Sedona 2015

So, we have this spot that we have been going since we were young college kids.

In my personal opinion, it's one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

I mean, seriously. For everything that I don't necessarily love about living in Phoenix, having this a short two hour drive away helps make up for it. It's breathtaking. 

If you know Arizona at all, you of course know that I'm talking about Sedona. I'm not sure how we came upon this particular spot…. a friend of a friend back in college, but it's the best. not very many people know about it, so we usually have it mostly to ourselves. If you hike in a bit, you come to a great big swimming hole with a huge rock that is perfect for jumping off of. Now, with the kids, we tend to stay a little closer. But pretty much right of the road if a perfect little shelf of red rocks, and a small, somewhat shallow creek with a slow current, that feed directly into a swimming hole.

We usually try to come up here once every summer, although we haven't been since I was pregnant with R. I'm not sure why, and every time we come up I wonder why we aren't heading up every single weekend.

This year was especially nice because all the kids enjoyed getting in the water. L actually swam across the creek, which was pretty impressive, and L2 and R both enjoyed splashing around on the rocks in the shallow water.

We went up fairly early, after breakfast, and packed a lunch to eat up there. We laughed a little as we were leaving at 1:00 and a bunch of college kids were showing up. I remember when we thought getting to the creek early was leaving by 11:00 AM! My, how times have changed.

It was the perfect little day for our family. We have some big changes coming up, which I will post about later, but I think it was especially important for us to have these good memories as we wrap up summer.

it was a nice way to cap off summer…. one weekend left and school starts! Can you believe L is starting Kindergarten and L2 is heading into his second year of pre-school!

Happy Friday!

We are continuing S's birthday fun into the weekend! (I am a big believer in the concept of a "birthday week"!) S worked out his schedule so that he had to go in and recert for his licences on Friday morning, but he got the rest of the day off, so we had a date night on Thursday. A friend of my parents came over to watch the boys and we decided to go bowling!

Kind of random, I know! I don't think I've bowled since I was in college! But we didn't want to drive to far and we wanted to do something fun and different. We have a big bowling alley/arcade/bar/restaurant right around the corner from us so we decided to check it out.

It was actually really fun. They have a separate 21 and up area, so that was nice and there was hardly anyone else in there. We order some (bad) bar food and had a couple of happy hour beers! It was fun to do something kind of random together and laugh about it!

Oh hey… do you see that? That's me winning the first game! (After that my hand got tired and I lost the second one! But who knew, I'm not totally awful at bowling!)

Anyway, it was nice to get away. And I'm now going to admit to you how lame we are. We were totally home by 8:00 and that's after we stopped at the store on the way home to pick up milk! I think this might be a sign we are getting old!

Anyway, S went and did his revert this morning and then we decided to take the boys to the Science Museum. They really enjoy it, and we are trying to get the most out of summer pass!

The science museum isn't quite as fun as the children's museum, in my opinion, but I think there is more to do for the whole family (as opposed to just the kids) and I like feeling like my kids might actually learn something!

L and I checked out the "grossology" exhibit. This is him climbing a "rock wall" made to look like skins… with moles and zits and freckles as the "rocks"!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Happy birthday, S!!!

Happy 31st birthday to the most amazing man in the world!!!

Today my wonderful husband turned 31, and although he had to work, we had so much fun celebrating him. Per his request, there were no big presents given, but the boys picked out a game for him and a bunch of candy and I got him some more… ahem…. grownup gifts. (A big bottle of gin, since he loves gin and tonics in the summer and a craft beer!)

S is taking Friday off work, and we have a babysitter and a date night lined up for tomorrow, so he requested dinner at home tonight instead of going out. I made him veal meatballs (which he loves) and I tried a new recipe for Italian sausage stuffed mushrooms. They were soooo good! We paired them with a Caesar salad, some french bread, and good beer! And of course, we made cupcakes for dessert! (If you're a rainbow chip frosting lover like I am, and were devastated when it was discontinued…. it's back!!!!)

And for  slight sappy moment…. I love this man. He works so hard for his family and he makes us proud everyday. I am 110% complete around him. He allows me to be myself…. the good, the bad and the ugly. We are so lucky to have him!!!

Needless to say… the kids were thrilled by the cupcakes!

Happy birthday, baby!!! We love you so much!

Fourth of July 2015

Happy Fourth of July weekend!!!

I love holiday's (you knew that) and The fourth of July definitely ranks up there for me. There's just something so patriotic and special about it. This year L asked a lot of questions about what we were celebrating and I felt proud to be able to tell him about our country and our soldiers. I'm feeling especially proud after the monumental SCOTUS decision last week, and I'm thrilled to live in a country where we can love whoever we choose to love.

We had a pretty low key day. Friends that we would normally celebrate with were out of town, so we spent the day relaxing at the pool. All three boys are such water babies this summer, so it's been really funny. Even L2, who used to be pretty tentative around water, is now all about jumping in!

(Those faces!!!!)

We ate lunch at the pool and then brought the boys home for naps. We decided to stay home and cook up some nice steaks for dinner, and then catch the fireworks show from our driveway.

(This is the reality of what trying to take a picture with all three of them looks like!)

L was super anxious to see the fireworks, and the wait between dinner and when we actually went outside was hard for him! Last year was the first year we bought our own fireworks and he's been looking forward to doing them again ever since.

 (We don't do anything crazy, just some poppers and a few small sparkler type fireworks!)

They had a blast hanging out in the front yard and helping Daddy light the fireworks. R got a little freaked out when our neighbors started shooting off some bigger, louder ones, but as long as we were holding him he was OK!

We stayed up way past the kids bedtimes, but it was worth it to see the excitement and wonder on their faces. And we were also hopeful that a late bedtime might mean they would sleep in, but that didn't happen!!!

Happy Fourth of July!!