CHAREE'S BOYS: March 2014

One year older and wiser too! Right? I don't know about that, but I did have another birthday! 33 to be exact. It was a good one! My sister came first thing in the morning and spoiled me rotten with balloons, this HUGE donut and other gifts. My dear friend Cheri took me to lunch at the Pizza Factory. My FIL came down and took us all to Denny's for dinner and a fun ole game of cosmic bowling at Boondocks. I had texts, calls, facebook messages, and friends and family come drop off sweet gifts through out the day. My sister brought me subway lunch the next day too even. If that isn't love, I don't know what is. I wasn't sure if I would like my birthday as much here....down south...(being new and all)...but that wasn't the case. I was taken care of, and very well at that! Yay for Birthday's, Boo at gray hairs! ;)

My BIG and HUGE donut from my sister. It was yummy too!

Cheri and Charee at lunch!

Grandpa Mc came down to play...with a puppy too.

Cosmic BOWLING!

Who was the winner here? THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!! (with bumpers that is..;)...)

My cards, gifts and balloons.

A couple days later, I went out with some gals from the neighborhood. We were saying goodbye to sweet Shelise Lowe. (My new neighbor across the street.) She was one of the main reasons we moved into our house, we liked her. Now she is leaving. BOO! She has been an amazing neighbor and I was so lucky to have her for the last 6 months that I did. She really took care of me and my family.

Our dear and such wonderful friends (for over 11 years) the Robinson's invited us to come on vacation with them. Ummm hello, YES we will go!!! They go yearly to these beautiful Villa's in Palm desert, Cali. and they decided to invite us to tag along this year! YAY!! Marriott at Shadow Ridge to be exact. It is a NICE place...like NICE! $500 a night to stay here, and yes...it was free for us! UMMM, super NICE! This place is a vacation club. It is kid friendly with lots to do for the whole family. The kids had a blast, and we had a blast watching the kids....and of course in general had a BLAST! A wonderful family vacation. We were so thankful for such a wonderful opportunity to go.

The drive to and from Utah to Southern Cali wasn't really all that bad. The kids had their moments, but in general were amazing. Movies helped! ;) We stopped half way to stay the night (to and from) at different hotels to break it up a bit. When we got to the vacation club we were in aww! The view from our villa's balcony was amazing. I could sit out there all day and ALL night. It was breathtaking. The days all ran together with fun and goodness. The pictures here are in order but seem random and don't do it justice. We pretty much woke up each day, ate, went to a different pool. (7 choices!!) Relaxed in the WARM sun surrounded by palm trees (with margaritas or pina's in hand), flowering trees and humming birds galore and played. There were wild rabbits all over too. They were soo darn cute. We ate in our Villa for all the meals pretty much and yes, ate like crap because our excuse was "we are on vacation...we can!" Right? Ugh, we payed for it after. ;) Anyways, we played in the kids clubhouse, where they had an arcade, movie theater, and all sorts of activities that went all day long. The kids rode their scooters around with all their friends. We all were so tired by the end of the night, but it was so worth it. We still put the kids to bed and watched movies/chatted, ate popcorn, ice cream and brownies with our BFF's til late. What fun! This is what vacation is all about, to get away from it all for a bit. The kids REALLY didn't want to come back, and we didn't either...but work and school are a must...darn it! Boo! Until next time.

In the car on our way....(we rented a car)