SItes

Here is my friend's jewelry site. It is called Building Sky Castles .www.etsy.com/shop/BuildingSkyCastles

Here is the organic mineral make-up site. It is called Orglamix. www.etsy.com/shop/orglamix

Etsy

So I am startring to explore Etsy. I have a friend from high school who makes jewelry and sells it on Etsy and she has some beautiful stuff. I found another sight on Etsy through a Twilight fan fiction sight that sells mineral organic makeup. The stuff looks amazing! And this week on Etsy is Giveaway week. One of the giveaways is a 13pc set from Orglamix (makeup). Exciting!

Got2Relax: Raffle

My friend started a new blog. She is a massage therapist. Check out her new blog my followers! Got2Relax: Raffle: "To get things rolling... I'm gonna do a raffle! YAY! The winner will recieve a 60 minute Hot Stone Therapy Massage! You can be en..."

It's been awhile.....

So it has been awhile since my last post. Sorry guys, life has either been speeding by, super busy, or there is nothing going on to talk about. Let me see.... since the last time I posted, we have had a few birthdays, new friends, a couple of date nights, girls nights out, family and friend time and sickness for 3 members of our family. The big news as of late is Mark has a new job! He will be getting more money doing the same job. It is commission job but even on his slowest month at his old one he would make more at his new job. So we are very excited for this opportunity. With this new job we are hoping to be able now to pay off some of our things that we haven't been able to because Mark was making way less than what he used to so we had no money to pay towards some of our bills. I am shooting for after Christmas that we could be finally back on our feet and in our own place again. We are definitely getting itchy feet on getting out of my parents house, not that it is bad living here, we just miss having our own space and doing our own thing.
In other big news, Mark and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday! His last day at his old job was Thursday and told his new job that he could start on Monday. So we had most of Friday together (minus a minor stop of his to his new work to finish his paperwork and meet the manager who just got back that week from 3 months off from a stroke). So we ran some errands (grocery shopping), spent some time with the boys, then got ready for our date. My best friend A offered as her "gift" to us to watch the boys. Many thanks to her, she took them to McDonald's, the pet store , then to the movies! They had a blast. Mark and I went to our favorite restaurant Gourmet Italia (as authentic Italian food you can get this side of Italy, the owner and chefs are from Italy!!) in Temecula. We had a delicious dinner! We started out with a Caprese salad (originally, I wanted Burrata (Mozzarella bundle filled with ricotta and strips of more mozzarella, drizzled with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) but they were out), then moved onto our entrees. Mark had the Manicotti, and I had the Pasta Italiana which is a choice of spaghetti or penne pasta with either a tomato basil cream sauce or a garlic Parmesan cream sauce. I chose the penne with the garlic Parmesan cream sauce. So good!!!! Then for desserts we shared a Chocolate Truffle Mousse. To die for!!!!! We originally asked for Chocolate-dipped Profiteroles filled with Chantilly cream but they were out (of course!). But overall a delicious, romantic, filling meal with my hubby! We then went to my husband's favorite store Best Buy to browse while we waited for A and the boys to be done with their movie. It was nice to get away from the boys for a few hours and have am adult conversation and alone time.
Next up for us is my good friends M and P's baby girl's baptism on Sun, followed by a mini get-together at our best couple's house that afternoon. Then mine and Mark's birthday's are coming up. His on October 21, where he is turning 31, then mine the next day on October 22, where I am turning 27 (eek!!, but I am starting to be ok with it because I still feel like I am in my early 20s not late 20s). We have no idea if or what we are doing for our birthdays. Maybe get some friends together and do a mini party at a restaurant on the 23rd, plus also find some time to go see Mark's dad who wants to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays with a dinner or lunch or something with him.
Then we have Halloween where the boys are going to be Optimus Prime (Hunter) and Bumblebee (Jaxon). A wants to go with us trick-or-treating but we don't know where yet cause we either go with our friends B and E and their kids or go visit Mark's sister in OC and go trick or treating there. Plus we have Trunk-or-Treat at church coming up soon which will be fun!
Hope everyone is doing well. I am off to "inspect" the boys' room to see if they picked up their toys like I asked (I even gave them an extra 15min), if they haven't I told them I would take some toys away. Then it's nap for them and food time for me. Then school and lunch. Hopefully I will make it to the gym tonight to start getting back into it cause I haven't been in 2mon and Mark is telling me he will cancel it soon if I don't go eep! So hopefully I can get in there tonight and the next 2 nights and maybe do the elliptical for 30min. Wish me luck!!!

Almost forgot....

The day after the BBQ at Mark's boss' house, we spent a wonderful day having our pictures taken (formal posed ones to be sent off to family), a nice lunch (at Chilis, one of my fav places), and went and got Dippin' Dots. Luckily I had just had my hair done a few days prior by my wonderful stylist who happens to be my sis-in-law! I didn't have a nice white shirt to wear for the pictures (I tend to choose colors because, I don't like wearing white around the boys and their dirty little fingers =D ) so Mark took me shopping for a new shirt. I found a cute top at Target and it is one of my new favorite things (plus when I wear my earring/necklace combo that I got at the Balloon and Wine Festival, which is not my usual style of simple and "streamlined", I feel very chic wearing it lol). So below are our new updated family pictures. I think we are going to do these around this time of year and still have my brother take the "action" formal pictures at the end of the year. Gives me and Mark both something we like and that our family will enjoy as well.

Updates

So I have been a little MIA on blogging. I have just been enjoying spending time with my family.
I believe I last blogged about Jaxon's birthday. Well the following weekend was Memorial Day. We didn't do too much. We hung out at the house, watched movies, played with the boys and went swimming over at one of my high school best friends house whose was only in town for a short time. I made some BBQ chicken and some other fixings for Memorial Day. The following weekend I was able to go to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival courtesy of my good friend A (which I am so thankful that she did that, and still continue to thank her for). I have never been and I'm not a wine drinker so I was looking forward to this new experience. I had fun, took lots of pictures, tried some wine (still not a wine drinker), and had some nice girl time. Then on June 12th was my friend M's baby shower. It was her first and she was having a girl. So excited for her. We have been friends since high school, we worked together at Target, and have stayed friends through the years. It was a wonderful "girly" shower with no boys or kids allowed! It was great to visit and have some time away from my boys for a few hours.
The next weekend was Father's Day. That Saturday we made a trip out to Fontana to visit with one of my cousins (her sisters and mom were out of town) and my uncle. The boys had a blast and I enjoyed spending time with my cousin and we have a lovely dinner of pizza and laughter. On Father's Day, we hung out for a little bit at home, went to breakfast, made a trip to Target (for Hunter's reward for doing so well going potty), then we made a trip out to San Bernardino to visit Mark's dad. The following weekend we went to a pre-4th of July BBQ at Mark's boss' house. The boys had a blast, but I was a little out of my element. I felt like it was the first day of school and I didn't know anyone. It was a nice BBQ, but I didn't have as much fun as I thought as I was going to have =(. 4th of July weekend we didn't do anything special. Just hung out at home (sensing a pattern here?). But when it was the boys' bed time I went into the bathroom to get the boys something and I heard fireworks going off and looked out mine and Mark's bedroom window and to my surprise had a nice view of the Temecula fireworks. So Mark and I held the boys so they could watch the fireworks.
Those were the most exciting adventures for the whole family. Me and the boys have had a few "play dates" with my good friend A, where she came to rescue us from the house (no car) and we went to lunch and the playground, got ice cream. A and I also went and saw Eclipse on July 3rd. It was so awesome! I loved it! I have also been going to the gym anywhere from 1-3 nights a week (one week I didn't go at all cause I didn't have my workout partner with me) with A and 2 days with Mark who use a guest pass I had, when A went out of town. Mark and I had a dinner "date at my friends M and P's house. M(she was the one with the baby shower I went to) had her baby girl 2 weeks early. So we went over brought pizza and ice cream and hung out. Helped out with the baby to give M a little break. It was a good night. A and I plan to go and help out M a few times over the summer with the baby.
Mark's job is going well. He has really caught the eyes of some of the upper management in a great way. There has been some "trouble" with other people in some of the other shops so we are hopeful that some might open up to be management position and Mark will get it. But there is no telling when or if this will happen soon. We are definitely getting "itchy" still living with my parents. They are wonderful and have been great with having us here, but Mark and I want to have our own place again. We are just taking it day by day, but it doesn't look like we will be out of here anytime soon, unless a big promotion comes his way. We wouldnt mind some prayers and positive thoughts our way. We know we are trying to stay positive. I have been trying to have Mark get back to being more involved with his church because I know it is important to him. Timing and energy hasn't worked in our favor on going to church (I am not a religious person, but I am willing to go with Mark for support and look out for the boys so he can at least enjoy the service). He had a recent meeting with his bishop who happens to be a family friend and he said it went good and we are going over for dinner on Sunday to the bishops house, which has always been enjoyable (the bishop and his wife have grandchildren who are the boys age and they have so much fun playing with them, plus we are friends with some of their kids, who I happened to have gone to school with).

That is all for now. I will try to update soon, maybe on Monday after our dinner at the bishop's.
TTYL!

Success...

So a few months ago, I had posted a blog about potty training. It has been an uphill battle with Hunter on potty training. After awhile the rewards and praise were not working and it was a constant battle with him. We had just about given up. About a month ago, my mom and I took the boys to my dad's new business ventures grand opening. On the way back we drove past Murrieta Elementary and told Hunter this could be the school he goes to next year from Kindergarten. He got ecited and wanted to check it out. Well the school was locked down for the day (it being around 530pm). So we looked through the bars and my mom pointed out to him the Kindergarten classrooms and the playground and lunch tables. We showed him all the different parts of the school that we could see. He was sooooo excited. He talked about nothing else the rest of the night and nearly driving me and Mark crazy with asking us constantly when does he get to go to school. This makes us excited (but sad too, especially for me) that he will have a good transition when it comes time for Kindergarten. But of course we told he doesn't get to go for another year and he would also need to go potty like a big boy before he went to school. Well that cause uproar with Hunter cause he didn't want to go potty in the toilet.
So Memorial Day weekend comes around. Mark and I were trying to push Hunter to try to go in the potty. It wasn't going so well. On Monday, Memorial Day, it turned into a big fight with Hunter who kept lashing out at us. We felt defeated. I tried to calm down Hunter (who had spent considerable time yelling, screaming, and crying at us and anyone else who got in his way, including Jaxon and my parents, which is such a big NO-NO! in our house). As I tried to calm down Hunter I told him he couldn't go to school with other kids until he went potty in the toilet. That started him screaming and crying all over again. So I asked him do you want to go to school, he tells me yes, so I ask him what does he need to do to go to school. He tells me he needs a backpack, and a lunch box (of course I started to laugh, cause it was so cute cause he immediately stopped crying, and said all this in a happy, sweet voice) and I interrupted and asked if he needed to do anything else and he tells me to go potty like a big boy. I got all excited and told him good job and that he was right. So he goes running off to Mark telling him he wants to go potty like a big boy. So he teaches Hunter to go pee standing up. Hunter got so excited and when he was done started to ask us if he could go to school now. We tell him very soon he can go. We put his new "diaper" on (training pants) and tell him just let us know next time he wants to go and we will help him. Ever since that day he has gone in the potty (with the exception of when hes asleep, but that has only happened about 5 times in the almost 3 weeks since the "first" time) both #1 and #2.
Last sunday his it almost marked Hunter 2weeks going in the potty we let him wear his big boy underwear, which is Transformers (we had bought them months ago in an attempt to bribe him to go in the potty, didn't work). We told him that he would only wear his training diaper during naps and at night. He was so excited running around showing me, Mark, Jaxon and my parents his new underwear. He enjoys it now and it isn't a headache for me and Mark with all the fighting we used to do with him. He even gets 2 M&M's when he's done and a sticker. I think we have made past the most difficult part. Now to just get him completely through the night with no "mistakes".
Now if only we can have an easy time with Jaxon. He shows interest when Hunter goes, but when we ask if he wants to try he tells us no and runs away. He's definitely not there yet, but since he loves doing everything his big brother does maybe he will want to do it too. Cross your fingers!