Happy birthday baby

Happy birthday to my beautiful son Calan!

I can`t believe it`s been 4 years since you came into this world and changed our lives completely. For the better! You bring us so much fun and joy, I am so happy to have you my lil man!

Hope you had a great day and can`t wait for your party this coming Saturday!

Love forever,

Mommy

Our new adventure

Yes it is true, we are selling Christmas trees!!!
Grand opening was yesterday on Black Friday and we will be open all month long until Christmas.

It is a very exciting new adventure and hoping for a good Christmas season.
If you are local, come and see our Christmas tree stand in the desert!

Enjoy your weekend!

Nina

XXXXOOOO

Crafts I have been making

Here are some of the hats I have been making, aren`t they just too cute?

What we have been up to

Sorry I have been absent for some time, just seems that this time of the year there is so much to do and time is never enough.

Let me think what we have been up to.

This is definitely my favorite time of the year and there has been a lot of crafting and cooking and baking going on.It is finally getting autumn in the desert and the mornings are quite cold. Love it!

A very good friend of mine turned 40 this month and I had been putting a little party together for her and this is the cake I made.
I have so much fun baking and decorating that I sometimes wish I would be a pastry chef:




And then of course Thanksgiving last week.
We had a wonderful day of just hanging out, crafting a bit, cooking, eating, taking pics, going for a walk and enjoying the family time.

Kids with our Mr Gobble, they were quite disgusted when I took the neck and giblets out (so was I actually..ha ha)

Even though Halloween is long gone my lil man still loves his Batman costume. It is starting to rip everywhere, but he doesn`t care...

Yummy pumpkin muffins we made..

Some pictures outside..

Trying for that Christmas card shot...

...and here he is.. ta-dah.....gobble gobble..

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Nina

XXXOOO

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween....from our house to yours!

Hope you all had a great, candyfilled, spooky night.. be back soon!!

N

XOXOXOXOX

Happy birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!

Love you more than anything!

54 minutes and 18 seconds

That is the time I ran the Bisbee 1000!!!
I am quite happy with the result and it felt just AMAZING! I was on such an adrenalin rush that I was almost disappointed it was over.

And running it with the great group of ladies I am working out with made it extraspecial.

Now I just need to decide if I am going to sign up for a half marathon in January???
Could I possibly do it??

Horseback riding

Since we live in the wild west now farms and horses and horse back riding are part of everyday life. So we had to do it too... horseback riding I mean.

Some good friends of ours took us with them to check it out and the kids absolutely loved it. And they were so good at it too. Little Miss N looked like she has been in the saddle since she is born and the lil man had no fear at all.

I guess my kids have the western blood already in them. Me not so much yet.But I wore my cowboy boots for the first time and soon maybe soon I will be on that horse too... we`ll see :)

We decided to have Calan`s 4th bday party at the ranch and make it a cowboy rodeo party. Oh I am soo excited already and have all these cute ideas in my head to make it perfect.Matching plates and napkins and goodie bages... I need to stop, I can`t take on more projects, my head is spinning.. but oh the possibilities...

Enjoy your weekend... make it a western kind of day :)

N

The NEW Me

Pictures from my photoshoot after I finished my 8 week challenge. (Yes I am proud!)
Thanks Fitness 4 Life !!

Oktoberfest in Arizona

Since I come from the REAL Oktoberfest`s hometown, I usually don`t expect much from American O`fests. And that is not being arrogant but just how it is.
So when we decided to drive up to Mount Lemmon with some new friends to experience another Oktoberfest high up in the Arizona mountains I was looking forward to it, but wasn`t too excited about the event itself. It takes about 2 hours to get there from our lil town and the drive is just beautiful.
At a certain altitude all the cacti disappear and it almost looks like being somewhere north. Pine trees and rich green meadows and best of all: it`s probably about 20 degrees cooler than down in the desert.

We spent a wonderful afternoon, had lots of fun and lots of laughter with our friends and yes.. lots of german beer (and some Jaegermeister) and I have to say this was the best Oktoberfest I have been to in the US.

So come and look at these pictures and enjoy...


Photostop on the way up to the top of the mountains. The view is just incredible.


Still hot after 9 years...

The setting in the mountains.. almost looks like Bavaria

...just the cows are missing...

...oh I feel homesick to my beautiful Bavaria...

up on the skilift to the top of the mountain...

... and back down which was a little scary...

Finally food....bavarian style

and YES.. the chickendance....the kids loved it

My lil man.. so tired after this long day...

smooches with Mommy...

Hope these pictures inspired you to try an Oktoberfest yourself.

Now go and have some german beer and some brats and imagine you are in Germany....

PROST!

Nina

XXXOOO

My new club Scrappy Booze

Me and my friend Lori just founded a new club: Scrappy Booze!
I guess the name says it all.. ha ha

Relax, it`s harmless!
It`s about having fun once in a while in a group of girls. Just being yourself, having a drink and doing what we love: Scrapbooking! A girls night out, just that we stay in.

I hadn`t found that yet in our lil hometown in the desert, so that`s when we decided to just start one on our own.
First clubmeeting was last Friday and I think it will be a great success!

The start of the night, a shot to warm up. Did I mention that of all the shots out there Jaeger is one of them I HATE .. right after Tequila..?


But it was not only fun and laughing and goofing around, we actually also finished the project:

Cant` wait for our next meeting!

Hugs and kisses!

N

i am hurting

So you know that feeling when you sleep with too many pillows and you wake up in the morning with a total stiff neck...well that happened to me last week.
I couldn`t move my head for a day or so and it hurt quite bad. But it got better and I actually didn`t think about it anymore until this morning at bootcamp... when I punched out 36 sit ups in one minute and I couldn`t get up anymore.....
Oh NOOOO!
The pain was back and worse than ever!
I couldn`t even finish bootcamp anymore which was disappointing. And now it has gotten so bad and painful over the day that I honestly don`t even know how I should sleep tonight.

And what`s worse is that I am worried I won`t be able to exercise this week like I should. This is my last week on the challenge, everything is going great! 16 pounds and 3% bodyfat less, but I need this last week to punch it out and rock my results.

So let`s just hope I wake up tomorrow with no pain and I can go on with the program. If not... I will be a cranky lil diva! Not too forget.. a hurting one.

Love to all
Nina

girls scout

Naiya is officially a girls scout now!! Wohoo! She joined a local Daisy troup and is all excited. I guess we will be knocking doors soon selling girl scout cookies... you better buy some when we show up at your door!!

She had her first little event: a Daisy Tea Party
She looked so cute in her lil outfit, my adorable toothless daisy :)


While Naiya was sipping tea and making crafts I hang out with this special guy. Love him more than anything in the world. My lil man!!

You all have a great weekend!

Hugs and kisses!

Nina

almost there

I am almost there! 2 more weeks and I am done with my 8 week challenge. It seemed forever, but now looking back time went by quite fast.
And I lost 15 pounds, 2 %body fat and 10 1/2 inches altogether !!!

What I got out of it?

I am feeling soo much better than I ever did. I am happy and have energy!
I have a whole new wardrobe since I fit in clothes I didnt wear in years!
I think before I eat now. I control my portions.
I am in an exercise routine I am addicted to.
And bootcamp is actually FUN!!!

I am thankful and glad I got this opportunity!

I also want to thank my wonderful friends and family for believing in me and supporting me in my Fitness 4 Life Charity Run!
So far I raised $560 (!!) for the Southern Arizona Lung Cancer Society... wohoo...and I still have 6 weeks time!
I am beside myself of joy... and Papa... this one is for you!!!

Hugs to all of you and good night!
Nina

more home and handmade things

I hope everybody had a great Labor day weekend!
Ours was fun, but definitely more busy than I wanted it to be.

On Saturday we drove up to Phoenix to go to one of my all time favorite stores: IKEA!!!
There is none in Tucson, so we had to drive the 2 hours. But a friend came with us and her daughter so it was a fun excursion. I finally got a big bookshelf for my scrapbook room, so I will post pictures soon once it is all organized.

Since we were already up in Phoenix we also stopped by the BIG Outlet Mall! And I mean BIG.. I could spend days in there...

Sunday and Monday was busy with bootcamp and gym (YES I had to get my workouts in), pool, bicycle rides, BBQ`s and a lil bit of relaxing.

And some more jammaking.. this time Peach and Plum Chocolate... OH YUMMO




And I finished my online class with Lizzy from DEAR LIZZY and it came out sooo adorable!
I am soo in love with it and can`t wait for colder weather so I can wear it.
I will definitely be making more of them.

So that was our long weekend!

I hope everybody has a great week ahead!

Happy September!

N

XXXOOO

P.S. I am on week 6 of my Lean & Fit challenge and it`s going great! 3 more weeks to go... YAY me :)