Cabo baby!! No, wait... Puerta Vallarta!

(Update From Sept 2014) We had been counting down this trip for MONTHS! We booked it in January of 2014 and had a countdown going all year long. We worked our butts off (literally;) ) getting ready for this trip. We exercised, started clean eating, saved money, bought new suits, new clothes, made reservations at the sports bar for our games, everything. And then.. Hurricane Odile hit. We were devastated. We hadn't purchased travel insurance. We were stuck. Somehow 48 hours before our trip, 2 hours on the phone with the booking company, hours of searching the internet, and 2 hours on the phone with Expedia getting it fixed, we were just mere hours away from boarding our flight to a new destination! Puerta Vallarta! It was by far the craziest 24 hours of my life! Thanks Linds and Joey for not giving up on our dream vacation!!

Airport fun!

Love this sister of mine!

Lucky for me, we flew out on my 27th birthday! How fun is that?! We flew out at 6:00 am so it was an early start! Arrived in P.V. mid afternoon and spent the next 6 days at the most beautiful resort! We checked in, grabbed a few dinner reservations and checked out the resort! The first night we weren't able to get into any of the restaurants, so we hit their buffet. BEST. FOOD. EVER! I was reallllly worried about the food. We did this trip the all inclusive route so I was terrified the food would be horrible, but it was fantastic! Might be why I gained a good 6 lbs! ;) We spent the evening walking around, getting settled and eating. We were all pretty tired from our day of travel so we went to bed pretty early that night! The next few days were spent at the pool, on a tour of the distilleries, getting massages, watching football and more eating! ;) It was such an amazing trip full of so many memories!

Our gorgeous resort!

View from our room

Some of the highlights :

* The service! It was phenomenal!! We met so many wonderful, kind, helpful people! Octavio was our favorite waiter and Mary Chuey (sp?) our favorite waitress! They would light up anytime they saw us! They saved us tables, were extra fast with our drink orders and remembered all of our names! Awesome people who worked so hard to make sure our experience was the best!

*The best massage ever! The whole experience was incredible! We were completely pampered! Hot tubs, steam room, sauna, and even cucumber slices on our eyes! It was lovely! We had the cutest young girl helping us and handing us new towels between each place.. I have never been pampered like that! I could definitely get used to it! :)

* Pool/Beach/Sunshine. Need I say more?! It was incredible! Warm enough but not too hot. Gorgeous views and soft white sand!

*Time with my favorites. Truly, the only thing you can't ever get back is time. So glad to have spent those few days with my hubby, sister and her hubby. It truly is what life is all about!

Love him so much!
 

*Laughing about our 2nd NOT so great massage.. Started with a real live crab in our barely warm hot tub, and ended with Jake and I being walked in on TWICE while getting dressed/undressed from our couples massages. Thankfully one was Lindsay! That experience, was... well, WAY funny now! ;)

Anyone looking to visit Puerta Vallarta, I highly recommend it! And anyone curious about all inclusive style vacations? TOTALLY worth it! :) Such a great experience!

 

 

 

 

Boys at the tequila distillery

 

 

 

Right before the 100's of bees attacked my drink! This may or may not have caused a small fight between Jake and I. ha ha! I was SO scared of them!

 

Our dinner, SO YUMMY!

 

One of our MANY nights in the Piano Bar! Now I want chili lime peanuts!

 

My handsome hubby in front of the pool/beach area

Update - a lot has changed in the past year. Joey and Linds are no longer married, but are both happily co-parenting Brod. It makes this trip and the memories even more special for us, as they were some of their last happy times! So thankful to share them with the two of them. We love them a lot, together or not! :)

Weekend Recap

We had SUCH a good weekend, and dang it another one that went way too fast! In fact, as it ended, there were at least 5 of us in tears :) We had a weekend full of family time and Kailee was AMAZING! She's so much fun right now.. I know I keep saying that.. I keep thinking at any time, we're going to start arguing more, she's going to start having more attitude, etc. She just keeps getting better! She's my little side kick and I LOVE it! She keeps saying that she's 'my little best friend', and she is! :) But she also does amazingly well when I do have to discipline, or remind her how we behave. She truly is such a great kid, and I am beyond blessed to have her not just in my life but to be such a huge part of my life! We've been talking a lot lately about our little family's future.. about a house.. about a baby.. and she is excited, but I also see a little side of her that just loves the way life is right now.. and I do too! :) Soaking up every happy minute!

Friday

Started off a with a heavy heart as we attended a viewing for a friend's great-grandmother, who she was actually raised by. Nanny held a special place in Kailee's heart and Jake spoke so lovingly of her. I only met her a couple of times, but she definitely impacted many people's lives. I'm glad we had the opportunity to attend and support such a sweet person. Savannah has been a big part of Kailee's life, and has always been so sweet and open to me. I appreciate her more than she'll ever know for being so friendly when it would've been easy to turn her cheek to me. Nanny's legacy will forever live in Savannah's sweet spirit! After the viewing we went to Panda (K's choice ;)) and then home to snuggle after showers.. My favorite part of our weekends is nighttime.. She only wants me, and those precious moments before bed are something I cherish. We've made it a  nightly tradition to brush teeth together. But my favorite.. our talks, prayers, and snuggles! Truly makes my whole day worth it!  I usually cry after she goes to sleep. And yes, I realize that I cry.. a lot! :) I just look at her sweet and innocent face and words cant describe the love.. I don't know what it feels like to carry a baby, deliver one, etc. but I know my love for Kailee.. and I can't imagine loving another tiny human being more.. she's my life! We were watching a movie and were quite close, might I add.. she looks over and says "Lacy, do you wanna snuggle for reals? Cause I do!". :) I of course said yes, and she put her head on my arm and scooted even closer and pulled my arm across her. MELT. MY. HEART. 2 minutes later she was asleep. I love that little girl! She somehow knows whenever I need a little 'extra'. She truly has the biggest heart! I learn and grow everyday because of her sweet spirit!

Saturday

Kailee had her dance recital! This was her first year on a competition team, and she did FABULOUS! I can't believe how fast the year went, and how much she improved! Sadly, I don't have a lot of pictures. I depend way too much on my phone, we really need to invest in a good camera! But she did great, she had 5 competitions this year all over Utah..Thanksgiving Point, St. George, Draper, Spanish Fork, and Lagoon. Her group did great! They won several awards and the girls were always so proud! It was a long season for girls that little, and there were times you could tell they were over it, but for the most part, HUGE improvements and they looked like they were having fun! Kailee definitely loved the competitions.. practice, maybe not as much ;) Proud of her for sticking with it.. and deciding she wants to do it again next year! She looked so beautiful and so grown up in her costume, hair and makeup! Can't wait to watch her learn and grow and develop next year! She had over 20 family members come to her recital! It was amazing to see the support! It was awesome to have the support not only at the recital, but each competition as well, she has a pretty amazing family. :) We are so proud of our dancer babe! Congrats, Kbug!

After the recital, my side of the family (Jake, Kailee, Lindsay, Joey, Brooklynn, Brody, Mom, Dad, Kelly, Grandma Jeri, Grandpa RonDell, and Brett) all went to Habit for lunch, followed by an afternoon at Scheels! What a great day! It was extra special to be able to have my parents in the same place. Since they were divorced last year, that's the longest we've all been together in the same place, and we get to thank Kailee for that :) She has been able to bring lots of families together, how lucky are we?! We let the kids play on the play place there, ride the Ferris wheel and check out the fish tanks! What a great afternoon for all of us :) About 4 o'clock, everyone was pretty beat and decided to head out. We got to go over to Grandma and pa Andrus' after that to celebrate Jacksons 2nd birthday! We had cake and ice cream and spent the rest of the evening outside watching the kids play! Josh pitched to Kailee and let her hit quite a few balls, which was so fun for her! She is lucky to have so many great uncles! We had a great day and I was so glad to be able to spend time with both sides of our family! We left there about 7:30 and headed home for another night of snuggles! We watched the Croods, and by we, I mean I watched the Croods. The other two party poopers lasted about 5 minutes :) Busy but super fun day!

Sunday

Kailee woke up at 6:45.. ?! how? Jake is so great to do the mornings, since I do night times. I think he enjoys that one on one time with her as well, since anytime it's all of us, I'm usually the one she needs! They let me sleep until about 8:20 and by the time I got up, Kailee already had her swimsuit on! She was ready!! We spent the day at my mom's with Lindsay and Joey and the kids. They are staying with my mom in between the selling and buying of houses so it was fun to go up and spend the day at the pool! We had a BBQ and the kids were little fish.. all day long! Kailee loves swimming and the only time she was out of the pool at all, was to eat or drink! She was in HEAVEN! They were all so good and so funny! We had them all get out about 5 and took them upstairs to get them showered. They had a little dinner and it was time to go. Kailee doesn't usually fight leaving places. I'm very grateful, yet it makes me sad that she's so used to 'leaving'. Its always time to go somewhere else.. Especially in her situation. living in two homes, having so many family members and friends to see, etc. Well, she made eye contact with me and the tears just filled her eyes. She ran over and I held her for a minute and she said she just wasn't quite ready yet. It broke my heart. She said her goodbyes and by that time, had cheered up a bit. When it was time to actually walk out the door, Brody started crying... He just kept saying 'Nooo! noo Taybug, nooo!" he followed Jake to the stairs, grabbed his hand and tried to pull him back up the stairs. it was SO sad! I felt awful. Lindsay came and picked him up and they went to the balcony to wave goodbye. He was still crying, and by that time, Brooklynn was too! It wasn't throwing a fit cry, but genuinely sad cry. Then I saw Lindsay tearing up, so of course I did too! Kailee fought it back pretty well, but man! Broke my heart! Love those sweet people so much! What a great weekend!

Kailee and her friend Sadie! Beautiful girls!

Riding the Ferris wheel with Grandpa Kevin

Cute kiddos in front of the fish tank at Scheels

I finally snapped a pic of what I saw at least 3 different times over the weekend :)

Pool fun!

Highlights: cuddling with Kailee before bed, watching her dance, spending time with our families, catching Kailee reading her book any time we were in the car more than a couple of minutes, yummy food, gorgeous weather!

Lowlights: it ended :(

yes, it was THAT great of a weekend! We are so blessed!

Our Weekend With The Blacks!

Lindsay and Joey asked us to watch their kiddos for a couple days while they took their first full weekend
away. We were SO excited to have B&B over to play! We had the best weekend
and were so glad to help Lindsay and Joey have some adult time!

They left on Thursday so Grandma Merrilee had a sleepover and took care of them while Jake and I
worked Friday. She surprised us and I had 2 special little visitors at work that day. Brooklynn got to color
at my desk while I ate Brody’s cheeks. I showed them off to everyone in the office while Grandma got
a little work done. After work we patiently (or not so much in B’s case) waited for Kailee Bug to come
play! Her mommy brought her over and I didn’t see them the rest of the night unless they needed a
snack, dinner or a drink ;) those little girls played their hearts out! They love each other a lot! Now that
Miss B is getting a voice and doesn’t just do whatever Kailee says, there is a little more arguing, but they
still get along so well! LOVE those little divas! They played dress up, school, mommy and baby, every
kind of animal, and we even had a little family game of Candyland! Bathtime was definitley the biggest hit and they were both such good listeners!

Saturday the kiddos were SO good while Jake and I watched the BYU vs Notre Dame game. Dang BYU.
Get my hopes up to shoot ‘em down ;). (side note:) There was one time Brody was sleeping and BYU
scored.. Jake and I quietly freaked out and were jumping up and down and hugging.. I looked over and
Kailee was watching us with the biggest smile on her face. Made me happy. One of those moments
where I hope she could see and feel how much Jake and I love each other, and how much fun we have
together. One day when she’s old enough (cough. 30) I hope she looks for someone who will treat her
just like her daddy treats me : ).

After the game we got dressed up, well the kiddos did, and it was off to Grandma Andrus's for her
annual Halloween party! We had so much fun and are SO grateful JoLene was so thoughtful and
welcoming to B&B. Meant a lot to me, and I know it meant the world to Linds and Joey. How cute is she
to do all this? She goes ALL out! We had fun hitting the pinata, trick-or-treating down the hallway, and
eating lots of yummy food! Thanks for such a great day JoLene!

As much work as 3 kiddos can be, I have to admit. My husband is one hot daddy! ;) He was SO good to
help, hold Brody, help the girls, and just be there for whatever I needed. Just ONE more reassurance
that this guy is the greatest daddy. I’m SO so lucky to know that and to see it! Brody would smile every
time Jake was around.. He isn’t a cuddly little one, until Uncle Jake was holding him. MELT.MY.HEART!
Seriously. Almost made me want to make a baby a year early ;) I kid, I kid (sort of).

And Kailee Bug..
what an AWESOME helper she is. She was so patient and understanding when my arms were full, or
when I needed them to keep their voices down a little.. She is going to be the best big sister ever. So
grateful that she’s such a good example and so good to the little ones. I brag all the time, but she really
is the best!


Thanks Linds and Joey for trusting us with you babes! I loved the times we’d be sitting on the floor and
Brooklynn would just come sit on my lap and hug me. She told me she just wanted me to “hold her for
a minute”. Her sweet little arm around my neck while she played with my hair was thee BEST feeling.
Then your little man.. I can’t imagine anything better than waking up to that cute smile everyday! Loved
holding him, secretly loved when he’d fuss if I left the room, and just being able to love on him without
anyone taking him away! I always wanted to be a fun aunt, since I had the best aunts in the world.. and
it was so nice to get to spend that time with your kiddos.Hopefully someday they'll think I'm that cool too! Love them so much! GO TO VEGAS AGAIN! ;)

PS. Waking up to this in our bed? HEAVEN!