It was by far the best vacation we’ve been on since having kids… and is in the running for best vacation period.

We relaxed, ate, spent time together, walked and walked, were adventurous, relaxed, ate, and had the most wonderful time.

Andy and I needed the time together so bad. I didn’t even realize it until we got there and were having so much fun together. I’m so thankful we got the opportunity to reconnect and have some fun.

Unfortunately, I took most of the pictures with my phone. And my phone was stolen mid-way into the Vegas trip. So we lost most of the pictures. But my camera is huge and we didn’t want to carry it everywhere so I took pictures with the phone. Sigh. I did get some though, so I will share what I got!

Our last day we went to Hoover Dam and it was amazing. Andy was, of course, in absolute engineering heaven!

(PS Little known fact about the dear husband… he reads every.single.word. of the exhibits in museums, zoos, aquariums, etc. I usually wonder around and take pictures or take a nap while he does this because it takes for-ev-er.)

Yes, he was so giddy over the dam thing.

HA! Get it? A dam joke! I crack myself up.

My favorite picture of us from the trip.

And I did happen to upload a couple of pictures to Instagram over the trip-

Also, I decided to get a tattoo while in Vegas, much to everyone’s suprise/shock and horror. HA!

Its a heart with a tiny stitch inside of it. Someone asked why I did it and I told them this-

Ryder’s scar is fading more every single day. I am so happy for her that she won’t have that as a negative thing when she is older, but I’m also sad because its MY battle wound too. So I got the tattoo to remind me and everyone who sees it to be thankful and to remember how might our God is in His grace and healing power. Also, for those who ask me about it I can tell them Ryder’s story and how God healed her and provided me with peace and strength during that time. I want her life and story to impact others in the future… it shouldn’t just stop after surgery is done.

I came home from this trip so refreshed and ready to take on the world. We have a lot of things going on right now that aren’t exactly ‘easy’ and it was perfect timing for us to be able to reconnect and face them together. I’m so thankful for Andy and everything he does for our family. He works so hard and comes home and works hard too. I wouldn’t want to do this life without him.

Have a great weekend!

]]> http://theharrislife.com/las-vegas-2012/feed/ 1 http://theharrislife.com/vacation-bloopers/ http://theharrislife.com/vacation-bloopers/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:14:39 +0000 Tiffany http://theharrislife.com/?p=4764 Continue reading →]]> **** I wrote this post earlier today and just before I was going to post it Andy called to say he was extremely sick. I had been running to the bathroom a lot myself, so I knew things were about to get ugly. We both ended up getting really sick. We found an extremely shady walk in clinic but were in and out within 30 minutes with about six prescriptions to help. The doctor was super nice and felt so bad we were on vacation and sick. We ate at a Japanese restaurant last night and had the same thing and we’re pretty positive it was food poisoning. Great way to spend vacation without kids, right? Luckily we were able to get a lot of rest tonight and both feel so much better but are very weak. Hopefully the worst is behind us! ****

Hello, hello! I’m currently blogging on my iPad in Starbucks and wishing I had a Mac computer instead so I’d look cool like every other person in here. But alas, I am busily tapping away with my little pointy finger like a goob. I am pretending they are envying my sweet iPad and hating their MacBooks.

I am now going to tell you some random facts about today:
- I had to pack everything up and load it in the car by myself today. It took 37 trips because Andy has 123 code books from his training and they are heavy.
- We are under a strong wind advisory here in Columbus OH and that is the understatement of the year! I almost fall over every time I go outside. Of course, that added to the awesomeness of loading the car by myself.
- I have been stopped 34567 times by random people asking if my hair is really purple. When I say yes, most of those people have said “ohhh interesting….” …. meaning “ohhh weird” or “ohhh I hate it”.
- I’m sitting in a tall stool at a tall table and my feet are dangling and I feel like a little person.
- Oh my gosh! That reminds me of a dream I had the other night! I dreamed that I was on a bus with a bunch of people, some I knew and some I didn’t. Anyways, I started talking about this crazy midget who attacked me in the Target parking lot and my mom was cutting her eyes like crazy to the left. When I finally looked over, I realized there was a little person next to me. Awkward.
- Don’t you wish I did more random facts posts?
- I wish I could be a little more dramatic and exaggerate just a tad more. I’m obviously not good at that.
- Dude next to me just announced loudly that he needed to take a “huge crap” except he used another word that in my world is known as the Davis word and it’s 2 syllables instead of one. Thought you’d like to be mortified with me. You’re welcome.

Ok! Let’s get to the important part of the post! I know every single one of you (hi mom!) who wait for me to post is dying to hear the story I promised yesterday.

The year was 2006 I believe and Andy and I were two poor college students wanting to take a mini vacation somewhere. Since Andy is an avid snowboarder, he suggested we go snowboarding. Now, I was raised in TN and MS so I hadn’t seen just inches upon inches of snow so I was excited about going.

Andy, the precious terd that he is, convinced me that I should just go straight to snowboarding instead of skiing because it was SO MUCH EASIER that way. And I skeptically went along with this plan.

But I was hopeful! I had convinced myself that since I knew how to surf (meaning I had done it once on our senior trip to Maui) and wakeboard it’d be easy as pie. (are pies really easy????)

So off we went to West Virginia to go snowboarding together and bond over Andy’s love for the sport. In my head, the trip was going to be awesome and we were going to tear up the slopes like Shaun White together.

And then we got there.

First, let me tell you that while we were driving up to WV I started running a very high fever (103) and I’m about 99.9999% sure it was the flu.

So that was certainly on my side, no?

We drive up the mountain and Andy gets straight to business going down quadruple black diamonds (or whatever they are called) while I went to snowboard school. I was in school with four other people, all of which were age 14 down to age 7. They were tearing it up immediately and I kept landing on my face. Which totally wasn’t embarrassing AT ALL. By the end of the day though I was started to get the hang of it.

We woke up the next morning to snow everywhere and bitterly cold temperatures. This meant that they could make snow a lot of snow.

Andy and I decided I would get a private lesson first thing that morning to make sure I could go down more than just the bunny slope.

We get up to the mountain and I meet up with my private instructor who was young and mighty cute (ha!) and start our lesson. The problem was that the area where the bunny slope and lessons were was in direct path of the huge snow makers that were shooting straight ice out. I had ice cycles coming out my nose, my hair was completely frozen, and my eyes kept getting stuck closed from the ice. The instructor (did I mention he was hot and from Switzerland??) just kept apologizing because there was no way to do anything. He couldn’t even stay up very well.

While this is going on, the bunny slope lift stopped working and so I was having to go down the mountain on the snowboard and then walk back up which was MISERABLE.

After a few times having to do that I was done and got some coffee and waited on Andy to come back from shredding it up on the quadruple black diamonds. When we met up he insisted that I was ready to go down a green slope.

Cue the drama queen in me… I started BAWLING telling him I wasn’t ready and he kept insisting so I decided that maybe he knew something I didn’t so I would go down.

So, reluctantly, I started down the green slope (aka baby slope) and KEPT FACE PLANTING EVERY FIVE SECONDS. I was hurting physically, but more importantly my ego was severely bruised. After about a hundred tries and EPIC FAILS in which I landed flat on my face I did the most calm and rational thing possible.

I threw the BIGGEST tantrum anyone’s ever seen, screamed at Andy that I told him I wasn’t ready and whyyyy wouldn’t he just listen to me for once, said words that would make even the worst sinners blush, and literally threw my snowboard down the mountain and walked back up the mountain. I got in the car and drove to the hotel and took a big ole nap while Andy continued to have the time of his life on his fancy quadruple black diamonds.

Now, in hindsight I may have over reacted. Just a tad. I wish I would have taken the snowboard off and sat on it and just went down the mountain on my butt instead, but I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.

But it’s a story we will tell the grand kids one day and they will laugh so I guess that makes I worth it. (??)

So tomorrow we are going again but this time I’m skiing and praying so hard I can get down a green without having to throw a huge fit and losing my religion. I will let you know how it goes.

Also, I’m never listening to Andy again when it comes to things like this.

The end.

So I’ve scribbled some ideas and words on a scratch piece of paper I found in the hotel room and am praying I won’t lose the rest when I get back to real life.

I’m currently in Ohio where Andy has been for almost two weeks now doing a training course for his job. I am in mommy heaven. I took a Tylenol PM to ensure a good night’s rest (which was probably totally unnecessary but I didn’t want to chance it) and slept from 10 pm to 10 am. OH.MY.WORD. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BLISSFUL. I’m sure you’ve heard me say it before, but neither of my kids inherited Andy and I’s love of sleep apparently so getting even four straight hours of sleep would be heaven on earth since that never ever happens at home.

Today I watched an old Lindsay Lohan movie (like before she went all crazy), took a long,extremely hot shower, and took my time putting on my makeup and doing my hair. After I got ready I ventured out and found my most favorite shops that I most definitely don’t have in Paris- SuperTarget, Best Buy, World Market, etc. I also found Starbucks and Panera Bread which made my life complete.

I do miss my little stinkers, but I won’t lie and say I’m not enjoying every second of this kid free time by myself and with Andy. I think it’s so important to get away and rejuvinate yourself and remember what life was like before the constant touching, feeding, and no sleep that comes with having kids.

I’ve also had a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my life. I’ve always had this struggle of not knowing what I’m meant to do or who I am supposed to be. I’ve toyed with so many ideas as to what I want to be when I grow up but have never been truly satisfied with what the outcome would be. I thought for a long time I’d settle with being a teacher and I think I could be a good one but I don’t have that desire to do it. And with only one life, I feel like settling is the last thing I should do. So I’ve decided, and am so very happy about this decision, to go back to school and get my degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. Maybe I will write a book or children’s book, or maybe I will never write more than this here blog, but I will finally feel like I accomplished something for me and that’s enough for me right now. Four colleges and about ten majors later, I finally figured out what I want to do with my life and it feels good. Now I just have to figure out when to start back and what to do with the kids. I don’t have much left, but I’m not under any illusion that it will be easy. It will be hard to juggle it all but I’m ready.

Anyways, I will be back tomorrow to tell you a hilarious story about a mini vacation Andy and I took once… and I’m hoping it isn’t repeated this weekend.

And one more thing- will you pray with me for a friend of mine, Sara, and her family? Little Cooper started spitting up blood this morning and has been admitted into the hospital to try and figure out why. I KNOW the fear she is going through of the unknown and I know she would appreciate the prayers. Thank you!

But I did take this picture of my darling parents.

This picture is so typical of them. My mom is telling a story, my dad is aggravating her, and I’m squished in the backseat.

Some things never change.

You should also notice that my mom most certainly has one of those neck pillows.

Let me tell you something about my mom- she’s one of THOSE people who is addicted to anything labeled “as seen on tv”. I may or may not have inherited this trait from her.

So we have had a great week so far. Rory and Ryder are getting spoiled by so many people and I’ve had many breaks. Andy is coming to MS today to meet us and I can’t wait to see him!

Alright, it’s time to go sing our usual road trip songs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So exhausted, in fact, that Sunday night when Ryder woke up to eat at 1:00 am I put the formula in a bottle and went to shake it up without putting the top back on and it went EVERYWHERE. It was very funny… Andy wasn’t laughing as hard as me though.

Andy had a business trip in Memphis and since our hometown is only an hour away from there I decided to go along to have some help with the girls. We had a great but stressful time and it was definitely hard to leave.

It was perfect timing for us to go too- my sister, Tasha, came into town for the week as well! So Tasha, Telena, and I all went shopping on Wednesday afternoon and it was wonderful. We hadn’t been together and spent time together like that in over a year. I’m so mad because I forgot to get a “sister picture”. Oh well.

Anyways! Here are the pictures from the trip:

Cousins Ryder and Clayton- only two months apart! Ryder was impressed with his size, can’t you tell??

She was mad that Clayton was stealing her “current family favorite” (check out the shirts!) role! Poor Clayton is going to have a rough time being between my two girls!

We had these grand plans of taking Clayton and Ryder’s pictures together and them being so so cute. Well. Clearly this did not happen. One day we were all at my parents house and all afternoon it was a chain affect of crying babies. Ryder would cry, then Clayton, then Rory… and it happened over and over. It was a tad overwhelming.

Tasha and Ryder

Telena and Ryder

Josh (my bro-in-law) and Ryder

Telena, Josh and Ryder

Then on Thursday I drove back to Memphis to pick Andy up and then we drove to the TN River where Andy’s parents live. On Friday we took Rory out on the boat for the first time. You will see that she absolutely loved it. Andy’s sweet grandparents were able to come up to meet Ryder and see us and we were so glad!

Sunset on the river

Marlyce, Steve, Ryder, and Rory

Austin and Ryder

Papaw, Mamaw, and Ryder

And here are the pictures from the boat ride- think she liked it?!

The wind was her favorite part! She looked like she was mimicking the movie Titanic a little, ha!

Then we decided to try and get a picture with me and Rory…. it went so well.

Rory learned to drive the boat.

And she got to play on the beach/in the water just a little.

Basically, she loved everything about the river! We had a great time!

Then on Saturday we were back at my parents house. My Aunt Brenda and Uncle Frank came to see us! Jacy had been at church camp all week so she finally got home and I was so glad to spend some time with her.

Rory and Jacy

Jacy and Ryder

Mom, Jacy, Aunt Brenda, Ryder and Jacks

Down the street from my parents is a new little park area, so Dad and I took them there for a minute. It was so hot though so we didn’t stay long. Rory loved it though!

Jacy and Rory

Okay, little side note: the above picture is so crazy to me because I can’t get over how grown up Jacy is now. Especially because of this picture of us back in the day- I was 15 and she was Rory’s age:

And now she’s taller than me! So sad.

Anyways! Back to the trip!

Rory and the dog she wouldn’t leave alone

Riley and Rory (these R’s are getting ridiculous!)

Just Jacks

And then Rory drove us all back (with Papa’s help) to Mimi and Papa’s house

Whew! I’m worn out just recapping the whole thing!

We had a great time though! But I will say, its so nice to get back home and into a routine again!

Rory had a blast at my parents’ house for the week. I am so thankful for them caring for her while we were gone and that she was spoiled rotten the whole time! I wanted to go on the trip so bad, but it was a whole lot harder to leave her than I ever thought. I cried the first two days at least once… well got teary eyed and just wanted to pack up and head home for a brief second instead. I missed the little stinker so bad I almost couldn’t stand it!

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had an amazing time. We ate, we walked, we ate, we walked, we ate, we saw, we ate, we walked, we ate, we ate, we ate, we ate, we ate…. get the picture????? That was what I was most looking forward to- EATING! With Rory at this busy bee stage its almost impossible to go out to eat and not be pulling our hair out and wanting to cry by the end of the meal. So that was the best part of the trip to me- eating in peace and without having to cut up food for a tiny person yelling at me!

We spent a lot of time in Central Park on Monday. It was gorgeous with all the snow left from the previous week and the weather was so nice. Andy geocached while I took about 500 pictures. ha!

We also got to go see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman! It was so fun!

On Tuesday we went downtown and stayed pretty much the entire day there. We walked to the seaport and piers, got tickets to Broadway at the TKTS booth, went to Century 21 (favorite place ever), saw the WTC site and St. Paul’s chapel, walked up to China town, and finished the day eating THE BEST PIZZA EVER at Lombardi’s in Little Italy.

On Tuesday night we went to see the play, Lombardi. It was so good- I would definitely suggest anyone to see it. I, personally, am a fan of musicals but wanted Andy to enjoy it too. I’m so glad we chose that play to see!

Then on Wednesday our friends Kristen and Lloyd came to see us! They live in PA, so its much closer than where we are now so we thought we’d meet up! It was such a fun day getting to catch up and see them! We were great friends in Starkville back in our poor college days together, ha! We went to eat at The Stand, went on a harbor cruise, went to Eataly, and finished the day eating at an amazing restaurant with Top Chef Marc Forgione. CLICK HERE to see a bunch of pics Kristen took of the food and fun we had that day!

(I had to document that Andy ate an oyster. I mean… he’s REALLY picky- but he went all out on this trip and tried so many things!)

On Friday morning we slept in until about 10 (blissful) and then went to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. After that we headed to the airport and we were so ready to get back to our baby girl!

I’ll say it one more time- we had an amazing time. I am so thankful we got to go and spend time together. We really needed it!

I’d like to start off by saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” to the most wonderful mother in the entire world. I don’t know what I’d do without her, especially after this year and all she’s done to help us. I love you, Mom!

I have been sick. Like siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick, sick for the past several weeks. My doctor gave me some medicine yesterday so hopefully that’ll help this morning/all-day sickness. I definitely am having a much harder time than I did when I was pregnant with Rory. Needless to say, I haven’t felt like blogging or taking pictures or doing ANYTHING but taking care of my baby girl and sleeping. I’m a little over 9 weeks so only a few more weeks until the first trimester is over- hope it changes!

I am going to just upload my favorite pictures from Thanksgiving and from our Disney trip and call it a day. Sorry, I have nothing creative coming out of me right now! ha!

Thanksgiving:

Disney:

Its A Small World…

Rory FREAKED OUT when she saw Mickey! She hugged and kissed him and just LOVED him!

Rory riding her first “roller coaster”- Snow White! She even put her hands up!

Rory’s favorite part (besides meeting Mickey) was the safari ride at Animal Kingdom. She loved every single second of it!

The ears are a good look for me, no?

Its been a while since I’ve been on the internet longer than to just check my email.

And a lot of stuff has gone down…

…we drove 8 or so hours, had two Thanksgivings, saw some wonderful friends, saw lots of family, Rory cut her 3rd tooth (torture), Rory and I flew to Orlando to meet Andy, we all went to downtown Disney and have relaxed a whole lot since being here.

I have way too many pictures to post of Thanksgiving and such and I don’t have the computer that I edit them all on with me. When we get back from FL I will post all the fun pictures I got while in MS/TN!

I do want to show you the oh-so-cute pictures of Rory and Brooks. We went to Sam and Katie’s house on Thursday night and it was SO good to get together again. It had been so long! Rory is smitten with baby Brooks. And quite aggressive with him as well. ha!

I think Brooks knew something crazy was about to happen..

but he wasn’t prepared for his first kiss with his future girlfriend…

and apparently Rory couldn’t get enough!

Poor Brooks.

And nothing has changed in all these years… Sam is still so silly.

Sam and I were talking and laughing about how much trouble these two could get into together. Maybe its best (especially with Rory’s behavior) to keep the two of them in separate states after all!

—-

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! This trip to Orlando has turned out to be a really wonderful vacation so far! Andy goes to his conference around 8 and gets off no later than around 4. We also get to all eat lunch together. Its been so great to spend some good quality time together!

]]> http://theharrislife.com/quick-hello-from-orlando/feed/ 2 http://theharrislife.com/booked/ http://theharrislife.com/booked/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:17:51 +0000 Tiffany http://theharrislife.com/?p=1653 Continue reading →]]> Oh how lucky we are! Andy has a training in December in Orlando so Rory and I will be going down to join him part of the time! And of course we’ll be going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!

I told Rory this morning and I think she may possibly be a little excited… (ha!)

On Saturday we went to the Dallas Arboretum because they have a huge pumpkin “village” and patch there, so we wanted to take some pictures of Rory. Seriously every family from Dallas, etc, were there! ha! But we got some great pictures.

I took this one for Lauren- check out her fairytale series by clicking her name!

and here is a glimpse of the chaos and many, many people in the pumpkin village

Here is a sneak peek of her fall photos.

We also got a great family photo taken!

–

I’ve been inspired by the weather and by several friends like Amber and other blogs I love to decorate and spruce up for fall. So I made a trip to Hobby Lobby this morning and got some things that I can use over and over every year. I didn’t do much, and I didn’t spend much at all, but enough to make it look like fall in our home.

We also went to IKEA over the weekend and I finally got some pillows for our couch that I really like- plus they tie into our kitchen/dining room! (And the pups are making their way into the blog! They were so excited to be back home from the kennel today!)

And here are some pictures of our dining room now that its complete! I also added a touch of fall in here with the centerpiece I made last year. I don’t think I’ve put up pictures since we got more artwork in here. Also, I wanted to put in a picture of the chair we re-stained and recovered last year. They look really great in our new kitchen!

Whew! This was a long post! Sorry y’all, I just had so many things I wanted to share!

My parents are coming on Wednesday and I just CANNOT wait! Hope everyone has a great week!