A day at the zoo

My cousin Tara is in town for a few days from Tucson so we really wanted to go with her and her kids to the zoo. I am sad to say that Sienna is the only one of my kids that have ever been to the zoo before. After looking at the weather, today looked like the warmest day this week. So we surprised the kids and checked them out of school after lunch and drove up to the zoo. The weather was perfect...about 71 degrees. The kids had such a good time being with their cousins and seeing the Rrrrrrrr's (as Faisal calls them) animals. Thanks mom for coming with us and helping me with the kiddo's.The kids didn't really co-operate with this picture, but it is the only one of all of us.

The entire gang of kids and my cousin's husband Buddy, riding the rhino

Ana and the elephants

Posing with the ape statue...clearly Tae had issues with the nipples on the ape. LOL

Serious issues!!!

It was just too cute to not snap a picture of

Faisal yelling at the turkeys

Just had to get the picture of someone at the water fountain

Riding the train

Yummy cookies!!!

Aqua aerobics has proven to be beneficial in more ways than one. The ladies there like to share great recipes that they have come across and last week one of the women shared this great one that I just had to try. They are pumpkin cookies (one of my favorites) and they only have FOUR ingredients...that's right four!!! So the kids just had to jump in this one.

Now for the recipe:
2 spice cake mixes (If you don't want them to be overly spicy then use one spice and one yellow cake mix)
1 can pumpkin
1 bag chocolate chips
1 bag cinnamon chips (I had never heard of these before, but MAN are they amazing!)

And that is it! Mix all of the above in one bowl. Place by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 385 degrees for 10-12 minutes. What a perfect time of year to have such a simple recipe! Enjoy! Have any of you ever baked with cinnamon chips? What do you put them in?

The mostt beautiful edible cupcakes ever!!!

My friend has started a new business and I wanted to post about it to help advertise for her. She hand makes these cupcakes, cookies and cakes that are unlike any that I have ever seen...absolutely amazing! They are the BEST tasting cupcakes around, I am not one that is crazy about frosting, but this frosting is to die for!!! Check out her site for yourself and see the pictures of her amazing creations, you won't be sorry! http://cupcakesbyles.blogspot.com/

Relationship update

I am happy to report that after several weeks, "Gym" and my relationship is still going strong. We are actually seeing each other six days a week now! I know.....CRAZY huh? I find that I really love the smell of "gym" and when I walk in the front doors and that smell hits me I get an adrenaline rush. The actual time spent with "gym" is not my favorite, but I love how good I feel when I leave. There is nothing like having sore muscles and knowing that it is because I worked my tail off! So to mix things up a bit I decided to try a water aerobics class...I wanted to do some kind of class and I have done the spin class and those dang bikes bruised my tailbone, so that was out! I had looked in the windows of the Yoga class and decided that I STILL hated Yoga, so that left water aerobics. My hubby kinda snickered at me when I told him "Isn't that were all the older, heavier women are?" I told him that that was the reason that I wanted to do it, I didn't want to be in a class where everyone ALREADY looked like models, that would make me feel so self conscience (especially in a bathing suit). So I gave it a try last week and I REALLY liked it! I got a great workout and didn't sweat or stink! Yes, I have to be in a bathing suit, but again, I already described some of the class members, so that isn't too bad either. I even tricked my friend into coming with me, so now I have a buddy! So as of now, I am going to water aerobics on Mon, Wed and Fridays. On the other days I do my 2 mile run and weight routine. So far I really haven't seen any results, but then it has only been a few weeks... I will keep my fingers crossed that something good will come of this.... sigh
So for now, I will just appreciate the fact that "gym" and I are on speaking terms!

Just how popular am I?

So I found out that there are only 5 people in the US that have my first and last name. And to think that the world could handle anymore of me out there! Now if you enter in my full name, not the shortened version, then there is NO ONE else....just me!

Another great piece of info that I found out is that my name is number 518th most popular name, wow..that suprised me, I swear there were always like three or four people in my class with the same name growing up.

Something else that I thought was funny was 99.9% of people names Jenny are FEMALE! Man I feel bad that .01% guy that has to go through life with the name Jenny. His parents should be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose! Poor kid, I bet he got beat up a lot on the playground growing up!!! LOL

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Hooray for daddy daughter dates!

Last night Tae and Chris went to a daddy/daughter activity days 50's night. We rummaged around the house trying to find something for each of them to wear....I think they look adorable! They had hot dogs, limbo contests, bubble-gum blowing contests and TONS of fun!!

The best day EVER!

Twelve years ago today I made the best decision of my life...I married not only my best friend, but the HOTTEST guy on the planet! How lucky I feel that someone as wonderful as Chris actually wanted to marry me!

So here we are 12 years and four children later....I can honestly say that I love him so much more than I did the day that I married him. Chris is such a wonderful supportive husband, he has ALWAYS supported me in whatever I wanted to do and he is such a great provider for our family.

Tonight we had a fun evening just us, NO kiddo's! My mom came and watched the kids (thanks mom) and Chris and I went out to eat at Spaghetti Factory (we had a gift card!) and then we decided to go to the dollar show (yum, popcorn!) and saw Get Smart, which was soooo funny! It was nice just to spend time alone with my man!

Babe, thanks for giving me four beautiful children and the best 12 years of my life....I feel so lucky to spend the rest of eternity with you! I love you babe!!!

Yeah for kissing pictures!

After 12 years of love from each other

This was our engagement picture and wedding announcements....we look like such young babies! LOL

The first picture of us as a married couple

I loved my dress! That train was so beautiful, but soooooo heavy!

MR. GQ...otherwise know as my cute new hubby

Chris and I doing what I love to do best.....KISSING!

Our wedding line, I loved how all the colors looked together...hey, I had been planning what I wanted my wedding colors to look like for years.

These are my grandparents...my grandpa was the sealer for our wedding. We also chose to get married on the same day that they were married, it is so neat to share our special day with two of my life hero's. BTW- I LOVED my bouquet, but that sucker weighed about 15lbs., my arms were dead by the end of the night.

Addiction!

I am sad to admit that my two year old is addicted to the television. He loves to watch 'his shows', typically you will find him with his baba (bottle, yes I know he is too old to still be drinking a bottle) and his bankie, but on this day he was watching like the above pictures and I just thought that it was so cute I couldn't resist taking a picture. His favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba (have you SEEN this show, it is 'make you wanna pull you hair out and poke your eyes out LAME!), Boots (Dora) and Diego (Go Diego, go). I know, I am a bad mom for plopping him in front of the TV, it just makes getting things done around the house so much easier.

Night out with the girls

Tonight some of my friends took me out to dinner for my birthday. I chose to go to one of my favorites...Cheesecake Factory! YUMMMM
We had such a good time visiting and reminiscing about the trip that the four of us took to New York....awwww, good times!
Thanks girls for such a great evening, I love you all!
So in the lobby they have this GINORMOUS palm tree that you literally have to duck under to walk into the lobby....we decided to play hide and seek in it. I know, crazy girls!

Ma ma I'm a big boy now!!!!

The most amazing thing happened this weekend! I was getting Faze ready for his bath and he pointed to his diaper and said "Pee Pee" and then pointed to the toilet. I asked him if he wanted to go pee pee on the big potty and he said "yes" so I put him on not knowing what would happen. Well the boy actually went potty! Not only that, but he has done it about five times since then. Is my two year old actually trying to potty train? I have heard nightmares about potty training boys, can it really be this simple? I hurried and grabbed the camera and took these darling pictures, which I'm sure 15 years from now he will be so upset that I took these. Oh well, I just couldn't resist! Keep your fingers crossed for us that this wasn't just a fluke!!!!