Thanksgiving and Beyond!

Wow...a month!?! That went by fast. Where to begin? Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was the first time in a long time that the entire family was together for a holiday. It was fun to hang out, eat, play cards, and just be with my family. I was able to spend time with my nieces and nephews. We went to see "Megamind" and "Harry Potter" that week. Both are very cute movies. Now we are on to Christmas. I have some serious shopping to do! Yesterday, I pulled out all the gifts I purchased and was like, "WHAT THE HECK!" I thought I had more stuff. I'm very disappointed in me. I will be doing a lot of shopping this week!!! I'm very ready for break...3 weeks off for me. YAY. The kids only get 2 ha ha. And, yes, I do rub that in their faces. I started a week earlier than them in August and they rubbed it in mine. It's payback time. Last but not least--This past weekend was Mahkala's last meet. It's been a busy, fast season. It was the State Championships in Sacramento. Out of 17 girls, 9 on her team made it. You had to get a certain all around score during the season to make it to state. State is when you compete against girls from all over, many of whom we've never seen before. It's extremely competitive. Kala competed against 13, 14, and 15 year olds. I was a mess...naseous, stressed, and so nervous. I attempted to keep it all concealled until she went out on the mat. Then it was my turn to panic. Eric knows to not sit too close to me during meets. My sister, Sally, and my niece, Emily, came to watch from Santa Rosa. Eric drove up the morning of and brought one of Kala's BFF's, Sara, along with him. Kala was awesome!! I'm so proud of her. She hung with the older girls and let 'em know who was boss. She surpassed her averages on all events and in the all around. The scoring was much tougher, but she did great. She earned 8th on bars, 8th for beam, 4th for floor, 3rd on vault, and 4th place in the All-Around!! GO KALA! Not too shabby for State Championships and for her first year competing. We are very proud of her. She is proud of herself, but she's ready to move on to the next level and learn new skills. This week begins her school gymnastics season, so we are starting a new round. It's much more relaxed and all the meets are here in town (YAY for no traveling). Kala's favorite part of the weekend: getting her nails painted yesterday. They cannot have polish on during meets, so I wouldn't allow to her get manis/pedis all season long. She and I went and got our nails done. I was dying to get mine done too because I waited for her season to be over. Also, her other teammates did very well too. Her friend, Madi, got 2nd place. Abby got 8th, Caitlyn got 3rd, and Taylor got 5th. Every girl from her team got a medal in one event or another. We are very proud of Clovis Academy and Mahkala!!! WARNING-TONS OF PICS!

Why I'm Thankful for the next few weeks!!

I have 4 more days until Thanksgiving Break. I LOVE Thanksgiving Break for the following reasons:

1. VACATION....7 days of sleeping in (and I'm a grouchy mama if I don't get to)
2. FAMILY...all my family is coming to town to celebrate at my dad's...Susan's family will be here a week (yay) and Sally's family can only come for one night but they are staying with us (double yay)
3. FOOD, FOOD, & FOOD...I love Thanksgiving food: rolls, turkey, corn, STUFFING, pies, mashed potatoes, etc. Keep it comin' I have stretchy pants.


4. Watching TV/Games/Movies...sitting on the couch with family after stuffing myself, playing NERTZ (and winning) against my sisters, and watching silly movies at night
5. The day after Thanksgiving=DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS. My favorite time of the year!!!!!! Eric spends all day outside on a ladder putting up lights...I spend all day (WARM & COZY) inside decorating the house. Then we get the tree later that weekend.




I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! Oh yah, plus this time of year=me shopping for a lot of people which I LOVE!

SLO Trip & Meet

Last weekend we went to San Luis Obispo for Mahkala's Zone Championships. We drove up Saturday afternoon and hung out at the hotel. Since it's pomegranate (spelling?) season, poor Eric drove home that night. We had dinner with my brother, James, who lives 10 minutes away from where we stayed. Sunday we were carless (is that a word) since Eric was home working. Kala's friend, Madison, and her mom and grandma offered to let us hang with them all day. We went to Avila Farms, the beach, lunch, and shopping. We had a lot of fun. Last time they had a meet in SLO, I was in Texas and Kala stayed with Madi and her family. They are great to hang out with and Kala enjoys spending time with her 9 year old buddy! Madi and Kala buddied up from the get-go. She lives 1 minute away and goes to Copper Hills Elementary. I believe they are good luck to Mahkala. Last time she was in SLO, she won the meet! This meet started at 5 pm on a Sunday (seriously!). There were ages from 6-13. Poor kids were exhausted even before it started, plus it was the day of the time change so their bodies thought it was an hour later. The meet ended at 10 pm! Eric drove back to SLO for the meet (he was exhausted) and James met us there. He's good luck too since he went to her last meet. Kala was awesome!!! As was Madi. She had set goals a few weeks ago for Zone and she met every one. She had the best meet so far. She got 1st on floor, 6th on beam (but she still scored a 9.025), 1st on bars, and 2nd on vault=37.075 1st PLACE BABY!! Madi won 1st in her age category too, so it was fun to watch that. The team got 2nd (boo), but still not bad. State Championships are the weekend of Dec 4th up in Sacramento. It's supposed to be extremely competitive there, but we'll be excited whatever happens. Not bad for her first year competing.

Happy Halloween

I like Halloween, but it's not my favorite holiday of the year. I've never liked scary movies or anything spooky. For me, Halloween is a stepping stone to my favorite time of the year (other than being on summer vacation). I LOVE Thanksgiving & Christmas. So Halloween to me means the other holidays are around the corner!! Here are some cute pics of Kala's game yesterday and from a party we went to last night.

BFF in Houston

The past four days I was in Houston for a work trip. It was last minute and I HATE the flying part, however it was so much fun. The conference was awesome (best I've ever been to during my career), they have a HUGE mall that was fun to explore (and shop), and I was able to see one of my BFF's since 3rd grade. KRYSTA! Krysta lives about 20 minutes outside Houston. She's a busy mama to 4 children, whom I've never met. She picked me up Monday night and we went to Chili's to hang out. I had never met her kids before (except when Addy was in her belly last summer during our Vegas trip). I wasn't able to meet Jake nor her husband because Jake had baseball. I had so much fun hanging with them. I was sad it wasn't longer :( Kaylee, Drew, & Addy were so sweet and adorable. They remind me of Krysta when we were kids. One of our other BFF's, Sara, is moving to Houston next year, so I will for sure be back to spend a lot more time with them.

How Do You Celebrate Your 13th BDAY?

You:

1. go to the beach w/your 2 BFF for the weekend
2. Swim
3. Dig a hole
4. Eat at Bubba Gump's
5. Dress up & eat at a super-fancy restaurant in Carmel
6. Play with seaweed, dead jellyfish, & chase a billion seagulls around the beach (mom didn't get a pic of that)

STOP GROWING UP!!!

BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!

I've come to the realization that I will not update my blog as much as I want. Currently, I have a lot of grades I need to enter but I HAVE to update a little bit. I get frustrated with myself and then think I should just delete it. I'm not going to...for all 5 of my readers out there! LOL Okay, so September is birthday month (Eric's side) around here:

Colton Sept 6 (turned 3)
Sylvia Sept 17 (turned 1)
Eric Sept 18 (turned &*) I can't share that!
Mahkala Sept 20 (turned 13)

Plus there are two August bdays on Eric's side of the family (his brother, Joe, and me!). We have had a lot of celebrations this past week! Here's a brief recap:

Last Wednesday-My family came over to celebrate Eric and Kala's bdays. We had a delicious BBQ and opened presents. We gave our gifts to Eric that night since we were going to be out of town on his bday. He very much enjoyed the new 46" TV I bought him for the bedroom. We had a 31" so it was a HUGE jump. He was due a nice gift! He bought me an iPad for my bday, after all. Kala received some great gift cards, movies, clothes, money, and some cute Paris decorations (she's obsessed with Paris and the Eiffel Tower). Eric got the TV, a Steelers hat, movies, and gift cards. Then on Friday we headed down to Eric's brother's house. I started feeling sick on Thursday, so at this point I was tired and sleepy. On Saturday, we met up with his mom, sister, and brother's family at the Pala Casino to celebrate everyone's bdays. I know that may seem silly...A CASINO!?! Other than walking through the casino to get to the car, it just felt like being at a hotel. His mom rented a cabana and we relaxed by the pool the entire day. We swam, ate, watched football, open presents, and had a great time. Poor Kala...she started to feel sick and slept on the couch for an hour. I wasn't feeling too hot either. Watching Colton and Sylvia was the highlight. Colton loved his Steelers jersey and Cars bed we bought him. Sylvia thinks her new piano is awesome (Colton isn't quite sure why he has to share it with her). Eric picked that out himself; he was so proud! Mind you, we bought Colton a drumset for his 1st bday. He's building a band, apparently. Sunday, we left early because I was very achey and tired. I slept most the ride and once we got home. Monday was Mahkala's birthday. I planned on working and then coming home to take her and 5 friends to lunch. I was too sick to make it to work, but I slept all morning so I could still take them to lunch. After my long nap, I felt better. I picked Mahkala and her 5 best friends (Sara, Sarah, Megan, Kenall, & Kassidy) and took them to lunch. They surprised her with a cute poster, cake, and fun presents. They even decorated my car for her. Note-A care wash alone does not take off car markers. I had to scrub it for about 1/2 hour, but it was my idea so I didn't mind. Plus, the girls had so much fun writing on the windows for Mahkala. I'm so grateful she has a great group of friends who treat her so great! She felt so loved yesterday. We went out to her favorite restaurant last night where she got her presents from us: San Diego Chargers sweatsuit, touchscreen camera and a few other knickknacks. Sadly, she came home from school sick today :( I went back to work but still felt tired. Hopefully, we are at the tailend of the sickness. Here are a ton of pics from the past busy, busy week! Next up-CHRISTMAS!!