Hello 2009!

Yes, it is already 2 weeks into 2009 and this is my first post!!! I guess this year started off busy!

Love this photo of "It's a Small World" with all the lights. This was the first time we experienced the "snow" at Disneyland. Sammie had a blast chasing the snowflakes. I love how her scarf was flying in the air and the snow was landing on her hair!

I have been working a lot and cleaning a lot and we just took down our decorations this past weekend.

Sammie has been riding Joey which is her favorite Saturday activity.

My favorite activity is scrapbooking!! Christine, Donna and I got to celebrate birthdays and scrapbook at the Scrappin' Table. It is always so much fun to go to Michelle's store. We had fun catching up and scrappin'. We had yummy chocolate cupcakes too. My friend Jennifer couldn't join us but she made me the most beautiful bracelet. Look here to see a picture of it. It is really special and each charm is something that reminds her of me. Thanks Jenn! You are awesome!

Here are some of my recent pages.

I had some birthday money to spend and this just arrived today!!! YIPPEE! I am so excited.
I haven't had a chance to play with it yet but hopefully I will soon.

I am going to participate in a monthly challenge on tallyscrapper. By the end of the year, I will have a complete scrapbook for 2009. (If I can keep up with it) LOL! I am already behind.

Well, off I go to grade some papers.... not so much fun but a necessity. Bye for now.

Goodbye 2008!

Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you a wonderful year full of good health and happiness! I am sneaking in one last blog post of the year since I realized I posted more last year than this year!! OOPS! Life just gets busy as we all know!

We have all been on and off sick for the past few weeks. (colds, bronchitis, sniffles, congestion,) It seems to go away and then come back in a new form to another one of us! UGGGHH...
We were on the go so much so now it is time to take it easy and relax a bit.

I have been trying to clean up closets, etc, which is a NEVER ending job!! I was able to take a bunch of bags to goodwill so that made me happy, although I have plenty more to go through and feel like I will never finish!! Maybe little by little this year I can get things cleaned out. We have lived here for 13 years so that's a lot of stuff accumulated over time. Yes, this is one of my goals for 2009, among others but we'll start with this one.. :0)
My fun goal is to scrapbook more.. ( well to organize my stuff better so I can scrapbook more..)

Here are a few layouts I've made:

I can't wait to watch the Rose Parade tomorrow. Sammie and I went with ponyclub to Equestfest in Los Angeles to see the horses that will be in the parade. It was a lot of fun and will be neat to see them on tv. Here are a few pics:

Lots to Celebrate!!!

We just got back from my birthday cruise on Carnival's Elation. We went to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico. We had a wonderful time, tons of fun and mostly great weather. ( It rained in Ensenada) Here are lots of pics and fun things to share!


Life Boat Drill before we set sail from San Diego.
This was Sammie's 2nd cruise and she loved it. Brad and I have cruised lots of times before. My parents came with us to celebrate their anniversary too. Their anniversary is Dec. 17th and my bday is Dec. 18th so we always celebrated together when i was a kid.

Brad ordered this super yummy cake for us and got roses for my mom, Sammie and I. (We couldn't take them off the ship though due to US Customs laws. )

We did so many things on the ship. The shows were great. The kids at Camp Carnival did a holiday show on the last day which was cute. Sammie's group had on reindeer antlers and stood on the stage with all the other kids. At the end, Santa came out and gave all the kids a present. A ruldolph mug, candy cane, and some plastic sunglasses. She was so excited. This is Sammie with the Captain of the ship.

Our first port was Cabo and the weather was warm and beautiful. We didn't do any "shore excursions" and had fun just walking around, shopping, etc. There was a luxury mall with lots of expensive stores and then we went to the beach and Sammie had so much fun there. She didnt' want to leave but we had to. Right when we were walking to the beach, some locals put iguanas on our heads and we took pictures.




It was weird having them all over me but it didn't freak me out.. just made me giggle.

This is us on formal night. Sammie loved being all dressed up like a princess.
She made so many friends and fans on the ship. This is David, a bartender from Jamaica who adored her. He let her sit up on the bar, help him and even let her go behind the bar and play the

piano!!

(

The cruise directors had fun with Sammie too. Jeff, the "fun guy" had her come onstage during bingo and check to make sure all the balls were there. He lifted her up to check and then asked her where she was from and what her name was. She said " Sammie" from Cal-ya-fornia. He gave her a special medal with a picture of the ship and told her it was magic. Every time she lifted it over her head, the crowd would cheer. She kept doing it and everyone yelled SAMMIE!

The rest of the cruise, people recognized her.. "Isn't that the Sammie from bingo?"

The same thing happened at the horse races.. She was jumping all around at the "Carnvial Race Track" Stu, the cruise director chose her to name a horse and she named it Jewel. Her horse took the lead but then lost by one stride in the end. She still had a ball watching and cheering. We bet on Jewel but she didn't win. Brad and I entered the tournaments in the casino. Brad played in the final round of the slot torunament but didn't win. He got a t-shirt though. I made it to the finals in black jack but then got bumped out in the last round. Oh well, at least we tried.

This was a hard birthday for me but being on the ship and celebrating a whole bunch sort of took my mind off it. The boat docked on the 18th but we spent the day at Sea World since we have annual passes. It wasn't crowded so we were able to see lots of the shows and attractions. We ended the day meeting our friends Mark and Tracey and their girls for dinner. Tracey and I share this birthday and were born at almost the exact same time. This is what we got for dessert. It is called a "messy sundae" and it sure was messy. The entire outside of the glass was covered in chocolate and anchored to the plate with chocolate fudge. YUMMERS!!

Sammie's favorite thing to see at Sea World is the Clydesdale horses. They even have one named Sammy.

Here is Shamu jumping up to wish me a happy birthday!! Nothing like a giant whale to wish you well on a giant birthday!! :)

They have a great "pets" show at Sea World and I thought this was quite a funny pic of Sammie. She did the "doggie face" all by herself!!

So the reason I have such a hard time with my "age" is because I don't really want to "grow up". Those of you who know me well know that I do silly things all the time. Here is our 3 generation picture of silliness. My dad, Sammie, and I are the only 3 that can do this in my family.

Not only did we celebrate an anniversary, and a birthday but we also celebrated Hanukkah. We went to my Nana's house for a little party and then on Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt's house to see my cousins and their kids. Here is Sammie and Jacob, lighting the menorah.

Then on to my inlaws house to celebrate Christmas Eve.

We open presents together on Christmas Eve and then go there for dinner on Christmas day.

Santa was good to us this year. Brad and I got money, and Sammie got horses, pj's, my little pony stuff, littlest pet shop animals, slippers, a sweatshirt, stickers, and lots more.

This morning she woke up and yelled and jumped around because Santa brought her "Snort" also known as "Smores" the pony. She said this is the best day she has ever had. She loves this horse so much and has been on it all day. It moves and responds to her voice, movement, etc. I told her she must have been a very good girl since this is so expensive, but I think Santa is a bargain shopper and got a really good deal on this... just a guess.. :) wink wink.

Brad and I didn't really buy any gifts for each other this year since we just took two huge trips in the last 2 months. We gave each other stuff to wrap. I got a bunch of scrappy stuff and he got some socks, ties, shoes, and shirts. Every year though, he puts lottery tickets in my stocking. I am usually bummed because he spends like $30-$40 and we get back like $11 and then it is sad. Well not this year!!! I was so surprised to scratch this little baby!!!


In case it is too small to see... I WON $100.... that has never happened to me on a lottery ticket. We actually won a total of $121. That was very exciting..

Oh, and on another lucky note, Christine told me to post on Everafter's scrapbooking blog because they were having a prize giveaway. She recently won a bunch of goodies so I posted too and I won a $20.00 gift card to the store..

Maybe 40 is going to be a lucky year for me???

Well, whatever you are celebrating.. I wish you a happy one and a healthy New Year. I do have more to say as usual, but will be back another day.

Bon Voyage!

We're off to a cruise to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate my big birthday that's happening next week!! I'll tell ya all about it when we get back!! Adios amigos!!

A Safe Landing!

We just got back from Florida last night.(**edited... I started this post last week and never finished it.. ugggh Now it is December 1st) We had a fantastic trip and were busy from morning until night every day. This was Sammie's first flight so she got to meet the pilots and sit in the cockpit too. The captain put his hat on her head!

Brad had to go for work and Sammie and I tagged along for fun. We went to the Magic Kingdom the first day. I have been there a few times before but it was her first time and so much fun to see it through her eyes. The parks are so enormous that all of Disneyland can fit into the parking lot of the Magic Kingdom. You have to take a ferry boat or the monorail to even get to the park. If you look in the distance you can see Cinderella's castle. The weather was cold/breezy during the day and very cold at night. One night it was 39 degrees!! BRRRRRR.. We went off season though, so there were practically NO lines! That was fabulous!

EPCOT.. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

Yes, Yenny, you are exactly right! ( I know you went there so that helps!) Anyway here is Sammie in front of the famous "silver ball" which is a ride at Epcot called Spaceship Earth.
This was where we spent our second day. EPCOT is ginormous and you really can't experience it all in one day. It is divided into two lands.. The Future World and the World Showcase. The future world has rides and exhibits demonstrating the way things may be in the future and some really neat technology. There is a Finding Nemo ride ( different than Disneyland) and a ride called Test Track which simulates a vehicle crash test. It is a fast ride but very fun. There are about 7 buildings each with a different theme and exhibits/rides to go with them. We spent some of our day in the future world but then went to explore some of the countries. I wanted Sammie to see the Chinese acrobat show which is fantastic. We went to many countires in the World Showcase. Mexico, China, Norway, America, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

My pictures got out of order on this blog post so I will skip around a bit. As you read further, you will see a pic of what happenend in Japan.

This is a sign outside of Test Track. I loved that it had the number 4 and Sammie is 4 years old.. It was sort of symbolic to me as a scrapbooker!

The Test Track ride is sposored by GM and so when you exit the ride you go into a showroom with brand new cars to look at and sit in. Sammie went right up to this red Hummer and loved it.. ( She really wanted the sparkly blue pick up truck so she can pull her horsey trailer)

This is an out of order photo from Gatorland on our last day of the trip. This was fun because we got really really close to some alligators.

Hi Mickey and Minnie!

Okay.. now back to my narration of "Japan". They are famous for their pearl harvesting so I bought Sammie an oyster that she got to choose and even though I said, "what about this one?"... or"How about that one?".. or "Look in that tank there are more in there", she spotted the one she wanted from the get-go and that was it! She chose it because it had some pretty seaweed on it. Well, when they opened it up, it had 2 beautiful 6.5mm pearls inside!!! She was so excited she was jumping around. She got "twins" as they called it and said it is quite rare and happens only in 3 perecent of the oysters. Also, the average size is like 5mm. My plan was to save the pearl and someday when she gets married, give it to her as a gift, now I guess I can have a set of earrings made for her someday!

In Norway they have a really neat water ride that goes backwards down a hill and then forwards. They are known for their "trolls" so I had to snap this pic.. Although the little ham found the viking hat to add to the photo. That is not her braided hair but it sure looks like it!

Here is Sammie in China with a unicorn marionette. Yes, we did buy it.. It was really cute and fun to play with.

Wow.. this is a really mixed up post.. It is all over the place sort of like my brain right now from traveling!! LOL!

Before we left for our trip, Sammie had her last soccer game and we were losing as usual. The last quarter coach put her in as goalie for the first time. She was so excited and did a really good job. She blocked 2 balls and 2 went in but it was okay.. Here she is kicking the ball out.

This was taken at Gatorland. They had some great exhibits of snakes, turtles and birds. I love the amazed look on her face as the snake slithers up the glass. Sorry Christine. I know this is freaking you out right now and all you can say is blaaahhhh... disgusting!!!

These gators were in pond under a dock and I got these great photos using my camera zoom.

This photo, I was actually standing there next to these gators with the zookeepers as Sammie fed them big chunks of raw meat. ( She had a glove on). The zookeeper had a big pole but I dont think that would really stop the gators from eating us if they wanted to. They just sit there and lurk.. They look friendly with their big teethy smiles but no way!!

Anyway.. sorry for this long, choppy post. I am being super wordy so I can recall the details and have this as a memory/journal for myself later on so bear with me. :) We also saw lorikeets which are beautiful colorful birds ( like parrots) that you can feed. You buy some nectar in a cup and go into the aviary. They land on you and sip the nectar right out of the cup. It is a little scary at first because they land all over you like on your head, arms, shoulders, etc. One bit my hand and Sammie's finger but only because they are trying to get to the nectar. ( I had my hand over the cup and was trying to reposition and the bird was very impatient!) It only hurt for a second and we were all okay. I got some great pics that didn't end up in this post. Maybe my next post.

Wednesday we went to the Animal Kingdom. That was a great park too. Brad and I went years ago but were so exhausted and hot ( summer time) that we didn't really give it a lot of effort. It was fun this time to walk around and see it again. They had the Lion King show which was a snippet of the broadway production and just wonderful. Our favorite part of this park was seeing the animals on the safari van. We saw a lion prancing around and many other jungle animals like giraffe, elephants, okapi, zebras, deer, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, etc.

Sammie really liked the "It's tough to be a bug" show. It was a 3D movie with some cool special effects.

Thursday Brad was able to play with us. We went to MGM/Hollywood studios which is similar to California Adventure. He and Sammie rode their favorite ride Tower of Terror. I went on Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster. We rode Toy Story Mania and saw the muppets 3D show. Sammie got her pic with Woody and Buzz Lighyear. The Beauty and the Beast stageshow was fabulous too. We ate dinner at a retro restaurant called "The prime time cafe". It was great. It was like the 50's and so was the decor. There were tv's at the tables and the waitresses all wore uniforms and sat down to take orders. It was like sitting in someone's living room in the 50's. There was a lot to see and do at MGM studios. Brad and I were there in 2001 so things have changed a bit.

Friday we went back to Epcot for more fun and to see the exhibits we missed on Tuesday. That park is so enormous you have to spend at least 2 days to see everything. We were very lucky to go when it wasn't crowded.

Sammie had a fantastic time. We were on the go from morning until night every day and she was a trooper! No meltdowns at all. The airplane ride coming home was a bit challenging. We had a connecting flight in Utah and only had 20 minutes to get there. We landed and ran as fast as we could to the gate. It was really far. I saw a security guard riding a cart and asked if we could have a quick ride so we could catch our plane. When we got to the gate, the entire flight was boarded and waiting for us. They wouldn't even let us go to the bathroom. ( which we were dying to do since we just got off our 4 hour flight. We made it home safe and sound and were quite exhausted on Sunday.

I worked the 3 days before Thanksgiving and am still trying to catch up with everything and it now been a week. I have more to write but that will be another post since this one is LOOONG!!

November Already??

Well it is already November and I am still in Halloween mode.. I just took down my decorations today. I guess I am sad it is over because my camera decided to act up. It says my card "needs to be formatted" which means I can't access my pictures because it wants me to delete all images to format it. I will lose all of my Halloween pictures that haven't been uploaded to my computer yet.. WAAAAHHH
I took it to a camera shop and they weren't able to recover the pics either. This is the 2nd time it has happened to me so I am really bummed. I guess you have to "format" the card each time you take it out, upload, and then put it back in the camera or it gets fragmented and then the files get corrupted. ( I learned this from the camera shop) Painful lesson learned since now I have NO pictures of Halloween and this was the first time my parents went trick or treating with Sammie.

This picture is from Boo at the Zoo. It was a lot of fun. I think we will go again next year. It was a good event and reasonably priced. We saw Donna and her family there and the kids got to play together. This pic is one of the only ones I have from Halloween this year. Sammie was a unicorn. She found the costume when we were at Target and she said.. "that's it.. that's what I want to be". It is really cute and the great thing is that she plays with it now. She trots around the house wearing it so at least I got the money's worth.


My parents were in town for the weekend. We had a nice time. They took Sammie around the NEIGHborhood to trick or treat. ( Sammie's favorite joke.. Why did the horsey cross the road?
It was looking for it's NEIGH borhood.. )
Saturday Sammie had a soccer game and my mom and dad were able to watch her play. After that, we went to see my brother's new house in Aliso Viejo and then we all went out to dinner.

In other news, we are getting ready for a nice trip in about a week and a half. Brad has to travel for work to Florida and Sammie and I are tagging along. We are very excited to fly on an airplane and go to Walt Disneyworld and EPCOT. By the way.... do you know what EPCOT stands for?? It is an acronym.. I do, but I will see if you can guess.. post a comment and let's have some fun.. I will be back in a few days with the answer.. Jenn K, i'm sure you know being the huge Disney guru that you are but you can still guess if you want..

I have been to DW a few times before.. I really enjoy it. I can't wait to take Sammie for her first time and see it again through her eyes.
Hopefully I will have my camera working by then!
Here are a few recent pics at Disneyland. Sammie got to meet Tinkerbell at their new "Pixie Hollow" exhibit. Tinkerbell gave her some pixie dust so she can fly.. It hasn't worked yet but we are going on the airplane so that's how we'll fly.

Snow white waiting to see Tinkerbell.

The new fairies from the Tinkerbell movie.. I don't remember their names.


Sassy Tinkerbell and Sammie.

I have scrapped a little at home. I have a lot of little projects I am trying to finish up.

I guess that's all for now. Don't forget to guess what EPCOT stands for. :)