A surprise weekend getaway!

For our Labor Day weekend we were headed to Picayune because Lance was on call. Or so I thought! (and it was totally fine with me because we'd been locked up all week in our house due to Hurricane Isaac). So anyway, Lance had taken that Friday off because he had worked so many hours during the week, that he actually had to. The hurricane really kept him away from home.

 

He got up early to go work out, I finished packing, then started nagging him by text to get home cause, "we needed to get on the road so Layla and I would make it to our dentist appointments!" He finally gets home and is in no hurry to get going. So once again, "Babe! We really need to get going! I don't want to be late for our appointments!"

 

He just smiled and said, "Ah yeah, about that. You don't have a dentist appointment this morning, I cancelled it and rescheduled it for another day." Then he proceeds to say, "But we still need to get on the road, make sure you have your swimsuits packed and towels." So now I'm thinking, "where the heck are we going?" (because he wouldn't tell me) "do I have everything we need?" "do I have the right clothes for certain occasions we may be going on?" "what about the kids clothes?!!!!" I was kind of a nervous wreck.

 

He assured me that I had packed perfectly, and we'd all be just fine. Afterall, we wouldn't be to far away from a Wal-Mart if we needed something. I thought, "Fewww... at least we'll be close to civilization!"

 

So here's the rest of the story in Instagrams...

(sorry for those who follow me on instagram, I know you've already seen the pics!)

 

 

 1. All snuggled up, having no clue where we're going

2. First stop: Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits

3. Still not sure where we're going

4. Destination: Destin, FL (our cute little beach house)

5. Layla and I on the beach

6. Marx and I on a walk (he was pointing to the ocean)

7. Marx alseep @ the beach

8. Aquarium at Bass Pro Shop

9. Shopping @ Destin Commons

 

 

1. Splash pad at Destin Commons

2. Cute little beach bum

3. Fireworks @ the Harbor Walk

4. Layla building her bear with Uncle Greg

5. Layla with her bear, "Ally"

6. Goat ridin, as Layla calls it

7. More goat riding

8. Leaving Florida

9. Our exhausted kids!

The weekend before all of this, I had kind of got on Lance's case for poor date planning. We had needed a date so badly, and he made all the plans last minute.
I am not a last minute girl!
I love plans!!

So I have to say, he totally redeemed himself with this getaway!
Destin is special to us, it's where he proposed to me 6 years ago, so of course,
it's always so nice to go back.
I just fell in love with him over and over again on the trip.
It brought back so many great memories!
 

Greg and Amanda, (brother and sister-in-law) and my wonderful in-laws also made this trip with us. We had so so much fun with them. And now we're thinking we'll make it a yearly tradition!

Thanks ya'll for the great time!



the oven box

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Picayune.

Lance was on call, so we just spent the whole weekend there.

It was nice to have a little break, while Layla played with Grandpa, Grandma, and her Aunts and Uncles.

Preston had bought Sue a new oven, and she insisted on keeping the box for Layla to play house in.

It was a hit!

Uncle Brad cut out all the windows and the door, and that's all that needed to be done to entertain her for a whole weekend.

She'd pull anyone in there at any chance she could get to read books with her.

Thanks Grandma! Great idea!

 {grandma also bought her markers, as you can see by looking at that mark on her face}

Global Wildlife Center

If you live in the south, I strongly suggest you take your kids to

click here---> Global Wildlife Center<---click here

Our kids had so much fun.

Heck, so did the adults.

And it even poured down rain on us.

They take you on a Safari Wagon Tour

and give you food to feed all the animals.

And then the rains came.

Misty said, "If we were in Utah right now, we'd be freezing our butts off."

We were all soaked.

The ride home was hilarious.
Sela's poor head just swayed back and forth.

The Beginning

Yesterday was the beginning of a long day! Daddy woke us at 3:30AM, we left the house by 4:30AM, arrived at the airport at 5:30AM, and caught our flight by 6:25AM.

Wheww..

We landed in Salt Lake City at 9:05AM and were greeted by Grandma Chivers and Aunt Kennedy!

Then it began!

We shopped ALL day for Aunt Catlin's wedding this weekend. And no, I'm not complaining. Layla and I both love to shop, but when you've only had 4 hours of sleep it's a little exhausting.

We literally shopped till we dropped...

and finally made it to hometown around 9:30PM.

So far so good.

Layla slept great last night and has adjusted to everything perfectly. But we both miss daddy so so much. She'll wonder around the house saying, "Daaa, Daaa..?" Poor thing.

Thank goodness for Skype!

We miss you Daddy!

XoXo

Pensacola

On Thursday we packed up and headed east to Pensacola, Flordia. Our friends, Anthony and Jenny, were getting married and we just couldn't miss out on that special time in their lives. And since Lance was in the wedding, we really couldn't miss it. It made for a great get away together before Layla and I head out west for a month.

This little girl was an angel on the trip there and back.

As for the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and wedding, well...

I could just kick myself, here's why:

I packed my big nice camera, thinking, "I'm going to get some wonderful pictures of this wedding and everything else that we do in Florida!" But no! That was not the case. Have you ever taken a 14 month old to a rehearsal dinner and a wedding? There was absolutely no time for picture taking. And there was no way I could haul that thing around along with my purse and her gigantic diaper bag that had everything in it that you can think of. Which by the way, items did not entertain her at all!

So no, I didn't get ANY pictures of how beautiful Jenny looked and how proud Anthony looked as she walked down the isle. Or pictures of the great time at the reception... oh wait, I ran after Layla the whole time with the most uncomfortable heels on. What was I thinking wearing those heels? Oh, that's right, they were so dang cute with my dress...

{Sigh...}

I really do love my child but,

note to self: a rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, and wedding reception is no place for a 14 month old, that wants to get into anything and EVERYTHING!

On a much happier memory..

Her and her daddy loved the pool at our hotel!

I forgot swim suits, hence the reason for just her little swimmer.

Really? What was I thinking? We were in Florida!

We all know what this face is!

I love how she's resting her arm on his shoulder and letting her hand hang there. She really does think she's all grown up...

...But really, she's still her daddy's little girl.

And of course she had an appetite after all the swimming. The fruit loops were her favorite! Probably since it was her first time having them.

She loves to share.

We are not taking it for granted.

Our Vacation w/ an Amazing Surprise!

Warning: Picture Overload!

What a week we had! It was so fun and exciting. To start off, last weekend I had a pretty rough weekend being away from home and family on Easter. Homesick always gets the best of me on holidays. I just couldn't wait till Thursday morning, to get out of town and go to Florida. Well, come Tuesday I was pretty stressed and overwhelmed with packing, cleaning, laundry, and getting Pre-Camp all ready for my young women. I sat with Lance at breakfast that morning and just vented to him, and on the verge of crying. He comforted me, like always, and told me that him and Layla would go pick me up a little surprise later on that day... Anyway, later on Tuesday afternoon he told me that he had to go work out and run his friend to pick up his truck. I asked if I could go with him and he told me no :( He NEVER tells me no. I was so sad. What a day it had been and he told me no! After he had been gone for 2 whole hours I was pretty upset and to blow off some steam Layla and I went to our bedroom to take a little nap, and about 10 minutes later...

Surprise!

Ah..I thought I was in a wonderful dream. My mother was standing right over me! What a way to wake up! I cried and just hugged her forever. I'm so glad she came! (Lance had left to pick my mom up at the airport, needless to say I forgave him right away)

So then on early Thursday morning we were off to Navarre Beach, Florida. My sister-in-law's uncle owns a beautiful condo/beach house and we had the pleasure of staying in it. It was amazing.

Here's Grandma Chivers enjoying the ride with Layla.

Lance had been in the car to long! I thought he looked so cute on this bike. He was riding it so proper!

After grabbing a bit to eat, we hit my all time favorite store: Williams-Sonoma

Uncle Dane picking on Layla while she was asleep. He never wanted her to sleep. He was always trying to wake her up!

The Beach

Layla's first on the beach. Unfortunately it was really windy and we only stayed out there for about 5 minutes. But we had to snap some pictures.

Gotta love him

It was really nice out on the deck, so we just relaxed there for a little while.

One of Layla's favorite uncles. She loves sleeping on him like this. (can you see her little fuzz top!)

McQuires Irish Pub

MmmMmm... this resturant was delicious! This is Lacey and Dane with her mom Qwen and her dad Russell.

Our table. Jenny and Hobgood Lance, Greg, Amanda, and my mother!

Me and my Love

I think we look alike in this picture...

The atmosphere of this resturant was so awesome. They had dollars bills hanging everywhere. There's an estimated 785,000 dollars on the walls and ceilings with people names' on them. My mom and I added ours too. Hope they have great insurance...

Aunt Lacey and Layla

The condo from the back.

A little, and I mean a little alone time

The living room

Kitchen area

View from the balcony

Master bath

Our bedroom. This condo has 5 huge bedrooms. I have pictures of all, but this post is already so so long!

We had such a great week. It was pretty hard dropping my mom off at the airport this morning, but I'm so glad she was able to come and visit. She was here for alot of Layla's firsts. It's comforting to know that I'll be home in a month from today! Yay!