Cancun, Mexico (with fixed pictures)

This past week Michael and I were lucky enough to get to travel to Cancun through Michael's work.  (Yes, I still say "lucky" despite the recent troubles in Mexico!)  We stayed at the Dreams Riviera Resort and Spa located a little ways outside of Cancun, almost the in the middle of nowhere. 

Our first view of the resort

The view from our room

Our room

When we first arrived at the resort we literally felt like we were in a dream.  It was like no experience Mike or I have had so far in life.  We kept thinking, this is the stuff you see in movies!  Michael earned the trip through his hard work at Catholic Financial Life and we both felt like it was a wonderful reward.  We both got some much needed relaxation and enjoyed socializing with his fellow co-workers. 

Mike had some mini meetings each morning, but I was lucky enough to get to sleep in everyday, one aspect I was looking forward to the most!  Michael and I were also looking forward to not cooking meals:)  The resort was all inclusive, so we enjoyed dinning on some very fancy meals.  One night we checked out the French restaurant and experienced our first "Gastronomic Tour."  Let's just say Mike left still feeling quite hungry- who can blame him when his main course consisted of two shrimp, a silver dollar size amount of mashed potatoes, one cooked carrot, and a lobster head (for decoration only)!

If we had to find a down side to the whole experience it would have been Wednesday.  We signed up to go on a catamaran/snorkeling/shopping/para sailing experience- sounds like fun, right?  Well, it may have been if the catamaran wasn't actually a extremely slow moving party boat with music blaring, the snorkeling wasn't in the middle of the ocean with waves carrying you all around and very little sea life to see, the shopping wasn't really very pushy people trying to get you to severely overpay for things, and the wind wasn't so strong that you couldn't para sail.  Not to mention, the only food provided that day was at an outdoor restaurant that I would only dare to eat the chips and spaghetti (and I wouldn't even consider touching the water). 

Our last day there we tried the shopping thing again at a little town just down the beach from our resort.  We got a crash course in haggling before we left and without our bright orange tourist stickers, like we had had the day before, we hopefully didn't get too ripped off.

Overall, we had a wonderful time, but were anxious to get back home to see our little guys!  I guess that Vance did great while we were gone- this is usually the case with him-  a sort of out of sight, out of mind thing.  Andrea was the perfect substitute for his real mom- even with her extra large belly;)  It was Weston, however, that had a harder time with us being away.  I guess each night he cried for his mommy and by day five he said he didn't want to be at Grandma and Papa's house anymore- he wanted to go to Weston's house.  I had packed one of my sweatshirts that he often sees me wearing (even wore it the Saturday before we left so it would smell like me) with the intent that it may be comforting for him to hold if he was having a hard time trying to fall asleep.  I guess that went straight back into the bag and didn't make an appearance again after the first night because it just made him cry harder when he saw it.  He also noticed, probably for the first time, my senior picture on the wall and that didn't help the last night he when was having a hard time.  Needless to say, when we returned home and they picked us up from the airport, I got a death stare from Weston when I asked him if he wanted Mommy and Daddy to go to Mexico again!  This is not to say, however, that he didn't have EXCELLENT care when we were gone and didn't love being at Grandma and Papa's house with Aunt Andrea, cousin Gigi, and Grandma Kitty 90% of the time.  We are SO BLESSED to have such wonderful family to help us out and be so supportive of us going on this trip.

Happy Birthday Vance! (with pictures fixed)

(Okay, so this is a little late, but better late than never!)  He's one and we can't believe it!  To celebrate his first year of life we had two celebrations- a mini celebration on his actual birthday that he shares with Grandpa Thompson and one the following weekend with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents!  I think he thoroughly enjoyed both:) 

To top off his party day, he started walking!!!  Michael and I are enjoying the walking "process" much more with Vance.  He has proven to be much slower than his older brother at this walking thing (Weston was pretty much taking his first steps and running in the same week), but it is sooo cute to watch Vance progress. 

Vance's other new development is really making his will known!  Weston can't get away with taking anything from him anymore:)  However, even with that added tension, the boys relationship is blossoming and I think they each genuinely love each other and seem to prefer the other one around.  I am so excited to see how this relationship progresses now that Vance is on the verge of keeping up with Weston.  It has also been fun to watch Vance pick up on so many things Weston does and copy him. (It isn't so cute when it is the other way around, because that usually means Weston is copying Vance crying.)  Vance has picked up some of Weston's sense of humor, but he also has now made it obvious that he has a sense of humor all his own:)  He surprises us with how plain silly he can be! 

Other than that, he is still our cuddly, sweet, little boy.  He truly has brought the greatest sense of joy and love to our family, and we CAN'T imagine life without him.   WE LOVE YOU VANCIE!!

The Awaited Kitchen/Dining Redo Pictures

At the start of the new year Michael and I decided we needed a change in our dinning room and kitchen. It has taken us this long to almost complete it (we still have some little touches to do), but that is the story of our life right now. Michael has never liked the dark brown color we painted our dining room and I think I convinced myself I did because I didn't want to repaint it for a third time. Then, we had put off painting and decorating our kitchen because we have plans to one day totally remodel it, and we thought painting would be a waste of time. Well, when we discovered paint in our basement from previous owners and realized we could mix colors to get the one we wanted for free, we decided why not (plus the basement remodel will come first, so the kitchen seems really far off.) So for a whopping total of $8.00 (for both rooms that is all we spent!!!), here are some before and after photos.

The best dining room before picture I have- from when we first moved in and before the brown.

 A picture of the kitchen- again when we were first moving in.

 Dining room after

 Kitchen after

Memory Making

I just dressed Weston is his complete frog costume to go to Michael's office.  There are some things I just don't fight because I think they are way too darn cute.  Who wouldn't smile seeing a little boy walk down the street dressed as a frog in the middle of winter?  Not to mention, it is a very warm costume!  This followed putting him down for his nap in his race car driver suit and that reminded me of some other little moments that I want to remember from these past few weeks.

-Weston, Vance, and I went for a walk a couple weeks ago when some warmer weather had melted some snow and left water and mud puddles.  Well, I decided early on that it was going to be a loosing battle to keep Weston out of the puddles, so I let him have at it.  The smile on that boy's face was priceless as he splashed from one water puddle to the next.  We even attracted some admirers who shared what a joy it was to watch him from their window:)  As we strolled along we came to a rather large mud puddle in the corner of the church yard.  I passed it first, careful not to draw any attention to it, but I think boys and mud naturally attract to one another.  I will give Weston credit for this, however, he did ask my permission before he jumped in the mud puddle.  Standing at the edge of the puddle he looked at me with the biggest smile on his face and said, "Mom, can I jump in it!?"  The amount of excitement he expressed left me with no option- "Go ahead."  One giant leap and he was in.  After a couple more jumps I told him he had one more jump because Vance was getting antsy and we needed to get back home.  He took one last hop in and I called him to come along.  He didn't move, so I call again.  He still didn't move and then with slight panic in his voice he said he was stuck.  I went over and pulled him out, but one of his shoes remained sunk in the mud.  After pulling his shoe out and getting it back on him I reassured him that it was funny, because I could tell he wasn't too fond of getting stuck.  The rest of the way home I heard over and over, "Did I jump in the mud mom?  Did my shoe get stuck in the mud mom?"  To which I repeatedly replied, "Yes, Weston.  Yes, Weston." 

Even though he loves to get dirty, I think he still likes getting clean even more.  Bath time is always one of his favorite times:)

-My mom came over the other day, took one look at Weston, and asked him, "Weston, did you dress yourself?"  He responded that he had and I said, "Gee, Mom how did you know?"  His entire outfit was on backwards.  The time will come when we teach him the correct way to put his clothes on, but for now I love when he puts them on backwards- especially his pants.

-Yesterday was my mom's birthday (which by the way marks two years that we have been back in Wisconsin).  Before we headed over in the evening for some cake and ice cream we went to the store to get her present.  I think the fact that Weston helped pick out her gift, a pink bead for her bracelet, made him particularly eager to give her her present.  Add in helping to wrap it and I don't know what he was more excited about- giving Grandma her present or getting to eat her cake.  When we got there he walked in the door, told Grandma happy birthday as he walked up the stairs, then immediately and very quickly opened her present at the top of the stairs to show what we got her.  After he was done he said, "Well, I guess I can take my coat off now."

-Michael came home the other night after volunteering at a fundraising event and he explained that at one point they had him stand by the outside door, which is normally locked, and let families in.  They didn't want to keep the door unmanned because there had been a 6 foot tall, burly man hanging around the school lately that made them nervous.  "I guess they thought I would make a good speed bump," he told me as he recapped the story... I found this particularly funny for some reason.

(He really likes this game- being an astronaut)

-Vance officially knows how to put on the water works at will.  However, he scrunches up his little face so much that he doesn't realize it has the opposite effect he is going for- it just cracks us up and makes us smile. 

-Vance is also starting to imitate growling like a bear, mooing like a cow, and trumpeting like an elephant.  He also has taken a liking to imitating Tory- he likes to sneeze like she does (he puts his whole body into it) and has on one occasion started licking the crumbs off the kitchen floor along with her.

-Both boys got a hair cut the other night.  It was Van's first one.  His hair was mostly long on top and by the ears.  This is the best before picture I got.

After

-Finally, a few weekends ago we went on a double date with Andrea and Andy.  Believe it or not this was the first time we have ever done this!  Factor in living in Texas for almost four years, then babies, and you can see why.  We enjoyed a dinner where we weren't catering to any children, doing a little shopping, and then time to actually play board games- kid free:)

Celebrations

Life has been busy these past couple weeks, so while I haven't had time to blog, I have lots to catch up on!  When I sat down to start blogging I realized everything we have been doing these past couple of weeks has centered around a theme- celebrating:)

Celebrating New Life

First and foremost, we got to meet the newest member of the LaVoy family- Benjamin Boyles!!  This also meant getting to spend time with Chrissy, Darrel (shortly), and Mae who we haven't seen lately because of their move to Kentucky.  I think Weston liked being reconnected with his cousin Mae:) 

Celebrating Birthdays

While in town, Chrissy and Therese teamed up to throw a joint birthday party

for their daughters Mae and Alaina.  We got to go swimming at a little indoor

water park for the party and Weston loved it, but Vance did not. 

This is the only decent picture captured of the two birthday girls- Mae turning 2 and Alaina 4.

Weston enjoying the frosting part of his cupcake.  You don't have to unwrap the cupcake because as soon as he is done licking off all the frosting he is done with his cupcake.

Mike also recently celebrated his 28th birthday!  He took the day off of work and wanted to spend the day working our kitchen cabinets (pictures to come soon).  He enjoyed the satisfaction of getting a house project done, getting to take a nap, and just plain relaxing with his family:)  That evening my parents joined us for dinner, cake and ice cream, and a movie.  We watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is very fitting to watch with two middle school teachers.  For any of you who have seen the movie, Weston is very adamant when you ask him if he touched the cheese, "No, no.  I didn't touch the cheese.  The boy on T.V. did.  I didn't touch the cheese!" 

One gift Mike received from the boys and me was an audio recording of the Rosary.  Weston helped me create it and here is a little clip of him saying the Our Father.  (There is no picture, just audio.)

Van is also now officially 11 months old!  These pictures capture our Vancie perfectly- silly and sweet.  His smile just melts our hearts and lucky for us he doesn't hold back in sharing it:)

 

Celebrating Success

Last weekend we headed to Milwaukee for Catholic Financial Life's Annual Awards Gala.  Mike was awarded for a contest win, earning the trip to Mexico, and for leading almost the whole year as Rookie of the Year, only to be beat the very last week of the last quarter. 

Weston stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend and Vance came with us (my Aunt Lisa, Uncle John, and cousin Bri watched him during the event).  When we dropped Weston off at Grandma and Grandpa's house Friday night he was sooo excited that he was going to sleep there.  When it came time for us to leave he made sure we knew he wasn't going with us and he was going to sleep and Grandma and Papa's house.  Then as we walked out the door he sat next to my mom on the stairs and happily waved bye to us.  I think he would have started crying if we told him he had to go with us! 

The next morning we headed out to Milwaukee- Jacob and Mike drove up early for training and then Tamie and I drove up later with half of their kids and Vance.  Talk about success when you can achieve three babies sleeping for the whole ride up!  We did end up getting a little lost when we arrived in Milwaukee, but all ended well and we met up with our husbands at the hotel.  Once there we didn't have too much time before the dinner and ceremony started, but Tamie really wanted to get her hair done.  Since we really had to talk her into coming in the first place, I decided I could at least go get my hair done with her (even though I don't like to get my hair done).  Well, the nice lady at the receptionist desk of the hotel found us a place a few miles up the road that she couldn't promise was any good, but it was close.  So we met up with Nicole, the fiance of another agent from LaCrosse, and headed out and arrived at "Salon Unisex" located in a shady strip mall.  If I had been by myself I would have never gone in, but we headed in and found ourselves to definitely be in the minority.  Let's just say our red, blonde, and brunette hair didn't fit in.  Now, mind you, the place wasn't a dive; after all, they had a huge flat screen T.V. blasting Beauty and the Beast that three little kids, belonging to the owner's daughter, were watching.  After establishing with the owner, who had a heavy Spanish accent, what we were there for Tamie went first.  Chit chat was quickly ended when Tamie was told to, "Look down, look down!"  This lady seemed all business- except when she took time out to grab her little dog from the receptionist chair (who we didn't even know was there) and smother him with kisses.  She then proceeded to curl Tamie's hair while holding her little dog in one arm.  In the end, this salon owner was very talented and Tamie's hair turned out great.  Next, I was up.  I proceeded to show her a picture of what I wanted and just added that I didn't want as much of a puff on top. 



Quickly, she told me- "Oh, that no look good.  With your hair that no look good.  Here let me show you."  She sat me down and pulled my hair straight  back.  "See you just want straight back and that flat.  It no look good."  Then she creates a loose puff on top and says, "See that look better.  You see, you see?"  (Pulling my hair back and forth).  Okay, so by now I could tell something was lost in translation because I didn't want my hair pulled straight back into a bun, but I also didn't want a bee hive on top of my head.  So, a little flustered I said the dreaded words, "Just do what you think will look good."  With that she turns me around and proceeds to create three GIANT rats nests on top of my head.  At first it felt like she was taking a razor to my head, so I was a little relieved when she turned me around I just saw a snarly mess, but then I thought I am going to have to cut my hair to get these out!  Then, as she pulls some front hair over the nests, I notice the only aerosol can she has sitting on her counter is an anti fungal, antibacterial, anti mold spray for veterinarians, hairdressers, and some others.  I thought to myself,"Is that what she was using as hairspray in Tamie's hair?!  (Panic) Oh, please don't put that in my hair!! " Then she reaches down and pulls the real hairspray from between her knees- WHEW!  Bobby pins got jammed into my head, hairspray became 90% of my hair's makeup, I didn't utter a word the whole time because I don't want her yelling at me, and then she was done.  My thoughts- "Oh my, this is fancier than my wedding hair and that isn't a good thing!  I look like I have a bee hive on top of my head!!  Someone else could pull this look off, but this isn't me!  I have no time to change it and I am not about to ask her to!"  I then smile and tell her it looks great, get down from the chair, walk through the cloud of hairspray (literally), and sit down next to Tamie.  In a whisper, I joke with her that this is memory making and I am now officially out of my comfort zone.  Then I hear, "Excuse me, excuse me.  You no like your hair?"  To which I respond, "Oh, no I like it, it looks great."  Then I shut up.  Nicole gets done with her hair, which I might add turned out great, and we proceed to pay and leave.  The girls inform me I look straight out of a magazine, but I say, "Yeah, a high fashion magazine that totally isn't me."  Now, this picture is a bit exaggerated of what my hair actually looked like, but it is exactly what I felt like it looked like! 

As we return back to the hotel running late, the guys impatient because we had forgot our phones and they couldn't get a hold of us, I walk in the hotel room and proceed to tell Michael our experience.  Any frustration he felt because we were running late is replaced by him hardly able to contain himself because he is laughing so hard.  He totally understands what it was like for me and says he likes my hair but agrees it isn't really me.  So, in the end I decide to walk with confidence, like I think my hair looks awesome, and I enjoy the rest of the evening:)  We all forgot our cameras, so I don't have any actual pictures from the evening, but I don't really mind for my sake.

Celebrating A Packer Victory

We returned home from Milwaukee just in time to head over to my parent's house for the Super Bowl and to cheer on the Packers for a victory! 

 

Pipi's Latest Book

http://www.tikatok.com/view/shared/09467fd18fb77f8c2bd195ab458bc6eb

Best Cousins

Wes and Gigi (which is how they refer to each other) are two peas in a pod, pals, amigos, buddies, best cousins.  Sometimes I feel like they interact more like brother and sister than cousins.  The older they get the longer they can tolerate each other, the more excited they get to see one another, and the more fun they have playing together.  They seem to have a similar sense of humor, but definitely have their differences.  Sometimes they get on each other's nerves, but most of the time they want to be doing exactly what the other one is doing.  Andrea and I like to think that one of the best things we did was have them close together:)

I have a feeling this will be a picture we pull out when Weston and Gianna are having their joint high school graduation party!

They also do their share of influencing one another.  If it is okay for his cousin Gigi to prefer pink and wear dresses than why can't he?

And then there is Vance; Gigi is doing a good job preparing him for growing up close in age to a girl cousin.  We can't wait until baby Ella gets here so Vance can have a playmate too!