rushley & crew

Usually I do separate blog posts for separate activities, but I just wanted to quickly mention all the family fun times we had in December 2018 :) Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit! Ada was interested but also seemed wary/concerned at first. However, she did warm up and we got some better smiles without the concerned eyebrows 😂 We went on the Provo River cruise with Lacey and Ian. There were lots of lights hanging up and a few different scenes (some Santa, some Nativity, one adult Jesus). When we started moving away from Jesus, Ada kept saying, "More Jesus!" We learned that you should definitely bring blankets to sit on during this cruise, because the boat seats are metal and therefore freezing!! We had a family sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. For the last three years, we've done a little family getaway to the Little America hotel at Christmastime. While we were there last year, we decided we could have just as much f...

My parents commonly say that they don't want to leave us an inheritance when they die -- they want to spend that inheritance on us while they're still alive! That means we've gotten to go on several fun trips as a family -- and I love this way of doing things! It means we get to create more memories together :) A few years ago, shortly after our adults-only trip to Europe (amazing!! Still haven't blogged about it though . . .), my parents started discussing where our next adults-only trip would be to. After much discussion, we landed on Hawaii. My brother Tyler said that he and Anya wouldn't be able to attend because he wanted to use his vacation days for his own family (he now has five kids of his own!), but everyone else was in! Until my sis-in-law Amy unexpectedly got pregnant and was due right around the planned vacation. So it turned into a trip with my parents and sisters (and brothers-in-law)! It was a different dynamic than usual, and I missed my brothers ...

My Mother's Day weekend was pretty perfect. It started out with Ada having the flu/a fever on Saturday morning. She had thrown up in her bed (had no idea til I went to get her out -- she never cried about it!), so I quickly cleaned her up and put all her bed things into the wash. Then we spent the entire morning cuddling and watching Balto 2 and 3 on Netflix (it was the perfect time to get some things off my list! haha). Ada only cuddles long-term when she has a fever, so fevers are my very favorite sickness. At one point, I wanted to make myself a quick breakfast, so I left Ada on the couch by herself, watching a show. She was okay, but she kept, like, whimpering for me to come back. Haha it was so cute! Another time, I was holding Ada but had to put her down so I could go move the laundry (so she'd have her sleep stuff in time for her nap!). Ada is usually soooo quick at following me up the stairs, but because she was sick, she'd only made it halfway up the stairs by th...

We recently got to fly out to Kyle, Texas, to visit my sister Brooke and her family. It was Ada's first time on a plane, and Russ's & my first time to Texas together -- state #10 for our United States Map! :) We get guest passes for Alaska Airlines (essentially 10% cost for standby seats) each year because Russ's dad is a pilot. Our 2017 passes were about to expire, so we started brainstorming where we wanted to go. My only requirement was a new state. Russ wanted to go somewhere warm and suggested Texas or Florida. Since my sister lives in Texas, I suggested that, and we went with it! Since it was Ada's first time flying , I was suuuuuuper nervous. My girl is super sleep trained and super scheduled. That means when she misses a nap, she does not know how to handle it, and pretty much loses it. It also means she is pretty much incapable of sleeping in our arms or even a carseat. However, we got super lucky for all the flights! For 3 out of 4 flights, we got a...