BYE BYE KIDDOS...HELLO BEACH!

LAGUNA BEACH OCTOBER 2011

FIRST GIRLS TRIP AWAY FROM MY KIDDOS EVER!!!!

I have left my kids for a night with girls but never more than that. All I can say was that it was needed. I love my kids more than words can explain but I think every mom needs to get away and turn off "mommy mode". It's funny how the most stressful situations become the most relaxing without kids. Like....going to restaurants with two todders = not fun....going to restaurant with friends = good times! flying is a little break to read, shopping is enjoyable, etc. We stayed at a gorgeous beach house in laguna beach thanks to Kim! we were beyond LUCKY with the weather! It was upper 70's to mid 80's the 4 days we were there. Never a cloud in the sky (until the morning we left).

Kylee West, Kim Smith, Megan Whitney and I left super early on friday morning and got home on Monday night. While there we got mani/ pedicures, took naps, hung out at the beach everyday, went out to eat, shopped like crazy (and for many hours :) ), went to a movie, got treats, chatted at night (thanks meg for the tickles...that doesn't sound good), went running, watched sunsets, etc. It was so fun and I love these girls!

Beautiful sunsets... This beach (Aliso Creek) with grass was 2 miles away from us.

shopping without kids is actually enjoyable! The beach pic is the beach our place was on. It was called Thousands Steps Beach. You literally walk down a ton of steps to get to the beach. Poor pregnant Kylee...she was such a trooper!

Ok so here's where the fun began :) and ended :) jk.... So we were all ex-cheerleaders and we were on a pretty private beach so we decided to break out our old cheer moves. it was hilarious! We were having a great time until....

We decided to do a stunt. BAD IDEA! I fell straight on my tailbone and literally couldn't move after. it hurt so so so bad but I thought I was ok 30 minutes later. It really didn't give me too much trouble until I tried running on it. While running it hurt but I've run through injuries and have been ok. When I got home and stopped my body literally ceased up and I couldn't move. Since then I have had constant pain. I can't do anything with impact. Carrying my kids and even walking hurts my back. I just hope this isn't a long term pain. Megan and Kim felt so bad but really it was just as much my fault and anyone's. It was very memorable and we all laughed but STUPID!!!!!! Hopefully it's better soon

Shopping...need I say more

The last day we went to Newport beach and walked around. Man does that place bring back so many memories (between living with my friends, traveling with family and friends, senior trip and so many other amazing trips). We were all ready to come home to our kids. Tay was going to be out of town (since September he's been to Texas, Sun Valley, St. George (for the marathon), Texas, me in Laguna, and then Idaho with his boss. I was so sad I wasn't going to see him, but seeing Stockton and Mckaylee were so cute. Mckaylee did her little dance with her arms up kind of jumping up and down and Stockton ran to me and right past me and giggled. Love those two kiddos.

The not so happiest place on earth....

CALIFORNIA!!!!

In the middle of August we heading on our first big family vacation! It was bitter sweet. We had some great moments and we had some crazy not so great moments. The first part of the vacation was kind of a nightmare and then it got better. We started off at the "HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH" and it was definitely NOT the happiest place on earth for our family.

Disneyland was probably not the best idea. I had this vision of my two kids in the “happiest place on earth” and just loving it. But really putting two tired toddlers with no nap in a hot crowded place and asking them to wait in line is not a good idea. (and two tired parents that slept 3 hours the night before because of bad traffic). They actually really liked the rides but it was all the waiting and walking around in between that was a nightmare. Stockton literally wanted to be held by Taylor THE ENTIRE time and Mckaylee wanted to push a stroller rather than ride the rides. She would tantrum everytime we had to take the stroller away. Taylor was probably in one of the worst moods he has been in awhile. There were moments of goodness like the dumbo ride, it’s a small world, the carousel, and toy story ride, but they probably would have been happier just going to the pool and playground (and it would have been MUCH cheaper). Needless to say we left around 3:30pm. I think we will wait until they are 5 before we go again.

Once we left anaheim and got to Newport, Tay said the trip really began. The resort in Newport was beautiful! There was a playground and basketball and mini golf right outside the place and pools were all around. We stayed at the Marriot hotel in a great room for us. The kids had their own area and Tay and I were in the bedroom. The kids didn’t sleep the best but they weren’t horrible. We usually would wake up between 6:30 and 7:30 and stick the kids in the jogging stroller and go for a 6 mile run then come back and get ready and go to my parents Marriot. We just swam, relaxed by the pool (during nap time), watched movies, play at the playground, went to fashion island, the Irvine Spectrum to shop, huntington beach (with Kelly and Alison Tate), corona del mar, etc. Stockton was scared of the waves and Mckaylee wasn’t in love with the water as much as we thought she would be, but they loved playing in the sand so the beach was still fun. We really had a great trip. The drive was so long and we got stuck in such bad traffic both ways but considering Stockton and Mckaylee did great! We only had a few moments of close to meltdowns. I had to go sit in the back a few times but really we were super impressed with how amazing they were. WE DEFINITELY NEEDED A VACATION FROM OUR VACATION THOUGH...going anywhere with two toddlers is tiring. Love them, but we do anything that makes them as happy as possible. We also had a few rough moments on the trip when the kids were in bad moods.

My cute parents are so amazing! They really are the most helpful kind people out there! My mom just babysits almost the entire time...between my sister Kristin's baby, sister Kim's toddler Evan, and my kids my mom is super busy and she LOVES it. She wouldn't do anything else. I really have never met anyone more selfless when it comes to helping with her kids. I love her! The picture below is of Stockton, Mckaylee and Evan sitting at dinner with my mom. They all wanted to sit by "grandma Pam". So dang cute!!

I love the beach!!!!!!

Lake Powell

LAKE POWELL TRIP -

MINUS KIDS!!

Tay and I headed down to Powell at the beginning of August with his mom and step dad, sister Teddy and husband Scott, brother Joe and his friend Kallie, and brother Matthew. We had such an amazing time!! It was a short but sweet. We left Thursday morning (which was really hard to leave the kids. Let's just say I have a really cute and sensitive husband and a few tears were shed) and we came back saturday night. We drove down with Teddy and Scott which was a treat because they live away and I miss them!!!! We got there in good time and got right on the lake and went on the camp site search. We found a great camp and from there on out we just chilled, water-skied, hiked, cliff jumped, swam, ate, roasted marshmallows, read, swam some more and had great conversation! It was just so nice to I guess be selfish. I didn't have to think about what I needed to do, what my kids need, etc....I just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I loved being with my hubby sleeping under the stars and just acting like we were just married. Tay was hilarious the whole time. He rolled up his shorts, stuck out his belly, and make the funniest/ ugliest face probably 50% of the time. He made us all laugh the whole time. It was also so great to just talk to the girls. I love hiking with Tay's mom and I loved having Teddy around. I'm grateful for family members back home that took care of my angels while Tay and I were able to get away for a little bit. Lake Powell is one of my favorite places/ vacations ever!

4th of July weekend and Summer Fun

This summer has been so much fun! I can't even tell you how much happier my kiddos are being outside. Water is beyond an obsession with Stock and Mac so we spend as much time as we can with it.

I mean really does it get any cuter than this?!?! Stockton and Mckaylee fight A TON! I would even say they don't like each other but I caught this happening the other day and it truly melted my heart! I am so glad I was able to capture the moment because it was definitely a happy mommy moment!

I had to take a picture of this...my cute wonderful dad "strapped" Mckaylee in her carseat. This picture was taken at the holiday oil gas station by my house. I heard Mckaylee laughing and I turned around and she was completely out of her carseat standing against the front seat. I drove all the way from SLC (a 30 min drive) with her not buckled in. Naughty grandpa!

My sister Kristin is in town for the month of July with her adorable little girls. We have hung out with them a ton. Below is a picture with them. (sorry for all the random pics clumped together).

I also went to volunteer with my friend Laci at the extreme home makeover. What a cool and fun this for daybreak. I heart daybreak :)

The firetruck was a proud mommy moment of locking Stockton in the car at costco. Luckily the car was running because it was a hot day. Stockton had a toy and his drink and he was as happy as can be. The firemen were there in a matter of 5 minutes! I can't even really tell you how it happened but all I know is I swear the doors were unlocked and then all of sudden they were locked. Thank you tax dollars for going to something good. Mckaylee was happy because she had her ice cream and got to see the firetruck.

We have been to the zoo quite a bit this summer. Mckaylee is obsessed with animals and Stockton is obsessed with water so we will be standing in front of like the monkey outdoor cage and Mckaylee with be making monkey sounds and saying "money" (that's what she calls them) and Stockton will be saying "water, water, water". Funny kid.

"icey" (ice cream) is a must whenever my kids see other kids with it so we get it often :)

The fourth of July!!!!

The actual 4th was very fun. We did our own thing. We went to parade in holladay with my dad and sister and then we went to the pool in the afternoon (even though it was kind of cold) and then at night we went to the coolest firework show at the Smiths house. The kiddos LOVED LOVED LOVED it! They kept saying "more"! I thought they would be scared too death but they were in in heaven. Thank you Matt for entertaining my children.

Cannon Family Victor trip

This is such a fun trip that we used to do every 4th of July. Tay and I haven't been up in a few years because of being prego or having crazy kiddos. This year we decided we would try it out. There were 20 of us in a 4 bedroom house. Really if our kids were older or more used to different environments it would have been fine but the first morning they woke up just after 5:00 and don't want to go back to sleep so we are waking everyone else up along with us so we went on a long drive and shopping at the grocery store to waste time. That day tay was able to go golfing and my amazing sister in law Jenny took my kids for a few hours while I went running and showered and relaxed. At night we took the kids on a golf cart ride and hit golf balls and did a BBQ. That night Stockton woke up at 12 and didn't go back to bed til 4. We couldn't let him cry because we had like 10 people right outside our door we were affecting so we kept him in our bed as he happily PLAYED and would NOT go to sleep. I laid in her pack n play 2 times for like 45 minutes trying to get him to go back to bed but it wasn't going to happen. He finally fell asleep but then Mckaylee was up for the day at like 6:30 so Tay and I were exhausted. We decided to still do the run up the pass. Cregg and Crystal (Tay's dad and step mom) took our kids and we went and ran 11 miles uphill in the heat with the wind in our face and then 5 miles downhill to the next down named Wilson. It is such a hard tiring run! I stopped and walked a lot towards the top of the pass. We also didn't have enough water so we took the chance and drank from a spring coming out of the mountain. I'm so glad we did it but it sucked! It's gorgeous and worth it after.

Once we got back from the run Tay made the decision that we should leave. It just wasn't worth the not sleeping and feeling like we were bugging everyone there (even though seriously everyone was so nice about it!) We just felt like we were on egg shells so we came home a few days early. We still had such a great time and I absolutely LOVE tay's family. I wish we could've stayed a little longer and enjoyed the famous Victor parade but we had a great time at home as well. Hopefully next time will be better :) One kid is ok to deal with but 2 sleep deprived toddlers is not fun at all...

Victor is still one of my favorite trips! I really hope Stockton and Mckaylee get used to sleeping in the same room with us someday :)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Hawaii again???

Ok I am horrible at this whole blog thing and people probably stopped looking at my blog, but I decided to put a post to see if I can redeem myself. Taylor and I went to Hawaii again on February23rd- March 2nd (Tay's bday). Words can't even describe how fun it was. We stayed on Kaanapali beach in Maui. We biked down the volcano after sunsest, snorkeled, surfed, ate out at really yummy restaurants, chilled by the beach and pool, hiked to waterfalls, drove the windiest narrowest road (The road to Hana), shopped at Whalers Village, Tay golfed(it was his heaven), and just had a romantic week together. My sister and her hubby were there too so we got to hang out with them quite a bit. The weather was perfect and it was the best trip ever. It's always hard to come home, but at least we had the time of our lives!