Our week alone together

I have been in the biggest blogging funk lately.  Just not at all in the mood to stop and get caught up on my blog or even be on the computer.  We have been so busy this month that I can hardly believe we are almost to July.  I have spent a good part of the month getting ready and geared up for Harper's 5th birthday (gulp) and Hudson's 7th birthday (double gulp).  I cannot believe my 3 are going to be 7, 5, and 18 months in July.  Time is sure flying by!  Hayes and I made it to our 3rd trimester easy, breezy.  This pregnancy is smoking by too.  Probably my fastest one to date.  I could even go so far to say my easiest pregnancy too.  I feel really good.  I do have the normal aches, pains, and exhaustion, but all things considered, being pregnant with 3 kids I can't complain.  I am thankful for each healthy passing week.

I feel like this past week we officially hit summer time here.  It is H-O-T.  Like serious back sweat, hair sweat, neck sweat...all over body sweat by 10:00 in the morning.  I don't know why I bother to shower in the morning or put make-up on because I am a sweaty mess before noon.  I'm chugging water like nobody's business because I don't want to swell or get dehydrated.  So far my feet and ankles are looking normal.  My blood pressure continues to be perfect so I'm praying our full days and this heat doesn't mess that up.  My pregnancy with Holton was the strangest thing...I don't know why it was so difficult for my body to carry him.  I am beyond thankful Hayes and I have not had a hiccup so far, and I pray we just continue to sail on to September.

 The 2nd week of June we loaded up our 3 loves and headed to Waco to pass them off for a week at Mini and Papa's house in Norman, OK.  I have to admit I was not looking forward to this week at all.  We had just started summer so I wasn't ready for a break yet with the kids.  Matt and I had just kind of thrown some plans together last minute for what we'd do that week.  I had anxiety about letting all 3 go because it's just a lot to handle...especially when they aren't in their own environment.  The bottom line is that I just really wasn't wanting them to go.  Now had the offer been some time in July or August---I'm sure I would have had a completely different attitude.  (This was the only full week off that Matt's dad had that he wasn't working or camping in CO...so it was the only week of the summer that would work for his schedule).  So I was forced to get over myself by Matt and we passed the kids on.  I have to say that our week alone ended up being one of my favorites to date.  Matt and I had so so much fun.  So much fun that I wish we could hand them over and do it all over again.  ***A HUGE thank you to Mini, Papa, and Lissa for taking the kids and showing them such a fun week.  They had a blast!

Just the 2 of us in our big ol' suburban....what to do, what to do?  I'll tell you what we did.  We listened to our music and NOT a child's DVD.  :)  The ride home was very nice.

After dropping them off we shopped a bit in San Marcos at the outlets there, grabbed dinner in SA, then packed our bags because we were leaving early Monday morning for Scottsdale, AZ.  Matt has a banking customer (not sure if that is what they are called or not) in Phoenix that he visits every quarter or so.  With the time change from here to there he can easily make it a day trip there and back.  So this time he decided to bring me along and we'd stay a few extra days.  I had never been and really wasn't expecting much.  I was looking forward to some time alone with Matt, but really wasn't expecting much out of AZ (sorry AZ).  Well, I have to say, I LOVED Arizona.  I mean loved it.  Yes, it was crazy, crazy hot, but it really was a different type of 'heat' than Texas heat...and I actually found it more bearable there.  I want to go back again and again (perhaps in the Fall, Winter, or Spring time tho).

Our plane took off at 8 am here on Monday morning and landed in Phoenix at 8 am.  :)  We rented our car and headed to the JW Marriott Camelback in Scottsdale.  We checked in, grabbed a southwestern breakfast, unloaded our luggage, and hit the pool.

Here's our little villa.  The rooms were really, really neat.  Very remote and very dessert if you can't already tell.  I loved it.

The flowers and plants throughout the resort were so colorful and gorgeous.  I think because it's so dry and dessert there that the pop of color throughout was just beautiful.

Once we got to the pool it was almost as if the angel's were singing.  It was SO nice.  Not crowded at all, and they had floats in the pool.  Floats, people floats.  You put me on a float in a pool and I am happy.  You put me on a float in a pool kid free and I am r-e-l-a-x-e-d.  You put me on a float in a pool, kid free, relaxed, with my man, a good book, in really beautiful scenery....ok, ok you get the point.  I was loving life.  It was wonderful and we had all day Monday, Tuesday, and 1/2 of Wednesday to completely veg out and do whatever we wanted.

I was fascinated with the cactus there.  SO many kinds and all colors.  They were actually really pretty.  They make Texas cactus look very dinky.

We had so much fun in Scottsdale.  We slept in, stayed up late (for us), we went to some of the most fantastic and unusual restaurants EVER, laid on our floats, took naps under our umbrella, stayed by the pool all day long, and had our little pool boy cater to our needs.  It was the best.  I read 2 books---yes 2 books.

Just another pretty pool pic.

Matt had his meeting on Tuesday so he was gone from 11-2.  I just hung out by the pool and had lunch.  Once he was back we stayed in our spots until that evening.  Wednesday morning we hit the pool early because we had a flight to make later on.  We both didn't want to leave, so Matt snuck off and worked his magic and shuffled our flights around, rental car, & got them to let us extend our stay.  Again when he round that corner with that big grin that he got it all worked out---Angel's singing.  :) One of my favorite parts about the pool was that the pool boy every hour or so would bring by a tray of fresh fruit, frozen grapes, little fruit smoothies, and frozen wash cloths by. These little treats were SO nice and just what we needed on those hot days. They also had fabulous flavored water & bucket of good ice set up nearby that I'm sure Matt and I drank our weight in. Each day was something different: strawberry and pineapple, watermelon and fresh mint, and cucumber....sooo refreshing.

We didn't leave the pool from 9 that morning to 6 that evening.  It was such a relaxing day.  We had a late dinner then went down to the main outdoor area of the resort and listened to live music and had dessert.

Poor IPHONE pic...but we had done so bad documenting our trip that we tried to get one while we were listening to music. 

Thursday morning we got out early for our flight home. We made it home after lunch time just in time to swing by the house start a load of laundry and grab some clean clothes. Then off we were again to spend Thursday and Friday at the Westin La Cantera. Again we checked in, changed our clothes, grabbed our books and hit the pool. It was so beautiful there and not crowded yet again. We hung out those two days by the adult pool and did not leave until late. Matt made reservations at Perry's Steakhouse for 8:30 that night.  Do you know how late that is for us???  HA---no really we eat dinner at our house between 5:30-6.  We definitely felt like we were on vacation.

My reading spot for 2 days.  Ahhhh

About 5 on Friday we came home to shower, repack, then off we were again to Gruene for dinner with my brother.  We had dinner at the famous Gristmill that never disappoints.  It was so great seeing my brother.  After dinner we went to watch his concert that started at 10---yes, 10:00.  This old, pregnant woman was TIRED after our week....but I love my brother and LOVE his music.  We had such a great time watching Sons of Fathers.  It was so fun to see the crowd that came and how so many knew every word to their songs.  And then watching so many couples get out there and dance and have fun to his music was great.  I was wishing I had a wine glass to ding so I could announce that he was my brother.  :)  It was a proud big sister moment.  They really are incredible and Matt and I could not have asked for a better ending to our week.  We are BIG fans.  After the concert it was pushing midnight and we drove to South Austin to spend the night.  Saturday morning we woke up excited that we were getting our babies back.  My goodness we missed them so much.  It was wonderful getting them back.

Me and my brother bear the rock star.

Matt and I have been blessed to take some wonderful vacations.  I love so much getting away with him.  We always have such a great time and genuinely love each others company especially when it's just the 2 of us.  He is my all time favorite traveling partner.  After all of the fun things we have done, that week stands out as a favorite of mine.  It was so needed even though I was dragging my heels beforehand.  I loved the spontaneity of the week and how we had the bonus day in Scottsdale.  Our time away was very relaxed, laid back, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, yet romantic too.  I love that Matt will wine and dine and go all out for his 7 month pregnant wife with #4 and treat me like I'm his newly wed bride.  He is the most wonderful man alive-- I could go on and on and ON with how much I love him, but I'll go ahead and stop there.  As great as it was to go on a vacation alone together away from the kids, it sure makes coming home to this life we share together that much sweeter.