Surprise! It's a....

Ok, so I may have failed to mention to many of you that I'm pregnant. I am 19 weeks along, and it has been so crazy that I just have not had time, internet connection, or many cell phone minutes to make the big annoucement. Not to mention the move and puking my guts out every day! In fact we just found out the sex of the baby yesterday and I'm having another girl! I have never ever been right about what I am having and I wasn't right this time. I was thinking it was a boy, but a las there was nothing dangling between her little legs. When I was explaining to Gianluca (who wants five brothers) that I was getting an ultrasound, I said if we see on the picture a little weener (I'm not sure what the correct spelling on that is), it's a boy, if not its a girl. He said "I want a picture of a weener!!!" I told him he probably shouldn't be going around saying that to other people! Needless to say we don't have the picture he wanted. He's super disappointed, but I'm sure he'll get over the fact that girls are whiny and cry and scream all the time! Okay maybe not. Joel and I are not sure we can handle another bi-polar girl. Allegra's mood swings are crazy! I think I need a prescription for mood swings stat!

Other than the fact that I'm prego, we've been running around like a bunch of chickens! In the last three months we've moved back to Texas, lived in temporary housing for 2 1/2 months, driving Gianluca to and from school or the bus stop, bought a house, tried to unpack as much as possible, had my mom come to visit for a few days, and now Joel's parents and brother are here for two weeks. I don't have pictures of Halloween, since my camera died and the charger was packed away in some unknown box, and well-- We are just a bunch of crazy Gypsy's!!!

Gianluca has tons of boys his age on our street and poor Allegra went from having 4 girls to play with on our old street to basically no one her age! She's pretty sad, but loves to play with her toys and keep me company. She is so excited for the new baby.

Anyways, just thought you'd like an update! Miss all of you back in Idaho and Utah like crazy!!!

Back to Texas

Well, it's official! We are moving back to the Woodlands. This last year and a half has been a crazy roller coaster ride! I did not want to move out to Utah at all. I loved the Woodlands, loved my friends who were like family, I didn't want to leave. But Joel was miserable in his job and had a chance to do something he loved! Plus being close to family made the move worth it. I can't say I love living in Utah. It just doesn't feel like home to me, but I do love the summers and the mountains. I made some great friends while I was here too. And many of them saved my life while Joel worked two weeks on, two weeks off. It's a hard life style, but I got used to being a single mom half the time. I truly loved being able to do all of the little family get togethers with my family, things I couldn't when I lived thousands of miles away. That was amazing! I have an amazing family. We are all about 4-5 years apart and yet we are all close. I will miss them very much! Gianluca and Allegra will miss their cousins like crazy! It's time to get skype I suppose!

For the last year Gianluca has really struggled without Joel around, well it's hard on everyone. And Joel missed out on all of the every day stuff. He missed our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Gianluca learning to ride his bike... stuff that means a lot. He truly loves his job, but wanted to be with us. So we prayed to find something he would love and that would bring home to us every evening. Soon enough his trainer from Halliburton called him up to apply for a job to train people to be drilling fluids engineer's on the oil rigs. He flew out two weeks ago and interviewed and got his offer yesterday. He is so happy he found a job that is not a desk job and that is also a huge step up in his career. He will also be home every day!!!! We are thrilled! Right now we are ironing out all the details, but we will probably be moving in 2-3 weeks. Crazy right!!!! Luckily we have a company moving us! So if you need any enticement to come visit check out The Woodlands website and you'll see why we love it there!!! I'll keep you posted.

Swagger Wagon

OK, I know you've seen those Toyota Sienna commercials where the mom thinks she's all that driving a mini van. I know, you fellow mini-van owners have been getting ready to go on a date with your hubby or go out with the girls and you look in the mirror and think "I'm looking pretty hot tonight" then you get in your van and it totally kills any hot vibe you were feeling about yourself. So when I saw these commercials I cracked up! I love that they make fun of us, or celebrate us, what have you. I know I was never thrilled to purchase our van, but I will say it is super practical, easy for the kids to get in and out of, and yeah when I can go faster than some guy in his souped up car, I do feel pretty cool.... until I remember what I'm driving. But hey, it's nice to pretend! Enjoy the following video!

Allegra's Birthday

My Baby is four years old! I can't believe it! Allegra is an awesome girl! Here's just a few things I love about her:
1)She is super silly! She is really funny.
2) She loves to make new friends.
3) She's very feminine.
4) She is very sweet but can have a fiery temper! (Wonder where she gets that from?)Maybe she's bipolar?? Hummm... I think all girls this age are.
5) She runs like a granny. Seriously, she is uncoordinated. It is so cute!
6) She plays great by herself.
7) She is very caring.
8) She loves to put her stuffed animals and dolls to bed. She lays them on pillows and covers them with blankets. It is adorable.
9) She loves to dress up and put on make up. I am in trouble!
10) She got "married" to her friend Luke and they kissed on the mouth five times!!! Good thing that boy moved to Reno!
11) She loves to lay in bed and "read" books to herself. So cute!
12) She thinks her name is Allegra Maggiora Mabrina. It's actually Allegra Sabrina Maggiora. We call her Mabrina now.

Anyways, the list could go on and on! Joel was working out on the rig on her actual birthday, so we went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point to celebrate her big day. We had a visitor from Italy (Rossella) visiting for two weeks so she came along. Joel met Rossella in Italy on his mission and we loved having her stay with us.



The Wagon Ride


Lunch

Crazy Alpaca! Joel wants to raise these and sell their wool.

Allegra loved feeding the animals.

She wanted a green cake.

Gianluca playing at the water structure at Thanksgiving Point. That thing was awesome!

Dress like a cow and get a free meal day at Chick-fila. Rosella said "Only in America" would people do something like this! :)

THE PRINCESS PARTY

Allegra loves Disney Princess ever since we went to Disney World this year. She has about 5 dress ups that we got for an awesome deal at Kid to Kid and she is constantly putting them on. We waited for Joel to come home before we had the party. Allegra had about 7 girls come and it was so fun! First up was decorating their crowns, then princess makeovers, a dance party, musical chairs, and then cake and opening presents. Lots of Barbies for presents. Side Note, she calls Barbies, Darbies. So funny. It was so much fun!


Some of the Princesses

Joel's fresh off the rig and me with no makeup. Looking good huh!

Joel painted her nails

Now the lipstick

And eyeshadow

Voila!

Allegra's best friend Allie

More princess fun

My Masterpiece! This took three seperate cakes! And lots of frosting!

Taste's yummy!

Good Times, Good Times!

More Disney Fun!

Here we are at our favorite beach in the world, Clearwater Beach. My family couldn't get over its white floury sand and crystal clear water. We ended the day by eating at Frenchy's
(known for it's yummy grouper sandwiches) and watching the sunset on
the beach. The kids didn't want to leave, so we decided our next family
trip will be to a beach next time.

This was our character breakfast with Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. It was a lot of fun.

Here we are at Disney Hollywood. This was also a blast, but if you are only going to go to one park, I don't recommend it. They Toy Story rides are fun and we also got to meet Micky Mouse,
but I don't have a picture of that for some reason. Oh andGianluca got lost again at this point making it a grand total of... ok just two times. Calvin was officially assigned to keep track of him at all times.

Here are some pictures of the girls meeting the princesses. I think the hour
long line was worth the wait. The girls were thrilled! It was so fun to
watch them!

We spent our last two days at Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We went to Animal Kingdom on
Mother's Day, which I'm not sure was such a great idea because it was
hot and miserable which made Allegra hot, miserable, crying, tired, and
wanted to be held all day! We didn't even make it to Mt.Kilimanjaro, Nemo, or Lion King. It was just plain crazy! We ended the day with a nice Mother's Day Dinner at the hotel because we were all too exhausted to do anything else! Maggie and Norberto came to join us for dinner.

Epcot was our last day and the entire day was a blast! It was a Monday so it
was not super crowded and it was kind of breezy as I recall. We all
loved going to "Under the Sea" where we got to talk with Crush the
turtle and he actually called on Reilly,Caden (Caydon as Crush pronounced it) and Shauna (Sha-na) their mom (Ryan's wife). It was super funny. We loved going to all of
the countries and trying out the different foods (By the way the
Japanese food was really expensive and crapy meat! But when we got the funnel cakes in America it made up for all of those grissely bits of chicken!), and the light show at the end was fabulous. Perfect end to a wonderful trip. I can't wait for the next one! I better start
saving my money now! Mom and Dad, thanks for helping us all out with
renting the cars and the $1,000! We love you!

Mutton Bustin

Saturday was South Jordan's Country Fest day. It was so much fun! Since Joel was out of town I hung out with my good friends Beka and Kent Madsen and their three kids. We went to the parade where the kids got way to much candy, then we went to the Mutton Bustin event where Allegra, Emmett, and Ollie did a stick pony race (Allegra came in dead last, no surprise with her granny run!) and then Gianluca and Tyse road the sheep. Tyse did well and probably lasted a good 5 seconds. Gianluca's sheep took off to the left and I'm not sure really what happend. All I know is Gianluca had a cut on his eye and said that the sheep stepped on his eye. He said "I curse mutton bustin! I never ever want to do that again!" So sad, since he was so excited to do it before. Well at least he got two $2 bills for his tramatic experience! However I'm pretty sure Joel is happy that his son does not want to lead the rodeo life. Joel has also vowed never to go to a rodeo in his life... Like father like son.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day One at Magic Kingdom

 

Magic Kingdom Fun

 

Girls getting their makeover

 

Cool Dude makeover... I don't know why I don't have any pictures of Calvin.

 

Crystal Palace

We just spent 3 weeks in Florida and it was amazing! The first week we spent at Disney World with my family. We flew out of SLC with all of my family on the same flight. It was a sight to behold. We should have worn matching t-shirts. It was like animal kingdom!But at least the kids were entertained! In total there was Mom and Dad; Kim and Syd and their five kids, Tyson (16), Zach (14), McKenzie (10), Sydnee (7), and Reagan (6); Ryan and Shauna and their four kids, Reilley (10), Calvin (7), Connor (6), and Caden (5), and us. My oldest sister Darci and her family were unable to make it and we missed them a great deal!

The first Day we spent at the Magic Kingdom. The kids loved it! We went on a bunch of rides ate overpriced park food and drinks, but it was fun. And for hearding cats, we stayed together the whole day. That evening we let the kids have a makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boo Boutique. It was so cute! AND way to expensive... well the boy's Cool Dude Makevoer wasn't. It was $7, but the girls... lets just not mention the price:) But the girls got the makeover, with makeup, glitter, fingernail polish, a sash and crown, a micky clip, and they looked gorgeous! I wanted to do the whole makeover where you let the girls pick out their princess dress, shoes, etc but that was over $180!!! It was ridiculous! The boys got paint in their hair spiked up and confetti. It was a pain to get out! But they liked it. Allegra's hair stayed perfectly for two days. You should have seen all of the goop they put in her hair!

After the Boutique we went for our dinner reservation at the Crystal Palace where we enjoyed a buffet with Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and Pooh. Tigger was a riot! We had hats for all of the kids to get autographed by the characters. Poor Calvin and Caden lost theirs towards the end of the trip. It was sad. We ended up closing out the park! When we got done with dinner, the park was closed and the only people around were security and staff. We took advantage and took some pictures in front of the castle. Then we missed the tram back to the parking lot, so we waited for a bus to drop us off, and then we had to hoof it for about a mile to the vans. Allegra lost her beloved blue blankey along the way! But all in all we had a wonderful time, ending the day at midnight!

To Buzz or Not to Buzz...

Well, I'm waiting for my disney pictures to download and it is taking seriously, forever! I feel like I have a computer from 1982 where there is a blue screen and you write in DOS, or whatever it was called. So until I get that all worked out I pose a question for you all... To buzz or not to buzz? That is the question. Gianluca wants a buzz cut so bad, but I can't stand the thought of watching those gorgeous strands fall to the floor. What if his hair never grows back the same? I just love his little surfer Dude look. He just wouldn't be The Dude, without his hair! He would look like...another kid! Or should we give in because it is what he wants.... I don't know. His friends just got a buzz cut and Gianluca said, "No fair, I want a buzz but my parents won't let me!" So, what do you think?

The Big 10 Years!

Well, Joel and I have made it to 10 years! It was our anniversary this last week. We were lucky to be able to celebrate it in Key West and Naples, FL for a few days. We had a wonderful time. I was surprised to find out that Key West has no beaches! It is mostly just rocky by the ocean. But it is gorgeous. It would have been better if we were there to get wasted, as I am pretty sure that is what everyone else was doing, or to go fishing and snorkeling. We didn't have the time to do that, but it would have been fun!
We did eat yummy food at Hog's Breath and, well we mostly walked around, ate, checked out Ernest Hemmingway's home (which was very interesting),checked out the amazing trees, ate some more, made friends with Israeli store keepers, laughed at the crazy cat man who did a cat trick show at Mallory Square, and admired the gorgeous trees and roosters who hung out everywhere. I have to say I was expecting knock your socks off Key Lime pie, but it seemed to be just average wherever we tried it. It was disapointing. However, we did end the trip with a gorgeous sunset in Naples, FL. I decided if I ever become a millionaire, I will live there.

Joel I love you and these 10 crazy years we've shared together. Through all the ups and downs you have kept your promise in making me laugh every day!

Gorgeous!


We came back twice for this Hog's Breathe pulled pork sandwich! It was amazing. So was the shrimp ceviche!





More yummy seafood!



Outside Hemmingway's house.


We stayed in the Hemmingway Suite at the Crown Plaza!


Enjoying dinner at the Conch Republic



Some of the Bayan Trees.


Hemmingway cats. These are actual relatives of the orignial cats that lived on his property. He thought they were good luck.


Why did the rooster cross the road?


Awesome tree.


Sunset in Naples.

She's an Artist!

Do you remember watching the end of "Toy Story 2" where Stinky Pete is stuck in that little girl's back pack with the barbie? You can only see the clean side of the barbie's face, and then she turns to Stinky Pete and says "You're going to love so and so, she's an artist" revealing her beautifully painted face. Stinky Pete felt a lot of horror at that moment, which is what I felt two day's ago. I was trying to convince Allegra to take a nap and in the process I fell asleep. I woke up about 30 minutes later to this face:



This next picture was yesterday. I went to take a shower and when I got out she had stamped her whole face and arms! It's still blue today. Like I said, she's an artist!




Allegra is something else! She is sweet, silly, strong willed, very vocal when she's had enough, very loving and tender... in the words of my friend Kjersten, "She's like a little pixie". I love this crazy girl!

The Muse

So for Joel's Christmas present we went to the Muse concert on Monday night. I have to admit the first time I ever heard about them was reading Stephanie's Myers blog, where she stated that this band was a huge inspiration for her writing. I first heard their song "Super Massive Black Hole" in the movie Twilight and really, reaaallly loved it. So after that Joel and I started to check them out. Joel really got into them when he heard they were libertarians (although not officially confirmed). This is one amazing live band. Seriously, the show was mesmerising with the lights, the graphics, and most of all the music.

First I must state that Joel got called back to work to cover for someone last Friday and we were afraid he would miss the concert (I was not nice enough to sell the tickets, I was still going!) He found someone to cover for him on Monday and drove 12 hours to and from work to come see it. When he got home we went to eat and then sat for an hour in traffic to get to the E Center. As we sat there we noticed how the snow was getting worse and worse and it was almost 8 pm. We finally found a parking spot about 2 blocks away and by this time the snow was coming down hard. By the time we got to the concert I looked like the abominable snowman, and let me tell you, wearing flats with no socks was not the best idea. We got their right as they were playing their first song "Uprising". So we ran to our seats and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the concert all the way to their last encore performance.

What can I say about this concert, amazing, fantastic, &^%*( one of the best concerts I've ever been to (although Sarah McLaughlin, Live, Keane, and Duncan Sheik were awesome too) but none of them have ever put on show like this. Lead singer was amazing! He shreds on the guitar, seriously shreds it, amazing on the piano. Amazing live voice. It sounds just like on the CD. He does a lot of playing on his knees, lots of lunges, lots of kicks, and spins... this is starting to sound a little gay, but it's not. But I was in awe. The base player, who is the best looking, was disappointingly not very rock starish. He just stood their and bobbed his head up and down in a quasi modo fashion. The drummer was amazing as well. We loved it! Joel got the t-shirt. Go to this link to see what the show was like. It was terrific!

Two Months Later...

Yep, it happened, two months ago, and I'm writing about it now. But my big boy turned 6 on February 1st! He is probably one of the coolest and silliest kids I know! Gianluca has an awesome birthday this year. He was lucky to have Abu Maggie come out for his birthday. He always loves having her visit! He had a cousin's party bowling at Boondocks (warning over priced) and I don't have pictures for that. It was a lot of fun though! He really wanted to have a Star Wars Lego party for his friends and he scored on the Lego's. I spent 5 hours building one set and it got destroyed by a ball flying through the living room a day later! There is a reason whey they put an appropriate age on the box. Why don't I ever really pay attention to that? Anyways, what can I say about our little boy?
- He's extremely creative
- very loving and cuddly
- passionate
- crazy
- entertaining
- smart
- awesome dancer
- the list could go on
- Amazing Wii player. His favorite games are Tanks and Lego Star Wars

Funny words he gets mixed up:

- desplode (explode)
- dettack (attack)
- kriate (karate)

Favorite Food:

- Anything sea food
- salad
- Steak
- pizza
- anything sweet

Favorite Songs:

- Around the World and One More Time by Daft Punk
- Bad and Thriller by Michael Jackson
- Yellow Submarine by The Beetles
- Most No Doubt songs
- Most songs by the Killers
- And yes, he loves Lady Ga Ga. I didn't even know he knew who she was, but apparently he does.
Basically The Dude is a lot like his parents, we all love all types of music.

Gianluca has gone through a lot this year. He misses Texas like crazy and always prays to move back. He misses Joel terribly when he's gone and cries for him at night. But he is a lover and a fighter. He loves his sister and loves to tease her. He is a lot like Joel. So whenever he really acts up, I say "Hey he is just like you, so you deal with this!"

We love our little dude and can't imagine life without him!


Two of his favorite things, Daddy and Texas!


Crazy!


Mama's Boy


The Love Hate relationship


The Big Six


Here he is on his actually b-day


Here is his super cool Darth Vader ship


Lego cake


He really struggles with church. Here he is not happy that he is going to church. In fact his very words were "Church is P-O-O-P!" over and over again. He gets bored easily!

Loves Pirate stuff!