Christmas in Utah

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Gingerbread Houses

I'm so lucky to have a 4-year-old who LOVES to do crafty things! He has been begging me to make gingerbread houses ever since we put the Christmas tree and decorations up. We made them last year and I guess he didn't forget! We had a lot of fun, just me and the boys!

Jacob's masterpiece!

I think Logan did more eating candy and licking his fingers than actual decorating! But he's just so cute!

Reason for the Season

Enjoy the true Christmas Spirit,

and forget the all the rest.

Visit this link below:

http://www.reflectionsmg.com/reflections-of-christ-videos.php

Thanksgiving

We were so blessed to have Abe's parents, Steve and Paulette spend time with us for Thanksgiving. On Friday, we drove out to Monterey Bay and walked along Fisherman's Wharf. It was a lot of fun! Here are some of our pictures from those couple of days.

Happy Turkey Day!

We are so thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family. And we hope that everyone has a wonderful (and yummy!) Thanksgiving Day!!!


Here's a little "handi"work from our budding artist, Jacob.

The BIG Trees

Last Saturday, we took a drive to Sequoia National Park to see the "big trees," as Logan would say. It was beautiful weather, and the trees were awesome! It was fun to just get out and breath some fresh, clean air.

Abe and the boys inside a tree.

Here's Logan cheesing it up!

Abe and Jake on a fallen tree bridge.

Nicole's Birthday

Yes, I did have a birthday. It was on Wednesday, the 5th of November. It was just a regular day, with phone calls and text messages from friends and family. My wonderful hubby cooked me my favorite meal: his amazing chicken kabobs. And we had yummy German chocolate cake for dessert! It was really nice and low key, which is how I like it. Abe also got me a Wii Fit for my birthday. It is totally AWESOME!!! And I can't wait to get a turn...between Abe and Jake...maybe someday.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! :o)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I do love to dress the kids up (and show them off!)

Logan is Curious George this year (again). Isn't he the cutest monkey ever?!

And if you couldn't tell, Jake is Spiderman.

This is the best part of the costume...his buns! Yup, no padding there!

It's been a busy week, so last night we finally carved a pumpkin. Jake did the ears...

Hope you all have a very Happy Halloween!

New York, New York!

I've kinda been slow at getting caught up on our blog. This past week has been rough as I un-spoil my boys after a week with grandmas! But now things are pretty much back to normal. The reason we went to New York is because Abe had to do some more training for his job with Pfizer. They train in White Plains, which just happens to be only 10 minutes from where my sister Amy, and her husband LaMar live. So I decided to tag along this time. We drove to Utah to drop the boys off at grandma's, then flew to New York on the worst airline EVER--Northwest! Never, ever, ever will we fly on Northwest again! But that's a story for another day...


It was a really relaxing trip. And the weather was amazingly perfect the whole week--a cool 70 degrees every day. Amy and I (and usually LaMar too!) just hung out, doing our cross-stitching, or doing some shopping in White Plains, or whatever. It was great! Abe and I also went into the city on one day and hung out. And I also got to meet up with a bunch of friends from when I was a nanny out there. It's actually quite amazing that we all were able to meet up for dinner that night! But it was a lot of fun! We also bought some more baby turtles down in Chinatown (Toby passed away unfortunately while we were gone...a moment of silence, please.) All in all, I'm so glad I got to go. I haven't been there since I lived there almost 6 years ago.

This is LaMar and Amy.

The statue by Rockafeller Center.

Us, standing in front of the skating rink at Rockafeller Plaza.

My nanny friend, Amanda and her boyfriend, Azam. Sorry, there were a bunch of other pictures I took of everyone else who was there, but this is the only one that didn't turn out fuzzy and out of focus (probably 'cause they were sitting right across from me.)


We're at this pizza restaurant called Lombardi's down on Spring St. in Little Italy area. We saw this place on a show on the Discovery Channel and had to check it out. It is the first pizza restaurant ever to open in America (1905). This is the original oven. Very good pizza!

New Baby!

This is my new baby nephew, Colby. He is the product of my sister, Christina, and her hubby, Shane. And what a cutie he is! He was born on September 29th. I'm glad we got to stop by and say hi for a sec while on our way to New York. Good luck sis!

Here is Abe holding baby Colby and his big sister, Makayla.

Firetrucks!

Last weekend, Fresno Fire Department had an open house for their brand new headquarters building in downtown Fresno. The boys had a lot of fun and even got to sit in a fire truck!

Happy Birthday Abe!

Today is Abe's 27th birthday! His birthday is bittersweet for him and I. Ten years ago today, he dumped me. Why? Because I didn't tell him "Happy Birthday" the moment I saw him at school. Why? Because I wanted to "tell" him later at the little party he was having. Oh, silly high school! It's amazing to me that we've now known each other for over ten years. We've been through a lot together. And we've pretty much grown up together. It's been fun (most of the time!) and I'm looking forward to the many, many years we've yet to experience together!

No, We're Still Here...

If you were asking yourself, "what happened to Abe, Nicole, and the boys," well you're not the only one. I've been asking myself the same thing! I can't belive it's the middle of September already! But I'm glad. The weather here in Fresno is FINALLY starting to cool down. And by cool down, I mean mid-90s. But it's a huge difference! And it gets cool in the eveings--like 75. Anyhow, the seasons are changing and I'm loving it.

We've had some issues recently with the internet, and then my laptop just up and died. So that kind of explains why it's been awhile since we last posted. But everything is working again (knock on wood!), and I've finally found some time to sit and do this.

We took a trip to Utah in August, and got to see most of our family and friends. It was a busy trip--too many things we wanted to do and not enough time. Oh, well. What can you do? The second weekend we were there, we got to go camping with my (Nicole's) family. It was great to be up there and spend time with everyone. And the kids LOVED it!

Happy 4th Birthday Jacob!

Yesterday, August 19th, we celebrated Jake's 4th birthday. Well, actually, we've been celebrating it for about a week now, but oh well. He's a big kid now. We took him to his favorite fancy restaurant: Chuck E Cheese. He got a new bike for his birthday with training wheels and a helmet. Unfortunately he's only ridden it once or twice because he got it the day before we left for Utah. But we'll be home soon. We love him so much and love having him in our family!

This is a picture of Jake at 2 weeks old. What a sweetie!

And here's Jake now.

Family Visit...and Pismo Beach (again)

My parents and brother, Stephen, and sister, Emily (who had been staying with us for the past month) came to visit the first weekend in August. We, of course, took them to the beach! Yup, Pismo Beach again. It was a great time though (regardless of the sunburns!). We're always glad to have family and friends (HINT Tara) come and stay with us. You're always welcome in sunny California!This is a cute picture of Logan burying Stephen in the sand.

This is the sandcastle that my Dad and Jake built.

Happy 2nd Birthday Logan!

On July 29th, Logan turned 2 years old! He's growing up so quickly! But it sure has been fun along the way! Logan is such a happy, easy-going kid. He loves Curious George, trains, and eating cheese. We love him so much!!! Happy Birthday Logan!

Logan's 1 month old picture.

We had a little party with a few friends at the waterpark, complete with a monkey cake!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Last Monday, we took the boys to a Fresno Grizzlies baseball game. It was a fun family outing! I hate watching baseball, so I couldn't tell you anything that happen with the game. Except I do know that they played against the Salt Lake Bees. The boys had fun just running around and eating hot dogs and sodas.

Orange County, CA

July 17th and 18th were spent in Orange County. We met up with Ben & Lynnette and their kids and Abe's parents who were vacationing down there.

On Friday morning, Abe and Ben and Steve went deep sea fishing, but didn't really catch anything. Then we went to Newport Beach for the rest of the day and had a great time. My little sister, Emily, was with us too.

Logan took a really long nap on the beach, then played in the sand, Jake had fun with Isaac and Eve playing in the water, and the rest of us did a lot of boogie boarding. It's was a very fun quick trip!

The Waterpark...Our Second Home

Season passes at The Island Waterpark here in Fresno has been a MUST for us! We go there 2-3 times a week to escape the heat here. And we have so much fun too! There's a huge kiddie area with slides and fountains and such. Jake and Logan love it! This last week, Jake discovered that he's just barely tall enough to go on the 'big kid' waterslides, and now that's all he wants to do! He's even brave enough to go on the 'black waterslide' where it's pitch black the whole way down. Strap a life jacket on that kid and he's off! There's also a wave pool and a lazy river that we all enjoy.