Alyssa's 9th birthday...

Happy 9th birthday Alyssa!

We started out Alyssa's special day with a soccer game...she scored 1 goal and had 2 assists. Way to go Alyssa! Her team won 6-2...and are undefeated thus far. Nice job Angels!

Alyssa invited her soccer team to help her celebrate her 9th birthday after the game...our neighborhood puts on a Halloween carnival every year, so we took them all to that...for free! Heidi, on the very left, won for best costume in their age bracket! - Too cute!

Alyssa vs. Brianna -

Madison wouldn't wear her cinderella dress because it was too itchy. At least she wore this dance recital dress.

Matt got his head spray painted blue, black, & red...he told the guy, 'get the bald spot.'

The three musketeers...

Waiting in line to get on that crazy spiny thingy...

Kate and Alyssa braved this ride...

After the carnival, we went walked back to the house for pizza and cupcakes.

The girls had a quick dance off before singing happy birthday...

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Alyssa, happy birthday to you!

Another webkinz...!

After all Alyssa's friends left, we had another small gift opening session with just family. My mom came over to give Alyssa her gifts...

Thanks Grannie...

Even Madison gave Alyssa a gift, but she didn't want to let go of it. This was too funny, if only I had captured the moment on video!


We hope you had a very happy 9th birthday Alyssa...double digits next year!

A morning out...

Madison and I went out for the morning with my mom to San Tan Village...a really FUN shopping area. Of course we parked right in front of the Disney store next to Macy's...so of course Madison wanted to go in to see the princess', especially the mermaids.

Next we went to Starbucks right inside of Macy's, just to have coffee and look around. You could often hear me saying...'where's Madison?'

Most likely I'd find her somewhere in the clothing racks...giggling.

She definitely would make a cute greeter when you walk in the door.

After that we let her play on the toys for a few minutes...it was good to pry her away from the princess DVD's that she loves so much right now to play outside and do something different for a change. We had a fun morning...

Go Dawgs...!

GO HUSKIES!

Tailgaiting at the UW vs. ASU football game at Sun Devil Stadium. I haven't been to a game in about 11 years...so this was exciting. Especially since Pam & Dennis got me a Huskies shirt - an early birthday present! Thanks guys!

Father & son...Dennis is the Alumni representing UW.

Matt and I representing the DAWGS! - Go Purple!

Kids in a candy store...or even better. Watching the Huskies warm up.

Waiting for the Huskies to run through the tunnel to start the game...

Who let the DAWGS out?! Whoo-hoo! - Go Huskies!

He managed a few high 5's...

We even saw the cheerleaders...oh it's me and Christina (1995-96)! - at least we have a W!

If you have ever wondered what Matt looks like with a perma smile on his face, well this is it. He truly had the best time just being at the game...until...

The last 6 seconds to go. What a...MAJOR, TOTAL bummer.

A nearby ASU fan took pity on us Huskies and took our picture anyways...even though we lost. I know, we are in a sea of gold, but we had a great time wearing our purple with pride!

Our family vacation: Part 2

Matt BBQ'in his yummy burgers before our sunset walk to get ice cream...

I really wish this picture turned out clearer...oh well. At least we're all in it. (I had a few camera problems this trip - technical difficulties.) We always walk down the boardwalk to the same ice cream place every year, where the ice cream's are seriously huge.



Ice Cream

Yum...but no one seems to finish them, and poor Alyssa was still sick, so 5 bites later she was done. It makes for a cute picture...



Loving the beach...

Family feet at the beach...

I love sitting in my spot watching the girls...ahhhh.

Sunset dinners...

Hoboken Pizza...yum. - Watching the sun set over the beach...even better.

Family photo session - priceless...

I had to go inside and drag Alyssa out to get a few pictures with her in them...poor thing was SO sick.

Thank goodness we brought Matt's laptop from work, and Grannie let us borrow her DVD player...Madison watched her princess movie at least 20 times.

Boardwalking...

We walked down to the little shops to get Mia a pair of sun glasses, she wanted her own pair which was fine with me since she was using mine. Unfortunately, she lost them the last day we were there.

Sea World - The recession version...

Miss 'Hollywood' is all dolled up and ready to make her debut at:

The Birch Aquarium...

The girls loved looking into the tide pools and touching all the different sea creatures.

I can absolutely see Alyssa working here someday...

We had a great time at the Aquarium.

At the Cross - Point Loma University

I had to get the cross picture again since we were all the way over in San Diego, we stopped by on our way home. We were blessed with a wonderful family vacation...