Valentines and Homecoming in California

Claire and I got up early Saturday morning (2/13) and headed for Glendora. Where we then got into Auntie Ree's car and went out to visit Grandma Virge at her new home. Claire got to surprise her while she was eating lunch, she had no clue we were even in town. Claire was trying to figure out how her chair was able to move around so much. Saturday night we tried going to a fun new place in Montclair, but going on a holiday weekend was not such a good idea. We'll try again another time. So we went over to Boomers and had fun playing lots of games and winning tickets.
Grandma Patti was trying so hard to win on this wheel, but the most we ever got was 40 tickets. It's totally rigged!
Auntie Ree and Claire posing outside with the rides.

We then had to go a store to get a few items and Claire took my picture

then I took hers.

Sunday morning was Brendan Holmes, homecoming for Mexico.. (The whole reason I went on this trip) It was so nice to hear him speak. And to think of how old I am getting. I think Brendan might have been 7 when I started babysitting for this wonderful family. Claire and I went over to their house after church and had a great meal and got to spend lots of time with the family. Claire had a ball playing with all the kids there.

Here's Spencer and Brendan. Spencer was on his way to his Eagle Scout review in his tight scout shirt and pants, which were purchased a few years prior to him actually finishing his eagle.

Claire thought these mugs of m&ms were meant just for her. And here's the rest of the Holme's kids... Katie, Megan and Tanner.

Monday morning Claire and I headed off for Disneyland. We first stopped at the Grand Californian to meet up with 2 friends of mine that I hadn't seen in years, so nice to catch up on their lives!!

We then went to the park with thousands of our closest friends. Claire got to pick 1 ride she really wanted to go on, she choose Buzz. And we also went up inside the castle then over to Winnie the Pooh. Claire took lots of pictures, my favorite is the one of Walt and Mickey with the tree over head. We shared a mickey mouse pretzel before leaving.

Claire posing in the parking structure before leaving this Happy place!

Valentine's in Vegas

Since I was heading to California and was going to be gone on Valentine's Day, we figured we'd celebrate on the 12th when Jason had a day off. Claire found a little valentines gift in her mailbox (that we finally decorated after having it for a year!) She got a little bracelet that lasted about 4 hours until it broke. We headed to the bakery to get some bread to take to family and friends, and Claire got her favorite grilled cheese and lots of pickles!!
We then went on our first trip to Town Square which is a beautiful out door mall. They had a fun little play area that Claire loved and never wanted to leave.

They have this fun mazeI went and hid down low in the maze and got Claire's reaction when I scared her- priceless! Once we finally convinced her to leave after a few meltdowns, we had lunch at Claim Jumper. Claire's meal was huge! My favorite part was a side option of frozen grapes!! Jason and I got our potato cheese soup and a yummy salad.

our best attempt at a family picture before heading for home.

That night we had grilled cheese sandwiches in the shape of hearts and hot chocolate! I'm so lucky to have these two Valentines in my life!!

Trip to Bullhead, AZ

We did a quick trip to AZ, to see my brothers family and so Jason could get a much needed eye appointment. It just so happened to be the weekend that they were moving so we were able to help for a little bit. And spend some time with these growing kids. We stayed at the Tropicana hotel in Laughlin, where the train that goes around the hotel no longer works.
And the boats that take you down the river weren't working- I guess because of the rain.
(So the two things we told Claire we were going to do aren't there)

So we walked over to the Colorado Belle hotel and Claire asked me, "where are you going to put my stroller" I was confused by this, so we told her it was going on the boat with us. After a while we finally figured it out! She thought this was like the boat at Disneyland where we have to leave her stroller at the gate before getting on the boat! It looks like it, she's no dummy!

We walked back to our room and stopped in the arcade, and she had a blast (even with no money in the game) Back in our room Claire got the security called on her. She likes to talk on the phone so I always unplug it, somehow she was still making calls to the front desk and not responding. So lets just say now she stays away from the phone!!!

Then on our way home the next day we stopped at the Avi resort and had lunch then I was going to get a scoop of my favorite ice cream, chocolate malted crunch... and they were out!!!!! So it was a not a Great trip to AZ, maybe our next one will be a lot better.

We did see a beautiful full rainbow on the drive home

We made it back to Las Vegas and met up with Grandpa Brad and Mary Ann to pick up some food for Super Bowl. Claire found her seat once we were leaving Costco.

Dinner for Papa

This February 2ND marked 6 years since my dad has been gone- WOW. wow. WOW. And I still miss him now more than ever. It was a lot harder this year as I moved away from my family and Jason had to work that afternoon. So it was just Claire and I for dinner that night. We made dads favorite, meatloaf. We had some fun while eating and took lots of pictures. Claire loves to look at you out of the corner of her eye, she just thinks it's funny.

One thing that my dad and I loved was pickles, especially the tiny ones and we would always fight over who the the smallest one. Now I have Claire to fight with over the pickles, she LOVES her pickles. So I bought a jar a tiny pickles and we enjoyed them with our dinner.

Jason got home from work right before bed time and brought a TJ's balloon with him so that we could send it to Papa. Claire gave it a kiss and it was off to see him. (If only it were that easy)