A beautiful day...

I took today off work and hung out with one of my favorite girls...and my two favorite little guys. Kristy, Braylon, Jaxten and I went to Dana Point to go to the beach. When we got there, we were the only ones there! We tried to lay out and relax but of course all Braylon really wanted to do was walk down by the water and throw rocks. He had so much fun splashing around in the low tide. Jaxten was pretty happy just chillin in his seat on the sand. The weather couldnt have been more perfect! We had so much fun just hanging out with the little guys.

After about two hours at the beach, we took the boys, plus McAllister (another little boy Kristy was babysitting) to the spectrum and got lunch. Kristy pushed her two boys in a double stroller and I pushed Mac in a stroller. I felt like such a mom, it was so fun! Until of course we tried to do a little shopping at one of the stores. We barely got Kristy's double stroller through the single open door and once we got in, Jaxten wasn't having it. It was a pretty funny site! The two of us trying to browse the clothes while Jaxten was crying and Braylon was running around the store. That lasted about 3 minutes...and we realized we would have to do shopping another day.We took them to the water area by Target and let Mac and Braylon play in the water. To our surprise, Braylon was scared of the water and would rather crawl across the bench...that is until he ended up in the bushes cause he rolled of the bench! Poor little guy... Mac however did get the courage to go in the water and Kristy and I were cracking up! He got soaked, so of course I had to change his clothes and wet diaper!

We finally arrived home at 4:00 and we were pretty pooped! I now know what Kristy goes through on a daily basis. Well, maybe 1/5 of what she goes through. Youre a brave women Kris and I definitely admire your strength. Thanks for entertaining me on my day off. Your sweet little boys and your marvelous mommy skills make me look forward to having kids of my own someday!

The Bachelor

Has anyone been watching the bachelor? My goodness! What an awesome season! I was a little unsure at first what I thought about some of these girls...especially since there were some pretty crazy ones. For example, Megan...what the heck was he thinking keeping that mean girl around as long as he did? I want to call her a Bitch but then I would be stooping to her level. I can't believe how mean she was to all the girls in all her interviews...Thank god he finally got some sense and booted her butt off the show! Then there's crazy Shannon. I think that girl knew more about Jason than Jason knew about himself! Can we say "stalker"? He must have decided he didn't care how good ratings were with these two nuts on the show and decided they would never be good enough for Ty (his son - for those of you who don't watch the show).

Now let's talk about last nights episode..Such a tearjerker! I mean as much as I think Stephanie needs to stay away from the Mac counter and Claire's jewelry store, she was such a sweetheart! I wanted so bad for another guy to come cruising onto the show that was about 10 years older than Jason and sweep her, and her adorable daughter, off their feet! It was so sad watching them say goodbye to her. She needed to be cut, but did it have to be that dramatic? At least now, we are down to 4 good girls. Now we have to sit on the edge of our seats until Deanna (girl who rejected Jason last season) comes back with a vengence! I can hardly stand the anticipation! Until then...go Melissa!!!

By the way, everyone can't stop telling me how much they think Andrew, my fiance, looks like Jason the bachelor. I guess that's why I was so hooked last season! And just for the record...Andrew is way hotter!

Christmas Break

January 12th??? Are you kidding me? Is anyone else amazed that Christmas was already 3 weeks ago and we are half-way through January??? I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. The holidays were a lot of fun! Andrew's brother (Jackie) and sister-in-law (Monica) came to visit for Christmas. They are adopting a little 8-year old boy named Malachi so they brought him along to meet the family (along with their dog, Skully). We had so much fun hanging out with them. We spent a lot of time at Andrew's dad's house...just hanging out with everyone. It was fun to watch Malachi interact with the family...he fits right in! We all went to Disneyland one day and had a great time going on all the rides with the kids. We convinced Landon to ride Space Mountain and guess who he picked to ride with? That's right...his Auntie Kym! I was so proud of him! Even though it was crowded (sold out at 2 pm), we managed to go on quite a few rides. Malachi had a blast!

Christmas day was spent at my family's house for lunch and then at Andrew's Aunt's house for dinner. For New Years, we went over to Jeff and Erin's house and hung out with their family as well as Jackie, Monica and Malachi. The kids played Wii and the grown-ups sat around the table drinking wine and chatting. At midnight, we all went out side to watch their neighbor set-off fireworks! It was a change from the usual "ball drop" which we missed for the first time since I can remember. We had a fun time just hanging out with family. Jackie, Monica and Malachi went back to Portland on the 4th. We miss them already and look forward to the wedding when we will all be together again.

All in all, we enjoyed our time off work and the chance to wake-up without an alarm clock! We feel blessed to have had such a happy and healthy 2008 and we can't wait for all the excitement coming up in 2009. (In case anyone forgot...we are getting married!! lol) Hopefully you all had a wonderful Holiday Break as well. Above are some of the pictures taken over the break.

Ugly Sweater Party

These are pictures from last night's ugly sweater party at Blake & Casey's house. I went to a bunch of places and couldn't find a sweater so I found this pink, red & gold shirt at Target. I found Andrew's sweater in the women's section of Kohl's...funny thing is...another guy was rockin the same sweater!!! It was awesome! We had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and eating a big Christmas style dinner that the girls cooked. We didnt eat until 11:00 pm but it was worth the wait!

Also, Blake and Casey just got a new golden retriever puppy that is 10 weeks old. They named him Jackson and he is the cutest thing! He is going to be massive... look at those paws! Thanks for a great party guys...Next year I promise to find an uglier sweater!

Cresa Christmas Party

Amber's new Coach Purse

My company had its annual Christmas Party this weekend at Morton's Steakhouse. We sat at a table with Jana and Brian, Angelica and Josh, and Clint and Christie. We had a great time eating good food and of course having some good drinks. When it came time to do the gifts, Andrew and I had our eye on a 32'' flat screen tv for our bedroom. However, I got called right after Claudia to pick a gift and Claudia snagged the tv - go figure! Since I wasn't about to steal it from her, I grabbed the 22'' flat screen instead. But it worked out good becuase it fits perfectly in our room! I can't complain when its free! After the party, we headed over to 3Thirty3 for some drinks with some of my coworkers/friends. We felt a little weird since we were so dressed up but we had a good time. I can't believe another year has come and gone at Cresa. Hopefully, next year will be even better!

On a side note - I had such a hard time this year finding a good dress to wear for the party - I must have went to 10 different stores before I picked out a black strapless dress - weird for me to pick out something black and strapless :) However, I went shopping the following weekend with my cousin and came across this adorable, funky little dress from Forever21 - it was so not me - which is what I l loved about it! So I took the other dress back and went with the funky one! I am so glad I did - I got so many compliments on it! Now I just have to find somewhere to wear it again! New Year's party anyone??

Girls Night

On Friday night, I had a bunch of girls over to get together for the holidays. We decided to skip on the gifts this year and just spend time together hanging out. Each girl brought some yummy food or wine to the party...you should have seen the results. My table was covered with crackers and cheese, cakies (heaven on a plate), wine, sparkling cider, spinach dip, brownies, veggies, salad and more! Kristy brought over her two little boys, Braylon (1 1/2) and Jaxten (3 months). They are the sweetest boys. We had so much fun playing with them. Braylon had a blast trying to crawl on the coffee table. And he was obsessed with the red chair...Who know that thing would serve a purpose some day???

Later in the evening, we decided to watch Sex in the City since its such a good chick flick. To top it off, Nicole made Carmel popcorn..as if we hadn't had enough crap already! Helloooo...I have to fit in a wedding dress in 5 months and 28 days! But hey, who's counting! :) It was a fun night of hanging out with my favorite girls. Between weddings and babies, we are getting busier and busier. It's nice to spend time like that once in a while. We should sooo do it more often. Maybe next time with a little less calories!

Kelsey + Colby = Happily Ever After

Kels and I at the rehearsal

Yesterday, I received the photos back from Kelsey and Colby's October 17th wedding. They got married in Bakersfield at the RiverLakes Ranch Golf Course. Their wedding was so much fun! I drove up the night before to run the rehearsal and got to be part of the rehearsal dinner which was awesome! I got to meet both of their sweet families and got to know the bridal party a little bit better. After dinner, all the girls went back to Candace's house (one of the bridesmaids) and we has a giant sleepover. We sat in the hot tub talking girl talk and about how excited we all were for the next day. We didn't go to bed that night until 1am! Luckily for the bride, she didn't have to get up until 10 :) The day of the wedding, I got to watch all the girls prepare and get their make-up and hair done by the lovely and very talented Lorena Washington. When it was time to go, I headed over to the site to start setting up. The staff at RiverLakes was very helpful and even helped me with the finishing touches. Kelsey was such an organized bride. She had every last detail planned and everything turned out perfect! Their photographer was Jennifer Culpepper with Artisan Photography. She was so sweet and I love the way the pictures turned out! I didn't get to see much of the ceremony since I was setting up the reception site, but I did get to see them walk down the aisle as a married couple...and I have never seen Kelsey with a bigger smile on her face! She was so happy to finally be Mrs. Rozell. All in all, the wedding was a blast and it was so fun to watch such a wonderful couple celebrate their marriage. I know I have said this before, but thanks again to the both of you for allowing me to be there to celebrate with you. And thanks for making me feel like part of the wedding party...I was honored! I wish you both nothing but the best in life...I know you will live happily ever after. Love you both...