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.

On heaven

“Mom, when I was little, this is how I used to think you got to heaven.”

This was the beginning of a conversation we had with Ian the other day while riding in the car. 

“I thought you’d be driving in a car. Then the car goes off a diving board and you drop down a waterfall and suddenly you get in a white dress thing and you’re in heaven.” 

Jess then asked the question, “If that’s what you used to think, how do you think you get to heaven now?”

“Oh, now I think you just poof and go into heaven and get in this white dress thing.”

These versions from a four year old sounded pretty good to us. 

June!

This last month has been filled with gratitude for my family and the father of my kiddos. My favorite was coming home from a church meeting to see this:

I’m glad I’m not the only one that gets so sleepy when reading my kids books. One time, I was on the third book of a reading session and I heard Ansel say, “mom, you’re not making any sense! You’re not reading it right.” I was falling asleep right then and there while trying to read!

This guy took the boys to Moab and had a great time with some neighbor friend families. One of my favorite pics ever. 

For Jess’s birthday we had a date at a fancy restaurant. We talked about how we aren’t the young family in our neighborhood anymore. I can’t believe the stage we’re in, but it’s a good stage nonetheless. 

We’ve ventured a bit this month. First to a creek that was almost dry even though it had been running three days previous. 

Elsie wanted to drink the water. Ian took off his shoes likety split and hopped over the rocks. Ollie and Ansel threw rocks and made jokes. I find myself laughing on the regular with those two. 

Jess helps Elsie do it all because she wants to do everything the big kids do. 

But sometimes she just has to be picked up and told no.

We went to Lagoon! 

And to the park!

There has been LOTS of reading. 

And some getting soaked in the summer rain. 

And finally, we finished it all off with a happy birthday! Say “cheese!”

ZNP

Right after school got out, we headed south to the hot hot. Usually, we like going to Southern Utah in the spring or fall (even in January this year!), but we planned this trip during February and I think we were craving warmth then. Little did we know we’d be hiking in 100+ weather. Still, it was such a fun time with cousins. Nothing a few water bottles and a cream cheese salami bagel can’t fix!

We hiked along the Virgin River and found an oasis with a rope swing! We all gave it a try. 

The water was so low this year, we couldn’t have let go and landed in the river, but maybe next time!

Even Elsie got a ride. Thank goodness for Dads. 

The kids pounded on rocks and dug around in the sand under a cave for quite a while. It was a perfect spot with shade and a nice breeze. Elsie just loved it. 

After hiking, we came back to the VRBO to relax and swim. It was the perfect set up. And that slide was a good time!

On day two, we hiked in the Kolob’s Canyon portion of Zion National Park. It was perfect because hardly anyone was there in the afternoon. We had the canyon to ourselves for about an hour. This was crazy because inside the bigger portion of the park, lines for Angel’s Landing were hours long. 

We spotted lots of blue bellies lizards and neat wildflowers. The final destination was definitely worth the hike. 

The kids were loving the moss and cool canyon breeze at the alcove. 

The kiddos were the only kids on the trail that day. They hiked 5.75 miles without complaint (excluding Ian, he had a rough time toward the end, but did it nonetheless!).

And this babe loved discovering the sticks, pine cones, water, sand, leaves, and rocks. She didn’t stop exploring the whole time we were there.

We came back to swim and do s’mores. It was so warm, we put the chocolate out on the graham crackers and it melted! Perfect for the roasted marshmallows. 

It was a wonderful trip and just the way to do Southern Utah in June.