Spa Junkies!

For my birthday I invited some girlfriends to come with me to the Joya Spa at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort.

It's an amazing Moroccan inspired spa which I learned about when I attended and event there for work about a month ago.

The picture above is the spa suite one of my girlfriends arranged for us to hang out in between treatments.

The picture below was taken from the doorway in our spa suite that lead out to to the pool designated for spa-goers only.

We enjoyed mimosas before our treatments...and cake afterwards.

From left to right...Gina, Mom, Me, Chris, and Sharron.

This spa has a cold water deluge. It's intended to be used after spending time in the dry or steam sauna. You pull the cord and 5 gallons of water that's in the 50's falls on you!! We pulled the string...but mom was only daring enough to let a little toe feel the chilly water.

We practically had the spa to ourselves going on a Tuesday. We literally only saw 2 other guests there. So, we threw spa etiquette out the window...giggling away!!

Someone please tell me why I chose a dry sauna ...when I could sit outside in the Arizona summer with the same results?I feel blessed to have been able to spend this day relaxing with the girls and most special was going with mom, as it was her first trip to the spa...ever! She says she could get used to it. (I can give an Amen to that!) No doubt, she has joined the ranks of all the best Spa Junkies, out there!

35 Years Ago...

July 11th I celebrated another birthday. This was me when I was 6 months old. Funny to think I have the same big ol' eyes...34 and a half years later!

This year I got a few days of Birthday celebration....starting at work on Friday, July 10th.
The girls at work bought me this cake. It's surprising it looks so good because producer Denise was responsible for buying it. A few years back she gave me the saddest looking cake you ever did see! The writing looked like it was written with the left hand, of an otherwise right handed dyslexic person. (Denise will attest to this!) But this year...it was perfect....pink of course too! :) ...and choch-y!

Mom also got to town on Friday night for a week long visit. I had furlough to take (unpaid time off) and decided the week after my birthday was a perfect time.

Then, on Saturday which was my actual birthday my day started with breakfast with Carlos, Mom, and Landon. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Landon cozy up to mom in the special way they do.

I barely got this birthday picture with Mr. I'm a fan of Grammy not Mommy...but after an appropriate amount of shameless bribing and threatening...I got one.

After breakfast, Carlos and I took off to stay a night and sleep in at The Sanctuary on Camelback. We at dinner at Elements, delicious food.....

Even better sunset views. This was exactly what we looked at from our booth during dinner.

We slept in Sunday morning, without a little wanna be superhero begging to get up and play at 6am. Then, we lounged by the pool and ate lunch poolside as well. Of course, I stayed longer...while Carlos went back to shower up and watch a movie.

When I got back, I knew I couldn't pass up a chance to take a bath in an outdoor tub like this one. This was the private patio to our room.

This is the view from the bathroom. The tub has some wonderful Lemongrass scented bath salts to throw in the tub! :)

Finally, while we were there...we saw a little roadrunner walking right across the sidewalk in front of us.

I had a fabulous time...and knew it was the beginning of a great week with mom in town and a spa day with the girls planned. (See Spa Junkies post)

Walk the plank...Ayyre!

This summer has been pretty fun for Landon at Pre-School. Every Friday they have a different theme.

This week it was Pirate Day....so we got him all decked out in his pirate outfit, including the parrot he named "Ayyyre-ie".

But much more important than the bird on his shoulder was ...THE HOOK.

Wolverine Mania

So, most of you know Landon is in a serious SuperHero phase. Spiderman, Batman, Superman, PowerRangers and now Wolverine. This picture below is a little blurry...but I love it because you can totally tell what I live with on a daily basis.

I was at PartyCity today looking for some pirate gear for Landon's pirate day at Pre-school and ran across the costume...muscles and all....in the clearance section.

As you can imagine it was a big score for me...with Halloween just a few months away and the costumes being so expensive.

Landon was beyond excited to put this on and slash away with the creepy claws. Course we had to lay down the ground rules:

1. no slashing the TV

2. no slashing the dogs

3. no slashing Mommy's face

Slip & Slide Into Summer

Landon and I were invited on a playdate at the Hook's house on May 28th and I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures.

I worked with (left to right)...Kendall, Michael & Makena's dad at Fox10 and am friends with their mom, Gina.
It's funny how some summer activities never change. I remember as a little girl in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade, playing on the Slip & Slide in the backyard of my house in Denton, Texas.
Landon tried it out this year and is loving it!

Sure it wastes a lot of water in the desert. But it waters the grass too! :) I think we're going to have to buy one for Landon soon. Surely they can't be that expensive for few yards of plastic with holes in it!

Here's to a fun summer!!

Down On The Farm

On June 5th, after meeting a farmer of a local dairy on my show, I decided to take Landon to teach him where milk and eggs come from.

We went to Superstition Farms...just about a 1/2 hour away from our house.

Farmer Casey gave us a personal tour of the farm and let Landon get up close with so many different animals. He spent a great deal of time with the rabbit...petting it, looking it in the eyes and feeding it carrots.

Then, we were taught how the chicks are born with these special little very short, soft feathers and when those fall out the true feathers grown in.

This chicken below is one Farmer Casey named Phyllis Diller. ha! Landon of course, didn't get it even when I showed him a picture on the internet.

The day ended with an "drive" on a big ol' tractor. (if only in Landon's imagination).

Before eating some ice cream made on the Farm with milk produced by the cows there, Farmer Casey took us to the hen coop. We were able to pull the eggs out from underneath them and put them in a container and take them home.

They're the freshest eggs we've ever had and we learned that when you buy eggs from a store they are already about a month old. Also, we learned that in Europe people who get fresh from the farm eggs leave their eggs on the counter for weeks or months because they don't go bad. Apparently, the shelf life on eggs comes when they are washed and prepared to go to the store.

When they are hatched, they have a protective coating on the egg that prevents them from going bad quickly.

And by the way...the different colors of eggs are determined by the different type of hen. I love the light blue one...Landon liked the brown and the ivory. Next Easter, we're not dying eggs...we'll just head down to the farm!

If you want to see a few more pictures...including some precious ones with Landon holding a chicken...view the slide show below. To stop a picture just place your cursor on the picture.

A Fabulous 4th Weekend!!

This was a milestone 4th of July for our family because Landon learned all about the American Flag this week in Pre-School.

He told us about "rules" of the flag all weekend which, according to him, include:


1. Do not put the flag on the floor.
2. Do not step on the flag.
3. Do not put the flag on a dump truck.


But what we got a kick out of most, was him reciting the Pledge of Allegiance all by himself.
Our favorite part is:

"...and to the Republic, for 'witches stand', one nation under (insert yell here) GOD, in-dah-bizable with liberty and 'justices' for all."

We did most of our running around on Friday afternoon which included out to lunch, Ice Age 2, the indoor play area at the mall, and ice-cream. Landon was so tired from all the fun that he feel asleep at 5:30 without dinner and didn't wake up until 6am the next morning!!

On the 4th...we hung out at home. I made a homemade lasagna for dinner and Landon and I made a Birthday cake for America.

He insisted that we put LOTS of flags and sing Happy Birthday...so of course, we all did. (this picture is bad because it was taken on my phone)

After dinner we went to see fireworks. I taught him to 'oooh and aahhh" but he got bored quickly. (actually more tired than bored)

After about 20 minutes he said, "I'm done cheering and ready to go home". So we did, and chalked this one up as another Fabulous 4th of July!

Saying Good-bye Is Hard

Today we had to say good-bye to The Carlin's.
Even as I write this I'm wiping away tears.

We met them when Landon was just 8 months old.
I went for a walk with Landon in his stroller in the neighborhood.

I spotted them ahead of me on the street and noticed they had a stroller too with a blue blanket on it. (and 3 dogs, like us!) So, I pratically ran to catch up with them and asked if they had a little boy too.

When we found out Wade was just 1 month and a few days older than Landon we started our playdates together.

Sure, initially they were more for us. But as the years went by the boys developed a very special friendship...their first Best Friend.

We have hit so many milestones together. From introducing baby food together...I remember making extra for Traci and dropping it off on my way to work. We had

Gymboree classes together, Music classes, trips to The Polar Express together, and most recently they were on the same Soccer team.

Heck! We even potty-trained the boys the same weekend! (yes, we did it in one weekend. No one believes us, but we DID!)

Traci's husband works for a dental company and got a job opportunity that he could not pass up....IN MAINE.

The boys last playdate in the big empty house was perhaps the most fun for them.

Playing in boxes, jumping on baby mattresses and playing with the Spiderman helicopter that we bought for each of them.

I guess you could say little girls have friendship necklaces...little boys have friendship helicopters!

So, it's with heavy hearts that we hugged and promised to see each other soon and begin praying for them even sooner.

I have no doubt we'll pay a visit to them to check out the East Coast. And until then, we hope to get the boys on Skype to talk to each other on the computer.

Times certainly change...but the bonds of true friendship certainly do not.