San Fransico!

July 13th: We surprised Skyler's mom for her 50th birthday with a trip to San Fransico that all her kids were taking her on! We scheduled it for July 13th so that Justin could be home and come with us. That was about the only week that nobody had to much going on too :) Thank goodness for a wonderful mom who agreed to watch my kids for the 5 days that we were gone! I know that is no easy task! I dropped the kids off with my mom about 2 so they could go down for naps and we left St. George about 3. When we got down to Vegas we went and ate dinner and shopped around at the mall thats next to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:50 so we got to the airport at about 7:30 to make sure we were at least 2 hours early. We got through the airport really fast and were sitting down waiting for our flight about 8:15. Next thing we knew some lady came by and told us our flight had been moved to depart out of a different gate. We rushed down to the other one and found out our flight was going to be an hour late. They came pushing back the time and our flight did not end up taking off until 11:30 and we didn't get to our hotel the night until after 1am. There were thunderstorms going on when we were flying so the flight was really bumpy and scary! I was so glad to be on the ground once we landed! The boys drove to San Fransico and met us there and they were completely exhausted as well. The plus side was I was able to get some TCBY at the airport...yum!

July 14th: We couldn't even sleep in in the morning because we were schedule to go see Alcatraz! So we got up and headed that way. We went and ate breakfast on Pier 39. 

Then we went and boarded Alcatraz Cruises...our first cruise ever :)

Riding over on the boat and the first part of Alcatraz

The outside

We took an audio tour of the inside of Alcatraz and it was so interesting! I learned a lot about it! Although it was cool, it was a little eery at the same time!

The views off the island

After Alcatraz we went and walked around Ghiradelli Square and Fishermans Wharf. We ate dinner down on the pier and had some fresh seafood.

July 15th: We woke up and drove down to San Jose to go and see the Winchester Mansion. This was another really cool place. She is the wife of the guy who made Winchester guns. She went crazy and felt like spirits were coming after her. She went and saw a Physic who told her she needed to buy a house under construction and as long as it was under construction the spirits wouldn't get her. So the house she bought was under construction for 24 hrs a day for 38 years! She did the most bizarre things! Like build staircases to the ceiling and doors that opened to walls or would drop down a few stories. It was really cool to walk through. They wouldn't let us take pictures of the inside so I just have a small picture of a small portion of the front. Skyler got his fortune told in the gift shop too :)

Then we went and saw the infinite loop! I think this was the highlight of the trip for the boys ha ha! They are apple obsessed and made sure this was one of our stops :) Then we went and ate lunch at chipolte...so yummy! We went back to san fransico and went shopping downtown. Then we went and ate at cheesecake factory! Thank goodness for all the walking we did so I didn't gain 100 lbs! 

July 16th: So for our last day in San Fransico we went down to China Town and walked through that.

Then we went and saw the Golden Gate Bridge!

The we drove down Lombard St. I couldn't really get a good picture of it, but it was cool!

Then we went and rode the trolley. While we were waiting for Amy to feed Zoey the boys had a race in the parking garage :) We went to look off point to where we saw fews of the city.

Then we decided to go somewhere for dinner where we could have fresh seafood again so we went to Joes Crab Shack. This was a fun night at dinner with dancing included :)

We had a lot of fun on our trip and it was nice to get away! I was so glad to come home to my two beautiful children though! I had missed them!

A little of this and that

July 5th: Bailey woke up at like 5am for some reason this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep! She finally fell back asleep in my arms about 7 but only for about 30 minutes. Then about 8:30 I set her on the couch because and she was back to sleep for another 30 minutes. To bad I never was able to back asleep!

That afternoon we went swimming and on the way home they were both completely zonked as soon as week started driving!

July 6th: Happy birthday to my cute niece Josie! They were in town because Justin had just gotten home so we were able to celebrate her birthday with her. They had a little party at the splash pad on main street. The kids had a blast!

July 7th: These 2 always make for a fun day! Love being their mom!

July 10th: Lazy day! It was 5:30pm and Nate was still in his pjs! Worst mom ever ha ha!

So after dinner we decided to finally get out of the house and go play for a little while! It was such a fun little family night!

July 12th: In the morning Nate and I went and saw The Lorax at the movie theatre with his friend Jayz. It was a cute movie and luckily I got to watch it in peace because Skyler stayed home with Bailey while she took a nap! 

When we went to the store that afternoon and I let the kids pick a toy to play with while we were in the store. Bailey picked they baby like the one she has at home and she was loving holding it! She was upset when I took away when we were checking out!

I was looking for Bailey and Nate and this is where I found them playing...silly kids!

That night there was a big fire down on the Arizona strip and then it started pouring down rain and thundering and lightening. The kids loved watching the rain outside the window. It was the perfect night to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie and read stories! 

4th of July

July 4th: I made Bailey a skirt for the 4th of July and she looked so cute in it!

We went up to Skyler's grandmas cabin in Pine Valley. The weather felt so nice and cool! It was fun spending the day up there. Nate caught a fish and for the first time ever he actually held one!

Bailey loved walking all around the cabin!

That night we went back to St. George and the kids did sparklers and we watched the St. George firework show. It was a fun and relaxing 4th!

Welcome Home Elder Ence!

July 3rd: We had been counting down the days until Elder Ence was coming home! It was finally the day and Nate was so excited! I was excited for Justin to meet Bailey for the first time. We made posters and the kids colored them. Nate drew a picture of him and Justin on the back and Bailey just scribbled all over it :)

Waiting in the airport

Nieces and nephews with their signs

Silly faces

Walking up to us! Welcome Home!!

 
First hug goes to mom of course!

Big hugs from Nate!

Brothers reunited!

Meeting Bailey

The Ence clan so happy to have him home!

Random

July 1st: We went over to my moms house so the kids could meet Amandas new boyfriend Craig! They liked him and we all give Amanda the stamp of approval :) I also found these cute pictures of Nate and Alena on my phone ha ha!

July 2nd: It was playgroup day with Nate's friends again today and kids had fun playing water activities outside and having a little picnic!

Experimented with my hair today. Tried doing a messy braid bun. It turned out pretty cute, but I definitely need more practice!

Chevron Skirt

I found the cutest diy outfit on Pinterest and I knew I wanted to make one like it for my little girl. The tutorial on icandyhandmade was awesome and gave step by step directions on  how to make this adorable dress!

You can find the tutorial for it  here. I am a beginning sewer and this was a great project for me to start on because it wasn't very hard! In fact I made it an afternoon while my kids were taking their nap! I wanted to make my daughter an outfit for the forth of July and I have been wanting to make an outfit using chevron print. I went out and looked for some navy blue chevron fabric and lucky for me I found some at Desert Book after looking at a few different stores. I fell in love with it and new it would be perfect!

I followed the directions on icandyhandmade, but I decided not to make a shirt. I used a shirt she already had and I decided not to attach it to the skirt so it could be interchangeable. This helped make the sewing project a lot easier and faster! I also didn't attach the ribbon so that could be interchangeable as well. I can pair it with a different color of ribbon or shirt every time she wears it to give it a different look. I love how it turned out and it has held up through several washes! 

Starting to make it...

After sewing the skirt

Tying the ribbon on to see what the final look will be like.

The forth of july

Playing in her room