Girls Trip!

So after reading everyone's blogs about the trips they were taking to warm places I finally got the chance of my own. Me, My Mom and my sister along with my Mom's twin and three of her daughters went to Scottsdale AZ for a few days. It was so much fun! No kids and no husbands, just us! I loved every second of it. We played tennis, laid out, shopped and of course the most important part.....ate. If you've never been to AZ you need to go just for the food. The restaurants are awesome, and you could eat at a different one for every meal for the entire year. Don't worry I didn't come home that fat, we just chose one a day. Cheesecake Factory, Flo's (Best Chinese Food ever!), and a really good Mexican restaurant (I can't remember the name).

I came back from my trip rested, rejuvenated and ready to take on motherhood again. It was great and I highly recommend a girls trip for all you moms out there! I'm already looking forward to next year. Thanks Mom for doing this! And a VERY VERY BIG THANK YOU to my in-laws who watched the boys while I was away. I could never leave them if I didn't know they were in the best of hands.

The Whole Clan

The Gorgeous Twins!

Tennis and Eating

Stuffed Animals....Love them or Hate them?

Am I alone in feeling like stuffed animals are a thing from the devil disguised in very cute packaging?

I was straightening my boys room for the fifth time that day and stopped to take a look at my accomplishment when I realized that no matter how many times I pick their things up it still looks like it's being taken over by millions of big, little, orange, blue, fuzzy, stuffed animals. This is not the first time I have realized this, it's just one of my many reoccurring thought processes that happens about once a month. So I continue the process by starting at the back of the room and going through each one to try and decided if it stays or goes. Here is how it works...

Animal #1 - Cameron brought this one back from his mission for me, I can't give this one up

Animal #2 - Grandma gave this to Brigham while he was in the hospital, it was his very first stuffed animal.

Animal #3 - I sent this one to Cameron on the mission while I was in New York, no way we are getting rid of it.

Animal #4 - Brigham sleeps with this one every night, the most sanitary thing would probably be to throw it in the trash but I already took his Binky away and am not willing to fight another battle like that.

Animal #5 - Way too cute to get rid of

Animal #6 - Well as long as we are keeping stuffed animals

And it ends there.

Why is it so easy to buy stuffed animals and yet so hard to get rid of them? They are just big and take up space and NEVER get played with. Ok maybe you mom's with girls out there have a different story to tell but unless my boys are shooting them with their guns, or tossing them at each other trying to knock each other down, they sit lifeless. Yet they are so compelling to buy. Mom's, grandma's, aunts, friends all feel compelled to buy them for their favorite baby boy or girl. Yes even I, knowing how much I can't stand my boys stuffed animals, still give in to the cute stuffed bear to give to a friend at their baby shower. It is disgusting how all of us girls are drawn to them.

Don't even get me started with the store Build - A - Bear. Probably the worst store in America. They prey on girls of all ages. Maybe we think if we stuff the bear ourselves then we will enjoy it more or the person we are getting it from will enjoy it more.....FALSE. Nice idea yes but poor execution. In weeks it is tossed on to the pile of other stuffed animals

I really don't think stuffed animals go with my boys sports themed room and since we don't have a big house with a toy room I must work up the courage to get rid of them, except for the one dressed in the baseball outfit, he's gotta stay. Oh and then there is the U of U bear, he's sports themed right?