Monday, March 23, 2015


The other day I realized I was out of Scentsy wax.  I've had a bunch of it in a cupboard in the kitchen, and had finally run out of my supply.  I sent Eric a list of Scentsy bars I wanted, and then decided to just peek in the cupboard one more time to see if there were any scents up there.  Well there were 3 of my favorites still left, and in one of them went into the warmer.  Now I've got "ocean" warming until our new order arrives.  I just love how our house smells when we've got a bar in the warmer!
Oakley begs us to cuddle him every night at bedtime, and since I don't want to create a bad habit I usually say no.  However one night Eric pointed out that he may not be wanting us to cuddle him for much longer.  That changed my mind and we've been taking turns cuddling him to sleep every night. He's usually out in a couple minutes once he lays still.   It will be sad when he gets too big to want to cuddle any more :(
The other day I took Oakley to an appointment at the St. Luke's Hearing and Learning Center.  Eric and I are concerned about his speech; his only problem is that he doesn't pronounce some of his letters.  He passed all the tests with flying colors (so we know now that his hearing isn't the issue), and Birch entertained himself almost the entire time by walking up and down a ramp that was inside the room.  Attention all health clinics and hospitals:  all you need to entertain children is a nearby ramp, forget the toys, books and movies!
We met some of our friends at the park the other day; a park we don't get to very often because its further away, but its one of my favorites.  The playgrounds are really nice, there's lots of room for the kids to run, and the river is close by.  Birch is content to just do his own thing, which I think is so cute.  When Aspen was little she wanted me to do everything with her.  Then Oakley came along, and while he loves it when I play with him, he's great on his own.  I'm surprised Birch is like Oakley that way, maybe even more so.  Its fun watching him do his thing and wonder what's going on in that adorable, perfectly shaped toe head of his.

This looks really impressive, but the truth is I helped the kids up to the top.  I made sure they were steady and okay with me stepping away to take a photo.
Sunday breakfast has become our "let's eat as many calories as we can" meal.  I say that in jest but it really is true.  We have afternoon church now instead of morning, so that makes all this possible.  It started out when a friend gave us a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and we had them one Sunday morning for breakfast.  They were delicious!!  They're nothing like cinnamon rolls from scratch, but they are cheap, quick, and fun for a Sunday morning.  Then we graduated to the Rhodes frozen ones, which are delectable, but expensive.  So last Saturday I ground up the rest of our wheat and made some French bread, and we had French toast the next morning.  Yum!  Later church is a blessing in so many ways :)
The kids love to go "running" with me.  I find it amusing because we get about a block down the street and they are panting and needing a rest.  But its so cute and I love that they want to join me. Saturday Oakley and I went out and I told him he could slow down as much as he wanted, but to try not to stop; he did really well.  My kids will turn into runners yet!!  Photo courtesy of Aspen.
Photo courtesy of Oakley.
Now that its Spring I guess we need to start doing yard work.  Sigh.
Birch has become quite the little miss priss, although I don't know how.  The other day we were playing with blocks and I noticed he had a little chocolate on his pants, so I wiped it off, though it was still visible.  I mentioned it (big mistake), and it was all Birch could think about for the next 20 minutes.  "Look at this tower Birch!  Help me knock it over....""Birch!  Let's drive your car through this tunnel...." But all he could do was cry out, "chocolate!  Chocolate!" and swipe at it, while tears were running down his cheeks.  This picture above is of him being very distraught that his little hands are dirty.  Yikes :)
We try to get out in the evenings when we can, now that the weather is so lovely, and take the kids at least around the block before bedtime.  We have a large open green area behind our house that the kids like to run and ride their bikes in.  We only have neighbors on one side, and a park across the street.  We found a great house.

I had to take this picture because I was laughing so hard as we went around the block.  After the kids changed out of their church clothes Aspen ran outside wearing this.  It was so nice and sunny, and she put on her long sleeve shirt and fleece "comfy" pants, which she tucked into her black boots.  But what really made me laugh is that she left one of her boots unzipped, so that whenever she ran or pushed her scooter the boot flapped all over the place.  "Aspen, zip up your boot!" I kept saying to her, through my tears of laughter, but she never did.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Arches National Park

Just have to post some photos of my baby sleeping.  Because I can never post too many of those :)


Last weekend I had an amazing time at Arches National Park in eastern Utah with some gorgeous, wonderful people.
Who just happened to be my 2 awesome sisters, plus my lovely cousin who came all the way from Oregon.
Playing it cool on the hike to Tower Arch.
We weren't really supposed to be off the trail where we found this little alcove, but we snuck over there to explore.....shhh.......

The last time I made the trip I was pregnant with Birch, so its been a few years.  I think every time I come back its even more beautiful than I remembered, which is saying a lot!  Arches is one of my favorite places I've ever been.  "Majestic" is the best word I can think of to explain it.  I can't help but feel God's majesty when I'm there.  He feels so close.
Me and the sisters, Sasha and Demri.  Demri and Bethany had never been to Arches before, and Sasha had only barely scratched the surface.  So it was fun to see their reactions as we hiked the red rock.  Lots of "ooooohs" and "aaaaahs".  Just how I felt!
On our second day we hiked Tower Arch, which is the furthest trail you can hike in the park.  There were very few people on it, and we were alone most of the way.  It is quite a drive to get there so I was afraid it might be a mistake, but we made good time and it was definitely worth it!  We felt "off the beaten path" and it was everyone's favorite hike.
Bethany, the photographer, in action :)  I knew she was having a good time because she kept stopping to take pictures.  That was a great sign; I was hoping she would like it as much as I do.  I can't wait to see all her photos!
Stopping to enjoy the view at Tower Arch with Sasha.  And snack.
Smile girls!  I can't tell you how wonderful it was to spend time with these beautiful ladies.  So much wonderful conversations, reminisces about growing up in Oregon, cards and 80's music at night, years of catching up, laughing like crazy, the list goes on.  And yet not long enough!  We all agreed we needed one more day.

After Tower Arch we headed to Sand dune Arch, which is a large sand dune surrounded by red rock. This is the kids' favorite place to see when they come out, but I love it too.

Park Avenue, our last stop on our way out.  It was a sad moment, and none of us wanted to leave. Good thing there was a hot tub waiting for us to make saying goodbye a bit easier!  But not much.  It was a trip to remember.
Coming home I feel refreshed and energized to continue my role as Mommy to my kids.  Oakley, Birch and I have been playing with Oakley's train set and blocks the last two days.  Oakley designed this elevated track; his creativity always amazes me.

Here's to girls' trips!!

Monday, March 9, 2015


I got rid of my Instagram and Pinterest apps. I was spending way too much time 
with them and not enough on the rest of my life. So I've got time now to continue blogging, which I love anyway, and have missed.
It has been so beautiful here. Yesterday evening we took the kids out on a walk and ran in to several of our neighbors and friends. I love how the warm weather draws people out of their homes after they've been hibernating in them during the winter months!
There is a new development across the street from us so we walked through the first house that's being built. I love that smell!  We were probably in it for a good fifteen minutes; the kids loved helping us figure out what each space was going to be.
We really needed to get out! I needed it. I've been sick with a bad cold the last few days and spent all weekend looking lovely in my p.j's, beautiful puffy, watery eyes and sneezing like it's going out of style. Sunshine! It hurt my eyes at first, until they adjusted. Just kidding.
Then we spent two hours sitting in church while our kids crawled all over us instead of sitting still like I'm just sure every other couples' kids did! I just want to apologize to everyone sitting behind us at church every week as soon as the first meeting is over. Maybe I should start bringing treats as a peace offering ;) Usually Eric and I give each other looks like, "Why? Why? Why??? Why do we  do this every week??" Well we do it because we know the Gospel is true. 
So yes it was good to be outside. I love my kids, by the way. ;)