I have a webcam

So, my neice Hannah asked me to get a webcam because she got one for Christmas. We can talk and see each other instead of IMing. So, I got one.

I am QUICKLY re-thinking this however because I took a picture of what I look like on the webcam. Here I am, in all my glory (no make-up) in bed talking to my neice. This is how I will always look on webcam because I will only be talking to my neice when I am in bed and getting ready to go to sleep (she is 2 hours behind me in Idaho). When I bought the webcam it was under the impression that I would ONLY be talking to my neice and this picture has surely sealed that decision.

Last night I watched (and helped) Hannah study for her Spanish final exam. She was so funny to watch and listen to as she worked out the problems she was studying. I wish I could've recorded some of her facial expressions. She is so pretty and SMART~ I'm glad that we can connect over the webcam - it's actually really fun.

LOVE & MISS YOU MI SOBRINA!

Granny's Goombata

This past weekend we had the first Granny's Goombata of 2008. It was at Shawnie's house and we had a tea party. Shawnie set a beautiful table and we each had our own tea pot. Drake (8 yrs old) dressed up in a suit and served us. He was FANTASTIC and he made the day more special. We had a GREAT time! Dori couldn't make it this time but will be sure to be at our next one!

Drake lead us into the dining room one at a time, pulled the chair out for us and sat us at our seat.

He then put the napkins on our laps.

He poured our water and brought around the tea for us to choose what we wanted.

We had quiche, chicken satay, egg rolls, cucumber sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and bite sized cheesecakes. It was YUMMY!

Drake serving Mandy the egg rolls w/ sweet and sour sauce.

It was really fun. We all enjoyed ourselves. I love Granny's Goombata. It's so nice to get all of the women together once a month to share stories and conversation with one another. I am glad we live close enough to do this (except for Hannah and Christy whom we miss TERRIBLY) I love all of the women in my family so much. Each one is different and each one brings a unique spirit to our family. I truly am blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful women.

Mini Dori

So, Dori had some pictures taken of CeCe to send in to the Regis and Kelly beautiful baby contest. Is this girl BEAUTIFUL or what?
She looks like a mini Dori~ the best thing is, she's got Dori's personality too. I could look at this picture all day.

I LOVE being an Aunt.

Happy New Year

It was a BUSY end of the year. I spent Christmas Eve/Morning at Dori and Brian's. You just have to wake up Christmas morning with kids....it makes all the difference. We went over to Travis and Shawnie's later that afternoon for dinner. It was a nice day and our Christmas dinner was very good.....everything tasted perfect.

2008 so far, has been a great year. I spent New Year's Eve at Brian and Dori's. Robbie and I rang in the new year - we had sparkling cider and everything. Robbie made a toast and we clinked glasses and said "cheers"....he was a great date and I could not have asked for a better night.

I have made some goals for 2008. I have to be honest and say I've never REALLY made New Year's Resolutions before so I'm pretty excited about it. I think this is going to be a good year. I can't explain why, but I just feel good about it. I'm sure I just jinxed myself but that's okay....I don't really believe in jinxes anyway!

So, I have to post this picture of CeCe. I love it. It looks like she is in the middle of singing an opera. It just cracks me up. I think, in fact, she was getting ready to pounce on her brother for some cool ranch doritoes.

She got 'em. She FINALLY started walking and looks like a drunk sailor - she'll be running from Dori before too long.

Like I said, the end of the year was VERY busy and it has taken a couple of days to recuperate. It has been very cold here and I am just PRAYING for a huge snow storm to dump a couple feet of snow on us. That would make the beginning to 2008 PERFECT!

The joys of being an Aunt

This weekend I went to Winchester to babysit for Dori and Brian while they went to a Bed &
Breakfast. I had so much fun I can't possibly write about everything in this blog. I will however, write about the highlights.

This is a picture that even I would not believe had I not actually taken the picture myself. The boys (Robbie 5 yrs and Shane 3 yrs) and I made pizza's for dinner. I could tell CeCe was tired during dinner but she managed to eat a slice of cheese pizza. I started cleaning up and looked over at her and she had pulled her shirt over her head. I noticed a minute later that it had not moved ~ I went over to her to play "peek-a-boo" thinking she was patiently waiting for me to say something to her and I realized she was ASLEEP! It was hilarious!


This is her right after her bath and AFTER I woke her up. She fell asleep around 8 so I put her in her crib. Robbie, Shane and I always sleep on an air mattress in the living room (on the main level) whenever I spend the night. CeCe woke up around 9 o'clock and started yelling "Ya Ya" from her crib. Robbie was the only one still awake and we had been talking and watching T.V. We decided to let CeCe cry for 5 minutes and then if she didn't put herself back to sleep we would go up and sing to her. Well, right before we were going to go up to her room, Robbie said "let's say a prayer so that CeCe goes to sleep".......so Robbie proceeded to say a prayer. As soon as he said "AMEN" she stopped crying...I mean INSTANTLY. We looked at each other in astonishment and Robbie throws both arms in the air and yelled " IT WORKED". We both busted out laughing and he flings his little hand over my mouth so CeCe can't hear us laughing. (which made me laugh more and LOUDER) We laughed for 5 minutes straight and I had tears streaming down my face. Our laughing fits are becoming a common event when I spend the night now. I swear you would think Robbie was a teenager with the humor he has and the things he "gets". The last time I was there and we had a laughing fit, Shane was throwing up in the bathroom and we got the giggles so bad! It was terrible and so funny all the same.


We had a WONDERFUL ice storm too. I am a little disappointed that we did not get the snow that was expected but we woke up to ice coated trees and it was beautiful.

It was a great weekend. I am always so happy when I spend time with my neices and nephews - I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!!!!

P.S. I STILL believe in Santa

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper with really pretty ribbon

2. Real tree or artificial? I have both. The real one is a more formal one upstairs and the artificial one is downstairs and it is the "santa" tree.

3.When do you put up the tree & decorate? I usually decorate the day or weekend after Thanksgiving

4. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmmm..I really liked all of my presents as a child. My parents always did very well. I think my FAVORITE was a chalkboard. I LOVED to play school.

5. Do you like eggnog? RAW EGGS? OH H*#!! NO!

6. Do you like Hot Buttered Rum? I probably would if I drank alcohol.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, it's from Mexico

8. Hardest person to buy for? No one really....I can usually find something for everyone

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Slippers that were 3 sizes too big and a REALLY ugly gold frame.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street(original and remake) plus I LOVE LOVE LOVE It's A Wonderful Life and I like White Christmas too (1954 - Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye)

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I actually shop in January for some things when everything is on sale. I like to do a lot of my shopping on the internet so I REALLY start shopping around August.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably more times than I should've

14. Favorite Christmas Treat? Edy's Peppermint Ice cream and Peppermint Hot Chocolate w/LOTS of whip cream

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear on the formal tree, colored on the "santa" tree

16. Favorite Christmas song? The First Noel and The Little Drummer Boy

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Well, this year I will be at Dori and Brian's Christmas Eve/morning and then at Trav and Shawnie's for the day

18. Favorite Christmas Family Tradition? Japanese food and a movie on Christmas...Oh wait...never mind

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One present Christmas Eve which are always pajamas to sleep in that night then the rest Christmas morning

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? TRAFFIC and really loud annoying music at the MAC makeup counter

22. Favorite ornament theme or color? My formal tree is Gold and Silver - very classic. My santa tree is all over the place - silver garland and everything - kind of retro and tacky but I love it.

23. Favorite full Christmas dinner? Turkey or Ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, green been casserole, orange cottage cheese salad, deviled eggs, 7-layer bean dip, veggie tray, pickle/olive tray and Rock Creek GRAPE SODA

24. When do you take the tree/decorations down? New Year's Day

THE Cruise

My mother, my neice Hannah and I just went on a 7-day cruise! It was a lot of fun! We went to Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize and Mexico. It was the first time for my mother and Hannah but I have cruised before. I have to say, I will never cruise Carnival again. I have previously cruised on Royal Caribbean and it is so much better. I told my mother that Carnival is like Las Vegas and Royal Caribbean is like Beverly Hills.

Hannah and I went snorkeling in Belize. It is supposed to be the 2nd largest barrier reef.....2nd to Austrailia. It was so much fun and BEAUTIFUL! Hannah was hilarious....I had to hold her hand for the first 15 minutes....she did very well though. We saw a bunch of Barracuda fish too.....it was awesome.

This was on one of our formal nights. Hannah took over 250 pictures - she was a maniac with her camera. We took some very funny/cute pictures though.

Okay....so Hannah thought that she was so cool that she could go into a bar and they wouldn't kick her out. So, we went to every bar/lounge on the boat so she could take a picture. This is her pretending to be drunk....pretty believable, eh? She fell in love with one of my favorites.....the virgin pina colada.

This is Granny, Hannah and Anthony. Hannah recieved her first kiss from a "boy" on this cruise.....from Anthony.

We loved Anthony. He was amazing. He liked us too. We told him we'd be back.

Every night we would have the cutest animals made out of our towels. This was my favorite.....especially since he is holding chocolate.

All throughout the cruise, I tried to scare Hannah. I got her REALLY good one night when she was coming out of the bathroom. She screamed BLOODY MURDER - I was impressed. This is us re-enacting the scare. (not sure why her date is off on her camera)

AHHHHH...this is our beloved Melting Chocolate Cake. It was sooo good....we got it every night. It looks like it's nothing....but it's packed with a delightful surprise. I miss it already. Hannah is going through withdrawals.

Every night we saw the sunset while at dinner. We had a great table right by the window. It was beautiful. Cruising is the only way to go. I highly recommend it.