39 Months

Hannah is such a big girl now. She loves to help me out with everything I do. Anything I tell her to do, she says she can do "By MYSELF." She asks me several times a day for a baby sister and tells me that she 'just had a baby in her tummy', then brings me one of her dolls and tells me the dolls name and that she already taught her to walk. Then she has to tell me all the things to do or NOT do with a new baby. She is not very interested in letters (she mostly just likes the H the A and the N, you can guess why). But she loves numbers. She is great at adding and subtracting. I am continually in wonder of all the things she tells me and she makes me laugh so hard, every day! She is a total nut! I am so proud of her and as Hannah would say, she makes my "heart happy"!

The month of June

This is a busy month for me. I am teaching 20 classes this month, which so far has felt great - 11 more to go! I have really enjoyed teaching Jazzercise the past 5 years and would love to see you in class someday!

I have also started my first home improvement project. Now that our house is a year old, I feel I have things I would like to do to personalize it a bit more... I have ripped apart our powder room. I am painting it (purple!) and putting in a new vanity, fixtures, hardware, etc. I'm even doing the plumbing. Adventurous? Yes!

A weekend trip to Spokane

One of our closest friends got married this weekend in Spokane, WA. We took a road trip to Eastern Washington and spent two nights at the Davenport Hotel where all the wedding festivities took place. We had a great time and we danced the night away, Hannah included. She loves a good dance party!

A little side note about the trip...Hannah got car sick on the way over, but I made sure to give her some Dramamine on the way back. It worked great!

All the little girls started the dance party. They had so much fun!

Mr. & Mrs. Ken Kelly

Trip to see Ol' Gramps...

Hannah and I took a trip to Southern Utah to visit with Grandpa! As his health has been deteriorating for the last while, we felt it was a good time to go visit and spend some quality time with him. St. George, Utah is such a beautiful place with so many happy memories from my childhood. I would visit my grandparents every summer - and every summer I would have my picture taken out front of their house on a HUGE red rock that was there. Over the years, the red rock has gotten smaller (sandstone flakes) and I've gotten bigger. And MY huge red rock is not as big as I remember it. I can never pass up a picture opportunity on MY Big Red Rock. And it's that much sweeter to be able to take a picture of my little Hannah on that rock... I really enjoyed my time with my Grandpa, Dad, & Step-Mom. Here are a few pics of my time...

Hannah and Me on MY Big Red Rock...

Hannah and Great Grandpa hanging out

Hannah taking in some of the Southern Utah Sun while gramps naps ;-)

Mother's Day 2010

I had a great Mom's day this year. I got a gift certificate for a Day at the Spa at Spa Scotta. Including facial, Massage, Mani/Pedi & Lunch! Jinoo actually had two of my friend's husbands do the same thing - so we have a *girls* day at the spa. Now we just need to find a day when all of us can go together! I am so grateful for my family. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done!

Mom & Hannah sharing a Hot Chocoate at Brunch

HAWAII 2010

Our family vacation took us to Maui, Hawaii this year. As we headed across the Pacific with 12 friends and their kids, we started our vacation on the airplane and didn't stop...We spent 12 wonderful days soaking up as much Vitamin D as we could handle.... Mornings running w/ the ocean at our side, days at the pool or ocean, evenings out at dinner or making dinner, and our nightly walk down to the gelato shop. And don't forget the shopping!!! Hannah couldn't wait to wake up in the morning to walk down to her friend's doors, knock and play for the day!

As this was Hannah's third trip to the Islands, she was well prepared and very excited for the pools, ocean, and gelato. We had a great time (except for when we left to go home. On car ride to the Airport - Hannah got car sick, REALLY car sick. My hands make a pretty good 'bucket'.) Good Times... Aloha!

Hannah had to pick out what swimsuit she was going to wear everyday...

Night out at the Luau

Easter 2010

The good ol' Easter Bunny made it to our house this year. He left fifty eggs hidden around the house and baskets full of toys, movies, and treats. Hannah has been asking for Barbie in a Mermaid Tale for the last couple of months - she was so excited that the Easter Bunny would know to leave that for her. She really enjoyed searching around for M&M filled eggs and wanted us to "be very quiet" so she could sneak up on them. She was so much fun this year!

We also got all dressed up and met up with a group of twenty friends for Easter Brunch at Anthony's. We had lots of kids running around (all girls) and it was fun to see how much different life is today in comparison to 5 years ago. WOW! Although like I would have five years ago, I did sip on a Mimosa and eat a yummy seafood omelet. A good time was had by all.

Next, we went home and tried to take a nice nap. Nap for Jinoo, check! Nap for Brandi, kinda... Nap for Hannah, ha ha funny! Hannah kept tapping me on the shoulder every two minutes asking if my nap was over. After a 1/2 hour of me saying just a few more minutes, we were up and playing and eating Easter goodies. Mmmmm! Peanut Butter M&M's!

Bunny Bounce

We visited the Woodland Park Zoo for their yearly Bunny Bounce/Egg Hunt. The kids got to run into a field and scoop as many eggs as would fit into their baskets. Now here's the kicker... ALL the eggs were empty! And if you were one of the lucky ones that picked an egg w/ a special sticker on it, you could turn it in for a treat. Hannah picked up about 30 eggs - none w/ a sticker. She was so confused that after all that work, she didn't even get a treat! LAME!

Hannah's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe that Hannah has turned 3 when it seems only yesterday I was pregnant with her. We had a girls day/night on her actual birthday. She spent the day wearing her "Birthday Girl" tiara. We went to the Nail Salon and got our nails done (she chose Glitter Pink for her nails), went out to lunch (Quiznos for Sammies), went shopping (my beaters broke and I needed a new one to mix frosting), and then to Red Robin for dinner where they sang and clapped for her. She loved it!

The next day, we celebrated with a huge Tinkerbell themed party. Complete with BBQ, cupcakes, presents, and lots of pixie dust. It was fun to see her enjoying her friends and being so determined in making a perfect wish and blowing out the candles (which is what a birthday is, if you ask her).

Resolutions... Smelvolutions...

I know, I know, I said I would keep up on our blog (thus the New Year's Resolution). But, we really have not had a whole lot of stuff going on in the last couple of months. At least nothing to blog about. But to "catch" you up on the most exciting things that happened in January and February here I go (Andi, this post's for you!)...


January 21st ---> Jinoo and I actually had a Date Night! We went to dinner and then saw AVATAR in 3D/IMAX. I loved it! (This was actually pretty exciting considering we have only had about 4 or 5 date nights in the last three years).


January 26th ---> I started early morning lap swim (twice a week, 6:15am)... I know... VERY exciting!


February 7th ---> We had a Superbowl Party at our house for which I made Helmet shaped sugar cookies decorated for the Saints and Colts (pic below).



Februay 16th ---> I had a night out with my girlfriends. Dinner at the Matador (21 & over)! To those of you who think this is not very exciting; you must not have kids!


February 27th ---> I had Theatre night with my girlsfriends (we have 5th Avenue Theatre season tickets). We saw Legally Blonde the Musical. It was great!

New Year Resolutions...

I have several New Year Resolutions this year, one of which is to keep up on our blog. I can't believe how much I slacked last year in regards to this. So, here I am. Writing it down for all to read... I know I've read that if you write down your resolutions you are more likely to succeed, so I'm testing it out.

Happy New Year!

We brought in 2010 at home with a few friends. It was a good night... good friends, good eats, good drinks, good cheers! Welcome new year - It feels like it's going to be a good one!

Hannah and Reese had a great evening... Hannah had no problem staying up past mid-night (for those of you who know Hannah, know that's nothing new).

Good times... (Mikey, Jinoo, & my dad, Thad) Some girls... (Sarah, Brandi & Katie) My step-mom and I had been working on this puzzle for a couple of days and it was too much a tempation to let it sit unfinished... we had lots of help.

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas this year in Seattle (our first Christmas here in the 8 years I've lived here). My dad and step-mom are here for the holidays, YAY! Christmas morning was so fun with Hannah. I waited (impatiently) next to her for a hour, waiting for her to wake up... finally at 8:15am she woke up. She looked at me and said (in her her very matter-of-fact voice), "Mom! If you don't go to sleep, Santa won't come!" At which time I was so happy to announce that it was morning and that Santa and his "prep & landing" team had already come and gone, and it was indeed time for us to wake up and see the wonders of Christmas morning.

Hannah was pretty timid coming down the stairs but once she got down, she was excited to see what was waiting for her. Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: Hannah, what did you get?!?

Hannah: Mommm... it's a kitchen set. (in a tone that was very- seriously?)

Mom: Wow! What do you think?

Hannah: I'm so EXASPERATED!

Once she got over the shock of seeing what was left out for her, we had to persuade her open the rest of her presents. All she wanted to do was "bake". She is enjoying her kitchen set, her new table and chairs, lots of stuff for her kicthen playing, and many more wonderful gifts from friends and family. Thanks for everyone for making our Christmas so special!

Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange & Christmas Party

Another year, another gift to prove what a great sport my husband is... We had a great time at the Carlisle's and look forward to many more years of this great tradition! Here are some pictures of the night...

The goose made it back... this year filled with vodka jello

A toilet seat that opened to a picture of my husbands face... gotta love how creative our friends are. btw: it also played music when opened!!!

The night would not be complete without a Leg Lamp!

A little Christmas Spirit to go around... or not.

And thanks to X (you know who you are) who brought a beebee gun that Jinoo bartered for. You know, one man's junk is NOT another man's treasure...

Santa Visit 2009

Hannah has been talking about visiting Santa for the last couple of weeks. Mostly because whenever we go anywhere and she wants something and I say NO, she simply tells me - "OK, I'll just ask Santa for it!" As her list is VERY LONG, I was very interested in how much she would remember. We stood in line, outside, in 29 degree weather, for 1.5 hours! Hannah was such a trooper - I think Jinoo and I were more cold than she was. She was just so excited to visit Santa. Once we got into Santa's little "workshop" it was nice and warm, but didn't want to take Hannah's warm sweats she had on under her dress off - thus, Christmas dress, sweat pants, and Converse. When Hannah saw Santa I could tell that she was VERY nervous. But she marched right up to him, sat on his lap, and waited for him to ask her what she wanted.

Conversation went like this:

Santa: What do you want for Christmas?

Hannah: A Kitchen Set

Santa: Do you know how to cook?

Hannah: YES! (in a tone like duh!)

Santa: Well, then do you think you could make me some cookies and leave them out for me?

Hannah: Sure, what's your favorite?

Santa: Chocolate Chip or Sprinkles.

Hannah: Yeah, I think I could do sprinkles.

Then she got down from his lap and gave Santa a big hug.

She really had a hard time smiling for the picture - I think it's because she was concentrating on being so brave, and she was! When we left, she told me, "I didn't cry or ANYTHING!"

Gotta LOVE Scottsdale

Swimming in November... you just can't beat it!