Best. Birthday. Ever.

I would have never imagined that my 34th birthday would be such an event. Leave it up to my amazing husband to plan something so special that even though they say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" I simply cannot resist retelling the weekend!

Thursday morning I woke up to Tony telling me to pack my bags because we were going to Vegas...but not just to sit poolside and take in some shows...we were going to the I Heart Radio Festival! I am a huge fan of all types of music, and it is not uncommon for me to tell my kids to pipe down in the car so I can listen to a song. I must have gotten this from my father (although my mom has rocked out in the house a time or two!) because I remember going to his office at Wells Fargo bank with him sitting in his little cubicle with the radio cranked up. Co-workers would always be telling him to turn the music down, but he never did. This weekend would have made him proud!

We arrived in Vegas late Thursday night and made our way to the hotel. After grabbing a quick bite to eat we called it a night. The weekend was young. We needed to pace ourselves. Friday morning we did the unthinkable. Exercised. What had gotten into us? Was 34 fast approaching suddenly making me responsible? What was this feeling of total self control? It was foreign to me and it would not last. Since our last bazillion trips to Vegas have been with the kids we decided to go to a museum to get our knowledge on. Mind (museum), Body (exercise), Spirits (uh we will get to that later.) I am not sure they meant the kind of spirit that you can ingest but I like being a trendsetter anyway. We arrived at The Museum of Natural History The Mob Museum where we learned all about bribing, extortion, jury tampering, racketeering, and murder. My kind of history lesson! I highly recommend to anyone who has a demented side.

A Crime Of Fashion

After acquainting ourselves with the mafia's choir boys we decided to get acquainted with the Las Vegas public transit system. i.e. the bus. This is of significance because a self-proclaimed unemployed man who helped us buy a bus ticket called me a goddess, which I have reminded Tony of every 30 minutes since then. For anyone who thinks that only crazies ride the bus I refer you back to the fact that one of them called me a goddess. I think they are all geniuses!

We arrived at MGM to pick up our tickets for the festival. After a little mix up (don't they know who we are???) the tickets were in our hot little hands. And all that standing around and making small talk with the common folk was actually a good thing. Some nice billionaire gave us special bracelets to get into the VIP lounge both nights! It pays to know people for 5 minutes in line!

Score!

After scarfing down a pizza and cleaning up we were finally on our way to the big event! Whoot whoot!

Is That...Helen Hunt?

The highlights of the first night were: Robin Thicke opening with "Blurred Lines", Fun, Muse, Keith Urban, Katy Perry, Chris Brown, Elton John and Queen. Amazing!

After getting home around 4am, we finally made it to brunch around 1pm. We needed a nap. Stat. Even though it was my birthday it didn't really count until I could see straight. We awoke around 4:30 to do it all again, starting with a fabulous dinner at The Palm thanks to our gal Phyllis from Philly. What a treat!

Cheers to 34!

The highlights of the second night were: Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Tim McGraw, Drake and Paul McCartney. Actually Paul McCartney was the highlight of the entire weekend. What a show!

No Twerking Involved

Post show I decided to check another item off of my bucket list. Because my kids will read this someday I will not elaborate too much. However, if you have a Facebook page you probably already know. Let me just say that it was everything that I thought it would be. Which is exactly why I am glad I went with my man instead of him going on his own. When men say they go there to look and not touch...they are LYING! BIG FAT LIARS!

I will never forget my magical birthday weekend and all of the love and support from everyone who helped make it happen. Without great friends and amazing family (who are willing to watch your kids for 3 days while you pretend you are 21 again) it never would have happened. Tony definitely knows how to show a girl that she is truly loved. Even at 34.

Auntie Lindsay

One of my best friends made the trip out to New Mexico last week to see the kids and be reminded how crazy our life is. Lindsay and I have been friends since she was in 6th grade and I was in 7th. Yes...I am 361 days older than her, which was awesome when I was younger and is not so awesome now that I am in my 30's. But I digress. We wasted no time putting Lindsay to work starting with our order of El Faro burritos from the Bay. She flew with 20 lbs of burritos and 10 lbs of toys in her carry on because she is the bestest friend a girl (and Tony) could ask for!

We spent the next few days doing kid things, putting her to work at our newest project (update to follow), hosting a boxing party at the house, going to the state fair and farmers market and treating her to the most rain that NM has seen in over 50 years. She received her first ever iPhone flash flood warning text message and experienced Tony in his element...which is on one phone call after another from firefighters and task force members asking if he was ready to act if someone was trapped in the swift water. It was quite a weekend!

Just Like Old Times...But We Are Not Wearing Pink Bike Shorts!

After our amazing awful experience at the fair, I vowed never, ever, ever, to go again. Never. So these will be the last fair pictures that you will ever see from me.

Just Swingin'

I Was So Tempted To Buy This And Put It In The Backyard

Lindsay went back to CA yesterday and we will all miss her dearly. She is a great house guest, a good sport and so much fun!

AJ Turns 4

It has become customary in the Mazotti household to celebrate a birthday for several days and AJ's 4th birthday was no exception. His actual birthday was August 28th and unfortunately his dad was scheduled to be at the fire house that night. So after his favorite dinner (Velveeta Shells & Cheese or as AJ calls it "Seashell Rackaroni") we brought the party to the station complete with cake, ice cream and presents!

Because of school starting and Labor Day weekend, we postponed AJ's birthday party a few weeks and kept the tradition of multiple birthday celebrations alive with a fun-filled day at Peter Piper Pizza with 12 of AJ's bestest friends. After an hour of playing games and gathering tickets, AJ got to make his very own birthday pizza which had nothing but sauce, pepperoni and 3 tiny pieces of shredded cheese. As I would suggest other toppings he just kept insisting that all he wanted was "pepperoni!" and he "didn't like cheese!" When it's your 4th birthday you can do what you want...so I gave in and then when he walked away I dumped the rest of the cheese on top. I win!

Next came the cake...and boy was it time consuming! Not because I baked it or anything...but because he agonized over a "Planes" and "Cars" cake for what seemed like an eternity. After a very exhausting deliberation where I almost just left him in the shopping cart and walked away, he finally based his decision on the amount of plastic toys that came on top. Cars won. Long gone are the days where you get to pick what color frosting you want and the candy lettering in the baking isle...thanks to Pinterest you have to spend some money to get a smile like this!

AJ got very thoughtful gifts from all his friends and even sent him home with this signed t-shirt so he would always remember who was there. It was a great success. Happy Birthday AJ!

At 4 years old you love:
Bugs, Slugs, Spiders and Butterflies
Any container you can keep a bug in
Cars and Planes
Your iPod Touch (especially the Despicable Me game)
Your favorite movies are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Monsters vs. Aliens, Annie
You only like to check out books about monsters, dinosaurs and scary things
You sit in a booster seat now but still cannot buckle yourself in
You can get dressed but can't put on your shoes (unless they are your flip flops or rain boots which you love!)
Your best friend at school is Duncan
You also love Ryan, Caden, Amelia and Aiden
You eat a portable apple sauce and Go-Gurt every single morning
You are funny, have great funny faces, love your mama and have a great tan.
You are so much more than everything above but I can't list it all. You are an amazing little guy!

Labor Day

We sent the summer out with a bang at the cabin. We started our Saturday saying thank you to the South Fork volunteer fire department by donating funds at their annual fish fry. Usually the event takes place 4th of July weekend, but with the fire baring down on South Fork during that exact time they had no choice but to cancel and reschedule down the road. After a great meal of fried catfish, baked beans, cole slaw and cookies the kids posed by the fire truck and showed some love...

On our way into Alamosa we were amazed by all the signs that the locals had made in support of the fire fighters who had saved their town from burning to the ground. It made us proud to be a part of this community, if even only part of the year, and that we are showing our kids a different kind of life outside of the big city.

We arrived in Alamosa to show some more love to our friend Leonard who had his classic Caddy in the Labor Day car show. Last year Leonard asked me and a couple of other girls to "model" for a calender he made featuring his classic cars. I use the term "model" loosely because not one of us had any idea how to pose next to a car (I know this would make my daddy proud) and I think my pictures in particular came out a little awkard. OK, a lot awkward. But Cienna is a natural!

Sunday we spent the day with the Palmers and took them on their first rafting trip on the Mazotti family banana boat. The kids loved being able to sit on the tubes and play in the sooty water.

Monday we headed over to the Whistle Pig for the grand opening of Heather's parents gas station / bbq house. After buying candy, sodas, bbq and other things we probably shouldn't have been eating (but hey...it was going to a good cause!) we decided to test fate and go for our last rafting trip of the summer. We should have probably packed up and went home...because 20 minutes into our trip we were being rained on, freezing our butts off and wishing that we had better rain gear. Mazotti mishap? Maybe. Mazotti memory? For sure!

Thank you South Fork for another amazing summer full of memories. You are my favorite time of year!

Here We Go Again

The end of summer as we know it has come and gone and the new school year has begun. Just when I thought that I couldn't take one more day being a stay-at-home mom, my mom rescued me by coming to visit and watching the kids for a few days while Tony and I got some alone time near Breckenridge, CO. I must say, upon my return not only were my kids acting better, but I think that I actually loved them even more than when I had left. Funny how just a few mornings to yourself can really change your entire perspective on things!

Tony and I drove up to Silverthorne, CO where my bestie Jenny has a condo. We had anticipated the same weather that we had left from...hotter than hell. Instead, our teeth were chattering by the time we arrived and we determined that we should have packed more rain gear. It wasn't exactly the outdoors extravaganza that we had envisioned it would be but we made the best of it by shopping, going to the movies, eating out and hanging with Jenny and Justin when they came up. It was so nice to be able to sleep in. And go to breakfast. And just relax!

When we returned from our hiatus as parents we turned right back around and drove up to our cabin. My mom had not been there since 2009 so she was surprised to see all the changes that had taken place at Chateau de la Mazotti. We hiked, rafted and went to Rhythms on the Rio, an outdoor music festival that takes place every summer. It was a blast!

The Fam Bam

Granny and AJ the Goofball

Picking Wildflowers

Tonka Maria

When we returned to ABQ it was time to start school. Cienna started 1st grade on Tuesday and chose to show her Mexican pride by wearing her fiesta dress. I guarantee she was the only girl not wearing a Justin Bieber t-shirt and that made us happy. It also thrilled us that when it came to school supply shopping, Cienna chose items with puppies and kittens on them...not the Biebs. There is a God!

AJ started pre-k (x1) on Wednesday. He chose a Planes lunchbox and his favorite superhero t-shirt. AJ continued to just be AJ. And we were happy about that too.

After some measuring and planning for the kids Halloween costumes this year (Cienna will be Annie and AJ will be Daddy Warbucks) my mom was gone as fast as she came. But not before one sad goodbye to Tonka Maria, her very first granddaughter. There were lots of tears, lots of pets and lots of great memories that she will take with her back to CA. Even though Tonka is still hanging on...my mom knows that the chance of seeing her again is slim so she wanted to say goodbye one last time with her fuzzy butted, crooked teethed, limping little girl.

Summer went out with a bang! We are looking forward to the fall, which brings cooler weather, roasted green chile, the state fair and football! Whoo hoo!

Summer Is....

Hanging With Friends

Road Trips

Cabin Time

Sibling Love

Lemonade Stands (Or If You Ask Cienna, Agua de Limon)

Good Food and Music

And Great Drinks!

Summer 2013 was amazing, full of family time and fun activities. What summer is all about!

Quick Getaway

Last weekend we were invited back to our friend's timeshare in lovely Las Vegas. Either they are a glutton for punishment or they really enjoy laughing at our family...either way we were honored to be asked to vacation with them again! It was a short and sweet trip: Travel day, we don't remember much day, shopping day, catch up with friends day, travel back. My kinda trip to Vegas!

Travel Day:

Are We There Yet?

Don't Remember Much Day:

Shopping Day:

Fremont Street Experience

Catch Up Day:

And We Out!