"Tutu" Fun....

At the beginning of this month I started to frantically worry about which picture I would use to enter for "most photogenic". Rylee is going to be in the California Tropic pageant at the beginning of March and they require that we mail in the photo entries a week in advance. And even though I absolutely LOVE taking pictures, I knew that my Canon Powershot, point and shoot camera, just wouldn't do the job.

Luckily, I knew someone nice enough to let me use their camera. A much nicer camera than mine I must say! On the weekend of Valentine's, Rylee and I went over to Richfield and took some pictures. I wanted to get some of her in the tutu that I had made for her, in addition to the shots for the pageant. It was actually really cold and at one point we even locked ourselves out of the truck and had to wait for Brett to come and get us. So we did have a few dilemmas, but I think the pictures turned out SO cute.

Prepare for a complete picture overload....

And then came the hard part.....narrowing it down to only two of our favorite pictures to be entered for "cover" and "most photogenic".

Beautiful Daughter

A precious little flower
that is in constant bloom
I watch as yet another milestone

around the corner looms.

It seems like only yesterday

that we shared a breath

but now it seems like tomorrow

you will leave and I'll be left.

A tiny little angel

that always is in flight

as soon as you came into my life

you brought me so much light.

Your beauty is so stunning

your smile makes me melt

I'm so proud to be your mommy

It's the best I've ever felt.

Oh perfect little princess

with you I'm so in love

every night before I dream

I thank the lord above.

How did I get so lucky

to have as sweet of a gift as you

If ever you should need me

there's nothing I wouldn't do.

~Rylee...Each day I love you more and more and each day you melt my heart with that beautiful little smile of yours! Each day you make me proud to be your mommy and even more proud to call you my daughter.

I LOVE YOU RYLEE!!!

I just wanted to share how much I love this sweet, beautiful, princess of mine!

The Fabulous Las Vegas...

What more can I say! Its definitely a fun place to go visit and hang out with great friends.

Our really good friends Aldo & Jess live in Las Vegas now and we have been trying to plan a trip for a few months now to go see them. Every time we all get together we can't help but have so much fun!!! Besides its hard living so far away from your Best Friend, so any chance we can get to see each other, we do!

It was really hard to leave the kids this time because Rylee has just recently started this phase where she doesn't like to leave us for too long. We had told her she gets to have a sleepover at grandma & papa's and she was excited. Well within a few hours she was saying that she wasn't sure if she wanted to or not cause she wanted family time. Then the day before she said she might only stay one night cause she loves us so much and will miss us. So it makes it hard, but luckily she was excited to stay there when the day came.

We headed to Vegas around 4pm on Friday....of course we had to tease Jess a few times on our way and tell her we couldn't come this weekend. That was to get her back from all the times she has done that to me. (still love ya Jess). We arrived in LV, at their house, around 7:30pm their time. We took a look around their house and then Jess gave me a gift...a new Coach purse! She is always giving me the greatest gifts. And I absolutely love it. Thanks Jess! I had to hurry and switch my stuff over so I could use my new favorite purse when we went to dinner. Then out the door we went.

We went to a place called Kona Grill. It was really good. They had these delicious Bubble Gum Saketini's that Jess and I had never tried, so we ordered one...and another! They were delicious. The menu said that they would take you back to your childhood memories....I think they were right. These things tasted just like Bubble Gum. Brett & Aldo of course ordered some sushi and because I was the only one there that doens't like sushi, everyone insisted I try again. Jessica kept telling me I have to try everything once. Brett had ordered a caterpillar roll, and I am telling you, this thing looked just like a caterpillar. And it tasted just as bad! It was actually really funny because here we are at this nice restaurant and I take this big bite and it was so gross. I kept telling myself just chew it, just chew it, but each chew I took I about threw up. So I had to spit it out on my plate. Gross! Good thing it was dark in there. Oh and lets not forget the funny joke everyone played on me while we were waiting for our food. Because Aldo makes mouthguards, he talks to a lot of fighters. So, his phone rings and it says "Chuck Liddell". He answers and talks for a bit then says his good buddy is a big fan and hands the phone to Brett. Brett chats for a bit, then says my wife loves you, here talk to her...or something like that. Of course I am freaking out so I am saying, "no, Brett, no, knock it off." Brett kept handing the phone to me. At this point I was out of my seat ready to leave the table because I had no clue what I would say to Chuck Liddell on the phone. Well joke was on me cause a few minutes later "Taylor Swift" was calling for Jessica. Everyone got a good laugh!

The girls...minus Audrina.

The Boys!

The Bubblegum Saketini

Caterpillar Roll...I ate the head (well tried) YUCK!

Saturday we got up, had some breakfast, got ready, then headed to the balloon ride. Aldo & Jess had saved 2 tickets for us to go on the balloon above Las Vegas. I am afraid of heights, but still love doing these kinds of things. Jess knew I had it on my 40x40 list so she made sure to save us some tickets. It was a lot of fun. When we first got on I was holding on for life, and then when it reaches a certain point the guide says you can walk around. Well it took me a while to dare to walk around, but within a few minutes I was good. It goes up as high as the Mandalay Bay, that is high! It got a little windy while we were up there, but it was a TON of fun and I am so glad Brett & I got to experience that together.

The Mandalay Bay from almost 400 feet up.

Overlooking Vegas!

Then it was off to Dick's for some lunch. While we were waiting for our turn to be seated, we ordered a 190 Octane from Fat Tuesday's. Dick's is a really fun atmosphere. They are suppose to be rude to everyone, so it was pretty funny. They make these hats for random people at each table and because our waiter had a mad crush on Jess, she was the first to receive a hat. Then he made one for the kids. I was sad I didn't get a hat, so Jess made me wear hers for a while. But it just wasn't the same! Haha!

Jess & I drinking our 190 Octane...

Waiting in line at Dick's drinking our 190 Octane...

Brett & I at Dick's...Brett was not wanting to cooperate with our picture taking!

Jess & I at Dick's Last Resort for lunch...

Anthony, Me, & Talia

Afterwards we went to the Disney store to buy Rylee some stuffed animals that we had promised her. She really wanted a Simba, but I guess because The Lion King is still in the vault they do not sell anything from that movie right now. So, we called her and she asked for Nemo and Flounder instead. She was really excited to get something from the Disney store. We also took this picture of us by the Excalibur just for Rylee because we knew she would think it was so neat to see us by a "princess castle".

We went home, changed our clothes, fixed our hair, waited for Aldo's brother to get to their house to babysit and off we went for our night out in Vegas. We first went to Firefly for some Tapas and Mojitos. We also had some Sangria since Brett & I had never tried it. Very good! After that we headed over to Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas, but the wait was so long and we wanted to make sure we had time for Blue Martini, so we left and headed to Blue Martini. We had a famous Blue Martini while we were there, sang and danced a little to the live band and watched "the cougars" in action. RAWR!

Brett & I at Firefly...Brett being silly again (I told him I would still share it).

Jess & I at Blue Martini

Aldo & Jess at Blue Martini

All of us at Blue Martini.

To finish out the night we hung out at a club for a while and then home for some wine....and around 5am we finally found our way to our beds. I was definitely paying for it the next morning, and actually for the next 2 days, but it was so worth it and we had so much fun! Sunday morning we got up, ate some food, and headed for home. As much fun as we had, we could not wait to get home to see Rylee & Dax. We missed them SO much! Its nice to get some time together without the kids and this was the first time I have been to Vegas without kids since I even had kids, so it was a good, fun break.

Thanks Aldo & Jess for such a fun trip. We loved getting to see you guys and your cute kids. Little Audrina loved me I must say...the second I talked she just smiled and smiled. I miss you guys already! We will have to plan a fun trip to LV in the summer with the kids.

Look at me go....

Already 11 months old.....crawling, laughing, playing, and walking. Yes, I said walking! My little boy is getting so big. He has the cutest personality you will ever see. Its so fun to see the differences between his personality and Rylee's at that age. Anytime there is a blanket, pillow, stuffed animal, anything soft near him he grabs it and cuddles and makes the "ohhh" sound. He is so sweet!

He loves playing hide-n-seek. He learned this one from Rylee. He will always go crawl under a blanket and hide. I will say "where's Dax?" and he will stay hid until I say it about 3 times, then out he pops to scare us. Too Cute!

He says quite a few words for his age, at least I think so. He says mama, dada, sis, yes, kucka, cookie, kitty, baba. He is such a smart little boy. He LOVES to eat. Like I have mentioned before, if he see's anyone eating he goes straight for them, and if they don't share he gets very mad. This kid knows how to throw a little tantrum already! He throws himself back when he gets mad. Or if he is already sitting on the ground he put his head down to the ground and cries, then looks up to see if you are going to give him what he is wanting and if not then his head goes back down and he cries a little more. He is too funny!

I am not sure on his height, but he weighs 20 lbs 9 oz and is one fun, loving, energetic, sweet, handsome, silly boy that loves his mama, dada, and his big sister Rylee. We Love You Buddah!!!

I cannot believe next month we will be having his 1st Birthday!!! I am way excited. I have already got the party theme figured out, the cake decided (in my head), and I made the cutset invitations too. I wish I could share the pictures I am putting on the invites...but that will come later!

I LOVE these...

...two sweet little Valentines of mine!!!

I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's weekend than to spend it with my two sweet little kids. The smiles on their faces make me so happy, and could brighten up any day.

On Saturday we went and took some pictures of Rylee for the pageant, had lunch, ice cream, and then to deliver Valentine's to the cousins later that night. And even though we had a few mishaps throughout the day, overall, it was a great day!

Between us and the grandparents, the kids got some really cute stuff for Valentine's Day. Lots of candy, stuffed animals, movies, and cute pajamas. Here are a few pictures from the kids opening their Valentines Day presents....

Wearing their cute Valentine jammies from Grandma Judi & Papa Rick.

I LOVE you Rylee & Dax...so VERY much!!! You are my SwEeThEaRtS! XOXOXO....

I also want to say Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Daddy. He was born on Valentine's Day! I miss him everyday and wish that he lived closer so that both myself and my kids would get to see him a lot more. Happy Birthday Dad, I hope you had a fabulous day. I LOVE you very much and miss you too! xoxo.
Here is a picture, a very old picture, of the two of us together. I have newer ones, but I really like this one of us together, even with my silly braces on!

**Rylee & Dax Make New Friends**

On February 3rd I took Rylee and Dax to McDonald's to meet up with my friend Katie and her daughter Jacee. We had been talking about getting together for lunch for a while and decided we would go to McDonald's so the girls could play and get to know eachother. It was SO cute because Rylee & Jacee just immediately got along and started playing like they had been Best Friends forever. They had so much fun together, and by looking at the pictures you would have no idea that this was the first time they played. It was so cute!!!

Later that day my friend Britania and her 3 boys (Jaxon, Dylan, & Xander) stopped by my house on their way back to St. George. It was so funny because at first Jaxon was being really shy and wasn't sure about going into Rylee's room to play, but it didn't take long and they were off playing just fine! Dylan was so cute...he would go back and forth between playing with the big kids to watching cartoons in the living room. This was Dax's first time to meet Xander....it was my first time to meet him too. He is such a cute little guy. They just played with all the toys from the toy box, checked each other out, and crawled around.

When Britania told them that it was time to go....Rylee said, "but he hasn't even got to play with my kitchen yet." They seemed to have had fun playing together....Jaxon even made plans for what he would bring next time he came to play. Kids are so cute!

It was SO good to see both Katie & Britania....I love that we have stayed in touch over all these years and can't wait to hang out again!!!