My 34th Birthday

My birthday was mostly pretty low key this year since we had just gotten back from our Tahoe trip.  Derek asked if I wanted to go out to dinner and I surprised even myself when I said, no I was so sick of eating out I just wanted to eat at home (and I also wanted it to be simple, so we just had Taco Soup).  Cute Liv got up that morning and told me I had to take her to the store to get cupcakes and it had to be that day (no particular reason).  

The highlight of the day for me was getting to take the kids to see the Lion King Jr. at the Hale Center.  They loved it (I loved it--the costumes were incredible).  One hilarious thing happened.  Our cute little Camden who only knows how to speak loud (seriously everything is basically a yell out of that kid) right during the solemn part of the play where Mufasa died he yells, "But he's not really dead Mom right?  He's just pretend dead Mom right?"  The whole audience cracked u--sorry Mufasa it wasn't your acting skills that were lacking.  Afterwards, we of course had to take the token post play pictures with every member of the cast.

Liv has plans to audition for the Lion King Musical at Center Stage in September and ever since seeing the show she is dying to play young Nala.  Cross your fingers.  After the show, we came home and Liv and the kids made me way too many cupcakes--and I spent the evening in front of my house passing them all out to all the neighborhood kids that passed by.

Reno/Lake Tahoe Trip

Derek and I drove with London down to St. George on Wednesday to recover our kids from Babi and Papou and trade them for our dog London.  Thursday morning Mom took me to the pilates class at their community center.  Then, we had breakfast with them at their place, packed up, and started the long drive to Reno.  From St. George we decided to drive to Las Vegas and that way to Reno.  Carter (of course) was the first one to take a nap. 

Each kid took a turn at some point.  This was a tough drive for them, but they did pretty good and Derek and I enjoyed the different route than we were used to Reno taking across the salt flats.  We accidentally missed a turn adding in an extra 45 minute loop.  That made the trip about 9 hours that day.  The longest car trip the kids have done to date.  Usually when we have that far to go we break it up into two days.  It was nice to know it is possible to do it in one now. 

Friday, we convinced Dad to pull out the inflatable kayak and come up to Lake Tahoe with us.  I told him when I was coming out that was the main thing I wanted to do.  He never seemed excited about it.  He would complain about how it would be hard to find the kayak and how the lake is so cold and crowded.  But, morning of he found the kayak and packed the car and we headed to Lakeside Beach (which I had actually never been to).  Despite dragging his feet, I think he actually really enjoyed the day at the lake.  We set up a nice little shade to sit under.  It was a perfect 75-80 degree day.  The lake was as clean and clear and beautiful as I remembered. 

And while the lake was cold, I felt like it was perfectly refreshing.  The kids loved paddling around on the kayak and “falling in.”  I spent the majority of the time pulling kids back into the kayak after they jumped out (or fell in as they would claim). 

The kids built a nice big sand castle with moat around.  

Liv acted way too much like a teenager for my liking preferring to spend most of the day lounging in the sun with Lynn and once dry she had no desire to get back in the lake. 

The kids came home and all had a blast going in Poppi’s hot tub.  

That night Derek and I got to play Pinochle with Mitch as is traditional in my family.

Saturday we bought the kids little kiddie fishing poles and headed up to Spooner Lake.  I had just suggested we hike around the lake, but Dad added the idea of fishing.  The kids loved the fishing, despite the fact that two of the cheap new fishing poles broke.  We were just about to give up after catching no fish, when Liv caught a fish!  

She had casted the line and reeled in the fish all by herself.  It was just a little fish, so we let it go.  But, it was so exciting that everyone had renewed vigor to fish a little longer, but we had no more luck.  We hiked around the entire lake which is about 2 miles, and it was gorgeous up there. 

That night Dad BBQed me lobster and shrimp as a little birthday meal.  So delicious. 

We had strawberry short cake for dessert and Kylie insisted that we sing and have candles, so I insisted that everyone got a candle and everyone had to blow it out at the end of the song.  The kids thought that was awesome.

Dad has 6 dogs.  Seriously 6.  It seemed nutso, but you sort of get used to a dog lying in every corner of the house.  And they all love him and follow him around for pets. 

 The kids were in heaven.  I totally caught Liv watching a movie and petting two dogs, one on each side at the same time.

Dad and Lynn had a bunch of fun toys around, so they kids were quite happy to play at their house.  Camden took to this sword and kept it stuffed down the side of his shorts all evening.

Sunday we went to my old ward that I grew up in for sacrament meeting.  It was so weird to attend that ward that I hadn’t been to for years and to see all the people that were still there and all the new faces that had moved in.  I ran into Joani Haws and the Rushes and Anita Ovard.  Then, we went back to Dad’s packed up and headed up to Reno for the night.  Kylie needed to visit the Children’s Museum for an article that she was writing, so we tagged along.  It was a really neat museum, like one I thought was interesting.  I wanted to play around with all the stuff, and it closed too soon for my liking.  They had this really neat cloud like climbing structure that went from the first floor to the ceiling of the second floor.  

All really enjoyed that except Camden who doesn't love heights and ended up getting midway up and paralyzed with fear, so Liv had to go rescue him.  Carter’s favorite part was loading rocks onto this conveyor belt which you operated by handing cracking a wheel.  That brought the foam rocks high to the sky, filled a bucket and that then opened to drop them into a wheel barrel below.  Camden’s favorite thing was this rocket ship.  

And Liv loved tagging along with Aunt Kylie and drawing flowers on a large chalk board. 

From there we drove out to Nick and Christi Graham’s house in Sparks.  We had a fantastic visit with them.  Their girls were darling and so kind to our kids.  Then, it was back to Aunt Kylie’s condo to spend the night.  All 3 kids slept pretty squished on one futon which resulted in a fight in the middle of the night with kicking and crying and complaining about not enough room.  But, Derek found a way to get them to all sleep comfortably through the rest of the night.

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Then, Monday morning we drove home.  I gave all the kids a bunch of pipe cleaners when they declared boredom  and told them to make people and animals out of them.  That kept them entertained for a good half hour.

It was a whole week of traveling for our kids and me, but also just a fantastic visit out to my home town and spending time with my family.

Babi and Papou reported a good time with London while we were gone.  They took great care of her.

They kept sending us pictures of her from their walks and such.  I think they kind of liked having a dog around for a couple weeks.

Lake Powell Trip

It wasn’t in the plans for the summer, but when Jon asked us if we wanted to join their family in Lake Powell the week they were going, I did a bit of crazy planning to make it happen.  The kids and I left Derek home to take care of our still just a few days out from surgery pup and packed into the car Sunday after church.  This was the first real long road trip I had done alone without Derek, and I was a little nervous about how it would go.  I packed each kid a little backpack to keep by them with a couple things they had each picked from the dollar store, their Ipads, and a few snacks.  I told them it was up to them to feed and entertain themselves on the drive.  They were fabulous!  Made me feel like we should do it more often.  We drove to Kanab where we met up with Babi and Papou for dinner at a little Mexican Restaurant.  Then, we drove the last hour to Page, Arizona where Babi and Papou had agreed to share a hotel room with us in order to save some money for us both.  As soon as we checked into the hotel the first item of business was to hit the pool.  The boys surprised us all with their ability to tread water without the assistance of any life jackets.  They can both swim a ways, tread water to take a breath, and then keep going.  We are not far from needing no flotation devices at the pool though the thought of 3 kids without floatation devices at a pool scares the crud out of me. 

The next morning we found Uncle Jon, Aunt Steph, Chase and Tanner at the hotel breakfast.  After breakfast, we loaded up the cars and boat with all the stuff we needed for the day and hit the lake.  Between my annual national parks pass and Mom’s we were able to get everyone past the fee booth for free.  We spent literally all day on the lake.  We got on about 11am and didn’t get off until the sun was setting at 9 pm.  The first thing we did once we were past the buoys was jump in the lake to cool everyone off.  

This was my first time at Lake Powell and I must admit for the first time I found myself wondering if maybe we should get a boat.  This place was incredible.  A huge lake with so much shoreline and glassy water to ski on that you hardly even notice any other boats on the lake.  The scenery was gorgeous all beautiful red rock cliffs and slot canyons right next to a very deep clear lake (that isn’t shockingly freezing).  Uncle Jon let each of the kids have some time behind the wheel.

We let the kids each take a turn knee boarding.  Uncle Jon insisted that each of them yell “hit it” when they were ready to go.  Listening to their cute little voices excitedly shout “hit it” from the end of the rope was adorable.  It was amazing how brave they were to just jump in the middle of the lake all alone and hold on to a knee board behind a speeding boat.  Liv actually got up on her knees and held the rope.  

Camden shocked us all when unprompted he decided to go hands free and he was twisting back and fro like a champ.  Carter was last to go, and I expected him to be too timid to do more than just maybe hold on, but he, like Camden, swiveled back and forth and rode hands free too and when he fell off he wasn’t at all afraid waiting in the vast lake by himself waiting for us to pull around to pick him up, but just said “I want to go again.”  Uncle Jon and Chase introduced the kids to a new recreation in cliff jumping.  Jon found the perfect little 10 foot straight rock for the kids to jump off of.  

They did it on repeat and didn’t want to stop and towards the end of the day when Uncle Jon and Steph asked how they wanted to spend the last little bit of the day their request was to go cliff jumping again.  We pulled into our own little spot for lunch. 

All the older crowd hungrily put together sandwiches while the kids swam around and paddled on the knee board with no interest at all in stopping to eat.  Then, Jon took us to Dangling Rope Marina where they had soft serve ice cream and huge carp that the kids felt were more deserving of their turkey sandwiches than themselves.  Next, it was on to Rainbow Bridge.  Once we made the turn off the main lake toward the marina to park for the hike to Rainbow Bridge it was honestly surreal how beautiful it was.  Luckily, most of the hike was shaded because it was hot.  

The kids had no desire to hike in full sun to get right underneath the arch, but we got a good view of the largest red rock bridge in the world.  


Then, we mostly made the long boat ride back to Wahweap Marina stopping to cliff jump and let the kids each have one more go at the knee board.  I caught Camden catching as much air in his mouth as possible on the ride back.

Then, it was back to Page to sleep one more night in our hotel.

 I got up at 6am the next morning to head home.  I was supposed to work at 1pm that afternoon and Derek thought I was crazy to drive all the way to Page for one day on the lake, but I thought it was well worth it.  I left the kids with Babi and Papou to take home to St. George with them (since we were planning to head down that way the very next day anyways).  I got 5.5 hours of uninterrupted listening to an audio book the whole way home.  It was so enjoyable that I wished the ride was longer.  I pulled into my house at 12:40 with just enough time to freshen up, change, and head to work.  I ended up finishing a little early so even though it was 100 degrees outside I decided to go for a run down the canyon just because I was kid-free and could.  Though I must admit, it was killer and maybe not worth it in that heat.  That night Derek and I took advantage of our kid free night and went to dinner, and a movie, and a late evening walk. 

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In the morning, I told Derek we should both get up and exercise at the same time because we could (but I think I got up and he slept in).  I worked the next morning without having to pay for a babysitter, came home did laundry, cleaned and packed.  Then, Derek and I got to drive the whole way to St. George with London, but no kids which was sort of blissful.  In short, slightly crazy, but totally worth the kid free time and an amazing day on Lake Powell.  Babi and Papou said the kids are better for them than us, and I said well then maybe this should be a monthly occurrence where the kids spend two days with you instead of us!

Summer Happenings

Can I just say that I love summer?!  I know some people dread summer and their kids being home every day instead of at school, but I look forward to it all year and dread them going back.  I love love summer and making our own schedule and planning loads of fun things to do and vacations to go on and playing in the sun and the water.  I love getting up every day and rewarding the kids finished chores with the fun activity of their choosing.  I love the long days and that the sun stays out and the kids get to stay up late and sleep in for them (till like 7:30am).  I love all the neighborhood kids running back and forth all day long every day and filling our little street with bikes.  Ok enough of the Ode to Summer.  Here’s how we have spent our summer days…

We’ve spent a lot of days at a splash pad sometimes bringing neighbor friends with.

I took the kids to the summerfest carnival all by my lonesome this year.  Liv insisted on riding some big kid rides which gave my little heart a panic watching her spin high in the air.  Despite the grin on this girls’ face at me giving in I think it scared her a bit too.  

I got forced into some big kid spinning rides which I wasn’t prepared for  because the boys could only go on them with an adult.  I spent the rest of the carnival soooo nauseous and sick.  I couldn’t bear to watch them go on all the kiddie rides which inevitably only seem to go in circles.  Once the tickets were finally gone we went home, and I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed trying to get the world to stop spinning and my stomach to settle down.  Every time we passed the park where the carnival was it brought back that nauseating feeling for weeks after.

The kids participated in the free 1K at the end of the Utah Valley Marathon.  Camden cried the majority of the run because right when they blew the horn to start he announced that he had to go potty, and I told him he would just have to wait till the end of the race.  So he ran next to me holding my hand crying, “I have to go potty!  I have to go potty!”  Liv ran ahead of me and the boys which we had told her was fine and that Dad would find her at the finish; however, when the boys and I crossed the finish line, we found Derek and he asked us where Liv was.  I guess he had missed her.  It gave us a small panic trying to locate her in the mobs of people.  She didn’t even realize she was lost and just followed everyone to where she was supposed pick up her medal and cow bell and creamies.  We found her shortly after we had grabbed all those things for the boys and she happily displayed all her free race loot.  They were all thrilled to get their medals and the free creamies. 

They also had bounce houses blown up at the city center that they had a lot of fun on after the race.

Babi and Papou stopped by when they drove their second car out from Chicago to their new house in St. George.  They watched the kids for me a couple days when I had to work.  We fired up the fire pit one night with them and made s’mores.  We’ve actually done the fire pit thing a few times this summer.

This picture was actually taken at the family gathering for Keara’s birthday.  I just thought Camden looked so cute all wrapped up in this blanket and laying on their couch decorative pillow.

 

We met the Gillespie’s, whom we hadn’t seen in years, with a bunch of Derek’s old high school buddies at an Owls game one night.  It just so happened that Keara had planned to spend the night with us that night, so she got to come along too.  I was a little nervous about how the kids would do, but they had a fun play ground and a bucking bull ride the kids all took a turn on and our seats were in the grass field behind the field and the kids spent the majority of the game dancing and rolling down the hill.  After the game they happened to have fireworks the night we went.  The let us all onto the field to watch as they shot fireworks off from behind the field.  

Derek and I were slightly appalled that we had to pay $15 for parking near the field, but then when we found out that the rest of the group that took the train to save on parking had to wait till well past midnight when we were already home and in bed to get on the train, we decided that was $15 well spent. 

The kids have been playing so hard, that is not uncommon for them to crash in the afternoon.

 

Despite me feeling like the kids have something constantly going this summer, occasionally Liv will complain to me that she's bored!  (Usually when she can't find any neighborhood friends home to play with).  So one day I suggested to pull out the sewing activity Grandma Nadine had given her at Christmas.  She dedicatedly sewed this stuffed cat for the next 2 days.

I really enjoyed seeing my clematis vine I planted next to our mailbox take off this year.  I got loads of comments from the neighborhood about how pretty it was.

 

We have been enjoying the bounty of our garden.  Peas:

 

And I just picked my first tomato and sliced it up for lunch last week.

One day the kids hijacked my phone to use for “family pictures” with all their stuffed animals.  True to family picture tradition they took loads of pictures.  These are the only ones I hadn’t yet erased when I decided I should really keep some to document how funny it was that they had a family photo shoot for all their stuffed animals.

The kids finished Tball season.  This was shot at their last game of the year. 

Liv actually seemed to quite like tball this year and got to be pretty attentive to catching and throwing the ball in the outfield where it was supposed to go.  Camden seemed to like tball pretty well too and Carter was definitely the one that struggled.  I would spend the majority of their teams’ time in the outfield trying to get him to get his glove on and get out of the dug out.  And then when he got there the majority of that time was spent playing in the dirt.  Better luck next year?

And lastly, this summer our poor little Londy loo earned herself surgery for a complete tear of her doggie cruciate ligament (the equivalent to our ACL).  Not even sure how she did it.  It started out with a limp that would come and go after runs or hikes, then a persistent limp that didn’t seem to bother too much, and then it got to the point where she wouldn’t even step down on her left back leg and hopped around on 3 legs, at which point I finally gave in and decided to pay for surgery for our favorite dog to get her doggie ACL repaired.  This picture was taken on her last night before the big surgery--her last free night in the backyard for a long time. 

The surgery was performed at a veterinary hospital in Cottonwood Heights by a vet who specialized in orthopedics (I didn’t even know there was such a thing).  It required me to drive her up in morning traffic and pick her up in evening traffic and then for a couple days I literally had to pick her up around the middle and balance her on her 3 good legs so she could hobble out to the bathroom.  I had to ice her multiple times a day and give her an antibiotic disguised in turkey 3 times per day and spread Neosporin over her wound.  And if that wasn’t enough, for the next 2 months she is only allowed outside on a short leash (no exceptions).  Inside the house she had no restrictions, although when we are not watching her close, she has to wear a cone so she doesn’t lick her wound site open.  She’s doing much better now about a week out from surgery and beginning to step down on her back leg.  We actually changed the route of our drive out to Reno and decided to go via St. George and leave London with Mom and George to recover for a while.