Spring Break

I know it is a tad bit ridiculous to be blogging about spring break about a month after it happened, but what can I say. I am a busy full time college student/mother of two. So, even though it is super late (and I am playing catch-up on LOTS of blogging) Here it is...

We had an early flight on Tuesday morning so we headed to Dallas the night before. It worked out GREAT because we got to meet up with some of our good friends. (We really missed you Rhea) These guys are the best. I am so glad we got to spend some time with you all!

The kids were SO excited because we got to ride this train that was in the mall. I had never seen a mall train. It was so cute. Riley would stick her hand out and wave at everyone we passed while Sam stuck his head out like a dog in a pick up truck, just laughing and smiling from ear to ear. Ever since then Riley talks about riding the train all the time. I guess we will have to take her sometime this summer to see some trains :)

That night we stayed at a hotel. It was great because we basically had two rooms. We put both the kids on the pull out bed and just crossed our fingers. Ha. We surrounded the entired bed with chairs and pillows and anything else we could find. The kids stayed up for a while playing. I just new Sam would fall out. However, the next morning this is what I found:

I thought it was so precious

Here we are eating grapes and bannana bread muffins. All ready to go!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

We took the kids to the Arizona Museum For Youth with Grandma Scott.

Riley loved the painting. Maybe we have a future artist?

Sam loved everything he could get his hands on and fiddle with.

Almost...

It was so funny because Riley and Sam both kept putting everything into the microwave in this play kitchen. Grandma Scott asked "is that how your mommy cooks at home?" and Riley responded with a proud "Yes, all the time" Haha. That is not true but it sure did make me laugh.

When Riley walked into this triangular mirror she got a little flustered. She said "hey! Whats goin on here?" :)

We even played around too

The lemons, oranges, and grapefruit smell SO good in Phoenix. Riley and Sam loved to play with the lemons.

We asked to eat out some place we couldn't eat in Texas. (or more specifically Longview) so they took us to George's. It was really good. We tried a Gyro for the first time. Haha

I don't know what they are talking about but I sure do love this picture.

Ryne and I were able to sneak away for a little bit and we went to Old Town. The sun was in our eyes. Everything is so beautiful there.

This was my chalk drawing while we were waiting on Grandma, Grandpa, Hannah, Cait, and Nate to get there.

Yes! That is in fact what it looks like! Riley was trying to dribble the ball and with her left hand!

Oh yes, the family olympics

Ryne and Nate

Ryne and Nate after pulling out the "solar panals" as Ryne said.

Oh yeah

My "little" man

Saturday of spring break was my SIL Caitlin's birthday. Since we were leaving on Sat we went out to celebrate Friday night. We headed over the Alice Coopers resteraunt. We had a great time!

Beautiful Birthday girl!

Whew. That was a lot of pictures. We have been able to go to Phoenix for 3 spring breaks in a year now. We really look forward to the trip. This year was really exciting for us because the kids are getting a little older and in some ways easier to travel with. At the end of our trip though, we all got sick. I mean just the crud! The kids just layed in everyone's arms for a couple of days. The worst part about being sick though was that we didn't get any group family shots. We had some great shots from last year and I was looking forward to douplicating it but I guess we will jsut shoot for next year. Thanks for letting us come and see you Grandma and Grandpa Scott. We love you SO much.

-Oh and I defended my Family Olympic title well. I came in 2nd in both the "third game" and in pool and tied for overall champ with Hannah. I'd say a good year!

Today we bought Riley a bubble gun! Earlier this afternoon I found myself angry and hurt when some of the kids, in our yard, wouldn't share their bubbles with Riley. I informed them they either had to share their bubbles or play somewhere else. They left. And Riley cried and asked for bubbles, which we did not have. So tonight when we were roaming the isles at Target Ryne and I couldn't resist getting Riley a bubble gun. It made me realize that this won't be the last time that my daughter gets her feelings hurt by someone else. To be honest, it made me a little nervous to think about the times when I won't be able to just go out and purchase something to "fix" it. Nor do I want to always. I am so encouraged when I read other blogs of mothers who are raising children who make it seem so effortless. I am thankful for all the times that my mother taught me how to respond with love and kindness. I hadn't realized how difficult that must have been for her at times. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to playing outside tomorrow with our new toy. (of course now I am thinking we should have bought two, but that is another issue :)
On another note, It may be a few days before I can post about our spring break but my SIL Hannah has a few pictures on her blog.
And you should check out my friend Maryanne's blog. She put up some wonderful shots of my kiddos. (I didn't think we got a single one of Sam in his outfit from Singapore where he wasn't crying, but apparently she did :)

Weekend Trip

(This picture is from our couple's retreat last weekend. I didn't have time to blog about it but I liked this picture)

I had such a great trip back home this past weekend. The trip was planned around a shopping day with the girls and visiting with our friends who have recently moved to Singapore! I am actually packing right now to head out again but this time for Phoenix! I knew if I didn't put up some pictures it might never get done. Greg and Dara brought back some gifts for us and the kids. I LOVED them. Thank yall SO much.

I will come back and write in more about the pictures but for now, I hope you enjoy the kids in their adorable gifts. Now I am off to enjoy the rest of my spring break!!!!!!!!!!

123,456 Side Rock Step, Side Rock Step

This past Saturday Ryne suprised me with a WONDERFUL night out.

We went ballroom dancing!

We went on a double date with some friends from work and school!

We are concentrating really hard...

This was actually a very snazzy spin!

The coordination was totally planned!

I have been wanting to go ballroom dancing for SO long. When I was pregnant with Sam I would leave flyers of the monthly events around the house hoping that we would go. Ryne did not think he would like it at all and timing never worked out so I was complety taken off guard when he let me in on the suprise Friday night.

Each month a husband and wife give free lessons followed by a 2 hour dance with all sorts of ballroom music. This month the lesson was the Waltz. We loved learning the steps. We wish we had time to learn even more! We through in some cool spins, in's-n-out's (?) and a rotaty thing (?) :) They even split up the evening with two performances of the waltz- a father/daughter duo and a small youth group. It was great.

Ryne said that he can't wait til the next time for us to go back. I can't wait to see what we will learn next. Although, sitting on the side while watching everyone else dance was a lot of fun too. I am glad we are starting to dance together. I hope it is something we continue to do together for the rest of our lives....

Dance, dance, dance, - Dance, dance, dance, all night long...

Here lately...

We have been having lots of fun this past week. Today I looked out the window and was so excited to see some sunshine! We even headed outside to have a "picnic" for lunch! These pictures are a little out of order but here is what we have been up to lately...

We enjoyed eating lunch outside today. (and I didn't have to sweep up all the crumbs :)

We finally got our Potato Heads out of the box from Riley's birthday. I couldn't for the life of me figure out where I was going to put all the pieces so they stayed in the box for a while. But I had a LOT of homework this week and the kids needed some new entertainment so...

Here are two of Riley's creations.

The kids are very into chalk right now. We even headed out right before bedtime again this past Sunday.

I thought Sam looked SO handsome in his new outfit. He is really starting to look like a little boy instead of my baby :(

Thanks Aunt Lizzy for the SUPER cute shirt!

When Riley headed over to my friend Maryanne's house to play she snagged a few photos of her! I am really loving her new photo blog. There were a couple other pictures from their play date.

I am super excited because tonight I am going out with Ryne. I have been wanting to go to these free ballroom dance classes for a long time. He surprised me last night and told me we were going to dinner and then learning the Waltz and the Fox Trot!!! I can't wait to blog about it!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

MOCHA

MOCHA is the intramural basketball team that I was on. (Married Apartments, O is something, Commuter, and Honor Apartments) I can't tell you how much fun I had. We were undefeated for the season and won the championship game this past Wednesday! We were missing a few girls but this picture was from our last game.
I had almost forgotten how much I love the game of basketball. It was great to get out and excersice while doing something I love. I have already signed up to play ultimate frisbee! However, I really think I might be organizing some sort of weekly pick up game to help keep me active.
Congratulations MOCHA! I loved getting to know you all better and being your teammate!

Sunny Days

Yesterday and today we actually had some sunny days! It was so nice to be able to get outside with the kids and play. We don't do well stuck in the house all Winter long! Here are a few pictures from us outside the past few days.

Valentines Day

My Valentines Day was AMAZING! My first surprise was that Hannah came in Friday night. The next morning Ryne and our friend John had planned a spa day for my best friend Angie (Johns wife) Hannah and I. After that Ryne gave me some spending money so I could buy a new outfit for our date. I LOVED shopping with Hannah and Ang. After we had gotten new dresses for the evening we all headed home and got ready to go out. My wonderful sister was babysitter for the night for Livy, Riley, and Sam. The guys took us to a resteraunt that I had really been wanting to go to. It was GREAT. We had such a good time with John and Angie I didn't want dinner to be over! After that we split ways. Ryne and I headed to the theatre to catch the movie Valentines Day. We really liked it. But I think we both just enjoyed the night out all together.

I hardly had any time to take pictures though. But here are a few... Us before we were pampered!

Ryne and I before going out! Ryne looked SO sharp
I love her.

Us at "Fritz's"

The next part of my Valentines was even more special. We had gone out on Saturday so that we could travel to see my Grandmother for Valentines Day. This Valentines would have been my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. (It was also the anniversary of my dad's proposal to my mom) We surprised G-ma at church that morning then took her out to lunch. When we headed back to her house we were excited that my Aunt also showed up to surprise her! We ended up having quite a few people there visiting and celebrating with her. It was great!

This is the only picture I got from our day with her.

We love you Grandmother!