Returning to L.A.

We had the best time doing a spur of the moment visit back to L.A. We have missed it so much and couldn't wait to see our pals and favorite sites.

Our first stop was with the Green's. The boys love Eden and she was so sweet to put up with them.

Our next day was filled with appointments all over, and then a sleepover at the LeCheminant's. The boys love Mykel!

Then we were off to Disneyland! We couldn't wait to get back there and ride the best rides without crowds.

We loved spending the day with Westin, and Evee and Owen too. Peter Pan snuck up behind us and the boys were totally starstruck.

I love being with Courtney!! Miss her :)

We refueled with amazing ice cream cones and made a lovely mess as well.

After the Disney visit we went off to OC to see the Johnsons. We visited the Dana Point Harbor, had amazing bagels, and played all the rest of the trip.

The boys had a fun movie time, and moms enjoyed the break.

We returned to NorCal totally wiped out, but so glad we went. I am really hoping we will be back there soon!!

Trip Up North

Last week we went back up to the old stomping grounds in Danville for an old friend's wedding. Jared's friend from high school was getting married to an awesome girl and we didn't want to miss the party. Grandma was excited we had a reason to come visit and stay for a while :)

We made and impromptu stop at an old train in town while walking in the sunshine.

Keke got his first haircut at a real salon. I gained new respect for those women while watching the kids squirm and complain non-stop. I couldn't believe a successful haircut came out of all that.

The boys favorite was a place called Habitot, with all kinds of fun pretend play items, set up like miniature places. The ambulance was the group spot.

Ryker loved the water station, naturally soaking himself through.

We fortunately managed to sneak in a visit with our favorite people as well, Dyan and Logan. Those little guys were having a blast playing and causing trouble.

The last day there we hit the mall, and every boy got his own car cart.

We had a fun busy weekend and were happy to return home to Jared, who had left early. The boys were so excited to be able to fly Southwest and get their very own beverages as well.

Vegas Trip

Me and the two boys decided to leave town for a few days. Jared was super busy with school and we had some free days so I jumped on it. I was a little nervous about the drive, only 4.5 hrs, but after surviving a 5 hr flight with vomit I figured I could handle anything. I was so glad I went considering we had a great time and the boys slept 2+ hours both ways!

We left sunday afternoon and made it in around dinner time. We stayed at my aunt and uncle's house and the boys loved exploring the space many times larger than ours! They also have 3 boys mostly grown so lots of boy stuff laying around, in addition to 2 dogs, 2 birds, and a bunch of fish. The boys were in heaven. Ryker loved finding and chewing on Nerf darts, and Nicholas loved harrassing the animals and playing pretend with my aunt, Lorrie.Our first full day was monday, and we had tons of fun meeting up with Darci and her baby, Kensie. Nicholas and Ryker were enthralled with the baby right away, and Nicholas wanted to hold her hand all day.


We took the kiddos to the MGM lion habitat to see the sleeping lions, then to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Afterwards we hit up the M&M Factory.

The boys loved it! Even Rykie kept saying "Nem-an-Nem!" every time he looked up or down at the tiles on the floor. We were almost suckered into getting some souvenirs but opted for some mini M&M treats instead. We got back to the house, exhausted, and me and Ryker slept while Kiki played with more toys.
The next day we went to one of my all-time favorites, the Forum Shops. It was so fun to walk around and shop. The kids were great, but definitely had less stamina from the day before. Ryker and Kensie fell asleep in their strollers, so when we got back to Darci's that meant no naps and lots of crying!

Before we knew it, wednesday came and we got ready to go home. We spent the morning playing at Lorrie's again, and I tried to catch some sleep. The only downside to traveling and being somewhere new is the lack of sleep. I was woken up at 4:30 but the kids went back down and I was paranoid of making noise to wake them and naturally couldn't sleep. Lorrie was nice enough to watch the crazy Nicholas, aka Buzz Lightyear, and take a couple trips to the moon so I could have a nap. After Ryker and I napped we went to an awesome park near the house and by lunchtime we were all ready to go. We went to Cafe Rio for lunch then headed out.

We had such a great time, and I wish I took more pictures, but we were too busy having fun! It was so liberating to feel like I could just pack up some things and go without any stress. The boys were great all week and I'm hoping this means we can do more fun last-minute trips together in the future.

Holiday IN Arizona

Right after our fun Christmas in Danville we went to Arizona to see my family. I went by myself with the boys and was happily surprised when Ryker slept through the flight.
The Arizona trip is always a highly anticipated party-packed event full of much eating out, movie viewing, and lots of games. This year did not disappoint, but I was definitely running on empty after being away from home for over a week and not to mention without my better half. I wasn't exactly the life of the party, but I enjoyed being a part of the festivities.
Our trip wouldn't have been complete without a girl's Cheesecake Factory lunch, and shopping after. Mom was sweet enough to buy all 3 of her girls a cute dress from Anthropologie, the group fave.


As luck would have it, a Brimhall family reunion was going on that week, and we were shocked and amazed to find it so entertaining! It was my Nelson Grandma's siblings and their kids, grandkids, and, (in my case) great-grandkids. I was mostly thrilled just to see my own cousins I don't get to see very often. They are all pretty much 5-15 but they were so sweet with my kids and super cute.

The park we went to was called Pioneer Park and it was dedicated to the founders of Mesa, one of which was my great x's 3 Grandpa, Noah Brimhall.

The highlight of the trip, for Nicholas I'm sure, was the Train Park. If we had lived in Az I'm sure it would be a regular stop for us. It is free admission, and has amazing trains of all sizes. The boys were in awe the first couple minutes, trying to take it all in.
They had a cute station/ticket office in which we enjoyed escaping the rain.

Nicholas was loving the cut-outs, and even commissioned his own private shots, such as the lower photo.


We rounded out the trip with a tour of a real train, the steam engine FDR used during his presidential campaign. Nicholas looked on with his mouth wide open the whole tour.

We had a great holiday for two weeks and were ready to come home, do a week of double duty for our AC job (pretty much horrible), and get back in for our last 6 months!

Christmas 2010 in CA

The first part of our Christmas traveling was just up north to the Cordon side.
Our first day there we were happy to have a visit from Brad, Emily, and the kids. They had tons of fun playing together and we loved catching up.
The next day was our boy's 3rd birthday, as if we needed another day with presents and treats! Nicholas loved his Thomas cake and Toy Story balloons. He also enjoyed getting gifts from his Grandma, Grandpa, and cousin Dax.



The next day we got into some Christmas activities, especially gingerbread houses.

One highlight of the trip was going on BART, the train. Nicholas had been talking about it for weeks beforehand and the trip definitely didn't disappoint. We rode into SF and enjoyed a fun outing there before a fun train ride back.

We also loved eating out. Chevy's, the family favorite, gave us all the black beans our toddlers could eat, or smear on their faces.





And of course we loved seeing our friends, Dyan, Logan, and new baby Easton. I was so excited to meet that cute baby for the first time! I wondered how Nicholas and Logan would do, if they would remember each other or play. At first they sort of looked at each other, but by the time we were heading out they were bff again and having a blast.

Logan is so much bigger, but I promise Nicholas is slouching a bit behind him :) (they're just days apart, can you believe it?)

One of my favorite parts of the week was my Christmas present from Jared, tickets to the Nutcracker. It was so much fun to have a date and dress up.


Finally it was Christmas. They boys looked so cuddly in their pajamas. We had a great Christmas Eve and even better Christmas day opening gifts and playing happily all day. The boys had a great time together all week.

Family!
We all had a fun time and before we knew it, it was time to head to Arizona.

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas vacation (wrong word- that implies relaxation) in both NorCal and AZ. More to come...

Thanksgiving in CT

We were so excited to make a trip out to CT for Thanksgiving. The night before I was so nervous/eager to head out at 6 am that I slept only two hours. I couldn't understand what I was so nervous about considering I have flown millions of times on flights even longer, and the boys are pretty good about going places too. When we woke them up at 4 am to go to the airport I noticed Ryker was gagging. I sat with him for a second to make sure he was ok, then he smiled at me and I thought nothing more about it. We were waiting at our gate to board when Ryker walked up to me crying, and I picked him up. Seconds later, he threw up his breakfast all over himself and me. Jared took him to get cleaned up while I scrounged around my bag for a new shirt. We wrote it off as a fluke and got on the plane.

Well, it wasn't a fluke because he was sick two more times on the flight. Once we got to JFK we were desperate to wash our clothes and take a shower. The next day was Thanksgiving, so we made our typical holiday meal, but neither me nor Jared had much of an appetite. That night Jared was sick, the next night my brother was sick, the following night Nicholas was sick, and then the last night to round it out me, my mom and my dad were sick too. All in all, not a bad way to keep off the holiday pounds.

But it wasn't all bad... We had a really fun time spending time with my siblings, watching movies, and we even fit in a little girl's afternoon at the mall. We were disappointed we couldn't do the city one day, but it was very relaxing and enjoyable nonetheless. I appreciated having a washing machine, not to mention tons of people to help entertain my kids or clean up. We saw the movie Tangled and loved it. We even got a tiny bit of snow one afternoon, so we grabbed our snow gear and ran outside.

Carlsbad Week

Every year we look forward to our Williams Family Carlsbad Reunion (aka my mom's side) the last week in July. It is always the week of my birthday, which is pretty much the best present you could ask for. This year didn't disappoint! We went to the beach a ton (just a walk down the stairs from the hotel), ate out, went to the Aquarium of the Pacific, spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm, and watched a bunch of movies. The only bummer was trying to find times to do P90x (although with all the eating going on I looked forward to burning some off towards the end of the week)!

It all began with a birthday extravaganza, as Morgan, baby Amber, me and Ryker all were celebrating (technically we should have thrown in Lorrie, Claire, and my Dad too)

The best birthday gift was a kid-free evening walk down the beach to catch the sunset. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful.

Paige at 24 yrs, 0 days

The kids loved the Aquarium, especially the sharks (Kenz, Jake, the boys)

Grandpa Williams- always a crowd favorite

The Armenian cafe, best breakfast ever. And to think my Dad almost banned it this year!

Kiki and Jake enjoyed some fun kid rides at Knott's.

We all went on the kid's bus ride. Ryker loved it!

Mini big-rig trucks. Everyone gets a steering wheel

We all went on the log ride. I DO NOT recommend it for infants, unless you like feeling that they could fall out of your arms at any minute. Think of taking your 1 yr old on Splash Mountain... Not ideal

Post- rapids. We all got wet but Kenz was soaked head-to-toe!

(I did NOT take Ryker on that one!)

Opa and Roo at the beach. Ryker loved the water. He would kick and squeal each time the artic waters touched his toes. It was seriously frigid!Kiki with his other best gf, Devon. I just wish she could live by us and babysit!!

Kiki was one of "the guys" watching Star Wars, complete with the popcorn

Ryker was my buddy. He is such a sweetheart with the best goofy grin

Family photo, moments before our departure.

We can't wait for next year! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa.