Summer wrap up '09

Well since its 68 degrees outside I figured I should finally blog and blog about the last few highlights of the heated months.

The month of August was pretty busy with work (both my jobs), birthdays, and firsts for my not so baby girl. For my birthday Ryan and I went to Las Vegas. We left early on a Friday morning so we arrived in early afternoon making our 2 1/2 days in Sin City feel extra long.

We enjoyed a tasty dinner at Morton's Steakhouse and caught a hypnosis show at the Tropicana. The show was hysterical and great. We stayed at the New York New York hotel for the first time and it was pretty sweet. Saturday I went shopping...or kind of. Ryan said I could buy whatever I wanted, ANYTHING, of course I could find NOTHING. Except for these sweet AA sun glasses.


Saturday night we went to the Criss Angel/Cirque de Soliel. It was pretty good except for the Criss Angel part :(. It just didnt flow with all the cool music and dancing. But nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves.


MY BOYFRIEND RULES HARDER THEN MOST

Every year I celebrate my birthday with two of my favorite people...Kevin and Lauren who also have August birthdays. This year we wet to P.F. Chang's with 3 of my other favorite people...Ryan, Carynn, and Kevy



I also had the honor of being apart of my good friend Shannon Brown's now Shannon LaBares wedding. I met Shannon when she was 16, she was busy in high school being smart and designing sweet band t-shirts :) We became friends pretty soon after we met. I have been doing her hair for quite sometime and of course I was flattered when she asked me to style her hair for her very special day.

I was also able to work along side one my favorite babies...Lil' Nathalie. She did the beautiful make up on all the girls so of course we had a fantastic time working together and I hope that we can do it again!!!

Unfortunately in life there seems to be a sense of new beginnings and excitement its also mirrored with loss and heartbreak. Sunday that same weekend I lost one of my favorite uncles in motorcycle accident. My dads brother Dana was riding his motorcycle down a mountain highway and was struck and killed by another motorcycle. After trying to cope with the loss of my grandpa this past year this came as a devastating blow to me and my family. Uncle Dana was super close to our family and lived nearby in Riverside. He will be missed more then I can even say


Monday August 24th 2009 was a big day for me...my baby...started Pre-K.

It was a really an emotional day for me, but I made it through :) She has now been in school for over a month and she absolutely loves it. I think she will be ready for kindergarten for sure next fall.

Oh and p.s. she got a big girl haircut


and she is 3 going on 13

My girl

Stella has had the same babysitter, Betsey, since she was 9 months old. Betsey has been absolutely wonderful the last 3 and half years I actually get teary eyed thinking of how wonderful she has been to Stella and I. She has been a constant and support for the both of us when things or situations in our life were not always certain or consistent. And you might say well shes just a babysitter...but she has been so much more. Every mom dreams of leaving their child, if they have to work, with someone that loves them like they do and that would do anything to make sure they are not scared, fed, happy, and learning all at the same time. Well Betsey went above and beyond all of that and I am more then grateful to have had this beautiful woman in our lives. But now Stella will be 4 in November and she is DYING to go to school. I have been trying to avoid this point in her life for about....her whole life :) But every time we drive by school she cries and I tell her "you can go to school when you get bigger". I cant even tell you how many times we have had that conversation. Since she will probably be starting kindergarten next fall I figured her starting preschool this fall will be a sufficient amount of time to get her prepared as much as possible.

I looked into preschools and found one thats right by my house and the hours gel with mine and her dads work schedule so I went by to talk to the director at the school. She was great and I really liked the set up of the school. Like every other school Stella had to get a physical and get caught up on her shots in order to attend. Naturally Stella adopted the belief that once she went to the doctor she would be "bigger"...literally "bigger", like inches, taller, bigger feet, and bigger hands. So we went to the doctor this last friday...

She was a champ. So pumped and ready for the shots. She said she was not gonna cry she was just so so excited that she was gonna be able to go to school after this appointment,
Then the big burly man comes in to give her the shots, and she gets a little scared. She lays down and he administers the shot. A look of disbelief comes over her face and she bursts into tears.

4 seconds later


So as the doctor is getting all the paperwork together for us to leave she looks at Carynn and says "am I taller?" "am I bigger?". Carynn says that she didn't think so. Stella looks at her hands and at her feet and she says "mommy my hands are still small" at this point I realize that Stella thinks that she would literally grow "bigger". She is so funny. But who can blame her? I've been drilling it into her little head that she would go to school when she get "big". And boy oh boy is she BIG! She is growing so very fast and I cant even believe that I have a 3 1/2 year old. Im excited to see her learn and how much she changes after being around so many new and different kids.

Catching up on Summer '09

Apparently I am terrible at keeping up my blog so here are a few highlights from the summer thus far...

My wonderful friend Faith came out to visit from Texas at the end of June and Stella and I were able to get out to OC to spend the day with her and Ruby. I was awesome to be able to "catch up" and just hang out with out really having plans or having to be somewhere. I love them and miss them so very much, especially because Stella and Ruby got along SO well. Must be an only child thing :)


I have come to realize that the 4th of July happens to be one my absolute favorite holidays. I love that there's no presents involved, it doesnt HAVE to be spent with family (dont get me wrong, I love my family but the 4th ain't no 25 of Dec you know what Im saying?) Anyways the fact that the whole day can be spent in the pool while consuming much food and adult beverage is FINE BY ME! And the night ends in fireworks...I rest my case.



We spent the day at Carynn's grandparents and ended the evening at the U of R. It was fantastic!

Jess's birthday was that same week and Derek surprised her with a sushi party with all of our friends. I enjoyed myself :)


Another really good friend of mine, Lauren Beck, lives in Arizona with her husband Dan and their beautiful little girl Eden who just turned one. Lauren is from California so all of her and Dans family still lives here. Naturally they celebrated Edens first birhtday out here. Stella and I were able to attend her birthday and it was awesome. I absolutely LOVE Laurens family. They might be loud but they know how to have a good time and they know how to love,



Last Sunday Carynn, Kevy, Ryan and I went to the OC fair. Carynn and I went to see Blondie and Pat Benatar. Blondie RULED and Pat KILLED it! Her voice was incredible! The show was AMAZING!!!! Ryan and Kevy ate a whole bunch fried stuff while Carynn and I were at the show then we all rode some rides together afterwards.

P.S. The margaritas were pretty great too

Carynn is on summer break so we've been hanging out quite a bit. Plus we have a new found love for cooking and swimming so its been quite a productive pass few days. Today we went to Toby Fishers 2nd birthday party. I cant believe that he is 2 already. I watched that little boy come into this world!!! I cant believe he is a little man already!!!! I love him so so much.


Oh and shes big now in case you were wondering....

Lovin' life '09

No less then blood...

You are no less than those of blood:
The spirit is more comely than the flesh.





Fathers are defined by how they love

<3

Who knew the leader of the free world could be so fly...

Love is in the air...

On August 21st Miss Shannon will become Mrs. Scott (Im not sure how her new last name is spelled so I wont try) and today began the festivities leading up to that day. Her mom and grandma hosted her shower at "the ranch" in Corona, also the location of the wedding. I thought the weather was beautiful and so were the ladies I spent the morning with.




I am so honored to be apart of momentous time in Shannon and Scott's life. There's no doubt she will be a beautiful bride and Scott will be a proud groom.

Summer time pt. 1

Summer has arrived even though we have had a few days of "June gloom" and I couldn't be happier! The susn out, I get to use my tanning lotion, I get to wear less clothing, and because its hot outside its socially acceptable for me to drink a margarita at every meal :)

Heres some stuff thats been going on....

Lauren Beck(Mariglia) and her cute cute family came out form Arizona to visit/get her hair done. Yes thats right! She drives all the way from AZ to get her hair done by ME! The fact that we've know each other for 17 years and I that I taught her how to wear a bra in the 4th grade probably has nothing to do with it :) .Anyways I went over to Lauren's parents house for dinner and it was so much fun. We hung out, talked, laughed A LOT, and watched the best of Molly Shannon.


Memorial Day was spent up at Jan and Keith Kahn's house who are absolute saints for letting us use their beautiful house and pool for the holiday. Good food, good friends, good times. The babies and the boys swam while the moms relaxed next to the pool, feeling absolutely relieved that we didn't have a kid hanging on us:)







As I mentioned before I am a fan of the margarita so we've dining out so I cant get my fix (I only drink one at a time, no worries). Carynn and Kevy are usually down to get down on some food too so it always ends up being a miniature partyyy






Summer looks good on Stella...




more to come.