Trip To Meet Annie and Oliver

We were blessed in late March to have Annie and Oliver join our family. Calee and Tony welcomed these sweet babies into their lives and we were looking forward to meeting them. Unfortunately with my work schedule, pre-planned vacations, the boys school schedules and other commitments, we had to wait a while before we could get to CA to see the sweet bundles of joy. In mid August, Ricky had a trip planned with his cousin to go shoot night pictures at Arches National Park. I decided that I would take the boys to CA for a quick weekend trip to finally meet Annie and Oliver. 

We left Friday after school and headed straight for CA. We stopped for a quick dinner at In-N-Out near Palm Springs and headed straight to Calee’s house in La Habra from there. We got in just before the babies were going to bed so we go to hold and kiss them for the first time. Saturday we spent most of the day helping with and playing with the babies. They were precious! We went out for lunch to one of my favorite places - Mad Wolf Mongolian BBQ. Ricky and I used to go there fairly often when we lived in La Habra Heights…that was 14 years ago. I wanted to take the boys there and share that experience with them. Calee and Tony joined us and brought the babies. To my surprise, the place had totally been made over inside and it looked better than ever. It was also as good as I remember it being. Delicious! We certainly missed Ricky but glad he was having a good time with Tyler.

Saturday afternoon and evening we connected up with Tevye’s family so the cousins could all play together. They had such a wonderful time and the boys couldn’t be happier. It was so fun for all of us to get to visit and be with each other. Grammy also came to Calee’s house so she could visit as well. Sunday morning we started our trek back home to AZ but first had a quick breakfast detour to Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. We walked through the shops to burn a little energy before jumping in the car for our drive home. It was a quick trip but so fun! The boys were pretty well behaved and made the drive an easy one. We missed Ricky and we were happy to get home and squeeze him. We already miss Annie and Oliver and look forward to seeing them again shortly!

Dinner stop at In-N-Out

Logan, Annie, Lincoln

Lincoln holding Annie

Logan holding Annie

Selfies certainly do a good job of entertaining children. Oliver, Logan and I had a good time taking silly pictures. 

Lincoln, Oliver and Logan

The boys at my favorite Mongolian BBQ in La Habra

Inside looks much different, and way better, than when we used to go there ten plus years ago.

Delicious. We still talk about the famous hot pocket bread from the sun. 

The boys seemed to love it. Like mother like son...he stuffed his noodles in the hot pocket like I do.

Annie and Oliver

Grammy and the boys

Cousins! Logan, Lincoln, Danica, Caden and Vance

Downtown Disney visit.

Breakfast at Rainforest Cafe.

Lego friends

A Hole In My Leg

In July while in Idaho, we made a trip down to Salt Lake to visit a plastic surgeon. Ricky and I both had some moles on our faces that we wanted removed. While there, the doctor who is Kristin Phillips' brother, also told me he could treat my spider veins. Thanks to mom, I have inherited spider veins. I've had many of them my whole teenage and adult life. I was so excited to finally get rid of some of them. I had six treated including one small one on my right calf. When the needle was injected in that one, it hurt. The others hadn't hurt. I wore compression socks for two weeks to help with healing. Within a day it started to bruise and then as time went on, it because darker and eventually it was a large open wound. I was taking pictures to send to the doctor and what we believe happened is that some of the medicine didn't go into the vein so it instead killed the surrounding tissue instead. It was ugly and painful and has now left me with a significant scar that I am hoping will one day go away. I guess the good news is that because I have a scar you can't see my spider vein! I'm sure I would continue to get treatments but this sure makes me evaluate which ones really need treatment. Warning: gross pictures below.

Congratulations Natalee & Toby

Aunt Natalee and Toby tied the knot on Wednesday, August 9th in San Diego. Since the boys were in school, and it was a tough time for me to take work off, we jetted to San Diego on Tuesday after the boys got out of school and headed home Wednesday evening before the festivities were even over. We got to be there for all of the important parts....family pictures at the temple and the ring ceremony at the Prado that evening, that all the nieces and nephews were a part of.

This will be picture overload but I think they capture the day better than I could in words. The venue was beautiful, the couple seemed very happy and the boys thought it was worth missing a day of school so it all turned out to be a good thing that we went. We are very happy for Toby and Natalee and hope the best and happiness for them in the future.

On the flight to San Diego, before take off, the pilots let Logan go in the cockpit with them. They let him push buttons and he even got to say "hi, mom!" over the intercom for us all to hear. He was super excited because his new thing is that he wants to be a pilot. He thought he was pretty special, and he is!

The flight was only about 45-50 minutes so the boys were easily entertained by their iPads and made the trip just fine. They love getting to pick and drink and have the snack...even though we brought our own snacks. The tiny pretzels from the airlines seem to more appealing. 

 Since brother got to go in before the flight, the pilot let them both go in after the flight. He was such a nice guy. He showed them what all the buttons do, he added hydraulics so when they tried to steer it actually felt real, he let them do flight status simulations where the computer told them things like, pull up - terrain ahead, like they had seen in the Sully movie. He made the fire alarm sound so they could hear what sounded like for the pilots. He really went above and beyond to teach them and they loved every second of it. I think he spent about ten or more minutes with them before I pulled them out to leave. Such a kind thing for Southwest to do and such wonderful memories for the boys. 

Logan was showing the pilot his Southwest plane that he brought with him specifically because we were flying on Southwest. 

 Cousin Nolan and Logan really hit it off, as they did on our Aspen Grove trip a couple years ago. Nolan came to our hotel room for a bit on Wednesday morning to play with the boys before we had to go to the temple. 

 At the temple, Ricky holding baby Maren, Lincoln, Logan and Nolan all holding hands. 

 I always say that Logan looks the most like his cousin Ashlee. They are also both a ton of fun and a bit silly. 

 This pose was 100% their doing. I just had to capture it. 

 Brothers are best friends. 

 Logan (7), Lincoln (9), Nolan (6), Nathan (9)

 All the Phillips cousins minus some of the older kids.

 Logan was trying to entertain Blake to keep him happy.

 I wasn't sure what the girls were so interested in but I had to capture the huddle.

 Mary took a turn entertaining Blake.

These two were buddies the entire day.

 Family picture...yes, we all have cool sunglasses.

 Tutu and Lincoln

 Lincoln was being so sweet, and he's always so handsome, I had to get a selfie with him.

 Toby and Natalee

 Too cool for school

 Grandma Tutu with the boys at the temple.

 The Diet Coke with a nice touch.

 Phillips siblings plus Toby.

 Uncle Spencer helping to get some of the boys energy out by wrestling with them on the grass. 

Since were were so close, between the temple and the evening festivities, we ate lunch at Phil's Bbq with JJ and Jennifer and their kids. 

The cake looked beautiful but unfortunately we had to leave before they cut it so I don't know how it tasted. 

 Esme (7), Sadie (7), Logan (7), Leah (7), Erica (9)

 Lincoln and Logan were bell ringers. They got to walk in ringing bells and stand at the front with the other groomsmen. 

 Toby and Natalee at the head table.

Turns out we were all still so stuffed from lunch that none of us could actually eat our dinner.