In case the kids forget, they are having an awesome summer...

...And so am I. 

For starters--- I'm baaaaack!!! Oreos are now safe to consume. In large quantities. Oh my heavens it's glorious. Once a week or so the kids and I will have Oreo Time. We'll sit and dunk our Oreos in milk and chat. I love it. I still on occasion have secret Oreo Time with just myself, but I think it's important to include your children in your hobbies so as not to make them resent them (or you) in the future. 

Thanks to Kyle coming to town I was able to go on a youth retreat with the teenagers in my congregation (youth conference). We drove to St. George with a pit stop for a sack dinner at Cove Fort. It was really a fascinating place. I am amazed and inspired that a family was so willing to move out to the middle of nowhere to establish place of comfort and refuge for travelers coming through during the pre-railroad days. And the entire place was self-sustaining. I can't imagine the work it took to just make dinner every night for an unknown number of travelers. That alone boggled my mind. And there was so very much more that took place to make this place run.

Myself, Jan (another youth leader) and the girls got to stay in a very generous ward member's condo in St. George. That night we packed our lunches for the next day and hit the hay. We got up early the next morning to drive to Yankee Doodle Canyon. I had a really hard time talking myself out of going on this hike. The daring and fun-loving Michelle so desperately wanted to join the kids on this adventure. But in my condition I knew I needed to be smart and not turn into a liability for the group, so I stayed behind with Jan and while the kids and men hiked, we chatted and chatted. It was so much fun and the time flew by. I so love serving with that lady. She is a gem.  Before we knew it, everyone was back, safe and sound (and hot!)

After an afternoon of swimming and an evening fireside given by the Hafen's, the St. George temple president and matron, we went out for custard. It was a great day.

I just love being by the temple...

..And I love, love love the youth!!!  My recently released counselor Karla (boohoo! I am going to miss serving with her) phrased so perfectly what I think of them: they are small in number, but they are mighty. It is kind of bizarre in Orem, Utah of all places to have such few youth, but  that's just how it is in our ward! I know it must be hard for them. Having grown up in a ward with few young women I remember being envious of other wards in our stake that had lots and lots of youth. And I was always envious of my friends and family out in Utah who seemed to have oodles and oodles of youth. There is strength in numbers. But at the same time, your testimony of the Savior starts and ends with one person: you. While having lots of friends in your neighborhood who believe the same things as you is helpful and strengthening, you don't need that to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Each of the kids has such a desire to do good, be good and follow the Savior. This can be a tough world for our youth to be in, with so much temptation around. But they are strong.....

...and they are a hoot to be around. Playing the hand-slapping game while waiting for our concretes to be made. This brought me back to my childhood!

We went to bed, completely exhausted (I think the girls stayed up for a bit and giggled and talked) and woke up to have a morningside given by our awesome Bishop and then a testimony meeting just as the sun was rising.

It was a great weekend. My children were bummed when I came home. Savvy and Ruby did a good job being excited when I walked through the door, but we all know the harsh reality: the fun is over when Mom comes back. Suffice it to say, while I was gone, Kyle managed to stock up on sugar cereal and other necessary junk food, and I am sure crammed the weekend full of fun.

That night we went to the Orem Parade and the kids went to town with all the candy thrown at them. The parade is a fun little local thing to do which requires little effort because it is within walking distance from our house. And we can always count on my sister and her hubs to save us an awesome spot.   That night Ruby threw up a few times. Most likely due to the overload of candy. (I failed to monitor exactly how many taffy's she ingested before bed). But to be safe, I kept her home from church. That morning was Father's Day, which we will save for another post-- but I think it was a pretty good day. I hope it was for Kyle, anyway, seeing as how he was the one we wanted to celebrate.

For a very unofficial family night we organized the garage (rather, Kyle and I did while the kids rode their bikes in the cul-de-sac) then we had to see what all the fuss was about at Hakulia shave ice across from BYUs campus. It was DELISH!

While Kyle was here we took Cade to a US vs Honduras soccer game at the Real Salt Lake stadium. We wore red and white (Honduras is blue). Here he is, pumped on the ride up:

We took Cade to the US vs. Honduras game. It was a blast!

He cracked me up with his red get-up!

...this is the tail-end of the stadium-wide celebration of our victory. It was nuts.

The three of us at the stadium....

We love it when Daddy is here....sigh. His trip went by waaaay to fast and before long he was back to NoVA. 

Earlier in the month I took the kids to the Utah Lake Festival. It all started with me turning on the news one afternoon for the first time in, oh, 4 months probably. Ruby was down for a nap and Savvy and I were eating lunch. They were doing a spot on the upcoming Utah Lake festival and showed some of the fun things that were going to be happening at the event. For the rest of the week Savvy asked all her friends if they were going to the Utah Lake Festival. Nobody was. But Savvy was sure excited about it. 

So we went! It was on my summer bucket list to get the kids out to Utah Lake, so what better time to do it when it was free to park and there were games and stuff to play?

Some of the highlights:

To inspire the kids to wear life jackets  there was a boat and 2 people rocked it back and forth for about 2 minutes. I was certain Cade would think it was ridiculous but he loved it. It's funny what things the kids really dig. 

...Learning about animal prints... this is some kind of bear that lives in Utah. I hope I don't have a personal encounter with it. Yikes.

Cade's most favorite part of the entire day: fishing. Or pretending to fish. It smelled awful here but I was an awesome Mom and even though I know next to nothing about fishing and the last time I went fishing was about 12 years ago with Kyle at his family reunion where he conveniently did all the work and I just cast and sat, I let him and Sav do this. After about 15 minutes of hanging out on a rock Cade's line got snagged with another kids so that ended his fun but it really made his entire day. I'm glad I took the time to let him do it so he could say he tried fishing. Again, the things that really matter to kids can really take very little effort. It's a lesson I learn over and over and over again.

Ruby hung out in the stroller most of the afternoon (thankfully she was fine with this) but here she is playing a game that she loved:

I'm doing this all out of order--- this was the very first thing we did. It was a donut eating contest. Even though there was a line, we were in no hurry to get through all the booths so we just had fun watching other people and finally Cade and Savvy had their turn at it:

...and Cade...

This was my favorite part of the festival--- when it was over! We found a big tree and sat in its shade and ate a picnic lunch. We had nowhere we needed to be and the kids were just happy to hang out. I relished in the moment of just "being". The kids were recounting all the fun things they had done at the festival and I was filling my belly. It was a great memory made.

We've been spending time swimming with friends and family....

...and had fun surprising cousin Lukey on his 5th birthday with some gifts! I was thrilled to see that one of them went with the gift my mom got him (Luke calls it an i-Pad. My kids were so jealous!). The headphones are great with  his nifty little toy. We also got him a Star Wars piggy bank...but he said he already has 2 banks so that was kind of a fail...oops! Sorry Mel. I guess one could be tithing, the other savings, and the other spending??? Ha ha. We love our Lukey and can't believe he is 5!!!

I'm loving putting this girl in pig tails...if you couldn't already tell.

...And taking the kids on dates.

It was Cade's turn to go out with me and he totally shocked me by asking to go to Color Me Mine -- "you know, that place where Savannah painted her Cinderella?" So we went! 

This is what I made -- it's tradition for each of our kids to have a bank painted by Kyle or I at Color Me Mine---Ruby didn't have one yet, so I helped fill that void:

...Cade painted a race car....(I reassured him it really would turn out red and not pink after it was fired in the kiln)

Proud of our finished work (pre kiln!)

Then Cade did something totally predictable and asked to go to Chuck-A-Rama for dinner. I think I ate my weight in scones. Yum!

Afterwards we played tennis and then hit up the library. It was a fun evening.

Hmmm...what else have we been up to?

Swim team for both of the kids, soccer for Cade, tennis for Cade....

Shopping for cleats...

 ....lots and LOTS of coloring...

And me going through swatches of fabric for projects around our house that may get done...

...orrrrr not...depending on how much chasing after this little one I get to do...

...and that's the most important thing right now. No rush, right? Fabric for roman shades can selected later, rugs can get ordered, new carpet can get installed later, rooms decorated later...and my favorite-- laundry folded later! I'm really good at not folding laundry. It's one of my very best talents. 

All in the name of living in the here and now, right?

Now is good.

Let the Good times Roll!

While there are about a year's worth of back posts I may get to, I want to capture the recent happenings and savor them. After all, don't we write taste life twice? Here's a little bit of our springtime happenings...(because technically the summer solstice isn't until June 21, right?)

The weather lately has been glorious. It's a great day when my kids can be out playing with their neighborhood friends, which has been so great. With our crazy May happenings I felt like we were constantly on the go and their playtime was limited. Fortunately there were a few moments in May that I slowed down:

 Ellie and Ru walking to Ellie's house hand in hand...

Ruby enjoying the slides at Cade's school...

Late one night I was starving so I went downstairs for a bowl of cereal. Cade was still awake and asked if he could join me. Sure! Why not? I was proud of myself for taking advantage of this mother-son time with him. He gets more chatty at night so it's always a good time to bond with him then. This time it was over a bowl of Cheerios.

One morning Savvy came in my room and brought in some pants that had a huge hole in them and asked if we could sew them up. And then after we sewed them up could we make something fun like a pillow? It was one of those rare moments in time where I paused and thought, when was the last time I told this girl, "Yes." I'm working on saying yes more, and being distracted less.

So sew the pants we did. And then I sent her down to my little cupboard of fabric scraps to pick out a material she wanted for her pillow. She played eeny-meeny-miney-mo in order to decide. In fact, that's become her choice selection method recently for quite nearly every decision. It's hilarious.

Ruby played with the spools of thread.

Savvy stuffing her pillow...

....then hand sewing it shut. What a big girl!

She was so proud of herself for doing this. I was proud of myself for doing it, too. It was another sweet memory made.

Snippets of our first week once school got out.

The Last Day of School: Also high school graduation. 

My sweet friend in YW made these beautiful floral headpieces and candy leis for the girls and we took our chances that we'd run into them after the ceremony. 

We lucked out!

But it looks like the man sitting behind us didn't quite have the same luck. Poor guy.

See how sad they are that they won't be in YW anymore?  On the up side I told them they could now call me by my first name because we are totally peers now. No more "Sister Woodbury."

Just before dinner time on Cade's last day of school I wrapped up some boxes of sugar cereal, a card game {Skip-Bo}, sidewalk chalk, glitter glue and watercolor paper and let them open them. 

Then I let them have the cereal for dinner. 

They were tickled. 

I think we started a new tradition!

I let Cade and Savvy had a sleepover that night. So cute. And so surprising they actually fell asleep. Usually when these two get together they can't stop talking.

My cousin Megan spent some time up here with us and it was SO fun! I really enjoyed having another adult in the house. Megan is incredibly sweet with the kids and so helpful. She was either playing with one  or all of my kids, folding my laundry or cleaning my kitchen during her stay. It was a sad day when she had to leave. Not just because she was so helpful, but I truly enjoyed her company. Love her!

Sunday Morning fun:  Using Costco boxes to build cars and houses. This kept them occupied for a good 3 days. It was awesome.

Savannah is hiring Cade out to build her a door. He gave her a price quote so she went and used her recently self-printed money to pay him for his services. Love it.

First thing on the Monday morning after school got out (Thursday) the kids were up and at 'em. Cade started soccer camp at BYU and Savvy started swim team. They've been awesome at getting up and being ready. It's nice to have them home the rest of the day once their activities are over.

Later in the week Sav and I went on a date! We ate at the Olive Garden, which Savannah thought was incredible. She's so free with her words and feelings and is so cheerful. 

After lunch we hit up BYU for some bowling. Savvy was such a sweet "opponent."  After every single shot she'd tell me what a great job I did. And she really meant it. 

When the date was over she said, "Mom, I had so much fun with you. I just love spending time with you. Can we do this again?"

Melted my heart right then and there.

Ruby missed Auntie Megan so her solution became sleeping in the guest bedroom. So precious.

 This is a snapshot of the cabinetry/workbench progress in the garage. Our house, unfortunately, as wonderful as it is, lacks in storage. So over the last few years we've done a number of things to maximize the storage in the garage. I've joked with Kyle that it's a sad thing when you love your garage cabinet so much more than the kitchen cabinets. But I'm not really joking. I think these turned out beautifully!

I found this picture on my phone. One of the kiddos must have taken it. One of my favorite things about this time of year is how many delicious fruits and veggies are in season right now. It makes preparing for dinner time super easy. See?

One day I'll say, "Look at this beautiful spread from my garden on my dinner table!" But for now I'm thrilled to just make it to the grocery store and bring this stuff home. Baby steps, right?

Star-crossed cousins. For some reason Ruby lacks patience when it comes to her cousin Liam. He is a saint to put up with this girl! Here is a rare moment of peace between the two of them. Usually she is getting on his case for looking at her.
My sister says one day they are going to be best buds. I think she, too, is a saint to be thinking that.
I'm hopeful, too. But in the mean time I really don't like waiting around for Ruby decide once and for all Liam is not out to get her.

My Sister came into "town" from Vernal so we decided to make a party of it, thanks to my mom. We bar-b-qued (really my Dad did, but it's so much more fun and inclusive to say "we" did it) and took the kids to the splash pad while the men hauled stuff for my folks to put in a storage unit so the basement could get finished. 

My Grandma Sheppard surprised us and came to our little party. It was so good to see her.

Had to get one with her and my kiddos. We love this woman and clearly so do my kids.

And there you have some of our sweeter moments of the week.
The End.