Family Vacations

Family vacations used to mean dreading a week with your family and counting the hours until you returned. It used to mean fighting and bickering until you left not closer to your family like your parents had planned, but wanting to get away from them faster than ever....

Now family vacations mean something a little different...

they mean waking up early to an overly ecstatic little girl who is SO excited that her cousin are still in the same house as her. They mean early morning cartoons surrounded by your favorite little people and loving on your favorite cousin

They mean gorgeous sunrises with an excellent view

They mean not only enjoying the days filled with lots of kids running and screaming (or helping lather on the sunblock)

but it means cherishing spending the day underneath a canopy watching your child have the best time of her life

and relishing the company surrounding you

Family vacations no longer mean only doing what you want to do and putting up a fight about what's on the agenda...now they mean creating the agenda without thinking about what you want and doing only what the chicklets want, like spending the day at the lake without stepping foot in the FREEZING water and pulling a screaming baby out of said water because her lips are purple

it also means spending your days at the pool next to the lake because you have 6 little fishes on your hands

Or it means doing things you normally don't like (for example, miniature golf) but wanting your little girl to give everything a try and so you grab a club and give it your best. Come to find out...miniature golf isn't so bad when you watch your "big girl" swing over and over and over again only to miss the ball every time.  You hold back a laugh and just kiss her head and show her how...

 Family vacations mean eating ice cream every.single.day (we can all thank Pa for that one)

and letting your kids roam free while you enjoy some much needed frozen yogurt

It also means you get to watch these little people, who you always think of as babies, grow right before your eyes and you are lucky enough to get to see their little personalities (frightening as times) blossom as they become, very much their own person.

Family vacations always mean playing card games until the wee hours of the morning each night (only to band your mother from ever playing with you again)

or setting the "wild animals" free while the big kids enjoy some dinner and hearing the sounds of laughter escape from some silly little mouths...

but mostly, family vacations are just that...FAMILY, and I'm lucky enough to now realize that I have an AWESOME one...just ask us, we'll tell you that ourselves

 I love my family and we had such a blast on this trip, can't wait to do it again, but I'll say one thing...hanging out with your family is EXHAUSTING.

Love them to death but I'm glad to be home

FREEDOM!!!

I have been free for only 5 days but MAN it feel good not to have to worry about school, homework, tests, assignments, or rotations.  I'm free as a bird and I'm loving life! Eden and I decided to start off our summer break enjoying the weather, Eden may have enjoyed it a little more than most...

What doesn't say summer more than some swimming in the buff? Or how 'bout some bubble poppin' in the backyard?

The ringing in of mamma's new freedom just happen to coincide with celebrating the freedom we experience each and every day....so what did I do?  Oh well celebrated!  And we pulled out all the stops.

What says freedom more than a patriotic breakfast?

After we filled ourselves full of the sweet taste of freedom, we exercised  our right to bare arms... of the bug catching sort.

We then took break to show daddy just how cute freedom can be...

The pinnacle of our celebration was enjoying the Real Soccer Game in a boxed suite with some very dear friends of ours.  

Les' best friend Johnny married a gal named Jenny and her dad is the owner of the soccer team.  So we were spoiled with dinner, jerseys and a right nice time!  

The suite had a playhouse inside it WITH a DVD player so Eden was golden.  We turned it on and Eden made herself at home while mommy and daddy watched the game....AWESOME!

We then made our final celebration of independence with some fireworks...

Eden is still not so sure about them and continually asked to go to the car, go home and go to bed.  So we obliged.  It was fabulous day and it made me REALLY appreciate the true meaning of freedom! 

Now switching gears....

Did you know my dad is probably the coolest, hippest, hardcore dad in the world?  It's true, he is.  Today Eden and I woke up SUPER early and high tailed it up to the top of the mountain to see this guy right here...

(that's a smile, I promise)

Eden's Pa was working hard this morning...He rode his bike STRAIGHT up Big Cottonwood Canyon 14miles to a finish line.  To top it off he came in 10th overall and 4th in his division!  Um...can we say AH-MAZING!  Totally impressed with my fa-zha and Eden thought he was pretty stinking cool too (but I think today was no exception)

One day I hope to be as awesome as that father of mine, but for now I'll just focus on being a super cool, super fun in the sun, summer mom! ...and I'm pretty sure this little girl is pretty excited to be spending her days with me!

I'm a Big Girl Now!

We spent the weekend up in the woods...one of my favorite places.  I wish the weather would cooperate so we could explore the mountains and go on hikes and just be outside.  Eden loves to be outside and any chance we get (rain or shine) we are out finding something to do.

We haven't been to the cabin much this year, mostly because the weather has been horrible, but we made it up this weekend to spend it with Les' dad and to just get in some relaxation.  And what the cabin if it didn't involve some hard core 5mph 4-wheeling?

Daddy and PaPa were at Eden's beckon call.  With a little "peeessee" and a big fat kiss they were off down the lane with big smiles and waves to go around!

Father's day was pretty low key for us.  Les got a sweet pair of much  needed shorts from Eden and was given his favorite breakfast from his mom.  French toast on texas toast bread, bacon, potatoes and lots of syrup.  We spend the day with family all cozied up in the cabin watching it pour buckets outside and then we headed home to a clean house (for once in our lives) and ended our day with a family walk to feed all the horses around our house some carrots.

We've got some big news around our house that Eden is VERY excited about....

No longer can I really call her my baby (even though I think I always will).  She is a big girl now and she's lovin every minute of it.  For a while now, Eden has been refusing to go to bed in her crib.  She always wants to sleep in "mommy bed" and so I thought if we converted her bed into a toddler bed she would want to sleep in there....SUCCESS!  She is super stoked about her new big bed.  She wants to do everything there.  She wants to watch movies on her big bed, she insists on eating dinner in her big bed (which luckily, didn't happen) and she was so excited to go to sleep in her big bed.  Of course we had to lay down some ground rules...Eden is not to leave her big bed.  If she needs something she needs to yell for mommy or daddy.  She is also not allowed to get out of her bed when she wakes up.  If she wants out she must yell for mommy or daddy to come get her.  We'll have to see how well this works.

It's crazy for me to look at her and see how big she's getting.  Every time we see our friends or family, they all tell me that can't believe how big she is...and although I hate to admit it...she is big.  The "hold you" has turned to "hold me mommy".  The two or three words to get what she wants has turned into full blown sentences.  Her favorites are "What ya doin' Mommy?"  or "Where did my binkie go?" or my favorite "I no do that!"

She loves to sing in the car on her way to day care.  We always make it through our ABC's, Rock-A-Bye Baby and Twinkle twinkle Little Star.  She even tries to sings song on the radio.  It cracks me up.  She just sit in the back seat singing to herself and grooving to the music.  I can't wait for school to be over so that I can soak up every little piece of her.  10 more working days...80 more hours and Mommy World here I come!

When the Weather Is Warm...

When the weather is warm...we play!  Warm weather makes me happy.  It gives me purpose to go outside...to do...to enjoy...and to soak it up.

We spend Saturday day enjoying the weather.  We started the day off running errands and after a quick afternoon nap for all we headed to Eden's favorite place for Family night...we went to see the fishies.

Eden thinks shes runs this joint.  As soon as we walked in the door, she kicked off her shoes and went full speed to her favorite spot...the frog.  It was Les' first time at the Aquarium so Eden took it upon herself to show her daddy all the important higlights

We couldn't forget the Penguins (Eden's favorite) and we had to touch each and every display the place had to offer.  It was nice to be out as a family and watch how excited Eden was to show her daddy all she knew and remembered.

We spend the rest of the afternoon helping daddy outside.  I don't know what it is about the hose but if it's on Eden is right there to help.

Usually I'm not one for yard work...I tell Les I have delicate hands (whatever that means...but it works so I go with it), however, I am very excited about my garden.  I almost didn't plant one this year because I'm anal and wanted it to be perfect. Ground tilled, concrete curbing around it, divided sections for each of the plants (please see Marcia's beautiful garden to get my drift)..but it didn't happen and Les convinced me to just make do with what I have and I'm so glad I did.  Look!  I have plants!

That's spinach, snap peas and red onions and I couldn't be more stoked.  I'm so excited that I can just walk into my backyard and grab some spinach for my protein shake and I'm good to go.  I should have planted a garden LONG ago.  I always hear talks about this "self reliance" stuff and I think I'm just now getting the hang out it...

I made myself a goal for June.  I wanted to do something physical each day.  It didn't have to be hard (although that might do this pudge some good) it just needed to be something.  I used to run every single day for at least 3 miles and now I can barely run 1 mile without having to stop and take a break, and sitting on my butt for the past 9 months for 6 hours a day has done this body no good.  So I've been doing it.  I've been hitting the pavement each and every night...Sometimes it's alone and I get some really good sweat going but sometimes it's with my trusty navigator pointing the way...

I look forward to these nightly walks.  Where Eden tells me which way to go and what she sees and what to look for.  Mostly we are looking for horses and goats.  Sometimes we see cows which she corrects me are horses or we see sheep which she says are goats but it's just me and her and I love it. It's our Mamma & Eden time and we both look forward to it.  Right around 7 o' clock she comes to me and says "time for stroller mamma" and so I grab a blankie, binkie, bottle and baby and head out the door.

Most of the time she doesn't make it home awake, but that' okay with me.  I love the quite time to think as I walk.  Clear my head and sort my day so I can come home and settle in.  It's my time to watch her chest rise and fall and know that she slip into to slumber with a smile on her face.  It makes me happy to be her mamma and reminds me why I'm doing everything I am.

Today after a wonderful sacrament meeting where a sister missionary talked after just returning home from Chile, we spent the day outside enjoying the weather and watching daddy carefully on the roof fix the swamp cooler.

 We splashed in puddles and ate sand but it was perfect, quite and exactly how I wanted to spend my day.