HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIS . . .

On Sunday after Rilyn's party we went to my neice Cortney's (or "Willis" as I call her), birthday party at Great Skate and oh my goodness did we have fun .. hahaaa .. all I can say is look out adult night out at Great Skate (80's night in Sept.) here we come .. LOL!!! I'm not sure who had more fun the kids or all of us adults tearin it up out there gettin our dance on!! Hahaaa!! It has been waaayyyy too many years since I have had any kind of wheels on my feet so I have to admit I was a little leery, but it all came back to me in no time!! Happy Birthday to my beautiful, smart, mini me neice ... we love you Cortsky Butt!!!

Lacey & I still in the uneasy stage .. hopin we weren't gonna bust our booty's!!!
Rilyn even joined in the skating fun and thought she was pretty big stuff with these skates on her feet!!!

A VISIT FROM THE RUBENSTEIN FAM . . .

My cousin Ashley aka "A" and her family were able to make it down to Rilyn's birthday party for an extra long visit which was so awesome and we got a lot accomplished as well as some good quality time in while they were here!! It is so awesome that we have been able to get together as much as we have and even more importantly get our kids together even though we live so far apart ... reminds me of when I was a kid and we got to go see our cousins or they came to see us, nothing was better!!

Here are all the kiddos being silly on the couch .. hahaaa .. Rilyn and Colton covering their eye's!!!
Colton rockin' Rilyn's pink Vans hat ... too stinkin' cute!!!

THE BIG 30!!!

Celebrating the big 30 for me started on Wednesday when my awesome mother in law surprised me with an early gift, a new flash for my camera, woo hooo, and a bday lunch on Wednesday which was a nice afternoon together while the boys were in school!!

Then on Friday night, Momma, Lay, Me & Lor met up for our typical girls night out for pedicures followed by margaritas (like we always try to do for bdays & mothers day), but since none of us were really in need of pedi's we skipped them and headed straight to El Encanto for some appetizers and margaritas. Then much to my surprise I got presents and in those presents was the pair of boots that I had been wanting for a while yayaaa, along with an outfit, victoria secret gift card & lotion!! Totally scored in the gift dept. and I must mention speaking of gifts, the present I got from my cousin, Ashley, while they were here visiting ... a beautiful framed scenic picture of an oak tree and daisies (my favorite) in the background and engraved in the tree is a heart with Clayton heart Cristy inside and under that is all our kids names!! Such a neat idea and a great addition to my decor, I love it!!

On Saturday .. Lacey & my Momma with maybe a little help from my hubby, put together the MOST AMAZING 30th birthday party for me in the world and we had a blast!! Here is the evidence (as my friend Candis put it) .. I mean the pictures from our great night out!!! For any of you who don't know, I asked my husband for one thing on my 30th birthday and that was for him to dress like a cowboy for the night, being that I came out of a cake in lingerie for him on his 30th I'm pretty sure he knew there was no way he could deny me this one little request .. hahaaaa!!! So Momma & Lay took him shoppin for his get up and from the stories I hear, they had a great time on this little adventure of turning Clayton into a cowboy or better yet "Jason Aldean" hahaaaa, my boyfriend!!! I must say they did a darn good job and I was very impressed with my birthday cowboy .. he was lookin mighty sexy (not that he isn't always sexy) and much hotter than Jason Aldean!!! Lol!! And you didn't hear this from me, but I actually think he likes being a cowboy!! Hahaaaa!! So anyways back to our night out (sorry got a little distracted there!!), we got rooms in Tempe for the night and checked in around 3:00 so we could hang by the pool before getting ready to go out. When I arrived at our rooms Lacey had it all decorated along with 2 big ol' jugs of pre-made Boat Drinks & Jaime Drinks all labeled and decorated (still so mad at myself that I didn't get a picture of the jugs) and the party was on!!! We hung out at the pool for a while and then came back up to the rooms to get ready for our night out at Graham Central Station. Graham's was a blast, we danced the night away, ate some damn good food, rode the bull (not me .. didn't think that would be such a good idea in my skirt!!), and I even got a huge surprise when my girlfriends Donna & Jamie,that I have known since Kindergarten, showed up even though we thought they weren't gonna be able to make it!! Here are some pics & proof that everyone really did "cowboy/girl" it up for the night and had a great time!!

Some of the ladies ... leavin the hotel!!! (Jaime, Lacey, Me, Noel, Lorie, Momma)
Me and my handsome cowboy!!! Wranglers and all!!!
Momma, Lay & Me!!

Donna, Me & Jamie!!
Me, Jaime & Lorie!!
Hahaaa ... Bradley & Clayton!!!
Momma with Trent & Jackie!!
Lay & Cody!!
Bradley & Lorie!!
Brad & Noel!!
Hahaaaa ... here is my hippie cowboy the next morning!!! What beats a cowboy hat, greatful dead tye dye shirt, dickies & flip flops!!! Love him!!
Thank you again Lacey, Momma, Clayton and everyone who joined us for a great time!!! I had an AMAZING 30th birthday and if this is what 30 looks & feels like I guess I cant complain to much!! Oh and one last thing to end the very popular debate over the invitation ... the answer is YES!!! Lol!! LACEY YOU ARE THE BESTEST SISTER, FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! LOVE YOU & THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY DAY SO SPECIAL!!

A COWGIRL BIRTHDAY . . .

For Rilyn's birthday party I decided to go with a cowgirl theme ... between her little rebel attitude, her favorite toy being her holster & pistol and her love for country music I figured I couldn't go wrong and what's cuter than a 2 year old little girl decked out in boots and a cowgirl hat!! Her little outfit was just too much and she had a great time at her party!!
I had these sign's (that kinda matched the invites) posted up all over the place at the party .. hahaaa ... the good & the evil!!!
To decorate, we transformed our living room into a dance floor complete with hay bails and a banner reading "Rilyn's Dance Hall", some mason jars with fresh flowers, a "Rilyn's Saloon" sign and some vintage style root beer & cream soda bottles for drinks!! I also couldn't help but make new photo blocks for her party this year since I made them for her 1st bday, to reflect some of our favorite photos of her life from 1 yrs old to 2!!
Here are some shots of everyone kickin up their heels on the dance floor!! Aunt Lacey taught everyone a little line dance and Rilyn gave us all a show jammin to her favorite song "Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean bustin out the air guitar and all .. hahaaaa!!
Keith hooked it up and brought Peanut over so all the kiddos got to take a pony ride ... the birthday girl wouldn't get within 10 feet of the pony however .. haaa!!! Trey had a really bad allergic reaction to the pony and got all red and swollen in the face and eyes .. thank god for Benadryl or we might have been takin him to the ER, which I guess would fit being that last year at Rilyn's birthday party he broke his arm and ended up there!!
Instead of cake or cupcakes, since Rilyn isn't really a fan of either ... I decided to do Root Beer Floats ... so I just stuck a couple candles in the ice cream!!
Rilyn LOVED opening up all her presents this year and scored some pretty cool stuff!!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for her party and stuck it out in the heat .. hahaaa .. it was a great day!!!

RILYN TURN'S 2 . . .

Wednesday, Rilyn turned 2 and even though we already had her party last weekend (post to follow) and daddy was out of town, me & the boys decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies and sing her Happy Birthday again on her actual birthday!!! Hahaaa she loved it and thought she was pretty big stuff!! At her party she got all shy and wouldn't blow out her candles, but this time she blew them out like a pro!! Happy Birthday to our beautiful, bossy 2 (going on 12) year old little girl!!!

Rilyn at 2:
* loves to read books, her own way making up the words as she goes!!
* obsessed with guns and going shooting ... "I wanna hoot" are her famous words!!!
* still loves her 3 b's (bear bear, blankey, & binky) ... only now she calls her binky "mimi"!!
* talking so so much, her favorite things to tell me are "no more" and "I got it"!!
* extremely independant, wants and pretty much does everything herself!!
* the snackin queen ... always asking for a snack!!
* thinks she is the boss of everyone & everything ... literally!!
* loves her legos, baby's, music & dancing, puzzles and anything her brothers have!!!

GREEN BELT'S . . .

Last week the boys had their awards ceremony for Karate and both received their green belts!! They are both doing such an awesome job and learning so much, we are excited to see them moving up the ranks! They cant wait for the next semester to start in September so they can "start learning green belt stuff"!!!

A NEW ADDITION . . .

I am proud to announce that we have a new additon to the family ... a new nephew!!! Lacey & Cody got a puppy and he is the cutest little guy in the whole wide world!! Look at this little cutie patootie, love him love him puppy breath and all!!

A PUMP IT UP PARTY!!

Rhett wanted to have his birthday party at Pump It Up this year and all the kids had so much fun!! We had an hour and a half of jump & play time and then 30 minutes in the party room for cake & presents!!

Here is Uncle Bradley with some of the kiddos coming down the big slide ... hahaaaa ... I don't know who had more fun the kids or Brad!!!

Rhett wanted donuts instead of cake this year so we made a donut cake out of the donuts which turned out super cute!!!

Here is the birthday boy in his King chair!!

Rhett got HOOKED UP in the present department this year and got some super cool stuff!!

Me & Daddy got him a fish tank with a gift card to pick out his own fish, so we stopped at Petco on our way home from his party and he picked out some fish for his new tank!!

Aunt Lacey & Cody got him a new amp and a strap for his guitar so later that night Rhett put on a little concert for us!!

Thank you everyone for making his big day so special and joining us for all the fun!!

THE JOYS OF RAISING BOYS . . .

As I started making dinner the other night I opened my fridge to find this, 2 old dirty gatorade bottles with a bunch of ants crawling around in them!! It didn't take me long to figure out who they belonged to ... Rhett ... who had collected them for his ant farm which he informed me that "daddy said we have to put them in the fwidge so they wont be so fast to put them in my ant fawm"!!! Hahahaaa ... if there is one thing true about raising boys its the fact that you never ever know what you may find and where!!!

A QUOTE TO LIVE BY . . .

"You are not going to be the only voice in your kid's ears so you better be the best voice" - Dr. Phil

AN ISR GRADUATE!!

Rilyn officially finished ISR, passing her final 3 tests with flying colors. One day she had to swim in her pajamas, then the next day summer clothes including flip flops and the last day was jeans, long sleeves, a hooded jacket, socks & shoes. As you can see in these pictures, she did an awesome job and is now an ISR graduate and water safe!! We are very very proud of her!!

POOL DAY at GRAMMY'S . . .

Speaking of better late than never ... hahahaaa ... as I was going through all my pictures today and trying to update my shutterfly site, I came across these and realized that I never posted them!!! A few weekends ago we spent the day at Grammy's house, swimming & bbqing for a fun and relaxing afternoon!!
the kids had a blast jumping off the diving board!!

Trey, Charlotte, Rhett & Grandpa John!

Well I never was able to get a good picture of this, but the boys (Trey & Clay vs. Rhett & Darin) were having chicken fights!! Pretty entertaining ... here is a glimpse of the after math of one round!!

Rhett and Uncle D ... best buds!!!

"I una hoot" ... hahahaaaa ... Rilyn's favorite thing, shooting or as she says "hooting"!!!