happy 10th birthday Trae!

Can't believe our oldest is in the double digits now and starting the 5th grade in 3 days! Where does the time go? I know Sam really feels old today!

We are truly blessed to have such a caring, respectful and handsome young man in our family and a great role model for Jaelen. We love you Trae-Trae! Love, Daddy, Ali & J.J.

if you don't know, now ya know...

If you don't know my husband and my in-laws, they are uber-baseball fans. They travel near and far to catch baseball games of all ages. Knowing them, it wouldn't surprise you to hear that they took a two week father-son-grandson summer vacation to Omaha, Nebraska to watch the College World Series. It was truly a trip that they'll never forget and a kind of a coming of age trip for Trae. Just Papa, Daddy and Trae in a hotel for two weeks, living off PB&J's and fast food, watching game after game after game.

I even took in some of the action for about 5 days -- but of course, I made them take me to a real sit down restaurant with waiters and no self-serve beverages and take me to the mall at least. I mean -- I do love sports more than the average woman but c'mon...I got to mix in some shopping and good food too!

Lucky enough, we got to cheer on the Champion Fresno State Bulldogs which included two players that Doobie (Sam) coached two years ago. One of them even got the MVP honors of the CWS. After the game, Trae looked at him so bright-eyed you'd think he was looking at Barry Bonds!

Best part about the trip is we got to celebrate Peanut! I broke the news over the phone while Daddy was in Omaha so I had to follow it up with a smooch. (I know, I know -- most of you probably threw up in your mouth a little.)

very happy anniversary to us...

May 12th, my sweetie and I celebrated our first anniversary together! As the second chapter (year) in my life began as Mrs. Sam Nichols, (btw, the first was the best year of my life) I was given the best gift of all -- the gift of life. After trials and tribulations of trying to get pregnant, we conceived our little peanut on or around our first anniversary.

Here's how the news unfolded with my hubby about the conception date:

"If I had known I was going to give you that on our anniversary, I wouldn't gotten you that camera..."

Here's how the news unfolded with my hubby on the baby due date of February 13th:
"Cool, guess I don't have to get you a Valentine's Day gift!"

So he's a little more practical than romantic... I still love him!

Here's our peanut at 8 weeks. He wasn't even as big as a peanut at this point but thriving with a super strong heartbeat! YEAH!!!

case closed...

The case is officially closed on the criminal who broke into my car and stole my personal belongings. After great detective work by my Aunty Joyce, the (paid) detective was able to put a strong case together for the DA. The female assailant that I i.d.'ed in a line up plead guilty to a felony charge and was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 3 years of probation. Here's to hoping her cellmate was "Big Bertha." Oh yeah, and her boyfriend plead guilty too along with some other criminal charges. Guess those two belong together. They can be pen-pals for awhile.

back from hiatus...

Just like every great t.v. show, I needed a hiatus (okay, so I'm pumping myself up a bit) -- but I'm back. So many fabulous things happened this summer so I'll try to catch you up to speed. P.S. The Hills makes it season debut tonight too -- but my life has way more drama. Stay tuned...