Girls Weekend

A bunch of us ladies from our neighborhood went on a girls weekend/over nighter from Friday night through Saturday. We took off and stayed at this AMAZING vacation house in Scottsdale and dined, shopped, goofed around, slept (a tiny bit) and had loads of laughs together. Although I got home completely exhausted, it was so much fun to spend some girl bonding time together and get away from kids for a night. We really have the best group of women in Cortina!! Fun picture right after our delicious breakfast at the clubhouse. From left to right: Andy, Melissa, Katie Budge, Brigett M, Tiffany, Jen W, Hillary, Katie Brown, Bridget C, & Kelly. After breakfast we went shopping some more. We were such good bargain shoppers at the Rack and Old Navy!

Me (Tiffany), Jen & Katie in the back of the car with Hill and Katie in the front. It was so funny to see Katie trying to steer her HUGE vehicle into some tiny parking spaces :)

We all struck a pose together...we are quite the mommy group! At one point we sat and added up all the kids we had combined and out of this group I think we had around 35.

Is it time to cut some hair?

After Robby's afternoon nap on Sunday, I got to noticing just how much his hair has grown. I swear the last time I looked, he was just getting enough hair to cover that big head of his. Now when he wakes up from naps, his hair is sticking out every which way with little curls all across the back of his head. It looks like he is cursed with our genes for sure.
Luckily it still doesn't look SOOO bad if I sort of comb it down again.
My goal: not post anymore pics of my little angels until they have decent hair again :)

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

I am so excited to send out a happy birthday to Loriann! We are only sixteen months apart and so we truly were "raised together". I was always a little jealous of the fun things that she was "old" enough to do and sometimes my mom even let me do them with her. We have so many fun memories that I will always hold dear to me. Hear are just a couple of them:

1. We shared a room for the first 17 years of my life and I still love to remember how we would stay up and talk or play together at night. When my parents would hear us we would fling ourselves onto our beds and pretend to be asleep (it never really fooled our parents) Nighttime with Lori was always a special time to me, because even during our teenage years when we didn't always see eye to eye, we still would talk and laugh at night.

2. Lori and I used to LOVE to play dolls, barbies, etc. My parents built in this little room off our bedroom where we could store all of the dolls. We used to sit in there for hours, making a TOTAL mess, but loving every second of it. Growing up, it was so nice to always have a friend to play with.

3. I have many fond memories of all the different "classes" my mom put us in together. We took tumbling, gymnastics, archery, ballet, soccer, the list goes on and on. We also went to trefoil ranch camp together, and I even got to sort of join Lori's girl scout group when I was too young.

4. My dad used to travel a lot with work when I was younger. While he was gone my mom would put a blanket out either on the lawn (summer) or in front of the fireplace (winter) and we would read books together. Little Women and the Secret Garden are both books I will never forget reading with them!

5. Lori was always such a "model" student in school. When she was younger she always said she either wanted to be a librarian or a teacher when she grew up. She loved to play school with me, but always insisted on being the teacher (just a touch bossy---after all she is the oldest). I still loved to play school with her and we would make tons of lists of all the students in the class together. Who would know that Lori would actually go into business instead?

6. A few years ago, Lori & Tyler had season tickets to the Suns only a few rows away from us. They were soo sweet and would take Madison and hold her for a good portion of the game! That allowed Jesse and I to sit alone and feel like we were sort of on a "real" date.

7. Now Lori has her own little girl, Kaylin, who is now 8 months old! She is such a little peanut and so fun to hold. I love whenever we get together with our kids. I cannot wait to watch our kids grow up together. I always loved having cousins to play with....so thanks for giving my kids a cousin Lori Lou!!

We ate at bUbBa gUmPs on the Big Island of Hawaii this summer and this was a bench in front of the restaurant fashioned after Forrest Gump!

Don't you just love those matching pink bathing suits?! Ben was happy sitting on the little raft until a second after the picture was taken and we dumped him (on accident I promise) into the Great Salt Lake!!

Lori, Robby, Cousin Kaylin, Grandma Sheffield
Lori with my little guy, Robby

Wasn't she a beautiful, blushing bride!

We all sure LOVE you!

Happy Halloween!

Madison dressed up as an angel for Halloween! Even though she thought she was a butterfly because of the wings. So I guess that makes her a "white butterfly"
Mommy with her little Teddy Bear

Care Bear & Teddy Bear!

Also, Aunt Loriann with cousin Kaylin. Lori was such a good sport to dress up like a hippie for halloween. I dressed up as a mom I suppose.

The Three Cousins! Kaylin, Madison, & Robby. Maddie, of course, loved to take off both of babies ears.

This year was a little different for us. Jesse & I didn't go to any Halloween parties, so it was a no-nonsense, no-dress up sort of year. I had also already dressed up as Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, twice for our wards "Activity days" Halloween party and for a Halloween gymnastics meet I judged, so I was so not in the mood to dress up again. Oh well....there's always next year!

pLeaSe fEeD tHe dUcKs??

Madison tried to get as close as possible to the ducks even if that meant laying down at the edge of the pond or actually climb in herself (well almost)...she couldn't seem to understand why they kept swimming away as she got closer to them. She also loved feeding them and would jump up and down and scream with delight when she threw bread in the water & the ducks would fight over the piece of bread!

I am way too lucky to have the two most handsome boys (I mean men) belong to me! Robby also almost crawled right into the pond when we turned our backs for a moment.

Running Races

Jesse has always been amazingly motivated to drag his buns out of bed early on a Saturday morning to run races. Just recently I also began running and working out (when I realized Jesse's reunion was coming up) and I even ran a 5K last weekend. Of course now my ankle feels like it's going to fall off (a lovely bi-product of gymnastics). But I guess staying in shape is worth anything, including pain. So I am still running and getting prepared to run in the 2mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving (I am a bit of a wimp you see-- and cannot get the courage to do the full 10K race). Now that I pretended that I am this amazing person running 5K's and dealing with ankle pains....let me tell you the real deal. While I was out running 3 miles, Jesse, his sister Abby, and my friend Carla ran the half marathon at the same event. Now that certainly puts things into perspective:) Like I said, Jesse is truly one amazing guy!

Here are the kids at one of the races... out supporting their mommy and daddy! Many thanks to Aunt Joanna for coming and watching them last weekend!

And yes... Maddie really does have her hands on her hips in the picture (my dad said it reminds him exactly of me)

PARKS AND PLAYTIME WITH THE KIDS!

wE lOvE pLayInG toGetHeR (mOst Of tHe tImE)!

Madison loves to pick any flower she can get her hands on!


Thank heavens that the weather is finally starting to get a little cooler! We have enjoyed going to the park and playing outside now. Robby especially loves to crawl around on the grass!

bAtHtuB fUn

We just recently began bathing our two kids together in the evening before bedtime. Sooo much simpler (why didn't I think of this before) and they LOVE IT!!

Jesse's 10 YEAR REUNION

It is official....my husband is now OLD! (j/k) A few weeks ago we went to his 10 year high schoold reunion and I have to say it was rather fun. They had a lunch at the park where everyone brought their kids. Maddie and Robby had fun at the park, other than Madison being flattened face first into the sand after running in front of someone swinging. It's a good thing she's a tough kid! That evening they had a dinner in Mesa. We even got to see our coolest ever neighbors, Mark & Missy Glover! We can't wait for my reunion in 2010 (well... maybe we can wait a little while :)

This is a picture that I stole off Missy's blog (thanks!) of Missy and I-- isn't she such a hot mama of five !! She lives one street away from me in our neighborhood and we are sooo sad that they released her and Mark from nursery: Maddie adored them!

Princess Madison

Madison is obsessed with princesses at the moment. She loves her princess books, princess movies, and especially her princess crown! She is kind of a sassy girl don't ya think?!

I hate computers!

I have been working a lot lately and have slacking in the blog department :) I am super excited that my gal pal in Texas FINALLY gave me her blog address and is hopping on the bandwagon to become a blogger like all of us! It re-motivated me to try to find time to write down my thoughts and feelings. Our computer is still on the fritz and won't let me download pictures from my camera onto it. So... no new pictures of my kiddos.

On Saturday we took Robby to the ASU football game with us which was so much fun! Robby is a definite momma's boy, however, and I ended up holding him the whole time because he wouldn't go to Jesse. He was really good throughout the game and I am excited for when our kids get a little older and we can bring all of them with us. GO SUNDEVILS!

I am Alice Cullen??

So I decided to take the quiz on the Twilight series, which by the way was fabulous! I was actually pretty surprised I got this particular character. I have always liked Alice in the books, becuase she is so much fun and excited about life. I would have thought I would be more like Esme?? Not sure but it was still fun to take the quiz. Take the quiz and tell me who you are!!

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're" Alice Cullen - You are vivacious and full of energy! Your childlike way of looking at life makes you both amusing and special to your friends. You make an excellent friend, although you do have a tendency to get uppity if you're not immediately given your way- people often give into you for your charm.
Take this quiz!

Madison's Birthday Party

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!

For Maddie's birthday "cake" I made yummy pink cupcakes! All the little girls wanted to come sit right by the cupcakes and began making claims on which one belonged to each of them! Madison absolutely loved the attention she got when everyone sang happy birthday and even clapped at the end of the song, she then leaned forward and blew out her candles all by herself. She also LOVES frosting. She kept licking the frosting off of the cupcakes and then trying to give away all of her frosting-less (is that a word?) cupcakes to the younger, unsuspecting kids!

We sure loved having a bounce house for Maddie's special day and all the kids had a blast climbing in it as well (Thanks Bryn for letting us borrow it)

Thanks Jesse for cooking all the yummy food on the grill! Thanks Martineau's for the fun mask..... Maddie thinks it's so funny to run around the house with it on or to put it over her brother's face as well!

This is the ONLY picture we have of our sweet Robby. He is being held by our friend, Beth Greenwald. He slept through almost the entire birthday party and had just woken up in the picture.

Madison had lots of her friends that were more than willing to help with opening her presents (and thank goodness because to be perfectly honest, after opening up her cowboy boots she was tired of looking at presents and was on the run again :)

We had such a blast celebrating Madison's second birthday and look forward to many more to come! Thanks to everyone who came... we were so glad you could all make it! One of Madison's favorite presents are her new PINK cowboy boots, thanks Aunt Esther and Aunt Abby!

It's really not fair that almost all of our pictures on our blog are of Madison. I thought I would include this fun picture of Robert's first playdate with his friend Talan. Aww... aren't they too cute (I mean handsome :)