Thailand: Chiang Mai, Day 1

Brace yourself for a complete picture overload.  But let it be known that I took over 2000 pictures so I think I did pretty well.  Ok, here goes...

We only had two full days in Chiang Mai and we wanted to get the most out of it in that short time.  One of Nate's friends at Duke was actually from Chiang Mai and gave us some recommendations.  Eventually, we chose to do a  2-day tour with Blue Elephant Tours. We had our own personal tour guide who drove us around in a private, air-conditioned SUV.  

The morning started with a delicious breakfast of crinkle-cut fruit, a fried egg, and toast.  Actually, this was the breakfast we were given every morning, but still.  It was good the first time. :)

Then, our driver Yo took us to the local market.  There we bought towels, checked out the market.  I think the most surprising thing was that all cut up fruit was crinkle-cut (they must really love that style) and there were actually live frogs to purchase for eating.  There were also already dead frog and snake meat for purchase, in case that is what you would want to eat for dinner.  

Nate's first attempt at bargaining.  Wasn't successful this time, but we learned to master the art later. 

The poor little guys who were eventually going to be cooked up for eating.

Nate and Yo, chatting away. 

Yo picked us up some delicious and sweet treat.  It was made of rice and something else (not sure what).

Then we were off to visit the Hmong Hill Tribe. There are about 300 families there and most of them are Cambodian refugees.  There are rose farms there and a bunch of random dogs just walking around. The homes are tiny and the beds are just a piece of wood with a cloth blanket.  Made me feel pretty blessed to have our extra comfortable mattress at home!

One of the homes. 

Pretty upside-down flowers growing on this tree.  I don't know what it's called but our neighbors have a plant just like this growing on their porch!

 This is the home of the chief and in front in that cage is a chicken that they use for fighting.

Unfortunately since it was "off-season" there are no roses on the hill behind us.  But when it is the right season, the hill is covered in roses. 

After that we went to visit Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden.  This place was beautiful and HUGE! We only saw a portion of it but it was really pretty.

I LOVE orchids.

Like I said, since it was the low season, there weren't as many tourists and it was really hot.  As a result, we were sometimes the only people there for the shows they would put on. 

After the gardens we went to a snake farm.  First we walked around to look at the snakes.  One snake we read was called the "jumping snake" and as we figured that out we looked at it and right on cue, the snake jumped right at us and hit the cage! It definitely showed us why they earned that name. 

After that, they put on a little snake show for Nate and I.  The first guy was sort of a Cobra Tamer, the next guy played around with 3 different snakes and even put one in his mouth, the third put his snakes to sleep somehow, and last they brought out a HUGE python. 

The Cobra Tamer:

The 3 Snake Guy:

The Snake Sleeper:  Supposedly these snakes were asleep.  I'm really glad they didn't "wake up" when we were holding them.

And then the python.  When I was holding this big snake, the guy right behind me pinched my leg to make me think it was a snake.  You can imagine my reaction.

One of my absolute favorite parts of Chiang Mai were these beautiful tree's you would see in random places as you drive around.  Without trying to sound British, let me just say that they are brilliant!

Next it was off to the Monkey School.  I have mixed feelings about this place.  The monkeys are awesome and so cute, but we didn't feel like they were treated very well.  There were some beautiful little monkeys right in front, but as we entered they gave us fruit to throw to some other monkeys who were each on 3-foot chains that were tied to these poles. They said they do this because they will fight each other if let loose, but it didn't seem right.  Anyway, they did do tricks to get fruit thrown to them.  There were veggies, too, but they didn't like the veggies.  They liked the mangoes.

This guy was playing thumb-war with Nate.

They just sit and hold your hands and it sort of melts your heart and makes you want to take them home with you.  

 Then it was off to the monkey show.  These monkeys were really smart and did some pretty cool tricks.

Side note: This monkey below did not like me but really liked Nate.  Every time she came around to us, we were supposed to give it a high-five and when she would get to me, she would hiss at me and show me her teeth, but then she would give Nate a five and hold his hand.  He's mine, hussy!

This little monkey was so cute!

Funny story, we were kneeling down to take this picture and the little monkey reached out and pulled Nate's hair!  It was so funny!

Then it was off to Tiger Kingdom! This was one of our favorite parts of Chiang Mai because really, it's not every day you get to go pet real, live tigers!  We got the package where we could see the smallest, small and biggest tigers.

We started off with the babies.  They were adorable and really fun to play with.

Then it was off to the biggest sized tigers.  And my heavens, they were huge! The rules were: 1) Don't go by or touch their heads, 2) Pet them with a firm hand, and 3) Don't touch the fences because they are electrical. The tiger's are supposedly a little sedated and we watched others interact with them so we felt pretty save.  We had a guy escort us with the tiger's so if there was any sign of them starting to get "playful".  

Quick, kind of scary story: I was taking pictures of Nate with one of the big tigers and another big tiger that was in the water started walking right toward me and our escort had to move me out of the way because the tiger was going to get "playful".  I'll just pretend that he thought I'd be fun to snuggle with instead of good to eat.  :) They moved the tiger away from all the people to put him in check, I think.  

We caught this one right in the middle of a yawn.  Looks scary, huh? 

Another yawning picture.

Then it was off to the small tigers.  They were a lot of fun to watch because they were way less monitored and they just kept playing together.

These two were wrestling and for some reason I was super nervous to get close to them while they were playing. Nate, however felt totally comfortable. He still likes to tease me about it. :)

After Tiger Kingdom, we went to Seven Colors Waterfall and National Park.  This place was beautiful! It is a small waterfall that you can actually climb up and down.  The hike up and down on the stairs was a little rough though... a good reminder I need to exercise more :)

Then we were off to Rabeang Pasak Tree House Resort.  This place was FANTASTIC! I really cannot say enough good things about this place.  It started off as a place for this family to visit, but then the idea was brought to the owner to open it up to the public.  So he gave it a try and they have done great! I wrote the experience down on my i-Pad so I would remember so here is what I wrote:
"This place was AMAZING! There are 7 tree houses and there was only one other couple staying there. Mink (the owner) showed us around and let us choose a tree house out of 5 different ones.  I thought we would choose a really high one but the ones that were really high were tiny and their bathrooms were outside, several stories down. It was still really cool, though.  So, we chose the Rim Tan House (River View) that was next to a little stream.  Our shower had no roof so we were able to take a shower under the moonlight.  And surprisingly, the water was pretty warm. We even had electricity, which you don't always expect in a tree house.  The bed was up a tiny spiral staircase and took up the entire second level. We fell asleep with the screened windows open and the sound of cicadas and other bugs safely outside our window and a fan blowing right on us.  It was so nice.

But what I really loved about this resort was how personal it was. Nate mentioned that he doesn't eat meat and so they made an entire delicious meal catered to him.  I was given chicken and things to eat, but we had the most amazing meal! We at bamboo shoot soup, I had a sweet and sour chicken dish with bell peppers, cucumbers, and other yummy veges (it was delicious). They made Nate a tofu sdish that they usually make with tilapia. I made Nate eat that one. :) And then they made us a cashew and vege dish.  Seriously, the food just kept coming and it was all incredible.  And then for dessert, they gave us a nice, big fresh mango... my favorite! Anyway, they were so friendly and the refrigerated my medication for me. They remembered Nate's preference to not eat meat the next morning for breakfast.  Anyway, everything was so personal and personalized that it made all the bugs and everything that usually bother me, seem like it was no big deal at all.  I highly recommend that place!  Also, one thing I thought was cool.... Mink saw a customer review online that one of their beds was too small, so they shut down that tree house for 2 weeks while they made the bed area bigger and added another mattress pad.  Talk about great customer service!"

Fresh banana's you could just pick and eat.  They were so different than banana's you eat in the states.  They were delicious though!

Our tree house...

The front door and spiral staircase.

Our outside shower.

Our semi-outdoor toilet.

The back-door and our little couch.

2nd story... aka our bed.

So, Chiang Mai Day 1 was just incredible and jammed packed with fun.  Needless to say, we slept very soundly that night and were ready to start our next day!

my sweet lyla

My Dear, Sweet Lyla:

Oh, how I love you! I want you to know that you just melt my heart.  I came into your room tonight because you were coughing and I thought you might need some water.  You were sound asleep.  So, I sat there and watched you for a minute and couldn't help but feel so much love for you.  You've been a little sick this past week with a cough, and then your eyelid is a little red and swollen, and tonight before bed you told me it felt like someone was "drumming on your head". You poor thing.  I'm sorry I was so short with you today when you were being a little grumpy.  Even though you had some grumpy moments, you had so many sweet ones.  How you can manage to be so sweet when you feel so cruddy is beyond me.  And I want you to know that it melted my heart when you told Ruby tonight that I was "the sweetest" because I take care of people when they are sick and give them medicine.  How did you become so loving? Ruby went to a couple of parties today and you and I got to go get our nails done at a nail salon.  You loved it and exclaimed on the way home, "Wow, that really was a great surprise!" And my heart just swelled when you hit a few line-drives on our neighbors t-ball set. I hope you know, you get that from me.  Softball was probably the one sport I was decent at.  I guess today was a really good day.  So, as I sat there watching you sleep with your sister right beside you, I felt so very blessed to have you both in my life.  I'm so proud of the little girl you have become and how sweet and caring and understanding you are.  And I love your honesty and your bravery and your inherent need to take care of others. You are such a great big sister and Ruby just adores you.  In fact, I think you both adore each other, and your dad and I smile from ear-to-ear every time we watch you two play so well together.  I'm so proud of you and am so lucky and blessed to be your mom.

I love you. I love you. I love you

Love,
Mom

Ps: Please stop growing up so quickly. Not just because your clothes don't fit you anymore, but because I want you to stay little forever and ever.  Thanks.

Thailand: Getting There...

The only way I'm going to be able to give our Thailand trip the least bit of justice is by blogging about it bit by bit. So, here I go... :)

Nate and I wanted to do a big trip to celebrate him graduating and before we entered the working world again.  We really wanted to go somewhere where we could see some amazing sights and also get in some serious r&r. So, after much thought and advice from friends, we decided on Thailand.  

Getting to and from Thailand is always an adventure in and of itself.  We left on May 13th and with the time change, we arrived in Thailand on May 15th.  And although we didn't travel a full two days, we did have 25 hours of flying time and 10 hours of layovers. Needless to say, once we got there we were exhausted! But I'm getting ahead of myself.  

We left for Thailand right after Nate's graduation.  Nate's parents were already here and so Nate's saint of a mother stayed behind to stay with our girls while we went on our dream vacation. I was feeling really guilty for leaving them for so long and being so far away, and took comfort only in the fact that they were with Grandma.  Thank you, Pat!

This is what we looked like getting on the flight...

Sending love to our girls...

We flew to Chicago and then to San Francisco.  Then we had a 3-hour layover.  By this point it was 1am and we downed a 5-hour energy drink to help us stay awake as long as possible as we tried to get our bodies used to Thailand time.

So this is what we looked like about a quarter of the way through our travels... Notice my tired watery eyes.  Nate still looks great though.

And this how we looked at the very end.  SO tired! And again, Nate still looks great. I look like I've been crying watching chick flicks.

So, we finally made it to Chiang Mai for the first part of our trip! We checked into our hotel, which turned out to be nice enough for the one night we were staying there and it was dirt cheap!

It took everything in us not to go to bed right then and there at 3pm, but we had to fight it to stay awake.  Since we were so sore from all that sitting so we decided to get one of those famous Thai massages you always hear about.  We asked our front desk guy and he said there was a place just a few paces down the road from our hotel.  So, we walked down the random street our hotel was located on and there was this hole-in-the-wall massage place. Three europeans walked in ahead of us and so they didn't have enough masseuses on staff.  So instead of making us wait, they actually called in some women to do our massages! I was a little weary because the place where they massage you was on this mat on the floor next to two other people.  So, it was me, Nate, and this other man getting our massages while another guy got a foot massage right next to us.  However, in traditional Thai massages, you remain fully clothed since they are so big on modesty. Anyway, I can honestly say that the massage I got was the best massage I have ever received.  It was so incredible and was just what we needed.  And after both of us got our massages for a full hour, we left with a bill of only $17 USD, including tip!  What?!?! It was awesome and we felt sooo much better afterward.

Then we got dinner at probably one of our favorite places that whole trip.  Again, it was this outdoor, hole-in-the-wall place right next door to our hotel with gecko's on the ceiling and beams. It was one of those heart-swelling moments where you think, "ahhhh, Thailand" with a content grin on your face.

I don't even remember what this was called but it was so good!

Nate got some delicious curry.

 Our first dinner pic in Thailand.

After dinner, we got back to our hotel room and went to sleep at 9:30.  The next day is when our 2-day, personally guided tour of Chiang Mai began (aka, the real fun).

Next post: Chiang Mai: Day 1

some probably unknown facts about me

Here are some things about me that you may not know.

• I love candy.  So much that I actually have a candy cupboard.  Nate thinks this is a problem.  I just think it's a good idea to be prepared. You never know when those sweet tooth cravings will come, right? 
• I recently discovered that I am an ambivert.  I actually didn't know there was such thing as an "ambivert" until just yesterday. What is an ambivert?  Well, let me tell you.  It's a mix between an extrovert and an introvert.  I like to be social and be around people, but sometimes I just want to be left the heck alone.  And if there is too much going on, then I just like to hide in my house and "be productive" aka read a book.
• I wear workout clothes on days I want to get things done around the house.  Somehow just putting those clothes on gives me that extra boost of energy that I need to be productive.  
• I love celebrity gossip.  I am on People website almost every day. And when I say "almost every day" I mean, several times a day.
• I love a good bath.  And I usually will take one just because I am feeling cold. I have a feeling I will be taking multiple baths a week once the weather here in WA gets to it's usual self.
• I talk to myself.  All the time.
• I am a big Pitch Perfect fan.  Yes, I know it's not always super appropriate.  But I think it's hilarious and it puts me in a good mood.  And sometimes Nate will catch me watching my favorite scenes and I quickly turn it off because he gives me that, "Go do something better with your time" look. 
• Speaking of Pitch Perfect, I follow my favorite character's on Instagram.  I wouldn't call this a problem, or an obsession... more of an interest?
• I actually cried when Mitt Romney lost the presidential election.  I held it all in until the next day when Nate came home from school.  One look for him and I just lost it and cried for a good 15 minutes.  I sort of felt like I had lost a family member.  Now, whenever I see a car with an Obama 2012 sticker, I want nothing more than to rear end them for their lack of judgement and/or priorities.  I have become one of those older people who are still upset about elections from years ago. Just give me a cane and a nice porch chair and I'll officially be in the club as I yell at neighbors and shake my head disapprovingly at hooligans.
• I secretly want to write a book.  I have no idea why or what it would even be about, but I just want to sit there in front of a big window, sipping my herbal tea or apple cider as it storms outside and type away.  Don't judge.
• When I was 12, I begged... BEGGED my dad to let me get braces. And I cried until he said ok.  Real classy, Kel.
• On my first date with Nate, I informed him with certainty that I was planning to marry someone else.  He was polite and just said, "Oh, really?  Cool." or something to that effect, and just kept on dating me.  I'm glad that my statement didn't send him running like it would for any other sane boy. 
• Nate told me the other day that when I sneeze, I remind him of a dog.  At first I was slightly offended and taken aback, but he says it's because of my tongue.  Every time I sneeze, I stick my tongue out and hang my mouth wide open and scrunch my face up like I just ate a jalapeno.  I quickly retorted with an, "I do not!".  It turns out he was right.  Open mouth, tongue sticking out, jalapeno face every. single. time.  Maybe I should take a lesson on how to sneeze pretty.  
• I love Root Beer.  Barqs is best as it has more bite.  But you probably already knew that.  Oh, and apparently there is a Root Beer store nearby.  I asked Nate to take me there for my birthday. 
• As a teenager, I was a terror.  A yelling, name-calling, door-slamming terror.  To the point where my brother, who had just gotten home from his mission, wanted me to be kicked out of the house.  I shiver to think of what I have coming for me. Karma. And I apologize to Nate in advance for how I acted years ago.
• I listen to boy bands or broadway musicals whenever I want to belt out to music.  Our window's are usually open (because Seattle homes don't typically have air conditioning), so I'm sure our neighbors think we are crazy.
• I still have work dreams about this restaurant I worked at pre-married life.  Even though it has been over 7 years since I've worked there.  
• I read books out loud to Nate for fun.  Some of our friends think it's sweet, and some of them laugh at us. 
• When I was in 7th grade, some punk kid said some comment to me about my girly assets in math class and to this very day, I am super self-conscious about it.  Thanks a lot, dude.  
• I get a little angry when I am cold.  Not at anybody or anything.  Just angry that I'm so cold.  Because when I get cold, it feels like my bones are cold and that's just uncomfortable, right? And now I live in Washington.  I hope the friends I'm making will understand.
• I have a really hard time making the same meal twice within a one month period.  And almost every time we have someone over for dinner, I make something I have never tried before.  I have no idea why, but this makes cooking a bit of a challenge.  
• I love, love warm fuzzy socks.  I have about 9 pair, 3 different styles.  I think most people grow out of this sort of thing, but my collection just grows. 

Ok, I think that's it for now.  If you still would like to be my friend after reading all these, then thanks.  You're pretty cool.  If not, well, that's ok too and I don't really blame you. :)

update and misc thoughts... i'm just happy i blogged :)

I hope everyone hasn't completely given up on me and my blogging abilities.  I have big plans to catch up people. BIG plans. And let it be stated that I WILL blog about Thailand as soon as I get the chance because if I don't blog about one of the most incredible trips we have ever taken, then there is no hope for me as a blogger or as a human being. Until I do my catching up and blog consistently, I am going to do a little catch up and jot some thoughts and experiences down before I forget to do it.  Deep breath...

Purely Update:

- After we moved, we went to Seattle for a few days for a house hunting trip. We almost found a place that was just beautiful and I fell in love and it was in our price range, and then the owner decided to rent to his brother.  Lame. Long story short, we didn't find anything on our house hunting trip.  

-From Seattle we went to California to visit family.  We did lots of driving, visiting, swimming, playing with all sorts of animals, and we even got to have a little reunion with some of our Duke friends.  These are friends that you don't really expect to see in person for years as we all spread out all over the country for various jobs and internships and so it was a really big treat. 

- After Cali we went to visit my brother Scott and his family in Henderson, NV.  Long story short, it was so fun, relaxing, and HOT!  We also celebrated Nate's birthday there.

- From Cali we went to UT for a couple of weeks to visit family, friends, and to participate in the first half of our Wright family reunion.  Big news since we got there... Nate got a haircut.  I liked his long hair (when he actually styled it) but I have to admit, he is looking fine with the shorter hair! We went to seven peaks like a bajillion times, trafalga, and we had some non-stop cousin play time.Plus, I got to meet my MS pen-pals that I've been emailing for months!  I LOVE those girls!  It was pretty awesome.

- And now we are here in Seattle.  Nate started work and he is enjoying it so far. We have been in corporate housing on the beautiful Mercer Island with a pool in our apartment complex (read: heaven). I've been spending my days with my kids and friends that I made last year during all our internships.  It's been so fun seeing familiar faces and it's like we haven't spent any time apart at all. We found a home in Bothell, which is about 35 minutes north of downtown. I was really really hoping to be close to the city, but let's be honest, when you have student loans like we do and want to live in a decent place, that option just becomes pretty unrealistic. The commute to downtown is probably the only down side to this place because it's a great house, it's pretty big (for us at least), has a fenced in yard, and we got a heck of a deal for it. Plus, almost everyone rides the bus into the city anyway and since Amazon gives their employee's a bus pass so we don't have to worry about gas. Win-win-win... win. :)

Thoughts/Experiences:

- It seems like the blogs that are really popular are ones where the author never uses capital letters, comma's, and/or proper sentence formation and heck, I kind of love those writer's too. However, whenever I try this on my own, I get a yucky feeling and I hang my head in shame for my inability to write in such a cool, trendy way.  It should also be noted that I am definitely an over-user of exclamation points, I probably misuse comma's and I have no idea if it's over-user, overuser, or over user.  I just guess and convince myself it's wright.  I mean right. :)

- With the constant access to our pool, Lyla has learned to swim without her floaties!  At first she was too afraid to try, but since our pool is only 3ft 3in at its deepest, she can stand with her head about the water, making her feel much more confident.  

- Is it me or is the curriculum at preschool's a total joke?  Lyla will start kindergarten next year and we are trying to make sure she is nice and ready.  But it seems to me that the preschools I've looked at are more of a daycare program than anything else.  The biggest thing they learn is their letters and sounds they make, but that is something we've been teaching the kids in our preschool co-op for the past two years!  Lyla knows this stuff already and she is starting to read words and is ready to start reading books!  Not re-learn her letters! Grrr!  I'm having a hard time justifying paying for preschool when it really will be more of a daycare than anything else.  

- Apparently our house is right on the border of the cruddy school district.  Lyla would probably just do kindergarten and possibly 1st grade there so I'm not sure how much it matters.  But with my annoyance at preschool curriculum out here, maybe I should just do home school.  

- We saw Monster's University and it was really cute!  My girls mostly loved it but the part where they are teaching them how to really scare little children in their beds at night was a little scary for my little children.  Duh.

- I have been the worst at making dinner's lately.  Between Nate suddenly going vegetarian, moving, traveling and just not being settled, I've probably only made 5 normal dinner's. The other night I made my first real meal in a while and Lyla proclaimed that it was a delicious dinner and Ruby gobbled it up.  It was only tortellini, bread, salad and fruit.  I guess I can only go up from here. My kids really need some normalcy here.

- I am realizing that my ever-so-obedient daughter Lyla has her limits.  We've been going non-stop and playing really hard the past several weeks and twice, when Lyla was just sooo tired, she had epic meltodown's/tantrums.  The first happened in Utah.  The trigger?  She told me she was tired and wanted to sleep, and when I said "Ok, why don't we lay down for a nap"?, she exploded.  It starts as a fuss and when we tried to talk to her calmly about it, it turned into crazy Lyla. There was crying, screaming, yelling, hitting and kicking. She threw everything within reach at me because I was blocking her way out her door (which I told her she needed to calm down before we let her out).  She even screamed "I HATE you! I HATE Seattle!" Honestly, Nate and I were so surprised at this because it was SO out of character for our sweet girl that we just did our best not to laugh.  Seriously, it was so weird and it was like a demon had taken over her body.  She was not herself! 45 minutes later, she calmed down and took a nap because she was, of course, exhausted. Tantrum #2 happened just yesterday except it was in the car while we were stuck in traffic.  We were at the zoo all day, then drove 45 minutes to get Lyla a place in a preschool in case we decide to do it, and then we drove home right during rush hour.  LONG day and Lyla was super tired.  I'll spare you the details but let's just say it was another 45-minute long explosion, there were expressions of hatred toward me, she threw a bottle at my head while I was driving, and there were moments where she truly reminded me of a hungry zombie from the Walking Dead.  Did I mention this was all while sitting in traffic?  She eventually calmed down about 10 minutes after we got home and she was very sweet afterwards and was trying to make up for her behavior.  I was exhausted and I don't think I really realized it until Nate walked in the door and I just started sobbing because I was so glad he was home.  So, moral of the story, we need to get back into a routine and I need to make sure my kids aren't pushed past their limits or they will eat your brains. :)

- Lyla is probably the healthiest child I know.  She loves all fruits and vegetables.  She actually prefers them over everything else.  She eats tomatoes like they are apples. And she loves salad. She tells Ruby that water is the best drink for your body. She once told me her tummy was hurting and she thought it was because she had too much candy. Who is this kid?

- Ruby, on the other hand, is the total opposite.  While she does love most fruits, she does not like most vegetables.  She doesn't like salad. She likes carbs and candy. I just found out she LOVES tortellini. She also loves to eat slices of lemon and lime and when she finishes she says, "I don't like it". 

- Rube has also hit the terrible two's.  She is really into fussing.  I swear it's because we don't have a routine. I think all problems will be solved once we are settled into a routine.  Anxiously awaiting this day.

- We get to move into our new house in 1 week! We actually get the keys in six days but then we get our stuff in 7. 

- Several months ago, Lyla started requesting 3-4 times a day for us to tell her a story or a dream that we had.  It's actually pretty cute but after a couple of days you just run out of stories! I was terrible at making up stories but let me brag about myself a moment, I am becoming a pretty awesome story teller these days.  My stories are much more complex, have life lessons mixed in, and the girls love them. Excuse me while I go pat myself on the back.

- A little while ago I accidentally showed Lyla a video of a giraffe giving birth.  Ever since then, she keeps requesting the giraffe video where the baby giraffe comes out of the mom's butt.  Nice.

- I recently went to Ikea for the first time.  $65 later, I am a convert.  That place is amazing.

- Nate and I have seriously struggled with FHE.  It's kind of embarrassing and not something I like to admit and I won't even get into how bad at it we are.  But, we have made some serious improvements and I feel like we finally have a desire and excitement to get into it and just back on track.  Wish us luck.

- Living out of your suitcase for a month is doable. Living out of your suitcase beyond that month is when people start to go a little crazy.  We are about 2 weeks into crazy town. 1 week to go.

- Lyla makes me laugh every time she dances.  She is such a goober. :)

- Ruby has one of the most convincing fake laugh's I've ever heard.  It's pretty funny when you catch it.

- My girls truly are best buds and they adore each other. I love that about them.

- The girls also LOVE to take pictures.  This has been a new and exciting thing in our house and they are getting pretty good.  However, I will often find hundreds of photo's of nothing or the same thing that they took when I wasn't looking. But Lyla was taking pics of our apartment and she said it was because she liked it and wanted to remember it when we left. Way to document! So cute! 

- We live next to an exotic bird store and there is this huge blue parrot there that is the store owner's pet.  Hatchling's of such a species go for around $15,000. For a bird.  

- What I'm about to say has nothing to do with what I think about how my children look.  I think they are both so beautiful and in different ways.  Seriously, they're pretty cute.  But, we have discovered what our kids look like when they sleep.  Ruby is a beautiful sleeper.  She looks like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, just calmly sleeping like an angel with a peaceful expression on her face.  Lyla, bless her heart, sleeps like an ogre.  She smashes her face in the corners, falls off the bed, sleeps in positions that can only be described as uncomfortable, has her mouth hanging open and usually one eye is partially open as well.  And when she sleeps in the car, she looks like she is dead.  Ruby takes after Nate. Lyla takes after me. Sorry, Ly. 

- I have realized I am a blanket girl.  I feel so uncomfortable sitting on couches with no blanket. Needless to say, we bought a blanket to tie us over until we get our stuff back.

- I posted this on instagram, so this is kind of a repeat. For the past 3 years I have bought Nate various gifts (watches, a guitar, an electric shaver), all things he has said he wanted. Almost every single gift went returned at the store.  Finally, I gave him a late Father's Day gift and he actually loves it, uses it every day, and it makes him feel like a man. What is it?  A small basketball hoop that hangs on a door.  He's like a big kid.

- Getting a king size bed was one of the best purchases we have made as a couple. It probably saved our marriage.  Not that it needed saving. 

- And lastly, jetted bathtubs gross me out, especially if you are not the first to use it.  I had a bad experience with this a few years back and haven't used one since.  

Get ready for some amazing phone pics:

Nate on his first day of work at Amazon.  Or as we like to see it, the first day of the rest of our lives.

One of Ruby's photo's.  I usually have to fix her aim at the last second but she has started to get most of our heads.

Ruby chose to take her one-armed lion for her stuffed animal while everything else went in storage.

Lyla stole a flower from Grandma Dana's grave.  I don't think Grandma Dana minded :)

Isn't Nate sooo lucky to have such an attractive wife? ;)

We're getting pretty good at silly selfie's.

a video of our family

Our good friend Matt is a really talented videographer and he offered to do a video of our family that would be a "Day in the Life of the Wright's" sort of deal.  We'd seen his video's before and knew that whatever he had in mind would be awesome, so we jumped at the chance to document this stage of our lives that we have loved so much.

Matt spent the entire day (over 12 hours!) with our family, filming the day-to-day stuff.  He spent hours and hours going through footage, editing our video and putting it all together.  And lets not forget his wife Belize, who willingly let her husband put all that time into this.  Hamilton's, you guys are amazing!

We've said it a bunch but we'll say it again, thank you Matt for giving us one of the greatest gifts our family has ever received!  We LOVE it!

You can watch the video here in HD, or watch it from the blog (not in HD).

The Wrights 2013 from Matt on Vimeo.