New York

Well we feel like the luckiest people on the face of the planet! My brother Bryan, his wife Mary, and their daughter Abby (who is 3 weeks older than Valerie) live in New York City and are moving in about a month. We decided if we wanted to go visit them while they live there now is the time to go. We stayed with them and Mary showed us around town. We had SO much fun hanging out with them and seeing the sights of New York. We did everything from the Statue of Liberty to Times Square, and even got to see Phantom of the Opera! I took TONS of pictures so it was really hard to just pick a few to post. I hope you enjoy them!
Mary, Abby, Me and Valerie on the Brooklyn Bridge
Playing with toys

Attacking each other
Brandon getting punched out by Rocky
Brandon's brother Adam was also in New York and we meet up to hang out one day.

Dinner with Bryan, Mary, Abby, and us.

You can't go to New York and not eat Cheesecake!!
We went to the M&M store. I wanted to buy some until I saw that they cost $10.99 per pound!

We tried to get in to see the Late Show but it didn't work out. Next time for sure.

Val being cute

This is a little Chinese Food place that we ate at

Sleepy heads!
Central Park

Row Boats at Central Park

Cute cousins!! Valerie had a blast playing with Abby. They loved pulling each others hair!

This is the American Museum of Natural History. You might recognise it from the movie "Night at the Museum"

Brandon and Valerie in Times Square

Valerie got her pictures taken about a month ago but I couldn't post them because we gave them to our Moms for Mother's day. So now I can finally post them. I just think she is the cutest stinking thing ever!!!

My baby is sick!! :(

This is her very sad "I don't feel good" face

Valerie had her first fever ever yesterday and I felt SO bad!! She felt warm in the morning when she woke up and I took her temperature and it was 100.4 I thought she might be teething so I decided not to panic and take her right in to the doctor. When she woke up from her afternoon nap her fever had jumped to 102....yep I freaked out. I called the doctor and got her in right away with a different doctor in the practice. I actually ended up switching to her as Val's regular doctor because I liked her much better. They took Valerie's temperature and the first time it said 103 and the nurse said "uh oh that cant be right...if it is we have to send you straight to the hospital".....yep freaking out even more!!! She did it 2 more times and both were about 102 so thank goodness we didn't have to take her to Primary Children's! The doctor swabbed Val's throat which was traumatizing for her...I felt so bad. Then the worst part, she had to do a catheter to get a pee sample to test for a bladder infection. Valerie SCREAMED the whole time......Worse than when she got her immunization shots a couple months ago! It came back positive. POOR VALERIE!! She has a bladder infection! I can't stand seeing her sick it is horrible! She is not acting like herself at all, she is so mellow and sleeps a TON. She never laughs or smiles at me anymore. I hate it! When she is awake I hold her and rock her and sing to her the whole time because I feel so bad. Brandon gave her a blessing last night and I just sat there crying, I just had such a helpless feeling. I am sure the blessing will help and we also got a perscription for an antibiotic so hopefully she will be back to her smiling self way soon.

I have turned into THAT girl!!

You know the one I am talking about, the one that has a baby and then completely lets herself go. I am officially her!! The one that we all swore we would not become. The one that wears pajamas all day long and only shaves her legs when she has to. The one that has gotten so use to not wearing makeup that it doesn't even phase her to leave the house without it anymore. The one that tries to see how long she can get away without washing her hair and sometime goes 4 days without even showering. The one that no longer gets dressed up to go anywhere unless it is a special occasion, and by dressed up I mean jeans and a shirt that has actually been washed since the last time she put it on. The one that doesn't even remember her last pedicure and is lucky to even have polish on her toes. The one that spends WAY more time on the couch watching TV than doing any kind of housework. The one who swore she would not let herself become fat after having a baby and now cant seem to get the motivation to get her fat butt off the couch and exercise! I don't think my poor husband knew what he was getting himself into when he married cute skinny little me. I have turned into a monster, completely let myself go, and abandoned all self care and logic! Quite often lately I have looked at my husband and thought how lucky I am to have him and how HOT he is...he still has it!! I stopped to wonder the other day if he ever looks at me and thinks the same thing...or if he ever will again. The moment I knew I hit rock bottom: This morning when I told Brandon that it was my GOAL to start brushing my teeth every morning and not only when I am going to leave the house!!! Who has a GOAL to brush their teeth?!?!? Everyone just does it...apparently everyone but me. I guess I am going to have to step it up and make myself get dressed in the morning and brush my teeth, put makeup on my face and have a big happy smile and a kiss for my poor husband when he gets home from work. Maybe then he will get a small glimpse of the cute girl he once married and forget about the old hag I have become.