Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday weekend. Come on, we all know that birthday's don't just last one day!
It started Friday when I woke up with chills and my throat hurt. Oh wait, that was the crappy part of the weekend, I was sick the whole entire time. Oh well, I couldn't let a runny nose, plugged up ears and a cough slow me down.

Dale and Deana came to town on Friday and we met them at the Aleworks. We also met Scott, Michelle, Ryan, Kristy, Russel and Shawn there. Apparently, we were going to have to share Dale and Deana a little bit!!

On Saturday the four of us went to Winter Wineland. This is an annual event that Brian and I try to go to every year. We managed to hit 6 wineries and my industry discount came in quite handy since Dale and Deana wanted to stock up their cellar. I guess New Mexico wine just isn't the same! After Wine Tasting we came back home and had a great night of playing games and remembering the good old days. (A quick THANK YOU to Scott and Michelle for watching Andrew while we were out playing!)

Sunday morning Andrew and I had breakfast with my parents and then it was time to say goodbye to Dale and Deana. I had a great day relaxing at home and then out to dinner tonight.

Our Little Pilot and Big Pilot!

Deana and Andrew

This winery had a chocolate fountain! Probably the best stop!!

Deana and I wanted to know where the bottle of wine was that went with this corkscrew!

Dale*Deana*Brian*Me

A Day in My Life

What does a Event Manager do all day you ask? Here, I'll show you....

We sit down every day to a lavish meal and drink wine while being served by the staff!

We plan events that there is no way we could ever afford!
We attempt to not look at any of the cool merchandise while walking through the tasting room or we will spend our entire paycheck on chotski and wine!

We wonder how only 2 gardeners can keep our grounds looking so great when I can't even keep my grass green!

Mmmm, food!

I've been talk about making Andrew's baby food for awhile now and decided I should probably get to it. So, after 2 hours for steaming, mashing, pureeing, scooping and freezing Andrew has food! His menu selections for the next couple of weeks will be apple, pear, mango, avocado and sweet potato. These are his favorite foods so far so I thought we should start with something he likes and then move on to more adventurous foods later. I wasn't about to spend 2 hours making something he won't eat!

Professional Pictures

Back in the end of November, we had professional pictures of our family taken. I hadn't posted them yet because we were giving some of them away for Christmas presents. Since I want to remember these pictures forever, I decided they needed to make it into my blog! Plus, I think they are really cute and that you would all enjoy them too.

Our Little Pilot

Andrew looks so serious here!

Our Family

Happy Naked Baby!

Doesn't he have the cutest little bum!!

The Wings

Mommy and Andrew

Daddy and Andrew

Deep thoughts by me...

Here are two things that I was thinking about today....
1. What's up with Senior Citizen Discounts?
The argument one of my coworkers gave me for a senior discount is that they live on a fixed income. Well, so do we! Brian and I get paid the same amount of money every month. There isn't a magic tree in our backyard that sprouts out dollar bills at random times each month. We live on a budget each month just like the senior citizens do. To top it off, we have a mortgage payment, two cars payments, a child to feed, cloth and one day put through school. Most seniors that I know live in a house that was paid off a long time ago, have a minimal car payment if any and are no longer supporting their children! I think there should be a "Family trying to make it in 2009" discount. We're the ones who really need the help!!

2. Why do vacuum cleaners come in pretty girl colors and not manly colors?
If you look a various different vacuum cleaners online you will find them in an assortment of colors: basic black and white as well as pink, powder blue, purple, etc. Why don't they make camo vacuum cleaners or ones with sport logo's like the NY Yankee's? I'm convinced that if I bought a camo vacuum cleaner that had a TV screen on it so Brian could watch the game as well as a gun trigger and scope so he could target and shoot the dirt, he actually might use it once in awhile!

Planes, Showers and Phantom...oh my!

2009 is already in full swing! We had a busy, long and fun-filled day yesterday. It started at 5:00am when the alarm went off. I had to get Andrew and I ready so we could catch the plane to LA to go see Paige. Andrew did great on the plane and didn't cry at all. Amazingly, the flight wasn't full so I was able to bring his car seat on board with us. He only sat in it during take off and landing but it was nice to have a place to put him.

Once we got to LA, my mom and I headed to Paige's baby shower. We got there a little early so we had some time to spend with Paige by ourselves before the millions of people showed up! Paige sure has a lot of family and friends!! Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay very long because we had to catch our plane back home.

Once we got back to Oakland, my mom and dad took Andrew home with them while Brian and I went to San Francisco to go see Phantom of the Opera. This is one of my favorite shows and Brian bought me tickets for Christmas!! The show was amazing and I had such a great time.

On the way home, it finally hit me how tired I was. I could barely keep my eyes open and wasn't a very good co-pilot for Brian because I kept falling asleep. The crazy day was well worth it though.

Andrew and I on the plane

Jessica, Andrew, myself and Paige

Paige and I

Yippe for Phantom!!

In the theater waiting to go to our seats.

Tales from Tahoe

We came back from Northstar today after our week long vacation. I have so many great memories as a child going to the condo in the winter with my family and I'm so happy that Brian and I are able to create new memories with Andrew. We packed a lot of excitement into our trip. We went skiing, sledding, walked around the village, went to visit friends and of course we did a little shopping. Since Andrew isn't quite ready for skiing yet, my mom and I both skied half days so one of us could stay with Andrew. It worked out really well, I was able to ski but I didn't get too tired or sore from being on the slopes all day long!

It was nice to have my parents there as well as Scott and Michelle for a few days. We had so much fun and can't wait until we go up again this winter!

Andrew waiting for mommy and daddy to come back from skiing

We went to visit my mom's best friend up in Sparks. We don't get to see her and her family very often so we try to get together every time we're up in Tahoe. Her two grandson's were over that day so it gave my mom a little glimpse into the future of what life with young boys are like!

Patti, Andrew and Gma

Gma and Gpa going out skiing
(We tried to tell my mom she couldn't wear that hat but she insisted and said it keeps her head warm. The boys said the only positive thing was they could easily spot her on the slopes!!)

Andrew having fun!

All snuggly up at the village

Sledding Time!!
What is a trip to Tahoe without sledding. The path behind the condo was the perfect place to go with Andrew. It wasn't too steep but it had enough of a slope that you could get going without any problems!

Andrew and I cruising down the hill

Andrew liked sledding with daddy!

Our family!

Mom and I had to take our turn as well!!

Poor Andrew couldn't leave the house without getting completely bundled up each time. He didn't really seem to mind it too much though.

I think we wore Andrew out!

On New Year's Eve we went up to the Village to watch the fireworks. It was really cold and Andrew was already asleep so my mom volunteered to stay at the condo while the rest of us went up. We watched the fireworks and then made it back to the condo in time to watch the ball drop on TV!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!