A plane, a baby, and a goat

Shortly after returning to Washington from our Canadian adventures, the rest of the siblings took off and made their way back to wherever they came from. Rory and I had a few extra days with Grammy and Grandpa all to ourselves, and boy do we both live for undivided attention. On Tuesday, it was finally time for us to make our way to Vegas to meet baby Evie and help Kacey get her crazy crew around. We were already prepared for a late flight, so my mom and dad drove us to Pasco and stopped at a new yummy BBQ place for dinner. While we were at dinner we got the message that our flight had been delayed an hour, so we decided to make a few shopping pit stops along the way to the airport. The delays kept rolling in and by the time our flight finally took off around midnight we had done enough shopping damage that we had to buy Rory her own backpack to carry on. She did not sleep a wink on the plane, but she happily watched her movies as close to the screen as possible and only spoke up every so often to demand more candy. All in all, I would call the flight a success. 

Sleep did not come easily for Rory that first night, but we finally managed to get a few hours and then she even slept in when I woke up early to begin my school carpooling duties. I thankfully did not have to drive Kacey's party van, but I did get to drive their Pilot, which had an "interesting" smell left over from when some of Jon's employees drove it. (It was weed. Very, very pungent weed that they also tried to cover up with a strawberry air freshener.) 

The ten days I spent with Kacey included a lot of driving, a little bit of Hercules play practice, almost zero getting lost (hallelujah!) and lots of fun time with the Nielsens. My favorite day there was when we got to leave the toddlers with a sitter and go out to a nice little cafe for a sister lunch. Afterwards, we stopped by Crumbl cookies and picked up a variety box to take to play practice. Kacey did an incredible job putting together the kids' school musical and I truly don't know how she accomplishes everything she does, but somehow we came from the same gene pool so that is pretty awesome. 

Rory loved playing with her cousins and meeting baby Evie. She even learned how to climb out of her pack and play while we were there! Which meant lots of time to sneak into my make up and very little time to sleep. It made me laugh so hard it was a little tough to be mad. 

Evie is the best little baby and has only gotten better and better. I loved being able to snuggle her squishy newborn goodness and to give her all the bottles. What I especially loved was that I got to sleep all the way through the night because at the end of the day she was not my baby :) 

After a great ten days with the Nielsens it was time to make our way back home, and as amazing as it always is to be with family it was definitely time. We missed our house and our routine and most of all our Stephen, and we were so so happy to be reunited. 

Once we were finally home we got to put one of our Christmas presents to good use. This year we got Rory a pass to the Phoenix Zoo and weekly zoo dates quickly became the norm at our house. Rory loves the "Lion King", the tigers, the baby orangutan, and the peacocks. They also have a little farm area with a goat petting zoo and Rory loves petting "Flora" the white goat with the pink name tag. Our pass allows us to bring one extra adult and kids under 3 are free, so we were able to take our friends Sarah and Rebecca to the zoo. Rory loves playing with Rebecca and the two were just giddy the entire day. 

December and Canadian Christmas

As much as I love October, which I have made very clear is a lot, I super super super love December because it's MY birthday AND Christmas and life just doesn't get better than that. After trying to play it cool the first few years of our marriage and finding myself consistently disappointed,  I finally admitted to myself that 1) I love my birthday and 2) I believe my birthday should be a big deal and 3) I deserve to celebrate and be celebrated. So this year I leaned in and gave myself a whole birthday week and it was perfect! **Minus the fact that Stephen was working long so I didn't get to see him really at all, it's important to our marriage that I mention that. 

The week of my birthday I refused to do any cooking or cleaning and did only fun things that I wanted to do. I should have taken notes so that I can completely replicate it next year, but I do remember the highlights. I know for sure that every day included a new treat, because I am a birthday genius. 

For one of my birthday adventures, Sarah and I took the girls to see Wreck It Ralph 2 in the theaters on $5 Tuesday. Taking toddlers to the movies probably doesn't sound like much of a birthday celebration, but it was so fun! We had big recliner seats and I even had a coupon for free popcorn. Rory crawled around a lot between my seat and hers, but she really did such a great job. The movie was adorable and it's fun to feel like a cool mom every once in a while. 

One of our other adventures was a girls day in downtown Gilbert. We went to check our the Church's giving machine that they put up for the Christmas season. They put up five in the whole world, and one of them was 10 minutes down the street from me in Gilbert, AZ- how do you not take advantage of that?! I had seen the YouTube video of people donating items from the one in Temple Square last season, but you guys, it was so much cooler than I even imagined. First of all, they have a huge range of things to buy and a wide range of costs, so even if you only have a dollar or two to give you will feel like you are making a difference. We were so overwhelmed by options that I spent a solid ten minutes just reading through all the things you can donate. In the end, I chose to donate a baby resuscitation kit and Rory chose to donate Macaroni and Cheese to the food bank. It made me feel a little teary eyed watching our donations drop to the bottom of the machine along with all the other important things that had already been donated. It was an amazing way to reflect on how we can love each other like the Savior loves us. 

Now on a service high, we continued on to Oregano's for my free birthday pazookie. It was such a nice day out we decided to sit outside and lunch there. It was the first time I have ever braved a restaurant with just Rory and I, and it helped that we sat outside, but it was still just so lovely. It felt luxurious to be lunching with my toddler. When it got to the pazookie, I was actually pretty full, but Rory threw DOWN. Girlfriend ate more than half that skillet, and my mama heart was so dang proud.

A couple of birthday activities not pictured: I had a birthday lunch at Joe's Farm Grill with Emily, Sarah, Marisa and their kids and it was so fun. I ordered garlic fries specifically for Rory so she would stay out of Emily's and she was not at all interested. Figures. One day we went shopping and then went a picked up lunch from Chick Fil A and ate it at the park. It was so much fun that the next day we convinced Sarah and Rebecca to join us as well. Rory and I drove out to Not Your Typical Deli since I had been dying to try it (and their supposedly delicious chocolate chip cookies) and then brought our lunch back to the park again. I got a Mac and Cheese hot dog that was more delicious than I can adequately describe, though I will say I felt that their cookie left something to be desired. Stephen took me out that weekend for Cheesecake Factory even though he was not feeling well and had been working like crazy. It was awesome, and I didn't even have to share my cheesecake. I love my birthday. 

One of my other big December events was hosting our book group for the month. We read The Peacegiver and it was a really powerful way for me to turn my attention to Christ and the Atonement during this season. We also had a favorite things party during our meeting and it was SO MUCH FUN. The ladies in our group have some seriously excellent taste and everyone walked away with the best stuff. I wanted it to feel like a nice fancy Christmas party, so I gave the food a lot of thought. I decided to serve Costco's cranberry goat cheese, which is both delicious and fancy, and I ended up buying it a week or so beforehand while I was there. Well, it turned out I forgot the cheese in my trunk and I only found it two days later when I pulled out Rory's stroller for a walk. I asked my sister's their opinions on whether it needed to be thrown out or not and most said to just toss it and get a new one because why risk it? But instead, I decided to risk it. I opened it the day of the party and it smelled fine, and it looked fine, and it tasted fine... so I just went ahead and served it and it was totally fine! And that's how I do a fancy party!

That weekend we had our ward Christmas party and it was a little nuts. After just completing the big Christmas Relief Society activity, Marisa was asked to help with the ward Christmas party and was put completely in charge of decorations, all with her husband out of town. I offered to help because I too was down a husband and so we spent almost the entire day at the church getting set up. It turned out fantastically and Stephen was able to join us just in time for our breakfast dinner. Rory had been at the church with me all day which meant she got zero nap and I was nervous what that would mean for Santa. She LOVED it, loved him, and devoured her candy cane from him in record time. Seriously, it was gone in a matter of seconds. 

Bishop Turley came over to our house the Saturday before my birthday and instead of asking me to be camp director again, as I had anticipated, released me from being a beehive adviser and called me to be the Young Women President. I was floored, and there were a lot, A LOT, of tears, but I was grateful to feel of the Lord's confidence in me (even if I don't have that same confidence in myself). It made for a lot of crunch time decisions because this was December 1 and he wanted to get the whole presidency switched out before I left for vacation on December 15. In the end it all worked out, but I felt a little bit insane for the next two weeks. 

December 15 we were able to fly to Washington to spend a seriously long break with my family. Stephen and I were able to take off before anyone else so for the first week we had the house and my parents to ourselves, plus Brad and Jules who live two minutes away now. We spent the week helping my parents with various jobs between the dance studio and the office and overall just hanging out. We were able to go over to the Bakers for a game night and spend some time with Kenzie and Andrew who had surprised their parents by flying in for the holidays. It was nice to be home and once we got Rory sleeping in a crib down stairs instead of trying to keep her in a bed or pack n play, we were all pretty happy to be there. That Saturday we attended 3rd Ward's Christmas party which included a poorly executed Nativity and a LONG wait for Santa, but Brother Poth was serving up sausages the whole time so it's hard to really complain. Once again Rory showed no fear for Santa and was ecstatic to receive more candy canes. I also experienced a Christmas miracle of my own. Years ago, I had a cat named Tigger and my evil parents decided I couldn't keep him anymore so my dad threw him in the trunk of his car and when he dropped my older siblings off at mutual that night he opened trunk and I can only assume barked at the cat until it ran away. Yes, I was traumatized, thank you for asking. As we left the party we found a gorgeous orange kitty who walked right up to me and purred and I know, I KNOW, that it was my Tigger! Or I guess, more realistically the offspring of my Tigger since it has been like decades since this tragedy transpired, but STILL, he's there and he's happy and he looks well fed and IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

Also, we are all so excited for the two hour block to start next year, but then we have the Sacrament only meeting before Christmas and it's like, "Well, this is pretty nice..." Just saying. 

Christmas Eve: even though it was an 'Earl' year for all of our families, Kacey and Courtney were both too busy having babies to come and it just felt like such a small group without them. It was seriously a little trippy. So Christmas Eve was a pretty casual affair, though still super fun. My mom got us all adorable matching snowman pajamas that pleased everyone but Marlene, and we had a lovely dinner, attempted a Nativity (Rory killed it as Mary thank you very much), and played a little Christmas Chimes while we were at it. We practiced hiding for Santa and my nostalgic little heart soared and then the kids went to bed while the adults scrambled to wrap all the presents last minute. 

I wasn't sure Rory would make the cut for Santa hiding this year, but Grandpa Dave deemed her ready so we woke her up when he heard the reindeer on the roof and ran up and hid in our practiced spot. She was so good and quiet, even though we had a little bit of a wait for Santa to actually do his thing. She thought it was awesome and only yelled excitedly about seeing his boots AFTER he had left the room so it was a complete success. We had a relaxed Christmas morning and spent all day playing our new games and watching the kids fight over all their new toys. 

My favorite games this season were "No Thanks" and "Cover Your Assets" and even though they both started out extremely rough for me I eventually learned to dominate them both. We also had our annual Monopoly game on Dad's fancy board and I GOT SECOND PLACE which is longer than I have ever lasted in my entire lifetime and proof that I married WAY up. 

The next day we took off for Big White! Oh, how I love Big White. The drive went really well. Rory watched movies, ate snacks, and even took a little nap. Had we not stopped at the overcrowded mall on boxing day so my dad could check out the quilting store while Stephen and I drove around the crowded parking lot in the huge suburban looking for a spot while Rory cried her head off, it would have been a completely perfect day. 

The next day we got to get out on the mountain. Jules had a lesson later in the afternoon so I got to go out skiing in the morning while she stayed with Rory. I had a hard time keeping up with Brad, Bryan, Stephen and Kristy on the blues while I got my ski legs back and realized I had zero muscles, but Stephen and I eventually broke off and did some greens just the two of us. I LOVE BIG WHITE. It was so much fun to be back there again. I spent most the next two days skiing with my mom, she's more my speed. One of our most memorable runs was when we went up to the T-bar with almost zero visibility. Nobody else was up there and we had only occasional trees along the side to let us know we were even on the path. It was laughably awful. The last day we got a foot of new snow, but the visibility was even worse than the day before and the mountain was SO crowded. Mom and I did one run and were going to turn in when we ran into Kristy who convinced us to go up Powder chair and take the greens down. It was a complete white out and it was even worse than the T-bar experience because this time you had no idea where you were going and there were also people zooming past you or showing up in front of you with little time to do anything about it. It's amazing I made it out alive. I didn't fall once this trip! Which says more about my cautiousness than my skiing abilities, but still. 

Stephen took Rory out to play in the snow one night and she loved it! The next night we took all the kids to the tube sledding park, and they did NOT love it. You weren't allowed to put kids on your lap so they had to be in their own tubes that you just held on to while you went down and that freaked them all out. Place there was a light snow and going down the hill whipped it all into your face and made it hard to see. They were miserable. The girls sat with four screaming, crying kids while the boys took a couple runs down and then, miracle of all beautiful miracles, the boys took all the kids home and told us to stay and have fun. That happened. In real life. It. was. awesome! We went down SO MANY TIMES and hardly anyone else was there so there was barely any wait time. The best way to go down was as a twosome and to have the guys spin you at the top. We tried every different combination and raced a gazillion times, and kept asking for "more spins" and "even faster". I'm sure the guys working there were thinking, "How old are these ladies? They must not get out much." to which I would have happily replied, "No we don't! Spin me again!" It was one of my favorite Big White memories. 

 Speaking of favorite Big White memories, on our last night there we started to get sad about the fact that Stephen would be flying home the next day while I would be traveling for almost two more whole weeks, so he decided to take us on a family date up to the lodge. On the way we ran into Kristy, Trevor, Kendall, and Michael who were returning from dinner and Kristy surprised me by buying me the hat I had been admiring the day before, thus cementing her spot as current favorite sister. It just so happened that they were hosting a big family night at the lodge and there were games, face painting, and snacks! We bought a caramel apple cider and a hot chocolate from the coffee stand there and then Stephen secured Rory some blue 'fairy floss' and we were all happy campers. We sat on the bench and watched the snow fall as we enjoyed our treats. Then we decided to ride the gondolas around and Rory loved it, after we assured her that we wouldn't get off at the bottom to go sledding. She held us a little tighter when the doors opened just to be sure. 

Stephen left for the airport the next morning and we loaded up in the car and had another relaxing drive home. 

It feels like it's been a long time since I had that much time at home with Stephen and it was just really special for me. I love that I can have such love and appreciation for a place, but that it also leads me to be more grateful and appreciative of the places I have gone since being there. It was a lovely, lovely trip, so here's to hoping the memories of December get me through the next few months of Stephen's busy season!

November and St George Thanksgiving

At the beginning of November, Curtis had an interview with a hospital in Phoenix so the whole Papenfuss crew came and stayed with us for a few days. Apparently we were too busy having fun to t take any pictures, and so that also means I can't actually remember what we did. I know we for sure went to Uptown Jungle one day and we totally got our money's worth. Between all the sliding and jumping on trampolines we were exhausted, and that doesn't even account for the kids! Before they left town we got a babysitter and went out to do an escape room just the four of us. There happened to be another group of four that booked the room with us, and it was a super easy room. We looked like a group of escape room professionals and made it out in just over twenty minutes. I guess that's a good sign you may have done one too many... We found ourselves with kid-free time to kill, too full from lunch to try to eat anything, and wracking our brains to think of what adults do for fun. So we went to the puppy store before we called it and went home to relieve the babysitter. I'm not sure the hospital was high on his list, but it sure would be nice for me to have them closer to us!

Before we left for Thanksgiving break, my friend Jax had an idea for a Christmas jammie mini photoshoot. So we cracked out Rory's Christmas jammies a little early and had the best time pretending it was Christmas already. Doesn't she just take the cutest pictures?! Naomi, Jax's daughter, is just a little older than Rory and they're good buddies in nursery class. 

We had a delicious Thanksgiving with the Marshes this year. John, Ashleigh, and Sienna came up and Makenzie was there with us as well. Nate and Linne were with her family in Rockville so unfortunately we didn't see much of them. They decided to keep the pool heated this year and so we went swimming every single day. It was heavenly. My contribution to the meal this year was pomegranate salad and banana cream pie and both of them turned out lovely. 

On Black Friday, Ashleigh, Stephen, Makenzie and I braved the crowds at the outlets and got a little shopping in. There is the best Gymboree outlet there and once again I bought way too many clothes, but they were so cheap! I was shocked that Stephen wanted to come with us and he ended up hating it but he did it to spend time with me and if that isn't true love then I don't know what is.

With Rory being able to climb out of Pack N Plays now, a new skill she developed while the Papenfuss crew was in town, we weren't sure what to do with her at John and Lucina's. We decided to try her in the toddler bed and she was so excited about it. The first night she was too exhausted to even attempt to climb out and then after that it was like the thought didn't even occur to her. Towards the end of our week stay she started getting a little wiser and would play around or fight naps, but I loved seeing her in this little princess bed, usually sleeping upside down. 

Our last night in town Stephen took Rory out to the temple lights while I went on a girl's night with Ashleigh and Makenzie. We ate at Costa Vida (because Texas Roadhouse was too busy) and then went to see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. It was a cute little movie, though I thought there would be more dance in it. After the movie we went to Waffle Luv and ate delicious, delicious waffles. I love any excuse for some girl time!