Friday, July 31, 2009

Always, Sometimes, Never

I've seen this on a few blogs that I follow, Jenna and Heather and decided I wanted to play along to let all of you know a little more about me!

I ALWAYS ---

...thank God for the many blessings in my life!

...leave the house way too early in the morning because I have a fear that I'll get into the habit of being late to work if I do it even 1 time.

...check my e-mail, blog, myspace and checking account online at least 5 times a day!

...tell Ryan that I love him as much as possible.

...stress out about way too much!

...sleep with the fan on even in the Winter!

...drive way too fast and use cruise control on the freeway.

...do the same morning routine, shower, blow dry and straighten my hair, put on my makeup, let Harley out, get dressed, get Ryan up and head out the door!

I sometimes ---

...text message while I'm driving (I know, I know, I shouldn't).

...lose control of my temper and yell at the dog too much!

...think I want to plant flowers but it never ever happens.

...wish I could live in a big city and work in a skyscraper building with lots of windows and wear dressy suits to work everyday! Ha!

...get caught up on laundry!

...actually clean the kitchen before I go to bed at night - I really want to get better at that.

...get crazy and want to clean all the closets and bedrooms at once!

I never ---

...lose sight of the things that really matter in this world, God, my family and our health.

...say 'I love you' enough.

...call my friends and family just to say hello and ask how their day was.

...am happy with my hair! In fact, I think I'm going to cut bangs - I need a change!

...get tired of driving.

...save as much money as I should, you know, in case of an emergency!

...get tired of listening to Ryan talk and watch him learn new things. He's so much fun right now, repeating everything we say and acting like such a big boy!


So, did you learn something new about me? What is 1 thing you Always, Sometimes and Never do?

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

to be a child again...

Have you ever ate something that brought back childhood memories!?!? Last year I ate some really fresh Red Vines and had to e-mail my Mom about it because it brought back memories of weekly trips to the bowling alley while my parents bowled on a bowling league. I remember my parents letting us go to the video store in the bowling alley to buy licorice because we could get 5 pieces for a quarter!

Today on my lunch hour, while perusing the candy aisle at Target for something small and sweet to place in the baby shower table favors for Michelle's baby shower this weekend, I came across chocolate covered raisins....oh, how I love chocolate covered raisins! (Don't worry Michelle, this is not the favor for the shower!) I did buy a bag to snack on at work though. In fact, I've finished eating my lunch and now I'm snacking on some as I type! Chocolate covered raisins will always bring back memories of visiting Papa and Grandma in Visalia while growing up. I can remember sitting with Grandma working on word search puzzles and eating chocolate covered raisins! Those were the good ol' days - HAHA!!


*Photo courtesy of google images.

What candy or food brings back memories of growing up for you?

Happy Wednesday all.

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Long Update!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything substantial! Here are a ton of pictures from the past several weeks in the Avila household (and the Avila's on vacation!).

First, here's Ryan being silly at cousin Jeremy and Shandra's wedding last month.



He was enjoying the camera with Aunt Michelle and Uncle David.


Here's me and cousin Jazmine.


Papa and Ryan.


Me and my little man.


Our 4th of July was pretty laid back and lots of fun! I was up early for the 4th of July Celebration at the City Park. Debbie and I set up a booth to sell our Hairbows and Tutus. Here's a small glimpse of our booth.


I forgot to take pics of Ryan watching fireworks on the 4th. He spent the whole day with Grammy and Papa because I was busy at the park. He went swimming and got to play with Aunt Shannah and Uncle Kevin before we picked him up and headed back to the in-laws for our BBQ/fireworks for the evening.

Here's a few pics of the diaper party we gave Michelle and David last month:


My first attempt at decorating sugar cookies (it left a lot to be desired!):



Here's David and Michelle opening their diapers!


And Ryan and Preston playing in the pool and then with the lawn mower and blower toys!



Two weekends ago we loaded up the trailer, Harley and Ryan and headed to the coast for some camping! We met up with our friends Thursday night and enjoyed some ocean front property for 3 days! The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm the entire weekend. Ryan really seemed to enjoy playing in the sand and staying in the trailer.





We are very blessed to have such great friends that we can enjoy weekend getaways with - even though I don't have a picture of all of us together! We look forward to our next camping trip (in a campground that does not have sand beneath our feet and loud quads and dune buggies racing by at all hours of the night)!

This past weekend Jake and I escaped for a weekend in LA. We drove around a lot - the hills in Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Hollywood and everywhere in between. We had no plans, just wanted to have some fun. We saw the Michael Jackson star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the gate to the Playboy Mansion, some beautiful homes, DASH and Smooch (the Kardashain's stores), went to The Comedy Store in Hollywood for a late night stand-up comedy show and stayed at the Beverly Hills Plaza Hotel! Fun, fun and more fun! (Photobucket is not playing nice anymore, I'll add more pics of LA later.)

Now it's back to real-life here. Work, cooking, cleaning, laundry, crafting and everything else we do around here!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

...eight...nine...AND ten!

This weekend Ryan totally surprised Jake and I.

The scene: We were in the trailer at the coast (a post on that with pictures is coming soon) and Jake and Ryan were laying on the coach playing and talking.

Jake was counting to Ryan and Ryan was repeating every number. One...two...three...four...five... and then, completely surprisingly and out-of-nowhere, Ryan continued on all by himself: six...seben (ha!)...eight...nine...AND ten!

Jake and I shared a huge smile and could not believe our ears! Then we immediately coached him to do it again and again. In fact, he's done it on the phone for Aunt Michelle & Uncle David and Grammy too! He finally did it for Nana this morning when I dropped him off.

So my almost two-year-old can count to 10 all by himself and I partially thank Barney for that! :)