Hair today, Gone Tomorrow

Since February, when baseball season started, Peyton decided to grow out his hair. He loved having it hang out of his hat when he played. But, the summer heat has taken over and he begged for Mark to cut if off. I actually miss the messy, sweaty do.

10 Years

Ten years of marriage...a decade. When I stop and think about the things that have happened in just the ten years of marriage I can't believe it. Time has gone so fast. We went from meeting as teenagers (and yes my naturally curly hair) then getting married in our very early 20's, having a beautiful son we named Peyton, then buying our first home. Then came our second home and our gorgeous bald daughter Drew. We pierced her ears at 4 months old to help make her look more girly. Then came the task of raising a family and trying to instill holiday traditions on top of ways to beat the summer heat. And of course we've had family trips to Disneyland and the fun of making homemade Halloween Costumes. In ten years we've grown from kids to adults who are now raising kids. We try our best to balance it out with work and play. Going through years of pictures and trying to find just 10 of my favorites is pretty impossible. The pictures just touch on the life we've lived and a fraction of the fun we've had. It's really gone racing by but I'm so looking forward to the future and the fun that awaits us.

Vegas 2010

I'm lucky to love my job, but even more, I love the people I work with. Not everyone can say that. We get along like a family. To the point where someone recently called us toxic. Definitely not a compliment but I can see where they were coming from, we're close, spouses included. Each year the brokers I work for take our team away for a Vegas getaway. This year they put us up in the suites at Treasure Island where you can see had a great table in the hallways of the rooms where Mark felt was a good place to rest. We hung out, gambled, visited downtown Freemont Street and gambled some more. We had a private party one night at the Carnival Court which is the round bar outside Harrahs....which was also the place where Whitnee won big the next night! We found a champagne bar at Palazzo which served our favorite, Vueve! We ate and ate but can't really say we loved our meals even though Vegas has wonderful restaurants. We people watched and saw all the street "entertainers" you can take your picture with for a small fee. A great trip even though it was 2 weeks after my surgery. Next year I believe we voted on a new city....San Francisco. It should be just as fun.

Allstars 2010

Peyton made the Allstar team this year and played Pitcher and Short Stop. Short Stop is by far his favorite position but pitching is moving up on the list. Our team was like the bad news bears. Take notice how excited the short stop is behind Peyton in the pictures. I'd like to blame the heat for the fact that we lost 4 straight games and were bumped out of the tournament....but....well....who knows. They are a fun group of kids who got along great . It was so much fun to see them come together as a team. I am by far more of a baseball mom than soccer. I love watching him play.

Fathers Day

Like most holidays, Mark has to work but he got home early evening so for Fathers day we barbequed and went to a Palm Springs Power game. The Hershbergers joined us for a mellow evening of hot dogs, beer, baseball and lots of mister action to the point where it was getting chilly. The Power games are a fun family activity and Peyton was amazed at how good they played. He is so in love with baseball right now. Almost to the point of slight annoyance. But, on the flip side, I love watching him play every second and am trying to be supportive of his "short stop/pitcher" research since that's what he decided he wants to be when he grows up.

Courtney's Birthday

We celebrated Courtney's birthday with a girls night out for dinner at Matchbox and then people watching at the Village Pub. Dinner was great but desert was even better. They made some pizza looking thing topped with strawberries, balsalmic vinegar and mint. I'm begging Mark to try to copy it. Then we went to the Village Pub and had so much fun people watching until we decided it would be funny to have mustaches. Then I'm pretty sure people were watching us. It made for some good laughs.

Hospital Stay

What a weekend. Friday was a normal day of work, went shopping afterwards with Peyton to get things for Marks birthday then we came home. For the past 2 weeks I hadn't been feeling good and was complaining of it on a daily basis. I just didn't feel right. The kids wanted pizza for dinner so since I didn't feel good, no problem. The problem came when I took a bite of the pizza and was dropped to my knees with incredible pain in my stomach. I tried taking tums, having some juice and laying down but it wouldn't go away. Finally, I called Mark at work crying asking him to bring me pepcid ac because that should help with what I thought was indigestion. Instead he took me to the ER. They got us right in and every person asked if I still had my gall bladder. They did an ultrasound and cat scan then came back to the ER to tell me I was being admitted and having my gall bladder removed first thing in the morning because I had stones/polyps that needed to be tested. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear. I've never had a surgery like this and was scared. The next morning they came in and said I had to wait another day because they couldn't fit me in. Fantastic, a whole another day to stress about surgery. That is until they gave me the "relaxer" before the surgery then apparently I wanted to take pictures with the nurse and anethesiolgist. After the surgery Mark did all he could to make me happy. He slept with me every night, brought my favorite flowers and when the doc told him I needed to drink lots of gatorade he went out and bought plastic champagne glasses since I wouldn't be having my normal Sunday Funday mimosas! I have 4 holes around my super swollen stomach and about 10 staples even though it was done laproscopy. I'm glad my little trip to the hospital is over and I can't wait to feel good again.

Drew's Pre-School Graduation

Drew has officially graduated from pre-school and is heading to Kindergarden this fall. I can't believe it. I can't believe how fast time has gone. Her school puts on a cute presentation each year. Through the years here in the desert we've established such a great group of friends and now all of our kids are growing up together. We were lucky enough that her dance partner was Luke and Zoe's dance partner was Mason so it was easy to get pictures. The graduation was on the same night as Peyton's baseball playoff game so we raced over as soon as he was done, hence the dirty uniform.

Clementine Patisserie & Boulangerie

Christophe and Jen have opened a new business here in the desert and if you haven't had the chance to see it, you're missing out. Clemetine's is an adorable shop right next to Trader Joes in Palm Desert. It has amazing tasty treats as well as home goods that are great for gifts or for yourself. Congrats to them on becoming business owners!!

Mother's Day

Mother's day was probably my best one yet. Although, I don't have any pictures of my morning to show of it. The kids each made me homemade gifts and Mark wrote me a heartfelt letter that took my breath away. The mere fact that he took the time at work to sit at his desk in the hot kitchen and pour his heart out to me on paper was amazing. It was the absolute best gift I could have ever, ever asked for. I've read that letter almost daily because it makes me so happy. After he got off of work we went over to the Hershbergers' to celebrate Tasha's and Zoltan's birthday. The guys played Bag in a Box which is basically bean bag toss, the kids played hula hoop and football and us mom's analyzed the latest people magazine, talked and completely relaxed. It was so great spending time with wonderful friends. One last thing.....I stole all of these pics from wonderful Courney's blog because I forgot my camera that day.