:::::::::Labastida's:::::::::::

2010-06-20T03:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Sweet 16

Bobbi!

NYC, The BiG APplE, I LOVE NEW YORK

2010-06-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

It was great to be able to back to New York once again and just experience the feeling you get just being on the street. There was so much to do in so little time, but we squeezed in as much as possible. Even tho I had only been there once before, this time I felt like I knew my way around a little. The city is so big and the buildings are literally so tall you have to look straight up in the sky to see the tops. Some funny stories to tell too. Alisha getting yelled at by the hot dog vendor because she supposedly didn't tell him she didn't want ketchup and then he refused to sell her another one. Right before she told him about the ketchup, I was just thinking, "oh, don't do it, don't do it" I kind of expected him to get mad lol. We took a double decker tour bus and it's about 2.5 hours long, so us tourists kept seeing things that we wanted to look at or places we wanted to go, so we kept saying we were gonna get off, but the tour guide guy that kept calling us " Sex in the City girls from Arizona" wouldn't let us off the bus. He kept saying we need to see everything first and then we could go back later so we listened to him and then he made fun of us (on the loud speaker of course) that we were letting a tour guide tell us what to do. The guy in the line to go to the top of the Empire State Building that kept hitting our ankles with his stroller, probably because we sorta cut him in line. Ugh that was annoying. Alisha kept getting mad that people kept bumping into her and then telling them they were rude. I was like Alisha really there are about a million people on the street, just keep walking! Hailing cabs and feeling cool when we said,"take us to 86th & Park please"....that was fun. Seeing Lady Liberty was amazing, kind of breath taking actually, maybe my favorite part. So much to say and Im sure Im forgetting some funny stories, like me on the second night, falling asleep fully dressed with no shower or anything, from being so tired (sorry Alisha) =o/

I love you NEW YORK.

Atlantic City, SHHHH !

2010-06-20T02:25:00.001-07:00

Here we are arriving in Atlantic City in New Jersey! Yes, I, was actually on the "Jersey Shore" lol, (for those of you that might know what that means). Atlantic City was cool, Jersey was actually beautiful from what I experienced. Super soft sand and a very homey feel. We had a quick "restroom break" in one of the casinos and some of the gals who will remain nameless couldn't help themselves.....lol

Just joking, we had a little fun, tho. :)

Philadelphia, The City of Brotherly Love...

2010-05-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia is a place I had never been too, nor ever really thought about going to but somehow I ended up there last week. It was all part of a planned little excursion of some spots on the east coast area. Philly was a lot of fun and the buildings were so amazing. My Philly cheesesteak could've had more cheese but hey who's complaining. The girls and I had fun running up the stairs from the Rocky movie even tho we were literally left breathless. See you later Philadelphia, thanks for having me!

My Birthday Girls

2010-04-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

We a had kids only Happy Birthday Party for Malia who turned 4 and Lauryn who turned 2. We had parents drop off all of their friends and we played games and had a water balloon fight. Musical chairs and Limbo was pretty funny although some of the kids took their loss hard, lol . It was a great party, truly it was, but you or anyone else for that matter won't know because there are no pictures to prove it :( I had a mishap with my memory card and was unable to use it in my camera and there was no time to go get a new one as kids were coming in by the minute. My sister made a joke saying, " we aren't going to have to do this all over are we?" That was funny because about 2 years ago we went to San Diego and Sea World, the Zoo and the beach and had a great time with a million pictures, but when I got home, I accidently reformatted the memory card and lost all my pictures. I paid over 200 bucks to try to have them recovered but that failed. I was so devastated that a month later we went back to San Diego and every place else to get more pics and I even staged a few that I had remembered. SHHH don't tell Robert because he swore me to secrecy on the staging pics part. lol It was worth it for me because I got a ton of pictures that were even better because I made the most of our time!!!! Sorry for the long story, I hope I don't have to rehash that story again. ugh hard times

Happy Bunny Day !

2010-04-21T11:52:00.001-07:00

Well, it was that time of year again, Happy Bunny Day!! Thats what we call it in our house, just for fun. As a little girl, I used to love to color eggs, so now that I have two girls of my own we all can love it together. I think I love it as much as they do and maybe even a little more. I made sure to get the eggs ready the night before that way we could be ready to rock n roll the next morning. We woke up, had a quick breakfast, and started to set up. We had a ton of fun and made a big mess but it was great. Lauryn was so amazed that the eggs were coming out different colors and Malia wanted to decorate every egg. Somehow just about all the eggs came out cracked but we didn't care, as long as they were colored that's all we cared about. Look forward to Happy Bunny Day next year!!!

2010-04-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

So I took the girls to Mother Nature's Farm

the day before Easter for a little fun and adventure.

We hunted for eggs, ate lots of candy and took a really cool

hay ride. They were able to feed a goat and some cows, which they thought was pretty cool. Although we had to stand in line for a good hour in the hot AZ sun, it was well worth it.

Happy 6th Anniversary!!

2010-04-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

Today, April 10th, Robert and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! It's kind of hard to believe that it's actually been that long ago that we met and then started dating. It was a long process, we met and hung out a little and then nothing, no contact for about a year and then all of sudden I get a letter from him in the mail just to see how I was doing, and the rest is history.

It's kind of cool to look back and see, from where we started, the life we have created together with our children and home. At times it seemed as though we weren't going to get through another day together, haha, to talking on the phone 15 times a day to just shoot the breeze. I thank God that he continues to bless us and our little family and I look forward to the future! (which hopefully is only a few months away...lol)

Potty Training Princess...

2010-03-31T04:02:00.000-07:00

We have some wonderful news in the Labastida household........Lauryn is officially potty trained woohooo!! We are so excited. No more stinky diapers and no more having to pay for them. March 18th at about 10pm she tells me she has to go potty, so we go sit on the potty and wait for some action. After about a minute or so she starts to squirm and tries to get off so I start singing with her and basically doing whatever I could think of to keep her on the potty. My poor little baby girls eyes get red and watery and she hunches down and kind of starts to whimper, I figure, ok here we go.... suddenly I hear sounds of confirmation, YAY and the party began. We were clapping and singing and after a lil clean up, some dancing!!! She certainly was ready for this big step because it's been such smooth sailing ever since that I can hardly believe it. Good job Lauryn!!!

2010-03-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

We had a long leisurely day at the zoo with our family, there was 12 of us all together and we had a great time. We packed a huge lunch and found a nice grassy area to park it for lunch, it was funny because as we were sitting down for lunch the tour bus/train came by loaded with people. We all sort of waved to them and I yelled out, "It's feeding time". The kids got to experience the Giraffe encounter and Malia was even able to feed them, all for only $3...I thought that was pretty cool and she loved it. The girls and I love going to the zoo, so much so, that I bought us a year long membership!! I have a feeling the animals are going to start to recognize us, LOL !!!

PuRiM CeleBraTioN 2010

2010-03-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

Where can you find an Africanized Killer Bee an Irish Laddie and a Wild Wild West Gun Toting Sheriff all in the same place?? Well that would be at this years international themed Purim Celebration 2010. I had a few good laughs as I put these costumes together especially as I was trying to get Malia to say, " get me lucky charms"...lol That was too funny! My Africanized killer bee wasn't as killer as she should of been and she was being mistaken for some guy on Star Trek because of the eye brows and Malia was thought to be a leprechaun, so needless to say I had a little explaining to do that night. We had a great time and the kids loved being all dressed up. We are so looking forward to next year!

Land O Lakes

2010-03-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

Saguaro Lake February 2010, this day was a long time in coming! My husband had been promising the girls that he would take them out on the boat for months. We had a little hitch situation that was hindering us until we finally figured out that we would just have to take two cars. We were certainly blessed that day because the weather was absolutely beautiful and we were one of very few boats out on the lake. We packed lunch and a bunch of "goodies" as we like to call them in our house. The girls were in heaven the whole time. Malia cast her first baited hook and we are currently waiting for any takers!! She just wants to be like her Daddy, she loves to catch fishies. Unfortunately Robert forgot to pack a fishing pole for me so Malia and I had to share her Disney Princess pole. lol All in all it was a great experience for us all and hopefully there will be more times as great as that one.

2010-03-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

My girls love taking pictures, especially Malia. She has learned some tricks from one of her Aunty's, who takes pictures of herself in the bathroom mirror. Now when Malia can get a hold of a camera she posts up in front of our hallway mirror and snaps away. I love Lauryn's hot pink hat and Im sure that when I look back and think about her as a little baby I will remember that hat. We were having a fun silly day making funny faces for everyone and I thought I would share them with YOU!!

Time for a Cleaning

2010-03-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

So Malia had never been to the dentist before and when I made the appointment I was kind of nervous because she doesn't have a problem expressing her feelings and that is exactly what I thought would happen on this visit. I figured she would go nuts and not let them touch her but much to my surprise, she had a blast. She was so calm and relaxed and really, I think she enjoyed herself. January 4th, 2010 marks her first dental appointment and I am very proud to say that she had ZERO cavities and the Doc was very impressed with her mouth. Something tells me, he makes that statement a lot. :) Lauryn got to "brush" up on her dental cleaning skills too!

At the Park

2009-10-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

We made an impromptu trip to the park because Mom got a new camera and wanted to try it out. We just threw the kids in the car and took off. (ok I did make sure they were picture ready) By that I mean something cute and colorful. The park near our house was just totally redone and it looks great. We got to the park and the kids had a great time. Lauryn as usual was fearless climbing up the stairs and just going up, in and on everything she could reach. Malia wanted to do everything on her own. She is very like her Father in that she knows what she's doing so don't mess with her. I'm glad we took this little ride to the park because the kids had fun and I got some cool shot with my new camera.

Curb Side to GO

2009-07-14T02:12:00.000-07:00

Me and my girls had lunch at one of my favorite places "Red Devil". It's a pizza place and it's the best I've ever had, well I had some pizza at a little Italian restaurant in New York that comes pretty close, but thats just a little inconvenient right. The one in Phoenix is my place but since I live in Mesa I go to the one on Mill.

So we're leaving and going to get in the car, but little miss Lauryn just has to sit down and take a breather. She has this new thing that wherever we go she finds a little spot to sit down. So me being the doting mother, I always have my camera ready to go. I told Malia to hurry and sit by sister so we can take a picture. She loves pics so that wasn't a problem. I love that they look so happy and innocent. Sadly, innocence doesn't last that long these days no matter how hard you try. With the Lords help, I will do my best. I have the best of both worlds, a little brownie and my blondie! When I see old friends or whoever, I say, "yes they have the same dad". You just gotta throw that in there or you get funny looks. lol
Okay so, I'm just now getting this blog thing going. I have some older stuff to put in here and then of course everything will be up to speed. I will put the date I actually took the shot just so everyone knows. thanks for sharing these moments with me!

San Diego

2009-07-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Robert, the girls and I went to San Diego for about 4 days. We wanted to just relax and do nothing. The first night we went to Ocean Beach Pier, which is very long out into the ocean. While we were up there we caught about 3 or 4 firework shows. It was pretty cool. The kids loved it. We did the beach for a couple days. The girls were fearless, especially Lauryn, she would run straight for the waves. Malia loved to throw her sand toys and watch the waves swallow them up. We would laugh and then scream as we tried to get them back. It was such a fun and funny time. We took about a 5 mile bike ride along the beach with the girls in a bike trailer behind me. They did try to escape a few times but then I figured out the buckles weren't on right. Lets just say dad did the buckling.

We will definitely do Sea World next year. Lauryn will be 2 by then and her and Malia can enjoy it together. I'm thinking Beach House for next time. We passed a lot along our bike ride and the people looked cozy. We will miss you San Diego, see you next year. (oh wait Im going on friday...ladies only) lol

Ready or Not

2009-06-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

We weren't prepared for the water but that didn't stop my girls. They eased into it and were soon soaked from head to toe. They had a blast!