Cabin Fev-ah

Last week/weekend, we headed up to the Park City, Utah area for our annual snow trip with Blair's family. It was a long drive and harder than ever with a two year old and a four year old. I thought this was supposed to get easier?!

The long car drive was all worth it though when we saw Mackenzie snow tubing for hours straight and Garrett loving every minute of his "snow motorcycle" (snowmobile) rides. Garrett literally cried when we would take him off the snowmobile. Mackenzie is 100% snow bunny. The girl would stay outside playing in the snow, rolling around in the snow, and eating the snow for hours. I love that my girly girl is also one tough cookie! The kids had an absolute blast!! They loved playing with their cousins, playing in the snow, and going swimming in the hot tub every night before bed. Blair and I loved watching the kids having so much fun. We also loved snowmobiling to go "Extreme Tubing" with his siblings and their spouses, going on a night snowmobile ride with Ashlee and Jake (Ashlee - you rocked it!!), and of course, hot tub-ing.

Warning: lots of photos. No really, I mean, lots. Sorry I'm not going to explain who everyone is in each picture and the stories behind the pics...I've got tons of work, loads of laundry, and kids to tend to.

Thanks to all of Blair's family for a good time! We love you guys!!! And a HUGE THANKS to Ashlee and Jake for setting the whole trip up, you guys are awesome...

Ready, Aim...

Fire!

Monday night, Blair, his Dad, Travis, and I headed to the shooting range. This was my first trip to a shooting range and my first time shooting a gun. The range was crowded and I have to admit, when I first went in, I literally jumped everytime someone shot a gun. It was so loud...and intimidating. It was a boys club and I felt out of place. After a few minutes though, I relaxed a little, and felt even better once I started shooting. I am in awe of the power of guns and have a heathly respect for them now. I loved hanging out with the guys and hearing them joke around with each other. They were hilarious. I forgot my camera (yes, I know, this has been a trend lately - sorry!) but was able to get some pictures with Blair's phone. And I have to say a BIG thank you to Blair's mom for watching the kids so I could go too!! Thanks so much Debbie!!

Blair getting everything ready

Blair's Dad...he later went back and got smaller targets.....to which Travis responded he was going to go ask for a post-it note for his next turn...heehee

Here I go...Blair was impressed that I actually hit the center of the target a few times. I was aiming, but was more focused on controlling the kick back than seeing where my bullets went.

Nathan and Travis...

Travis Shooting...he's going to see about renting a horse next time to get the cowboy effect..lol

Me & Blair...Neon goggles and ear muffs - what could be hotter right? Ugh!

Nathan & Blair

It was a great night and I have to admit, I think I found a new hobby!!

I'm Back

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I've been trying to settle down after the holidays, which has been hard with Blair gone for a couple of days last week on business, then all week this week on business. Hopefully I'll settle back into some normalcy soon. For now, here's a few updates...

-While Blair was in Northern California, he was able to help Shaun and Marle move into their beautiful new house. A BIG Congrats to Shaun and Marle!!! Mackenzie was able to go up with Blair and play with her cousin Clara for a few days. My parents were there too, helping with the move, so they were able to bring Mackenzie home mid-week while Blair stayed up working. Mackenzie was thrilled to go on a "business trip" with Daddy (eventhough she wasn't with him while he worked). She was a little mixed up by the time she got home because she told me, "I loved going on Daddy's mission with him!!!" I smiled, gave her a hug, and told her that's awesome. And it was.

-Garrett had some Mommy time for a couple of days. I was pretty bummed it poured rain the whole time. I had big plans for us...Disneyland, the Zoo, lots of park time. We settled for going to the movies. Garrett loves the "mov-ee the-a-ter" and was thrilled. He really wanted to see Alvin and the Chipmunks again, but silly Mommy mixed up the showtimes and we ended up seeing Princess and the Frog. He was pretty entertained by the frogs, not so much the princess scenes. That's my boy.

-Mackenzie loves to play dress-up with her princess clothes, and Garrett loves to do whatever Mackenzie is doing. So I was thrilled when my mom found some boy dress up stuff. Here a pic of one of the outfits. More pics to come soon.

-It was a pretty rough week by myself with the kids, having to stay indoors with the rain. The four walls were closing in, big time. By the time Blair got home Friday evening, I was totally exhausted and done with the day, week, month.... Then he comes home and I forget I was even in a bad mood. I forget the horrible week it was and how the kids had teamed up on me the entire past two days (they won, by the way). He walked through our door, and everything was okay. How the heck does he do that? Must be a magician. After almost nine years of marriage, I love him more than I ever have and he still finds ways to make me love him even more. I was already feeling 100% better when he came home, then I was thrilled when he whipped out this little surprise...

one of my favorite chocolates in my favorite flavor...mmmmm. Thanks babe, you're. the. best.

New Year's Fun!

Happy 2010 Everyone!!! We hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's and a great start to the year. We headed down to Oceanside on New Year's Eve and stayed with friends Freddy and Mandy for a few days. It was a great mini vacay loaded with lots of fun. The only bummer was I forgot my camera! I stole some pics from Freddy and Mandy's blog and Blair took a couple of pictures with his phone.

New Year's Eve, after getting down to Oceanside, Mandy did my makeup (she is an awesome makeup artist!! She does makeup for weddings, dances, etc...) then we went out to dinner at Pei Wei...yum, so yum. While deciding what to order, it came up that Blair and I don't eat seafood. They insisted that we try a couple of shrimp dishes. I guess we were feeling wild and crazy that night, so we went for it (aren't you proud of us, Brooke????). We were a little scared, but it actually tasted really good. My only problem was the texture. I think we'll be more adventurous now when we eat out (no WAY am I cooking that stuff at home though!). Here's Blair and I ready to take the plunge...

After dinner, we were off to the movies. We saw Avatar in 3D, which I honestly wasn't very excited to see. But it was awesome!! The special effects were amazing!! It's definitely a movie you've got to see in the theater. Here's Mandy and I sporting our 3D glasses...

After the movies, we headed to a New Year's Eve party that Freddy and Mandy's friends were holding. They went all out and even had balloons fall from the ceiling at midnight. The karaoke was fun to watch. Highlights were Freddy & Mandy's "Endless Love" and the boys singing "I'm All Out of Love."

Friday morning Blair and Freddy went shooting. I have to say Blair looks pretty intimidating...

Mandy and I went to lunch and shopping. The rest of the weekend included rockband, watching football, the boys playing football (which Blair is now hooked on and still sore from!), my first trip to the OC Swapmeet (love it), and the kids playing and playing and playing. The kids all loved playing together and were so fun to watch. I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera, because they were too cute.

It was a great way to ring in the new year. After some great times in 2009 and also some trying times, we're looking forward to 2010....

LA Zoo

Blair had some time off between Christmas and New Year's, so we've been playing lots. We've gone to see movies, had extra date nights, and spent lots of time together as a family. One day last week, we decided to take Mackenzie and Garrett to the LA Zoo. Somehow we hadn't taken Garrett yet, so it was time. The weather was great, but apparantly everyone else in Southern California also thought it was a great day for the Zoo. I have never seen it so crowded before! When we saw the line for tickets versus the membership line, we opted to buy a membership which is basically a tax deductible annual pass. We only stayed for a couple of hours since it was so crowded and figured we would come back soon to see what we missed.

Mackenzie checking out the reindeer. I asked her if she thought those were Santa's reindeer and she said only the ones with "these things" and made antlers on her head with her hands.




















My boys. Notice Blair is sporting a new buzz...so hot....love that guy.





















Mackenzie and Garrett checking out the huge tortoises. Garrett asked me if they are snapping turtles. :)















Mommy and Mackenzie in the caves.















Drumroll please...Garrett and Mackenzie's favorite animal at the zoo: the hippo. Maybe it's the resemblance to their mommy. haha.
















Blair with the kids in front of a waterfall. Garrett loves waterfalls. At the zoo, he would hear one, and tell me he hears a waterfall even before we could see it. Sure enough, he would be right.




















Garrett on the way home. Just minutes before, he said, "I am NOT tired."

Xanadu!!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas morning was when I received a text from my friend Mandy telling me her husband got her tickets to see Xanadu the next day and did I want to go with her? I was literally jumping up and down squelling with excitement. Eventhough I hadn't seen the 80's movie, I was thrilled to go see the play. And even more thrilled that it was playing at the OC Performing Arts Theater and that shopping and dinner at South Coast Plaza was involved! We had an very yummy dinner at Nordstrom Cafe complete with Chocolate Souffle (you have to try the Tomato Basil soup...mmmmmm). The whole night was such a blast and I loved Xanadu! Thanks for an awesome night Mandy! And great job on the tickets Freddy - our seats were amazing.

At the mall, Mandy spotted this lighted runway for us to strut our stuff on. Here is Mandy looking like a supermodel, as always. I won't post my runway picture because whenever I try to look like a model, I make a really weird face and just look totally idiotic.

Xanadu!!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very Merry Christmas filled with family, friends, and great food. Christmas Eve we went to Blair's parents house and enjoyed great food and lots of family. We did miss Blair's grandparents, who were at home sick. I forgot my camara in the car so I didn't get any pictures, which is unfortunate since during the famous Nemrow family gift exchange, Jerry busted open the Cheetah Snuggie and modeled it. It was awesome.

Christmas morning was probably the best yet. Watching the kids reactions was priceless. We loved every minute and I hope I'll remember all of it.

The kids coming down the stairs...did Santa come??? Score!

The kids checking to see if Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk, and if the reindeer ate their carrots and drank their water. Mackenzie always points out that Santa didn't quite eat all of it.

And the present opening begins...

Mackenzie's favorite was the "big girl bike" she has been asking Santa for. She said, "It's a princess one just like I wanted! But I told him pink AND purple and there's no purple." We had to point out that the handle bars were purple and that besides that some kids don't even have bikes. ;)

Garrett loved his big present, but the best reaction was when he opened this little lizard stuffed animal. He loved it and immediately started "attacking" Daddy with it.

We always wish Santa would leave one of his elfs with the presents to open and assemble all the toys. Toys seem to get harder and harder to open. Blair was a great sport though and got everything assembled and working pretty fast. To our surprise, we even had batteries for everything (Santa forgot to leave batteries with the toys). After cleaning up and getting some good playtime in, we headed over to my parents house for tamales and more present opening with my grandma. Blair's family and Katie's aunt came over to my parent's house for Christmas dinner. We really missed Shaun and his family and Ashlee and her family. Hopefully one of these years, we'll all be together. Overall, it was a great night filled with great new recipes, lots of laughs, and love. We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and that we could celebrate His birth with loved ones.