4th of July 2014

Yesterday Ryan turned 40.  My last blog post was about him turning 39.  This makes me want to cry! I have been so determined to keep up on my blog for journaling our family - no one reads it anymore, blogs are no longer the "thing" of social media- but regardless of if any one else is reading it, I am so grateful for all that I have blogged about our family over the last several years and I so badly want to keep up on journaling all the funny and precious little things about the kids.  My problem is that since I've started doing photography for other people, my own pictures and blogging gets pushed to the side.  I do not want this to happen, I have got to find a better way to balance my time.  I love doing photography but I can't let my photos of my kids keep piling up on the computer.  So my goal now is a massive summer catch up!  Here goes.  4th of July 2014...

We went up to Huntsville again for the 4th and instead of getting a hotel 40 minutes away like last time, we found a great place to rent in the Valley.  We rented Martha's basement in Eden and it was wonderful (expensive!  but wonderful).  It was so nice to actually be in the Valley, the home was spacious and clean and she had an adorable play room she had created under her stairs that Madi and Jens loved playing in.

On the 3rd (my 33rd birthday) we took the kids to Lagoon.  My only request was Kneader's French Toast for breakfast and I got that so I was happy.  We spent a very long and full day at Lagoon, with Kate, Bennett and Macy, and the kids loved it!  Well mostly.  Jens was such a little turkey.  All day we tried getting him to go on rides, he was scared of everything and didn't want to try anything.  We finally got him to go on the cars and he loved that and so we went again and again.  Then finally after it was about his normal bed time, he decided to be brave and try some other rides.  He went on the boats with Macy a few times and he loved that.  Then at the very end of the night I finally got him on the helicopters.   Couldn't believe it was bed time before he finally decided to be happy and enjoy the rides, but since he did we stayed until the park closed!   Here are some of the highlights in photos...

Mom insisted on a picture in front of the shoe

 Madi and Bennett

Aunt Kate was great to go on the rides with the kids.  

I ended up having an awful little spurt during the day... I knew I could only do a few of the big roller coasters with Pierce and then I would get a head ache (since I've had kids I can only handle a couple and then I'm done), so Kate's sister in law suggested I take some Dramamine for motion sickness.  I did and it was a mistake!  It made me so tired I was literally falling asleep.  I was so scared walking with the kids feeling like I was just going to fall over!  Finally I found a little spot at the end of the park with not a lot of people around on some grass.  I put Jens and Macy buckled up in their strollers facing each other and Kate and Ryan took the other kids on a ride.  I laid down on the grass and let myself rest and fall asleep for a few minutes.  I probably slept for 10-15 minutes but after that I was fine!  It seemed like my body just had to fall asleep to revolver and then once I did I got over it.  Never taking that medicine again!  I did go on Wicked  and Collossus with Pierce and that was fun, he loves it and gets a kick out of me screaming.  Can't believe I have kids old enough for the big rides.  

 Tay joined us part way through the day!

 Jens finally having some fun!

 He loved these cars so much, he could have ridden them all day.

 Finally brave enough for a ride now that it was dark!

The 4TH

The next morning we were on to the festivities!

 Can you tell someone was enjoying the parade?  Especially the candy!

 I love this face more than I can say.

Katie and kids were in Utah visiting Katie's family (Katie is so brave and drove all the way from Chicago without Steve to visit family!) They joined us in Huntsville for the parade and some fun at the park.  It was so great seeing them!  We've missed them since they've been in Chicago!

Pierson & Anya - they have always been such great cousin friends!

In the evening we joined Kate at the Story's for a BBQ dinner.  The kids loved Chuck and Dixie's backyard.  It is kid Heaven!

Madi on their homemade zip line (I was impressed she even did it!)

 Pierce started with the swing...

 Then got brave and did it without, they had such a great time!
We ended the day with fireworks at the park and were so glad to be in the Valley that night.

The next morning we left Martha's and first visited the cemetary

Madi visiting Grandma Kathy's grave.  I love being here at the Huntsville Cemetery, it is so beautiful and peaceful there.  I love this small space dedicated to my Mom.  I also enjoyed walking around the cemetery for a bit and finding a few graves of family friends.  After that we visited Grandma Harrop, Madi enjoyed picking some raspberries from her garden.

Jens enjoying the berries too

After visiting Grandma we were able to visit Audge and Jared and spend some time at their house.  They cooked us a delicious dinner and the kids loved playing with "Bugsy" and seeing Audge's new baby girl, Arya.  It's always so good to catch up with Audge, no matter how long it is in-between visits we can just pick up where we left off,  a true friendship.

 Jens loved Bugsy's firetruck!

That night we headed up to Logan and slept at a hotel up there so we could be up there bright and early for Mark and Lisa to bless their new baby, Ezra.  Their church ended up getting cancelled because of a water pipe breaking and it turned out to be a great experience!  They were able to bless Ezra in their home and then have a special testimony meeting with all the family that was there.  It was so neat to be in a small room together and bear testimonies as a family, I remember the tremendous spirt that was there and was very grateful for the experience.  It was fun to finally be able to see their little house in Logan too.  We are so glad Mark married Lisa, we just love her.

We had a great trip and the kids really enjoyed it!  It is heartbreaking for me in ways to go to Huntsville, I miss my Mom so deeply and the last two years it has been more difficult for me, I just ache for her!  It is added heartache that my Dad is now so distanced from me and shows no care or desire to see me.  This trip was especially hard, I had text him letting him no we were coming up and wanted to see him (we don't dare just go to his house anymore, since we know Susan doesn't want us there) and all he said to me was "Just come find me up at the park".  Well we did and he talked with us for about 5 minutes and that was it.  He didn't want to spend any time with us at all.  In some ways this hurts more than losing my Mom, she didn't chose to leave us, but my Dad is choosing to not really be in my life.  It is hard, it hurts, and I leave Huntsville in tears.  I miss my Mom so much and am more grateful all the time for my Savior and for the healing power of the Atonement.  Looking forward to the day I can see my Mom again, can't wait to run and hug her!

BYU & Park City

Well hear I am, once again, months behind on keeping the kids documented, despite my determination to stay on top of it!  I am determined to get caught up again, especially with Halloween upon us, and then I know I'll blink and Christmas will be here!  So, Summer catch up!  Pierce and Madi were excited to be out of school and Pierce said goodbye to Elementary school.  Crazy.  I always dread summer and feel like a terrible mother for dreading it, but I've realized the first 2 weeks are rough as Pierce and Madi adjust to being home and spending so much time together, then they do great!  Until the last two weeks. Then I'm beyond ready to have them out of the house and away from each other.  But all those weeks in between were actually pretty darn good.  Here are some of our June Highlights...

The kids were so excited for Park City this year.  Now that they are a little older they were really looking forward to it and remembering the fun they had last time.  We also bribed  motivated them to have good behavior the month leading up to the trip with "BYU Bucks", a brilliant idea if I may say so.  We had never been to the BYU Bookstore before and we figured if we could leave early enough in the day we could stop in Provo and take our little Cougar fans to campus and to pick something out at the bookstore.  Worked great!  Ryan made cute little BYU bucks and I gave them to the kids for doing their chores with good attitudes, being kind and helpful, etc.  They were so excited to go spend their BYU bucks!  

 Pierce got a cool new hat, Madi picked out a BYU Hello Kitty (of course), we got a BYU shirt for Jens and I thoroughly enjoyed a bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears that were kept hidden from the kids.

 My Cougar Fans in front of the Y!

 We also stopped at the BYU creamery for an ice cream cone, which did not disappoint, as you can see.

Also like our last Park City trip, Ryan was in class all day and the kids and I hung out at the hotel all day.  It was much more enjoyable this time!  Jens slept great and was so much fun.  We had Madi and Jens sleep on the pull out couch together and Jens loved it, Pierce slept in the loft room upstairs.  Everyone sleeping = everyone having fun.  I am so grateful Jens has become easier to travel with, for a while there I was pretty convinced we were never going anywhere again.  Well at least until he is 5, but thankfully he's turned into a great traveler now!  The kids had a grand time, hot tubbing on the deck, swimming, and hanging out at the hotel playing games and watching movies was fun for them!   We also had Aunt Kate, Bennett and Macy join us for a day and come with us to the Alpine Slide.  Ryan ditched classes for a couple of hours so we could have a little family time and do the slide again.  Tay was also up in Park City for soccer games and we were able to go watch her team play.  

 Ryan with Bennett and Pierce coming down the slide!

 Jens did pretty good for his first time!  He was a little hesitant but I just kept telling him we were going fast "like Rocket" and that made it all good.

Pierce had been begging to go on the "big" zip line this year, he was tall enough and so excited so Ryan took him, he loved it!

 Everyone had fun on the Alpine Coaster!

 My cute All American swimmers!

Our last night there was the UOA Conference family pic nic.  The kids enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers and cookies and best of all free unlimited rides on the carousel at the Zermot!

 Madi was in Heaven, she went again and again.

 I love this picture, this is so her, gazing lovingly at her Pig she's riding.  Don't think she really realizes it's acutely a wild boar.  It was her favorite.  She had fallen and scraped her knee and had been in hysterics.  Thankfully a nice man came to the rescue with a bandage, that and a dozen carousel  rides and she was happy again.

 Almost thinks he's too big, glad not quite yet.

 Jens enjoyed the carousel as long as it was from mom and dad's lap on the bench.  He wanted nothing to do with sitting on an animal.

 Madi with the kind Carousel operator.

The nice carousel man told Madi that this bear was also named "Matty", (not matter that it's a different name, it sounds the same!)  She was pretty excited about that!  

The kids were sad to leave the hotel, they had such a fun time!  One of the funniest things was how much Jens loved being at the hotel, he was fascinated by the parking garbage and dubbed it the "spooky garage".  Since this trip he has talked frequently of the "hotel with the spooky garage",  he can't wait to go back and definitely has a thing for hotels now.  Just recently we were driving in the car and he was looking out the window and said "Mom, I don't see any hotels".  He is so funny, he keeps us laughing for sure.  

We left Park City Sunday morning and were able to drive to Salt Lake to attend J.D. and Amanda's ward to see them bless their new baby, Amelia.  (aka Millie)  We were glad that we were able to be there to support them and to see our cousins for a little bit.  

Goodbye School - Hello Summer!

We are well into summer around here, I can't believe we're already half way through June!  Before any more time flies by, here's a look at our end of school wrap up...

Pierce had his Spring piano recital themed "Night at the Movies",  it was so fun - all the kids played songs from a movie and Kathryn served popcorn, red vines and soda.  It was so cute, casual and fun, not to mention very easy to keep the little ones happy with a red vine!  Kathryn had them do a second performance at a care center and this was a great opportunity for them.  Here's Pierce playing the theme song from "Star Wars"!  

He LOVED playing this for his recital (imagine that) and had it memorized so quickly.  He did a great job, I was very proud of him!  I am so grateful he has the opportunity to be taking lessons from Kathryn, just one of the many perks of having her at the end of the street.  Thank you Kathryn! 

Pierce received an award at the end of the year assembly for scoring a 99% on his end of level test in Language Arts.  He was so excited to get an award and was even more excited when he found out I was there watching him!  Way to go bud, we are so proud of you!  

Here he is with his great teacher, Mrs. Winger.  He has loved her this year, she has been a great teacher for him!  

And spring wouldn't be complete with out baseball...

Pierce finished up another season and had a great time!  Way to go Angels! 

My little Madi girl, isn't so little anymore...

She was excited about her big "Kindergarten Graduation" program.  

Her she is with her wonderful teacher Mrs. Barrett.  We love Mrs. Barrett and I have been grateful to have her teach both of my children, she is a gem! 

Madi was especially thrilled about her big dance recital!  She loves her recitals and is always so excited for Daddy and brother to come watch her perform on the big stage.  Here she is with her best friend Annie...

I love having them in dance together.  They danced to "Broadway Baby" and had a great time!  They were both so excited to receive flowers from their Daddies and have them come carry them off the stage (she was done smiling at me by the time we took pics with the flowers, I wont complain, I was lucky to get these great smile from her!) She had also lost her 4th tooth the night before and was thrilled about that, probably the real reason I got this great smile.  

Well that wraps up our end of the school year!  The kids were so excited for summer and honestly I was dreading it.  Looking forward to the break from homework, yes.  But looking forward to the fighting, bugging and arguing, NO.  The first two weeks I was about to lose it - constant bugging from a big brother, screaming and fits from a little sister, complaining of being "bored", always wanting to play with a friend,  you get the picture.  I was not loving it.  Not to mention it was impossible for me to get a thing done around the house! My summer to do list of cleaning and organizing was looking like a distant dream.  And them came our trip to park city for Ryan's UOA Conference AKA our  Summer trip  for the kids...

Although the first night was a total nightmare (as I suspected since Jens is a huge fan of sleeping in his crib and no where else.  I'm talking awake from 11:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.  AAHHH!) once we got through that, some magic happened and Pierce and Madi were having a grand ol' time together!  3 days of hanging out in the hotel room watching movies and going swimming was a ball for them!

Our room had a balcony with a nice hot tub so even when we were just hanging out in the room or Jens was napping, they were able to get in and have some fun...

The pool was great, it was fun for them to go swimming each day...

Jens was a good boy and didn't mind kickin' it by the pool with Mom, watching brother and sister play...

And of course I can never get enough of those blue eyes...

We were especially excited to have Aunt Kate, Bennett and Tay come join us in Park City for a day.  The kids had so much fun swimming and playing with Bennett and Tay! Jens and I did join them in the pool that afternoon, he wasn't so sure at first but once he got used to the water, he enjoyed some pool time.  Unfortunately no pics since mom was in the water with him.

Pierce, Bennett & Madi, fun in the hot tub!

The highlight of the trip and probably of their entire summer was the Alpine Slide.  Ryan and I were excited to take them, I had been once as a kid and just remembered that it seemed really big and really fast.  They were so excited to go, and it was even more fun than we anticipated - we did the Alpine Slide and also the Kids Flying Eagle zip line and the Alpine Coaster....

 Excited for fun!

Not so excited anymore!  Madi was terrified to go on the "Flying Eagle" but she did it, crying all the way.  By the end of the day she had decided it was fun.

 Madi and Dad had fun on the Alpine Slide together, and notice our little Woodland friend who popped in to be in our photo.  Pierce trying to make it go as fast as possible!

The Alpine Coaster - Which I have to say was so fun!  The kids had a ball, scary rides and all.  We were so glad we got to have that short afternoon to do something fun with Daddy.  (Ryan's schedule was so crammed he had to skip a class just for an afternoon to actually do something as a family!  Not much of a vacation for us!) The kids had so much fun, so I'm calling the trip as success, even though we were frustrated with how the conference went and it didn't give us much family time. I was especially glad that Pierce and Madi seemed to make a turn and start enjoy playing together.  How I have missed the days that they played endlessly together!  Things have been much smoother at home since we got back.  If fact for the entire first week after the trip, the kids didn't ask to play with friends once! They are doing much better at playing together, we might make it though the summer after all!