Eureka Part 1

So last Tuesday we left for Eureka. The Long 5.5 hour drive to play two baseball games which we lost, the first team to get booted from the tournament......oh well there's always next year and better yet it means baseball season is officially over for us until next January {unless Ryan decides to do Fall ball this year}. Even though they lost it was still a fun trip.



We were about 2 hours from Eureka at this point and they were getting tired. 

And they fell asleep almost immediately after I took the other pictures. Do you like Cameron's drool?!

Cameron and Easton has a blast running around the hotel room and getting into everything. I brought some moon dough for Cameron and that kept him busy for awhile that night and Easton was just all over the place. We put the pack n' play in front of the door to block him in but of course we had to stand in front of it because he could push it aside.

 Moon Dough;) I should have taken a picture of the mess it made.

Easton playing with all the equipment. He loves helmets and bats.

The next morning we all woke up bright and early and headed to the field for a 10 o'clock game. The only good thing about having the early game is we had the rest of the day to hang out and do something. We went back to the hotel and the guys {the coaches} changed and we headed to a restaurant called Samoa Cookhouse. One of the players grandparents recommended it. It's such a neat place and great food.

                

The boys were sleeping when we arrived and stayed asleep, which rarely happens. Ryan carried Cameron and he slept on Ryan ashe ate his lunch and Easton stayed passed out in the stroller. Our only meal in silence in a very long time;) They were awake by the time we left. Jerry {head coach} made reservations to take the whole team out to dinner the next night so I planned on taking pictures when we came back but that didn't happen {I will explain in part 2}.

Of course we had to take the kids to the beach. This was Easton's first trip to the ocean. It happened to be a nice day. The sun was out and shinning super bright. We are hoping to take them back to a warmer beach real soon. The both love sand, so they just sat there and played in it almost the entire time we were there. Cameron did not want his shoes off and Easton didn't have a choice, dad ripped off his shoes right when we got there and he wanted nothing to do with the water {it was freezing}.

 He did so good walking in sand.

They ABSOLUTELY love sand.....digging a hole.

And of course a family picture at the beach. 

Part 2 coming tomorrow........stay tuned.

Quick Post

This is just a quick post. We have been out of town and then we were having Internet issues once again {i know it's time for a new computer soon}.

I will be back tomorrow.......I hope;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and all of you folks in Northern CA hope your enjoying the cool down because it probably won't last long.

Busy Week Ahead.

This Next week or so is going to be super busy for us. For those of you who do not know my husband is a baseball coach. During the school year he is an assistant on the Varsity team and during the summer he is an assistant on a summer ball team {American Legion}. 


Their playoff tournament started Thursday night, we won that game and last nights game and play again at 7pm tonight. Also for those of you who do not know my husband wakes up at 3 am for work. By the time we got home Thursday night it was 10:45pm and last nights game was like the longest freaking game ever......almost 4 hours long! We didn't get home until midnight. My poor husband only got 3 hours sleep last night. Saturdays are his longest days at work so he will be lucky if he gets a nap in today before we have to leave. The only good part is he starts his vacation tomorrow so he will be able to catch up on some sleep eventually. 


So if their team wins tonight and tomorrow on Tuesday we will be headed out to Eureka, CA which is approximately a 5 hour drive from us up on the northern coast. And if they lose {which means baseball is over} we will be headed to Mendocino, also on the northern coast for a little getaway without the boys. So either way we will be leaving town and not knowing exactly what the plans are is driving me crazy. I either have to pack up for all of us and be prepared to stay in Eureka for up to 6 days or get ready things ready for us to leave and things settled at home to leave the boys with my mom. 


So much to do and think about.......Oh and in the middle of this all my mother-in-law is getting married Sunday! It makes for a very busy hectic weekend. So tomorrow we might be going to a game in the morning then a wedding in the evening. Which I still have to buy a wedding gift{I know she reads my blog so I can't mention any ideas I might have, well I only have one....lol} but doubt she will have time to read it between now and tomorrow.


As much as I want the team to win and advance to the next round of playoffs, I would also love a break with just Ryan and I. I love being able to stay at home with the boys and wouldn't have it any other way but we need to time to be husband and wife without being mom and dad too. If we are not able to getaway without them there is always labor day weekend. One of only like 4 weekends Ryan will get 2 days off in a row.

Playing in the dirt kept them occupied for about 15 minutes or so. 

And eating some nachos kept them busy for another 15 minutes and then cleaning Easton up took another 10. Anything to pass the time. We were there for like 5 hours, so that means I had to chase them around for.....YES........5 hours! 


Hope everyone has a great weekend. I know we will;)

Blooming Belly Book

I made this book for my mother-in-law. Her boyfriends daughter is due in September and she had a little shower for her while she is here visiting for their wedding {we happened to find out she is moving back here for awhile until her hubby gets home from Afghanistan} So we will have a little baby around for a few months;)
Anyway she is very good about taking weekly pictures of her belly for her hubby to see, she posts them on Facebook, so I took her pictures from Facebook and started the book for her. 


I love these little books. They make a great baby shower gift {that's of course if your mommy to be has been taking pics of her ever growing belly}. This book turned out super cute and I just love this paper. The paper is made by Jillibean Soup {they have some super cute stuff...check em' out}.

I have one that is completed and ready to be posted on Etsy. It's a little different from this one but still just as cute. 

Wednesdays Wine

This wine my husband picked up a couple weeks ago while we were at Costco. 
I pick out new bottles of wine by their names and labels and I think Ryan does the same {he doesn't usually drink wine but thought I would like this one}. I know probably a weird way to pick out wine but that's how we do it;)

Tractor Shed Red is made by Tudal Winery. I just love the name and love the little tractor on the label. I wonder if anyone else picks out wine the way we do?!

Newest Diaper Cake Creation

Check out the newest diaper cake creation! This was made for my mother-in-law. She hosted a baby shower and used this as the centerpiece:) 

Check out Diaper Cake Dazzle if you need a baby gift.

Cars 2.

Last Sunday we took Cameron to see Cars 2 {I know this post is a little late}. We left Easton with my Grandma because well he is only 18 months and that would not have been good. Although he does love Cars and anytime he sees anything Cars he goes crazy...it's so cute, but next time he can go;)


Cameron was very excited and has been talking about going to see it for like a month now, whenever he first starting seeing previews and seeing all the crap they have in the stores. He would ask every single day, multiple times a day...................and finally the day came.


Ryan and I both like it and thought it was cute. We loved how Mater was the star of the show. We thought it was hilarious that Lightening and Mater were watching Wipe Out on the plane but thought it was a little weird for the cars to be shooting at each other with guns. We both thought the first one was better. 

On our way;)

Very Excited!

Of course I had to get pictures with Mom and Dad.

Eating a little snack before the show.

Cameron has never tried popcorn before, well because its a choking hazard and I am a freak when it comes to the kids eating stuff they can choke on. Since we were at the movies and he always talks about popcorn I gave him one piece, he gagged and spit it out. He didn't like so much, it was kinda funny. 

Before we left the house I tried to get him to wear a pull-up but he refused to put one on, he HAD to wear underwear. No accidents! Yay! He went right before the movie started then Ryan took him once during the show. 

It was a very successful first trip to the movies with the little man. Someone told me there is a Toy Story 4 coming out...maybe that will be lil chunkers first movie;)

Wednesdays Wine

I know today isn't Wednesday but here it is anyway;)


About a month ago Ryan and I were at the store picking up a few things for dinner and of course I needed a new bottle of wine. So we were browsing the wine aisle looking for Middle Sister {our local store is constantly rearranging the wine aisle.....drives me crazy!} Ryan found it and grabbed a bottle and a lady looking for her wine....said, "Thanks", because the wine she was looking for was right next to the bottle he picked up. Anyway she suggested Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet and so we gave it a try and it's super yummy! Our local grocery store only carries a couple different bottles. I will be on a mission to find more because I absolutely love them and want to try them all.

ENJOY!!!!

Saturday Sweetness.

I don't know if this is a "real" recipe or not but it's my recipe now. It's so freaking good. I could eat it by the spoon fulls {and sometimes do}. It's great with strawberries and raspberries. It's cheap to make and would be great to serve at a summer BBQ. 
We had it at a baseball get together one of the parents had and I couldn't remember what the heck was in it but I think it was just cool whip and marshmallow creme. So one day I decided to give it a try..............and it actually tasted good, still not sure if that's really what was in it. Now it's a must have anytime we have strawberries, especially for my husband;)

You really should give this a try this weekend. I promise you will not be disappointed. 


Fruit Dip


8oz.cool whip
7 oz. marshmallow creme


Let cool whip sit out and defrost. Combine and enjoy;)
If you don't let the cool whip sit out for a while it will harden the marshmallow creme. Just put in refrigerator for a while and keep stirring, it will eventually smooth out.


Ok on a side note......I am loving the blog hops have I joined the last couple weekends. Last weekend was he first time I participated and came across some great new blogs and in return I have lots of new followers.....WELCOME! I never thought I would hit 50. 
I hope everyone has a great weekend. The weather here is supposed to be nice, well that means no triple digits and next week I think I saw high 80's in the forecast so that's even better;)

Wednesdays Wine

Lately I have had an obsession with trying new wines. And I just love all the Middle Sister Wines. Target actually as a really good selection of them. I think they might just have about all of them. They are usually around $8.00 or $9.00, not too bad. 
Anyway.....I absolutely LOVE their wines. 

Anyway.......let me know if you give them a try;)


And for whatever reason Blogger was having some issues with uploading pictures or else this would have been posted this morning. 

Potty Training.

FINALLY.....I think we are in full potty training mode!!!!!!! 


A week after Cameron's second birthday he started saying "pee" and would go pee in the toilet like a big boy and I thought to myself, oh this potty training thing might not be so bad after all........yeah right. All last summer he was going to the bathroom inside and outside, so I thought by the time he was 3 we would be good and done with potty training and he would have it down like a pro. Well he is almost 3 1/2 now and I finally think he is getting it! We haven't really forced it on him, kinda just went with the flow because every one kept telling us one day he will get it. We tried treats and a potty chart and nothing really worked.


He has been wearing underwear for a week now and has been doing GREAT! Saturday he had a bad day and had a few accidents {boys are just lazy sometimes}. Now he just goes in the bathroom pulls down his pants and pees.....I am so proud of him! 


Last week he started wearing underwear to the baseball games. I figured that was a good place to start. I take him back behind the fence and he pees on the foul pole;) It's so cute, all the boys know he is wearing underwear and they praise him and say "cool" and "good job".  


Going #2 might take a little more work, one thing at a time I guess.  He will go on the toilet but the past few days he has had some tummy issues and has had a couple accidents. 
One of those accidents was at Chilli's the other night. It wasn't a big deal. The only people who knew what happened were our friends we were there with, no biggie. Dad took him out to the truck and got him cleaned up {the Lightening McQueen underwear didn't make back inside, dad tossed those once we got home}. 


So the only time he has had on a diaper the last week or so was at bed time. I am thinking we need to go get some Goodnites underwear. He keeps asking to wear underwear to bed, sorry dude...not yet. 

And here he is in the backyard;)


I will be so glad when I don't have to ask him a million times a day if he needs to pee!

Come On Over for a Recipe Party!!!!!

In an effort to help me get back into planning out our dinner meals each week and help inspire me in the kitchen I am going host a recipe party. Not only will this help me in the kitchen but I am hoping it helps all of you. 


I feel like we are having the same old meals every week.  I love trying out new recipes, especially when they are easy and don't require a million ingredients, but feel free to share whatever you would like.  


You can post anything from desserts to side dishes to casseroles. Since we are heading into the heart of summer it would be awesome to see some new ideas for summer salads.


I am sure most of you have posted a recipe on your blog, so this will be easy. Just leave a comment with the link to your recipe post and in a few days I will put together a post with all the recipe links and hopefully it will be a great resource we can all use. And if you haven't posted a recipe on your blog before you can just leave your recipe as a comment.
If you have any great cooking tips or know of some great food blogs, I would love to hear those as well. Anything to help us all get inspired in the kitchen!
Hope this makes sense, I haven't tried doing anything like this before so I hope it will all work out;)

Grocery Shopping HELP!

OK folks.......I might need a little help with something. Last week I finally got around to adding some of our accounts to Mint.com. For those of you that don't know what mint.com, it's a financial website that helps you manage and budget your monies. It takes everything you spend and categorizes it into categories like, groceries, gas, home, shopping, and etc. It's actually pretty cool and now I think I might be addicted to it {Thanks Cynthia for telling me about it}. The only bad thing is seeing how much debt you really have. It includes mortgage, car loans, student loans, and credit cards. Once you add your mortgage account it really sucks seeing how far in the red you are.

Anyway my point is I finally have a rough figure on the amount we spend on groceries. Everything from Walmart, Target, Costco, and Raley's get categorized in the Grocery column. So not only is that grocery items but also diapers, laundry soap, cleaning products, toothpaste, bath soap, and other personal care items for us and the boys. The amount was a little over $1000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe this is good.......I don't know but to me it seems kinda high for a family of 4, which 2 are just toddlers. 


I go to Raley's at least 3 times a week for milk, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, meat, and anything else we might need for dinner. I love using coupons but at the most only end up saving like 5 bucks on a $125.00 grocery bill. 


I would to hear any grocery shopping tips you have that might help me out. How do stop from going to the store every couple of days? We go through like 4-5 gallons of milk a week, our refrigerator only has so much space. And your fruits and veggies usually don't last for more than a couple days without going bad. For a few months I was planning out dinner every week {helps out during baseball season} and that helped a little because I knew what I needed on a weekly basis and shopped for the entire week. But haven't done that for a few weeks or so. 


I would absolutely love to hear whatever helpful info you can give me;)
Thanks a bunch!

New Shoes

Check out my cute new shoes! I just wish I had more places to wear them. Chasing the boys around the baseball field isn't exactly the best place to wear them. 
I finally made it to DSW, Designer Shoe Warehouse, a couple weeks ago and oh my.....it's like a shoe orgy. So many to look at and pick from. By far my new favorite shoe store.  


I tried to find these on their website but it looks like they might be sold out and I couldn't find them online anywhere else either. But I did find some that are very similar, Moda Spana Heloise Wedge Sanda. 

Coconuts Howell Wedge Sandal 


Do you like?! Aren't they cute?! They are pretty comfy, they left no blisters and I didn't trip or fall down in them which is always a plus;)

Super Yummy Dessert.

Last week one of the blogs I follow posted this ridiculously looking delicious brownie cookie Oreo dessert thingy. It looked so good and irresistible I just had to make it. 


If you are not already a follower of Kevin & Amanda you should check out their blog and follow them. They always have great recipes and interesting reads. For all my scrapbooking buddies you have to check out her scrapbook room.


OK........so this super yummy dessert is called: Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n' Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar. I made it over the weekend but forgot to take pictures but if you head on over to their blog Amanda has posted some awesome pictures {she takes great pictures and her food always looks amazing}. It's so good when it comes fresh out of the oven, it's all warm and gooey inside...........it's so freaking yummy;)


Please give it a try......I promise you won't be disappointed.....ENJOY!