Highs & Lows:

LOWS:
Sarah getting a cough/cold (she is SO NOT a "sick person")

-she kind of makes it miserable for all of us.

Dealing with the RAIN. We looked up at our bedroom ceiling to find a water spot. What the heck?! Our house isnt even that old?!?! Our pool was about to flood over as well.


Sometimes being "Santa" means I must ask for wish list, shop for wish list, wrap wish list, set wish list out, take photos of wish list opening--all that and NOBODY LEAVES ME ANY COOKIES!!! I guess if "santa" wants cookies then "santa" will need to start making some and leaving some. Good grief.


HIGHS:
Taking Jon out for our 15th Wedding Anniversary. We went to the same exact hotel that we had our honeymoon at. They remodeled the entire hotel in 2009

and I must say it is SOOOOOOOOOOO nice! The room came with a livingroom, bedroom, bathroom AND heart shaped jacuzzi spa IN THE BEDROOM!

It was super nice. The whole entire room was a view of the city--all windows. So classy. Just loved it! We did lots of eating, went to the movies, & the museum.

Since our girls chose to go to a cabin in the snow for xmas

(we leave Mon 27th through Thur 30th!)
they each only got one REALLY special gift they wanted.

Rachel wanted a small portable video camera


Sarah wanted warm boots


Anna wanted a "really long pretty prom dress"


and becca wanted a pink scooter
.
So that's what they got. My wrapping session was SUPER FAST this year!

Xmas Morning-enjoyed our traditional potato/cheese breakfast casserole
. Our friends bring us homemade wheat bread and freshly squeezed OJ from their oranges on their property-so we enjoy that too. We let the girls open JUST their stockings. Then they have to wait for us. I swear from 6am on-EVERY 2.5 minutes Becca kept asking if i would get up. Finally around 9am I decided to be "Christmasy" & go downstairs and get on with it! I popped the casserole in. We go around from youngest to oldest and open one gift at a time. By the time we are done the casserole is ready for us. LOVE THAT! After breakfast I was strangely EXHAUSTED. Sarah was starting to come down with a cold-so she was wiped out too. So we both crawled back into my bed and I fell asleep from 10-1pm. HEAVEN. I felt tons better.

We then headed on down to OC to hang with Jons family. Always good food

and good times.

Do other families have 47 name assigned cups too?!



ALL the grandkids love to swing around in this chair. Probably was a nice chair to begin with-and grandkids have "broken it" and now its a new toy. Oopsies!

Turned around came home. Slept. Went to our ward. Headed back down to OC for more good food and

good times. Here are some shots from Xmas Time with the Hales:

if you are a Hales you are "blessed" with this gene. You can sleep ANYWHERE. One time Jons family found me asleep ON the carpet in the middle of the floor and I think Jon said "she's a REAL HALES NOW!"--he was proud.



Movies are always playing at the Hales House. Usually a movie in one family room and a game in the other family room.

It was so cute to hear Jons mom say "Im so glad you guys live close-because we realize that Xmas is not fun when it's just us! We are SO happy we have a few family here to share it with!!!" It made Jon & I feel happy that we chose to live here near both of our parents. The cousins ALWAYS play so well with eachother and you can really tell they love to be with eachother.

Highs & Lows:

Why do I call it Highs & Lows but start with the Lows?! random thought.

LOWS:
Jon came down with a 103 fever for quite a few days. After several doctor appointments, him giving me the "If this takes me out" speech and some antibiotics later-it was a REALLY bad Urinary Tract Infection.

The COLD weather is not good on Jons body. He is often in cold pain (but never tells anyone other then me!) He pretty gives his standard answer "Hey everything is GREAT!"

Trying to scramble to find jackets & gloves for all of us for the cabin in the snow. Hoping to just borrow it-I cant spend another 300 bucks to be "winter ready" for 3 days out of the year we will ACTUALLY be IN SNOW weather!

A science project looming that is going to be due Jan 5th. Need to bug Sarah to think of something.

HIGHS:
Jon back to himself again. PHEW!

Posting on FB my need for Jackets/gloves and people responding to help and let me borrow stuff--Facebook is SOOOOOOOOOO awesome!

Only having to buy ONE GIFT per child this year. They dont think they are getting any because they chose "no gifts and to go to a cabin instead!"-but I am getting them each ONE gift they REALLY truly wanted. Xmas morning will be sweet and simple.

Getting my DMV junk done with. I had to get a new license with a NEW photo--the stress to be cute! Getting the truck registered. Now I just need to trade in my truck plates for my new NURICHE plates I got.

Celebrating my 15 years of marriage to Jon.

Watching Rachel get award for 5 A's.

Hosting our 1st "Ugly Sweater Party" and having 40 people come and have a great time!

Hosting our 2nd GNO xmas night and having over 20 girls RSVPing to come!

NO SCHOOL FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Highs & Lows:

Lows:

Why is the month of December SO DANG BUSY?! I had stuff everyday/night last week and again this week--why does that bug me?

Jon missing his afternoon medication tonight(my fault-left drugs at home when we went to OC) so he is M.I.S.E.R.A.B.L.E. --sounds like it's going to be a LONG night for the both of us.


Highs:

GNO spur of the moment dinner! Love those--we shut down Yardhouse--we like to gab.

Having the missionaries over for dinner. I'm trying to have them in our home more-it's good for Jon and the girls. This week I made turkey, cheese, tomato on sourdough bread then placed it on the waffle iron-bam ghetto panini's! Add some avocado in there--DUHLISH!

Finding a cabin for our family for Xmas Vacation! This cabin is only 99 per night-ALL the other cabins are ATLEAST 300 per night. We will go the Monday after xmas and stay till Thursday. Happiness all around!

Receiving a GENEROUS gift from a dear friend-which paid for our cabin stay! She has been so sweet to our family. She always says "I have enough-why not share it!" I hope that when the day comes that we have "enough" I follow her example and "share it." It's so nice to know there are people in the world like her.

I was at home and checked into my FB to read how another friend was at the school watching her daughter get an award--I thought to myself "oh shoot both of my younger two are getting awards-is that today?!" Sure enough-IT WAS! SO I jammed around the corner and made it in time-whoo hoo for Facebook!!

Jon & I spending 11 hours, trying to REMEMBER 300 questions to take a test of only 35 to be Ham Radio Certified. Jon only missed ONE question and I only missed THREE. I havent taken a test for about 16 years! It was fun to take the class together, study together (we had about ONE HOUR) & then NAIL the test!

Spending Sunday to clean the house-why is Sunday the BEST day EVER in the week to clean my house?!?!? Oh well-does it count if I sing hymns in my head as keeping the Sabbath Day holy? I hope so. It REALLLLLLY makes for a nice week to start off the week with everything in order. The girls helped and I let them drag in the xmas clutter to decorate. Why does Xmas decor make me feel claustrophobic & grumpy? Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me?!

Highs & Lows:

Lows:

Feeling like Im not cutesy, celestial enough to update my blog like all my other friends do!!!

Having ALL four girls barf for thanksgiving weekend.

My bday on Thanksgiving Day-then barfing all through the night & feeling nauseous for 36 hours STRAIGHT!

My family having to be stuck home from Thursday till they went back to school because I was sick.

The THOUGHT of Jon getting what I did!

Highs:

Not caring about not being cutesy, celestial enough to update this dang blog!

FINALLY not feeling nauseous.

My family not really wanting Xmas gifts this year--HELLO!!! I must be doing SOMETHING right here?!

Girls back in school.

Going to a Brazilian BBQ.

Losing 5lbs from all the upchucking!

All four girls getting REALLY good report cards-even the girls I was worried about!

Reading all the Facebook Bday Shout outs.

and Lastly-Updating this dang blog! THE END.

Highs & Lows:

LOWS:

Needing TWO dental implants now. I lost one tooth & to get an implant

is $4500. I had a root canal down on another tooth which set me back 1k-just 3 weeks ago the dentist used what tooth was left and filled a cavity with the expensive white filling only for me to have it COMPLETELY come out along with some of my tooth--CLASSY! I feel so ghetto. Luckily I have an appointment tomorrow which was to "build up the remaining tooth for a crown"--wont they be surprised when i "open wide!" With TWO implants needed now I'm looking at 9 grand---lovely. My friend has a dentist in Tijuana that is sounding better by the minute! www.mybajadental.com
I feel a girls weekend happening!!

Missing a day from the gym. I only go mon/wed/fri to this new B.R.U.T.A.L class at 845am-930am. The instructor is a professional "humbler" I like to call her. I thought I was pretty fit--

um yeah totally NOT in her class! I love it though. We like to say things like shizzz this is HARD and my personal favorite "Jesus take the wheeeel!" There is only 5 of us in there and she has us rotating doing different things. I love it because we NEVER do the same thing twice-ever. SO when i MISS a day (because jons nurse has to take a test)I am SO BUMMED!

Having the 3 older girls take turns doing the ENTIRE kitchen clean up. Yes I know it's in the "low" section because I am kind of a neat control freak.

I like things done ALL the way-not half way. Right now I have Sun-Sarah, Mon-Me, Tue-Rach, Wed-Me, Thur-Anna, Fri-Sarah & Sat-Rach. Each of us has to wash our own cup, fork, dish and put in sink but whoever is in charge has to clean off the entire table, put food away, rinse off everything else, unload & load dishwasher & then sweep. I feel like for a while I am going to have to "hover" (mom's you know what i mean!) to make sure it gets done right. I'm not really looking forward to this part of it.

HIGHS:
Losing almost 3 more pounds this week! YES!! This makes almost 6 lbs lost in two weeks. Happy day.

Taking the girls to see You Again-

it's only PG and they enjoyed it as did I. We were all cracking up-a great wholesome movie (which seriously is SO rare these days) that didnt put me to sleep nor was it animated. Heaven.

Going to the movies with Jons dad, bro mark, & sisters Krist & Katie. We saw Red-

it was totally up my alley, my kind of movie-CIA-ish. I loved it and figured out the twists & turns through out the movie.

Hearing about how much FUN Rachel had at her Leadership Retreat. She told me she met so many new friends from school that she never really talked to. She said she was able to "just be herself" and that people liked her for that. Makes me kind of sad to think at regular school she feels like she "just cant be herself"-I can tell she's still trying to "find herself" with all these kids from school. It's hard for me to relate since I went to a private school from 3rd-8th grade and graduated with 7 other classmates in my ENTIRE 8th grade class! We pretty much all knew each other since we were little kids.

Finding some cute "winter shoes." It's been FREEZING here and my flip flop days are coming to an end soon. So I was on the hunt for some cute "winter shoes" and I found them! They are grey flats but are more like slippers.
they are PERFECT because they have a hard sole on the bottom, cute & trendy to dress up with, yet fuzzy on the inside so your toesies stay warm!! BEST EVER! They were on sale for 18.99 (which is a lot but i figured -well if i wear them ALL winter it's worth it) then when she rung it up and it was on sale FROM 39.99 I had to take a triple check--dang.

Highs & Lows:

LOWS:

Coming home from church to see my neighbor extending their front yard fence. I knew we where too ghetto for them.

They are "interesting" folks. I think in the almost nine years we've lived here we've had maybe three conversations?! Maybe they just got tired of looking at my weeds.....


It looks a little random to have it stick out right there--oh well.

The cooler weather is not easy on Jons body. He is like my own weather man! His body gets really tight and uncomfortable when it's cold. The past couple of days (and two more days ahead of us) have been a little hard on him. Naturally he'd NEVER let anyone know that though.

This past week my schedule was ALL free and clear-as I look back at it tonight every single day I had something going on--good grief!

Monday Jon had a DR appointment-we discussed some good medication he tried for two weeks that really helped his bladder. Unfortunately it's not really covered by insurance. We are working on it-but if it does get help from insurance our copay for a 30 day supply is $75---for heaven sakes.

HIGHS:

Getting my taxes done in ONE HOUR AND getting a refund!?!?! How did THAT happen!?! Total blessing (the one hour time & the refund).

Our Disneyland passes expired on the 15th! Yes I am aware that I have posted this in the HIGH section--I am not a real fan of Disneyland between the crowds, long lines, frustrated parents with their impatient children--not my scene. We decided since they expired soon to keep the kids home from school and hit it "one last time." Only down fall was it was also UEA (Utah Education Association) which means the schools have that week off which translates really to Utahans Entering Anaheim! It ended up being pretty crowded and I felt like I was in Zion.

Rachel got asked to join the Jr High Leadership Camp (for school council). She's not involved in any of the leadership positions but was asked to come anyway. She is on yearbook and her design was chosen for the yearbook for the year. Kind of fun for her to get asked to come! (She's has had her phone taken away for 4 weeks as well as FB-and I must say it's been heavenly.)

She's a good girl-just needs to stay busy with good things!!!! Teenagers are H.A.R.D.--especially girls!

Friday night I had my family come over for a get together. I had an Aunt/Uncle visiting from Arizona so we all got together. It ended up with the women at the dining room table (yeah we pretty much all quickly ran in there so the men had no where to sit! HA) and the men gathered/ate in the living room. I love my mom's side of the family--they are SO FUN and SO down to earth. My grandparents had SEVEN daughters and THREE sons!!!! The house was chaos with lots of kids running around-but I love that and it doesnt bother me. I know some people can't handle that--but truly I have learned to tune kid chaos out! HA

Family is such an important unit. It's important to always get together as much as one can. I LOVE having my house full of people--especially when it's family!

Highs & Lows:

Lows:

Becca being injured and needing an ice pack THREE times in one week. The wrist, the arm, the chin--for heaven sakes already this is why i didnt have any boys!

Becca come home crying because she couldnt write her lowercase o correctly. After talking to her she said "the teacher kept telling her she wasnt writing it right." Then Becca started crying-then the teacher said "if you keep crying you have to pull your card." So i asked Becca "if the teacher hurt her feelings & broke her heart?" Becca replied "yes." --this is what I ask becca when she cries about something -it's usually because someone said or did something and if i just ask "oh becca-did that hurt your feelings or break your heart?" she says "yes" and then she's fine.

So I called the teacher and asked what happened. I could tell right away she was on the defensive-which is probably natural. She even made the comment "and this isnt the first time she's cried-she's done it a few other times!" I wanted to go postal on her--but didnt. I took a deep breath, didnt say anything for a few seconds then said "Becca is very sensitive. If she feels like she is doing something wrong she feels terrible and her only coping method is to cry. She doesnt know how to handle letting someone down yet. So next time she's struggling please ask her "becca did that breakt your heart or hurt your feelings-because i dont want to break your heart-so lets take a big deep breath and start over."--then take the breath and start over. I also told the teacher "i dont expect you to console my daughter every time--you are there to teach and not break to console her--but maybe the first few times might help her to regroup her feelings and thoughts more easily." In the end I could immediately tell the teacher was changing her tone of voice and she thanked me for calling and giving her guidance on what to do should something happen again. I told her to please feel free to contact me by phone if there is a problem.

Poor Becca--she's my baby--and well yeah there's a TEENY bit of extra love for her.

I think i feel bad because i spent so much time with Jon recovering from his accident and getting acclimated with life that I missed out on so much of her growing. I saw her running back into the house because she forgot her shoes for the library and as I watched her it made me visually freeze that moment and then flash forward to her being 17 and running in real quick to get something. I find myself taking more moments to capture a memory in my mind--because for some STRANGE reason my memory of my life and my children's life is HORRIBLE. I do NOT remember much!!

HIGHS:
Watching Rachel make the 8th grade volleyball team! She made 7th grade last year. This year was WAY harder and more intense--I was nervous.

Beginning the Roadshow practice (I am in charge with my friend Erin Thompson)-STRESSFUL. It was GREAT to see everyone excited about it and really getting into it.

Attending Anna's BFF baptism. Anna "met" kate when they were both 3-5 months old-us mommies were nursing in the mothers lounge. Kate's mom Kristen & I have been close friends ever since that day. I'm so grateful for Kristen--and love that Kate & Anna have such a great friendship--the kind of friendship where you know they will be college roomies when they grow up a bit more!

Finally getting the Turbo Tax CD so I can start my taxes ALL this week that are due on Friday--again STRESSFUL! I hope/pray I can manage to get it all done. This year feels extra complicated with businesses we have going on.

And lastly--getting a blog post in!! YES i feel like I can enter back into the Celestial Kingdom again--or atleast rejoin the "Mormon moms who do everything perfectly" club again!!

CRUD!

Dangt--its been 6 weeks since my last blog update! I find myself TERRIBLE at keeping this up--facebook is just 1000 times easier.

Anna had her baptism--Chad's family SURPRISED us and showed up in this Christmas Vacation RV look alike--it was HILARIOUS! SO cool of them to drive down for it--we all came back to our house for Mexican Grub--i got 2 tacos, beans & rice for everyone that was there--seriously the ONLY way to feed 25+ people!!!!! We all went swimming too--even Jon--first time since before he was hurt--good times.

We never made it on a little family vacation this summer--next summer though all of us Hales are renting beach houses in Newport 2nd week of August--that should be fun!

My brother Clay got engaged and will be married 3rd weekend of September so my side of the family is driving to Arizona for that--

School has started for all four girls and it has been J.O.Y.O.U.S!!! It took a couple of weeks for the girls to REMEMBER how to come home, grab a snack, do homework at the kitchen table, do their chore and put their marbles in. Everyone is in full swing of things now though--I had to lay down the law on that one! I am kind of (BIG TIME) nazi about homework.

Well not much of a fun update--im thinking I may have to go to the HIGHS and LOWS of the week--that's an easier task!

Overwhelmed...

with everything i want to do, everything i should be doing, everything im not doing. Does anyone ever feel this way!? GEESH!

Blogging is one of those..I need to update with Anna's bday post, (she's being Baptized July 31st by JON!!) Jon was able to baptize Sarah after his accident-it took 2-3 other guys (his brothers) in the font to help him--but he did it!! We are all looking forward to another beautiful spiritual experience again. What an amazing thing to witness that Jon can still perform such a VITAL ordinance even though he is paralyzed.

My heart has been SOOOOOOO heavy with the passing of sweet Max Harris. I along with so many other mothers out there have found ourselves crying (bawling!). This is an ENTIRE post in itself.

Im STILL trying to see if i can pull off any kind of "mini vacation" for our family--we will see if anything works out! I am WAY ready for August 23rd to get here--life is so much easier when school is in session!

Summer-Hales Style!

YES school has been OUT since June 10th for us--but I will admit I know EXACTLY when school STARTS around here...August 23rd!!!!!!!! We cant believe that at that time ALL FOUR girls will ALL be gone. If you need myself or Jon we will be out to lunch, at the mall, at the movies--who knows! GLORIOUS.

Summer has been off to a great start for us--this is pretty much our schedule.

Each morning while Jon is getting ready for the day from 730am-1030am & I am at the gym and doing the food run from 830am-1000am the girls ALL have to do the following and be DONE by 1030am.

Pick up room, make bed, dirty clothes INTO basket, eat breakfast, take shower, brush teeth, get dressed, pick up their designated room downstairs & clean up kitchen.

Let me just say this has been a DREAM for me! They ACTUALLY do all of that and are ready to start the "Summer Day" by 1030am--so all of us are ready to go do something fun!

Summer -Hales Style
Mon: Craft Day at home with mom & dad
Tue: 2 dollar Movies then swim at friends house (with FUN slide pool!) 2-5pm
Wed: Pharoah's Water Park 11am-4pm
Thu: Newport Beach 15th street 11-5pm followed by hanging with family in OC
Fri: Friend Day (they can have a friend over or go to a friends house)

My family thrives on a schedule--when they know what's expected of them and what our plan for the day is--its like MAGIC.

I will say not having anyone in diapers, bottles, carseats etc makes a HUGE difference for us. Also our kids aren't in any camps, sports, dance or extra activities. Also makes a big difference. I don't know how other families manage to do it all--HUGE KUDDOS to them!

How about you? Does your family have a schedule? Is your summer relaxing or a bit crazy?

We have been officially TEEN'D....

Rachel turned 13 a couple of weeks ago.

We are not sure how it happened--one day she was a sweet young lovely child, the next day BOOM full blown teen with ALL it's glory!!!

For her bday she wanted AGAIN something easy & simple-YEAH for mom! She invited friends over, they went on a bigger or better scavenger hunt. I gave them a toothpick and they went to each neighbor asking if they had anything bigger or better-then they go house to house and see what they end up with. She LOVES to do this with her friends every year--this year they came back with a HUGE robot!

After the scavenger hunt they all hopped into the pool. This year we had a DJ playing all their favorite songs. SOOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!! They enjoyed pizza and all kinds of teenage grub. Later they came in and did some mattress surfing down our stairs--awesome.

We had our little family bday party for her too:

She REALLLLY wanted a pizza cookie instead of a cake--fabulous!

and YES ALL THING HOLLISTER.....


Rachel is too fun---our only concern is everyone THINKS she's 15/16!!!!!

Girls Weekend!

Each year I get together with my girl friends. These girls have been with me through my MANY up's & down's of life these past few years. These were the girls that came to me when Jon got hurt, helped watch my kids, were physically here when I bawled my eyeballs out, helped me get through the struggles that presented themselves as time went by. I will forever be grateful for these few woman who never judged me for how I handled things but chose to instead do what they could to "just help." Don't we all need these kinds of friends!!!!




Kristen Thompson: I met her when I FIRST moved to our home here in Riverside. It was at church in the nursing room. We both were nursing our 3 month old girls. We started talking-soon discovering that we both LOVE FOOD and SLEEPING. Say NO MORE--Best friends FOR LIFE! Since that very day--I have considered Kristen one of my "best friends."
Celesta McGee: I met her at church as well. Apparently she either thought I was stuck up or just really did NOT like her! HA-I come across that way CUZ IM SOOOO SHY at first till I warm up to you. I invited her to a few of my "Bachelor Season Finale's" & the more I got to know her the MORE I got to love her. She is one of those easy going "no fake/no drama" kind of girls.
Amy Novak: I met her on my street a few months after we moved in. She lived 8 houses up from me. My oldest Rachel, 5 at the time, walked outside with her blanket and asked Amy's daughter "Hey do you want to see my blanket?" Amy-confused asked "Um where is your mom?" I came outside and we hit it off right there. Amy knows EVERYONE! Literally. Every time we go somewhere someone say's HI to her-she's like a celebrity. Cracks me up! Amy would do ANYTHING for ANYONE-I love that about her.
Erin Thompson: I met her through church. She is one of those WAY EASY going kind of girls. "Go with the flow-whatevs." She is the girl that is happy to take ALL FOUR of your children TO THE BEACH along with HER FOUR children! Every mom needs one of these friends! She dresses like a Rock Star & I am always trying to copy her latest look only she looks awesome & I come off looking like I tried WAY TOO HARD.

This year we decided to stay "local." We did GWO OC style. We have decided that from now one we will ALWAYS do the few days before Mothers Day. School is calmed down (no crazy school projects), our lives all seem a little less busy etc.

On Thur around 11am we piled into my truck & began GWO.


We drove to the OC airport to pick up Celesta

where I managed in MINUTES to get myself in trouble. Shocking I know huh. Apparently, as the nice cute officer told me, you are NOT allowed to be on the phone, have a passenger yelling out your sunroof, music blaring & not pulled ALL the way over to the curb. Who knew these rules!? Obviously not me. When the cute officer came to "deliver" all the broken rules I rolled down my window and asked "Oh perfect are you here to help load the luggage?" He actually was super cool and when he rattled off everything I had done wrong--I told him thank you and "peace out!"

We then headed off to the Mission Viejo Mall. We were starving and needed to shop. After KRISTEN was ALL done with HER shopping (inside joke) we headed off across the street to catch a movie Date Night-hilarious. We had the whole theater to ourselves. We then walked across from the theater to Riptide for our 6pm dinner reservations.
We had been waiting around for our bill-but not really caring because we had NO KIDS torturing us when suddenly the manager comes over. He asks us how our meal was? We replied "SO GOOD!" He then places a piece of paper on the table with a BIG FAT ZERO on it and says "thanks for joining us today!" What in the world?! Did he just basically tell us our meal was PAID FOR?!?! Celesta whips out "do you even work here?" Seriously-were we getting punk'd by Ashton Kutcher or what's going on?? The bill was NOT CHEAP! It HAD to have been atleast 200! We all pitched in extra for our waiter-a "pay it forward" kind of deal. We walked out of there STUNNED that someone had just paid for all of our meals!

We then headed off to our Hotel.

The Laguna Cliffs. This place was AMAZING. We plan to just come to THIS hotel EVERY year-ya it was THAT GOOD!!!!

From the entrance--just beautiful.
driving further up the hill to the hotel doors:

We pulled up to the valet and handed off the car--then walked into this GORGEOUS hotel and checked ourselves in.

They told us our room had been "upgraded" to an ocean view WITH a balcony!

They had recently remodeled the hotel.

At about 10pm that night we all had the urge for a BJ's pizookie!

We hoped back into the truck and made our way down PCH to the nearest BJ's.

We each ordered a SMALL (yes did you know you can ACTUALLY order a SMALL pizookie! It's only 2.95!)pizookie & moaned with every bite we took-dulish. If for some STRANGE REASON you have NEVER had one of THESE here is a link to show you how to make yourself one at home. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/how-to-make-a-pizookie-or-a-pizza-cookie-recipe.html

We then headed back to the oh so perfectly, lovely, and quiet hotel. We all plopped onto our beds and SADLY directly onto EACH of our own cell phones.
We spent a LOT of time on our cell phones!

The texting went wild, the FB status updates rocking, internet searches, emails etc-CUHRAZY! We all came to chit chat and ended up quietly alone with our own cell phones-classic. Do you know people who when they get on their cell phone SUDDENLY start talking WAY LOUD (Amy & Kristen)--isn't that funny when that happens!! I would tell them "Um HELLO you are yelling." Kristen told me, "Well I cant hear on the other end." Okay then!

The next morning SOMEONE Ms. Celesta decided we needed to get up and cracked opened the heavy drapes. Seriously-who does that?! Just kidding. We had decided the night before we would hit up Denny's for breakfast. We decided since it was SO NICE (seriously the ENTIRE TRIP was PERFECT WEATHER!!!) to walk to Denny's. The WAY CHEAP food was so grub.

Kristen was off to get her pampering massage

while the rest of us went out to the pool

and RELAXED chit chatting away in the sun. They had these GREAT Cabana chair/set up things

(like I mentioned they recently remodeled the entire hotel so even the cabana's were NICER then this! Think REALLY cushy padding.) at the END of the grass overlooking the ENTIRE ocean...HEAVEN!!!! We SERIOUSLY could have just stayed in this ONE spot the ENTIRE time we were there.

After Kristen's massage she came over to tell us to go hit the spa for our showers-they had EVERYTHING we could possibly need. So we gathered up our stuff and headed to the spa area. She was NOT JOKING!!! They give you a lovely Robe and sandals. Then you step into a HUGE shower. It had TEN sprayers on EACH wall PLUS a HUGE sprayer from the ceiling. Talk about feeling like you are drowning!! They had shampoo, conditioner, gel, cream, lotion-everything. They had the hairdryer, deodorant spray, razors, toothbrushes/paste, seriously-EVERYTHING! In the spa area they also had a steam room & a dry sauna as well as the spa. HEAVEN.

After the HEAVENLY PERFECT shower-we got ready to find ourselves a yummy Mexican place to eat. We hurried & got ourselves put together.

obviously Kristen got ready FASTER then I did! We all did the change of outfits a few times, swapping and sharing clothing items-it was like we were all roommates in college. Good times!

We found this great place right off PCH--they HANDS DOWN had THEE best chips EVER!! Thick, warm--oh sooooooooooooo good!! We then went shopping for a little bit. We hit up Nordstrom were I purchased my VERY FIRST outfit.

Too fun! Amy & Erin helped Kristen & I to find cute outfits (because seriously I cant seem to make things I pick out work right!!!) Of course we HAD to hit up BJ's once AGAIN--pizookie.

The next morning Kristen & I got up for a nice run outside. What a workout we did! We also did a little bit of weights in their gym & then hit the spa showers AGAIN-seriously I couldnt get enough of that spa area!!!!

We all checked out and hit up the OC Swap meet for a little bit MORE shopping. After we found a place to get our pedicures then off to find GRUB. We found a Yardhouse (which I had never been to before), ate a DUHLISH lunch & talked.

It was then time to get Celesta back to the aiport. She needed to be dropped off at 545pm--so OF COURSE as soon as she walks thru the doors she gets a text telling her that her flight was DELAYED till 830pm--GEESH! She ended up staying and the rest of us took off back home.

Girls Weekend was SOOOO enjoyable and perfectly positioned the DAY before Mothers Day! Thanks for coming with ladies---Big Loves to you All!

in the meantime...

I have created a whole girls weekend update--but STILL waiting on my FRIEND (hint hint ERIN THOMPSON!!) to give me her photos she took---the weekend was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fabulous!!!

SO in the meantime...here are some lovely photos of my ADORABLE two young children at their BEST!





Awesome huh! SIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHH

on the bright side-while at Girls Weekend my sweet awesome most terrific mother-in-law Sandra put in a FABULOUS new garden with my 2 older girls




How GREAT is that -right!

So I in turn spent ALL last week making the backyard cleaned up and READY to bring on summer




the end!