Jump and Shout

So, my parents took work off today to spend time with the grandkids and Chris and I. We had a great day! We first ate at a great Mexican place, Mattas. Then, we walked across the street and we got to play at an indoor play place called, Jump and Shout! Oh my goodness, Lexi had so much fun! We also had a little bit of fun ourselves since adults were allowed to "play" with their kids for free I might add, only kids cost money. It was great to get out of the heat and play! Seriously, we stayed for about 2 and half hours! We couldn't get Lexi to leave! So, it was definitely worth the admission cost. I definitely want to go back with her on another visit. After sweating at the playplace, we walked outside and let Lexi play in the splash pad. It was fun! Then, we got frozen yogurt at yodipity. This place is cool. you get as much frozen yogurt as you want, pick your toppings from a HUGE selection and then the cost is by weight. It was really good and really fun! Then, we ended the night with a wonderful dinner my mom prepared for dinner and Aaron and Maralyn came over to eat it with us. It was a great day to end our fabulous trip. Tomorrow we get to go back to MI and remember what Fall is really all about! I am going to miss my family here in AZ, but I am excited to go back home and see our friends and resume normal life in MI. So, until next time, thanks for the fun trip everyone!

                                                                        I missed :(

                                                       She wouldn't go without Grandma

I Need a Break, Please!

Our trip to AZ has been so wonderful, but so so busy! So many people to see and places to go! This morning, we were getting ready to go out and after prepping the diaper bag, helping my mom get dinner in the crockpot and doing my hair, we were looking around for my dad, and the kids. Our search ended in the tv room where we found this lovely site:

So, I guess my girls and dad just needed a little break!

Meeting Chaco

My brother, Aaron bought a ball python, who is over a year old and is 33 inches long. So, we had to go over to his apartment to meet their new addition to their family. We were all curious to see Lexi's reaction to this and let me say, she LOVES Chaco. She let it crawl all over her and she didn't want to put it back in the cage. She even kissed it multiple times. It was "great." Man, I hate snakes, but my daughter apparently loves them. Her positive reaction made my brother so happy! So, welcome to the family, Chaco!

                                                                        Proud Uncle

Christine's Blessing Night

On Sunday, Sept. 26th, in Mesa, AZ my sweet, little Christine was given a name and a blessing by her daddy, Chris. It was very personable and sweet. The blessing took place at my inlaw's home in their gorgeous living room. The circle was full of uncles, grandpas, and great uncles! It was awesome! When Chris was giving her a blessing, I felt the spirit so strong. I knew that what he was saying was what the Lord wanted for Christine. He blessed her to have a desire to know her Heavenly Father and gain a testimony of his gospel. He blessed her to love her family and have a special relationship with them, and many more things that will benefit her in her life. I am so very grateful for a husband who honors his priesthood and who can use it to bless our sweet girls. There was such a special spirit felt by having so much family gathered around. We had all of our siblings and their families present, with the exception of Chris's sister Autumn and her family, each set of parents were there, my cousins and my uncles and aunt from my mom's side, and Chris's uncle, aunt and cousin from his mom's side. It was a full house and I loved it so very much! Thank you again to all who could make it! After the blessing, we had yummy trifles, white punch, and as we ate we got to socialize and enjoy being together as a family. The night was perfect, except for...my kids! Lexi was so emotional. She cried A LOT, was CLINGY to me, GRUMPY and at times would just be flat out MAD! I guess that is what happens when you arrive in town the night before and there is a 3 hour time difference, with no nap in between. Oh well, eventually I gave her a plate full of trifle goodness and she was content for a while. Now, Christine was also not her usual self. My laid back baby was the farthest thing from laid back that night. A half an hour before the blessing began, she just started screaming off the top of her lungs! I mean SCREAMING! I was getting her dressed in her white beautiful dress and she was just wailing. I put on her beautiful white bow and bracelet as she continued WAILING, getting a bit louder each time. So, after she was all put together, and people started arriving, I did a mental checklist. Is she hungry? NO. Is she poopy? NO! Is she cold? NO! What could be wrong! Well, we needed to get started with the blessing, so we shoved the pacifier in her mouth, bounced away like crazy and hoped for the best. Well, during the blessing Christine did pretty good, during the end, the pacifier no longer sustained her , though, and after that she went a little crazy. So, in most pictures she is screaming! After an hour of not knowing what to do, we fed her, despite the fact that she only ate an hour ago, and that seemed to help, except for the "fun"diaper that occured later that evening. Anyways, overall it was still magical, I just now know that time difference and overwhelming amounts of people is overstimulating for my girls. Oh well, life is life. I still wouldn't have had the blessing done any other way. I made the banner that hung by the refreshment table, and I loved how it turned out! This was my first time making the fans in which the letters are stuck to, and now I love doing them! Anyways, every time I scrapbook something I am reminded how much I like it! But, this post isn't about me so I will stop digressing. I love that Christine has joined our family and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to be reunited with family. Now, I have to mention, that my grandpa and grandma king, my uncle denny, and my cousin Brandon all came from Cali to meet Christine and spend time with us they just had to leave before the blessing. The same is true for Chris's sister Autumn her husband, Joel and their little girl, Adelynn. So, we had the wonderful opportunity of having so much family visit over the weekend. Again, thanks for everyone for coming, we loved it!

                                                        Cousin Brady and Aunt Sarah

                                                                         Happy Family

                                                                Empty trifles=success

                                                                       Glidewell Family

                                                      Aunt Hallie trying to console Christine

Farrelly Family Photo Shoot

My parents wanted a new, updated family picture since Christine has now joined our family. So, before the blessing on Sunday, my cousin, Allen, took some pictures of us! They turned out pretty good for just being a point and shoot camera that he used. These pictures were taken in my parents backyard, and mind you, it was 105 degrees outside! These are the three I personally liked. So, without further ado, here is the most recent pics of the Farrelly bunch. 

Lexi's Big Girl Bed

We finally got Lexi her big girl bed! It only took me 6 months to convince Chris to buy one. My plan was to buy her a twin sized bed so that that could be it for a long, long time. Well, after looking at prices of twin beds and mattresses, we decided the best thing to do for now was to buy a cheaper toddler bed for her to use for at least a year, hopefully two. It arrived tonight, and Chris so graciously assembled it after he got home from work. I honestly, have never see Lexi so happy. She loves this bed! We talked it up all day knowing it was coming in today and let me just say, she is so proud to be sleeping in this bed. Tonight is her first night in it, and although she is great in it, I am nervous she is going to fall out or something. She is the brave one, not me. But, she looks so grown up and cute sleeping in this thing. The crib is still in her room at the moment because Chris did not want to unassemble that tonight and reassemble it in our room, so hopefully the crib will be out of her room soon, and into ours where Christine will make her transition from bassinet to crib. Wow, big changes for my girls sleeping arrangements! Anyways, this picture really captures how truly in love Lexi is with this bed. I have never seen her smile so big or so fast when told to. Yeah for Lexi!

Finding "Buried Treasure" in the Sand

Lexi wanted to go to the park today and play in the sand, but it was such a gloomy, cold, rainy morning that I decided the park was not the greatest idea. Well, me saying, "Not today, Lexi" made her so sad. So, I decided we could play in the "sand" indoors. I explained the plan to Lexi and when she was satisfied we set up. I poured a bunch of dry beans and rice into my cake pan, gave her a bunch of measuring cups and utensils and told her to play in the sand. She has done this activity before and loved it and today was no exception. This activity kept her entertained for 45 minutes! It was nice to see her focus on one thing for that amount of time. Halfway through, she asked if I would bury some of her toys for her to find. I thought that was a great idea, so I did. She loved this!!! She was so proud everytime she pulled them up out of the beans and rice mixture. Oh, it was a good compromise for sure.

Dollar Tree Fall Wreath (Making my very First Wreath)

I love fall! Seriously, it is my favorite season and one of the perks of living in MI during the fall is seeing the beauty of leaves changing and all else that goes along with fall. Anyways, my friend, Callie, hosted a girls craft night and I just had to go :) However, I had no idea what I was going to make. I needed an easy, finish in one night, inexpensive project. So, I started surfing through U create blog, one of my favorite blogs, to get inspired. Well, during my search I saw this beautiful fall wreath that was made using all materials found at the dollar tree. The entire wreath cost only 10 bucks. So, that is what I decided to make. Luckily, our dollar tree had all the supplies I needed so that I could recreate it. I think, in my humble opinion, it is pretty good, due to the fact I have NEVER made a wreath before! I love it and it looks so festive hanging on my front door.

Christine's Baby Blessing Announcement

Well, we are officially going to AZ to bless Christine. I am so excited to have all the family there for this event! I decided to try my hand at this whole digital scrapbook thing, I mean, I have owned adobe Photoshop elements for almost 2 years now and never used it! So, I went to Shabby Princess and downloaded free paper, fonts, embellishments and followed their tutorial step by step and I have to say that I am happy with how the end result turned out! I might even be addicted now to digi scrapping. So, here it is, my first digital scrapbooking page/invite. I now want to make a recipe book with all of my online recipes I have found. So stay posted for that project, if I ever find the time to do it! Oh, the best part about this is that the invite was free and i sent it through email, which is free, so the whole invitation process was free! Yahoo!

Celebrating Labor Day at Frankenmuth

On the way there,  Lexi was kind of grumpy and would not smile for a picture. Well, we finally got this smirk out of her! After that, she was one happy girl.

We had such a great Labor Day. We spent it with being together and going to a town we have never been before, Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth, a german inspired town,  is about an hour and a half from our home and it is known for it's fried chicken and christmas stores that are open all year long. So, we went to the Bavarian Inn Restaurant and had some fried chicken. It was tasty, but I wasn't too impressed, I still think mine is better. Anyways, after eating lunch, we went to Bronner's Christmas store. This thing was massive! Seriously, the biggest Christmas store I have ever seen. We spent a while in there looking at all the ornaments and gifts and seasonal things. Man, it sure put me in the mood for the holidays. Lexi had a blast in the kids area. There was a designated children's area that was all hands on, which is great, because the other parts of the store are not kid friendly. Her favorite part of this room was the santa hotline. They had a phone that when you picked it up, "Santa" literally talked to you and asked questions. She felt so cool talking to "Santa." She kept hanging up the phone and picking it up again over and over to see if someone talked to her everytime. When she was satisified that they would always speak, she wanted to stay there forever. But, we finally convinced her to look at all the other cool things in this store. Most of the pictures are from that store. We ended the day by getting some fudge. Man, I am not huge into fudge, but this stuff was good. We got three different kinds to sample. We bought peanut butter, rocky road, and german chocolate. The german chocolate was my favorite. Chris's favorite was the peanut butter. Lexi loved it all! And, of course, Christine slept most of the time, except for when she needed some diaper changes. So, we will have to show her the pictures later to show she was alive and with us. Gotta love the new born stage :) I am so glad we went. We were able to take one last "out of town" trip before Chris starts school, which was today. It was well worth the drive! Oh, driving home, we saw a sonic and had to stop in, for we have missed having one so close to home. We ordered our route 44 drinks and lexi shared mine, ocean water, which is why she is showing off her blue tonuge in one of the pics. I love sonic!