Birthday

I knew what I wanted for my birthday a looong time ago.  The minute I saw the zip line tours in Hawaii I wanted to go...but the boys don't make the age or weight limits so it wasn't something we could do together....not to mention holy expensive. So for my birthday I treated myself to a tour, Miriam earned the $ this summer to come along, and Darin graciously will stay with the boys at the ranch.

So, I purchased and scheduled my own birthday gift a month ago. I told Darin I was doing it, and I am over-the-moon excited and happy and content about it....but it wasn't good enough for Darin and the kids.  40 is just too big of a milestone so they were sure to make it one I would remember.

Miriam snuck the birthday pillowcase on my bed.  She wanted to add this to our family traditions so she made a pillowcase this summer at her sewing class. It's nice to have a little party planner in the family.

Darin's family was in town from back East. Family that we hardly ever get to see, but so love to be with whenever possible we decided to run up North to spend the day with them.  We stopped by Pettingill's for a sweeter larger variety of peaches (Rosa, for future reference...LOVE THEM).  

and we shared some fresh peach shakes.

We listened to Snap Judgment all the way up the canyon...so interesting, and the drive was beautiful!

We had a great lunch which included 40 of these Swig cookies!

(thank you C, L, C & E!)

We all took the 16 personalities quiz, laughed, and took a trip down memory lane with a photo video Darin had put together.

When my kiddos needed some active time, I took them and Cameron's sweet dog Goose on a walk up to the new white sand park.  

We walked past tons of my birthday flowers!

The kids and I played frisbee and had handstand competitions (I even won once!) did cartwheels and made weed farms in the sand.

Darin surprised me with my own photo video, so Darin's family humored me by watching 40 years of my life go by. It's been a good 40 years...can't complain (except maybe those awkward years from 11-15...but then again they made me who I am so not too bad).

Then....the big surprise! 

This is what those rascals were working so hard on the nights before. 

40 balloons in a rainbow fedora!!

I have never seen anything like it, and keep meaning to put it up on Pinterest!

My hubby is a super creative guy, and so thoughtful of me. He would hate wearing something like this but he knows I eat it up with a spoon!

See that tuxedo cake...my favorite, and Soren declared this special day my "cheat day".  It's actually turned into my cheat dayS...but I am 40 so live it up right?!

The kids were so sweet, they pooled their money to get a gift card to my favorite place, gourmet chocolate, and I get to go pick out some trail running shoes after Darin saw what I have been hiking in all summer.  He was appalled, and got that situation fixed as quickly as possible.

He also has another surprise up his sleeve, but that is another post for another time.

Birthday Eve...

Darin took the day off on Friday so we could have some blessed alone time.

It was my turn to drive M's carpool, I helped the boys scoot to school then we took off!

We hiked the full Deuel Creek Canyon...passed the swing up to the waterfall.  It's twice the distance (more time to ourselves) and so gorgeous!

Fall is coming! We saw signs up there on the mountain.

These beautiful purple butterflies were dashing around.

It was so fun!

I took a turn on the swing on our way home...that is a good way to bring on 40.

We ran to Pei Wei for lunch before the kids came home.

The kids and Darin spent so much time getting ready for my real big day.  I had no idea what was in store for me.

And It All Begins Again...

Monday Ris came over to pick plums from my neighbor's tree. He is super generous with us. She brought her kids and we took them on our hike up Duel Creek to the swing. It's kind of a challenging hike for the littlest two but they were troopers.  They each had a few turns on the swing, they walked in the stream, caught a fish, got super dusty.  We stopped for our very last Rainbow Snow of the entire summer (we thought we had our last Rainbow Snow the weekend before hee-hee) on the way home.

 Tuesday I made everyone come home early from playing with friends so we could have family dinner and our back to school talk. 

We used the quote:

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage" - Anais Nin

and watched a Ted Talk about how the human bodies physical response to stress (heart beat, sweating, anxiousness) can be viewed as a GOOD thing.  More blood to the brain makes you think better, chemicals released and extra oxygen make you sharper and viewed as helpful, can help you preform better...but most importantly Oxytocin the "cuddle drug" that creates bonds between humans is released encouraging us to reach out for human connection.  So the best way to deal with stress is to talk to a friend, a loved one. It is especially healthy (for the stressed person) to reach out to someone in an act of helpfulness and service. 

Darin gave the kids the challenge of finding a way to do at least one thoughtful kind act everyday.

I told the kids about my sure-proof way to not feel awkward in a new class....go look for someone who looks more afraid than you feel...go try to make them feel more comfortable.  Boom! All the sudden you are not worried about yourself!

First Day

Miriam goes 45 min before the boys so our mornings are different this year.  She needs to be practicing by 6:30 in order to fit it in before school (which is worth the effort for our family I am not on my A game in the late afternoons).  Maybe this will change, but these first 3 days she wanted to spend more time getting ready so her mornings are kind of a rush!

Byron practices at 7:00,  7-7:30 is the roughest part of my morning...going between the three kids, but as soon as M's carpool leaves at 7:45 I turn my eagle like focus on helping to get these guys ready. I am trying to have 90% of lunches made the night before.

These guys have such nice teachers, and some cute kids in their classes.

Their school does really fun activities, and they have all the new technology that makes learning a bit more engaging....but they still don't like school.  

I want to convince them to love it...like I did (or at least I think I did, perhaps I am sugar coating memories?) but I need to remember that is not my job.  I just do my best to provide a good education, make sure they are safe, and help with homework/projects - they are going to have to learn to make themselves happy with the situation.  A good trait they will use the rest of their lives.

Soren especially does not like it, and gets kind of stressy/anxious/whiney about it.

Just another reason to break out the scooters!

A little bit of fun, relaxation, and stress relief before and after school. It's good for them, good for the environment, good for my mental state not to deal with drop off zones and too many cars + kids.

So far I have ridden my bike along with them in the mornings and picked them up half way home (away from traffic) but that will end here soon. Until the snow falls.

I wish Miriam could ride her bike but we have cello issues...still trying to figure that all out!

It's hard to see, but there is a fawn kind of living in between our yard and our neighbors.  We heard her crying a few days ago but she was with her mother and other fawns.  The fawns couldn't make it over the fence so they were all crying, but we went to bed thinking they would all find a way out since they always have in the past.  The rest of them did but this one keeps coming back.  We have even opened the gate and helped her out...but she comes back. She is back today, she woke me up at 4:30 with her crying.  First thing on my list after the kids are off to school, I am going to call animal control, or animal rescue or something to see if we can get her some help.

My birthday flowers have been popping out all month! 

Sunflowers along the highways and in vacant lots.  

Yummy tomatoes, peaches, plums...

I really do love this time of year.

Last FULL Week of Summer

2 days left!! 

But we are not thinking or talking about that, because I want all breakdowns to happen in the same evening rather than sporadically throughout the week.

I missed the girls hike this week but I did go on a solo jaunt while the boys were at their very last Chinese tutoring.  Look what I ran into!

We went to see our friends in a cute rendition of The Little Mermaid.

Julia Tatum and Wyler were at our house when we got home late that evening, they stayed over 2 nights and we partied at Lagoon!

Bumper Cars...

Scrambler....

We gave them a Waffle Love send off.

Thursday Miriam went on a trip to Henderson, Nevada with her friend Viv for 4 days!

The boys and I tried to have at least as much fun as she did:

Rec Center Swimming with friends

Neighborhood Night Games

and 

Neighborhood Swim Party

I think we gave her a run for her money.
Miriam got home while the boys and I were Pokemon hunting at a local park.
Darin sent me this text:

so we ran home to hug that girl.

Also...I spent most of Saturday doing this....

I started easy by painting the drawers. I had lofty goals of getting the whole thing done before school started but once I began I knew I needed to take this one one step at a time.  Miriam has so many new changes with Jr. high this yearI felt strongly that she needs to have a clean room to start the year off with.  So this is what it will be for awhile.  I actually LOVE the look of the white and gold...but I have to paint the whole thing because if you look closely you can see how damaged it is.

Hike #7

After inheriting a large fish tank we moved Forrest our hermit crab out of the kitchen and into the boys room.  Forrest the hermit crab has a shady past. Years ago when we tried to give him friends we watched him pinch Coconut, another crab.  Coconut was dead by morning and we decided Forrest would need to live in solitary confinement because of it (FYI hermit crabs are suppose to be really social and you should have more than one to make them happy).  With this new tank, we decided to give some friends another try.  The pet store was getting rid of their crabs so they sold us the remaining three for $10.  After watching Forest with Black Dragon, Cobra, and Twister we felt okay with them living together.  No Hermit Crabs in the kitchen! YEE-HAW!

Friday Hike #7 Adams Canyon

Very fun! Busy for an early Friday morning, but leads to a fun waterfall at the end. 

Miriam's sewing class ended last month.  She was able to finish up 5 projects which all turned out darling!! She has taken this class before but I think taking it again helped her perfect those beginning skills.

She made this cute skirt as part of her back to school wardrobe.  Luckily we were able to find three shirts that match, and match jeans as well, to create a cluster wardrobe.  I love that she is so excited to wear something she created.

After attending Charger Camp to get ready for Jr. High, M is feeling more comfortable about going.  She found someone she knows in every one of her classes, and is having a blast planning locker decorations with her locker partner. 

Going into our last week before school....B just asked me what we are going to do to make it count.  He suggested no chores for the week would make it special.  ha-ha dream on buddy!

Farmington Hike

The Olympics have begun!! I love our evenings with the broadcast on in the background while we are winding down for the evening.  We come and go, calling everyone in when an exciting event or match is on.  We turned it on a little early specifically to watch gymnastics and caught the evening news.  We had to turn it off a few minutes in.  Holy negative news, it was NOT kid appropriate. I haven't watched or read the news for awhile now, no wonder we are all depressed and anxious! Watching the Olympics is so much more hopeful. 

Since our little family togetherness weekend was a bomb (thanks to car troubles) I really wanted to do something active and fun as a family.  I took everyone on the Farmington hike I had done with friends a week ago.  It rained hard as we were driving down there, and sprinkled during our hike but we were blessed with overcast skies and cooler temps and no mud. Darin reminded me that we have actually been on this hike once before.  We had attempted a snow shoe hike with a sled when the kids were little.  It was an over zealous attempt at the time that was more difficult than fun.  I think I had blocked it from my memory, or was so focused on keeping babies happy I hadn't payed attention to where we were.

We have come so far!!

4 miles...thats just about perfect for our little family.  It pushes Soren but is easily done by the rest of us. This hike has lots of things to see along the path so it was fairly easy to motivate progress.

And here in lies one of the many benefits of having an older sister....

There is someone who will make you sugar cookies and icing when your mom is on a severe NO BAKING strike for the summer.  

When tragedy strikes, get creative.