Sunday, August 26, 2007

Pre-Season Cardinals Game

Ever since the new University of Phoenix stadium was finished last year I've been wanting to visit. I got a group of 8 Infusion Software employees together and we headed on over to the West Side to check out the stadium the Cardinals. Well I was not dissappointed. The stadium is amazingly huge. The entire field can roll outside to get sunlight and watered. They only bring it in for game day. Matt Leinart played very well, but in the end our defense couldn't stop a last minute drive down the field from the Chargers and they won on a last second field goal. We got $8.00 tickets from StubHub so our seats were way way up high. But after half time we trecked down and ended up 5 seats up on the 50 yard line. You can see Leinart (#7) on the sideline.

Oh, by the way- these pics were taken from my new cell phone; the Verizon Envy. Not too shabby huh?












Sunday, August 19, 2007

What in the Anniversary?!?!?!

Bret did a pretty spectacular job on our 1st year anniversary. I never once reminded him, hinted or pushed him to plan anything; He did this all on his own.

We got dressed up and he took me for a drive down to Scottsdale... TA DA! to the Hyatt at Gainey Ranch. On August 19th 2005 this is where Bret first asked me to be his girlfriend. I thought it was terribly sweet for him to bring us back to where it all began two years later.

































We sat down to a very nice elegant dinner with amazing food. Brandon was our super nice server and at the end of our dinner he brought us an anniversary dessert. It tasted even better than it looks! Most original dessert I've ever seen.


































This is Antonio (I don't think that's his real name though). He was the driver and singer of our Gondola serenade. It was very relaxing and romantic to be out on the dark calm lake in a little boat together. Sigh*


































After walking around the grounds in the warm evening night, I said "Oh darn, we should have brought our swimming suits so we can go swimming like on our first night."

He thought of everything! He packed our swimming suits in a backpack so we got to go swimming on the man made beach and hop in and out of all the 26 other swimming pools and fountains. I was a little cold in the water but it was still romantical!

















After the pools we laid in one of the many bungalows they have around the grounds and cuddled by a fountain. This is where Bret FINALLY felt Kingston kick for the first time! Yeah. It was a sweet moment-

















After a little stalling on Bret's part he finally drove us home. As if the rest of the night wasn't enough we walked into an absolute breath taking display. The pictures just don't do it any justice but we got home a little after midnight so it was officially August 19th.

















There was around 36 red candles lit all over.






















With a trail of red rose petals that lead to the bedroom.

















The bed was also covered in petals and a bouquet of roses just for me :)

















It looked and smelt amazing! I cried... happy tears of course.

















Ben Fold's song "The Luckiest" was playing when we walked in and so we danced in the middle of our living room. I kept thinking the whole song how perfect it was for that moment. I really am the Luckiest to have Bret and to be apart of his life everyday. Hopefully someday I'll match up to his sweetness and make him feel as loved as I do.

143 forever!!!!

P.s. Thanks to Bret's secret helpers for everything too. It was awesome!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Krafts for Kingston

I'm having tons of fun making stuff for our precious baby! During Joann's coupon comotion week i decided to take advantage and buy a few things at 50% off. (Bret doesn't like Joann very much, or Michael because he says they take our money:)

This is a baby body pillow for the little guy. My mom said these are almost mandatory at the childrens hospital because the safety benefits. I like to do things eclectic which is why none of the letters are the same font (it was intentional) and I like the double seem ribbons on both sides too. I have to say it looks way better in real life.

















Another Joann find- (I can't help it, a brand new one just opened up by my house) Basically it's just a card board letter that was broken so i fixed it, painted it and then roughed up the edges a lil bit. It's really BIG!




















These are a favorite. Since i have a low tolerance for the color baby blue (and if you go to any baby section ALL the boy stuff is baby blue) i decided to make my own diaper clothes. I found the fabric at.... JOANN'S :) and thought it was pretty rad. I threw on some random ribbons and embroidered a "K" on each one and sewed it all together all pertty like so... They aren't perfect because i haven't sewn in years but he's just gonna spit up on them anyways ;)















I owe a special thanks to my mom who is helping me with his baby blanket. I had to make things complicated by picking out some challenging fabrics but she has a few tricks up her sleeve thank goodness. So you can expect pictures of the blanket in a few weeks when she gets back from Utah. Thanks mommy!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Animal Craze

I'm very blessed to have generous friends with good taste. Kathy Van Zeeland is my favorite purse designer and My BFF Rennai found some of her newer bags in store and totally bought me two. One for me and one for baby Kingston. The first purse we're gonna use as his diaper bag since it has animal print and a crown for Kingston.





















This one is just for me :) Notice the crowns and the bling and LOTS O' Pockets for me to stuff my junk in. SOOOOOOO glamorous! She also got me a sweet shirt and some super sassy shoes. Love love LOVE! (Thanks again Rennai)




















This feisty little number (bret's words) is from TAMI. She bought it for me for cutting her hair. Sweet lil thang! I love it because it makes my tummy look bigger :)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tea For me and Tea for you!

It was really fun for me to plan and put together Aliya's 5th Birthday party. It was a Tea Party for sure with pink and green decorations. ADORABLE!




















I already had a bunch of the stuff that we used for the place setting and the rest was fun to find.














The girls loved drinking out of tea cups and using the little tea sized utensils... too cute!














All of the guest wore pretty summer dresses with adorable hats, necklaces and lace. Pretty pretty princess.















For lunch they had home made flower and butterfly shaped crumpets with Cream Cheese and Jam, mini cheese cubes, PB&J sandwhiches, Turkey Sandwiches....















Mini flower cheese cakes....




















...and for dessert they had home made birthday cake with whipped strawberry filling. YUM!




















I had the most fun decorating the cake and making all the little desserts and details.




















For the games I made Pin the butterfly on the flower with scrapbook paper, ribbon and LOTS of glitter on poster board.




















Then we played sugar cube relay where two teams raced to fill up their tea cups using a tea spoon to balance the sugar cubes.















This was so cute to watch!




















They also played musical present. We wrapped a bunch of party favors in a box with about 15 different layers of paper and they passed around the present till the music stopped and the girl holding the present got to open it. Then repeated till they finally got to the actual present inside. This was their favorite game I think.

They were the most excited to watch Aliya open her presents from them. She got lots of cute fun stuff!















We sent each girl home stuffed with cake, a few prizes and homemade personalized party purses. Each bag was stuffed with candy an fun jewelry and stickers. The bags were another favorite.














I think the party was success and Party planning is definitely the best part. Thanks Aubrey for letting me help!

Sunday, August 5, 2007

The C.P.A Exam is Life...

The rest is just details. Well, at least for the next 6 months it will be. As I've told most of you, I have undertaken the daunting task of sitting for the CPA Exam. The exam has 4 sections, each test about 4 hours long. My first one is August 30th and my last one will be the middle of January. I plan on studying at least 25 hours per week which means getting up at 5 for a couple hours before work and then locking myself in the office after dinner until it's bedtime. The passing rate for first timers in '06 was 44%, which is better than I thought.























My "Bisk CPA Ready" study material consisting of 4 fat textbooks, video lectures, software with diagnostic tests and final exam practices, audio CD's, all the supplemental material and a hole in my pocket of about $1800.00. I hope it will get me prepared! It better!