Girl's Getaway...

I recently had the FABULOUS pleasure of spending 4 nights and 5 days with 5 of my high school friends in sunny Palm Springs!  Getting away together for a long weekend has become an annual event for us and this just happened to be our second trip to Palm Springs.  We had an amazing time! 

Our time consisted of TONS of girl talk about high school, college and our current lives.  We all have kids, so it was nice to hear other mom's stories of their little creatures :-).  We also enjoyed many dinners out on the town, as well some great snacking at the condo.  Of course we managed to sneak in a few cocktails here and there - Lacey makes a mean vodka/cranberry!!  And the mucho margaritas at Los Consuellos were yummy!!  Despite the 110 degree weather, we did get a lot of pool time in - no laying out - just pool time.  It was too hot to even walk on the pavement.  Everyone got their fair share of sun burns :-).  A few other things we snuck in were a couple movies, a workout and some shopping.  And how could I forget the night our air conditioning went out?  Two of the girl's got a hotel room and the rest of us fought through 90 degrees of heat and sweat, including trying to sleep outside on floaties!

Overall we had an amazing time catching up and relaxing.  We've already got the dates picked out for next year - let the countdown begin!!

Lengthy family update

It's amazing how time is flying!  It's time for updates...

Austin...
It's nearly the end of June - I could have sworn I just had a baby, right?  My little man is growing so fast!  He's rolling all over the place, often trapping himself against the couch or bed and yelling at me to come and rescue him.  One time he even rolled under my bed - I noticed when the bedskirt started moving :-).  He's nearly 8 months and still struggling to get that first tooth, poor guy.  He's getting more and more fussy as those dang teeth try to push their way through!  He will repeat me when I say "dada", and now I'm working on "mama."  He's sitting up too, but he doesn't always like it.  Sometimes he'll just throw himself backwards and end up banging his head on the floor.  I know I'm his mom and very biased, but he has the absolute cutest smile in the entire world!  If only he'd let me capture it on camera!  He finally had his 6 month doctor's apt at 7.5 months and he weighed in at 18.6 pounds and was 28 inches long.  He's still struggling with his breathing - we've got him on breathing treatments a few times a day and then an antihistamine in the evening.  He goes in for another check-up next week - hopefully he'll be better!

Addison...
My little girl doesn't seem so little anymore!  She's only 3.5 and sometimes I feel like I'm dealing with a teenager :-).  I can't believe that I ever thought she wouldn't be able to talk... this child comes up with the craziest sayings.  I still write in a journal for her and I try to jot down all the sayings so I won't forget them.  Here's the latest conversation that got me laughing one day while we were in the car and AJ was being fussy...
A: I don't have a problem with you AJ.  You are fine - enough!
Me: Addi, why are you yelling at your brother?
A: (sigh) He's fussy mom.
Last I checked Addi weighed 35 pounds and is active as ever.  I think she is a tomboy for sure!  She loves being outside, loves throwing a ball around, but also loves playing mommy to her baby.  Her next big adventure will be starting preschool in the fall - 5 days a weeks she will attend 3 hours of preschool and then go to the adjacent daycare - she's going to love being around so many kids!

Aaron and I...
We are both busy as ever at work and at home.  Occasionally we get a quick kiss in while we pass each other through the house :-).  It's common for him to be outside playing with Addi while I'm feeding AJ inside.  We definitely make time for dates (about twice a month), but our favorite thing to do is meet for lunch during the work week.  This gives us some adult time to touch base with each other and relax a little!  Aaron recently visited some high school friends in LA for a weekend and I'm headed to Palm Springs with my high school friends next week.  It's important for us to get this time away, but we really do miss each other and the kids!

That's about it for the Sparks family - it's lengthy, but catches everyone up on our hectic life!!    Enjoy the pictures below!

Memorial Day weekend festivities

We had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!  Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Seattle to go to the zoo - Addi has been so excited to see all the animals!  She even asked if the tiger was going to eat her :-).  Aaron's brother Pat and my sister Amanda met us there and together, we walked for 3 hours enjoying all the animals.  Addi and AJ did great the whole time.  Addi only had one minor tissy fit when she realized Aaron and I had ate the rest of her ice cream :-). 

After the zoo, we visited a good friend of ours and then headed to Pat's for the evening.  I crashed super early - even before the kids!

Sunday morning we dropped the kids off at Gail's (family friend) and had a jam-packed, but really fun day with Pat and his friend!  We went to the Pyramid Brewery, a Mariner's game, bowling, dinner at Claim Jumpers and then ended the evening at the fancy movie theater in Redmond.  We were exhausted, but truly enjoyed our adult time :-)

The kids had such a good time at Gail's.  She was so sad when we picked them up on Monday morning.  It was such a good feeling for Aaron and I to know our kids were well taken care of and loved - Addi talked about Auntie Gail and all their adventures the whole way home :-).

It was a wonderful weekend seeing family and friends - we are exhausted now as we get back into our routine, but it was more than worth it!