This morning my mom and I left on a road trip to Vegas to visit my grandma and my Aunt and Uncle. It was just me, my mom and my monsters. Needless to say she was very brave to invite us to go with her on this trip. It is rare that we get to get out to Vegas to see family and so we wanted to take advantage and do it no matter how much anxiety I had about being by myself with all of the kids, and so the trip started. The kids were complete Angels on the way out, although we had the occasional “Are we there yet?!” but we gave up counting after about 30. All in all it was a great trip out. When we arrived at my grandmas it was about 110 out. We were all dying (except my grandma, she was ok with it). My kids are just like me and they hate being super-hot. We spent the next few days trying to stay cool. My grandma’s house is not super childproof and even if it was they would find a way to get into things so we did spend a lot of time outside which at times was baking but the kids had constant smiles on their faces and were happy as could be, ME on the other hand would count hours until 5pm wine time… I kid I kid. The kids ran around my grandma’s huge yard in the sprinklers and played in the rocks and with all of the toys there cousins had left there from the last visit (that was cool). Although today at nap time they decided to have a little MAC party. We all thought they were sleeping as they were as quiet as mice but then my grandma thought she may have heard something so we opened the door to the bedroom to find that they had opened the suitcase and took my makeup bag out. They had applied makeup to each other, the dolls in the room, the carpet, walls, and new bedding my grandma had just purchased for one of the spare rooms. OMG, every piece of my MAC makeup is now gone. It was horrible and as you can see by the looks on the faces below they knew they were so BUSTED. The last picture is where I spent every night, with my wine glass on the rocking swing watching them run crazy to stay cool.

Today we went over to the kid’s pool with the monsters. It was about 113 out and we were all on fire. The kids had the BEST time in the pool and to be honest it was super fun. They loved spending one on one time with their grandma in the pool too. Miya seemed to only want to sit with grandma but she loved being in the water. Kaidin practiced his swimming and well Bode he is a crazy lil guy in the water but was having lots of fun just “floating around”. We also got out of the house and went to the store to get a blow-up pool (best $8 I have ever spent)… they spent a lot of time in this dinky little pool which created hours of “cool” fun. At the end of the day they had a little fun while being chased around the yard by grandma with the hose while I sat on the swinging bench drinking a glass of wine while we waited my Aunt & Uncle to come over for dinner. Bode loved doing the whole “na na na, you can’t get me”, he was caught every time but by the grin on his face that was exactly what he wanted. We got to spend some time with my Aunt and Uncle tonight which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. You can’t tell by the photos but she is isn’t feeling well as she has Multiple Sclerosis and has been having some bad days lately. She has had this for years and is one of the most beautiful, caring, loving and strongest women I know. She has a smile and a GREAT attitude even on her WORST days. It was heartbreaking to leave her this trip and not one day goes by that I don’t think about her and how she is doing. If you know about this disease then you know it’s not easy and she makes it seem as if it’s a walk in the park. This is my prayer for her…

“Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.”

We love you Aunt Diana…