West Coast To The East Coast II

Home Sweet Home

Literally took us 60 Miles to cross Alabama
Well, Hello there! Didn't think we would be seeing you again!

I want to go back, we had a great time exploring the French Quarters....more pictures to come!

This state took forever! No wonder why they like it BIG over there! Go big or go home!

Not much to say about this one, would never want to live there, that's for sure!

Why, you look familiar.

Love, Love this state!

This city, is my city and I love it, and I love it. I was born and raised here, I've got it made here and if I had my way I'm gonna stay here for life!

Hope I never have to see this one again! Maybe for a visit, but never to live there! It was nice knowing ya!

And that completes our 2800+ adventure across the bottom states....

More pictures to come, I can't wait to share some of them with you!

West Coast To The East Coast

Catching up and not knowing where to begin!

Well, we left Kfalls on Saturday late and ended in Fresno on Sunday. This was our first part of the drive and we were eager to visit with our Fresno family and friends before we headed East. We stayed in Fresno till Tuesday and we headed to Phoenix. This last year has been pretty cool as far as being able to see some of the friends we have made a long our AF travels. One of which I consider to be a very best friend who has supported me through the hard times of being an AF wife, being away from family and helping with the kids.

I have been very lucky to find friends like this and still be able to see them and feel close to them.

We got a late start on Tuesday, due to someone who hasn't been sleeping very well. I won't name drop cause I think you all know who I'm talking about. Jt and Jeff left early and Tanner and I stayed behind trying to wake up! we eventually met up with Jeff in L.A. after a few hours. We stopped at Cabelas, which is the coolest store ever! We had lunch and walked around for a while so the kids could stretch their legs. This is the key to happy travelers. Stop often, run and use the bathroom. If they're lucky a treat to follow! And of course a DVD player in the car.

The kids and I left Jeff in the dust once we hit the Arizona State line. We wanted out of the car ASAP! We arrived at Lindsey's house around 8:30 and visited before we hit the hay!

The next day we met up with another friend that I hung out with when we lived in Tucson. Kim was pregnant with her second baby when we moved so I never got to meet Austin. We all went to lunch at my favorite restaurant and then headed to the park. It was crazy, there were 4 adults and 6 kids! It was fun to see all of our kids playing and having so much fun!

Lindsey and I with our youngest babes!

Kim and I with our babes as well. She had spent some time with me after I had tanner, but we moved shortly after and she was still pregnant. I did get to see her in October, but not the kids. So great seeing her and catching up!
Jeff with all of the kids, Addie was missing do to nap time! This picture makes me laugh.

Tanner had to take a break from all the playing and watch the F16s take off! This kid loves the jets!


Miss Ashlyn and Owen letting me take pictures of them. Jt was being a turkey and didn't want to participate.

We stayed until Thursday morning and headed out onto the open wide road. We had a great visit and wished we could have stayed longer. We were on a time line and I was wanting to stop in New Orleans and spend the day in the French Quarter exploring!

We Finally Have Internet

Ok, I have been dying to post, but we have been without Internet since we got here on the 24th! I have TONS of pictures from our trip and I can't wait to show you our amazing house!
Until I find some time and the boys aren't sitting here with me, I will update you!

New Year's 2012

I tell Jeff all the time that we are such old farts for how young we are because we never do anything. Ok, I know we have kids, but half the time we would rather be home with them. Most of the time this is true, but we have NEVER gone out for New Year's EVER! We have always stayed home or been in bed before the ball drops!

This year we actually went out, thank you Nolan and Rachel for getting married so we could celebrate with you and actually ring in the New Year with some fun!

I didn't take my camera with me, but I took some pictures with my phone so I'm sorry if their not the greatest.

Cheers to a New Year of health, safe travels, friends and new friends, safety for Jeff in his new plane and squadron, my kids, may they always be happy, have fun and love one another. Even though we may not be close, but I love everyone of you and thank you for your friendship.

Jeff and I taking a break from dancing to snap a shot of us being silly!

We had a great time and he looked so cute in his tux! He was a groomsman in Nolan's wedding, so when he wasn't busy I snatched him up for some dancing!
Jessica and I having so much fun! Her husband was in the wedding so we stuck together, drinking and dancing! We had a great time. I think the whole age thing is catching up to me. I don't drink much anyway, but I did have a few and I never felt anything. The next day was another story! I took two naps and felt horrible! Damn 30's! lol

I hope you all had an amazing fun New Year's!

I know we did and I enjoyed myself so much! It was great to have some fun with friends and especially Jeffrey!

Playdate with the Seiler's

On Monday after Christmas we got to spend a couple hours playing with our best friends. We were all healthy and stayed away from germs over the holidays, so we took the opportunity to visit before we leave for our long venture south.

As most of you know one of my best friends sons has Leukemia and hasn't been able to leave the house or play with others do his low immunity. So being it was a nice day we played outside and enjoyed the vitamin D.

Carson is driving Tanner around while Jt chased them in Lightning McQueen car.

I love this picture! T trying to give daddy kisses.

All of our boys after enjoying an outside picnic. It's so great to see them all playing and bringing joy to each other. Jt and Carson were always together before we moved and he got sick. So when they get to see one another they are truly so happy.
Nicole and I!
I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She has been amazing through this tough time and has stayed so strong. I know there have been time where she isn't and I always try to find the right words of encouragement for her, but no one will know exactly how she is feeling. Chad and Nicole have been so blessed through all of this and I am so glad that we get to be there for them and experience this. It has opened our eyes to a whole new world.

We were all so happy to get to spend time with our friends! Can't wait to be back home so we can do this more often!

Until our next play date with the Seilers..........

Christmas 2011 at my dads

Merry Christmas from the Blaufuss boys!

We totally didn't get a family picture this year, which makes me kinda sad. Not only do I try the tree picture, I always want a family picture. Oh wellllllll!

This can be my family picture or even better, use my new photo shop and cut each of us out and make a family picture all on my own! Yeah, I'll have to try that!

Here are the boys right after they woke up. Jt couldn't stand still and was so excited!

Jeffrey's new jacket from me!
My gift from Jeffrey! Something I've been wanting for a long while!

Santa's gift to Jt...

Tanner ripping through his gift! This is his second Christmas, but the first where he actually cares about whats going on.

This was Tanner's favorite gift from grandma Kathy! He finally put the thing down and gave it a rest. We had to put a new set of batteries in it already, so should tell you how much he liked it!

Tanner's gift that we had to leave behind for now.

Our mornings at home on Christmas are short. We open gifts and let the kids play for a couple hours while we get ready to head up to my moms. We had a great morning opening gift, eating pancakes and putting toys together. It's so fun seeing the kids get so excited over their gifts and be so happy over a gift Santa brought them. Especially Jt, makes me want to be a kid again!

Christmas 2011 at my Moms (Super Long)

Every year we have 2 Christmas's, either at our house if we are living in Fresno and at my moms in the afternoon. This year we were staying at my dads (which I will post about later) and spent the morning there opening gifts and playing with everything. Then we headed up to my moms for some family fun.

There is usually 20+ people there and we always have such a great time playing games, cooking, catching up with those we don't see often. I think the kids have more fun then the adults!

This year for Christmas we tried to keep the gift giving simple with our kids. We did 3 gifts for each of our kiddos: 1 from Santa, 1 they wanted and 1 they needed. We did an extra for Jt, which it was from T, but we found this really cool Dinosaur book and couldn't resist! We made my dad stick to the rules and you'll see why we did this later in the post! My mom and everyone else goes crazy! It's just ridiculous how many gifts these kids get! We appreciate them all very much and feel so blessed to have such a great family spoil them!

This is a rear picture of the 2 of them together in a photo! My mom and her sister, my aunt Charlene.

Jt who was patiently waiting to open his gifts, yeah right!

He was having such a hard time waiting and so were a couple of the kids, so we decided to let them open theirs early instead of waiting! Our family has always waited to open gift until after dinner, which I think is the dumbest thing ever. When your 4, you can't wait that long!
This guy who we never get to see is my cousin Richard and his 4 year old son Anthony. Jt and Anthony are just a couple months apart and this was actually the first time they met. They got along so well and Jt can't wait to see him again.
This is why we did 3 gifts for the kids! These gift were separated between 4 kids. so do the math, that's like 7+ gifts for each child. That is just to many for 1 kid! I will post their favorites in my next post!

The dog whisperer

My brother Jeff's girlfriend Kristle who we just adore! Love her!

My little niece Brooklyn! This was her first Christmas this year and boy was she spoiled. She had a great time ripping into her presents and playing with all of the new toys! Tanner and Brooklyn just love each other. They were sharing toys, giving kisses and he was showing her how the airplane flies! So cute!

My mom and step dad Larry getting ready to open their gifts!

While all of the big kids opened their gifts the little ones were asleep, so we opened gifts with Tanner after he woke up and the big kids were all outside playing. This made for a more relaxing and enjoyable experience for T man. I liked it because I got to watch the boys individually and actually enjoy it.

My sweet boy

Everyone, well most of everyone outside playing rings and smoking the ribs.

My mom got Jt this Imaginex T-Rex he had been wanting for the longest time and what did he do with it? Well, he found Samantha's Barbie and well, you can see! What a boy!

My brother Scott and Brooklyn. This is such a great picture of them! She is just toooo sweet!

T man showing Brooklyn how the planes fly! He's even making the noise for her! I wonder who he gets that from?

Anthony was getting the dance party started on the Kinect. For a 4 year old, he followed along really well. What a kick it was to watch him dance too. I did get a video of it, but I'm not sure how to upload it yet.

As the night was coming to an end, we made our rounds with kisses goodbye! Even the babies wanted in on it!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know we did, it's always so nice being home with our family for the holiday. That's what I enjoy the most these days.

Christmas Tree(s)

I saw this post on Pinterest with a Christmas tree blurred and it looked so pretty. So I was trying to duplicate it and practicing my focus on Jts head to get the blurry background. I followed all of the instructions, but I must be a camera idiot cause I couldn't get it for the life of me! Maybe next year. So here are my results: Not even close......

At one point I said screw it and just played around with the manual setting and did this one all by myself! No to bad, if I say so.
This one isn't bad either!
Now, this just looks blurry!

And then.....there's my dads fake half lit tree! LMAO

Don't ask why I thought I should share this with you, but every year I am determined to get a great TREE picture! Going to be one of must.

Home for the holidays (Random)

The boys and I were lucky enough to be home for someones birthday this year! My brother Jeff celebrated his 39th birthday! Ignore the picture below, he IS NOT 40! lol

We had a great day started with brunch and then followed buy dinner up at my moms! The guys went shooting at my moms while us girls sat inside talking and catching up. I think they even went fishing! Jackson was so happy to get to spend some time with his cousins and uncles.

My brother opening his gifts!

Tanner enjoying his dinner and watching everyone chit chat!
This one was funny! We thought we would give him an extra year!
You don't look a day over 34 Jeff!

Little stink! Move away from the plant!

My brother Scott with his granddaughter Brooklyn!

He adores her beyond the moon!

So glad we got to spend the day with you Jeffrey Douglas. We love you and hope you had a great day.