Cherished Memories

My sister and her family came to town for a visit, oh, about two months ago. It is not too often that they come out this way. The heat and the "ugliness" of Arizona keeps them far far away, in Illinois, that is! I don't blame them for wanting to vacation else where and let's be honest here, it is much nicer to go out and visit them. I usually get the pleasure of seeing my parents too, not to mention I force my sister to take me to Chicago (the BEST city in the world). Thank goodness they live so close, if it wasn't for my little Jay and Jearel, I would move that way in a heart beat. Ok, enough of that, now I am just rambling.

Most of you already know my sister, Jodi, is my very best friend. It is hard that she lives so far away. Not to mention my heart breaks that I can't be with my niece and nephew for the little things (like preschool graduations and violin recitals). It's never easy having your closest family live so far away. This is why I cherish the memories we share, even if they are spent doing nothing much at all.

Jodi was lucky enough to get out here for two weeks, and Erin, my niece got to miss school for an entire week (the second week was her spring break). Sadly enough I had to share my time with them with my brother-in-law's family, but we made the most out of our time together and I am so happy they were here.

Here's how our vacation went:

We hit up a spring training game (my sister has never been), and thanks to my friend Brian Garcia for always getting a big group to go, I was able to introduce my sister to some of my closest friends.

My little miss, with her cousins, Erin and Tyler.

She loves her cousins and misses them dearly
Tyler loves his Uncle Jearel

Erin does too, even though she tries not to show it ;)

Two of my favorite people in the world, Jenni and Kyan

and another favorite, little Miss Lola

My brother, Adam and his new love, Carey

The girls being silly.

The worlds greatest niece

My sister wanted nothing more than to lay out in the pool and drink margaritas. The weather was perfect, however, I thought the pool was a bit cold. Those Midwestern people can handle it!! So this is how we spent most of our days!!

My little water baby!

Tyler was extra prepared.

What a little ham!

My nephews A.J. and Cameron had their birthday party while my sister was here. We had a blast celebrating with them, at the bowling alley. Jayla even got to bowl and I think she will take after her daddy. She did AWESOME!

Jayla's best friend Lola was there. Those two can get a little crazy together!

Pools, bowling alleys, margaritas are the best anywhere on vacation!

Erin was Jayla's little bud and there wasnot a moment those two weren't doing something. Thank you Erin for being such a patient, loving, & caring big cousin. Jayla loves you so much!

My aunt, uncle, and cousin were able to swing by for a little visit, just before my sister headed back home. My Auntie Suzy and Uncle Phil brought Easter eggs full of money for all the kids to find. What a great idea, they LOVED it!!

Collecting their winnings. Thank you so much :)

The family catching up!! Always full of laughter and fun!

The cousins... Jayla, Erin, Cameron, Jaiden, A.J. and Tyler

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Jodi, Tom, Erin, and Tyler for coming out for a visit. We are so thankful for all that you do and the moments we have together. We love you all so much. Please come back soon!!! Or cruise again, Disney?! XOXO

Missing Us!?!

I just wanted to say that I am sorry for neglecting the blogging world. I miss it and maybe you miss us, but I promise I have so many un-edited posts just waiting to make there debut. I just can't seem to find the time to devote to this. I have exactly 2 weeks left of school and then 3 weeks of my "summer break", before I start summer school (for fun, yes I know, I am crazy). This semester has been SUPER easy. I've had a TON of work that kept me busy, busier than in the past, just minus the MAD STRESS.

Another reason I just can't squeeze in the time, is because of my little Miss Jay. It hard for me to think about the fact that Jayla will almost be 5 years old by the time I am done with nursing school. I feel as if I am missing out on so much of Jay's life, working my butt off to make something of myself and when I finally get there, she will be starting school herself. I'm trying to cherish every little moment I have with her and make the most of my free time. I've come to realize, the laundry can wait, the house can stay dirty, and my "me" time is not for me anymore. I now know that it will be a long while until I have this opportunity again, or even if we will, so I've made a little promise to Jay that everything else can wait (except school) so we can make the most out of these precious times. Anyone who has a baby can relate to how fast this time flies and how much the first years are irreplaceable, the moments when you watch your baby girl grow into this beautiful, smart little person.

So to my blogging friends, if you don't hear from me, please know that I love you and I'm still watching you. Please don't be offended if I don't leave comments (right away, because you know I'll always get around to it).

And to my family, my mom and dad especially, I PROMISE to keep this blog up and running, as much as I can. I know how much you love seeing all the pictures of Jayla. It is the closest way to seeing her, with out actually being here. Because of you, the Garrett family blog will continue! We love and miss you so much!!

Easter Fun

Saturday we headed to the mall right before it opened to be first in line to see the Easter bunny. Little did we know the Easter bunny didn't clock in until 11am. So we walked around for a little bit, enjoyed a cinnabun and walked back to find a line. People don't mess around with this stuff!! We were so worried Jayla would have a melt down, with Mr. Bunny, but she LOVED him. Yes we cheated, I didn't want to buy the cheesy packages from their photographer, so I snapped a few myself!! Jearel even got video of it. They didn't even care. Good to know for the future.

This was Sunday night at Grandma and Grandpa Riley's house. (A bit out of order, I know! Does anyone know if they have a picture arranger on this thing?)
She is such a little lady!

Saturday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Riley stopped by to help Jayla color her Easter eggs.

As you can see daddy bought the princess decorating kit!

Jay was a little hesitant at first, but it didn't take her long to bust out her crafty side (she gets that from her Grandma Skorstad)!!

Every egg had to have a sticker, of course!

The finished work of art!

Then came Easter morning!! Jayla was so excited to see her basket the Easter bunny left her. She went straight for a sucker and opened it up for the perfect nutritional breakfast!!

~Notice in this picture she is wearing big girl panties~

Jayla has been doing a GREAT job with using the potty over the past 2 weeks. Her success rate is about 90%. A few accidents here and there, mostly when she is hard a play and forgets to take a break to use the potty. Oh and of course she is lacking getting the pooping thing down. I thought for sure she would be golden with that, since this was the first thing she ever did on the potty. Either way we are soooo very proud of our big girl and I am happy to say we are diaper free through out the day. I am sure it will be a matter of weeks before she is FULLY potty trained. I also owe a HUGE thank you to Grandma Riley for helping make this happen.

Happy girl!

The Easter bunny and Grandma and Grandpa Skorstad spoiled her with gifts, Easter morning!

After we watched Jay open her presents, we rushed out of the house to head down to The Wigwam Resort for an Easter egg hunt and brunch. Jayla instantly became a star. Not sure if anyone catched her on news channel 3, but Brittney Shipp interviewed Jayla and daddy. It was so cute!! Here is proof of my little star :). She said "Happy Easter" to everyone watching!!

hunting for the eggs

YAY! Jayla got to see the Easter bunny AGAIN. She was a little scared of this one.

We all enjoyed a YUMMY brunch at The Wigwam. Champagne, prime rib, crab, shrimp... you name it, we ate it!! Jayla was a big fan of the deserts.

After we left The Wigwam, we headed over to see our good friends the Roselands. Jayla was missing her best friend, Lola.

Seriously, can there be any cuter picture than this?!

These two have one special bond and it gets cuter and cuter to see them together!!

That night we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Riley's house (pics in the beginning of the post), where Jayla got spoiled once more.

We enjoyed the BEST dinner, prime rib, grilled veggies, potatoes and the best salad in town! There is something about Jearel's mom's salads that are to die for!!

Thank you mom and dad for the cutest presents for Jay. I wish you guys could have been here. We miss you so much!

Thank you to Phyllis and Larry for never wanting to miss a moment with Jay. She is in love with her little bunny. Also thanks for the yummy dinner!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!!

It's UP and RUNNING!!

For those of you who don't know, Jayla (thanks to everyone who attended her birthday party) got a super cool swing set for her present. We headed to Costco the weekend after Jayla's party and purchased it. Unfortunately, thanks to the rain that came every weekend (including the weekend we bought it), it took Jearel, his Dad and my brother a lot longer than we had planned to get it up and running. It is a HUGE project and took a lot of time and effort. Jearel has now promised not to complain about the things I bring home from ikea- HA!! Thankfully we had it ready to go when my sister arrived for a visit, 2 weeks ago. I'm sorry to say there is not a picture of the completed project in this post, that will come in posts to come. I have a lot of great pictures to share from my spring break with my sister's family... Yes I know, I've been a huge blog slacker. Just hush and enjoy this post ;)

Even though Jayla's swing set was put on hold, she enjoyed every bit of the rain.

Here's the working progress (in random order)

This is nothing compared to the piles of wood they started with!

Jearel and his dad hard at work!

Thanks to our good friends Eric, Jeremy and my brother; the boys were able to move this main part across our yard to it's permanent resting place.

(Don't worry that bush is now gone)

My brother and Jay hard at work. Notice the tarp to help keep the rain out!

This is one of the swings. Jayla just couldn't wait until it was finished to try it out and of course have some fun with her Uncle Jeremy and Uncle Rubio!!

She has been loving every minute of her mini playground. Thank you, again, to everyone who helped make her birthday wish come true.

We owe a huge thank you to Papa Garrett (Jearel's dad) for all of his hard work. We couldn't have done this with out you!!

Also thank you to my brother for coming (when you could) and staying up late to help finish it!! Plus thank you to Jeremy and Eric for putting your muscles to work and giving up part of your day to come play with Jay. She loved every second of having you guys here.