in case you haven't heard

on the way to Vegas last week for my 30th b.day/Donovan's 31st b.day/our 9th anniversary our car broke down! We had to drive over 200 miles in 110°+ weather with no ac! We dropped it off at the Honda dealership the next morning and the mechanic gave us the bad news, it needed a new transmission. It would be $3500 and it would be ready Tuesday, 2 problems with that...the car isn't worth $3500 and we had to leave the next day! We were stranded...we could fly home. We could rent a car. We could buy a car. We went looking in their used car lot to see what they had and we found a cute little 2006 civic with really low miles and a 7 year warranty for a great price! We decided it was meant to be and started the paperwork. The dealership was great, they loaned us a car so that we could leave while they detailed it, they filled the new car up with gas...I felt like they really were trying to help us out. We were so glad to have ac on the ride home! The new car gets about 10 MPG better than the old car and has a sunroof, I LOVE it! Anyway, here are some photos, you knew they were coming, right?

On the way:



Me, sweating my makeup and cute hair off!



The new car:









Donovan, not winning:



Me, won!:




Our dessert, yum!



Here is our gorgeous hotel room, it was more like an apartment, it was huge!







Overall, we had a great time. I can't wait to go back!

phew, it's been a long time!

My computer crashed again, Donovan said he didn't have time to deal with it again and since we bought the extended warranty that we should use it. I hated handing over my beloved to some geek! It took them 3 weeks, they had to send it away to Apple to replace the hard drive and I lost everything but I backed up just about a week before it crashed. PHEW!!!

On a totally other note, I LOVE the Upside Down Show, those dudes crack me up! I wish they had a live stage show, I would totally take the kids. Here's a little clip from youtube in case you don't know what I'm talking about:



I have lots to show and tell but I am off to the mountains today to visit my BFF Sunny, she is moving to Colorado next week. =(

Isa's last day!

Today was Isa's last day of school, she has a little performance on Monday but today was her last official day.

No more tuition.
No more driving 30+ miles there and back 3 times a week.
No more having to pay for her to go in early so I can teach a morning class.

I am so excited about saving money on tuition and gas. Once she is in Kindergarten we will walk to her school, it's only about 1/2 mile away so we will save on gas then too!

Can you see me doing my happy dance?

liar liar

Yesterday we were in a rush and I told Isabella to finish her breakfast and then come up to get dressed. She came up about 1 second later and I asked her over and over if she ate all her food and she repeatedly told me yes. So we got ready and left for our weekly movie. We came back later and while they were eating lunch I cleaned up breakfast dishes and found her breakfast in the bottom of the sink! She lied to me! So I punished her, she lost access to her playroom for the day and her leapster for 3 days and to get it back she needs to eat all her meals for 3 days. Fast forward to dinner we are having salmon and salad, I told her she needs to eat every bite in order to get her leapster back. She came in and said that she ate it all and there on her plate was the bite I just told her to eat all smashed up. I looked at her and asked her if she had eaten it all? YES. I repeated myself...YES. I couldn't believe it! She lied again! And she's not a very good liar, she didn't even try to hide the food. Hello, we have 2 hungry dogs! lol

Any advise?

great blog

http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/2008/06/isnt-about-time-to-give-up-on-plastic.html

I try to stay away from water bottles, unless we are out and about and my kids are thirsty. I usually bring water with me where ever I go in one of my re-usable/washable plastic bottles. Going to the gym makes me sad to see every single person with a disposable bottle, the trash cans are completely full of them.

My husband thinks I'm a dork, but I wrote: reduce reuse recycle on my plastic bottle.

feel free to laugh!

I was working with my trainer this morning and we were focusing on my legs. I was stepping on and off a step aerobics step with 4 risers sort of like the gray and blue one on the right:



I was stepping on 12 times with each leg and then 12 with the other and then doing lunges:



Well, I fell! I stepped off the step backwards, my ankle turned and fell on my bottom! My trainer said I bounced (thank you, fat butt!) and then my legs went flying into the air. Luckily my ankle isn't hurt at all, just my behind!

I'm tired, and this is why

This is how our yard has looked for a few years now, it had an old wall that was about 1 foot tall and the dirt came all the way out to where the grass stops. Here is how it looked before:





We built the wall a few months back and then it sat...we have a problem finishing projects!

Last weekend when it was cool we installed the sprinkler system and today we got to do the fun stuff....planting!

First we decided to move a jacaranda tree, it was in a spot where it wasn't visible, it hung over our fence into our neighbors yard more than ours!





Digging wasn't too hard, I pushed the tree in different directions and Donovan got under it and broke out the roots. Then came the fun part! We dragged it across the yard and pulled it up onto the slope. Donovan dug a giant hole (3 times!)



Then we had to get it in and stand it upright. That was seriously the hardest thing I have ever done, I think it weighed like 200 pounds. Ok, I guess childbirth was harder but this was right behind it. So finally Donovan dug the hole big enough so that it pretty much stayed upright.



Isn't it awesome! I hope it survives, we tortured the poor thing.

We planted a bunch but we still need more! We planted a lot of day lilies, Lilly of the Nile, 1 orange tree, 1 tangelo tree and 1 grapefruit tree. We also have an itty bitty flowering plum tree up on the slope too. Next weekend we plan to go buy more to fill in some spots.