Tuesday

I am SO out of shape!

Kindly proven by our STONE MOUNTAIN HIKE last week. My sister, Remi, was driving through on her way to officer training for the military and she stopped by for 2 days to visit us. We decided to go to Stone Mountain on her 2nd day here and hike to the top of the rock. We took Aiden with us which meant carrying him to the top. Luckily there were 3 of us and we all took turns carrying him. Maybe that is why this hike was such a killer or maybe it is because I NEVER work out... or both! Aiden was a trooper and did a great job and even hiked some of it himself holding our hands. The hike was beautiful and we had a great time.



On the way down we encountered 2 women one of which was PREGNANT and DUE THE NEXT DAY! She looked ready to have her baby on the mountain but she was determined to hike to the top. I guess she was VERY ready to get that baby out!

At our house we took Aiden for a walk in his new wagon and he loved it. Looks like I'll need to be doing more walks with Aiden as soon as the weather is warmer. (Which is probably good for me anyway so I actually do some form of exercise every now and then!!)
I'll miss having my sister out EAST with me since now she is moving out WEST probably for good. She was my only family within driving distance! I am very sad she has left but I'm glad I had the time with her that I did out here. Miss you Remi!

Wednesday

Girls Trip

(WARNING: this is a VERY long post.)
I decided to do a last minute road trip to D.C. to visit my sister, Remi, one last time before she moved to Seattle. My sister, Lani, flew out from Idaho so we had a fun sister vacation with the babies of course! I wanted to keep my sanity on the 10 hour drive with Aiden so I decided to break up the drive as much as I could. This meant stopping the first night at my mother-in-law's home in Charlotte, NC and then stopping the 2nd night at my friend, Chelsey's, house in Richmond, VA and then the 3rd day arriving in D.C.

Since we were all staying in the same apartment with Remi and her 2 roommates, we really had to get creative with the babies. This meant Aiden slept in the hall closet. Yip, I know that sounds really bad but it was a really BIG closet!! The pack-n-play fit great in there with plenty of extra room for a fan and cd player, etc to fit as well. Ashlyn slept in one of the bathrooms that was big enough for her pack-n-play so it all worked out great. Remi's roommates were so great and helped out so much with the kiddos.

The 1st day of sight-seeing was visiting the capitol. I have to say that the biggest adventure was trying to find parking in downtown D.C. It was a zoo!! AND a FORTUNE! Eventually we found a spot but then we realized we were going to be late for our scheduled tour so we had to take off running to the capitol with 2 baby strollers. Then it was a maze to try and find the ramp we could actually take strollers up to get inside of the building. We had to ask 3 different security guards before we finally made it. The tour was awesome and the building is amazing and the babies YELLED pretty much the whole time. Everyone on the tour kept on turning to look at the babies and we would have to run off to let the other people hear the guide. Eventually Aiden calmed down when I gave him a brochure for the building which he promptly chewed on for the rest of the tour. UNFORTUNATELY I forgot my camera that day so I'll have to wait to get pictures from Lani, but here are a couple from the outside of the building.

The 2nd day was crazy busy. We started the day out with a tour of the Library of Congress which was amazing. I love that building and I would love to go spend some quality time there researching all of the cool stuff they keep there. An funny fact that the tour guide told us was that when the building was being built there was a NEW metal that had just been discovered and it was MORE expensive than gold. Well the builders wanted to be able to show off a little so they purchased this metal and paid a small fortune to put it in some of the details of the entry way. "What was this metal?" she asked us. ALUMINUM!! How funny! She laughed and said that now they can brag and say they have tin foil decorating the main room.

The next stop that day was the Supreme Court building. We were able to see the courtroom because it was not in session and it was so neat to be at a place where such important cases are heard for our country. Originally there were only 6 justices but that changed many years ago to 9 justices. The courtroom also was originally in the capitol building but they outgrew the space and that is when they built the new supreme court building next to the capitol.

The final stop that day was the Kennedy Art Center. We were late again and ended up joining our tour 30 minutes late and then we were still there for another hour with the tour guide who rambled on and on and on and on...... Yes, I have to say that this is probably one of the MOST boring tours I have been on. Maybe if I actually knew who all the people were that this old guide was talking about I would have been more interested but I hadn't HEARD of ANY of these people. The only remotely interesting thing I learned was that the President of the U.S. has the MOST UNCOMFORTABLE seat in the whole house. The view from the roof of the building though was beautiful and was probably the best part of the whole tour.

The next day we went to the National Archives building and saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I was very surprised at how faded the declaration is. I probably only saw 4 words in the whole document that were not faded. What was cool is about 150 years ago (I think) they hired someone to copy the declaration onto a metal plate EXACTLY as it was written (same style of handwriting and same signatures,etc.) That way the copies they could make from the plate would be look identical to the original.
Before we got in to see the documents though we had to wait in a long line to go through security so by the time we got to the LONG line in front of the documents the babies were going crazy. We were so worried that we were not going to be able to get in the rotunda because we would have to leave for the babies nap time but LUCKILY for us the security guard saw us and directed us through a different door for the strollers STRAIGHT INTO THE ROTUNDA!!! I have to say it was really nice to be able to walk right into the room to view all of those amazing historical documents without waiting in line for an hour first!

Sunday we went to the Air and Space Museum and looked at the history of flight. This is where I had that little embarrassing encounter with the security guard where I asked him "How do you want me?" and he replied by saying "Dang, I wish my girlfriend would ask me that!" Anyway...
Ashlyn LOVED this museum because she loves planes. She walked around the museum pointing to each plane saying "plane, plane!" So Cute!

On the last day of sight-seeing we went to the Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial. I looked outside before we left and it looked sunny and warm so I thought a hoodie would be warm enough. OOPS, not warm enough at all! I was freezing because it was REALLY windy. Lani helped me out by loaning me a pair of gloves (both left hands so I had to wear one backwards which REALLY made it hard to take pictures with my camera because the fingers didn't bend the right way!) Aiden's morning was made when we came upon two BEAUTIFUL white dogs. "Doggy, Doggy!!" was what he yelled when he saw them and I knew I couldn't just walk pass them. We stopped and the owners let Aiden pet Gidget for probably 5 minutes. Come to find out these dogs are Pediatric Therapy dogs so they are actually trained to be wonderful with children and they even have their own website. Pretty cool.

Later that day we did a tour of the Holocaust Museum which is so so so hard to go through because you see all of the HORRIBLE and EVIL things that were done to the prisoners and how most people were oblivious to it happening. There were stories of the few people who stood against the Nazis and saved some lives but it just seemed so small next to the HUGE numbers of people killed by the Nazis. The tour starts with how Hitler started out with just small things that people would get used to and then he would change it to more and more drastic and terrible things. He started with putting in prison his political enemies and then socialists and then Jews but people didn't know that he was killing most of them. He burned books and artwork and did HORRIBLE experiments on people and it all just makes me so SICK to read about.

On the trip back to Georgia I did the same route home and stopped at Chelsey's house the 1st night which happened to be her birthday! We went to dinner to a Mexican restaurant and won some free chips and cheese dip. We then went back to their place and Tim (Chelsey's husband) made us some YUMMY homemade strawberry ice cream and then we all watched the Bachelor. Thanks Chelsey for letting me spend your birthday with you! Miss you girly!

The following night we stopped at Grandma's house and played outside in the warm sunshine. Aiden loved the swing but we also let him try out the trampoline which he thought was so amazing! He even tried jumping and it was the cutest thing since he is too light for his jumps to really affect the trampoline. :)

FINALLY the day came for Aiden and I to drive home to Dada and what do I see when I look out the window???? RAIN!! Yes, our final day of driving and we get rain. Oh well, I guess with all the driving I did, one day of rain during winter is actually pretty good. We made it home safely and were greeted with big hugs from Dada. Vacations are wonderful but coming home is the BEST! Thanks everyone for the fun trip!

Sunday

New Years

Well, I have to say that the #1 goal for me this year is to lose the 7lbs, yes 7, that I gained over the holidays. Ouch. I think I may need to go on the no eating at all diet. Does anyone have a good diet plan on how to lose the extra weight??

For New Years Eve we went to Rachel's house for a little party. Watched a little football, played some games and yes, ate lots of food. Then we had some nice dancing time... well the little kids did and Rachel's boy, Jones, was smokin' the dance floor!


Jones' sweet dance moves...

video

New Years day we headed to Amber's house and yes, ate lots more. Aiden got some good cousin and grandma time.


We also had a gift exchange with some friends and yes, ate more yummy food. Somehow Ryan and I got the good numbers for the draw. I got to draw first (which meant I got to trade last and get what I want) and Ryan got to pick last which means he got to see all the previous gifts and choose the one he wanted. Yes, we did take the good gifts and were very selfish!

Overall, I ate too much this holiday season and sat around way too much, so now I will pay for it by actually exercising (which I never do currently) and eating nothing. Yay for me. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LITTLE SIDE BIT..

Aiden was so cute with his new little Christmas toy. He thought daddy was HILARIOUS! Here is a cute little clip of Aiden's reaction to Dada.

video

Monday

Christmas Parties

For us, Christmas started on the Saturday before. Grandma Angie came down with Great Grandma Addie, Don, Megan and Damian. We all had a party at Amber's house to eat yummy food and open presents. Aiden was mainly interested in the wrapping paper until a toy cellphone (Handy Manny) was unwrapped and then he held onto that for the rest of the night. We got a corn hole game and ladders and washer toss so we can party in the new year!

Monday night we had Christmas with Grandpa Doug and all the siblings and grandkids. From the grandparents we each got some money and mine got me a nice new camera! Finally I can take pictures again!!!! :)
Christmas Eve we invited Grandpa Doug and family over to our house for dinner. We had some pork tenderloin, salad and potatoes and I ate way too much! (Did I already mention that at each of the Christmas' I ate way too much??) I think I gained 10 lbs this holiday season and that is not exaggerating. After dinner we played some Wii and even chose Santa as one of the people.

Christmas morning we opened presents at our house and Aiden loved tearing the paper. Nikita got a new chew bone and some tuna fish in her stocking, which kept her entertained (the bone) all day.
Christmas afternoon we got to talk to Ryan's step-brother, Cory, who is on a mission in Mexico. He sounds so happy to be serving the Lord and it was a great feeling to talk to him on Christmas day. We ate some more, even though Ryan and I ate us out of our house for breakfast, and then we played some games. Overall, Christmas was a blast seeing all of Ryan's family and it was so neat having so many little kids now to really enjoy the Christmas season.

Thursday

Huge Betrayal

What was I thinking?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tuesday

Fatso's Eating Challenge

They went, they ate, they won (mostly).

Ryan, Chris and Jonny decided to try the Fatso's Burger contest. 2lbs worth of meat, plus the huge bun the size of a loaf of bread and a side of broccoli. Yikes. Well I am happy to say that 2 of the 3 did it. They didn't have to pay for it if they finished it, saving $25 each, and they got a t-shirt and their names on a plaque. I don't think any of them are planning on doing another contest for a while! :)

Ryan after he finished his.
Chris working on his last couple of bites.

All of them looking so happy having no idea what they are about to get themselves into. Well maybe an inkling... I mean look at the size of those burgers!!

Thursday

Gorgeous Oregon - Can we move here?

My two week vacation included a trip to Oregon to visit my sisters. This meant that we had to make a 13 hour drive in a car with a 1 year old. Can you picture the bliss? Yip, imagine the worst and you probably covered it. The drive to Oregon wasn't actually too bad even though there were 2 one year olds. My sister, Lani, drove down to Utah from Idaho (where she lives) and picked me up. The first day we drove to Idaho, spent the night and then drove to Oregon the next day. I loved that I FINALLY got to see my sisters new house and the area that she lives in. I didn't know Idaho could be so beautiful! The drive back though was a straight shot from Oregon to Utah and Aiden cried for about 6 hours of it and nothing would make him happy. My mom, Kurt and I all were going insane and we were sooooooo relieved when we finally made it to the house.

Before Lani and I headed to Idaho, we stopped and had lunch with our step-sister Kirsten at Cafe Rio. Yum! Once in Idaho, we went for a walk with Lani's two very funny and semi-crazy dogs. (And yes, that is Aiden wearing a pink coat and wrapped in a pink flowery blanket.)

The first day we made it to Oregon we went on a hike to a waterfall. When we left Cami's house it was pretty warm outside and I thought I would most likely have to take my hoodie off once we got there because it would be too hot. UNFORTUNATELY when we arrived after the 45 minute drive it felt like we had arrived in the Arctic. It was FREEZING!!! I put my hood up and I had an extra pair of my socks with me which I put over my hands as gloves (I was still freezing and wishing for my winter coat). I layered Aiden in 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 1 jacket with a hood and a beanie. I then also used a pair of his cousin Ashlyn's socks for his gloves. Then to top it off I wrapped him in a blanket in the carrier. The hike was for sure worth it though because it was so beautiful and it warmed up some once we got on the trail.

That Saturday was my nephew, Calder's, baptism. He was so excited to get baptized and his brothers sang for him at the baptism and did a great job.

Aiden and Ashlyn played together ALL WEEK LONG. If I could suddenly have another baby around Aiden's age, I know he would be in heaven. He loves to play with other kids and he smothers them with hugs (we may have to work on that when he's older). Overall, the trip was fantastic and I was so happy I was able to spend so much time with family.