Alexandra's New Shirt

I've had my eye on this shirt for a while. Caden and I went to good ole Target today and it was on clearance for .98 cents! It says "We all know I'm Grandma's Favorite" That statement is very true!

Why I hate JCPenney Portrait Studios

I went last Friday to get Alexandra's 6 month photos taken. The pictures always seem to turn out cute. HOWEVER ... They have the worst customer service and don't know what staying on a schedule means. We were there for almost 2 hours total. We got there on time at 10:30 a.m., had to wait 45 minutes to have the pictures taken. The photographer took 19 pictures, in there no more than 20 minutes. Then had to wait another 30 minutes for them to "upload" the 19 pictures and "enhance" them. Then it was my turn to choose the pictures that I wanted at the computer. I had a coupon they said I could use for a free 10x13 with enhancements. So I picked out my pictures. Picked out the pictures I wanted for the coupon. Then I went to the register to pay. Then they said I couldn't use the coupon because there wasn't 4 people in the picture. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Lamest excuse. So I asked them if I came back and there were 5 people in the picture? Could I use the coupon, then?? I was so frustrated. So, I didn't pay the $29.99 that the coupon was supposed to pay for. I left only paying $7.99 (plus tax) and 2 hours of my life. Thank you JCPenney for another wonderful experience at the Portrait Studio. Do you want to know the sad part?? I will go there again, because they have the cheap coupons (when I get to use them) and I am a portrait club member until 2009. I get the Smiles by Wire, and one sheet of pictures for free every time I go.

This is the enhancement picture that they wouldn't let me use the coupon for:
Here are my favorites from the photo shoot:

The Scary Cat Lady

So there is a story behind this picture. Miles & Caden had a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa Doll's house Labor Day weekend. Sherman had found pictures on the Internet and printed them out so that that could make up stories about the pictures. This photo was included. I guess when Miles saw this picture he freaked out and wanted to come home. We call this picture the "Scary Cat Lady." Caden thinks this picture is HILARIOUS and likes to look at it on a daily basis. Miles is still scared and we like to tease him about it too.

Wednesday afternoon at the A's game

Tim's work had a company day at the A's game. They had a few extra tickets so Tim got "approval" for Alexandra and I to come along. We took a chartered bus from Walnut Creek to Oakland. Then we had lunch catered by Kinder's meats. The ribs were delicious. The wind was blowing so hard while we were trying to eat. It was very messy. Then we went to the game. The A's have fallen apart this year. Everyone has been injured. Mark Ellis and Shannon Stewart were the only players that started the game, who started the first of the season. The A's lost again, 9-5. The game lasted almost 4 hours. So we got back on the bus about 4:30 and then had to drive home in traffic. The bus drive seemed to last forever. It turned out to be a nice day. My arms got sunburned and Tim got voted "worst tan line" at work the next day. He had his sunglasses on and he refuses to wear a hat or sunscreen on his head. It was a good day. It just seemed to drag on by the end of the day. However, the day didn't end. I picked up Miles and Caden from our friends who were kindly watching them, and then we went over to the baseball fields where Caden had baseball practice. We got home about 7:15 that night and had Taco Bell for dinner!

Caden back at Preschool

Caden started preschool again! He goes every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 9 to 11:30. He enjoys going, and looking forward to going to Kindergarten next fall. He also goes with a friend who is in our ward. Her mom doesn't drive, so I pick up and take Kaysee home on preschool days too. I have to say, when he is gone the house is so much quieter.

Alexandra.6 months.2 teeth

Wow! Alexandra turned 6 months last Wednesday. Along with that accomplishment, her first tooth popped through that day. Then today, I checked and her second bottom tooth has made it's way through. I have to say she is a lot happier now that both of her teeth are out. I've tried to take pictures of her teeth but she won't let me! She is growing up so fast. She can get anywhere by rolling around. She has the sweetest smile, which she shares frequently. She enjoys playing playstation like her brothers .. oh wait .. she enjoys chewing on the playstation controllers. We are so lucky to have her in our family!

New Scrapbook Page

Thought I would share what I made today. Everything is made from GG Digital Designs.

TAGGED

I was tagged by April J. So here I go:

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1. I graduated from High School.
2. I worked at Intermountain Financial Group/MassMutual as a office assistant.
3. Went off to my first year of college at Ricks (AKA BYU-Idaho now).
4. Said good-bye to some of my high school friends, and met a lot of new and crazy friends.
5. Started on the Newspaper staff at Ricks. (I hated it at first, if I wouldn't have stuck with it though, I wouldn't have met Tim).

5 Things on my to-do list today
1. LAUNDRY!!
2. Make something for dinner
3. Update my blog
4. Help Miles with his homework
5. Go see Becoming Jane with my friends

5 Snacks I enjoy
1. Thin Oreo's 100 Calorie packages
2. Nilla Wafers
3. Caramel Popcorn or Kettle corn
4. Nachos
5. Cotton Candy at the A's game

5 Songs I know the lyrics to
1. Wasted - Carrie Underwood
2. Bad Day - Daniel Powter
3. Everyday - Dave Matthews Band
4. Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks
5. She Think's my Tractor's Sexy - Kenny Chesney

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Pay off all my debt.
2. Buy a nice home (and maybe a maid to go with it).
3. Invest it, and start savings for my kids.
4. Travel all over the world.
5. Buy a van (hint, hint TIM)

5 Bad Habits
1. I'm perfect!! (yeah, right)
2. Taking things people say so personally
3. Yelling at my kids/Tim
4. Complaining under my breath
5. Shaking my leg

5 Things I'd never wear again
1. Those stupid/ugly/uncomfortable maternity pants with the huge panel in the front.
2. Black spandex shorts with the hot pink stripes down the sides.
3. Double layered, different colored socks
4. Big bangs.
5. High heels. Hate them. Always feel like I am going to fall and brake my ankle.

5 Favorite toys
1. The computer
2. Photoshop
3. Lego's
4. My little pony
5. My pound puppy

Now Pitching ... #12 ... Miles Doll

Baseball is here again. The boys are playing in a laid-back fall ball league. With only 8 games on Saturdays. Miles made his debut as a pitcher on Saturday. He did a great job. He struck out 2 and only gave up one hit, but no one scored. He couldn't wait to pitch in a game. His coach never let him during the spring. He practiced in our backyard during the summer.

YAY for school!!

Miles started 2nd grade on August 27th. That day couldn't have come have come any sooner for me. We all went to see him off. I think he was just as excited to go as I was for him to be gone. (Is that mean? But it's the truth) The school always has doughnuts and apple juice (and coffee) for the parents after the kids head off to their classrooms . (Just a little celebration.)

Miles has 2 teachers who are team teaching this year. They seem really nice. Where has the time gone? I can't believe that I have a child that is old enough to be in Second grade!! Caden starts preschool on Tuesday. But he is already telling people that he will be in Kindergarten (in one more year.)
Miles was lucky to get into the same class as his best friend, Conner Burr.

That's gotta hurt

This is a picture of Tim's ankle after he got hit by a softball during a game. The picture was taken a week and a half after he got hit. Enough said.

The rest of our Utah vacation

I finally was able to download all my pictures. Here are some other fun things we did while we were in Utah in August.

Visiting Great Grandma & Grandpa Redding at Camperworld in Utah

Growing up as a kid, this was our very favorite place to go to visit my Grandparents. It's fun to take my kids to the same place and see them have so much fun, just like I did.

How SUITE it is

Nothin' better than a cold diet Pepsi and watchin' an A's game.

Our friend Jeff called the other night and said he had 2 extra tickets to the A's game on Saturday. Oh yeah, they were in the Luxury Suites. We had a lot going on Saturday, but Tim really wanted to go. I started whining (a little) and said that I had only been to 2 games this year. And I pointed out how many games he had been to this year, including the BBQ Terrace, I think I should get the tickets. Tim said that I could go and bring a friend! And he said that he would watch all 3 kids. So April J. and I made our way to the game Saturday afternoon. We had a great time along with Tammy and the McKissick Family, talking and eating and watching the game. Even thought the A's lost, it was very nice and relaxing. After the game, April and I made our way over to Fenton's for some yummy ice cream and more talking. It was a great day. Thanks McKissick's for the tickets and Thanks Tim for watching the kids! It was a much needed break.

My 10 year High School Reunion (Am I really that old???)

So the reason I went to Utah was to attend my 10 year High School Reunion. One of the best parts was that Tim showed up and surprised me!! He decided to come out at the last minute and didn't tell me. It was a great surprise. He left California at 8 p.m. Friday night. He drove to Winnemucca and slept in the car for 4 hours and then drove the rest of the way to Utah. The timing was perfect because he made it to the family picnic about 5 minutes after I arrived with the kids. (Because we both got lost trying to find the park.) The park was fun. There was a ton of little kids running around. It was weird/neat to see the "cool guys" from high school pushing their kids in the swings. It was a little windy so the boys couldn't play whiffle ball, so they were a little upset about that. Then they went to go jump in the bounce house. But it was time for the bounce house to come down -- Caden lost it. He wouldn't stop crying. So we knew it was time to leave the park.

Later that night we had an adult dinner at Buca di Beppo. It was a blast. So many people showed up. I didn't even get to talk to everyone that I wanted to (or I didn't even know that they were there!). Here are some pictures from Emilee's blog from the reunion. (I can't download my pictures from my camera yet, because of the ink being out. Stupid, huh? Hopefully next week.) It was great seeing our "old friends," some that I have know from Jr. High and elementary.

Emilee, Alisha, & Me

Alisha (Payne) Owens, Me & Tim , Bill & Emilee Carruth
Ryan & Tiffany McLelland, Marie (Camp) & Paul Richardson, Jeff & Monique Goddard

I want to thank Brooke and Jaime for all their HARD WORK for putting the reunion together. They spend a lot of time and a lot of effort to pull it together. I also want to tell them thanks for the movie gift certificate. Tim and I won the "being married the longest" award. Yikes!!

Getting to Utah ...

I think I jinxed myself with my last post because It took me and the kids a lot longer to get to Utah then we expected. Oh wait we probably could have driven to Utah fast than sitting at airports all day long. So the story goes like this (and Miles likes to tell everyone too) ... We missed our flight going to Utah. We left the house at 7:00 a.m. after trying to print out my boarding passes and the printer running out of ink halfway through, making a quick stop to McDonald's, getting gas, hitting the morning traffic, seeing an accident on the side of the freeway, and construction at the airport, we got inside the airport 15 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave. No one from Southwest even tried to help me with the 3 kids in tow. They just said too bad ... here stand in this line and check your bags. And then the nice workers at Southwest had the nerve to let another family cut in front of me in that line because they "got in the wrong line." I almost lost it. I didn't know if I should cry or start yelling. I didn't do either. I just calmly stood there. We finally got to the front of the baggage checking line (which took longer than a line at Disneyland) and told them my problem. They checked my bags to Utah and told me that I could get on stand-by for a 12:35 flight to Utah. So we waited for that flight for 3 hours. And then after the wait, there was only one seat open. So a nicer Southwest worker helped me out. He said that my options were 1. Go home and come back the next day and get on a flight, or 2. We could fly down to L.A. and then from L.A. get on a plane to Utah. I called Tim because I didn't know what to do. We decided to go with option #2. Besides our bags were already in the air on their way to Utah. So we got our new tickets and waited about an hour and got on the plane headed to L.A. No problems. Then we had to wait another 3 hours because the plane that was going to take us to Utah was delayed about an hour. So we ate dinner and looked at the gift shops at LAX and waited for the next plane. It finally came. We got on and was finally on our way to UTAH. After an hour and 40 minute flight. We finally made it to Utah at 10:30 p.m. Hallelujah! I have to say the kids were SO GOOD!! Alexandra had a rough 20 minute period on the last flight just because she was so tired. We we survived a very long day and 2 airplane ride to get to there.
(Note to self: NEVER EVER miss a flight again.)

UTAH ... or BUST

So the kids and I are leaving for Utah tomorrow morning. I still have a ton of things to do ... finish the laundry, pack, go to Target, the library, Miles' school, make handouts for Relief Society, we have tickets for tonight's A's game and Stamp Club ... and here I am blogging. I'm excited to get to Utah for a few days and see some friends that I haven't seen for a long time and hang out with my family.

Boating on the Delta ... no kids allowed

Last Saturday we went boating with our friends. It was great. We were able to find babysitters for the older kids and spent the evening on the Delta. We had 3 boats and 6 couples and 3 babies. We all took turns tubing and then stopped for dinner at a restaurant by the water. It was a fun evening. Alexandra did surprisingly well on the boat. She only cried when the boat stopped. Thanks to April and J.M. for putting this little getaway together. We will have to do it again soon.

Alexandra wearing her life jacket!

I love this picture of Tim and Alexandra on the boat. The sun is just setting and you can see the love they have for each other!

Swimming at Gehringer

Miles and Caden both had swim lessons a 2 weeks ago. Caden especially surprised me at what he was doing. He was going in the "blue badge" pool where he couldn't touch and diving down for toys, and doing "torpedo" swimming. Miles is a great swimmer. His swim teacher was trying to teach him how to dive. But Grandma Doll, being the great diving coach that she is, gave him a quick lesson and he was doing great! Remember Miles, your feet go in last!

Build-A-Bear

Miles and Caden got invited to a birthday party at Build-A-Bear Workshop. They had a blast. We have never taken the boys because it is so expensive. They had fun picking out their Bear's names and taking them home in their cool outfits. And they took a ton of pictures with their new best friends.

Caden with fluffy. Miles with Miles Jr.
Caden with Fluffy and Miles Jr. and their take home boxes.