My rug stinks

We bought a rug about a year ago, we bought it when Wickes went out of business and liquidators came in and sold everything. So we bought a beautiful rug for what we thought was a good chunk of money ($300?) and it STINKS! We have steam cleaned it a few times but it still stinks. Ugh.

mama would be proud!

My mom always taught me the value of a dollar, how to clip coupons and wait until the item is on sale to get an even better deal. To look through different ads and go to different stores for different things.

I have been dying to try these:

Purex laundry sheets

but $8 for 20 loads of laundry wasn't appealing to me! I had a $2 off coupon and saw them at Starer Bros on sale for $5.99. The starter pack was 20 loads and the refill was 25 loads, what's the difference you ask? Well the starter pack comes with a nifty carrying case. I passed up the nifty carrying case for a good ole ziploc bag. So I got 25 loads for $3.99, I tried them yesterday and they are easy AND laundry smells delicious!

Happy Anniversary!

Donovan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past weekend, my mom watched the kids and we went to San Diego. We have had this planned since January so needless to say...I was VERY excited! We booked a room at Loews luxury hotels and arrived there around 6:00pm on Friday night. We hand them the confirmation number and the guy looks concerned and excuses himself. He comes back with a manager and we are sweating and thinking "we aren't going to have a room, we're going to have to go back home! Our last anniversary the Honda broke down on the way there and we ended up having to buy a new car while in Las Vegas!". The manager comes over to speak to us saying that the room we reserved is being renovated, that it was supposed to be ready by now but the bathroom vanity hadn't arrived yet. He was very nice and very apologetic. He said we could either take a different room, but they didn't have any king size beds. We would get a room with 2 double beds and no view. I could tell that Donovan DID NOT like the double bed idea! Or he said he pay for and book us a room at another hotel for tonight (Friday) and then we would come back Saturday and have a nice room with a king size bed and a view. So we decided to go to the other hotel. It was called Manchester Grand Hyatt

We are getting excited as we drive up to it, it's very close to the Gaslamp Quarter , a fun area with lots of restaurants, shops and bars. The lobby of this hotel is absolutely amazing-sorry it's sorta crooked, I was walking backwards!



the room was very nice, it had a great view:







and this was straight below us, the hotel grounds and pools:



We decide to walk to the Gaslamp Quarter and find some dinner, we found a Thai place...yum! While sitting there we notice quite a few bikes going by. A minute later bikes are still going by. 5 minutes later, still bikes! Apparently it's called Friday Night Bike Ride? I'm not sure if it happens every Friday or just once a year but it was fun to watch! Lots of people were dressed up, some in Mexican Wrestling masks, some in big wigs...so much fun! It probably lasted 10 minutes total, I have no idea how many riders, I am guessing in the thousands. We loved siting outside, people watching is one of my favorite hobbies. After dinner we walked around some more and found a vintage auto store, we loved it! Here are a few of my faves:

Porsche Speedster:




Just like what Dylan drove!


I believe this was a Jaguar:




We walked for about 2 hours and then went back to our hotel where we had dessert, apple cobbler ala mode...YUM! This is the first time I have ever ordered room service, it was so exciting!



Donovan and I are not night owls, we never stay out late. That night we ate dinner at 8:00, dessert at 10:30 and went to bed around 1:00! Craaazy!

The next morning we slept in until 9:30...which we haven't done in...oh probably 7 years! It was awesome. We got ready and went to Balboa Park. We went to the Automobile museum, here are some of my faves from there:


a close up of the engine:


and a close up of the awesome hood ornament:


the gear shift:


A gorgeous Indian:




This one is for my dad:




I LOVED this one, It is a 1953 Jaguar.

One amazing thing about this place is that they tell you how many MPG they got, how much they originally sold for, HP, all the details you usually never get to see.

This was anther fave, it was a Studebaker.


Here we are walking around the park:


The arcitecture there is stunning, Paige if you haven;t been there you must go!!
















We saw some fun street preformers:






It was just about time to check back in to Loews so we went there and they were very kind and said that our room was all ready for us and that they upgraded our view! I was dying to see this room and I was not let down, it was amazing!







The bathroom was gorgeous, I told Donovan I want mine to look EXACTLY like this:




Drum roll please....


Gorgeous!









The hotel was very kid friendly, they have babysitting, a kids room, a teen room, a kids pool, a family pool and an adult pool, drive in movies that can be seen from the kids pool. They also had this cute kid eating area:


Chess:


Here is the hotel lobby:






The manager also told us that they were going to give us a free meal at their 4 start restaurant inside the hotel. It one of the best meals of my entire life, I had beef tenderloin and Donovan had salmon. Yum! Here was the view from our table:





After our meal we went swimming and in the spa and watched The Dark Knight on HBO!

It was such a great anniversary, I wouldn't have changed a single thing.

such pretty things!

A friend of mine started making her own jewelry, very unique, very lovely items! Please check them out.

Dear lady at the park,

I'm sorry I didn't pack snacks for your kid, I guess I am a bad mom.
I'm also sorry that I didn't pack drinks for your kid, again, bad mommy.
I'm also sorry that I won't be picking up your child, putting them in the swing and pushing them for you.

Perhaps you could do these things for your child next time we go to the park?

Sincerely,
Melissa

graduation

Isabella graduated from kindergarten today, she has grown up so fast! She has the cutest little toothless grin, I love it!

Here she is with her 2 B.F.F.'s Makayla and Helena:


Samuel had to get in on this, smart boy!


Here she is in line with some of her classmates, she is the tallest, big shocker!


With her diploma:




And with her teacher Ms. Berg:


I can't believe my girl is going into 1st grade!

I thought I could do this

but I don't think I can!

I saw this by the trash and thought...how could someone throw away a crib, don't they know people NEED things like this?! I planned on cleaning it up and donating it or putting it on Craigslist as a free item. I didn't realize it had no bolts and no mattress springs! Sort of the important part of a crib.

Here it is right after I got it:


It was NASTY! Years of dried spit up all over it.


I stood it up to see how it would look all together.


It has a pretty flower detail on it:


Now these are left over, what in the world are these for?!

I thought maybe they weren't from it but it's the same finish. I'm clueless!

So what should I do...buy the parts for it? Firewood?

my big girl

Isabella went to her first sleepover (besides at family's house) last night! I was expecting her to not want to do it but she never said a word about being scared. I was expecting a call around 11:00pm but nope, no call. I can't wait to hear about it.

Weigh in #2

I lost 4.6 pounds! Hooray!

teacher appreciation gift

I made this for Isabella's teacher, Ms. Berg:



My friend Carrie made her name using her Cricut ...thanks Carrie!





Here is a little tag I put on it and inside I put a Starbucks gift card. I hope she likes it!!

I think I need this...

Saab Hirsch edition

How cool is this?!

funny:

Isabella: I am getting dressed for the ball, put your pants on so we can dance.
Zach: I don't want to put my pants on.
Isabella: You HAVE to have pants on to dance with a princess.
Zach: _______________________no words, just gun sounds
Isabella: You're not supposed to shoot princesses.

I said I wanted to be accountable

stupid!

We had a great week, which means I didn't have a very god weight watchers week! We went to Disneyland on Wednesday on Thursday and Friday we prepared for our camping trip. Friday night-Monday morning we camped and Tuesday I had my weigh in.

So I gained 2 pounds, ug. This week will be much better!

Birthday fun!

My baby boy is 4! I can't believe he's already 4, he is such a fun little boy, he cracks me up on a daily basis! He told me something was splendid the other day, hilarious!

Donovan's mom and sister got him all Transformers toys, he loved them!

oh, and gum, that's a pack of gum in his hand from Donovan's sister. He was most excited about his gum.

Here they are in toontown, their favorite place at Disneyland!




My mom went with us, she hadn't been to Disneyland since I was about 12! She loved seeing all the new rides. We all loved the Buzz Lightyear ride.




Here are Zach and I on Small World, that ride is so nice on a hot day!


The kids always have to have a big sucker!




And Isabella got her face painted, Zach never wants his done!


Our friends came to visit us and go on a few rides, here is Isabella and Zoe. They are BFF!


Zach had a great birthday, my mom got him this semi with lots of Cars cars in it.


Such a fun day!

why in the world...

Did I decide to do Weight Watchers the day before we go to Disneyland and 3 days before we go on a 3 day camping trip?!

Definitely not the best decision, I doubt I will lose an ounce!

My first weigh in

I started Weight Watchers today and I need to be kept accountable so I am going to post my progress on here.

week 1: psht...like I'm posting my weight on here!


Stay tuned for an update next week.

beyond measure

I am blessed beyond measure.

I ask God to help me lose weight and all of the sudden a mom of one of Isabella's school friends asks if I will work out with her. Another friend, Paige asked if I wanted to work out with her around the same time and then my mom asks if I want to work out with her!

I am determined to lose some weight before our anniversary trip in June and to keep it off this time!

It's funny because when you pray and ask for something sometimes you don't see your answer. I didn't wake up the morning after my prayer weighing 122 pounds, dang it! But God did put 3 awesome people in my life to help motivate me and keep me in line.

So here I go...again!

Hutch

He is a crazy dog early in the morning! He wants to see everything that is going on, wants to say hello to us and the dogs, wants to smell all the smells he missed while in his crate all night long! He tries to get out of our arms as we walk down the stairs and this is how he looks, he is such a funny dog!

Zach's favorite way to eat

A little bit of everything! He loves fruit and veggies so I pick a few different things and put them in this sectioned plate and leave it at the table. He HATES to sit and eat so if I leave it he grabs a bit as he runs by and within an hour it's gone!

Oh and in case your wondering, he is eating pita crackers, blueberries, grapes and a sugar free jello! yum!

a fantastic idea

I read about a cheap and great window/mirror cleaner. It is 1/2 gallon of water, 1t of dish soap and 1t of cornstarch. I applied it with a sponge and then used a squeegee to clean it off wiping the squeegee with a towel each time. I worked WONDERFULLY! My windows look gorgeous!! I also used it to clean the patio tables and the barbeque. I am so excited about this, cleaning with windex and paper towels seems like such a waste and not very effective!!

We also cleaned and organized the garage, it looks awesome, here are a few photos:
Here is our tool wall, everything hung up is so helpful! The water jugs are for an emergency and the boxes on the left have firewood in them for our next camping trip.


all the bins have different things in them, car washing supplies, dog and cat supplies, sprinkler parts, tennis rackets and balls, rags...etc.


this isn't all that organized but the trash can on the ground is for soda cans and the one on the wall is for bottles, that way I don't have to seperate the sticky cans at the recycling place.


I helped Donovan clean off his workbench, it was completely covered in junk! He is not at all organized and couldn't care less! P.S. those are our old kitchen cabinets, pretty cool, huh?!


I love getting things done, we spent money on lunch and dinner today...that's it! I would rather spend a day working on our house more than a day at the mall anyday!

wordless wednesday

All I want for Christmath ith my two front teeth

my poor girl ith toothless! She'th having a thlight problem with her s's!

before:


after:

John's Incredible

gives incredible coupons!



We were there from 4:30 till about 8:00pm, for only $45! What a deal!

Isabella was so excited to see her good friend Makayla there, they had so much fun together!


They rode the train:


Played air hockey:








And yes, that is pink hair. Isabella has been asking me to dye her hair pink so instead I bought her an extension. She has worn it ever single day since I bought it, she LOVES it!



Her is a video of mr. Zach playing skee ball. He's not to good, but he sure is funny!


On our way out we checked out our ticket status and discovered that we had enough for a cool prize!

Good news

Zach is officially out OUT OOOUUUTTT of diapers! We used his last night time pull up on Monday night and so far so good. Hooray!

Earth day

I missed this post yesterday, darn it!

My husband and I try our darndest to be Earth friendly.

1. I have re-usable bags
2. Huge recycle bin, we fill it more often than our actual trash can
3. I buy containers for Isabella's lunch, we rarely use bags, she also HAD a re-usable bottle but she threw it away!
4. We bought all energy star appliances
5. Programmable thermostat
6. I have been using microfiber cloths for cleaning
7. I am a big fan of windo coverings, if it's hot they are all closed, if it's a cool day I let all the sunshine in!
8. I have signed up to have our junk mail stopped
9. The kids and I walk to school as often as the weather permits
10. I use my own coffee container and water bottles as often as possible

One thing that bothers me is at Isabella's school each kid gets a Styrofoam tray, why Styrofoam? Why not paper, like egg cartons?

I also would love it if I could do this: Recyclebank

Now if only Silver would stop eating the vegetables that I plant!

How are you helping to keep our Earth beautiful for the next generation?

apparently

I have cool obos. Zach says everything is cool and when I was getting dressed yesterday he comes in staring at me, and says "those are cool" I thought there could be no way she is talking about...you know...my boobs. So I asked him what he was talking about and she said "your obos".

Oh man, this kid keeps me on my toes!!

no matter how bad

my day was, it wasn't 1% as bad as a friends day was today.

Michaela

I put 2 contacts in one eye...but I can still see my children.
I spilled my coffee all over the floor...but I can ask my children to help me clean it up.
I didn't get to walk the kids to school...I can do it tomorrow.

Losing a child seems like the worst pain you could possibly go through, I imagine her looking at everything and thinking about her daughter and how much she misses her. Please pray for the Michel's family, please ask God to ease the pain in their hearts and for understanding and peace.

will you please

buy my brother's boat?
click here

thanks!

one of these things looks a lot like the other!

Across the street from me:


2 houses down from there:


Directly across the street from the last one:


Down the street:


2 houses away from the last:


A few houses from the last one:


Come on people, visit a paint store, there are a few more colors out there. A few.

this was fun!

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