Mom's birthday bash!

My wonderful Mom had her birthday at the beginning of the month and we all got together to celebrate!!!!  She turned the BIG ......!!!! (Had you nervous for a second didn't I Mom?)We went to the Zoo and then out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti factory (yummy!). Lucy and I then hitched a ride with them down to St. George to stay for the week, which ended up getting cut short due to Miss Alice's arrival. Which is okay because she is so stinking cute!  My mom is the absolute coolest, greatest, sweetest, nicest, caring, loving mother in the whole world.  I dare say that my mom is cooler than your mom.  And here's a list why:

*She loves chocolate just as much as I do.
*She is my bestest best friend forever (bbff)
*She loves Christmas
*She is the best shopping partner and tells me honestly if something looks hideous or that my butt looks fabulous in that outfit.
*I'm the only girl in a sea of brothers so I get her all to myself when it comes to mother/daughter activities and to that I am very grateful for.
*She watches The Walking Dead
*She is the best Grandma to Lucy. I always tell her, if it wasn't for her, pretty sure Lucy would be running around in nothing but her diaper.
*She can figure out the shocking plot twist in any movie before the opening credits are done (seriously)
*She is so funny and has the greatest sense of humor
*She is a great example to me as a mother and I hope I make her proud with the way I raise Lucy
*She always takes me to lunch and understands just how important diet coke really is to get through the day
*She knows all the best movies and owns all the classics that no one has ever heard of. I'm telling you, some of Brandon's favorite movies now are the ones that I made him watch because they were ones I grew up with.
*She has a great sense of style and I would trust her to pick out my clothes...sometimes I fantasize about stealing her wardrobe, especially her jewelry
*She always has treats in the house...and diet coke
*She puts up with my obsession with Durango's and happily goes with me as many times as I can when I am in town
*She puts up with me for that matter
*She loves loves loves Disneyland. Some of my most favorite memories are of our mother daughter trips to disneyland.  She's got that place figured out. She knows the best places to eat, which fast passes to get first, when to go to the park when it's not busy, etc etc.  I'm telling you, she could navigate that park with her eyes closed.  Oh and she even told me she's starting to recognize the workers there too, that's how often she goes. And Mom, remember that one time when you ran into some equally lovers of disneyland and you all whipped out your disney credit cards and showed them off proudly to each other?  That was my favorite.
*She has a Disney Christmas tree that everyone raves about.
*She understands and knows why if she were ever to trip in public, I would have no choice but to walk away
*She is the best listener and always has advice to give

Anyways, that is just a few of the MANY reasons why my Mom rocks.  Here are a few shots I got of us all at the zoo.  Lucy was extremely excited about it and loved seeing all the animals.

 (This is the face she made pretty much the whole time, that's her going "ooh oooh ooh" trying to get anyone's attention to look at her so she could show them the animal she saw.)

We had a great time celebrating and can't wait to get together again as a family for Thanksgiving this week!!  Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday with family!!!

Oh sweet baby

We have a new addition to the family!!!  My twin brother and his wife had their baby girl a few days ago and I must say that she is one cute little girl.  Little Alice is so sweet and so cute and so tiny!!!  Lucy looked giant compared to her.

Welcome to our family Alice!! I know you and Lucy are gonna be best of friends and create all sorts of mischief together. I am one proud Auntie and I can not wait to  maul her some more this week when we're all together for Thanksgiving. 

Halloween 2012

Halloween was great this year.  Lucy wasn't just a wee little baby like she was last year (enter hysterical sob by yours truly) and we were able to do a little bit more with her.  Which included trick or treating!  I didn't take her last year because I decided people probably would figure out pretty quick that I was just getting the candy for me and not my 2 month old.  This is probably our only year too that we get to eat all her candy.  Except for the suckers, Lucy is a big fan of those.

We headed to the mall to take her trick or treating (note: I am NOT a fan of all this "trunk or treating" stuff they have going on, I'm old school and it's not trick or treating unless you are running rampant throughout the neighborhood always looking for that one house the "supposedly" was giving out the regular sized candy bars. Never ever found the house but always heard rumors about it.)
Anyways.
We decided that since Lucy is obsessed with walking now that it would take us an eternity to take her around just our street to get candy so we swallowed our pride and opted for the mall.  But next year man, we are hitting the town!

Lucy was the MOST adorable Minnie Mouse ever.  I even think she knew it too.  She normally hates wearing head bands and rips them off immediately but she must have known that this head band completed her Minnie Mouse look because she didn't touch it the whole time.  Which gave me a glimmer of hope that she would wear head bands again, but the next day that all blew up in my face.  I'm pretty sure she was the cutest kid there too.  EVERYONE commented on how adorable she was.  And believe you me, I paid attention to see if everyone else commented on every other kid and they didn't.  So I know that she was the cutest.  I'm a freak, I know.  I'm proud though.

See what I mean?  A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!!  Bring on Thanksgiving!!!  mmmmm...turkey.

Pumpkin carving time

We had our annual pumpkin carving afternoon the day before Halloween.  Lucy was being a sleepy head that afternoon and was napping for eternity it seemed, so Brandon and I just decided to start carving pumpkins without her.  Which in the long run ended up working out great because once she woke up she wasn't in the mood to play or really anything except be held and snuggled. So that delayed me for a bit (which I'm fine with because Lucy snuggles are the best thing ever!) Brandon got his pumpkin carved and Lucy's all carved and then I decided maybe it was time for some Mickey Mouse for Lucy so I could finish my pumpkin.  Mickey works every time. Like a charm.

 Super stoked that she gets to watch Mickey!

 My pumpkin is on top and Lucy's is on the bottom. All I can think of when I see my pumpkin is "jazz hands!!!" It's supposed to be a scared face though...

This is Brandon's. He was super proud of his. It's Shaun from "Shaun of the Dead." A favorite of Brandon's. And I must say he had me watch it and I laughed really hard through most of the show.  It's a goody.