Ricks Birthday Bash!

Rico turned the big 2-8 on Friday!! We decided to celebrate his birthday Disney style this year. Phoenix is only about a 41/2 hour drive from Disneyland so we always said that we should go sometime while we are living so close. This year at Disneyland you get in for free on your birthday and since Rick didn't have to work last weekend and it was his birthday on Friday we figured this would be as good a time as any to go. So a few days before we left we booked a hotel and planned out our trip. We had a great time and are so glad that we went.

Our family at the main entrance to Disneyland

Me being a super cheeseball( I thought he had already taken the picture) but anyway they had it all decorated for halloween. Here we are in front of the Mickey Mouse Pumpkin.

Us in front of the castle


We rode lots of rides. Here are a few of them

Me and the boys riding the spinning tea cups.

Rick and Tyler on Dumbo.

Us on the It's a Small World ride. My favorite.

Rick and Tyler on the old Riverboat

Tyler driving like a crazy man

Probably Tylers favorite ride. We must have rode these rocketships a dozen times.

We met some of the characters

Mickey Mouse. Rick almost crowded him out of the picture. Good thing he didn't. We had to wait in line forever to get this picture

Pluto

Goofy

The birthday boy standing on main street. They gave him a pin to wear on his shirt with his name on it that let everyone know that it was his birthday. All day long we heard "Happy Birthday Rick" "Rick, Happy Birthday" He had never had so many people wish him a happy birthday in his life. It's just a happy place.

Rick and Tyler at the parade. Very fun parade. The funnest we have ever been too. Loud, upbeat, and just fun. You couldn't help but feel good at that parade. We had great seats. Right in front of Mickey and Minnie

After Disneyland we wanted to sing happy birthday to Rick. Well being in a hotel and away from home we didn't have a cake. So we stopped at a convience store and bought some hostess cupcakes so that we could sing to him and he could blow out some candles.

Don't worry though, we did make him a real cake when we got home. According to Tyler you haven't actually had your birthday until he has helped make you a cake and until he has decorated the apartment with balloons and crepe paper.

On Saturday morning we woke up and drove the Huntington Beach. It's only about 20 minutes away from Disneyland. This was the boys first time at the beach and seeing the ocean. They loved it and could have stayed there all day.

We packed sand toys and they went to work digging and building. Tyler is obviously taking it very serious.

Logan playing in the sand

We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then we had to head home. It was a quick trip but so fun to get out of Phoenix for a few days and away from all the everyday stress. We had a great time and made lots of fun memories! Happy Birthday Rico!

Our New Apartment!

So when I got back from my trip to Idaho, Rico had the best surprise waiting for me..... He had us all moved into a new apartment!!! I don't know how he did it and I was shocked but somehow he managed to pack up our old apartment and move all of our stuff into our new place all while working at his practicum. I don't think he got much sleep that week. It was the best surprise ever. We have been in our new apartment now for about a month and a half and we are absolutely LOVING it! It is so much bigger and open and nicer than our last apartment. It is definetly a step up for us. I know our families want to see pictures so I am finally getting around to posting some. These are the pictures I have on my camera. I don't have any of the boys room on my camera and they are in there sleeping right now so I will have to post some pictures later because I think it turned out really cute.

I know this picture is really fuzzy and hard to read but it is a picture of the layout of our apartment.


Our living room.

Another view of Our living room / dining room. One fact about our new apartment is that it is on the third floor which is also the top floor. Pros to this would be: really high ceilings, no loud neighbors above us, and no wall separating our living room and dining room which makes it seem really big and open. Cons to this would be: stairs, stairs, and more stairs. We have to haul our kids, strollers, our groceries and pretty much everything up three flights of stairs. A little exercise never killed anyone though right.

My new big beautiful kitchen. I love this kitchen. It is my favorite thing about the apartment next to my washer and dryer. I have so much more storage space and counter space than my last apartment. I love the island in the middle and I love the built in computer desk next to the oven and microwave. I love this kitchen!


And then the very best thing about our new apartment and the main reason why we moved:


TA DA!!! Our very own washer and dryer!!!! They are right in our apartment, they are free, and I can use them any time I want. No more hauling all of our clothes over to the laundry mat every week and scrambling for quarters everywhere because it costs a dollar to wash and a dollar to dry. I used to hate laundry day and now I love it. I get excited every time I have enough dirty clothes to run a load. It is so fun and has made my life a lot easier!


This is why it took me so long to unpack everything. This kid is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING. It really is almost impossible to get anything done with him around. I still love him though.


The night I got home from Idaho and after the shock had worn off of the new apartment, Rico planned to have our good friends come over and bring some sparkling cider so that we could toast in our new apartment. Fun times and a great ending to a great surprise!

Trip to Idaho

August was a busy month for us. Between vacations, moving to a new apartment, birthdays, and visitors we have been very busy and I have gotten a little behind on blogging. We spent the first two weeks of August in Idaho with my family. We had a fabulous time and it was fun to see family. It was so nice just to have a yard to play in and nice weather that didn't make you sweat from every pore after being outside for more than five minutes. We did a lot of things and so naturally I took about a gazillion pictures, so this is going to be a long post.

" Heading out to Grandma's House" as Tyler would say it. Here he is at the airport. He LOVES planes and has flown quite a few times so he has the routine down pretty good. He knows to take his shoes off at security and he knows that mommy will do anything to keep him quiet on the plane.

The first weekend we were there we went camping at Stoddard Creek. We all had a lot of fun, especially Tyler. He LOVED it. We learned that Tyler was born to camp and that Logan was not. All I can say is, Long nights full of crying in the tent. Thats okay though, he is a little young to understand. We still had a good time.

Tyler helping Grandpa set up our tent

Rick relaxing with the boys in the hammock

Grandpa and Logi

Our family minus Tyler around the fire. Who knows where Tyler was. Off exploring something probably.

Grandpa and Tyler going for a ride in the back of the truck


On our vacation we also did a day trip down to Utah and went swimming at good ol' Cherry Hill. Ricks sister and her family were able to meet us there and we were glad they came. We all had a great time and had some pretty good laughs. Especially when our train of inner tubes got going really fast down the river run and the poor lifeguard had to jump on top of the ride to get out of our way and save his dear life. Good times!:)

Logi and daddy playing at Pirates Cove. Logi has NO FEAR and he thinks he can do everything the big kids are doing so you really have to keep your eye on him.

Logi and I floating on the Lazy River

Tyler with his cousins Walker and Carlee at Cherry Hill. Tyler loves older kids and it was fun for him to play with his cousins.

Idaho Falls

Tyler feeding the ducks. He thought this was great. We started out with two little ducks and pretty soon we were feeding the whole flock. Too bad we only brought two pieces of bread

The boys standing in front of the falls at the Greenbelt

We visited my dad at his office one day and Logan became a "Little Lawyer"

We spent one day up in Jackson Hole. Here is Tyler and Logan with Grandma and Grandpa taking the traditional picture in front of the antlers. The boys loved this park

Tyler helping Grandma wash her car.

The boys "helping" wash the car. I think they got more water on themselves than on the actual car

Logi must have been pretty worn out by all the excitement at Grandmas house because he fell asleep in the swing while I was pushing him one day

How can you not love that little face

Possibly Tylers favorite part of the whole trip. A ride on the four wheeler with Grandpa. Obviously he was pretty excited

Thanks for a fun trip. It was nice to spend time with you!

Big City Fun!

I must say that one of the perks about living in a big city is all the professional sports teams they have here. Rick and I have so much fun finding cheap tickets and taking advantage of all the games there are to go to. You might be thinking that we are supposed to be poor college students so we could never afford to go to these games but I tell ya, you wouldn't believe the deals you can get on these tickets. In the past couple of weeks we have been to two Arizona Cardinals preseason football games, one against the San Diego Chargers and the other against the Green Bay Packers, as well as an Arizona Diamondback game, against the Houston Astros. We got Cardinals tickets for $8 a seat and Diamondback tickets for $6 a seat! That is cheaper than going to the movies or bowling or whatever else we can think of. We have really been trying to take advantage of these last couple of weeks that Rick has off of school before he starts up another semester by getting out and doing fun things!

Rick and I at the Cardinals vs. Packers game. Obviously we got there plenty early. It really did fill up, it was a sold out game. We just like to watch the players warm up. Just a fun atmosphere! We really do have so much fun at these games! Go Cardinals!

Diamondback Game

The whole fam at the Diamondbacks game! We took the kids to this one and they loved it, especially Tyler. He really got a kick out of sitting in his own seat, eating a hot dog and cheering with all the other fans.

Rick and the boys enjoying the game. We get the cheapest tickets we can. So that means we sit way up high. We don't mind though. It is just fun to be there. More space for the kids to crawl around anyway.

Logan turns ONE!!!

Today Logan turned ONE!!! It doesn't seem like he has been here a whole year. I still think of him as a little baby, but he is growing up so fast and doing everything he can to keep up with his older brother. Logan is so sweet and so fun. My favorite thing about him is his smile. His whole face lights up. He gets so excited like he can hardly stand it. He is definetly a mamas boy and it makes me feel good that he is always so excited to see me and that he would prefer me over anyone else. We love Logan and love him in our family. Here are some pictures of his big day!

Daddy with the birthday boy


Mommy with the birthday boy

Tyler and I trying to get Logan excited about his presents. He didn't act too interested. Tyler was more than willing though to help Logan unwrap his gifts and I'm sure he was more excited about the toys than Logan was.

Logan playing with a new toy. He looks really thrilled!

Logan making a wish. It looks like whatever he is wishing for he really hopes that it will come true.

Logan digging in to the cake. He loves food. We lovingly call him "Jabba the Hut"

By the end of all that excitement he had had enough and he was going to let us know that he was not having fun anymore!

Happy Birthday Logan!!!