My little Ballerina Niece

My niece Sarah performed in, Hansel & Gretel, a ballet over this last weekend. She was a cotton candy and came out onto stage with the Witch! She is such an amazing ballerina, so graceful! I could never do half of the things she does with her tiny little body, ballet is incredible! Seeing this show put a strong desire in me to see another ballet. I love my niece, she is such an amazing girl and is truly very talented!

Sarah and Aaron performed at the end of the show doing a daddy/daughter dance, I don't think there was a dry eye in the building

The gang at the show! (Spencer, Amy, (Spencer's awesome girlfriend) Me, Brian, Brody, Jackie, Luke, and the ballerina!

Brian and the soon to be famous ballerina, Sarah

Me and Sarah

Blue skies of Hawaii smiled...

Where to start... Kauai was unreal! We went with Brian's father Joel, step-mother Stef, Rob, and two half-sisters, Natalie and Sarah. They treated us right! We stayed in the beautiful Marriott in Poipu, Kauai. It was so amazing! We ate great food, laughed a lot, got some sun, and made some awesome memories that will last a life time! (It goes without saying that it was amazing to go from the snow to the sun in less than 5 hours on a plane ride!)

Carry on baggage... lots and lots of it (heading to Kauai)

After dinner one night... Brian picked the plumeria's out of a tree for all the girls... that has got to be one of the best smelling flowers on the planet!

After church on Sunday, this was a waterfall on the hotel grounds... ya it was amazing!

Brian's family ( Joel, Stef, Rob, Natalie, and Sarah)

The happy couple! (they couldn't wait to be blogged!)

We went on a Zodiac boat trip, the fast boats that jump waves! It was awesome! We saw humpback wales, dolphins, and plenty of sea turtles! It was way rad!

Our boat ride went all the way to the Napali Coast of Kauai which was so beautiful, it is where the filmed Jurassic Park! And seeing it first hand made me realize why! It was beyond beautiful. The water is so green and then so blue and perfect! It takes your breath away!

We had many exhausting days! Just the girls in the back totally OUT!

Also on our boat ride! Look at the perfection of the water!

Our last night :( not fun to be done with that amazing trip... If anyone noticed about the pictures we all got progressively more red as the days wore on! Just a little fun thing to notice!

Disneyland/California Adventure

Before going to the beautiful Island of Kauai Brian and I went to Disneyland! Super fun! We both had never been to California Adventure so we knew we had to throw down to purchase park hopper tickets, but it was completely worth it! We both loved California Adventure! Tower of Terror won me over! By far my most favorite ride (Brian not so much...Ha) he did not like the out of control rush that that ride forces on you... We went with Brian and his mother, Charla, and brother, Rob. Later that afternoon we met up with my sister Mary and her husband Jeff and two daughters Kay and Whitney (Samantha her youngest baby was too little to enjoy the rides so stayed home and slept, we missed her) Such a fun day at Disney though! Kay and Whitney are SOSOSO brave! They went on every ride with their hands up! So fun!

"I" for brIan... I mean there is no "B" in California... What were we to do??

"A" for Anne!

Charla and us two goof balls... How she put up with us all day I will never know! But we're sure glad she did!

The whole gang! Kay, Whitney, Mary, Jeff, Charla, Rob, Brian, and Me!

Hawaii bound!

Leaving this...

...for this!!!!!

This saturday we fly out from LAX with Brian's family to the beautiful island of Kauai for a whole week!!! We are so excited! More pictures to come!

Will You Be My Valentine???

Brian and I had quite the Valentine's weekend! It started with a yummy dinner on Friday night at Macaroni Grill and then a movie. On Saturday we saw a matinee, "Avatar" which is the second time we have seen it and it is quickly becoming our favorite movie, a must see in 3D!! That night we made dinner together and made Shrimp Scampi with scallops, very tasty. Then on Sunday (actual Valentine's Day) I woke up to a decked out living room of balloons and valentine's goodies! Truly a very fun surprise!

... of course to top it all off I was given a box of See's candies hand picked by Brian, all of my favorites!!! ( the roses were pretty too ;) )

Wednesday's

Every wednesday I get to watch Ava (Joseph and Aubree's daughter) and it could quite possibly be my favorite day of the week! So of course I take many pictures of her because she truly is such a doll face!

In the photo above, notice Ava's legs, she is sitting the exact same way as me! How hilarious is that?? Brian noticed it and snapped a photo!

Ava helped me sort the mail, if I discarded something I would hand it to her and she would look through it and then move onto the next thing I passed to her!

She is such a happy baby!

Our First Anniversary January, 10, 2009

Well, we did it! We made it to "Year 1" of our crazy lives together! On January 10th we celebrated a momentous occasion! We went to Las Vegas for the weekend and saw a show and ate great food! Brian and I are very happy and enjoy each moment of life!