Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Happy 8th Anniversary!

Eight years ago yesterday, I was lucky enough to marry not only the love of my life, but my best friend.

Eight years.

That's crazy. It's crazy because so much has happened and changed in eight years. We have three beautiful children. We own a house. Jobs have changed, and promotions have happened. Priorities have changed. But at the same time, it feels like yesterday that we were 24 years old and so excited to start our married lives together.

Marriage isn't always easy. Anyone who has ever been married can attest to that. We have things about each other that drive us crazy. (I never clean the lint trap on the dryer. He always leaves the cabinets open after he puts away the dishes. I never blow out candles. He refuses to throw anything out.) We make each other unimaginably happy… and we also fight. We argue about big things, like money and the future and how to raise our kids. We bicker about what show to start on netflix and who's night it is to pack the kids lunches. but through it all? We love each other and we respect each other. We know that at the end of the day it us, and our little family, that matters more than anything. And that is why eight years into marriage I am happier than I could have ever imagined.


OK, enough of the sappy stuff. I love my guy…. I think you guys get it!

S wasn't able to get our actual anniversary off, but I woke up in the morning to some beautiful flowers, a gift card for a massage, $8 dollars worth of scratchers (To signify 8 years!) (Also, scratchers are kind of our thing…. we always add them onto gifts for any occasion!)


We went out to dinner last Friday to celebrate, so on our actual anniversary we stayed in and S made us a delicious dinner of lobster and stuffed clams.


Even though S couldn't get the day of our anniversary off, he was able to get the day after, so after we dropped L off at school we headed out with the little boys to my favorite breakfast place in the world. (Seriously, if you have a Snooze near you, check it out. It's like you've died and gone to heaven it's so good!)




After breakfast L2 had speech therapy and then we headed home to get him off to school. Once he was off  we checked out some model homes in a new neighbor and then I went to get an amazing massage! We ended our "anniversary day" With homemade nachos with all of our boys. It was a perfect celebration of the eight years we spent creating this life together, and I'm so looking forward to the next year in our adventure together!

Friday, April 15, 2016

Spring Fling Carnival

A few weeks ago L's school had their annual "Spring Fling" carnival. It's the schools big fundraiser for the school year, and L was so excited to go. I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting much.  I've been to these school carnival fundraisers before and they usually consist of a few lame games, some hot dogs and that's about it.



I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprise. The school did an amazing job, there were bounce houses, food trucks, carnival rides, a rock wall, game… and much, much more. We took all the kids, plus one of L's little friends tagged along with us, and we ended up staying for a few hours!



We met up with a couple other friends and there kids and the kids had an absolute blast running from bounce house to bounce house, and were even pretty patient standing in line for some of the bigger rides.


As part of the fundraising, each class put together a raffle basket. You could buy tickets and put them in  a pot for which ever one you wanted to try and win. Since I'm the homeroom mom I organized our basket (we did a "date night" theme!) and I was proud that not only do I think it turned out great, we had so many people who put their raffle tickets towards it our class won a pizza party!

(The only downside was that I didn't win any of the baskets that I put my raffle tickets towards. Oh well, there is always next year!)




It was fun night and a nice way to wrap up the school year as we get closer to the years end!

Saturday, April 2, 2016

First visit with the Tooth Fairy!

I can't even believe I'm writing this post,  but we have our first lost teeth in our household! L had two "grown up" teeth on the bottom that were starting to come in, but the baby teeth hadn't started to get loose yet so the dentist recommended we pull them so that the big teeth would move into proper position.

(His last smile with all of his baby teeth. Tear. My baby!)

We gave it some time to see if the baby teeth would come out on their own, but once it became clear they weren't budging we went ahead and scheduled an appointment to have them removed. L was actually excited because he knew it would mean his first visit with the tooth fairy!


He did really well, and after a lunch of smoothies he was perfectly fine. No pain and he is super proud of his new "gap"!

(Can you see that big tooth coming in? The dentist said it should move into place in a few weeks now that the baby teeth are out!)

And when big brother looses his first two teeth, everyone benefits with ice cream after dinner!



And the Tooth Fairy did come to visit! L was so excited when he found an envelope under his pillow with a sweet note, two dollars and a few little "jewels"!


Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!! (From last weekend… you know I'm not very good at posting in real time!)

What do you do when it's Easter in Phoenix? You dye Easter eggs outside, of course!





Also, we just got a new kitchen table, and dying eggs outside seemed a lot cleaner! That's also why R is stripped down to a diaper… less mess!

You also have to put out some carrots in hopes that the Easter Bunny might hide the eggs you diligently dyed, and maybe even leave you a treat or  two!

I'd day our kids lucked out!


Because the kids like to wake up at the crack of dawn, and we do not like to, we started the morning with some cartoon cuddles in Mom and Dad's bed! 


Once we finally rolled out of bed, the kids were pretty stoked to see that the Easter Bunny had left them some gifts! I think the biggest winner (besides the loads of candy) was a new bubble machine!



And after some searching we realized that the Bunny had hidden our dyed eggs, as well as some eggs with candy and money in them, in our front yard. We had to reign L in a little bit to make sure the little boys got their fair share of eggs too, but I think they had fun searching and finding!






Once we pulled them away from the hunt and convinced them that there were no more eggs hidden we set up the bubble machine in the backyard, gave the some chocolate, and S made us a delicious breakfast of eggs benidicts and mimosas!



And to finish off a perfect we Easter we hit up one of the last Spring Training games of the season. The weather was perfect and we had a great spot on the grass for the boys to run around.






I'd say we had a pretty perfect Easter!

Camping 2016

To round out our amazing Spring Break Week, we decided to pack up the camper and head up to Lake Pleasant to camp for a night.


Normally when we camp, we head up after lunch on the first day, spend two nights, and then leave right after breakfast on the third day. We decided to make it a quicker trip this time, and headed up to the lake early and got in a hike before we headed to our campsite. We only stayed one night, but hung out for a while on the second day before we packed up and came home. It was quick, but fun and relaxing.


It was a pretty hike, one that we'd never done before. It's was really nice being able to see the lake, since were usually pretty much just in the desert. I mean, don't get me wrong, this was still very obviously a desert hike, but at least there was some water!




(R and I… my little hiking buddy!)

After our hike we headed over to the campsite, set up, and headed straight for the lake. We have a great little spot that we always camp at where we are pretty much right on the water. It's easy to carry the kayak and fishing gear right down. (And my beach towel and book!)



L is totally into kayaking these days, and he's old enough that we are comfortable letting him paddle around in the cove by himself. (with a life jacket on, of course.) R and I managed to steal it away from him a few times, and I think R may have a future as a boat captain… or a pirate. He pretty much just shouted at me to row the whole time!




The little boys had a great time playing on the shore and L even braved going all the way in the water.



After a long afternoon down on the water we headed back to start dinner preparations and our fire. It's amazing how good a hamburger, chips, and a beer taste when you're out in nature! I swear, it's like being outdoors makes everything taste better… or else it just makes me ravenously hungry!


(R agreed that it was delicious!)

After dinner we hung out around the campfire and made marshmallows. The boys were wiped out and went to bed surprisingly easily, which meant S and I got some time to ourselves to just hang out and talk. The next morning we took our time making pancakes and bacon for breakfast, spent the morning hanging at the lake, and then finally headed home!