It's been a month already?

I just realized how long it had been since my last post. Geez, I'm a little behind.

So here's what's been going on with us...

We visited the Aquarium with Wesley's preschool class.

The boys have been to some super fun birthday parties.
At Tate's superhero party they dressed up a life size Michael Jordan as a villian and sprayed him with silly string!

Hudson's party was at the new Airborne Trampoline Arena. So much fun.

And at Gavin's party they decorated guitars, always a hit.
My mom came into town for a couple weeks. Finally NO MORE CHEMO! We even had a party to celebrate.

Although it's pretty much a party all the time when Mom's in town. We took the kids to see Tangled. We had a few girl's nights. Did some shopping. And took Blake to the temple for the first time. Awesome.
The day before she left we decided to do something new. I'd heard about the Aerial Tram at Snowbird and so we headed up the mountain. And I mean to the top of the mountain.
Really, the very top.

We totally loved it.

I especially enjoyed watching Mimi try to get a half smile out of Jack!

So my mom is gone now and we're already busy with something else. We decided to start framing the other side of the basement. So this is what our basement family room has looked like all week. Crazy, right?

And, for like the 15th time this winter, someone in our house is sick. So this is what Avery has looked like the last couple days.

Anyway, fun times at the Curtis house.

And hopefully only another month of winter!

BFFs

I know I've said this a hundred times, but I have GREAT friends! This past Wednesday I was able to fly to California to spend a long weekend with Shaylyn. We met in the sixth grade, but she moved to northern California right after the seventh grade. Lucky for us, we have awesome mothers who must have seen something special in our friendship and made it possible for us to travel back and forth when we were still just kids. Now, almost 17 years later, we have a relationship that still means the world to me.

So where to begin with this trip...? Everyday was fun... again there was pedicures and shopping, and dinners with her friends (I've know them since high school also and I love them), but my favorite was Friday when we took a little trip to the bay. Shaylyn suggested spending the afternoon in Sausalito, a totaly charming town across the bay from San Francisco.

After looking around a few shops we decided to take the ferry to the city, it was just too beautiful of a day to pass up a boat ride!
We didn't plan our time very well so we couldn't stay in the city, we really just got off the ferry, grabbed a hot chocolate, and hopped back on. But the hour on the boat was worth every penny.
After the ferry we drove out of Sausalito and up the hills for a spectacular view. Beautiful, right?

We were having so much fun up there. Can you tell?

Plus there's all these forts covering the hills, from WWII I think, that are really cool. And see the winding road on the hill in the background, that's where we'd been. The longer we kept driving the better it got.

To top it all off, the sun was setting and we could hear the horn from the lighthouse in the distance. Life is good.

I know I've rambled on a bit, so I won't detail every other day. But it was another awesome girls trip and I'm already missing the fun. Thank you Shay and Lou, I love him too.

I guess it's a good thing I got back when I did though... Jack and Avery are teething, everyone's got a cold, and Brad hadn't slept in 3 days. All of that and Brad didn't even complain.

Best. Husband. Ever.

A little bit of Winter fun

Last weekend Brad took the kids out for some fun in the snow. They built snowmen with the kits we made on Christmas Eve (too bad they melted away the next day). And then they went to the park for some sledding. Avery just got pulled around in the sled, but she seemed to like it until we tipped her over face first into the cold stuff!
But these boys couldn't get enough of the fun!

Just look at their faces, ok maybe Jack doesn't look thrilled but he really did love it.

And I'm throwing in this picture just because.

Ellie and Avery are too cute together.

Piercings?

Yep. I had Avery's ears pierced tonight.

Here it is, trauma and all. :)

The woman at the store tried to woo her with a sucker but Avery knew something was up and wouldn't take her eyes off of her as she got everything out and ready. With the first swipe of antiseptic (to clean her ear prior to piercing) Avery totally melted down. She was crying so hard over nothing I'm pretty sure she didn't even notice when the ear was actually pierced!

So here she is immediately after, clearly mad, and shaking her finger at me.
But, a few short steps to the car and she had everything she needed to relax... her bottle and her lovey (aka Giraffe Blanket).
And only a short car ride home after that she was a happy little girl again, totally unscared by the night's events.
Love you, baby girl.

My Weekend in Texas

I have the best friends. And yet, sadly I live far away from more than half of them. Happily I flew to Houston this past weekend to spend a few days with Emily. It was a long overdue trip and it didn't disappoint. I had such a good time.

We had massages, facials, and pedicures.

We ate soooo much great food I probably put on a few pounds. Mmmm, I'm still thinking of the leftovers in Emily's fridge wishing I was there for lunch... Crawfish Corn Chowder or Shrimp Perlo or Monkey Bread for a snack? And that's just what we had at the house, every meal was too good.

Emily's friend threw her a suprise baby shower at the most charming restaurant.

I learned to play Settlers of Catan, but it would have been nice to win just once. :)

And then there were the endless hours of good old girl talk.

Her husband was such a good sport about staying with the kids for three days straight.

Although I don't feel too bad for Ryan because these kids are adorable!

And have I mentioned what a super-husband Brad is? He took off two and half days of work so I could go play. The kids barely noticed I was gone. He even took them to Ava's princess birthday party! And remembered to take pictures with his cell phone so I could enjoy the cuteness.

Brad: Super-Husband and Super-Dad

I had a GREAT weekend. I feel refreshed, a little sad to have left, and so happy to be home.

And lucky me, I get to visit Shaylyn in only three more weeks.

What can I say? I'm a little spoiled.

Christmas Day

A week and a half late, but I am finally getting these pictures posted from Christmas morning.

After such a fun Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma Curtis' the kids slept in a little... they were up by 7:00, not 6:30! They spent a few minutes checking out what Santa had brought... for Jack it was the best gift of the day... a small pack of four plastic horses and really that could have been his only present. Those little horses barely left his hands all day.

After we opened our gifts from Santa, the kids tore into all the packages. Wesley's big present from Mom and Dad was his new bike. I think he loves it, but he hasn't taken it outside yet... we're waiting for a day when its warmer than 20 degrees out!

And Jack got a scooter, he's pretty excited about that present too. Check out his goofy face... I just love him!

Mimi and Papa sent the boys Lakers jerseys and they LOVE them! They insisted on wearing them without a shirt underneath, duh that's how the players do it, and wore them until we had to leave.

Avery had a fun morning too, although she might have been pleased just opening the presents without really getting everything inside. But she did really love her new baby and stroller.

After finishing up presents at our house, we headed back over to Chris and Lory's. I can't even begin to name everything we got, but here are a few highlights.

Wesley loved his new cowboy accessories... rope, belt, guns! Luckily there were two guns so Jack can get in on the action also. WooHoo. And he got the Imaginext Space Shuttle and other space stuff. The boys just can't get enough of those Imaginext toys... best toy ever. And Jack got a ton of stuff, but I think he likes all the animals most. He reminds me of my little brother Blake in that way, such an animal lover.

Avery got a lot of cute clothes and fun dolls, but she has really enjoyed this Weebles Treehouse. Actually the boys love it too.

But did you really think we could end Christmas without a little more Lakers stuff? Brad loves this new shirt and I think its pretty good lookin too. Plus, did I mention Reed and Shanna got him a Koby Bryant bobblehead holding the championship trophy? Awesome.

We had a really great Christmas season and it's going to be an even better New Year!