{ H IS FOR HARTPENCE }: 2009

Thursday, November 26, 2009

{ fall update }

now that our household is finally healthy again, we are ready for the holidays! we've been back to our normal selves and this is some of the fun we've been up too...

{ santee tree lighting }

my little stinker!

"i've been good this year santa!"

my girls participated in the lighting celebration and looked beautiful in their gowns!

{ courtney's wedding }

loews coronado, ca

courtney was my first friend in preschool. we were best friends through k-8 and had a lot of fun dancing and growing up together. she had a gorgeous wedding!

{ boys }

hayden loves his buddy grant! two little toe heads...so darling!

hayden is learning to share his train table pretty well!

{ 7 black kittens }

i volunteer for a cat rescue and got a phone call from a shelter and told me they were going to euthanize a bunch of kittens that following day and were wondering if we could save them. animal shelters kill kittens and puppies 8 weeks and under because they just cannot provide for them-so sad. ricky and i looked at each other and immediately drove up to oceanside to rescue them. we brought home a combination of 19 baby kittens/moms that were divided up into several foster homes. we decided to keep the ones that didn't have a mother and had to be bottle fed every 3 hours! (felt like having a newborn again!) they are so sweet and best of all, hayden has had a complete blast playing with them! he calls them his "babies" and helps feed them, he will be a great big brother in the future! we are grateful to have saved so many lives and hope to find them all loving homes.

so cute! they will be getting fixed in the next few weeks. please let us know if you are interested in adopting any! they will look cute in a stocking for christmas!

{ fun at seaworld! }

trent visited from germany during a break from school and we took hayden to one of his favorite places in san diego. uncle trent took him on his first elmo ride! he wasn't sure at first but came off smiling. i think we're ready for dumbo at disneyland (going there is a few weeks!)

being silly

me, hayden, dad, trent & mom

looking at the clydesdales with grandpa

may you have a wonderful thanksgiving and spend it with those you love!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

{ little blue box }

it's little blue box time! i got my seasonal job at tiffany's and start today. it will be my 6th season working there through the holidays. i'm kind of excited to see all their new merchandise and of course, to wrap all of those sweet little blue boxes...

p.s. i thankfully survived the swine flu, but it's now turned into bronchitis! i do feel much better though! thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

{ swine flu }

(no, that's not hayden and you can't get h1n1 that way!)

dear swine flu,

can you please just go away?

how in the world did i catch you anyway?

i've been doing everything possible not to get you- washing my hands, hand gel galore, regular flu shot, even bought a state of the art uv-c light from costco that is supposed to kill all germs and bacteria including you! can you do me a favor and just go away? i mean, you aren't all that bad- i actually don't have a fever, i'm not even throwing up, but i just feel really crummy and don't want my son or husband to get it. i didn't believe the doctor when he told me i had you today, it's just what people "in the news" get!

so, can you do me a favor and just go away?

thank you.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

{ tune in! }

hey everyone! just wanted to let you know ricky and the family will be on { family feud } today! tune in to watch them today, 12th, 13th, 16th & 17th on channel 10 at 3:00 and 3:30. it will be re-airing in december, january and june 2010! the funny thing is i'll be reporting the traffic tomorrow and friday at 5 p.m. on the same channel so hartpence double whammy! so, sit back, relax and grab a bag of popcorn!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

{ viva la france }

we stayed the night in brussels, belgium and had the craziest morning of our lives trying to catch the train the next morning. we had an early 4-hour train ride to strasbourg, france to meet up with my family. turned out there were 5 different train stations in brussels alone and went to the wrong one! (with a combination of the hotel concierge directions and the gps, we were lost!) we still had to turn in the rental car, grab all of our gear (including car seat, stroller, etc.) hayden ended up throwing up on himself, language barrier (they speak french in brussels) not sure how it happened but we managed to get on a train to take us to the central station which happened to be the right train we were supposed to be on! just a few stops early, phew!

we had a compartment all to ourselves for a few hours and caught up on sleep. hayden loved the "Choo choo" and enjoyed sitting up with the baggage!

we made it! my parents and brother greeted us at the train station and we were on our way to explore strasbourg, france.

my brother, dad, mom and us

every city center seems to have a merry-go-round and hayden was all about it!

weeee!!!!!

{ cathedrale notre dam de strasbourg }

it had a "glockenspiel" inside and had a huge gorgeous stained glass window.

hayden loved when uncle trent and daddy swung and pulled him down the sidewalk!

a german cookie from trent that said "du bist super!"

the next day we traveled to colmar, france and we noticed there were a lot of people and commotion. as we got closer, we saw this-

the crowds, the bikes..."LE TOUR DE FRANCE!"

no way! we couldn't believe it! the tour was coming through in 45 minutes so we found a spot to watch the action...

we bought souvenirs ( the smallest kids shirt they had! can we say pj's?)

there were so many cars through the precession line. armstrong's car passed us and we couldn't wait to cheer him on.

the paparazi- the bikers are close!

they're here!

go, go go!

they are so close together and moving so quickly!

back-up bikes just in case...

we were so thrilled to have accidentally stumbled upon the tour de france. we cheered "armstrong" the entire time! even though he didn't win, we had a blast being part of the event in a little town in france.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

{ halloween }

from pumpkin patches to parties, we had a great { halloween! } who says you can only wear 1 costume? for our party we wanted to be spooky and dressed up as jack, sally and zero skellington from "nightmare before christmas." for actual trick or treating, we were on safari with our little adorable lion. ricky rehearsed with hayden knocking and then saying, "trick or treat," then, "thank you," and finally, "roar!" he nailed it! we made 6 stops to visit grandparents around san diego and hayden got lot's of treats that mommy and daddy will be sure to help eat (shhhh!)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

{ gorgeous ghent }

back to our europe vacation! i'm not sure if i'll ever get to the end! i'm going to show less pictures so it will go quicker.

after bruges, we headed to ghent where ricky lived and he even remembered where his apartment was! we found it and he was so excited!

ghent city center

we were starving and were over "fine dining" (that is all there is pretty much over there) and we saw the golden arches, and yes, we ate there! we were so disappointed with ourselves but it was totally different! different menu, a ton of desert selections, a nice change. the only 2 "fast food" restaurants in europe for the most part are mcdonalds and burger king. thats it. (no wonder people are in shape!)

mmmm....french fry

way more mcflurry flavors!

okay, my pet peeve about europe is NO ICE! they drink mainly hot drinks and don't understand why you need to have ice in your drink! i was mentally prepared for this but was hoping to quench my thirst with a cold soda... nope! room temperature! i have to say compared to when i was there 10 years ago, more places are serving ice on the side. (funny, huh?!)

not to mention no free refills period and ketchup is like $1 a packet!

ricky's name on a sign! we found mine later on the trip!

off to brussels to stay the night and then hopping on a train to france to meet my parents and brother!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

{ halloween chic }

you know you're a fan of october 31st when you own more halloween decor than christmas! we love halloween! ricky and i have always enjoyed it and even have 3 black cats appropriately named "salem," "jynx," and "onyx." We have an annual costume party and decorated back in september. this is what our home looks like right now-

welcome to the

{ hartpence haunted mansion }