Our Big Indiana Trip

Well, that was interesting.

We got back from a 10 day trip visiting Indiana today, and it was nothing like we expected. First off, the kids did great on the plane rides! Awesome! Second, Hairbangers' Ball was great, as usual. And then comes third. Sickness. Blake got sick, followed by Claire, followed by me, followed by my mom... And whoever else after we left... Bummer. Someone, if not more than one someone, was sick every day we were there! Nevertheless, we had a great time, and we loved seeing our families! We shopped, walked, visited the Avon Pizza King with train service, went swimming, and enjoyed our families. I got to see the Myers' family, the Humbard family, Meghan, April, Bryan, and the Giordano family! We ate Moe's, Mother Bear's, Steak n' Shake (x2), Casa Brava, and City Barbecue! Overall, sick or not, we had a great time. We did miss out seeing a few people due to illness (my grandparents and the Gilbert family); but, we look forward to a healthy visit next time where we can get together! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Random Things

Alex's bracket won at his work! We are super excited about this because he gets $290! With that, we got a new outdoor umbrella!




It is so nice to be able to sit with Claire in the shade while Blake plays!

In other news, the kids and I are starting Stroller Strides tomorrow. For those of you that don't know what that is, check it out: http://fit4mom.com/. It began in San Diego, so it is pretty big here, but they have locations all over the country! I'm super excited about it. Hopefully, the kids like it, we meet some friends for everyone, and it's a good workout!

To end the random post, here are some pictures from my phone:

Spring Family Visits

It is already spring! Alex's mom and my sister came to visit, and we had a great time! The weather was nice, so we spent lots of time outside. We had an Easter egg hunt for Blake, visited the outlet mall in Cabazon, climbed Black Mountain, and went to the zoo! Both kids are finally starting to enjoy being out of the house together!

JT Album Release Party

Awesome. Lauren and I had so much fun in LA/Hollywood, and Blake and Claire had a great time with Alex.

We flew in (ridiculous, I know) and had a car service to the hotel. The hotel, The W, was awesome! We got our hair done at Blo Blow Dry Bar and went to dinner at Delphine (restaurant in the hotel). We met the bouncer (his name was Mike Jonnnnnneeeessss) for Drai's (Nightclub at the top of The W) and planned to head there after we hung out at the hotel for some jazz. Both places were super busy and fun. Some people invited us to join their table with bottle service at Drai's, so we got free drinks!

We saved the following day to get ready for Justin! We went to Blo again to make sure our hair was looking good! They shuttled us over to the El Rey Theatre. There was a red carpet, open bar, appetizers, gifts, and lots of celebrities. We chose to avoid the open bar since the event was to be televised, but we enjoyed watching a bunch of idiots get sloppy wasted. We also got SO lucky. We met a couple of girls who invited us to the front row! We were right in front of Justin and Ryan Seacrest the whole time! It was so crazy how close we were. Highlights: Justin blew Lauren and me a kiss, and we shook Ryan's hand. We were boring the rest of the night. Ordered pizza, went to bed.

The next day we had to go home. We went to The Waffle for breakfast. The best part of this day was seeing Bobby Moynihan AKA Drunk Uncle!

Overall, it was an awesome, once in a lifetime experience. And I'm glad we didn't look like morons on TV!

Lucky.

Well, I won a radio contest. Unbelievable, I know. So, Justin Timberlake is back at it... Making music again. Anyone who knows me should know he is my favorite. Love him. He's hilarious (SNL stuff), and I think he is pretty talented with music, dancing, and movies. So, I was pumped when I found out he had a new album coming out! I preordered it and everything (I'm sure that was unnecessary, but hey, whatever). I watched his performance at the Grammy's. Loved it, of course. So, Lauren and I decided we were going to his concert whenever, if ever that was. Lucky for us, he announced that he and Jay-Z were going on tour together this summer. The Legends of Summer tour. We must go. While we were waiting for tickets to go on sale, I heard a contest on the radio. Nationwide. Over 200 stations participating. You win airfare for 2 to LA, car service for 2, 2 nights in a hotel, and, most importantly, 2 passes to the Justin Timberlake album release party where he will do a private performance and interview with Ryan Seacrest. Sweet. I decide to call in. There are multiple times to call in listed on the website. Lauren and I tried at a couple different times. Busy. Busy. Busy. For at least 100 redials (sad, I know, but the kids were napping... I had time!). The next morning, I got distracted by changing diapers and being a mom, so it was 8:05am. Dang! I missed the 8am call in. I decided to call anyways. 2 busy signals. I decide to try one more time then I'm done. Sick of these busy signals! Plus, what are the chances that I am the 100th caller in a nationwide contest!? Slim to none. Well, a guy answers. It didn't ring or anything, and all he says is, "Hello?" Naturally, I am mad because I'm certain I dialed the wrong number. So, I inquire about the Justin contest. He messes with me a little, but it turns out I won! Amazing. He gets all my information, but I didn't really believe it until I got a confirmation email beginning the travel set up. Lauren is going with me March 17th-19th, and they are flying us from San Diego to LA. Kinda ridiculous, but hey, it's not my money! By the way, no one believed me when I told them until 10 minutes in of convincing!
Lauren and I also got our concert tickets in a presale (thanks to Alex for getting them immediately when they went on sale!) for the Rose Bowl show. We are staying in a hotel, free with Alex's Hilton points from work (thanks again to Alex!) since the concert is a little bit away from our house.

Separate note from Justin... Alex and I are headed to a Stephen Lynch concert at the San Diego House of Blues on March 8th. Pretty excited about that, too!

Lucky.

Family Pictures

Well, we got pictures for Blake turning 2 and Claire being 3 months. Claire did as well as we expected, but Blake! Oh. My. Gosh. Let me start by saying that Blake loves getting his picture taken... Apparently, not professionally. He refused to smile. Alex had to do everything he could to get Blake to smile at all. We got a few good ones still, but we got a few awful ones, too. Take a look...