Noah Month 12

I just realized I never posted this update!  My  little man turned one in July....this was the last month of his first year!

He learned to brush his teeth, had his first trip to the ER (for possible dehydration) and ate lots and lots of birthday cake!

Fell asleep on the 3 minute ride home from daycare like this

Babies fit in shoe boxes!

Kisses anyone?

Our first trip to the ER :( He was a champ!

At a Rattlers game with Grammy!

The swing he got for his birthday

Sleepy selfie with mama

CAKE!!!

One

Well it is official, as of yesterday, my little man is a year old. One. I can't believe how fast time flies! I don't think I can write a sentimental post about being a mother and how much I love this little tyke, I will just cry too much. But believe me, he is the best thing in my life and I am so happy God chose me to be his mommy.

About a week and a half before his birthday, we did a little photo shoot to commemorate.  Of course, I had to get some smash cake pictures. Man, Noah did not disappoint with those! I will share pictures of his actual birthday soon! ( We didn't do a party, just a few friends gathered around and some more cake)

Enjoy!

Birthday Trip to Sedona

Well, I am officially thirty! 

A week and a half ago C took me up to Sedona, AZ to celebrate.  It was the place we took our first mini getaway together and we’ve been wanting to go back ever since. Somehow, I managed to only take a few pictures the entire trip, which I am really bummed about. 

We headed up the mountain (it’s about a 2 hour drive from Phoenix) on Thursday evening after I got off of work. We knew we’d be eating dinner late so we grabbed a snack. McDonalds French fries anyone?  Yum!

Once we got up there we checked into our hotel, changed our clothes and headed to dinner.  There is an Italian restaurant there called Dahl & DiLuca that I went to years ago.  It was the first place I ever tried gnocchi and I fell in love. It’s a bit pricey, but we thought we could splurge for my birthday.

Oh man it was so good!  We had great garlic infused oil for dipping bread in, mozzarella filled radicchio wrapped in prosciutto, gnocchi in vodka sauce and Prawns served in a Lemon, Garlic White Wine and Parsley Sauce.  Just delicious!

We thought we might roam around town a bit after dinner, but we were so stuffed that we just headed back to our hotel room and watched cheesy 90’s movies (She’s All That) before passing out.

The next morning (my birthday!) we slept in a bit.  One we got dressed and ready to head out, C took me to a bakery to get a cupcake for my birthday. He knows I adore cupcakes. Love that man. 

It was cold (to me) and very grey and cloudy that day, but we didn't let it get to us. Next we headed to a place called Picazzo’s for lunch. Holy cow was it tasty!  I know it is a chain, so I will definitely be looking it up in Phoenix!

Tons of clouds and fog

Then we headed up to a city called Jerome, which my mom had told me about.  It’s an old mining town at the top of a mountain. 

Going up the hill, we really had no clue what to expect, so we really only planned to stay about an hour or two.  When we got to the top though, we fell in love.  There were four wine cellars to do tastings and a ton of little shops with local treats.  Even after our first and second wineries, we thought we were gonna be leaving soon.

Big C in a little shop!

About the third winery is where it all went haywire.  Probably because at that point I was feeling quite good! 

You guys, we ended up staying until 9:30pm!

Sultry Cellars

We met a bunch of people our age and had a blast. Honestly, there are pieces I don’t quite remember which is shocking to me.  I have never in my life had a night where I don’t remember everything!  C was telling me some of the terribly embarrassing things I said…..oh man. Oops!

Obviously, after leaving Jerome we headed back to our hotel in Sedona and crashed.

The next day we headed back to Phoenix since C had work.  Womp womp. 

We really had a great trip though.  I love that there are so many places near Phoenix we can visit that are completely different. Five hours away is the ocean and California, 4 hours away is Vegas or Rocky Point Mexico, in less than two hours you can be in underground caves in Southern AZ or snow in Northern AZ.  It’s incredible.

A cloudy view of the red rocks of Sedona.... the city is especially beautiful in the sun!

So that’s it! I wish I had taken more pictures….I don’t even have a picture of C and I together! Seriously, the four above are the only four I took!
 

 

Three Zero (And a Giveaway!)

Today is the day I turn 30.

I can't believe it.

It sounds so grown up.....yet I don't feel grown up. I feel like I have so much more to accomplish in my life.  I wanted to be married with several children by now. But I guess God had a different plan for my life.

C is taking me up to Sedona, AZ for my birthday.  It is the place we took our first little mini trip together almost 2 years ago. I hope to lounge around, shop a bit and do some wine tasting if we can find some places to go to.

I've never done lists like this, but here's few things on my wishlist:

From here

- Anything from LUSH. I have become simply addicted to this store. I really love their bath bombs though.  I can't get enough.  I now have a cute little basket in my bathroom dedicated soley to bath items like these!

From here

- A Kindle Paperwhite waterproof case. As I mentioned above, I am addicted to bath bombs. Well, I am loving using them while in the tub reading!  I am slightly afraid I'll drop my kindle in the water though, so a waterproof case would be amazing!

- Amazon gift cards to buy all the books in the world!  I love bath bombs, so I love taking baths and I love reading books so I need more!  Makes sense right?  I have a huge wish list of books right now, so a gift card to buy some of them would be awesome!


In honor of my birthday (ok not really at all) Chesee from Southern Beauty Guide along with several of her closest frinds (me included) are giving away not one but TWO Naked 3 palettes!  How amazing is that?

Make sure you enter below!
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Hello Lovelies! 

I am so excited today to share this great giveaway with all of you! I recently passed a blogging milestone and decided to celebrate this month with an extra special giveaway. Today I am teaming up with some lovely ladies to giveaway 2 Urban Decay Naked Palettes! There will be two winners drawn! Remember the more entries you complete, the higher the chance is that you will win! 

Leslie//Niki//Bekah//Suzanna Betsy//Brooke//Christina//Tiffany Justine//Tori//Rachel//Chelsee a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions: Open to US Residents only. Winner will be contacted within 3 days of the Giveaway ending. Winner will be verified. If the winner cannot be verified, a new one will be selected. The winner has 48 hours to claim their prize after the notifying email has been sent out. If they do not respond to the email within the 48 hours a new winner will be selected. Don't miss your chance on winning one of these amazing palettes! Good Luck!

Book Club Time!

A few weeks ago I told you I had decided to join Bon’s Book Club and today is the day I’m talking about the first book, which was The Husbands Secret by LianeMoriarty. 

I just finished reading this a month or two ago, so I obviously didn’t read it again.  I really loved it! I loved how there was three separate stories and in the end they all came together in a crazy way. Also, the secret was not what I was expecting which made it even better.

Please note, if you haven’t read this, there are some small spoilers in the questions below….so beware!

 The book is told from the viewpoint of three women.  Which women did you like the most and why?  Whom did you dislike the most and why?

A: I think I liked Celia the best, because I felt most connected with her.  Her husband was the one the secret was about and I could feel the emotion she felt all the time. I could imagine myself in her shoes.  I disliked Rachel. For some reason, she felt whiney to me.  I know that’s terrible to say about someone who has lost a child, but it was almost as if years and years later she hadn’t healed at all. 

What would you have done if you had found out the secret that Celia did?  Did you agree with the way she handled it?  What is the "right" thing to do in a situation like that?

A: Oh man. I have no idea what I would do.  I know I would be a walking mummy like her.  I wouldn’t know how to process it at all. I honestly can’t tell you if I would have eventually done the same thing that she did as I think in the situation I would feel different.  I think there is definitely a difference between the moral thing to do and the “right at the time” thing to do.  I don’t think John and Celia did the moral thing.  But how could you after all of those years?

What was the point of the side story with Tess?  Do you excuse the way she acted during that week because of the uncertainty in her marriage?

A: I wasn’t completely sure of the side story with Tess.  I definitely don’t excuse the way she acted during that week, but I totally understand it.  Sometimes when C makes me mad I want to do things that I never would do otherwise to “get back” at him for how I am feeling.  *honest moment*

Do you believe the bike accident was adequate "penance" for what John Paul had done?

A: Absolutely not. John’s daughter shouldn’t have had to suffer to pay for her father’s actions. 

Did you like the resolution of the book?  Did you feel there was enough closure?

A: It’s been a month or two since I have read this, but I can say I remember feeling like it wasn’t enough. I didn’t feel like I got closure.  I think that is the only reason this book doesn’t resonate with me as one of my top favorites. 

Well there it is!  My first Bon’s Book Club discussion.

 

I think this month I was a little out of touch with this book and couldn’t answer the questions as deeply and thoughtfully as I wanted to because I honestly couldn’t remember some of it.  Hopefully next month will be better.

I can say I am not totally looking forward to February’s book, which is I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot bythe Taliban by Malala Yousafzai. I am about 13% into it and I am just not captivated at all. I almost dread reading it. That’s not how it’s supposed to be with books! I sure hope it gets better!

Have you read it?   

Are you going to join in on the book club?