Las Vegas Trip

We took our annual May trip to Las Vegas this last weekend. The only thing we for sure had on the schedule that we HAD to do was go to Wet 'n' Wild. Nolan has been talking about it for weeks!

A few days before I got a couple texts from my family telling me it'd only be about 75-80 degrees the day we planned to go and we might want to rethink it. Well Nolan has been so excited that there was no way we could change our minds so we told them we didn't think it would be that bad and went anyway.

Well...it was that bad. The water was absolutely freezing and it was a rare cloudy, windy day! I was the biggest wuss and maybe got in up to my knees, but that was it haha. Paul (he drove down with us a day or two early just so he could come to Wet 'n' Wild!) and Mallory immediately started going on the slides and didn't seem to mind the cold that much, crazies. We took the kids to the little play area and after getting in once they were both clearly taken aback by how cold it really was. Nolan commented that he was miserable and that he didn't want to go there ever again 😔 I felt so bad and thought the whole effort was a total flop.

Luckily though the boys seemed to get used to the water a bit and after 1 1/2 - 2 hrs the sun came out which helped a lot. Thank heavens! Oh and Nolan really only wants to go on the bigger slides if he can go on dad's lap, but that wasn't allowed. So we honestly spend the majority of the time in the tiny kids pool with 3 'slides' (you had to kind of scoot your way down them) and the wave pool. Still, they had a blast and at the end of the day Nolan had changed his tune and said it was one of the funnest days ever!!

Uncle BJ and Paul were such good sports and took the boys down the kiddie slides since there was no way momma was getting in that freezing water!

 Where's Nolan?!

💗💗💗

Nolan loves donut runs so he and I went to PinkBox and brought some back to share.

Somebody has been having too much fun. We were worried about him falling asleep on the bed where he could fall off, but he didn't move from this spot for almost 3 hours! The funniest part though was when I went to check on him at one point he wasn't on the bed. I was so confused and found him laying on the floor. It didn't look like he'd fallen off, just that he'd gotten down and decided he wasn't ready to get up just yet haha.

Fun in the backyard with Gp Mathews 💗

Sneaky Nolan soaked Gp's bum when he wasn't looking, little stinker 😅😇

Another night we went swimming in Uncle BJ and Aunt Kirsten's pool which is always a blast.

Logan and Branson would get out of the pool, come over to Gm Mathews for a Cheeto or a drink, then get back in. Too cute.

Branson and Cousin Paul teasing each other.

Also, it was while we were swimming that we announced to everyone that we are expecting Baby Bailey #3! They're super excited 😁

Nolan always looks forward to after swimming when Uncle BJ lets him play with his awesome legos. It was sure fun to watch N (and BJ) in their element.

 These two were SO cute together on this trip. They really started playing with each other and it was adorable to watch. B loves cousin Logan!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture, but one night we went over to Granky's for a visit and he and Nolan had the cutest exchange. I said to Nolan, "you know how you have one brother? Well, ask Granky how many brothers and sisters he has." So he turned to Granky and asked him. Granky looked at him and with a smile said, "10!" Nolan's eyes got a little bigger and he fell on the couch as if he was passing out from shock haha. It was adorable and so perfect!

Me: "Ask Granky what his favorite color is."
Nolan asked.
Granky: "Red"
Nolan got a big smile and told Granky that was his favorite color too!
Me: "Ask Granky what kind of toys he had when he was a little kid."
Nolan asked.
Granky told him he didn't really have toys, they just played outside with sticks and rocks and with friends.
Me: "Ask Granky what kind of chores he had when he was 4 years old."
Nolan asked.
Granky: "We had to pick up the chips."
Me: "Nolan, do you know what chips are?" ::shook his head no:: "dried...poop!"
Nolan again falls on the couch as if he's fainting.
Me: "So when I ask you to pick up your toys, that's not as bad of a job as picking up dried poop, right?! haha
Me: Did you know when Granky was little if you had to go to the potty you had to go to a little room outside of the house?! And do you know what they used for toilet paper?
I picked up a newspaper next to Nolan and held it up to him.
Me: "Newspapers!"
Nolan again acts like he's fainting haha.

Anyway, it was an adorable conversation and Nolan was completely engaged which made me so happy and probably made his great grandpa Mathews happy as well. Family history is fun!!

The sad part of this visit was that Branson was absolutely terrified of Granky. He didn't even want to be in the same room. He just bawled and screamed and tried to wiggle out of our arms if we tried to pick him up. It's so strange, I'm not sure what's causing it. He'll do the same thing to Brianna's fiance Brady too. He knows him and loves him, but when he hasn't seen him for a few months it's like he's terrified all over again. Weird. I felt so bad, but Granky took it in stride <3

The cute thing was that Nolan made up for it in spades. He was so fun around Granky - had a conversation with him and even showed him his Transformers game on daddy's phone. And, the best part was when Nolan went in the back room where Branson was crying in a corner, grabbed his hand and gently started guiding him out to the living room, all the while saying things like, "Granky is our super grandpa, he is in our family and loves us so much!" Branson even allowed himself to be led at least part of the way down the hall (then he freaked out again when he got too close). Still, it melted my heart to see Nolan so tender and kind like that.

Big Boy Beds

We finally got the boys some mattresses for their big boy beds! We also got some Star Wars sheets and let them each pick the color of their bedspread.

They were both so excited for bed the first night! 

Nolan upgraded from a toddler bed and Branson out of a crib.

Unfortunately, Branson fell off the first night. But luckily we had already ordered a bed rail for him so he had it the second night. 

The 'transition' out of a crib has been pretty darn easy with Branson (just like with Nolan). We either have really good boys or we just successfully put the fear in them because Branson has been able to climb out of his crib for a long time if he wanted to, he just didn't. Nolan will get out of bed every so often, but we'll usually hear him imitate my "I'm serious" voice and threaten Branson with something to get him to stay in bed. Poor kid, but I guess it does keep him from getting out of bed!

Easter

We were pretty excited to have Easter in our new house! Although sadly it was raining so we couldn't do the Easter egg hunt outside like I was hoping. Oh well.

Can't a guy get some sleep around here?! I laugh at this picture because it reminds me so much of a picture from when I was little where my dad is trying to sleep and all 3 of us kids (Mal wasn't born yet) were all over him haha.

The boys loved opening their baskets! They each got a Transformer, an umbrella, and some other goodies. They also got some play scarves and a Darth Vader night light to share.

I guess I don't have any pictures of the egg hunt in the basement, but they loved it! Nolan was rushing every which way to try to get more eggs than Branson 😐 

Breakfast and dyeing some Easter Eggs 

💗💗💗

I don't have any pictures of it, but we tried to work on teaching the boys the real meaning of Easter this year. We had 12 numbered eggs, each with a scripture and an item pertaining to that scripture. They each opened 1 each night for a week leading up to Easter. I hope they learned a bit from the activity and they looked forward to it every night! In fact, once we were done they wanted to start over!

Things I Don't Want to Forget

• We've been watching Transformers Prime and B is super into it. While driving in the car he was quizzing us..."Guess who rides in Bulkhead?" Who? "Miko." "Guess who rides in bumboobee?" who? "Raf."
• Both of the boys love listening to songs in the car. We even made them their own bad guy song playlist. It's cute, but sometimes frustrating because they want to dictate which songs to listen to and will argue/whine about which song was chosen or that theirs wasn't picked first. If you don't pick the one Nolan wanted, even if it's one he loves, he'll tell us he will NOT sing it (like it's a punishment for us haha). B's favorite is the Imperial March and will clench his fist and pump it in the air during the song. 
• It about melted my heart when I asked B, "Branson, who is your best friend?" And he responded, "My brudder is my best friend." 💗
• Several nights we'll hear them on the monitor doing Transformer battles when they should be sleeping
• We have been talking about David and Goliath and they both love that story. When Branson does something brave he'll say, "I'm brave like David!"
• If you throw a ball at B instead of catching it he'll let it hit him so he can do a dramatic fall. sometimes stepping backwards into a wall before falling dramatically to his pretend death 😆
• Branson likes to jump from the window seat, almost land on something, and say, "Phew, that was close!"
• Sometimes Branson will pull up a chair next to you and say something like, "So, how was your day swimming?" or "So, how was your sleep mommy?" or "How was your day at work daddy?" Such an adorable conversation starter. 
• Branson weasels his way into many a heart with how he grabs your hand and leads you somewhere. So adorable.
• Read 2 Dragon Masters books by himself, is very motivated by Transformer toys, won't read to Branson though
• Nolan can be such a sweet, sweet boy one minute, and a total pill the next (and that's a euphemism). 
• B sometimes puts his hands on either side of my face and says, "You're the best mommy in the whole wide world." 💗
• B will yell, "I LOVE you guys!!" about the silliest things. Like, if we tell him we're doing pancakes for breakfast or we're watching a movie, or going to play in the loft. Cute boy.
• GG called him 'Darling' and he said, I'm not Darling, I'm Branson Michael Bailey!

We bought a house!

Well it's been a long time coming, but we finally moved into our new house!!

I first moved into 4839 Memory Lane #6 with Brittany Gilson back in 2009. She was the best roommate ever and we really got a long so well. Then she bought a house and I started dating Justin. Once Justin and I got married in 2013 we moved into #5 across the hall and we've been there ever since.

I have so many good memories there from when I was single and even better ones from more recent years. Justin and I shared our first kiss on the stair landing outside the doors, and we brought our 2 beautiful boys home to that apartment. It's been the only home they've ever known and really it was a great place. The rent was cheap ($850 for a 1200 sq ft, 2 bedroom, 1 bath), especially for the nice area, and we LOVED the Holladay 14th ward so we weren't really in a hurry to leave. But we just started outgrowing it and were definitely feeling a little sheepish living in an old apartment with 2 kids when we were old enough and established enough that we could afford a home :D.

It was a long search because there were things that we really wanted in a home and neighborhood (Justin was even more picky than I was though haha). We looked for probably 8 months and then our ward friend Melanie Campbell told us about a home in the Sandy area that the owners were waiting to sell until their new home was built. She got us their number and we arranged to go look at it. The rest is history. I really really liked the house the first time I walked into it. We first looked at it in July 2018 and finally went under contract in October. However because they were still building we couldn't close until February 2019 and couldn't move in until March. Oey, it was a rough wait, but now that we're here it feels like it wasn't so bad. Funny how that works. I still look around and can't believe this is really our home!!

-------------------------------------------

They boys are absolutely loving the new house. When we first talked about moving Nolan was a little nervous that he would have to leave his stuff. And a few days before we moved we went for a walk in the Holladay Cemetery (where we've gone so many times) and I noted that this might be the last time we go walking there Nolan got really sad and said he didn't want to move and can we come walking here again?! It was pretty sweet. But once they came to the new house and most of their stuff got moved in and (most importantly) we turned on the projector in the basement, they didn't look back. They LOVE our new house!

In fact, Branson doesn't want to go to our old apartment. We're still taking them to Jeanni's and when I picked them up Branson got sad and said, "I don't want to go to our old house, I want to go to our new house." When I said, "ok! Let's go to our new house!" He got a big smile on his face and said happily, "ok!"

Our new ward is much smaller than the 14th ward. Nolan was very nervous to go to Primary the first week, but went with no problem the next week. He even snuggled right up to his new teacher during singing time which was cute.

Branson was just the opposite. The first week we took him to nursery and he went in without looking back. They brought out some blocks and he sat down and said bye mommy and daddy! The next few weeks he seemed fine and excited to go to nursery, but as soon as the door opened to nursery he cried and clinged to us.

We've already met some of our neighbors and they're all so nice. We are just so excited to be here. We still have so much to do (and so much to buy, yikes!), but it's fun.

-------------------------------------------

Boxes everywhere in the apartment. We were really feeling cramped at the end there because there was just nowhere to store boxes while we packed them up!

We had so many amazing friends help us though - Brad and Myranda Nielson watched the boys for a few hours while we packed one night,  Charlotte Baker had the boys over for over 4 hours one Saturday, and Shannon had them over too. We have the best friends!

-------------------------------------------

The day we got the keys to our new home!

The previous owners were so sweet and left the boys their haul of blasters. Needless to say they were in heaven with their new toys! These pictures don't really show it, they left probably 15-20 blasters and a bunch of ammo!