Myrtle Beach

So maybe I got in a fight with my blog and ended up forgetting to post this...better late than never!
A few weeks ago we took a vacation with my family out to Myrtle Beach :) I've always LOVED going on our yearly family vacations, there's really no better time than time spent with them. 

This year was especially exciting for two reasons. 1. I got to show Curtis a glimpse of where I grew up, which was really fun for me. 2. Our family grew by 2 adults since our last vacation, meaning that this is how big our family is going to get besides the kiddos :) It was a lot of fun having everyone together for the full week. So many laughs, games, and relaxation time. Plus we found out that you really do need this many adults to tire out the kids on the beach!

We flew in pretty late on Saturday night so we just grabbed our bags and found our hotel room. The next day we had some time in the morning to drive around good old North Carolina. We drove past my old house to show Curtis and Lauren, and I was sure to point out everything about my life there during the drive. I'm sure I wasn't too annoying about it :) After our trip down memory lane, it was time for the 4 hour drive to Myrtle Beach....which really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The resort was really nice, and we stayed in two villas, which were pretty much two bedroom apartments so we stocked up on groceries for the week and got settled in.



A majority of the trip was spent at the beach or at the pool, and I honestly can't think of a better way to spend a vacation. It was so relaxing every day! When night came around the board games came out, and the many many laughs began :)

Photo by Anna

On Monday night we went out to dinner at the Pirate's Voyage which was so much fun! First we got our faces painted (at least the girls did), because you can't go to a place like this and NOT go all out. They had music and activities going before the main show. When it was ready to start we went into the big room and they seated us around the "stage", which was a big pool and pirate ship. There was so much food!! They just kept bringing it, and really it was all delicious. I was so full by the end of it and only ate half of each thing they brought. While we were eating there was an acrobatic show going on between two different teams of pirates. We had flags and swords so that we could cheer on our side. I was amazed by the stunts, flips, overall strength of the actors. It was a great way to start out our week :)

Photo from Anna's phone, also please notice Hazel's face....

The resort had so many different activities to do throughout the week that there really wasn't much need to leave :) One morning Curtis and I woke up early to go do stretching by the main pool with the fitness class. Of course we got lost trying to get there by ourselves and ended up only stretching for 5 minutes, but then they gave us fresh fruit and water to have while we watched the waves roll in. The amount of relaxation we got this week was incredible.


Then it was more pool and beach time, just like it should be :) Of course we burned regardless of the amount of sunscreen we put on, but I was proud of us for not being crispy. There's just something about sitting in the sand listening to the waves and feeling the sun hit your skin. Pure happiness! The girls were loving it!! Curtis spent a lot of time playing with June in the ocean while I sat in the sand next to Hazel. She was a little scared of the ocean so we dug her a hole to play in. She told me the best stories that day.

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Another morning we went to paint ceramics with my mom. When I was little we went to Mexico and stayed at a very similar resort. I kept making my mom go down and paint plates and bowls with me because it was my absolute favourite thing! I was so excited to see that they did ceramic painting at this one too. When we got there it was definitely more kid friendly than the one we went to before. It was in an activities center and they didn't have plates or cups or anything but had lots of little figurines to paint. My mom painted a crab, I painted an elephant, and Curtis of course painted a Ninja Turtle. When I say Curtis painted a Ninja Turtle, I mean that he spent 2 hours perfecting this little guy :) The staff was amazed with his patience! When we went back the next day to pick up our creations the lady told us to write them a good review so that they can get more people our age doing it. She was so nice.

After painting we met the rest of the family at the beach of course! Anna realised that we now had the perfect amount of people to make a pyramid, so obviously this had to happen.

Photo by Anna

On our last night there we went mini golfing and walked around the boardwalk looking at the little shops. We all got some salt life shirts, and I couldn't resist getting a little shark one for the babes when she gets here :) And of course we ended the night with some ice cream! I had been looking forward to that moment ALL WEEK.

Photo by Anna

The next day we made the drive back to Raleigh. I was so happy that I was able to go see my friend Leah! It was the first time I got to see her cute little baby boy. She even woke him up so that I could see his eyes and hold him :) We planned out our kids marriage while eating some more ice cream. It was so nice to catch up with them!

This entire trip I was horrible at taking pictures! I guess I was too relaxed to care, but luckily my sister in law is amazing at documenting these moments for all of us! I used a lot of her pictures here but if you want more check out her 3 posts about the vacation here... here..... and here!

I can't wait until our next family vacation :) Our family will grow by 2 again, but this time with two new little girls. So happy to have such an amazing family that I really do love spending so much time with! 

20 Weeks!

I am officially 20 weeks pregnant with baby girl! It's so crazy to think that I'm halfway there. It all seems to be happening so fast lately and it's freaking me out. I'm getting really excited though! 

The best thing is that I can feel her roll around in my belly!! The first time was last week when I was sitting at work, it took me a second to realize that there weren't actually butterflies fluttering around in my belly. Since then she has gotten bigger and it is very definite that it's her getting comfortable. I'm excited for her to get even bigger so that Curtis can feel her too! She's the most active at night when I'm trying to relax, everytime I roll over so does she (should be fun when I'm huge). Speaking of which, I feel ginormous! My belly has definitely popped more, and Curtis laughs because I get tired and apparently start to have a little pregnancy waddle :) 

Sleeping is getting so much harder already, I thought I would be fine until my third trimester but that's not the case. My legs and hips especially are very achy all the time, I have to get up and walk around my room for a few minutes every now and then, and I officially have to wake up 3 times in the night to go to the bathroom.... I don't even want to know what it's going to be like in 10 more weeks! 

I'm definitely feeling so much better than I was a few weeks ago though so I really can't complain. I would take these aches over the nausea any day! Also it feels really nice to be able to stay awake all day instead of wishing I was in my bed all day, I'm liking this energy that's coming back. 

Last week we were able to get in one last big vacation with my family before baby comes (I'll have another post about that later). Point being on the last day Curtis willingly woke up at 5:20 AM Eastern Time to go down to the beach and watch the sunrise and take some maternity photos for me. It was GORGEOUS! I have zero regrets about getting up that early. Here are a bunch of other pictures that we took with the sunrise :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!

Katie's Wedding and Our Weekend Away

Last weekend we had so much fun going to Vegas for Katie and Kyler's wedding! We made a last minute decision to split the drive up and go to Cedar City on Thursday night, and then finish off the drive on Friday morning. This was the BEST idea I think we could have had, it gave us more time to have a much needed mini vacation :) We went out and ate ice cream before settling into the hotel, because I'm Jade and always need to get ice cream. This cute pup really wanted my ice cream and I almost cried because he was so cute! Emotions are high these days
 
 

The next morning we ate our breakfast and got ready for the rest of the drive. You would think this part of the drive would be so much easier because it was only a couple hours....but it wasn't. We were both tired and grumpy and didn't want to be in a car anymore! BUT before we got grumpy we stopped at Zion National Park and drove through their scenic route. It was gorgeous!! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't feeling up to hiking or anything but just seeing it was good enough for now. We will definitely be going back to do some hikes this summer before I blimp up :)

We finally made it to Vegas! My initial thought was that we would go somewhere exciting for lunch since we were in Vegas, but like I said we were tired and grumpy so it was In N Out and that was just fine by me. After we had some food we were feeling much more energized and decided to go to the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay!

We aren't very good at selfies...blame the height difference

It was a lot of fun to see all the fishies and sharks. Just the way they had it all decorated made it feel like we were really outside in the nature with the fish! I LOVE going to Aquariums so this was the perfect way to spend my afternoon after the drive. 

We still had some time to kill before we could check into the hotel so we drove down the strip and people watched :) It's what I do best. When we got back to the hotel we decided to take a quick dip in the pool. We were not used to the Vegas heat, and it was so refreshing to be in the water! Unfortunately it was also VERY VERY windy, which meant that after we were in the water it was freezing, but it wasn't hard to warm up in that heat. 

By that time we were hungry, it was still early but our bodies were used to eating right after work. Our hotel has a lot of restaurants in it so it was easy to find food. We decided it was fine to splurge and go to a fancier place since we hadn't been able ot go out for a while. For some reason, we always end up at the fancy restaurants in flip flops and T-shirts but we were hungry and didn't care. I got crab cakes and lobster bisque, and Curtis got a veal chop with cauliflower mash. I was very impressed with the food! It was so good, and then we split a berry creme brulee. The perfect end to our evening. By the time we got back to the hotel I was EXHAUSTED. It was rough, I tried so hard to stay awake but it wasn't happening. By 7:30 I was sound asleep....in my defense though that's 8:30 my time which isn't AS bad. Curtis got to stay up and watch basketball though so I'm sure he didn't mind that I was out. 

The next morning was wedding day!! The day that we had all been preparing for for months. I couldn't believe that it was actually time. Of course I was up by 6 since I went to bed so early so I went out and brought back some breakfast. then it was time to get ready. Here's a selfie because I felt so good about getting ready for the first time in a long time...

Of course we left our temple recommends in Utah so we had to go to the wedding early so they could look us up. It was such a fun sealing, and it just reminded me of how I felt on the day that I got sealed. So many great memories, and I can't wait for Katie and Kyler to experience all of the emotions of marriage :) After taking the pictures at the temple, we had about 5 hours before the reception started. Katie's friend Mariah, Curtis, and I spent the afternoon together getting lunch, watching a movie, and walking the strip! I just had to get my bag of blue M&M's, and they were such troopers to come with me. 

Note to self, don't walk the strip in flip flops, I had major blisters for a few days but it was totally worth it! We thought we were making great time, but of course I put in the wrong address that took us in the opposite direction. As a result we were 45 minutes late to the reception....fail on my part. But the important part is that we made it and got to party with the newly weds!

I was so glad that I got so much sleep the night before. I'm convinced that's why I had so much energy that day, and it was amazing!! I miss being able to do anything without having to go home to lay down. It was a fun day, and I'm happy that we were able to go down for it. The next day was depressing knowing that it was time to go home. Our hotel was so nice, I just wanted to stay there forever, but alas we can't always get what we want so we packed up and got in the car to make the journey home. Poor Curtis drove the whole way while I primarily slept.....the day before just got to me I guess. On the bright side, we got back in time to go to my parents house and enjoy a fun dinner with my family! I'm excited it's summer again so we can grill outside and play in the grass. Plus my brother brought his new puppy and I about died watching him run through the grass and trip over himself. Just look how cute he is!

In the end, it was the perfect getaway that we very much needed. Thanks for getting married Katie so we could have an excuse for a mini vacation!