Stewart Mania: August 2008

On Monday, August 18th, Scott "celebrated" his 10 year mark with the United States Marine Corps! I say "celebrated" because in traditional Marine Corps (Infantry) style he was at work all day long (6am to 7:30pm). So, I thought I'd share his commitment and accomplishment with family and friends to help him "celebrate"! I know I'm extremely proud of him and all that he has done and everything he is doing to make the USMC better (I know I'm biased, but he really is a Marine Corps stud! If you ever get to read his military bio, it's really impressive!). I get to see on a first hand basis what he sacrifices and how passionate he is about his Marines and their training. Believe me, the kids and I don't always come before his Marines, but I get it and understand, even if I don't always like it! But, that's what comes with being a military family, especially being married to a Marine like Scott. There's a reason the Marine Corps motto is "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." and Scott is a perfect example of the few and the proud! Way to go, Scott!

Welp, my mother-in-law has been giving me a hard time about updating the blog so I finally am getting my butt around to it. What can I say other then it's been a crazy month. It started off on a sad note, but life still goes on and so must we. Scott finally got his post-deployment leave (three weeks worth!) and we tried to cram as much in as we could! We went to the San Diego County Fair and Brennen & I rode an elephant for the first time! I will admit I was pretty scared to be up there, but Brennen had a blast so it was worth it.

Then we celebrated the Fourth of July by staying at home and relaxing with the kids! Scott BBQed some yummy steak and Brennen couldn't get enough of it!

See Grandma Karen! I'm wearing my pretty hat! :)

We then had a wonderful visit from my brother and his wife (just wish it had been under better circumstances, they had come down for my Uncle's funeral). This was the second time they've seen Brennen and the first time they saw Lindie! The kids were really excited to hang out with them and it wasn't too long before Brennen was screaming "Johnny!! Johnny!!" every 5 seconds! (Which was a nice break from hearing "Mommy! Mommy!"!! :) Thanks Uncle Johnny for being a human jungle gym!

And then we were off to Las Vegas!! We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, which is where the IDEA Health & Fitness Convention was held. I went to so many classes and was put through so many grueling workouts that by day 3 I could barely walk! Scott took care of the kids while I was in class and he did a great job! Well, except for the first day. I was leaving for class and I had told Scott the kids schedule and when to feed them, put them down for naps, etc. He didn't really listen and the kids made his head spin, so the next day he was grilling me about their schedule and even took notes! Needless to say, the rest of the week went alot smoother. :) After a week of re-energizing my brain (and thrashing my body!) we got to spend a whole day enjoying Vegas. We went to the Harley Davidson Cafe for lunch-

Visited the M&M Factory- Saw the Lions at MGM Grand...

And finished the evening with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe- YUM!

After Vegas our number one goal was to get Brennen potty trained!! So we set up his new potty and let him run around the house in his new "big boy" underware. Can I just say how much fun it is to potty train a two year old boy? He's so much more interested in his family jewels then actually going potty. It's gotten to the point that the only reason he'll go potty now is because it's the only time I don't yell at him to leave his junk alone! Not to mention how excited he was when he found out what he could do with the little opening on the front of his underware!! Agh, boys.

Now to the end of the month. Scott threw me a fabulous 30th birthday party! We decorated the house like a dance club, hired a DJ, set-up a dessert buffet, and had a bar with fun drinks. My favourite was the Dirty Christini. ;) I had so much fun and was so happy that all my good friends were able to make it and even my sister-in-law, Steph, who came in from Chicago!! I figured if I'm going to turn 30, I really want to have a good time doing it! My big wish of the night was to dance with my hubbie and thankfully Scott totally indulged me! Thanks Scott for spoiling me rotten!! :)

How we decorated the Family Room-

And last but not least, we also celebrated Scott's 28th birthday!! He's not as into birthdays as I am, so we celebrated by eating my leftover birthday cake. Oh, wow that makes me sound like a horrible wife! Don't worry, he thoroughly enjoyed his birthday presents and I'm pretty sure he had a great day. :)

So, the real reason I've been the biggest slacker about updating the blog this month... My girlfriend, Naomi, suggested this book that she thought I would like, so I went out and bought it, but finally got around to reading it after my birthday. I read it in less then three days (it's over 600 pages), and then read the second and third books (also 600+ pages), and then waited a couple of days for book #4 (over 750 pages), all of which I read in the space of a week. For those of you who have never heard of the Twilight Saga Series, I'm telling you now, I am as obsessed with this series as Harry Potter Fans are to Harry Potter. My poor husband and children were sadly neglected and left to fend for themselves (of course not really, but I think Scott would make you think that...) while I was totally consumed with the story of Bella and her true-love, a vampire, named Edward. It's probably a little pathetic how emotionally involved I am with this series and it's probably also a little sad that I've already got a count down to the movie coming out in December... 12.12.08 , oh well, what can I say? I'm a sucker for a good story.