Tagged!

My sister Emily tagged me. Here are the rules: you link back to the person who tagged you, post the rules, & share 6 unimportant things about yourself. Then tag 6 people at the end of your post.

6 Unimportant Things About Me

1. I love to be in the water, especially clear blue ocean water!
2. One of my guilty pleasures is watching America's Next Top Model.
3. My favorite comfort food other than chocolate is Tacos.
4. I love reading entertainment/gossip magazines, very relaxing to me!
5. I take a bubble bath almost every night!
6. I have a favorite fleece blanket...okay fine, I do sleep with it every night!

I tag Mom, Maria, Becky, Alli, Ashli, and Jaime (since they have replied to being tagged yet)!

Oh Madonna

Most people know I am a die hard Madonna fan. I am sure hoping that the rumors are not true about her and Guy splitting. On a lighter note, I am SOOOO excited that I finally get to see her in concert. In going to Houston in November to rock out to music from the one and only Material Girl!

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my very favorite holidays. Remember the flag raising, donuts, the 4th of July program, swimming, and fireworks...oh the traditions! I still remember Steve busting out his big line in the program, "We are greasers" well at least that is what it sounded like. It was supposed to be "We agree sir!" We have sure had some good laughs. Mom and Dad thanks for being a good example of patriotism and placing such an importance on being good citizens.

I went to Emily's for the 4th of July. It was so much fun to celebrate the holiday with her family and with Mom and Dad!

Happy girls!

We had the best BBQ. We had steaks that mom hand picked, corn on the cob, watermellon, and Grandpa Lundwall's icecream. Seriously the best meal I've had in a long time. Dad and Russ cooked the steaks perfectly. In fact, they put mine on way before everyone else's since I like mine well well-done. Yum!

After the BBQ we went to a cute little town near Tahoe. They had a 4th of July production going on in the park with canyons and the 1820 overture. It was quite impressive. Oh course I shed a tear during "Stars and Stripes Forever!"

Before we left for the big fire work show, we did some sparklers and explosive flowers in the back yard. Hannah had no fear. She loved the fireworks.

Parker was freaked out by the fireworks, he was curious but the noise and flames were just a little too much for the little guy.

Hanging out waiting for the fireworks!

The fireworks were awesome. I got a new camera and was real curious on how it would capture the fireworks...pretty good, don't you think?

Both kids were fast a sleep by the grand finale! Sweet babies :)

Steam Trains

Dad and Parker were in heaven when we went to the train museum. They only run the steam engine a few times a year. One of the trains they only bring out once a year. It was actually pretty cool to see two steam engines.

The race of the steam engines...

Down by the station...and I must say it was early in the morning! (some insane hour like 8:00am)

Mom and Hannah have their tickets ready

The boys were on the red car and the girls rode on the yellow car. Dad was so cute, he sure had fun riding and checking out the trains.

The engineers analyzing the situation.

Love on the rails!

Private Beach

Lake Tahoe is crazy busy on 4th of July weekend. Russ' friends invited us to their private beach on the Lake. We didn't have to fight any crowds and were feeling pretty fancy. They had a boat so people could go water skiing and tubing. My mom and I took the Kayak out for a while and had a super fun time. The water was pretty clear and very blue in areas.

Mom getting all settled before the boat turboed off. Dad also was brave and went tubing. Russ showed off his fancy moves water skiing.

This is Mom and I before we pushed off into the Lake. Don't worry we didn't just sit in the boat for a picture :)

This picture cracks me up because Parker was so fascinated by the Kayak; however when he went out with Em and Russ he was scared spit less and they brought he right back to shore.

We also had fun just relaxing, visiting and playing with the kids on the beach. Parker had so much fun going back and forth between the umbrella and the water. He is a cute little guy!

Check out the Lake houses behind me, they were huge and looked super nice!

The kids loved playing in the sand and water! After a great day at the lake, we had dinner at In & Out Burger (a family favorite). A perfect end to a fabulous day.

Picture Day for Hannah!

How cute is Hannah? Wow, she was like a baby model. She was so happy and good. She would look at us and then smile really big. I can't believe Hannah is "1" she has so much personality and is so feminine. I love that she is still at the stage that I can cuddle and rock her!

Parker was patiently waiting for his turn to get his picture taken. Since it was Hannah's year picture, the plan wasn't for Parker to have his picture taken. So when the photographer left the room for a moment, I told Parker it was his turn and to smile real big. He is so funny, I'm sure he was wondering why his turn was so short. It cracks me up just thinking about it. He is such a good boy!

Parker loves trains like his Pa. While we were at the mall Parker loved riding the train. Emily and I had fun shopping while we waited for Hannah's pictures!

Sand Harbor Beach

The day before I left, Russ watched the kids and Emily and I went to Sand Harbor Beach. We had a very relaxing time. It was late in the afternoon so we didn't have to worry about it being too hot. We brought entertainment/gossip magazines and sat as close to the water as possible (our chairs were practically in the water)! We also got in the water and soaked and talked up a storm. That was my favorite part. I always love the time that I get to spend with Emily. Em, I sure wish you still lived in Utah I miss you!!

Thanks Emily and Russ for a great holiday weekend (plus a few days)!

Ben & Summer June 2008

I was able to spend a day with Ben and Summer before flying home after the Sister's Trip. They are so cute, I wish I lived closer to them. Ben LOVES cupcakes...he is born into the right family! We went to this really cute bakery in Newport Beach and then went to the bluffs above La Jolla Shores Beach for a cupcake picnic!

My mom watched Summer and Ben while we were in Mexico. Thanks Mom! Ben and Summer are at the stage that they like everything the same. Since Alli does Summer's hair in pig tails, Ben wants his hair done the same way. He says "Mommy, I want two hairs please!" It was a crack up. Well while we were gone Brain needed to get a hair cut so took Ben with him. My mom and Brian thought Ben would look cute with a Summer buzz! They were right, he looks like a charmer.

Before
After

Ben has such a cute personality. As soon as we walked in the door from Mexico. He gave Alli a big hug and then came over to me and said "Oh hi Aunt Carol" and gave me a hug too! Summer is one busy girl. She is a crack up. She was having fun playing with this green frog. She would try to jump over my legs and then giggle like crazy. What a sweetheart.

Summer is like her Aunt Carol, she loves ice. She worked that cup of ice over while we were at Target, she made me proud :) I miss you Ben and Summer!

Sister's Trip June 2008

We decided to go to Puerto Vallarta for our Sister's Trip. I can't believe we have been going on trips now for 14 years! I think we finally have it down to a science because it was our best trip yet! We stayed at the Flamingos Las Palmas in Nuevo Vallarta. Here we are in the lobby at our resort. We were greeted with ice cold clothes when we arrived. It was nice since it was so humid. After we got unpacked we went right out to the beach!

The resort and beach were awesome. I don't know if you can see it or not but there is a hammock between the palm trees. The first morning I rolled out of bed and went directly to the hammock for another hour snooze. It was heavenly. I loved just laying there and listening to the ocean.

Alli and Becky got up each morning and reserved the best spot on the beach. We were in the closest chairs to the ocean. Thanks sisters for letting me sleep! Our location was perfect.


After getting settled at the resort, we decided to take the "blue bus" into the city for dinner and shopping. Let me just tell you, don't get on any blue bus in PV without a supportive bra. The ride was like out of a action movie. The city is really cute with a lot of history. I could not believe how hot and sweaty we got walking around. I was so hot I couldn't even focus on shopping. I didn't think anything could deter me from shopping. After exploring the area we went to a fun air conditioned Mexican Restaurant for dinner. They had the best guacamole ever.
Isn't this tree cool?

Bucerias

Instead of eating dinner at the resort we took a cab to a little village called Bucerias. The first night we ate at a restaurant right on the beach. We had an awesome seafood dinner followed by homemade chocolate cake. It was such a pretty night, Becky suggested that we walk along the beach back to our resort. We all thought it would be a fun sunset stroll. Okay, seriously, the sun went down way faster than we expected so we were walking in the dark. We couldn't really see anything except the ocean. Becky felt something under her foot and screamed. The sand was alive with huge crabs. We were all three screaming and laughing trying to get around them and back to our hotel. It was so freaky and funny at the same time. I know that at least one of us wet our pants! I will never forget our sunset stroll in Bucerias.

Pictures on the beach right by Karen's! Just getting ready to head off for our sunset stroll :)

Alli and I outside of Karen's!

Check out how big the crabs eyes are. Seriously freaky when they are everywhere.

We went back to Bucerias another night for more seafood. We ate at a restaurant called Mark's. It was a really nice place, but it is so weird to have a big yellow dog waundering around the restaurant. He was sure cute and good though. We took a cab back to the hotel this time.