Family Vacation!

We had such a fun weekend in San Diego. It was pretty much our first "real" family vacation. Last summer Addi & I went to Portland for a week to visit Heather & the fam, but Jared wasn't able to come with us. We had such a blast and were able to see so many family members, it was great! We arrived on Saturday and met up with my parents to do some shopping along the beach. Then Heather, Jason and the kids got there so we all settled into our hotel rooms and took the kids swimming to get out some energy. Later on we had dinner and went to a nearby outlet mall. On Sunday we went to the GORGEOUS San Diego Temple in the morning to get some pictures, then headed off to the beach. We spent the afternoon and evening playing at the beach where we met up with more family (Grandma Martin, Aunt Debbie & Uncle Fritz, Cousin Kris and wife Charity with their adorable kiddos Kaleb & Alice, Aunt Josie & Sissy, hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone!) and had a BBQ. On Monday we spent all day at SeaWorld. It was so much fun and so nice to see even more family (Grandpa & Grandma van Rij, Aunt Julie and Brian & Alisha). I've got to say, Grandma and Grandpa are world class seat savers, they got us great seats at every show we went to! Then Tuesday we packed up, headed back to the beach to try for more family pictures and went home. I was sad to leave, it's always so hard to say goodbye to my family. We all get along so well and have so much fun together. I can't wait until we can all live by eachother, and I can't wait for our next family vacation (hopefully Nick can come next time!).

Our family at the San Diego Temple

The very serious cousins!

Blaise & Addi k-i-s-s-i-n-g!

Caiden, Addison & Blaise (too darn cute!)

Addi strikes a pose!

Grandma and her girls (Avery & Addison)

Heather in action! (Taking a picture of the temple)

The "A" team (Ali, Ava & Addi)

Grandma & Addison

Jared riding the waves!

Addison with Grandma & Grandpa

The family at SeaWorld.

The crazy kiddos!
Ava trying to escape!

The boys (Kaleb, Blaise & Caiden)

"Way Back Wednesday"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!
I'm copying my mom for today's "way back Wednesday", but I thought it was a great idea and very fitting. Today is Heather's birthday, so here are some pictures of us together growing up. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful older sister. I could not have asked for a better sister, example or friend. We were always the best of friends when we were younger. Then through the teenage years we still always got along (for the most part, after all sisters do sometimes fight) even though we had our separate groups of friends. Now I am so glad to be the best of friends again. Anyone who has ever met her knows, and as you can see in the pictures, she is a huge goofball which is what I think I love about her the most. She is an amazing example to me of what a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend and person should be.

So Happy Birthday Heather, I hope it's a great one! Thanks for everything that you are. I love you.

By the way, I'm sure many of you were wondering, but yes she is supposed to be making a fish face not an "I'm scared out of my mind" face. I am happy to report that although it is still not perfect, her fish face has greatly improved since this picture was taken.

Little Miss Thang!!!

Everyday Addison watches me get ready in the morning and she absolutely LOVES make-up. She knows where everything goes and mimics me putting it on. Well the other day she got ahold of some nena (that's what she calls make-up for some reason) and made herself beau-a-ti-bowl! I'm not exactly sure how this happened without me noticing because I was in the same room with her the entire time. A little scary how oblivious I apparently was this day huh? All of a sudden I noticed that she had mascara in her hands, so without even looking at her face I took it, closed the lid and put it away. The next thing I know she's looking in the mirror putting lip gloss on. It was then that I noticed she had actually put on some mascara. At this point it was just such a cute photo opportunity I couldn't pass it up. Although it was not applied very well, it's obvious that she was trying to put mascara on her eyelashes (she got more in her hair) and lip gloss on her lips. She also had the eyelash curler at some point, I didn't get a picture of that though. The last picture you'll see is when I took the make-up away. She was VERY upset. It's a little scary to think that she's already a little diva and she's not even 2! (By the way, just ignore the finger print smudges on the mirror. A little embarrassing hee-hee!)

Daddy's Little Helper

Addison just LOVES to help mommy & daddy do things around the house. It's been hard for me because it's usually so much faster and easier if I just do it myself (I've never been good at accepting help from anyone) but it makes her so happy to feel like she's doing something important. So I've really made an effort to let her help me do the dishes, laundry, dusting or whatever else it is I'm doing. Well, she loves helping her daddy even more because she's not able to very often. The other day Jared was putting together some chairs we had gotten to go with a table that we bought and Addison was so eager to jump right in there. It was so cute! She had just gotten out of her bath, which explains the no clothes...sorry, but she just had no time for shenanigans such as getting dressed. She had to hurry and help before daddy was done. She ran over to where he was, grabbed an allen wrench and started twisting away wherever she saw a screw. I got one picture of her face that I just LOVE. It's her "I'm so proud of myself but I'm trying really hard not to show it by smiling" face.

It's so fun for me to watch Jared & Addison together. It reminds me of when my dad would take my sister and me to work. He would give us some scrap pieces of wood and we would just nail them together with a hammer. Why this was so exciting I'm not real sure. I think just because we felt important like we were really helping our dad out.

Anyhoo on a side note, I've included pictures of our new table too because Jared is very proud of the deal we got. It was 90% off at the JC Penney Furniture outlet store! It also has a built in leaf that pulls out to make the table square.

HAIRSTYLES!

Okay so check it out. I am in DESPERATE need of a haircut, so I thought it would be fun to try a new hairstyle. Upon searching for something I'd like, I found the coolest website ever. If you go to http://www.makeoveridea.com/ you can upload a picture of yourself and test out tons of different hairstyles and colors before committing to anything. Best of all, it's free! I could have been on this website all night long. It was so much fun to see how different I can look just by changing my hair, and let me tell you, sometimes it was not cute! So anyway, I thought it would be a neat idea to share some styles with you guys and see what you think. I have three basic different types; short, medium & long. Since my hair is already long, I threw bangs in there to mix it up a bit. Let me know what you think because I am way too indecisive to ever make up my mind. Although I'm even more of a chicken, so who knows, I may end up with a half inch trim. Hee Hee! =)

Debbie the Matchmaker!

Anyone who has ever been around my Aunt Debbie knows how AWESOME she is. She is just so much fun! Well I've discovered just one more thing that she's amazing at; finding the perfect dog for the perfect family. I think she should become a professional people/puppy matchmaker. A couple of months ago we had to give our dog away because his type of breed just did not work out with the environment we had for him to live in. So we took him to my Aunt Debbie who worked her magic and carefully placed him in the perfect home (or rather 20 acre farm). A few months later she had a friend call to say that she was no longer able to keep her dog and asked if Debbie could find her a home. Since my Aunt Debbie already knew this dog's personality, she knew that she'd be the perfect fit for our household. BOY WAS SHE RIGHT! Zelda (chocolate lab) fits right in with our family. She is so mellow, obedient, gentle and she's already house trained. Addison is in heaven, she just loves her. Although Addi is starting to get a bit bossy! She's always saying "Olda (that's how she says her name) no wick (lick)". That dog does love to give kisses, but that I can handle. Even the cat is finally starting to come around. We could not have asked for a better dog. Thanks Aunt Debbie!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

We had such a fun 4th of July. Earlier in the day we went swimming with some of our neighbors and had a blast. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera to the pool so I don't have any pictures of that. After that we went home, popped some popcorn, grabbed some other snacks and watched a movie. Then, later on we gathered up a blanket, sun umbrella and some drinks and walked to the park by our house. There was a big celebration going on at the park so we decided to brave the heat and check it out. I'm SO GLAD we did! It actually wasn't all that hot, probably around 105 degrees when we first got to the park (much better than the 115+ it was supposed to be!) and there was plenty of shade to make it even better. Once the sun went down there was a nice breeze and it felt very nice. There was a lot to keep us entertained at the park. They had a pie eating contest, watermelon seed spitting contest, wiffleball tournament, water attractions for the kids, karate demonstrations, a BBQ and much more. They also had guys walking around with portable misters to spray you off if you were feeling hot (only in the desert). When the sun went down they were going to play a movie (The Sandlot) on a giant blow up screen, but they had technical difficulties. I was kind of bummed because I thought it would be so fun to sit in the park and watch a movie, but OH WELL! Instead they just started the fireworks show a little early. It was a great show. I don't remember why, but for some reason we didn't do anything last year for the 4th of July, so this was Addison's first fireworks show. We had so much fun just sitting on a blanket in the park, eating dinner, bumping into friends and watching all of the festivities around us. What a great day! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!

Nursery Colors

We painted the baby's room this weekend so I thought I'd post pictures so everyone can see what colors we chose. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. The colors look a little different in the photos because of the lighting in the room, but they're close. We still have a TON of touch up to do, but you'll get the idea. Keep in mind that the white separating line you see will actually be a piece of about 2 1/2" white molding (and yes, it will be straight), and the window will be cased in white as well. I'll be sure to post more pics when it's completely finished.

100 DAY CHALLENGE

I'm a little late getting this started, but today July 1, will be my official start date. I figure this challenge comes at a great time because I have just about 100 days until the baby comes. As we all know once that happens all structure and order is thrown out the window for a little while. At least for me! =) When I first heard about the challenge I was a little overwhelmed and didn't know what to choose because I have so much I can do. Then I kind of forgot about it. Today though, as I was reading my mom's update (great job by the way!) I got really motivated to get started. I am losing my "craft room" because it is turning into the baby's nursery. What I need to do is go through and organize everything (scrapbook stuff, pictures, sewing stuff, etc.) so it will all fit neatly in the office. In addition to this I need to finish Addison's baby scrapbook. When I say finish I mean I need to start it first, as I think I've done maybe 2 layouts. Part of my problem is that all of our pictures are on the computer, I NEVER take them in to be printed out, so I never have anything to scrapbook. Does anyone else have this problem? I know I can print them out myself but I have SO MUCH to do and it takes a ton of ink. I guess my first step is to get prints of all the pictures I want, then scrapbook, scrapbook, SCRAPBOOK! I really need to get this done before our baby boy comes because then I'll just have even more picture overload and I'll be 2 babies behind. So here goes, wish me luck! And good luck to everyone else. Keep up the good work!