Family Pictures 2011

***I don't remember what I put in my last family picture post... sorry if I repeat. (Cuz clearly its too difficult to go back and read it...)***

For our family pictures this year I really wanted to capture part of our new life here in California. Even though we don't go to the beach too often (it is a LOT of work) I really wanted our pictures done there. After some recommendations from friends we decided to go with Laguna Beach, at a place called Heisler Park. BEAUTIFUL!! If you ever come to visit, this is the beach we'll take you to. My cousin's husband, Trevon Angulo, was kind enough to come take our pictures and I couldn't be happier with them. The girls were so good. Maybe not chock full of smiles, but at least not crying and screaming :) I'm excited to get prints of these and hang them on my wall. YAY!

Random

Bear with me... This annoys me.
We're sitting here watching the news (ok, Nate was watching the Sports segment of the news, and I was brushing my teeth... Its no secret I'm not a sports fan.) and a story came on about the best hitter in Major League Baseball just signing a new contract with LA Angels. His ten year contract is for 254 million dollars. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR MILLION DOLLARS! That is freaking insanity! Its also no secret if I had to pick a sport that is my least favorite, hands down, baseball. So boring, so lame. I'm sure he's got talent, I'm sure most professional sports players have talent, but seriously, there are some insanely talented people out there who are struggling to get by. I used to dance when I was in High School, and I LOVED it. It was hard and really pushed me, physically and emotionally. There is a girl at the studio I used to dance at and she is ridiculously, no, OUTRAGEOUSLY talented. So talented, in fact, that she is currently studying at Julliard. Wow, right? This past summer she was doing fund raising and looking for sponsors just to help pay for tuition. Maybe I'm biased, but I feel like it takes more talent (MUCH more talent) to be a dancer and all of the things that entails than to whack a ball and run in a square. So lame. Why does he need that much money? Why is it ok for them to get paid so much and my mom, who is a 2nd grade teacher, shaping the future dancers/baseball players/politicians, gets paid hardly enough to get by? Seriously, I'm not politically inclined (no secret there, either), but this country/world has some messed up priorities if they think that is what is important.

Consider me bugged.

Squinkies

Ok, so I just have to tell you all about my AMAZING deal today. It might be kinda long, but I'm so excited about it I don't even care.
I was perusing Target.com today, and saw that their Disney Princess Squinkies were on sale for $6 each, but when you buy one, you would get one for 50% off. BARGAIN!! Two sets of Squinkies for $9, regularly $12 each. Then I was going to have to pay $5 shipping, which I hate hate HATE doing, so I didn't get them. Walgreens was (is, go check it out!) having a sale, all of their $9.99 toys have a $4 coupon, sweet! So I was just going to get Rachael one pack of Squinkies and then exchange them for the princess ones when they got more in. I also got some cheese and milk and went to check out. Total? $7.12. I didn't notice until my card had gone through, then I said, "Wait! How much?? How much were the Squinkies?" "Two dollars." "I'll be right back, I'm getting more of those!" They only had one pack left so I went to check out again, ready to pay my two dollars, but he just handed me my receipt. Confused, I said, "They're FREE???" "Yep, it looks like the coupon takes it all off." "Is it supposed to do that?" "I don't think so..." but this kid didn't look like he was wanting to mess with it, so there you have it. AMAZING RIGHT?! They didn't have any more or else you better believe I would have stocked. up.
The problem with Squinkies are they are quite a choking hazard, especially to a mobile six month old... So instead of giving Rachael 32 Squinkies, I'll probably just fill her stocking with them then give them to her two at a time... we'll see. Squinkies are pretty cute and I'm over the moon about my deal!

Family Pictures Peek

Blogger is being annoying and will only let me upload one picture at a time, so instead of spending then next four hours putting pictures up, I'll put three. Eventually I'll collage them, but I'm lacking the motivation to do anything that takes even the tiniest amount of thought... sigh... Enjoy this little peek, I have some pretty DANG cute girls! And my husband ain't too bad, either. :)

Twenty-FIVE

Holy moly. I. Am. Old. Ok, not really, but 25 sounds WAY older than 24. Am I right or am I right or am I right? My birthday was on Sunday and it was pretty low key, being on a Sunday and all. This weekend my mom, sister, and two nephews came for a visit. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific (NOT fun, sorry mom. Rachael was a living terror. Pictures later.) on Saturday. Friday night, Nate took me out to the Cheesecake Factory. SO YUMMY!! I've only ever had their cheesecake (ironically we didn't get a piece because we were stuffed to the rafters.). But the pasta we both got was to. die. for. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
So since I continue to age, I'm trying to become better each year. This year is gonna be good... I don't know exactly how yet... but it will be, and I'll let you know when I figure it out. I'm thinking about having a positive outlook on EVERYTHING, using anti-aging face/body wash (never to early to start, right?), drawing nearer to God, and being more thankful for all of the wonderful blessings/people/both I've got in my life. Some people want to stop making excuses for not being the weight they want to be, I'm going to stop making excuses for EVERYTHING. I heard a quote once, but I won't quote it cuz I don't remember it exactly... Something like if its not that important you'll find an excuse, if it is important you'll find a way. I totally agree with that. Anyways, I'm gonna go do some laundry and be THANKFUL that I have a washer and dryer. (For reals, last week it was broken and it was terrible...)

#4

Today, I took a nap. Yes, my friends, a nap. Not an, "I'm going to close my eyes while Rachael watches this movie and hope that she doesn't jump on my back or take the knives out of the drawer." Nope. Rachael was at school and Whitney was unexpectedly tired, and instead of spending the three hours Rachael is at school watching TV or cleaning (haha, right...), I did the dishes then took a NAP. Happy Birthday to ME!! And then, instead of going to the park (cuz let's be honest, sometimes going to the park is NOT a walk in the park. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here until next Thursday. Try the veal. [Gilmore Girls]) we came home and played with playdough. Much more low key. Now I've got company tonight, but my vacuum is broken, so I'm just letting it slide. They really don't care anyways. Have a good night. I know I will!!

#3

Today's present worked out for me!
First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my amazing husband for training our daughter so well. When Nate is home, he's the one to get up with Rachael if she does get up. Sometimes she gets up at an outrageous hour, like 4 a.m., so Nate goes in and says, "Rachael, its still dark outside, all of the cows and horses are still sleeping, so you need to sleep too, ok?" So this morning Rachael woke up at 5:30. Not happening, my friend. So I took her potty and put her back into bed. "Close your eyes and go to sleep, ok?" "Mom." "What?" "Cows see-ing? Horse see-ing?" "Yep, the cows and horses are still sleeping." "Shae-shae (what she calls herself... I'll take what I can get.) see-ing." "Yep, Rachael needs to sleep." Done! She slept until 9.
Today for my present, we went to a place called Pump It Up with some girls in the ward. Its just those blow up slides and bounce houses and such. I got an AMAZING deal through groupon for it. Amazing as in 6 passes for $5. Nice. It was a lot of work for me actually, especially because Whit only slept for like 15 minutes after we got there. After we left we went to Chili's for lunch. (I actually sat in the car for like 5 minutes debating on whether or not to actually go in, or just get it to go. We went in.) The girls were amazing and so good, and the food was ok. As fun as it was go to out to eat, the REAL present I got for myself was getting the Avocado and Ranch dip. YUMMY! If you've never had it, go get it. Like right now. Its only $3, and you get it instead of the salsa. I have that ranch and the fresh chips sitting in my fridge, waiting for the girls to go to bed so I can watch Gilmore Girls and Parenthood while snacking. Best. Present. Ever.
Now Rachael is watching Cars and Whitney is still sleeping. Once she wakes up, heck, maybe I'll treat myself to a shower! How nice would THAT be!