Arizona.

WOW....I can't believe it already been a month since we left for Phoenix, AZ. I meant to write up this post a while ago but I am huge slacker. The reason for our trip to AZ was because Ryan's childhood best friend was getting married, his name also happens to be Ryan. So to make things a little easier I will call him Wiz or the Groom:-)

We left on a Saturday afternoon after Ryan got off work. So if I remember I believe we were on the road at 2:30pm.....YES FOLKS......we drove there with 3 kids!!!! We drove until about 10:30 that night. We live in Northern California in the Sacramento area and we made it to just outside of Riverside somewhere in the middle of some National Forest area. We were like in the middle of no where for a very very long time and finally came across a hotel that wasn't sketchy.

So by 9:15am the next morning we were back on the road and made it to our destination around 3:30 or so. We actually made pretty good time considering we were traveling with 3 kids. The kids actually surprised the heck out of us and were so good. We only had a couple of meltdowns which isn't too bad and even Bentley did great, he just slept most of the time. That DVD player we installed in the new was a lifesaver! We would not have lasted if it wasn't for that. And we brought all these darn movies and 2 they watched the majority of the time were the 2 new ones I bought the day before we left....DocMcStuffins and Dumbo.

Once we got to the rental house we were all exhausted and it was like 105 degrees. We went from HOT to even HOTTER. And Poor Bentley smelt so bad. His car seat was all stinky from the sweat and spit up. It was hot the entire time we were there and made it miserable to try and do anything with the kids, especially Bentley. So we just hung out all week long. We got together with Wiz and his family a few times, which was nice because its been about 3 years or so since we have seen them. The boys had an awesome time playing with Wiz's stepdaughters and they also had a great time playing with all his nieces. All his nieces just loved the boys....especially Bentley.  

They boys loved playing in the pool. Bentley wasn't too sure of it at first and only lasted a few minutes.

The boys playing with the girls. They had a blast!!!

And this little dude is just too cute.........

We went to a train museum and checked out all the train models they were building, took a little train ride, and played on the playground.....all while it being like 100 plus degrees.

 

The venue were the wedding was held was really cute. It was a garden type of setting with a couple of buildings, one for the food and the other for dancing:) Then the tables were set up all over the place. Three of the groomsmen had babies so I couldn't resist taking a picture when they all had their babes at the same time. 

Ok so Cameron is kinda of shy sometimes. The girls here are Wiz's nieces and the boys just loved them. Cameron so wanted to dance and "go crazy" but was being shy so the girls picked him up and took him out on the dance floor. It was the cutest thing, the expressions on his face were so funny. And then there is Easton and his cake........

Easton crashed earlier in the day and took a nap.....Cameron did not and he was exhausted by 9pm. He fell asleep on Ryan's lap so then we just laid him across some chairs for the next hour or so.

 

And then the next morning after the wedding we had to drive back home. This time we had to drive home in one day!!!! We left at 8:00am and got home about 9:30pm. It was a super long day and once again all the kiddos did great. Much much better than we thought they would do. And then poor Ryan had to work the next day. By the time we got to bed it was like 11pm so that 3:00am wake up call was no fun, he was exhausted.

And this was the car all loaded up on the way back home.

Hopefully our next family vacation will be a trip to Disney Land.....fingers crossed:)

Happy Birthday Cynthia.

I can remember the very first birthday party I went to for Cynthia. We were in 7th grade and we went on a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood........and since then I have been to pretty much every party, except one which i think was her 16th birthday because we were in a "fight", our first and only fight.

Cynthia and I have been through a lot together over the years. And we have only had that one fight {that I remember}. She was there by my side when I got married, she was the one to host my bridal shower and 2 boy baby showers,  she was there when Cameron and Easton were born and she has been to all of their birthday parties.

 

She was always the oldest in our group of friends. She was the one to get her driver's license first. A blue rusty beat up VW slug bug { I looked and looked for this one picture but couldn't find it}. We used to sneak it out before she got her license. We did some naughty things while in high school but who didn't?! We used to pile so many people in that little blue beat up bug. We drove every where in that thing. To our soccer games, to baseball and football games. In town and out of town.

 

After high school she went away to college for a year then came back and then went away again and then I went away and she was still away and then I came back and then she came back for a while and then she went away once again and then came back for a little bit and then she met a boy {love you Joe}.........and that was the end of her coming back. She has been gone ever since and I don't think she's coming back {maybe a little closer one day}. She is now planning her wedding....YAY!!! Which means I now get to plan HER bridal shower.
We still talk almost every day. She is always there when I need advice or there just to listen while i vent away. We have been besties for more than half our lives now and I cannot imagine my life without her in it. I am so lucky to have a her as my friend.

So a few weeks ago she tells me she's pregnant......Yes, can you believe it?! FINALLY!!!!
So all within a year she gets engaged, is going to have a baby, and get married! Craziness!!!! Their sweet little baby BOY {yes she is having a freaking boy, can't anyone make a girl?!} is due mid-April. I couldn't be happier for her and Joe. Cynthia has wanted to have babies for as long as I could remember. She is going to be such a good mama:)

Okay so now on to the picture. This was her 18th birthday. It was just us girls having a sleep over at her house. I guess we were just bored or something. We got this wild idea to do our hair all funky and crazy. So we did that for awhile and then for whatever reason we decided to drive around town and we ended up at Quick Stop. This was seriously one of the funniest memories ever. Someone had a cigar i think they bought at QuickStop and we were all posing with the cigar and acting like jackasses with our hair all a hot mess. I looked and looked for the rest of the pictures we took while out on our little joy ride but couldn't find them. I guess this is one of those things where you had to be there. It was seriously soooo funny!!!!

Happy Birthday Cynthia!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day and all your birthday wishes come true. And may this next year be your happiest!!!! Love you....XOXO.

 Cynthia with Easton.

Easton's baby shower:)

This and That.

Well folks once again I went through a blog drought. I am like the worlds worst blogger. I go through these phases where I just cannot sit at the computer for long periods of time, either because the kids are bouncing off the walls and I cannot concentrate or every time I open the computer Easton thinks I am going to put a new game on his LeapFrog Leapster:)and/or I am just not in the mood because I have 50 million other things to do. I really have no clue how all you blogging mama's do it and then especially all you mama's that work outside the home as well. Maybe I just don't manage my time very good.
I love that I am able to follow some of my bloggy friends on FB, Twitter, and Instagram. At least I can kinda keep up with whats going on with you all. I am hoping to be able to sit down within the next couple of days to catch up with you all because today after preschool Cameron and Easton are going with my Mom and Grandma. They are going to Chuck E Cheese then they will be staying the night:)) Baby B will still be here but he is a piece of cake and at least he doesn't yell or scream or make messes just yet.

So today I finally have a dentist appointment. I have been avoiding going back. After Easton was born I finally went to have some work done....a couple crowns and a root canal. And I still have some cavities that need to be filled. Well about a year ago when I was pregnant with Bentley my freaking permanent crown fell the F&*% out!!! And of course it was the tooth that had the root canal, so they told me I would have to have the root canal done again!!! Since I was pregnant and then that was right about the time we were getting ready to move I put it off. So I finally called and I have an appointment this morning. I know I need one tooth pulled :( plus all 4 wisdom teeth and a couple fillings....oh and plus that damn root canal/crown. All 3 times I was pregnant I had one tooth break off  each time and they were all teeth that had previously been filled. Anyway I hate going to the dentist but I am tired of these damn teeth!!!!!

And do you remember the post about The Toe......well over the weekend Cameron stepped on it and it fell off!!!!! Yes. My toenail fell off!!!!! It didn't hurt at all, it just fell off. I will spare you the picture i took of it:) A new toe nail had already started growing under the old damaged one, fingers crossed its not damaged. I am trying some Tea Tree oil treatment on it. We will see if that works or if it's too badly damaged.

We need a real vacation after our family vacation to AZ with the kiddos. No more family vacations unless we are going Disney Land or some other place for the kids. A post on that trip is coming soon.

While in AZ I discovered a new 2 buck chuck wine that is pretty good and I found out we have the same store here in CA and not that far from where we live. We bought about 12 bottles and I only had about 3 or 4 left until yesterday. We went to the pumpkin farm and on the way home we stopped and got some more and it was even cheaper here....$1.99 a bottle! It really isn't that bad and very drinkable.

I am in birthday party overload! the Boys' birthdays are coming up in December and we always have their party the first weekend in December {as far away from Christmas as possible but still in their bday month}. I am still trying to decide what the heck we are going to do. Have it at home and get a bounce house and hope it doesn't rain or go to a kids place with games and shit. So many different things to think about. We need to hurry it up and decide because I will need to order invites soon so they can go out the first week of November....this time of year always sneaks up on us.
And then of course there is Christmas! I cannot freaking believe its this time of year already. I am running out of things to get these boys. I know what their big "Santa" present will be and have ideas for some little things but what the heck are they going to get for their birthdays?! It makes it so hard with their birthdays so close to Christmas.

What has everyone in bloggy land been up to?! Hope everyone has a great day!!!! 

4 Months.

Okay this post here is a couple weeks past due. I finally just got around to downloading some pictures on the computer yesterday:)

Well another month has gone by and Bentley is four months old now. This summer has just flown by, I cannot believe we are already in the month of October. Little Bentley is growing and growing and changing everyday. Some changes are good and other changes are not so good. His sleeping has totally gone to shit! Well over the past month or so he has started to wake up twice a night,where as before he was only waking up once a night to eat. And just over the last few days he is waking up every couple hours or so, I think it's those darn teeth. 

A couple weeks ago he had his 4 month old check up. He is good and healthy but still has that little gooey eye. Hopefully it will go away soon:) He is a big boy but at this age he is the smaller out of  the three. I am amazed every day at what he is learning. He can now roll over from his tummy to back and back to tummy.....he's a rolling machine. He is pulling the little hangining toys off his little play mate thingy, he especially likes to pull off the mirror and look at himself. He is also quite vocal! He screams so loud with so much joy and excitement. He loves it when Cameron sings his preschool songs to him and loves watching both his brothers play around him. A couple weeks ago he started eating rice cereal and its going good. It took him a little bit but he now likes it. The doctor gave us the go ahead to start on foods too:) So the other day he had some peaches, lots of funny faces with those and the second time around he really didn't like them that much.

 
Besides going backwards with the sleep {BOOOOOO} he is doing great and I couldn't ask for a better baby. He is totally entertained {most of the time} just chilling watching all of us around him. Fingers crossed he starts sleeping a little better and hopefully he will start sleeping in his crib soon {we are working on that}.

Tator Tot Casserole.

I found this great new recipe from Pinterest....who doesn't love Pinterest?! This might not be a new recipe to some of you but to me it was new and I had to try it. It's super easy and I am all about an easy meal:)

This recipe is from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary, click here to view the orginal recipe.

 

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 chopped medium onion
3 chopped cloves garlic
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 bag (30 oz) frozen tater tots
You can either let the tator tots sit out for a little bit before you cook the cassorole or put them in frozen. I always forget to let mine sit out so I haven't tried it that way yet.

In a large skillet cook the onion until translucent and then add and cook garlic for a couple minutes. Add and cook beef, drain and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the soup, milk and sour cream. Mix until smooth, Add to hamburger mixture and stir. Add corn and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Mix together.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer half of the tator tots on the bottom, pour the hamburger mixture over top and then layer with the rest of tator tots. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy.

We just had this the other night for dinner. I have made this several times since first discovering the recipe a couple months ago:) Give it a try and ENJOY!!!!!

Happy and Sad.

Just after a week or so after getting some super exciting baby news from a dear close friend {I guess it's still kinda a secret so no name revealed just yet} while we gone on vacation in AZ I got some terrible news. Something that no parent should ever have to deal with. Another close friend lost her baby, just 7 months old.
I am so heart broken for my friend. She hasn't had the best year, actually a pretty crappy one to be honest and now she has to deal with losing a child.
I couldn't be happier for my one friend and am thrilled for her but my heart is breaking for the other one. The other one that just lost her baby boy.

For me once I became a mom my outlook on everything changed, like I think it does with most. I can't read or watch anything that has to deal with a sick or injured child. I am wreck half the time when watching Grey's and thats just a TV show. My whole outlook on life changed the moment I became a mom, its kinda hard to explain. I would do anything for my kids to keep them out of harms way. I cannot imagine what my friend is going through. No parent should ever lose a child.
Life is pretty crappy sometimes and you never know when the crappy parts are going to happen so hug and squeeze your babies tight and live each day to the fullest.