I Wish I Could Be My New Years Self All Year Long

I know that I need to do a Dallas re-cap, but today I am feeling more inspired to talk about the changes I have noticed in myself.  But I will give you this adorable shot as a taster of our fantastic trip!

So I did not have a succesful holiday season in the weight category however you know what the big change in me is?  That I am not beating myself up over it.  Do I need to make changes in my diet?  Um, yes.  Do I have other things I would like to accomplish?  Um, yes.  Am I torturing myself over these things...that would be a big N-O.

I am writing this because remember last year when I resolved to be kinder to myself?  Well I set that goal because I am usually insanely unrealistic about my expectations and this attitude makes it very difficult for me to enjoy a lot of lifes quiet blessings and sometimes, even the loud screaming ones.  (I am not completley speaking of my children here :)) 

As of right now I have not made any goals or "resolutions", I am basking in my current state of mind and loving it.  I do plan on setting some goals, but right now, I am mentally taking a break.

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season.  And wishes to everyone for a fantastic 2011!!

(And if you are having a bad day come back and enjoythe picture of my sweet baby!)

Drive Friendly ~ The Texas Way

Hubby and I got off work last night rushed to pack and got on the road for Texas by 10pm. The baby is a terrible traveler as in she screams diving across town from the babysitters to our house. So after a few incidents that just made it feel like we were not ment to get on th road we made it by 10. Let me recap.

It snowed all day in Colorado Springs after the news said there would be no more snow. It wasn't a lot of snow but I was a little co cerned because it was the ki d of snow that turned to ice. So after much thought about our last 13 hour drve down to Texas with the baby combined with the snow I suggested we leave that night. I get home hubby is not feeli g well and the scramble begins with a few stops to change explosive diarhea diapers and to run to Target then to gas station for hubbys tummy. After all of that we get everything packed a d on top of the car. Oh wait it is too high for the car to back out of. Only all of the kids are in the car and the Santa gifts are in the rack sack. So hubby takes the must unload items and lays them out on the roof and then stands on the bumper while I slowly back out. He then reloads the topper and after a few more tripsinside we are on our way.

Well folks it was a decent ride down. We switched off driving at some points every hour. But we made it with very little baby screams which is a huge improvement from the 13 hours of baby screams we experienced this summer.

As we drove into Texas the sign said welcom to Texas Drive friendly ~ The Texas Way. I think hubby thought I had become delirious because I was laughing at that sign but you see Texans don't get the irony. I have experienced the friendly Texan driver on many occassions but boy you get that Texan in say Colorado and it is not the same situation! We also live In a heavily military populated area so we have tons of different state drivers and the all come with their own nuances.

Okay so you have about an hour left to enter my giveaway. I will announce the winner I. The morning.

Does anyone use a good blogging tool for their iPhone?

Down and Behind in COlorado Springs

Okay so have you ever had one of those weeks where going into it you have grandeioso plans of how you are just going to kill it, by getting a whole bunch of things done?  Yeah this week was my week.  Let's just say that my two sad blog posts should be a representation of how this plan turned out.  Sad face.

My big plans for this week included some fab post for this sad, sad blog, some workouts, Christmas shopping and and shipping, laundry and packing.  We had the little girls preschool Christmas party last night that included gifts and food and we leave tomorrow morning for Dallas at 4AM yes folks you read that right (and in case we both thought we didn't I made it bigger).  But someone else had different plans for me because I have been sick as a dog.  So I have nothing packed and as I type this I am attempting (pretending) to get ready for work.  So tonight I will be scrambeling to wash clothes, find toys and pack everything.  Looks like nothing will be folded and everything will be arriving in Dallas, in yard bags.  We are a class act my friends.  But you knew that.

If you haven't already entered my giveaway, go do it!  Remember, blogging or mentioning the giveaway on your blog earns you another entry.  Good luck my faithful friends!    Bye the way did anyone notice it landed on my 200th post?  Yeah I didn't either when I originally posted it.  Thank goodness someone is always looking out for me right?  Phew!

Wake Me Up...Our Vegas Recap

As I may have mentioned we went to Vegas because of hubbies job.  The conferences had bashes every night.  The first night was just a general party with lots of fun things to do.  We got to make buttons with our pictures on them, take pictures with giant talking walking robots, experience an oxygen bar, spray on tatoos, eat and drink for free and make this great video.  I can already feel myself blushing but it is too fun not to share!

After we left the party more fun insued, to include some fist pumpin!

Texas Recap

I know I already covered some things about our trip to Texas in this post.  I wanted to share a little about a blogger meet up and some other pictures from our trip.

Friday, I met up with La and her super cute baby Gooner!  This was my first meetup and I was not sure what to expect.  The anticipation felt like a blind date.  However our meeting was anything but awkard!  It was like two old high school friends meeting up, it was a great experience!  So on Friday we went to the pool and on Sunday we met up again and went to the mall.  We did so much talking we forgot to put in quality blog photo taking time.  Here is a picture from our meet up on Friday. 

Friday night we went with hubby's family to the Bavarian Grill, a German restaurant.  The picture below was our salad that came before the meal.  I had never eaten German food except at Epcot so I was very surprised to see this salad.  It was very good, I really enjoyed it.  The rest of the meal was great too, but AL began getting fussy so I was not very interested in taking more pictures!  That and my mother-in-law is so great about pictures that I tend to become dependent on her to get all of the pictures.  I forgot to get a copy of all pictures before we left Texas.

On Saturday we set out to go to The Wiggles Play Place. LD was SO excited; when we got there it was closed down. It is affiliated with the Wiggles - officially and not a word of it being closed anywhere on their website. You can imagine how a 4 year old girl reacted to this news. So it was off to the mall for pony rides and jewelry. The girls rode the carousel with daddy, played at the play area and Grammy helped pass on her love of jewelry to LD, with a little Hello Kitty necklace, rings and hair clips. She looked adorable, again no pics, sorry. I had only a few pictures left on my camera.

AL can climb all the way to the top of that slide. She has sticky spider toes! She loves to climb and slide and needs no help.

Saturday night we met up with hubby’s best friend and had dinner. When we were leaving the house LD asked where we were going, I said to see daddy’s friend. She asked what kind of friend, well since his friend takes so long to get ready I said a girlfriend. haha Than we realized that hubby and his friend had met when they were LD's age. Well hubby was 5 and his friend was 4. Isn't that so cool?

My in-laws are the nicest people ever. They are so welcoming and LD cannot get enough of them. All though it was a semi-quick trip we did a lot and had a great time.

My next post will cover Vegas, make sure you come back, I have a hilarious video!

We Are Back

We just arrived home. I must say our trip home seemed a little easier than the trip to Texas.


We are only home for one (1) day and then hubby and I are off to Vegas. I know you must feel terrible for me. But if it makes you feel better I always add in my own self torture. Because I had a spare day I worked it, in true Adie form. This is hubby’s favorite quality about me. Are you sensing the sarcasm? I am trying to lay it on real thick.

Back to this expansive "spare" day. As I mentioned I saw some spare time and thought, "wow, what a girl couldn't do with a free day and the babies at daycare." So I scheduled that final CLEP test that has been looming over my head for a year now. Only because I have been putting it off for so long it has now become a fire drill and I have to drive all the way up to Denver to take it, so my school gets the credit notification instantly, you know, if I pass. AM's doctor wanted to see her tomorrow afternoon, so I said "sure". So I have to drive back down to the Springs from Denver to get AM to the doctor on time.

Here is my day tomorrow; drop AL and LD off at daycare; pick-up AM friend and drop AM and friend at summer school drive to Denver by 10am (could be an hour and a half drive there with traffic); drive home pick-up AM get her to doctors appointment; come home finish packing everyone; make dinner; serve dinner; bring AL and LD to babysitters for their stay while we are out of time *sniffle*;p back home finish any last minute packing (usually involves a trip to Target) and get to bed, because our plane leaves at 6am - say what?

So there, in case you thought, what a jerk she is going on vacation sans kids, well after tomorrow - I am going to need a vacation!!  Also keep your fingers crossed about my test, I really can't take the time to take another class, and my student loan bills don't want anymore added to them!

The Great State of Texas

We are currently in the Great State of Texas!

I know some people, mostly Texas residents think I am crazy, but I am LOVING it here.  It is so amazingly warm.  I would go as far as to say the warmth is delicious because when I walk outside I feel as though I am greedily drinking in all of the Texas heat.  (Again I believe the residents here wish I truly were!)

The drive down was not on any of my Top Experience Lists, let's just say that!  AL does not like the drive to the babysitters across town.  I am sure you can imagine how she felt about a 12 hour drive.  Once we pulled in it was warm enough to go swimming - say what?  This Colorado girl was so excited, so we unpacked the kids, passed out some hugs, tugged on swimsuits and headed to the pool.

Yesterday (Friday) I had a special date with one of my favorite and oldest blogging friends.  More about this later.  I will say now it was a great meeting!

This morning we woke up and LD got in the pool at 7am.  7am!  It was warm enough!

Let's just say I heart Texas and all of its warmth!