So, a month ago...

Alayna and I went on this fun trip to Wyoming.

Yeah, remember that one? 


Well, I am just now, getting on top of things and posting the proof of how much fun we had.


Although, I do procrastinate, I would like to mainly blame my camera for my tardiness.  I don't know what the deal was, but basically it was a miracle that I even got these pics off the camera and on the computer.


So, here we go.  Proof (in pictures).


Our flight was at some crazy early time, like 6:30am so Dan, Alayna and I drove to Phoenix the night before and stayed at a motel.  The motel was nothing to rave about, but the pool was nice.  The water was seriously warmer than bath water.   Layna LOVED it.

Even the early wake-up time could not keep Alayna from being CRAZY happy to see Jordy, Sarah and Grandpa when they picked us up at the airport.

I told my parent's there was one thing that I HAD to do while we were visiting.  And that was go to Martin's Cove and visit my grandparents who are on a mission there.  I figure, we were only a couple hours away, how could I not go visit?


And it was wonderful.


They had some super cute miniature handcarts that were the perfect size for Alayna.  But miss independent would have nothing to do with them.  Go figure.  If I want her to pose for a picture with the tiny handcart, then of course she doesn't.  What can I say?  She's almost three and has a mind of her own!


But Sarah looks cute!

Alayna had to go potty and this is what we got to ride in.  It pays to know the important people.  :)

And a picture of the whole gang (minus mom, who's taking the picture).

And one with mom, to show that she actually was there.

Lots of our trip was spent outside...because how can you not be outside when it is less than 100 degrees? 


Sarah and I took the kids to the splash pad one day.  The water was a bit cold for Alayna's taste (I know, spoiled Arizona girl) so she spent most of her time laying on her towel hanging out with Easton.

Although she did brave playing in the water a few times.

She saw the other kids putting their foot over the water and thought this was the best way to go about it.  I guess sliding her foot across didn't cross her mind.

And I think little miss Kendree was about the bravest of them all. Sarah was running through the water many times with her. 

Like I said, we were outside a ton. This day, Jordan was trying to convince Layna to run through the sprinkler with him, but she wasn't havin' it.  The water was just plain cold.

 Instead, she spent most of her time on the swings.

 Jordan was her buddy.  She was always wanting his attention and he was pretty awesome at playing with her. Here they are watching a movie on the "little TV".

 One day, Alayna and I drove over to Kimball, Nebraska to visit Karissa, Craig, cousin Connor, and Grandma S. 

Again, the swimsuit was worn.  This time she was better at getting wet.  Connor obviously didn't have any problem getting wet. 

 Look at his cute little hat.  :)

 She had to play a little catch with Connor, Uncle Craig, and Grandma.

 Look!  A picture where Alayna is clothed in something other than her swimsuit.  :)  She convinced grandpa to play with her out in the sand box.

Whew!  It's safe to say fun was had by all.  We loved the company and the weather. 

And we loved the company so much, we talked them into coming to visit us in our neck of the woods (this weekend!) even though the weather is not going to be as nice to them. 

Where the summers are cooler

In a few days, this little girl:

and I....

will be visiting one of our favorite places where the summers are pretty much darn near perfect (minus the occasional snow that has happened on a fourth of July or two, if I remember right).  Need a hint?  It starts with a Wyo and ends with a ming.

And as Alayna has put it, We can't wait to "fly on an airplane and go to Jordy's house." 

To the rest of the fam....she is excited to see you too, she just seems to think that the house is Jordy's.  I guess  :)

P.S.  She will be clothed for this vacation....unlike the picture suggests.

My new favorite thing

The Roku.

I seriously love this little box. 

A few months ago, Dan and I, (mainly) I decided that we could get rid of our cable.  (I know.  We didn't have it very long.)  But one of my friends introduced me to their Roku and I knew I wanted to try it out.  So I sweet talked my husband into letting us cancel the cable and getting a Roku.  I told him, "If we don't like it, we can always get cable again" and he so kindly agreed.  He may not admit it, but secretly he was just as intrigued as I was.

So, what is the Roku, you ask? 

It's awesome-ness in a box.

No, seriously, it is a little box that streams video/TV shows to your TV.  If you are a Netflix subscriber and you have the instant videos package, you can watch them on your TV through the Roku box.  Now, I know there are other devices such as the Wii and blueray players that do the same thing, but we don't have either of those.  But, it's not just Netflix.  There are other channels that are available on the Roku such as Newscaster that has your local news, Amazon on demand (which if you are a Amazon prime member, certain movies/shows you can view for free), the BYU channel and much more.   Some are free and some you have to pay a month subscription for like Netflix.  (All the ones I just listed are free.)

And the best part is...it has saved us money.  Instead of paying a $50 a month (or more) for cable, we spent $79.99 for the Roku itself and just pay our monthly subscription to Netflix that we have always paid.  Can you say awesome?!  Anytime I can save us a little moolah, I am all for it.  :)

Anyway, we have LOVED ours! There are a sufficient amount of kids movies/TV shows through Netflix alone for Alayna to be completely satisfied.  And I have not missed cable at all.  Dan only misses sports, but there is a sports channel that you can subscribe to that we just might indulge in in the coming months.  We shall see.

Really, it is my new favorite thing. 

Thanks, Kelly for introducing us to the awesome-ness of the Roku.  :)

It's an Arizona thing

or otherwise titled "This is not how it is where I'm from"

I will just state the obvious first.  The weather. Obviously 112 degree weather is not the norm in Wyoming. 

But I should also mention the "monsoon season" that we're in.  I still haven't fully grasped what that actually means here, but I do know the temperature is lower (in the 90's) and the humidity is higher...as well as the short storms that roll in almost daily.

Shortly after we moved here, we went out to eat and were puzzled by the word "burro" on the menu.  There were all different kinds.  It took us a minute to realize that burro=burrito.  Who would have thought.  It's not a bean burrito.  It's a bean burro.  I don't know why.  I have asked several different people and they all just shrug their shoulders.

Green chiles.  They are BIG down here.  It's not just an Arizona thing.  I believe it is a New Mexico thing as well.  But they are in everything here.  The other day we went out to eat and I was brought the wrong hamburger.  But before I noticed it was the wrong one, I took a big bite and sure enough, there was a huge green chile on the burger.

This next one was just introduced to me and apparently I am crazy for not knowing this one.  A cheese crisp.  I remember wrinkling my nose and saying what?  (I thought it was some sort of dessert.)  Nope.  Couldn't be more wrong.  Apparently what I know as a quesadilla is also referred to as a "cheese crisp".  I really had no idea.

I have to mention the lower elevation.  Clearly, that is not just an Arizona thing, but I am finding lower elevation+lots of sun=less (as in I think one) sunburn for a certain redhead.  Apparently I can get somewhat of a tan if I don't live at 7200ft.  And by somewhat of a tan, I mean more freckles and slightly darker than porcelain white skin.  Redheads, you know what I'm sayin, right?

Lastly (for now), the cotton fields.  We moved here just as they were harvesting the cotton.  And I was curious to see cotton grow. It really is quite intriguing to me.  I simply LOVE the green that all the cotton fields add to our community.

Sad day

It's a small miracle that in this house at this very moment a certain two and a half year old is actually taking a NAP.

Yes, it's true.  My child has officially stopped taking naps everyday.  It happened a little over a month ago and I kept hoping (and praying) that she was not to this stage of life yet.  I am a mother that thrives on nap time.  I mean I can't live with out naps...and be sane.  So, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but that alone time is essential.  Moms, am I right?

Needless to say, it was a sad day, the day that regular naps were gone.  But in it's place came quiet time.  Oh, quiet time how I love thee!....Albeit not quite as much as nap time, but still, thank goodness for quiet time.  (And can I just say that the earlier bedtime that has been acquired from no nap is also a nice perk.)

So, for today I am going to relish the nap that my daughter is taking and soak in the alone time while I can.

I swore I would never do it

Over time, some things don't matter as much.

Like the fact that we celebrated our Half Anniversary instead of our real Anniversary this year.

As a person who has a December birthday (three days after Christmas) I understand the importance of celebrating one's actual birthday.  Therefore, I mostly feel the same about other special occasions.  I also know the importance of not combining gifts and giving a birthday gift AND a Christmas gift, but that's slightly a different topic....  

Back to the Anniversary thing.

When Dan and I got married in December (two days after my birthday) I knew it may make December somewhat of a hectic month considering Dan's birthday is in December, as well as Christmas (obviously).  But you can't plan when you fall in love.  So a December wedding it was.  January was simply out of the question.  And even if it was on option in our twitter-pated minds, it wouldn't have made that much of a difference to celebrate a couple days later. Those few weeks still would be hectic with celebrations.

So, we moved forward knowing that our Decembers would be filled with celebrations, gift-giving, and money spent.  Early on in our marriage, or maybe even when we were engaged, Dan suggested celebrating our half anniversary.  Explaining that it might be nice budget-wise as well as an extra time during the year we could celebrate.  Because to us, other than the standard holidays, we didn't know what it was like to celebrate something out of the month of December.

I shuttered at the thought.  How could my husband willingly want to celebrate the day we were married on any other day than the actual one, let alone in an entirely different month!?! (Remember. I was still a newly wed.)  How dare he concoct such an idea!

I then and there swore to him I would NEVER do such a thing.  So he could just get that little idea out of his head.

Now fast forward to this last December (when the stars were aligned. Just kidding.) and I found myself actually agreeing to the very thing I swore I would never do.  (Gasp!)   Yep.  On our Anniversary we still exchanged cards, went out to eat (with Alayna) , and watched a movie, but saved the real celebrating (aka: going out on a date without our little munchkin) and the gift giving for our half anniversary.

And it was.....

a little weird (celebrating in the summer), but really quite fabulous! 

I think we may do it again.

Maybe.  


P.S. Happy 6 1/2 years to us!

Our first, but certainly not our last

Tea party, that is.

I mean, what girl doesn't love a good tea party?  Alayna, had her first official tea party this last weekend and I think it is safe to say, she is hooked. 

And who wouldn't be with a miniature tea set like this.  Because everything is better miniature.  Or cuter, at least.

And when you have miniature snacks to go along with the "tea", life just doesn't get better.

I think Alayna filled up her cup no less than 10 times.  She couldn't get enough.

Notice her outfit.  There are a couple of rules when you have a tea party.  One must always get dressed up to go to a tea party.  A tinker bell dress, high heels, three or four necklaces, and a hat were worn on this occasion.

And, it's best to invite friends.  The more the merrier.