...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.
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.....
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment