Summer O' Fun!

Holy cannoli! This has been the most amazing and yet most stressful summer of my life. Just to recap, I was pretty much a single mom all summer long. Between Ben's traveling for work and my vacationing, we hardly saw each other. Absence does make the heart grow fonder . . . for help around the house! On top of everything else, I single handedly packed up our entire house to move. Not that Ben didn't offer to help. I'm just a self proclaimed control freak that wanted to know exactly where each item was being packed. As a side note, thank you so much to everyone that helped us load up and unload at the new place. You guys are amazing! And kudos to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for coming out and entertaining Braelyn so I didn't go completely insane over the weekend.

So right now I am operating along the lines of a zombie! This post is just some random pictures of the most exciting summer ever!

We went to Utah where we . . .

. . . went to Wheeler Farm with Grandma Kaye . . .

. . . went to the aquarium with Grandma Melene (Braelyn had been so many times that she said "fish" every time we drove past it) . . .

. . . kissed the "zazoos" at the dinosaur museum . . .

. . . played on the swings at Grandma's house . . .

. . .  and helped Grandma Melene with yard work (she picked up all the leaves and put them in the trash can).


Then we went to Ben's family reunion where we . . .

. . . played in the grass by the "creek" (more like a sewer ditch!) . . .

. . . rocked out to some tunes on the karoke machine . . .

. . . and ate lots of yummy food!


We managed to get some family pictures done while we were there by my good friend Cortney Clegg. She is amazing! I can't believe we managed to get a single decent photo with Braelyn running all over the place. I love the candid shots, though!

 Braelyn took this one of us! She might be a photographer someday!

We seriously love this little squirt!

After Utah, Braelyn and I headed off to California for my family reunion where we . . .

. . . went boating . . .

. . . saw the beautiful redwoods . . .

. . . and drove home for 10 hours!


Once we got back to Phoenix we celebrated some special birthdays!

We enjoyed eating at good old Red Robin for Jana's birthday and then had a blast raiding TJ Maxx for some good deals.

I turned a whopping 28 this month and somehow the stars aligned and Ben and I were actually able to go out and celebrate in the midst of moving.

I love the looks on our faces like, "hurry up and take the dang picture self timer before Braelyn loses it!" Yes, we did ask our waiter to take the picture but Braelyn was freaked out by him and started screaming. Self timer was the next best option!

And of course we had to stop by Baskin Robbins for my free scoop of birthday ice cream, which Braelyn sniped from me.


And last but not least, we moved and are somewhat settled! We decided to go ahead and set up a big girl's bed for Braelyn. I know I might be crazy because she isn't even two until December, but she's a great sleeper. I'm proud to say that even with all the changes going on this little pooper adapted quite well. What a big girl!

I love that this picture shows her "angel kiss" birthmark. I haven't ever conciously taken a picture of it, and it is so dang cute. She was kissed by and angel for sure!


And that's that! The lowdown on the Gundersen's crazy, hectic, exhausting, chaotic, but wonderful summer!

The Beeeeach!

So I think we all remember how Braelyn used to say the word beach, let's just say it sounded like a curse word that I wouldn't want her saying in public! Luckily by the time we took our San Diego vacation we were able to shape up the word to sound like the real thing. And good thing because all week long it was, "beach beach beach!" Braelyn and I had such a blast hanging out with the Knueppel's and their family as Ben once again flew to the other side of the country for more job training. Braelyn and Drew sure are two peas from the same pod.

These two got a kick out of feeding the seagulls!

Braelyn was fixated on carrying around her little bucket and filling it with rocks. She probably would have done it all day if you let her.

This is how the majority of nap times went! There was no way to get them to sleep in the tents, so we would strap them in their car seats and drive away. Usually we nominated Bryan for this job so Katie and I could relax and read magazines. Aw the life of a beach bum!

We got to go to Sea World which was pretty amazing. I don't know how you get whales, dolphins, and seals to do the tricks they do. I have a hard enough time getting Sancho to stop barking!

They have a whole Sesame Street Land that Braelyn loved. She is crying in this picture not because she is afraid of the ride, but she is mad that it stopped. This girl loves rides! I had to take her on about 10 rides during the day. I thought I was going to barf by the time we rode the spinning teacups.

Braelyn was sooooo excited to see Elmo and Big Bird. She was even trying to cut in line to get to them faster. But of course the second we got up there, Braelyn freaked out just like the first time she met Santa.

I was impressed that Braelyn actually touched the sea star. She's pretty much a girly girl and doesn't like to get her hands dirty so this was a big accomplishment!



I'll have to say that Drew was quite the ladies man on the trip. Watch the sequence of events while we were riding on the train to Old Town . . .

. . . and I love that he is wearing his little muscle shirt as he's hitting on Braelyn. It's lookin' like she likes it though!

And last but not least, our vacation ended with a 28" pizza! Funny thing is that for some crazy reason we didn't think that it would be enough so we ordered another regular sized pizza (you can see it in the background). Haha! We had plenty of leftovers and it was delicious!

So our San Diego adventure was pretty much a huge success. We had so much fun and I am so glad to have such wonderful friends that let me crash their family vacations. Thank you!

Be-YOU-Tiful Mommy Makeover!

Okay, so let me start this off by saying that I haven't really "let myself go" since becoming a mom. Yes, my morning routine has become a little more condensed than it used to be, but I still try to look put together for the most part. So with that said, I have a little spoiler alert for you reality TV fans . . . it's not all real!!! I got a job through my acting agency to play a young mom that has trouble getting herself ready in the mornings since having a baby. I brought an actual friend of mine to the shoot to pretend nominate me for a mommy makeover. It was a blast! I was loving being pampered. I probably would have taken the job even if they hadn't paid me! So without further ado, here are some pics and the before and after episodes.

The before shots with Katie.

And wa-la, the after!

Of course, I would never wear white pants or high heels as a "mom on the go", but whatever! The clothes were cute and that's all I cared about.

I think Braelyn liked the new look! Although I don't think that I could actually wear that much makeup. I like to eat cake, but not wear it! But hey, you do what you gotta do to look good on camera!!!

If you want to watch the videos they are online. For the before video go to http://www.sheknows.com/sheknowstv/be-you-tiful/simplifying-your-morning-routine---before

For the after video go to http://www.sheknows.com/sheknowstv/be-you-tiful/simplifying-your-morning-routine---after

So much fun!

Utah Adventures!

So Ben was gone for almost three weeks in New Jersey training for his new job. (Big sigh of relief that he is finally home!) My sweet dad had pity on me and decided that it would be nice to fly me out to Utah for a portion of the three weeks. I didn't actually end up flying out until the day that Ben came home, so the original purpose of the trip was shot, but we had a blast and it was well worth it. Ben just stayed at the airport after his flight from Jersey and we flew out to Utah together. He deserved a vacation too! We couldn't get enough of seeing both families. Since when does a week long vacation feel too short?!

We went to the zoo . . .

. . . where Ben tried to carry her around . . .

. . . but little miss independent would rather be walking herself. In fact I'm surprised she's actually holding grandma's hand.

Ben had a chance to bond with the ape statue. I'm glad he finds the ape nipple sexy.

Braelyn rode the merry go round twice. She wasn't too sure about it when it was moving, but as soon as the ride stopped it was, "more, more!"

We also rode the train around the park.


Of course Kaye threw an exciting Fourth of July party for Ben and his friends . . . 

. . . with four rounds of water balloons . . .

. . . lots of candy . . .

. . . pinata busting . . .

. . . swimming . . .

. . . and plenty of Dr. Pepper! Just kidding! That can is not opened. Those of you who really know me know that I would drop down dead if my child was drinking soda. That's grandpa Cal's influence on her. She wanted soda so bad that I finally just gave her an unopened can to gnaw on.

Notice that there are no pictures of fireworks in this entire Fourth of July post. There is a reason for that. Braelyn HATES them!!! She full blown freaked out when the first ones were lit. We spent the rest of the evening inside. She couldn't even be by the window or she would start crying. Eventually I just took her home and put her to bed. Party pooper!