Vegas trip courtesy of Sandy!

Sandy is very awesome and her company loves her to pieces.  She has been there for 10 years so they rewarded this big milestone by gifting her with a trip to Vegas for her and a few of her friends!  How cool is that?  Thank you Sandy for asking us to go with you!  It was a blast!

We had a fabulous suite at the Venetian, enjoyed the beautiful pool, got pampered at the spa, ate some of the best food I've had in a loooong time, went to a Cirque du Soleil show and squeezed in a whole lot time with friends! 

As a side note...it was the first time Sandy and I had ever spent the night away from our little boys!  Both Leon and Brett managed without us just fine.  They spent most of Saturday together with the boys and they sent us several pics of the boys playing together throughout the day.  I think they did a great job even if they did take Hank to the grocery store with no pants on.  (Hank really dislikes putting his pants on lately so Brett just decided to let Hank win the battle.)

-a

Baby boom in SC

On our trip to SoCal we stayed at the home of our friends Brett and Annika. They hosted several of our friends from Stanford so everyone could get together and see all of the new babies. It was a hoot to see all of these people in one place. There was only one time when all of the kids were awake long enough to take a picture together and luckily we were able to get a shot of them together.

The Chens, The Lawrences, The Hivelys and us!

Enjoying the beautiful sunset at Annika's parents' house.

Brett learning to surf.

This was a fabulous trip. We enjoyed staying with Brett and Annika so much...I wonder if they'd let us rent their guest room??? We kinda want to move to San Clemente now.

-a

Besties

We're back from our SoCal trip. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay as long as planned due to a work commitment that popped up for Brett. BUT...we did get to do about half of what we had planned and we were able to see some fabulous friends so it ended up being a great mini-vacation!

We stopped in to see Erin and Beth, two of my old school besties. I've known Beth since 2nd grade and Erin since the first day of freshman orientation at UT. Who knew all three of us would end up living in California one day??

This was their first time to meet Hank and it was so endearing to see these long time friends of mine holding my little baby. We tried to explain to Hank that these ladies knew me before their dad did. We also explained that during freshman year, Erin had to tell Brett that I liked him (like you do in 4th grade) in order to get him to ask me on a date. Apparently, before this he wasn't sure I liked him (despite the fact that I was always hanging around him - because I was stalking him).

Although I do not get to visit with them as much as I'd like to, we have the kind of friendship that can pick up right where we left off last time. These two truly are some of my best friends in this world. I love them so much and wish they didn't live so far away!

-a

Basket baby

We're headed to SC for a week long vacation tomorrow. Today, I was busy around the house doing laundry and getting packed. When I had my back turned in my bedroom, I heard Henry grunting and then I heard something shuffling along the floor. I looked out into the hallway to see that Henry had discovered that the laundry basket would move along the floor if he pushed it. He pushed the laundry basket up and down the hallway all afternoon. He was so good at it. When he got to a dead end (either the end of the hallway or a wall) he would turn the basket and go back the other way. I was so overwhelmed at how cool this was. This little pint-sized person was using his little noggin in such an advanced way. I don't mean to brag, but seriously, he was really doing a good job with his problem solving skills. I just can't get over how much he is growing and developing.

I took so much video of this but to save everyone from being bored I edited it down and combined the good parts (or at least they are good to me!) and it ends with a little funny bad momma moment. (After the BMM I put some heavy books in there so he could push without it tipping over.)

I might post some while we are on vacation...but I can't make any promises. :) We're off to see a bunch of family and friends, as well as have a few days of alone time for just the three of us. We're also celebrating our anniversary. See you when we get back!

-a

Happy Birthday Brett

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and Hank's fabulous Dad!

To celebrate, we went to lunch as a family and had yummy mediterranean food. To top it off, we went to get cupcakes. Since Hank had been in the stroller and car seat for the whole outing, we let him stretch his legs when we got to the cupcake store. Brett was entertaining him by hovering him above the treats. The little guy is quick and he was able to swipe a cupcake before Brett could stop him. I loved it! He got Brett's - not mine! ha ha Poor Hank. All he wants is to hurry up and get through the fruits and veggies so we can move on to more important things, such as dessert.

Before the cupcake swipe

After the cupcake swipe. I love Brett's reaction!

I had a strawberry cream filled cupcake. That thing was amazing.

We're off to Austin on Wednesday so Brett's birthday gets to stretch into our little vacation as well. :)

We weighed the little swiper today...he's 17 lbs 4 oz.

-a

Over already?

The past several days have just flown by. I can't believe Pearce's great California vacation is over already. We all had an absolute blast.

On Friday, we went out to Half Moon Bay so Pearce could see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. He was only able to wade in the water so we promised he could swim another day.

Saturday had us going up to San Francisco so we could accomplish some more things on his wish list. Cable car...check. Eat crab...check. Swim in ocean...check. See crookedest street...check. It was enjoyable to watch him explore the city and experience all of these things that I take for granted about San Francisco.

On Sunday, we hung out in Palo Alto. The highlight of the day was when we took him over to Stanford campus so he could play in the water fountains since it was so hot outside. That was a ton of fun for him to do and afterwards we went to this Willy Wonka-esque fro yo shop so he could get all hopped up on sugar.

On Monday, we went to the SF Zoo. Now I will admit that this was a dreaded event for me, but I guess because I am a mom now I actually had fun. I enjoyed seeing how much fun Pearce had and I look forward to taking Henry back again in a few months when he's a little bit older and can enjoy it as well. Brett took Pearce to the neighborhood park Monday evening and early this morning so they could get more play time in before having to return to Texas.

Today we had the perfect day. The weather was perfect. The pancake breakfast was perfect. And the return visit to the fro yo shop right before dropping them off at the airport was perfect as well. It was a perfect trip for Pearce's first visit to California. I'm sad their gone!

-a

California vacation begins

Today my sister Lisa and her son Pearce arrived from Texas for their California vacation! After a morning at the doctor's office for Hank's six month check up, we set out to do some of Pearce's favorite things - like eat Chinese food and visit the beach. Tomorrow we're going to SF to see the sights and get some seafood. Earlier this week, Pearce called me to say he had a few requests for his first trip to California and #1 on his list is to eat seafood. What better place to do that than in San Francisco?

-a

It's Brett's birthday!

Today is Brett's birthday! We returned from Hawaii on Friday night but we pretended our vacation didn't end until today, on Brett's birthday. Yesterday, we celebrated his birthday early in SF with Brett's good friend Ben from high school and his wife Amy who were in town visiting. (Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.) Today, we relaxed away the day, and just kept the vacation vibe going in honor of Brett!

Happy Birthday B!

-a

Independence Day

By the time you read this, we'll be on a plane to Maui! It's been a very long time since Brett and I went on a vacation with just the two of us and we'll be gone for a whole week. We can't wait.

Happy 4th of July!! Aloha!

-a

Holiday round-up

Brett goes back to school this week so that means the holidays are officially over. Here's a round-up of our adventures this holiday break!

Christmas Lights in Austin
Angie, Brett & Ellie ~ Kathy, Tyler & Ron ~ Ellie checking out the lights from the car

On Christmas Day in Austin, we went out and saw Christmas lights with Kathy, Ron, and Tyler. First, we drove down to San Marcos to this hilarious place called Santa's Ranch where they basically covered several acres with millions of lights and you drive through them and check out all the little scenes they created. From there we went back to Austin and headed over to a neighborhood that is full of hippies who decorate their yards and houses with lights and other crazy props. Both of these places define the slogan "Keep Austin Weird".

The Texas Paulsons
Jake ~ Jesse ~ Kai ~ Kris & Theresa ~ Julian & Brett

On Friday, the day after Christmas, we hung out for most of the day with Kris & Theresa and the boys. After a great lunch out to eat, we came back to their house to exchange gifts and play games. It was great to see all of them. The boys are getting so big now - big enough to beat Brett and me at HORSE!

On Friday night, Brett and I snuck out on a date and had tapas and just enjoyed being in Austin again. After dinner, we were able to drop by Emily and Joe's for a little while. We haven't seen them since they visited us in Palo Alto over a year ago. I didn't get a pic of us on my camera. :(

The Dallas Family
Brett & the boys ~ Courtney ~ Pearce, Angie, & Ellie ~ Lisa & Luke ~ Mom ~ Pete

From Austin, we went up to Big D to spend a few days with my side of the family. We had a big Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts and watched the boys play with their new toys. Thanks to Santa for giving Brett and I the Mexican Train Dominoes. We played that for a few hours that night and we've played it several times since!

New Year's Day in Carmel
Pic taken with camera phone - can you believe I forgot my camera?

On New Year's Day, we headed out to Carmel to be hosted for a night by Adam and Rachael. We had a great time with them as we walked along the beach, ate fajitas and efficiently watched football using the DVR. Who knew you could watch a football game in an hour and a half?!?

I'm always a little sad when the holidays are over - I am not taking the tree and decor down until tomorrow so technically it's not over yet - but I know this new year is going to be filled with so many things to look forward to!

-a

MIA no more!

I've been missing in action here on the Blogtacular. It took a little while for me to get back in gear after returning from vacation two weeks ago. Have no worries, I am back now. I have been working on organizing all the photos from our trip and deleting all the lame ones that don't seem as interesting as they were back when I took them. Here's a snippet of our trip!



Our trip was a lot of fun...but it has been so nice to be home!!!

-a

Our bags are packed...and we're ready to go!!!

...not really. That's a phrase my awesome mother-in-law Kathy said once as she was jumping around in a bunny kangaroo suit and it was one of the funniest things ever and since then, the whole family uses it often, even when it's not true. I'm no where near being packed for our trip to Europe and we leave in four hours. Brett is flying in from Korea right now (he was doing bizness) and he will be here in about an hour. I need to go act like I am ready to go or else when he walks in the door he's going to be very upset because I have a history of being a slow packer.

But...I had to post to say bye for now and we'll be back in a couple of weeks. We're going to Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic), and Munich/Berlin/etc. in Germany. We'll be traveling with some of friends from Stanford: Tom, Pam, Garrett, Shannon, Peter and Ann! We actually return on my birthday, Sept 21. Nice...I get to be in an airplane all day long on my birthday. I'll try to post while we're gone, but I can't make any promises. :)

-a