Arizona, Bailey style.

One thing before I get into all the fun we had in Arizona- DON'T TRY TO FLY STAND-BY ON VETERANS DAY. Although the flights are only $30, being in an airport for almost 16 hours is absolutely no fun. Especially being there with a 19 month old.

Luckily, Sea Tac had a play area, and Sam was able to sleep really well in his stroller.

Saturday afternoon we headed into Chandler for my Grandpa's surprise party. Sam and I were a little late, so we just walked up to Papa while he was eating and stood next to him until he realized who we were. He was so thrilled to see us. It was so fun.

Family flew in from Utah, Pennsylvania, California, Seattle and Florida just for Grandpa. It was so much fun to see everyone and catch up. I love my family.



 (please excuse the random order. I am too lazy to organize these.)
Aunt Monica and Uncle Randy.
Celeste, Freddy and Sam.
Britt, Grandpa, Me and Nikki.

Sam loved meeting and playing with all his new cousins.
Maddie and Delaney. I got to sleep on Delaney's "Hannah Montana" bed while we stayed with her family.
Dustin, Britt, Monica and Glen checking out Grandpa's book.
Chad and Stephanie. They let me stay in their house, eat their food and drive their car. My family really is better than yours. :)
Maddie loved Danny's funny faces.
Grandpa reminiscing with some friends visiting from California.
Danny and Maddie
The family sent in pictures from Grandpa's life to create this awesome book. He loved it.


Loni is mature.
Sam and cake.
Jaxson and cake. They didn't get along too well. When Jax dropped his first plate, the heartbreak was totally picture worthy. 
Mike, Dana, Speedy and Dylan. They might be laughing at Jaxson.
Dylan.
Maddie and LoniGrandpa had 80 candles to blow out so all the great-grandchildren pitched in. Sam LOVED his cousin Lexi. And the feelings were pretty mutual. They were together all night long.

Sam and I had a great time. I realize that its not every family that gets together to dance to the "Casper Slide" and throw surprise parties that include a bonfire level of candles. But I feel really lucky that I belong to one crazy, fun and extremely spontaneous group.

After the festivities Sam and I were able to visit Grandpa at his house. He lives in a beautiful area called "The Islands" and it is a tropical paradise in the middle of the desert. He has a little boat and beautiful property and it felt like we were in the Caribbean.

Sam loves him. Its so great to see them play together.

We also got to see more of the family for a pizza lunch at a park near my Aunts house.
Sam was again attached to Lexi's hip. These two were so funny together.


That night we all got together again at Chad and Stephanie's house for Karaoke. See, I told you were are one crazy bunch!
Monica, Randy and Dena.
Danny singing "Vanilla Ice."
Brady.
Stephanie. God gave her a lovely, caring, sweet and friendly personality, beauty and style but forgot to give her singing talent. She rocked out anyway! Got to love her!
Sam tried coke. And oops, he loved it. Good thing we were up partying the night away anyway.
Monica serenading Randy and Dena.
Nikki, Maddie and Brit. We have pretty genes in the Bailey family.
If I were to title this picture, it would be blank. "__________"Just a blank, silent stare.
Chad, the Karaoke Master.
I cant tell you how much fun we had with the Bailey family.  More to come from the Tennant side of my family, the zoo and Amazing Jakes!

All about Sam

Sam is 18 months old.

He is a tiny guy weighing in at only 22lbs.

He prefers vegetables and pasta over ice cream and candy.

He loves to be scared and startled.

He is a mama's boy through and through.

Everyone compliments his dark eyes and lashes.

He is too stubborn to talk.

Sam loves all things Giraffes.

He can sign please, more and dog.

His laugh is contagious.

Books are his new obsession.

His favorite movies are Babies, Toy Story and Nemo.

His best friend is Eli and his girlfriend is Makiah.

He is loving nursery and behaving very well.

Sam can run, jump, climb and do somersaults.

He is everything to his mom and dad.

Family Pictures

My friend Alycia and I traded family pictures this year. I was happy to get both the Bailey family and the Aprecio family together for a day of photos.

This is the spot where Matt took me on our first date 5 years ago.

So, there we are! Well, not really. Wanna know how we really behave?

Thats more like it! :)

Our Halloween Night

First off, is there a better holiday than Halloween? I mean, you get candy for free, get to dress up how ever you want and scaring the living guts out of people is totally acceptable behavior. These are things I wish could happen every single day of the year.

Oh, and do I need to mention that its even better now that I have a little goblin to go around and collect my candy for me? #1 reason to have babies. Seriously.

Needless to say, we had a great Halloween. How cute was Sam as Charlie Chaplin? I loved it. I felt obligated to out-do his last year rendition of Harry Potter. The pressure came from everyone and their Mom asking me what he was going to be this year. I knew I had to make it good, and that's what I came up with. Little did I know that without his bowler hat, which is hard to keep on an 18 month old, he would look almost identical to a man named Adolf Hitler. Oops.

So, we borrowed a "Cowardly Lion" costume from some friends and walked through our neighborhood without offending any Jews or gypsies. It was fun.

We had a ton of people over for some chili, pumpkin pie and trick-or-treating. The weather was perfect, and the neighborhood was full of kids. I loved every minute of it.

Sam didn't really catch on, but seemed to enjoy himself anyway.