Today our neice Nikki got married. She looked so beautiful! It's still hard for me to believe that she's old enough to get married!! She was just a little girl at my wedding. Everything was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous. The food was delicious. It was a great day.
Avery and Adelle thought Nikki was a princess! She did look like one...that's for sure!
Mr. and Mrs. Chad Wood.....
Joey was pimped out in his vintage suit. He actually NEEDED the cane. He has had a back injury for the past week and a half. The fact that he was able to get out of bed and get dressed and WALK around at the wedding was nothing short of a miracle! He was in a lot of pain but he made it through. Congratulations Nikki and Chad!
Ten years ago, on this date, I was almost a week past my due date and absolutely miserable. I had a doctors appointment and I cried and begged to be induced. I pleaded... and he took pity on me and agreed to induce me. Unfortunately, there were no beds available at the hospital so I ended up waiting three days and going into labor on my own on January 12, 1999. Ten flipping years ago! I can't hardly believe it. I've decided not to do big birthday parties this year. I'm simplifying my life. Lucky for me, Drey has always been really easy to please. I asked him what he thought about just having one friend over and we would go to the castle at Golfland and eat pizza and play video games. He thought that was a great idea! He invited his best bud Kaz...which was no surprise to me. At the last minute we invited Addie over so Avery would have a friend to play with, too. 
I have always hated those machines where you put in 50 cents and try to win a little stuffed animal. My kids always beg to play them but it's just such a waste of money I usually say "no". I've always thought they rig them to make it impossible to win. Well, tonight was Drey's night and he wanted to do it. I have officially been proven wrong about those machines! Between the boys they won SIX stuffed animals! I couldn't believe my eyes! It must have been broken or something because I still believe that those machines are rigged!
Drey said that this was the best birthday EVER! I'm glad we kept it simple. Drey is the greatest kid. I remember holding him in my arms when he was only a few hours old. We were all alone in the recovery room and he was wide awake. We were just staring into each others eyes for the longest time and I said out loud " I wonder what you're going to be like when you grow up little Drey Benjamin." He just stared back with his huge eyes. I remember it so vividly...like it was last week. Drey has been both the easiest kid and the hardest kid to raise. Anyone that knows Drey knows exactly what I mean by that. But I love that stinkin boy. His official birthday is not until Monday but.......Happy Birthday, Drey!
If you will notice...in the picture above...Drey and Avery are HUGGING! Another Christmas miracle! They got along all day which made me extremely happy. 
The girls got a mansion dollhouse this year. It has furniture and everything! I can't wait to play with it. I mean...the GIRLS can't wait to play with it!
I caught Delly eating Oreos before breakfast. I said "Delly! Oreos are not good for breakfast!" to which she replied "Yes dey are, mama! Oreos are berry good for breakfast!" She didn't know how I could say such a thing. Oreos are delicious! She has black remnants all over her lips in most of the pictures from Christmas morning.
I got the one thing I wanted most this year and that's a Kitchen Mill wheat grinder! Score! I love it and can't wait to use it!
Joey got me some new workout clothes....is that a hint? Even if it is....I LOVE them!
On a sad note....we did have a drowning at the Polly Pocket Pool. Even with all my new nursing knowledge...nothing could be done to save Sally. A valuable lesson was learned. We no longer let our toys swim unsupervised.
The first order of business was to sample the beverages in Prague. Coke Light tastes nothing like the Diet Coke that I know and love but in a pinch it will do. Tia loves it but I prefer my soda to taste like soda as opposed to cough syrup. I'm weird like that. 
We realized on that first day in Prague that we were most likely going to freeze to death sometime on our trip. They would find us frozen solid on a park bench somewhere. Two poor Arizona girls who thought they could survive in subzero temperatures. Actually, I don't know how cold it was but I know that it was 
I found some cute gloves and a hat right off the bat. It made all the difference. Once I had my hat and gloves on I was fairly certain that I wouldn't freeze to death after all. When Tia would reach a point where she was afraid one of her fingers would freeze and snap off in the cold I would let her borrow my toasty gloves for awhile. Told you I'm nice!
Prague is AMAZING... and these pictures don't do it justice. We just couldn't capture it in pictures. We tried!
This a picture of The "
Old Town Square...Some other things Vincent taught us....In 1989 there was the Velvet Revolution and the people were freed from communism and Soviet influence. In 1993 Czechoslovakia was split in two and the Czech Republic was founded. Only twenty years ago, Prague was a communist nation. Some of the people dress and act like communism is still alive and kicking. It was a little strange. I won't go into it because this blog is going to be long enough. But it was interesting.
We went into the local supermarket and had a look around. WAY different than what we're used to. Here's Tia trying to figure out what the mystery vegetable was.
We took a nice long walk up the hill to the cathedral and the palace. Wow! What a place!
Tia and I got a kick out of the door to the post office. No phones, no guns, no dogs, no bank robbers...and no ice cream cones! They can be dangerous you know.
We walked along the river towards the Charles Bridge and there were so many photo opportunities...we couldn't resist! It was absolutely gorgeous!
In front of the Opera House.....
We also thouroughly enjoyed sampling all of the traditional Christmas "treats" that are 
Langose....this was like fry bread. Except they put katsup and cheese on it instead of cinnamon and sugar. It would have been better with cinnamon and sugar. Just my opinion.
For lunch we ate at Mozarts old house. He lived in this house in 1787. They turned it into a restaurant. We had a leisurely lunch and thawed out. How weird to sit and eat in Mozarts house! Who gets to do that!? The restroom smelled like a sewer but that's okay.
On the last evening in Prague, we were walking by a store and Tia noticed this bag through the window. We stepped inside to get a closer look and fell in love with this handbag! How cute is that!? Well, it was 900 Czech crowns which is about $45. I had almost that much money left but if I bought the bag I would be completely out of crowns. I didn't want to exchange any more money because they rip you off! So I wasn't going to buy it but Tia talked fancy to me. She's dangerous to go shopping with! She can talk me into things. She listed all the reasons why I deserved this purse! So I gave in and bought it. Which left me without any Czech money for the rest of the trip. We were leaving in the morning so it was okay but Tia had to buy me a bottle of water. She took pity on me since it was her fault I was broke!
The legend is that if you rub this statue on the Charles Bridge that it will bring you good luck. Tia and I both rubbed away. I'll take some of that!
On the bridge....
Did I mention that it's cold in Prague?
You can see the palace and cathedral behind us. They had just turned on the lights to light it up. So beautiful!!
On our last night in Prague they were having a tree lighting ceremony in the Old Town Square. Tia thought it would be a neat thing to make our way over and check it out. I distinctly remember stating that it would be really crowded and maybe we shouldn't. Apparently, every person in Prague comes to this thing. Once we got there we realized that we had put ourselves into quite the predicament. It was EXTREMELY crowded. We found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a tightly compacted crowd. A restless, pushing crowd. We were trapped and couldn't move much less get out. It was scary. I'm not gonna lie. I don't even have claustrophobia but I could feel a panic attack coming on. The tree lighting ceremony was beautiful but I just wanted it to be over so I could breathe again. This picture was taken when we still were having fun..right before we became sardines.
On our last night we went to a nice restaurant for a nice dinner with our fellow travelers from Explorica. Not many people know that Tia has some issues with meat. During our stay in Prague she wouldn't even let me buy a Coke light from a shop that had meat in it because maybe someone touched the bottle with meat juice on their hands. Like I said...meat issues. So she doesn't announce that she's a vegetarian to people. She just pretends to eat what is served to her and doesn't make a big deal about it. Well... the last night, at dinner, we are served duck. I guess it was duck. That's what we were told. Unfortunately, Tia and I got the giggles. It looked like they took the guts from the duck and served them with the cooked meat. Even I couldn't eat it and I don't have meat issues. Tia was so horrified and we ended up disgracing ourselves by sitting there giggling uncontrollably. I hate it when we do that! It's so embarrassing. The other people at our table just looked at us with blank looks on their faces. They don't know how we are, so they were confused. Sometimes we laugh. Hard. And can't stop.
Prague was amazing. Prague was wonderful. Prague is someplace that everyone should go and see. It's the hidden gem of Europe. When people think of going to Europe they think of Paris or London or Rome. They should be thinking "Let's go to Prague!" It is SO worth the trip. I loved every minute of it. Thank goodness I have the greatest husband in the world who lets me be me and takes care of the family while I go on my adventures! I can't wait for the next one....(*after I graduate!)
