Leaving

We are flying to California tonight for a full week's worth of fun in the sun and family. We can't wait. Literally. The kids are having a hard time waiting. Weston was ready to go the second he woke up this morning. Anyway, yesterday Weston asked me to take pictures of him to post on the blog. This morning we did a couple puzzles with Davin. We usually save puzzles for during Davin's naps, but we only did the ones with really big pieces. It was Weston's idea to lay down next to Sully. I think he is pretending to sleep.
So, here's my study of Weston.
Crazy Face:
Sad Face:
Star Wars Face: complete with accessory.
And this is how Excited we are to go on vacation!

Have a great week and a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And The Winner Is . . .

omment #66, according to random.org, . . . aka my cousin Sara! Congrats Sara! I will be sending you your prize in the mail tomorrow! It was fun to hear from all of you in the comments on the giveaway. Thanks for entering! March is going to be a great month from the sound of things.

In other news . . . I got my new glasses yesterday. So far I like them, but they are a slightly different shape than my old ones, so I am still getting used to that. When I went to pick them up I decided to go ahead and get some prescription sunglasses too. I've never had any, but I never wear my glasses mainly because I cannot see outside with them on. It's too bright. I'm hoping that if I have prescription sunglasses I will elect to wear my glasses more often since I will be able to switch to the sunglasses if I go out. Plus, they are super cute and were 50% off. Seriously, if you need new glasses check out Target Optical!
(Photo courtesy of Weston. Yikes.)
Weston got some new clothes from The Children's Place that arrived the other day. They were having a sale+I had a 15% off coupon+free shipping. I couldn't pass that up. This is his new favorite outfit, complete with Spiderman socks from Target.
Last night Davin was hamming it up for the camera. Such a cute little face.
Tonight we went to Chick Fil A for dinner since the kids eat free on Wednesday nights and I have a hard time feeling motivated to cook when Ian doesn't come home for dinner. After dinner we went to the library for a Dr. Seuss celebration magic show! The boys loved it. Especially Weston, who came home and had to do 4 magic tricks for me before he went to bed. The highlight was probably the real bunny the magician pulled out of a hat. :)
This little video is of Weston reading the book he made at preschool about baby animals to Davin. He is such a smart kid. Today I was a couple minutes late picking him up from school, so most of the other parents and kids were already gone. His teacher was telling me how amazed she is with his recall skills. He remembers all the names of the books that are in the learning library even though she only told them all the names at the very beginning when they first started doing the library program. Hopefully he will continue to have good recall/memorizing skills. They're handy as you progress in school.

What I Would Buy

at Target if I had a $50 gift card to spend however I wanted. The hard part would be narrowing it down to just $50 worth of stuff.

-a big kid booster seat like this one for Weston.
-a new square griddle since mine is getting uneven and warped. I use it on an almost daily basis though, so it would be worth it.
-a covered cake pan.
-some cute new sandals for Spring!
-throw pillows for my red couch
-a bathing suit cover-up. They have some really cute ones.
-a pair of loungy bermuda shorts.
-a big tray with handles for carrying stuff outside for BBQ's.
-Father of the Bride on DVD.

I'm sure I could find more items I would love to spend my gift card on, but we'll leave this list as it is for now. Also, I don't generally sit around and think about what I would buy if I had the money, but I just got a coupon in the mail from a dentist's office offering a $50 gift card to Target with a new patient exam, cleaning, and x-rays. It just got me day dreaming. Perhaps a trip to the dentist would be worth it.

PS-This has to be my all time favorite Target commercial. It's scary how well they have me pegged.

Academy Awards Weekend

Sure, you could say I'm weird or shallow, but I love the Academy Awards. This year I prepared for the Oscars by going to see Avatar on Saturday night. Ian said we were the last people on Earth to see it, but I think he was exaggerating just a touch. Especially since both the theaters we went to were pretty full. Yes, we went to two theaters in one night. Long story, short, we appreciate good picture quality. Loved Avatar by the way.

This brings us to Sunday evening. I fed my family frozen pizza, apples, and carrot sticks then sent the kids into the living room to watch Up. They were told that when they were done watching the movie (aka interrupting me), then they were ready for bed. They did really well and Ian put them to bed for me. So, without further ado, here's what I thought.

-I liked the stage design. The glittery perimeter was gorgeous.
-I shouldn't have wasted my time with the red carpet show. Lame.
-I thought that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin could have been funnier. Especially their opening where they poke fun at/introduce all the main acting contenders.
-LOVED Neil Patrick Harris's opening number. Although I've heard him sing better. Nerves?
-I enjoyed the dancing during the Best Score portion of the show.
-I also enjoyed recognizing most of the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance. I spotted Kayla, Noelle, Channing, Travis, and a few others. Can you tell that Adam Shankman was a producer?
-I liked that they did the little tributes to each Best Actor/Actress nominee. It makes it more of an honor.
-I was super glad that Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. She looked gorgeous and gave a great acceptance speech.
-I was bummed that I hadn't seen (and have no intention of seeing) the film that won Best Picture.
-I felt bad for Kathryn Bigelow. Her acceptance speech for Best Director was great, then she had to open her mouth again after the Best Picture win. Sigh.
-I thought Zoe Saldana's dress was cool.
-I hate Kristen Stewart. She was so awkward and pulled weird faces.
-I thought it was cool that the family that The Blind Side was based on were invited to the show.
-I hate Oprah.
-I thought the lampshade backdrop thing was bizarre. Not in a cool way. Just weird.
-I liked the live James Taylor music during the In Memoriam montage, but I was annoyed that they had such a hard time cutting to the actual montage. I think we missed seeing Farrah Fawcett. Either that, or they forgot about her completely.
-I thought that Molly Ringwald and Macauley Culkin did not age well.
-I thought Helen Mirren looked amazing . . . speaking of aging well.
-I felt bad that Zac Efron only got invited to be the butt of a joke. A funny joke, but still.

Well, I could go on, but I'll leave it there. It was a good show overall and I enjoyed watching it and then talking to my mom and my sister about it today. A whole new year of good movies to watch. I can't wait!

Snowy Day

Today we woke up to snow. We always get late snows here in Utah, but it's still kind of a bummer to wake up to snow when you think you're just about ready to break out the flip flops. We didn't have any plans today. Around 9:30am Weston looked out the window and said, "I guess that means we can't go anywhere." I agreed and said I wanted to spend the day drinking hot chocolate and reading my book. So that's just what we did. I didn't tell the boys to go get their books, they just came to the table with them, so we had a morning snack of pop tarts and hot chocolate while we read our books. Sure it only lasted 20 minutes, but it was fun.
I decided we would venture out to the mall. I needed to get the See's gift card (if you haven't already entered the giveaway . . . DO IT!), and the kiddos always like to play at the mall. It was a good outing. For some reason I can't get anyone to nap this afternoon though. What the heck? I have high hopes for this weekend's Oscars, so no one call me on Sunday evening . . . unless, of course, you are also watching and it's a commercial break and you just have to comment on someones dress or speech. :)

Here's a Story . . .

About a camera. It was a gift. We loved it. It helped us capture many memories of our early days of marriage. Of our children's births and the cuteness that ensued. It was our first digital camera. It has led a long, full life, but is getting tired and slowing down. The time has come for it to retire.

I have been wanting to replace our camera for about a year now. I was planning on leaving the choice of our next camera up to Ian, but alas. He has little time for researching cameras at the moment and I decided it was time. We had to choose. It's so hard to choose a camera. You read reviews. You check prices. You change your mind. Anyway, this week I bought a new camera. First I bought the Olympus X-42. It was 12mp and 5x optical zoom (which were the criteria Ian was looking at). Even better it was on sale at Office Max for $69.99! What a steal, right?

So I went and snatched that thing up (along with it's fitting memory card). I opened it in the car and took it with us into Davin's first dentist appointment. I missed the shot of him crying while getting his teeth cleaned, but managed a couple pictures of him playing and watching a movie. I tested out the video feature. Later that night I went to plug the memory card into the card reader, but it didn't fit! Lame. I connected the camera to the computer via the cable. It was such a disappointment. Only a very few of the photos were clear. The color was kind of washed out. And the video was tiny. I knew I was going to have to start over.

After spending some time researching after the kids went to bed, I decided I liked the Canon Powershot A1100 IS the best for the price. I headed out Wednesday morning to make the switch. The Canon was also on sale, but was $129.99. The perks of the Canon are that it takes AA batteries, so one less charger, it has much better video than the Olympus, it's memory card fits in my card reader, and it's controls are not flimsy feeling. So far I'm happy with it.
What was the catalyst to wanting a new camera NOW? Well, we have an upcoming trip to California next week and I really wanted to have a camera that works and isn't a 4x4 inch cube that can only take 5 pictures before the battery needs charging. I do still want to get a case for the new camera so I don't scratch it's beautiful screen, but other than that we are good to go.

So without further ado . . . here are the pictures from the new camera(s)!

At the dentist. Taken with the Olympus.
Playing at home and Arctic Circle. Taken with the Canon.

March Madness Giveaway!

I am so excited that it is March! This month marks the beginning of Spring . . . almost . . . in Utah. It is also Davin's and my birthday month! This year it includes the Oscars (this upcoming Sunday in case you didn't know), a birthday trip to California, and my baby turning two! It's a big month in my opinion. We'll pretend that we are celebrating my 389th post too. In order to help make March a little sweeter for you too I am going to host a giveaway!

This month you, my loyal and faithful readers (and anyone else who stumbles across this giveaway), have the chance to win a $10 gift card to See's candy! I love me some good chocolate and See's is by far my favorite. $10 will buy you about a 1/2 pound box of chocolates. Be sure to try the bordeaux, which is my fave. You will also receive a tube of my favorite lip gloss. It's C.O. Bigelow Ultra Mentha Lip Shine. I also like their tinted mentha glosses, but the lip shine is what's up for grabs. It is so fresh and tingly and even tastes good!

Make sure to share the love and tell your friends about this giveaway too. I will choose a winner on March 10, 2010 at 8pm (or whenever I get my kids to bed that night), so make sure to enter before then! Good luck!

The RULES:
To enter the giveaway leave a comment telling me something you are looking forward to in March. That's it! Don't forget to leave me an email address to contact you if you win.

Extra Entries:
You can earn an extra entry for:
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back to this post and leaving me a separate comment telling me you did.
-Having a March birthday! and leaving me a separate comment telling me.

I'm super excited to hear what fun things your March has in store and for one of you to win chocolate and lip gloss!