Washington Week One.

The day after we got back from our retreat to Snowbird we got in the car and drove to Washington. Olive and I had been talking about this trip all summer and we were so excited. Olive kept telling me she wanted to visit her "grandma that lived far away" or her "grandma that had the dinosaurs" and I just really wanted to go "home"  as I had been feeling very homesick lately for Washington. Kc didn't have much time off from work so we planned for him to fly back on Tuesday evening. The drive there went relatively well, I was really proud of the kids especially Elijah who had no clue why we had to be in the car ALL DAY. I had invited KC's sister to come also who drove separately with her kids and her mom. I have this habit when I go to Washington now to plan a full schedule of things I want to do everyday. I didn't explore much growing up because I spent time doing homework, sports, hanging out with friends. All the normal stuff you do in your childhood. So now I love to go and experience all the things that are so unique to the Seattle area that I never did in my youth. Washington is so beautiful and so different than Utah in what it has to offer. I love living in Utah, but I love the gift of getting to go spend some time in the summer in Washington, a place very dear to my heart. 

Our first couple days there were very cloudy, which didn't bother me at all coming from hot Utah, but it did force me to change some of my plans. I felt bad that during my vacation the only days that were not hot and sunny were the days KC and his family were there, but maybe they didn't mind. We spent those first couple days exploring Seattle. I thought they would want to visit the major sites since they had never been before. We went to the Science Center because we could get in free with our pass to Thanksgiving Point, and the kids loved it. It's also central to the city and where the Space Needle is located so it's a good place to visit. That evening KC and I went out to dinner at Salty's on Alki beach for our Anniversary. It wasn't for another week, but we weren't going to be together so we took the opportunity to go out. It was a wonderful dinner, the food was amazing. I love seafood so much and I had some clams that were to die for, and throughout our dinner we had a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline right on the water's edge. Afterwards we went out on the docks for a bit and walked around, there were some boys catching crabs from the piers and it was so fun to be out with Kc in a place that I love. It was a wonderful night. 

The next day we headed to Pike Place Market and visited my dad at work, both of which are really fun. Pike place is such a landmark for the city and you can go again and again (which I did) and experience something new every time. My Dad's office is so fun because for one my dad is there, and he is always entertaining, and for two because he has an amazing view of the whole city that you can experience from all angles. Later that evening my dad was going out with the scouts to canoe down the slough and pick blackberries, which is something I could never pass up. Erin and her son parker came with me and it was so fun. They wanted to fit in a ride on my mom's buggy before they left also, she had been hooking it up as we went canoeing and I asked if she would keep it hitched after the kids rides for Erin and parker when we got back. It was starting to get dark but my mom was dutifully waiting, which was so nice of her, and I was glad that they could get in a ride before they left because it's so fun. I think Erin and her family and Kc's mom had a good time while they were there and that makes me happy because it's such a special place to me. 

The rest of the week were the only days that I didn't really have scheduled for anything and the only days that my kids and I were there without anyone else so we just stayed around the house and enjoyed riding horses, swimming in the hot tub, collecting eggs, jumping on the trampoline, and all the other fun things there are to do around my parents house. My parents seem to have more chickens than ever before and it was fun for Olive because that meant that she could go out several times a day to the coop (which she dutifully did) and there would be an egg there waiting for her. My sister Bethany and her kids arrived Friday night and the next day we went to my Dad's work party at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The kids got to play in a little bounce house, get their face painted, get their caricatures drawn, and earn to prizes. After the party we spent the rest of the afternoon looking at animals. Elijah loved the zoo so much and I thought he might take a nap in the stroller but there was no way that was happening with so many exciting animals around. We spent the whole day there and saw pretty much all the animals at the zoo and when I got to the car after hauling around my two little kids all day I was sweaty, hot, and tired and I guess the kids were too because both were asleep before we left the parking lot. That evening I went out to sushi (also a must in Washington) with my brother and sister and their spouses and then we came home and played games and laughed and laughed and my dad started to give us lessons about how to wear a kayak skirt for our adventure on Monday. 

And that pretty much sums up my first week in Washington. 
It was a good one.

In morning I was packing up the car and Olive came out when she woke up and said "Do we get to go to Grandma's now?" When I said yes she went in the house and came out and said "I have my back pack, now we can go!" I had to snap a picture of her on the front porch after she said that because it was so cute and I wanted to remember how excited she had been.

Elijah's relationship to the horses on the trip was hilarious. He was OBSESSED with them and wanted to be near them every second... just not too near them. He was always trying to escape the house to run out into the pasture and would sign horse over and over again until you took him out there, but once you put him ON the horse, game over. I made him get on a few times anyways because fear is something you conquer. He definitely got better as the trip went on, but was never fully comfortable on one, unlike Olive who would beg me to let the horses gallop away while she was riding bareback. Wild women. Takes after her grandma I guess.

See what I mean. Panic.

If Elijah turned up missing this is the second place I would look. By the chickens.

Science Center.

Anniversary dinner evening.

This was my view as I was walking down the stairs. Olive carefully bringing back 4 eggs. I was impressed she didn't break any! 

Pike Place Round 1.

On the Slough.

Always.

My mom has the most beautiful Omish made buggy.

Finally heated up so we could go to my friend's house on Cottage lake and swim and canoe around the lake. We went with my sister in law and their kids and we had lots of fun.

Flamingos are so cool.

Olive asked me to get a dinosaur face too, and I have to admit I loved matching her as much as she loved that I had a dino on my face. She kept asking me throughout the whole day if it was still there.

Here is Elijah trying to exercise lots of restraint after she had tried to grab several birds that had flown away. 

Adorable little faces I want to freeze in time.

SnowBird

A few weeks ago our family had the opportunity to go to snowbird resort for a few days on a retreat for Kc's work. In honor of a 15 year anniversary his company Wavetronix had decided to fly in everyone who worked for the company from all over the world so that we could all have a chance to meet each other and feel connected. The owner of Wavetronix is always doing group activities for the company in an effort for people to get to know one another and form relationships. It is so characteristic of him to do something this monumentus. He started this company as a way to employ people and give them a livelihood. When I first heard him speak at the Christmas party I was brought to tears. He thinks so much about the business in terms of each individual person that works there and how they are treated and how they can feel valued as well as bring the most they have to the company. I was so struck during this retreat with the efforts to employ good competent people of all nationalities and gender and the considerations taken for the diversity of the employees. KC and I got to know so many people that worked for the company, and I was truly grateful for all the thought that went into this event.  

  It started on a Tuesday afternoon, our family went in to visit Dad at his office. They loved the free popcorn and pizza and running down the halls. They didn't learn too much about dad's office other than how to spin on chairs, but they loved being there haha. Then that evening we went up to snowbird. We checked up and went to dinner which was DELICIOUS and included an amazing Chinese dragon celebration dance. We met the most adorable family from Chile, a couple and their three teenage kids. Their daughter Anasophia was so sweet and helped me chase after my littles so I could talk to her parents for more than 5 seconds. Then we retired to our beds to get ready for a fun full day. 

We spent the entire next day Go-go-going. The first half of the day we spent going on all the Mountain Rides. We wanted to try to get to everything they had to offer and little Olive was ready to do it all! We tried the rock climbing wall, did the alpine slides multiples times, bounced on the harness trampoline, went on the alpine coaster, bounce house, bungee harness jump, zipline chairs, and ropes course. In the afternoon they had an awesome festival with different places you could visit. They did an amazing job at catering to every age group. We started at the pirate area where we were supposed to be "from" and Olive made a little boat, cannon, and earned gold coins for prizes. At other places we made a fun may pole, bracelet, key chain, flower crown, and got to see an awesome falconer show and puppet show. Elijah had to take a nap in the afternoon but we tried to get in all that we could. It was so fun. In the evening we took the Gondola up to the top and had a fancy dinner. I mean the food was divine. After we ate my kids ran around the top and we enjoyed the view. Afterwards (yes we kept going) we fit in a swim at the pool and headed down for some smores and an outdoor movie Finding Nemo. Can you believe this day? We loved every second of it.

The next day was more of the same. In the morning we did more alpine rides and then spent the afternoon at a carnival. Olive got her face painted and we made fun art and tried some games with little prizes. I think we had about 10 ballon swords made for us and Elijah popped every one of them. Crazy rascal. We ate cotton candy and snow cones and relaxed a little after a long previous day. I had taken a yoga class each morning that they had provided and it was such a beautiful place to practice up in the mountains and I love when I get to attend other classes and see how other teachers practice. It also came with a spa pass so after the carnival I went and spent a little time soaking in the hot tub in the upper deck and just stared at the beautiful mountains and thought about our lives. Afterwards I headed down to the room to go to our last dinner, a BBQ outside. Olive had fallen asleep in the room from exhaustion but Kc really wanted to go so we carried her down asleep. She did really well and woke up to eat a little. Elijah was a little runner, I seriously think I spent half of the trip chasing him everywhere and he was extra on one for this dinner and would NOT SIT still. Luckily he is the cutest thing there ever was and when he turns back at me and gives me a "come chase me" smile and runs away I can't help but laugh. We had planned to leave the next morning because we had one more night there but we realized they didn't really have anything planned for the morning, Kc had to work, and the kids (and myself) really were not sleeping too well in the room so we decided to head home after dinner that night. Both the kids were pooped and fell asleep in the car and since I had requested that day off work I got some good sleep also. It was such a wonderful retreat and we were so grateful. 

Whenever we get to do stuff as a family it is so fun to be together and form memories. It is also nice to be able to separate with the kids if we need to since I would not be able to do half the things I did with Olive if Kc hadn't been there with me. My favorite memories from this trip were Olive on the ropes course with me, she got scared when we got to the top. I told her not to worry because I would not let her fall and would be with her the whole time. She completely calmed after that and did the whole course with ease. In the middle of the course she turned to me and said "mom, thanks for not letting me fall." My heart. I love that little girl so much. I loved little Elijah on the trampoline. He just barely weighed enough and so I hooked him up to the harness. I was on the trampoline across from him so I tried to show him how to jump, but he was so distracted by his audience who was laughing and smiling at him, and he didn't really know what to do haha. He did some cute little jumps here and there but he wasn't doing much so after a bit I said we were done. He was so mad when I took him off, I think he liked the attention he was getting haha. I also loved going on the coaster and zipline with Olive, she is so fun and brave and full of adventure. I love to think we have a whole lifetime of adventuring together and I cant wait. I can't believe how much we did in two days and honestly it's one of my favorite memories to date. I know there was a lot of work that went into this retreat, and I am so appreciative of all the time, effort, and MONEY that went into this. It did not go unnoticed.

She doesn't know how she feels about this.

Look at these cute humans.

Trying to fight the cord! Go Olive!

Always running away.

My Olive turned 4.

Olive turned 4 on July 29th. My sisters really wanted to do bear lake that weekend because we all wanted to go to the Preston Rodeo with my mom. I really hate to be gone for my kids birthdays but since she is still young enough to not know what the exact day is I just decided we would tell her that her birthday was on Wednesday and celebrate that whole day! Problem solved! 

Olive had been talking about her cake for over 6 months. She saw one at the dinosaur museum that some child had for his birthday and she just fell in love with it and has been talking about the details of the cake ever since. The one we saw at the museum was all fondant and perfect and since that isn't really my style I was trying to come up with a creative way to make the cake. I glanced at pinterest but didn't really like anything I saw on there so I tried to get some creative juices flowing. I somehow thought of poking out the bottom of a waffle bowl, turning it upside down and filling it with maraschino dyed whip cream would be cute for the volcano, but I couldn't really create the rest of the cake in my head... the trees, the lake, etc. I decided that the day before I would just let things come to fruition however they may, and I think somehow my I may have pulled it off! The trees are green chocolate and gumdrops with pretzels in them, the lake is just blue frosting, and the ash and sand are oreo cookies and graham cracker. I think my low expectations helped me a little. Olives birthday party was at a pool at my mother in laws neighbors house at 1030 so I came home a little early and got right to work on the cake. I spent the whole morning on it and finished just in time for the party! When I had finished making the cake I let Olive put all the dinosaurs on it wherever she wanted, she was so excited to do and it was the perfect touch!

 Here it is. 

I think I will take this opportunity to say a little something about my now 4 year old little Olive. I know this is crazy but I really don't think I ever thought she would get this old! When your babies are born and you are holding their little bodies in your arms you just can't imagine them walking and talking and *gasp* going to preschool! It seems like an eternity away! 

Everyday Olive grows more and more into herself, and I love being a by stander who gets to observe all the growth and changes and be her constant cheerleader. Olive has gone from a full blown panic attack at the idea of sitting on santa's lap to introducing  herself and waving to every stranger she meets. She walks right up to them and says "Hi, I'm Olive and I love dinosaurs." If someone asks her a question about anything other than dinosaurs she overtly changes the subject back to dinosaurs by spewing some facts or informing them of the latest dinosaur book she has acquired. This results in a lot of people not understanding what she is talking about since she has responded with an answer that has nothing to do with the question that was asked. A couple weeks ago she got asked what her favorite dinosaur was, she paused for a moment and responded "ALL of them" as though it was the dumbest question you could ask.  She loves to "read" books right now and will say "I will say whatever I want to say" and tells me what each page says in a description that is based off whatever pictures are on the page. It can be very entertaining and she will frequently use the phrase "so you know" which might be the most adorable thing ever. 

She is very obedient, which is a word I kind of hate haha but she is, she listens to me and feels sorry when she has done something she shouldn't and tries really hard to obey the rules. It actually sometimes worries me because I don't want her to get herself into trouble because she is too trusting, but it sure makes my life easier to have a child that listens to me and I can trust her that she has told the truth and will do as I ask. She is often forgetful. She has gotten a little better, but will still sometimes forget things that she did earlier that day and has to be reminded. She is eager to have fun and is always up to adventure with me which makes her my very best buddy. 

She trusts what I say and will try just about anything with me as long as I assure her that it is alright and accompany her on the adventure. She is super silly and goofy these days and LOVES to say poop and pee all the time because she thinks it's hilarious. She is also just saying lots of gibberish and silly talk and cracking up at herself which I love, unless it is during bedtime and then I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  

We are trying to prep for preschool and since Olive has always had a hard time paying attention, concentrating, and sitting still for very long we are working on our letters in our "learning book" and it's been really fun. She begs me to get the book out and loves to do it, but can just barely keep her attention long enough to finish  practicing 3 letters. She loses her focus after practicing a row of copying a letter and doesn't care what the rest look like after that haha but when she re focuses and has to write one again on the next page she does it very well which means she IS learning SOMETHING even if it doesn't seem that way haha. I love working with her because it's really good for both of us and I like to learn the best style to teach her to make her enjoy the process and remember things. 

She has become more and more independent as she ages and it's good for her. She will often play on her own now, and maybe that comes from having a little brother who likes to come in her room and play with her toys and she thinks if she just stays in her room and keeps the door shut maybe he won't get in. She is however gradually getting better with her brother and I am asking her to help me more with him so that she feels the duty to care about him and his needs which I think has been good for them. She is sensitive to hurting my feelings and if I seem sad or hurt she says "that's ok mommy" in a pleading tone hoping that I will assure her that I am ok so she doesn't have to feel bad. If I chide her for doing something she shouldn't she is quick to say that she is sorry and won't do it again. On the other hand she is very offended when she is denied things and takes it very personally. This makes it very hard to say no to her and I am trying to get better at it. 

I think I have coddled her too much which I think inhibits kids from learning. I know that children need to be free to make mistakes in order to figure things out and connect wires in their brain so i am trying to take a step back instead of looming over her to fix any problem. Parenting is so hard and so awesome. I couldn't really imagine any other life than the one I have now. My little Olive and Elijah bring me the greatest joy I have ever known. Happy 4th Olive. I love you.

Sister Reunion 2016

My sisters and I have started to make it a tradition to do a retreat together in Bear Lake every summer. It is something I look forward to all year! The first year I just went with a few of my sisters, last year my mom came and all my sisters were there except my youngest who was on a mission at the time, and this year all my sisters came except my younger sister Candace who only came up for the Preston Rodeo and my sister in laws who couldn't make it since they live in Washington and couldn't work out scheduling. 

My oldest sister Bethany owns a little old house that they purchased through family just a couple  years ago. It is really old and needs a lot of work, but that is part of the charm of it. Her father in law grew up there in this small three bedroom/one bath house with 8 other siblings. It is fun to be there and think about their life growing up. My mom grew up in Preston which is only about an hour from where we stayed. I love being with my mom there because she turns back into the person that she was growing up, a little more stubborn, wild and defiant. She is so happy and care free when we go there, and I think she just loves being with all her daughters and we all love being together. 

My sisters and I love to be active and adventurous, especially when we don't have littles to attend to, so we fill up our schedule with all kinds of fun activities and go go go. We all got there late Wednesday so we could have all day Thursday and Friday and leave Saturday afternoon. Thursday morning we got up, had a delicious leisure breakfast and then headed out to the lake. We rented a couple paddle boards for an hour while we waited for our boat rental. Because we were raised by our father we are unable use anything the way it was intended to be used so we tried to do competitions on the paddle boards and climb on each others backs while standing on them (I only recommend this if you don't mind falling in multiple times.) Last year we had rented a boat and loved it so much we did it again. I think it was even more fun this year because in addition to the tube rental we discovered all the boats came with waterskis which we didn't know last year. We had a fun time trying them out, especially my sisters that had never water skied before. My mom grew up water skiing and driving a boat with her best friend near the home she grew up in and she turns into a wild women when she is behind the wheel and I love it. She was trying to throw us off the tube and was laughing so hard she was almost crying when we would go flying around the lake. Then we hurried home, got ready, and headed off to the Preston Rodeo. Since my mom is from Preston and we grew up going there every year. We love it. My sister Candace met up with us there since she didn't live too far away in Wyoming and it was fun to have all the sisters for a night like how it was growing up. It was such a fun day and after throughly wearing ourselves out it was nice to be able to go home and not have to put kids to bed and sleep in as late as we wanted, it was perfect. 

Friday we had a leisure morning and went for a long ATV ride. My sister Kaylee and I were behind my other sisters and mom so we got covered in dirt and dust. Next time I need to remember goggles and a handkerchief. We rode up into the mountains and it's so amazing just to be out in nature where it is only you and the trees, everything is just so beautiful especially when it has been untouched by the human hand. We came home, took naps, and then headed into Garden City for burgers and the famous raspberry shakes. Everyone shared their shakes but me, I got my own, and I ate the whole thing (which is probably why I gained a few pounds on this trip.) Well worth it. We came home and played some games and laughed and talked. We are always laughing when we are together.

Saturday morning we got up and headed up to Bloomington lake. We didn't have much time since I had to leave early afternoon in order to get home in time for tickets that I had for "The Music Man" at Sundance that evening (which was amazing by the way.) My sisters and I made our way up the trail, it's so so beautiful up there. As much as I was enjoying being kid free I was thinking of Olive and Elijah the whole time and how much they would love everything we were doing. I haven't been able to take them this summer because I have been so busy, I hope I have time during the last week before preschool starts (eek!) It is a lot busier up at the lake than it used to be and there was a big family reunion going on so we had to wait a bit for the rope swing. I am always so nervous to plunge into the water because there is always still ice up there and the water is freezing, but for whatever reason it didn't seem as cold this year. We tried going from a higher rock this year which can be a little sketchy because you have to avoid hitting the lower rock but I couldn't believe how much higher it got me out above the lake. Oh man it was fun. Then we all hurried home and got ready and headed on our way. Girls trip success! And I made it home just in time to get to see one of my favorite musicals of all time. This summer is rolling out real nicely. Thanks summer.