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.

New Year

I feel like no matter how long some days can be the kids are growing up way too fast.

Nicholas has ended the terrible two's and entered a new phase of being agreeable, polite and kind to his brother. I was so worried it would be a short-lived change but he has been great for a whole month! Kiki requests it be written that he likes to play with his Toy Story guys and play Cars and watch the movie. He is still short and skinny, so we are hoping to fatten him up with food and get a growth-spurt going sometime soon.

Enter Ryker, the newest candidate for the Terrible Two's! At almost 18 months he is at the "running everywhere without listening" phase. It becomes hazardous at times and I feel close to a heart attack a couple times a day. His favorite ways of scaring me are looming at the top of the metal staircase, and spontaneously letting go of my hand and running off while walking through parking lots. I am reminded of Nicholas at this age doing similar things so I am hoping it will pass soon enough. Otherwise he remains his cuddly self with lots of cute little words. He loves to say, "I did it!", and "right back".

Jared and I were happy to squeeze in a much-anticipated date to Disneyland. We had so much fun we still talk about it every day. I love going with the kids but it was fun to do all the bigger rides I see so often I can't do with them. We started off with the Tower of Terror, and hit most all of the others we wanted to, walking on to almost every ride. This is definitely the best time of year! We ate giant ice creams on the fresh waffle cones for dinner, and got soaked on the Grizzly River Rapids. It was awesome. I am hoping to get back sometime again before Jared's pass expires.

This month should be lots of fun as we are expecting several visitors and a trip ourselves. Now that Jared's school is starting to wind down I am also getting my LA bucket list going of fun things I want to do here. We are loving all the city has to offer and I'm sure it, and all our favorite people in it, will be sorely missed.

And on a side note, here is the dress from my mom :)

Happy Weekend?

One thing that stinks about this quarter for Jared's school is his schedule. We are lucky that he has no class on wednesdays-fridays, but he has been filled up with other things, namely work and an extra course on saturdays, keeping him gone from early morning til late in the evening. Normally fridays and the weekend is a happy time, but between him being gone and having horribly late church on sundays I feel like the weekend stresses me out more than refuels me. The more people say. "I'm so glad its friday- the weekend!". or "have a great weekend!" the more I go into panic mode. I have no husband around, and likewise no friends because they are all enjoying their hubbies being home! Then sunday rolls around and we miss naps, and have to deal with screaming at church. Ryker has been horrible for the last three weeks. Honestly I am not sure he could be any worse unless he started vomiting all over everyone or something. I am hoping it is a phase.

Last week's remedy for a rough weekend was doing something new and fun with the boys. We gave the Venice boardwalk a shot, and it misfired with all its nasty ambiance. The canals were a fun alternative, but I could only last so long before worrying about one or both boys falling in the murky water.

This weekend I am not sure whether I should try something new again, or just try to be productive and get something accomplished. Whatever the method, I just hope I can make it through this rough quarter!

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!