Happy 30th Birthday Dustin!!!

For your birthday I wanted to take you on a trip...down Memory Lane. I dug through lots of old albums and scanned tons of pictures. I hope you enjoy your trip... You and Riley in late 1990. Where's the beach??

Christmas 1990. We were thrilled about the bikes...not so much the helmets.

Visiting the Clark's in American Fork, UT

Look who's 12! April 1991

Good times in the indoor/outdoor pool!

Check us all out in Idaho, waiting for the parade.

Halloween 1991 at the Montoya's. We LOVED going Trick or Treating with the Montoya's!

Christmas 1991

Aren't we so cute?!

You gotta love Dustin's troll doll in the pocket!

April 11, 1992 in Idaho

Dustin and I riding a quad at Mark and Verla Darrington's. So much fun!

Another visit with the Clark's April 17, 1992

All of us cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's July 20, 1992(...I was obviously having a no-good-very-bad-day!)

Halloween 1992 at the Montoya's again!

November 1992

December 1992, Disneyland

Christmas 1992 at Grandma and Grandpa's

Who doesn't love a puffy paint sweatshirt?? Honestly!

Visiting the Garrard's in Las Vegas (before we lived here). We were on that trampoline from morning to night when we visited!

Easter 1993

Grandma and Grandpa's June 1993

Huntington Beach, June 1993

Christmas 1993

One of my favorites! Tyler, Dustin, and I always had a good time playing in the bonus room!

Easter 1994. Check out Riley's face!

June 1994 at Grandma and Grandpa's

Hanging out with Brandon and Morgan in San Elijo, camping at the beach. Summer 1994

Time to leave!

Hanging out at the Taylor's in Idaho, with Brandon and Morgan.

November 1994

Christmas time at Disneyland, 1994

Fast forward to... The whole family at Disneyland in December 1995.

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's 1995

Another one of my fav's! Crazy water fight. We lived in Vegas now. June 1996

Dustin and I goofing around.

Sibling love...haha!

Our little drummer boy!

Dustin and Leah exchanging mints, June 1998. So cute!

Dustin and a very little Madison!

Dustin being Dustin.

Dustin, Leah, Madison, and Riley at Disneyland, I'm guessing summer of 1998.

Dustin and Leah camping at the beach. Hubba, hubba! haha!

Another one of my fav's (okay, so I have a lot of favorite's!)

Check out this guy! Camping at the beach, July 1999, just DAYS before Karley would be born!

This is a great example of one of Dustin's stances. Another one would be when he folds his arms and tucks his hands in his pits. haha

Dustin taking a nap with a very new baby Karley...SO PRECIOUS!!!

Fast forward to today and look at what a beautiful family you have and what a wonderful man you've become!!! Dustin, you are such a great father, husband, and brother!!! I have so many fun memeories of our childhood and I love making new ones with our little families. I hope you have a VERY HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, YOU DESERVE IT!!! Love you bro!!!

P.S. And you know if I had the money I would totally buy you a sweet drumset for your big day!

7 years ago today...

Frankie and I tied the knot! I can't believe it's been 7 years already! I'm so thankful for Frankie. I love watching him playing with our boys. I love that we still laugh so hard that we are sore. I love that he puts up with my craziness. I love that he works his butt off for our family so we can have all the things we want. I love his dedication to our little family. I LOVE YOU FRANKIE!!! HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY!!!
I thought I'd throw in some pictures from the big day. I don't love the pictures we had professionally done, so I only put a few on here. And the other pictures were taken before digital camera's were all the rage, so that explains the quality.

I now pronounce you husband and wife! I love this picture. We're laughing because I put his ring on the wrong finger! Hey, he gave me the wrong hand...so I blame him! haha!

This is my little Bradley. Wasn't he so handsome?! He had just turned 1. And Frankie was lookin' hott himself!

Another one of Bradley in his little tux. Aaaawww!

My Grandma and Grandpa Darrington...I love them soooo much!

This is my parents with the Clark's. They came all the way from Utah so Larry could marry Frankie and I. I love these guys!

This is just a random shot of my relatives, but I love it none the less.

I love my cousin's Bryan and Amanda!

We share our anniversary with my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Kurt, so we surprised them by playing their wedding song so they could dance together. So cute!

Hey ladies!!! All these lovely ladies are related to me!

My Grandpa, (a very tiny) Madison, and myself were gettin' our groove on! Darin was observing from the sidelines.

My Aunt Julie and my cousin Brandon...aaawww mother and son dance!

Morgan, Garrett, and Brandon just chillin' watching all of us gettin' crazy on the dance floor.

My Grandpa and I were dancing to a slow song when No Doubt's Hey Baby came on. Do you think we were going to stop dancing?? Heck no! That's when we really started shakin' it! My Grandpa's got some moves!

Brandon and I sharing a dance.

No cake fights at my wedding! Frankie knew the consequences...haha!

I love, love, love this picture of my dad with Bradley! Soooo cute!

There was A LOT of dancing at my wedding, but when us ladies had a little dance circle Dustin couldn't help himself. He got in the middle and let loose! That was THE BEST! It's still talked about to this day.

She's got legs! Frankie getting my garter. Naughty boy!

I LOVE YOU FRANKIE!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

The Happiest Place on Earth

At the end of February we were so excited to be going to Disneyland for the boys' birthdays. Wouldn't you know right before we left Landon ended up with croup. He hadn't been sick for a long time, so of course he had to get sick right before we were leaving. We weren't going to let it slow us down, and we headed out for our 3 days of Disneyland. Landon likes to play Bradley's GameBoy and calls it his "DS". That along with a few movies and we were there!

We only went to Disneyland for the last half of the day when we got to town. Landon was doing the whole bark-cough that comes with croup and it was driving me crazy. I felt SO bad for him.

After going on lots of rides we headed back to our hotel. Here's Landon playing his "DS" in bed while Brad watched.

He played until he just couldn't play anymore! Isn't this precious?!

My favorite part of our hotel was the balcony with the cool view of Disneyland at night. So once the boys were in bed Frankie and I would go out there and relax together. Frankie was wearing the robe that the hotel provided...so hott. Oh and I have to mention El Juapo (I probably spelled that wrong, but it's a Three Amigos reference). I kept calling Frankie El Juapo because he forgot to trim him 'stache before the trip so he sported this super thick one! We got a lot of laughs out of it. Good thing Frankie's a good sport!

Day 2 started at California Adventure. We went on Woody's 3D ride for the first time and LOVED it!!! And another one we never even knew was there is Soaring Over California- totally cool!

Landon was telling Frankie something really important on Heimlich's ride.

I rode with the monkeys on Casey Jr.

Landon was NOT happy about being the passenger...

...He wanted to drive! And Bradley was nice enough not to fight him for it.

We always take a picture in front of White Rabbit's door. I love these boys!

Knock, knock Mr. Rabbit!

On to day 3. We started out in California Adventure again. We love the little thing with Crush from Finding Nemo. If you've never done it, you HAVE to. It is so funny and cute. My boys were practicing their UFC moves while we waited.

I got them to stop long enough for a quick smile...and isn't it cute??

Landon really liked the Carousel. Can you tell??

Bradley and I went up into Tarzan's tree house while Frankie took Landon on the Jungle Cruise for the 100th time.

I LOOOOVE this picture of Frankie and Landon on It's a Small World.

And I loooove this picture of Bradley. He looks so old to me.

We had a really fun trip. I love Disneyland so much! Since I'm from Anaheim I was very fortunate as a child to go all the time. I think that's why I have such a connection to the Happiest Place on Earth. Just the smell alone puts me in a good mood. We got onto everything multiple times and didn't have to wait long. We did notice that it was busier than it usually is this time of year and that's because of the free admission on your birthday. Anyway, Landon was much better by the last day in the park. But then on the day we were coming home, I woke up with a fever! I'm all better now though. We also got to go visit my Grandparents which is always fun. But I'm bummed that I forgot to take a picture of them with the boys. Darn! Next time.

My Baby is 2!

Landon turned 2 on February 21st. It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since he joined our family. We are so glad to have him! I thought I'd write some things about my 2 year old.

-He LOVES his big brother! He does everything Bradley does (good and bad).

-He says everything (good and bad).

-Toy Story 2 and Shrek 2 are his favorite movies right now and he watches them over and over. Thank goodness I like them too or I might go crazy.

-He sings the Rhianna song Disturbia, "Bom bom bee dom bom bom bee dom bom..." and it cracks me up.

-He thinks he's really cool when he has his hands in his pockets.

-He's got killer dance moves. Seriously.

-He sleeps in a big boy bed now and thinks he is SO COOL. But that's 'cause he is.

-He goes pee on the potty and has even done #2 a couple of times.

-He loves tattoos. He's always got some on him.

-He loves to go to the gym playroom. And they love him. After being there for 2 hours we get in the car and he says, "Lets go gym, Mom."

-He loves his new black and white checkered Vans that we got him for his birthday and even will take naps with them on. He'll ask you, "Like uh my new shoes??"

-He is as stubborn as they come.

-He's got a temper. Watch out!

-He loves it when we read books in his Buzz Lightyear tent.

-He loves horses so we drive by and let him say Hi.

-He only naps for once a day for an hour and a half- bummer for me.

-He's the craziest, sweetest, most lovable little chunk of love!!!

He is such a special edition to our family. We couldn't imagine life without this little fellow. He keeps us entertained and on our toes. Happy 2nd Birthday Landon!!!

Landon Matthew Farina February 21,2007 Fresh out of the oven!
I had to throw this in here. Bradley was so excited!

Here's the little guido in a wife beater, hands in his pockets ('cause that's cool), tats, doin' a little dance. That's Landon.

Toopid Mow-on

Today I was watching Landon playing with some Spiderman and Sandman action figures in the playroom. He was making them fight. Then I heard him say to Sandman, "You bad guy. You toopid mow-on." If you can't figure out what that means, he said stupid moron. I couldn't help but laugh to myself because I'm totally guilty of him learning that phrase. That's because when I'm driving I say that a lot to all the toopid mow-on's that drive on the Vegas streets. This boy does not miss a beat. He keeps me on my toes constantly. As much as he runs me ragged, I'm glad he's not a boring kid. He definitely does not lack in the personality department.
Here's some pics of the little guy. This is him trying to drink the last of the yogurt.

Oh, I love the look on his face in this picture. He was vewy sewious about the yogurt situation. And I love that there's a ring of yogurt on his face.

Update

It's been awhile since I've posted anything new. (I think I start every post with that sentence.) So I'll just give a little update of what's been going on.
- Bradley is almost done with basketball- thank goodness. I'm glad he's trying new things, but I'm excited for baseball to start. And the 9am games every Saturday are cramping my style.
- Landon is going to turn 2 in a few weeks and I can't believe it. He is such a big boy. It just doesn't seem like it's been two years since he became a part of the family.
- Tomorrow I turn 27. I'm officially going to be in my "late 20's". I don't know how I feel about it. It's weird for sure. I don't feel like I've been out of high school for almost 9 years.
- I've lost 24 lbs. since November! It's been a lot of hard work, but so worth it. I look at going to the gym as a job. I don't make excuses not to go, I just do it. I LOVE the way I feel after an intense workout! I'm kind of addicted. I still want/need to lose more so I'll keep you posted.
- We're going on a Disneyland trip at the end of the month and I can't wait!!! We LOVE D-land!!! Landon will be able to enjoy it a lot more this year. He is OBSESSED with Buzz, Woody, BullsEye and anything Toy Story, so he's going to LOVE those rides. Let the countdown begin!
- I told you last fall that Frankie was 2nd in wine sales just before the Napa trip, but at the end of the year he was #1 baby! He sold over $80,000 in wine! I'll cheers to that! He also had the most covers (meaning he waited on the most people last year). He doesn't mess around, yo! At the Christmas party at his restaurant almost every (you know there's some haters, sippin' on that Hatorade) bus boy, kitchen worker, and other waiter's had nothing but the best things to say about him. I'm so thankful to be married to such a hard worker.
- I don't think I ever posted about this, but a woman opened her car door into my driver door in Bradley's school parking lot A MONTH AGO, and I'm still waiting to hear if the "investigation" is complete. Yeah, it's being investigated because this woman LIED and said I ran into her door. Impossible! Anyway, I refuse to pay because I know it's not my fault, so I have to wait to see if they deem her at fault. Whatever happened to accountability?? Argh.

Well, that's the update for now. I'm sure I'm leaving things out.

Brotherly Love

About 2 weeks ago we had just finished eating dinner and Bradley went and laid down on the couch. Landon got out of his high chair a few minutes later and walked over to where Brad was. Then Landon says to me, while pointing at Bradley (who had fallen asleep), "Mom, look uh Bradley. He s'eepin'..." Then in a sweet high pitched voice he says, "So coot (cute)." If that wasn't cute enough, then he climbs up next to him right in his face, and stares at Brad with his big blue eyes. He starts rubbing Brad's cheeks very soft and keeps whispering, "Bradley s'eepin'....so cute." It was SO STINKIN' PRECIOUS!!! You know I had to bust out my camera to catch the moment. Then he started hugging and kissing Brad.

Then he kept scooting closer and closer until he was practically on top of him.

Finally I had to remove him because he was trying to sit on top of him! This was definitely one of the cutest things ever! I showed Brad the pictures the next day and we got a good laugh out of it. These boys may fight, but at the end of the day they are each other's best buddy.