Cedar Forest

The cedar forest is another one of my favorite places. It's home to some very, very, very old trees. It's so fun to see such big trees everywhere. Once again I discovered that Haley really is in her element in nature. She took her time to examine every little detail and pick up every rock, stick, or leaf that she could keep in her hands. It was fun to watch her be so interested, but it made for some very slow paced hiking. About half way into the hike, she decided it would be a good idea to take her shoes off and just go barefoot for the rest of the time. Although there is a path, it's not particularly smooth or clear. There were pine needles and rocks and sticks all over the path, but she didn't seem to mind one bit. By the end of the hike, holding sticks and rocks, covered in dirt, with her hair all messed up, and shoeless, she really looked like she had been raised in the forest. But, she was so content.

Beauty Bay

On our way home from Kellogg, we decided to take a pretty drive to see the other side of the lake. We explored quite a bit and got quite a few flyers for houses for sale (only $1.5 million!). It's a dream of mine to own a house right on the lake with our own private beach and dock. Unfortunately, I think it will always remain a dream as I don't predict housing prices to go down anytime soon (or ever).
We stopped at a lookout point at Beauty Bay. It was so gorgeous! The pictures don't do it justice at all. I guess the name sort of gives it a way, but it really is beautiful. We tried stopping at Beauty Creek as well but were unable to find any creek. I think it must be dried up for now. Britton really wanted to practice skipping rocks so we stopped again on a dock so the kids could throw some rocks into the lake.

Silver Mountain

Wednesday it was a bit too chilly to go to the beach, so we decided to drive to Kellogg to ride on the gondola. It's been probably 15 years since I've been on it. It's the world's longest gondola. My kids loved it. They loved looking down and seeing the cars and houses get smaller and smaller. And then when we got up higher, all we could see were tons of trees. It was beautiful. The gondola ride was very long. I must admit, I was starting to get a bit claustrophobic by the end. But, when we got to the top, it was just gorgeous. They had a little playground with the inflatable jumping thing up there for the kids which was a nice surprise. So, we played for a while and explored a little while before heading back down on the gondola. It was a good way to spend a colder afternoon.

Tubb's Hill

Tubb's Hill is one of my very favorite places. You hike for about 15 minutes along the lake and end up on a much more secluded and rugged little beach. It's one of my favorite spots to go swimming. Britton hiked the whole way, but I ended up carrying Haley for the majority of the hike, not because she didn't want to walk, but because she insisted on collecting one of each of all the different plants. I was trying to be patient with her as she'd squat down every few steps to pick a leaf or two, but when she started tasting each one, that's where I had to draw the line. So, she spent the rest of the hike on my shoulders. When we arrived at the beach to swim, there were two dogs (with their owners, of course). My kids were so excited. The dogs would fetch sticks thrown out into the lake. So, my kids started throwing out sticks for Mark to fetch for them. Mark was a good sport and played along and kept them quite entertained.

Coeur d'Alene Lake

The majority of our vacation was spent at the beach. Aunt Pat bought the kids a whole bunch of sand toys so they had lots of fun digging and building castles. They also loved swimming and splashing and got braver and braver each day. It was nice just to be able to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather (mostly in the 80's) and scenery.

Coeur d'Alene

We had such a fun time in Coeur d'Alene. We stayed with my Aunt Pat and my Uncle Vic. They hired Jason to do some work for them around their house, so it was a working trip for him and a regular vacation for me. We spent most of our days at the beach and most of our nights hanging out and playing cards. I got to sleep in everyday and just relax and enjoy being around relatives. It was great.

Traveling These Days

Traveling these days is just not the same as it used to be. As we were getting ready to embark on our 12 hour roadtrip with our two young kids, we spent most of the time downloading our playlists for ipods, gathering up DVDs, and finding all the car chargers for the various electronic equipment we'd be taking along. When I thought we were ready to start loading up the luggage and be on our way, Jason was just beginning to wire our car with all the needed gadgets. When he came out with a power strip with 5 different plugs, I knew we were in for trouble. It took him a good hour to get everything arranged and plugged in. We had the DVD player that is already in the car, our portable DVD player with two screens--one connected to the XBox and one connected to our DVR (we had to bring that so my brother Mark could catch up on the last season of Lost), then in the front we had two different mp3 players each with headphones and charger and the little thing that makes it so you can hear the music through the car radio, and lastly, the GPS. There were so many wires and gadgets all over the place it's a miracle we had room for the kids and our stuff. It's another miracle that I figured out how to use it all. There was one point that we were all doing something different. The kids watching a movie, Mark watching Lost, Jason listening to a book on his ipod, and me listening to my music. Although, I really appreciated being able to turn on a movie for my kids, or let Britton play Xbox when he got grumpy, or have my very own favorite music to listen to at 2 in the morning while I'm driving and everyone else was sleeping, there was still a part of me that misses those roadtrips when we were forced to talk in the car to entertain ourselves. I missed the good conversations, singing songs, and playing "Mary car games". I think when my kids get a bit older and more capable of handling 12 hours in the car, I'm going to ban all electronic devices and just rely on our personalities to keep us happy.

Don't Cry over Spilled Milk

I never really understood the saying, "Don't cry over spilled milk" until I was a mom. Before, it seemed so dumb that anyone would cry over spilled milk in the first place so I didn't see why there needed to be a saying to remind them not to. My neighbor said one day, "It's not spilled milk that makes you cry, it's spilled milk for the 10th time in one day that makes you cry". I can totally relate to that. I don't even like milk but both my kids LOVE it and drink it like it's going out of style. Luckily, they use sippy cups for the most part so there aren't a lot of spills. But then you have to deal with cleaning the sippy cups which is another whole story. Anyway, Haley has learned that if you shake the sippy cup upside down, milk will come out anyway. And she loves to do it. So, on numerous occasions I've entered a room to find it splattered with milk. This makes it even harder to clean up because it's not all in one nice little pile. It's quite a chore making sure you get it all. But, it's definitely worth it to do a good job because rotting milk is one of the worst smells on earth. The worst is when my kids spill milk without me knowing about it and then don't tell me. There was one incident (and I'm embarrassed to admit it) when Haley spilled some underneath her rocking chair and Jason and I didn't know about it. Within a few days we were searching our house for the smell. When we had located it, I of course was the one designated to clean it up due to Jason's "sensitive" nose and the fact that I also didn't want to clean up his vomit afterwards. When I was finally finished scrubbing the floor, I was about ready to ban milk from our house for good. Too bad it builds strong bones and teeth and all that other good stuff. Otherwise, I'd rid my house of it forever.

4th of July Festivites

This year we tried to take advantage of all the fun Freedom Festival activities for the fourth. Saturday night we did the traditional barbecue at Kiwanis Park with the Kemps then watched the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. But, this year I actually planned ahead and made us some good food to take along. I made barbecued pulled pork in the crockpot. It cooked all day long and it was just perfect for sandwiches by evening. Then I made brownies with whipped cream on top and then blueberries and strawberries on top decorated to look like the flag--very festive. I was pretty impressed with myself. Britton and Haley loved the fireworks. I think this is the first year that Haley has actually paid attention to them. She was so cute. Everytime one went off she's say "there's a firework" then two seconds later "there's another firework" and she kept saying it each time throughout the night. It was hilarious. She just sat there staring, saying that, all throughout the whole firework show.
Monday morning we got up really early and went to the balloon festival. We got there just in time to see the majority of them fill up and then all of them take off. The kids loved it. I don't think they've ever seen hot air balloons before and especially not that close up. Jason kept talking to everyone trying to somehow get us a free ride, but with no luck. (Big surprise)
Tuesday we decided to brave the crowds and go to the parade. This year they had an aviation parade simultaneously. So, every few minutes a plane would fly along the parade route. That's really the only reason we went. They had a few impressive planes, but for the most part they were just the same kinds that Jason flies all the time. But, it was still fun and added some variety to the marching bands and politicians in fancy cars.
We ended our 4th of July festivities with cherry picking at my parents house. We had a whole assembly line going. There were some pickers, some washers/sorters, some pitters, and some baggers/driers. It was pretty amazing that we got the whole tree picked and most of them dried or bagged for freezing. We'll have to do the other pie cherry trees in a few weeks. Britton's favorite job was pitting the cherries. By the end of the day he was covered in splats of cherry juice. Luckily he took off his shirt before starting.

Fountain Fun

There is a fairly new park down the street a ways from my house that has a pretty fountain and a wading pool. We love it because there are always kids playing in the fountain so it's like free swimming for my kids. Today around noon, we went there for the first time this summer. When we first arrived we were the only ones at the fountain, but there was a blanket on the ground with a bag and some other stuff. Britton immediately jumped into the fountain and started running around, kicking his feet, and splashing like crazy. Haley and her friend, Sabrina, were a little more hesitant to get in, but they quickly warmed up to the whole idea. A little while later a lady (the owner of the aforementioned blanket) and her son came back. She sat on the blanket for a while watching and then decided to wade a bit with her son. Britton was still running around in circles, kicking and splashing. Each time he ran by her, I would try to get him to slow down, but he wasn't obeying too much. He'd slow down quite a bit but still manage to splash her just a little each time. At one point she grabbed him and said, "I don't want to get wet." That seemed to help a bit but he still managed to annoy her a few more times. I pulled him out and talked to him on several different occasions but that was mostly just to appease her. She would turn and glare at me whenever he got near her. I wasn't about to get mad at him or make him stop having fun on her account. He wasn't being mean or doing anything wrong, he was just playing. I just don't understand why she even got in the fountain in the first place. Isn't it pretty obvious that if you go into (or even near) a fountain full of 2, 3, and 4 year olds that you are most likely going to get wet? Some people. I was just really glad when lots of other kids arrived and they were all being 10x as wild as Britton.

Haley's Cereal-Eating Habits

Haley eats cereal in the strangest way. It's the exact opposite way that I eat cereal. She has the cereal in with the milk and then she spoon feeds herself the milk. Then she asks for more milk to go with her cereal. Then she eats the milk again and so on. After about 3 bowls-full of milk, she usually finishes the majority of the cereal, but sometimes she just leaves the cereal there in the bowl. So, basically I guess she just likes flavored milk. This is so strange to me because when I eat cereal, I eat the cereal part and discard the milk, not the other way around. It's too bad we can't just share, we'd make the perfect cereal eating team, but somehow the thought of eating her soggy cereal grosses me out.

National Backyard Campout Day

Saturday was National Backyard Campout Day! We have been talking and getting ready for this all week. Britton would ask everyday if it was the day we were going to sleep outside. When it finally came, he couldn't wait. He helped Jason put up the tent, then he and Haley filled it with all their pillows and blankets and went out there to play long before it was time. When we started the "campout", I showed Britton some stars/planets. (You are supposed to be able to see Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn right now, but I'm not so good at locating things other than the moon in the sky, so we just kind of faked it) At one point, Britton pointed at something and said it was a spaceship. So, we made up a story together about the spaceship coming down and Buzz Lightyear getting out and so on. He loved the story and was having so much fun. Later, when we were all settled in and Haley and I were about asleep, Britton started begging us to go inside. I was shocked since he had been so excited about the whole thing. He loves sleeping in the tent whenever we're camping. He wouldn't stop asking us to go in and finally he said he was scared of the spaceship. No matter what we said to explain that it wasn't really a spaceship and that we were safe, he wouldn't believe us. So, we packed up all our stuff and went inside. So much for our Backyard Campout. At least we tried. It was fun for the few hours it lasted.

Spider's Webs

One of Britton's favorite things to do is to build spider's webs in his room out of yarn. We were eating dinner over at a friend's house about 6 months ago and their kids taught Britton how to do it. The other night, we had some friends over for FHE and Britton got the help of the older kids to make a great spider's web in his room. Normally when Britton makes them, half the fun is cutting it down. But, this time he wanted to leave it up in his room. So for two days now, I've had to climb over and dunk under the web in order to put things away in his room. The plus side though is that it's harder for him to get out of bed at night and climb in bed with us. Too bad we didn't think of that years ago.

Pinky Dinky Doo

There's a fairly new kid's show called Pinky Dinky Doo. Although I've only seen it one or two times, I really like it. The writer used to always tell his kids stories at night about Pinky Dinky Doo and that's where the show came from. I think that makes me like it even more because it reminds me of the "Mr. Bear, Mr. Penguin" stories that Britton and I used to make up every night. Not that my stories are good enough to make into a TV show or anything, but we have fun with them.

A Pictureless World

My camera has been broken the past couple of weeks and I don't know how to fix it. So, this blog will just be writing for the next little while. Not quite as exciting or interesting.

Personal Trainer

What I really need to help me get in shape is a personal trainer. Someone who will just make me work out harder and longer (or at all). So, since I can't afford to hire one, I made Jason my new personal trainer. After I get home from my morning walk, I wake him up and he puts me to work. I rotate focusing and legs and arms every other day. I have been really sore since we started, but that's good. It's really been fun because normally I don't get to hang out with him much in the morning.

Adventure Days

Last week we had our first ever "Adventure Day". I decided that there is so much cool stuff around here to do outside that I need to plan an adventure once a week for my kids. So, I do a fun preschool lesson on whatever it is that we'll be doing and then we go on the adventure. Last week we went to Timpanogos Cave. Britton was so excited. We checked out books at the library on caves. And for preschool we learned all about caves. He learned how to spell cave and practiced writing C's. He learned all the cave vocabulary (stalactite, stalagmite, etc). We colored pictures of caves and drew in the stalactites and stalagmites. We learned about bears and hibernating and all about bats. We built a bear cave and put all our teddy bears inside and then pretended to hibernate for the winter. We went outside and hung upside down from the tramp like bats. Anyway, we had a great time and it just built up his excitement for go to a real cave.
We went to the cave on Friday. Jason carried Haley in a backpack carrier the whole way up. I ended up carrying Britton on my shoulders about half the time on the way up. The hike was a bit long for him, so he lost a bit of the enthusiasm by the time we actually go to the cave. But, once inside, he was fascinated again. He had a great time being able to see the things that we had been learning about. He and Haley both had a really hard time keeping themselves from touching things though. They would see a really cool rock formation and their first instinct is to feel it all over.
On the way down, Jason and I switched--I carried Haley and he ended up having Britton on his shoulders a lot of the way. We had a nice picnic lunch by the river across the street from the cave. For our first Adventure Day, I'd say it was quite a success.

Les Gourmands

I'm part of a French club that was started by my friend Desiree. The idea is to help us all use French more often so that we can retain it a little bit better. The plan is to meet about 4 times a year and either go to a French restaurant, watch a French movie, or have a French book club. Then most of the club will be writing emails in French to each other whenever we feel like it so that people in other states and countries can participate too and we can all work on our reading and writing skills. Saturday night, we all met a French bakery to have our first meeting. It was fun. I got to see people that I don't see very often and meet some new people as well.
When I was telling my neighbor about what I was going to be doing over the weekend and how I'd be going to this, she said, "you're sure in a lot of clubs". I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess I am. They aren't really clubs maybe, but my friends are always coming up with fun things to do together--play groups, dinner parties, book clubs, french clubs, investment clubs, etc. I'm lucky to have such cool friends that keep me learning new things and help me stay social.

Hey Go Team, Go, Go, Team!

Last Thursday I had the chance to go to a banquet honoring my former high school basketball coach. It was put together by a team mate of mine--Tish. We all had to think about and write about our favorite memories and she compiled them along with pictures into a nice book for him. He has coached for about 15 years now and just recently switched over to being the boy's head coach. So, this was to pay tribute to him for all he did for the girl's basketball program. He took a program that was basically non-existent where anyone who showed up to tryouts would make the team to one that was state champions and very well respected. I was on the team closer to the early years, unfortunately. But, I am still very grateful for those years and all that I learned. It was fun to go back and see everyone and hear about their families and kids. The amazing thing is that everyone is pretty much the same. Of course, I didn't know everyone because there were 15 years worth of people invited, but I was surprised by how many people I actually did know. Our coach always encouraged us to come back and support the teams after we left. So, I made it to a few games here and there right after I graduated. And then to the State Tournament games and the game when they won State Champs. And then when I did my student teaching back at my alma mater, I was able to teach almost the whole varsity team that year. So, of course, I went to most of their games. Our coach was always happy to see us no matter how long it had been and always invited us into the locker room with the team afterwards and would say things like, "this is what you helped build". I think that's pretty cool of him to include us all in the success of the team. A legacy isn't really made by two or three years and he was more than willing to share the glory with everyone involved.

Too Cute

This morning after getting Britton dressed, I said, "Britton, you're the cutest thing ever". He just looked at me a bit puzzled and said, "I'm a thing?" It was too funny. No wonder I think he's the cutest thing ever.

Roses!

We have two rose bushes at our house and both of them have so many blossoms this year. The flowers are so big and beautiful. Last night I went out and cut a whole bunch to have inside. I figure I should take advantage of having so many fresh flowers. So, I put a vase full in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and one in the family room. Now I love going in just to look at them. They brighten up the rooms so much. I think tomorrow we're going to spend the morning doing yard work and planting our garden and some more flowers. A little bit late, but better late than never, right?

Bon Appetit!

Last Saturday (May 20), we had a French Dinner Party. Everyone brought something french they had made or purchased. We mostly had appetizers and desserts, but there ended up being lots of good food to try. We had quiche, crepes, breads, cheeses, pate, lots of different kinds of pastries, and bacon-wrapped prunes. Everything was really yummy, but most of all it made me miss France. I really do need to go back soon.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

This morning, Haley woke up about 6:45 and went straight for the kitchen. I followed her in and she said, "I wanna make brownies". I just started laughing. Hmmm, I wonder who she gets that from?

Preschool

Last week, I started doing a preschool with my kids. It's been a lot of fun. I do it for an hour twice a week and then if there's a field trip that goes along with the weekly theme, we do that too. Each time we sing a song, look at the calendar, have a weather watch, play a game, read a book, do a science-y thing, and do an art project. It's really fun. I think half the fun for me is planning it all. Britton really loves it. For Haley, an hour is really a stretch for her attention span, but I think she still enjoys it and is learning more than she lets on. I think she'll get more used to it as we do it regularly too.

My 30th Birthday

On April 15, I turned 30 years old. To celebrate, I had a girls-only cabin sleepover party. It was so much fun. I got to just hang out with some of my best friends. We talked, ate junk food, and played games. I can't think of a better way to celebrate. I got to sleep in and I didn't have any kids climbing into bed with me in the middle of the night. What a great gift to myself.

Chuck E. Cheese

One of our favorite things to do is to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I think my kids are far too spoiled because growing up, I think I went once or twice and that was for friend's birthday parties. My kids and I used to go every Tuesday, but now we're trying to cut back so we only go every other week or once a month or so.
The one down here does lots of things to attract stay-at-home moms with little kids. They're brilliant because it's almost always crowded. They have all the little kiddie rides turned on from 11-3 so you don't need tokens to ride them. Plus on Tuesdays, if your kids are members of the kids club, they get free drinks and free tokens. So, it turns out to be a great deal. We love free stuff.
Some days, when it's particularly crowded, the manager will come out and just randomly throw tokens and all the kids scramble to pick them up. Our he'll throw out strings of tickets and kids will come away with hundreds. (Those are my favorite days) Unfortunately, my kids aren't quite old enough to really appreciate it and go after all the free stuff. They get one or two tokens off the ground, and they're completely happy, even though there's hundreds scattered around them. I guess I have to teach them better.
Each time we go, we end up getting a little prize like a sticker or a pack of smarties or some other thing that you could get 10 for a dollar at the dollar store. So, I got the bright idea of making my kids save up for something big since we go there often enough. We have our eye on the Imaginext Pirate Ship for the bargain price of 4000 tickets. I think it's going to take us quite a while especially since Haley never grabs her tickets after she plays a game and Britton loves the low yielding ticket games like Ski Ball. But, it still gives us something to work for and now we don't waste our hard-earned tickets on stuff that gets lost or broken in the car on the way home.

Pictures of Haley

And Even More Camping Pictures

More Camping Pictures

Easter Pictures

Some Camping Pictures

Haley--The Chocolate Genius

To go along with the messy eater post, I decided to show a few recent pictures as examples. I was making brownies and Haley decided to help lick the bowl. I guess most kids would make a mess doing this, but if you look closely, you'll see she even managed to get it on her side and back. Now, that's true talent. And this was right after she got out of the bath. Why do I even bother with baths? No wonder she takes about 3 a day. Britton came in and saw her and said, "she's a chocolate genius!" because of the mustache. And then, of course, he joined in.

Conference Weekend

For Conference Weekend, we decided it would be fun to spend the weekend at the cabin. It was still pretty snowy, so we had to hike in the last little bit again, but once we were there, it was definitely worth it. We had a fun time sledding, watching conference, playing games, doing puzzles, and just relaxing. I'm so glad that we went. I thought it would be harder to watch conference up there, but actually we were able to watch more of it with fewer distractions because our kids are so content to just be there. We carved out a small sled run on the hill, but my kids are still too young to appreciate sledding, I think. They just don't like to be cold. It sounds fun to them, but once they've been out there about 5 minutes, they're done. So, Jason took them in and they all watched me out the window. They would open the window and cheer after each time I went down. It was nice to have some fans. I think we'll try to make it a tradition for every conference weekend.

YEAH!!!

They broke ground a couple of days ago for an IKEA in Draper. I can't wait!