green

I just love May.

easter weekend

mommy vacation

Last weekend, I went to Texas.  All by myself.

I learned right away that I'm both more relaxed, yet also more insecure when I travel completely alone, vs. traveling solo with kids.

Something about having children to distract me/give me focus and purpose as I navigate? I couldn't quite figure it out, but I really did feel less confident traveling by myself than I always have when I travel alone with the kids.

While in Texas for a weekend,

I rented the tiniest car I've ever been in.

 Kinda looks like the blueberry, no?
It was surprisingly hard to drive this. I guess I'm used to driving my van.  
It was also strange to adjust to driving again in a state where the speed limit is treated as the limit, instead of something everyone automatically drives at least ten over.
Utah drivers are fast. Texas drivers are slow.  I can't say which is better.


I spent a lot of quiet time alone on this trip.
Once I decided to embrace it, 
I loved it.

I visited many dear friends, met new babies, and re-met many darling children.
Anita and her beautiful kiddos took me to the most darling bakery I've ever seen.  
Bird Bakery

Since I crashed the Foulk's anniversary on Thursday, I got to snuggle this big guy on Friday night while they went out on a date.

 Mmmm, he's so yummy.

 I made dinner on Sunday, butternut black bean enchiladas, one of my favorites.
Saturday night I ventured to the theme park grocery store. (That place is HUGE, guys.  Like a Costco and a Super Walmart mushed together with an Albertsons.)  
I needed to get jalapeños.

Luckily, this was Texas.

 Yep, an entire section just for jalapeños.
I also picked up some Bluebell ice cream while I was there.  Of course.

On Saturday morning, Alli and I gathered some friends and we took a girl's trip to Beorne, a darling little city in Hill Country.  
We went to the farmer's market (top picture) and sampled many jams and jellies, 
we passed on many many other jams and jellies--Texans like their wine and alcohol even more than they like jalapeños, it would seem.
I bought apple butter and almond lotion from some awesome, sweet ladies who make everything from scratch with all ingredients they grow and harvest on their own farms.  So neat.

After the market, we ate an early lunch at a super cute German restaurant, 
then we went shopping.
Well, mostly just window shopping.

 We did notice how interesting it was that none of us bought any of the beautiful things we found at all the shops, until we got to this, the gourmet food market.
Guess that shows what we value most.  

We had way too much fun browsing an antiques shop.

Where I got cozy with these truly terrifying Easter Bunnies.

Mostly, this trip I spent by sleeping in, visiting people I love and miss, staying up too late in Alli's cozy living room talking about pretty much everything, and spending some quality alone time to think, ponder, and set goals for myself.

 My last night there I sat next to this heavenly jasmine bush and took some time to put together and write down all my thoughts over the weekend;
things I want to do for myself, 
what I want to be for my family and friends, and how I want to improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  

It was a fantastic trip, and I was so happy to get back to my family.  
The kids had way too much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's (naturally), and in her prayer the night I got back, Ellie said,
"Thank you for us being back at ours house, and please bless that Mommy will leave again."
Always nice to know I'm loved.  

pre-Easter egg hunt

The Saturday we were in California, we had an egg hunt.

Because we were all there, and Easter was only a week away, so why not?

The kids definitely thought it was a good idea.

I took all my pictures that day with my brand new, first-ever smartphone.  Yes, I've finally entered the modern age, people.

 Curlies.

 Grammer explaining the rules of the hunt to the kids.  Each child was able to find one golden egg (with money in it!)

Then, they're off!

 I'm so glad the kids got to see their cousins, even if it was just for the day.  They always play so well--it's fun to see how they love each other, even though we live far away.

 Nicholas had scraped his leg, so he spent a lot of time sitting on this step complaining, holding his pant leg up.

 We spent the rest of the day just being outside, playing, laughing, and eating Heidi's incredible cinnamon rolls.

The kids decided to give the zip-line a go,
and then we spent a good hour zip-lining, each kid going over and over and over again.

 We were so proud of Nicholas. He was brave and decided to try it, and he ended up loving it!
His face, though, was always completely emotion-less until he got off at the end, when he'd pump his fists up and shout
"Woo hoo!"

Columbia

We had so much fun at Columbia State Park when Kent's parents took us there back in November
we knew we wanted to take our friends there on our Spring Break trip.

It was a beautiful day. (What day wasn't that week??)  Mid 70's, sunny, perfect.
The drive from the cabin to Columbia is beautiful,
but quite a twisting, curving drive.

Our kids did okay, but our friends' kids weren't so lucky. Their younger girl started feeling sick,
but we were almost there, like just around the corner from the parking lot-could see the sign and everything, 
so they didn't pull over.
And she threw up, in the car, right as we pulled into the parking lot.

None of the souvenir shops that were open sold girl's clothes,
So she got to walk around sans pants for the first bit.

Luckily her tunic/shirt could almost pass off as a dress.

These kiddos got along incredibly well, considering we spent four whole days together, living in the same cozy cabin.  It was so cute to see them playing outside--it was usually some combination of ninjas and "house."


Ellie is a go-er. She was always at the head of the pack, plowing on, moving forward, ready to get to the next activity.

She gets this from my dad.  And Kent's dad, come to think of it.

The day we went happened to be field-trip day for several schools in the area, so there were hoards of elementary kids there, but we managed to time our activities just right to avoid them most of the time.

Nicholas and I just hanging out in the saloon while Daddy took Ellie to the car for a diaper change, waiting for our sandwiches, nachos without cheese (yep, just chips....my kids are not even slightly adventurous eaters....), and sarsaparilla. 
The saloon was deserted while we ate, and then right as we finished, all the school kids came.  We picked up and headed out to where they'd been just before:

Panning for gold.

The highlight of our trip was definitely the gold panning.  Or "golding" as Nicholas called it.
Nicholas listened so intently, responding so politely--the instructor guessed he was at least six years old. 
Nope, he's just an incredibly verbal four-year-old.

Ellie spent her time scooping up mud and dumping it all out again.  At one point I actually had found a few gems for her and put them in her little vial...
and she picked up the vial and "dumped it down" into the water.

Found some gold!

We could have continued "golding" all day, but they actually had a sign up about a 2-hour limit, 
so we eventually made our way to the rest of the town.

(her pants, rinsed thoroughly in the bathroom sink, had dried by this point)

This man was so sweet, and so talented, and none of the elementary kids were paying him any attention (or any tips).  
I sent the kids over with a dollar each to put in his tin, and he stopped his song to take a picture with them--he continued to talk to us as we sat on the bench eating our swedish fish from the candy shop.  He did admit to being confused about who's children were who's.  

We got a lot of that on this trip--being outside of Utah with a total of 5 kids (between two sets of parents!) got us a lot of attention.  Lots of "wow, what a crew!" kind of comments.
We laughed, because here where we live it's quite the opposite.  Most people readily assume we're "just getting started."

We took a minute to practice some yoga on the pavilion before we headed home.

The kids are watching me post this, and Ellie says, "Us go there again Mommy, please?!" while Nicholas adds "I'll even bring my own money for ice cream this time!"

Yep, it was an awesome day.

touching

Our Ellie-girl is very touch-oriented.
In fact, so is Nicholas.
And my husband.

I have to work really hard to make sure my family all feels loved and touched enough, because that's not my natural love language. (With the exception of a newborn baby...I'll squeeze and snuggle my babies every waking moment, can't get enough.)
My family survives on hugs, kisses, hand-holding, snuggles, and cuddling.

While we were on vacation, though, Ellie stepped it up a notch.  
She would not eat unless she was on my lap. Every meal, every time.   

And so, this is us at Happy Burger.  
We ate a little and we touched a lot.