Big Summer Trip 2014

Towards the end of July we went on a huge road trip!  The main reason was that my little brother got married!  Now all the Hales kids are married!  I was excited to go to the wedding and to see my whole family, but man, I was NOT looking forward to the looooong car rides with the kids and having all four of us in one room many of the nights during the trip.  (My kids are NOT the type to do well with that.... especially Kate).  But we were excited for all the fun ahead and to get out of the dang Arizona heat.

The first day we drove all the way to Pine Valley, UT.  It was a super long drive and that definitely wasn't fun..... as the kids often looked like this while driving -

but we made it around dinner time and my grandparents (who have a cabin there) made us a yummy meal and took us for a drive to see some animals.  (Which Matthew LOVED).  The next morning we hung out for a bit and went to a Pioneer Day breakfast celebration by the Pine Valley church.  So fun to be in Utah on Pioneer Day - especially a small town!

And then we were off to Provo!  This drive was shorter and went by pretty quick.  It was still nice to get there though - especially because we met my parents there and stayed in the same hotel as them that night.  My kids were thrilled to see them and enjoyed hanging out with them that afternoon/ evening.  We got ice cream at the BYU Creamery and checked into the hotel.  Then we all went to dinner at Brick Oven (where me and Michael had our first date almost 10 years ago!) and then my parents watched the kids while me and Michael snuck away to the mall to walk around and reminisce about our Provo dating days.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then visited BYU.  Oh how I miss BYU!  We went to the bookstore and walked around campus for a bit.  Michael even took Matthew into a classroom and Matthew felt pretty cool.  :-)

Then we headed to Idaho Falls!  Matthew got to ride with my parents and he loved every second. When we got there we met up with Cheri and Spencer and their kids (and Adam!) and the kids went swimming with Papa.  We also walked around right outside of the hotel and loved every second of the beautiful weather.  (And the view of the Idaho Falls temple!)

And then it was time for the wedding dinner!  (Which was at the hotel we stayed at).  Michael (my brother) and Laura and their family were there and it was so nice to see them, as they live in Florida and we hardly ever get to see them.  :-(  There was also lots of extended family there, which was of course wonderful.  The wedding dinner was awesome and went smoothly, other than my kids being stinkers and basically only eating ice cream for dinner.  Yikes.

And then the next day was the wedding!  I'd just barely gotten my temple recommend renewed two weeks before the wedding and hadn't been to the temple during those two weeks, and it turns out the Stake President forgot to activate it!  Ahhh!  Of course this happens as I'm trying to get into my brother's wedding! As I sat in the lobby of the temple waiting super impatiently with Michael, I was totally freaking out.  I thought I was going to miss the wedding!!!  Seriously a horrible feeling. Luckily they were able to get a hold of the right people on the phone and they let me in.  Whew.  My grandpa performed the sealing and then we went outside for pictures.

That evening was the reception, which was at someone's home.  It was actually a great place for kids, as there was tons of space to run around, a small play area, and a trampoline.  While there, we got a picture of all the grandkids.... it would be pretty perfect if it weren't for my kids crying.  Sigh.

The next day we drove our longest drive yet - Idaho Falls to Las Vegas!  It was pretty horrible as we got stuck in the absolute WORST traffic over NOTHING in Mesquite (so close yet so far!) and our AC was having issues and the kids were just DONE.  Ugh.  It felt amazing to finally get to Vegas. We stayed with Michael's mom for one night and then went to my grandma's house the next day. Here we said goodbye to Michael and he drove the van home without us on Monday night because he really had to get back to work.  Me and the kids hung out at my grandma's house the rest of that day. Yay for trampolines!  :-)

And then the next day (Tuesday) my parents got into town and took me and the kiddos in their car to LA.  Woohoo!  We would spend the week there and then Michael would drive down on Friday night, stay for the wedding Open House on Saturday, and drive us all home Sunday.  As soon as we got there I took Matthew down to the beach.  I thought he'd think it was the greatest thing ever. To my horror, he thought it was scary!  Ha!

On Wednesday we spent the day at the beach and both kids were totally freaked out by the ocean.  I guess my desert babies are not used to waves and cold water.  ;-)  Despite my best efforts to get them to love the ocean they mostly just wanted to play in the sand.

On Thursday we drove down to Newport Beach and had pizza for lunch, went on a boat ride to see celebrity houses, (cool!) and rode a ferris wheel.  Kate rode with me and was giggling the whole time. Matthew rode with my mom and didn't flip out, but was pretty nervous and he told her several times during the ride that he was, "All done."  :-)

On Friday morning me and my mom took the kids into her work at the dental office for a few minutes.  I was hoping they'd think the dentist chair was awesome.  No such luck.  No idea how I'm going to get these kids to see a dentist in the future.

And then we went back to the beach!  The kids did slightly better but were still pretty terrified of the ocean.  Sheesh.

That night we celebrated my dad's birthday with Cheri and Spencer and their kids, who got there earlier that day.  (Adam and Steph also got there that day but were at a Dodger game that night). Matthew and Kate loved having so many playmates around.  And then Michael got there late that night.  Woohoo!

We all went to the beach one last time on Saturday.  I am happy to report that my kids FINALLY did amazing and decided that the ocean was actually quite fun.  Yay!!!  Thanks to Grandma and Papa for helping get them to that point!  I also went boogie boarding for the first time since... high school? I've still got it.  ;-)

That night was the Open House which was at a nearby Marriot.  It was perfect!  It was great seeing so many people from my old home ward/stake and the food was seriously beyond delicious.  

The next day we headed back home to Gilbert!  The trip was a blast but it was nice to be home again and done with traveling for a bit. 

Although I'm seriously missing that good weather.

Congrats Adam and Stephanie!  And welcome to the family Steph!

The First Half of July

Okay, why is everyone so bad at blogging these days?  Haha!  No but really.  The blogosphere seems to be a ghost town these days.  It's making my blogging motivation go down.  (Which I know no one cares about, but I care because I like to have these memories written down).  :-)  Hmm, blaming others for my blogging laziness..... nice.

Anyway, our 4th of July activities actually began on the 3rd of July.  Before we bought our house we lived in a city about 20 minutes away called Ahwatukee and they do fireworks on the 3rd of July.  I thought it might be kind of cool to take the kids to that fireworks show along with another fireworks show in our town the next day.  So, I got the kids dressed up all festive on the 3rd.

That evening, as soon as we packed up the kids in the car and started driving, the craziest dust storm hit the city!  It was way cool!  I could see it coming straight for us when we were on the freeway and got nervous but Michael drove slowly and it was actually kind of neat to drive through it.  Here's a pic of our view from our car:

And a pic taken by someone on an airplane:

Well, after the dust storm cleared it started storming!  Rain (or any fun weather) is pretty rare here, and of course it had to happen on the one day I didn't want it to!  Ha!  There was some seriously crazy wind going on as well as thunder and lightning!  Obviously the fireworks show was canceled but we decided to make the most of being in our old stomping grounds and got some frozen yogurt at the place down the street from our old apartment where we used to go all the time.  (see: Fro Yo Fridays)

The storm ended pretty quickly so after we got home and I put Kate to bed me and Matthew played with sparklers in our backyard.  He was kinda bummed that we hadn't seen any fireworks but this helped make up for it.

On the actual 4th of July the kids both had colds :-( but we tried to make the most out of the day.  We skipped going to the pool so that the kids could rest (since toddlers are totally awesome at "resting") at home, but we did make it to Five Guys for lunch. Yum!

And then we went to a great fireworks show that evening!  It was close to our home, not too crowded, and it was actually (surprisingly) quite pleasant outside.  (I think thanks to the previous day's storm!)  Glow sticks helped keep the kids entertained until the show started.

And then the next week Cory, Karen, (Michael's sister) Natalie, and Leah came to visit for a few days!  We do not see them nearly enough.  We loved having them here and the time passed way too quickly.  Matthew still talks about "Nataleah."

While they were here we went to the Natural History Museum in Mesa which was actually way cool.  I was surprised we hadn't been there before, or even heard anything about it!  I'm sure we'll be back.  

And then Kate turned 18 months and she got to go to nursery!  Heck yes!  Everyone bring your nursery leaders cookies.  They deserve it.  :-)  Here's a pic of me and Kate on her first day of nursery:  (And she did awesome, by the way).

The second half of July was mostly consumed with our trip to Idaho and CA, which I will write about next!

Kate at 18 months

My girl is a year and a half!  Crazy!  

Kate is still such a joy.  I have a blast hanging out with her and Matthew every day. She is fun and spunky and is learning about the world so quickly.

She is still an amazing night sleeper but a horrible napper. She has already been on the one nap schedule for several months.... and half the time, she takes no nap at all.  Luckily she makes up for it by being a dream through the night, but sheesh, she sure is a little grump in the evenings from being so tired and usually has to go to bed pretty early.  I'm dreaming of the day we can all go out as a family in the evening and have a pleasant time.  ;-)

Kate has become Little Miss Independent.  She doesn't really like us to help her with anything unless she absolutely cannot do it by herself.  Sometimes I laugh when I watch her refuse any help as she struggles to do something on her own and then finally look at me with defeat and say, "Help."  (Which comes out, "Helph.")  

Kate loves bubbles, the moon, going for walks, swimming, and reading books. She also loves jewelry! If I don't put any on her and she can't find any laying around, she'll steal mine. I have high hopes about her getting into dress-up in the not-too-distant future.  

Kate loves to watch Micky Mouse Clubhouse.  It's actually the only thing she'll watch right now.  Luckily, that also happens to be Matthew's current TV show of choice.  If you ask her about Micky Mouse, she'll say, "Minnie."  "Daisy."  (Her favorites).  Her favorite songs are, "Slippery Fish," "Old MacDonald," and "I Am A Child of God."

Kate loves to climb all over furniture, including the stairs.  Agh.  I've spent more time on our stairs lately than I'd prefer, but I suppose the sooner she gets good on them, the better.  She loves jumping on the couches and the bed and plopping onto her bum.

Her favorite foods include crackers, cookies, smoothies, pizza, Nutri Grain bars, strawberries, french fries, hot dogs, and waffles.  Hey, there were a couple healthy foods in there.  ;-)  She absolutely loves when her food comes with ketchup, which she calls, "sauce."  She can dip her fries in ketchup like a pro. When the fries run out she starts dipping her finger and eating the ketchup by itself.  Ewww.  I then take the ketchup away and she gets mad.  (Sorry lady, but that grosses me out too much).  She is totally obsessed with lollipops.  Lollipops have saved my sanity at the grocery store lately.  As long as she has one, she behaves.

Half the time she thinks Matthew is hilarious and the other half of the time she is bugged by him. Ha! In all fairness, he definitely spends a fair amount of time picking on her. Luckily the girl is slowly learning to stand up for herself.  ;-)  She loves giving Matthew kisses and he can make her laugh pretty dang hard.  Overall I would say that they get along well.  They are each other's best buddies and she lights up like a Christmas tree when Matthew runs into her room every morning to greet her after she wakes up.  I am so glad that they have each other.

These last 18 months have been absolutely wonderful.  Love you Kate!

Lately

Time to play catch up if I want to keep this relatively updated!  :-)

Mother's Day was awesome. Michael sent me out that Saturday to go shopping and get a haircut. I stayed out for a good few hours and came home feeling pampered. I love my family and I love being a mother.

The next weekend was our annual Girls Weekend! This was my first time being baby-less overnight since August of 2011!  (By the time Matthew was old enough to leave overnight, Kate came along). It was seriously nuts not having a diaper bag and only having to worry about myself for a couple days. Of course I missed them, but I knew they were fine with Michael and it was pretty nice to have that freedom for a couple days. Plus, I think this might have been my favorite Girls Weekend yet.  

Can I also say that flying without a baby and/or toddler is the BEST!?  :-)  The only, and I mean ONLY, downside to flying solo was that people no longer avoided me like the plague and I was squished by an enormous man that smelled funny.

The theme was, "Under The Sea."

We ate too much, laughed a lot, had a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law Stephanie, did pedicures, and shopped. We went to a cute little Danish town called Solvang (near Santa Barbara) and shopped and shopped and still didn't even see half of the stores.  

On the way home we ate at a yummy restaurant called The Red Pepper. I'm still daydreaming about their pineapple shrimp. Yummmmmy.

We also hung out at the Redondo Pier and enjoyed some awesome weather.  We went paddle boarding (SO fun!) and all got toe rings.

The kids had a blast with Michael. Kate was pretty mad at me the night I got home but was completely over it by the next day.  :-)

Until next year!

And.... summer is here. Noooo! 100+ degrees for the next few months! Argh! On the bright side, we've been doing a ton of swimming.  Both my kids adore the pool.

Also, it's baseball season! Okay, that's not all that exciting in my opinion, but I did love going to a Diamondbacks game with the family a couple weeks ago. Chase Field is very kid friendly, which is so nice. They also have $1.50 hot dogs and corn dogs and $1 popcorn, and who wouldn't love that?

And since we can't just swim for hours on end every day, I've been trying to do more more fun and creative indoor activities.  I'm already sick of trying to think of things. Friends- come over for play dates please! On this day, I let the kids play with finger paints on canvas. It only took Kate 2 seconds to start painting on herself... in red of course, so she looks like she's from a horror film.

A couple weeks ago my parents came for a visit! It's always so depressing when they leave because we have so much fun with them.

Last but not least, Michael got surgery earlier this week! He had a double sports hernia. Ouch! Recovery has been anything but easy but he is finally doing much better.

Right before surgery

And for your viewing pleasure, here's Michael coming out of anesthesia. Haha. You're welcome.