A Whole Lot of Pictures

We started off last week by going to Brandon Jefford's work, Reel FX Studios. Suzy, Brandon's wife, was taking her kiddos and her niece and nephew and I thought that Jacob would enjoy it. We had a lot of fun. It was cool to see some actual movies being worked on. The guy that sits next to Brandon has one of the real "Jaws" shark heads from the original movie, it was pretty neat.

The kids at Brandon's desk.

The Jaws head.

We pretty much just hung around the house most of the week until Friday, which was really nice I enjoyed being somewhat lazy. Here is a picture Kevin took of Jacob and Daisy in our bed.

Two sleepy heads.

Friday...we had so much fun! Suzy, Hilary, and I took 8 kids (my one, Hil's 2, Suzy's 3 plus her niece and nephew) to the Ft. Worth Stockyards. We started by driving to the train and taking it to downtown. Then we hopped on a bus for the stockyards .
Here is some of what we did and saw:

Jacob and Max on the train.

Jordyn and Hilary

The kids hanging out.

Petting the horse.

A real life cowboy! One of the cowboys had a whip and he cracked it in the air it was so loud that it sounded like a gun shot. He said that was because it broke the sound barrier.

Ride em' cowboy!

Jordyn, Darby, Curtis, Gracie, Cara, Dash, Jacob, and Max waiting for the Cattle Call. Twice a day they have a cattle call where the men on horses drive the cattle down the cobblestone street, it was really neat.

Here come the cattle.

They are really close.

Those are some cute kids!

Three hot mamas! Me, Suzy, and Hilary

A kid in a candy store. They had this cute candy shop and half of
the walls were covered in candy wrappers.

Suzy and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture under this sign.

All the kids were tired by the end of our trip. Dash had hurt his foot when we first got there he spent some of the day with only one shoe on he was so dirty by the end of the day, but so cute!

We had a great week!

A Few Ramblings

I'm going green. OK not totally but I am trying my best to remember to use reusable bags when I go to the store. I have a few from Walmart and an Isabella Fiore one that makes me really want to go green because it is so cute.

I have pretty much banned Super Walmart from my life. I will occasionally go the neighborhood Walmart down the street because it is only a grocery store and it is so close. I have decided that I am more of a Target girl through and through. Last night I was reminded why. OK, so I am trying to find grey baseball pants because that is the color the team decided on. (I found them today!!!) I had gone to the sports store and they didn't have the right ones. So off I venture to Super Walmart. I hope I don't offend anyone but it is so GHETTO! The people there....I could people watch all day there and be entertained. First of all the shopping carts are totally nasty and I feel dirty after touching them. You might be thinking (or you might not be) why did I need a shopping cart for baseball pants. Well I figured since I was there I better get milk and TP. Anyway, so off Jacob and I go. As I am walking around gathering the few items I need I see a girl with her stuff all hanging out. Can I just say that I have seen too much cleavage this summer! Seriously people you don't have to let them hang all out and wobble to and fro. The other thing I have noticed is women with stretch marks all over their girls and it is not just big girls this one was a skinny chic. Put them away!!! Not only do we not want to see them but you shouldn't want to show them. Please I have stretch marks here and there and I have no intentions of showing them off. I like what a high school teacher friend of mine said to a student who was walking down the hallway, it was something like "unless you are planning on breastfeeding in the next few minutes could you please put those away." Needless to say it was a rather interesting experience at Walmart last night. It was so dirty and just yucky all together. I will be sticking with Target!

Customer Review

Every once in a while a product comes along that I think is great here are two new ones.

The first one is called "Open It!" This little orange tool is great. You know when you get something new and it is in that hard plastic and is next to impossible to get out this thing works great. I also has a little screwdriver in it and a small razor blade. You might be thinking that any old pair of scissors might work but I love having these. My step mom bought them for Kevin for Father's Day. She got them at Bed Bath and Beyond and if you use the 20% off coupon that comes in the mail all the time it makes them really cheap, they are $9.99 regularly.

The second is Ramano's Macaroni Grill Restaurant Favorites to make at home. I have only made the Chicken Alfredo with Linguine and it was yummy. Kevin is picky (as many of you know) and he is not a big pasta fan and he loved it! Wahoo!!! It was super easy and quick.

So I think these two companies should pay me for my free advertisements don't you think?

Do you remember when...?

I thought this might be fun. I got this off of my friend Lisa's blog.

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

I'm happy to know that I'm not a nerd, does that just mean I'm not smart?

Happy Anniversary (yesterday)

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary. It's crazy that it has been 9 years already. And not to sound too corny it truly has been the best 9 years ever! I love being married to Kevin. He is an amazing father and husband. He works so hard for our family and Jacob and I are truly blessed that he is ours! Yesterday was a great day we started by going to the pool. We went to the city pool that has 2 waters slides and a diving board. Jacob thought this was great! I think he could have kept jumping off the diving board all day long. After a couple hours at the pool we headed home. Kevin had made reservations at Fogo de Chao. It was amazing!!! The best meat (15 different kinds) we have ever had. Kevin was in food heaven. They also had palenta (not to be confused with placenta), I don't know if that is how you spell it but it is some kind of fried corn bread that was so yummy. There was also these tiny little parmesan rolls, also to die for! It was the nicest restaurant we have ever been to. When I got up to go to the bathroom and came back to my seat somebody was right there to push my chair in for me as I sat. My water was never empty they usually filled it before I drank half. You never ran out of anything because they brought more before you could ask. It is one of those restaurants where they come around with the food on a giant skewer and they slice the meat off for you or slip it off the end depending on the meat. My favorite was the fillet meat wrapped in bacon and the chicken wrapped in bacon, so good! We ordered creme brulee for dessert they brought it on a plate and they had written Happy Anniversary with strawberry sauce on the plate, it was so neat. Needless to say I was stuffed when we were done. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone! Thanks Court for the suggestion. Thanks Hil for watching Jacob, he had a great time playing the Wii. After dinner we went to a movie. When we were driving to the theater we drove past Walmart. We saw some people that had bought Rock Band (it's like Guitar Hero but it's a whole band) they had wheeled it clear across the parking lot and had to finally take it out of the cart because once you get to a certain spot the shopping cart locks up. They were trying to carry it to the bus stop. OK maybe it's just me but how can you afford Rock Band and tons of other stuff they were carrying (plus they would have had to buy a Wii at some point) but you can't afford a car....priorities. Kev and I just laughed and said I hope they make it off the bus with that. Anyway, sorry about the side note. We saw Hancock at the movies. OK if you can get past the A word being used every 5 seconds during the first 20 min. then it is a good movie. I was actually ready to leave because it got so bad I guess I am not used to hearing those words so when I do it is pretty offensive. I understand why they used it they wanted to make Hancock a really mean angry person but I think they could have gotten the point across without that word. Other then that I really enjoyed the movie. We don't go to the movies hardly ever unless it is a kid movie so it was nice to go just the two of us. Last thing...I just got back from working out and I burned 1200 calories! I did 30 min. of cycle, 1 hour of lifting, and 30 of Latin Spice. OK I really don't mean to constantly write about working out but I'm just saying 1200 calories that is awesome!

The Circuit of Death (to be said with a low scary voice)

Yesterday was my last time with my personal trainer :( He told me since I had lost weight he thought I could handle more. Here is a little run down. 5 minutes on the stair master (my least favorite machine in the ENTIRE gym), planks and then crunches with my legs straight up in the air, then off to what he called the circuit of death! I had to do the whole line of machines that work every muscle which is fine because I do them all the time. Well the catch was instead of my normal 3 reps of 10 or even sometimes 20 I had to do 1 rep of 40 on each machine (around 10) and in between each machine I had to do 10 squats! Needless to say I was sweating really bad! While I'm on the last machine he informs me that I'm going to the treadmill next to run. Maybe he didn't realize that I DON'T run! So I start at a brisk walk all the while thinking I'm going to fall off the back of this thing. Then he says I'm going to go a mile, walking and running. It started of 30 seconds of running 30 of walking. Not so bad I was actually pretty impressed with myself. Four months ago when I started working out I could have never done this. Then he increased it to walk for a minute and run for a minute. I finished my mile in 14 min. and 43 seconds. I know that does not sound so great to some of you but remember I never run on the treadmill I only walk. He told me that next time I need to get it under that time and improve each time. I have to say that I was spent afterwards but I'm so glad I did it. Having a trainer really teaches you how to push yourself during your workout and I'm so thankful that I was able to learn all that I have. After his workout I went to 30 min. of Zumba and then home to RELAX!

A Little Soggy

So Jacob had his first baseball practice of summer ball. All was well and then about 15 min. into practice it started to poor! (is that the right kind of poor??? Is there another kind??? Hil help me out) We parked all the way on the other side of the field, like 2 football field lengths long, so by the time we got to our car we were drenched. Leave it to Texas to start raining so quickly.

Side note...I love So You Think You Can Dance. Ya I know I have expressed that already. I thought I would put a couple of links to my favorite performances.





The girl on the second video is LDS. I want to be able to dance like them. If any of you have seen my dancing skills you know I'm pretty close. Maybe I'll try out next year!

4th Of July Weekend

It was a nice and semi relaxing weekend. On Friday we went to the pool with the Koenig's and then went to their house for a yummy BBQ. We watched fireworks in Mansfield and managed to avoid the traffic. We went into a church parking lot and watched from there rather then going into the crowd and having to take forever to get out. Saturday Jacob and I went and saw Kung Foo Panda while Kev was at work. That night we all went and saw Wall-E at Studio Movie Grill (we had free passes) we don't see movies in the theater very often let alone two in one day but it was a lot of fun and I loved both movies. After we got out of Wall-E there were a lot of people in Arlington Highlands, the new shopping center in Arlington with a lot of great shops, so we asked what was going on and they said a fireworks show. We were going to stay but we figured we had seen one the night before and we decided to go home. On the way home Kevin thought that if we went across the freeway and went on a side street we could probably see the fireworks. I am so glad we did. Once again we got to see a great show without all the people and traffic. We have our two spots already picked out for next year! It's nice to just spend time with friends and together as a family and not have so much going on. We had a great weekend and I'm glad it wasn't jammed packed like many weekends seem to be. I'm looking forward to the pool tomorrow. Buying a pool pass has definitely turned out to be a great decision, I love it! Oh ya I finally got my biggest loser money from the church group, I won $208!!! Yay me!

I've Been Tagged AGAIN!

Four things I look forward to in the coming year:

1. Getting pregnant

2. Getting pregnant

3. Getting pregnant

4. Getting pregnant

Three joys in life:

1. Kevin and Jacob...I'm counting that as one

2. Sleeping in, it doesn't even have to be late just so there is no alarm clock involved

3. Listening to the children sing in Primary

Four movies I have watched more than once or twice

1. Star Wars (all of them)

2. Beaches

3. Cars (I love that movie)

4. The Sandlot

Three fears

1. Mice/Rats

2. Not being able to have anymore children

3. Losing a family member

Four favorite foods

1. Ice Cream

2. Guacamole Explosion with chips at On The Border

3. Jamba Juice (drink- not food but I substitute it for a meal so I think that counts)

4. Graham crackers dipped in milk

Three goals I have set for myself

1. Get pregnant this summer

2.Organize all of my photos on to disks in date order, printing them, and then scrap booking them. YA RIGHT!

3. Continue to lose weight

Four TV shows I watch

1. So You Think You Can Dance

2. Wizards of Waverly Place (don't laugh it's a really cute show)

3. John and Kate Plus Eight

4. The View

Three current obsessions

1. The knob thing that we bought in Vegas for the steering wheel, it makes turning so much easier, I love it!

2. Going to the pool every other day! I'm loving spending our summer at the pool with friends, it's the best!

3. Blogging

4. I'm going to have to go with Court on this one I love my new swim skirt on my bathing suit I don't think I'll ever have any other kind of swimsuit.

Four places I have visited:

1. California

2. Yellowstone

3. Colorado

4. Bahamas

Three places I’d like to visit

1. Hawaii

2. Alaska on a cruise with Kevin

3. New York, Europe, Africa, and Australia...OK that makes 6 there is more too but I thought I would stop at 6

Four random facts about me:

1. I pee a little when I sneeze or cough really hard.

2. I'm slightly OCD, not clinical or anything just some signs of it.

3. I have moved about 19 times in my entire life.

4. I think my feet are ugly so I wear a toe ring to try to offset the ugliness of them.

I tag the following 3 people:

1. Tara, Bridget, and Serene.

Zumba a fun way to workout!

My sister in law Leslie told me about a new kind of workout. It may not be that new but it's new to me. Well I just got home from my first Zumba class at 24 Hour and I loved it! I burned 796 calories and took 6,548 steps during the 1 hour class (thanks to my bodybugg I know that info). I'll definitely be doing more of that. I love a workout where you get to dance and shake your booty and nobody cares how you look. I'm definitely a white girl through and through but I think I did OK. I always get a better workout in classes then just working out on my own. So if you have the opportunity I think you should take a Zumba class.

Rock The Reception

So there is this new show on TV called Rock The Reception. I love it! I would love to go to a reception where they did this. The choreographers on the show are Tabitha and Napoleon from So You Think You Can Dance which is pretty much my favorite show right now. I would have loved to do something like this at my wedding now Kevin on the other hand I'm not sure if he would have been up for it, dancing is not his favorite thing to do.

Here are some pictures from mom's wedding.

Mom's Wedding

A slide show of our summer vacation, take a look.

Summer Vacation

On Saturday night after the wedding we went to Wendy's and played some games. We always have so much fun playing games together. Kevin's family (ok me too) like to win and are a little on the competitive side. We decided to play spoons. We thought it would be more fun to play standing around the kitchen table and put the spoons in the living room on the couch. It was so fun. There were a few minor injuries (we thought Ken dislocated his shoulder) but it was all worth it, take a look.

Since we have been home

We got home Wednesday night and then Kevin's brother Jeramie and his wife Leslie came in on Thursday night from Portland. On Saturday Kevin's mom got married. The wedding was nice and I had fun helping out with decorations. I would love to start a wedding planning business, I think it would be so much fun. It was so fun for Jacob to see his cousins from Tennessee that we don't see very often. We had a great weekend with the family. Twilight camp (cub scout day camp) started this week so I have been helping out with that every night. After next week I don't have anything planned so hopefully we will be hanging out at the pool a lot. I can't believe that it is almost July!!! I will post pictures from our vacation and the wedding in the next couple of days. Oh ya... on Monday I went to see my doctor and I get to start on Clomid next month! We are really excited and we hope that by this time next year we will have a baby. I don't want to get my hopes up too much. I know the Lord will bless us with more children if and when the time is right.

Part 2

Saturday we headed off to Hollywood. We have been there before but there is a lot to see. We went on a celebrity tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Bel Air. Definitely the way to go you get to see so much more. We got to see a lot of celebrity homes and hang outs. Kevin would tell you the best part was all of the amazing cars. We saw one that costs a million dollars...what the??? We went to the wax museum and through the Guinness book of world records museum. We drove up into the Hollywood hills and around Beverly Hills before heading over to Universal City Walk. We had so much fun and we were exhausted on the way home.
Side note: My mom let me borrow her GPS to take with us. If you are ever going anywhere and you don't know your way around then a GPS is awesome if it were not for it we would have been lost several times.
On Sunday we had a graduation/Father's Day party at my dad's house. It was nice to see so many family members and friends that we only see once a year. We had my Grandma's sauce that we had made and it was super yummy.
Monday we went to Disneyland. Jacob is definitely at the right age to go. He had so much fun and thought everything was so cool. He was able to go on every ride and said that Space Mountain was his favorite. At the end of the Star Tours ride they dump you into a big store (imagine that!) where you are able to build your own light saber...kind of like build a bear but with light sabers. Jacob (and Derrick too) thought that this was the coolest thing ever and we now have a double light saber that makes noise when you fight. We were walking through the park and Jacob asked for something and I said, "mommy is done buying you stuff today." He quickly responded with, "well Grandpa isn't." He has the right idea even at 7! Outside of Disneyland is Downtown Disney with different shops. We told Jacob there is a Lego store and so all day he was looking forward to it and Grandpa told him he could pick something out. We asked a guy who worked inside the park what time the Lego store closes and he pulls out a paper and tells us 12 am, which is what time the park closed. We thought he was a pretty reliable source. So at about 10:55 we decide to head to Downtown Disney. We get to the Lego store at 11:04 and it looks like it is closed. We try the doors and they are locked. Now remember Jacob has been looking forward to this all day long. I tell him I'm sorry buddy but they are closed. He puts his hands and the door and just started balling. (My brother Derrick said later that as soon as he saw Jacob began to cry he knew we were getting in.) Of course my heart is aching for him. An older lady (she must have been a grandma) comes to the door and says they are closed. I told her that in the park they said it didn't close until 12. She looks down at Jacob and says do you know what you want and are you buying something he says yes and she lets us in. They had not closed down their last register so we were in luck. Jacob picked out an Indiana Jones set and while Kevin paid I took pictures of him with the life size Lego statues. All in all it was a great day!
Well after being so busy the rest of the time we just kind of took it easy on Tuesday and hung out by my dad's pool. Wednesday was pack up day and we left in the afternoon. It was so much fun and I am thankful that we were able to create some great family memories.

A Little Catch Up...OK Maybe A Lot! (Warning this is loooong) Part 1

We had an amazing time on our vacation!
We left on Tuesday morning for Las Vegas. Kevin's dad picked us up at the airport and we headed off to breakfast. We spent the day with his dad at his house and we went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. We had taken Jacob several times when we lived there, (Kevin worked at Mandalay Bay so he always got a discount) he loves it there it was a lot of fun. Vegas was HOT, but it was so different because it was so dry compared to Texas. That night we decided to go to a buffet. Green Valley Buffet has always been one of our favorites so off we went. Now remember I have been eating healthy and really trying to lose weight. I decided hey if I'm going to a buffet that costs $20 I'm going to get my moneys worth. That was my first mistake. So off I went to EAT! Can I just say they had amazing egg rolls I probably had at least 4 (hey they were small) anyway I continued to eat about 3 plates full of food and began not feeling so well. (Court, Brit, and Hilary remember the Red Robin incident it was happening inside me all over again!) I quickly began to feel like I needed to use the bathroom. Of course the bathroom is all the way across the casino floor. So I get in there with the rumbling aching stomach and then nothing. I go back to our table and Kevin is eating ice cream they have scooped ice cream at this buffet so I'm like OK I feel a little better I'll have 2 scoops. Well that put me over the edge and I thought I was going to be sick. Back to the bathroom I went and still nothing. We then went back to dad's house and I took another trip to the bathroom and this time (skip ahead if you don't want to be grossed out) I felt really sick! So I began to throw up in the trash can while I'm sitting on the toilet with diarrhea. Needless to say I threw up $20 worth of food. I will not be eating at a buffet again any time soon.
That night we went to the Hendrickson's house which is where we were staying. Kevin dropped Jacob and I off and went back to his dad's and they went bowling. I had so much fun talking with Tara and catching up. They just had a baby a few weeks ago, she is so cute. Jacob had fun playing with Megan and Haley. The next morning we went back to dad's house and headed off to get our car rental for our short drive to California. Before we left though I had to stop at Roberto's Taco Shop and get the best bean burrito ever! I was a little worried because of the night before but I was feeling much better. The burrito was amazing just like I remembered it being!
Wednesday was Cheryl's birthday and so we went to Red Robin, I got a wrap and only ate half of my fries I didn't want another bathroom incident. Thursday was my brothers graduation. WAY TO GO D! We had fun decorating the windows of his car. He had a graduating class of 856 with 810 actually graduating. I was impressed at how fast they were able to get 810 peoples name called and across the stage. It only lasted about a two and a half hours. Jacob pooped out about half way through and ended up on the floor on a blanket. On Thursday my Grandma Frainee came over and we made sauce for the Father's Day/Graduation party on Sunday.
Friday we headed to Hunington Beach!!! The weather was perfect and we had so much fun. Jacob was making me slightly nervous he was much braver this year going in a little further then I was expecting. He loves the beach and playing in the waves. We rented a boogie board and Kevin wanted to take me out to catch some waves. It was hard to catch just the right wave to bring you all the way in. Well can I just say my bathing suit is not fit for boogie boarding or getting tossed around in waves. A few times a wave would take me under and toss me around and I would go to stand up and my bottoms would be below my bottom...not fun! Then I finally caught a wave all the way in and the force took my bottoms down again so when I got to the point where I needed to stand up I couldn't because I knew I still needed to pull up my bottoms so I was once again being tossed around. It was still a ton of fun and I feel sorry for all who saw my white bum.

We're Off...

We leave in the morning for California (by way of Vegas). We leave at 5:45 am tomorrow and we will spend the day with Kevin's dad. We're staying at my friend Tara's house (thanks guys!). Then Wednesday we are driving to my dad's house which is about 3 1/2 hours away and we will stay until the 18th and then we fly home from California. Thursday my brother Derrick graduates from High School, wow I feel old. Friday we are going to Disneyland, Saturday the beach, and on Sunday we are having the entire Frainee family over for Father's Day. I'm so excited! The day after we get back Jeramie and Leslie (Kevin's older brother and his wife) will be flying in from Oregon to stay with us for a few days for Kevin's mom's wedding on June 21st. I probably won't be posting for over a week unless I find time there but I will have lots to post about when we get back.

He made me cry!

Yesterday I cleaned out my room at school and spent most of the day packing and cleaning, I was tired! Well I had set up to see my trainer at 4. So off I went. He worked me out hard which is what he always does. I guess that's what he gets paid for. At the end of it all we went to do crunches on this contraption thing that makes it harder then just doing a regular crunch. Usually he has me do 10 and stop and so on until I get to a hundred holding for 10 seconds at the end of each set of 10. So I'm going along and I think I'll impress him and do 20 at one time because 10 is really not that hard. When I'm on my own I usually do about 30 at once. I'm almost to 20 and he says 100 keep going. What the crap I was like whatever Nathan you have got to be crazy. I'm going along not too bad and around 40 something I'm thinking there is no way...he luckily stopped me at 50 and gave me a break. I'm sprawled out on the machine thankful for the few second rest. He's says 50 more and the work out is over. I think to myself I can totally do this. It hurt so bad that around 35 I literally started to tear up and cry. Somehow I got to 50. When I was done I told him that I was actually crying and he said yes, what a meany!!! I'm a little sore today but not too bad. It's crazy how much harder I can work when I have someone next to me pushing me along. I never work out as hard on my own. I'm going to try today to repeat the workout he had me do, we'll see how it goes.