Christmas 2015

{My goal is to update the blog more frequently, and I have a bunch of catching up to do.  Expect lots of photos and just a few words as I work through our past few months adventures!}

In December, we spent a magical weekend at the North Pole, which has a "portal" from the Little America hotel in Flagstaff.  Our family was treated to SNOW, a tour through Santa's workshop and a visit with the big guy himself, and spending time with some great friends!  The weekend also included William's first time sledding.  Lily was thrilled to show him the ropes and they had a blast together!!

As always, we headed to Kansas for Christmas.  It was a fast and furious trip and I did an awful job documenting this year.  Thanks to Aunt Soni for a sharing a few photos of the all the "kids". 

One highlight of the weekend was Mema's gift from the family.  Uncle John asked everyone to write down a few of their favorite Mema memories and then we read them aloud during our Christmas feast.  Matt and I had quite a few similar ones - summers in Colorado, spending the night at Mema and Bobby's house, etc.  It was a special moment!

October/November update

For some reason, I haven't whipped out my good camera in months, therefore blogging and photo taking have been pretty minimal.  Here is a quick attempt to document October and November...

Halloween 2015:  For the 2nd year in a row, William wanted to be a fireman.  And Lily wanted to be a witch...but more specifically Maleficent.  We found the perfect head piece at Disneyland and she was beyond excited.  We did our traditional trick-or-treating with neighbors Brayden, Eric, and Emily, and had a blast!

Ryan and I were able to spend one October weekend with our neighborhood mom's group at an 80's costume party.  Any guesses?  We joined our good friends Kiki and Andy as the Golden Girls.  How Kiki ended up as Blanche, and myself as Dorothy, I'll never know.  Nor forgive.  :)

November brought another amazing Ragnar weekend. It was an eclectic team with a lot of my best running friends...including the one and only Mel-B who flew in from Colorado.  Walt and Ryan held down the fort while the girls enjoyed a night under the stars.  Guess it's now our turn to visit the Blesers!

And to wrap up November, we love hosting Mom and Dad (aka Nanny and Papa Kurt) for Thanksgiving.  I look forward to this tradition every year, and am beyond thrilled to celebrate Papa Kurt's birthday while he is here...by making him take us out to dinner.  Thanks for an incredible meal at The House Brassiere.  I'm craving a return visit!  

Disney (October 2015)

What a special fall break!  The Saylor women have been planning Lily's surprise for almost a year...off to Disneyland we went for three glorious nights!  

~my travel companion was so excited to have her own suitcase and confidently navigated the airport "on her own".  Wow, she reminds me of someone...

~Lily long ago decided she wanted to be Maleficent for Halloween and was thrilled to find a part of her costume in Downtown Disney, which we explored upon our arrival.  We then spent the afternoon swimming while waiting for our room to be ready. 

~ We stayed at a disney resort and therefore had early access to the park.  Alarms went off at 5am, and we were showered, fed, caffeinated and first in line for the 7am entry to the park.  

~Character sightings were a huge deal.  Of course Lily's favorites were the princesses during Ariel's Grotto at lunch, though Auntie M and I enjoyed our "buzzed with Buzz" photo op.

~Lily's favorite rides were Cars Land, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain.  Which made this mom so proud...our girl isn't know to be overly brave or adventurous but she gave most rides a chance and grew more confident and brave as the days went on.  By the end, she would have ridden any and every rollercoaster!  (Though when she begged to do the Star Wars ride again...Auntie and I both said "no way!" as we were both a little motion sick.  Somehow Nanny opted out of this one...she read the reviews and "offered" to stand in line for beignets instead).    

~Speaking of, the best part of traveling with Auntie M and Nanny = we don't miss a meal!  While I had a detailed list of rides and exactly how we should go about navigating the park, Auntie had an equally detailed list of how to ensure we didn't miss all the best foods at Disney.  We were the perfect combination! (The spicy corndog was amazing...we may or may not have gone back for a second one after putting Lily and Nanny to bed!)

~It was a weekend that we will all remember for a long time.  Huge thanks to Nanny and Auntie for making it so very special for Lily!  

~While the girls were in California, the boys flew to Kansas and had a weekend of fun too.  Thanks Papa Kurt and Casey for helping William experience his first KSU football game (though apparently he is really bad luck!).    

Grand Canyon

It was an experience of a lifetime.  My girlfriend Laurie turned 40 this year, and her dream was to hike Rim to Rim.  I was the lucky recipient of a last minute invitation to join the fun with Laurie and our good friend Heather.  I absolutely couldn't resist saying yes to an already planned trip and am beyond thankful to my amazing husband who immediately agreed.  Bucket list item checked off!!

We drove to the south rim Saturday, September 26th, caught the 4 hour shuttle to the north rim and spent the night at the Grand Canyon Lodge.  This was extra special for me, as my grandmother Mema used to take the train from Topeka in the summers throughout college to work at the Lodge as a server/singer/actress/etc.  There is a special family story about my grandfather Bobby taking the train to meet her there and escort her home after her father died. It's a place I've always wanted to visit and I was beyond thrilled to see in person.  The views from the north rim are out of this world, and even more amazing than the more popular south rim.  Definitely worth the long drive.

Sunday morning, we awoke at 4:30am, ate a quick breakfast in our cabin and took a short van ride to the start of the North Kahibab trail.  We had a little (!?!) mishap seven miles into our journey and spent over three hours at Cottonwood campground.  But after regrouping and continuing our adventure, we made it through Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon (14 miles in), and back up the South Rim on Bright Angel trail (9.5 miles) for a total of 23.5 miles.  

Due to our delay, we were hours behind schedule.  But sometimes things work out as they are supposed to.  What made our adventure even more special...it was the same night as the lunar eclipse.    I have never experienced such darkness as when the moon disappeared...we would turn off our headlamps during breaks and could not see our hands in front of our faces.  But once the full moon was uncovered, it appeared as though there was a spot light on both the south and the north rim.  There are no words for this once in a lifetime, magnificent event.  

View from the South Rim while waiting for the shuttle
Heather and I look into the canyon and asked "what did we get ourselves in to?"

sunset over the north rim.
the peak in the very far, middle left is Humphrey's Peak (Snowbowl ski resort in Flagstaff) 

lindsay, laurie, heather

5am start.  sunrise in the Grand Canyon is beyond words

Thank you Laurie for including me on this adventure.  Trip of a lifetime!