Throw back Thursday - We are Family

As I have posted several times I am ALL about my family!  They are the heart and soul of my biggest blessings from God!!  I feel like recently life has been a vapor because it is going by so fast and every now and then I like to go back to some of my favorite photos!  I must admit that no photo seems complete without my child in it, but here are a few family photos I couldn't resist that I had to share with the world! 

My fav photo of my Hubby and I - I know it is not a professional pic but it is the real deal and shows how much in love we are to take a photo of ourselves in the cold :)

Fav photo of my Father and I because he supported me in doing something that he really wasn't into, but he was there for me

Fav photo of my Mother and I on one of our adventures together!

Fav photo of My Brother and I :) love my baby bro that was always taller than me it seems :)

OK sorry I couldn't skip my fav person :) This is when my sweetie was only 2 months old :) look at that LOVE

Creating Life

This week was beautiful and we took every opportunity to get some sun!  It is also the week I picked to teach my child about nature.  We went to WalMart and purchased some flower kits so that we could talk about how we can help plants grow then tied that into how we grow too!  Plus we had a good discussion about how we created life because plants are alive and no matter how small they are a life is very important.  Here was our setup:

This was a fun project and the seeds germinated in just two days in both kits so it went really well even with dirt getting everywhere and some leftover dirt making some mud pies later that day too!

Also even though it is March we played in the sprinkler and went to a playground to slide on the slides!  After all of that we went to a local park and looked around the lake to see what kinds of nature and life we could find around there too!  Such a good week!! 

Monday = NO FUN DAY

I cannot sleep, but what is new, and that is why I blog to get sleepy enough to go to bed. I think sleep will not happen because Monday my sweet baby has to go in for his third operation on his ears. When he was 10 months old we got his first set of ear tubes because he had chronic ear infections for months then one popped out a month later therefore we had to go back into surgery to replace that one. Tomorrow we have our third and prayerfully LAST EVER surgery to remove the final ear tube which has come out properly however it is stuck in his ear near his ear drum. Praying a lot today and I am a nervous WRECK! We appreciate and prayers or thoughts about us as we go through this procedure!

10 Months old right after his first ear tube surgery :( so little and still has the cotton in his ears to help them for that first day.

Click to learn more - What are ear tubes from an ENT

Throwback Thursday - Tribute

On this beautiful Thursday I am brought back to my childhood when days like today were for fun in the sun!  Mostly we spent time either playing basketball or riding our horse.  Our horse was amazing!  He is a Paso Fino with a gate that looks like a dance rather than a walk or a trot.  This breed is also very spirited and exciting to ride!  My Aunt and Father taught us how to ride which created a lot of wonderful memories that I will never forget!  Even cleaning the stall, which wasn't fun, was a good lesson to teach us how to work hard.  As you can see from the photos below we loved to go to various show arenas to let him show is stuff and we had a great time getting ready for the show too!  A big thanks to my Aunt for letting us follow her horse when our boy was acting like a wild cat! 

The reason I have our horse on my mind is that we sold him when I was in college because we didn't have time to give him the attention he should have therefore he went to a great home in South Carolina and my Father received a phone call from the lady that bought him stating that unfortunately he has cancer.  In respect to him they have decided to put him down and donate his body to science research.  I am greatly saddened and I am thankful for my Parents allowing us to have this horse be a special part of my life!  Love you fast one!!! 

The Fast one - We love you!!

Showing our boy I think we got third that time!

Together = Anniversary Celebration

Today is the day I went out with my now husband for the FIRST time 11 years ago. WOW 11 years is a long time! We were still teenagers during our first meeting and we have been through a lot together so it is time to celebrate our anniversary of being brought together!

For those of you who do not know me you need to know that family is my number one in life and my family has shown me an enormous amount of love throughout my life. They have also given me an example of what a family should be and I pray everyday I am following that example so our family will grow with more love each and everyday! Just for fun I thought I would show you some photos over the years of the love we have shared!

Above you will see a photo of my amazing parents on their wedding day with my paternal Grandfather. My Mom and Dad are so good to me that I couldn't measure the amount of love they have and still give to me!! LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!!

Another wedding photo above is of my Mother and Father In-law hope they don't mind me sharing this on my blog, but they have also been together for a long while proving that the test of time is not a match for love!

My Brother and his beautiful wife recently got married and we all were in their wedding which was wonderful!!  Love you Bro and also super excited to say now I have a sister :) even if it is in-law :)

Above is the day I married my sweetheart back in 2006!  It was a beautiful day that overflowed my love tank to the max!!  If I had to do it over again I would change some things but NOT the man!! :) LOVE YOU HONEY!!! 

BEST day of our life when we had our son!  The feeling of being a Mother is the most powerful and humbling feeling on Earth in my opinion because this sweetheart is a gift from God that I will cherish and love forever more!!!

:-)LOVE FOREVER :-)
HAPPY 11 YEARS!!!

Spring It...

Excited about Spring because I LOVE this season! I just started my Spring cleaning list with cleaning out all my makeup products.  It is so important to clean out your makeup stash because you wouldn't want to get an infection in your eye or get bacteria anywhere on your face for that matter.  I clean out my stash about every month because I use a lot of cream and/or liquid makeup therefore they go bad more often especially your mascara I replace that every month because I have seen someone that received more that awesome lashes from old mascara!

 

I also love love Spring because it is a great time to hit the open road running! I just bought some new running gear and I am excited to plan out my goals for this year. Last year I did my first 5k, 8k, and I was running 6-7 miles by the end of summer each time I ran .

My sweet child and I enjoy Spring by planting plants, playing ball outside, grilling some pineapple with coconut milk, bubbling our neighborhood, and MANY other outdoor activities. Plus, I do not know about you but, I love dressing him in cute little Spring clothes!!

My Husband also loves Spring because he can put us to work on making our yard look better plus he gets us into at least one major outside project. This year we have selected to get our front porch redone and take out our deck putting in a bigger wooden deck or replacing it with a concrete patio! Excited to post photos after everything is done!!!

Last but not least on our list for Spring is cleaning, which oddly enough I love, AND traveling some!!!

Hope you are having an awesome sunny first day of wonderful Spring!!!!! 

Source: marthastewart.com via Sprial on Pinterest

Winning Wednesday -- Travel to Vegas

Vegas was amazing for the food, shows, nightlife, and most of all just to look around. It is a different place that you almost feel like you are on another planet! The environment makes you feel like a beautiful millionaire!!  Vegas can easily suck you into the life of a spender and make you a night owl. It was amazing to me to try to figure out all the incredibly intellectual ways to make sure you are blissfully happy to the point where you forget you are not a beautiful millionaire!

Where I stayed:
Planet Hollywood Resort Link

Above photo is what I took from our room such an amazing view! 

I was looking online about how many different ways that Vegas tricks your mind and being there I could really tell how it can happen.  They do mess with the oxygen levels in the rooms, the floors are wacky colors/shapes so you cannot find the exit (so true), they have very beautiful people strolling around smiling at you like you are that hot too so you feel lucky, they will give you a taste of a win to get you coming back for more, and tons of other things that are really sneaky. 

Being aware of all of this I did play Vegas a little and tried to learn tricks so I could get out without losing anything but gaining a good experience.  I did a lot of planning before I packed up to make sure I had coupons for some awesome restaurants plus I researched the ways to get good things without gambling.  I only gambled $5 and that was just to see what it felt like and I only took that much cash with me into the casino because I wasn't planning on being a big spender or a thrill seeker I just wanted to say I did gamble in Vegas.  I did take advantage of the spa and the workout facility.  They had some coupons online plus I knew the event I was there with had a special discount that I used too.  Again I am not an extreme coupon person but I do like a good deal! 

I would certainly like to go back to Vegas, but I would not bring children because at night you do see some ugly situations due to people having a different kind of fun sometimes with the police!  I would also recommend that you research how to avoid common pitfalls of Vegas and make certain for safety purposes stay on the strip and try not to be alone at night.  I had an amazing time with no problems what so ever and loved it so hopefully on your trip there you will too!!!

UPDATE:
Tons of people have asked me about some of the sites I used during planning my trip to Vegas and some of them are gone now, but here are the main ones that are still active:
Trip Advisor
Vegas Show Deals
More Vegas Show Deals
Smart Vegas Tips
Vegas Coupons
More Vegas Coupons
We do it all Vegas

Ok I haven't tried these sites in a while so I am not sure how reliable they are about purchasing deals at this time, but I would suggest calling the hotel that you are staying at or want to stay at to see what deals they might be offering plus at check-in don't be affraid to ask about coupons or discounts they have at the desk!  They ALWAYS have something up there!! :)