Renaissance

 

St. Patty’s Day at the Renaissance Festival!!  Guinness and giant turkey drumsticks, quite a combo.  Landon and his bud, Liam, played it up, pretending to be knights in shining armor with swords.  The excitement of jousting, music, and playing on the rides, was a perfect day for the Z’s. 

Vegas I Do’s

Mr.and Mrs. Anthony and Kori Esparza!!!  Woohoo!  My brother and his new wife tied the knot in Las Vegas, March 8th, at Emerald at Queensridge.  The entire weekend was jammed packed with so much fun,  I coined it as “the best weekend ever”!!  First off, I have ever few photos of the weekend itself; we were having such a blast that the camera came second and since we were all in the wedding party, carrying a camera was not an option.  I certainly regret that now, as I wish I had more photos to show and recap the beautiful weekend. The photos above I took from my cousin’s FB page and am stuck with the sizes.  Gonna have to wait for the professional shots to post more. 

A snapshot of the weekend:  Scot and I brought a nanny or a Child Development Engineer, Amalie, to be an extra pair of hands for us during all the wedding events.  Family came in from New Mexico, Arizona, and Oregon….it was almost a family reunion, as we hadn’t seen some in years. everyone stayed at the Red Rock Resort, which was absolutely beautiful and perfect for our nights going it.  We went thru the rehearsal, drinks in the lobby bar, dinner, chatting as fast as we could with everyone, dying to catch up in our short amount of time.  The wedding day was INCREDIBLE!!!  A favorite moment is relaxing in the spa with Kori, chatting in the Jacuzzi and lying around in robes.  She was the ideal bride, if she was stressed you didn’t know it, just ready for her day.  Anthony and the guys headed to their spa time, as well.  The groom was cool, calm, collected, happy, and they were both so attentive to all their guests….quite an amazing pair.  I just love them both so much.  Following the spa, was all about the bride: hair, makeup, room services, champagne, and the big moment of  putting on her gown, the usual.  I loved being able to have some quiet times with my brother, Vince, his wife Melissa, and Landon and us getting time to spend with their 2 little ones, Chloe and Keegan. 

The wedding was picturesque at sunset.  The happy tears flowed down faces, especially mine, the smiles were huge, the love was abundant.  As for the reception…..food, drinks, dancing, dancing, and more dancing!!  We partied the time away until it was the bride and groom’s departure into a bubble blowing crowd of cheers.  The night didn’t stop there….we headed to Red Rock’s bowling alley, the bride still in her gown, following by playing craps in the casino before retiring to bed. 

Sleepy eyed and excited we came down the next morning for a champagne brunch to continue our chatter with family and wish Anthony and Kori a lifetime of happiness into their amazing new chapter of  life!! Sunday was a tearful goodbye to everyone, but the days we spent were overwhelming with love and amazing memories!!

  Family and friends for the rehearsal dinner.

My Mom and Jimmy with the newest member of our family, Keegan. 

 

My Dad with Keegers!

Landon earned the title Ring Security aka the Ring Bearer.  Uncle Ants and Aunt Kori got his this shirt which he wore proudly.  UNFORTUANTELY, I don’t have a shot of him in his tux, definitely need to purchase one from the photographer. 

 

Getting ready with the bride and can you believe her shoes!!!  The shoes are covered in Swarovski crystals.    I brought her something blue to wear on the bottom of her shoes.

  Landon’s first trip in a limo…don't’ be fooled by the look on his face, he LOVED it.  At the reception end he was bummed that we had to travel back to the resort in a shuttle, as he was requesting his “special car”. 

The girls….Tricia, the M.O.B. (mother of the bride), Kori, and Rebecca. 

No candid shots of the wedding.  Here’s a little of the after party.  Posing with my bro-in-law, Tucker and the bride at the bowling alley.

Melissa and Vince!!

The morning after…..Anthony and Landon and tables of family!!   

I am dying to get more photos from others that were able to catch different shots and I will keep posting to relive the great time!!

Campfire

          Nothing better on a cold evening than to bundle up, gather around a small fire roasting marshmallows!!  Taking advantage of some quiet time at home with friends and family!! 

My Heart!!!

Landon set up our camera on auto to take his picture of he and I.  The photo says so much about us and our amazing mommy – son bond that I can’t overlook to post about.  He is not a kisser, in fact he will wipe them off if you do kiss him, but he will cuddle with me for endless amounts of time.  He will, on the other hand, give me Eskimo, butterfly, crab, and shark kisses (the last 2 we made up).  He will tell me at random moments how much he loves me and I am the best mama in the world.  He sleeps with his arm over me and tells me he wants to marry me. He forgives, he listens, he loves unconditionally. He is sensitive, yet so tough.  He is hysterical and knows it.  He is passionate and carefree.  He is my heart to my soul. He is my world to my life.  He is my everything.  I love you, Landon Ryan.

Gone Fishin’

The Z’s and The Tosh’s packed up and headed north to the Sedona Trout Farm.  Landon has being dying to go fishing recently.  Scot and I have our old memories of being here when we were younger and started the tradition with Lando a couple of years ago.  It seemed only fitting that we introduce this awesome family event to our friends who haven’t had the pleasure of guaranteed trout catching.  We families caught our lunch and after a brief cleaning, the BBQ was fired up and ready to flame our prepared meals.  Landon and Liam ran about the property, playing on the rocks, around the creek, awestruck with others catching fish and watching as the big ones swam on by.  With the smell of fish on our hands and plenty on dirt on our shoes, we packed up but didn’t head out.  Instead into Sedona we went to the chocolate factory.  What tops off a fish meal?  Sweets!!  And a  sweet day it was!             

33 and stopping the counting!!

 My 2 favorite boys making my early birthday cake!!  Oh, how I love them so much!  You boys are all the gifts I need in life!  Thank you for making my day so special and making me complete!  

Carefree Balloon Festival

  A cold evening at the balloon festival brimming with good friends (The Tosh’s), fried food, laughter, dancing, and few balloons.  The dramatic event for the evening came as the night was windy, blowing a massive inflated balloon over with the balloon attendants shouting at the crowd, “Move away fast!”.  At the same moment another fully inflated balloon’s tethers broke and aggressively flew into the air nearly hitting a wall of landscaped bushes.  Quite a sight!!!

Landon and Liam danced to the live music, played over and over in the jump houses, and sword fought with their light sabers gifts from Errol.  Despite the cold, we had a fantastic evening!!

So Debonair!!

  

Landon’s tuxedo fitting, at Men’s Wearhouse, for my brother’s upcoming wedding in March.  He loved wearing a tux, soooo his style!!

Reptile Feeding

       

Cave Creek Recreational Park, once a month, invites the reptile fanatics and the non-squeamish to view the reptile feeding.  I so was excited to take Landon, as he has a great appreciation for snakes, spiders, and scorpions…..such a boy! Landon and his buds, Liam ad Carson, came along to witness the chow time, as well.  The boys “ohh”’d and “ahhh”d at the scorpion, spiders, Gila Monster, and Landon’s favorite, the rattlesnake.  The Park Ranger taught a lesson on reptiles, cold blooded vs. warm blooded.  My outgoing child, raised his hand at each question, eager to put his 2 cents in and have the audience laughing at his remarks. Then the “REAL” show began!! The boys got up close to the glass cages thrilled to see the snakes and reptiles smell, hunt, and devour their monthly meal.