Tuesday, April 26

be sure to put some flowers in your hair!

Brian and I celebrated our 6 year Anniversary this last week. It was really back in March but since we go on a trip to a new place every year, we have decided that April is a little better to travel. (not spring break, a little warmer, and baseball season has begun) So off we went to SAN FRANCISCO. Mom came down to take care of the kids which makes her the best person alive. Seriously, best.NANA.ever. Thank you so so much mom for that, we couldn't have gone without you!
THIS IS LONG....So before you STOP reading this at least read this first VERY funny story... We usually keep the destination a secret, and this year was no different until about a week ago when Brian guessed our destination and I have no poker face. So he knew and we were able to catch a few mishaps in my planning. So Wednesday morning we drive at the airport. On the way, I called the airline to check out gate. HMMM, that's odd, the time is a little different but I don't remember getting any emails informing me of this change. Strange, but whatever. So we get dropped off and cant check in at the machines. ODD. So I go up to the desk and after some strange questions and looking at our itinerary, the airline agent passes it back to me and says "Oh these flights are booked for March" My response, "NO. I booked them for today. April." He then shows me the date of my tickets and low and behold they indeed are in March. We were a whole month late for the tickets I had bought. NON refundable tickets I will add. So we searched on line for the next best thing which didn't go out for another 10 hours that night. We took it and although we didn't lose out on anything that day on our trip, we were out a lot of money just buying tickets last minute like that. UGH! I felt so stupid. I immediately started to cry and I was just waiting for Brian to reem me out for doing this. He is always getting on me about my memory and doing things a little wonky... well I was ready to hear it. Instead, he amazed me and was the man I thought I married. He laughed, and laughed...and laughed. And I cried and cried and cried. These things happen right? It will never ever happen again to us, but it happened and that is what makes our trips so memorable!

Day 1. Travel to San Fran, hop in a cab with a TRICKY cab driver, check in and go to sleep.

Day2. Wake up early for Alcatraz. This was awesome. This prison island was crazy and so interesting to learn about. I would never last in prison.






The Island is a preserved state park of California for the extensive flowers and nesting birds all around the island. It was beautiful!


We were trying to take some pics of the view to the city and there was a man KINDA in our way. Brian had already taken a pic and it was gross so I was making him retake and so we had to wait a minute. I didn't know this is actually what face I make when I am irritated. Yes, it looks like I was posing to be annoyed, turns out I have a naturally stink face. SWEET.

Check out where they got to have their activities. Brian would have rocked this place. It was creepy.

LUNCH at Boudin. The famous Sour Dough bread bakery. YUM! We had sour dough french toast and soup in bread bowls. It was divine. If I liked seafood, I am sure I would have liked the clam chowder as much as Brian did.




Golden Gate Bridge was huge and fun to go and see. There were tons of people out there and the weather that day was gorg! We are really into the history of things, so this was fun to read all about it. I feel silly saying this but it was here that I "clicked" to why they call it the GOLDEN GATE bridge. Am I retarded or are there others out there who dont know?!

This is one of the big cords that holds up the bridge, it is full of tiny cords inside a large one. Then there are more tint ones wrapped up around it.

China Town. Fun. Bought cheap presents for the kids and were SUPER silly!





Day 3. We rented a car and headed out to Oakland to go to the Temple. Best smelling temple ever! The landscaping was awesome and seriously smelt like spring! The temple itself was of course gorgeous and simple. You can tell it was built in the 60's!!




He didn't want to be in any pictures because he didn't pack his white shirt. I finally convinced him it didn't matter.







The cable cars were fun to ride on. HUGE LINES were not worth the wait but the few times we hopped on, it was cool to see the steep hills they could climb, and we were not going to climb those on foot!

We had some DELISH food. Italian in Little Italy, with some gelato. We had Steaks one night, sushi, Mexican, crepes, and so much more I cant ever think of it.

That night we went to the baseball game, the Giants. We tried many many times to catch the bus over there but kept missing it, getting in long lines, or just didn't want to wait 15 min for the next one so we ended up walking 4 miles to the ballpark.

We were tired. It was totally worth it though. The ballpark is right by the Bay Bridge and it is right on the water. People actually sit out there in canoes waiting for home run balls to come out to the water! Also home of the original garlic fry. It was GOOOD! But made my breathe super smelly!















Silly Seals out of the pier. They were barking and there was something so interesting about watching them that I couldn't stop! I turned to find Brian just standing there staring at me, as in "Whenever you are done you crazy lady! They are just seals!"





The Crooked road was fun to walk and see. The roads in this city were nuts. Steep!!






And remember FULL HOUSE? I loved and love that show. We had to go check these out. The funny thing about this picture is that I think the people around the park thought we were serious about the poses we were doing. We really have to not care what other people think of us in order to get our usual silly pictures. This whole walk we were singing the full house theme song.

"What ever happened to predictability?

The milk man the paper boy, evening TV.

You miss your old familar friends,

But waiting just around the bend.


everywhere you look everwhere,

theres a heart, theres a heart,

a hand to hold on to.

Everywhere you look everywhere

theres a face, theres a face

of somebody who needs you.


When youre lost out there,

and your all alone.

A light is waiting to carry you home,

everywhere you look.


ah ah ah ah ah!"



Last Day we did most of the touristy stuff and sights. We weren't leaving until 10 that night so we had the day to relax and enjoy. Ghirardelli square was fun, although we didn't get all around the square. We got in and ordered the classic fudge sundae, waiting almost an hour for them to come and jumped into the best ice cream sundae of my life. YUM!!




So basically it doesn't matter where we go, we have so much fun together. I am so lucky to be married to the most amazing man ever. He overlooks my faults and loves me for them. He is more incredable today than he was when we first met. We always talk about when we met and how fast everything happened and we feel so blessed that we were able to find eachother. He lifts me up and truly makes me a better person. He makes me laugh all the time, if you know Brian, you know that there is never a dull moment and he USUALLY crosses the line and goes too far. I love you babe! Thanks for another amazing year and another awesome trip!

Sunday, April 17

Waiting

The AC in the suburban went out. It has been going out for the last year or so and it sucks when it does. It is humid and hot and horrible. With summer time coming fast, it has been in the 90's and we are feeling it. So we finally brought the car in, which means we all get to squish in the little car. It was NOT fun. Lets just say my kids ALL need to be separated all the time. This week we also had our friends from Houston come over for a pajama party, we had decided against a sleepover. But the party was a success with Pool time, painting nails, making rice crispies and watching movies. Boots felt a little left out of the nail polish scene but finally I gave into the clear polish.



We also went to a baseball game with them and the kids all got their very own camera jumbo tron time! Court knows how to work it for the camera!!




We are just waiting on the edge of our seats for the afternoon to hurry on by. Nana gets here today and we cant wait to see her and pick her up to spend the week. Brian and I are going on our annual anniversary trip and Nana is always awesome to come and chill with the kiddos. This year we are going to San Francisco and we are both really excited since neither of us has been there before. It is usually a surprise but Brian "got it out of me". He guessed states and cities and since I have NO poker face, he knew it when he guessed it. That little sucker. But it turned out better this way, now we can plan before hand and apparently I am not a good planner. Thanks for pointing that out B.

Tuesday, April 12

Chase that Davy Crockett

We have been training the last 3 months, well honestly just 2, and finally the day has come and gone of the payout. We, my sister in laws and I, did the Davy Crockett Bear Chase Half Marathon in Groveton, Tx. I guarantee that no one has heard of that town, it is REALLY small! So after weeks and weeks of getting together Saturday morning at 530am for our long runs, we did it and it feels sooo good!! My Mother in Law Tori, and my two sis in laws (Anna and Kathleen) and of course me, we all headed down for a girls night in Crockett Texas and then over to the race in the morning. We arrived looking forward to a fun night and yummy pre-race food. We definitely had fun, and pre-race food, just not so yummy!! Thank you Elementary school in Groveton! Also highlight of the night was getting into our swimsuits and headed down to the Whirlpool we all had been so looking forward to. The best was going outside to find that it had been filled in by rocks and flower beds. Come one people, change your website for crazy hot tubbers like us! Not impressed! After one of those night where you wake up every hour in anticipation, we headed out to the race. We met up with pals Jake and Kelly who were doing the Marathon. No marathon for me thanks! We brought our camera running to try and take some fun shots, that plan didn't work so well! We all had a good run though. My time was 2:14. My goal was to beat Brian's time a few months ago or 2:17 so I beat that. During the race though I changed my goal to under 2:10. I was bummed I didn't make it, but I think we are doing another one in a month so that is my goal to shoot for then!

Way to go Kel!! You rocked those 26 miles GIRL!
So I'm running along, we had all kind of split up near the end and as I am running my last mile I look up ahead and see a shirt that looked very familiar. Our families chose to stay home as it was a 4 hour drive to the race. Well upon closer inspection, it was Brian and the kids there to cheer me on. I started to get emotional and I cried. It was the most wonderful surprise. I am totally tearing up just thinking about it again! Talk about motivation! It was awesome.

Nothing like a DQ Blizzard for a post race treat. Oddly enough my kids barely touched theirs, they must not take after mommy with this, MORE FOR ME! I love me some blizz!
So I was tired, my legs felt close to numb on the last mile, but I did get some energy boost around mile 10 so that helped me a ton. I think that if it was a few miles longer I could have done it, it was just knowing I only had to do 13 miles that made me tired on that last mile. I was definitely not as tired as my fam though. They got up at 330 to come and surprise me! So the kids zonked the whole way home.
Today was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Natalie talks about her cousins all of the time. "Remember when we went to Disney world with BriBri?" "Remember when we went to Hawaii with Melia?" "I cant wait to play with Taylor this summer!" and so on and so on. She seriously talks about them ALL all of the time. So today I was skyping with my sis and Taylor and Natalie started to talk. Taylor asked her if she wanted to play pony's. They totally got all their pony's out and skype-played pony's together. It was so precious! I wish she could see the Miller cousins more. I feel so blessed to be near all of the Rawlins, how awesome though if she could see them all!