I’ve been super exhausted these past few weeks and mentioned to Youkeun last weekend that I really needed a break. The hubby encouraged me to get away with some girlfriends, but the whole thought of planning exhausted me some more. So…. I just let the idea pass and let it be a “one day I will” kinda wish.

Well… my friend Jamie called earlier in the week and asked me if I wanted to go to Palm Springs with her and Joanne. “Uhhhh… YEAH!” There must have been some ESP going on between us because the trip couldn’t have come at a better time. I told Jamie I didn’t care what we did, ate, slept… but that I would follow them anywhere. So with that said, Joanne and Jamie booked our hotel (at ACE) and our spa treatment (at Elements Spa)… and I was a happy gal just waiting for Friday to come around.

On our way to Palm Springs, we stopped by Cabazon, picked up a few things for ourselves, and off we were to get our massage!!! Let me just say… the massage was wonderful and I was all smiles. We then dropped our bags off at the hotel and admired the natural and organic design all around us. We took a little tour, awwed and ooohed at the cute rental bikes, and found out that the swimming pool was open 24 hrs! We grabbed dinner at Matchbox and dessert at Cold Stone. We came back to ACE, Joanne knocked out and Jamie and I rambled till 1am.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the crack of dawn this morning since Youkeun had a wedding shoot. I literally brushed my teeth and left the desert. I was hopelessly lost for about 5 minutes trying to find the freeway and once I found it, I was holding onto dear life hoping the fierce winds wouldn’t swoop the car and I off the road. The 2hr drive home went by quickly and I was happy to be back home to my two other halves.

Here’s a collage of our trip below~

Chef Rylie was busy in her kitchen concocting her famous chicken stew this afternoon. She made sure to wear her oven mitts (aka socks) to protect her hands. Let’s check out her step by step process …

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and put your dish in for 5 min

When it’s done, take a sip, but make sure it’s not too hot!

A smile for another successful dish in Chef Rylie’s Kitchen. Please come back for more~

I just had to include the next two pictures to show a couple of Rylie’s many facial expressions. The first is her Elvis Presley mouth impersonation with a hint of gangsta and the second one looks like she’s just been caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing.

    

We babysat our pastor’s son yesterday and I had a glimpse of what it must be like to raise two kids. Man, it was tough! Even though Youkeun was home to help out, we both had our hands full with the kiddos. Rylie was great with Micaiah and he was the first person she asked for this morning.

Today, I woke up with the sun coming through the blinds and knew we were going to have great weather. We checked the forecast just to make sure and decided to go to Disneyland after church. We couldn’t forget Rylie’s friends and asked them to join us there. All the girls are so close in age, so it’s great to see them play together. They had a blast, but Rylie was ready to go home once dinner was in her tummy. She literally melted in her carseat and KO’d all the way home.

Rylie’s most favorite friend at church… they love this toy.

Oldest to Youngest (all two weeks apart) from left to right.

When we tell Rylie we’re going to Disneyland, she looks for two things: Minnie and Car. Here she is as a chauffeur and happy to be one

We asked the girls to push the giant door. I love how Adeline’s bootay is sticking out.

Rylie copies EVERYTHING we do and say these days, so it was no surprise to us when she joined daddy to do some stretches. Rylie managed to do all them with daddy and even showed off her flexibility while riding her car.

Look at me touch my forehead to my shin!

I can do the splits~

Rylie and her girlfriends

These are some of Rylie’s crazy outfits she picked out for herself last week. Other than her top and bottom, all the accessories are self picked by this 17 month old. I think it’s her idea of playing dress up and it totally cracks me up when she brings me the most random thing to put on her. She loves shoes so much that I have a box out in the living room filled with shoes so she can pick and choose which ones she wants to put on.

Rylie’s favorite words these days are “airplane,” “moon,” “new,” “pocket,” ” Elmo,” and of course we can’t forget “no, no.” She’s been looking for pants with pockets, but those little suckers are made so small that I have to stuff fingers in there. Still, she loves it . One morning, when Youkeun went to pick up Rylie from her crib he noticed that her hands were inside of her pj pants. Apparently, she was pretending that they were pockets. I haven’t found pj’s with pockets yet, but when I do, I will have to get one for her.

Rylie has a certain way of putting on her hairband. Doesn’t she look like an aerobics instructor?

 

This particular day, she was babbling to herself under her blanket for quite some time. I looked at the monitor when it was quiet and saw this. I couldn’t stop laughing and had to take a picture of it to show daddy.

Rylie is taking more interest in trains, so we decided to go to Travel Town. She was hesitant to ride the train at first, but ended up loving it. She didn’t want to take the picture with me below… see her trying to push my arm away? This is how most of our pictures turn out these days.

  

Some pictures of Rylie and friends

Rylie looks for Bella every Sunday morning when we tell her it’s time to go to church. They both know how to say each other’s name, so it’s the cutest thing to see. The girls had a blast playing with each other, but also fought over the baby stroller. Here, Rylie is showing off her new house to Bella.

We had a busy week so far and it ain’t even Friday yet. The most exciting part of the week for Rylie was our spontaneous trip to Disneyland. She’s been asking for Minnie Mouse ever since. We bought season passes, so we’ll be frequent visitors to the happiest place on earth!
We finally got to meet baby R last night and you can just tell from the pictures that Rylie loves babies. We got there when R was taking a nap, so we decided to have some fun and asked Rylie to pose wearing a Princess tiara.

   

At Disneyland w/ her chingoo

 

Rylie is learning how to communicate with her new words from the time she wakes up till she goes down for the night. Rylie’s my new alarm now since she’s started to scream, “Moooommmm!!!” or “Daaaaaa!!!” once she’s up. I’m amazed at how fast she picks up new words and remembers how and when to use them the next time. Sometimes, Youkeun and I are talking to each other when Rylie suddenly interrupts us by copying us or acting out one of the words she recognizes. I think it’s just this week that she’s learned how to put two syllables together… like “diapa” or “Dora.”

She also recognizes my friends and will remember their names … esp if she receives a gift from them. For ex… she’ll grab her new jacket and say “Mila” for Mina. My other friend Deanna got her a hello kitty purse, so she’ll put it on her arm and say “Anna.” Other items she’s received, she’ll automatically assume it’s from her grandparents and say “ha” for hara-buji or halmoni.

Tonight, we asked Rylie to pray for our dinner by copying me and this is how it went.

(me) Dear God …
(R) Ga
(me) Thank you
(R) nods her head
(me) for mamma
(R) mamma
(me) And Thank you
(R) nods her head
(me) for mommy
(R) mom
(me) and daddy
(R) da
(me) In Jesus name we pray
(R) Aaa
(me) Amen

The weather’s been so nice these days, we decided to take Rylie to the park yesterday to enjoy the sun.