DAYS 523-528... Boise & Salt Lake City

I have been dying to blog!!! But it has possibly been the most insane and worst week of my life, so I didn't really have time until today. Don't be jealous when I tell you that up until last night I had slept about a total of 6 hours. The rest of my days this week were spent working!!!! It doesn't help that I have a bad cold and that the education department of Idaho isn't so well organized.... but now that's over with, I have a ton of hours for this month, and now I can blog!!!!

Last Thursday we packed up the car and headed to Boise with a few of my favorite girls in the world!!!! On a side note... Happy late Valentines Day (I threw up in my mouth just a little as I typed that) from the Madison Cheerleaders!!!

It was girls basketball state and Spencer and I had the wonderful privelege of hanging out with the girls for a few days while we cheered on girls basketball team on. We had a lot of fun! And the best part about it was that Ani Kate got to go swimming for the first time ever and she LOVED it!!!! I love the water (not so much putting on and wearing the swimsuit part) and I was super nervous that she would get scared. But our little brave bunny had a blast!!!

She also had fun in her first hotel room... The lucky duck had a bed all to herself. We had to build her a fort so that she wouldn't roll off, but I think she really enjoyed being spoiled.

Aniston was only a little obsessed with our bus driver... Creepy...

The AWESOME athletic director at the high school has been wanting to babysit and play with Aniston for a while. One of his boys is in my afterschool program and is super cute and fun and since he and his wife only have boys, they needed a little girly time. Ani got to spend a little cuddle time with him during the game!!! Cutest thing ever! The cheerleaders were dying over the cuteness of it all!!!

We rocked the games like we always do and we had a blast! We actually had a ton of compliments from people about how good the girls were, so that's always a good thing right?

After we lost on Friday (sad), we headed to Utah for the rest of the holiday weekend. Don't worry that Aniston had 5 massive blowouts in 24 hours and pretty much ruined all of her cute new clothes.... But she actually slept in the car most of the time and traveled really well. But she is still so cute!!!

Ani Kate got to play with my cousins....

Eat out....

Play with new toys...

Hung out with Great Grandma...

Got a new tiny stroller (since our big one is too big for our clown car)...

Got a Big Girl car seat...

Went shopping and got cute clothes...

So did Mom...

Started pushing herself up on her knees...

Tested out pole dancing...

And did a lot of sleeping!

The best part about this trip was introducing Aniston to new foods. Maybe this explains the blowouts... She tried...

BBQ Sauce...

Sweet & Sour Sauce....

Orange Juice...

And Pickles...

She also loves Red Robins Strawberry Lemonade.... But we didn't get a video of that one.

I love that this high school takes care of me and allows my family to join me on trips like this. Everything is better when you're family is there!!!!

 Look how cute!!!!

DAY 522... Once in a Lifetime

We all know of my intense hatred of valentines day (even typing it makes me throw up a little in my mouth... Puke) but I just couldn't resist....

DAY 520... A Moral Dilemma!!!

Since I graduated from High School I have always celebrated Lent. Not sure where I even heard of Lent or why I decided to participate, since I am not Catholic, but I have done it every year since. Every year I give up the same thing... Last year I failed because of pregnancy, and yes, i blamed my unborn child for this failure, but this year I am back to giving up soda and fast food. This year I have run into a dilemma. Another thing about me is that I do not celebrate Valentine's Day. Instead every year I graduated High School I have spent my Valentine's Day surrounded by the comfort of Taco Bell. Well this year Easter is at the end of March, which moved Ash Wednesday up earlier in the month of February and Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Well Ash Wednesday is the day before Valentines Day this year. SUCK!!! The day before?!?!?! Really?!?!? Do you realize what this means??? This means

I cannot go to Taco Bell on Valentines Day!!! 

My heart is totally broken. I'm so bummed! But lucky for me, I have an AMAZING husband who knows how much I value this tradition and got me Taco Bell for lunch today instead!!!!

No judging okay!!! Aniston has been sick and it finally hit me. So I've been laying low and taking all of 20 seconds to get ready for the day. But that didn't stop me from enjoying my DLT. (Doritos's Locos Tacos... And yes, I am that cool).

But here is my new favorite picture of all time!!!!

I was just wanting to take a picture of Ani next to the taco, but by the time I grabbed my phone she had grabbed the taco and put it in her mouth. My baby had her very first taste of TB today!!! Monumental Moment!!!! And in case you were wondering... she absolutely LOVED it!!!!

After I took it away from her (she was sooooooooooooo disappointed) I went to get something to wipe her face with and when I got back, my clever little lady had found something else to eat...

I can already tell that she is just going to LOVE Taco Bell and my heart is so extremely happy about this! Also, can we chat for a second about her blonde hair???? Where did that come from? She has a brunette mother and a ginger father.... I'm crossing my fingers that it darkens up!!! I so badly want her to be a mini me!!!!

These pictures have absolutely nothing to do with Taco Bell, but they're just adorable!!!

My little gangster and her Daddy! Aniston's new favorite thing is to suck on her lower lip... It's pretty cute when she does it... Spencer, not so much. But I love them both so it's okay!!!!

Good luck to those of you who are choosing to celebrate Lent this year!!! Is good luck the right thing to say? Probably not. Oh well!!! Peace out!

Things I Love... Take 2

I have decided to share some more of my favorite things!!! Now, I'm probably one of those people who uses the word "love" too much, but there are just so many cool things in the world that I just cannot seem to get enough of! So here are 4 of my new favorite things!!!!

Puffs with Lotion & Vicks. Why have I never used or even seen these before? We have been quite sick here in the Ahlstrom household. Lots of runny noses, yucky coughs, and naps. Lots and lots of naps! But let's be honest, there is absolutely nothing worse then when that space between your nose and your upper lip gets red and dry and burns with every wipe of the nose! These tissues are not only insanely soft and smooth because of the added lotion, but with that touch of Vicks they bring instant relief. Granted it's only temporary, but it is HEAVENLY!!! If you are stuffy and runny, don't even think twice about running to the store and picking up these babies! You will not regret it!

iPhone 5. Spencer and I finally jumped on the iPhone bandwagon and we are never looking back! We are so in LOVE with our new phones! We also switched phone company's .. After 13 long years with Tmobile (I have been with them since they were Voicestream, does even remember that they use to be called that????) but they let us down one too many times. I would never suggest anyone using Tmobile, but that's my opinion. But let's be honest... I am always right. Anyway these phones are AWESOME! They are clean and easy and sharp! I'm not having any trouble adjusting because I actually used my iPod more than my old phone, so I already know my way around the appleness of this phone. The camera is amazing and I just cannot say enough about how great this phone is. PS - If your super cute baby is so the wallpaper on your phone, then you are just not cool.... Plus this makes it really easy to show her off to people when they ask about her.

Aniston's Little Ponytail. Okay so this isn't something you can buy, but I am in love with it and cannot get over how cute this tiny ponytail is! Plus I really just needed to post pictures of Aniston. I always wondered about what kind of hair she would have or if she would have any at all. My niece Cortney didn't really get hair until she was like 18 months old, and even though Spencer and I were both born with plenty of hair, you just never know. But it's coming in thick and it's getting long!!! Cutest. Baby. Ever!!!

 Ani Kate had just gotten in trouble for pulling Mom's hair (her favorite thing to do) so she was feeling a little ashamed. Possibly the cutest picture ever!

 Ani came and helped decorate for the Sweethart's dance at the high school Saturday morning and she discovered a LOVE for balloons!

All bundled up and ready to go outside! Look at that little curl!!! So cute!

It Works Body Wraps. Okay so I'm just going to make this short and sweet because I am going to do a much larger post about this in the future. Spencer's cousin introduced us to this system and so far so good. I am drinking close to 2 gallons of water a day so I have to pee like all of the time, but I am seeing results. Typically you don't see the maximum results until 72 hours after using the wraps, but I'm sitting somewhere between 24 and 48 hours and already I've lost 4 inches around my waist. Kind of crazy! But kind of cool. It's really the lazy man's weight loss. But it just comes down to the fact that I don't have enough time in the day to get in everything I need. After cheer state I should be good to dedicate more time to myself, but that's not for another month so this will work for now.