Valentines Day

AAHHHH Valentines Day! Im not so much a fan of this day other than it is a great excuse to eat a lot of chocolate and make some yummy treats...AND that is EXACTLY what i did!

Preston got a BIG OL' KISS from him mama and a special cupcake with his initials on it...


I tried using silicone cupcake molds for the 1st time and was not too impressed with the results, AND i was way too tired to care about decorating them too well.

These were cherry chip flavored cupcakes filled with buttercream frosting, then dipped in a glaze and decorated with regular vanilla frosting.


These are lemon cupcakes filled with lemon frosting and dipped in an almond glaze.


With the extra batter i made regular cupcakes. I was a "over" the cupcake molds, ha ha ha.


... a close up...


Even though they were not the best looking snacks, they sure tasted good! Preston actually ate the entire thing, not just the frosting like usual!


Hope u all had a great Valentines day.

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Preston is 4!

Yesterday my big boy turned 4! AAHHHH!! I can't believe it! Where have the past 4 years gone? I feel like we just brought him home from the hospital yesterday, now he's getting ready to start preschool! :(



On Wednesday we had a little party for him at daycare. Pinata, pizza, cake and all! Unfortunatly I had to work so i was not able to get any pictures of him and his friends celebrating :(



This is the cake i made him...surrounded by home made donuts for breakfast (i also made these).



When we got home there was a package from is Aunt Ashlee and Uncle Jeff. I walked into the back room to change and when i came back to the kitchen, he had a fork and was stabbing away at the tape. To say he was a little anxious, is a SERIOUS understatement!



Some of the party stuff...



After the daycare party, and after I got off work, we headed over to Chuck e. Cheese for a small birthday bash with a few friends. I was a little nervous to be shut in a room with that many kids and that many loud games, but it was actually much calmer than i had anticipated. AND it was a lot of fun!



Preston, Jackson and Parker were in heaven playing all the games. This was a whole new experience for Preston, so he payed close attention to the other two boys who were pros!



Ethan found a "phone booth" and spent a good 5-10 minutes having a conversation with Mr. Chuck E. Cheese... :)



Preston played a little b-ball, but i think he is still a little too short to be super successful at this game...



Ethan rode the carisal, and waived hello...



There are a few simulated roller coaster rides at C.E.C. When i asked Jackson and Parker what the ride was called, they replied "we don't know but it gives us a good massage!" Ha ha ha! I love what these kids come up with! They had me laughing all night!



Preston enjoyed a little roller coaster riding of his own.



Tickets, tickets, tickets... the key to getting the good toys at the end of the night.



Life on the big screen...



Dinner time: Pizza and soda. YUMMY, what kid doesn't like pizza?? Preston didnt want to finish all his food, so Jackson told him to plug his nose while he chewed and then he wouldn't taste it and would be done before he knew it...then he could have dessert! Jackson then demonstrated with a olive, because he "doesn't like olives". Like i said, these boys kept me cracking up all night.



BBRRRRR this ice is C.O.L.D.!!!



CUPCAKES!!! We mixed it up a little since he had cake at daycare earlier that day. My favorite flavors were the Black Bottom Betty and the Lemon. YUM



Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..... make a wish!



Ethan eating his vanilla cupcake...



Parker and his chocolate cupcake...



Presents!!...this boy is SOOOOOOO spoiled



Preston in his Iron Man helmet...



Mommy and the birthday boy... What a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!



Happy Birthday Preston Barrett Walling!! We love you!!

New Years Eve & Day

It's New Years Morning, we're up at 8am, struggling from the previous late night out. After breakfast, baths, and torturing the boys for 10 minutes to get the below photo, our little family hit the road and headed to the Las Americas outlets.


The boys were surprisingly good ( i think the outlets are hell on earth to these boys), so as a treat they got to go on a few of the rides.


I think Preston was watching the other shoppers a little too closely at J. Crew, because i caught him checking himself out in the mirror...SUPER cute!


After shopping, we all went home and relaxed (it was much needed), then Price and i went to our friends Zack and Lindsays house to get ready to go out.


The soon to be Bride and Groom!!!


Price and Zack met about 4 years ago while they were both stationed on the USS Peleliu. Zack is still stationed on the ship and just recently (2 weeks ago) got home from a 6 month deployment.


Lindsay moved down to San Diego from Sacramento while Zack was deployed and she and i have become pretty good friends.


Zack (who decided to role play and say he was from New Jersey) kept us cracking up on the cab ride to dinner. I think the cab driver thought we were NUTS!!


Yummy dinner at The Yardhouse, Price looks really drunk but i swear he wasn't, i think he was only on his 2nd drink of the night. Here I was introduced to my new best drinking buddy...a little blue beauty by the name of "Adios MF" I'll abbreviate it so as to not offend anyone.


Complimentry New Years Eve feathered tiaras...


The newly reunited couple...


Our little family on New Years day...like the beard?? Price is pretty proud of it!


We hope everyone had a fantastic 2010 and hope 2011 brings many more wonderful adventures!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee

NYE -"EVE"

YAY!! My company was so kind as to give all of us Friday Dec 31st off. So Thursday night Price and I went out with a friend of his from school and his wife (who just happen to live in S.D. also). Our outfits dont actually match but in this picture they seem to...i like to pick out clothes for Price, but i SWEAR i would never make him match me in public :)


Preston, like his mommy, loves pictures and wanted to be included. He didnt care that he was half naked :)


Prices friends chose the restaurant, and i'm so glad they did, because it was YUMMO! It was a place called "The Linkery" in North Park. It's a trendy, little, farm-driven cuisine restaurant. I love that everything is local and fresh. They have al the meats and produce on display and the kitchen has large windows so you can watch them make youre food right when you order it!


As you all know, i love taking pictures, but i didn't want to embarrass Price in front of these people i was meeting for only the second time, so sadly I kept my camera stashed in my purse. But i went online and pulled a few snap shots off their website. We did not get either of these meals, but the food we orded was very similar. The 3 of them started with sausage tacos (i has a bite and LOVED it), i had a baked goat cheese. Then for dinner, i had gnocchi, Price had a chicken sandwhich, John had a burger and Nicole had lamb stew. Dessert was a carmel and chocolate swirl cake and fresh pressed coffee!


UUUMMMMM....DESSERT!! (desert with 2 "s" because you always want more! - as my mom always says)


After dinner we had 12:30am (yes, 30 minutes after midnight) reservations at whats called a "speak easy". It is a bar hidden in the back of a restaurant. When you go get there, you have to go down a hallway towards the bathroom and push on what looks like a bunch of kegs stacked ontop of eachother. The wall opens up to a very tiny bar (so small i think it only holds 35 people!)...


Another "trendy" place...their bathrooms are even fully decorated...like the white buck head above the sink???


The back wall (from top to bottom and side to side) is completly covered in gold painted monkey skulls (im hoping fake)...


A downloaded off google pic of the bar...


The ceiling is pretty cool and they have a huge chandelier in the middle which looks awesome because the place is only lit by candlelight...


Another downloaded google pic...The Bartenders...the guy with the trophey is "The Master" and has made us A-mazing drinks each of the 3 times weve been there...

If you're ever in San Diego, make reservations, and check this place out!!

We made it home by 4:30 am and got about 4 hours of sleep before heading out for New Years Eve...another good night!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee