waiting on a woman....

From her playroom she can see the street and our driveway.  She checks every few minutes to see if Gigi is here yet...sadly, it's only 10 a.m.

There's nothing like a Gigi...

more park time.

When we lived in Arizona we spent most of our free time with the Nielsen's.  Seriously, we lived at their house and vie versa.  I have so many memories of our pizza nights, UFC fight nights, dinners, everything.  They're family, really. Much more than friends.  God blessed us with them and I miss them dearly.  Of course, we spent lots of time together during our trip. Here's one day before we ordered our "Veto's" dinner.

McKinley and Reese were bff. They played the entire night and Reese loved her.  She calls her "Tindley."  

Loving her Aunt Mauri. Poor Mauri was pulled everywhere...

Kinley is such a big help...

They played soccer, chased each other, wore themselves out...

see???

We love you Nielsen's! Reese misses you. 

train park

The train park in Scottsdale is awesome.  Really, it is.  It was a perfect location right between our place and the field.  Reese had to be pulled out of there.  Crying each night we left.  She went with me, both of us and even twice with just Daddy.  She rode the train and kept saying "out" while we were trying to enjoy our breezy train ride.  She played on the playground for hours and loved the Carousel.  I just love nights spent together at the park...just us three.

She went down this slide a few million times. When other kids tried she stuck out her hand and waved..."no."  We're gonna need to work on that...

She loves the carousel.  Mommy hates this stuff, so Daddy took over.  She looked for me the entire ride and about broke her neck eyeing me.  She waved each time she passed....so sweet.

Hi Mama!

Dallas said she said "Hi Mama" every time.  Sure that was fun for him...

The neck break and the wave...

Holding on for dear life...

Nights like this make me want to freeze time.  They make life seem perfect.

mo friends

In Reese's words..."mo" (more) friends.  I told ya I'd be blogging into next month with our Arizona pictures.  We hung with some of our best friends the Phelps while we were there. I've missed Tiffany and the kids so much. Reese had a BALL at their house and at lunch.  She could have played with them all day. They are three adorable kiddos! I miss our training sessions so bad Tiff...great memories!

Handsome Titan...he was an infant when we met.  Where do the years go?

The whole crazy gang at Chick-fil-A!

We miss ya'll bunches! You need a road trip to Georgia (just a little farther than your Utah trips, right??!)

Love you!

taking a little b.p.

During our visit, Reese went to the field with her #1 guy to play ball.  They went into the cages and he made her a little bat and attempted to "perfect" her swing. She's a lefty at the plate. Dallas saw that and then wanted to offer up switch hitting to her. It was so much fun to sit back and watch him teach her (I use the word teach lightly).  She did really good.  Every once in a while she would hit it like a pool stick but other than that she had her game face on.  

I woke up sick one day (really sick) and he had to take her to "work" with him.  She played on the field, met all the guys, took bp, everything.  He even took her to potty and she told him "OUT, Dadda."  A girl needs her privacy.  He said he would peep through to make sure she was ok and if she saw him, "OUT!!" 

They came home with medicine, my favorite magazines and Reese picked out a few goodies for herself.

I just adore these two babes in my life.

Two Daddy shout outs...

We were only missing one piece of our family puzzle today and it was a big ole piece to miss! It really seemed weird not having Dallas here to praise. He's just the cutest Daddy (to me) and adores his mini me. At least he has our Arizona family taking good care of him. As for us, Boo, D & Papa all came over yesterday for the weekend to spend the night with Reese and party it up Father's Day style.

We hit up Mexican last night for dinner and Reese danced to some karaoke. Then, we all went to the park where Reese was the only child with 5 adults praising her every move on the playground. Today, we all hung out, mom cooked and just enjoyed the little stinker. Reese loves her Papa and was thrilled to have him here today. She gave him his present, then cried (actually balled) when he left with it...that was nice of her. She literally fell out in my lap while I edited pics tonight.

Thanks Daddy for everything that you are as a father. You gave me so much love and support in every step of my life, guiding me into who I would become. As if it was even possible, you are even more amazing as a Papa. Reese loves you more than anything.

Reese pulled her Papa out on the deck this morning so they could draw and look for animals. My dad tells her he sees giraffes, elephants, tigers and Reese swears she sees them too. (He did this to me as a kid and it took until my teens for me not to actually look). Sitting in Georgia humidity for fun is truly only something a grandpa likes to do...

I love his face watching her swing. He lights up with everything she does...

At least Reese got two weeks of nothing but Daddy time. I just love seeing him as a Daddy.  I tell him that all the time. They played "superbaby" maybe a hundred times a day. (The whole back problem starts to add up...)

I love these two. God has blessed me so much!! He gave her these flowers and told her two smell them. She didn't get the memo that you can stop once you capture the smell...

On a side note, this picture totally cracks me up. I hope she turns out to be a celebrity (or President), something that requires an entourage. She thinks this is totally normal. I think she wondered where the other kids fan clubs were...


Climbing the stairs in rainboots...you really have to keep the "whole look" even when exercising...

This image captures everyday of her life for me. Always someone in our family to guide her to where she wants to go and another to catch her when she arrives...

Such a blessing this family of mine...

Bye bye Arizona

We're home. After an exhausting flight, we landed back in Georgia last night. I decided to not give Reese a nap before our 3pm flight thinking she would fall out and sleep the entire trip. While we were waiting at the gate my anxiety kicked in. We had a completely full flight, a window seat in the back and she was sitting in my lap. Crap. She flipped out while we were waiting because I took Minnie out of her stroller. The only people in the crowd who thought her screaming was "cute" was a couple that reminded me of my mom and dad. They just smiled at us while others gave the evil eye. We boarded first and she was in heaven, thinking we had the whole row like usual. I was just eyeing everyone coming toward us wondering who was "lucky" enough to be our travel companions for the next 4 hours. Mom was sending texting prayers and I was praying too. Well, people the Lord is good! The same cute little grandparents from the gate were our 24 B and 24C! Whew hoo!! Reese still flipped when she realized she didn't have her own seat. Just as everyone else in her life, they immediately made accommodations. They lifted the arm rest so that the FOUR of us could all sit in the same row. Ha! They were the sweetest people ever, with grandkids of their own and they loved Reese. She sat in their lap for 45 minutes of the flight, took only a 20 minute nap and colored and placed stickers all over them. Awesome. We landed and there was no one to open the door??? We sat on the plane for 40 minutes while they looked for the key.  During this time Reese was delirious and was the designated comedian for the back of the plane.  We finally deplaned and Reese had to have our new friends go with us all the way to baggage claim.  They seriously even took the elevators and train with us through the Atlanta airport.  Poor things, they were soon kicked to the curb when she spotted Gigi.  She screamed and ran to her.  Two weeks is a long time apart for these two!!

We are missing Daddy so much, though.  So good to be home but so hard to be away.  We had so much fun partying together.  I told you I have a million pics to blog from our trip.  Here's some from her swim time with Daddy...

She walked the wall a hundred times...

He picked out all of this anti drowning pool equipment she's sporting.  Therefore, HE had to put it on her everyday...

In and out of the steps is a favorite pool time game...

So is playing ball...

And the #1 pool time game of all time...Daddy throwing Reesie!


And some bribery kisses during a Reese throwing break...

And back to throwing...


Oh, we miss him so much.  Please, let's not tell the Giants about his "down time" during rehab. Throwing your 36 pound child can not be good for the back...

fun in AZ

I'm trying to not spend my days on the computer so I'm just posting a few here and there when I can. I've spent every second playing with Reese and her Daddy, soaking it all in. I really wish we could just stay out but I have so much work when we return home. I cringe working on Dallas' macbook, so my editing has been scarce this trip. I'll have tons of fun pics to post when we return home. We are loving Arizona, though. We've ran the roads visiting friends and family. Everyday when we go outside (to swim or play) Reese puts on her swimmies and grab the pool toys. I think she would swim all day...

Told ya my shots would be a little random. Daddy & Reese have had fun playing/wrestling. She is extremely ticklish, which leaves plenty of room for Daddy to have her laughing hysterically.

We're having so much fun! I'll post more soon!

sprinkles & pilates

We are all about copying celebrities in this family, so when I saw that Scottsdale had just opened a Sprinkles cupcake shoppe I started my dessert planning. I had Dallas all hyped up. Reese too. "Tuptakes, tuptakes." We all head in, anticipating the yumminess....and there was no where to sit and enjoy our fatness. We weren't too happy. Nonetheless, we headed home and safely guarded our ridiculously overpriced purchase. We all sat at the table and dove in. They looked so yummy...

We give them a C rating. I should have known better than to trust the judgement of Katie Holmes ever since her whole Tom Cruise decision. (she loves Sprinkles..or at least US weekly says she does). They are supposed to be so good. Eh. Dallas ate his because he just likes chocolate, Reese got a little sassy at the sprinkles stressing her out and I just kept comparing them to any other regularly priced cupcake I've ever had. It was a joy. We can turn any family fun treat into a fiasco.

It was a good thing we were headed to visit Natalie and Megan the next day. Reese was really wanting to work off her half worth it cupcakes. I was so excited to see them!

I fell in love with these girls from the moment I met them in 2006. Natalie and I even lived in the same neighborhood and we'd walk our kids (back when I only had Rookie) and talk and talk! They are so sweet and I LOVED working out with them. They own Boston Street Pilates in downtown Chandler, AZ. It's an awesome pilates studios and they kick butt. I really need them to kick mine these days! Megan is due with her first baby in July. We all three have (or about to have) fabulous July kiddos! I really miss you girls! You've meant so much to me!

Reese was like a mad woman in the studio. She stacked up all this stuff, everything she could find then wanted Natalie to help her balance. We really need to work on our core strength. It was a blast! Thanks girls!
We are having so much fun. I think I'll be blogging this trip well into July.

so much to blog.

So little time.

We've enjoyed every day out here (except this weekend while I was sick) spending time with Daddy, swimming, visiting friends, playing ball and laughing til our sides hurt.

I've had so many "step back and watch your family with a smile" moments. 

Life is good.

look what we did...

We hopped on a late flight last night to Arizona to visit daddy! Whew hoo! Reese was a party girl on the plane and stayed awake for the entire flight. We are sooooo excited to be out here with Daddy! You try anything to entertain a 23 month old for 4 hours on a plane. We did some headshots with the point & shoot. Reese thought it was funny...

Gotta have a good blurry one too!!

I love this girl...


Dallas woke up this morning (at 6:30) to his twin saying"UP, Dadda, UP!" She even pulled his nose. We went for pancakes (Reese requested pantakes-no "c") then we swam, went to the mall, ran around outside, got some ice cream and now we're all ready to crash.
Our family of three.
Thank you Lord for this family of mine.