2-year molars

I think that's what these teeth are called that are turning my sweet little boy in to a hellian.

This week has been a rough one. {although today has been much better.} Nate has been in so much pain with these teeth!

- His hands live in the back of his mouth and he tells me it hurts all day long.
- He asks for medicine to help it feel better. He's trying to open the tylonel himself in the photo above.
- He cries and cries and nothing that I try will soothe him.
- He can't sleep.
- He's just mean.

I don't blame him. I feel really bad he's in this much pain. While most of his teeth have bothered him as they come in - nothing has been like this. One popped through yesterday . . . three more to go. :)

On a HAPPY note, thanks to Kiley . . . Nate peed in the potty today for the first time! He's shown interest lately but has yet to actually pee. But he did today. Thanks Kiley!

One of my FAVORITE things? The Nordstrom Sale.

I don't get to go to Nordstrom very often - but I never miss their anniversary sale. Luckily my mom and Sam invited me to join them last Saturday for lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe and then a little shopping afterward. An afternoon out with my mom & sisters having lunch and going shopping is up there with one of my favorite things to do!

The Nordstrom shoe department is by far the best for my big ol' feet. I always hit the jackpot with size 11 flats and this year was no exception. It was fun to have a carefree afternoon with the girls. I need to do that more often.

Aloha!

We had a perfect trip to Maui! We relaxed at the pool. Swam in the ocean. Went on a canoe ride. Played tennis. Walked on the beach almost every morning. Went out to eat without any kiddos. Enjoyed time with friends. Got a massage. Laughed. Slept. Ate shaved ice. Had a plate of yummy Hawaiian fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. It was fabulous.




One of the first things we did was go on a canoe ride with Dave & Lisa. We left right from the beach at our hotel and two guys take you out and teach you about Hawaii and the ocean. Right off the beach of our hotel is what I call "turtle town". There are turtles everywhere! The water is so clear that you can see the coral reefs all the way at the bottom. It's about 30 feet deep where they took us and one of our canoe guides dove down to the bottom and brought up a few different creatures. He found a few different urchins - one of which, the pencil urchin, is on Wes' head. It's a great morning out on the water and we always learn something new!





There is a great path along the beach that stretches miles and miles down the coast of Wailea. I loved walking every morning, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Here are a few pictures I took one morning. While the weather was decent - it was a little windy and overcast a few days.



While we thought we'd be super adventurous this trip - we stayed pretty low key. Ever since we had Nate, we cherish our time to relax! Plus, the hotel we stay in {the Kae Lani} is absolutely beautiful so you never feel like you have to leave the pool or the private beach.

We did a lot of swimming & laying out on our chairs chatting or reading books . . . almost always with a banana coconut smoothie in hand!





Here's my view from my lounge chair . . .



Here's a glimpse in to the Kae Lani Resort. It's beautiful. All of the rooms are suites so you feel like you're in your own apartment with amazing service. Nothing beats the service at a nice hotel. One of my favorite things on vacation is to sit by a pool and relax and have food and drinks brought right to me!



While we're in Hawaii, Wes has one short meeting and then all of the guys play golf that day so I have one day on my own with the girls! Wes also played another round at the Plantation Golf Course so I was able to plop down and read alot.

Surprisingly, the Jeep Wrangler was pretty cheap to rent for the week so we went for it! {Laurel P., I had to re-live our day on Oahu with our cute yellow Jeep!}. I have to say it made driving around the island much more enjoyable than being in a regular car.



One night we took a drive to the other side of the island to spend the evening in Lahaina. We ate dinner and walked around and had a nice evening out with the two of us. The sunset was pretty cool that night & of course we found an icecream parlour.



There are a few avid tennis players in our group so Wes and I were able to pick up a racket and play. We haven't played since our Hawaii 2008 trip so we pretty much SUCK at tennis. But it was fun to actually play and maybe when Vegas doesn't feel like an oven anymore, we'll start playing more!

One of my favorite things about being on a vacation without kids is being able to enjoy eating out again! I love the freedom of doing what you want, when you want. We ate some delicious food while we were there! Towards the end of our trip, we drove to Mama's Fish House. It's a well-known restaurant near Hana on Maui. It's a little fancier than Wes and I are used to so it's a nice treat. While the food was good, the scenery is my favorite part. It literally sits right on the beach and it's beautiful.




On our last day {which is really just the morning because our plane left around noon}, we go over to Makena Beach just down from our hotel as well as eat breakfast at the Golf Course across the street.

Here's our view from breakfast . . .




And here's Makena Beach . . .

Oooohh, it was fun.

I have to give a big thanks to Wes' bosses. They are the ones who make this trip happen every year. They take a group of us as a "thanks for all you do" type of a trip and it's so generous of them to pay for all of us to have such a nice vacation! It's also kinda fun being there with so many people that you know. You have plenty of opportunity to do your own thing but there are lots of people to go out and do things with if you want some company. It's a perfect mix for us & we lucked out that Wes works with some pretty cool people!

Also, have to thank my parentals because we wouldn't have had a kid-free trip without them! They are always so willing to adjust their schedules to spend time with the Naters. Nate adores them and I know he had a blast with Grandma and Papa John. They had a blast with Nate, too! Thanks mom and dad. We really appreciate it!

We're back from paradise

We are back from our week in Hawaii! We're slowly adjusting to reality - so it may take me a few days to post about our trip - but I had to post about Nate.

Wes and I were curious to see how Nate would react to seeing us again. He's at an age where he can definitely ask for mom and dad but doesn't understand that we're just going on vacation and we'll be back for him.

We walked in to my parent's house yesterday morning and as soon as he saw us, he couldn't get the grin off his face. He kept saying daddy over and over again while running around the house soooo excited. It was nice to know he was glad to see us! Nate and my mom started showing us all of his new tricks . . .

- He can sing part of "Happy Birthday to you . . ". She's getting him ready for his birthday party but apparently he'd rather wish Abbie a happy birthday!

- George, his stuffed monkey, now wears a diaper just like Nate.

- My mom always teaches him new cheers/sayings. This time it's a chant for an i-cone. It goes like this . . . "I-cone. I-cone. ra, ra, ra". See the video.

- He says "no way - jose". But it sounds more like "no way - horsie."

- Nate is very aware of names. He knows that his dad's name is Wes. His mom's name is Lindsay. And after hearing my mom call my dad John over and over, he knows Papa's name is John. He struggled to take a nap yesterday {which never happens} so after he said, "mama - where are you?" over and over and I didn't go in for him, he started saying, "Papa John, where are you?" over and over. That one made me laugh out loud.

He was extremely happy yesterday - I tried to get him to do all of his new tricks on video but it didn't exactly happen. But I at least captured his goofy personality!

Musette Bracelet GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

ooohhhh, i'm a jewelry lover.

4th of July at the cabin

We had a great 4th of July weekend at the cabin with my family. Ever since I was teeny-tiny my family has gone on an annual summer vacation. This long weekend at the cabin was our trip this year! I think we'll go to the cabin most of the time and every few years we'll change it up and go somewhere different.

It was fun to have everyone under one roof for a few days. That's my favorite part about family vacations - cramming everyone in and being together all of the time! It makes it fun for the adults and for the little cousins to play and play and play some more.

Memories of this trip . . .

- Wes & Sam sleeping out on the deck every night. Having air mattresses and beds out there came in handy when Sam and I were ready for our afternoon nap! It was perfect to catch some zzzzz's outside.

- Nate saying "chill out - Sam" when she was annoyed that we woke her up in the morning.

- Tripp's delicious dutch oven cooking.

- Watching alot of tennis {Wimbledon} and loving it. In the final where Roddick played Federer, my mom kept yelling "go Andy!" and she tried to get Nate to do the same. At one point, Nate looked at all of us, threw his hand in the air and said "go Nate!"

- My dad bought 4-wheelers and a mule so we had them at our disposal the entire trip. It was great! Nate and Abbie LOVED riding on the 4-wheeler. Nate had his helmet and his goggles on - he thought he was pretty cool.

- Renting a pontoon boat on Panguitch Lake to do some fishing. Sam, Wes & my dad left at 6am to try to catch some fish but they didn't have very good luck. The rest of us joined them around 10am for more fishing and some time on the lake!

- Actually being able to celebrate the 4th of July. I swear Wes and I are always traveling on that day.

- The Fireman's breakfast on the morning of the 4th. Nate loved riding on the firetruck with Abbie & Uncle Tripp. Grandma even managed to let him get a ride with the driver in the cab of the firetruck. He loved it!

- Being able to spend time with our good friends, The Earls.

- The Duck Creek parade on the night of the 4th. Abbie, Nate, Papa & I rode on the back of a truck in the parade. Abbie & Nate enjoyed throwing candy to everybody!

- Watching Nate remain obsessed with his big cousin, Abbie. He called her name the entire time we were there. The three little ones had a good time together!

- Papa let Nate "drive" almost everything while we were up there. Now that we're back, we are constantly reminding him that he rides in a car seat!

- The little guys love their aunt Sam.

- Give Nate some rocks and he's a happy dude. Another reason why he loves the mountains. There's definitely not a shortage of rocks.

- Time around the fire pit making smores.

- Lots of quality time with grandparents.

- Papa played the role of a bear on the deck. Sam had all of the kids crawl in to her sleeping bag to hide from Papa the Bear and then he'd scare them in there. They laughed and laughed for quite a while with this game.

- Teaching my family how to play The Great Dalmuti, a card game. My dad immediately got the nickname of Serena which I won't even try to explain on the blog. By the end, I think they all liked it.

I've always been more of a beach girl than a mountain girl. But I have to say the mountains are growing on me . . . we always have a great time. Thanks Marz clan!