Vegas!

I apologize for the blog bareness over the last week... This will be another quickie blog with a few pictures from our Vegas trip this past week. I hadn't been back to Vegas since I moved from there almost 4 years ago. We had a blast while we were there! It was the first time I left Jax overnight so that was tough, but it was great to get a break and just be alone with my hubby.
We stayed at The Venetian and it was beautiful.


We took advantage of room service for breakfast, and their wonderful day spa with amazing massages.


It was a fun, relaxing trip. We aren't 'party-ers' so we enjoyed some nice dinners and a few shows.


Tuesday we ate dinner at Prime at Bellagio. It was a delicious steakhouse sitting on the lake with the fountains. After that we went back to our hotel where we saw Phantom of the Opera... It was fantastic!


On Wednesday we ate dinner at Lavo, which was sooo good... yummy Italian food. After dinner we headed across the street to TI and saw the Cirque Du Soleil show Mystere.


The show was UH-mazing! Overall our trip was very relaxing and very enjoyable... I look forward to another trip in the future.

Testing my iPhone!

I downloaded a blog app for my new iPhone. I'm aware that everyone else already has an iPhone but we just got them and I'm having so much fun! I just wanted to test this new app, so here's a picture of the kiddo ... It's the only one I have on my phone so far :)



Cheese!

3 days until hubs gets home!!!

6 days until Vegas!!!

14 days until Disneyland!!!

... but who's counting?

:)

To my loves

This handsome man...

And this little stud-muffin...

You two are my everything and I couldn't ask for better valentines. I love every day that I get to do life with the two of you. I love you more than words can express!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

7 months is coming to a close!

Well, I suppose I should let y'all know that MY HUSBAND IS IN THE STATES!!!! This 7 months of waiting, and waiting.... and then waiting some more, is just about done. And let me just say, I couldn't be happier!

I haven't spilled a lot of information about this deployment or our situation due to opsec and personal safety reasons, but I will say I can't wait to be back in my own home. We've been living with my parents for the last 6 months and as much as I love them, I really can't wait to get out of here ;) Growing up, you can't wait to leave home... then you get away from home and realize that home isn't so bad. And that's where it should stop. But in my case, you move home temporarily and realize why you felt how you did growing up. Ha! It's just unnatural for grown children (who have children of their own) to live with their parents. Extenuating circumstances-aka single mothers, deployed spouses etc- makes it okay. But after 6+ months, I'm over it. I will say though that I am SO grateful to my parents for helping me through this deployment, and being there for Jax and I, and opening their house to a toddler again.

So, back to hubs... he left Afghanistan during the first week of February. He went to a temporary location (in a different country) to wait for his flight. Of course, flights were delayed multiple times but he finally got on a plane in the middle of the day last Saturday. He had 3 different layovers, plus an 8 hour time difference, and finally got home at 1am Sunday morning. We decided a few months back that Jax and I would stay in California until hubs gets his block leave (vacation), then he will be flying out here. We have some fun stuff planned and I can't wait! In the meantime, it's been so nice to call him/text him/Skype with him whenever I want. 8 more days and this 7 month wait is OVER!!

Angel Baby Cohen

**Red words are links**

In July, I wrote about sweet baby Cohen who was born with severe heart defects and went to be with Jesus 11 days after he was born. I have followed his mama's story since she was pregnant with him and I continue to follow her blog and keep up with her life since everything happened 7 months ago. She is such an inspiration and I think we would be great IRL (in real life) friends :)

She is hosting a giveaway to benefit Congenital Heart Defects research and funding. She's giving away a $75 credit to the adorable Etsy shop Bekima Knits. The giveaway is HERE. Bekima Knits is also hosting a fundraiser and 20% of her sales between now and "Heart Day" (Valentine's Day) will be donated to CHD research. Check out the fundraiser HERE. The shop is ADORABLE and the money supports such a great cause! Hopefully there will be a day where enough funding and research is available so that no babies have to go to heaven early because of CHD!

Photo Credit - In This Wonderful Life

Three (toddler-y) Musketeers

Mary, Danielle and I decided last week that we should get our boys together to play and do some Valentine's Day stuff. So last night we headed over to Mary's house and the kids had a BLAST! We let them play, ordered pizza, let them do some stickers and coloring, frosted cookies and then ended the night with an impromptu bath to clean off the stickiness. These three boys really have the best time together. I often pray that they will grow up to be good friends who can support each other, lean on each other and be good influences on each other!!

Jax always has to hug his friends. And Max does too. So they basically wouldn't let go of each other. Ha! Ben wanted to join in the fun :)

This picture is a keeper for when they grow up!

Of course Jax had to lick all the frosting off his cookie

Notice how each of them has their hand in their mouth. It was near impossible to get a picture with more than one of them smiling. Although Ben and Max are smiling in this one, Jax is more focused on his sugar intake. He's nothing like his mama *wink*

Group shot- taken with the self timer. And set to take 5 pictures in a row. We did this about 4 times. We got 2 good ones :)

The boys were covered in pink frosting so we threw them all in the tub. Of course, they were splashing and playing and having a grand ol' time. I love this picture.

Jax- splashing. Max- thinks it's funny. Ben- not so sure.

Aren't these three boys are just too cute for words?!

Preparing for Disneyland!

Once hubs gets home and we are reunited as a family and we've gotten over the whole separation thing and we get to enjoy each other's company, we are taking Jax-man to DISNEYLAND! I know he's a little on the young side (he'll be 21 months when we go), but he loves Mih-tey Mouse and Mih-eeeee (Minnie), so I know that he will love it. We are going with both sets of grandparents so there will be lots of people to walk him around and keep him occupied while others wait in line for rides. I've been researching some toddler-y tips for D-land. So far, I've heard that renting a stroller seems to be the way to go, getting to the kiddie rides first thing is important, and taking advantage of the kid/mother resting areas.

Do you guys have any other tips that we should keep in mind?

I bought these shirts from Tator Tot's Boutique on Etsy. I LOVE how they turned out! They are borderline small-ish. They fit right now, but there's not a lot of room to spare... so I really hope the kid doesn't go through a growth spurt or anything. I paid good money for those shirts and he better get some good use out of them! I ordered size 24 months, specifically not 2T, because I was worried that 2T would be too big. But the 24 month shirts that she used are actually the same size as all of Jax's 18month shirts. So that's a bummer. BUT like I said, they fit now so I have high hopes that they'll still fit in a month! Aren't they adorable?!

I haven't been to D-land in about 7 years and I really can't wait to go back and see it through the eyes of my child!

SSMT

This year I've decided to participate in the Siesta Scripture Memory Team through Beth Moore's blog at Living Proof Ministries. On the first and fifteenth of each month, Beth posts a verse that she has chosen to memorize and then anyone else who wants to participate can post their own memorization verse in the comments section. Click on each of the red words above to read more about it directly from Beth. Basically, each person can choose their own verse to memorize or they can use Beth's verse. So, my point to all of this is that I am going to post my chosen verse on here as well. I have two verses so far... one from January 1st and one from the 15th. I thought I would let y'all know which ones I've chosen so that A)I can be held accountable to memorize them, and B)They could possibly be encouraging to someone. So here they are...

January 1st-

"Forget about what's happened. Don't keep going over old history. Be alert! Be present! I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out. Don't you see it? There it is. I'm making a road in the desert and rivers in the badlands"

-Isaiah 43:18-19 (Translation- The Message)

January 15th-

"You were taught... to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness"

-Ephesians 4:23-24 (Translation- NIV)

My goal is to get these posted on Beth's blog and this blog on the 1st and 15th of each month. I hope you guys enjoy!

This Past Week... in Randoms

Not a lot has been going on around these parts recently. We went to church on Sunday and Bible study on Tuesday morning and Jax did fantastic in the classroom! This is a new development and I couldn't be happier. It only took 19 months for him to finally realize that he could play, and then mommy would come back to get him. Ha! Here's some other randomness from the past week...

The last few days have been good because hubs is on his way home! He left his post and is now at the place that he will fly out of to come home. For now, it is just the infamous Army waiting game as to when he will get a flight and actually be home. Keep praying for his safety while he waits and while he travels. 6+ months of separation is finally coming to a close!

I received three free Zoya nail polishes! (Well, I paid shipping... but it still worked out to about $2.25 a bottle) I am LOVING the deep purplish color so far. I don't normally paint my fingernails, just toenails, but I wanted to try out this yummy winter color and it's awesome! I can't wait to dive into the other two colors. The pink might have to wait until spring/summer :)

We hung out with our best friends Max and Danielle over the weekend. The boys had a BLAST! They are both very rough-and-tumble and they love playing together. They chase each other and wrestle and hide from each other and terrorize the dogs and giggle the whole time. It's adorable!

Jax is very into a few new things recently. One is Nemo. Ever since he found these swimmy diapers from last summer, he has been asking to watch "Memo" all the time. He also likes to wear Nemo as a hat. Why not?!

Another thing he loves is to push the kitchen chairs around... and more specifically, to push one over to the sink and play in it!
He's such a stinker, but he's so darn cute! I mean, how can you resist this folded-armed cuteness?!


PS- Do you like the new bloggy design? Because I do. A lot. :)