I love my girls!

My girls. What can I say...

Becky puts up with me talking about politics too much. (I am SO excited about Obama's National Security Team)

We have a King size bed, but I get exactly 11.25 inches of the left side of it as Kaidence needs to sleep with her daddy & she takes up most of the bed.

My little Princess Kennedee gives the biggest stretch when she wakes up & then gives me a smile when she opens her eyes. Today, when I woke up... I Stretched... & smiled thinking about how lucky I am to be sharing my life with these wonderful girls.

Becky & I have made a compromise about Twilight. On Friday, I get an ENTIRE day of fishing at the lake... If I bring Twilight with me to read.

Hi, My name is Andy & I'm a "Twilight" widow

Just saying...

I miss Becky.

...stupid book.

Do they look alike?

I have been asked several times as I am sure many new moms are....Does the new baby look like the first baby? So I decided I would put a post up to let the public decide! Kaidence is in the car seat and is about a month older than Kennedee.

Who makes the best adult diapers?

Depends, Attends... Are they really like Diapers or are they like pullups? I digress...

I am old. It's cool, whatever. At least I'm not like 1/2 of the people in this room who are too ugly to even be in a soap opera. (extra points if you know that quote).

When I was a kid I used to go to concerts all of the time... like every night. The owner of the Marquee Theater has given me 2 tickets to any show this year. This is what got me feeling old originally. I took a look at their schedule to find a concert.

5 out of 7 concerts are out because if I don't get to bed before 9:00 on weekdays I'm cranky.
1/2 of the bands- I have absolutely no idea who they are
Metal- Too loud for me
Techno- Seriously? Shouldnt this be in a warehouse somewhere downtown
The only punk band playing is made up of 17 year olds- Sorry, just can't do it.
Rap- Seriously, I'd look like someone took their dad.

So, there's my dilemma. This also got me thinking about the things that are exciting to me right now... Which set my "being old" in carbonite. I'm so old, my wife doesn't even get that reference.
What's exciting in my life right now (besides my 3 beautiful girls):

1. I lost 2.5 lbs by eating performance enhancing nachos
2. We planted a garden! (pictured below)
3. My favorite lake is being stocked with trout next week!
4. I am fully stocked on those "regularity" yogurts
5. I found a freaking hilarious halloween costume
6. I hit my thumb with a hammer last night & now it's purple

Seriously dude. Seriously.

So, to help anyone who might read this also feel old I've included the following quotes. Every quote that you know means you are 1 year closer to adult diapers:

1. I have been trying this new fat free diet I invented. All I've had to eat for the past six days are gummy bears, jelly beans, and candy corns.
2. Relax, would you? We have fifty dollars and a pair of girls underpants. We're safe as kittens.
3. I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way.
4. You shot the invisible swordsman!

Our Girls

I don't mean to brag but we have some damn cute kids!! Kennedee is 3 weeks old in these pictures.

Allow me to introduce...

Kennedee Lynn Alvarado!!!

The newest edition to our family was born on Sept 3rd at 5:12pm. She weighed 6lb 13oz & was 20 inches long. I was, and still am, extremely proud of my wife for how well she did. I'm also more thankful than I can possibly express for Kennedee, she is truly a blessing in our lives.

I have a new found level of respect & admiration for my wife, I'll be honest... I lost it when I heard my daughter's first cry. She is a beautiful child... Thank goodness she has Becky's looks ;o)

When we let Kaidence into the room she was so excited. She is a fantastic big sister, she helps out with everything that we ask (except diapers. She says "that's gross dad"). She does really great with holding her & she's very proud of her little sister.

Kennedee doesn't really cry, she's been just perfect. Our friends & family have also been a big help while Becky recovers & I try to nap ;o)

1st Annual Fathers Day Fishing Trip

My wife was nice enough to let me go on a Deep Sea fishing trip with my brother, brother-in-law & a few friends last weekend! The "Mancation" as it became known as was a blast! Becky was getting REALLY tired of me looking at the fishing reports every day & arguing with my friend Shane over which boat to take, tackle to use, etc... We left Queen Creek at around 7pm on Thursday, picked up Shane from a Truck Stop in the West Valley & we were on our way! We made record time. When you don't drive with kids or wives, there are apparently no bathroom breaks. The only stop that we made on the way was at Walmart so we could get our licenses. We arrived at our hotel at around 1:30-2:00am, after wading past a sea of beer cans & chinese food (My brother & his buddy got there at 7) we went to sleep. Our alarm went off 2 hours later & we were off to the Marina! The boat had roughly 50 fisherman & about 20 bunks to sleep in during the 2-3 hour ride to where we were fishing. I was good... until my brother started yacking off of the side of the boat. I Quickly grabbed a bunk & got mast my queezy stomache. The fishing was a little slow, but we all ended up catching something. The catch consisted of Perch, Bonito, Mackeral, Sheepshead & Whitefish. When we got back, I fried up some fish tacos. The next day, we went to check out Balboa Pier at Seal Beach. a few milkshakes later & we were on the road again! On our way home, we stopped to fish at the Colorado river until dark. Only one Blue gill there... Who caught it you ask? Me baby. Me. Next year we hope to do it again, but this time with more people. It was a blast!

A few of our future tacos.

Jesse "Pocahontas" Sinclair

Dolphins!!!

Just before sunrise on a fishing charter... Nothing better.

My broter & I off of Catalina Island

4am. enough said.

Crazy rantings... & a few raves

Just thought I'd let ya into my dome piece, here's what's going thru my mind in no particular order...

1. If you're a greeter at Walmart, F'ing say hi. Don't just slump over your podium of minimum wage. Can anyone say "easiest job ever". Two letters, that's all I'm asking for.

2. So, after shaving a dreadlock-mohawk into Sprocket... Doesn't he kinda look like that weird dog-dragon thing from the Never Ending Story?

3. People who walk down the middle of the parking lot aisle when there are cars behind them piss me off. Even more when they're not holding their kids hands.
*Note to self: Install Brush Gaurd on front bumper.

4. Is there a better meal than Pizza Rolls & Chocolate Milk? I submit that there is not.

5. I love my wife for letting me be the father of our children.

6. T-minus 12 days until I'll be in the middle of the ocean!

The Vice President

How did I get to 28 years old without knowing where the Vice President lives? Learned it today!

BTW, Congratulations to Barak Obama for gaining enough delegates to be the Democratic Nominee. He's going to make a fantastic president.

Macayo's for lunch

Esurance bought lunch for the whole office again today!

Mmmmmm... I LOVE Macayo's mini chimis!!!

Only one problem with the whole office eating Mexican Food. All of the guys share one bathroom.

A guy in there let one rip & it sounded EXACTLY like when Donald Duck gets mad & yells at Huey, Dewey & Louie. It was hilarious. Guess you had to be there, but it's probably better that you weren't.

We are on a roll...

So it has now been just over 6 months that Andy and I have been married!!! I think we are off to a pretty good start. There are so many things that have happened that make me believe that the next 6 years will be a piece of cake! I dont get the chance very often to talk to my friends or family so I decided I would let you all know why my husband is so wonderful. 1 reason for each month we have been married. ( I have to limit it to 6 or I would never stop typing!)

1) He is the best dad I have ever seen. He is building Kaidence a play house to put in her playroom. I figured that it would be a cute little box that she could play house in. I know no idea he would make it so the whole neighborhood could fit in it!

2) He always makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. Even though I feel like he married me and I let myself go! ( I promise honey once the baby stops making me sick I'll take showers EVERY DAY!!)

3) Before Andy I was affraid of change. In the past couple of years I have bought a new car, a new house, gotten married, we are having another baby, and I now have a new job after 8 years at my old one. I would have never had the courage to do any of this without him. I used to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and now I feel like no matter what happens or where life takes me I will be ok as long as I have him by my side.

4) Our house can be completely dirty and he will clean the garage instead. In all fairness to my husband he only does this when I am acting crazy and I can't even stand to be around me! He never tells me my hormones are out of whack, or that the family crazy is showing through. Instead he just finds something productive to do that is away from the danger zone!

5) He understands and embraces my crazy. Like when I have a conversation with him in my head and expect him to answer me as if he were in my head too.

6) He is wonderful because of the person that he is. He wears shoes he has had since high school, he is affraid to talk about poop, he knows every line in anchor man, he has the ugliest dog ever but I am pretty sure he doesn't know it, he loves my friends and family, he has made home depot like Disneyland for Kaidence, he can't just say westside...it's Wesssstsiiiiide, he has a strange attachment to the westside, he is a bargain mom, he is the worst singer but he will not stop singing, and most of all he loves me for me and doesn't try to change me.

I am incredibly happy and grateful that I get to be married to Andy. He is truly a blessing in all of our lives.

I love you jerk face

The Fast & The Furriest!!!

Meet Sprocket Wembley Alvarado... aka "The Rocket"

It is almost time for the most entertaining event of the year... The 2008 Wienernationals!!!
The event is set for May 17th and Queen Creek's ugliest wiener dog is a contender to race this year, but he can only do it with your help!

Have fun, watch the little guys create some big laughs, and raise money for Arizona Adopt A Greyhound too!

How does Sproket get picked to race?
The top 20 fundraisers will automatically be entered in the qualifying heats. The 12 additional spots will be filled by a few Wienerschnitzel stored sponsored entries and a Wild Card Drawing. So the more we raise, the better his chances of competing!

You can get details & donate here (Donations ONLY accepted until May 1):
http://www.arizonaadoptagreyhound.org/wiener2008.php

Please help out, Sprocket has trained very hard for this & honestly I'm getting a little sick of him playing the theme to Rocky over & over when he's on his treadmill. If you've never had the opportunity to meet the little guy, here's some info that I copied off of his myspace page:

"Oh, I didn't hear you come in... I was just sculpting my guns for my upcoming race. I don't know if you heard me but I did over a thousand. My name is Sprocket. I'm a miniature, wire haired dachsund . I like digging tunnels, rolling in mud & long walks on the beach... oh yeah, & pooping. I love pooping."

If Sprocket gets to race, I will make "Team Sprocket" t-shirts for everyone who donated $10 or more. You might even have the option of adding a clever "wiener" related slogan to the shirt.

Kaidence's BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!

Saturday, April 12th

12:00pm

38129 n Carolina ave

Queen Creek, AZ 85240

Andy- (623)205-1602

Kaidence is three!!!

Petting zoo

6 foot sub

trampoline

mini-bounce house

Wii Games

What else could a kid want?!?!

7 Weird things

I've been tagged, Thanks, Deanna! It's actually kinda hard to think of interesting things about one's self.



Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



1. I don't follow rules so nevermind #'s 1, 3 &4

2. I love cherries, but hate cherry flavored things.

3. I hate mangos, but love mango flavored things.

4. I still wear shoes that I got when I was 15 or 16 & Becky hates them.

5. I love going fishing with my wife & daughter even though they're bad luck. (3 trips, 0 fish).

6. I know all of the words to the "Log" song that played on a commercial that Ren & Stimpy were watching during their cartoon. Now that's random.

7. I was kicked out of my first college for partying too much. Look at me now... family, kid, pregnant wife... I wouldn't have it any other way!

Ah... the morning poop

This morning I used the handicapped stall in our office. I usually don't, but I was kinda tired and I like to use that little bar to rest my head and maybe catch a few z's on the toilet while I'm in there... Anyway, I had fallen asleep in the stall again, like I usually do, and I woke up and realized that I'd been in the stall a good half hour. So, I broke the dried poo off of my balloon knot, pulled my pants up, yawned and stretched and walked out of the stall. Still wiping a little sleep from my power nap. I walked into something that nobody wants to walk into after pulling a stunt like I did...

JERRY.

Jerry is our resident guy in a wheelchair! It seems he had been waiting to use the shitter for close to a half hour (I was asleep, so I didn't hear him come in). He was staring daggers at me, then he looks at me and says, "I bet you wish you got more sleep last night, eh?" So, I winked at him and said "I bet you wish you could walk, eh".

I was washing my hands as I heard him struggling out of his wheelchair to get on the toilet. I shut off the light on my way out... I couldn't resist.







Lighten up people, it's April Fools day.

My favorite holiday 3 times running...

Today makes thankful for green eyes, VW's that smell like fish & the second best kiss of my life... The best being what the first one led to.

-Andy

*/*/*/* Perfect Prom Fashion Show *\*\*\*

My little sister is going to be modeling in the Macy's & 17 Magazine Prom Fashion Show this Saturday (She's the one one the left if ya didnt know!). It's going to be in 17 Magazine & they are giving away a lot of free gifts at the show too.

If you know anyone who is going to Prom... If they buy a Prom dress that day, they'll get an exclusive "17" gift bag with a bunch of goodies in it!

Seating starts at 1:30 & the Runway Show is at 2pm.

Michelle is too pretty for her own good & has always wanted to break into modeling. I'm really proud of her!

http://www.seventeen.com/check-it-out/

-Andy

This bugs Becky...

I absolutely love where I'm from, but there are good & bad things about everywhere. If anyone mentions Oregon, I can't shut up for about an hour. Becky hates it & has no idea why I love it so much. She got a little taste of the "west side" of Phoenix when I lived there & I love it there too... Here's a list of good & bad things depending on your point of view:

WEST SIDE (Why I'm kinda ghetto)
Everyone is much more laid back
No HOA's to deal with
You see a lot of really nice El Camino's (The mullet of the auto world)
If a front yard is nice it probably has a fountain or a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe in it
My friends would actually hang out
Police only break up parties if "shots are fired"
No one makes fun of me if I order a PBR in a can. (Rogue West)
Everyone is really good at Golden Tee Live
You start saying "Whey" instead of "Dude"
There are a ton of VW's & VW people
You can't walk around wearing blue, red, brown, purple, white, gray or tan
Everyone from the west side is family

EUGENE, OREGON (Why I'm kinda... I don't know how to describe it)
I think it's the last town in America still producing real Hippies
The air smells sweet
It's the best college town ever (Everything is Green & Yellow)
You walk everywhere
It rains 2/3 of the year
people sleeping in the grass on the side of the road aren't necessaraly homeless
There are tons of book stores & thrift stores
Everything is organic (read hippies)
You can walk around the Saturday market with bare-feet
fuschias & sugar magnolias grow wild
There are spiders the size of small dogs

Barney Stinson

Just added a new friend to our list of blogs... Shannon, you should already know. Here's my favorite blog of his so far (Something I hold dear to my heart)

So, I got to pull the dad card...

Saturday morning, my beautiful daughter & I woke up & got ready to take part in the Bountiful Baskets Co-op for the first time. Kaidence really liked all of the fruits & veggies & spent some time telling me what each one was as we put them into our basket. It was super cute.

At the park where this takes place, there's a playground. One of those playgrounds that are super-cool when you're a kid... crazy twisty slides, ladders to climb, etc. Kaidence asked if she could go play & I said yes. She ran with so much excitement, as I watched her from the back of the line. A minute later, she came back... her eyes welling up with tears. She said "I'm not allowed to play". I asked her why & she told me that "those boys said I'm not allowed to play".

I swear I morphed into an angry black woman & said "Oh no they didn't" as my head bobbed from side to side & my finger snapped in the shape of a giant Z. "Nobody talks to my baby like that".

I told Kiki to go back & play & the boys could talk to her dad if they had any issues. I think they tried to call her bluff because she came back with a "Get 'm daddy" look.

I know I'm not scary, but when you're a 7 year old & a guy with a facial piercing, wearing all black comes to watch over his daughter you change your attitude real fast. So Kaidence climbs up the ladder to the slide, looks back at the boys as she slides down... Then stops half way down so the boys can't go down the slide too...

I love that kid.

Greetings from California

Hey, it's Andy...

I've been in Sacramento for the last week and a half for work & I'm going crazy without my girls. It's pretty depressing, but I'll be home soon.

There was a high point to the trip thus far though. My dad lives about 5 hours southwest of here, so I drove down for the weekend! It was really cool to see my brother, sister in law, nephew & dad. It was a really quick trip, but I couldn't miss a chance to do some fishing!

My Dad lives on the beach, so my brother & I got on a huge rock out in the ocean & started fishing. I caught 3 Rockfish & we were pretty much ready to leave when I caught a huge crab! I jumped off of the rock to get it, cut up my arm & broke my fishing pole, but it was worth it!

We bbq'd some fish tacos & had crab for lunch!

Well, work is starting so I better go! Miss you all!!!

Learning new things...

Andy here.

So, with Becky pregnant I've learned a very important life lesson:

"There are 2 kinds of women. Those who throw things and those who don't."

Just kidding babe! I love you!

It's the little things in life...

Just thought I'd let everyone know some of the things that have made me happy lately...

My wife teasing me
When Kaidence sneaks into bed with us
My renewed love for Red KoolAid
The nice manager at Johnny LongBoats
A clean wiener dog
The Peanut in Becky's tummy
Knowing where my wallet is today
My guns... I've been sculpting them. I don't know if you heard me but I did over a thousand.

-Andy

Christmas was a good time!

So this was really the first year that Kaidence understood what was going on...In more ways than one. Let me first start by saying that it was the best Christmas ever. Kaidence got a giant blow up bouncy thing from Santa. Since it has a constant blower we did not turn it on until about 6am. When Andy came back into the room Kaidence said "Santa brought daddy a vacuum" Yes that's right even my 2 year old knows that Andy does the vacuuming and mommy does not!

Kaidence was extremely happy with the presents that Santa, mom and dad had given her. It seemed to be a really long day so it was no surprise to me that I was tired. It was however a surprise that I was not feeling great. I had the week off so I figured now was as good of time as any to get the flu.

I had to work on New Years eve so that was kind of a bummer. While sitting at my desk with pretty much nothing to do I started thinking. Kaidence didn't get the one thing that she insisted to Deanna that she was going to get...a baby brother. It was at that time that I started to put all of the past 2 weeks together. The getting sick at night, constantly being cold and tired, and most of all my heightened sense of smell and dislike of Chinese food ( which happens to be my favorite).

I decided to stop and get a test on the way home from work. I joked with Andy and said OK I guess Ill go pee on a stick ( sorry for the visual!) I'm guessing he didn't take me too seriously since he went off to clean out the garage. As I am trying to find the Kandoos for Kaidence and patiently awaiting the results, there it was. Pregnant!!! I have to say it was a bit of a shock although looking back it really shouldn't have been. I then went into the garage and without saying anything handed Andy the test. For once in his life he got past the fact that I, being a girl actually pee and started to cry at the results. I'm pretty sure they were tears of joy. J/K!

We were supposed to meet my sister in 20 minutes to go out for New Years so we headed to her house. I followed her upstairs while she was getting ready and showed her the test. She was so excited and immediately started talking to my tummy! She couldn't hold it in and had to run down and tell Gary and his brother in law and sister. Raven overheard which lead to the next step in the night.

We then headed home and sat Kaidence down and had the talk. I said do you remember what you said Santa was going to bring you? Without even thinking twice she said yes a baby brother. I said that is right and explained how the baby was in my tummy. She was very pleased with the news although now she is not sure if she wants a baby brother or a baby sister.

I wanted to tell my parents in person but since Raven had overheard I knew it was only a matter of time before they would find out. I called my dad who answered with it on speaker phone. It was then in front of a few friends and my mom that Kaidence told them that Mommy had a baby in her tummy. After about 2 minutes of screaming and cheers I finally got a second to myself to reflect on the wonderful journey that I am about to share with my husband. OK wonderful for me and maybe a little more annoying for him! (I'm kind of a whiner!)

So all in all it was a wonderful Christmas and I couldn't have asked for anything more!