3,000 Miles Traveled and We're HOME

We just did a 3,000 mile (round tip) road trip...longest road trip for me by far and obviously longest for Lucas and we had a great time! Who'd have thought I'd survive?! ;-)  And who'd have thought a 7 month old would be so much fun on a road trip?!

The whole trip got kicked off because my friend Andrea's (and Kyle's) wedding on August 16th would be in Kentucky. So while planning that trip we decided to incorporate my annual "trip back home" with the wedding. With that being incorporated my brother, sister-in-law, Jason and I decided to throw my mom a surprise birthday party while we were home. We figured while we were going to be home since I wanted to keep Lucas on somewhat of a schedule we decided why not go up to my parents lake house for some quality family time and much needed lake time? And since we were going to be just minutes away from my friend, Lauren in Kentucky we figured we could spend some time with her because when else would we get the opportunity to just be in Louisville? And since we would be driving through St. Louis on our way home from Louisville we decided why not make a day trip out of that and stop to see the Arch, take a Bud tour and see Busch Stadium? It was such a whirlwind of activities but so much fun! Wow, did we do a lot in those 13 days on the road!

I hope to be able to post pics from each one of those events as each of them were truly an event in itself!  But now I am enjoying a much slower paced life. I feel like ever since I found out I was pregnant and got my first teaching job things haven't slowed down one bit!  I'm trying to spend some time reflecting on where I am supposed to be in this next chapter of my life as a stay at home mom while also enjoying every second with Lucas and Jason.  I'm also extremely excited to get settled in our "new" house.  While we've been living here for 7 months, I've really only been doing just that...living here.  The garage sale helped me to get rid of a lot of stuff but there are still boxes to be unpacked, plenty of rooms to organize and the best part...decorate and make it feel like our own!

It's been an amazing summer full of lots of traveling and I'm so thankful...but now it's time to slow things down and enjoy my family right here in good 'ole Colorado!

Arizona Trip

As I've already shared, this summer we've been out of town or had visitors more than we've been home! It's been really crazy busy but also a lot of fun making memories with our families and together as our own family.

My Uncle Dennis and Aunt Marilyn gave us a time-share a couple years ago.  Because we hadn't used it there was a fee that needed to be paid every year to keep it. With us getting pregnant and then having a baby a vacation wasn't something that could happen. When we realized it had to be used by the end of August we decided we were not going to let a vacation at a very nice resort go to waste!!

We had lot of options as to where we could go but obviously the farther you go, the more the airfare costs. I wasn't going to bring a 6 month old to Mexico in case anything happened...I do not trust their doctors. Vacations look a lot different with a 6 month old anyway so we decided to go to Scottsdale, AZ. Yes, in July, the hottest month, we decided to go to AZ! Jason hasn't taken a true vacation in a long time and we were excited to have some lazy days at the pool to just enjoy each other and spend some quality time with Lucas. And that is exactly what we did!

The first day we went to church which was our friend, Jaimie and Jake's church when they lived in AZ. We loved it so much I wish I could bring it back to Colorado with us...LOVED it! Then we went to the mall so Jason could get his phone fixed (it wouldn't charge our first night there.) It was fun to shop and walk around with Lucas. After that we met up with my cousin, Gina, and her family to watch the World Cup game. The next 3 days were spent at the pool every day and dinner out at night. Gina had suggested a Mexican joint that I fell in love with. They had a salsa bar and amazing quac! (and Sangria!) We also had sushi one night which was also delicious. There was a movie at the pool one night that we didn't go to because Lucas was already in bed, but that didn't stop me from getting the bottomless bucket of popcorn! We went to a wine tasting at the hotel one night which was very tasty. We made several trips to Wal-Mart (and in Scottsdale this Wal-mart was like not other Wal-mart I've ever been too #classy...yes I just hash-tagged) and one to Target for much needed baby food and other groceries. We even got to meet up with my mom's friends, Jeannie and Ed at yummy Portillo's! I haven't seen Jeannie since 2009 or 2010, so that was a special treat.

The coolest part about our resort was that while the it was HUGE, we got one of the best rooms as far as location went! There were 2 different pools, a big pool and a smaller pool, but there were only about 7 rooms in the entire resort that were close enough to the smaller pool that a baby monitor would work all the way to the pool! We got one of them! So every time Lucas went down for a nap, Jason and I could still sit by the pool so the hotel room would be quiet enough for Lucas and we were able to be out in the pool!  How cool is that?  God is so good!

We were supposed to have a baby sitter thanks for Tuesday and Thursday night which was going to be so great and much-needed! I had worried that it wouldn't work out because where would the sitter sit once Lucas fell asleep but our hotel room was actually a suite so he could sleep in our room and she could be in the living room! However, I was a complete idiot and gave her the wrong week and her phone was broke so I couldn't get a hold of her.  After we figured that all out she figured out a way to come on Thursday night..yay!  Until I woke up Thursday morning and had a terrible sore throat, stuffy, achy and weak. We went to pool in the morning, the I laid on the couch the rest of the day and by Thursday night I definitely wasn't up for a date! I was just thankful to go to bed early!  Friday was very low-key for me I don't even think we went to the pool but by Friday night I felt really well so we went out for burgers and a beer!  Unfortunately it was just a fluke thing because on Saturday morning I felt worse than I had on Thursday and it was time to leave...which meant a plane ride with a 6 month old who while he was very good on the trip to Chicago...he was now bored with flying!  I was miserable flying home and then was sick for another week!

But the trip to AZ was one I will never forget.  It was great for Jason and my marriage, great for us a a family to spend quality time with Lucas.  It was so fun watching Lucas swim for the first time ever.  I love Arizona so it was so good to be back! It was nice to be able to dine out at some new places. It was just over-all a very fun and nice vacation for our little family of 3!

Thank you Uncle Dennis and Aunt Marilyn for the time-share!  We made memories that will literally last us a lifetime!

Another plane trip!  Not as great at the first but Sophie (and many other forms of entertainment) made it better!

yep...it's hot in AZ in July!

Gina and Lucas!

Lucas' first time in the pool!  

It's so bright!

Dad and Lucas enjoying the pool

lots of playtime!

floating in the pool...lazy day

"hey mom! Just playing with Dad before bed!"

waking up from a nap...it's like he knows he's headed back to the pool!

I guess I decided to take a selfie in the mirror of us but forgot to let Lucas know

and this is what chillin in the pool looks like

meeting Jeanie and Ed

sitting up like a big boy! (obviously relaxed and ready for bed ;-))

relaxing at the pool...sadly it was about 5 minutes later that I felt really lousy and my vacation pretty much ended

oh frozen wash clothes feel so good on the gums!!

5 days of swimming is exhausting...lights out!  Night, night!

I really wanted a pic here so we stopped on our way to airport. <3

I am so in love with this boy!

last pic of our vacation

Garage Sale

We finally had our garage sale this weekend! I've been planning it since the day we moved in. Jason and I have been accumulating things through our many moves and wanted to wait until we had our house before we got rid of stuff. Who knows what you'll need in a house until you're actually there? The plan was to have the sale the first weekend I had off for summer break but then we planned the trip back to Illinois so Lucas could meet his great-grandma then it was one thing after another this summer and it wasn't possible to have the sale. So the first chance I got, I put it on the calendar and made it happen.  Wow they are a a lot of work! To begin with...I don't own a single table so I had to find them. Big thank you to Jane, Stefani and our neighbors for loaning us tables! Then I had to figure out to to pull of the Friday portion of the sale with a 6 month old who still goes down for naps every 2 hours and will not nurse unless he is in a room with no distractions. Fortunately tow friends, Sarah and Jaimie were able to come help with the sale while I would feed and put Lucas down. Then there were all the other details, like pricing and setting everything up.

Friday was a lot of fun! We had tons of traffic and it was so fun to see Sarah and Jaimie!  We made a lot of money the first day and I could barely walk after it was done, I was so tired. Today wasn't nearly as good in sales but we still made some money! It was an experience, to say the least!

Thanks again for your help Sarah and Jaimie and Jane, Stefani and neighbors for the tables!!

New car!!

I'm so excited!! I got a new car this week! Jason and I bought our Jeep Liberty last year according to Dave Ramsey's plan of paying cash. We needed a new car because we were pregnant and the Honda Coupe wasn't going to work for our future family of 3. Plus the 2 wheel drive is less than ideal when you're trying to get up a hill after snow when they don't salt in Colorado. However, we knew it would be a temporary car to buy us some time until we could save up a little more money for something with a few more options and less miles. But I thought it would be many years before we would be able to get a different car. I'm so thankful for what has transpired this past week! 

We wanted a car that was a little sturdier and a few other things and wanted to get trade in the jeep while it was still worth something. Jason found that Jeep Grand Cherokee's were around where our budget was which had all we were looking for so we went car shopping last weekend. We went to Commerce City then Golden but ended up right here off Arapahoe. The last dealer we went to the Jeep we wanted to see was already sold but they had a Honda Pilot in our price range with the mileage and everything else we were looking for, so would we be interested in that? Would we be interested?!? The Honda Pilot was the car I've been wanting for about 4 years now! I loved my Honda Accord, absolutely loved it so am very much in love with Honda's now but they're pricey (they hold their value...another reason I like them.) We looked at the Pilot and I immediately fell in love. To make a long story short...the looking was on Saturday and the purchase was made on Tuesday night. I hadn't really driven it until today because I was busy getting ready for a garage sale this weekend but I am in LOVE. It is such a smooth ride, very spacious, I feel very safe driving with Lucas in it, it looks great and now with my little air freshener it even smells great! I am sooooo excited! Have I said how excited I am!? I'm praying it will last as long or longer than my Accord did! God is so faithful! Very very thankful for our (used) new car!!

LASIK!!

Bye bye contacts, glasses, saline, cleaner, and contact cases!! Hello perfect vision!! 

I can see! No glasses, no contacts...I can see! Jason's been encouraging me to look into LASIK for a long time but it's pretty expensive and I was scared since I hate everything about eyes. But I'm so excited we checked it out and I did it. I was told that the 10 minutes per eye of discomfort was worth a lifetime without contacts/glasses. Honestly, it wasn't even uncomfortable! We went in for an 11:30 appointment, they did a bunch of tests on me (for the third time in about 2 weeks) to confirm my prescription and a bunch of other medical things. They brought me into a room where they gave me some happy pills and put a bunch of drops in my eyes. Side note, they were playing the movie, Monster, Inc...which I hadn't seen before. It was cute, going to rent it someday to finish it! Anyway, they then took me back for the surgery. They had to do one procedure on my eyes with one laser machine which took maybe 30 sec each eye. Not uncomfortable at all. After that was done they told me I had survived the worst of it! They then moved me to another room for another machine where they finished. I stared at this little green light and remember them asking me questions about little Lucas so I was saying something about him and then it was over! They then brought me to another little room where they put some eye drops in and I sat in a lazy boy for about 5 minutes. They moved me to some other area where they did some sight test. I was a little freaked out because they asked me if I could read the clock across the room and I couldn't see it and they were acting like I should have been able to. I was thinking the worst that it hadn't worked for me and I'd have some irreversible problems and be blind forever! But they said everything looked great, gave me some sunglasses and sent me back to Jason and Lucas in the waiting room.

Jason drove us home and took care of Lucas so I could rest...and rest, I did! I took the suggested 3 hour nap (thanks again, happy pills!) and then chilled the rest of the evening. 

It's been a month so I'm no longer putting the drops in my eyes (there's a LOT of eye drops that must go in the eyes for a month) and I can see perfectly. I don't have issues with anything. I do wear sunglasses because my eyes are still a little sensitive to light but honestly...in Colorado the sun is bright so I'm not really sure if they're more sensitive than they were before the surgery. I'm so happy with my new eyes! Would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Highly recommend it to anyone considering! And if you live I Colorado definitely go where I went! You won't be disappointed!