After Christmas and New Years

The day after Christmas is was time to make good on some of Travis' IOU's. We headed to San Tan mall and Trav braved the Apple store while I took the boys to get some gelato. I have wanted to try Frost for forever! The hazelnut didn't disappoint, but next time I'd rather not have a stomach full of Gecko Grill when I eat it! Soooo full. 

We left San Tan with a happy man. I think his I-pad purchase rates up there with his first I-phone and  flat screen TV. Scooper exciting!

We hustled the boys into the car and hit the road to pick up Olive at my mom's house. We had gone a couple of miles on busy, main roads when I heard Weston cry out that he wanted a drink. I turned to hand him his waterbottle and did a half-mouth gape when he wasn't there. I flipped around to see both boys nonchalantly chillin' in the back seat. What the $%@! Trav and I each had thought the other one buckled them in. Guess not. Good parent awards >>>> us.

Our whole family decided to meet at San Tan Flats for dinner that night. It's quite a drive to the boonies, but I was so excited to finally be going to a place I'd heard so much about! You order inside, but the seating is outside, situated around a small stage and dance floor. There are fire pits everywhere to warm up on and roast mallows. I LOVED it all!! Yummy steaks, live country music and dancing! Jeffy even honored me with a slow dance. This place is so fun!

Reece's S'more, get in my belly!

The next morning, we met up with Reddin, Karen and their girls for a little hike. "Little" my hiney. Now, I WAS offered a choice, but I felt like choosing the one miler was a cop out, so we picked the 1.7 miler, each way. Olive screamed the first quarter mile. Love me some nursing on the trail. At least Collin was a mountain goat. That boy can hike. He was in the lead the whole time, then practically ran down afterward. I was as cranky as a rattlesnake by the time we were fairly close to the top. Problem was, we were "almost there" for 45 min. 

I feel pretty sheepish complaining now! My pack mule was the one who should have been complaining!

All in all, I'm glad we did it and got to spend some time with the Evans. Maybe next time, I'll just take the cop out hike. :)

After the hike I ran around doing some mad errands, before picking up this cutie for a night out. 

About a year ago we went out to dinner, just the two of us, and I loved it. It's taken a whole year to do it again. We got some sushi at RA, then blizzards at DQ. I love my big family. My parents have sacrificed their money, physical and emotional health to raise us, and I'll be forever grateful. Jefferson is a one of a kind. He was meant for great things. I'm so glad we got to have some one on one time. Our talks are my favorite and I'm so glad he puts up with me! :)

Saturday morning, we finally made it happen!! Our second, Tempe town lake, family bike ride! Paula watched Olive and we borrowed some bikes and a trailer for the boys. The weather was gorgeous and the views... well, we have some great behinds! :)

We rode a mile into Tempe and got 5 Guys for lunch. It was such a blast! I'm so glad my mom had the idea. It was a great morning!

That night was Paula's birthday party! For quite a while now, she has hosted a Bunco party to celebrate. Now that Trevor is married, we tipped in numbers over 12, so we added an extra table and got some more people to join us. Marcie was one of them! On zero notice she came over to fill in our last spot. It was a really fun night!

Sunday night it was time to head home. One week off of work without pay was about as much as we could manage. I thought I'd be ready to go home, but I for sure WASN'T!! It was non-stop good times and I was fighting sad and lonely feelings driving away. I wished we had planned to stay for New Years. :(

So it's a good thing for friends, or else I probably would've cried myself to sleep on New Year's Eve!

I got all the fixings for sushi and invited the Shaheen's over and a new couple, Adam and Samantha, that we hadn't met yet. I was good friend's with Samantha's aunt in Farmington, so she was the one that told me her niece had just moved to Gallup. We thought it would be a fun night to get to know them! 

Now, we've made sushi in the past, but this time I wanted to kick it up a notch. I want the deep fried sushi. I read up about it online and bought the tempura batter and panko crumbs. I also bought a few new ingredients to make the rice with. While I was watching YouTube videos about how to do it, I kept thinking that this probably wasn't going to work out. It just always looks easier when someone else is doing it. And this didn't even look easy then! But miracle of miracles!!! It worked!! I was a little dumbfounded and then supremely excited! I LOVE good sushi!!

The Wilke's left a little after 10pm to get their kids to bed, but the Shaheen's stayed to ring in the New Year. What on earth will 2014 bring?!

New Year's day I essentially slept until 1pm while Trav wrangled the kids. Then he slept all afternoon while we cleaned! Collin usually fights me when it comes to chores, but this time he was on board! And he was actually really helpful! (Weston... not so much... but of well.) 

Together, we took down all the Christmas decorations, put them away, dusted, cleaned, finished unpacking from our trip, got the kitchen looking awesome, and picked up the whole house! It felt soooooo good. We worked from 1-8pm. Decorating for Christmas is so much fun, but I think taking it down and starting fresh is even better.

Of course, one thing had to stay up.... I absolutely LOVE Christmas cards. So I'm keeping my friends and family around for a while longer. After all, it gets kind of lonely out here. :)