Dirty 30

I have to say, Mark did a fantastic job of getting together a wonderful 30th birthday for me. I knew he was planning something but I had no idea what or the magnitude until it was actually happening.

The day of November 8th he had me close my eyes and enter the bedroom where he had a beautiful Vera Wang dress (that definitely gave new meaning to "little black dress") laid out on the bed. He told me it was to wear later that night. Around 4pm, Mark's brother and sister-in-law J and A with their son Brett showed up to watch Christian and Elias for the weekend which was pretty awesome as they live about 6 hours away near Amarillo, TX. Thank you guys again!!

The entire car ride as Mark drove us to our destination I was blindfolded, so that heightened and added to the anticipation. As we drove up, he took the blindfold off and found myself at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, TX. This was extremely exciting for me because I have always wanted to stay there!

Upon our arrival to our room for the next two days, we were greeted by a bottle of champagne.


After we got ready, we met some friends downstairs in one of the restaurants called the Riverwalk Cantina which was also a surprise. My sister Triana had been helping coordinate the party with Mark.

Justin and Becca




With my sister Triana, Syble, and Becca


With Sharon




With my sister Charissa and Becca having fun in the lobby of the hotel.

After dinner we headed over to the Glass Cactus for drinks and dancing.



Since Mark had booked two nights at the Gaylord, the second night we had fun touring and exploring the entire resort and having dinner at an Italian restaurant. The Gaylord is a huge resort that they are starting to deck out for Christmas and when it is complete will look like a winter fairyland. It is also the home of ICE! where every year they feature a walk through ice sculptures attraction with a particular theme. This year will be The Nutcracker and we plan on taking the boys to see it.

Getting ready! Ice opens November 14, 2013.


Different views of the sights inside the hotel.






The view of Lake Grapevine from our hotel room.

It was overall a magical 30th birthday weekend. :)

Trick or Treat!

We had such a fun Halloween last night with the boys and some our friends and their kids. It is so much fun to see Christian running up from house to house saying politely, "trick-or-treat!" then "thank you", when they would put candy in his bag. Elias was content to be "worn" in the carrier/sling and walked all over the neighborhood. Christian went as his favorite Disney character, Peter Pan, and Elias debuted as baby R2-D2 for his first Halloween. Super cute!


We saw so many interesting houses. Some people really went all out with decorating! These are probably the same people whose houses turn into the Land of Sweets for Christmas. So much fun for kids. Its amazing to see the product of some people's imaginations! Our kids got a kick out of it too.





At one point we stopped at a house where they were grilling burgers and had made margaritas. Christian thought it was lemonade and wanted some...of course he was denied :), but then he would go up to houses to get candy and greet them with "I'm thirsty". Way too funny.


Cute M and A as a duck and La la Loopsy.


Amy was a "thing" from Cat in the Hat.



Overall, a successful and fun Halloween. :)

Pumpkin Carving Fun

...More pumpkins! I love this season. For me, fall officially begins September 1 (my way of prolonging the autumn season, ha!) Last night we went to carve pumpkins with some friends. For me, this was the very first year of pumpkin carving. This mostly has to do with my family not celebrating Halloween growing up. Now that I have my own family, there are certain traditions that I like to adopt from my childhood, but some (not celebrating Halloween for instance) that I do not. So for me, I am like a child when it comes to this "holiday". It amuses Mark to no end when, with child like wonder I embrace new things that may be to most to be routine. This is something that I can also experience with my own children for the first time. Their experiences are mine...through a more mature (but no more sophisticated) lens :).


Elias and Amy playing on the very cool gym mat that was brought out for his use.


Elias loved his baby pumpkin.


Mother and daughter carving away.


Mark and I took turns at the marking, then carving of the pumpkins. In the span of time it took us to carve just one pumpkin, our friends and their kids were on their third! :)


The finished product of the big pumpkins. Can you guess which one is ours? :)


Christian and Elias with their little initial carved pumpkins. Christian was very awed by his the look of his.

Happy pumpkin carving!!