Christmas 2018

Our Christmas was pretty low key this year. This was the first year we have done Christmas completely alone, without any family. I pretty homesick for my family. I also knew that Christmas day would be pretty anticlimactic since out kids are up at 6 AM and we would probably be done with everything by 8. Knowing this, I tried to enjoy all the Christmas "moments" throughout the season to the fullest. I enjoyed listening to my favorite Tabernacle Choir songs by myself in the car whenever I could. I did all things Christmas in New York. I sipped hot chocolate and admired my tree after everyone was in bed. I watched Christmas movies and snuggled with the kids. Christmas day was great but it's really all those moments leading up to the day that make the season special anyway, right? I'm so grateful for the extra push to appreciate the small moments and find moments of peace throughout the busy weeks. 

Our big family thing was going to the Enchant Christmas light maze again this year and it did not disappoint! I'm so glad we were able to go with Nana while she was here and that they got to make some fun memories with her. Oliver loves Santa and can pick him out anywhere. He ran straight to him and sat in his lap. 

 On Christmas Eve we took the kids ice skating, which was crazy because we were literally 2:1 on a slippery surface. Oliver loved it and every time we took him off the rink he was screaming "my skate" because he wanted to go back out. Remi did not want anything to do with it but was happy to watch. Sophie would let me push her around the rink one lap at a time and took breaks in between each one. Weslie was a champ and was skating without any help by the end.

After skating we got Maggiano's to go and had an early dinner at home. After baths we continued the tradition of opening new pajamas and watched a Christmas movie together. 

 Sophie Couldn't decide what she wanted for Christmas this year until literally the night before and then she made a whole (very specific) list. They all changed their wishes a little bit but the sleigh was already packed and ready to go...even though they insisted that Santa would know what they really wanted in their hearts. 

Christmas morning came early. They discovered their new bikes at 4 AM and then had to lay back in bed until 6. We let dad sleep in a little bit and watched some Christmas shows and had breakfast. They were all pretty happy (especialy considering the lack of sleep) and it was a fun Christmas. It was nice and relaxed just being the 6 of us. My favorite part of the present opening was that Sophie and Remi got each other the same gift. They both bought the other one the exact same lip gloss. I enjoyed the day, had a nap and didn't even take any pictures because I was enjoying just being in the moment. 

Christmas in NYC

Kevin had a conference in NYC and I was able to tag along and check off another bucket list item this year. Codi was happy to take advantage of the situation and met me in the city for all things Christmas! We walked all around that city and past Rockefeller at least 4 times. Highlights were the Christmas markets, Macy's window displays, Christmas trees everywhere and seeing the Rockettes! We got to see Sam while we were there and I finally met some of Kevin's other team members. We didn't get to do too much with Kevin but he really enjoyed the conference he attended so I didn't have too feel too bad. On the last day of the trip we went to have breakfast with some of Kevin's cousins. Afterwards we had the best hot chocolate of my life and watched the snow fall. I was over the moon that it snowed and it was the perfect ending to a magical trip. I have been spoiled this year!

Hot Chocolate Stand

Last week during dinner, Weslie made a comment about poor kids in other countries. I told the girls that there are poor people everywhere and that there are kids in Wylie that won't have dinner tonight and won't have any presents at Christmas. They told me I should buy them presents and I replied that THEY should buy them presents. So on a very busy Saturday I helped the girls setup a hot chocolate stand by the elementary school. We completely sold out and they raised over $100. Everyone had a job. Sophie served cookies with napkins. Weslie poured hot chocolate. Remi offered peppermint and mini marshmallows. They were all shouting and waving and so excited every time we had customers! It was just too cute not to document. For family night we went to Target and picked out some gifts and dropped them off at toys for tots. It was too cute not to document.

2018

I feel like I have been really selfish this year, but in the best possible way. After 8 years of pregnancy, newborns, medication changes, hormone changes, weight gain/loss I decided it was time to really take care of myself again. There will never be anything more important than my family, but it's OK to make time for myself too. I feel like I have grown a lot this year. I started keeping promises that I made to myself. I decided that goals I set weren't unrealistic and that I didn't have to be afraid to fail. I decided it was ok to have wants and dreams outside of being a mom. I let myself travel a little and have a break! I came back feeling 100% recharged. I realized that if I take care of myself and keep my cup full, then I can take care of everyone else better. 

I am trying to be more positive and nothing has helped more than keeping a gratitude journal. If I know I have to write 10 things down at the end of the day then I find myself looking for the good things all day long. I took President Nelson's challenge on a leap of faith and finished the Book of Mormon in 60 days. I feel like I understood it much better this time and I honestly believe it's because I chose to follow the Prophet for no other reason than just following him and using this as another chance to prove to myself that I can complete goals I set. 

I got healthier this year, mentally and physically. I may not have lost the weight I set out to loose but I feel so much better and that counts for something. You guys, I ran a 5k! I still can't even believe I did it! It was a huge deal for me. If you would have told me even a year ago that I would run a race I would have laughed in your face. I feel so proud for finishing it. Kevin even got a little misty eyed cheering me on when he saw me nearing the finish line. 

London

So London started off a little rocky. We took the tube from Paris that goes under the ocean. Unfortunately the kid diagonal from us on the train threw up. Luckily it was near the end of the train ride, but if you know me well then you know that throw up and snakes are my worst fears. I was stuck in an assigned seat...on a train...under the ocean. I was shaky and my nerves were shot for several hours after we got to London but it honestly could've been so much worse. For example he spent most of the beginning of the train ride playing with his brothers in the aisle right next to us. Anyway, we found platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station before checking into the hotel.

We walked a ton in London. On the first day we explored Covent Garden and had some burgers and chips. It was good but it would be hard for anything to follow the food we had just had in Paris. We saw Buckingham Palace lit up on our walk that night which was beautiful.

We spontaneously decided to go and see Wicked the first night. It was Kevin's first time and it was a wonderful cast...although it was weird to hear them singing in an accent.

Being kind of a history nerd I had planned to see all sorts of palaces and such while we were there. However, Buckingham palace wasn't open to visitors and Windsor Castle just seemed so far away and too much effort. We were pretty worn out at this point and just enjoyed doing nothing in London. We rode a couple of routes on a double decker red bus and covered tons of ground that way. I got to see where Andrew Lloyd Weber and Audrey Hepburn used to live and loads more. Unfortunately Big Ben is undergoing some construction and he was all covered up. I was super bummed.

For dinner we walked down to the swanky Savoy hotel to have dinner at one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants (a bucket list item for both of us). Of course we had to order the beef wellington, which didn't disappoint. Everything tasted wonderful! Aside from the food, my favorite part was probably when I convinced Kevin that our complementary truffles were sitting on nuts or shaved chocolate. He tried it and said, "Nope, that's rocks" and put it back on the tray. Clearly we belonged in that high class place.

The next day we relaxed on a bus tour some more and ended up exploring the Tower of London. It was all fascinating. There were still gates that worked, amazing tour guides, lots of history about executions, lots of armor and the Chapel where lots of people are buried, including Anne Boleyn. We skipped seeing the crown jewels because the line was gigantic. My favorite part was the chapel up in the high tower. It was the perfect place to get my medieval fill.

On our last full day we wandered around Covent Garden again and took in all of the Christmas decorations that were already up. We checked out the mummies at the British Museum and then met an old friend of Kevin's for dinner and dessert. We took a long walk home and enjoyed our last night kid free.

It was so nice to reconnect. It wasn't that we were disconnected, but we both needed time just to focus on each other more than either of us realized. I came home feeling completely refreshed and ready to take on the next 7 years of parenthood. It sure was good to get back home to our babies. I was exhausted from the jet lag and was glad to have my mom with us for a few extra days. We walked like 80 miles over the course of the whole trip!

Paris

I had dreamed about this trip for years. When the time arrived it was terrifying! I knew my mom could handle it but I still felt scared to leave my kids. But more than anything it was terrifying because this was IT. This was my huge dream. What if it wasn't everything I thought it would be...and what if it was?! I took a Xanax and forced my anxious self to say goodbye to my mom and babies and make my way through the airport. While I was heading to my gate I saw a TV star from the Good Doctor! I went over to the restaurant where they were sitting and "casually" bought an over priced bottle of water. He and his wife were SO nice and convinced me to visit the Catacombs in France. It was right then, in that moment that I finally relaxed and allowed myself to be excited about the trip. I knew all I had to do was get myself on the airplane and I would be fine. 

I sat next to an LDS lady on the long flight and tried and failed to sleep. We landed at 9AM local time and about 2 AM Texas time. 

Day1: When we landed Kevin quickly found me at the airport and we headed to his cousin E.B's gorgeous apartment right off the Champs-Elysees. Most people would want to sleep after a red eye flight but there was only one option for me and that was to get out there and hit the ground running. We had lunch at a little cafe nearby, bought some macarons and chocolate and started walking. Every building there is beautiful! 

 We saw Pont Alexandre III Bridge and headed to the Eiffel for our 3:00 PM reservations. I was so glad I bought tickets in advance because we were able to skip the HUGE line and get up in the tower pretty quickly. It was so big and really neat to see it in person. The view was beautiful but I probably wouldn't go up again. It took us forever to get back down because there are only like 2 elevators that take people down and we got stuck right behind some school group. 

After checking that off the list we headed back to the apartment to rest a little bit and find some dinner before heading to the Louvre museum. We got there pretty close to closing time and it wasn't very crowded at all! We went in and saw the Mona Lisa and then quickly just walked through some other hallways on our way out. That was enough for me! It took me about 30 secs to fall asleep that night, which was good because we had an early morning.

Day 2: Versailles

This ended up being one of my favorite days of the whole trip. Versailles Palace was beautiful and the gardens were even more beautiful. We could've spent ALL DAY there. I had tickets for right when it opened to beat the crowd and we got to skip the line again. 

We wandered through the Palace and had "breakfast" at Angelina's in the palace. There is no smoother hot chocolate in the world than at Angelina's. The hall of mirrors was definitely the highlight of the palace. 

After that we got a golf cart and drove around exploring the gardens. My favorite was Marie Antoinette's cottages. It was all gorgeous so here comes a photo dump...

The LDS Paris temple is nearby the Palace so we took an Uber over to it that afternoon. It was nice to see parts of the city that weren't completely tourist adapted. The temple was beautiful. I especially loved the lamp posts and flowers. It was the perfect Parisian touch. We brought our clothes to do initiatories and check out the celestial room together. The temple worker at the front desk didn't speak any English so I got to use my rusty high school French to communicate a little bit, which was fun. They let us in even though I forgot my skirt and was wearing jeans. It was really cool to hear them doing everything in French and how everything looked and felt exactly the same. 

That night we had dinner with E.B.'s family and played games with them. They were a blast and the best hosts ever, seriously!! I loved hearing their stories and getting all of their local recommendations. I wish we had gotten a picture of all of us together!

Day 3: We slept in a little bit and then went out to brunch. We could see Notre Dame and hear the bells while we people watched at a cafe. All the chairs in Paris are on the same side of the table so that everyone can face out and people watch, which is brilliant.

We went and saw the outside of Notre Dame (and the huge line) and then walked over to Saint Chapel. Saint Chapel's stained glass is gorgeous.

After that we went to the cutest little bookstore, Shakespear and Co. They don't allow pictures in there and Kevin wouldn't let me sneak any. We also took a quick visit to the Shoah Holocaust memorial which was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. After that we found a crazy cramped Christmas store to buy an ornament souvenir and headed to Berthillion for the best ice cream in France. After we got our ice cream and started walking again we saw about 4 other "Berthillion's". We probably didn't get the original experience but I prefer Blue Bell anyway. We headed back to Notre Dame and checked out the inside. It was huge and beautiful. We tried to go in the towers but they were sold out. We ended the day with a night walk to the Arc De Triomphe.

Day 4: We headed back to Notre Dame to get into the towers and it was definitely worth the trip back. It's such a pretty place. I love how narrow the paths around the outside of the top of the building are. It's just all original and unlike anything we have in America. The stairs were pretty strenuous, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't smiling when Kevin started lagging further behind me on the way up. Guess all the time at the gym this year paid off. 

We wandered around the rest of the day, shopped and found an AMAZING Macy's style store with several different counters of desserts chocolates and macarons. We had dinner at Le Souffle which was amazing. Kevin's pear and goat cheese souffle was probably the winner. After dinner we found the strength to walk back to Point Alexandre III to see it lit up at night and caught the Eiffel Tower sparkling too. 

Day 5: We slept in a little bit and then headed to wait in the gigantic line for the Catacombs. I think it would've been a lot scarier if everything wasn't in French. It just all looked like movie props to me. It was humid and dark in there and super surreal. I caught Kevin off guard when I told him to take a picture of me with a skull (which I totally had to sneak). 

After that we took an Uber over to the Montmartre neighborhood to wander around. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. The cobble stone streets and original buildings were gorgeous. We could've spent a whole day wandering around there. We saw the Moulin Rouge, the Bascillica, a mime, took a terrifying scooter ride (we both rode on the SAME scooter), ate Crepes and kissed in front of the wall of love. 

Pictures really don't do it justice. 

For dinner we had reservations at the Tower restaurant so we had to say goodbye to Montmartre and say hello to the best view of Paris. We were on the observation deck right at sunset and had a fancy meal with the view of the lights of Paris and the sparkling tower. We made fun of all the people taking selfies at dinner and were grateful that we could just enjoy being in the moment together. We thought one guy was going to purpose to his date but the gift ended up being a scarf. She was disappointed. Don't take your girl to the Tower in Paris with a gift unless it's a ring, guys! We were so sad this was our last night in Paris, but it was the perfect ending!

The fall weather and food couldn't have been more perfect.