A Little Fish, A Little Snow And A Little Unexpected ER Review!

We woke up to a little white treat this morning; not as much as we usually get this time of year but still fun none the less. It's hard to believe that just last week I was sitting in this chair sunning my legs and sweating in 80 degree weather. Welcome to California in February! Ha!

So of course the thing to do before school is build a snowman......

Carrot nose and all.

Macy's most favorite thing in the world (besides her people of course) is snow! She LOVES snow. She was running all over the neighborhood diving in the snow and chasing snowballs the girls were throwing.

My sweet Ry.....

The other night I made a fast simple dish that was so yummy even Ryanne's little friend from down the street stayed and ate with us. Despite the fact that her mom said she probably wouldn't eat fish. Kids!
I just chopped up some carrot, squash and zucchini into thick sticks......

Mixed together some olive oil, lemon juice and fresh garlic and covered the fish with it.
Then I wrapped the Mahi and vegetables in foil packets and cooked it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Oh it was so good and flaky and flavorful. So easy, no clean up and healthy too!

Now for the review of a local ER room. I just want to say if you ever have to go to urgent care hit up the Beaver one in Beaumont or the Emergency room at Redlands hospital. They both rock!
I really had no intention of doing a review of these two places for you but see I'm nice like that.
They get five ***** on cleanliness.
five ***** on professionalism.
five ***** on being friendly and thorough

I had not been feeling well for a couple of weeks but I thought maybe I was just fighting off a bug. I just kept dragging and dragging and pushing forward until last Friday when I was having horrible nausea and left side pain.
(Note to self: DO NOT IGNORE SEVERE SIDE PAIN!)

As a rule of thumb it's just never a good idea to ignore side pain. The Dr.'s frown upon it. Ha!
OK back to my attempt at getting attention. ;) My mom came and took me to urgent care Friday where they did all the blood and urine tests finding I was dehydrated. They gave me IV fluids and some very interesting pain meds through my IV. I will spare you of the visual of sliding down the bathroom wall because I was so high that my mom had to hold me up to pee.
Ya' not a pretty visual.
They sent me home with pain meds and scheduled an ultra sound for Monday morning.
Flash forward Monday morning. It was Dan's only and I mean only day to sleep in so he was thrilled when I poked him at 6:30 and said,"Honey, I think there is something really wrong with me."
His response? "Besides the obvious you mean?" Yup no respect.
I told him I was nauseous and felt like I couldn't breath. We had our teenage babysitter who thankfully home schools too come over and watch the girls while Dan drove me down.
Flash forward 2 hours later; some more really good drugs and an ultra sound and Viola! You have an enlarged spleen. Well, me not you per say. I mean who knew that when you have RA all your organs could enlarge and do that.
They also found a little fluid on the left kidney so I was pretty jacked up. I told Dan at least I was sick enough in the ER bed that I was quiet and let him read his magazine;

His response?"Ya' until the drugs kicked in then you were just annoying!"
So anyways, as far as ER visits go Redlands rocked!
I would advise not getting an enlarged spleen to find out......heck that's what you have me for.
I'm home resting. Bored. No gym. No walks. No nothin'! Laying on the couch. Bored.
No nothin'!
The prednisone is kicking in so I am feeling better in that regard. No more fists up under my rib cage.
But Dan said,"NO nothing cause I'm not going back to the ER on my day off!!"
Shheessh! Some people. I get no respect. LOL!
Hope your having a better week and your organs are all perfectly filtering just so.

We just got back from a couple of days in San Diego. As one of my Christmas gifts my dad got us a room at the Hyatt. It's right on the water and on the 28th floor the view was AMAZING!

The girls had Monday off so we decided to take them down and tour the USS Midway. If you have never done this it really is worth the time. My brother served in the gulf on an air craft carrier for a year so we were lucky enough to go aboard for a family cruise when they came home. It is amazing how big these ships are; like floating cities.

Going aboard one really gives you a whole new respect for these men and women who CHOOSE to join the military and serve away from their families for great lengths. And it's not like it's luxury sailing either. I mean each man gets about 6 cubic feet to live in. 6! If that doesn't make you tougher I don't know what will.

The girls and I decided we liked the command center. See Ryannes leaf frog game on the table behind her? Uh huh ya, she walked away and left it there. It has a camera on it and she was walking around taking pictures and then forgot to pick it up. We didn't realize for some time and when we went back it was gone. She was so upset and crying like crazy. We checked in lost and found where they said they had not seen it but would call us if someone turned it in.
Sure enough about 20 minutes on the freeway and guess who called and said a game had been turned in? Yup' and guess who was getting off the freeway and back tracking so their 7 year old would quit crying? Yup' the joys of parenthood. Ha!

Ready for take off Maverick? Goose is patiently waiting behind her for her turn in the fighter jet. :)

So many planes to climb into so little time. Seriously, you could not see the whole place in one trip. It was just to big! We got the walking tour head set which was so fun to listen to. They even have a kids program so it's more at their level of understanding all the fun facts about the carrier.

Poor Dan woke up fighting a horrible cold but was a trooper and went along with us all day. He felt so bad. Poor guy.

Did you know the USS Midway was one of the longest active carrier's in the Navy? Serving for nearly 47 years the Midway served in Vietnam and the Gulf War. Over 200,000 veterans served on the Midway calling her their home for many battles.

If you don't walk along the harbor you are really missing out. There is this really great statue of Bob Hope entertaining the troops and it has a recording of some of his jokes playing so it's really a treat to sit and listen to. Did you know Bob Hopes first performance during war time was on the Queen Mary in Sept. 1939 when World War II began? He then proceeded to entertain the troops in the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf war.

Want some more trivia? Sorry I can't help myself. This statue which I have always loved is a copy of a real photo taken of a soldier kissing a nurse in Time Square after the announcement that World War II had ended. The original picture was taken on Aug. 14, 1945. This statue stands at 25 feet.

If you take the time to walk around all the war memorabilia you may even be lucky enough to pass people holding a flag chanting,"USA! USA! USA!"

I love all the fishing boats and military planes flying over. It's just a fun place and reminds me how thankful I am to live here. :)

It's a great place for kids to run and learn about their history at the same time.

So all in all a really fun weekend. I would highly recommend a visit to the USS Midway and the surrounding harbor. Also if you love good food head over the Sammy's Wood Fire Pizza or Nicky Rottens in the Gas Lamp district. Yummy Pizza and Sweet potato fries!

Morgan's 11th Birthday.....

What a fun weekend! Morgan turned 11 on Friday and so we had some family and couple of her friends over for a Star Wars party.

She got lots of fun presents and had a fun time visiting with everyone.....

My brother on the other hand just wanted to dance with Macy the entire night....strange really. Ha!

Dan BBQ hot dogs and I made chili........my mom made the dessert pizza per Morgan's request.

This AMAZING women Tina made the cake below. She made it gluten and dairy free and oh man was it good! If you want her name and email/number let me know. She makes regular cakes as well as special diet cakes and she is SUPER reasonable. Very talented.

Morgan made a wish.....

And then visited with her biggest fan who stopped by to wish her a Happy Birthday....

Some of her Lego ships came in very handy as decorations for the counter.....

Thanks everyone for driving out and spending the evening with us!

On Saturday me, my mom, Morgan, Ryanne and Morgan's friend Maddie headed to LA to have a little party at the American Girl Cafe. We had never been so it was super fun! The girls all took their dolls and when they seat you for your party each doll gets a chair, a tiara and a cup and saucer. Then in the end they get goodie bags with outfits in them. So stinkin' cute!

Maybe it's just me but food always seems to taste better when it is cut into hearts, stars and flowers......

Not a party without cake and singing......

The food was so yummy and the dessert was excellent!

Morgan had been saving her money for months and asked for gift cards for her birthday so she was armed and ready to do some serious shopping when we got there. She was so sweet though because she snuck a gift for her friend and her sister in her bag and then gave them to each girl after we were done for the day. :)

All three girls came with their purses ready to shop and shop they did. My mom and I could barely keep up. Ha! Such a fun place.

Lastly what would a trip to American Girl be without a stop at the beauty shop? I mean really. So as a treat my mom paid to let the girls have their dolls done up for the day.

They were so excited. Morgan's doll got a birthday tiara of course! LOL!

Such a fun weekend for such a fun kid. :) Thanks Morgan for the fun time and we love you so much. You are turning into such a sweet young lady. Wait, does that make me sound old?
Your beautiful inside and out kiddo. Can't wait for another amazing year of watching you grow.
Thank you friends and family for making Morgan feel loved!
Thanks for driving to LA in the rain with me mom! Ha!

(Oh and a side note that has nothing to do with Morgan; on the way out of the Grove we were almost plowed over by all the fire engines going to the Beverly Hotel where they found Whitney Houston. Crazy! We didn't know that was where everyone was headed at the time though)

And The Winner Is.......

Good morning and Happy 11th birthday my sweet Morgan!
Morgan picked #4 this morning and that is Krista! Congrats girl and enjoy your date with your hubby!

krista said......My favorite is probably our first anniversary...we spent a day in Santa Monica- shopping, riding the ferris wheel, taking pictures and just enjoying each other. I loved that day/date!

Thanks everyone for sharing all your romantic dates with me.

I meant to share mine when I originally posted but I forgot so here it is.
I came home from work a couple of days just before our one year anniversary and Dan handed me a California Bed breakfast book and told me to pick any one I wanted to go to for our anniversary. The following weekend we head to Half Moon Bay San Francisco. It was so fun and rainy and romantic. :) We went to a new bed & breakfast every year after that for 5 years.

Promoting Romance.........

In honor of Dan & my 15 year wedding anniversary tomorrow (the 8th) and of course Valentines day next Tuesday; I am giving away a date night package.

It includes a $25 BJ's gift card and a $25 Krikorian gift card.
All you have to do is leave a comment telling the most romantic date you have ever planned for your spouse or that they have planned for you.

Then because it's this big kids 11th birthday on Friday she is going to pick a number and whoever is in that comment order wins! Easy enough?

So if you read my blog but never comment now is your chance.
I'm trying to promote date night, togetherness and romance and what says romance more than a FREE DATE NIGHT! (Child care not included) LOL!

On Friday I will announce the winner and all you have to do is email me your mailing address; I will pop it in the mail that afternoon and it will get to you in plenty of time for Valentines day.
Good luck!

Weekend Project

I must confess, I am not typically a yard sale person. Truth be told I just hate clutter so adding someone else "stuff" just adds to the chaos. Occasionally though when I am out and about I will drive by a yard sale that has something that jumps out at me. This past Friday we were headed to the store and as we drove by a house I spotted this out front.
So I did what any "anti-committed yard sale person" would do; I shoved my mom out of the car to see how much they wanted for it. Ha! :)

It came with 4 of these large wicker baskets. So $20 later and some paint.......

And some help from Ryanne........

And some more help from Ryanne.......

We now have a delightful storage area for all of her Barbie stuff.

Ryanne loves pink and purple and the baskets match her pale yellow walls and curtains......

The baskets are long and deep and so they are just the right size for all her Barbies and.....

the crazy amount of clothes and accessory's they come with.

I guess what they say is true; one man's junk is another man's treasure!

p.s. Please check my blog tomorrow late afternoon/evening as I will be giving away a treat in honor of my wedding anniversary which is Wed. the 8th.
Just promoting a little romance in time for Valentines day.......it's what I do. Ha! :)

Prayers For Angel......

Many of you remember Morgan's friend Angel who we asked for prayer for over the past few years........many of you have prayed, given gifts to us for the family or donated money when we were doing a fundraiser to help the family while relocated at the UCLA Children's hospital.

We are posting this to ask you to please pray diligently for Angel. He is in the ICU on life support fighting for his little life. He is very sick and needs prayer more than ever.

Please pray for his lungs and all his other organs to heal and for his little body to respond to treatments. Angel is a fighter, he has been his entire life. Prayer changes things so please, pass this on to anyone who will pray and add him to other prayer chains.

Tonight (Sunday) at 7pm there will be a prayer vigil outside of Loma Linda Children's hospital to lift Angel and his family up. If you can make it great! If not please set your clocks and pray at 7pm with the rest of us. Prayer changes things.
Pray for his little brother and sister, for his parents, for the doctors......just pray for a miracle. Don't doubt that God is capable of doing great things. Pray expecting great things.
Thank him ahead of time for great things. For what he's going to do through Angel.
Thank you.

Our 15 Year Wedding Anniversary

Dan and I.............(Without the kiddos)

Took this little baby..................

To this little Island...............

Just 23 miles away from Long Beach..........

To spend a couple of days alone in honor of our 15 year wedding anniversary.......

And to sleep in this third floor suite........

With this charming little living room......

With this amazing view from our deck........

And ate at this fun little local burger joint.........

Cruised by the beautiful Queen Mary on our way home. Did you know her maiden voyage was in 1936 and then she was called to serve in World War II in 1939? She was named the "Ghost Ship" due to her gray camouflaged exterior....this has nothing to do with our anniversary but I never want to hear you say I didn't keep your mind sharp! ;) Ha!