There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters

January and February are always rough months around our house because they are Stephen's busy season at work. He often gets home from work long after Rory and I have gone to bed and leaves before we are awake so we rarely get to see him. I called Kristy on one of those days when I just needed to speak to another adult and she suggested that maybe she could come down for a visit to keep me company. The next day I got an email with her flight confirmation because she is just the coolest. I mentioned her visit to Courtney and not wanting to miss out on the fun she decided that she would drive up with her kids for part of the time Kristy was here as well. I went about planning our agenda and counting down the days until we would be together!

*I can't remember when this picture of the kids in the tub was taken, but this is a post all about playing with cousins and this picture is too cute not to document. The water is pink on purpose, just FYI. 

We started off the visit at the Legoland Discovery Center at Arizona Mills Mall. They have tons of Legos to play with, interactive movies, rides, playgrounds, and more. It was super awesome. Brad and Owen met us there and the kids had a blast. I spent the majority of my time trying to keep Rory from eating Legos, but it was still totally worth it. 

On the way home we stopped at Hurts Donut Co. which I had heard great things about but had never tried. They were delicious, and we are all eager to go back and try more. 

On Tuesday we went to Urban Jungle, an indoor jumping play place that is SERIOUSLY amazing. The kids had so much fun and they have the best toddler play area ever. We picked up some Thai food on the way home and put the kids down for a nap while we enjoyed our delicious food. After nap time we went shopping (we hit up A LOT of Old Navy clearance sections) and just happened to find our way to a Bahama Bucks. It was our first time trying Bahama Bucks and needless to say we were not disappointed! Rory continually crashed in the car because it is hard work hanging with the big kids all day!

Courtney drove in on Wednesday and we all met up at the train park (in Scottsdale, I think?) which was so fun. The kids played on the playground for a while before we made our way over to the train ride. They have a little train that rides all around the park and the little boys thought it was so cool, though the babies were obviously less impressed. They also had a carousel that we all got to ride on. There is another building in the park that is FILLED with model trains and it was super cool. Kristy pulled a dad and bought some ice cream cones to share for the group, quickly earning the status of coolest aunt. 

On the way home from the train park we stopped at Defalco's, one of my all time favorite places in AZ. It is this tiny little Italian grocery store and restaurant that Emily and Cameron introduced us to after seeing it on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. They have the yummiest marinara sauce I have ever tasted and their lemon cake tastes like clouds of heaven. We ordered way too much food and our kids were way too crazy for that small of a place, but we all left pretty dang happy. 

I'm writing from memory (because I am way behind in keeping up with my blog) so without pictures it is hard to remember exactly what we did and when. But it should be documented that each day was well planned and way super fun. I do remember that we all got McDonalds for the kids and Kneaders for the adults and went to Freetsone Park to let the kids run free and everybody liked that. We did another day at Urban jungle because it was just way too fun the first time, and we also did a little more shopping because we are our mother's daughters after all. 

One of the days Kristy and I went to Liberty Market in Downtown Gilbert. I had never been, but had heard good things and thought it would be a nice casual place to eat lunch one day. I was anticipating a Cafe Rio/ Zupas atmosphere, but boy was I way off. We stuck out like sore thumbs from the business casual- dressed lunch crowd with our rowdy kids and mom bags. The first time the waiter came up to our table I was fighting a cup away from Rory who wanted to play with the straw and water inside. He said, "Awww, she's so cute..." right as she bit me on my cheek. Kristy ordered Declan some Macaroni and cheese, and after he refused to eat it Rory happily stuffed noodles in her face for the rest of the meal. She was seriously downing them faster than I knew she was capable of moving. Just as the waiter approached our table again to say, "How is everything tasting?" Rory spit 75% of the noodles she had eaten into my hand in a large glob of chewed up mac and cheese and saliva. Needless to say, we will not be rushing back to eat there anytime soon. 

Our more successful meals included Gecko Grill, Joe's Farm Grill (minus the part where Rory tried to run into the street as a car was passing by), and LoLo's Chicken and Waffles (the original plan was to eat at Snooze but the wait was too long, and LoLo's never disappoints!) As always, our desserts were even more successful than our meals. We had dipped cones at Creme & Chocolate, tried every cookie at Sweet Tooth Fairy, and even got some gormet smores at the Toasted Mallow. 

We watched tons of good movies, let our kids run free, and chatted to our hearts content. 

My Little Valentine

In February, Rory's Christmas gift from Grandma and Poppop finally arrived! She got a swing set with a slide and Stephen spent one HOT afternoon putting it up for her. She's still trying to figure it out, but we are all super excited to have something so fun in the backyard! I also had to snap a picture because Rory's front hairs are finally long enough to hold a clip! They don't always stay in for long, but we are making progress in the hair department. 

Sometimes I go on Mystery shops where you get to buy something or get a service done for free in exchange for writing about your experience. I took Rory on my shop to Krispy Kreme and she got her own donut. She thought it was awesome. I put her in the car to leave before she was finished eating her donut. She was silent for the first few minutes of our drive, and then I hear, "Mo?" and turn around to see her little hand reaching over her car seat for another donut. She kills me.

I joined a new book group recently and all the other women have children as well. Some of us got together and met up at the Phoenix zoo. Rory LOVES puppies (puppy was her first real word) so I thought she was going to think the zoo was just awesome. She enjoyed eating snacks in her stroller and watching all the other kids and people running around, but I don't think she even noticed the animals. Here she is stealing fruit snacks from one of our new friends so I guess you could say the day was a huge success.

February was also a month of learning new skills. Rory has had this table in her room for a while now, but just recently has started to pull herself up to sit on the stool. She gets up at the table and will just sit there and jabber to herself.
I got Stephen a pizza stone for his grill for Christmas and we finally got to try it out! We made homemade dough and sauce. It was delicious, but very burnt on the bottom so we have more experimenting to do.

I drove up to Glendale and Jules watched Rory while I went in to help Brad pass off one of his dental procedures. She sent me this cute picture of Owen and Rory playing together. Owen is so sweet and Rory just thinks he is the greatest thing ever. It is super fun watching these two play together.

Velentine's Day rolled around and for the first time in our married life Stephen and I were actually together to celebrate it! I started off the morning with a little photo shoot with this girl. 

Not five minutes after we were done taking pictures, I found Rory had gotten into my make up and was covered in black eye shadow. This girl LOVES make up and it is a fight to get it away from her once she's gotten her hands on it. Of course she always goes for my darkest colors, black eye shadow, bright red lipstick... girl's got bold taste! You can tell by her face in these pictures that she was super remorseful for making a mess.

Stephen and Rory went on their first Daddy Daughter date this month. The church threw a daddy daughter date night and had dancing and ice cream sundaes at the church. Stephen and Rory had the best time! He sent me a video of her dancing to the music in her fancy dress and I have never felt so happy in my life. 

And to end another wonderful month here's Rory throwing down some of her current favorite foods, tomato soup and yogurt. We do a lot of laundry in this house. 

Getting Crafty in January

January found us back in our own home and brought Rory back to hiding in her favorite cupboard. She closes the door, talks to herself for a while, and then pops it open intermittently with a, "Hello!" 

She's gotten in the habit of grabbing anything close to her high chair and pulling it on to her tray so I walk into the kitchen and see things like this. It cracks me up because she ends up with the craziest things on there and acts like she NEEDS every single one. 

I have to include pictures of Rory waking up because it is the best part of every day. She is the happiest girl and is just all smiles and babbling when you walk into her room. 

Our biggest project in January was throwing a baby shower for my sweet friend Emily. Emily and her husband Cameron were our neighbors in Dobson Ward and they have been such a heaven send. They helped us move when we bought our house, they watch Rory for us all the time, and they always know the best places to eat or fun things to do. Emily is due with their first baby in April and I was beyond thrilled to host her baby shower that her mother in law put together. 

I got some cute pre-made fan decorations from Hobby Lobby, but once I put them up they just weren't quite enough so I got to work making more to match with them. They ended up taking WAY longer to make than I anticipated, but they turned out so cute that I seriously considered leaving them up year round. I didn't get a picture of all the delicious food Katy made, or of the adorable giant pink bow cake (that was also crazy delicious), but it was so fun to celebrate Emily and I cannot wait to meet her cute little girl! 

Since I've been serving in the Young Women's (beehive adviser) my new favorite thing is handouts. Oh my heavens, do I love a good handout. I think back to the lessons I have seen my mom teach in Sunday school and Relief Society and I definitely get it from her. Anyways, I copied this idea from Pinterest, but I just couldn't get over how well these cute mirrors turned out. Our lesson was on recognizing our divine worth. I found these cute mirrors at Dollar Tree, the ribbons at Target, and I made the handouts myself. 

At the Dollar Tree I also picked up some activities for Rory to hopefully help keep her quiet at church, so here is a picture of her first coloring book. Ever since this moment I took this picture, it has been nothing but trying to get her to not eat the crayons, so I'm glad we got one good documentation.