Weekend with Tom and Lisa

This weekend Luke's best friend in the whole wide world, Tom, and his beautiful wife, Lisa ("Alicia" as Leah insisted on calling her), came to visit us. They're expecting their first baby, a little girl named Ashlyn, in December so it was so fun to get to see them and give lots of baby advice! It was a very quick trip, but we had lots of fun! Leah has the biggest crush on Tom! She wanted to know where he was at all times, wanted to sit by him, tickle him and wanted to wake him up as soon as she was awake! He got the biggest hug and even an "I lub you Tom" today before he left!

Our weekend began on Friday night when Luke and I attended a political campaign fundraiser dinner thing. Leah got to go play with Ms. Pam's daughters, Alicia and Courtney who babysat her for the evening, and her little friend "Holly Bear" from when she used to go to Ms. Pam's house. Honestly, I was kind of dreading going to this dinner just because I had TONS of things to do around the house to get ready for our company. We ended up having so much fun! It was a barbecue dinner at this cowboy-ish bar so I felt like I was back in Texas. I have had LOTS of awful barbecue here in California so it was nice to finally have some that was really good. I also participated in my first live auction ever. They auctioned off a barbecue dinner for 75 people, a $100 bar tab plus access to the VIP room and guess what..........WE WON for $550! Sounds like alot of money, but Luke and I got to thinking that this would be a GREAT little Christmas party to throw for his accounts! And, this will cut way down on my Christmas cookie baking that I always do for his accounts! Luke has never ever done anything like this for his accounts before so it should be lots of fun! And, hopefully, this will make them want to sale lots and lots of Flexsteel! :)

Luke had to work Saturday morning so Leah and I cleaned and scrubbed and washed to get all ready for Tom and Lisa. They got here around 2 or so. It was their 1st anniversary so we had sweet little Nora come over to babysit and the four of us headed out to Esquire Grill for yummy steak! Sunday we were extremely lazy and just hung around the pool in this crazy heat. We were so lazy that Lisa, Tom and I snuck in a nap! I haven't taken one of those in FOREVER! Today we went out for what was supposed to be brunch but turned into lunch at Tower Cafe. Their breakfast service had just stopped by the time we arrived! Too bad because they have the BEST french toast in the whole wide world! After lunch we headed back to our house for them to gather up their things and put Leah down for a nap! We had a great weekend and can't wait to see these guys again after their family becomes plus one!

Two-Year-Old Pics FINALLY

Today we got Leah's two-year-old pictures taken FINALLY.....almost two months after her birthday! I thought they turned out super cute! Special thanks to Emily for the adorable outfit! I wish we could've gotten one of her standing to show off her attire, but she was way too wiggly for any of those to turn out to my liking!

Weekend in Texas

We were extremely fortunate to be able to spend our weekend in Texas with my family! We flew out on Thursday and flew home on Monday so it was a very quick trip! When we landed on Thursday afternoon we headed immediately to Taco Villa! I CRAVE Taco Villa, especially their bean burritos and extra large Cokes with extra ice! My sister, who's a senior in high school, was on the Homecoming court. I couldn't miss this for the world! Kelley was a beautiful princess and was escorted by our dad! Friday afternoon we attended the Homecoming presentation ceremony and then Friday night was the big football game. Kelley wrote a very sweet little speech that was read aloud when she was presented. I thought I was going to cry, but I was tough! I don't think I have been back to a football game in Denver City since I graduated from high school! We won't even go into details and reveal how many years that has been! Ha! At half time the queen was crowned. Kelley didn't receive the title but she'll always be the queen to us! Saturday was date day/night for Luke and I. We left Leah with Nana and Papaw and went to visit our good friends B. J. and Nikah and meet their beautiful new baby girl, Brynn. She is so so sweet! We miss these guys so much and meeting Brynn makes us miss them so much more! Brynn's grandma came over to watch her and the four of us headed to tailgate before the big Texas Tech vs. Texas game. It was SO MUCH FUN! One of the biggest thing we miss about Lubbock (besides family and friends) is tailgating and Texas Tech football! The game didn't end in our favor but we had a blast just being able to cheer on our team from inside Jones Stadium! The stadium has changed so much in the last four years since we've been gone! It's nice to see that the recession hasn't robbed everyone! Saturday night Luke and I stayed the night with my brother and sister-in-law and then on Sunday morning we headed back to my parents for one last night in my hometown. Monday we packed up and headed back to Midland for our flight home!

One last little note about our trip.....I base ALL of my travels on eating! This trip was no exception! We had Taco Villa three times, Abuelos and Rosas for lunch and lots and lots of Dairy Queen vanilla cokes! I better stop thinking about it because it is all out of my reach until Christmas!

At the presentation ceremony.....

And at the game with our little Mustang cheerleader.....

Luke was SO proud of his drink at Abuelo's! It's a coronita rita!

Beautiful baby Brynn! Isn't she so sweet!

Tailgating!

Gooooooo Tech!

Leah cheered on the Red Raiders with Nana and Papaw!

Leah and her favorite Mimi!

First Week of "Preschool"

Tuesday was Leah's first day with Ms. Trish at her new "preschool". She did fantastic and loved it just as we knew she would! She cried both days that she was dropped off but Ms. Trish said that she was fine right after we left. This week she learned all about circles and brought home lots of papers about circles where she traced them and colored them. She also learned about the colors red and blue. Oh yeah, she learned about airplanes too! She is going to do so well with Ms. Trish! The transition that I was worried about the most was naptime! At Ms. Pam's she took a nap in a pac-n-play in her own quiet room. At Ms. Trish's house she takes a nap on a cot alongside her new 5 friends. I am proud to report that she did excellent and took a great nap each day WITHOUT her pacifier! (I did hide it in her bag just in case!) Whoo hoo! Ms. Trish sends home a "report card" each day letting us know how Leah's day was and on Wednesday it said that Leah was a little "chatty" at naptime! Yep, that's my daughter! She's also very "chatty" at bedtime! Leah, Leah, Leah! Ms. Trish also noted that Leah is a very good eater! Ms. Trish must be fixing all of Leah's favorites! Leah had to take a sick day on Friday. She woke up with fever and an extremely stuffy nose. It was so stuffy that the poor thing threw up from gagging on the stuff in her throat. Yuck, I know! Daddy stayed home with her the first half of the day and Mommy came home and took over for the second half. She ran fever ALL DAY LONG and was a huge snuggler. She refused to eat all day probably because she couldn't taste. All of this was so unlike my girl so it was obvious that she wasn't feeling good. Luke was gone Friday night so it was all Mommy, but thank goodness, after a rough evening, she slept great and woke up feeling much much better!

We were pretty lazy on Saturday as to not spread our germs too far! Daddy got home from his trip around 3 or so and took over Leah-duty from Mommy and we cheered our Red Raiders on to victory! Next week we'll be cheering them on from the comfort of section 108 in Jones AT&T Stadium! That's right! We're headed to Texas! This means we have a busy next few days.....a play date, girl's night dinner (Leah's coming along this time), packing, a pedicure, a birthday party and work! Sleep? Who needs sleep?

Dental Check-Up

Does that title even make sense? It sounds kind of weird to me! Anyways.....Leah had her regularly scheduled two-year-old visit with the dentist, Dr. Grandpre, this morning. She was extremely excited to be there, hopped right up in the exam chair (and then the doctor's chair with wheels), told everyone in the office "hi" and was very excited about letting Dr. Grandpre "count her teeth" UNTIL he put on the blue gloves. You would've thought she was getting a shot or something! She clung to me immediately and wouldn't let go. He was able to do a little check-up, though, just like we did last time with me holding her with her legs wrapped around me and her head in his lap. She screamed the entire time that he was "counting her teeth" and kept flinging her head but he was able to see what he needed to see and "paint" her teeth with vitamins. As soon as he was done and her head was up from his lap she was smiling and telling Dr. Grandpre "it tastes good" about the vitamins he put on her teeth just like nothing ever happened. Oh, my girl! He said her teeth looked great. She has all of her baby teeth except for the last four baby molars that she should get in sometime this year. They loaded her up with surprises (a balloon, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and a sticky hand thing) and we scheduled her next appointment in six months! Fun, fun, fun!

She was already done sitting here but I made her pose for a picture.

She looks thrilled, doesn't she!

Labor Day Weekend in Tahoe

We are home sweet home from an AMAZING 5 day, 4 night family vacation to Lake Tahoe. This was the first time that Luke and I had ever visited the North Shore and the first time that we had ever visited Tahoe in the summer (without snow on the ground). All I can say is.....we LOVED it! I am much more a fan of the North Shore versus South Shore. We rented a condo on the beach and all we did all weekend was swim, tan, ride the jet ski, climb rocks, swim, tan, eat and relax, relax, relax. I can't believe how tan Leah has gotten! I always thought she had very fair skin that would burn easily but that's not the case at all. She's got her Daddy's skin that tans nicely! Lucky girl!

Day 1: Thursday

We went up on Thursday afternoon. We stopped for lunch in Tahoe City at the Bridge Tender after I read about it on someone's blog and it did not disappoint! See, blog stalking does pay off! We had amazing burgers and the best fried zucchini I've ever had! All of the seats were outside along with lots and lots of birds. They pecked their way around the tables and would even land on the tables. Leah was TERRIFIED of the birds! We told her that the birds wouldn't get her so every time a bird would land anywhere near us Leah would start screaming "bird won't get you, bird won't get you!" She remembered this once we hit the beach and would SQUEAL out "bird won't get you, bird won't get you" every time we would see a bird on the beach! We rented a condo right on the beach so once we got here we just relaxed on the beach and grilled hot dogs for dinner.

Day 2: Friday

We went out for breakfast to The Log Cabin after I read that the Rachael Ray show had been here. It was super yummy! Leah had a ginormous Mickey Mouse pancake and savored every minute of the whip cream that made up his eyes, nose and mouth! Friday afternoon our friends Jason, Lindsay and Zoe joined us for a night! Our neighbors Mark, Susan, Leiya, Braydon, and sweet baby boy twins, Jackson and Riley, also came up. We all hung out on our beach here at the condo and we had the entire place to ourselves! It was AMAZING! The kiddos had so much fun! The lake wasn't deep at all so we didn't have to worry about the kids at all! They just ran wild and free splashing in the water, building sand castles and catching crawdads on the big rocks. We discovered this weekend what a good rock climber Leah is. I must say, I'm not surprised! Leah was also the biggest food scavenger. She went up to all of the Mommies looking for snacks, especially grapes! Friday night we grilled out steaks after the girls went to bed and played Monopoly Deal Card Game. It was fun, but I think Lindsay had some tricks up her sleeve to pull out her win! Ha!
Day 3: Saturday

We went back to The Log Cabin for breakfast with the Harnes because it was so good the day before. The girls split the Mickey Mouse pancake and when they brought it out the waitress said that they each got a little "mice". Super cute! We hung out on our "private" beach for the rest of the day along with our neighbors and another family that came up to join them. The kids had a blast again. Leah and Braydon made friends with a little boy, Parker, and before we knew it, Leah and Braydon had made themselves at home with Parker's family and were chowing down on their salami. Each kiddo was sitting in their own little chair having their snack. It was super cute! Leah doesn't stay put for long so when she would take off running Parker would ask, "Where's Lisa?" It was precious! Jason, Lindsay and Zoe left on Saturday afternoon and we went over to have dinner with the Clantons at the house they had rented. Leah and Braydon had a blast playing as always and devoured their first Smores! Sticky, sticky!

Day 4: Sunday

We were on our own today so we were as lazy as could be. We slept in, made breakfast burritos for brunch, went driving around to look at some condos for sale and got some ice cream. When Leah napped (for the first time all weekend) Luke went and grabbed us a burger at the Char-Pit, a little place we discovered when we were out driving around. We enjoyed our burgers while cheering our Red Raiders on to victory! When she woke up we played on the beach for awhile. Leah had lots of fun filling the big bucket up with water and dumping it in the moat Daddy built. We decided to go out for dinner and went to Caliente. It was really good! Leah amazed us tonight as always and ordered her own meal! The sweet waitress asked her what she would like, she told her a "quesadilla" and then she asked her if she wanted chicken or cheese and Leah told her "cheese". That's exactly what she got! My sweet girl! Although I would have preferred her to have some chicken, we didn't interject at all! Day 5: Monday

Slept in, packed up, lunch at Garwoods, headed home!

We were so sad to say goodbye to Lake Tahoe, but we'll be making another trip very soon to play in the snow!