July B-days

"Happy birthday America!"

This is what Mikayla shouted when I told her it was FINALLY the 4th of July.

We have a tradition of doing the local 5k run at 7am on Independence Day.

Then we go get the kids and head to a local breakfast diner.

Then on to the local fair for some (HOT) fun for the kids.

;)

We took much-needed naps, hit the parade, BBQ-ed, then of course, watched the fireworks.

We usually aren't real big on parades (unless it's a Disneyland parade or the Rose Parade)....they're a bit boring in our opinion. But this year, we had a lot of fun mostly because Mikayla was getting into it and getting lots of free stuff...like a fire fighter hat and a frisbee and a lot of CANDY.

Up until this parade, Kraig didn't know that it's common for the paraders to throw out candy. Well, we got a lot of salt water taffy thrown to us and NOW he's a fan of parades. My silly guy. ;)

Mikayla hates loud noises. When we were about to get out of the car to watch fireworks, she started to panic and insisted she wanted to stay in the car to watch. After we convinced her and she started to watch, she was dancing, singing, jumping around, exclaiming out loud, and having a great time, to the point that when it was time to go she insisted that she wanted to sleep right there on the grass and never leave. Sigh. Kids....

We also had a blast celebrating Kraig's 34TH birthday this past Saturday. He's an old man now! I pretty much spoiled him the entire day. He likes to make a big deal out of my birthday, and surprise me as much as possible, and so I have over the years tried to do a better job at surprising him. He's a lot better at it than I am though.
So, anyway, I as his super wife slaved away the entire day for him (with an injured foot I might add....but that story is for another day)
1. Made breakfast burritos and waffles
2. Took the family swimming
3. Had roast beef melts and watermelon for lunch
4. Opened presents (I gave him a dutch oven, which he has been asking for for a while.....and he has cooked in it 3 times already...win, win situation I'm thinking. 'Why didn't I get him this last year?' I ask myself.)

Mikayla gave him candy bars, a lego creation, and a handmade card.

5. Had cheesecake
6. Got a sitter and took him out to dinner (Sushi - he LOVES it)
7. Took him to see "Avengers". No, we hadn't seen it yet. Yep, it was pretty good for a guy movie. I appreciated the comic relief.
8. Enjoyed coming home to a quiet house and not having to put the kids down (or as I heard one woman call it, "Whack-a-mole" because they keep popping out of bed)

I love my man. I'm grateful to his mama for giving him life and raisin' him right. He treats me so good, makes me have laughing fits, provides for our family, and is a sweet and silly daddy who enjoys life.

18 months and SpIcY

We adore this little monkey!


At 18 mos., she's in the 70th %tile for her height, 60th for her head size, and 25th for her weight.

I really love/don't love having an 18-month old. I love how interactive she is, how they rely so much on body language to communicate, how she is learning new words every day, how exuberant about life she is, how cuddly she gets, how silly she is.

I don't love the huge mess she makes on the floor 5 times a day, how she climbs on EVERYTHING and pulls anything she can down, how she SCREAMS and throws huge fits when she doesn't get her way or we don't understand her, how she's starting to hit us and yell 'NO!' and be naughty.

BUT...I know it's all part of the deal. You gotta have both sides of the coin.

Some of our Favorite things about our Ashy-bear at 18 months

1. She loves to use me or Kraig as a human playground if we ever try to stretch out on the floor.

2. She fake sleeps and 'snores'

3. She always pulls her sandwiches apart before eating them.

4. She is mellow and quiet in crowds, busy and crazy at home. (She has really hurt me quite a few times, including cutting my lip, making me bleed under my toenail, a huge bash on the head with her hard head....I protect myself around this one now.)

5. She loves to blow bubbles in her drinks with straws.

6. She gets really cuddly and kissy with us.

Her favorite things right now are: cuddly teddy bears, lift-the-flap books, puppets, playing in our cars, being outside, getting herself wet, chasing Miko, wrestling Mikayla, splashing like crazy in the tub, and recently, SWIMMING. She is a little too daring for my liking.

Words she can say: cheese, "kay-koo" (thank you), mommy, daddy, Lala (Mikayla), Geeko (Miko), bu-faiy (butterfly), tee (brush teeth), aw- up (I want up), all done, dink (drink,) NO, MINE, gotchya, cracker, bubble...hmm, can't remember what else. She is a little parrot to Mikayla. If Mikayla says, "I want red" she'll try to say it.


LITTLE GIRLS ARE ALL THE SAME??? I DON'T THINK SO!


They all come into the world with their own unique personalities....you hear it all the time, but Ashlynn has been almost the opposite of Mikayla in everything, so in a way she's been pretty predictable!

Mikayla was an active, 'I don't need sleep' kinda newborn; Ashlynn was mellow and slept a lot (THANK GOODNESS)

Mikayla was a skinny babe; Ashlynn pretty chunky.

Mikayla didn't really care about blankies or teddy bears; Ashlynn LOVES her teddy and wants to sleep with him every night.

Mikayla would sit and listen to a long book at 18 mos.; Ashlynn lasts about 1 minute.

Mikayla was a finicky eater when we started on 'real' food, Ashlynn dug in with both hands to anything she could. She often eats all her food then sneaks up to the table and finishes off Mikayla's leftovers.

If we put a messy food on Mikayla's tray, she would poke it once and then cry to have her hand cleaned off...and then refuse to touch it again (like, when she was only one year old....totally weird, right?)

Ashlynn has been a more normal baby and will paint anything she can with her food, use her hair as a napkin (actually works pretty well), throw it, squish it, try to wipe it on us, basically create as much mess as possible.

Mikayla never really cared about feeding herself (even now, she wouldn't mind if we did!) Ashlynn is determined to feed herself and refuses to let us help her....thus the huge mess.

Mikayla cried for about 10 mins at the beginning of nursery for about 6 MONTHS. Ashlynn went into nursery last Sunday and didn't even look back. ("Toys? Kids? Snacks? I'm good! See ya mom!")

We love both of our little personalities that brighten our home! I need to do an update on Mikayla soon too, so watch this space if you care. :)

May

I can't believe it's already June!

I was just thinking about May and all the happiness I've felt. I need to record some of the happenings around here since my long-term memory is like a sieve (it's seriously embarassing sometimes....like when a friend will say to me, "Remember when you......" and I do NOT recall the slightest thing about it....eh hem, yes, that's me)

1. I have been on a home decor/organizing frenzy. Partly due to boredom with the mundane (and given that I stare at these 4 walls most of the day) and partly due to my subscription to 'Better Homes and Gardens' (thanks Mom and Dad) and partly due to that spring cleaning kick that comes each year!

I have been throwing out/donating useless stuff and grouping similar things, like in my kitchen drawers using drawer dividers. And I know that I sound like an organizing nerd, but when I open my drawers now it makes me happy!

I also gave my living room a little spring make-over and replaced the red accents with pink ones.

Lately I have been into making my home a reflection of all the things I love; things that are part of us and that bring us happiness. I don't really like spending lots of money and following trends too much. Too predictable. It's fun to find unique stuff for a good price. Like this cool medieval-looking goblet, I put it with my England display (even though it's from Savers for $4 - it helps create the feeling of old English castles and such).

This little rustic table just spoke to me when I was at D.I. trying to find a tray for my coffee table. I love that it is a little worn and has character. I especially love that it only cost me $5! It just needed a good polishing, a little bit of sanding on the edges to make it look like it's SUPPOSED to be old and worn out, and voila.

Also I found the tray for $2 and added my own strip of material.

This spice rack used to hang on the wall for keys and was white. We tore it down when we moved in and painted and I've been wanting to give it a face lift and put it back up for years. So one day, I decided to spray paint it antique black, then sand down the edges. And then I found those cute little glass bottles at D.I. to display some spices, added a few little trinkets and now it's a little kitcheny decor for us.

My wall here has been bare for a couple of years and I've been wanting to buy a large mirror or other decorative piece to put up but I didn't want to spend the $50 or so. So I got a bunch of random frames, spray painted them all off-white, printed out some of my fave memories, and created a grouping. I love to look at my little family being happy on the wall.

So now I'm done with my little frenzy and feel content for now. Now it's time to enjoy SUMMER! Woohooo!

2. Mikayla finally decided a few weeks ago that she was going to start using the potty again. Kraig and I were in the middle of re-organizing his man cave (tool shed, which was horrendous) and Mikayla went inside for a minute, then came back outside bottom half naked. I told her she needed to go back inside and get on a pull-up or underwear or something. To our surprise, she shouted, "YEAH! I'm gonna go put on my LIGHTNING MCQUEEN underwear!" (Yes, we bought her boy underwear) So we're like, ok, whatever, this will be short-lived like in the past. Well ever since that moment she has used the potty perfectly and WILLINGLY. I think she had one accident in 2 weeks. She has great control and has been initiating going potty herself. Woohooooooooooooo!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!! What did we do differently? NOTHING. (oh yeah, we waited for her to decide it was time)

3. We got a zoo membership and have already been twice. We got to see the new polar bear, seals, and river otters yesterday and the kids loved it.

4.Both of our girls' eczema has become really bad lately. Has anyone else's kids eczema gotten worse lately? The heat has contributed, along with us not using any steroid cream on them since we ran out, and I got to thinking that I actually don't want to have them on a steroid cream long-term. So I am trying other things. I have been researching causes of exzema a lot and I am determined to get to the cause of it. The tricky thing is it could be so many different things, and it's different for everyone.

Right now I am trying to heal it from the inside out. I am giving them flax seed oil once a day. The research says that people who suffer from exzema don't have certain enzymes needed to break down histamines in their body. Lots of different things can give us histamines - dairy products, pollen, soap, detergent,dust, mold, etc. etc. So you can try to eliminate those. Flax seed oil provides the body with the enzyme needed to break down certain histamines. So maybe my girls are reacting to milk for example, but if they have the histamines to break it down it's okay.

I have considered eliminating dairy products from our diet for a month to see if it improves, but the thought of that is daunting given that Me.ikayla probably gets most of her protein from dairy. So we'll see if flax seed oil works. It has the highest amount of essential fatty acids, much more than fish oil even, so regardless if it works to heal the eczema it's a great supplement!

5. I had a wonderful time with many of my old friends for a girls' weekend. It was so nice to get away and reconnect. I love how with old friends things change, but nothing really changes with your friendship and you just pick up where you left off. We went out to eat at a British restaurant and had fish 'n' chips, talked late into the night, crashed on my friend's floor, then got up and ate a delicious breakfast, went to the Salt Lake temple, and then hit City Creek shopping center for a late lunch and MORE talking. We had so much to catch up on! I love these women and don't see them nearly often enough. I am just surprised that so many of us settled here in Utah. Now it's going to become a yearly tradition!

6. Since Ashlynn is getting older, my girls have become really great playmates lately. Yesterday they had fun in the rainstorm.

It's been a wonderful month. Lookin' forward to June!

Snow and Sun Fun

This was in March......





And this was in April......

Gotta love the different seasons! Hope everyone had a happy Easter! We had a nice time at church and ate way too much chocolate and apple pie....and enjoyed every minute... (see Ashlynn, above)

Apart from some illnesses and allergies that have been in our midst during the last month, we've enjoyed this beautiful spring doing yard work, spring cleaning, and playing outside riding bikes and playing with our faithful dog, Miko.

She really is a beaut. She has mellowed out SO much in the last year or so, and is gentle with my kiddos, obedient, and my trusty running partner. (She protects me against the big bad dudes. At least, I like to think so)

She is now 6 years old, so in dog years she's middle-aged. I feel like we are done 'raising' her and now get to just enjoy her.

Life is hard with little kids sometimes. It can get really monotonous staying at home and doing the same thing each day. But I have to make it a point to look for the beauty and the good that surrounds me or I can easily get fed up. I used to see my dog as one more chore to do. But I have been trying to focus on her beauty and the awesome creature that she is.

What beautiful things did I see and hear today? My dog's big honey-colored eyes thanking me for scratching her ears. My little cherubic baby's kisses on my cheek. My little gal's voice, "Mom, I like you!" and "Dad, your hottie is home!" (when I walked in the door from tutoring) The birds chirping and cooing in the early morning. My freshly clean sheets on my bed.

It's all about the little things. ;)

CrUiSe

Life is too short to not enjoy it, right? A few weeks ago we did something we've talked about for years but never actually thought would happen --

a week-long cruise with no kids!

My parents are generous souls and took our girls for us while we sailed away to freedom.... ;) and to a week of no work, no responsibilities, no dishes, no cooking, no diapers....and lots of people waiting on US.

It was a little strange at first. Walking through the airport with no strollers or little hands to hold. Carrying a PURSE instead of a diaper bag. And then on the ship, maid service and meals ready and being forced to just relax. (We got used to it pretty quickly. But I did miss my girls every time I saw a little kid...if the kid was happy. If the kids was screaming or running wild, I would say a silent prayer of gratitude for my awesome parents).



This is us as we sailed out of Long Beach, CA. It was a little bit of a rush to feel the power of the ship as we set sail! And after hours of packing, traveling, getting my kids all ready to be left for a week, etc., we were finally embarking on our long-awaited adventure.

The inside of the ship was totally blinged-out. (OTT, if you ask me. Combine all the lights and patterns with the swaying of the ship and it does things to your mind) This is Kraig in the main lobby with the glass elevators.



After exploring the ship (and getting a little lost, which is easy to do at first) we hit the lunch buffet. And let me just say, that we had been dieting and exercising for 2 months so that we could gain back all the pounds we lost and feel fine about it. And we ate with gusto! It was great. They told us the average weight gain on a cruise is between 7 and 11 pounds. And our friends who've been on cruises really talked up the food so I was expecting everything to taste amazing.
The buffet was decent. Lots of selection and pretty fresh and tasty, but it was still a buffet. Really the DINNERS are what's worth talking about.

Every evening you get dressed up like you're going out to a nice restaurant, because you are. The dining area has linen tablecloths, classical music playing, low lights, and a 2 page gourmet menu. There are every-day menu items they serve like steak, salmon, fried chicken, etc. and then they have a page of dishes that are being prepared just for that day, with about 5 appetizers, 6 entrees, and 2 specialty desserts to choose from. It is really hard to make a decision some days so the waiters will just bring you two dishes and you can try both. Usually Kraig and I would get 2 or 3 appetizers each, then the main dish, and then always a dessert and sometimes some herbal tea. (Well, actually, Kraig would typically get 2 main dishes).
The portions are smaller than you'd get in a Chilli's or somewhere - they're more like you'd get in a gourmet restaurant where the food is about quality more than quantity.

And it was so fun meeting all different kinds of people at dinner. They would sit us either at a table for two, which was usually pretty close to other couples so it's awkward if you don't break the ice, or at a large, round table with other people which we chatted with. Everyone is so relaxed and open and it's really easy to meet people.



Here's us at dinner on one of the formal nights. The formal nights are so fun! Everyone wears evening dresses and shirts/ties, and there are photographers set up around the ship to take your pictures (which we posed for but didn't purchase - a total rip off at $20/pic)
This is me getting ready in our little stateroom and below is one of us posing on the way too blinged-out stairs.






After dinner we would do a little ballroom, or go to a comedy show or karaoke. We felt like we were dating again, and super free, relaxed, and young.

Every night we would return to our stateroom to find it spotless, with a towel animal and chocolates on our bed. This may sound silly to some, but you moms out there will understand: one of my favorite things about being on vacation is throwing my towel on the floor only to return and find it has disappeared and a fresh, neatly folded one hanging on the rack. It was so nice to not have to pick up after my family for a week!


PORTS

After a day and a half at sea, we arrived at our first destination: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We loved this place!!! It's a small town of roughly 70,000 which exists mainly due to tourism, so they love us there. This is us as we sailed into the port. We had a fleet of dolphins welcome us! They saw the ship and started bee-lining toward us, jumping and playing. It was so cool. I wish I'd had my camera for that.



The red dot is Cabo.

We had two days here. The first day we did a lot of browsing the flea markets and talking to the locals. These guys all spoke English and were way cool! It was fun talking to them and hearing their different sales pitches and funny English phrases they know. As we walked past a flea-market, this is what we'd typically hear: "Hey, honeymooners! My turn. Come see my store. I give you good price. Best prices in town. We make a deal."

We found it pretty amusing to barter with the merchants. It's like a game with unspoken rules. After lots of checking around for prices and seeing how low different merchants would go, we bought some fun souvenirs and felt like we got some good deals: a mexican blanket, dresses and shirts for our girls, a little dolphin whistle for Mikayla, some pottery for me, and some wind chimes for our parents.

The first day we hired some of the local guys to give us a boat tour of the coastal highlights and drop us off at the beach.

Our driver (with our cruise ship in background)




This little hole in the rock is called the 'Window to the Pacific'

This is Cabo's natural arch known as "El Arco de Cabo San Lucas' and also known as 'Land's End' because it's on the very tip of a peninsula.

If you go directly south from here you won't run into any land until

you reach Antarctica.

Then we walked along the beach here, which was beautiful...


and ate at as outdoor restaurant, "Sharky's" where we had some really tasty fajitas.




The next day was the adrenaline rush day. Para-sailing and jet-skiing!!! Both were things we had never done before. We worked a sweet deal with the locals in which we went para-sailing for $30/person (and Carnival was trying to charge $90) and jet-skiing for $60/hour when the going rate was about $90/hour - and we were sworn to secrecy not to tell the other customers. I was a little apprehensive about hiring the locals to do this stuff for us because it wasn't 'Carnival-approved' and I had fleeting images of faulty equipment/catastrophic accidents pass through my mind, but we found a great company. Very time-efficient, sound equipment, nice guides, etc.

I love this kind of adventuresome stuff - but only if I feel like I have some control. Well, this day would test my trust for Kraig in a new way - because when we went jet-skiing, he had all the control! I didn't get a picture of us doing this but I let him drive and it was crazy!

He went 50mph at times and skipped over the water like a rock while I was digging my nails into his chest and yelling - it was really scary because I thought for sure we were gonna capsize. I have a healthy fear of the ocean due to past experience. Well I guess I kept him in check and after a while I got used to it and started to relax more, but he still had a few nail marks when we got off. :) It was definately a rush, but after 45 mins we were ready to give our forearms a rest.

The parasailing was surprisingly gentle and peaceful. We were up there for about 10 minutes, and we went higher than our cruise ship. It was awesome. I only regret not taking my camera up there to get a few shots and a video. So if you ever go para-sailing, now ya know! (You don't get wet at all)







Puerto Vallarta

This is a big city and our impression was that it wasn't as clean or safe as Cabo, but we still enjoyed it. The terrain is different, too. It's humid and jungley whereas Cabo is more of a desert.

We had booked a whale-watching/snorkeling tour at this port, so as soon as we got off the cruise ship we boarded a catamaran and took off with our group. We rode for about an hour, and then reached the 'Marieta Islands' which has been made into a national wildlife preserve for birds. This is the booby bird, found only here and in the Galapagos islands. They have bright blue feet and are called booby birds because it originated from the Spanish term 'bubie' which means 'dunce' because they were easy for sailors to catch.

We snorkeled around the island for a few minutes (it was pretty cold even with a wet suit) but couldn't see much. The best time of year to visit here, turns out, is in the summer, when the water is so clear you can see right to the bottom. Bummer.

So we got out and went to the beach on this island, which had several shallow caves to explore. After looking around a little we settled onto the sand and had the lapping of the waves lull us into (or me, anyway) into a nice little dreamland. It's too bad it was a cloudy day or we would have been in the water more. We ended up seeing the clearest view of the fish when we fed them and they came up to the boat.

On the way back is when the real fun began. The crew on the boat was about 6 twenty-something year old Mexican guys. They sensed our disappointment about not seeing any whales yet, and the water being murky, so they started up a party .... they were just really fun and goofy guys and it was really amusing listening to their English ...they started up dancing after we had eaten lunch, and of course, broke out the margaritas, and tried to make everyone have a good time.

And then we saw some whale spouts in the distance and the driver made a beeline for them. We didn't get too close (not close enough for a decent picture with our little camera) but we got a video. It was exciting to see. They were leaping and diving for us. And we saw two dolphins appear out of nowhere right next to our boat, and then they were gone.

This is how the driver found me after he came back from a quick trip to the lower level.

He wasn't too mad -- actually he got a big smile on his face and wanted me to take a picture with him.



So we did. :)

After we finished our 6 hour tour, we got off the boat to find a few Mexicans makin' a few bucks off a very friendly, well-trained seal. We bought into the tourist trap and paid $10 to get a hug and a picture with this dude.

But hey, when else will we get a chance to get kissed by a seal?

We had a great time at both ports and were impressed with how friendly and cool the people were, but we were especially glad we were safe in both places. You might have heard in the news about a tour group that got held up and robbed in Puerto Vallarta. Well that was a tour group from our ship, and we were really glad we didn't go into the city. They lost passports, wallets, cameras, etc. Scary stuff.

Back on the boat, we had another formal night on Friday and just more ship activities as we sailed back to Long Beach. We did some mini-golfing, hot-tubbing, napping, reading, playing cards, and talking to people we met, oh, and eating of course. We had to try the sushi, the Panini bar, the pizza, the Tandoori (Indian food), and the Mongolian wok. The last few days were lazy days and I was starting to miss my kids and get a little bored with being lazy, so it was actually good to get back.

Play and indulgence lose their novelty when it's all you do. It's good to have work and obligations. I suppose. I must admit it.

We felt really blessed on this trip and probably won't get another one like this for a decade or so, so we relished in the experience, and now cherish the memory! We thoroughly enjoyed this relaxing, fun, and romantic time with each other and I feel like a lucky woman to have this guy.

Tips if you are considering a cruise:

1. Book early and you will get a better deal. Carnival has a 100% price satisfaction guarantee which means that if you've already booked with them and a better price pops up, they'll refund you the difference. And the prices change at least weekly so keep checking.

2. Although the ship is fun, it's all about destination (in my opinion) and seeing different parts of the world.

3. A cruise is probably not a good idea if you: can't stand crowds, don't like too much commotion, don't like wind, get motion sickness easily (because people said we wouldn't feel the boat moving but we sure DID), don't like meeting new people, or if you want to stay in contact with someone on land every day and don't want to pay a fortune.

4. In OUR opinion, a cruise will not be an enjoyable family vacation until your kids are at least 5 years old. Even then, it can be a dangerous place for little kids with plenty of exposure to worldliness. Having said that, we did see lots of family groups having a great time together, and you can decide where you go on the ship and what you do.