Adding to her vocabulary

Elsie is in a stage where she adds new words to her vocabulary at lightning speed. The other day she pointed to a “boat” as she said the very word while on a walk around the neighborhood. She picked up  “fish” at the museum, saw the “sharp” scissors today, loved the “bubbles” in the bathtub, and says “milk” and “cheese” on the regular. It’s fascinating because I know she is picking up stuff without my even realizing it and she’s very proud when I recognize that she’s learned something new. Her mirror neurons are firing on all cylinders and it’s amazing. 

What’s more, she is doing stretches with me, dancing like us, folding her arms, and blinking like it shows in a book of hers. She sings songs and knows our walking route when she rides her plasma car, again, at lightning speed. 

She’s growing and learning and I’m just in awe at the process of it all. 

Adding a new state to the kids’ list

We recently visited Jackson Hole. The kids were excited to add Wyoming to their “places I’ve visited” list.  We had a great time.

Did you know that there are four of these arches made of antlers? I’ve seen photos of this very arch a number of times, but didn’t realize there are four of them at the park in the center of town. We visited this spot for the Farmers Market one morning. The town gave off a Park City vibe.

We visited Grand Teton National Park and couldn’t believe that views! The kids kayaked. 

We hung out at Jordan Lake as the kiddos played in the sand, rocks, and water. 

We swam in the warm and toasty pool at the lodge. Elsie loved it. 

Jess and the two older boys went whitewater rafting. They had a blast!

We took a ride on the gondola at Teton Village. It was really fun. The kiddos liked this more than I expected. Elsie was in awe the whole time. 

We took a family photo up top. If I don’t get around to taking another family photo, blog readers, you will see this on our Christmas card. Ha!

It was a wonderful trip surrounded by such beauty. We joked that we really didn’t see any wildlife, so I guess that will have to be saved for next time 😉. 

Birthday boy and school!

This kid just had a birthday! He asked for vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting. 

He wanted a walking dinosaur for his day and was pretty excited about it. The roaring sound on the dino stopped working 2 minutes after installing the batteries, but it still walks, so I call it a win. 

Ian is a ball of energy and such a fun kid. He’s always ready for a good time and says the best stuff. For example, we were recently on a road trip when the older boys wanted to watch Napoleon Dynamite. About 20 minutes into the movie he asked me sincerely, “When are they going to find the dynamite?” Needless to say, he was not entertained and asked 20 times during the movie, “Are we there yet?” His smile lights up the room. He’s a mighty kid, no doubt about it. 

Now he’s off to preschool. He couldn’t wait!

Ansel was excited for school to begin too! He mentioned that he feels like when he wears stripes, he looks a lot older.  I just think he’s looking older all of the time. He’s loosing teeth at an alarming rate and holding tight to the bag he leaves for the tooth fairy to see if he can catch her in the act and determine if she is real. Ha! 3rd grade here we come!

Oliver was looking forward to school but not thrilled about homework. I’m pretty sure that’s every 7th grader’s thought. He’s a 12 year-old with 15 year-old growth stats, taller than me with no signs of slowing. He always asking me to make more chat books because he loves looking at photos, especially on Sundays. 

Now they’re off and fall is on its way. Elsie’s home and isn’t sure what to do with all the quiet during the day. She’s growing lots too (why are all of my kids doing that so much lately?), and learning a gaggle of words. Dada and Mama are prominent, especially since “mama” seems to be used not only as my name, but to make requests for things she wants. 

Where’s my phone?

As we were prepping to leave church last Sunday, I couldn’t find my phone. After a few minutes of “it has to be somewhere,” I found my third son with it giggling with delight. My camera roll was evidence of the fun. 

Like rabbits

Sometimes I feel like Hot Wheels cars are reproducing like rabbits in my house. When I think we’ve picked them all up, I find a few here and some there. The next day is the same, but including cars I feel like I’ve never seen before. And the cycle goes on and on. 

Before school starts

August comes too quickly. Then it goes by too fast and I find myself surprised every year that I must register the kids for school. To soothe the soul of such surprising speed and the sadness of summer ending, I try to do an end of summer trip. Something simple that enables us to celebrate all the goodness of a season that’s coming to an end. 

This year we headed up into the mountains near Sundance. We stayed in a cabin near the creek and ate dinner to the sounds of running water. 

We bunked with cousins and had a lot of fun together. We borrowed their one wheels and practiced our skills.

Peace!

Elsie smelled the flowers. 

And Ian climbed the rocks.

We swam in the creek. Swam is too kind, actually, it was more like a polar plunge. Here’s Ian before braving the cold mountain water. 

After the “swim,” we’d hurry and get in the hot tub. Elsie went in her birthday suit :)

We also zip lined! Such fun. 

And balanced on big fallen trees  
It was beautiful. 

And the perfect way to celebrate summer’s end. 

17 years, say what?

Jess and I celebrated our 17 year anniversary this year. When Jess mentioned this to a colleague, their response was, “Wow, that long?” I guess we’ve reached that point. But it’s a great spot to be in. Happy 17th to us!

These photos are from a wedding reception we attended of a great girl I taught in Young Women’s a while back. Yep, we’ve reached that point in our lives. Crazy but good all the same. 

Sun fun

Don’t you just love the days where you’re in your swimming suit most, if not all, of the day? We had a lot of those days this past month. We went to Lagoon with cousins, Bear Lake with a bunch of neighbor friends, and California for a reunion all in a row. I’ll mention right here that we have a lot of photos in our camera rolls, but I want to respect those we were with, so I’ll post mostly family photos. 

We all went to Lagoon in our swimming suits hoping to spend a good portion at Lagoon-a-beach because it was so hot. Apparently, the main pump broke and the place was closed. So we took to the rides. 

Spinning stuff at Lagoon makes everyone but me full of joy. Haha!

Lagoon sure has freshened up since I was a kid, but the classic rides like the Sky Ride continue to deliver. 


Our final ride was on the train. Ansel was going on all of the thrill rides. He and I tackled the Colossus together. But thank goodness he’s not too cool for the train just yet. 


The next day we were off to Bear Lake with neighbors. Those four days were filled with sand, games, boats, good food, and lots of smiles. Along with a friend, we fed 76 people dinner one night. I was amazed and grateful for  having friends with caterer mothers.  

Elsie tried the sand at the Lake. She wasn’t convinced it was all that good. 

The kids went tubing (even Elsie!) and Jess and I tried wake surfing. See the concentration on that face? I have a lot to still learn but it was so much fun!

The kids played out in the water for hours on end. 

We had such a fun time, even Oliver feel asleep in the car! This is a rarity, so we know exhaustion took over because he had filled his days with a lot of good stuff.


We were home one day and then off the next, to Oceanside California for the family reunion. We made it in 9 hours and 45 minutes, with only one quick pit stop. I have never made it that fast! The kids were troopers and we were all excited to be there. 


We boogie boarded, played in the sand, wave jumped…the ocean was the best. Ian boogied while he boarded. 

Elsie tried a little too. 


And I found myself hanging out with the nappers between 12-2pm each day. 


We visited the USS Midway. This stop exceeded my expectations. Here’s Ansel on the aircraft carrier runway. Nice form!

Elsie was running all over between, around, and under the jets. I listened to a lecture on how to land on the runway. It was fascinating. 

This was a top secret room down below. The kids liked pushing all the buttons. That’s part of what made this visit so neat. Touch pretty much everything was the mantra. 

Here’s Jess hitting his head on the bottom floors of the living space. I was amazed at everything they fit into this aircraft carrier. 

It was a floating city. Here I am loving the red sign inside the dental office. Ha! 

And to give you a sense of the wires and valves and pipes and generators, here’s Jess walking down a corridor. This carrier was in service from 1940s to the 1990s. 


So much to see. We loved listening to the audio tour. I loved this sign in the mess hall: “Midway Magic” was an omelet of the diner’s design. They had to feel 4500 people. Now can your caterer mother do that? 

I’ll stop there, but if you are ever in Southern California and need a break from the ocean and/amusement parks, try this stop out. 

We spent more time at the beach. 

Played with shells. 

And boogie boarded some more. 

Pool time with cousins was fun too!

We also celebrated my Dad’s birthday and stopped at the best doughnut shop I’ve ever been to (hands down!). In fact, I’m wearing a t-shirt from the place right now and I can smell the doughnuts coming off of the shirt. Wish I was there! It was such a great time.