she dives right in

Because who has time to wait for Mom to cut it up?

state fair

The Utah State Fair was last week.  

My husband is kinda sorta really into "fair food," you know, deep-fried oreos and the like.

And I'm always up for doing something fun and out-of-the-ordinary with the kids.

So we went to the fair. And we met up with Josh and Alicia and Sarah there.

It had been pouring rain all morning, I was afraid we weren't going to be able to go, but the rain cleared up and the sun peeked through.
This rainbow arched all the way across the sky and was even a double rainbow for a while. (which I can't say without laughing anymore...double rainbow)
It was gorgeous though.

We told the kids we'd get them some ice cream. 
We meant they could have ice cream, you know, after they ate something substantial (which at a fair...isn't much....)
but of course what they heard was "ICE CREAM!"
So we gave them ice cream. For dinner.  

The rest of us ate alligator bites (not a fan), fried chicken, fries, and topped it off with 
cheesecake stuffed scones. ("Utah scones" are fried dough usually served with honey butter-nothing at all like real scones.)

Mmmmm.

Nicholas had a blast.  
He was in charge of the map (it's always his job) and he would point out where we were to go next and then instruct us all to "run super fast" to get there. 

We saw chickens and rabbits and a turkey and goats and cows and bubbles and giant pumpkins and bees and quilts and a lumberjack show and the most darling, intricate doll house (I'm a sucker for doll houses-with all the tiny life-like pieces and everything).

 The last thing we wanted to see was the butter sculpture they do every year.  
An entire scene molded and sculpted from butter.

We told Nicholas we were going to see a butter sculpture and he was excited
"Oh yes! Let's go see it!"
We found it, admired it, and then, as we were leaving, Nicholas asked,
"When are we going to find the butter scriptures?!"

I suppose butter scriptures would have been pretty amazing.

As we left for home, we found a clown making balloon animals.  Nicholas got an orange dinosaur and Ellie wanted a flower.

They fell asleep on the drive home and we scooped them up and put them to bed.  It was a perfect night at the State Fair.

how long can it take?

I'm painting my ceiling white. 
Until now it has been the same dark beige as my walls.  I never loved it, but I didn't realize how much I disliked it until I started painting it white.

At first, I only painted a small patch above the dining table, and it mostly just looked like a low-hanging cloud. 
I wasn't sure white was a good idea.  But I talked to some friends who had just painted their ceilings white, and decided to keep going.
As soon as I made it from one wall to the other, it improved drastically. So much more light reflects in my house now-it feels more open and much less, well, beige. 

So I love how it's looking.  The problem with this project, though, is that I can only paint after the kids are in bed.
And I don't know about any of you, but once we push through the hour-or-more-long process of getting these kiddos to bed, I'm generally exhausted.  Painting for the next few hours is at the bottom of the list of things that sound appealing. I'd so much rather just take a bowl of ice cream down to the movie room to watch tv with Kent.

But, Kent has made a deal with me.  If I do all the painting (by myself-he loathes painting), he'll let us get new carpet with the money we were planning on paying a professional painter.
I really want new carpet.

I've been painting for over two months now....this is probably going to take me another month to finish. 
And then I'll move on to the walls. (Which I'm painting the color you see around my framed painting on the left--it's called Gray Beige by Valspar--it is the perfect warm gray.   I wanted gray gray but with the lighting in this house, especially in the winter, it translated to feeling very cold.)

How long can it take?

who we are six years later

 Ready for a sappy lovey post?

August 2007

About six years ago,
I was living in LA with my cousin, helping with her children and new baby.  Kent was going to school in Rexburg, Idaho.  We were dating (long-distance, woo hoo).
I remember talking to my dad on the phone one day, and he asked me if I was going to marry Kent,
and I took a deep breath and said,
"Yes."
That was the first time I'd admitted it to anyone, even to myself.

Now, getting over my fears about making the right choice and that commitment took several more months for me, but that's another story for another time.

It's been six and half years since then. 
We've got a lot of growing ahead of us. I still feel incredibly young and inexperienced sometimes.  

But we are not the same boy and girl we were six years ago.

June 2007

Five things I love about my marriage:

1. We're partners
When we first got married we bought a frame for a painting we'd bought on our honeymoon. 
It wasn't an exact fit, and getting that canvas into the frame, and then the frame onto the wall was a bit of a challenge.
I don't even remember what happened exactly. We each had our opinions about the best way to get it done, and we didn't know how to make those ideas work together. I just remember I ended up crying. Not because of anything Kent had said or done, but because I jumped to eternal conclusions, thinking, we're never going to learn how to work together-we're doomed! 

If I could go back to that moment, I'd tell myself  "chill out, Girl." 
If we were to attempt that same task now, I'd trim the canvas and make it work into the frame, Kent would help me figure out the best place to hang it up, he'd measure, and I'd hang. 
We know our strengths and we know how to combine them to get things done most effectively and efficiently.
I know that Kent works best on his own-no input or distractions from anyone. 
We know which person likes which chores best, and we work together in a happy balance as we take care of the kids, our home, and our family. 

August 2007-right after he proposed

2. We communicate
I learned early on to tell Kent exactly what I was thinking. None of that "You need to just figure out why I'm upset" stuff.  If I need something or feel hurt because of something, I just tell him straight.  And because of this, I've gotten even better now at labeling what I'm feeling and why. 

I've also learned that if we're tired or hungry or it's late at night, it's best to just let the problem wait--get some sleep (or some food) and in the morning the world seems much brighter.

Learning to communicate has not only helped us quickly work through disagreements but it has helped me feel more confident and emotionally stable (which is hard as girl sometimes!).

We talk.  Probably more than Kent likes, actually. But we aren't afraid of bringing up things that we need to discuss, whether they are about parenting, finances, or even just little things that need to be changed. 

We also talk to each other about our new ideas, our happy moments, our dreams.

We are honest. Completely and fully honest.  And we never doubt each other.

May 2007

3. We "get" each other. 
I know that Kent likes his hamburger bun toasted.  He likes his drinks extra cold.  He likes to sleep with the fan on (even in the winter.)  On Saturdays when he gets to sleep in he likes to listen to music while he takes a shower. 
He knows I don't like doing the dishes. He knows I like twizzlers slightly better than redvines. He knows I love to see pretty things.  He knows sometimes I say things I don't really mean when I'm upset; and he can call me out, bring me back to rationality when I start to get ridiculous. 
We know each other.
We love each other just the way we are, but we also know when to be the voice for the other that says "I know you can be better than this-step up and move on."    

January 1st, 2010

4. We're friends
We have our little jokes.  We see things sometimes that are only funny to us and just look at each other and laugh without having to talk about it.  We love to go places together, try new things and have adventures.  
We like to be with each other. 
We don't like to do all the same things all the time---he loves his movies and computers and I love books and music, etc--but I think that makes us even more interesting as friends.
Also, we do our very best to be nice to each other.  We (mostly me) sometimes say or do things in stressful moments that aren't the kindest, but because we are friends we are able to start over, try again, and forgive and move on.  

May 2013-in Mexico

5. We love each other and we show it.
This one can be harder for us to practice in the day-to-day grind.  The kids, the house, the work of our daily lives takes most of our focus and energy. 
But we love each other.  
And maybe some days that love comes in the form of Kent loading the dishwasher and picking up the living room clutter while I'm singing a bedtime song to the kids.   Or in me remembering he mentioned how much he wanted a particular meal and making it for him.  He encourages me to go out and have a girl's night with friends.  I let him take a couple of hours to play a game on the computer when he wants to unwind, and maybe even take him a cold rootbeer while he plays.  
Tiny little things that do a lot to show love.  


Six years isn't that long, I know.  But a lot of big things have happened the past six years (two children, college graduations, two homes, three jobs), and I am proud of us, of what we've learned and how we've grown. 
I am proud of how we feel about each other even still, our connection, friendship, and love.  And when you look at how much of the world feels about marriage today, 
well six years is actually a pretty big deal.  

And it is especially nice to look at what we have and feel just so blessed.  As life happens, challenges come and go and time goes on, I feel even more grateful that I married Kent.  With him, I find myself.  I feel safe, connected, grounded, and encouraged.  

Marriage is good. Very, very good.   

well it was a good idea...

With these two (and probably other kids too...I hope it's not just us)
we have these really good fun ideas that start out well and fun and happy
and then suddenly something happens,
and everyone's crying.
Fun over. 
And there's nothing for me to do as the mom but shrug and laugh and move on to the next "really good idea." 

Nicholas asked for popcorn the other day.  I like the taste of homemade popcorn so much more than that microwaved stuff, 
so we got out our kernals and melted some butter and popped some corn.

We were all having so much fun and the kids were excited about the popcorn.  As we were dumping it into the bowl, Nicholas reached down to pick up one of the duds-the un-popped kernals-which was still hot. Cue the tears.  

Now, it wasn't that hot-it had been out for a few minutes already.  I just have a child who seems to enjoy overreacting to minor pains.   He inherited this super awesome trait from his mother. We're just cool like that.

And I have a daughter who does not want to be left out.  Anytime we mention anything, really anything at all, she steps forward, points to her shoulders, and says emphatically, "ELLIE!"  As in, "don't forget me, Ellie. I want to do it too!"

So because Nicholas was crying about a burnt finger, 
Ellie started crying too.  "Hot, Mama. Finger hot!"

Two glasses of ice water to put their fingers in and some tastes of buttery (now cool) popcorn later and all was well.
As they ate, Nicholas looked up with delight and said, "And look, Mom, we already have nice cold water to drink!"  


This happens frequently, though.  Almost every day, really.
A few nights ago we went on a walk around the neighborhood.  It was beautiful and cool and Nicholas was riding his bike and we were loving it. 
Then Nicholas stopped his bike when I wasn't looking and I ran the stroller right into him.  He tipped over, scraped his leg. I tried explaining in a quiet insistent voice that it was just an accident, but 
I guess he didn't get it.
We finished the walk with the bike in the stroller and Nicholas walking slowly and screaming the whole way home.  Yelling at me "why did you hurt me, Mommy?!?"  
And me smiling and waving at all our neighbors, acting like nothing was wrong and trying to reassure them that Nicholas wasn't dying even though he sounded like he might be.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, being a mom sure teaches you to be flexible.
And to enjoy the "really good ideas" for as long as you can before someone starts crying.

more wedding

My poor laptop is still out of commission, but I was able to get a few more pictures from the wedding from my mom.  

 Setting up the luncheon took us several hours the day before the wedding--I brought some coloring supplies and a few bouncy balls for Ellie and Nicholas and they stayed surprisingly well entertained.  

With young kids, I've found I just have to prepare myself for the worst behavior,
and when things go well I can be pleasantly surprised.

It's really the only way to keep my sanity intact.

Our "bachelor party" idea we stole from Kent's side of the family (I hope you don't mind!)  We made Josh wear the sign all night. We went out for pizza, on a shopping spree for at Target (Josh had to stand at the front of the store with his cart and the rest of us ran around and found things to buy for him), and we finished off the night with frozen yogurt.  

Everyone stayed at our house that night. We stayed up way too late watching Literal trailers on youtube. (watch out--not all of those Literal videos are free of swearing, etc.) Nicholas and Ellie laughed along as if they knew why it was so funny.

Late that night as I was locking up the house and turning off lights I found Josh out in my driveway, in his car, talking to Alicia on the phone.  

Ah young love. 

The reception was put on by Alicia's family and it was beautiful.  They had a crepe bar, fun music playing, beautiful string lights, and tables for mingling, sitting, enjoying.  Just so lovely.

We were all so happy that my Grandma Murray was able to make the trip.  It meant a lot to Josh and I was glad she was able to come down for the first time and see my house too--I've been wanting her to see where we live for a long time now; I'm glad she got to come.

Just this last Saturday, Alicia's family held an open house in their hometown. We drove down in some of the most torrential rain Utah has ever seen.  
It was Texas rain, people.  True, full-blown Texas rain in Utah.  Can't see through the windshield no matter how fast the wipers are going, hydroplaning, flash floods, everything. It was awesome.  
The very small part of my heart that belongs to Texas (I didn't live there long...) loved every second of it.

The open house was almost more fun than the reception had been-less stress (for us at least!), and halfway through the night we all started dancing.  
Nicholas and I danced and danced and when I got tired I went back to our table and 
he stayed out there on the floor, dancing on his own-a blend of funky bouncing and twirling with some random ninja-style moves tossed in here and there, oblivious to all the other dancers and all the other people watching. 
I love that kid.

preschool

At the beginning of the year, when Nicholas started going to Sunbeams class at Church, he was anxious and wanted us to stay and sit with him for the first several weeks.  
But now, nine months later, he's completely comfortable going to class at Church, playing at friend's houses, and even going to school all by himself. 

He's super chatty with the adults, actually; he buddies up to the teachers and tells them everything that comes into his four-year-old mind.  
Almost too chatty...hopefully we can help him learn about the importance of being quiet sometimes too.

We spent lots and lots of time being excited about preschool, counting down the "wake-ups" until he could go to school, and learning to write his name so he could get a candy bar from his teacher.    
The very first day of Preschool, he was a tiny bit nervous when we first got there, so I stayed for a few minutes, signing papers and sign-ups for parent class help,
but after only a couple of minutes, he turned to me and said, 
"Okay Mom, I think you're supposed to leave now."  He smiled and waved, and we left.
No tears. (none from me either, although I think Kindergarten is going to be much harder for me to swallow.)

Nicholas loves "Teacher Redd" and she tells me that already he is doing great in her class-he's a good listener and excited to participate.

While Nicholas is at preschool, we come home and Ellie goes right down for her nap.  So far, she's slept until just five minutes before we have to go pick him up.
Perfect.  The new-found "Mommy free time" is amazing.  It's been years since I had a two-hour time span with no children awake.  I almost don't even know what to do with myself.

When he gets home, he always tells me about the funniest details.  Like the fish tank with only white fish in it.  And the grapes he picked from Mrs. Redd's backyard.  And the "Dinosaur Song" which from what I can tell only has the word "dinosaur" in it and some vigorous clapping.  

But I can tell already that he is thriving in this new phase of life.  He's less bored at home.  He throws less tantrums.  He's happy and helpful and excited to learn--we spend a good portion of our day with him asking me "does _____ start with C?" "does _____ start with C?" (The program Mrs Redd uses starts them learning with the letter "C" and then they do "A" and then "T" so they can start off reading right away.  Pretty cool.) Yesterday he even pulled a chair into the pantry and started going through every single item in there, asking me if each one starts with "C." 

There are a surprising amount of food items that begin with "C." 

And I'm proud and pleased that my boy is doing so well in preschool. I think he's going to have a great year.

a night in the mountains

On Friday night we packed up the car 

(or rather, I spent some of Thursday night and all day Friday packing up the car),

and drove into our canyon to join a bunch of our friends for a one-night camping trip.

Camping is a lot of work.  But we had more than enough fun to make it worth it.

Our kids were awesome. They roamed the campsite with the seven other children who came with, climbing rocks, gathering sticks, giggling in tents, swinging in the hammock, and making lantern/flashlight parades.

At one point, all the children were lined up along the fence, talking to the squirrels.  Loudly.  Shouting at squirrels.  

We aren't sure what they were trying to accomplish by that.

After we put all the kids to bed, the adults stayed up way too late around the campfire, toasting poptarts (mostly just Kent), telling "how you met your spouse" stories and laughing about the crazy things people do when they're dating.

 While we were making breakfast on Saturday morning (muffins, fruit, omeletes-in-a-bag, and some donuts one of our friends happened to "gather in the woods"),
two does and their fawns came down through our campsite, not even thirty feet away from us all.  It was incredible-the kids were amazed.

 Fresh baked donuts--there are serious perks to camping in a place where the grocery store (and our homes) are only ten minutes away.  A couple parents had to bail in the middle of the night--there were two very sad babies--I'm sure we would have done the same thing, but thankfully our kids slept great.
Nicholas did wake us up at one point because he was talking in his sleep--saying something about his friend Lily.  He talks in his sleep quite frequently; I think it's awesome and hilarious.

 The squirrels were bombarding us with pinecones that morning. Several of us were hit on the head by falling pinecones.  Nicholas and Ellie were quite concerned about that, so we got out the umbrella to protect them. Ellie looked like a little mushroom walking around with the umbrella-just her little legs visible underneath it.

The fall colors are starting to show up on the mountains, and I'm so excited.  Nicholas was very upset that we didn't stay camping longer-I think he was expecting a week-long trip like when we went with my family last month. 

He keeps asking us if we're going to go camping again "maybe on Thursday we can go?"  We had to explain to him how fall is coming and it is going to get colder--

You can bet I'll be keeping a close eye on these trees over the next few weeks to make sure we get a chance to drive up into the canyon like we did last fall.  

We drove up into the canyon again today-just for a quick drive. Each time we go up there, we come back thinking how awesome it is that we live so close.  

I love our canyon.