Remebering Jeff

always remembering our beautiful friend Jeff Haas
June 5, 1956 - December 17, 2009

Showering Baby in Vegas, stopping to take in the ghosts.

Our cousins the Vails are expecting their second daughter and we headed up to Las Vegas (YAY!) for their baby shower. Took along the makings for a diaper cake (that assembled beautifully in the hotel!) and a cooler full of food, waters and juice boxes. We got two adjoining rooms and took Maribug and Bean with us. The kiddos enjoyed twice the space for running around and Hea Baby enjoyed twice the tissue boxes and toilet paper rolls to empty.


The cake turned out so cute and the shower was super fun. I'm a serious competitor when it comes to shower/party games. Seriously, I'll take you on in "spoon up the cotton balls blindfolded" any day. Bring it. Mr. B and I played one together and (seeing as how neither of us like to lose) he fed me puréed carrots, blindfolded of course and we were rewarded with a Target gift card. Woo Hoo ;)



After a fun weekend at the Main Street (leaving a little of our money so we can get it back when we return) we headed homeward. We stopped and spent the afternoon in Calico Ghost Town.


It's so beautiful and was pretty empty considering how chilly it was. Mr. B always gives in when I was to take pictures of ANY sort so here's our "old tyme photo".




Always a good time with our family and friends! <3

Gamers... the old school kind

Some nights we like to bust out the Uno or Skipbo cards and lately we've been trying to teach JT how to play Dominos.


And there are the nights that we put on dancing jams and just play around!



We love hangin out as a family <3

January 26, 2010

Married 8 years to your best friend. Not too shabby a way to be spending your time. Mr. B makes me laugh. He drives me nuts (weather in a good way or bad depends on the day LOL).
He's the man I chose to love for my whole entire existence when this life was being planned. I can't imagine going through this life with anyone else as a partner. He puts up with my craziness and I put up with his snoring. Our marriage is work and worth every single second. I take a lot of pride in the life we've built together and I feel so blessed to go to sleep every night next to a man that will always give me butterflies.

21 Guns

Bean turned 21 last December!!

Mr. B took her to the shooting range for the first time and let her have at it. She did great and of course liked shooting the .44 which was of course the most expensive ammunition. haha.

We celebrated with dinner at home, green sparkly drinks, and her 3 birthdays deep traditional white cake with lemon curd filling and lemon whipped cream frosting... MMMM!

There was a lighthearted game of Fact or Crap and then a very serious and intense game of RISK (I'm going on what I hear since I fell asleep on the couch, face still swollen from having all 4 wisdoms out the day before).

Happy Birthday Bean, We sure do love you kajillions. You're awesome-de-awesome. <3

The Science of turning 5

JT turned 5 in December and we celebrated with a "Science Party". Auntie Cis gathered her dry ice skills and we made ice cream, root beer, experimented with dry ice and water, soap and ...um water bottles (strictly grown up's and after party time). No dry ice bombs until you're at least 12 JT!


All little (and big) ones involved had SUCH a fun time with all of our cool experiments and we all enjoyed root beer floats with our creations!

Sister M made JT's "5" birthday cupcakes and they were (to pay homage to my wonderful Frostie Friend...) "YUMMADOCIOUS"!


We had piñata fun and JT totally enjoyed ALL of his awesome presents. Thank You to all of our special family and friends!!

All "fired up" for Pajama Brunch Birthdays!

Even though this was back in December, I obviously was slacking (what's new). I figure that since this is pretty much as "journal" as I get... Better late than never.


I turned 26 in 09. Always amazed at the outpouring of love we benefit from, I once again enjoyed a house full of family and friends who were willing to come spend a little time. I think the pajama clause (ie... you were supposed to wear them instead of regular clothes) and the possibility of favorite jammin brunch foods after dark could have added to the appeal.


Friends old and new, loved just the same, hung out and played games and had cake (yay cake!). Even Minster and Thompson came (We HEART Missionaries!) while in town visiting their former mission. Granted, it's hard to stay away from the LBC (We HEART Long Beach always always!) once you've spent some time here.


The Party was set to start about 5 and at 4:40, Mr. B was starting a fire in the backyard and the flame caught a little trail of gasoline from the gas can that had been in the backyard... it caught quickly and before we knew it, Mr. B was on fire... literally, as was the gazebo in back. He says that when you're actually ON FIRE all common sense goes out the window. Thankfully "Stop, Drop, and Roll" managed to weave it's way to the front of his brain and he did so (right next to the fire extinguisher LOL). He escaped rattled but otherwise unharmed. Bean jumped into action with the extinguisher but we only got about 8 seconds of spray. Myself, hopping from one foot to the other with no real focus at all, jumped at the opportunity to to SOMETHING. Grabbed the fire extinguisher from the boat out front and brought it to the back where we were able to put the rest of it out.

The fire department came (within 5 minutes) made sure everything was okay, husband cut away the burned parts of the gazebo, disposed of the melted patio furniture, and hosed off the gasoline that had spilled over when the gas can "died" and had zero trace of any fire other than the faint smell of gas and a wet table cloth all before guests arrived.
That's show business baby.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday love <3 Mrs. B loves you!

Hea BUG is 1!

We celebrated as Hea Bug turned 1 year old! She was surrounded by family, friends and a whole lotta love. Hea Bug was a big fan of hearing the Happy Birthday Song sung to her.

The rain couldn't stop our partying although holding everything inside was definitely a new experience. She knew exactly what to do with her cake and presents.


She romped like a champ with all the kids that were bigger than her. She loved her birthday crown, tutu and wings.

We also went to Disneyland the day before her actual birthday with our wonderful friends, the D's that live in Germany!

It was great to see them and Ms. Riss, who's just getting taller and wiser every time we see her! We had such a blast with them and look forward to hopefully seeing them again this summer in Europe!




(Casey Jr. at night is a WHOLE 'Nother Story!)

She's loved beyond measure and not only lights up but adds lots of sparkle to our lives.

Love you Hea Baby!