Las Vegas

Adam and I have rarely gone away on vacation without our boys. Needless to say, it usually feels like we need a vacation from our vacation when we get back. :) So our trip to Las Vegas by ourselves was almost too easy...

I especially noticed it at the airport. Usually we have so many suitcases, car seats, and strollers that we can hardly juggle it all, let alone take everything through security. I kept thinking of everything I would usually pack for them... how we would pick out restaurants based on what they would eat... how many snacks and movies I needed in order to entertain them on the airplane... and all of this on top of the fact that we usually fly standby. So here we were with one backpack, our hands empty, confirmed tickets, and pure peacefulness. It was almost eerie, but I was very grateful for ease of it all.

How funny it is that this was the plane we took to Las Vegas?!

I loved that we were able to go with my sister and her husband. They are so much fun to hang out with and can naturally turn any conversation into a fit of laughter. The first night we saw Criss Angel perform. Since we bought our tickets minutes before the show, we were able to get second row seats for half price! After that, we found an Irish bar with a table right next to the band. (David is Irish so he was in heaven. :) It wasn't long before the place was packed and people were surrounding us, singing and clapping to the beat. It was so much fun to just sit back and soak it all in.




The next morning, we found a Starbucks right next to a place that made every kind of crepe you could dream up. Since my sister and I have a tradition of making these at home, it was fun to find a place that served them for breakfast. :)

We spent the day walking around and exploring the hotels.



That evening, Adam and I went up to the 64th floor of our hotel and saw the most amazing view I have ever seen in my life. At first we just thought it was a window view, but then we found the door that lead outside. The entire strip was right before our eyes... with nothing between us except a railing at my shoulders. I can't even describe how breathtaking it was.



We ended the night with a hypnotist show that was so funny we almost came back the next night to see it again. I was cracking up just watching how hard Adam was cracking up. :)

The next day was Valentine's Day. My sister and I started it off with a hot stone massage and chatting it up in their sauna and hot tub. We had made an early dinner with our hubbies at P.F. Chang's (my favorite restaurant of all time). Then we headed to the Wynn to see Garth Brooks.


Garth Brooks took all of my expectations and blew them out of the theater. He was that amazing. He started off by describing his childhood and the songs that inspired him and his family along the way. The best and most unexpected part was that he would sing them. It was so entertaining to hear him belt out songs like Mrs. Robinson, I heard it through the Grapevine, American Pie, and the Piano Man. No, pictures weren't allowed... but when everyone else started getting out their camera, I couldn't help but get mine out too. :)



He was getting standing ovations before he even got to his own songs. To our surprised, he even introduced his wife Trisha Yearwood to the stage and they sang together. Then he performed some of my favorites like Unanswered Prayers, The River, The Dance, and Two of a Kind. I had goosebumps almost through the entire concert... it was so surreal. (Leave it to me to use my water bottle as a microphone when I was singing along.) My favorite moment of the night though was when he took off his guitar in the middle of Shameless and sang it a cappella. It literally takes my breath away just thinking about it.

So all in all, it was an amazing weekend that I will never forget. I'm so glad Adam, my sister, and her husband were there to share it all with. I kind of got used to the relaxing, carefree schedule of it all. So my system was a little shocked to come home to the everyday chaos that occurs with three little boys. I definitely missed them, but it was really good to have that time with my husband for a few days. I think it's so important to just get away from it all and be together every now and then. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Casey's dedication

We have been waiting to get Casey dedicated for about eighteen months. Oh wait, he is eighteen months. :) We have signed up for three dedications now, only to cancel at the last minute because Adam was called on a flight. Sigh... the life of a pilot's wife. ;)

When we heard that they were having dedications on a day Adam would be here, we jumped on it. It was bittersweet because my mom was out of town and I knew she really wanted to be there. Yet, I also knew that if I waited for the next dedication, my hubby most likely would have been on a trip again.

I was blown away by how many family members and friends came to see little Casey. It meant the world to me and was part of what made it a really special day. Adam and I want nothing more than to raise our sweet boy to love God so it felt amazing to be on stage praying for him.

Casey's first little bible. Flipping through it kept him entertained the entire time we were on stage.
Me and my sis-taWhat a happy, happy day!
Now, back to playing with my toys...

Some drawings and sayings

Jacob has been drawing some really fun pictures lately. He likes to make giant ones, (probably because the girl from Monsters and Aliens is giant :) so he will take three pieces of paper and tape them all together. Since they are too big to display on our refrigerator, he came up with the solution of taping them to our walls... which I'm totally okay with. :)

Most of his pictures have been from the movie Monsters and Aliens. Sometimes he adds our tiny family at the bottom so you can see just how big the characters are.

This one is Max and Ruby, one of his favorite shows. He had his daddy pause the television so he could see just what they looked like for his drawing. :) He crossed out Max, because apparently Max is a bad bunny.


There are also some things Jacob has been saying that I thought were pretty cute.

*The other day, he looked curiously at Casey toddling around and asked, "Can babies think?"

*I've realized that after spending so much time with his mommy at home, he is starting to talk like me. ;) We were working on a puzzle together when Jacob asked, "Mommy, do you love Mrs. Dent?" I replied that I really liked Mrs. Dent, but I didn't love her. Then he asked if I loved his grammy. I said that his grammy is my mommy so yes, I love her a lot. Then he smiled and said, "Oh mommy, that's the sweetest!"

*The other day Gavin was in time-out. He has heard me have the "time-out" conversation so many times that he decided to take it on for me. :) It went like this. "Gavin tell me why you are in time-out. Pause. You don't know? Pause. It's because you hit. Pause. Are you going to do that again? No? Good. Pause. No getting out yet."

*We were making chocolate chip cookies when Jacob plugged his nose. When I asked why he was plugging his nose, Jacob said it was because he didn't want to smell the butter. :)

*Before we went to the Great Wolf Lodge for Jacob's birthday, he kept inviting all of his friends from school. I told him that we were just going as a family to the Wolf Lodge because it costs a lot of money. Next thing I know, he is asking his friends... "Do you have a lot of money? Okay, do you want to come to the Wolf Lodge with me?!"

Little Gym

I have taken all three of my boys to the Little Gym from when they were one to about two and a half. This semester was Casey's first experience and he immediately fell in love, just as Jacob and Gavin did. The most incredible thing was that he wasn't even walking or talking when we started in September. Now in just five months, he is a walking, talking machine. It's crazy how far they can come in such a short amount of time!

We start with circle time, introducing each toddler as they run up to bang on the tambourine.
Then they have warm-ups on the big red mat...
... and their teacher usually gets out the parachute or jumpy mattress.

They have free exploration time and learn a new skill each week.


Casey's favorite time is when his teacher brings out all the balls and bubbles!

I was a little disappointed that they handed out a ribbon instead of a medal this time, but Casey didn't seem to mind! :)
Last week, two of my friends brought their girls to check out all of the fun. They had such a good time together!

La-weeee!

This is what Jacob thinks we are saying when we ask if he wants to play the Wii. (He thinks it is short for Luigi.) We just got a Wii for our family Christmas present and everyone in our family is pretty much addicted. :) Even Casey grabs the remote and says "Wee-wee-wee!"

We didn't realize that Jacob had gotten used to the fact that we usually play a game together before bed. So we were at Home Depot the other night when he looked at his watch and said, "Mommy! It's 7 o'clock! We need to get home right now to play la-wee!" Out of sheer curiousity, I asked him if he would rather go home and play the wii or go to Krispy Kreme to get a donut. With no hesitation, he said wii. Really?... because I would totally pick the donut.

Anyway, it has been really fun. For Christmas, the boys got Toy Story Mania, Super Mario Brothers, and MarioCart. In addition, Daddy got a motorcycle game and Mommy got Band Hero.

Adam and I actually started playing Band Hero secretly before Christmas. I know, I know, we are terrible. It actually worked out really good though because when the boys opened up their games on Christmas, everything was already set up! Yes, Santa is that magical. ;) I LOVE Band Hero. It's like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, it just has more pop songs like Taylor Swift. Adam likes the guitar best and I like the drums, so it works out really well! I'm also grateful that Adam doesn't mind if I belt out the songs, even if they are in the wrong key. ;)

Jacob and Gavin are a little too young for this one, but they liked trying it out. I think it will be really fun when they are older! ;)


We actually haven't tried many of the games yet, due to the fact that they are both in love with Super Mario Brothers and want to play it every night! I remember telling Adam a few years ago that all I wanted was a Nintendo so I could play the old mario brothers game again. So I can't even describe how excited I was when Wii came out with this new and super high tech version! It really is soooo fun. The best part is that we can all play simultaneously. There is no waiting for a turn and if one anyone dies, they come back to life in a bubble. (Gavin is in a bubble most of the time, but he is totally ok with it ;) As soon as another family member pops the bubble, they are back in the game! This makes it so there are almost no arguments the entire time we are playing. Love it. The only drama is the tears when it is time for bed. :)
In this version, Mario and Luigi can have special flying power. You shake the wii console and they fly into the sky. This is the boys' favorite... they get so excited! Their other favorite thing is the little dinosaurs Mario and Luigi can ride on. They can stick out their tongue and eat the mushrooms and turtles. They can even eat Mario and Luigi and spit them back out, which is pretty funny!

Look who's talking!

Casey is surprising me everyday with how many words he can say! I think I'm so blown away because Jacob and Gavin weren't even close to saying as many things as Casey can at 16 months. He is so social, so I guess all of those words just really want to come out! ;)

Here are the words I have heard him say: soo (shoe), sockie, Sy (our dog), boon (balloon), tee (tree), uv oo (love you), pwane (plane), el-aw-ber (helicopter), dadee (casey), baba (sippy cup), ball, ple (please), da doo (thank you), poo poo (when I am changing him), abble (apple), eye, no (nose), mou (mouth), air (hair), bubble

Phrases I have heard him say: Mama ple (mama please), bye bye ecki (bye bye Lexi), da predee (that's pretty), Sy no!, da da pwane (daddy's plane), up up mama (when he wants out of his crib), wa dat (what's that), i wa joo (I want juice)

I do have to say though, this nursing thing is getting out of control! I stopped nursing Jacob at seven months because Adam and I were going to Jamaica (and I didn't want to be pumping on vacation. ;) Gavin nursed a little longer, but he lost interest and weaned himself around eleven months. So I kept waiting for that moment to arrive when Casey decided that he was all done nursing. I waited a long time... and now I'm not so sure that was the best thing to do. In the last month, he has been constantly pulling on me, saying nur nur (for nurse). It's all day long and it's horrible. So I realized a little too late that sometimes you have to wean them yourself. Preferably before they start talking and reaching down your shirt. :)

There is nothing Casey loves more than bubbles, spinning the propellers of his helicopter, and playing with the new toys he got for Christmas... including his brothers' Zhu Zhu hamsters :). (That's whenever he isn't pulling things out of kitchen drawers, playing in Sy's water dish, pulling toilet paper off the roll, and trying to get into the garbage can!) He can really kick a soccer ball and throw a ball well. Casey is very independent and lets us know that he wants to do things by himself. He is fearless and when I took him swimming yesterday, he walked straight into the deep end of the toddler pool over and over. If I let him go in a store, he will run away from me as fast as he can... never looking back. We are pretty sure he is going to be our social extravert, in contrast to our intraverted, laid back, surfer dude (which we think Gavin will be someday) and our sensitive, rule-following, intellect (who we think will do something amazing with that brain of his :). Three very different boys, but oh how we love each of them to pieces.

Casey's first kiss

Hmmm... should I give him a kiss?

No! I'm way too shy!He is pretty cute though... I think I will.

On second thought, there's no need to rush. I could just start with a kiss on his forehead...

What? You want me to kiss him again? I already did!

Nine years ago

If I only knew when I was walking down the aisle on January 6th, 2001 that nine years from then I would...

*be more in love with my husband than ever.
*have three amazing boys who bless my life everyday.
*see their daddy making it a priority to love on and play with them.
*be soaking in every minute of being a stay at home mom.
*be so proud that my husband was hired to fly for the company of his dreams.
*be part of a great church and small group who loves God.
*know what a difference it makes to read the bible and pray with my husband.
*admire how honest, loyal, and caring he is... and that he would do anything in the world for me.
*be living the life I had always dreamed about.

If only I knew all of that... I would marry my husband all over again in a heartbeat. It's not always easy and there are many days filled with chaos, but we are a team and work together to make our boys and each other feel loved.
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Not only did my husband get to stay home for Christmas, but his crew ended up coming home FIVE days early so we were able to spend our anniversary together too! My mom happened to be at our house helping me with the boys, so Adam surprised me by reserving a super nice hotel room in downtown Tacoma. We were within walking distance from several restaurants, but I couldn't bring myself to try anything new with the Melting Pot nearby. For us, nothing can ever beat that place. ;) We stopped at a dueling piano bar for a few minutes, but decided we would rather lounge (with a glass of wine and appetizer) next to the beautiful gas fireplace in the hotel lobby. It was so nice not to have to rush home at a certain time to pay the babysitter. It was such a perfect night.

Happy New Year!

I took Jacob, Gavin, and Casey up to Papa and GG's house to celebrate the New Year with their cousins. We really wanted to put them to bed at their normal bed time, so we could have some peaceful, uninterrupted adult time. ;) Yet, Jacob really wanted to experience New Years with all of the usual traditions. So at 8:00 sharp, we all counted down from ten to one together and shouted, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Of course, there were party hats, party blowers, and party poppers involved too. So Jacob seemed satisfied with that and we had the next four hours to ourselves. I thought that was a pretty good plan. ;)