It's been too long....

So, it's been way too long since I last wrote and a lot has happened...but, probably nothing too interesting for anyone to read. I just posted some pictures of Christmas. This first one I can't help but post b/c he was so excited that his screwdriver fit right in his pants....he even posed for me!!! He is my little best friend. Christmas this year was really all about being with the ones we love and cars, cars, cars for Elias!!!! He loved everything he recieved from us and Santa- especially his new bike!!!! Alli got him a big light for the bike and when he was opening the gift, he said, "ALRIGHT- my own garage opener!!!" It was hilarious! I really could have wrapped socks or brussel sprouts for all he cared- he just liked opening the presents!!!! This yr was a weird Xmas- it rained all day- but it was nice to have the temp drop for a while.

For some reason, Elias has started to play "you can't catch my whole face for a picture"..I don't know how many pics I have had to retake in order to "catch" him and his whole face. He is really developing into a little boy and is such a smartie pants. If I am sad, he kind of panics and says, "no Mom, don't be sad, don't be sad" and gets sad too. If I am frustrated with him b/c he didn't listen to me or whatever, he gets really worried and says "but, are you happy Mom?" He is so wrapped up in how Mommy is feeling-so empathetic.

We had dinner at Bryce's parents house for Xmas and the food was to die for!!! Unfortunately, I have a hard time eating anything anymore. My taste buds are so out of whack with this pregnancy-it's a huge bummer!!!!

Anyways, I just wanted to say that this yr has def been a crazy one for us-like many others. But, what I have really come to realize is that when we had the most, we had the least, and when we had the least, we had the most. For the first time in my life, Christmas wasn't about me getting presents. I know how selfish that sounds. But, this yr was truly sobering & I honestly just wanted to have enough for Elias- to have enough time spent with both sides of the family. Even though this yr has been extemely tough financially, I have sooooooo much to be thankful for. I am so thankful for a wonderful family, the memories of my Mother, a beautiful son and one on the way & for the Gospel in my life. Love to you all,

K

Yay!!! One of my favorites....

So, I'm not really that into Carrie Underwood-but I am ecstatic to see my FAVORITE bachelor come back into the public eye!!! Travis Stork is, I guess, Carrie's new beau. It's a little weird to me only b/c he's this distinguished Doctor, older and seems to be pretty intellectual (only from some of the episodes of Bachelor and interviews) and Carrie just doesn't seem like she would have those qualities. I have read some interviews of her and she seems to be very humble and nice-but a little blondish if I do say so myself. Anyways, maybe it is their Southern roots that have magnetized these two together-whatever the reason, I am quite happy that I may seem him more in US weekly for a couple weeks upcoming. :) Anyone else remember Travis????

Here is the link, since I am really dumb w/ working this blogger.com stuff.....

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/carrie-underwood-steps-out-with-bachelor-travis-stork/14820

Elias is turning 3!!!!

I can't believe our little baby Elias is turning 3 on Saturday! You never really believe other parents when they say time flies by, but it really does!!! Elias has been too good of a blessing for me...I just still can't believe that our Heavenly Father would bless me w/ this incredible spirit-entrust me to take care of him. Being a Mom has changed me in every single aspect. I can't even begin to tell people why I just love him so much but I will name my favorite things I love about it right at this moment. 1. He looks so stylish in red goggles. lol
2. When Im having a bad day or am sad, he hugs me & asks me why Im sad. (And, he really wants to know why)
3. He asks "Why?" 5x in a row...yes, it can drive me crazy sometimes, but it can make me ridiculously happy at the same time.
4. When he's naked around other people, he says "Don't look at my pepe!!!!"
5. Even after I put him in time out, he still wants to hug me.
6. I know he will love me if I gain 300 pounds.
7. He dances like a pro.
8. He yells for me while Im driving & we have a not so bright driver in front of us. lol.
9. When Im talking, he says "Excuse me man" instead of Excuse me Mam....I can't be the one to tell him he is saying it wrong.
10. When he says I love you- he says "I YOVE YOU TOO!" He is my precious little boy. Thinking about him brings tears to my eyes-what a blessing. What a blessing.

Here he is at his gymnastics class-yeah, it takes a real man to handle 4 girls on his own! ;)

Love to all....until next time! ;)

HOT

So, over the Labor Day weekend, Bryce and Krista were determined to go camping. Of course, I did not want to. I hate to say that I'm not a "camping kind of girl" b/c people automatically think I am high maintenance. And, I think I am far from that. But, anyways, I really don't like camping. I never have & after that trip, lol, I never will. Bless their hearts (Krista and Bryce) for trying to make it really fun for me. Elias must take after Mom because 10 mins after getting to camping grounds, he demanded we go back home. (We didn't of course) Long story short, we woke up at 2 am being slammed by rain. Poor Krista & Bryce-they were on both ends of the tent & by 3 am, their pillows were soaked. I don't think any of us got any sleep. We woke up at 6am and got the heck outta there!!!!! (So thankful for that).

Anyways, we got home at 8 am from a sleepless night-and here is my HOT husband doing his best impression of Simon Baker in the movie 'Something New'....it was so hot outside, and Bryce got all the cars vaccuumed out, cleaned & then, thats not all!! Shampooed all the carpets in our house. (6 rooms in total). He def follows his Dad's footsteps in being a workhorse!!! He was seriously outside working non stop from 8 am until 330 pm. Not that he should have to do anything like that everytime I should feel grateful for him-it definetely made me stop and think. I am pretty lucky right now. I mean, yeah, he drives me crazy 50% of the time. ;) But, he makes me happy 80% of the time...if that makes any sense. Even when he is driving me crazy, I am still happy at times. This is a shout out to my hard working husband- I am so happy and grateful to have such a hard worker like you....I always know that you will provide for us-in some way or another. Love you!

A Target Outing

So, we are in the midst of potty training Elias. He is doing really well but I am still a bit reserved about going out and having him w/out a pull up on so that will be our next step. The other day while we were shopping in Target, Elias said he had to go #2. (TMI, im sorry) So, I said lets hurry and go to the bathroom. He said, "no, Mom, I don't need to go anymore-Im just going to hide." Well, you know what that means- poo poo in the diaper! So I said "no, lets go Elias to the potty, Mommy will go too!" So, we ran to the bathroom and just as he was getting himself on to the potty, he fell backwards, lost his grip and fell right in!!!!! I have kind of turned into a gerb phobe since having Elias, so it almost repulsed me-luckily, he hadent gone potty yet!!!! Water from the toilet was all on his back and his legs flew straight up in the air. It was one of the cutest moments ever. I started to laugh and he looked at me like, dont laugh at me. I asked him if he thought that was funny and he said no. lol. It was really cute. Until next time.....

Anniversary

In August, Bryce and my 4th Anniversary was nearing (as was my mother's birthday, the same day actually). Bryce's mother had offered to watch Elias so Bryce and I could have a night away to celebrate. I told Bryce that we should just stay in town, maybe go book a night at The Pointe and just relax by the pool and have a good dinner. He agreed and the plan was set. Well, two days before our actual anniversary, Elias came out of the back room w/ a card in hand. I opened it up and to my surprise, Bryce had put together a quick San Francisco trip!!!!!! I was soooo excited b/c San Fran is one of my favorite cities!!!!! Bryce had already planned w/ his Mom to watch Elias so we could go away for two nights. Coincidentally, the weekend before, Bryce's parents had done a work trip there and I was talking to Lorraine telling her how envious I was of her that she was there and I wasn't!!! And, of course, she already knew I would be there sooner than later! :)
We arrived there at 10am and took the BART (train/subway system to get around) straight to downtown. Bryce booked our room at The Westin St Francis.....which was so antique looking. Just my style! The hotel lobby was beautiful! Even though our room was probably the size of our kitchen, it served its purpose. lol.So, a couple weeks ago, Bryce and my 4th Anniversary was nearing (as was my mother's birthday, the same day actually). Bryce's mother had offered to watch Elias so Bryce and I could have a night away to celebrate. I told Bryce that we should just stay in town, maybe go book a night at The Pointe and just relax by the pool and have a good dinner. He agreed and the plan was set. Well, two days before our actual anniversary, Elias came out of the back room w/ a card in hand. I opened it up and to my surprise, Bryce had put together a quick San Francisco trip!!!!!! I was soooo excited b/c San Fran is one of my favorite cities!!!!! Bryce had already planned w/ his Mom to watch Elias so we could go away for two nights. Coincidentally, the weekend before, Bryce's parents had done a work trip there and I was talking to Lorraine telling her how envious I was of her that she was there and I wasn't!!! And, of course, she already knew I would be there sooner than later! :)
We arrived there at 10am and took the BART (train/subway system to get around) straight to downtown. Bryce booked our room at The Westin St Francis.....which was so antique looking. Just my style! The hotel lobby was beautiful! Even though our room was probably the size of our kitchen, it served its purpose. lol. The first day we got there, we just had lunch at this really cute Italian shop and shopped and walked around. The weather was beautiful. We are such a "nap family"....I swear, if we could put two king beds together and have Elias in bed napping with us, we would be in hog heaven!!! So, we took a nap that day and went to Tadich Grill, which we were told was the oldest resturaunt in the city! To be very honest, Bryce and I were kind of disappointed w/ the food and service. It had a total men's club feeling to it which was kind of cool, but the food was mediocre. We were told the bread was to die for, but we ended up almost chipping our teeth of the piece we were given. The first day we got there, we just had lunch at this really cute Italian shop and shopped and walked around. The weather was beautiful. We are such a "nap family"....I swear, if we could put two king beds together and have Elias in bed napping with us, we would be in hog heaven!!! So, we took a nap that day and went to Tadich Grill, which we were told was the oldest resturaunt in the city! To be very honest, Bryce and I were kind of disappointed w/ the food and service. It had a total men's club feeling to it which was kind of cool, but the food was mediocre. We were told the bread was to die for, but we ended up almost chipping our teeth of the piece we were given.

The next day was really exciting. We rented bikes to ride over the Golden Gate! It was overcast that day and that was fine by us! We get enough sun here in Phoenix for an entire lifetime! Bryce and I tried a tandum bike at first but, of course, that requires a team effort, and well, Bryce and I are still working on that! lol. :) Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a big swarm of Chinese Protesters since it was the opening day of the Olympics in China. So, instead of our bike ride taking us the intended hour and half, it took us 3! That was fun. It was pretty good excercise, as we all know I need it! We rode our bikes over to Saulsilito and spent several hours there. We had lunch at this place called Poggio? I think that is how you spell it. Anyways, it was the bomb!!!! The bread was phenomonal. It was just a cute relaxed town and Bryce and I really want to go back and spend some more time there! We took the Ferry back to the city and headed to the Masseuse!!! Yep, that is right. We went to this place that Lorraine and Steve went to and got dual feet and neck massages! It was great!

We got back, Bryce wanted to relax and I of course, was being haunted by the 3 story Forever 21 store down the street so of course I had to check that out. You know its pretty good if I give up a nap for it!! I decided to wear my boots for this excursion and what a dumb move that was. I had to go into the 7 story Macy's right across the street first and by the time I was done there, my feet were killing me!! So, I wasted most of my time trying to find a cheap pair of flip flops to change into and of course, cheap doesn't exist in that city. :( So, I burned a lot of my time looking for those instead of shopping in my beloved Forever 21. It's probably a good thing now looking back.

That night, Bryce once again surprised me w/ a dinner reservation at this place called The Crustacean. It was in the "Vietnemese" part of town. That dinner was the best!!! Bryce is a huge crab eater so he ordered a whole crab and I ordered these Chicken Rolls-kind of like California Rolls only fried. (Super healthy, i know. ) I tried one bite and that was all I wanted to eat there!!! I was already feeling sick....actually the whole trip, I felt like I was going to throw up b/c of the windy roads and Mario Andretti wannabes called cab drivers. So, I was super content w/ my fried rolls and a small salad. Bryce ate every last bit of his crab. We took pics of the meal so once I can figure this blogging thing and how to upload pics and put them where I want, they will be here.

I applaud anyone who has read this whole thing! I think I fell asleep 5 mins ago. ;)

But, I just want to say how grateful I am that Bryce surprised me with that little trip. With this time also being the first birthday passed of my Mom's without her being here, I have no clue how I would have been if I wasn't preoccupied w/ a beautiful city. You are awesome Bryce!!! Thanks for the trip and for all the hard work you do in our marriage! I love you.

And, Ma, not a day goes by that I don't think about you-that memories of you don't cloud my mind and fill my heart. Happy Birthday Ma. I love you.....more than you will ever know.

The beginning....

So, I started a blog about a year ago on Xanga. I started it b/c my Ma always had a hard time seeing pics when I emailed them to her-so I thought, "What a great idea. I will upload them on the webpage and then she will have no problem seeing them." Well, I ended up only posting one blog...and then, well, most of you know, she just passed away all of a sudden. This entry isn't going to be about her, but I eventually want to dedicate some postings about her. I started this blog for a couple of reasons. 1) b/c my brother started a blog and he is funny as heck when he tells stories, well, in general too now that I think about it. And, I wanted to see if I could be funnier and cooler than him in MY BLOG. lol. Totally joking. But, he did inspire me to write more-there are some things that happen from day to day that are so hilarious and you just forget to end up telling people....and I have heard over and over again that writing is a healing helper. And, the 2) Rachel, my sister in law, lmk that you can make blogs into books!!!!! I think that is fantastic! Bryce actually got some of Steve's journals from the 70's and he has been glued to them!!! He loves reading about his Dad and the times then, and I thought, "wouldn't that be cool if I could do that for my kids?" So, here I am.
I would like to apologize ahead of time for being a little blunt or open.....but, I am going to try and be as real as possible here. No fronts or shows....just me and my family. I am not perfect or close to it. Please forgive me if I offend you, I really don't mean to. Anyways, before this rambling puts you to sleep, I will end for now. Upcoming, I do want to talk about Bryce's family reunion we just went on, which was pretty fun and relaxing and also highlight some funny crap that happens on a day to day basis in our life! Until then....love to you.

Keri