Gladys

Check out this hilarious video from the Ellen Show.

Jen's New "Crib"

This weekend my sister and her family moved into a new house in San Clemente. I am SO glad because now they like like a half hour away, instead of like an hour and a half away. They WERE living in Lake Elsinore.

I was amazed at how much of their house was already put together after just moving in on Friday and being there on Sunday. Good for you Jen! Im impressed!

We all drove up there, (greg and his family, Zac and his family, my parents, and my family) and had a bbq and let the kids play a little at the neighborhood park. Then while most of the guys, and Jeanine watched the mens volleyball game, the rest of us walked the 1/2 mile it was down to the beach. We took most of the kids with us, Jeanine stayed behind with Sidney because she actually likes mens volleyball and because Sidney wasn't dressed warm enough and Elijah stayed behind too since he was feeling well. It was a nice little dark walk, but all the kids got to carry flashlights and they thought that was the COOLEST thing ever. It was a path that safely took us along the freeway to the beach and we even got to cross over the train tracks which the kids were a little afraid to do. On the way back, after crossing, about 1 minute later we heard the train honk and we all turned around and watched the train go by, which was also pretty cool to all the little kids.

It was really fun to hang out with the family and I am glad Jen and Lee invited us over. You have a really cute place and have done some awesome things with it already! Feel free to have us over again sometime soon! ;)

Jeremy and Crystal pushing Kasen and Brielle.

My sweet little niece Sidney. I think she is finally starting to warm up to me a little.

Brielle asked me to take some pictures of her on the swing. So cute.

Too bad this one is a little off center, because I think she looks absolutely adorable in it! She is such a silly girl that it's hard to get her to smile a real genuine smile without throwing in a tongue or cross eyes. She is a sweetie!

Kasen and Brodie "fighting" on the stairs.

On our walk to the beach.

This was 3 of the kids playing in the sand...we just walked to the top of the cliff looking over the beach. Since it was dark out, we didn't want to attempt walking all the way down the trail to the sand.

Mom, Crystal, Jen and Lee.

Me, Mom, Crystal and Jen.

Everett, Kasen, Brielle and Dawson.

Les Mis

You know how there are things you want to do in life before you die? Well going to see Les Mis on Broadway is one of my things to do before I die.

When we went to the Peter Pan play a couple months ago, I saw that Les Mis was going to be playing in August. I bought the tickets a few weeks ago and anxiously waited for the date to arrive. When I was in show choir in middle school we sand a lot of the songs from Les Mis and that is really my only connection to the play. I haven't seen the movie, haven't read the book. I will tell you though, that music was enough for me to become quite attached. I have the soundtrack and LOVE it. It gives me the chills to listen to it.

I invited my mom, and my two sister in laws to come with me. I was only able to get 4 tickets, the whole play was just about sold out when I got my tickets. I looked back about a week ago for one more ticket and it was sold out. EVERY single seat. That made me pretty excited!

We all went to dinner beforehand at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) and had some tasty food together. We all ended up sharing food and then being like 5 minutes late for the play. Oops!

Well I was right with my instincts, the play was amazing! I loved the script, the music was wonderful and the actors were pretty good too. 3 out of the 4 of us really liked it. I am really happy I went. I had a rough day that day and was dreading going and now after seeing it, I can't believe I even had a doubt about going. So glad I did. I had like permanent chills from the very beginning and one song even made me cry the voices were so amazing.

Anyway, it's still a dream of mine to see Les Mis on broadway, but this will tide me over til I get to. Thanks for coming with me, Mom, Jeanine and Crystal! I had a blast being with you.

Thank you Jeremy for taking care of Kasen and letting me have a night out with the girls! I love you!

Bailey's water bottle

Bailey loves it when you give her new toys. But like a baby, I think some of her favorite toys are human things. (Spatulas, water bottles, balls, stuffed animals...just a few for example)

Well one night I gave her my water bottle. She went to town on it. I was laughing hysterically. She was chewing as hard as she could. It was her goal to get the lid off it. This isn't her first time to play with a water bottle so I knew what to expect, but it was the first time in a while she has played with one so it was fun all over to watch her. Once she gets the lid off of it, the toy is "broken" and wants nothing to do with it. She chewed the lid off and then went her separate ways. Too funny.

The cutest thing to me is that she holds the water bottle inbetween her paws like a cat would. She lays on her back and holds her toys in the air with her paws. I really think she is part cat sometimes. When she stretches, she arches her back way high in the air like a cat does too. She is so cute. I love her to death!

The end result!

Kasen's Chore Chart

About 6 months ago, my sister sent me a link to a chore chart she found that she liked. It was digital, so I decided that I was going to make my own. It's been a work in progress for about 3 weeks, I just haven't had time to finish it, but I set my mind to it yesterday and did it! I even took it to Kinkos to get it laminated. He loves the chart so far and made a special point to check things off today. He even made his bed all by himself. He doesn't do that EVER. Yaay Kasen.

The first picture I took with the flash on, but since it's 10:15 at night, the other ones without the flash turned out a little yellowish. Sorry, but you get the idea.

If I ever choose to, there are a TON of things I would do differently. One being, not to forget to leave room to write the days of the week on the chart. Oh well, I put a sticker on the middle day of the week. The bottom line- Put the Toys Away I accidentally put the wrong letters there on the glue, so I had to peel them off and put the right letters with the right picture. Hence the black marks all over. Oh well, live and learn. I still like it. and so does Kasen. Once again, that's what matters, right!?

WAP

Today our playgroup went to the Wild Animal Park. Crystal had some free passes so we took her up on those and went along. It was blazing hot, like 95 and we were outside ALL day pushing strollers up and down hills. Kasen had fun though. That's what matters.

"Petting Kraal"

They had a Sponge Bob ride, but it cost $5! So Kasen had to settle for the picture.

Scary. We bought some nectar and went into this little caged bird area. The second I walked in, I was attacked with a bird on my head, and one on my arm drinking the nectar. I jumped a little but tried not to react too much since we were warned not to touch or pet the birds because they bite and break skin. Nice. So the birn on my head started making his way to the back of him head and like perched on my ponytail. It was awful! I will never do that again!

Notice the nectar spilled all over my hand from when I jumped when they landed on me.

I told Kasen to smile for me and he really POSED.

Too bad I took this picture myself and cut off my kids head! I actually like the picture.

Kasen, me, Elijah and Crystal on the tour.

Before we left this morning, Grandpa told kasen "say HI to the giraffes for me" so when we got to this giraffe of the tour Kasen excitedly said "Hi Giraffe, from Grandpa" it was really cute and cracked me up that he even remembered to tell the giraffe.

This was the Lion's area. They had an old abandoned car out there with about 4-5 lions laying and resting on it. It was really weird, but really amazing to see them SO close.

This was the male and female adult lions. There were about 3 mommy lions, 2 cubs, and one daddy.

Another picture I took of the two of us, I don't like this one as much, but at least both of our faces are in it.

So I am STILL curious as to what this sign means. Anyone know? My favorite part is the random girl in the background and the arrow on the sign. You observe the rest yourself. I didnt notice the rest until I got home and looked at the picture. I thought I was just taking a picture of the sign itself.

Kasen on the carousel. He chose the Eagle.

He PASSED out on the way home. Take note of his new "friend" the little Zebra in his lap who he later named "Ashley"... he came up with that one on his own.

Happy 30th!!

Jeremy's 30th birthday was on the 13th (last Wed). He took a couple PTO days and we just hung out. It was nice to have him home.

I had his birthday planned out, what we were going to do, where we were going to eat and everything. One little comment on his part changed our WHOLE plan.

This was our conversation:

Britt: "Be happy! It's your birthday. Are you going to be happy today even though you are 30?"

Jer: "My happiness today depends on Kasen and his attitude"

Simple as that. I knew after that, what I had to do.

He went to get in the shower and I HURRIED to the computer. I started searching hotels. http://www.hotwire.com/ has some serious deals!! I found a 4 star hotel for a great steal and ran up to ask my mom to watch Kasen. She said yes, so I booked it and printed the reservation. I then ran upstairs to Jeremy and asked him if he wanted his birthday present, (in the meantime I cancelled one of his presents I was getting him), and he said yes. HE WAS DELIGHTED!

We got our stuff ready and took off!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach and just hung out. We went to a really tasty Italian restaurant and just hung out. We went and saw a movie and just drove around. We stayed up late watching the Olympics and slept in til 930 the next morning! How nice! It was so much fun to just be ME and JEREMY again. We love Kasen to death, but it was nice to be alone.

The first thing Jeremy did when we got to the hotel room (after sitting down the luggage) was turn on ESPN. Yipee. I couldn't complain, it was HIS birthday. I will pay him back with soaps and Americas Next Top Model or something like that on my birthday.

This was us at dinner. Not the most flattering pic of either of us, but the waiter took it and I couldn't ask him to take another one. (Funny story....our waiter was like 6'8" tall and when he walked up to the table to serve us, Jeremy looked up when he started talking and kept looking up and up, til he met his face, then Jeremy started looking down and down til his eyes met the ground, and the waited said "yep, I go all the way to the ground" LOL!!!! Jeremy was so embarassed! I started cracking up!

This was a piece of chocolate that was on Jeremy's free dessert that he got.

This was a picture of us the next day, right before we checked out of the hotel. Boo!

Happy Birthday Jer! I hope you had a fun little trip. I hope the day was special for you, even though I tried to point out as MANY times as I could to ANYONE who would listen that you had turned 30 that day. You were so embarassed and I loved every minute. I love you.

Mother of the Year Award

Kasen has a tendency to wake up WAY too early for me most days. But, most nights, I am not up til like 1am watching the Olympics either. The other night I was up really late and 6am came around WAY too early for ME, Kasen? Not so much. Bright, bubbly, ready for the day. Jeremy put on a movie for him and we slept a little more. Little did we know, he was up to NO GOOD at all. I should have known better. Should have known.

Later that morning, after we were awake, and Jeremy was gone, I was in the shower and when I got out, I couldn't find Kasen. I went looking and calling for him and one of his favorite hiding places is under his bed. He has a captains bed.... underneath is completely empty for storage. There are two doors at the end of his bed to open up and he likes to hide in there and play with his star wars toys there.

I went searching for him under his bed, and this is what I found on the inside of one of the doors.

Lovely, eh?

Was my extra hour nap really worth $10.08??

Apple Lollipops

Kasen and Brielle made some cute apple lollipops on Sunday. I bought the stuff like 2 weeks ago, but Kasen has been a bit naughty and hadn't earned the privilege of making them yet. Sunday was a better day on the naughty scale so we made them.

I used a melon baller to cut out circles from the apple, melted some butterscotch for the dipping, got some lollipop sticks at michaels for super cheap and then used coconut, sprinkles, pecans, and some almond crunch and he dipped away.



He ate every last bite of them, and even the apple too!