Old Pictures

Old pictures too cute not to post :) Or I just wanted to remember them . . .

Was that cold???

I made the famous "Better Than You Know What" cake for our friends from Sydney who had never tried it before. It was a unanimous verdict. . . they ALL agreed with the name, especially Andrew's mom.

(Daddy is almost making the same face as Crew in the pic above :)

Crew way past ready for bed but not wanting to miss out.

Kickin it Gold Class style at the movies.

We've decided this is the only way to see a movie now that we have a little monster. Reclining seats, blankets, room service, ahhh it's the way to go.  

The little prince cashed out with his blankie and stuffed mouse. It makes me laugh how quirky a sleeper he is.

Mommy and Crew after an exhausting trip to the grocery store. Carrying him and all the bags makes for an interesting experience, too long to go into now that I'm all blogged out.

The famous Singaporean cinnamon bark Nativities. We had these made for family as Christmas gifts. They are hand crafted and absolutely beautiful. What a challenge they presented to get 5 of them from Singapore to Utah. . . again too long to go into. Let's just say airlines take no notice of the FRAGILE marked all over the container.

A personalized touch to the gift. . . unfortunately I forgot to have them leave it off the one we kept. Oops. :)

Goodbye America! (Last Week)

Our last week in America we got to spend some more time with Jer's family. It was so nice to see everyone. We love you and miss you. Can't wait till August. 

Girls night at the nail salon (Oh and little Crew :) Not sure why this picture looks so bad.

Crew n Granny. He just discovered the pleasure of sucking from a straw. . . ahhhh Thanks Bev for entertaining him while I got my nails done :)

Such a darn cute family! I can't get enough of that little JJ

Tah Tah and Brandon with their sweet little angel

Great grandma and grandpa Slavens

All the sistas!

Crew just adored Nan and couldn't get enough of her. Thanks for coming up to see us!

WE love you grandpa and Nan Redd!!!

Surprise Visit Home (Week 2)

It was especially fun to go home to Albuquerque and surprise the fam! Only my sister Tiffany and her hubby Dave knew we were coming so they picked us up from the airport and planned the big surprise dinner. They used Dave's promotion as a ploy to get everyone together. Although my other siblings didn't really get the whole surprise idea, it was classic to see the shock and surprise on my parents faces, that was worth it. We had such a great time staying with Tiffany and being around her kids and seeing Steve and Erin's kids, Matt and Monica's too. I couldn't believe Janna and Misty driving up from Colorado to come see us thank you! (Darren we missed you sorry you had to work.) Unfortunatley my brother Sam and his wife didn't make the effort to come to any of the family dinners while we were there so we didn't get to see their new baby or their other two children. That was a big disappointment. 

To everyone else it was great to see you, espeically all the cousins. We sure have a good lookin family!!! All the cousins are so cute! And growing up way too fast. We can't wait to see you next time, keep in touch!

Collin (Tiffany's youngest boy) and Crew were best buds right away.

So excited to see grandma and grandpa at our surprise dinner.

Janna and Misty thanks for coming all the way from Colorado! It was so fun to see you both.

Almost all the Albuquerque boy cousins.

This was a tribute to Jeremy. He loves nachos and I had never seen such an amazing platter as this! mmmm. .

The rest of the gang. Dave, Steve and Erin, Brigham and Ray.

We went to support cousin Lydia at her basketball game, Crew's first game! He loved watching the ball and even cheered with enthusiasm as the girls ran by.

Lydia (getting ready to shoot) was awesome and scored the majority of the points. Her team didn't win, the other team had a HUGE advantage (notice the little girl in blue and the not so little girls in white. . . )

Crew with Lydia, Erin and Brigham.

Yay naked cousin bath pictures! Crew and Collie-lolly (as I like to call him:) He was discreetly covering the goods since there were no bubbles for the job.

We had so much fun hanging out with Tiff and the kids. At the mall they had 5 or 6 different little mechanical rides that Crew absolutely loved! Kirra loved them too just as long as she didn't have to share it with Crew. Hence her scowl and stink eye.

Another wasted attempt to get a photo op of the two of them together. Kirra just didn't want anything to do with Crew, she just wanted to be a big girl all by herself.

Finally! How can you be grumpy in an ice-cream truck? As Kirra took our order of double decker mint-chocolatechip with wafer cones she forgot she didn't want Crew around. The magic of sugar and imagintaion.

Our last day dropping the older kids at school and saying farewell! Here are Tiffany's 6 adorable kids. We love you guys and miss you! (Collie-lolly can I have a snuggle???)

The flight to America!!! (Week 1)

I decided that with two holidays planned this month I better get myself caught up! The biggest event would be our 3 week trip to the states!!! We spent the first and last weeks in Utah spending time with Jer's family, and a week in the middle, spent with mine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The only bummer of the trip was that Jeremy and Daisy couldn't come. Other than that it exceeded my expectations! There's just something about being back in the good ol' USA! It was wonderful! Even though it took nearly 30 hours door to door and about 19 hours of air-time. Crew really did surprisingly well. Although it was hellishly long he didn't really cry or fuss. Unfortunately he didn't sleep either, but at least he wasn't screaming. Everyone kept saying how good a baby he is and how he is such a good flier. He was being quite the charmer waving to everyone and letting all the staff hold him. He was totally hamming it up. As they say, "What goes up must come down" by the time we made it to Seattle he crashed. I was so exhausted I didn't even know I had fallen asleep until I heard the pilot saying we were making our descent into Salt Lake City. Oh music to my ears! My arms were aching from holding Crew the entire time and I couldn't wait to use the facilites without lugging around an extra 20 lbs. :)  I sure love my little man and especially grateful he was such an angel!

Touching American soil for the first time!

(Sorta. . . this was taken in the SLC airport, Seattle was technically the first) 

Jer's mom was so sweet! When she picked us up at the airport she had a huge sign, balloons, flowers, and chocolates! Talk about a home-coming!!! It was awesome. We got a lot of stares and congratulations. (The sign said Welcome Home From Singapore) I wish I had a picture of that. We sure miss you! Thanks again for all you did for us while we were there! We LOVE you granny!!!

The first week was spent mostly recouping from the flight and a 15hour time difference. Crew and I would be awake from 9:30 pm- 3:30am and then asleep until 11:30 am. We weren't too much fun  and it made it pretty difficult to go out and do anything (Thanks Britt for coming to see us everyday!!!)  but we did manage to have lunch one day with Tah-Tah and the kids at Carl's Jr. It is a much more Ritzy experience in Singapore. Here it was just as ordinary as McDonalds. . . although it did have the perk of a play place. (Don't worry I've already been reprimanded for putting Crew in Chase's forward facing carseat. Between you and me, he may have been safer in this than in the borrowed one we were using.) 

I couldn't pass up on my first opportunity to take Crew into his first play place.

Classic! Not sure what to think about his first time down a slide.

I love my little angel! He sure looks cute in navy blue. Thanks JJ for letting Crew borrow your old winter clothes!

Cute birthday themes anyone?

Whoa I am down to just 2 months till my little baby will be one! ONE??? I can't belive how fast it has gone by! (AND I really need to update my blog with all our exciting happenings the past 2 months. . . but not tonight.)

Tonight I am in dire need of advice. I've been sitting at the computer googling for over an hour trying to find the perfect birthday theme for Crew's 1st birthday. Then I suddenly had an inspiration to ask the blogging world what would you do?

Any great ideas with pics??? I know for sure it's going to be outside by the pool and we're going to barbeque. There will be all ages of adults and children, swimming, eating, maybe some fun little games. . . And that's where the creativity ends. :) Your help would be awesome! Thanks!