Summertime

I love the summer. I am starting to enjoy the heat. What I love most about summertime is all the fun activities / trips / events that occur during this time of year.
We are only in week one and already we have done so much. We went to the spray park, summer reading has started at the library and Gymboree is in full swing. Next week Cienna begins acting camp followed by a trip to Mexico at the end of June.

July we will see visits from Tony's brother Chris and his lady love Wendy, my brother Jay and my girl Lindsay. With a few trips to the cabin snuck in there I am sure the month will be packed. August we will travel the east coast for over 2 weeks, seeing my bestie Jen and her new husband Justin as well as Tony's brother Dominick and his girlfriend Phyllis. We have so much fun to look forward to!
Summertime is the best!


AJ is Lovin' It!


Cienna is Lovin' It Too!


Mazotti Boy Physique


Summertime = Big Smiles


This Was Cienna's Idea....

We hope that all of you have a great summer too!

Changes

Tony and I had a wonderful "date weekend" thanks to my fabulous in-laws. Friday night they came to the house and we jumped in the truck and headed up to the cabin to get as much accomplished as we possibly could without kids. Last month we finally had the cabin split into 2 bedrooms (instead of just 1 humongous bedroom) and we had the slab poured for our garage with living quarters that will be above. I am so happy with the changes and am so glad that we are making progress. The cabin has always been fun, but it is nice for everyone to have their own space and be able for not only us to use it, but also our friends and family. I look forward to many, many fun times in Colorado.



Our 2 Bedroom Cabin


The "Master Suite"


The Room We Can Lock The Kids In


On Our Way To A Garage / More Living Space

Even with all of the work, we managed to get in a day in Pagosa at the Hot Springs with our friend TJ. I can't say enough about the Hot Springs. The atmosphere is laid back, the scenery is beautiful and the cocktails are phenomenal. We had the best time!


T and I


T and TJ

And speaking of fun times ahead at the cabin...tonight we bought a 1971 Jeep Commander for all of the 4-wheel drive roads, mining tours in Creede and a rafting vehicle. The top comes off so we can experience Colorado with the wind in our hair. We are very excited to expand our cabin "toys."


Truckin'

So...when are you coming to visit?

I...Hit...Ball!

AJ has a new obsession...baseball. After going to a neighbors birthday party and discovering the joy that is a fat plastic bat, AJ will not put his down. He drags it around the house, insists on bringing it in the car and would sleep with it if I let him. The best part is that he now entertains himself for close to 2 hours in the backyard putting the wiffle ball on the tee and saying "I...Hit...Ball!" in the cutest little cave man voice you have ever heard and then swings and hits it off the tee. This goes on and on for hours.
Even when he is inside he manages to find ways to play baseball, by making random items around the house into a tee and then banging into every wall trying to hit the ball off of whatever he has put it on. I just hope that he is an A's fan....





On a much sadder note (OK, just sad for me) Cienna's last day of pre-school is today. Technically speaking it is her last day of her 1st year of pre-school since she still has another year before kindergarden but it doesn't make it any less sad for me. She is so big. And beautiful. And while I am happy that she is healthy and thriving I am sad that she is growing up so fast. I want to freeze time forever for both of my kids. I guess that is the struggle of a mom.

Yesterday we went with her class to the zoo for a end-of-the-year celebration. They are all such neat little individuals and I have met some really great parents. Sniff, sniff. Alright enough of that!




Ms. Carrie & Ms. Kate

The Bachelorette

Wow, what a weekend! My BFF Jenny had her bachelorette party in Denver and I was lucky enough to be in attendance for the extravaganza. There was lots of drinking, lots of dancing, not enough eating and not enough sleeping. By the time I arrived back in ABQ all I could think was "thank God Jenny only gets married once!"
The rest (as innocent as it was) I will keep to myself!


Nothin' But Class


Nurses, Yoga Instructors and Stay-at-Home Moms Gone Wild!

Winners!!

This just in....Tony and three of his fellow firefighter won the 911 Fitness Challenge!

Back in January, Tony and three other firefighters at his station formed a team and signed up for the contest. Two teams would win...one from the east coast and one from the west coast. The goal was to lose weight and reduce body fat but not lose muscle mass. After 12 weeks of very hard work, Tony went from 312lbs to 262.5lbs, and today they found out that they are the west coast champions!

So what does that mean? $1250 big ones! And one hot husband!

Granny's Visit

On Easter Sunday, my mom, aka "Granny", flew in from California for a very fun visit. After getting on the scale today, I realized that we may have had a little too much fun. 5 lbs worth of fun. Oh well...it was worth it.
The kids had their first Easter egg hunt at my in-laws new retirement community. I consider hunting for brightly colored eggs hidden among rocks cheating. Not quite as hard to spot as a California backyard. But it was great fun for AJ who, despite carrying a bucket with him, decided that the more effective way of gathering up all the eggs would be to see how many he could fit in his hands and under his armpits.


Cienna & Mimi







After eating lots of candy my mom decided that it would be a good idea to make Easter basket cupcakes. Like two dozen of them. I have a stomach ache just thinking about it. But they were adorable and very fun to make!


Cienna & Granny

The highlight of the trip was going to the Turquoise Museum in ABQ. We learned more than we ever needed to know about turquoise, most importantly that there is so much to know about turquoise that one can never be an expert on it. I brought in a necklace that Tony got from a hauling job, which was bound by string and wrapped in a leather pouch. Based on the look of it I assumed that it must be a precious Native American artifact...but it was really only worth about $85. Oh well...

I loved having my mom here for the week. And I can't wait to have her back!

Little League

Our baby girl is officially in little league! Last Saturday, Cienna had her first game with team "Storm" as #11. After spending 5 hours out at the ball fields enduring high winds and what someone threw together as an "opening day ceremony", I discovered a new found respect for my parents that I never had before. I realized how much fun it is as the player....involved in the game, hanging with your friends, excited about who brought what for snack time...but for the parents, well it can be torture.
Tee ball is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Cienna was drawing petroglyphs in the dirt while the "game" was going on around her. After several attempts at hitting the ball, when she finally did get the ball off the tee she stood there until her coach took her hand and slightly jogged to 1st base. At one point, as she was running to 2nd, one of the infielders threw her the ball and she caught it...as the runner! Total comedy!
If it weren't for buying her a pink bat, pink glove and pink tee ball I don't think that I would have even gotten her to try the sport. The 1st time she put on her uniform she complained that her "outfit was horrible!" and that "today was going to be a disaster!" I am not sure where she gets this fussiness. I never had a problem putting on my uniform and getting dirty. In fact, I loved it. I did recognize one similarity to Tony though...she was super stoked when she discovered that after every game she gets a snack that consists of sugar, sugar and some sugar to wash it down with! She just may try tee ball again!
AJ is a little hard to handle but in general he is happy to be outdoors so that is good. And as long as Cienna shares some of her snacks with him I think that we all will survive the season!