Loving to the Fullest...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Utter Cuteness!

Life is sweet!

Life is especially sweet when you have a little princess to add that extra special touch of sugar to your life!

Never a dull moment that's for sure.

She pretty much keeps us in stitches with her cute and whimsical comments, such as the recent "I can't do that cause I'm not 10" Not really sure where she got that one. Oh and while feeding the dog, she replies, "not too much, never more than a spot or something may happen and we know what!" Can you guess which book that comes from.

We've learned that she's an auditory learner as she can recite books read to her once back to her dolls/stuffed animals. Not always word for word, but close. Not saying she learns everything by that method as selective hearing/obedience rears its ugly head from time to time. Then again she is 3 you know!

Potty training is going great! In fact last night...no pull-ups...YEAH!!! Hard to believe I am FINALLY out of diapers...well...until...lets not talk about it okay?!

She's super quick to let you know when you say a word that is naughty/bad (s-t-u-p-i-d, d-u-m-b, etc.). Though the other day, Tanner was relaying a conversation and said, "I could use a dewsky" (been informed that that is code for Mountain Dew), upon which Abigail turned to him with all seriousness and said, "You can't say 'douchie' cause that's a bad word"! There are seriously times when I am stunned by her use (and even understanding of) of the english language. Ahhh, 'tweener' parenting (for those of you who don't know what that is...it's raising a toddler in a house full of teens).

"Look...I got gum!!!"
She has recently experienced the world of gum (potty training technique ~ ok, alright...you call it bribe, I call it technique :0))

Can you tell who I LOVE???

Abigail loves to have her picture taken! And since I LOVE Abigail, it seemed only fitting to have my picture taken with her.

Cheezy grin!

Can you say a picture of utter cuteness.
Impossible not to fall in love with this face.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Wishing for MAUI time!

Ahhhh, MAUI...Ka'anapali Beach to be exact!!!

It was time for us (hubby and I) to spend TIME alone together celebrating 21 years of marital bliss.

Okay, alright, so we've not necessarily had marital bliss ALL 21 years, after all marriage is hard! BUT the fact is we both have made the choice to LOVE one another no matter if we feel like it or not. And trust me, there have truly been times where the 'not' has come into play. Yet, having this time together we both are reminded how much LOVE we have for one another, how each one of us is the others' best friend and frankly...I DON'T want to do life without Brian. He's fun, funny, thoughtful, sensitive, loving, adoring, serious, silly...and so much more!

Not sure why, but time was slower in Maui. No, seriously, Brian would say that to me every day as we'd check our watches expecting it to be hours later than it was and the conclusion we came to was...time is slower in Maui!

(a view of Black Rock - a very popular snorkeling site)

Now, could it be the fact that we had no kids to take care of?
OR
That we'd be in bed by 8:30p and up in the morning by 5:30-6:00am because our bodies were used to WA time (3 hours ahead of Maui) and thus by the time you'd wake up and have breakfast on the lanai listening to the waves crash onto the sand it would only be 8:30am and feel like half the day was already gone?
OR
That we had no responsibilities (except for keeping ourselves sunned and fed)?!
How about all of the above!!!

Nonetheless, looking at how long its been since blog posting I realized that I "need" time to be Maui time...much, much slower. As I sit and type this I am suffering from 'lightheaded-ness/dizziness", a residual I am thinking from the trip! I'm sure some of you are saying, "serves you right for gallivanting off to the tropics ~ I don't feel sorry for you a bit :0)".

Not sure if its from travel or I picked up a bug. Re-entry is difficult considering the demands at hand. I will say how incredibly PROUD I am of our boys who so sacrificially agreed to stay home alone AND take care of baby-cakes too! Many of you are shouting, "ARE YOU CRAZY??? Leaving 3 teen-age boys and a 3 year old home alone for 6 days ~ whatever are you thinking???" Fact is...I trust them. And more importantly, Abigail trusts them and enjoyed her time alone with them. Grandma W. did join the boys and Princess the last couple of days since both of the older two had overlapping work schedules. All I can say is the exhaustion is clearly exhausting! I will however prevail.

And of course it wouldn't be a complete post without photos now would it!

Yes, Maui 'required' Brian to double fist the coffee on his first morning ~ I had him hold mine for photo visual aids.

Historic Banyan tree in the town of Lahaina. Truly remarkable how all of these limbs find their way to grow into another trunk.

Does it get any better than this?

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. This was a beautiful sunset we experienced while enjoying an evening at Merriman's. Should you ever get the chance to go to Maui - having drinks and appetizer's on the deck at Merriman's is a MUST!!!

Our friendly (I think) lunch visitors. I literally noticed these two lizards and thus quickly moved my legs up the lunch table to avoid them thinking my leg was a pole to climb. You know those lizards..."Look a new pole to try out our dance moves!"

A very popular location for us...sunning on the beach!

This was our view from our lanai...enjoyed breakfast here every morning. Yes, I could do this the rest of my life...truly peaceful!!!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Whistler Vacation

Whistler was absolutely amazing!!! It was so fun to have time alone with just the boys. Don't get me wrong...Princess Abigail is the joy and delight of our lives, yet it was so much fun to do 'adult' play things without having to worry about who is going to stay behind with Baby-cakes!

I never thought that I would say that I LOVE zip lining! I've found the older I get the less 'adventurous/daring' I have become. Not sure what that is all about - maybe the 'risk' becomes too great. Nonetheless, there is something exhilarating about dangling hundreds of feet above the ground and traveling at speeds of 30, 40 & 50mph. What a rush!!!

At this point, Tanner's line didn't catch the brake as it was supposed to, thus he traveled backwards to dangling above the ground until our guide Tom was able to travel out there to retrieve him!

This bridge is literally suspended between two trees above the ground by 150-200ft. Just a bit scary to say the least.

Gorgeous view of Whistler Village from the treetops.

Bear markings on the tree - what a fascinating site to see. The story goes that some baby cubs were along the path when some bikers came along, scaring the baby up the tree.

Don't they look a little 'beast'?!? They LOVED mountain biking the 'ski slope'! All of them have remarked that they've found their new hobby!

The birms and jumps you see are hand created each and every year for the Crankworx festival that happens in August. Once the mountain biking season is over, they bull-doze it down flat for the ski season to begin!

The boys with their mountain bike guide Dan. They had a blast with him. Before they took off I told him that 'commemorative' road rash was acceptable but broken bones, not so much. He later told the boys "your mom is hard core man! Most moms are so afraid their 'babies' are going to hurt themselves and your mom wants you to get beat up!" Well, what can I say...I knew if they had road rash it was because they rode hard and truly enjoyed themselves, right?!?

All to say, this trip was truly a memorable one at that! We are already talking about "next year"...who knows, stay tuned!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

TUTU Monkey's Blog Birthday Giveaway

So, while browsing through my blog list I found out from CinnamonSticks, that a fellow blogging friend was having a 'Blog Birthday' Giveaway and all you had to do was leave a birthday wish comment to enter the drawing...check it out for yourself.

Just pop on over to Tutu Monkey and leave your happy wishes!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Walk down memory lane...

My dad will turn 80 in a few weeks! Back in October 2009, my dad's first bout of cancer showed up. Though I know my mom was already planning a celebration for the big birthday, his health condition enhanced the 'urgency' of planning of 'family birthday celebration' early!

My family dynamic is made up of 4 siblings, my three older brothers and myself. Add together children and we end up with a grand total of 18 just in my immediate family. Throw in college schedules, work schedules and of course a toddler and you have a recipe for someone isn't going to be able to show up!

So in attendance we had my entire family (with a hit and miss with the boys' work schedules)
Mark, my oldest brother, his girlfriend and his son from Seattle (his daughter was in China on a school trip, missing the party by 3 days)
Dan, next oldest brother, his daughter and his son
David, 3rd oldest brother, both of his daughters from Southern Cal (sadly his wife was unable to make the trip as their dog had recently suffered a severe coyote attack leaving the dog fighting for its life).

Also in attendance was my aunt, her two daughters with their sons and dear family friends. Yep, I think that about covers it. Nonetheless, we've spent the last 5 days together as often as possible ~ enjoying old memories and making new ones.