Tuesday, July 30, 2013

My goofy girls

I sure love these sweet girls.
 They are always making me laugh!
Natalee has gotten so much better lately. She is listening better and is a lot more understanding, especially when you tell her no. She'll say "ok, maybe later."  She loves boys. Everytime we see a male at the store, park, wherever, she always says "hi boy" and she refers to her swimming lesson teachers as "her boy". We're gonna be in trouble when she's in high school. She has gotten to be so sweet and loving and loves to take care of me and be my little helper. Anytime I have a sad face she gives me hugs and kisses. She still has her moments and gets into the pantry/fridge/Dad's desk etc. but I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.
 
Haylee loves to take care of her sister (and pretend she's her mommy #2) and is always a big help around the house. She goes to bed without a hassle and is out within 10 minutes. She always has a smile on her face and is willing to try anything. She is very sociable and makes friends wherever she goes. Her hair is so long and I guess I'm gonna let her keep it that way :) (she wins this fight). She is very stubborn and has an attitude like no other but I love my little Haylee girl.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Camping

Last Saturday we headed up to the rim to join my Mom and Dustin.
We went to a new spot this time just past Strawberry and loved it. It only took 2 1/2 hours from our house and it wasn't too rugged for our car. We definitely have a new camping spot!
The weather was beautiful. It rained a little but not much. The night before we got there it poured on my Mom and Dustin and they didn't have a tarp on the tent so everything got soaked. But it was cool, overcast and just beautiful.
The girls had a blast running wild,
catching butterflies and caterpillars,
playing croquet,
and playing horse shoes.
We roasted marshmallows, made super yummy smores and told stories around the fire.
(Professional Marshmallow Roaster)
 (Finished Product!!)
We checked out potato lake, explored the forest and ate yummy food.
This was the first time Natalee has been camping overnight and slept in a tent.
Both girls slept great but Natalee didn't want to keep her covers on and it got a bit chilly early in the morning.

We can't wait to go again!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Saturday Ramblings

Josh has been on his "diet" for almost 3 weeks. He juices in the morning, eats a healthy lunch and most importantly, no more soda! He is still dealing with the caffeine withdrawls so hopefully those go away soon. I've been going to the ranch market and when I get home Josh separates everything into "kits" so juicing is faster in the morning. I'm very proud of him and how disciplined he is.

A couple weeks ago Sam and I took the girls to AZ Mills.
They played in the play area and we took them to Sea Life Aquarium.
They had a lot of fun and were really good the whole time :)

We have been loving the monsoons these past few weeks.
It's cooled off enough some afternoons that the girls can enjoy some fresh air outside without passing out from heat stroke.
Last Thursday I hurt my back again. Yes I'm an idiot. I bent over to pull the water table and instantly knew it was a bad choice. The Dr thinks it's more of a muscle issue this time (like a pulled muscle) instead of further injury to my disc but I've been in so much pain. I get absolutely no relief. It hurts when I sit, drive, stand and lay down. Aleve and Ibuprofen don't touch it. Not only does my back hurt, the sciatic pain down my leg has intensified. I am miserable.

I have an appointment with a Spine Surgeon on the 16th of August (they had to reschedule from the original appt already) and I am praying he will be able to look at my MRI and know exactly what treatment I need. I stopped going to the chiro I've been seeing the past 3 months because it's just not helping anything. So in the next 3 weeks I pray my the new injury will heal and that I can concentrate on the original concern of getting my disc back into place so it quits pressing on my sciatic. I'd give anything to only have the come-and-go tolerable sciatic leg pain I had a week ago. Now it's intense pain, all the time and my back aches too. This sucks.

This past week Haylee went to a summer camp from 9-4 everyday. She did karate, dance, tumbling, swimming, went to SMF at Harkins, saw Turbo and went to Skateland. It was a super fun week for her and worth every penny (I bought the deal off Groupon).
Natalee wishes she went to summer camp too.
Instead of taking Natalee to do fun things everyday I spent most of the time laying on an ice pack. We did manage breakfast at Chik-fil-a one day
and Friday I took her to the mall to ride the carousel and play in the play area.
We also enjoyed a nap together everyday. I still loved the one on one time with my sweet girl, just didn't quite spend the time doing stuff I would have liked. Oh well.

I finished all the back to school shopping this past week too. Haylee had quite the list of supplies but Natalee only needed antibacterial wipes. Simple enough. Both girls already got their cute back packs, lunch boxes and Haylee got some new uniform shirts, skirts and a dress. They are all ready to go. Haylee meets her teacher Tuesday and starts school Thursday. Natalee starts next Tuesday. This will be Haylee's first year going to school all day and eating lunch at school too. I told her she could eat lunch from the cafeteria once a week and the other days she will be bringing her lunch. I can't believe how big my girls are getting!

Last weekend we went camping for the first time in 4 years. We've went up for the day but this is the first time we stayed over night. And this was Natalee's first time sleeping in a tent and she loved it! We only stayed one night because of my back but the weather was perfect and the girls had a blast. I will do an entire post on our trip this week including lots of pictures.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

4th of July

I had an awesome 4th of July weekend!

Thursday I spent the day with my Mom and niece, Sam. We started out at Kohl's where both my Mom and I had the best luck finding clothes. I either find nothing or I find too much. I left with 2 dresses, 3 tank tops, a shirt and a new swimsuit top. And I have Kohl's cash to go back later this week and hopefully pick up some shorts.

After Kohl's I ran in Toys R Us to get the girls backpacks since they are having a sale. Haylee got Ariel and Natalee got Sofia the First. Then we went to see White House Down. SUCH AN AWESOME MOVIE!!! And not just because Channing Tatum is super hot, it was a really good movie.

While we were having our girls day, Josh took the girls to see Despicable Me 2 and they loved it. Then they went to get glow sticks for that night.

We ended up going to Schnepf Farms "event" this year (instead of parking in the neighborhood behind and watching the fireworks) and I don't think we'll go back.
They had a few vendors and like 2 bounce houses/water slides and that was it. The girls had fun eating cotton candy and playing with their glow sticks but when the fireworks started we kept getting covered with ashes and we weren't even close to the fireworks.
That and it took us 1 1/2 hours to get out of the parking lot. Next year we'll just park in back like we did last year.
Friday we left for our 3rd annual Staycation in Scottsdale. We stayed at Scottsdale Links this year and I loved their new pool.
It is huge, salt water and heated.
They have a separate adult pool and they also have a pretty big Jacuzzi. The room was smaller than the Scottsdale Mirage but the pool made up for it.
Us 4, my Mom, Sam and Jen were there and we spent most of the time eating and swimming.
We made cute little festive desserts and BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs and brought along all the fixing-corn on the cob, beans, chips, fruit, veggies and dip and pasta salads.
We played games, drank Seagram's and when Natalee napped Saturday Sam and I went shopping.
 
It was a fun weekend but definitely not long enough.