Greg at Band Practice

About a month ago, Greg took Nathan to band practice while I was at a business dinner.  I packed Nathan's to-go backpack with snacks and activities to occupy his time during practice.  Later, Greg told me Nathan was taking pictures with his little point and shoot camera.  He said he wanted  to show 'mommy pictures of band practice'. 

Here's the bonus though, Nathan even made some brief videos of Greg at band practice - click play:




It appears Nathan got bored at some point because I also found these pictures from the same night.  How cute is this little booger? :)




How completely wonderful of Nathan to think of doing this for mommy...I totally love him. : )

It's a March Date!

For our March Date, I bought Spring Training tickets THE day they went on sale for the AZ Diamondbacks vs. Texas Rangers.  When the tickets arrived, I had to sneak them in the 'Date Book', I was so stealth, I coulda been in the special forces!  The date of the game dictated the day of our date so I let Greg know in advance that he would need to take a 1/2 day off from work.  He obliged but he's really struggling with not knowing what these pre-arranged monthly dates are,  haha!



The game was at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale and it was a perfect Arizona day.


Our seats were AH-mazing!


I got some fantastic pictures...






Saw body contortion by this Ranger pitcher, look at that back leg - that's just not natural.
 

Lastly, we saw the best last name for a ball player ever.


Greg said this date was pretty awesome - I definitely scored on this one! :)

Totally Nailed It! The Balloon Wreath.

To celebrate the Hull's birthday week this year, I created a balloon wreath. Since the Hull's birthdays are each 3 days apart, it only seemed fitting to celebrate in style by decorating the door!

I loved this one, found on...wait for it...Pinterest. Of course. ;)  Try as I might though, I could not find any more pictures of this one, so I found a balloon wreath tutorial and trudged forward.


I didn't take any pictures of the process but it was simple to create and as you can see, I totally nailed it!






This donned our door the entire week but the Hull's birthday celebration week has come to end, so the balloon wreath is now put away - until next year! :)

The Grand Canyon by Helicopter!

Greg's carefully constructed birthday surprise this year was 'helicoptering through the Grand Canyon'.  Uh, yeah-not to shabby.  In fact, quite the opposite, incredible!!  There are not enough words, nor are there adequate words to describe the experience.  To say it was epic is really understatement.  To say it was spectacular or awesome or incredible or amazing....well even these words fail to measure this event up.

I created this brief video clip, hoping to capture on film our experience but as with many things of this nature, it's just something you gotta experience for yourself to really appreciate.  But click play anyway! :)



That's it. Words fail me on this one!

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty!

The day has arrived.

Today I am 40 years old.
Yeah, I know, crazy.

But it's good.

Every year of my life just gets better.

Therefore, I'm embracing my 40's.

So welcome to my

'Virtual' Birthday Party!

Your Invitation
(hehehe!)

Mary Engelbreit Birthday Cake by www.thegoodapple.blogspot.com.

(Amazing. Love it.  Wish I could really have it!)

 

 Birthday Flowers.
(It just makes me happy to look at these)


Birthday Balloons
(there are probably 40 of them, wink, wink!)
 
Thank you for celebrating with me :)
Here's looking at 40!

Nathan's 5th Birthday Airplane Party!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I say pictures, videos and a good song speaks two thousand words. Click play! :)

"It's a Date" Book and our January Date

As I mentioned before, I gave Greg a date book for Christmas that was a compilation of 12 pre-planned dates, one for each month in the upcoming year.


It took about 3 days to create and these were the supplies I used.


How I made it:

1. I cut 4 inches off the ends of 13 brown kraft envelopes and inked the edges to keep it masculine. 
2. I then punched 2 holes in the cut ends and used a 7 gypsies elastic band to bind the envelopes together.  
3. I added Making Memories rub on letters for the title.
4. I used a 7 Gypsies mini 'door handle' on the first envelope page and a small little charm tied to the elastic band with waxy flax. Inside this cover page was a card with a note explaining the purpose of the book.
5. Then I added a monthly sticker to each envelope page and a small 'clue' in the form of a silver word plate on the facing page. Inside each months envelope page is a card that explains our monthly date.
6. The most time consuming part of the entire project was thinking of 12 dates, taking into consideration the month, special occassions and/or local events.  Here's a peek at the cards - I had to make sure I didn't give anything away in this picture since these are all top secret! (The card in the bottom right hand corner that reads "Gift of Love" is the explanation card that was inside the first envelope page.) I printed the cards and SEALED them in their respective envelope pages, waiting to be opened on the first day of the month, when we will look at our calendar and schedule our date unless it's a local event that already has a set date.

Today, we went on our date for January.  As you can see from above, we went for a drive to the lake in the ZO6 and were we ever surprised at what we stumbled upon!


I knew Greg would enjoy the winding curves and hills of the roads to Canyon Lake but when we turned into the parking and dock area, we found about 10 Audi R8's and another ZO6.  I told Greg to park the car, we were joining the car show! He was hesitant at first but I convinced him and he pulled in by the other ZO6.   


Even though I've watched my share of Top Gear, I fail to retain what I learn.  So I asked Greg what was so special about the all those Audi's and he said the R8's are about $180K - each.  In short, we were looking at about a million dollars worth in cars.  Can you say crazy?



It was a totally fun date, though I can't take credit for the extra cool turn that it took!  Speaking of cool....he totally is and I love him for it. :)


I also made a video of us driving back from the lake to give you an idea of what the drive was like.   It is not for the faint of heart!