A Bengal and a Skittle

Soccer season has begun. Peyton is playing U10 this year which means they have a bigger field, actual goalies and positions that they are supposed to stay in. Needless to say the first game was a little confusing for most of the kids and they kept going off-sides. He did awesome though and said that now that he knows what to do he can't wait till next week. Drew has 5 girls on her team and they play 3 at a time. She played 2 quarters then told the coach she was tired and wanted to sit out. She really wanted to eat her half time snack and not be bothered with running after the ball. It was too hot. Hopefully as the season goes on she'll be more intersted in the game and not just the food.

Chuck E Cheese

Drew decided she wanted a pink pirate themed birthday at Chuck E Cheese. It would've been an easy theme if I ordered the party supplies online, but, I forgot and was left to be creative. She got to see Chuck, play hundreds of tokens with her friends and go in the ticket booth which she had been seeing on TV each day. I think the adults had just as much fun competing in skeeball and basketball games.

Drew Turns Five

She planned her party months ago. It had to be Chuck E Cheese. I questioned her choice through the months of her planning. Really? Chuck E Cheese? The place that makes you feel like you want a bath in anti-bacterial gel. Well, it was what she wanted so we planned it on the weekend of her birthday. The actual night of her birthday she wanted a cake. Not a cake for me to make but one that she could pick out. So, between the pretty orange one with actual Butterfinger candies on it or the pretty pink one that they'd write her name on, she spied the Hamburger and got very excited. Again, I questioned. Really? That's what you want for your birthday cake? She happily looked at me and explained "It's a burger and I'm a berger, we match mom". Thank you Stater Bros for making her so happy.

Beatin the Heat

Who needs a pool when there's sprinklers that can cool you off? We're cooling off old school style today. The end of September and it's HOT. Welcome to Fall in the desert!

A Birthday Party

A superfun, superhero birthday party. Luke and Mason turned 5 with a big bash. The pinata was bigger than most of the kids, the food was delicious and since the weather was great the kids were able to run and run until the sugar wore off.

Labor Day

Labor day weekend was work, work and a little more work on the new house. But, we were able to squeeze in some fun. Mark had a college football tailgate party at the club. We didn't have any college t-shirts so Drew and I borrowed some of Peyton's and did the best to make them work, which is why mine is so little. The weekend ended with drinks, swimming and relaxing with the Hershbergers. A favorite activity of ours.

Place your Bets......

Meet Team Brown......

and Team Black......



Meet my co-workers. Here's just another idea we've come up and ran with. The team names came from the show the Biggest Loser. Apparently Team Brown has always been very successful at winning and Team Black is pretty much because that's the main color of my wardrobe.



A friendly, somewhat competitive, completely voluntary version of Biggest Loser. We each complain of our weight. Some want to trim down, some want to bulk up on muscle, some want to stay the same but just be more toned. Well, we've decided to motivate each other. We've split into 2 teams. This is completely on the honor system and we have until the week of Thanksgiving to hit our goals and set out to do what we've claimed we want to do. The prize is excellent and will be explained as the deadline gets closer. Wish me luck! :)

The Lake

The Lake. Probably our favorite summer activity. A place to go that's so close to home. A place to hang out with family and friends, watch the kids play and beat the summer heat. I love it. It's where we learned to wakeboard 3 summers ago while the kids cheered us on from the boat. It's a place Mark and I talk about each winter as we're longing to go back. Not sure what it is, we may just be easily amused, but we love it there. The best part is now seeing the excitement on the kids faces. They are now loving it as much as we are.

Del Mar

We were invited to join some friends for a weekend in Del Mar. We couldn't pass it up. We picked Mark up from the airport when he came in from Napa and drove straight towards the beach. We were with 3 families and our kids got along great and became instant friends. We hung out by the hotel pool, had an awesome dinner at Il Fornaio then back to the hotel to hang out, talk and let the kids have hot chocolate. The next day was bagels for breakfast, a walk on the beach then Del Mar race track. An awesome weekend! Thanks for inviting us Romanos. Next trip....Temecula Wine tasting :)

Greystone-Napa

Mark was one of 12 Club Corp chefs chosen throughout the nation to head to Greystone CIA in Napa for a week to work. They worked most of the day creating new dishes for the company, taste testing, tweaking the recipes and tasting again. He said it reminded him of watching Top Chef. Each night was a planned function at either a winery or restaurant. They also visited a place where blasamic was made, the local farmers market and a local farm. Pretty much all the places chefs would want to go and be happy to see. We're very happy he's back though.