What I have been up to...

These are my friends Matt and Lacee. Matt knows my family really well and during his mission he served in their ward. Lacee and I had a class together in Hawaii and I saw Matt around campus a lot. When my Aunt asked me to do decor and flowers for their reception, of course I said yes. These two are awesome together and they were beaming on their special day!
San Diego isn't either of their hometowns but they had lots of family and friends that came out to
celebrate.

It was simple and fresh. And the Mexican food was AMAZING. They even had a lady there making fresh tortillas. yumm...

This was the aftermath.

I'm glad they loved the reception and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Fair time

Krew and I got to go to the Del Mar Fair with Nana and Papa! Last time I went to the fair was with Cameron when we were dating in high school so it was due time.

We first stopped at the pig races which I first thought was pretty silly but now I won't ever miss it! It was an exciting race and the baby piggies are adorable! I think Krew liked watching them just as much as I did. They ran for oreos... isn't that just cute?
Krew liked the animals but did not want to get too close.


We had fun looking around. Papa had Krew taking his first steps at the fair!
And I love eating yummy fair food. So naughty but soooo good.

Oh the funny things you do

The funny things I love about Krew:

How he crosses his feet no matter where he is.
I call him my little yoga master.



How he looks in a towel after a bath. I wrap him up and he stays real still in his warm towel. I tell him he looks like a cute little baby.



The tongue. it is always out. maybe feeling a few teeth coming in?
Or maybe it's the recent interest with dogs.

Sunday

Sundays always seem to be the prettiest days.
After an afternoon nap, we headed over to the nearby lake to visit the ducks. Krew loves seeing the ducks and would walk straight into the water if we let him. We walked along the path and watched the dogs walk by (Krew gets very excited about the dogs). He also likes to stop and sit down to pick up things off the ground such as sticks and leaves.
Cameron and I hold hands but now there is a cute little person in between.

24 years

I had a wonderful 24th birthday full of food and shopping-- just the way I like it.

I had a delicious (and huge!) breakfast with Kristi, Shannon, and Cameron at Pipes cafe and did some shopping... Woo hoo!
I had lunch with my mom and then some more shopping... :)
And then it was to Hillcrest for sushi with my love and dessert at extraordinary desserts (my fav- minus the long line).
Sunday, we went to my parents for a birthday dinner and I was surprised with this lovely banner made by my siblings! Isn't it awesome?!
Thanks to my wonderful friends and family for making me feel so loved, well-dressed and stuffed with good food on my birthday!

Padres Game

We love Padre baseball games. They are so fun and it means it is summer time in San Diego! We were so happy when Jenny and Steve (our Hawaii friends and now San Diego friends) asked us to go with them.

Jenny (the birthday girl) and I were there to chat and people watch (and to watch the exciting parts of the game)...


And the guys were there to watch the game.


Jenny looks awesome! Can't wait to meet their baby boy soon.




Go Padres! Thanks for the awesome seats and great time, Kolbs!

a fun little weekend.

Friday: Krew and I enjoyed the zoo skyride and seeing all of beautiful San Diego and its buildings. It was nice and cool there and Krew really enjoyed the petting zoo and the elephants. I forgot my stroller and didn't want to pay for a rental so I got an awesome arm workout. We also stopped by Ikea where Krew enjoyed a little treat. It wasn't a pretty scene when I had to take it away. Later, we went to watch my siblings' Roadshows.

Saturday: We stayed in our p.j.s way too late and then headed over to the lake for a run and to feed the ducks. I was really biased towards the seagulls and would shew them (or threw pebbles at them) when they tried to take the bread from the ducks but then I thought, seagulls are birds too, and I changed my ways.

Sunday: Courtney spent the night over at our place and came to church with us. We set curlers in her hair, watched Hairspray and she entertained the baby the entire time and which was great. I told her she could come over anytime. Baby and husband took a little nap together which I joined for a little bit but couldn't resist this picture.
We also had some very special time with great grandma Corky. We love her so much.

No plans and nothing that we had to do, just a fun little weekend.

Our easter feasters

We celebrated Easter with Great Grandma Cordy's Easter Party with 935 easter eggs hidden. Grandma started off the festivities with a bang of a pot! Possibly a new tradition?


Krew found lots of eggs with dad's help.



Krew and cousin Avery enjoying their findings.



Krew lost his cool when things weren't going his way. (Obviously nap time was long overdue)













For our little family Easter celebration I forgot to get an easter basket so I quickly made an Easter box which for Krew was equally as exciting. Cameron thought it was a little weird.





We also celebrated at Cameron's cousins' house where we had an egg hunt, ate delicious food, had funny dinner conversations and enjoyed great company.

DWTS

On Tuesday, my friend Ashley and I were able to go to the live taping of Dancing with the Stars! It was surreal. Sooo cool.

And we were incredibly lucky! They seat all the people with tickets (us included) in the VIP spots and then when the real VIP's (family friends of performers/stage crew) show up, they remove you and place you somewhere else, mostly up on the balcony. The show was just a few minutes from going live and in arrives the VIP's who have our seats. dang. One of the ushers tells us to follow her so she can seat us somewhere else. She has us waiting on the middle of the empty dance floor when I hear "Four minutes until we're live on the East coast!" I start laughing at the thought of the show airing with Ashley and I in the middle of the stage awkwardly standing there. The usher returns and then says she has two seats... right in front! Not only right in front, but where the celebrities are seated! I was trying to keep my cool and not smile too big or start laughing too hard but it was incredible. I was sitting next to the family of James Brown and Kendra's husband was next to them. Ashley and I agreed that we couldn't have asked for better seats.

Are you ready for my millisecond of screen time? Okay... squint your eyes and don't blink too long. They were talking about James Brown's family and I got my little slice in there.

-The stage/auditorium: much smaller in real life. The room is more of a set and not a real room. Seats 700, way more than I would have guessed.

- TV adds 10+ lbs: SO TRUE! First off, I could help but gawk at Brooke Burke's incredibly tiny body. Okay, she looks super skinny on tv but she is toothpick in real life. teensy teensy tiny.

-Pro dancers: I want to be and look like one when I grow up. Incredible dancing. Incredible bodies.

- Musical Guest performers: they tape some of these before the show so they are not all live. Yesterday we were able to watch James Blunt, Wayne Brady (tribute to James Brown) and the Macy's dancers, Nicki Minaj (who kind of makes some strange facial expressions), and another artist I can't remember her name. We watched Wayne Brady perform 3 or 4 times before they actual liked what they got.

-Audience participation: they have a guy conducting the clapping and cheering of the audience. Ashley and I both agreed that we just wanted to watch the show and we weren't used to clapping for DWTS in front of our tv's.

-Picture: I wish I had a good picture of us sitting in our celeb status seats but they confiscate all cell phones and cameras. poo. They don't want us tweeting the results before it airs in later time zones.

Picture or not, it was an event to remember.

9 months to make it and 9 months to lose it

This little guy cracks me up. He is turning into a little person with a personality more and more everyday. His recent interest is in dogs. I turned on the TV and popped in a DVD screen saver that has continual footage of puppies playing for hours (a gift from a friend for my wedding... I love puppies and jokingly registered for it and got it) and Krew loved it! The other day at Fashion Valley he loved all the dogs that were being walked around. (I never knew so many people walked their dogs around the mall) It is so cute. I do realize I am in full mom mode because I think my kid is the cutest baby ever and everything he does is adorable/cute/precious and should be documented/photographed/recorded.
But shouldn't it?

Krew is 9 months old and what an adventure it has been.

During my pregnancy, my mom told me

"It takes 9 months to make a baby and it will take 9 months to return to normal".

At the time, I thought this was a little long and believed my body would probably snap back in a matter of 2-3 weeks. HA! I bought strange contraptions that would wrap my tummy and hips back to it's usual positions. Constricting myself in mummy-like wrapping and using oils helped in the healing process but now I realize that time was the biggest factor. I finally understand what my mom meant. It takes time for your body to heal. ex. My belly button looked fine a few weeks postpartum but now it looks back to its usual self. One thing that I've noticed since having a baby is that I've turned into a weakling! My muscle mass has depleted and sometimes it's a little depressing especially when I have to ask my husband to open a jar for me (I used to pride myself in being able to open any jar). AND... my mom beat me in arm wrestling! But that can easily be fixed with pumping a little more iron in the gym, right? And hooray for gyms that have daycare! I am grateful for the human body and what an amazing tool it is! It can grow a baby, know how and when to birth one, and then go back (or close) to its old self.
Thank you, body.

we've been around...

Zoo Time: My mom got us passes to the Zoo (and we got some to SeaWorld)
1. Zebra and I obviously got the memo
2 .Krew and Trey just playing with their seal friends at the Zoo


Emman's Birthday: The little guy turned 5
1. lil bro sporting his birthday getup. AWESOME.
2. Ticket blaster... this is hilarious to watch kids do. Emman didn't know what to do so he just stood there as tickets flew around him. Why didn't they have this when I was younger?


Mom of 6: Last week I stayed with Cameron's 5 cousins while their parents were in Hawaii
1. making a tower on the scale with our 10 cups of frozen yogurt
2. cousin Ashtyn playing with Krew. She is one of our blog readers and was such a big help while I was playing mom of 6 for a few days.


little Krewton:
1. Just looking oh-so-cute in his jammies. 2. Hanging out with Nana


Happiest place on earth:
1. Shannon brought Krew and I to Disneyland on Monday and we never wanted to leave! Krew enjoyed eating a Buzz Lightyear gun while riding with Nana.
2. Krew and I enjoying Small world ride. It's a Small World was by far Krew's favorite ride. We rode it twice. I think Krew looks like he could join right in with all the little guys singing and dancing.
3. Krew looking cute in a chipmunk hat







And we returned to Disneyland with the Collins on Friday!
Krew with Grandpa

50 years and 50 years to go!

I don't usually do birthday shout-outs on here but it's the BIG 50 for my dad!
A huge milestone!
My mom threw a fun birthday party for him at my parents house. My brother Jeff played his awesome music including performing a "Jeff style" cover of "Forever Young" followed by a special guest performance by this guy! I didn't know it was him until I said from the other room, "This guy sure sounds exactly like the guy on the radio..." and sure enough it was!
My dad got a new skateboard as a gift from the family and he still needs to prove he can do his handstand on it being 50!

It was an awesome birthday party for an awesome dad.

Still shredding in his 50th year!




a quick phone pic from the 50th birthday bash.
I am so lucky to have such a great dad who is not only fun and cool but is so sweet, caring and selfless and all around awesome.
I love you Dad!