Brickhandler Family: Birthdays and Trips

Birthdays are a day to celebrate life and living. In the Brickhandler house, birthdays NEVER go unrecognized because its the one day we get to celebrate each of us coming into the world making life even better and more exciting than it was before. So beginning in August we have Kevin who turned 33. Wow he's old!! Well I guess if your comparing him to the kids on the street cause he's one of the youngest homeowners on the AGL. We started his birthday weekend partying it up with great friends and memorable moments (somewhere he still has that dang hair net) and ended with just him and I at the Ritz in Lake Tahoe.

Typical Jeff face =) Casino Time!!!

Gift from the Ritz

Relaxing next to the outside Bon Fire

Next came Alyssa turning the BIG 13. I cannot believe I now have a teenager on my hands. She has grown into an amazing young lady who is beautiful, smart, caring, helpful, and most of all OURS! We love her so much. She enjoyed her day with her closet friends and I even helped her toilet paper our neighbors house. Did you people think I actually grew up? Really?

Eli helped me decorate her door before she woke up. He really is an awesome little brother!

This is what Alyssa woke up to on our garage door. We have the most amazing neighbors and friends.

Pedi's for the girls

Eli turned 9 just 6 days later. Yes their birthdays are 6 days apart and honestly I love it because its a celebration in our house for an entire week. We always celebrate their day then they get to party it up with their closest friends. Eli chose the race car speedway shop for his birthday. This little guy (well he's really not little) is the most loving, sensitive, sweet, athletic, smily, and huggable kid I have ever met. We are so lucky to be his parents!

Tyler (our neighbor), Ryan (his best friend since they were babies), Matthew and Brandon (his two friends from Sierra that he's known since Kindergarten)

All of his best buddies. Some not so excited to take a picture =)

San Diego......... ahhhhh a much needed trip and break from the kidos. Kevin and I spent 4 relaxing days reconnecting, hanging with wonderful friends, walking on the beach, shopping, and laughing so hard I felt like I had whip lash for 2 days. Well maybe that was caused by jumping on the bed. Kevin also went to a Charger game while my sister and I met up and shopped.

Sea Port Village

Sam, me, and her beautiful sister

Mandi and me lounging by the pool

Eycleisha took me to old town and we had a blast

Such a memorable trip! One thing Kevin and I took from our time together is that time like this is so important in a marriage. It gave both of us reassurance that our love for each other is strong and that although times can get frustrating and difficult while raising kids, we still have the connection that brought us together.

So turning 35 was really not a number I'd like to shout out to the world. Its funny I heard on the radio, kids always want to be older than they are. They will say things like "I'm 10 1/2" or "15 1/2". At what age do they or we really stop wanting to be older? Is it like I'm 34 and 3/4. Then on your birthday you shout out "Ya WHoooo I'm 35"!!!! Well what I can say is that this year my birthday was by far one of the most memorable of them all. Kevin surprised me and gave me the most amazing day/ night I could have ever asked for. The kids woke me up and gave me the coach watch I really wanted (thank you Kevin), we went out to breakfast (my favorite meal of the day if you don't already know that about me), got my friends together that evening and we all met at Mikuni's. He rented a limo bus which took us over to the mix where he also had rented a VIP booth. It was such a crazy hilarious night. How can I describe it??? Humm Hangover the movie. It was not as bad or so I thought, but when my friends came over to show me the pictures I was like "hu??? What the heck happened?" So funny!!! So here's a little glimpse of our night.