Puerto Vallarta

On Wednesday, Mike and I woke up bright and early to fly to Puerto Vallarta.  Louise had flown in on Monday so she was here to take care of the girls.  I hate leaving them, but I love having a getaway with my hubby.  We were out the door before the girls were awake, which made it a little easier so they weren't crying. 

We arrived Wednesday to a nice 'Welcome Home' sign.  We got checked in to our room, unpacked, went to a Welcome hors d'oeuvre and then met with Lowell and Carlyn for dinner. 

On Thursday, we slept in til 9 and then I went to the gym.  Wow! I forgot how much you sweat in the humidity.  Then we headed to the beach for a 90 minute massage.  It was amazing!! Mike and I had tables that were side by side.  It might not have been the best massage I ever had, but it was the best ambiance ever.  Listening to the crashing waves along with a slight breeze made it the best ambiance ever.  I loved it!!

Then we headed to go ziplining.  It was a long ride (1 1/2 hours) in a truck with open windows.  I wasn't too sure about the ride and got a little skeptical that they were actually taking us to a ziplining course.  We finally got there and had a great time.  There were about 12 ziplines and we went from mountain to mountain.  Usually there was a little hike that you had to make for the next hipline.  

On the way home from zip lining, we stopped for a free tequila shots!! The driver didn't understand why we didn't drink.  Loved the cobble stone streets and seeing some authentic restaurants and stores. 

That night we had dinner with Lincoln and his wife from Wealth Vest and Cathy and her partner from Allianz.  I had a delicious steak, the conversation was great, and the evening was awesome.

On Friday the group we were there with had a catamaran excursion booked.  We got on the ship and they had an amazing brunch laid out with delicious fruit.  I loved ordering fruit smoothies.  When we got there they had snorkeling gear.  I have to admit the snorkeling was not great.  I might have saw one fish. 

There were some pretty cool caverns.

We had to swim through this tunnel and then when we got through there was a beach area.  I don't really think I understood what I was getting myself into when the guides told us to follow them and swim.  You could only go through at certain times based on the water level and tide.  While one group was swimming through a guy hit his head on the rocks and passed out.  It was scary.  I was nervous to swim back out when I realized the danger. 

That night we had dinner with Wade and his wife and some other Wealth Vest employees.  It was really interesting to talk to Wade's wife.  She was a retired pilot and she said back in the day they were treated super well.  She said when she first started she was picked up in limos and taken to/from the hotel.  Who knew?!

Saturday I slept in, went to the gym and spent the day laying out by the pool.  I loved this pool.  There were places where you could lay out with built in back rests and you were in about 3 inches of water.  It was awesome!

I had so much fun with Stacy and Carlyn. 

The last night was a bbq at the beach.  The food was the best food of the week!

Trying to get a picture of the gorgeous sunset. 

On Sunday we laid out by the pool for a couple of hours and then headed to church, which started at noon.  The taxi driver did not know how to get there, we stopped twice to ask people.  We got there about 12:20, I imagined we had missed the sacrament, but nope not at all.  They still had announcements, confirmation, songs.  I'm pretty sure they had just started.  It is always great to feel the spirit wherever you go.

That afternoon we flew home. I was so excited to see my first Diet Dr. Pepper since leaving the States. 

Mike was upgraded to first class, but he was kind enough to give me his seat. YAY!  There is nothing like getting served a meal on the plane.

We had such a great trip, but it's always lots of fun to get home to the kids.  I missed them so much, but I know they had a great time with Mami!

Cambry is 18 months!

I can't believe Cambry is 18 months.  She seems so much younger to me.  I don't know why, maybe it's because she isn't as verbal as Izzy was as this age or she seems so much smaller.

How is she not a baby anymore?

-She is so cute and loves to laugh.  She loves praise and will clap for herself when she does something good, cute, or funny.
-She loves to feed herself and does a pretty good job using a spoon.  She hasn't used a bottle for a couple months and is great with a sippy cup.  She has to have a binkie to sleep.
-She still rides in her infant carseat rear facing.  She doesn't mind it so I will keep her that way for as long as possible.
-She is a great sleeper.  She goes to bed around 7 and wakes up between 7 and 8.
-She loves to play with Izzy and her cousin Zeke.  She used to go to the basement door, knock, and yell Zeke.
-She has started talking more the last couple of weeks.  She says: Mommy, Daddy, Izzy, Tux, sit, Zeke, wawa (water), cheese, please, hi, bye, Mami, baba (bottle), doux (which means soft in french), and no.
-She is a hitter.  She walks up to kids and hits them for no reason.  She also hits people if they have a toy or something she wants.  We are working on that. Right after she hits, she will usually say doux and pet them (she does it to Tux all the time).
-She is curious and cannot sit still.  She is into everything.
-She loves going to the gym daycare and is pretty good with babysitters.  She will cry for about 30 seconds when i leave and then she is good.
-She has been on 18 one way flights and visited 9 states.

Everywhere we go she waves at people and says, "Hi!"

Swinging is one of her favorites.

We love this little girl so much!! She is so full of love, laughter, joy, and happiness.  I couldn't be happier!!

Izzy completed her first year of preschool

Izzy has been attending Bear Hollow for the past year.  She absolutely loves Mrs. Molly.  On Tuesday evening they had a program.  Louise was in town, so Izzy got to have her Mami there too.  Each student dressed up as a nursery rhyme character.  Of course, Izzy chose Yankee Doodle so she could bring her horse. 

They did the pledge and sang lots of patriotic songs, which was really neat. 

Yankee Doodle

Izzy getting her award from Mrs. Molly.  She was given the Most Helpful award. 

Love my little helper!!

Izzy has learned so much over the year.  I can't even believe it.  She knows all of her numbers, letters, shapes, colors.  She can count to 59 and she has started reading.  She can read basic reads like: a, the, on, cat, mat, rat, sat, sam, sad, etc.  Most simple 3 letter words she can figure out.  We have been reading the Bob series books and she is doing great.  Not only has she developed intellectually she has also grown socially.  At the parent teacher conference in the fall Mrs. Molly mentioned Izzy was a bit bossy with her friends.  At the end of the year she told me how much Izzy had improved with sharing and being a good friend.  So proud of my little girl!!

Vegas/Lake Mead 2014

On Thursday we headed down to Vegas with our friends, Chambers, and the Snarrs, drove up from Cali.  The drive down was pretty uneventful, Mike made some phone calls, and both the girls took naps.  We stopped in Mesquite at McDonalds to let the girls play and eat dinner.  

We rented a house in Vegas and it had a hot tub.  Izzy was so excited she was up at 7 on Friday morning ready to get in.  

Friday morning they got the boat all cleaned and ready to go.  

Nothing wrong with a little child labor.

Mike stopped to get himself a HUGE soda (he probably drank 1/4 of it) on the way to the lake.

Love these girls.  We had so much fun when we all lived in Provo together. 

I love that Mike loves to boat as much as I do.  It's fun to have something that we both enjoy so much!

I wasn't sure how Cambry would like the boat, but she loved it and was super easy going. 

Izzy loved the tube.  I'm pretty sure she would have stayed on the whole time.

Put your hands up!!

Of course pushing Daddy in was a favorite.

Saturday we were back on the boat again. 

Cambry took a nice long nap Saturday afternoon on the boat.

Saturday the ladies went out to the strip for dinner and shopping.

Sunday we packed up and headed home.  We left sunny, hot Vegas only to get stuck in a snow storm in Cedar City.  It was miserable.  We were in traffic for 2 hours.  Our 6 hour drive, took 8!!  Luckily the kids were awesome, I think they were so tired from all the boating and playing they were happy to just sleep and chill.  

It was such a great weekend, I love getting together with friends.  Hopefully we will make it an annual trip!!

Visiting Grandma

About a month ago, I got a text from my cousin, Rachel, saying we should go visit from my Grandma.  I thought it would be nearly impossible for the 4 of us to find a weekend that worked for all of our schedules, but somehow we could all make it work for the first weekend of May.  My cousin, Rose, flew in together on Friday night and met Suzette and Rachel at the airport.  We went to pick up our car, which ended up being a suburban because all of the other vehicles were already taken.  During the hour drive to Grandma's we jammed to some old tunes on the Satellite Radio, probably the best song that came on was, "come on ride that train." Took us back a few years, that's for sure. 

When we got there, Grandma was already in bed, but waiting for us so we went in and talked to her.  Then we all hung out just chatting.  On Saturday we got up and got McDonalds for breakfast.  Then we did my grandma's hair and make-up and took her to her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. 

Love these girls.  We had such a great time growing up together playing bank, store, skip-bo, so many fun memories!

We tried to play a game of skip-bo, Grandma's favorite, but she was in too much pain and couldn't make it through the whole game.  I felt so sad for her.  She was in so much pain and had lost a lot of weight. She really misses her sweetheart who passed away about six months ago in Nov.

Love these girls.  I am so lucky to have such an amazing sister and awesome cousins.  I love our relationship!

My Grandma is seriously the best.  I went to Montana every summer to visit her and I talk to her every Sunday.  I am so glad we went to visit her.  She was crying when we left on Sunday afternoon.  I hated leaving her by herself.  On Monday morning she had a stroke and hasn't been doing well since we left. I am so glad I was able to see her while she was still able to communicate and talk to us.  I love her!!

Easter was a busy weekend 2014

On Saturday morning we went to the city Easter Egg Hunt and took pictures with the bunny.

They break the Easter egg hunt into age groups so Cambry was on her own.

She was curious about what was inside the egg (which is actually empty, you trade your eggs in for a bag of candy).

Then there is cookie decorating, which Izzy loved. 

Izzy had her first soccer game on Easter weekend.  Izzy had an awesome game, such a change from last season.  When she had to sit on the sideline, she kept asking when she could go back in and she scored 3 goals! Maybe part of her enthusiasm was Daddy was the coach this week.  

After her soccer game, our neighbors, the Bunkers have an annual Easter egg hunt with all their grandkids, Izzy loves going over there.  They have a big BBQ and then a huge hunt.  There are even special eggs that if you find you get to pick a special treat.  Izzy found one of those eggs and got a kite. 

Izzy had a basket full of eggs!

Cambry learning to drive the car.

On Sunday we colored Easter eggs, which was a big hit with Izzy!! I usually don't do a ton of crafty stuff so I felt pretty proud of myself for buying the kit.

So lucky to be a Mom to this precious girl. 

I love that they have cousin Zeke around.  Izzy is so cute with Zeke and Cambry loves to play with him. 

Izzy and daddy

My cute little family.

Love my girls!!

I love this picture of Izzy and Zeke.  

Izzy might be all smiles for the pictures, but it took some serious bribery.  She refused to wear the dress to church because she said, "It's so ugly." She only wore it for pictures.  

Spring Happenings

We have been having some nice spring weather.  So we've been trying to take advantage of it.

I took the girls to the animal farm and I think we might have another cowgirl. 

Izzy loves petting the big horses.

Cambry LOVES to be outside.  She stands by the door that goes to the backyard and screams.  She will bring me her shoes and if I don't put them on she starts screaming.  She is funny.

Mike and I got tickets from my Dad for General Conference and we went to the Saturday morning session.  I love being able to attend conference for multiple reasons: I get to pay attention without kids running around, there is such a sweet spirit when the prophet walks in the room, and we go to Cheesecake Factory after! What could be better?!

Last week was spring break.  On Monday I took Izzy to the Provo Rec Center.  She loves it there and is such an amazing swimmer.  She went off the cliff (diving board) and went on these slides for an hour non stop. 

On Tuesday we went to the Children's Museum.  I had never been before and it was really cool.  Of course, Izzy found the horse and didn't want to get off. 

On Saturday, Daddy took the girls for a 4-wheeler ride.  I love this weather!