Vegas and Conference Weekend

Just as the snow kept coming, I bailed to Vegas for a quick Girls Weekend with my sisters and close cousins. I've only ever driven, and what would've taken 7 hours in the car took a whopping 45 minutes in an airplane. It was magical!

Goodbye snow ...

Reunited in Vegas from Arizona, Utah, and Colorado

We stayed in a nice Air BnB and had a lot of fun. We stayed up way too late, but we go in a lot of girl talk, good food, sunshine, laughter, and time where I could just be me. It was magical.

Meanwhile, back and home ...

The sunshine felt so good! Here we are looking less than attractive and not caring one little bit.

Doing a little low level modeling for my cousins apparel store. I only packed long sleeves and she saved me by giving me a short or two.

How can you tell dad is in charge?

Giant pancakes for breakfast!

And matching combovers.

We flew home Sunday Morning and had a long wait at the airport after dropping my sister off for her earlier flight. The Vegas airport is HUGE and we had to take a few trams to get to our terminal. 

I hate Vegas. But, I had a lot of fun this weekend, and we've decided to make it an annual thing. I wonder where we'll meet up next year.

A cool butterfly exhibit.

Going crazy waiting, but ready to be home.

It was good to be home. Quincey took one look at me after I got in the car and screamed the whole way home. Good to know that after taking care of her nonstop for 14 months, she can easily forget me in a weekend. 😕 Worth it? Maybe.

That one time I built a standing pantry ...

It's no surprise if you've been to our house that there is zero space for much of anything in our kitchen. Our extra food is stored in a closet at the bottom of our stairs, and it gets old really fast when I'm making dinner and have to run downstairs 2-3x just to get everything I need.

Well, enough was enough, so I got the idea in my head (which is dangerous) to build a standing pantry.

This was in January, which is normally when I choose to start a project to help me survive Greg's Busy Season, and what I thought would take a week (as usual) took about 6.

But, I learned a lot, and it turned out beautiful! So I'd say that was a win-win for sure.

After I got it put together, I realized that I really kind of hated it. So ... I took it completely apart, changed the dimensions, and put it all back together. Totally worth it.

The weather warmed up just enough for me to prime and paint it outside.

My cute little helpers were just as excited as I was to have it finished!
Mostly because now they know I'll have time to play with them again.
They're good little troopers.

I've found myself standing in the kitchen just staring at my new pantry. It's one of those things that is both beautiful and functional. I kind of love it. 

Turning 32, Dear Evan Hansen, and more snow than anyone can believe!

What fun we had in March! 

Greg was able to take multiple trips to Nordic with the girls in tow, we had some fun days before Snowmageddon 2023 hit (holy cow!) and fun watching our girls grow. Oh yeah, and I turned 32. It is a number that sounds old. I'm still coming to grips with it.

Sof is the best sister ever and used her Bulldog Bucks at school to buy Claire a matching Octopus toy.

The cutest little legs hiding behind the shower curtain.

Preschool crafts bring me so much joy!

Snowmageddon 2023 resulted in a igloo for the girls, courtesy of their awesome Daddy.

Everything about this 🤟

Living her best life being pulled in a sled with unlimited snow at her desposal to eat.

And, holy snow! It just kept coming and coming and coming .... and with each square of my deceivingly LONG driveway that I had to shovel, I quickly started rethinking all of my life choices:
1. Why the HELL don't we own a snowblower?
2. Why don't we live somewhere warmer?
3. Why does snow even freaking have to exist?

But, I soon came to remember that this is one season of my life. Kaysville is great, but I hope to live closer to Southern Utah one day, and so I'm content to sit back and enjoy this chapter of my life while I'm here. It's pretty great otherwise (with or without the snow, I guess).

A definite snow day!

More time on the ski's! Greg figured out how to leave Claire on the magic carpet while taking Sof down the big hill. Parent of the year award goes to him, obviously!

Improvment is beautiful!

It was fun watching our cute neighbor star as Maui in the Burton Play

Thank you Google. See if you can guess which is Sof and which is Quincey.

Before Snowmageddon 2023, the girls decided to take every single stuffed animal that they own outside. It was pretty cute!

My brilliant idea to go to the park lasted about 5 minutes before the craziest storm hit, sending us to Arctic Circle. #worthit.

She had the audacity at church one day to look so grown up! She is a beautiful little soul 💗

Greg learned from his previous Snow/Sun encounters to protect his forehead!

The cutest Leprechaun in all the land!

She's hilarious!

Claire must be pretty tasty for Hondo to lick her like he is.

Not exactly sure what is going on here, but I kind of love it.

That one time I turned 32 ...

And we went to Johnny Rockets to celebrate ...

And it took forever and a day to finally get our food ...

But we had fun anyway. It was a great day!

Sof ended up having an ear infection on my birthday, which wasn't terrible, because we came across this quote which I instantly fell in love with.

These two have the cutest little bond.

3 years later, on March 2, 2023 Greg's wildest dreams came true when he was finally able to witness Dear Evan Hansen in real life. And it was amazing! 

Can you see the orchestra suspended above the stage in the top left hand corner? It was the coolest thing to be able to see them throughout the performance!

And we were close enough to The Cheesecake Factory that Greg let me indulge in a slice all for myself. If you haven't experienced the Mango Cheesecake for yourself, you are seriously missing out!

The cutest little model.

She's a big oatmeal fan.

Quincey discovered the Doc McStuffin's car, and it was the cutest thing ever watching Claire push her around on it!

And that's a wrap.