The ZOO!

On Saturday My dad, Alan, the kids and I all went to the zoo! I absolutely LOVE the zoo and I haven't been in forever, so with Mom, Kathrin, Tracie and April gone to New York and Michael at work - we decided to take the kids to the zoo!

It was a beautiful day with perfect weather. Just a little bit crowded. But we had a blast walking around and checking out all of the animals. My personal fav is the Giraffe - Toria said she loves them too, but she wishes they were pink and purple instead of orange and black! Don't you think that would be AWESOME?! Seriously, what a clever little girl, I would love a pink and purple giraffe!

Easter & Super cute kiddos:

First, just a couple of cute, random pictures: Michael on his birthday - we didn't even tell Sammy to do that... Uncle Michael was being a goof and did it so Sammy had to copy him with his card. So cute!
And adorable Audrey doing "Downward dog". Then Uncle Erik holding on to her pants as she is trying to come to me. So funny, her face says it all =).

Now on to Easter. We had such a fun Easter this year. Holidays make me baby hungry for sure, all of our kiddos were so dang cute. I'm so glad we got to spend time with them all. We headed over to Michael's family's house for delicious breakfast in the morning. Sam was so funny when Aunt Allison hid the eggs, we told him to go find them, and even showed him where one was - he just picked it up, looked at it, then threw it back down. Here he is playing with all of his Easter goodies.

Very cute Mateo with Uncle Michael, he looked so handsome in his Easter outfit. Such a doll.

Every year Michael's family has a tradition of making a cake in the shape of a lamb. This year, they decided to make it a competition- so Allison made the lamb cake and Holli made lots of little bunny cakes with carrots and all. Then we all took a vote for which one was the best... don't tell them, but I voted for both because I couldn't choose just one!

Then in the afternoon we headed over to my family's. We had a very yummy dinner, then we hid treats in the back yard for the kids to find. Lucy was feeling so picked on, since every time she even got close to any candy she got in trouble =). But the kids had a blast, and got lots and lots of candy!

When the kids were just about done with the Easter egg hunt, some of the big kids were doing tricks on the trampoline. Alan and Tracie got much better pictures than I did, hopefully they will post them so you can see how cool Alan and Tracie really are, my pictures just don't do them justice. (Thus why the picture of me is a total action shot... Tracie took it and not me =)). Oh and Michael standing looking suave.

After the Easter egg hunt, my cute mom had us go watch a video of when we were younger at family parties, it was so fun to watch. Then she put on a play w/ Brayden, Toria and Audrey as the actors. She is such a good Grandma. Audrey and I watching the videos, she loved taking a picture of us then looking at it after. She laughed every single time. lol. Such easy entertainment!

My New Favorite Lunch:

+

Seriously, so delish!
My Brother Erik, who is an insanely smart cookie with eating right and working out gave me this idea for a high protein packed lunch/ snack.
It sounds disgusting (smells pretty bad too), but honestly tastes fantastic!
My co-workers think I am crazy and tell me to eat it before they get back so they don't have to see or smell it, lol.
If you get the fat free cottage cheese and mix in the tuna
(no mayo or Miracle whip, just tuna) ,
it is pretty much pure protein. It feels me up, and plus makes my body work - to burn the fat!
(Sometimes, I accidentally eat this with Doritos, because it tastes extra fabulous, but I think it kinda defeats the purpose of the super healthy meal...=)).

Trace Face...

My very talented little sister, Tracie, had her Spring concert this past weekend. She is such a talented dancer, I was so impressed with her... as always! She is so much fun to watch, with her facials and energy - you can't help but watch her with a smile on your face. This is her second year on the school's dance company, but she has been dancing for a few years now. Every time I get to see her perform, I am more and more amazed with how incredible she is.

This is the dance that she choreographed and taught the other girls, she is also in the dance, it is so awesome, it was by far my favorite (maybe I am a little bit biased =)).

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I know that I am once again a little bit late - her birthday was on Saturday. But I don't think she will be too upset =).

My mom is absolutely F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! She is such a great mom, friend, grandma and confidant.

I know that as soon as Michael and I decide to jump on the kid band wagon, we won't have any problems looking for sitters, both of our mom's are so wonderful with the grandkids! My mom is so cute, she always has all of these projects for the kids to do when they are coming to spend the night. Especially around the holidays, they always get to help her decorate - and make a little something for their parents.
My mom has always been a great example to me of what a good wife, and mother should be, she is patient, loving and very selfless. My parents have such a great relationship, they have been married for over 30 years and are still so in love. They are a wonderful example of a healthy couple, and I look up to them very much.
My mom also has the best sense of humor, she is always laughing - I have been told recently that my laugh sounds just like my moms, that is such a compliment to me, I have always loved my mom's (and all of my Aunts) laughs.
Thanks for being absolutely wonderful mommy. We love you so much and hope that you had a fabulous birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Baby boy!

So, it is official - I am a complete slacker! It was Michael's Birthday on Friday, and here it is Monday, but I just wanted to make sure to post a little bit about how much I really am smitten with this kid:

I know that I have posted about all of this not too long ago, but I just want to make sure that he really does know how much I love and appreciate him! I am such a lucky girl, I don't know how I got such a wonderful man to be my husband! =)

He really is such an amazing guy, he is a wonderful cook, and cooks for us and guests often. He is Mr. Handyman himself - He can fix just about anything, and he enjoys doing it too! Just this year he has painted the Bathroom, we have painted the kitchen and he replaced all of the tile around our fireplace, it all looks GREAT! He cleans, that's right ladies, my - handsome - husband - cleans - ON HIS BIRTHDAY! Let me explain, so I don't sound like Mrs. Slacker. He had been working on the Fireplace all week since he wasn't working, (his break from being in Alaska for 3 months), and school didn't start until this week. So our house looked like a Tornado had been through it - honestly, there was tile, tile glue, and sheet rock mess EVERYWHERE! So on Friday, on his birthday, he cleaned our house, everything: toilet, tub, bedrooms, kitchen - he did it all! Awesome guy right?! And I'm not done yet, he also gets me surprises! The day he got back from Alaska, I went into work for a few hours and I came home to a little box wrapped up on the bed with a cute little note next to it. Just because! Seriously, AMAZING GUY!

He is also so great with all of our Nieces and Nephews. I love at family parties how he is always hanging out with them. He will play with them, tease them, and feed them. We love to have little surprises for them when we know we will be seeing them. When we were at Target last, he saw these super cute Easter Mr. Potato Heads so we had to get them all one. He loved giving it to them, then playing with them with the kids.

For his birthday we had 3 different celebrations - it was like a Birthday weekend!(sorry, no pics, I did take a couple, but I haven't uploaded them yet... once again: SLACKER)on his Birthday we went to Sushi - YUM! And hung out with each other, then on Saturday his family came over for the Pie Pizza -Delish! And on Sunday we went and a joint Birthday dinner for his and mom's Birthday's (post to come). It was so much fun to get to spend the weekend just celebrating him, and mom on Sunday =).

I hope that you had a wonderful Birthday Babe! I love you so much!!!!!