Newport Beach May 2012

Warning - this post is picture heavy.  I wanted to write down some memories from our vacation as it was one of the best we've had.  Sam loved Disneyland so much and hasn't stopped talking about it since we got home.  He keeps saying "I want to go home" I tell him we are home, and he says "No to the hotel and the buzz lightyear right home".  I love that he loves Disney so much.  He was such a happy child the whole time we were there and can't wait to go back.  We are already planning our next trip so we can go back and see Cars Land this fall!

Frankly I can't believe I'm putting this picture in - its so much of my stomach!  But I LOVE this picture of Sam and love how I can see Mike smiling from looking at his eyes.  This was Sam's first time on the roller coaster in Toontown and he was so excited and loved it.  I love how he's holding up his hands and so excited. 

Sam's first roller coaster ride

Bumper Cars

Swimming at the hotel

Jake being Spiderman in the pool

View from our room

Waiting in line for Buzz Lightyear

My boys

Jake and his BFF

Jake

The boys cheesing it up

Jake and I in Small World

My poser Jake

Sam's favorite spot - love his tongue sticking out

Jake

love his faces

fireworks

Sammy sliding

Jake wouldn't wake up

Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of them both together!

Before World of Color

My water baby - ran right in

love his hair in the wind

Jake loves the beach

My favorite picture of the day - waves crashing - Jake runs in, Sam runs away

Pelican Hill Golf Course

Sam and I on the rocket ship ride

Jake couldn't wait to see the Phineas and Ferb parade and then was afraid of the big characters - but Sam loved it

Sam was in heaven the whole trip

On the ferris wheel

our cart rocked and the boys loved it - I love how they are all laughing in this picture

is he not the cutest boy alive?

California Adventure

Me trying to get at least one good picture of these two together

it didn't work

My 3 boys on the rocket ride

Darth Vader - Jake is going to be a Jedi on our next trip

Nemo submarine - Sam is now in love with the movie Finding Nemo

Look at all the people waiting for the fireworks

fireworks over the castle

the end to a perfect vacation

Menu Mondays

Monday - Grill pork roast w/red potatoes
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - Grilled chicken w/ baked potatoes and salad
Thursday - Salmon over Cesar Salad
Friday - Steaks w/red potatoes and fruit

Menu Mondays

I have to pat myself on the back - that I stuck to my menu except for Thursday as Mike and I went out at the last minute.  Well worth pushing back the menu.  An those sloppy joes will get their day this week.

Friday I made the maple glazed chicken kabobs with sweet jalapeno salsa for my family - we had our first swim party of the year.  It was very last minute with my sister Whit her husband Jason, my brother Nick, and my brother Tyler, his wife Mel and Dylan their cute little guy.  I hope they had a fun night as I had such a fun time with them all.  The night made me excited for this summer and lazy nights hanging out at the pool with my best friends.  The point of this - the maple glaze and the salsa was so good!  I'm kind of obsessed with it and what else I can make with it right now!  Tonight we had shrimp kabobs using the same glaze and salsa - LOVED it.  Right after dinner I called Whit to tell her we may be having this for lunch tomorrow.  Grilled shrimp on lettuce with the salsa mixed in as dressing....the beauty of a healthy meal - I love it!

On to this weeks menu....

Monday - Shrimp kabobs with Maple Glaze and sweet jalapeno salsa w/ fruit salad (this week blackberries and mangos added a special little touch!)
Tuesday - Sloppy joes w/fruit
Wednesday - Pork roast, roasted potatoes, salad
Thursday - Steak w/mango salad
Friday - Grilled chicken w/ strawberry and avacado salad

BTW - all the recipes we tried last week were delicious!  It was a good week of new meals.  I love weeks like that. 

Mothers

Source: i.imgur.com via Abby on Pinterest

I am lucky to have a wonderful mother, mother in law, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, cousins and friends who are constant reminders of what great mothers are made of.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Abby on Pinterest

What a wonderful idea to have a day to honor mothers. After all - it is by far the hardest job around.
Happy Mothers day to all you mom's out there. We all deserve a little pampering today.

Source: google.com via Abby on Pinterest

I have been blessed to have inherited a mother in law that is so kind and fun to be around. She spoils me and my kids and is so helpful and kind.

Source: flickr.com via Abby on Pinterest

Happy Mothers day to my mom especially. Thank you for being a great example to me and for always being there for me and my family. Love you!

Menu Mondays

I may mess with the order of these meals this week, but I have all the ingredients so my goal is to get to each one of these this week.  I also did a meal search on Pioneer Woman's website - so you'll notice a lot of these links are for her food - but really, isn't everything she posts amazing!

Monday - Shrimp Tacos
Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Thursday - Maple Glazed Chicken Kabobs
Friday - Sloppy Joes

Told you I had a lot of recipes from PW.  My goal is - I bought cabbage for the shrimp tacos, so I needed to use it all up - enters pork sandwich with slaw on top.  I bought a bunch of cilantro for the kabob salsa so I had to find the shrimp taco recipe to finish up the cilantro.  I bought buns for pork sandwiches, so I need to use them up = sloppy joes...there is a method to my madness....

A Much Needed Vacation - Instagram Version

This last week the little family and I took off for a week of fun in Newport Beach.  I don't know if I've ever been so excited for a trip in all my life.  With the craziness of work these days, this was a much needed break.  Even if I had to work a little on this trip, who can complain with this view from our room?  

We hit up Disneyland and California Adventure.  This place truly is magical.  We haven't been in over a year, and I can't explain in words how much fun it was to see Sam here.  He is a fun child, but a hard child also.  I have never seen him more happy than he was here.  The only time he cried was when we had to get off a ride and he wanted to stay on.  Those tears quickly dried up as we told him we were running off to yet another ride.

We spent some time at the beach.  Its is so fun to watch the boys.  Sam is afraid of the waves and runs whenever one comes near him.  Jake is the opposite and runs right into the ocean.  Not caring at all if his clothes get wet.  He even screamed at one point "I love the water" I love that I have water babies.  We also ventured an hour or two to spend some time with Mike's brother and his family.  So fun to see them.  We even left the kids and hit up a casino for an hour or so...it was dreamy - I haven't done that in years!

Sam was happy and excited the whole vacation.  Telling me how the roller coaster goes "there, there, and there really really fast" using his arms to motion the there and there.  He said cheese for every pictures and loved the fireworks.

Jake and I rode on the Tower of Terror together.  So funny to watch the differences in these two boys.  Sam is so excited and animated while Jake is very composed and virtually no emotion on his face.  Then we get off the ride and he says - "so how did you like it?"  As if he's 50 and I'm 10.  I was screaming and he didn't make a sound.  About 5 minutes after the ride he said, that was awesome, and that I didn't need to be nervous cause it wasn't scary at all.  How big this one has gotten.

Overall - it was a wonderful week.  Usually at the end of a vacation I'm ready to come home - not this time.  I could have stayed forever.  I could have moved there.  No desire to be home whatsoever!  Luckily we are hoping to go back in the fall to see Cars Land open in California Adventure.  Sam will go nuts!

Photos above are ones I took in Instagram and have no idea how to make them bigger or smaller (weird that one is bigger than the rest) or mess with that app at all - I'll have to read up.  I do have some great pictures on my camera I'll post once they are downloaded.  Until then, I love the image of Jake and Sam running on the beach.