Fun in the Sun!

Ahhh, the SUN! No, not the non-existent warmth here in Utah, the warmth, humidity, and sunshine of California! What a nice escape my trip to Palm Springs was. Sure, there was stress, and I was in a lot of pain through most of the trip, but being with my Tiny, her boyfriend, and 2 of my dearest friends outweighed all of that! I shall now share with you the details of Isabelle's first vacation!!

Thursday, May 12th- I scrambled around like a mad woman trying to get everything ready for Izzy and I to leave the next morning. Eric, my rock, took the day off work to stay home and help me get ready! THANK THE LORDS OF KOBAL for amazing husbands!!! He took the car to get cleaned, and lubed, and the tires rotated. He then came home and helped me calm down and go shopping. That evening he went to Hale and I went to OBT, which naturally means I got absolutely no packing done! Brilliant!

Lucky Friday the 13th- I get up early so I can shower and finish all of the packing. Luckily, Tiny slept through all the noise I was making in her room! I got everything finished and somehow ended up with 700lbs of luggage. I still don't know what took up so much room! I felt stupid for having packed so much stuff but Sunny gave me a "get out of jail free" card since it was my first time traveling with a baby...but she did make fun of me, which I'm pretty sure was warranted! Kori, Logan, and Sunny got to my house, we packed up, and headed out. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast-which was delicious- and then we were on our way to Cedar City. The babies did really well until about 15 minutes before we stopped. (That was kind of their pattern for the whole trip. It didn't matter how long we'd been traveling, about 15 minutes before we got there they'd both go crazy. I think they knew what was coming and just couldn't wait to get out of the car.) We stopped at "The Pastry Pub" in Cedar City to eat some delicious lunch and see Kori and Sunny's family. Then we took the kids to the Discovery Park to ware them out, which was effective! Isabelle LOVED the swings. I've taken her to the park a few times but she's always just swung with me. This was her first time in a baby swing all by herself. She was crazy about it, I think I could've left her there all day. After we went down some slides and finished "discovering" the park we were ready to leave for Vegas. The kiddos we asleep before we even left the parking lot! We got to Vegas, checked into our lovely hotel room, and headed out to find food and show Vegas to our babies...and Kori who hadn't been there for a long time! We ate in Caesers Palace. I had some AMAZING calamari. Seriously, I would drive back to Vegas right now just to get some! After food we went to the Bellagio. They have a cool butterfly exhibit right now and of course we saw the fountains. Tiny loved watching the fountains. The kids were over-stimulated and ready for sleep when we got back! They both slept really well that night which was wonderful!

Saturday May 14th- Monday May 16th -We drove for what seemed like an eternity. It was only a 4 hour drive but it seemed like we were never going to get there. We stopped once for lunch at Panda Express and one other time to change baby diapers. After a long, windy drive we were finally in California. The property was beautiful and we were all so happy to finally be there. The days that followed were full of swimming, eating, relaxing, watching Tangled and being girls! Sunny prepared a bunch of delicious and healthy meals for our trip. It was so nice to have proof that you can eat healthy and it can still taste amazing! THANK YOU SUNNY!!! The swimming pool at this property was really neat. Tiny and Logan had a really fun time in the pool and it always wore them out, which was really nice. We even got to take them down the water slide...so fun!!! Our last night there we got all dressed up to go into Palm Springs, which didn't exactly work out like we had planned but we still had some yummy Mexican food and got to see a little bit of the cute Palm Springs strip. Getting ready to go though, was so much fun!! Sunny plucked my eyebrows and did my make-up. I felt so pretty (she did a really great job) and for the first time ever I got to do girl things with girls. I can't even express how thrilled I was and how happy I felt. I'm so lucky to have Sunny and Kori in my life...I really feel like I've found girls that I can be friends with forever, which is something I didn't know if I'd ever find.

Tuesday May 17th- Time to go home! We were definitely sad to be leaving the warm but I think we were all ready to get home to our boys. Originally, we weren't sure what we were thinking traveling with two teething babies but it turns out, at least for me, that missing my boy was harder than traveling with Tiny. Tiny and Logan were actually really really really good, we got very lucky I think. Anyways, so we decided to drive straight home rather than stopping for the night in Vegas or Cedar. We stopped for lunch at In and Out (which was much more of a novelty before they were in Utah) and at Kori and Sunny's Aunt's house in Cedar to give the kids a break from the car. We made it home around 1am and 3 very happy men rejoiced!!!

All in all, I think the trip was a huge success. I don't know if Kori and Sunny feel the same, especially because they had to be around me for the bit of a meltdown I had, crying over spilled milk....quite literally! But I love them both, and little Logan, SO much!!! I loved our girls trip, the good and the bad. I loved being with my Sunny, whom I adore, and getting to know and love Kori! I loved traveling with Tiny and realizing that I can survive a vacation with her! I love eating healthy food. I loved swimming! I loved driving and talking with the girls about everything under the sun. I loved BEING IN THE SUN! I loved our power walk and our "getting lost adventure" to Palm Springs. I loved feeling loved and accepted.
I'm so very grateful to Sunny for being willing to do so much to make this vacation possible! I'm thankful that she wanted to spend a few days with me and Izzy. I'm so so glad that she's my friend, I don't know what I'd do without her. And I'm SUPER thankful that Kori was so willing to sit in the back with the babies and keep them happy. (Which I hope really was the case. I tried to give you an out Kor, and you said you were fine so...I hope that was true and that you don't hate me because you had to feed my baby and keep her smiling!) Kori was amazing with the kids and they loved having her back there. I'm so glad that she was willing to accept me and treat me like one of the sisters! I'm so grateful to both of them for making me feel incredible loved. For teaching me new things and correcting my mistakes. For laughing with me and at me. For sharing things with me and listening to my feelings. You girls are amazing and I love you more than I could ever say!!!
I'm also very thankful to Logan and Isabelle for being such happy travel companions. Thank you babies, for being good, smiling lots, and making us happy. Thank you for not making us stop every 10 minutes and for giving us an awesome excuse to have Tangled constantly playing in the background. Thank you for being such beautiful, wonderful children. And a special thanks to my Tiny...thank you baby for being such a joy! Mommy got very frustrated with you a couple of times but all in all you were a delight. Thanks for sitting and playing by yourself sometimes. Thanks for eating whatever I give to you and for sleeping through the night. Thanks for being so smiley for pictures and giving mommy kisses. You're such a sweet girl and I love you more than everything!!
And thank you to my Eric. Thanks for giving us up for a few days so we could go play in the sun. Thanks for helping me get ready and saying up til 3am chatting with me when I got back. Thanks for being supportive and encouraging me when I wasn't sure I could make this vacation happen. Thanks for loving me and Tiny!!!

Playing catch up!

Well, it has been some days since I have posted on this here bloggy, so I thought I'd best get all caught up.

Things are going just fine for the Armstrong's. Eric and I had our 3rd Anniversary on 4-23 and it was wonderful. We had auditions for, "Kung Fooey", (the show that we're directing this summer at OBT) in the morning and they went great. We had lots of talented people and called almost everyone back! Then we dropped Tiny off at my Aunt Kim's house and Eric and I met Sunny at the Courtyard Marriott in Salt Lake. She was nice enough to check us in so that we could get a super discounted room. I'll be honest....she's kind of the most awesome person ever. So we chatted with sunshine for a bit and then went to get some snacks for the night. We decided while we were out that we might as well get dinner since it was a Saturday night and places would fill up fast. We ended up having our romantic dinner at "The Tin Angel". SUCH a charming little place. The food was wonderful, exotic, and not so expensive that we broke the bank but just pricey enough to feel like we were celebrating!! We had 3 tapas (2 bite plates) 1.) Prosciutto wrapped shrimp 2.) Delicious bread with oil and balsamic vinegar and 3.) Flank steak skewers with an apricot chutney. MMM! We also got the fancy version on french fries, baked fingerling potatoes with their house aioli. DELICIOUS! For dinner Eric got the duck with Israeli couscous and I got some sort of amazing chicken with a lemon caper sauce over fresh pasta! And we shared a caramelized pear tart brulee for dessert! It was incredible food!!! Anyways, then we went back to the hotel and DID NOT wait 30 minutes before swimming. Although, in our defense, we didn't really swim so much as we just sat in the hot tub....for a long time! Then we went on to do other things that I don't think anyone really wants to hear about. Then I got a some pains and ruined the rest of the night. :-( Lame Kia! So Eric ate the snacks by himself and I think watched part of "The Ten Commandments". I dunno!
The next day was Easter....I felt bad not being with Tiny on her very first Easter but I figured of all of them to be away for this one would be the best because she wouldn't remember it, so she spent the day with my Aunt Kim and her family. Eric and I soaked in the hot tub, had an amazing lunch, and went to see African Cats with Sunny and Rusty. The movie was kind of awesome actually! Rusty HATED it though. He said it was the single worst thing he'd ever seen! Yeah...he's super dramatic but we still felt bad for dragging him to it. I have to be honest though, I never in a million years would've guessed that the reason Rusty would hate that movie was because it was too sad! Poor Rusty is a little to sensitive to watch Big Kitty's suffer...and who can blame him?? Oh, we love those two, they're good quality people and wonderful friends!!

We went and got Tiny that night, unfortunately she was a little bit sick so she wasn't great for Kim like I was hoping she would be. Guess we're gonna have to find someone else to watch her next time. Ugh! BEHAVE CHILD! It's just too hard to predicted babies!!!

Well, its now May 6th, so, I started writing this post 8 days ago! Now there is so much more to catch up on and I feel overwhelmed by it all so...I'll catch you up REALLY fast.
We cast our show! Yay! We have a wonderful cast (we think...) and we can't wait to put this show together. We cast Scott Butler, Jake Miskimins, Matt Glade, Jesse Curran, Eric Jensen, Clarence Strohn, Angie DeGrazio, Sara Higgins, Dru Watts, Nic, Brown, Sunny Simkins, Sandy Jensen, Annalise Karr, and Patrick Alderman. I know some of those names don't mean anything yet, but they will very soon! We started choreography for the show and the cast is doing remarkably well with it! THANK THE LORD'S OF KOBOL!!!

Eric's show is going really well. He's still having a lot of fun and doing lots of guy bonding! It was pie night last night which means they're half way done! YAY!!! We'll see if I ever let him do this again! ;-) I actually love watching him perform, it makes me all sorts of happy! I'm so proud to be married to such a talented guy!

Isabelle is growing like a weed. She gets more personality everyday and I love it! She's getting to be so much fun. She's a wiggle worm which I'm trying to encourage into something productive but she'd rather just lay on her back and wiggle her hips. Silly baby! She eats anything I put in her mouth and doesn't think its acceptable for me to eat something and not share with her. She's a very happy baby and I love her a lot!

Isabelle and I are leaving for Palm Springs next week....SO EXCITED!!!! We're going on a "relaxing and rejuvenating" vacation with Sunny, Kori, and Logan. It SHOULD be a lot of fun, as long as the kiddos behave. We're going to be gone for 6 days stopping in Vegas on the way there and the way back. I can hardly stand the waiting! I want it to be right now!!!!!! Although, it'll the the first time since Eric and I got married that we have gone more than 1 night without each other. It's going to be strange to be away from him for so long. But I'm sure he'll be SUPER productive at home and get a lot done so the house looks great and the dog smells better when I get home! ;-)

There's my attempt at playing catch up. Hope it was semi-informative and slightly entertaining! I shall end this post with a picture of my messy faced Tiny in her sink bath this morning! She loves the water!!!!