the leavitts.: pictures at the beach.

matt snuck away to vegas last weekend with his brother.

i don't know all the details perfectly, but matt's brother, mitch, meets up with a few friends every year for a guys reunion weekend.
this year it was in vegas.
one of mitch's friends now lives there and has ways to get lots of free stuff.
[hotels, shows, etc.]

this year matt was invited to tag along.

and he was spoiled.
between the friend with the hookups and mitch, matt was treated to pretty much everything.
so kind.

the boys spent 1 night on the strip [at the trump].
and they spent 2 nights off the strip [at the red rock resort].

some of their activities included driving out to zions national park for an all day hike, seeing the criss angel show [matt said it was brutal], eating out, playing at the pool, and movies.

matt said he enjoyed getting away.

duh.
unfortunately, he did not take pictures while he was there.
so i can't post any.
and we will never really know what went down!

while he was away, my mom came to keep me company.

i was happy that she could come to help me.

all weekend holden was having major teething troubles, chet was being a stubborn 3-year-old, and i felt like all the patience in the world wouldn't have been enough for me to handle those 2.

she saved me!

while my mom was here she helped me get lots done.
she is mrs. productive.
she never stops. ever.
i feel like i used to be a productive person..
but lately, my life is pretty low key.
i play with my boys. lots.
and that is so great.

but it was nice to be a productive person again. even if just for a weekend!

i seem to have a hard time getting much done during the week.

matt is gone at work from 5:30am - 7:00pm. every day.
and that means our car is gone then, too.
i try to run my errands via stroller.

but i can only shove so many groceries into a stroller that already has 2 kids.
and i have a limit of how far i am willing to walk!
call me lazy if you want, but i hate getting myself stuck several miles away from home with 2 grouchy children.
that's the worst.

so sometimes my 'weekend' errands really stack up.
especially when we choose to play all saturday, rather then be productive.
and then those errands carry on to the next weekend. and the next.
sometimes it gets ugly!
you'd think we would learn..

my mom helped me get on top of my to-do list.
i got stocked up on groceries.
we she filled my freezer with tasty meals.
i got some supplies that i have been wanting for young womens.

she helped me find a new kitchen table, bring it home, and re-paint our old chairs to match.

she cut all my boys' crazy long hair, and she fixed my nasty roots.

she helped me get chet to his first soccer game. on time. no tears.

when matt came home, she took some family pictures of us at the beach.

she even let me get out of the house without kids a couple times!

and the list goes on. and on.

we also found time to play.

we went to the pool, the park, and the beach.

we had fun. my mom is super.

the worst part of her visit was when she left.
i was sad to see her go, of course.
but chet was absolutely heartbroken as he watched his grandma walk away from our front door.
and it killed me.
i held him as he sobbed and begged my mom, 'don't go! don't go!'.
it was a long, sad day after that. lots of tears and cuddles.
he is old enough now to get that his oh-so-special grandparents and cousins are far away.
and that when they leave him, they aren't coming back any time soon.
it makes matt and i really sad.
and a little bit worried about how he will handle our trip up to calgary at christmas.
i'm assuming the goodbyes at the end of that trip will be just as heart-wrenching.
:(

we haven't been back to calgary since last christmas. it's wild.
a whole year away? wow.
but our flights are officially booked, and the countdown in on.
78 sleeps until we head up north!

some pictures we took before church:

and after church we went to the beach for family pictures.
we have a ridiculous amount of pictures from that outing! it's insane.
i would say the main reason for all the pictures is because my dear mother was the one behind the camera!
but, on top of that, we also had 2 kids who wanted to play at the beach.. not take pictures there.
and it was super sunny for the first bit, so everything was all shadowy.
i'm sure someone who knows how to edit pictures could fix it,
but we just kept trying until the sun wasn't so deadly.
so ya, it was definitely a process. but it was a fun one.
the beach is always fun.

i tried to just pick a few pictures from the night, but this is still a disgusting amount: