The best weekend. {Part 2}

Sunday.  I will skim over Sunday before moving on to Memorial Day.  Sunday is family day and each Sunday is basically the same as the last.  I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Dinner.  Chatting with family.  Catching up from the week before.  Planning out the week ahead.  Dessert.  Playing.  Laughing.  Naps.  Relaxing on the patio.

A dark picture of what goes on as the sun goes down.

I look forward to Sunday dinner every week.  I love the family that I married into.  I love that I've been let in to their lives and their traditions.  I couldn't imagine a better family to be a part of or a better family for my girl to be a part of.  {Other than my own, of course.}

This Sunday we stayed much later than usual.  We didn't have work or school the next day.  Andrea was visiting.  We stayed until the sun had gone down and until the little girl couldn't function anymore because it was past her bedtime.  We took pictures on Katelin's computer that distorted our faces and laughed and laughed.

It was a typical Sunday and I loved it.  {Have I mentioned how much I love the warm weather?  Everything gets a little better when the weather is warm.  Nights on the patio is one of the best things about warm weather.}

But Memorial Day... Oh Memorial Day.  It was a perfect day.

My sister-in-law found this genius idea on Pinterest.  Here is the original link to the awesome splash pad.  You tape two tarps together, tape a hose into it and there you have it.  An awesome water bed/slip-n-slide/splash pad!

By the time Kyle, Ayla, and I got to Rick and Debbie's the splash pad was up and running.  Cherry and Debbie were laying out on it so of course I joined in.  It was so cold at first, but once my body got used to it - heaven I tell ya.  If you close your eyes you could swear that you are laying on a floaty on a lake or a river or a pool or any other  body of water that isn't trapped in a plastic tarp in the middle of a backyard in Utah.  I could have laid there all day.  Chatting with Charity, Debbie, and the girls.  Sipping on Diet Coke with lime.  My skin burning to a crisp.  Perfect.

Cherry and I soaking up the sun.

I could have laid there all day - but I didn't.  We rolled off of our end of the splash pad and we turned that baby into a slip-n-slide!  It was crazy fun. 

This splash pad lasted all day.  It got lots of holes in the top of it, but that didn't matter at all.  It stayed inflated and full.  The kids were playing with it just about until it was put away after 7 o'clock.

Katelin and I snapchatting Andrea.

Throughout the day I can't even tell you how many times Cherry said, "I am so happy.  I love today.  Today is perfect."  And I would say, "I KNOW!"  Because it was.  Yesterday was perfect.  We were just laying around in the backyard all day.  On the splash pad, on the grass, in the patio chairs.  Watching the kids play, talking, having some great BBQ burgers, homemade root beer ice cream...  It was all perfect.  The sunshine, the breeze, the way we could be in our swimsuits all day but needed a sweatshirt/blanket when the sun started to go down.

Ayla and Grandpa.

It's funny how my idea of "perfection" has changed over the years.  Rather than going out and celebrating elsewhere, I would rather be in the backyard with family.  Doing nothing out of the ordinary.  Rather than going out to a loud club I prefer to sit with a friend over hot drinks in a cafe and discuss life.  Rather than running around doing THINGS, I would choose to be at home with my husband and our girl.  Watching a movie and snuggling in our own space in our jammies with our snacks.

BBQ.  Cute girls in Swimsuits.

There are so many things that make life seem complex.  So many things that weigh us down and steal our energy and attention.  So many things that distract us from the fact that really, life is simple.  The things that make me the happiest are so, so simple.  They are right in front of me.  My family.  My small group of friends.  My tiny home.  There are so many other things that I enjoy and that add to my happiness, but these simple things - these are the things that recharge me.

Family, Fire pit, S'mores.

I love you more than ever.

Yesterday was perfect.  I didn't want it to end.  The entire weekend was wonderful.  It was something that I have needed after the past couple months of my life.  {The past couple of months deserve a blog post all their own, but I am not ready to share with the world wide web just yet.}

Happy Memorial Day.  I hope that you got to spend the day with loved ones.  I hope that it was perfect.  I hope that you were able to remember the brave men and women who have lost their lives serving our country.

 Focus on the simple things that make you happy.  The simple things that recharge you.  Focus on them and be thankful.  I am trying to slow down and realize how blessed I am and I am trying to be truly thankful.

I am realizing how beautiful Utah is, in it's very own way.

Elf on the Shelf Part Two

That little Elf is still causing mischief in our home nightly.  Ayla is loving it and I am too!  Last post I left off with Ella being trapped in Luna, our Bearded Dragon's, tank.  (Read that post here!)  This was Ayla's reaction:

Ayla was upset that her little elf friend was stuck in Luna's cage.  I mean she was SAD.  I had to talk her out of tears, convincing her that Luna is REALLY NICE and Ella was not scared or hurt.  I reminded her that we hold Luna and we love Luna so we know that Ella is okay!  Once we had that convo she thought it was fun.  :)

The next night silly Ella made such a mess in our living room.

This picture is one of my favorites.  Ayla came into the living room saying, "LOOK AT THIS MESS!"  She is a little on the OCD side and does NOT like messes like this.  She asked if she could clean it up and laid in my lap crying when I told her that Ella had to clean it since she was the one who made the mess.

Then Ella got really creative.  She decided to use Ayla's blow-up basketball as a hot air balloon and Ayla's Ariel panties as her basket.  Crazy elf!

"Mommy I get out of my bed and the I see'd her and she was in the sky up there allllll the way up to the wall!"

The next silly thing that Ella decided to do at our house was to have a movie night.  She grabbed the box set of Christmas Classics, popped herself some popcorn, and had a movie marathon!

Ayla's first response to this one?  "Mom, can I have some popcorn?"

Then Ella did something really crazy.  She put on a Seattle Seahawks hat and climbed up into daddy's Green Bay Packers cup on his Packers shelves.  Can you believe the nerve?!

Since mommy is a Seahawks fan and daddy is a Packers fan Ayla was just happy to see both teams together.  And she was excited to climb on a chair to get a closer look.  :)

And now we have come to last night.  LAST NIGHT that silly little elf stole a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom and did some of her own decorating on our tree... Oy.  Naughty elf.  Ayla sure got a kick out of this one!

And I can't resist the sweet little yawn photos... I love my cute little girl!

Stay tuned for the rest of Ella's silly adventures in the Lee home!

Elf on the Shelf.

This year I decided to do Elf on the Shelf.  I have seen it around the internet the past couple years and thought it was so cute.  I wanted to start it sooner, but better late than never!

Here is Ayla with the book and her newly adopted elf, Ella.

The first night that silly little elf was trying to fish in the toilet!

And the second night she tried to wrap some gifts but ended up getting all wrapped up herself!

And tonight that silly, sneaky little elf has gotten herself stuck in Luna's house!  I can't wait to see how Ayla reacts in the morning!

Luna sure isn't impressed.... :)

Making Memories and Making our own traditions.

In Orem on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving, in case you live under a rock.) Santa arrives at the mall to take his throne for the next month.  He arrives in a helicopter.  I know, I know.  Santa is supposed to be in a sleigh.  But each year his sleigh mysteriously breaks down and he has to borrow the KSL 5 chopper.  Turns out the kids are ok with this, they even seem to love it.  And I love it!  How exciting is it to stand with hundreds of people, sip your hot cocoa, listen to live Christmas music, and wait for Santa to come shake your hand and give you a candy cane?!

As silly as it sounds I want to be able to look back, years from now, and say, "I went to sleep pretty early on Thanksgiving night.  I didn't fight the Black Friday crowds.  I didn't wake up before the sun to wait in ridiculous lines to save $5."  I can't wait to tell Ayla how she got to watch Santa come down in a helicopter.  It will go like this:

On Friday morning I woke up before I wanted to.  I quietly got dressed while you slept peacefully, sprawled out across my entire bed.  I picked out your clothes and made you some warm milk so that you would have it when I took the blankets off of you and your entire body got goose bumps from the chill of our basement apartment.


I woke you up gently saying, "Ayla baby, wake up!  We're going to see Santa!  Yay, Santa! Woooo!"


You sat up and stretched and with your little sleepy voice echoed, "We see Sintas!"


I got you dressed in your new snow coat and your sweet little pink gloves.  You called them "pwetty glubs".

When we got to the mall there was hardly anyone there.  I thought to myself, hmmm, that's odd.  Santa was supposed to land in 20 minutes.  Turns out he was landing at 10:15 this year instead of 9:00 like the previous year.  So we went into Starbucks and got some drinks, you had a vanilla steamer in the snowman cup that you love so much, and we decided to walk around the mall to kill time.

Once we were in the mall I decided that you should make your very own Build-a-Bear.  Out of all the animals you chose a dog.  Of course!  You loved that little doggy that was all flat because it hadn't been stuffed.  You were not thrilled to hand him over to be filled by the nice girl who helped you make him.  I had to step on the peddle to fill him up because you were scared of the machine - it was so loud!  You picked out a heart to put inside of him and she stitched him up!  We looked at the clothes and we even tried a bunch on your doggy, but you did NOT want him to have any clothes on.  So we created his birth certificate, we named him doggy, and we paid for your naked little doggy.

We walked through a few other stores, but I was too busy thinking about getting back outside to really look at anything, so eventually we went back outside to wait for Santa.  There were so many people now!  There were ladies making balloon animals for the kids, you wanted one but the lines were SO long!  There was a band with a British singer playing Christmas songs.  A station to decorate cookies.  Free hot chocolate.  Wheels to spin and win prizes... So much fun!  While we waited (not so patiently; you and I don't really do patient.) you sat on the ground throwing a silent fit because you wanted everything that the other kids had.  Nothing you ever have is good enough, you need someone else's too!

All of the sudden the British man was hollering into the microphone that "SANTA WAS ABOUT TO ARRIVE!" and we could hear the chopper overhead!  It flew around and around, circling the mall until it could land perfectly in the center of all the people anxiously awaiting Santa Claus!

The entire time the helicopter was landing you were saying, "Das a car!"  and I would say, "No, it's a helicopter!"  You would respond with, "Yes, car."

And then there was Santa!  He came out of the helicopter jolly, waving, and ho-ho-ho'ing at us all!  You weren't scared of him when he came by and shook your hand!  You were so excited to see "Sintas!"  And you were even more excited to see his elves following behind him handing out candy canes!

As soon as we had seen Santa we headed to the car.  We both needed a nap after such an eventful morning!

 I love the time that I have with my little girl.  I want her to grow up with special memories of the things that we did together.  I want her to have traditions to look forward to every year!  Even though it's just us two we sure do have a lot of love.  "This is my family.  I found it all on my own.  It may be little, and broken, but still good.  Yes, still good."  I am so looking forward to the rest of the holidays with my sweetest little girl!

p.s.  Kyle, Ayla, and I also went to Target later that day and back to the mall to have Ayla's doggy restitched since it was already coming undone.  It was restitched by a guy with one arm.  ONE ARM!  And he sewed that puppy a million times better than the first girl.  Guys got skill.  And I can't forget dinner with the Lee fam at Wingers.  What a great bunch of people!