Kylie's Month

During March Stephen and I ended up on a new car mission. With baby number two coming, we knew we (I) were interested in upgrading to a car with more room. Stephen felt pretty confidently that we could fit two car seats in my Malibu with little trouble, but at some point it occurred to him that with two car seats we would not be able to fit his golf clubs on our drives as well and suddenly a mom car started sounding a lot more interesting to him as well. We went from hypothetically thinking about what we might want to being in full on search mode fairly quickly, but it was such a fun project to work on together! We ended up buying a 2017 Dodge Caravan through Carvana and we had an awesome experience. We even got to pick it up from their "Car Vending Machine" using a giant coin and everything. Technology, I tell you. We bought it right before I left for my first Team Dance event in April so the timing with the inspections and figuring out if we liked it and everything was a little bit crazy.

April this year meant official Team Dance season. We had our first event in March, but it almost felt like a dress rehearsal because afterwards we had a little break. Once April hit we were in a different city every weekend and it kept us busy! 

Our first event was in Idaho Falls and I was able to fly out with my friend Torrin who judged for us this season. As we got on our connecting flight in Salt Lake City, we noticed Julianne Hough (famous TV dancer) and her husband getting on our same flight. Torrin managed to get a creeper picture of her and we joked that she was on her way to Team Dance with us. The next day at our event, guess who turned up in the audience? Our new BFF Jules! It turns out she was in town for a family event and she had cousins or something competing at Team Dance. She wasn't there for long, but it was a serious pin in our caps to have her there. 

I got back from Idaho Falls and immediately went back to work on car things. The inspection went well and Carvana paid for the few fixes the car required so we decided to stick with it! I am seriously obsessed with this car. Automatic doors, remote start, air controls throughout- it's every Arizona mom's dream come true.

The second weekend of April while everyone else went to Bozeman for Team Dance, I left my beautiful new mom car and road tripped to California in Stephen's Avalon for Taylor Gardiner's wedding! She married Andrew Bjork at the Los Angeles temple and it could not have been a more beautiful day or ceremony. I had to include lots of pics from her special day because with my spray tan and recently colored hair I was looking pretty fly. If only my husband had been there to appreciate it. Her reception was two hours away in Santa Barbara and since I didn't want to be driving by myself through the night I ended up leaving right after the sealing. I'm so glad I was able to be there and witness my amazing friend find someone else amazing. 

Our last weekend of Team Dance was my favorite event of our season, Spokane, and so Rory and I flew up to Moses Lake a little early to spend time with family. Rory has gotten so good on planes now that she likes to watch shows and our flights are almost always enjoyable these days. Our flight was a little bit late this time, but we were so happy to see Grandpa when he picked us up in Pasco!

That Papenfi were staying at my parents place while waiting for residency placement, and Brad and Jules are official Moses Lakers so we were able to spend a lot of time with cousins. We went to Palouse Falls (which I had never heard of, but there was a sign boasting four deaths this year so that's something), got scones and one on one time with Grandma LuDeen, and got Quinn and Rory plenty of matching outfits and time to fight. 

Between a new car, pampering myself for a wedding, and spending every weekend (plus some extra days) with my sisters/ family, April ended up being an amazing month for me. There was plenty of stress and things that went wrong at the events, but that's why it's sometimes better that I get so behind in my blogging and write these things months after the fact because suddenly everything looks a whole lot rosier. I've always loved the color pink.

Rory's favorite (and not so favorite) things

March 1st was our Girls Camp Fundraiser dinner auction. It was a long day of setting up and decorating and answering questions, but I was so excited to see an end in sight. We had a great turn out and the ward was so generous in both their donations for the auction as well as their bidding! We ended up making enough money to pay for all the girls full camp costs and then even had a little bit left over. After the dinner and auction were finally over we had to clean everything up and then loaded up our car to drive through the night to Las Vegas. 

Rory fell asleep shortly after we got out of Phoenix but she woke up when Stephen took a hilly section of road too fast. The rest of the drive she was wide awake and wanted to be holding my hand at all times. **Which by the way started a habit that lasted several weeks if not months of her being scared every time the car went over any tiny bumps and crying until someone held her hand, which is difficult to do and safely drive at the same time. So bumps in the road = not one of Rory's Favorite things.

The weekend was a bit of a sleepy blur, but Stephen and John went to the Muse concert (which completely changed their lives) and Rory and I got to hang out with Ashleigh, Siena, and baby Lincoln. Rory is getting so much better at playing with her cousins and at John and Ashleigh's house her favorite things are Siena's car (and most of the time Siena), Sieana's markers, and Vienna. She also super loved holding baby Link but we didn't let that happen too often. It was a quick but wonderful weekend with family.

March was also an exciting month for us because we got to find out the gender of our next baby! I took a positive pregnancy test in December, right before going to visit my family for Christmas, but I didn't say anything to anyone because I hadn't been in to see my doctor yet. I thought it might come up anyways, because it's usually hard to hide your pregnancy when you're nauseous and miserable to be around, but then it turned out I experienced very little sickness. I felt so good, in fact, that I was a little certain it was a false test or maybe not a viable pregnancy. Kacey was the only one I really had to lie to about the whole situation when she asked me what our plans were for figuring out our conception issues (we used Clomid to help with this pregnancy and it worked the first round), but since I really didn't know what I was dealing with I just wasn't ready to say anything yet. Well, that first appointment and every one since then have been smooth sailing! I thought for sure it was a boy because I felt so different and so much better than I had with Rory. When the X-ray technician said it was a girl I almost couldn't believe it, but then I was immediately relieved because I already have a girl and I love it so how awesome will one more be?! Rory can't wait to meet Baby Sister and neither can we. 

Funny side story: After I learned my pregnancy was healthy and going well, I decided it would be fun to wait until we knew the gender to tell my family about it (except for our moms who we told right away). Well the weekend before my 20 week ultrasound was our first Team Dance event in Sacramento which meant that I would be with all my sisters, about halfway through my pregnancy, and had to somehow avoid telling them about it. I carefully only packed flowy shirts and prepped myself for conversation dos and don'ts. My plan was met with further difficulty when Kendall announced her pregnancy (due two weeks after me) so now I knew babies would be a hot topic of conversation and that I needed to keep my mouth shut. One of my duties for the weekend was driving around the judges and on the first day I picked them up one of the judges instantly turned to me and said while pointing to my stomach, "Now is that a little one on it's way?" I was blown away that she had seen it so quickly (and maybe a little super offended because I really was not showing that much yet) and I thought, oh I'm so dumb, no way I'm going to get through this weekend. Well, my sisters didn't say a single thing about and they were all genuinely surprised when I announced my pregnancy to them the following Monday.

I signed Rory up for a Parks and Rec class called "Baby Ballerinas" and then immediately lost my mind I was so excited about it. I was instantly on Amazon buying her leotards, tutus, and ballet shoes and it turns out Rory was just as excited as I was because as soon as they came they were all that she wanted to wear. I was worried that I had totally gone overboard and the other kids would be in regular play clothes and Rory and I would just look so "extra", but it turns out we found our people in this little rec class! 

Rory LOVES her class and she listens so well, which was shocking to me after our experience in the Mother and Me Fun and Fitness class. Evidently, she does so much better when I am not around- go figure. 

Even though the weather is getting warmer we are still trying to make good use of our Zoo passes. Lucky for us they opened up their splash pads and Rory was in heaven. I didn't being her swimsuit to change into for our first visit, which was a total oversight on my part because she got soaked and she could not keep those wet shorts on her skinny little bum. She ended up running around in her underwear and I was "that mom" and we both got over it, but we've brought a swimsuit ever since. Flora (the petting zoo goat with the pink collar), animals at the zoo, and splash pads are for sure on the favorite things list. 

Another great way to beat the heat is by swimming at our neighbor's, the Boyces. They have fixed up their yard so it is absolutely gorgeous and not only do they have a pool but they have the coolest toys too. Rory and the twins lounging around drinking juice boxes was too cute to not capture. Add juice boxes, sunshine, and friends to her favorite things list. 

One of Rory's all time, most favorite things ever is doing whatever Dad is doing and being just like him. If Dad is out working in the yard (which he always is because he has a lazy wife who refuses to do yard work) then that means that Rory wants to be out "working" in the yard. And if Dad is wearing a hat, then that means Rory needs to wear a hat. However, in a very non-Dad like way, Rory also loves to yell at you to take pictures of her whenever she's feeling herself, so I just she wants to be a little like me too. 

Busy Season Bites

Stephen's busiest time for work is the beginning of the year, so we never see much of him January through April/May. But this busy season was exceptionally busy and it was rare that he was ever home before midnight. He worked through the weekends as well and I really don't know how he survived it, but for the month of February we were in the thick of it and the memory of having a spouse at some point seemed like a distant memory. Which makes the following story all the more hilarious to me. 

Stephen usually got home around 1 or 2 am this month, which was way too late for me to stay up to see him, and then he was often up and leaving for work before Rory and I woke up. Well one night I had a dream, and in the dream someone was holding me down. I have dreams like that a lot and they usually end with me needing to scream but not being able to and tossing and turning in my sleep. Well in this dream I grabbed my captor's arm and bit into it as hard as I could and it was SO SATISFYING. I vividly remember thinking, "I get it Rory, that's why you like to bite so much." and I'm pretty sure I had to be smiling in my sleep because it felt that good to finally be able to accomplish something in a stress dream. As I was still clenching my captor's arm in my mouth I was jolted awake to the sound of Stephen screaming out in pain. He was disoriented, as was I, but I said something about it just being a dream and we were both able to fall back asleep. In the morning when he woke up, he had this big bite mark bruise on his arm and I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard. I know I should feel at least a little bad about it, but I still don't. And I needed to write this down because I want to remember it forever. 

February gave us a couple of great rainstorms and Rory quickly realized a deep of love of playing in the rain. I mostly let her strip down and run around in the backyard naked (because how awesome does that sound to get to run around naked in a rainstorm?) but I did insist she put the ducky towel on so I could capture some pictures of how happy she was. After a chance to play in the rain she would talk about it for days and days. 

Since Stephen was out working so much Rory and I got a lot of girl hang out time. Needing a pick me up one weekend, we decided to do a special "Whatever-we-want-to-do" Saturday instead of trying to do anything productive. We went to Einstein Bros and got special bagels for breakfast, which was delicious. After that Rory wanted to walk over to the Dollar Tree so we did. I always let her go completely wild in Dollar Tree because I never feel judged by anyone there and I can afford anything she might break in the store. When she was finally tired of playing with the toys there we walked over to PetSmart who just happened to be hosting a cat adoption day. We petted and played with some very cute kittens and sent Stephen lots of threatening texts about which one we were going to pick out. He was genuinely surprised when he came home from work to find that we were still a pet-less household. I love days when I throw away my to do list and just get to be a cool mom and I love hanging out with Rory which is probably one of the coolest parts about being a mom. 

The second week of February President Nelson and President Oaks and their wives came to Phoenix to give a message to the members. Each ward was given a certain number of tickets and because I am on the ward council Stephen and I made the cut. Our stake president rented a bus for each ward in our stake so Stephen and I were able to leave Rory with the Bartons and take a long bus ride with our fellow ward members to the stadium for the talk. It was a great meeting and an extra special treat to get to spend so much time together in the midst of busy season. 

For Valentine's Day, Sarah and I planned a little girl date for us and the girls. The toddlers ate McDonalds while we ate Kneaders and then after some play time we let them paint little heart frames. They LOVED it! Celebrating holidays is one of the best parts of my mom job so far. 

Since January we have been deep in Girls Camp prep, especially for our fundraiser. We decided to hold a dinner and auction night on March 1st, so for most of February my house was a non-stop crafting zone. We did paper fans and paper mustaches for table decor and put them in mason jars filled with uncooked noodles. In an attempt to delegate and teach responsibility we had the girls help with the paper fans one night for mutual, but after their solid efforts there was a lot of fan redoing and starting over with new paper so it ended up being quite the task even though it seemed so simple in my head. For my auction items I made little girl headbands and they turned out so cute that I had to document it for forever. I also made strawberry lemonade cupcakes with a lemon curd in the center and I was extremely excited that they were delicious and cute. 

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.