This Week

Sometimes you have a really hard day.  Or two.
.... Really hard.

Sometimes you have to curl up in your softest blanket and just stare at the wall while your kids sit on your head and build blocks on your face.

Sometimes chocolate helps.  And Dr. Pepper.  And a Relief Society conference.

Speaking of... Who else cannot WAIT until General Conference next week??  I am so excited to hear what our apostles and prophet have been praying about for us for the last six months.  I'm pretty sick of reading April's Conference talks, I'm not gonna lie.  I usually pick a Conference talk over BofM reading any night.  And so I have read the last few conferences to death.  Now I just have to figure out how to get my kids to be quiet enough so I can hear the t.v.!   Hmmm I think I saw some ideas on Pinterest.. I'll go there next  :)


So this week my goal is to start my gym membership, get those endorphins kicking, make some really yummy meals, and stay busy busy!


I just got back from Utah on Friday.  Yes, I am there like every month.
This time I went to go take a course on Eyelash Extensions.  It was so fun and interesting! I love it.  So now I am just practicing on people until I can go back to Utah and certify.  I figure I will do it as a hobby now and then in Rexburg, and then pick up the pace at P.A. school next spring.

P.A. school... it looms ahead.  Phil is beginning to get interview invitations and I'm so nervous that we'll end up at the other side of the country.  I am hoping and praying he gets into U of U or ISU so that we can stay close to our families and friends here.  Never thought I'd be so desirous to be a Ute and wave the red flag.  Ok, never the red flag.


Some pics of this last week

Hiking in Utah during the fall is THE best

He looked so cute in my glasses

Digging up potatoes in Kristen's garden

I am Darth Vader (or Dark Vader as Bruin would say)... getting my teeth whitened  :)

Coolest kid park in Eagle Mountain.  That's Bruin at the top.  He was very proud of himself.  Claimed he was now six years old when he got down.

"R" Mountain

Sunday evening the boys were restless so we decided to go hike "R" Mountain with them.

Bruin was super nervous that it was an old volcano but felt better when we pointed out the houses built around it.  No one would choose to LIVE next to a volcano if it wasn't safe, right?!

It was fun.  Lots of rocks to climb, throw, crawl under, etc.  

..and of course Phil always likes to push the limit and bring the boys up on outrageously high and dangerous ledges and scare me to death.

BUT, the only casualty we sustained was a cut on my hand from a rock.  And even that was fine cuz I like to show my boys how tough mommy is  :)

This is us at the end, right before we shook off the mountains of dirt on our jeans and in our shoes.

A nice Sunday

Garden

Well our garden has finally produced something for us..at least part of it

A few months ago we decided to teach the boys about gardening and so we loaded up and headed to Walmart for some seeds one Family Home Evening.

The boys had a great time planting and for the last few months they have impressed me with their ability to water, weed and not dig up the baby plants as much as their little fingers are dying to.

We planted squash, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and basil.

The cilantro popped up and flowered and withered while we were out of town.

The carrots are MIA.

The basil we could never quite determine if it was actually basil or some weeds.

Half of the tomatoes got picked off by Crew who was excited to play with the little "green balls."  The other half dropped when the plant got too heavy and broke off while we were out of town.

But...drum roll... the squash and zuchinni, amidst all the elements set against them, survived and we have something to show the boys.  They love it.

Goodbye Utah

After almost three weeks in Utah we are finally back home.  We were greeted most magically by a swarm of fruit flies taking over our house due to the kitchen trash being left with fermenting peach peels.  So I spent some google time learning how to make vinegar fruit fly traps.  I am now an expert.

Speaking of new knowledge I've decided it is time for me to take some classes again. 

 Me brain be stoopid since I became a mom.

SO I signed up to take a class on campus about the history and conflict surrounding the Middle East.  Sounds so interesting and I am excited!

  I've even started looking into working on a Masters degree online, just one class at a time.

  But I'll look more into that when we know where we're headed for P.A. school. 

Our three weeks in Utah were very eventful.  Trips to Winder Farms, Cherry Hill, BYU football games, nephew's football games, our Zermatt resort, bike rides, etc.  

                                                                 

..and Crew falling into the koi ponds at City Creek mall

I also had a fabulous "Alone Time" at Zermatt doing all the things I mentioned I wanted to do.  Yes, it was as good as I hoped. Better. I gotta remember to do that at least once a year!  Next time I'm taking AubRee with me though... right Aubs??

A happy mom is a happy family....

My entire family came to Utah for my nephew's baptism and other nephew's baby blessing.  It was neat for all the little cousin's to see the baptism and see that example set for them.  

I got to go to dinner with my mom and sisters and we had a great time ordering practically every appetizer on the Cheesecake Factory menu and sharing them :)

Then the stomach flu hit. It was raging through the family so I packed up my boys and escaped up to Zermatt in Midway again.  It didn't work.  Crew puked about 10 minutes after we got there.  But it was only a 24hr thing so we still had a lot of fun together.

On our way home to Idaho I felt my stomach cramping and I knew I was the next casualty.  Sure enough I've spent the last day and a half in complete misery.  Nothing stays in me.  Nothing.  Nothing.

Luckily I've had the support of Phil and my cousin Patrick to take care of the kids while I wither away to a skeletal 108 lbs. (Stress and stomach flu are a bad mix for my body!)

On the bright side when I start working out again I won't have to focus on losing fat, just gaining muscle! Sweet!

Time to close this chapter of summer travels and look forward to all the wonderful things about fall!

Wedding and a Birthday

The first week we spent in Washington was for the wedding of Phil's sister, Brianna to her high school sweetheart, Briar.  They are a cute couple and we're happy to have them and Phil's other sisters so nearby in Rexburg.

Later in the week it was Bruin's fourth birthday and we celebrated with a trip into town for McDonald's (why do kids always want that place?...) and Bruin's favorite dessert, brownies and ice cream.  We had a swim party planned for him but things got a little crazy that day and we had to cancel it.  He cried about it and we felt bad but he forgot once he got to open some presents.

We also got to see our best friends, Royce and AubRee who just finished optometry school and settled in the tri-cities.  Royce took us to see his office one night and we were so proud to see his name up there on his own office door! Awesome!

We got a sitter than night and caught up (meaning the men golfed and we just gabbed in a store, even though we were supposed to be at a spa) and then had some Famous Dave's. It was great We miss them so much!

After the week we headed to Priest Lake and then made the long drive home to Idaho, only to leave a few days later to stay with my sisters.

We've spent a lot of time traveling this summer and I am quite exhausted!  We have spent the last two weeks in Utah, and have one more week until we head home to our own beds, toys, rules, routines.  So ready!

 

2 weeks in Washington

Every year we travel to Washington to meet up with Phil's family and head to Priest Lake, ID.  They have a cabin right there on the lake and we always have a good time, with 2 or 3 boats docked out front and heading out for rides all day long.  There's wake boarding, wake surfing, skiing, cliff jumping, and a whole lot of tubing battles.

This year the scene was a bit calmer.  Lots of pregnant people who couldn't tube, newly weds who liked to disappear together, and little kiddos to watch on the beach.  We all kinda realized we weren't young bucks anymore and the injuries we'd get hurt a bit more and longer!  I think every year someone needs stitches by the end.  So we'll pass the torch to our kids to be the wild ones in a few years.

But we did have some fun though.  I even wake surfed for the first time and loved it!

 Bruin and Crew got a ride in there somewhere, but mostly spent all their waking moments on the beach and riding along in the boat.

Love their faces while tubing in this one

And of course we took the annual family picture amongst the trees  :)