Cousin Weekend!

We drove down to Price early Thursday morning.  We had plans to go to Price, then to my parents cabin where Darin would drive down after work to meet us, then go together to Huntington for an extended family reunion.  Buuuut Darin's car had to go into the shop.  The options became...wait until Saturday so Darin could drive with us, me driving back to pick him up on Friday night or Saturday, Darin renting a car to drive, or Darin just staying home...I opted for Darin just staying home. He felt bad missing the reunion, but I think he was happy for a little break as well. 

We hit the Desert Wave Pool as soon as they opened on Thursday.  

So much fun for my kiddos...the waves + cousins = perfection.  The weather was fantastic, we stayed for a couple of hours and left just as one of those refreshing afternoon summer storms came rolling in.  The smoke from a wild fired had rolled into Centerville that morning so I was extra grateful to be away from that into fresh air. This is where I spent so many summers I love sharing it with my kids.

That night I took a chalk painting class from Kelly. I have been meaning to look into this forever, so glad Kelly held these classes so I could finally had a deadline.

I am ready to start crossing things off my very long "to do" list!

Miriam's room is the first thing to tackle, then moving to the boys room, bathroom and finally...master room and bath.

This will take years people...I just move really slowly on projects.

Friday we took the kids to the Helper Parkway for a little walk, and rope bridge bouncing (which is not allowed just so you know...but you just can't help doing it!!)

Helper is so fun...the trains, Spring Canyon, the little main street shops...so fun.

Balanced Rock in the back ground.

Lunch at the Helper City Park and then swimming at the Helper pool.

Again...hours of fun for the kiddos! No waiting for the diving board or slides, so much room to swim and snorkel and mermaid, or shark swim.  

I have to get into the water to be with Soren which was actually really fun for me without crazy crowds, but it is also so nice to have Marcus and Garrison to help watch the boys from time to time.

We did use sunscreen...I promise! But that Carbon County sun shines so bright and strong we all ended up with varying degrees of sunburn and we were exhausted! We ran home for downtime and naps and then got together for dinner and movies that night.

Then the Young Family Round-up!

Lunch and mingling....

Cowboy Parade

Bull Riding, Rocket Launching, Latter Golf, Bean Bag Toss, lots of fun for the kiddos while the adults chatted.  

The fun was just ending  as another summer rain came in. We left with the kids wanting more.  They chanted "One more day!" trying to get us to stay another night, but we needed to get home. 

One Month!

With 24 days to go school is looming like shadow for the kids.  It seems like they try not to think about it too much but each one has expressed sadness and or anxiety about summer coming to an end. 

Me? Eh...mixed emotions.  I get a small taste of what home schooling would be like during the summer.  As much as I love adventuring with my kids, I feel like I have to "be on" all day long.  It does makes me love and appreciate public school all the more.

I read this article about how being bored is really good for kids.  Great for developing coping strategies and creativity. All those "boredom jars" and science experiences I pinned on pinterest somehow created this feeling in me, that if my kids are bored it's somehow my fault, and my responsibility to fix.  I love the freedom reading this article gave me to limit technology at any time, without the weight of having to orchestrate something educational and fun for the kids.  When the kids tell me they are bored I now say "ohhh gooooood! That is so good for you!". Parenting game changer.  I am sure this was intuitive to some parents but I needed some PhD to give me permission.

So far, the fruits of our boredom have been fantastic!

Soren wrote 7 piano songs on post it notes (those symbols represent certain keys)

Byron and Miriam researched and designed their own future tiny houses.

Miriam also started learning French from the library and learned a few ballroom dances from You Tube.  

We had the Cub Scout Rocket Pack meeting.  This one is always a hit and came at the perfect time since we also launch rockets at our family reunion which happened  to fall the Saturday following this meeting.  Darin helped the boys make their rockets the night before and we spray painted them an hour or so before it was time to go. 

Their rockets both flew the highest of the pack, but I think Byron's edged out Soren's because his got height and distance.  In fact, every single launch of his landed on a roof (retrieved 2 x) and is now resting in a tree so tall high only fire truck could have gotten it out.  Sadness mixed with pride.  We are going to look for that rocket every Sunday.

The leaders were so kind to include Soren, and he even got a few awards including this joint award. 

I love seeing that "Ray Brothers".  

Blog-aversary

My ten year blogging anniversary came and went (May 22).  I swear I wrote up a little celebratory post, but I can't find it now.  Then it all flew past my memory until this morning.  This morning I was jogging the downhill parts of the Lagoon Trail while listening to Hamilton ("Just like my country, I am young scrappy and hungry!") and POOF! I remembered. And I wondered all over again...how in the world have I kept uploading photos, and documenting the small details of our life for 10 years? Other than my LDS mission, where it was part of our schedule, I have never consistently kept a journal (even that was spotty) and here I am 10 years later with blogging...when blogging isn't even cool anymore...still going strong. 

Most blogs that have been going that long are making money by now,  or have a huge readership,  or share super creative information, or are really thoughtful people who have a smart commentary on the world. None of these apply to me.  Just photos of my daily grind peppered with the triumphs and tragedies of our lives.  Only family and a handful of friends read it (and someone in Russia).

One of my big flaws is that I care too much what others think, I "hustle for approval" as Berne Brown puts it.  However, I realized recently that I must not care THAT much if I can honestly publicly document my life for 10 years.  I am fully aware that when I gush about say....our trip to California some people are shaking their heads at our small potatoes lifestyle....and on the other side there are people who feel like I am bragging.  Add to that all the grammatical errors, sentence structure problems, AND content only a handful of people care about.
But I hit "Publish" over and over and next thing you know 10 years have gone by.

I really had to think about why the judgement and imperfection, and societal shame doesn't keep me from writing.  I believe my secret is that I don't think about it.  I really don't.  I hit publish and move on.  I don't even edit much to Darin's chagrin (he is a very thorough technical writer at work probably edits his stuff at least 3 times), but if he is embarrassed of his wife he never says a word about it. Sometimes he lets me know if a word is misspelled.  He use to go fix them himself but being my editor was too big of a job for him.   If he would have ever told me I was embarrassing him, I never would have kept it up, because to put so much weight on his opinion. Bless him for that because we now have an imperfect scruffy first draft of our life together!

Another thing that helped the longevity is that I deleted comment capability after the first year. I realized early in blogging that getting comments was exciting, addicting even.  I met lots of great women, and was inspired daily by them. The downside was that I started getting distracted from engaging in my daily life by virtually engaging in theirs. I remember one day checking my comments every 1/2 hour and going over in my mind what I could post about that would bring the most comments.  My mood rose and fell depending on who was paying attention to me. I was thrilled when lots of people commented and I was sad when no one did.  I had to decide why I was spending my time this way.  Was this going to be a career? Was I going to try and be a writer?  Did I have anything new I was dying to share with the world?  Lots of people answer yes to this and I am so glad they do because I enjoy their blogs so much to this day.

It wasn't me though. I am better in real life. I think my talents and what I add to the world is face to face not virtual to virtual.  I get antsy after about 1 hour sitting at a computer.  I learn better through mutual conversations and hands on activities than I do through research.  I care too much about too many subjects it's hard for me to narrow my focus to just one.  Sometimes I dearly wish I had 1 solid passion that would keep me focused on one thing so I could get really accomplished in one area.  I wish I was an introvert who was happy being alone for long stretches of time to really hone my talents. In full discloser I sometimes wish I had a life do-over where I would have made different decisions.

My one passion, the one thing I never get sick of, the thing I don't want a do-over about, is my family (well...I do get sick of them but I always want to reengage.....eventually). I know that I have put every ounce of energy, thought and love I have into my husband and my kids and I want to remember every second of it.  Selfishly, I also want them to remember every second of it as well! I know that I have made mistakes and failed my kids and Darin, but I want them to know that I gave them the best that was in me.  I want one more way that I can tell them I love them and that I feel lucky I get to go through life with them.

  I have been writing for the specific audience of my kids, my husband, and our parents for the last 9 or so years. Turns out that is pretty dang motivating to me.

Hike #6 & Stuff

We made it up to Pettingill's for peaches, cherries, and shakes!

Our reason for going by there so early in peach season (which is why they still had cherries) was to visit G'ma for a belated birthday celebration.  Cousins were there so it was an extra fun trip. We took G'ma to Kneaders and made sure she had an extra dessert in her fridge. G'pa was meditating...all....week....long. I think I would go out of my mind being silent that long, but it would probably solve some of my problems to stop talking and listen to myself for a long stretch of time. It's in the back of my mind to set up a meditation practice.  I am thinking 20 min of relaxing yoga with 10 min meditation at the end 3 times a week right before bed....maybe when school starts.

Byron's Archery class ended.  This was such a fun event that turned into a neighborhood gathering twice a week.  The park where they held the class has lots of shade and a stream running through it...perfect for these close to 100 degree days!

 2 of Byron's Cub Scout friends - the third was gone that day.

Soren shot out another one of his teeth.  This tooth didn't get pushed out by the one underneath  because the adult tooth grew in behind it!  Never has this happen with the other kiddos. Wondering what this might mean in future orthodontic bills.

My friend Stacie and I decided to get brave and take all the kids on a hike in Salt Lake without dads.

I have wanted to do Donut Falls Hike for so long but all the reviews say "don't go on weekends..it's too crowded".  It was crowded on this weekday so that is some valid advice.  

We saw a fox and tons and tons of squirrels and chipmunks.  The rodents are basically domesticated pets at this point...they let the kids pet them.

We hiked the falls and then had a picnic lunch at The Birches picnic area.
It was beautiful as well...and empty which is always a nice bonus near the city.
We are lucky to have such cute friends, and it's funny how times change. Fielding and Byron have been buddies since toddlerhood, but back in the day, it was Larsen and Miriam who were pals, and then Soren and Greta.  Now Soren can't get enough of Larsen and Greta and Miriam are tied at the hip.

Ladies Hike #6 Farmington Waterfall and Crashed cars hike.
Beautiful, and fun, and fast, and interesting.
Definitely taking the family on this one.

I had to talk everyone into a photo, and warn them that they will be on my blog.
Here we are in the raw...aging gracefully if it kills us!

Summer bucket list check off - Movie in the Park
It was Star Wars The Force Awakens so it was a no-brainer which movie to pick.
We went early for Pokemon hunting, a walk to Subway for dinner picnic, and then enjoyed the show!
We hadn't seen it since the theatre last December so it was super fun for us. We got home about 11:30 pm and the kids were up by 7, thats why we only chose 1 movie per summer.

I know there will come a time when they are teenagers wanting to sleep in till 10 (which will absolutely drive me crazy) and I will miss how eager they are to start their days, but man alive is 8 too much to ask for?

Life is Funny & Hike #5

I love how I just posted all about how I put all this energy and time into making sure chores/school keep-up happen every day.

Because it all went to pot this week! Miriam was the only one who did any chores all week long.

The excuses are long and vast...our sprinkling system was fixed over multiple days, the Honda had an air bag recall, I sold some car seats on KSL...but mostly it's because these two had swimming lessons all week in Farmington.  So we had to be out of the house around 9:30.  Monday and Wednesday there was Archery and Chinese back to back and Tuesday and Thursday I wanted to take advantage of the fact that the boys were already wet and ready to swim (plus it was near 100 degrees all week!) to get more swimming in.  I took Soren, Miriam and one of Miriam's friends to Lagoon A Beach, and then all of us went to the Rec Center with friends on Thursday.

Plus...Byron had Cub Scout Camp all day on Tuesday. 

This didn't really interfere with anything but the massive waterslide for Mutual was fun.

Friday we hiked to Elephant Rock.  It's about 6 miles but we booked it and made it in around 2 hours 15 min or so.  Beautiful hike! 

I had promised these two if they didn't make it to nationals for History Fair I would let them make another Mega Cake as a consolation prize.  Also...Miriam wanted to take sewing and cake decoration this summer but we made her pay for her own rec classes.  She couldn't afford both and choose sewing,  her friend wanted to do cake decorating as well but didn't register in time. So they did some hands-on learning and spent about 6 hours cooking baking and frosting. I gave the girls complete access to the kitchen and let them do their thing.  

The lemon curd curded right up, the 4 vanilla cakes with sweet lemon syrup are moist and fluffy, the Italian Buttercream creamed right up....HUGE success.

The girls sweltered in our little kitchen on this 99 degree day....we had all fans going and the air conditioner doing what it could but having the stove and the oven going made things hot! Luckily the temps didn't affect the cake.

Here it is: Lemonade THE MEGA cake!

The Week + Hike #4

Byron's Archery class started this week so for the next 3 Monday's and Wednesday's we meet a bunch of neighbor friends at the park where the class is held for a picnic and playing.  Unfortunately, Miriam's sewing class overlaps on these days so she can't come.  I don't think she would want to even if she could.  She is spreading her independent wings as she rides her bike to and from her sewing class and loves being home alone for a 1/2 hour or so until we get back.  

As a family, we scooted/EZ rode the Farmington Lagoon trail up to Farmington Pond one evening.  We decided to run into Lagoon for a few rides before going home and randomly ran into my sister Sarah, her new husband Mike and ALL their boys! It was too funny!  We had already gone on 2 rides so we all went on Tidal Wave together and then parted ways.  We were starving and my rule is...if you are hungry it's time to go home:)

I figured out they were there through Madison's Instagram photo so I snapped this photo to surprise Sarah with a little clue about which ride we were going on.

The temps last week were so lovely!! We took advantage of them by encouraging (paying) the kids to get out help with yard work.  I think we have settled into a summer chore system that works for us...for now at least.  The kids have mandatory daily chores that we don't pay them for, it's just a requirement of living together in a family.  I call it "Zone Cleaning" which I know I got from a blog somewhere but now have forgotten the source. The house is broken into Zones they rotate which one they are responsible for keeping clean all week, and then a deep cleaning in that room on Saturday. On top of that they have to keep their rooms clean, and do reading, piano, math, and Chinese everyday. I don't pay them for those things either but I do pay them if they finish a math workbook, or perfect a piano song on their own.  It's still not easy, my main summer job is task time manager and cheerleader extraordinaire which takes the bulk of my energy and my day.  But I have been good about forging forward with the book "The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes" in my head.  Someday my summers will be full of crossing house projects off my list, gardening, or running errands while the kids happily do their chores without my assistance...right? right? 

Oh I dearly hope so.

I do have a separate list of extra chores that we will pay them for, weeding and lawn mowing being on top of the list.  Things like cleaning the couches, cleaning the basement, washing walls, blinds, doors, cleaning out the car.  Miriam is pretty motivated because she wants to do this zip line tour in Hawaii and get her friends gifts while we are there (her friends have this cute tradition of picking up things for each other on vacation),  Byron wants to by an archery set because of his new class and wants to get a baseball cap, and Soren wants to buy everything he sees.  He loves the action of spending money and walking away with anything remotely interesting so we try to stay away from stores with him, and have limited his viewing of vat19.com.  His latest desire is Heely's but we think he is too young for those.

We finally got in a date night at Lagoon!

So fun to introduce friends to Cannibal.

Next time I am hoping we can ride bikes there and back.

No photos, but my mom, sisters, and a few nieces came up to look for dresses to wear to Mark's wedding.  Not that we are matching, just to coordinate colors a little bit, and get ideas about what everyone is wearing.  Shopping is so exhausting, but we all got some ideas as a jumping off point and had a yummy lunch at Zupa's.

Ladies Hike #4 was a trail run in Kaysville. 

Julia and Jared came to visit and stay with us on Friday!

Jared is a BBQ expert so I had to take them to Smokin' Bones for dinner...not that I had ever been there, just because everyone raves about this local ma and pop BBQ place.  I thought it was delicious, and Jared validated that it is fantastic BBQ.  I had to laugh at myself because I called to make a reservation...just go there and you will see why that is funny.  After taking a digestion break we went to Lagoon for the rest of the evening specifically to be on the ferris wheel to see the lights.

And then we went again Saturday morning.

(These kids did the more thrilling rides, but I only took photos of the kiddie section...Tatum and Wyler are fearless).  Soren's new favorite ride is now the Hydro Luge, which he and I went on a total of 7 times...twice with Wyler. Soren also kept wanting to "do a switcheroo" which meant he wanted to ride with Julia...so cute.

We stayed until we were starving, the kids begged to go eat and come right back but we had to break up the party.  Saturday chores ya know....and J & J had shopping to finish. There were tears and gnashing of teeth but we promised to do it again another day.