away". She dances to it all the time and often wants us to join in. Here is a short clip of her dancing.

Pineapple Plant

Ok, I have never seen a pineapple growing until this past weekend. Isn't it cute? It was just growing in Beth's backyard. I just had to take a picture of it. It almost looked fake it was so perfect.

My Trip to Florida

Wow, what a fun weekend. I had such a blast and I remembered how much I really love being in Florida. Maybe it's just because I grew up there, but it just has a great feel to it. Anyway, I went because one of my best friends from high school got married this past weekend at the Don Ce-Sar Hotel in St. Petersburg, which is close to Tampa. The place was BEAUTIFUL. Her wedding was great and the reception was incredible. Here are some pictures from the event. Also, I am posting some pictures of our day at the beach. I'm sorry, but I have to say that Florida beaches beat CA beaches hands down. No comparison. They are SO much better. I'm probably just biased, although there is quite a bit of truth to it.
This is my friend Jamie and her new husband Jamey. Funny huh. They distinguish them by calling her Jamie girl, which is ironic because she has kind of gone by that name most of her life anyway.

This is where her reception was. There was a live band and a TON of really yummy food. It was quite the event.

Here is me and Jamie at the reception.

This is a picture of me and Desiree in front of my dad's girlfriends house, who coincidentally lives 2 miles from where the wedding was. Her house was the perfect beach home. We loved staying there. It was so relaxing.


This is my Dad and his girlfriend Beth. They kept trying to squirt each other with water guns. I stayed out of it. I have learned not to pick fights like that with my Dad. He doesn't give up until you are drenched.

After the beach, we went back to Beth's and swam in her pool and layed out in her hammocks. I know...rough life huh? It was great.