Got a new 'do

I got a new hairdo yesterday. I chickened out of cutting it shorter than this. Now I only need a new curling iron for the ends (All I have is a round brush and blow dryer, not working too well). I had highlights and lowlights put in, and then layers and some "movement" around my face (that's how they guy described it at the salon :P)

I have to admit, I'm starting to feel sort of high maintenance lately. Nails, pedicures, highlighted hair, makeup, jewelry. Its starting to sound pretty girly to me! I'm even wearing a powder pink shirt in that picture! SHOCK.

Wow! What a Weekend :)

I had such a great weekend in Phoenix, I just can't help but share!  It was really different for me to be away from the kids and Mark.  I haven't been away from all of them for more than 10 hours before.  But I left Friday at 2 and got back Monday around 7 pm.   But I'm getting ahead of myself. I drove to Albuquerque and checked into the airport and waited an hour and a half for my flight (it was delayed).  I thankfully had remembered to check in online so I was one of the first to load, and I got a great seat right in the middle next to the window.  Horrible to look out of, but nice and steady because of the wing support.  They did the introductions and instructions so fast I couldn't even hear them, and while they were saying everything I had Chatty Kathy next to me talking over them about everything and anything.  I was a little nervous that if the plane went down, I would die for not paying attention to the instructions :P  I didn't realize you weren't supposed to use electronics during takeoff and I filmed the take off from the window (only to accidently erase it later!)  It was a cool time of day though, right after sunset. 

 I landed in Phoenix after a delayed flight at 8:00.  Mom and Dad picked me up at the airport and took me down to the original Big Apple in phoenix.  All these memori

es of going there as a real little girl came flooding back (I had all these memories of the place, but thought it was somewhere else since the only Big Apple as an adult I have is in Mesa).  We ate chicken fried steak, and peach pie a la mode a

nd just had a good visit.  I haven't had dinner with my parents without kids in almost 10 years so it was nice to just have normal adult conversation :)  I guess I didn't think about taking pictures there, but it would of been nice to have!

They drove me over to my hotel for the weekend, and I will have to say, it was pretty impressive.  The Legacy was on 32nd Street and Baseline, so very close to run to the airport (which we had to go back Saturday and Sunday for Chris's shuttle and my flight) and shopping and malls and spas and such. 

Janice brought some chick flicks and we stayed up until 2 watching the dumbest movie we had both ever seen.  In her defense, Freddy Prince Jr. has not really had bad movies, until this one.  Jack and Jane vs. the World.  Miss It, Trust Me.

So I guess I was stuck on "mom" time, and I woke up at 7 Am. 

I know! Finallly can sleep in, no alarm ,no kids, and I wake up on my own!  I tried to not wake Janice, but I ended up waking her accidently at 8:30.  We got up and did our hair and makeup and made our plans for the day.  We went to Waffle House for breakfast and went to the airport and picked up Chris(ti).  

From there we went and got pedicures.  I have never had a pedicure before, and I actually ended up with gel nails and an awesome pedicure.  Sorry the picture is blurry!  It's a firework look : )

So, after the pedicure, my friends Laurie and Kristy make it in town and meet us there at the nail shop, and we try and decide what to do.  We decide to go back to the hotel and all of us unpack, and we just relaxed and talked and enjoyed each others company.  We ordered this fabulous pizza from Rizzoti's (I think?) and then went and got ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery (if you sign up under their emails they give you free ice cream for your birthday).  We got back and Chris and Laurie went bought some groceries and chick flicks for the night.  Little did I know we wouldn't end up watching them :)

April came over to visit, and Chris was having a little bit of a stomach ache so she showed us her new massage therapy tricks.  We all watched What Happens in Vegas before Janice had to head home and we said our good byes.  After that, Laurie and Kristy decided they wanted to go dancing.  Laurie and Kristy are both divorced and the opportunity came up for them to head to a 30+ singles dance.    They needed a chaperone, so I let Chris and April visit while I headed out with Kristy and Laurie.  YES, we told everyone there that I was married, and I was just in town visiting for the weekend.   But it was a much better place to dance than a bar!  I did the Electric Slide and Cotton Eyed Joe and watched guys fall over themselves over Laurie and Kristy.   Laurie has been going to these dances for almost 2 years and has quite a few friends and they traditionally head out for  breakfast after the dance so we joined them for pancakes.  

We came back home and stayed up until 5 talking and chatting in bed.  I was so very tired, but it was the only time we had left!

The next morning I woke up at 9 (stupid mom alarm!) but we had to get Chris ready to go back home.  She pulls out the scissors and says, "I brought these in case anyone wanted to cut hair!"  We decided right then and there and Chris was the lucky recipient and I cut and the other girls helped me style her hair.  I have to say, it looked fabulous!  I angled the sides around her face, cut off about 8 inches, and gave her some side swoop bangs.  After that, I gave her the MK makeup make over, and we took pictures.  Doesn't she look fabulous?

After that we went to eat, and got Chris back on the shuttle, said more good-byes, and promised we would see each other again soon. 

We headed back to the hotel,  and took a nap, then woke up so Drew and Staci could come over and chat.  Poor them, Laurie was in the middle of a break up  and was giving all the details to anyone who would listen, and Staci and Drew are great listeners.  (By the way, that's a whole other drama. After we got home this weekend, her boyfriend had been trying to hit on Kristy online not knowing they were friends and hanging out in Phoenix together! So that's over!)

After  Drew and Staci went on their way, we all had a bubble bath and then stayed up watching Phantom of the Opera.  I packed my bags and headed to bed around 2.  We all said goodbye at 8 the next morning and I was dropped off at the airport and they headed for their kids.  

I got to ABQ around 1, but had a flat tire so that delayed my trip home.  When I was finally on my way I had a hard time staying awake, but made it home around Sunset.  It was wonderful to come back to my husband and kids, and hear all about their weekend.  I haven't recovered from the sleep deprivation yet, but am still too happy about it all to care :)  

Had a blast, conquered Phoenix and its sauna monsoon season, and can't wait until another benchmark birthday to do it again!

My Yearbook Photos

Since I haven't had a chance to get my real yearbooks from home, I just thought I would make some up :)  Actually, I saw this website, and just had a blast. I can't believe how much I look like Grandma Una in the one with glasses!  You guys will have to try them out and post them in the comment section :)

The Name is Official!

Our New License Plate for the Van :)

A week in Arizona

I got to go home for the Duncan High Reunion, and go back and see how everything was doing back in Saint David.  Um,  the reunion was fun! My friend Chris whom I haven't seen in 5 years got to come down and we spent a little bit of time together.  Kristy was there also and we took lots of pictures...well, until my camera battery died!  

Hopefully they will both be able to come visit in Phoenix for my birthday trip, but I don't know yet!  But enjoy the photos I have anyhow :)

Our Class Float such as it was! The kids and I jumped on in the middle of the parade :)

Birthday Plans :)

I'm planning on heading to Phoenix for my birthday (well weekend after) and staying at the Legacy Resort.  Before you think I'm being fancy, let me say that I have this stupid timeshare I got into a couple of years ago, and I need to use it up before Oct. 31st so this looked like the only chance I would have since Mark won't have any vacation before Oct. 31st! 

So now I need to know, if you had three days in Phoenix with no kids, no husband, only friends, what would YOU do?  I have a couple of ideas, but I want to know what everyone else would do for fun.  Let me know!

Official Craft Swap Post

So some of us left comments, some use the phone, but I thought about doing an official post.  So the 4 "L" girls plus Staci are all going to make something for the other four plus Vada.  Anything you consider "crafty" can be the same for everyone, or something different for each person.  Since we are making 5 things, please keep it under 20 per person so no one has more than 100 dollars involved here. I am NOT encouraging anyone to spend that much money, but do not spend more than that.  Since crafts are so varied in price etc. I couldn't be more specific. 

The fun thing about this is we each get 4 completely different things, since we all have different ideas and fun talents to share.   The deadline for mailing these things off is Sept. 1st (Well, That's Labor Day, so you would have to mail on the 2nd).  If anyone feels like this isn't enough time, let me know.  But that does get kids back in school for a few of us to work on our projects :)

If anyone feels like making something for everyone else is too big a task, we can change it to one person, but it sounded like everyone was ok with making 5 objects.  

Jewelry Swap

Hey girls, we talked about swapping, and I know Lindsey and Lynaya have both made jewelry before, what about you Lanise?  I think it would be fun to do.  Of course some guidelines so it's all fair.  

I didn't do the apron swap, so how did you all do it.  Did you do aprons for one other person, and one other person did it for you?  I'm almost to the opinion that we do one for each other person, then we all give three and receive three :)  Since there are just the four of us for this one.  

Aprons all cost the same, but jewelry can get expensive.  Lindsey you have some sort of metal allergy right?  So if it's earrings or necklace it needs to be gold plated or sterling silver? Anyone else have one?   And do we want to do quick plastic/glass beads, or something nicer?   I guess it depends on if we are only swapping to one or to three.  

I don't know, I thought about this for swapping before thinking about the details so this is a hap-hash blog post.  LOL

I'm not a scrapbooker, so I can't swap that, but if you have other ideas of what to swap girls, let me know.  l

Take care,

Lexa

What a Fun Week!

So last week one of my absolute best friends came to visit with her kids.  Kristy has been my friend since 3rd grade and one of my best friends since about Junior Year in High School.  She has been going through a divorce and I wanted her to just come out here and get away from it all.  She has 3 children, Kyla who turned 6 on June 30, Orien who will be 4 in Sept., and Jenny who will be 1 in Sept.

She was able to stay a complete week with me, and we had such a blast.  There isn't a lot to do here in Roswell, but we found lots of activities for 7 kids :)  One day we visited the Zoo here (which is free, but it just has a few animals who were hurt and couldn't go

 back to the wilds of New Mexico), another day we went and visited the Library. I must say this library is actually enjoyable with small kids because it has a play corner with toys and such.  

We also visited a few parks and playgrounds and of course! M

cDonald's Spaceship Playground.  What trip to Roswell would be complete without it?

If I can dig up photos we took on camera phones and other friends 

cameras, I'll post them here.  I never seem to have them handy for posts! Sorry you just get boring ol words to read!

Actually, I do have pictures of Kristy's "Transformation" after my Mary Kay makeover on her.  She is not one to put on makeup usually so I talked her into a full makeup/makeover in which I did her hair also.  I'll put before and afters (which her permission of course :)

The house was so lonely after they left, I've been sitting around all week looking for someone to talk to. I'm heading to Duncan and Safford for 4th of July, so it won't be too long a wait till I see them again.   

Here's some photos!

Hair pulled back, after the park (We actually took this to do a virtural hair makeover)
We found this side swoop style on the virtual hairstyle site, and then I had her do the makeup with my MK collection. 
With the light on, the flash from PhotoBooth kind of ruins the makeup look, but she looked so good!

Malaria No More and Save The World Summer

Today we got a bit on myspace from Brooke White telling us to go to malarianomore.org .   Seeing this, I pretty much thought Brooke would be the new spokesperson for the organization like Melinda Dolittle and Jordin Sparks were last year.  And yup, she is!  

But it goes beyond that.  She is encouraging kids all over to pick a cause and raise money during the summer for it.  Katrina is a little girl with a huge heart always wanting to help those less fortunate and when we read about Malaria and how a child dies every 30 seconds in Africa from it, her poor heart just looked like it was about to break!  She decided she right then she wanted to open a lemonade stand and a bake sale and sell jewelry we were making earlier today to raise money for bed nets.  (She didn't even get to the part that the kid who raises the most money wins 2 AI Finale Tickets).  

So, being the mom that I am, I am trying to get the word out and help all I can.  I posted a donation button at brookesbandwagon.com for those who want to help.  Please let all your friends and other family members know.  Malaria is a completely preventable disease that was eradicated from the United States more than 50 years ago.    Please join Katrina and I in this cause!

Thanks,

Lexa and Katrina M.

Does this new layout work?

I was experimenting with different layouts, and I loved the feel of this one, but it's so different I wonder if it works with others computers.  It is considered a "stretch" layout, meaning when you expand or shrink your browser window it goes with it.  I only worry that some people are going to get one word per line when I post pictures (see below blog post). 

Let me know if this one works, or if I need a "standard" template. 

Take care

Lexa

A Fun New Thing for Lexa

So I just let the cat out of the bag so I thought I would post it here.  I am an official Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay now.  I had been buying a huge amount of product, and my consultant leaned over and said, "You know, why aren't you a consulant if you are buying this much product?"  So, I decided she was right.  You have to be your best customer!

So if anyone wants to be on my mailing list and get FREE samples and fun stuff, email me (lexahuny@gmail.com) with your mailing address, and if you can't wait for a brochure, you are more than welcome to shop online at www.marykay.com/Lexa

Since a blog just isn't as fun without pictures, I'm posting a few of my new "color" looks here.  I have a new one every day, and the lighting isn't great but I wanted to share!

I swear I'll finish this post.

I have started about four blogs in the past month, and I can't finish the darn things.  I supposed that is me to a T.  Perhaps I have some psychological subconscious fear about finishing a project.   I feel like that some days.  

I have one started all about Taylor, with pictures of him to celebrate his birthday.  I have been tagged one too many times and I forget to finish them.  I have witty observations that I forget to post and then when I go back to finish the post I forget what the punchline was.  

Today is the first day I have decided to get to work on our "summer schedule"  We are signing up for swimming lessons today, and have play dates planned for Tuesdays, Free Movies and Library on Wednesdays, and Baking/Cooking/Sewing for the girls on Thursdays.     Along with me joining a gym today and doing some water aerobics!  I'm excited.  It's been a long school year and I finally can make my own schedule instead of following the kids.  

Let me know what you all are planning for summer!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

This week seemed to be the funny story week.  Wednesday Mason was supposed to go with his class on a field trip to the movies.  Instead of wanting to go, he woke up and refused to go.  I called the school to see what the movie would be to see if I could intice him.   It was some Dinosaurs with Sesame Street.  

I told Mason that and he states "I hate Elmo"  I explained that there were Dinosaurs that he learned about in school that week, and he replied "Daddy doesn't go to school, He teaches people how to Drive!"  Then he pretended to drive around the room.   We then went into how he was going to be JUST like DADDY and not watch Elmo or go to school again.  (Doesn't that make you feel wonderful!)

We had a good laugh, and I called Mark who explained when he was 5 he LOVED dinosaurs and school.  Mason never did give in (He explained to me just 5 minutes ago he still hates Elmo) but at least he wants to go back to school. 

Well, I got my moment today when we went through the Drive-Thru at Wendy's for food.  They handed us Frosties and then asked us to pull forward and wait for the rest of the order.  When they delivered the food, I asked if they put spoons in the bag.  He replied "Ummm, They should have" 

Later after we pull away and Katrina asks for a spoon, I look and sure enough, no spoons!  She replied with more wisdom than a 9 year old should "If they respond with an Ummm, you should double check the bag"    I mentioned she was right and she said "It's because of my natural born instincts."  

I laughed a little and said "You must get those from your Dad"   She agreed and said "Yea, I do.  I don't think you have any natural instincts, Mom"   

Gee, Thanks!

1148 Miles, 22 hours, and Four Kids with Small Bladders

Last weekend was really exciting for us.  Mark's sister Sammie was sealed to her husband Doug and their children.   Of course that meant taking a whirlwind trip to Mesa from Roswell.  The trip actually went well.  

We left Thursday and got to Safford at midnight (Arizona time) and stayed the night with Shirley and Ed.  Of course the kids don't sleep in and we were up at 6:30 the next day.  After breakfast, visiting, and lunch, it was back in the car for another 3 1/2 hour drive to Mesa.   We got to Mesa around 4, and found out the gov't stimulus check was deposited so of COURSE we tried to figure out what to spend it on as quickly as possible.  (We're doing our part to stimulate the economy).  We decided that my poor broken laptop with the external monitor and thousands of cords wasn't going to last much longer so we went to the Apple Store and bought a new iMac.  I love it and it has all kinds of gadgets.  BUT I digress about the real reason we went!

We went through a session with them at 10:30 and then they were sealed around 1:15.   I haven't been to a sealing with children before and they were all so beautiful and everyone was teary eyed.  It was such a blessing to be a part of that.  

Thankfully Ky and Lynaya brought our kids and a camera and took pictures of everyone because everyone else's cameras were gone missing or broken.    

Later that night it was back in the van, back to Safford to sleep for the night, then up and gone by 9:00 AM back to Roswell.  We made it back around 6:00 pm NM time and I am still trying to recover.   I won't say never again... but I will think long and hard about a plane ticket!