ALVA LIFE: 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

November in a Nutshell

November was a very busy, but fun month. Not only did we do our cruise, we also experienced the holidays and family visiting.

I couldn't help but post this pic of Brennon falling asleep in the middle of dinner. I love this little guy!

We also watched our hokies win their 11th straight game and the ACC Championship. Now its on to the Orange Bowl. Go Hokies!!

My parents came for Thanksgiving and we enjoyed the parade of lights in Fort Worth.

Here are my cute kiddo's on Thanksgiving day. We really enjoyed just being home, having Grandma and Grandpa, seeing Uncle Troy, playing games, and eating lots and lots!

A family tradition is "swing in the blanket". Grandma and Grandpa apparently aren't too old to give the kids a good laugh and some crazy fun!

More fun with Granma and Grandpa...

Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate Brennon's birthday. This is something we rarely get to do with family so far away. Brennon was on top of the world!

We also got a last minute visit from Grandma Christine and Ron. How fabulous it was to have both Grandparents visit and see the kids. Grandma even came to have lunch with Katelynn at school.

Mckinley turned 9 months and is crawling everywhere! She also pulls up on everything and chases the kids and the dog around the house. She is our little doll!

Brennon had his 4th Birthday party at a park here in Lantana. We had a cars theme and he loved being the center of attention and told everyone within hearing distance that it was "His Birthday!"

He even helped decorate the cupcakes and was so proud!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cruise pics

Just wanted to post a few pics of our fabulous cruise! We always have a blast together and especially on vacation without the kids! Here are a few of our adventures....

We all live in a yellow submarine.... a yellow submarine.... ok, maybe not, but pictures are fun anyway! This was in Grand Cayman.

On the beach in cozumel. They had 2 macaws that were somewhat friendly. This was just before he started pecking at my hair.

We had so much fun having dinner together with our friends every night. The best part was that our head waiter was from Bali and was so much fun! He made us laugh every night.

Matt loves Chess. He had to challenge me and I wish I could say I kicked his butt, but not so much. At least we got a workout while playing!

We love playing sports on the ship. Matt played volleyball with the boys while I was playing mini golf. We also enjoyed shuffleboard.

Another shot with the crazy birds...

Too bad we missed the picture with me at the very top..... ok, maybe not, but it was fun to think about anyway. They palms at the beach were gorgeous!

In front of our ship, the Conquest. It was enormous! Fun ship although we like Royal Carribean more.

Being crazy on a windy night in our dresses. We tried the Titanic pose, but we were afraid we'd get blown off with the crazy wind.

Our group on formal night. It was so fun to hang out with friends and have game nights, photo ops, late night chats, and come back with some great stores....

Our favorite day was going jet skiing on the open ocean. This was after when we were coming in, and we cound a real starfish. The jet skiing was such a blast and we got going over 50 mph on the open ocean and jumped some great waves. We each tried to throw each other off, but we knew well enough to hold on tight!

In Jamaica overlooking the ocean with our friends...

A sunset from the ship. So magical to watch it on the ocean from a cruiseship.

Playing mini golf and goofing around...
`

Our favorite was laser tag. Our group had a few "incidents", but all in all it was a great rivalry!

One of the formal nights we had to get a picture, since we never get dressed up anymore.

`One of the entrances to the dinidng room.

Fun at dinner...

Friday, November 5, 2010

What honey wants, honey do

OK, so I have been comtemplating just ending my blog posting. I feel like it takes forever to upload pics and everyone is on FB anyway. But, my husband says he loves looking at it and showing it to people. So, if you are one of the few that still checks it out now and then, let me know and I will try to do better at keeping up.

I will post soon since we are getting our family pics back this sunday.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Into the new

The new school year has brought lots of new things. Katelynn is now in 1st grade and loving it, Brennon in preschool 3 days a week, and I am busy doing hair, Mom's club board, playing soccer, and having fun as always. Mckinley is growing up so fast and is now 7 months old.

A week ago it rained all day in Dallas and we got close to 10". There was flooding everywhere including on our golf course. We took advantage and went swimming in the puddles.

Mckinley is getting so big and is changing every day. She is sitting up really well and so fun to play with. I love this picture because it shows off how blue her eyes are. So fun!

It was super fun to be able to go to lunch with my brother, Troy while he is on his mission here in Texas. Right now he is in the next city over and it has been so great to be able to send him food, clothes, and anything he needs. What a stud!

More pics of my adorable girl!

She is also starting to eat solid foods. She's not sure what to think about it yet, but sure is cute and messy!

Big brother loves Mckinley and it is so fun that she can hold her own bottle now.

And we love that summer is still here and we can enjoy some great watermelon!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Trip pictures

We had a good time going to Austin and San Antonio with Matt on his work trip again. We are hoping to make this a tradition as I'm sure he'll have many more trips. On our way home we saw this car in the parking lot and had to get a picture of it. The bumper sticker says "I brake just for the hell of it!" I guess that's what he gets. Too funny!

In San Antonio we stayed at the Westin Resort. It was really nice and we got a room with a balcony and view of the city and hill country. Six Flags was really close and they had fireworks every night. So we had so much fun watching them from our balcony.

The pools were the best part. They had 6 pools and a water slide and waterfall. The kids loved to swim from pool to pool.

Katelynn was sick for one of the days, so we mostly hung out in the room. It was cute to cuddle in their beds as a family and just relax.

More pool pics...

Every night they let you roast marshmellows and have smores. It was fun to do right by the pool and then we went on a nature trail around the resort.

And more pool pics.... You can tell where we spent most of our time..

Even Mckinley loved relaxing at the pool...

I had to include water slid pictures as this was the highlight for the kids. I think they went down at least 50 times!

Here was the view from up on the hill. Matt and I were almost giddy to see tree's, hills, and views again. Not much of this in Dallas.

The top of the resort with a view.

In Austin we went to dinner with friends and then went to see the bats come out from this bridge. We missed sundown, but could still see them everywhere just flying around the bridge and emerging from underneath. I guess there are close to a million under there. So crazy!

Another shot from the bridge...

Daddy's girl also had a lot of fun in Austin!

Right before our trip we went to a water park, NRH2O. It was a blast and I was so glad the kids were able to do a lot of the slides and pools. Even Matt and I got to do some of the big slides.