First, Last and Now Meme....

First
First job: Kid job - babysitter; College job – waitress; Real job – HR Assistant
First funeral: My Grandma Edna when I was about 8.
First pet: A cat named Skeeter
First piercing: Ears; summer after 3rd grade
First tattoo: 18 - right after graduation - a ring of flowers around my belly button - turned into a big wreath during my pregnancies, but believe it or not, it's back to normal!
First credit card: Target - college
First kiss: I really can't remember
First enemy: Justin K. - I think he was every body's first enemy at my elementary school

Last
Last car ride: The drive into work this morning
Last kiss: Big smooches for both the boys as I dropped them off at daycare
Last movie watched: Cars - what can I say, I have a 5 year old!
Last beverage drank: homemade yogurt smoothie
Last food consumed: Lasagna, last night
Last phone call: My friend Marilyn
Last time showered: This morning
Last CD played: Rascal Flatts
Last website visited: my friend Tammy's blog (thanks for the meme!)

Now
Single or taken: "Taken" for almost 5 years
Birthday: September 14 – I’ll be 29.
Sign: Virgo
Siblings: 1 brother and several step-siblings.
Hair color: light brown with blond highlights
Eye color: blue
Shoe size: 6 1/2
Height: 5’4’’
Wearing: khaki's, a white tank with a blue short sleeved sweater
Job: Sr. HR Generalist for a hospital
Thinking about: how am I going to make Brett's caterpillar cake for his party tomorrow
Listening to: the hum of my computer and the HR Coordinator shuffling papers

A Gift from Great-Grandma

Mike's Grandmother Jane has made all of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at least one quilt. Mike, Colton and Brett all received one when they were born. Mike and I received one when we got married and here's Colton's 2nd quilt that he received for his 5th birthday present. I think it absolutely beautiful! The colors are wonderful and Colton loves turtles (in case you can't see it, he has a sea turtle on his shirt which was not planned). Every night before bed, he has to pick out which turtle is his favorite that day. Personally, I think its a stalling tactic, but a fun one at least. He will not lay on the quilt nor will he let anybody else or anything else for fear that they will hurt the turtles.

New Do....

After a few weeks of Mike trying to pursuade me that "hey, he's a kid, it will look cool." I finally took Colton to get his mohawk! He wasn't all that sure about it. He had plenty of questions to ask:

1. How short will the sides be?

2. Will I be bald?

3. Will it hurt?

4. Will it grow back?

After about 5 minutes of deliberation, he decided that yes indeed he was going to get a mohawk. I've already told him that in 1 week, we'll be buzzing of the strip of hair to match the sides. I mean a mom can only handle so much....after all, he is only 5!

Spaghetti!

I think every kid has a picture of them as a young child eating spaghetti so I figured....why not mine? I know we have one of Colton that looks very similar to these.
All done! Needless to say, he went right into the bathtub after this dinner.

One Year Ago....

It was one year ago tonight that I was sitting at dinner when my water broke 8 weeks early. Off to the hospital for 13 days of bed rest until Brett decided he was really ready to make his entrance into the world. It's hard to believe that one year has past since the day I entered the hospital. It's even harder to believe that my little premature baby is about to turn one year old!!

Family

Mike's Grandparents were in town from Missouri and we were lucky enough to be able to spend the day with them at Dave & Claudia's on Sunday. We had great weather for a bbq and splashing in the kiddie pool. Great Grandma and Brett reading his book that he got
Colton teaching Brett how to read
Kyler chasing bubbles
Great Grandpa & Grandma with 4 of their 6 great-grandchildren

11 Months Old!

The Boys

Incase any of you were wondering where the boys were during our trip to CA.....

Colton went on a little trip to South Dakota with Grandpa Jon and Grandma Laura and his cousin Jack. G&G are pretty smart people...they stopped plenty of times along the way to let the boys get out and run around, eat and then loaded them back up for a few more hours on the road. Colton and TONS of stories to tell. They went to Reptile Gardens, Bear Country and Mount Rushmore. One of his favorites was the bird show - "Mom, they had a parrot that talked!" Colton & Jack at Reptile Garden
Colton & Jack at Mount Rushmore


Brett spent time with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sue up in SB and then with Grandpa Dave & Grandma Claudia at the lake. While we were gone, he managed to learn how to walk (while holding your hands) and popped out 3 more top teeth - he know has 2 on the bottom and just about 4 through on the top.

Thank you to all the Grandparents for helping us out during our CA vacation!!

We're Baaaack!!

Ahhh....a nice long weekend in California! We took off Thursday morning and landed in LA around 10am...off to the hotel to unpack and then we played tourist. We were in Redondo Beach for the wedding of one of my best friends from high school - Leah. Yes, we have the same name and yes, we grew up living next door to each other and yes, in a graduating class of 37 students there was a total of 3 Leahs. Anyhow, the wedding was Friday night on the beach - BEAUTIFUL. As we were waiting for the bride to come down the stairs, two dolphins were leaping through the ocean. Not sure you can top that! The night was a blast - the bride looked radiant and the band kept us dancing.

Leah & Leah

Leah & John

Saturday afternoon we hopped in rental car and headed south to San Diego - well La Jolla to be exact. Mike could not believe the traffic on a Saturday in CA. It took us almost 3 hours to drive 113 miles on the freeway!

However, once we got to La Jolla, all frustrations were over. The city is spectacular!!! We just could not get enough of it - the beaches, the seals, the dolphins, the food - absolutely gorgeous! We spent Saturday afternoon/evening scoping out all the things we were going to do on Sunday. We were up and at it by 7:30 Sunday morning! First was renting snorkel gear and wet suits. Never did the thought cross my mind that in CA in June it wouldn't reach higher than 67 degrees the WHOLE TIME WE WERE THERE! Over the course of 5 days, I think we saw the sun for a total of 6 hours. We were bound and determined to not let the weather get the best of us. We snorkeled, hopped on some boogie boards, and climbed around on rocks all day Sunday. Sunday evening we went to the Gaslamp District downtown San Diego, visited Petco Park (Mike was thrilled), went over the Coronado Bridge (wow!) and checked out the beaches there.

We've already planning our trip to return with the boys sometime in the next 5 years! Highly recommend to any of you!

Here's a few pictures from our trip......

The Pier - Redondo Beach

Seals - La Jolla, CA

La Jolla, CA

Petco Park - San Diego

Boogie Boarding