Trip to Idaho 2010

Yup this is our classic Ginger! (how cute would of this been if the finger wasn't there??)

I know it's been a while since I've been back, but I think it's about time I wrote down everything and shared with all of you. Me and the girls flew down to Idaho a full two weeks before Josh was to join us. It's always hard traveling with kids but doing it by yourself makes it a little harder. This time I kept my stroller with me and checked it at the gate and boy was that great! It made going through the airports soooo much easier. Especially since we had a 3 hour layover. The kids did great on the plane rides. A little crazy on the first flight but then slept through the second (which was the longest one). It was so great to see everyone. Of course I cried, and of course Zoey clung to me like she was paper and I was glue. We had many things going on while we were there. Josh's side of the family had a family reunion and his mom got re-married. I tried my best to visit as much as possible and see as many people as I could. We also hit up the waterpark while we there. Ginger LOVED it! It was so much fun seeing her light up and enjoy the day. Zoey loved it, as long as I was always within her sight. She kept falling in the water and would end up floating on her back with the life jacket and Ginger would look at her and laugh and say "mommy look zoey's swimming!" she wasn't she just couldn't get back up to a standing position. After a while Zoey was doing it on purpose. Of course my kids LOVED their cousins! It was like we were never gone. Zoey's most favorite person was Madison. Boy did she love her. Ginger's most favorite was staying the night at unce Matt's house. I loved hanging out with Matt and Desi, we also did a camping trip up in Cascade, Idaho. It was beautiful! I sure missed the land of Idaho. As gorgeous Virginia is, it doesn't really compare with Idaho's mountains. And seeing the new babies... OMGosh!! They are so flipping adorable. And of course they love me! :) Ginger and Zoey loved their new baby cousins. I so want one now, and Josh thought that holding the babies would help with my baby hunger, hahaha. The family reunion was a little intimidating to me since I hardly knew anyone. But I guess that was what Josh felt like at my family reunion back in 2007! We had a lot of late nights and great days. It was so fun to have everyone see how much my girls had changed since we've gone.

I feel like I've missed a lot but I haven't really, I mean we were busy but it was mostly just hanging out! Which is what I wanted to more than anything.

New York City

For mine and Josh's 5yr anniversary this year we went to New York. It was AMAZING! It was everything we thought it would be. We only went for the day, but we saw as much as we could. We took a bus there, so it was nice to really just enjoy the drive with Josh since he didn't have to worry traffic and what not. Once we got there we were dropped off in front of Macy's, the largest department store. We didn't go inside though :(. Then we went to the Empire State building. That was great. The views were amazing. After that we had lunch in Bryant park! That was exciting to me since I watch Project Runway and that's where they have the final fashion show :). Then it was off to grand central station where we rode the subway, which wasn't as crowded as we thought but it was pretty dirty, to Times Square. All I have to say about Times Square is OMGosh!! It was unbelievable. I wish I could of seen it all lit up at night, but we had to catch our bus. While in Times Square we went to the Hershey store and M&M world. Then we rode the ferry to Staten Island, it's free, and then rode it back. We passed right by the statue of liberty. Then we went to see the world trade center site. It wasn't really impressive and it was hard to try and get any feelings for the place since the whole area is under construction. We bought hot dogs from a street vendor. They weren't as great I thought it would be. We also hugged a couple of black dudes. They were holding up signs that said 'Free Hugs' or 'Hug a black guy and get addicted to black', so we thought what the heck. We also got free Dr. Peppers, and while I was crossing the street to catch up to Josh this bicyclist crashed into me and smashed my pop all over me!!! And then he just left, what a true jack ass! He's lucky I didn't get hurt. After an amazing day in New York we caught our bus and headed home.

Biggest Loser Results

No judging!

This is me! I had gained 30lbs while I was pregnant with Zoey and I had just never lost it :(. I blame it all on the fact that I had moved far away from my family for the first time ever and I had quit smoking. I told myself many times when I looked in the mirror and saw myself that I would rather be fat than smoke another cigarette! It had nothing to do with the fact that I would 2-3 packages of oreos a week... or so I told myself. Then an amazing opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance. Aunt Dani had started a Biggest Loser competition among the family and I couldn't wait to get started. I knew I wouldn't win. There was just no way it could happen. I could only lose so much weight and I didn't want to go back to my pre-pregnancy weight cuz' it was just to skinny for me (125lbs). I worked out 3 or more times a week and was careful with my portion sizes, although I would splurge. I'm still continuing to work out, though not as much since I have no motivation what so ever!! I'm so proud of myself and what I've accomplished, check out the results!

It's so amazing to know that it is possible to lose the weight! It's a lot of HARD work and I never want to do it again. But at least I know that I can. I can do it. It's an amazing feeling.

Fun for Cheap

Cuz' you know that's how we do!

Our newly invented fun thing to do... Slide-boarding (that's what Ginger calls it)!!!

Booty Dance

I just had to capture Ginger dancing cuz' it cracked me up!

Now watch her face, it's priceless! Whenever she watches this she calls this her booty dance...

Easter

Easter was pretty easy going for us this year. I would of loved to have gone and had Easter dinner with some family but... they were on vacation :). The girls dyed eggs on Saturday. They sure did love that. And then they went to bed with the anticipation of the Easter Bunny coming. Ginger fell asleep quickly that night. When they woke up Zoey's basket was on her high chair, which Ginger found and came running into my room to wake me up and ask where her basket was. When I told her it was hiding and she had to look for it. She freaked out!! She didn't like that at all. It took maybe 9 minutes to find it. I helped her a little. I just told her the general idea where her basket could be. After lunch and Zoey's nap they did a little easter egg hunt outside, right in front of my downstairs neighbors porch. They had so much fun doing the hunt. Ginger found ALL of them, not really giving Zoey a chance to look for them. But Ginger would find Zoey's eggs and put them in her basket. There was also one golden egg that had double the candy and 50 cents. Ginger was very proud of her money. Which she promptly lost later that day.

Miami Baby!!

So the last weekend of March we were off to Miami! It was fantastic. We were there for a real estate class. I was supposed to go with Josh but we didn't find a sitter who could come with us so, darn it, I had to take care of the kids and take them to all the fun things to do in Miami. It really was fun. Most of the days it was cloudy and rainy. But it was still beautiful. And on the only sunny day that occurred while we were there, me and the girls went to South Beach. Wow, it was just gorgeous. I had never seen ocean water so clear. Ginger loved every moment of it. The day before South Beach we went to Key Biscayne but could only stay for a short time cuz' it rained :( but we made the most of it anyways. Ginger was happy cuz' there was sand for her to dig in. Zoey on the other hand HATED the sand, she absolutely refused to stand in it. It was pretty cute. She would only stand on the towel, boogie board or stroller. And Ginger sure knows how to make friends wherever she may be. While we were at South Beach she even made friends with some college boys (I know, I know), she danced for them (I know, I know) and she even kissed one (I know, I know trust me I know). The girls and I got totally fried from the sun, I felt horrible about Ginger's sunburn, the poor girl couldn't even pull her pants down to go potty without screaming. I'm a horrible mother. The next was cloudy and a chance to rain so we went to the zoo. That was fun. The girls loved it. On Monday Josh was out of class and finally able to play with us. That day was also cloudy and stormy and rainy but we headed off to Key Largo anyways, beautiful just beautiful there. We got some key lime pie while we were there as well. And then we headed off to the Everglades. Now that was amazing. It was crazy to see so many alligators in there natural habitats and knowing that the only thing between us was a wooden fence. It was a relaxing trip and the girls did pretty good throughout the whole thing. On our way home we stopped and played a little bit in Savannah, GA. That was great, very pretty. I thought it would of been more hopping than it was but it was amazing. And we also went to Ft. Stewart, GA the place where I was born. We drove on the army base and took pics of the hospital that my first breath occurred. It was pretty cool.