Puerto Vallarta

In May, Troy and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary.  We had always said that for our ten year anniversary we wanted to take a trip together.  Our idea of a great vacation is a tropical location with a beach and a pool.  We did some research and settled on Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Neither of us had ever been there before and did not disappoint.  We loved it so much.  It was honestly one of the best weeks of my life.  We had such a blast together, did a lot of relaxing and fell in love with this beautiful city.  Every morning we woke up to this.....

And spent our days relaxing by the pool......

And walking the beach.........

Each morning we sat out on the balcony of our room and read Scripture and prayed together, while hearing the ocean.....perfect.

And, we did a lot of eating:)  One of our favorite things was the unbelievable breakfast buffet at our resort. It made our mornings very happy.

 Troy about to dig in

My plate.....yes, those are chocolate chips on my waffles.

So good!

We took cabs every time we went from our resort to restaurants.  At first, this made me a little nervous, but ended up being a lot of fun and gave us an adventure everyday. 

Wind blown look....cab drivers liked to drive with the windows down.  Why use the air conditioner when you can have fresh air?

Back to the food....lots of good food.  Including El Arrayan and some wonderful Mexican food.

The restaurant with the most beautiful setting was La Palapa.  Right on the beach.....our feet where in the sand while we ate.  And from our table we saw this.....
 

 Waiting for the sun to set

Delicious food

Beautiful Puerto Vallarta sunset

Ending with a wonderful dessert

Some nights we went searching for our dessert.  One night we found a crepe stand and made it to a cab right before the rain started.

Other nights we would get a sweet treat back at our resort.

Each restaurant we went to had such good food and the warmest people at each of them.  And always beautiful sunsets.

Vista Grill at sunset overlooking Puerto Vallarta

Delicious food at Vista Grill

When we weren't eating we were back at the pool.....

or at the beach......

This trip was a dream come true for us.  Like I said, one of the best weeks of my life celebrating ten of the best years of my life.

Thank you, Puerto Vallarta, for giving us wonderful memories and helping us celebrate something so special to us.  We hope to be back someday.  Right now we are ready for decades more.

Catching up

I have missed my little blog here in these past few weeks. Life with two little ones keeps me very busy, but I really love writing.  Even if no one is really reading, it is good for me to write about our life and to take notice of where we are.  Plus, one day I will be able to look back at all of these blog posts and remember it all.....like a digital scrapbook.

Anyway, our summer has gotten off to a busy but wonderful start.  Troy and I just got back from an amazing trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary.....more on that to come soon.  For now, here is some catching up on what has been going on in our world.

Haircuts

I had been wanting to get Ashlyn's hair cut into a little bob for awhile now but it has always been a struggle to get her to hold still in a chair for very long.  A couple of weeks ago, we tried it and she did great.

Sitting patiently while her hair got pinned back

Looking down when the hair dresser told her to

The finished product!

Swimming Lessons

The first two weeks of June I had the girls signed up for swimming lessons.  Kyla had already done them before but this was Ashlyn's first time.  Kyla was so excited about them this year.  She now puts her face in the water with no problem and loves it all.  I wasn't sure what to expect from Ashlyn.  The class she is in is a very beginner class for 3 - 5 year olds in a kiddie pool.  I called ahead of time to let them know that she has Down Syndrome so I didn't have to worry about that when we got there.  They were very kind and had no problem with her being in the class.  However, it got off to a really rough start for Ashlyn.  The first day she was screaming when she had to leave me and cried through pretty much the whole class.  When it was over, I cried in the front seat of our car as we drove home.  When it comes to Ashlyn, there are many situations where I don't feel like I know what to do.  How much is she ready for?  How much should I push her?  How much does she understand?  I knew it wouldn't be the end of the world if she wasn't ready for swimming lessons this year, but I also felt that if she could just get a little more used to it, she would be okay.  And, that is what happened.  Each day she got more comfortable and there was a sweet teacher in her class who always watched out for her and was her helper.  Ashlyn never really did like to get very wet and didn't participate in everything but I was so proud of her for going everyday.

Ashlyn doing the pre-class warm ups with the other kids

Her favorite part was sitting on the side and kicking

Kyla at the big pool ready to jump in

Whole head wet and loving it

Sisters before leaving for another morning of swimming lessons

And sisters leaving after another morning of swimming lessons

Daddy is a woodworker

My husband never ceases to amaze me.  For awhile now we have known that we needed to get a new bed for Kyla as she has been about to completely grow out of her little toddler bed.  One day Troy asked me what I thought about him making a bed for Kyla.  He said that he found some stuff online that he thought he could do and that he would really love to do it for her.  I loved the idea.  And so away he went....spending many nights in the garage cutting, painting and assembling wood. 

After a lot of hard work, Kyla's new bed was ready and it is so beautiful.  She was so completely excited about it!

Kyla on her brand new bed, hand made by her daddy

With the maker of her bed

Ashlyn wanted to try out the bed too

I love this picture....after Kyla tried out her bed, Troy was talking with her and telling her that he made it for her because he loves her so much and she is so special.  And that he was praying for her while he made it.  Blessed daughter.

Father's Day

I think you are already getting the picture about what an amazing father Troy is to our girls.  All three of us girls are blessed by his love and leadership on a daily basis so we tried to make the day as special for him as we could. 

Daddy with his girls in their matching Cardinals hats....a special gift from Grandma Hochstetler

We are loving our summer.....I'll be back with more soon!

Signs of Summer

Even though the past couple of days have felt almost more like fall than the beginning of summer, we know the temps are about to rise and we felt them over Memorial Day.  We kicked off summer spending the day together as a family and lots of time outside......including some good old fashioned running through the sprinkler.  

 Ashlyn couldn't believe what she was seeing.....all the fun her sister was having

But wasn't quite so sure about that sprinkler getting her

And even big kids can still appreciate a good run through the sprinkler

Welcome, summer.....we are ready to soak you up.