cake by the ocean

last time justin was at session in carson city, he promised me he would take me on a vacation, whenever i wanted, when he got home. but i was 8 months pregnant when he got home. so no trip happened. then i had a baby who nursed and life just went on. my favoritest sister offered to babysit all of my kids when she got out for the summer.

hallelujah!

*that ugly face was for the kids to show them how much i missed them

 you know when you feel like a million bucks and the world is your oyster? that's how we felt. bahamas? mexico? hawaii? we could go anywhere! sadly our bank account disagreed with us. and this mama wouldn't leave her babies for more then 4 days. zika virus scared justin so that eliminated mexico. when porter was 11 months old, we went to florida, courtesy of justin's boss. it was such a fantastic trip that we decided to go back there. all i wanted from this trip was a WARM beach [no thank you california] and to sleep. check and check!

*that happy face was when my kids said they didn't miss me

our trip occurred right after my zobrist reunion so it was pretty hectic leading up to the trip. that just means it was needed even more! we flew to fort lauderdale thursday night with our friends, the irelanders. steven is justin's soul mate - for serious - and me and meghan are best friends. we always have a lot of fun together. we looked at several resorts up and down the miami coast but none of them seemed quite right. then justin found a house on airbnb that was perfect! two blocks from a more local beach, beach cruisers for us to get around [and not have to rent a car], our own heated pool! it was better then i expected. and cost us less money!

while the house was fantastic, it was inhabited by several little caterpillar type bugs [most likely because the house was empty for a little while] but thankfully they scattered in a day or two. but not before meghan squished some with her feet- eek! friday we all slept in until noon. it was fantastic! no one was hitting me in the face, whining for milk. no one was screaming to be let out of their crib. i didn't have to endure through the rescue bot song at 5:30am. perfection.

before we got to florida, we knew there were stormy days forecasted for the whole time we were there. justin assured me that it wouldn't be pouring all the time and thankfully he was right [don't worry- this never happens]. the first day as we were coming back from the store with arms full of groceries, we got caught in a downpour. that was the worst it ever got, thankfully.

days blurred together. we basically watched a lot of tv, slept in and napped often, swam in our pool, biked to get food, ate a lot of ice cream, and hung out at the beach. i loved collecting sea shells for my boys and got them a cool treasure chest to put them in [along with an awesome story of how i found a treasure map and had to fight off an alligator to get it. that's right, i'm awesome]. and i just love the ocean! especially the atlantic ocean. it's so WARM! everyone is in the water, unlike the pacific, which people just go in the shore and sunbathe. you forget how the current just moves you slightly, back and forth. the shore line was really big so i could go out 25 feet and still be about waist height in water. and the salt! gross to drink but it lets you float. and the sand feels great on your feet and does wonders for your hair. the humidity was not fun but luckily i had no one to impress so i wore a ponytail the whole time. i just love the beach! i could have been there for hours but no one else in the group liked it that much. in fact, i don't think steven even got in the water once.

and my babies? they somehow survived without me, much to my dismay. griffin didn't even miss me. for reals. i came home and he couldn't have cared less. it took him a day or two to remember to love on me and whine at my feet constantly. landon and porter missed me though. my sister brought some sickness with her from arizona so poor shannon had a whole lot of poopy butts to take care of. thankfully, she's my favorite sister. and i paid her in a rainbow brite snuggie.

as we were flying home from our trip, i got so excited to see my babies. i had missed them tremendously. hanging out by the ocean, sleeping in, eating whatever i wanted. it was so much fun and very relaxing, but it wasn't "the life". it was a vacation. my life- waking up at 5:30am most mornings, getting screamed at, the biting, the hitting, the crying. that is "the life". because along with all of those terrible and exhausting things, there's also snuggles, reading books on the couch, playing in the pool, popsicles on the porch, singing at storytime. i have "the life". and it's a wonderful one.

*for the record, no one knew my reference to 'cake by the ocean'. not even when i sang it. i am surrounded by old people.

falling into school

this fall marks the first year of landon starting school! he had previously gone to expore and learn classes with special needs kids last year but it was really more of a mommy and me class setting. this year he started preschool at our community center. he seriously could not be any more excited! landon talked about it forever and made sure he was a big boy so he could go. i think he equates school to friends so that's why he's super excited, not for the learning part. he loves playing with friends- my little social butterfly. this year he is going to an express preschool class. it's two days a week for 45 minutes, so not super intensive at all. i even have to stay outside the room. next year i'm going to enroll him in something more but for now, this is a great way to introduce a learning, mommy-free environment. plus it's ridicudlously cheap. as i've mentioned, we try to do homework time a few times a week [with the incentive of fruit snacks]. i try working on letter recognition, number orientation, shapes, and colors. he knows the letter L, can count objects pretty well 1-10, ok for 11-20- he messes up on the teens a lot. he knows his basic shapes but ones like pentagon, hexagon, crescent, etc are more foreign. and he knows his colors but routinely messes up black, brown and gray.

here he is in front of his school- which i cropped out the name to keep creepers away

activities wise, i was informed that the sports class at our community center was cancelled this year. so i organized a soccer class i'm going to teach to a few of his friends thursday nights. just 30 minutes to get him running [aka tired]. then a week ago i found out they are doing a sports class where they introduce a new sport each week so he's doing that as well. hopefully this should tire that boy out because he is impenetrable to sleep! he did t-ball his first class and liked it enough. he really loved the soccer class i'm teaching for a few of his friends. i think sometimes people think anyone can teach a kid's class but that is not the case. i don't claim to be perfect but i do have experience and i know how to teach kids. he's still talking about how he loves coach mommy and wants to go back to soccer class- so that makes me feel awesome. [no pics of soccer were taken bc i was riding solo and coaching- i'll try for next time]

speaking of school, justin is enrolled in a masters class at unlv. he wants to get a master in public administration but there are a few hurdles to pass. since we'll be gone next semester in carson, one intro class seemed like a good start. i am not looking forward to having my husband gone one more night a week [especially with my mom gone so i don't have her house to run to when i'm bored or overextended], but it's better to do it now then later. and it seems like any job these days require advanced degrees. i just hope it'll be worth it one day because education is expensive! i'm proud of him for doing this- going back to school is not easy! he is amazing and i'm proud of him.

silly us, thinking we were done. notice us trying to keep landon's trap shut with a binkie

thumbelina & me

remember thumbelina? she was a great gal. i feel like her, fern gully, and the swan princess have gotten a raw end of the deal in life. they were awesome sauce- much cooler then other unnamed disney princesses [cough cough, looking at you elsa. you were basically the bad guy but just looked hot while you were doing it]. anyway i've always had a soft spot and a desire to have a green thumb- until i actually started doing it and realize i have no interest in gardening. but i am still trying to learn! this year one of my goals was to build my   storage and general emergency preparedness. we've saved money,  i updated our 72 hours kits, bought some food storage, and justin made me a garden! the garden box was called our dirt garden for a while because it sat like this.

then justin & steven filled it up and we planted some plants! he really did the garden but i think there's banana & green peppers, pumpkins, garlic, zucchini, squash, strawberries, and lots and lots of tomatoes. like an insane amount. they seem to grow well in las vegas.

spring forward a few weeks and look how beautiful it is! my friend ali's dad runs the orchard in town [by the i mean the only one] so she's given me a couple tips. we somewhat missed the window for growing greens like lettuce but we still managed a few stems. ali actually said she thinks we have the best home garden she's ever seen!

i still feel super overwhelmed with gardening. it's not something that comes easy in vegas and vegas itself has tons of different rules. so i'm leaving that to justin and i'll stick to buying canned food. super proud of my man and our garden!

fancy free date night

justin's job has many perks [and downfalls]. currently i am suffering from one of the downfalls. so i'd like to write about one of the perks so i can release some of this anger i have! [do you see what i'm doing here? pretty amazing] justin is invited to many a'fundraiser/gala/auction/luncheons & dinners. he gets sick of them. i LOVE going to them! it gets me out of the house, i get to get gussied up, free dinner and time with my sailor. sounds lovely. this was the second event we got to go to in less then a month! the first was the lincoln day dinner- this one was at the same venue but was bigger, better, and so much fun! i know i've written about opportunity village before. we go to their hallOVeen & magical forest even every year, which is always a blast. they work to providing education and employment opportunities for people in need, especially after high school. honestly, i never thought about the kids i knew in the special ed program in hs but they need jobs & training, just as much as the next person. this ceo dinner was an auction as well. they auctioned off artwork, hotel packages and other pieces.

we've gone to the venetian several times for functions [it's one of the largest venues in the world, #5 i think] but this was the biggest and nicest ballroom i've been in. in the reception area, people enjoyed cocktails and i stalked this creature. and man, did she stay in character. i complemented her and she did a slow-finger wave to me and slightly bowed. it was especially creepy. we were seated front and center at one of the tables belonging to the ceo of the foundation. he was actually a dude who was in our 1st married ward and justin had run into him several times since then because they are incredibly politically [and socially, apparently] active. what great people. we didn't really know the people at our table but it was still fun meeting someone new. especially someone who wasn't wearing diapers- i think. the menu was not that good [poached swordfish and pickled fennel? no. thank. you.] but the decorations were amazing. and great entertainment! they had several videos that told stories about some of the students, groups performed songs, others were presented, one told of how he just got a job at trader joe's a few days before. it was incredibly touching. just seeing these individuals who have achieved so much with what they had been given- it was amazing. these things are always pretty swanky and just attending feels like a donation to me [especially since they are usually $100+ a plate, not that we pay that] so we usually don't participate. we are no rockefeller's. but even we donated to the scholarship fund. it was an amazing night and such a great program.

*funny story- when we walked in, justin mentioned that we were probably the youngest people there. which may have been true. then we met a 19 then a 14 year old who were both their parent's date for the evening. then we spied a 2 year old sitting on her dad's lap. being perfect but still. people get a babysitter! it was a black tie event! i think things like that only happen in vegas. at one event, i even saw a man wearing jeans and a t-shirt at a table with people in coat & tails. we keep it classy here.

happy hallOVeen at OV

we just had the greatest time last weekend! we visited opportunity village's hallOVeen. opportunity village is a non-profit that helps people with intellectual disabilities receive training & find employment. every year they have a stellar magical forest that's the most most popular event at christmas time in las vegas. i'm not sure if this is the first hallOVeen experience but it was for us and we were not disappointed. they had the whole place decorated in halloween garb but it wasn't scary at all. all the rides & attractions were tailored for young children and landon was able to enjoy all of it. worth the $40 for sure. 

 landon's favorite by far was the train [we rode 4x]. he also loved going down the giant slide on a tube with daddy [although judging by his facial expressions, you'd think he hated everything. he just plays it close to the vest- we're trying to raise a maverick here] and begged daddy to take him golfing. they even had a miniature stick for landon to hit the ball- adorable. we also rode the carousel [he didn't cry! a big improvement from last time], made a spider craft and went through a trippy [and dizzz-ing] 3D halloween house [not scary at all]. they also had a few stations opened where kids could 'trick or treat'- which landon quickly mastered. oh, and of course had some funnel cake.

 you know those nights where you just leave exhausted & poor but completely happy? that was this night. we just had so much fun letting landon experience these new things. people always say they enjoy birthdays/parties/etc. with kids and i always thought that was a gigantic load of crap. bc i'm pretty selfish- but it's true. everything is better with kids. well, not everything.

my sailor & his birth

for mother's day this year i got both our mom's a groupon for photo scanning services. you mail in your old family photos and they put it on a disc so you can have an electric copy [little did i realize how much work it would be to collect, organize, bundle and put in ascending size order]. i just finished up going through justin's and man was it fun- seeing my handsome sailor when he was a little boy, then an awkward teenager [hey, i remember those years] and the stud i fell hard for [seriously, his football pictures still get me all twitterpatted]. the thing that hit me the most was how much landon doesn't look like a young justin- he doesn't look like a young melissa either. he is just such a good mix of us both. i did find this gem which made me realize where landon got his cheesy gin/eye squint from.

taken on my bday before we were dating, maybe when
i turned 16? notice peanut in my lap, not landon
but they look soo much alike

justin's birthdays are typically pretty low key. sure i try to do fun, homemade, different or exciting things but in reality, that's not what justin wants. we joke but he honestly just wants to order pizza and sit and watch tv [how boring. and really what we do all the time]. for years i just made him a delicious dinner and bought loads of fruit snacks for him. this year he finally had two requests [big ones, mind you]- that we get cable [which is expensive in itself but we also had to put wires in where our tv is at] and that he could buy this giant unlv canopy for tailgating. lucky sailor got what he wanted.

we celebrated friday night with the irelands. landon got a special sleepover with mema and we had a fun adult dinner with our friends [that was for me]. today we're going to do it justin style- pizza and monday night football. it's so weird for me to realize just how long i've know
n justin and how much he has changed in those years. he is such an amazing fun father and he is so sweet as a husband. i feel so lucky to not only have a man who provides for me and lets me stay home but has the priesthood and can do so much for us, our home, and those people around us. i always tell him this but i could never be married to anyone else. he just gets me.

so happy birthday sailor - i love you more then coke slurpees, all of my tv shows [there's over 20 people], and more then i love my sleep.

8 o'clock at the oasis

[if you don't get that reference then we cannot be friends anymore, at least until your tv palette has expanded to '90's/00's popular mother/daughter dramedys]

it is FINALLY DONE! i feel like a hallelujah and rain dance is needed to really capture my happiness because as far as i'm concerned, life does not get any better then this! i guess i've always taken my mother's sprawling backyard for granted but not anymore. with a little boy who loves to be outside doing manly things, this was needed. granted, i'm feeling extremely poor because it took up all of the budget but it is worth every penny.

i wish i would have gotten a good picture of the backyard in it's glory so try to imagine it from these first demo pictures. when we first moved in [almost 1 1/2 years ago- landon was about 2 months old], the backyard had a tree, cactus [that turned out to be poisonous to children. what cactus isn't? i think it had something to do with the bugs attracted to it], a non-functioning pond, a red deck and three different slabs and levels of concrete. it was quite the challenge but we saw the potential. having a decent sized backyard was priority #1 for us in house hunting and in vegas, ours is quite vast.

justin started off by tearing down the wooden deck, jack hammering the concrete, ripping up the pond [and the weird/illegal electrical line attached], sawing the tree then digging up the roots. this was no easy task! he was outside a whole lot working so hard. honestly, i don't know how he had the strength to do it all! it was exhausting enough watching him, which landon did religiously. looking back at the pictures is frightening.

the next phase of operation backyard was getting a giant dumpster and mini-tractor to haul all this crap away. now it sounds easy but holy goodness, but it wasn't. a lot of back breaking work hauling all of these heavy pieces and PAYING for the dumpster was not an easy thing. luckily justin's bf keith worked for a construction company so we got the tractor for free [insert angel's singing here]. landon particularly loved this phase because he got to sit in the tractor. in order to do this we had to demo oru side wall to fit the tractor back there. i think justin really enjoyed this.

since there was a huge gaping hole in our wall, justin & his dad built a gate to go in it. we got a couple quotes that were completely out of our price range so he bought one on craiglists for a few hundred then fit it to our hole. we raised our wall two blocks as well because our east wall is pretty low and our neighbors have a scary dog [in the future, we'll raise the whole wall up but for now, just our gate is higher]. i think they did a great job and was loads cheaper then anything we got quoted. my husband is a superhero.

a before picture of our side wall/gate

at this point our backyard was completely empty [well, pretty much empty. somethings were still piled up along our wall, mostly wood for fires]. we finished this at the end of the year then packed up and left for carson.

once we got home justin started digging up the water line to prepare for the sprinklers. again, not an easy task for the nevada soil. it's basically rock, not dirt. he started digging and getting the rocks out. at this point it was summer - vegas summer - so we got some outside help. we had two fellas come to start the line one day then never returned. we think they went back home to mexico? sadly they didn't get paid because they just up and left- even left their tools! at this point we had our patio poured [another big expense] and some patio poured on the side next to the door from our garage/ac unit. justin then painted our walls/gates to match our house [which i didn't really like the idea of but now i love. it really makes our backyard nicer].

during this time he also constructed a giant raised garden box for the larger side of our house. i know absolutely nothing about gardening and am really scared of gardening in las vegas but i'm going to attempt! the box is huge and so heavy but justin did a great job. i've already attended a few gardening classes and hope to have the money to start one come spring [which means feburary for las vegas].

after the concrete set, the concrete guys said they could finish our sprinkler lines for us and then poured us curbing for the grass. normal curbing is raised but our concrete guys couldn't do that [and to do that fancy curbing is SO expensive] so they did a flat 4" one that i really like. they also expanded our side concrete slab a few feet so we could add a storage shed on the side of our yard. after that justin finished out the sprinklers, added a drink line and bought some plants. we also bought tons of pebble rocks for the sides of our house and to surround the rocks, some sod and then had some more workers come to lay the rock/sod.

voila! it's done! we have to wait a few weeks to walk on the grass so it can take root but by the time landon's birthday comes along. we're planning on having his birthday bbq back there so i am more then excited to show it off. we still have a few wants: patio furniture and bench, a toy hutch, a shed, bbq, small gate separating the larger side yard [with my garden] from the kid area and of course, filling and starting my garden box. but those things can [and really have to] wait. we've already spent several hours outside playing in the dirt and with our chalk. so thankful for handy fella who can do so much for us. he really worked so hard to make my backyard dreams come true.