Rest and relaxation...

Jeremy and I were able to go on a vacation without the kids for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! At first I was feeling a little nervous and guilty, then a good friend said something I really liked, "Don't ever feel guilty for spending time with your husband. When the kids are gone it will only be you two, so love him!" After that I felt much better and was ready to have some much needed r&r time :) My mom and Dad were nice enough to watch the kids for us for three nights and four days. Jeremy had to go to Las Vegas for work, so we decided to make a quick va-ca out of it by going out early and taking some vacation time to add to the business trip. The first night we stayed at the Palazzo Resort at the Venitian. It was a BEAUTIFUL all-suite hotel! I'm pretty sure our hotel suite was bigger than our first apartment...lol.

Lobby of the Palazzo....

Living area of the suite...

Above: Our view of the strip. It looked cooler at night but my camera didn't do it justice.

Below: Our huge bathroom with a tv. Oh how I would love to get ready in here every morning.

I had to hop in the jetted tub that I could actually fit in!!

After checking in we headed down to a joint called I LOVE burgers. We ate lunch and watched the US women's world cup game!

This was my bbq bacon cheese burger with an onion ring. I think I finished all but one bite :) Jeremy had ground buffalo sirloin. Sidenote: There will be a lot of pictures of the food we ate on this trip. That was a highlight for me :) That, and the fact that I had several days to just lounge, relax by the pool, read a book, and hang out with my husband!

Inside the Canal shoppes

The 7 pools were AMAZING!!! My favorite part was that there were lounge chairs in the pool! You could get sun and stay cool. We could use the 7 pools at Palazzo or use the Venetian pools that were connected to the Palazzo. Love the man in the speedo in this pic...or as Jeremy calls them "Euro-mansuits"

Our hotel.

We were so excited to find out there was a Serendipity 3 on the strip because we were never able to visit the one in New York City. We tried the famous frozen hot chocolate and it definitely exceeded our expectations.

A little piece of heaven...

The last two nights we stayed at the Planet Hollywood Westgate Towers hotel. It was also pretty cool, it had a younger, hipper style and the pool was elevated right next to the strip and had a DJ playing music the whole time, but after staying at the Palazzo nothing can compare its equal.

For lunch we ate at The Earl of Sandwich. It was amazing!!! Best sandwiches we have ever had!

We stopped in to see the Sugar Factory. I wanted to get Kylee a giant sucker so bad, but Jeremy reminded me about the dental bill that would come of it years later so no luck.
Jeremy heard about an awesome NY style pizza parlor hidden in the Cosmo hotel. There is no address, it's just by word of mouth. It was the closest thing to true NY style pizza I have ever had!


Our last night we ate at China Poblana, a Chinese/ Mexican restaurant. It was my favorite by far!!! I got a carnitas taco and homemade corn tortillas with guac. It was amazing!!!! I know, I get excited about food way too much.


Our last night we stopped by Serendipity 3 again and spilt this amazing red velvet cake, hot fudge sundae! We could barley eat half of it, it was so huge! I think I gained 5 lbs this trip, but that's what vacations are for, right?
The day Jeremy had to work I was able to sleep in, read my book, go to the pool, and the best part, taking a 2 1/2 hr uninterrupted nap!!!
But the best part was coming home to these sweet faces!!! We missed the kids but it was nice to spend time with Jeremy and get re-charged! Thanks so much Mom and Dad!!!

June....

We wished Austin a happy 6 month birthday on June 6th! He is such a sweet boy and is so easy going. He is a great traveler. He only cries when he is hungry, stinky or sleepy. He still has really bad acid reflux. He spits up ALL day long! Just hang out with me and you will see. But he isn't in pain anymore and that is the important thing. He is on two different medicines right now that he takes two and three times a day. The doctor says that he will grow out of it by the time he starts walking. I hope that is the case. He now loves to sit up on his own. He also loves his baby Einstein bouncer. He loves when Kylee is anywhere near him. He eats every 3 hours because he can only keep down small amounts at a time. He goes to bed around 7pm and sleeps until 7:30am, getting up once or twice to eat. We started giving him baby food! He LOVES bananas, peaches and apple sauce. He will eat veggies but you can tell he likes fruit better. He still sleeps in his bouncy seat because of his acid reflux. This month it will be our goal to try and get him in a crib. He is saying ba ba ba, da da da and a lot of other cute baby noises. He is the sweetest little boy and we love him so much!!! Here are his stats:

Head circumference: 17.9 in (90%)

Weight: 17.9 lb (50%)

Length: 27 in (75%)

Kylee graduated from her first year at Kinder-gym. It's a program through Fullerton College and they teach the kids songs and work on skills like jumping, balance beams, somersaults, rolling, and right and left. Kylee loved class because her cousin Travis was in it with her. At first she was very shy but she really warmed up and enjoyed it.

This was our afternoon spent on the 91 fwy. They SHUT IT DOWN and we were stuck for hours!!! Luckily I had a bag packed with snacks, water, formula and diapers.

Lastly, my cousin McKenna graduated from Moorpark High!!! I took Austin with me and he was so good. He slept through the whole thing, screaming and all. We love you Kenna and are so proud of you and will miss you when you go to BYU!!

First family beach trip!!

We had our first family beach trip at Corona Del Mar and it was a success!! Thanks to the advice from some friends on what to bring, we were all comfortable and had a great time. Austin just chilled in his bumbo chair. He loved looking around.
Kylee LOVES the ocean!!! She didn't care that it was freezing cold. She jumped right in and kept wanting to go deeper and deeper.

When Austin got tired I rocked him to sleep. I love my sweet baby boy.
The kids loved playing in the sand, especially Austin. I don't think too much got in his mouth :) We brought baby powder to help get the sand off before we left and it worked great!! Thanks for the tip!

Mother's Day Weekend...

For Mother's Day weekend the Murdock's rented a cabin in Big Bear.
Kylee was had a really bad cold and slept most of the time. Poor thing.

We rode the alpine slides. They were so much fun!!! We went shopping, ate some great food and went on nature hikes near the cabin.
While we got dinner ready we put on a show for the kids.


The whole Murdock clan in Big Bear - It was a fun getaway up there in such a beautiful area and the weather was perfect all weekend! Happy Mothers Day to all the Mom's out there!

Happy Birthday Kylee!!!

Saturday, May 21st was Kylee's 2nd birthday!! When she woke up she saw the living room that had tons of balloons and streamers everywhere. Grandma Murdock gave her a princess crown witch she had to wear all day long.

I made her Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast!

Then after her nap we headed to the park for her Tangled birthday party!! Kylee LOVES to watch Tanged and will sing the theme song all day long :)

This year instead of a cake I made cupcakes!! We had strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting and vanilla cupcakes with lemonade buttercream frosting. They were delicious!!!

Kylee got two princess dresses. I never knew she was such a girly girl, but she is! Here she is posing in her Cinderella dress from Grandma Murdock.

This is her second dress from Aunt Mary and Uncle Scott.

Kylee loves to dance and asked her dad to dance with her :) So sweet. I love having a girl :)
Daddy set up Kylee's new tricycle. She loves to be pushed around the neighborhood because her feet can't quite reach the petals.
Kylee had such a fun birthday!! We celebrated with all of her Grandma's and Grandpa's and Aunts and Uncles and cousins!!! Thanks to everyone for making this such a special day for Kylee.

Here are some cute phrases that Kylee has said lately :

* "Hey, guess what? Kylee's birthday is SATURDAY!!!"

* "Bless Daddy work" She adds on work when I say bless daddy, I guess because he is gone working a lot :(

* "Austin stinky diaper, pee-you!"

* "Hey Sheri... (when she hear's me call my mother in law by her first name) Then I say, no, that's grandma.

* The other night Jeremy put her down to bed. They sang songs, said prayers, then as he was about to shut the door she wispers, "Hey daddy.... cupcake?" I guess she has food on her mind.

Favorite song: Book of Mormon Stories, I love to see the temple

Favorite color: She says blue but everything she picks out to wear is pink

Favorite food: any fruit, right now pineapple, Mac-n-cheese

Favorite TV show: Sesame Street

Favorite movies: Tangled, Bambi and Beauty and the Beast

Bed time: 7pm, but usually goes down around 7:30pm and will sleep until 7:30 am

Weight: 29 lbs 25%

Height: 38 in 100% +

Happy Easter!

This year for Easter weekend we were able to take our first family road trip and visit my brother and sister in law in Gilbert, AZ. It took us about 7 hours to get there when it should have been a 5 hour drive. I guess you just have to plan for extra stops when you have kids. We made three stops but finally got there. It was nice to sit in the car and talk to Jeremy while both kids were strapped in their car seats and couldn't move :) Kylee spent some of the time napping and the other watching Toy Story 3 on her DVD player (that was a life saver!) Some of the time both kids were screaming at the top of their lungs, but what do you do.

When we got in Friday night we went down to the Mesa temple and saw the Easter Pageant. It was my first time seeing it and it was AMAZING! It follows the story of the Saviors birth, ministry, death and resurrection through music, speech and dance. I could feel the spirit so strong. I know that because of the Savior we can live again! I know that if we follow him we will be happy and can have joy and peace. It was wonderful to share this experience with my family.

The next day we played outside with Diamond, my brother's dog. She is so sweet and is full of life! It took Kylee a little while to warm up, but now she loves her.

We also went to see some tortoise that Tasia's dad raises. Some of them were huge!!! Kylee didn't do so well when they were close but she loved looking at them from far away. I'm not sure how she'll do at the zoo.

Aunt Tasia bonding with Austin and Kylee.

Saturday night all of my cousins that live in Mesa/Gilbert cam over for a party. It was so nice to see everyone!!!! I wish I had taken more pictures of everyone. Here is Kylee warming right up to Cousin Kelsey and Cody.
Sunday morning Kylee found her Easter basket that the bunny left for her :) It was filled with eggs, some coloring crayons and an Elmo coloring book. She was thrilled.

Aunt Tasia was so nice and thoughtful and bought an egg dyeing kit to color eggs. It totally slipped my mind. Kylee had a lot of fun watching. Maybe next year I will be brave enough for her to make a huge mess. We had so much fun staying with Shane and Tasia and loved seeing their cute house and meeting their sweet dog Diamond. We can't wait to see them when they come to CA in July!
My mom has this crazy bunny at her house that sings and dances and is pretty nuts. Kylee loves to push the button to make it dance and she dances right along with it.

Grandma Murdock also had an Easter egg hunt for the Murdock cousins before we left. Kylee was so excited to collect eggs because this was her first time (that she can remember). She was so excited about her Easter basket that we could not get her to look up once for a picture. Oh well. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!