CA girls trip

When some of my friends I work with in Young Women's at church asked me if I would be down for a girl's trip I didn't even hesitate to say yes. First of all, who says no to a getaway and second of all I LOVE the ladies I serve with and knew I would have so much fun with them. Five (out of the 8 of us) we able to go and we had a blast! It wasn't your typical lay on the beach and get your toes done type of girls trip... it was really active and jam packed. We played hard and also made sure to find only the yummiest places to eat (I felt like such a foodie on this trip). We laughed a lot and got to know each other better and almost died a few times on the freeways... it was a great weekend.

Wednesday:

Dinner at Open Sesame in Long Beach, checked into our "zen cottage" VRBO in Santa Monica

Thursday:

Went to Malibu for the Zuma beach hike. Beautiful scenery and even saw some whales! Lunch at Howdy's Mexican in Malibu. Drove to Santa Monica pier and rented bikes and rode along Muscle Beach up to Venice beach. That night shopped along 3rd street promenade in Santa Margarita and had dinner at Trastavere Italian restaurant.

Friday:

Drove to Ojai by way of Ventura. At lunch at "The farmer and the cook" organic market. Did a riverbed hike that led to a water hole. The scenery was lovely and we saw a big snake. Stopped in Carpinteria on the way back and went to the beach and shops. Promenade again for dinner at "Tender Greens"

Saturday:

Drove to the Hollywood hills up to the Griffeth conservatory and overlooked all of LA and saw the Hollywood sign. Got cupcakes from the famous "Sprinkles" and they were every bit as delicious as i hoped. Drove around and looked at houses in Beverly Hills and walked along Rodeo Drive. Drove to Long Beach for lunch at Simmzy's then back to the airport.

L u c k y

I'm not a big celebrator of St. Patrick's Day but I'm slowly warming up to the holiday. I'll wait til my kids are in school to introduce leprechauns and traps and old Irish myths but for now it's fun to wear green, look for rainbows, get pinched and most of all remember how truly lucky we are.

Sunday (3.16) we had the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage meal. My first time to make it completely on my own and luckily it turned out delicious! McCulloughs and Greens joined us for dinner and it felt pretty festive.

Monday Caitlin and I were invited to a play date at Bella's for St. Patty's Day. We ate all green food, made froot loop necklaces, and even went on a scavenger hunt. It was adorable and such a fun way to celebrate.

week review

I had to get the oil changed in my car which I absolutely detest doing and will avoid at any cost. I just hate being trapped while they work on my car and even more so with two little kids to entertain. So I had been putting it off and Paul told me I realized I had to just get it done. A luck would have it, it was the same day that IHOP was doing their free pancake day! And as further luck would have it, there was an IHOP right by the car place. Tender mercies. So we got to enjoy a delicious breakfast for lunch while our car was getting fixed. Pancakes for Caitlin, hashbrowns and sausage for me, and eggs for Nolan.

 Wednesday night (3/5) Paul had a work event up at the St. Regis in Deer Valley. They had dinner and then skiing the next day with clients. He was so sweet to arrange for me to come up and meet him for the night. The St. Regis is situated at the top o fa mountain at Deer Valley so to get up to it when I got there I rode their gondola up the mountain which was fun and a spectacular view even at night.  I was able to run some errands, come to the hotel room and get some dinner and watch some shows and relax. Paul came when he was done with his dinner and getting an uninterrupted nights sleep was heavenly. Not having to jump out of bed and make anyone breakfast in the morning was so nice. I even got room service breakfast for myself! I'm so lucky that Paul is so aware of when I could use a break (which lets face it is just about anytime) and that he seeks out and arranges things for me. I'm the luckiest.

Thursday we had Bella over to play. Nolan is obsessed with her and wants to follow her around wherever she goes and do everything with the girls and Bella will barely give him the time of day. I caught this funny sequence of pics while I was trying to take a picture of the girls and nolan kept creeping in:

 On Saturday Paul and I went to a new Bikram yoga studio in the morning for a class and it was quite the experience! Paul LOVED it and has gone back since, I wasn't so sure. I would probably go back but not for awhile.. it was much too hot for this pregnant lady!
Later that day Caitlin and I had a special date to paint at Color Me Mine. We painted porcelain eggs and it was really fun. Caitlin picked out the eggs to be the things we painted and she wanted to do hers completely on her own and she did. She did great. I love being with her and just chatting. She was so sad that we had to leave them there for them to put in the kiln. They turned out super cute though when we got to pick them up a few days later.
That night Paul and I had dinner in Deer Valley with the Gardners.

Sunday was a beautiful day, and also daylight savings. We were shocked when Caitlin came in our room saying she couldn't sleep anymore and I looked at my phone to see that it was 8:30 AM! We rushed to get ready for our 9 AM church meetings and commented on how it was so nice to sleep in and what had brought that upon the kids? It wasn't until we got to church and saw my clock in the car that I finally remembered it was daylight savings. I'm actually glad though because we started with such a more positive attitude by thinking that we had slept in rather than thinking about being woekn up an hour early. Paul and I both taught lessons in church. Mine was on "How the Atonement can help us through Trials" and I based it primarily on Elder Bednar's amazing talk "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality". I really enjoyed reading it and thinking about the atonement and specifically thinking about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. Later we went for a family RZR ride, and then picked up Christine from the airport!

We had a really fun time with Christine up here for a few days. She did some hard core house hunting and luckily on the last day it paid off and she found a great home. Fingers crossed that everyone plays nice and they can come to a good agreement and move here ASAP! We had lots of late night talks and trips to Utah faves like zupas, the waffle truck, jdawgs and slurp. We could not be more excited to have the Meads in our neck of the woods!

Nolan: 21 months

Nolan at 21 months is letting even more of his personality show and as we get to see what he's like he is both more interesting and harder to understand! He is his own little person that's for sure. He is very sweet and wants to be good but he also wants to do his own thing, and if those two don't match up... he will still do his own thing. He is very stubborn and very determined (I guess since both of his parents have these traits he got a double dose). He has a good heart but not the same desire to please as his sister. If you tell him to do something he will rarely sometimes do it. (Including: Nolan stop. Nolan don't go in the street. Nolan come back. Nolan if you want to get down and walk you have to stay by me. Nolan don't push.) He has put us in some interesting parenting positions and we are still trying to figure out the best approach to disciplining him! I do love though how my kids have a mind of their own. He is still my little boyfriend and my number one go-to for tickle fights, playing cars or horsies. He is fun and happy the majority of the time. I will take as many sloppy kisses and 10 second snuggles as I can get.    

It's crazy to be to think that this was the age Caitlin was when Nolan was born. They are so different from each other. I have no doubt Nolan is going to be a  EXCELLENT big brother but I am grateful for the extra time I have with him. He has progressed a lot just over the past month as far as communication and interaction goes. He is trying out lots of new words and will repeat anything we say. Sometimes a lot of his words sound the same but he has a pretty big vocabulary. He still doesn't combine words very often, just one at a time but he likes to make his wants known and speak for himself.

-He is very friendly and will talk to anyone. He will just go up and say hi. Especially if you have a dog with you... then you are his #1 person he is wanting to talk to.
-He is all boy but not afraid to try on his sister's high heels if playing dress-up is the only option at the time. He also loves playing baby dolls, he loves babies.
-He can identify tons of animals and make their noises. His favorite animal is definitely "hoysies" followed by either dogs or cats depending on the day.
-He is learning some colors but thanks to his sister his go to answer is "pink!"
-He knows most of our extended family members by name.
-He knows most of his body parts.
-He loves play-doh, cars, his miniature horsies, balls, playing hide and go seek and playing outside.
-He still naps every day, for about 2.5-3 hours and sleeps about 12 hours at night (8-8) Every time he goes to sleep he has to have his blanky, his big Mickey, his little Mickey and his Pooh bear. And his baba.
-He LOVES his blanky. He calls it his "dinkdink" and he usually likes to have it around with him for awhile after he wakes up. And sometimes just when he feels like it. He also LOVES Mickey and Pooh, a lot.
-He is done with bottles and drinks sippy cups of (still warmed up) milk for his nap and night time.
-He is generally a great eater.
-Church is impossible for the first hour then he goes to nursery and he loves it and they say he does great!
-His hair will not keep any sort of style for longer than 2 minutes. I'm still trying different products but so far nothing has worked and as soon as I put it in he wants to feel it with his hands and messes it up. So usually we just go au natural.
-He loves playing with other kids.
-He is so strong. He can push open doors or knock things over that I would never see coming. He sometimes doesn't know his own strength, and sometimes playing with kids he can push them or something but he doesn't do it to be mean.
-He is very agile. He's great at climbing and running fast and moving around. His coordination could improve but he likes to be active and can pretty much handle any playground on his own.
-He has a really prancey run, he lifts his knees high and he is usually always running (or prancing i guess) opposed to walking. When he gets excited he stomps his feet really fast.
-With his blue eyes, big cheeks and easy smile he is just as cute as can be, but pretty much impossible to take a posed picture of.

Caitlin: 3 1/2 years old

Three has definitely been my favorite age with Caitlin so far. I'm sad it's already half way over! She really is an absolute delight 95% of the time. She is fun, funny, smart and sensitive. She is usually pretty friendly to people and pretty social. She can be pretty unpredictable though. She has an amazing talent for being so intuitive and noticing people's emotions and situations around her. She always wants everyone to be happy and involved. She is very aware of things that seem out of place or things that are different... literally she doesn't miss anything and if she seems something new or different she will ask about it and she demands a real thought out answer instead of being brushed off. Her questions make me think and notice things as well in a different way and it makes me wonder what goes on in her little head all the time. She never stops thinking, her little wheels never stop turning, even when you think she is vegging out watching a show she will all of a sudden ask you a question about the characters and why they did something or why they are feeling a certain way. She's always been very curious. She's pretty impatient, she wants to know what is going to happen and when. She makes me laugh with her ideas that she comes up with and her imagination and she also makes me smile when she does sweet things and says sweet things that show how big her heart is. I love that she is confident. She is not afraid to put on a show and dance her little heart out or sing in front of almost anyone, or no one. She is also confident in her emotions and in her knowledge, she will tell you she loves you and tell you how she feels and be very sure about it. She is smart. She likes to play what we call "the question game" where we ask her questions like "what is something really tall? or "what is something that flies?" and she answers. Her answers always surprise me and sometimes they are really out of the box. If she's not acting her best, she is usually being whiny or stubborn (i.e. not listening and doing what we say) or talking back. Those are her things we discipline her the most for. Rarely does she throw tantrums or yell or be violent. She always wants to please us and she is motivated by treats or getting to do special things. She is usually very grateful for things and loves surprises of any kind. She is very talkative, talks almost non stop. She will talk about anything and everything. I love having conversations with her all day. She is a good big sister. She has never said that she doesn't want to play with Nolan (sometimes she will say that she doesn't want him to play with her things) but she is usually very inclusive and sincerely loves and is proud of her brother. She is pretty good at entertaining herself, but always prefers to be playing with someone.

I just love her to pieces and the big girl she is becoming. I'm so proud of her and of her kind and good heart and I take a lot of satisfaction in the knowledge that I've helped her become this person, although she has done way more for me. We love our little princess.

neither here nor there

instagram from this month:

joys of motherhood: February

-One Sunday in church my friend taught an awesome lesson on LOVE. All kinds of love and most specifically God's love for us and how we can reciprocate. A lot of it was based on the talk "The Love of God" by Elder Uchtdorf (awesome talk that I highly recommend reading it). A few things hit me while she was speaking and later when I as reading over this talk. Elder Uchtdorf said: "...what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become." and "What and how we love... Defines us as individuals" she related this to the phrase "The things that we love that's who we are" which is kind of a common phrase that I always thought was a little cliche since I related it to someone's passions or hobbies (i.e. i love music so i'm a musician-- which is fine) but in this case it hit me deeper. When she said "The things that we love that's who we are" I immediately thought of the things I truly love-- my husband and my kiddos. And then I thought That's who I am: I am a wife and a mommy because that's what I love. Sometimes as a mom it's easy to think "I'm just a mom" and to lose sight of the important and meaningful things we do everyday but as Elder Uchdtdorf said "What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become." I know as I think about how much I love my kids and my little family there is nothing I would rather be doing that becoming the best mother I can.   

-Caitlin calls for the "handy helpers" like on Mickey Mouse clubhouse to help with things while she's playing. For example: she'll be cooking food in her kitchen then discover she needs something so she yells "oh handy helper!" and sure enough it appears and gives her what she needs.

-My kids have been WHINY lately. Ugh I feel like whiny is one of the complete worst things kids can be because it makes me want to be whiny too. I think we've all got a case of cabin fever!!
-My kids love dancing to "Frozen" songs and it's usually Caitlin to ask for them and she knows every.single.word. but lately Nolan has also started singing along whenever he hears the "Let it Go" chorus he sings too.

-Found this quote the other day and loved it: "Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered... Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good, and the foundation of a successful marriage." -Richard G. Scott

I thought to myself how when I got married I really didn't think I was LOOKING for a way to overcome selfishness or being self centered (haha) but it is true. Not saying I am anywhere near perfect in those areas but loving someone more than yourself is such a powerful feeling and gift. As I have been sick so often the past little while I have truly appreciated how much my husband understands this too and how willing Paul is to have that pure love towards me and help in whatever way he can, and come home and rescue me at the end of the day when I just can't move another inch or fix another meal.
-Caitlin was asked to give the closing prayer in primary. she was really excited about talking at the microphone and having her turn. We asked her if she wanted us to come watch her give the prayer and she said yes (phew because i don't think she could have stopped me anyways). Paul talked to her for a few minutes about when she says a prayer in Primary she should pray for things that everyone would like to hear (... in hopes of diminishing her many shout outs to cousins and friends, upcoming wishes to go to Disneyland, or have treats...) and then we asked if she wanted us to come up and help her to which she gave a very firm and determined "no." So anyways the time came and Paul and I snuck in the back. She saw us and waved and then was called up to the podium for her turn. She stood up there for a few minutes looking at everyone and taking it all in. Literally probably a few minutes. The sister up there told her to fold her arms and whispered if she wanted help. To which she said no again. Then she bowed her head, and said THE SWEETEST prayer i have ever heard her give. She said things like "please bless that we can follow the prophet" "please bless that we can have a good sunday and that everyone in primary with be nice to each other" "thank you that we have families forever"... I was shocked and touched by my sweet little girl and her tender spirit.   

just what the dr. ordered

February hit and so did a bad case of cabin fever for us all. We needed some vitamin D and a getaway. So we decided to tag along with Paul on one of his business trips to California and it was delightful.
We all flew in Friday night into Orange county and stayed with Morgan and Whitney. Paul left Sunday night to go work for the next few days while the kids and I stayed and played and then we reconvened Wednesday and flew back Thursday. (We had originally planned on staying through the week but turns out Paul had to be back for a work meeting so we wrapped it up early which was a little disappointing but it actually worked out pretty well.)
Saturday we had a beach day. We went to Newport beach and played. Nolan liked grabbing the sand and throwing it and Caitlin built sand snowmen "like Olaf". Caitlin loved going in the water with Daddy and Nolan was more like me.... just dipped in a toe. In fact for awhile anytime the water started rolling in he would turn around and run in horror. He was cracking us up. He eventually got a little bit better about it and went in to about his knees or so. He was also really funny about walking in the sand. The smooth sand he was fine but the loose sand he was super cautious and unstable. A lady close by even mad the comment "this is a good place to learn how to walk!" while she was watching him. I thought, "well he's been walking for almost a year but the sand is throwing him for a loop" The water was cold but as long as the sun was out from behind a cloud it was warm and lovely. We got lunch from Sancho's Tacos and picnicked on the beach. Paul taught the kids how to feed the seagulls leftover tortillas and chips and we attracted quite the flock. Then we packed up and went to Balboa island. We walked around the peninsula and looked at the cute houses and got treats.

Sunday we went to church, rested, took a walk and played at the park and then had home made pizzas for dinner. Nolan and I came down with a weird case of allergies and I lot my voice this day, I'm still fully recovering and Nolan was getting red splotches and puffiness all over his face. Something in that California air did not agree with us.

Monday we got delicious donuts in the morning and took them to walk along the T beach in San Clemente. The path goes along the beach and piers and is so beautiful. We met up with a few other girls and had a little stroller gang. We stopped towards the end and the kids played in the sand and went on swings. We park hopped that night.

Tuesday Whitney had to work so I got to try out three kids for the day! Actually I had a ton of help in the morning when Morgan's mom Cheri came over and took the kids to the pool with me. She was so fun to chat with and the pool was so cute and perfect for the kiddos. We stayed for like three hours and my sensitive pregnancy skin even has a little sunburn on my back to prove it. Lunch, naps and the park wrapped it up til Whitney got home that night.

Wednesday we squeezed in a Disneyland day. Paul couldn't bare missing it with the kids so he flew in early that morning from another office in CA and we headed to Disney. They were open 10AM-8PM and we opened and closed the park. It got a little chilly when the sun wasn't out but in general it was great weather. It was really crowded! I thought for sure a random Wednesday in February wouldn't be but it totally was. Oh well, that's Disneyland and since our kids are so little we didn't have a long must-do list so we just picked the rides with short lines and still enjoyed our day immensely. Honestly, Disneyland is magical and it never seems to lose that. The kids were in heaven in their own little ways.
-The characters were still one of the highlights, and the parade was still the biggest highlight. But they loved the rides even more this time. Teacups was probably the favorite as well as the Winnie the Pooh ride. They were both a lot less tolerant to stay in the stroller for long periods of time so we took it slow and kept a close eye on both of them running around. Nolan's max wait time for a ride was about 5 minutes so we took a lot of turns waiting in line the jumping in which I'm sure people around us really loved.

-Paul and I took full advantage of our one day and got all our favorite disney treats: churros, corn dogs, Dole whips, cotton candy, and even found some new ones. We ate our churros as we were waiting for the parade and Paul was sharing his with Caitlin and let her have a bit then took one himself and his bite was totally soggy. Paul was like "umm Caitlin?" and she looked at him and kinda shrugged and giggled and said "I just like to suck off the sugars" HAHA!


-Caitlin realized the difference between the characters who were real people and the ones in costume so she would ask, "Are they gonna be real or pretend? Do they talk like me or do they talk pretend?"

-We went to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Fawn and she asked Caitlin what her favorite animal was and she said "a squirrel" (?!?!) Nolan decided he really liked Fawn and snuggled up to her for literally at least a minute and just stood there and wanted to give her a kiss it was all hilarious.


-When we saw the princesses Caitlin would talk to them and they would say "Who did you bring? Is this your brother?" to which Nolan would run up to them and said "brudder!! brudder!" really loud. He also loved giving the princesses loves and would make his way right into their poofy dresses.


-The best character greeting was with Tigger and Pooh. Nolan got so excited and ran right up to Tigger saying "ti-er! "ti-er!" and they were playing with him and hugging him and even "bounced" with him. When we turned the corner and saw Pooh Nolan got so excited again and wanted to hug him and give him kisses on his nose. It was so adorable.


-Paul and I went on a very few adult rides. The first ride I went on I had just sat down into the car and the ride broke! Luckily it was a pretty quick fix. Later that day i went on another and as i was coming out realized i had forgotten my phone in the front ouch of the seat! So i had to go back and they had to have every car pass through and check the pouches. It took awhile but we found it.

-Caitlin had to keep switching hands during the parade because they were getting tired from waving at everyone. Every single character got a personal wave and shout out from her, and she got a lot from them in return. Nolan loved it too.

 

Thursday we flew home, sad to leave the sunshine and our friends behind. Whitney and Morgan were so nice to host us, feed us, make treats for us and the like. It was so fun to see Brox and hang out with him, right before he turns one! He is such a cutie and easy going baby. We're so glad to have amazing friends like the Taylors that we feel 100% comfortable crashing their house and now that we know what a nice and beautiful area it is.. we will probably be going more often!