Hawaii (The Condensed Version)

 Here's the deal.  If it didn't involve eating, sleeping, or lounging by some water, it probably was not part of our vacation.  It was 8 days of doing as little as possible.  For reals.  A day in the life, as proof:

We made the most of doing nothing by following the "early to bed, early to rise" rule (with some pretty impressive naps thrown in for good measure.)  Here's us watching the sunrise and the sunset, respectively.

We'd lounge on the beach:

 Then we'd eat.

 We'd go to the pool,

 Then we'd eat.

 We'd pretend to do a touristy activity

To try to cover up the fact that we really went there for one purpose.  Dole Whip.

So, let's recap...

Beach.

Pool.

Eat.

Pretend to be active to burn off some of the eating.

Reward ourselves with Shave Ice.

Visit some of the haunts from my glory days (AKA one summer) at BYU-Hawaii.

Have a celebratory McDonalds run to commemorate that Hawaii was the birthplace of my love affair with Diet Coke.

Get more sleep in one week then we've gotten all year, resulting in us being pretty much giant nerds the whole trip.

Now do you believe me?  Eat + Sleep + Lounge = exactly the vacation I needed.  

The best part of going on vacation sans children?  You are actually excited to come home, instead of just suuuuuper bummed your vacation is over.   The worst part?  I'm pretty sure my parents now need a vacation after holding down the fort for a week.  

All in all, two 30th birthdays and one 10 year wedding anniversary deserved a big celebration, and I'd say we succeeded.  

In Like A Lion..

and also out like a lion!  March was jam packed with all sorts of fun activities and seriously flew by.  April is on track to be the same way.  

So before I forget all the delightfulness, a quick peek at the March madness.

I spy with my little eye...
*Outings to McDonalds and the Children's Museum.  Harper has officially crossed over into fully participating in the cesspool of  winter ick that covers both places.  You'll notice it doesn't keep me from going either place.  Winter is desperate times, you guys.
* First time taking both kids swimming by myself.  No drownings to report, so I have high hopes for this summer.
* Turning all our food green for St Patrick's Day.  Holden went nuts for this holiday.  It seriously rivals Easter in his book.
* Speaking of Easter, we kick started the Easter season by making some chocolate dipped cinnamon bunnies. Unpictured--the bags and bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs that also made their way into our bellies well before Easter got here.
* Practicing wrestling moves with dad.
* Test driving adorable Spring wardrobes
* So many fun playdates with friends!  I love the end of hibernation season.
* Errands.  So many errands.  Good thing those two can entertain each other and Holden is easily bribed with quarter machines.

And after all that, we still had Easter to take care of.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Easter is my favorite holiday.   Hands down.  A bold statement, I know, but I don't take it back.

I spy with my little eye...
* Egg dying.  Poor Harper had to watch from afar while munching on one of those weird clear crayons that comes with the egg dying kit.  Maybe next year, kid.
* Easter basket bliss eggs all ready to be found.
* Adorable Sunday best for all.

Perfect 10

in 10 years

we've had 9 jobs

spent 8 nights in the hospital

visited 7 states

had 6 homes

and 5 cars

taken 4 trips to Disneyland

earned 3 college degrees

added 2 kids

equaling one happy life!

I couldn't have dreamed up a better anniversary than this one. 

"One" More Thing

Harper's actual birthday was a very low key affair.  She spent the day doing all of her very favorite things, including, but not limited to--eating as much people food she could gum up, wearing pretty clothes, playing with new gifts and taking selfies with my phone

Her latest tricks include saying uh-oh, da da, and ma ma, when she's feeling particularly generous; leaping headfirst off of the couch but refusing to try to stand on her own, and being stuck to my side 24/7.  

She's 28.75 inches (38th percentile)

         21.5 pounds (57th percentile)

          ....and her adorable little football head clocks in at an impressive 18.5 inches (93rd percentile)

Although she hasn't grown much since her nine month appointment, she sure has grown an impressive amount this year.  Proof:

Basically, she's a big hit around here, and we think we'll keep her around.

Celebrating One

We've all heard it all before, so I'll just go ahead and time flies blah blah, I can't believe my baby's one, blah blah blah.  But seriously, people wouldn't say it if it wasn't true.  And since Harper's my second and I don't get to just stare at her 24/7, I'm afraid to blink these days because I might miss something.  Like her very first pigtails.

Don't you love her onesie?  Made by my friend at jengalaxy.  And the apple on the front was no accident. I may or may not have been wanting to have an apple party ever since I found out I was having a girl.  I know it's crazy and ridiculous and she won't remember it, but you can't make me care about any of those things.

As a birthday miracle, we were able to fit all the invitees relatively comfortably in our house.  I didn't even manage to get a picture of everyone, but it doesn't mean you aren't loved!

We had an unreasonable amount of apple flavored, shaped, or colored food and decor.  

Harper was pretty ladylike in her cake eating, but it doesn't mean she didn't systematically eat every last bit of frosting off of it.  She just took her time.

It was a blizzard that day (of course.  Every day is a blizzard this year), so we are so thankful that so many people braved the storm to celebrate with us.

I have lost my ability to contain my kid's birthdays to one post, so more birthday fun to come!

Valentine

As you know, I tend to be pretty hit or miss about holidays, but I will say that we celebrated Valentine's Day hard this year.  So hard that we burnt out by dinner time and my homemade pizza with heart shaped pepperoni turned in to delivery from Papa Johns....But overall, the day was a success!  I should just name Pinterest as my honorary valentine, since it is doing it's darnedest to make it less obvious that I don't have a creative bone in my body.

Kid Vs Kid--11 Months

Call me crazy, but I'm starting to see some resemblance.  

What Holden lacked in hair back then, he made up for in teeth.  Harper is still clocking a big fat zero in the tooth department.  When do I need to start looking into baby dentures?