Sunshine, sprinklers, and wheelbarrows...everything that's wonderful

With our sudden burst of sun we decided to take advantage by getting the hose out for the kids one night and Erica put on her spinning Elmo sprinkler. This was Brady's first encounter with any such object and he didn't shy away at all. In fact he was determined at all costs, no matter how much water was getting in his face, to reach Elmo. He loved the water. Him and Madison couldn't get enough. Parker wasn't a huge fan and Peyton was only semi-interested. It was great to get the kids outside for awhile.

That is totally a poopy face! Glad I could share it with the world.

Starting his way in...

Getting his first sprays in the face...

Take a quick break close to the goal...

And too much water too handle, this is as close as he got.



Then Saturday, Jesse got a wave of energy and decided to do some yard work. It became too darn cute when Peyton wanted to lend a hand. So he would do scoop after scoop with his tiny little sand shovel, picking up a few rocks and putting them in the wheelbarrow. He did it almost the whole time, what a big helper.

Just Dance!

My sister in law Raya turned 30 this year and she wanted to celebrate by being Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving! What other option was there but to throw on our heels and shake our groove things. She had the brilliant idea to take off our mommy hats completely for the night, get all dolled up and go clubbing. I LOVE to dance, and haven't truly busted a move in years so I was fully on board. The husbands needed a little more persuasion, so they were given the option to come or stay home and watch the kids. They came.

We didn't go to the club we had originally planned on and ended up at one that was a little more "bend over to the front and touch your toes" then show us your best moves, but we still had a blast. The girls got to shake what our mommas' gave us and the men ended up with some really good "remember when?" stories, (remember your boyfriend?) I would love to go dancing at our original pick, Trinity, sometime on a Friday night when KISS is DJing and see what a real club is like. Thank you so much for the awesome time Raya!

Before hand we went shopping for some clubbing clothes and found this gem. It was hard to pass up the purchase. Overall, the shopping was more stressful than anything because it is hard to find something glitzy and modest at the same time!

Jesse and I after getting prepped for the evening, just waiting for the action to begin.

This is the whole group all amped up and ready to go. From left is Lonny, Angel, Jesse, Me, Nathan, and Raya. If you notice Lonny is totally popping his booty too!

I just love that Jesse is jumping out behind me and Nathan is peeping (creepily) out behind Jesse.

The three dancing divas. We were all hoping to be hot enough not to be considered moms for one night but just sexy chicas!

We had to wait outside the club for a while and decided to mug it up. Three girls in front of us were escorted in and the guys were nice enough to give us permission to ditch them if we were given that opportunity. Not surprisingly, it never happened.

The guys are doing the Night at the Roxbury head bob. It was raining a bit and they were being such good troopers.

I am not quite sure what we are doing but we sure look silly!

If you don't know what WHOO girls are they are those girls that WHOO at everything when out for night. Our songs on WHOOO, our drinks came WHOOOO, we are standing WHOOOO. So we wanted to be WHOOO girls too and this guy didn't want to miss out on that opportunity. He was an excellent WHOO girl!

We are trying to capture the feel of the club and how crowded it was. More than once we had to booty bounce someone out of the way.

After grabbing a bite at a fake Denny's we headed home to catch some zzzz's but not before posing for an after pic. We all look surprisingly alive for 3 or 4 in the morning.

Peyton is 3 (Well he has been for a while now!)

There is no true excuse for the delay in this blog. Peyton's Birthday was a month ago and I am just now getting around to this. Maybe I wanted to make sure this 3 thing was gonna stick.

This year his party was sponsored by the letter 3 and the number p, but other than that, there was no real theme or hoopla. Just a low key family get together. Luckily, it didn't rain and we were able to be outside. Our first b-day at our new
house, that is still weird. The kids could have spent all day just eating cookies and playing, but we made him open presents and sing Happy Birthday, otherwise we did just let them be this time. It was crazy to think of him as a three year old, I don't feel old enough to have a three year old, and Peyton doesn't always act that old. He had a great time playing with his cousins and his new toys, though. Unfortunately, he got a bunch of great outdoor toys and it has rained almost every day since, so he hasn't been able to enjoy them much since. Thanks to everyone who came, and good luck to us on the next year!


I swear this is Peyton's favorite place to hang out. Jesse hates it when the kids get on here, though.

Peyton's cake wasn't too fancy this year, just cupcakes, but we did have some trouble lighting it with the wind.

After all the Birthdays he's been too, Peyton is really getting the hang of the blowing out the candles thing. He loves to do it at others' birthdays as well.

P and Izzy enjoying the cupcakes. At first P was just licking the frosting off the top of his. He quickly learned that is the best part of cakes, cookies, doughnuts. What a smart kid!

We tried to make him sit down and do presents, but he still wasn't totally into it. Everytime he opened one he would want to go play with it, which I can't blame him for. We eventually got him to rip through all of them, though.

The kids all liked taking turns riding in the red wagon that we got Peyton. I just love Madison and Izzy's smiles.

Peyton's cousin Brynlee and her huge flower, I just love it, that is why you have girls!

Once Brady got up the babies all had a binky war. It was the cutest thing ever. Parker had size over the other two, but Brynlee was quite fiesty. In the end, Brady did wind up with one, not his but he got one.

Peyton was trying to ride his lawn mower, I just don't know what to say about it.

I don't know if you remember the picture from Peyton's picture Birthday last year, but I had all the pregnant ladies there pose and this year we were all there again, so we posed with our babies. From left to right is Raya with Brynlee, Me with Brady, Heidi with Kannon, and Erica with Parker.

Our house has been warmed!

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to throw a housewarming/Jesse Graduation party with family and friends and it was a great success. Thank you to everyone who came and all the great loot you gave us. Plus it was nice to feel all that love in our house! Here are some pics from the party. I'll try to get up just some general pictures soon. I know I am moving slow!

I'm running?

Yeah, you may have to do a triple take, but I, Tressa, have signed up to run a 5k. I know it sounds crazy. It is quite possible that no one hates running more than I, but I have the regristration to prove it. Craziest of all, it is soon, June 12th. I have signed up to do the Beach to Chowder run in Long Beach and have even convinced some others to do it with me.

Still not sure why I am putting myself through this torture, but I do know that it is helping me to get moving some and at least it is short enough that I know I can finish it, though I am sure I will have to walk some. Honestly, selfishly, the biggest reason I am doing this is because it is something that is just about me, not me being a mom. It seemed to be the easiest thing I could find to do like that. Not a whole lot of volleyball tourneys in the area.

I'll let you know my embarrassing results as well as the fun I have at the hotel and before and after the race! Wish me fast thoughts!

Take a knee...

I know it has been a super long time since I have blogged, but the move and lack of computer has crazed things up. I don't have time for huge updates but thought I would throw out these couple cute things.

Jesse has really been working with Peyton on his prayers and they kind of always end them by saying "help me to wake up happy in the morning." Well the other morning as I was changing his diaper he said, "I wake up happy." So, I replied, " well that's good." "Yeah," he said, "because of my prayers." How sweet right?

In other knee news, Brady is crawling and has been for a few months, but I never posted a six month update so I just wanted to make sure that ya'll knew where he was. He is super fast and loves to follow people, especially Peyton, everywhere but he kind of does this Gallom crawl where he doesn't put one knee down. Occassionally, he'll stand alone and I would love him to walk so going outside would be easier. Sorry that's all for now.

Rach, got the keys...

Monica- " I asked, 'Rach, got the keys?'"

Rachel- "No, you said 'Rach, got the keys.'"

Chandler- "Do either of you actually have the keys?"

Well, we do. Thats right. Both of us have officially closed on our houses and have our keys. Actually, we've been home owners for a while, but I have been to busy to post it. This past weekend we painted the whole place and have since been moving in bit by bit and it is all leading up to the big weekend. Both the Millers and us will be moving in this Saturday and calling these places our homes. Hopefully after things get settled I can write more and post some before and after pics. Plus, knowing me, I love to throw a party so I am sure there is a housewarming bash in our future. Thanks to everyone who has helped us out with prayers and well wishes. We are almost done.

A Howlin Good Time!

With all the craziness of the house I had almost completely forgot I had planned a mini vacation for Jesse, Peyton, and I at the Great Wolf Lodge. Jesse and I had been before and it seems like P has been getting the short end of the parental stick lately so I thought he could use some two on one time. As soon as we got there, he was overwhelmed by all the animals an he loved to point out every one, over and over again. We already knew his love of hotel rooms from Seaside, and this proved to be true again. He probably could have stayed in the room all night, playing in the drapes, eating licorice, and talking on the phone. Eventually we coaxed, or, err, forced him into his swim clothes and headed towards the the water park.

Upon entering, like expected, he was not digging it. Too many people, too loud, too new, who knows? He didn't want to leave Jesse's arms, so we just walked all over to get him accommodated. After about 30 mins or so he finally started to warm up to the idea and before too long he was loving it. I would say the wave pool and slides were his favorite. In the wave pool he would stand where two waves would meet so he would get knocked over and he loved it. We kind of felt like the bad parents because we never did put a life jacket on him (he hates them), but we let him go up to the slides all by himself, though we never let him out of our sight. And he would always look for us before he went down. Sometimes he would even make a friend at the top of the little kid slide and say to them, " 1, 2, 3, ready, set, go" and then let them go first. The poor kid always felt tricked. Even though I still didn't feel good enough to do anything I had a blast just watching Peyton having so much fun. The poor kid does need to get more fat on him, he was freezing in no time.

Umm...did we just buy a house?

The Outside of Our House

I think we may have. Not to get to far ahead. We haven't closed yet, but our offers have been accepted, most of the papers are in, and the inspections went great. All of this has happened very quickly and our soon to be neighbors have even had a little freakout beacause of its quick approach, but we calmed them down. Now comes the stress of closing and moving. Unfortunately, I am really sick from switching medicines and standing has become a bit of an issue but hopefully that gets better soon so we can move. They really want to close by the 26th of Feb and it will probably happen right around then. We hope to move in shortly after, we'll probably paint first. The houses are located just off the freeway by the Adna exit (yes, that puts us in the Adna ward), but I can't wait to live back in a pseudo city. It is all so nerve racking, but exciting and I can't wait to decorate. I only have a few photos that Erica took one night of some weird areas of the house. I will try to get more up soon. Wish us more luck.

This is how close our house is to Erica and Nate's

Our living room

Looking towards the dining room and living room from the kitchen

The Master Bathroom