SG in May

 We had half of the day Friday just with our little family before Grandma and Grandpa and Cec and her 3 young ones joined us in SG. We opted for one of our favorite hikes that morning:

And then everyone arrived!

Saturday morning Cec and I surprised Maddie and Caroline telling them we were taking them to get their ears pierced right then! They were so excited and so surprised and also really anxious :)

 Lining up the marker dots just right on Cares' ears before getting pierced:

And the after shot! She was so brave and her lobes are just even prettier than before.

 

A little Texas Roadhouse for the pre-birthday girl (we went on Saturday since her bday was Sunday)> Funnies thing is that Caroline and Maddie were totally thinking our server (in the picture) was really cute and got all goofy and nervous when he'd come to our table!

Bentley's birthday gift from my parents (and check out that long long hair that was in huge need of a cut! He fluffed it out like this all weekend and it was pretty cute):

 

Another hike — this time up to see the petroglyphs just past Ivins: 

 (posting this picture way after the fact is making me miss those hands and my sweet daddy so much...)

 After a bunch of rain that weekend we had a gorgeous, hot day on Monday (of course — the day we only had a few hours there before needing to head home)

 

Wiggles out and the last cupcakes eaten just before we drove back north: 

 I'm forever grateful for these SG memories with such loving adventurous grandparents.

Bentley is 11!

 

Our oldest kid and total rock star tuned 11! The time is just flying right by and he is growing up. His birthday was on Thursday right before the long Memorial Day weekend. We started out the day with breakfast in bed as always — loving the Tobasco on his tray as he is learning all kinds of yummy food variations from his dad (they are both much braver than I am with food :)

 

 I"m pretty sure these boxes were all Legos with a few extras and a birthday outfit! This boy is all about Legos.

 

  

Joseph and Luke and I snatched Bean from school for a special birthday lunch at Jimmy John's. And about an hour later we grabbed the girls from school and headed straight down to SG for the holiday weekend (which usually ends up being a birthday weekend for us with our May babies!)

 

 

Ahhh, lovely green grass once we made it to St George. And assorted Swig cookies to celebrate our birthday boy!

 

Bentley at 11 is full of life and energy. He loves building Legos, golfing with Joseph, running (as he is training for a 1/2 marathon in July) and playing games on the iPad. He's smart and hilarious and affectionate and kind, although he does love to tease his younger siblings which can often lead to fights. He's generally really easy going, easily forgiving, and eager to play with friends and the younger kids — he and Luke are pretty awesome wrestling and chasing buddies. Joseph and I are thrilled that Bean is our oldest and that he came into our lives on a hot day in Phoenix 11 years ago forever changing us and making us a family!

Payson Temple Open House

 

 This is such a beautiful temple! We have passed often it during construction on our way to SG and were really excited to get a chance to see it as a family. It was once again a crazy May day full of high winds and major bursts of rain — made it really tricky to meet up with Cec and her family right when we arrived as the rain was starting to pour as we ran into the adjacent church building to start our tour.

We ended up watching the video at the church while Cec and Chad went straight into the temple so we missed seeing them inside by several minutes — and the weather just wasn't wanting to cooperate for lingering outside. This made my Livs so so sad, hence her blotchy post-cry skin in our pics :(  It truly was calm and light and beautiful inside, and I love being in the temple with all my children when we normally don't get to go together.

  

We made up the cousin time by meeting for dinner at Los Hermanos in Provo: 

Mother's Day 2016

I love this holiday for making me take the time to remember how incredible it is to be a mother. I am so privileged and lucky to have my own babies, to have created them, to be raising them, and to have been an anchor in their lives ever since the minute they were conceived. I love these souls dearly and am realizing more and more how they were sent to perfect me, to shape me, and to teach me. I know I have a huge responsibility to teach and nurture them in 100 different ways, but in an eternal perspective they will hopefully be my saving grace, the souls who taught my heart what love and charity really are, and who helped me know and grow closer to my Heavenly parents as I figured out what parenthood really means. I also love hanging out with these fun, silly, adoring, creative, and caring kiddos. They are the light in my life and joy in my heart, and I'm grateful they are mine forever.

Goldilocks 2015

 

 
This post could also be titled "the coldest and wettest ride of my life." Which is sad! But I made it an incredible distance in all the rain, had my best cycling coach (and top person) by my side, and at least trained a ton and enjoyed every single ride I fit in all in the name of preparing for the race. I did not ride 100 miles. Boo. But I rode 50 (I even think it was like 52) and that seems pretty heroic considering how soaking wet the whole day was. And there is always next year to try for a century right?!

The morning started out dry enough, even though it was quite cold. We actually got quite warm and comfortable once we were riding and cruising along. I think we fit in close to 30 miles and were feeling really good when the rain just started flying down. We stopped at the Maverick at the Ranches and tried to reinvigorate ourselves (which Diet Mtn Dew and chips are very good for!) but the rain just didn't abate — not one single bit!

 

We kept riding hoping it might finally clear a little but we just got wetter. We had rain dripping off our noses like an overflowing rain gutter,  and rain dripping off our thighs right into our shoes and socks! It was seriously miserable but then again really funny because who would ever ride in that?? We finally made an executive choice to head back to one of the pit stops at a covered pavilion and hope that we could call for a ride to take us back to Daybreak. It was a good decision. I couldn't even move my hands by then and I was getting so chilled. Luckily a support truck was really close and we were able to get in and warm up. I had to wring my socks out they were so wet! Such a crazy adventure that I'm never repeating (!) but I'm glad we gave it a heroic effort. Of course Joseph makes everything funny so I never felt totally defeated. One of these days though...one of these days.

Warming up in our "rescue" truck!

Back at the finish line. I still wasn't fully warm until I had a hot, hot soak in my tub later that day.

Along Came May

**It is the weirdest thing to be so on top of documenting my family's life through this blog and then find myself playing catch up so often. I was feeling pretty close to being back to the present this fall (still writing about our spring adventures in October) when our lives changed dramatically and my amazing daddy dies suddenly. It seems both trite and imperative now to track our memories: trite because this life fades away quickly and in its wake, taking the time to upload it and write about it on my laptop seems silly. I could be exploring with my kids or reading a great book or out in the world playing with friends and loved ones. And then again these memories and moments of life are easy to forget and fade away with time. I love having a record of it all even though it takes considerable time to create it. I no longer have a napping baby and evenings that are long and quiet with all the littles in bed. I have a preschooler who needs a lot of attention and in only gone for a handful of hours each week. And the evenings get away from me almost every night — especially because I have middle-schooler who uses my laptop for his homework and by the time he heads to bed around 9:00 pm I feel done with the day and want to unwind for 90 minutes before bed. I am going to make a real effort to carve out time for this blog but if it doesn't happen, that's ok too. 

On a particularly crazy evening (loud, hyper, disobedient, sassy kids who all complained about the dinner I'd made!) Joseph sent me out the door and off on my bike. It was just what I needed to clear my head and regroup. And it didn't hurt that my sweet family all wrote me loving notes and told me they loved me. Ahhhh — mom heaven!

Sold this enormous beauty in the pursuit of a cleaner, lighter, more minimal feel in our living room:

We ended up with this which has been a fantastic change:

 

Plus these slipper chairs we added at the end of the month. I love feeling like we have tons of options for sitting now, especially as we read scriptures or watch a movie. As much as I love the economy of a sectional, I always felt like someone was sliding into my space and we ended up so crowded!

 

Always love studio performances by my tiny dancers:

Caught the waffle truck in Herriman one morning with a bunch of our neighborhood buddies:

Cares and I had a mommy-daughter date to see Maddie's Virginia Tanner recital (on a rainy May day). We felt obligated to grab Hires shakes after and shop at Trader Joe's since we were in the neighborhood:

Bentley's last elementary school event: the 5th grade play all about who really discovered America (Bentley played Columbus but now I know he most likely wasn't the first explorer here as the Vikings probably beat him to it years and years before he made it here...Also Columbus is Italian, not Spanish!) Props to Bean for being a great actor and for fitting into his 4T pirate costume pants from 2008 :)

Glorious morning sunrise out on my bike: