Logan

My sister had her first baby last month, and I got to meet him over the long President's Day Weekend! While it was of course so special to finally get to meet my sweet nephew, it was even more special to get to see my sister in her new role as mommy.

Derek stayed back in Las Vegas with our three crazies, so I could make the solo trip to Georgia. It was so nice to be able to get that uninterrupted time with my sister--to actually have a complete conversation with her instead of having to stop mid-sentence ten thousand times to tend to my kids. ;)  Not to mention, it's amazing how different a four hour flight with three young children feels in comparison to that same 4 hour flight BY MYSELF!!

My days are typically spent dealing with tantrums and keeping a certain toddler out of drawers and cabinets, taking the girls to and from school, and trying to maintain some shred of sanity amidst whining & arguing kids. Please know that I wouldn't have it any other way and I don't take it for granted for one second that I get a front row seat to kids' childhoods, but it was such a treat to be able to snuggle a sweet sleeping baby Logan who just wanted to be held + get lots of sister time. I have to admit though--hearing Emily's stories from the trenches of newborn life takes me back to my days when Shelby was a newborn, and I want to start pulling my hair out just thinking about it! Having a newborn is HARD, people! I always hear people lament how tricky life is when you add a second or third baby to the mix, but for me that was a cakewalk in comparison to having a newborn for the first time. Bringing home a newborn the second & third time around was still hard of course, but it wasn't such a shock to the system like that first time was!

The other highlight of my visit was getting to see my parents by myself! I wish we'd taken a picture to commemorate it, but I got to go out to dinner with my parents on my last night in Georgia--just me and them. I can't even begin to think when the last time that had happened was. It was such a treat. When I got home and was recounting my trip to Derek, he kept saying that maybe I should do this again--make a trip home to GA without him or the kiddos. Living so far away from family, we don't get to see everyone very often; so if we're going to make the trip home, of course we all five want to go! But it was such a special trip to go and spend time with my family and just be me. I don't know if or when I'll get the chance to see my mom, dad, and sister again without simultaneously wearing my mom hat, but I'm so thankful for the time I had!!!

Day Date to the West Rim

Yesterday Derek & I had a little day date to go visit the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. We loved visiting the South Rim over Thanksgiving as a family, but we thought it would be fun to see it one more time just the two of us! Living in Las Vegas has a lot of perks, and the proximity to so many amazing sights is definitely one of them! The West Rim is a 2.5 hour drive from our house. We got Chick-fil-a for breakfast on the way there & stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-a on the way home, and we didn't feel one bit bad about it, ha! We don't have a CFA near our house, but there is one on our way out of Las Vegas, so it's a must for us every time we travel. ;)  We had such a fun day!!!

The South & North Rims are part of the National Park Systems, and there were handrails/clearly marked off areas to keep you away from the edge. The West Rim is on Native American land, so it was a completely different experience. First and foremost, there were NO RAILS ANYWHERE!!!! Here is Derek's favorite picture of the whole day when we first walked off the bus and I realized this:

And here's a couple other pictures from the opposite direction of where I'm standing in the above picture so you can see what I'm talking about--there is nothing keeping anyone from the edge. I kept thinking all it would take is someone bumping you & that would be it! I probably yelled at Derek 1.5 jillion times to stop or be careful or something else similar. There were all these people literally right on the edge, and all I could think was: "Where are their mothers to tell them to STOP IT?!"

One of the "cool" parts of the West Rim is they have a SkyWalk, which is glass walkway that goes out over the canyon so you can see straight down. I was excited/nervous to do this, but we found it pretty underwhelming in person. So we ended up skipping it altogether. Compared to the National Park version of the Grand Canyon, the West Rim seems like a bit of a tourist trap. Since Derek is military, the National Parks are free for us. The West Rim was $50 per person, then the SkyWalk is an additional $20 per person and then they won't even let you take your phone or camera out there. They will offer to take pictures for you for a fee of course. ;)  In my head, I envisioned the SkyWalk being this huge thing but in reality it was just really small and crowded. I don't think we missed much not doing it. You can see the SkyWalk in the picture below.

I think the Grand Canyon is one of those things you really have to see in person to fully appreciate it, but that being said I think we got some cool pictures! One of the neat things about the West Rim is there is this little peninsula if you will near the Guano mine where you have a 360 degree view of the canyon.

{Derek taking a picture looking down from the edge. You can bet I was probably yelling at him while he was taking this picture!} 

We left the Grand Canyon around 2:30ish to head back to Las Vegas. And less than 3 hours later, a helicopter crashed down in the canyon. There were no helicopters in sight when we were at the National Park over Thanksgiving, but the West Rim was practically crawling with helicopters due to its proximity to Las Vegas. Derek & I kept commenting on how crazy it was to see them flying down in the canyon so low and how close the helicopters would be to each other in flight. On our drive to the West Rim, I kept commenting to Derek about the lack of civilization and wondering where these people would shop? Derek's line of thinking was much different and kept saying how bad of a place it would be to get into an accident. Ugh, and then to hear that news just hours after we left. According to our local news, 3 people died & 4 are in critical condition at UMC in downtown Vegas. The part that I can't even imagine for those surviving victims is that the crash was reported around 5:20, and they didn't arrive to the hospital until 2 am b/c of how difficult it was for rescuers to get to them and for them to get the victims out. NINE HOURS LATER. All of the passengers were from Great Britain according to our local news, and I keep thinking what a nightmare this must be for the families of the victims being so far away from their loved ones. So horrific and so incredibly sad.

Spring has Sprung

The weather here has been pure perfection lately! We've spent so much time outside this week b/c we just haven't been able to get enough! It's been amazing! I keep thinking we'll get a random wind storm {I've never lived anywhere so windy in my life!} & winter will make a reappearance, but Derek says he started seeing ash pollen in the counts at work this week. If you're like me and that means nothing to you, apparently ash is the "spring herald" & this means spring should be here to stay?!

 

 



I've been dropping the girls off for school in the morning and then Brady and I will walk and/or run and hop from park to park until it's time to pick up Hadley from Pre-K at 10:30.

 

 

 

Then once we've eaten lunch and gotten Brady down for his nap, Hadley has been happily playing outside and I've even been able to read for a bit while soaking up the sunshine! We had a decent sized yard in San Antonio, but the girls hardly ever played in it. We always laugh b/c now that we don't have a yard at all {just the pool & rocks}, the girls adore playing in our "backyard." This week Hadley has been climbing on our waterfall {I try to pretend this doesn't make me nervous}, dipping chalk in the pool and then "chalk painting," making rock families, and who knows what else. Lots of imaginative independent play!

 

 

 



 

Another highlight of the week was Hadley wearing Shelby's old jean jacket for the first time, and she was smitten. She adores wearing cardigans for whatever reason, and I'm pretty sure this jean jacket {which Shelby I think wore all of two times} will be worn out by Hadley! As soon as it was clean & back in her closet, she immediately picked it back out to wear again!

 

And we've been working our way through some Disney classics courtesy of the library b/c the girls were confused about some of the characters/rides after our recent trip to Disneyland. ;)  Once we got home from our trip, we immediately put Pinochio, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Mary Poppins on hold. So far Alice in Wonderland has been their favorite, and it was also my favorite b/c Brady was totally into the bright colors/lights and actually sat & watched for a good while!

Happy Friday to you! :)