Shillig 4 Family

While Jake is in Texas I have his phone and he has mine. We did this because my phone now has Internet /GPS/camera etc. so that way he could use it when needed. I have asked Jake to take pictures while he is in TX and text them to me. So far this is what I've got: Jake went to lunch with my Dad, my Uncle Michael, his wife Linh and their newest son Shane. I am so jealous they were at Chula Vista without me. Tonight Jake went to the KC Hall (Knights of Columbus) with my dad to work and eat at a benefit dinner. My dad's good friend Pa Pa Satch is who is the member of the Knights of Columbus. Now Jake and my Dad are at the weigh in for the MMA fights that are being held tomorrow night. I was getting the pictures off Jake's phone when I came across this picture from back when he went snowmobiling with the Jarrells at Christmastime! Silly husband didn't even tell me he took this picture for me. Kayla told me he had her take it and told her to make sure to get the ...

in our last 6 years of marriage... (engagement photo randomly taken by a friend with my disposable B/W camera) 1. My husband is mold-able. He sees a problem with himself, a situation, etc. and is able to course correct. His ability to do this is inspiring to me. I love that we are able to grow together and not apart because of this. A perfect example is him being "romantical." I love to be swept off my feet, surprised, etc. Jake knows this (doesn't come naturally for him) and for Valentine's night after all our little ones were asleep he snuck me outside our hotel, turned on my fancy phone, and we laid and looked up at the stars together with the help of this Google star thing on my phone we could see just what we were gazing into. I was so grateful for Valentine's being on a Sunday this year. No money spent and it was sweet, surprising, and "romantical." 2. To truly enjoy life. Someone once said that Jake is the only person they have ever met w...

I took Jake to the airport yesterday around noon. He went on a little trip to Texas to take care of some paperwork issues we are having with the house we bought there. My dear sweet cousin Monica (Kayla's mom) picked him up from the airport. Jake told me he would hitch-hike but thankfully Monica answered our plea for assistance (since renting a rental car last minute was OUTRAGEOUS!) I am so glad he is the take care of business type. I have complete confidence in his abilities to all that is needed of him in TX. Today he said he went to lunch with my Mom and Dad and also went and checked out my Uncle's Karate studio. I am so glad my Dad is his entertainment, chauffeur, and hotel while Jake is in town. But back to OUR full day without Jake... Malachi is in full crawling mode and I absolutely 100% LOVE IT! It makes me so overwhelmingly happy I can't contain myself. I love it! I knew I would. He is my first baby I was excited about learning to crawl and be mobile. ...

Guess who will be 9 months old on Friday and can now officially CRAWL! ? MALACHI CAN! He started on Friday (the day we left for Vegas). I noticed it just as Jake was getting home from work and sure enough he did it for Jake! Don't mind the fact that ALL the kids are half dressed in the video, I was getting them in the tub as Malachi started crawling. Jake is always the excited Dad who makes EVERYTHING more fun. It made me so happy to catch the whole event on camera. All of our kids have waited (and waited and waited) to crawl but have all started crawling and never looked back. None of them tried to army crawl, or scoot, and any other means to get around. I am so happy Malachi is now able to get around and entertain himself a little more. He is after-all my little needy boy.

We started out on our last day in Las Vegas by driving over to Ethel M's Chocolate Factory/Cactus Garden. This was my idea 1. because I wanted to do all the FREE family stuff while visiting Vegas and 2. because the paper I read made it sound REALLY cool (like watch them make chocolate, FREE samples). Well when we arrived it was one of those places that you spend the ENTIRE time making fun of! That did keep us laughing but after spending $14 on a box of chocolates (in a heart box half off for being the day after Valentine's Day) we were done. Next, we headed over to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I will admit I was disappointed. For 1. the tickets were pricey for our large group 2. if you have ever been to the Monterey Bay aquarium this doesn't even compare and 3. while it says it takes you 2hrs to get through online we were at the end in 10 minutes and had to make 3-4 trips back and forth through to stay 2 hours. It was really fun touching the rays and c...

We did quite a bit of wandering around town. We started off by hitting up the site of the show we enjoy in our house Pawn Stars on the History Channel. To our surprise and the boys excitement we pulled in the parking lot and saw the "Old Man's" car that they showed restored on the show. We all then went in to browse the store (a perfect Valentine's Day activity). It surprised the boys how small things were in comparison to on TV, amazing to me what they can do with editing and video cameras! To our surprise we saw "the old man" and Rick! The boys even got pictures. It was definitely a great way to start our day. We then checked out the run down and overpriced stratosphere. Not on our list of places to visit while in Vegas. With our record for the day being 1 hit (Pawn Stars) and 1 miss (Stratosphere) we headed over to Caesars Palace where we enjoyed a show about the sinking of Atlantis and visited their aquarium. After Caesars we headed to City Ce...

We arrived in Vegas LATE Friday night. The kids got baths and then got in bed and played with the room phones (unplugged) and the little notepads. Our first full day (Saturday) in Vegas we visited the aquarium at the Silverton , walked around the Bass Pro Shop. Visited Mandalay Bay. Ate at a recommended sushi/seafood/other food buffet called TODAII . Malachi obsessed over the fruit (but still dislikes baby food). Went back to our hotel (Thanks to Jake's parent's timeshare) and we napped with the kids and the boys played in the pool. After naps we went and saw the LION habitat at the MGM Grand. (there is a sleeping lion and lioness above their heads) Got M&Ms at the M&M store. Aimi Lark kept calling them M& Ns (like the alphabet). Made our way over to the Coca Cola store and tried their float varieties. Had our picture taken with the Coca Cola polar bear. Walked a bit. The girls enjoyed the Harley Shop. Inside New York, New York we rode the elevators to the top ...