A little family va-ca!

As part of my bday present this year, Chris planned a little family vacation for us! We had not gone ANYWHERE all summer -- just a little hard with a new baby -- and we were itching to get out of town! So, we headed down south for a few days. We started off with a little shopping trip to one of my favorite stores that I never get to go to (since they don't have one in Utah), H&M, which was WONDERFUL! Chris was sooo good and just took the girls and told me to shop away! Not only was I at H&M, but I had NO kids! WOW! Pretty perfect!

We stopped on the way back to our hotel to check out the beautiful scenery and let Kaiya get out of the car for a bit and throw rocks -- still one of her favorite things! Then we headed over to our hotel to get settled in. The girls had so much fun at this "home away from home"! Kaiya immediately dumped out all of her books and made herself at home! We jumped on the bed, snuggled, and even popped popcorn! (oh my goodness, Tay's face in this one cracks me up! sometimes it's a bit scary when big sis is jumping on the bed!)We encountered a few hiccups -- like the fact that I realized I had forgotten my bag with all my "getting ready" stuff, but a quick trip to Wal-mart to get some essentials fixed that problem! (Mom, does that remind you of that trip we went on when I forgot my "caboodle" and I thought the world was ending, so we had someone ship it out to us! Luckily, I'm not quite so high-maintenance anymore -- hehe!) Or the fact that our girls would NOT sleep at night, even though they are normally amazing sleepers! Kaiya thought it was just WAY too fun to have mom and dad sleeping next to her, so she would talk and talk and laugh and squeal and throw things and not go to sleep, and therefore, woke Tay up every night! Ughhh! Luckily, they still were pretty happy during the days, though, so that was ok! Chris and I were a little sleep-deprived, though! But, oh well, you can't have a trip without a few hiccups, right?!

Our hotel had indoor and outdoor pools and since it was as hot as you can believe, we had a blast in the water and spent most of our time there over the next few days! Kaiya was in HEAVEN! And so was I, to be honest. I miss swimming soooo much! Growing up, we always had a pool, so I crave it every summer. I will never stop bugging Chris about having a pool, even though it is not very practical where we live! Anyway, Kaiya is such a fish and every time we had to leave, she had an absolute melt-down! She got really brave and went under a few times and was jumping off the sides and all! Nothing makes me happier than to hear her just laughing and having a blast! And Tay was so content to just hang out and watch or sleep! What a sweetie!We also did some hiking (more like walking, since we have the young-ens). We found a really beautiful trail that was shaded, thank goodness, and had great views!
Kaiya is sooo protective of her stroller these days! She no longer will sit in it, but has to push it around and don't even TRY to put your hand on it! If you do, she freaks! It's so funny! She is quite the strong-willed little determined two-year-old! She also loved chasing the millions of lizards and tried to run them over with her stroller! Silly girl!On our last day there, we went over to the temple and just hung out for awhile on the grounds. It was sooo nice to be there as a family and reflect on the blessings that have come into our lives because of that special place! We also met up with Chris' sister Ann and her new hubby, Brad (they happened to be down south at the same time) for some In-N-Out. YUM!

We had such a relaxing, fun little get-away. We didn't really have any plans or anything specific scheduled, which we determined is the BEST way to travel with little ones. We had to take some time out for naps and be aware of when the girls were at their limits in the car, etc. and it worked out so well to just be totally unstructured! We were laughing on the way home, though, that vacations are a whole new ballgame with little kids! You just don't do the same kinds of things as you did when it was just the two of you and everything takes sooo much more preparation and time! But in saying that, it is still SOOO much fun -- just a different kind of fun! And like I said, there really is NOTHING better than seeing your kiddies have so much fun and doing things that make them smile! That was my favorite part about the whole trip!

I'm so glad we were able to finally have a little get-away together and so grateful for my wonderful husband in always planning fun things for our family! It was a GREAT few days!