J & Co.

Back in the Saddle

2011-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhh..... I'm back! I haven't blogged in a VERY long time (see my previous post and you'll see the date), but I think I'm ready to start up again. Why the hiatus?? Well, I didn't really feel like I had much to blog about. So I thought about all the things I love and things that I would want to share with others and I've finally come up with something. Drum roll please! Cooking. I love all things involved in cooking. I watch Food Network and The Cooking Channel on a regular basis. Rachael Ray and I are friends (she doesn't know it, but we are ;) I love trying new things, new recipes, new restaurants and what not. So I thought I would share my love of food with anyone who visits my page. Stay tuned for my first post!

2009-12-27T19:31:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Holiday Spirit

2009-12-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

The tree was up before Thanksgiving... but I'm just getting around to uploading a picture.
The madness of wrapping that filled our office is almost all cleaned up now, but it was a little scary there for a minute. Watched some Christmas movies with my guys last night, we have just about every Christmas movie on DVD. Next weekend is my office Christmas party so I bought a new dress, pea coat, jewelry and red lipstick... should be fun ;) Today is my Mom's birthday so I'll head over there in a bit with gifts for her.

The Tree...it's not finished, but it will get there

The mess...it's almost gone

Crazy Days...

2009-11-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

Things have been super crazy around here lately... My Dad had surgery on Nov. 2nd and stayed in the hospital for over a week. My husband had surgery on Nov. 4th and even though it was out patient surgery, he was down for about a week. Although he did manage to take me to out to dinner and to see Phantom of the Opera on Nov. 6th because he had purchased the tickets months ago. He felt horrible but really wanted to take me out, what a great guy!! Then on Friday the 13th I had my tooth implant placed! Painful? Not really, but very cool to watch. While all of this has been going on I have managed to complete almost all of my Christmas shopping and I've also finished Mason's birthday shopping for Feb! Look at me go! I'm in the mood for the holidays and I just want to enjoy them with my family this year instead of worrying about buying gifts and what not. I do that every year so I thought I would try something new this year. Plus we've cut back a lot. Christmas around our house had gotten a bit out of hand... I always want people to have a ton of gifts to open so I buy like crazy. I didn't do that this year and I have to say I feel good about that. I'm ready for Thanksgiving too! My sister and I have decided to take over the Thanksgiving meal this year so that my Mom doesn't have to worry about anything. We bought a Honeybaked Ham and we're making all the sides ourselves, I'm bringing my famous homemade Macaroni & Cheese...YUM! Plus I can't wait for Thanksgiving because that means I get to bring out all the Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving night after we get home from our folks, and get to work on getting my Christmas on ;) I can't wait! In the meantime I better get a move on wrapping these gifts.... I have more scheduled to be delivered next week :)

The Great Pumpkin

2009-11-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We sure did.

2009-10-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

How about this little blue eyed beauty?!

She's having her birthday cake and eating it too.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Audrey!

Allergies and a nose job??

2009-10-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well... my husband is having some minor surgery. A nose job to be exact. Rhinoplasty. Why? Because he can't breathe. It's not actually going to be noticeable from the outside but it's supposed to make a HUGE difference on the inside. Along with the surgery he also has to keep his allergies under control, an issue that has plagued him his entire life. He had allergy testing done when he was younger and had the allergy therapy...blah blah blah. We did another allergy test on Friday and the results were shocking to say the least.... He's literally allergic to everything they test for. Everything. And not just a little allergic either, we're talking severely allergic to most things. They measure on a system of 5 being the lowest you can score to 13 being the highest you can score; my husband scored 13+ on almost everything and a lot of them were off the scale. The surgeon came in to discuss the results and said, "Wow! I've never seen anything like this before!" He broke the office record as the most allergic patient they have ever had. Go big or go home, right? So what do we do now? Well the doctor said that he doesn't feel comfortable recommending the allergy shots because most likely it would send him into anaphylactic shock. So instead he put him on allergy drops, a lower dosage of the things that he's allergic to...immunotherapy. Surgery is scheduled for November, so we'll see if my sweetie can breathe by December.

On another note: Mason had school pictures last week and I always take a few before he leaves for school just in case the school pictures don't turn out. Here's what we captured this year...

Handsome, right? I think so :)

It's about that time again....

2009-09-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

Spent Sunday morning with my favorite kiddo Mason... getting our Halloween on! That's right. We baked spooky cookies and displayed some of our goulish decor. I love this time of year and I can't wait until the television stations start playing Halloween movies.

btw... I actually do wash my cookies sheets.... they just get a lot of use ;)

2009-09-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

The hubs and I now share a "workspace" in our home office.

Here's a picture of my half of the desk...

Here's a picture of his half of the desk...

I Want....

2009-08-28T17:10:00.010-07:00

I want to watch this wicked storm roll in over Miami...

I want to look for seashells on this beach...

I want to walk along this pier...

I want to drink iced tea on an unusually hot day by this old building...

I want to look down this alley way at the beautiful beach...

I want to sit on the end of this old pier with my husband and relax...

MDA

2009-08-23T11:18:00.003-07:00

Yesterday my husband raised $1284.59 for Muscular Dystrophy! That's HUGE! He raised the most money out of all the stores in his district, the runner up raised $725.00 and he also placed 5th in the Phoenix division out of 116 stores! Way to go Michael! All of this is because we feel very strongly about this cause and we want to do everything we can to raise awareness and help find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy. To everyone who donated... I hope your donation comes back to you a millions times over in some way. To my husband.... All my love forever.

MDA

2009-08-21T20:50:00.007-07:00

It's that time of year again.... Please make your way to the Higley and Baseline Safeway tomorrow (Saturday 8/22) and make a donation to MDA. If you know me you know why this cause is so near and dear to my heart. Let's do what we can for these kids.... you're heart will feel full, I promise. Here's a link to last years event to see what it's all about. There aren't enough kind words to thank everyone who donates but here's a start...thanks :)

Weekend Get Away

2009-08-19T19:28:00.021-07:00

So last weekend we had some friends that were going to Las Vegas. On Friday morning we decided to get a room and go too! We booked a room and settled in the car for a 6 hour drive. I love taking road trips with my husband! We RARELY run out of things to talk about and we seriously have the best time together. We stayed at Treasure Island and we loved it. The hotel is newly remodeled and they did an excellent job. We hit the casino and we both won on Black Jack (that's our game) and we met up with our friends too. We had a fantastic impromptu weekend, just the two of us ;)

[I got a little antsy on the trip...]

[the huge bridge that isn't complete yet..yikes.]

[The front our our hotel...we had never stayed at Treasure Island before, but it was pretty nice]

[our room...not too shabby for a same day reservation]

[the ceiling in the Bellagio...amazing. It's all handblown glass]

[all of the flowers in these pictures are real and fresh...seriously, it smells sooo good in there!]

[the always moving chocolate fountain in the Bellagio]

[cakes in the Bellagio]

[taking a break from shopping]

[Margaritaville for dinner is a MUST every time I go to Vegas][No the beers aren't mine]

[We hit Fremont Street to tear up the Black Jack tables....and we won!]

Lucky In Love

2009-08-09T08:56:00.007-07:00

Well with all the recent events going on around here I haven't blogged much.... Not for lack of things to say but rather for lack of wanting to recall most of it. My Dad spent almost 2 weeks in ICU during and after having 2 major emergency surgeries in May and he's still not fully recovered, although he's doing surprisingly well considering all that he's been through. But it's not over, he'll have to undergo another surgery to repair everything and that should happen sometime late this year or early 2010. We still went on our cruise as planned, my Dad wouldn't have been happy if we had stayed home and he urged us to go. I felt guilty most of the time for leaving him but I still managed to enjoy myself and my family.

Not long after things seem to be settling down, one of my worst nightmares came true. Have you ever had a dream where you lose a tooth? I have and I always wake up in a panic! I work in a dental office and teeth are very important to me. I actually went through dental assisting school as a way to ensure that I would always have dental 'insurance' even if I didn't have the traditional insurance. You can't even imagine the horror when I felt my tooth break off in my mouth! It broke off at the gum line and was unable to be saved. I had such a melt down that Roxann (our office manager and my friend) had to call her husband to drive me to the oral surgeon to have the tooth removed. It took over an hour to remove my tooth and they had to use a hammer and a chisel, I actually thought my jaw was going to be ripped off (not because of anything the oral surgeon was doing wrong, just because of the hammering... trust me, I went to the best oral surgeon in the East Valley). I was down for about a week and the first 4 days were really hard. But things are healing nicely and now I just have to wait until November and then I'll have an implant placed.

With all that going on I've been less than pleasant to be around. I've been more than grouchy to say the least... But even on my worst day my husband loves me just the same. He makes everything better for me when I can't see the silver lining. For this I am forever grateful. So this weekend it was all about me. He took me on a date on Friday night, dinner and a movie and then he shopped ALL day and I do mean ALL day on Saturday! We started at about 9:30am and didn't finish until about 8:30pm. We went to Ross, Kohl's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lena's, Hobby Lobby, Target, Walmart, Burlington Coat Factory & JCPenney's Home Store in search of the perfect picture and curtains to match. Now I must also add that we went to Ross, JCPenney's and Bed Bath & Beyond twice. Not only did he do all of this but he alos hung the curtain rod (the curtains had to be special ordered for length) and the picture! He's amazing and I'm so lucky that he's my husband!

July Special

2009-07-06T06:14:00.004-07:00

Try the baseball warmer and July's Bubblegum scent for 10% off!!

Order here... www.scentsy.com/meltwithme

Father's Day

2009-06-21T08:38:00.004-07:00

No words needed

Melt With Me

2009-06-19T18:30:00.003-07:00

Scentsy

Visit my website

www.scentsy.com/meltwithme

Preview

2009-06-07T11:47:00.002-07:00

Birthday Fun

2009-05-03T08:27:00.013-07:00

(Nope. That's not Bambi....it's a decoy)

So April 29th was my Dad's birthday and May 2nd was my Uncle's birthday...so we celebrated them together at my Uncle's house with a family BBQ. My Uncle's house is pretty sweet...it has an archery range! Anyway here are some pics....Enjoy.

(Me and the hubs)

(The boys building Legos)
(Sisters)
(Grandma and her great grand-kids)
(Me and the sister with our Dad and Uncle)
[they look thrilled, don't they??]

Just Because

2009-04-26T16:41:00.002-07:00

I ran across this picture today. I took it when I got my new camera about a month ago....I thought it was pretty cool ;)

3 Years

2009-04-15T05:50:00.006-07:00

Happy Anniversary! We've been married for 3 whole years today....Here's proof ;)

[the Mr. & Mrs.]

[stealing a kiss]
[with the super handsome Mr. Mason]

[with my Dad]

[after ligthing our unity candle]

[happily married <3]

Easter

2009-04-14T05:57:00.006-07:00

Well this year for Easter we went to my folks house for lunch and and an Easter egg hunt. Michael had to work so he missed the fun :(

But the kiddos had a great time. They hunted Easter eggs that were filled with candy and cash! When I was little our Easter eggs had jelly beans inside of them, not money... Each kid made out with about $15.00 and prizes and candy on top of that! Talk about inflation...geesh! Tomorrow will mark our 3rd year of wedded bliss! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I'm so lucky that my husband chose me to share his life with and I love him more every single day. xoxo- I love you honey!

[the kiddos hunting the eggs]

[checking out their cash and prizes]
[He loves the dough]

The Grand Canyon

2009-04-10T17:28:00.016-07:00

Well I went and checked out the Grand Canyon and it turns out it really is just a gigantic hole ;) It was beautiful and amazing. However, I liked hiking the trails better than just looking out over the canyon. We also visited Sedona and Montezuma's Castle. I must say that Sedona is one of my favorite places...it's so pretty. After our short day excursion, I'm definitely ready to go on our cruise!

It's About Time...

2009-04-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

This baby came in the mail the other day and if you've ever applied for a passport you know how long it can take to arrive! We're still waiting on Mason's.

Why the passports?? Because we'll need them after we board this plane ...

What happens after we get off that plane?? We get on this ship!

Then we hit Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas!

Then San Juan

Then St. Thomas

Then Grand Turk

Yep.... our cruise countdown is under way!

Our Next Adventure

2009-03-22T15:52:00.002-07:00

[Beautiful]

The entire 4th grade class at Mason's school will be taking a trip to the Grand Canyon in April and we've decided to tag along! I've lived in Arizona for almost 30 years and I have yet to see the Grand Canyon so I'm a little excited about it!

Just Kidding...

2009-03-20T06:28:00.022-07:00

Of course I brought back more pictures from Vegas... I just haven't had time to post them until now! Here are a few.

[Me & Roxann on the plane]

[Lunch in a suite in pretty sweet]

[This Egg Head]

[The waterfall]

[Me & Deanna after a few cocktails]

[Everyone]

[Me stayin' in touch w/ the hubs]

[Me & Shelly]

[Me& Deanna in the limo on the way to the airport]

[Good bye Vegas]

Renaissance Festival & World Tour Concert

2009-03-15T09:08:00.021-07:00

Last Saturday Mason and I hit the Renaissance Festival with Meredith, Jon and their sweet baby girl. We had a blast...face painting, eating, pictures, shops, more eating. After that we headed back to our house for some hamburgers on the grill and a little Guitar Hero World Tour concert....check it out ;) (Pics are in no particular order, I didn't have time for that)

[Mason and his face painting]

[The Kings]

[Me and Mason]

[This little lady was taking a break]

[Archery]

[The big tree with a face!]

[Me & Meredith w/ face paint!]

[Mason & Jon riding Gracey the elephant]

[3 of us w/ painted faces]

[Captain Jack Sparrow?!]

[Muscle Man Mason]
[Me and my pretty paint]
[Meredith and the sweetest baby girl]
[Jammin' out]

[This is what you get when your kid takes pictures, love it!]

What Happens In Vegas....

2009-03-08T21:13:00.003-07:00

...Stays in Vegas! Except, I brought this back. How beautiful is she?!

A Decade

2009-02-22T07:34:00.014-07:00

Party supplies

These kiddos stayed the night

Having some pizza
Lighting up the cake

She loved the ice cream cake

Mason broke the #1 pinata on the first hit

The #0 pinata lasted a little bit longer

And then it was done...

Present time

Mason and Grant

It's hard to believe that today it's been a whole decade since I brought Mr. Mason into this world! Time goes by to quickly... He has his birthday party yesterday and he even had a few friends spend the night on Friday. We sent out 24 invitations and only about half of those kids came but somehow we still ended up with 25 kids at his party...a lot of them Mason just randomly invited. This isn't anything new, it happens every year. He always has such a big turn out. He made out like a bandit with the cash this year too... over $200.00! And he still got presents! We had pizza, ice cream cake, and 2 pinatas. I was slacking before Mason's party and didn't do much planning this year; I sent the invitations out less than a week in advance and failed to invite some pretty key people (Jon & Meredith aka: The best Aunt & Uncle ever!) I'm an ass, I didn't keep track of any of the RSVP's, I let my in-laws know the afternoon before the party, and then had to send my husband out first thing on the party day to get drinks for everyone. Oh well... Mason had a great time and so did everyone else and that's all that matters. Happy Birthday Mason!! I love you more than anything in the whole world!

Home Alone

2009-02-06T21:33:00.007-07:00

Well.... It's true, I'm home alone all weekend long! My guys are off hunting and having a guys weekend with my Dad, Uncle and a few others. For most people this vacation from the daily chores and duties would be welcomed. But for me, not so much.... I simply can not relax if everything is not in it's place. So this is typically what happens when my guys are away....

Laundry

(not my laundry room... I wish!) Cleaning

Then some magazines
And some take out from this place....
(The Parrot Bay Jumbo Coconut Shrimp is my favorite!)

And then it's time for this...

(My favorite part)

Sounds pretty exciting, huh? On the 'To Do List' for tomorrow: Pedicure, tanning, hair cut and color and then dinner and a movie (something girly that my guys would never want to see). I miss my guys terribly and I loathe sleeping alone. I wish Mr. Eberhardt was here to cuddle me to sleep... and I would love to tuck Mason in to his bed right now. I can't wait to hear the garage door open and see my guys walk through the back door! My other boys (the dogs) are keeping me company though. They're so spoiled by every one in the family, but it gets really bad when everyone is gone! They lounge around all day, mostly on the couch with me. We lay around and watch corny shows while I pet them and give them ice treats...they love it! Then night time comes and it's time for them to go to work. They're on guard duty and their only job is to protect the Mama (me). Speaking of bed time... I better get to it.

Suns vs Bulls

2009-02-01T08:44:00.011-07:00

My guys went to the Suns vs Bulls game last night and had a blast. My husband got some excellent pictures but the one I'm most captivated by is a picture of Shaq standing by a fellow player and he makes him look small! There's also one of him standing right next to one of the refs and he makes him look like a puppet! See for yourself....

Q: How tall do you have to be and how much do you have to weigh in order to make your fellow teammates appear small??

A: 7-1 & 325 lbs.

(Note: Doesn't the ref look like a midget compared to Shaq??)

Q: How big do your feet have to be in order to make another basketball players feet look normally sized??

A: US size 23

(Note: The Bulls player is Forward Tyrus Thomas #24 with a shoe size of 15)

My guys also saw Muhammad Ali! They didn't get a picture of him because he was sitting court side just a few rows in front of them. (I guess they could have taken a picture of the back of his head though...)

I Need 'Do Help!

2009-01-25T18:56:00.012-07:00

Bought these...

In an attempt to have hair like this...

And ended up with hair like this.... (only not 1/2 as decent looking)

People tell me all the time that I have great hair... and while I love my hair, it's hard to maintain. Wash it, air dry it, curl it, tease it, spray it, blow dry it, style it and add a few more curls to it... blah blah blah. It's hard on my hair and it's wearing me down! I've never been one of those people that could wash and wear and still have great looking hair. I envy those women! On the weekends my hair rarely gets done and that's just fine with me, but on the week days I feel undone if I don't fix my hair. I would never dream of showing up at work on a regular day with out my hair done! If I did I must be really sick or really late. I want a style that's easy and doesn't require a lot of effort but still looks sexy. For now... I don't think these rollers are the answer, oh well.

Bare

2009-01-18T09:54:00.004-07:00

Well, we finally took Christmas down... This is bittersweet for me every year because while I'm glad to de-clutter, I'm also sad to see the Christmas decorations go back into their assigned storage containers until we retrieve them again the next season. Now my house is back to the simple look we're accustomed to, although, it seems bare in comparison to the winter wonderland that takes over during the holiday season around here. Until next year, this will have to do....

The bare corner where the tree was

The naked cabinets

Super Sweet Boutique ....NOT!

2009-01-15T19:26:00.002-07:00

I'm re-posting my best friends blog entry to spread the word about this scammer...

Sadly I have been taken advantage of by a woman preying on new mothers. She offers adorable, custom car seat covers, burp cloths, diaper bags, and bedding. However, once she takes your money she then provides endless excuses as to why your delivery has not been received. Now that I have nearly fully recovered from a horrific C-section and have some normalcy in my life, I want to take this opportunity to warn others. This woman should not be trusted! She will take your money and you will never hear from her again. She has a myspace page http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=219276145 and she claims in her "who I'd like to meet" section that she provides this service as a way to support her family while teaching her kids the way to live in this world. Well, if teaching your kids that money is more important than honesty and that STEALING is okay, then I suppose she is doing a great job. I encourage everyone to send her a nasty gram admonishing this type of behavior! Super Sweet Boutique is anything but sweet!

Thanks A Million...Literally

2009-01-05T07:26:00.012-07:00

As a thank you for collecting over 1 million dollars in 2008, the dentist that I work for is treating all of the lovely ladies in his staff to a girls weekend in Vegas! If that's not enough...he's paying for dinners, shows and a little extra to spend while we're there. Talk about appreciation, right?? Well, we more than earned it. Everyone did their part to make sure that we hit our goal and our efforts paid off! Now maybe Vegas will 'pay out' ;)

Blooming Tea

2009-01-02T15:40:00.004-07:00

How cool is this stuff?! It starts off in a compact little ball and then it blooms into a pretty flower! I have a few different kinds of bloomers but this was the first one that I made.

Before

After

2009

2009-01-01T16:48:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year!

Christmas

2008-12-28T09:01:00.005-07:00

Christmas was GREAT! Santa was more than generous to everyone in our family. Here are a few pics, I couldn't post them all because there were almost 400 pictures on our new camera (our Christmas present to each other) just from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Holy snap shot Batman! No one could put our camera down and there were some pretty random pictures on there to prove it ;) Mason got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas along with a TON of Star Wars Lego sets (most of which are already put together) and Santa brought him a Razor Pocket Bike, so he's zippin around the neighborhood with his friends...very cool!

Our dogs get presents from Santa too!!

Baby Audrey!

Meredith and Jon

Christmas Morning

Riding his new pocket bike at Gram and Papa's house

Legos

Christmas with Mike's family

All Things Christmas

2008-12-19T16:43:00.005-07:00

I am in LOVE with this time of year! It's one of my favorite seasons. I love decorating for Christmas and I go all out... all of the beds have flannel Christmas sheets and matching bedspreads, every bathroom has holiday hand soap and lotion from Bath & Body Works, there are a variety of Christmas trees scattered all over our house, Christmas dishes make their annual debut, I always have a seasonal holiday scented candle from Gold Canyon Candles burning, all of our Christmas movies get moved to the front of our collection and our tree is always turned on when we're home.

Pictures

2008-12-12T06:30:00.005-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures taken with our new camera! I love my dogs!

P/S: The camera takes great pictures, I'm just not a great photographer....yet ;)

Santa Stopped By....

2008-12-01T15:54:00.005-07:00

My husband and I are terrible when it comes to giving each other gifts... We can't wait!! When it comes to gift giving celebrations between us we generally have our gifts before the big day. That's ok by us :) This year for Christmas instead of exchanging traditional gifts we decided to get a big ticket item that we've both had our eyes on; a new camera. A Sony A-300 DSLR to be exact... and we also picked up an additional lens for it. We haven't really put it down since we got it yesterday... I'll post pictures soon :)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T09:27:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for...probably more than I really deserve, but I am more than grateful for everything that I have and for all the people in my life.

Life is good

2008-11-19T20:25:00.002-07:00

I love my family, I have great friends and this week has been awesome! I feel super lucky :) That's all... It's time to tuck the boy in to his bed, hit the new flannel Christmas themed sheets for some zzzz's with the hubs and hopefully have another great day tomorrow!

Good Guys

2008-11-16T21:23:00.003-07:00

What does my Dad drive?? A 1931 Ford Tudor Sedan....completely hand built from the ground up. Pretty impressive, right?? This will top it all off then; he built it with his own 2 hands. Sure he had some help from his good buddies down at the garage but this was his vision and he made it happen. The car was a Christmas gift from my Mom 5 years ago and it was nothing more than a shell. No motor, no paint, no steering wheel, no windows...nothing. 5 years later this is what it has been restored to. All of my Dad's hard work, time, dedication and patience has paid off. What a beauty! My Dad has already won several awards with this car and it's only been on the road since the later part of May this year. Congratulations on your win today at the Good Guys car show, you deserve it more than anyone out there. I love you Dad :)

Tagged

2008-11-15T06:51:00.002-07:00

Ok I was picture tagged by Amy. So here's the 5th picture in the 5th album on my computer....Enjoy!

A Nice Surprise....

2008-11-10T19:50:00.003-07:00

So my husband is absolutely the best, he's a better husband than I ever could have dreamed of! Today he sent me an e-mail telling me that he had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work... much to my surprise it was a Dyson! We have been talking about getting one for a while but we just never got around to it. Well after cleaning the entire house yesterday I had just about had it with all the dog hair that accumulates EVERYWHERE when you have 2 dogs (love them so much they're like my kids, but their hair drives me crazy!). I complained to the hubs about this and today he went and bought the Dyson designed specifically for pet hair!! I'm absolutely SOLD on this vacuum too.... I was a bit skeptical when we first started looking at them because of the cost. I figured a vacuum is a vacuum, what could be so different....this one proves that not all things are created equal. Not only did my husband surprise me with this gem today but he also brought Jamba Juice to my work at lunch time! I seriously have the best husband ever and he spoils me rotten. I love him more than words can even say and I'm a VERY lucky girl :) I love you honey!!

Treetopia!

2008-11-07T16:59:00.004-07:00

"We Put Baby In A Corner"....that's the name of this tree! Yep it's a corner Christmas tree, if you couldn't tell by the name. It will fit perfectly in the living room, tucked away in the corner and it won't take up too much space. The lights are already on it and it's "umbrella" style (you just pop it open like an umbrella rather than putting each individual branch on). It should arrive on Monday and we'll be putting it up on Thanksgiving evening. I can't wait to get this baby and start decorating! Maybe some new ornaments are in order....even though I just bought all new ornaments last year. You can never have too many, right?!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2008-11-02T09:18:00.002-07:00

I love the holidays don't get me wrong and one of my favorites is Christmas.....but aren't we rushing things a bit?? I went to pick up a few last minute things for Halloween and I was a little annoyed to see that they had cleared out almost all of the Halloween stuff and in it's place were Christmas decorations! My husband text me this morning on his way to work to let me know that 94.5 was playing Christmas music! Again I love Christmas but when did we start skipping right over Thanksgiving?? Although I rant a bit about this I'll be at the store later today or tomorrow picking up a few new items to add to my Christmas decor....as long as it's out already, why not?? ;)

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T08:20:00.004-07:00

We had the best time last night! Mason invited 2 of his closest buddies and we headed over to my folks for dinner and trick or treating. There were lots of adults there for stew, drinks and laughs. Mason and his buddies met up with a few more friends before we headed out to run the streets of the neighborhood for candy. We hit a few streets and I was shocked when we made a pit stop after about an hour that the kids were done trick or treating. We usually hit the entire neighborhood, but not this year....they had plenty of candy and they were content. Working in the dental field, I was pleased with this decision. We said out goodbyes and stopped by Taco Bell on the way home for some late night snacks before digging in to the candy again. Don't worry... I passed out new toothbrushes to the winks and made them brush extra good before hitting the hay. I didn't get many pictures last night because I was busy talking and laughing with all the people there but here are a few that I did manage to get. I guess I should go take down the Halloween decorations to make room for the Thanksgiving decor :)

Tagged

2008-10-31T10:57:00.003-07:00

Here are a few facts about me that you may or may not know....

1. I'm naturally suspicious of every one and I'm always on the watch for people's motives, whatever they may be. This can be good and bad.... but I can usually tell when a lie is being told.

2. My under things MUST match the outfit that I have on.

3. I am the Princess and the Pea when it comes to getting a good nights sleep. Everything has to be just so.... the vaporizer has to be on, the fan must be on but not too high, no outside noise and all pillows MUST be positioned just right and no light.

4. I am a routine oriented person. I get up every morning brush my teeth, wash my face and then go downstairs and grab a cup of coffee and surf the net for a bit. After that I sit in my sink and do my hair and make-up while listening to Nick At Nite. Then I'm on my way downstairs to watch Cash Cab while eating my daily breakfast that consists of a hard boiled egg and toast with OJ. These things keep me on track and get me out the door on time.

5. I love pens and pencils! Mostly fine point Sharpie markers in a variety of color. I like to write with a #2 pencil sharpened to a perfect point but I much prefer mechanical pencils. When it comes to pens I prefer blue but black will do and I love a fine point. P/S: I always smell Sharpies when I uncap them. Always!

6. I shave my legs EVERY day. If I miss a day I must be insanely tired or sick, end of story. My hubby likes it and it's a plus for me because I hate it when my prickly legs touch each other...it just makes me feel like a dirt ball.

7. I can not wear open toed shoes if my pedicure isn't looking good. I pumice my paws every night so they stay smooth and I always lotion them.

Here's another fact for good measure...

8. I ALWAYS have some type of lip lubricant on...whether it's lip gloss or chapstick, I always have it on. I keep chapstick in random places around the house so that I always have access to them.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T06:49:00.007-07:00

Well.... we waited until the last minute to carve pumpkins, but that's ok because we still enjoyed our time together. We didn't get this done sooner mostly because of work/school schedules but we finally got them done none the less. So here are a few pics of our finished products! We're taking Mason and a group of his friends trick or treating tonight at my folks and we're totally excited about that! My folks always have people over on Halloween with a big pot of stew or chili and lots of good conversations out front while we pass out candy and take turns trick or treating with the kids. Lots of fun, it's one of my favorite days of the year :) After that's done we'll be taking a few kids home with us to spend the night.... I'm sure they'll be up all night eating candy! Well I'm off to get ready for the day. Happy Halloween!

LOST

2008-10-20T09:02:00.004-07:00

After borrowing seasons 1-3 of LOST from my sister-in-law in an attempt to watch all 3 seasons and then the 4th before the 5th season started, we watched the 1st season and part of the 2nd and then we just couldn't find time to watch anymore.....until this weekend. On Friday night after a nice dinner out with my honey we headed back to our place and finished the 2nd season, watching until the wee hours of the morning. I couldn't stop watching! After my hubby left for work on Saturday morning, I started season 3 and continued to watch literally ALL day long! In the afternoon I started cleaning as I watched and then took the disc upstairs to finish cleaning and watching. So now I'm lost watching LOST.... I'm confused and in the words of Dane Cook; "I hate this show! I have 42 new questions and no answers!" That's not completely true, I don't hate the show, in fact I love it but I do have 42 new questions and no answers. I'm glad I'm not watching the show week to week, I don't think I could take the suspense of waiting for a whole week to see what happens next! I'm content to buy them all on DVD and watch as many of episodes in a row as I possibly can, at my leisure.

The Princess Has Arrived

2008-10-17T16:03:00.008-07:00

Our very best friends Jon and Meredith King welcomed their very first baby into the world on October 14th 2008. She's super cute and she truly is a Princess.... She's a daughter born to the King family! She's a big baby girl weighing in at 10 pounds when she arrived! Mom, Dad and baby Audrey are doing great and they're all coming home tonight. Here are a few snap shots of the Princess. I can't wait to spoil her in true Princess style ;)

Happy 30th Birthday To My Best Friend Meredith!!

2008-10-12T08:17:00.010-07:00

My best friend turned 30 yesterday!! We've known each other since we were born and our families have been friends long before that. Our older sisters were best friends and went to school together too. We grew up right across the street from each other, attended the same schools and we spent so much time together that our parents would have been justified in claiming another child on their taxes! Not only is this year special because she turned 30...but it's also special because she's having her first baby on Tuesday Oct. 14th! (if you didn't catch on to the big baby pink letters, it's a sweet baby girl!) I'm so grateful to be a part of all of these wonderful celebrations. I love this girl with my whole heart and I'm so lucky to have her in my life! Not only are we best friends but our husband's are super good friends too, which makes for a great double date night! I love you Meredith!! Happy 30th Birthday!

Energy? Please and Thank You :)

2008-10-11T16:05:00.003-07:00

Today I woke up with absolutely NO energy what so ever and as you can see I still don't have much. I should be getting ready for my best friends 30th birthday party, but after getting out of the shower is as far as I've gotten. Which takes me to earlier in the day. The part of the day that I should have been cleaning house and doing laundry....yeah that's right. The laundry that has piled up from the week and the weekly cleaning that CAN NOT EVER be skipped after 2 adults, 1 kid and 2 very active dogs live in a house. These tasks always get done once a week, but they'll just have to wait until tomorrow because I took a nap instead. So will the grocery shopping..... I had a grilled peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip sandwich for lunch today :) My fabulous husband made me a pot of coffee this morning before he left for work and that still didn't help. I think maybe I just need some relaxation and sleep...maybe another vacation. Any one who knows me knows that I ALWAYS have a clean house. My house is usually ready for unexpected visitors at any time, it's typically clean enough for me to take pride when guests arrive, not today. Tomorrow house, I promise I'll take care of you. Ok seriously! I'm off to get ready now, I want to look super hot when my honey gets home from work...that should distract him from the messy house and lack of groceries ;)

Twilight

2008-10-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

Halloween!

2008-09-27T11:03:00.004-07:00

I'm so excited that Halloween is right around the corner! I love the change in the weather. I love all the scary movies on tv. I love all of the Halloweentown movies (silly I know, but they're so cute and magical!). I love the costumes and the candy and all of the decorations. Mason and I went yesterday after school to pick a few new Halloween decorations and we've already put them up....here are a few of my finds :)

More vacation pictures

2008-09-23T18:35:00.012-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our vacation to California. The resort we stayed at was everything I thought it would be and more! It was absolutely amazing! We hit Legoland on Friday and then Universal Studios on Saturday. We had a great time and we certainly didn't want to come back at all! (the pictures aren't in any particular order... I didn't have time for that)

Relaxing.....

2008-09-22T07:41:00.003-07:00

I'll post more pictures from our vacation later but here's one of my favorites in the meantime.... It's one of my favorites because it shows exactly what we did the entire time we were gone, relax :)

7 Days Until....

2008-09-11T07:31:00.006-07:00

...we go to Carlsbad, CA for a week! We're going to Legoland and we're hitting the beach :) Check out where we're staying, it looks awesome and it's a brand new resort overlooking the beach! Part of the resort opened in March of this year and the other part just opened in August. Plus it has a private entrance into Legoland for it's guests.... I can't wait! I'll post pictures of our trip when we get back :)

The Twilight Saga

2008-09-05T16:56:00.007-07:00

Ok....so I had to see what all the hype was about the Twilight books and I have to say that I'm very interested! I finished the first book and I bought the second and third today. I haven't really been able to put them down. I have to admit that when I first heard about the books they seemed a little far fetched and maybe something to read for a younger crowd, but much to my surprise they're fascinating. I'm excited about the movie that's coming out in November too. I hope to read all of the books before I see the movie. Although after watching the trailer for the movie, none of the actors/actresses look anything like the way I have imagined them in my mind so I hope that I'm not disappointed when I see it. Well I'm off to read now.... I have to get back to Edward and Bella, they're waiting ;)

I'm Ready!

2008-08-31T14:09:00.003-07:00

I'm ready for winter to be here already! I love summer time.... the tans, the sun tan lotion smell in the air, swimming all day, bbq's at night, etc. But I also love the winter time.... the crisp air, the warm smells of baking, the Christmas lights, the decorations and the fact that it stays dark later into the morning! I love Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas....they are some of my favorite times of the year! I love all the cartoon specials and holiday movies that play on tv during these holidays...everything from Halloween and Friday the 13th to A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. I love the holiday music and Christmas carols....my favorite song is 'Baby It's Cold Outside'. I love to bake cookies and brownies for dessert and make hot chocolate to drink with my guys on the couch while we watch movies. I love turning on Christmas Vacation or Home Alone as we decorate the tree! I can't wait for the holidays to get here :)

A Good Cause

2008-08-18T06:40:00.013-07:00

I love my husband more than words can say. He proves time and time again that he's compassionate and caring and more than willing to help those in need. Why all the bragging?? Yesterday my husband helped to raise more than $878.00 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) at his Safeway store alone. Anyone who knows us, knows why this organization is so near and dear to our hearts. $82.00 provides one minute of research to find a cure for muscular Dystrophy, $150.00 provides one physical, occupational or respiratory therapy consultation, $500.00 assists one person for one year with the repair of a wheelchair or leg braces and $800.00 sends one child to MDA summer camp. Here's the link to MDA for more information or to make a donation: http://www.mda.org/ Safeway is accepting donations until the end of August for muscular dystrophy, so you can stop by and make your donation as well. This Saturday (8/23) the Lindsay and University Safeway location is competing again to raise money for MDA, so please stop by and make your donation!

Fill The Boot! Something else that makes me proud are the fire fighters who raise money for MDA. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is the largest national sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Here are a few links with information: http://www.iaff.org/MDA/history.asp

http://www.mda.org/ross/index010302.html

4th Grade?!

2008-08-12T20:12:00.002-07:00

That's right! Mason's in 4th grade! I can hardly believe that we have a kid old enough to be in 4th grade! He likes his teacher a lot and the first few days have been really good, so hopefully that continues through the year :) I can't believe how fast he's growing up!

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-10T09:13:00.003-07:00

Today we have been in our house for 1 whole year! I love our house. It's not the biggest house on the block and that's just fine with us. Our house has so many little details that I love....for instance, the hardware. I love it! It's exactly what we were looking for. The flooring, fabulous. The paint, perfect. We won't be here forever but it's our very first home and that makes it special :)

Smooth Operator ;)

2008-08-08T17:02:00.005-07:00

Juice It Up! This is one of my all time favorite places to get a smoothie! I really like Jamba Juice and Tropical Smoothie Cafe....but this place takes the cake for me :) My usual order?? Piña Cool-Ada! Sooooo smooth and yummy, delicious! Plus, we always get the best customer service in there...everyone is so friendly! And right next to the Stapley and Baseline location is a Jason's Deli....another one of my favorite things to enjoy! Anything on their menu is worth trying.

The Simple Things

2008-08-05T19:36:00.003-07:00

I keep 2 cd's in my car at all times. I listen to them almost every time I get in the car. I completely laugh out loud and I'm sure that other drivers on the road think I'm nuts...but seriously even after the worst day, I listen to them and I instantly feel better. Over and over I've listened to both of them and to me they never get old. So simple and yet so effective :)

Let me count the ways...

2008-08-01T19:27:00.003-07:00

I love my husband for sooooo many different reasons! But one of my favorite things that I love about him is that he is constantly surprising me with gifts that he knows I'll love! Here's an example.... We were shopping the other day and I spotted a Coach purse that I absolutely adore. He tried to buy it for me several times but I said no because he just bought me a Coach purse and matching Coach wallet earlier this year. So the next night when he came home from work, he asked me to go see if he left his sunglasses in my car....when I went to check I found a perfectly gift wrapped box with a beautiful ribbon, this is what was inside! He totally spoils me rotten and I love it!! His lavish gifts don't go unrewarded either....he gets spoiled too ;)

These are a few of my favorite things

2008-07-30T20:05:00.008-07:00

I'm a huge fan of most girly things and I'm a big bubble bath taker when I get the chance...plus I like to smell nice for my hubby when we hit the hay at night ;) So here are a few of my latest obsessions from Bath & Body Works. I'm in love with the Jasmine Vanilla "Sensuality" scent from their Aromatherapy line. Everything in that fragrance is fabulous! Try them.....Enjoy!

I love my dogs!

2008-07-25T10:30:00.011-07:00

I absolutely LOVE my dogs! They are both so full of personality. They both dug a big hole in our back yard that they're very proud of....

Tank!

2008-06-24T20:49:00.006-07:00

Meet the newest member of our family....Tank! We adopted him from the AZ Humane Society and we absolutely LOVE this little guy! He's deaf, so it's been pretty tricky trying to communicate with him, but that just makes him even more special to us :] He's a Queensland Heeler, just like our other dog Chip. Well, that's it for now.... I better take my 'boys' to the backyard ;]

Try try again...

2008-01-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Ok... let me try this again (I'm pretty persistent if you can't tell). So besides having an amazing husband and a wonderful son... I have the world's greatest dog too! He's such a lover and he's so much fun to be around. He does some of the silliest things ever...like when we vacuum, he runs really low to the ground and very fast at the vacuum and then he bites the corner of it and pulls and then he drops it and backs up really fast and grabs his 'baby'... You would have to see it to fully appreciate it. One of his other favorite things to do is curl up in Mason's bed while Mason is at school and take a nap. He loves to sleep on pillows! He jumps in our bed in the middle of the night and gets in between Mike and I and lays his head down on the pillow and goes to sleep (sounds irritating, but it's really super cute). And then on days like today (when it's raining, Mike's at work, Mason's at his friends house) that he keeps me company, even when I'm doing the dishes and laundry and just cleaning in general. He's a part of our family and we wouldn't have it any other way :)

P/S: The orange thing in the picture with Chip is his 'baby'... Chip can make it squeak, it's hilarious!

BTW: This still didn't turn out as I had hoped... the pictures aren't lined up correctly or anything like I had thought they would be, but I'm going to keep trying anyway.

Boooo :(

2008-01-27T09:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, I tried to make a really cute blog entry, complete with a bunch of pictures....this is what I ended up with. It didn't turn out even close to how I thought it would, but at least I tried.... I guess BlogSpot just isn't meant to be for me :(

(BTW: The picture is from yesterday at our nephew's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, I have way more, but as you can see they didn't make it on here because I couldn't add them with out it looking jumbled up into a huge mess)

Blogging

2008-01-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's official....I'm the world's WORST blogger ever! I'm not sure if it's that I don't have enough time or if it's that I'm forgetful or if it's the fact that I just find MySpace easier/more convenient to use...whatever the reason, I suck at blogging on here. Plenty of things go on in our day to day life that are funny/interesting/exciting/etc. but 7 out of 10 times I don't have my camera around and even if I do I take lousy pictures most of the time. Oh well... such is life. Another thing that limits my blogging on here is the fact that I find it hard to find my old friends/new friends on here, so I feel like I'm blogging and no ones reading it anyway! (except for Sheryl ;) And one other thing that irritates me is that I can't make a "cool" layout for this dang thing! Catch me on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/mikelovesjamie Ask to be our friend... then you can see what it's all about. I have so many blogs on our MySpace...you can see our house being built from foundation to completion, our house being decorated from top to bottom, trips to the zoo, Christmas pictures, wedding pictures and so much more, but I just can't seem to re-create the same 'magic' on here and even if I did, who would read it?? Sheryl's my MySpace buddy too so she sees it all there anyway and a lot of my other friends have MySpace pages also, so I don't see the point... but if you know me and you don't have a MySpace page then contact me on here, I'll check it every now and then ;)

01.01.2008

2008-01-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well... It's 2008! I can't keep my days straight though! Today feels like Monday, but it's Wednesday! School starts back tomorrow which is an odd day to start back, but whatever. Resolutions??? We have the same resolutions as everyone else I think... Drop a few pounds, hit the gym, eat better, make more money, spend less money, etc. etc. etc. We're really looking forward to this year though :) Last night after Mike got home from work we went to dinner and to see The Golden Compass. Excellent movie, definitely a must see. However, I was a little surprised (as I always am when this sort of thing happens) that so many people were talking on their cell phones during the movie! First of all, I have a VERY hard time believing that any of these people are SOOO important that they have to answer their cell phones during a movie. None of them appeared to be doctors or surgeons and such and none of them got up and left the theatre in a hurry as you would if it were an emergency. Second of all, these people paid for movie tickets and they're not even watching the movie, PLUS they're preventing us from fully enjoying it! They could/should have stayed home and talked on the phone for crying out loud! Which brings me to my next point... Why do parents insist on bringing their newborns, infants and/or toddlers to a movie that is obviously not suited for them?! Again, they pay for tickets (as do we) and no one can enjoy the movie because of the screaming child that isn't being taken out of the theatre! Why bother going??

After the Christmas rush....

2007-12-29T17:59:00.001-07:00

Well it's official.... Christmas is over! Even though my husband wasn't home for Christmas Eve, we promised each other that we would start our very own Christmas Eve tradition. Plus we started a Christmas morning tradition for our entire family! You see this was our very first Christmas in our brand new house, so we thought we would start something new and different this year. We had everyone over for breakfast and presents! We had so much fun... some of us still in our pajama's, everyone having apple and cherry turn overs and fresh cinnamon rolls with coffee, hot chocolate and hot apple cider.... all of us opening presents and just having a good time :) Santa was VERY good to all of us this year! This was our first opportunity to host a holiday gathering and we totally jumped at it! Now we're moving on to New Years Eve! Homemade chili, black eyed peas, champagne with family and friends.... sounds like the perfect way to ring in the New Year to me ;)

On the other hand... I'm ready for our house to get back to normal. I absolutely LOVE decorating for the holidays. I love the tree and stockings and lights, etc. etc. etc. But I'm ready for the toys to find new homes, for the new DVD's to meet the old DVD's, for cologne and perfume to join the rest of the fragrances we currently own, you get the picture. I'm ready for everything to find it's place in our house.

However we did get one gift this year that we won't have to find a place for... it will be in our minds forever. My Grandmother gave us the gift of money this year. And instead of buying several things we don't need, we decided to go see The Titanic Exhibit at The Arizona Science Center. The Titanic sank on April 15th 1912; that's a pretty significant date for us since we were married on April 15th 2006; exactly 94 years later. Looking at all of the artifacts that have been recovered from the wreckage makes it "real". Suitcases, glasses, toothbrushes, jewelry and clothing...all from passengers that were aboard the ship when it sank. Amazing. That was the very best gift that we received this year. Plus we got to spend the ENTIRE day as a family and that means more to me than anything else.

Happy New Year!