Crazy Arizona Fog

We don't get a whole lot of exciting weather here in Arizona (Phoenix, atleast). It is pretty much just hot for most of the year. I don't hate it, but it is cool every once in a while to experience other things. This past Sunday, while lots of people were in town for the Super Bowl, we had the craziest fog I have ever seen. I am sure it is no big deal to people from like San Francisco, for example, but I had never experienced anything like that. I pulled out of my driveway around 5:30 Sunday morning to head to North Mountain for a hike. Immediately pulling out of the driveway I thought the street looked super creepy but I didn't yet know it was fog. Then when I went to pull out of my neighborhood and couldn't see down the street, I realized that this was not normal. The whole drive to the mountain was super weird for me. I have never driven in anything like that. I don't have fog lights on my car (if I do, I don't know how to use them). During my drive there was a completely clear patch before I headed back into the fog. I thankfully had my husband's headlamp for the hike. I couldn't take a ton of pictures because it was so dark but it was crazy. This trail is pretty quick and I pushed myself to jog a lot of it so I had actually planned to do it twice, once hard by myself, and once more relaxed with my sister and friend. Once they got here it was starting to lighten up but it actually seemed like the fog was getting thicker...or maybe we could just see it better. It is not a super high mountain but at the top of the hike we were above the fog and it was the most unexpected awesome reward. I am so glad we went hiking that morning and got to experience that. It actually stayed foggy that day until mid-morning and was definitely a weird weather day for us Arizonans!

 

  

 

The view as I pulled out of my neighborhood and the pictures I got while it was still pretty dark.

 

Foggy Mountain Selfie

The sun starting to rise and my friend Ashley as we got ready to head back down.

such a cool view!

 

On our way back down as it started to lighten up outside.

 

One of the intersections I was stopped at on my way home. So bizarre to drive in fog!

Video Updates

We got a couple of cute videos of the girls this weekend so I wanted to share them here. On Friday night Aspen was rolling around on her play mat (naked, due to a blow out) and she was just so close to rolling over. She has rolled from her belly to her back during tummy time, but has not yet made it from back to belly. She was so close, though! She was even trying to cheat and kick off of one of the pillars on her mat to give her a little help but she didn't quite make it. It was funny to watch her get frustrated that her little arm was getting stuck underneath her. It will definitely happen soon!

On Saturday night, Aspen was laying on her mat again after we got home from Church and dinner with my dad and Everly found an easy way to make Aspen laugh. It was so funny. Aspen would not take her eyes off of Everly, even when Everly kind of spit in her face. I hope they grow up to be best friends (as long as they don't team up against Justin and I, haha).

Weekend in Review

After being in Vegas last weekend it was nice to spend most of this past weekend at home. Saturday morning I got in a 7 mile run and was home before either of the girls even woke up! It is always nice to get my workout done and out of the way. After that we spent the morning at home doing laundry and just hanging out. After nap time we headed to a 3 year old's birthday party. Everly took a while to warm up but once she did she had a lot of fun. Aspen was great as well and I wore her for most of the party. On Sunday morning I slept in until 7 AM which I have not done since Aspen was born! Justin went out for his run and when he got back I ran out to do my grocery shopping before heading out for my soccer game. After soccer Aspen had swim class and she did great. A lot of babies cry during class, especially during back floats but she is just a really good baby. Sunday night Justin made a delicious steak dinner and Everly and I made some chocolate chip cookies. It was a quiet weekend that was much needed. Also, there is a video below of Everly putting her baby in time out after dinner (with cookie on her face). It was serious business...

sleeping beauties

this face!

 

Party girls in matching dresses!

 

 

Cookies and steak go together, right?

Vegas 2015

I am calling this post Vegas 2015 because I don't think there will be another Vegas trip for me in 2015. I did have a lot of fun, and I am not ruling it out for sure, but yea that weekend exhausted me. I went to celebrate for a bachelorette party. Brea went with us to Vegas last December (right before I got pregnant) and I have known her since she started playing soccer with my sister in maybe middle school. She is a lot of fun so I was super happy I was able to go. I drove up with my buddy Ashley who is a bridesmaid. We had lots of snacks and were ready to get the party started. We were the last to arrive, but I would say that we made up for that in our ability to party, haha. I was definitely worried and had anxiety about being away from both my girls, but especially Aspen as she is only 4 months old and still nursing. Thankfully I didn't worry for a second about my husband taking care of them, I just missed them (I say that because I know a lot of women who don't trust their husband's to watch their kids, sadly). The first night was supposed to be more "laid-back." We went to a Teppanyaki restaurant for dinner and it was a lot of fun. I can't share a lot of the pictures from that night. If you are with a big group in Vegas, go to Musashi Japanese Steakhouse. It was a lot of fun. We had some people drop out after dinner but then we headed to a lounge in the Planet Hollywood Hotel that we were staying in. I have stayed there 4 times now and never been to this lounge but we had a lot of fun and drank way too much. The next day we laid around for most of the day. Some girls did some gambling and walking around and then I got my makeup done before we went to dinner at BurGr which is also in Planet Hollywood. As usual, the food was delicious. Saturday night we went on a club tour which started at Tryst at Wynn. Most of the girls were spent from night #1 and were in very uncomfortable shoes so they ended up leaving shortly after getting there. Ashley, one other girl, and myself were not ready to throw the towel in, haha. We hung around someone else's table and got a free drink before taking the party bus to the second stop, Drai's at the Cromwell. This is a new hotel/nightclub and so we did not know what to expect. It turned out to be super awesome. This club had everything (<---Stefan reference). Seriously though, it did. They had things falling from the ceiling, a giant disco ball, glowing batons, a huge dance floor and it opened up to a balcony with a pool. We also snagged more free drinks here from some super nice guys at a table. I like free stuff. We had so much fun here, we decided to skip the 3rd club (Tao). We stayed there until about 2:30 AM and then took a cab back to the hotel. I was not nearly as drunk this night and did not sleep as well but it was a great end to the trip. The next morning we took our time leaving and got back to Phoenix around 3:30. I gave Everly the glowing baton from Drai's and she loved it, haha. Who wouldn't?  I am glad to be back home with my girls, but I can't wait to celebrate with everyone again at the bridal shower next month and the actual wedding in March.

Chex mix for road trips is a must!

 

The bridesmaids and bride in their matching tanks.

That beef was like butter. So good.

Love these girls!

Dinner night #2

 

The bride!

 

At Tryst in the Wynn

Go there! It was so much fun!

We were all just like, this place is awesome.

Everly was happy with her souvenir! Haha.

4 Month Update

Last Friday Aspen turned 4 months old! Yesterday Justin and I took her to her appointment and I was telling him how she was getting her 4 month shots and he asked why we were doing them a month early. Yea, we aren't. She is actually 4 months old! Speaking of that checkup, once again, she is super tiny. I guess Everly was really small too because I really don't feel like Aspen is super tiny. She is currently 11lbs 8 oz. and still in size 1 diapers and size 3 month clothes. She is eating and sleeping fine so we are not really concerned but we will take her in next month for a weight check. She did catch a little cold from her sister last month as well as getting a slight fever from the shots yesterday, but other than that she has been great. She has really started to become super chatty in the last week also. She is doing very good in swim class still and last month she had her first trip to Disney on Ice. She loved all of the lights and did great. She also took her first trip to the Children's Museum and was great there as well. We started putting her in the bumbo for short periods of time as well as in her activity center and she seems to like both. She has rolled from her belly to her back and seems super close to rolling from back to belly so we have opted to keep her arms out of the swaddle at night time. Currently the plan is to wait until 6 months to start solid foods so there is no change there and she has also been doing pretty well at daycare. Sometimes she doesn't get in a super long nap, but every once in a while she does. We thought for sure she had teeth coming in because she has been drooling like crazy but we haven't seen any proof yet! I would not be surprised to see one pop in soon, though!

Disney on Ice

For Christmas we got tickets to take the girls to see Disney on Ice and the show was last weekend. Everly has been several times before but it is usually a different theme so it is fun to take her. I can't wait until we can take her to Frozen on Ice. This show was "Let's Celebrate," so it had lots of different characters. We talked about it a lot to get her excited about it and she kept calling it Disney on "ice skating." Then she would list all of the characters she was going to see. She was set on Pluto being there (he was). Both girls did really great at the show. Aspen seemed to like the lights and Everly got excited at all of the characters she recognized. It actually kind of seemed like it was a quick show but I was tired so I wasn't sad about that, haha. My mom also gave Everly some money to get a toy and she picked out a Stich toy and some popcorn. It is kinda freaky how much that girl likes popcorn. She was shoveling it in her face! Here is my post from our trip last year, too.

 

Lady behind me, what's your deal? Also, your kid was annoying.

Children's Museum of Phoenix

Last week I picked up a culture pass at the library for the Children's Museum of Phoenix so that I could take the girls for free on the weekend (saved me $22)! We got there around 9:45 and it wasn't too busy. It definitely took a lot of planning on my part, however. I had to wear Aspen because it is much easier to follow Ev along without a stroller and the museum is 3 floors. I still needed to carry a wallet and essential diaper bag items but I didn't want to carry a purse or diaper bag on my shoulder and if I was wearing Aspen on the front I couldn't wear a crossbody so I totally borrowed one of Everly's little backpacks and it worked perfectly. I was a little worried about her going in the big jungle gym/ treehouse/ playground without me because I was worried either she would get scared and I wouldn't be able to go up and help her or I would be ready to move on and I would not be able to get her out. It ended up working out fine and she came down on her own while I was playing with Aspen in one of the baby zones. The museum has lots of great baby areas and we will definitely go back when Aspen can crawl and sit up and enjoy them more. Everly had a lot of fun but she doesn't really interact much with other kids. She mostly just does her own thing. You would think she would interact more now that she is in preschool full time but I guess it will just take more time. Everly got to do some painting and we even snuck in a little photo booth session. It was a great morning!

Love how she looks up at her big sister.

Group shot!

Real into mirrors lately!

Love these two!

 

Toddler Talk

 

It's been a while since I posted some funny things that Everly has been saying lately so here is a cute picture of her before school this morning and some funny conversations...

-Talking about lunch on the drive to school...

Me: Everly what are you having for lunch today?
Ev: I don't know.
Me: Remember, a sandwich?
Ev: No what's it called?
Me: A sandwich.
Ev: No! What's it called?
Me: Oh, a bologna sandwich.
Ev: Yea, like Tony Bologna.

-Talking to her about her day after school. The transition has been tough at times and you want them to have fun so this was sweet...

Me: Did you take a nap at school?
Everly: Yea with Cassie. (I have no idea who Cassie is)
Me: Is Cassie your friend?
Everly: Yea.

-Everly playing her piano that she got for Christmas...

Ev: My musical is so proud.

-And lately with everything that I tell her, it becomes a secret. We will be talking on the phone with my mom and I will say, "Everly, tell Grandma where we are going this weekend." She says, "No! It's a secret."

Timehop App

So sometime after Aspen was born Justin and I both finally got the timehop app on our phones. I don't know why we never did it before. It is really fun. Every day it compiles pictures and posts from social media that you made 1,2,3 and more years ago. You can link it to instagram, facebook, twitter, and more. I mostly like it for instagram but facebook is nice for those years before I had instagram. What I really love about it now is getting to see pictures of chunky Everly from 1 and 2 years ago and also pictures of Everly from 3 years ago to compare with Aspen now. It is so fun to see them in the same outfits and to see them look so similar! Justin and I often text each other pics that came up in our timehop that day so it also fun to share them. Here is one picture from timehop (on the left) from 3 years ago of Everly that I put next to a picture of Aspen this weekend. Both such tiny little babies!