Sorry I missed last week. I have a good reason. We were having so many adventures!

Mother and Daddy have a super fun tradition of taking each child and their family on a little trip each year to get more bonding time with the grandkids. Our trip this year was to Heber, last Friday and Saturday. We came home from that trip, frantically did laundry, went to church and a family party on Sunday, and then left for our family vacation to Lake Tahoe on Monday morning. We returned from Tahoe on Wednesday night about 9:30, just in time to get Fay to her first day of school on Thursday morning.

Anyway, here’s some photographic evidence as well as some explanation.

We started our journey to Heber by driving up to Cascade Springs. I remember loving going there as a kid, and hadn’t been back since my 20th birthday (thanks to Michael and Asael for making that happen for me), so I was stoked to take the kids there! It was fun and beautiful, and even though Carter had just woken up from a nap and was fabulously cranky, I think we all had a good time.

After Cascade Springs, we drove the rest of the way to Heber stopping by where my Great Grandpa had a house back in the day. Nowadays my, apparently quite rich, great uncle owns the large house on the property. We knocked on the door, but they weren’t home. Then we went to a delicious dinner and back to the hotel for swimming. The kids look forward to swimming at the hotel pool more than any other part of these trips with the grandparents; but apparently they are in good company with all their cousins. 🙂

Saturday’s first activity was to a park and then to a ride on the Heber Creeper (now known as “Heber Valley Historical Railroad” which is a super lame name)!

I was very excited to go on the train ride because I have a bit of history with it. Once, long ago, when I was somewhere between the ages of 4 and 9 (I don’t remember my age at all), my family went on the Heber Creeper. We went from Heber all the way down Provo Canyon to Vivian park where everyone got off the train for a bit to stretch our legs or whatever. Well, I must have assumed the stop was going to be longer than it was, because I was happily playing in the river when I heard the sound of the train pulling away!!!  I jumped up and ran screaming and crying down the track chasing the train as it went back up the canyon.  Some adult took pity on me and helped me to the control station or something, and after what was apparently a good half hour+, the train managed to back all the way back to the park and let me on to be with my family.

Lots of jokes were made about making sure not to leave anybody at Vivian Park during our stop this time, and I thought they were all funny! And we didn’t leave anybody! Though I did remark that the stop at the park was really quite short, so no wonder my small-child self expected to have more time to play!

When we got back to Heber, we ate at Dairy Keen. And I must say, I wasn’t disappointed even after all the build-up we had. I thought the burger and fries were delicious, and the fudge brownie shake was phenomenal! We also stopped at a cheese factory where I got some ultra delicious super-sharp cheddar cheese! I LOVE sharp cheese!

It was a delightful adventure with parents!

Then we left on Monday morning for Lake Tahoe! Neither Josh nor I had ever been to Lake Tahoe, but we had both heard lots of good things about it, so we were really excited to check it out!

We found an airbnb “cabin house” (as the kids called it) to rent while we were there. It was our first time staying in a house as opposed to a hotel room on our family vacation and we are totally converted! The house wasn’t big enough that we would want to move there; but it was great for our little vacation! It was hugely helpful to have a kitchen, table, multiple bedrooms, a washer and dryer, beach supplies, and even a little yard at our disposal! 

Now let’s talk about Lake Tahoe! Here are all the reasons I can think of right this second (aka: non exhaustive) why I think Lake Tahoe is really great!

• It is beautiful, blue as can be, and huge!
• It is in the beautiful mountains surrounded by pine-trees, wetlands, wild-life, etc.
• It isn’t 150 miles from any kind of civilization. It is surrounded by cities with hotels, houses, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, auto parts stores (that proved to be very important on this trip), and even quite a few thrift stores and wedding chapels. (?)
• There are really nice beaches! Big, sandy beaches that remind you why you didn’t drive that extra 5 hours to get to the ocean!
• You can rent water toys (paddle board type stuff) on basically anything that can be remotely considered a beach.
  
• There isn’t just the lake to play on. There are hiking trails, biking trails, equestrian trails, ATV trails, and even skiing in the winter!
• The water tastes good! I obviously didn’t just grab a cup and fill it up to drink; but when I did get some waves in the face, the water tasted like bottled water!

Like I said, non-exhaustive, but don’t you already want to just go to Lake Tahoe?! And we didn’t even do boating stuff. I bet if we had, I would have at least 6 more bullets to add. I am very much looking forward to the day our family is grown up enough to do boating stuff! We’ll be back at Tahoe for sure!

Anyway, here are some pictures.

We honestly just did beach and hiking mostly. But we did the beach 3 times in the 2ish days we were there.

The drive home was long, and the kids were so done. And even though it was a quick little trip, and even though our car battery died, and even though there was one point where the kids were so much that I felt like I wanted to run away from vacation, we all returned home with a very good taste in our mouth! It was an adventure worth having!

Anyway, here are some pictures that I just felt like posting. Because.

Josh and I celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday by taking a bunch of selfies. That’s a good anniversary activity, right?!

I have a confession: I don’t particularly care for summer these days. For those of you who feel offense because of that statement, I have some reasons that I feel clear things up.

One reason is that the best part of summer has always been, for me, summer nights! That is when the temperature is finally comfortable/there isn’t blazing sun so it’s fun to be outside, and that is when there are concerts and movies in the park, fireworks, etc. And these days I have to put small people to bed at 7:30 PM and then I’m stuck at home the rest of the night. So I miss out on the best part of summer. Another reason is that I have nothing to wear. I have looked for multiple years in a row for bermuda shorts that look good on me and have nothing to show for it except disappointment. So I just suffer through my jeans hoping that one day I’ll find that magical pair of shorts that I actually want to wear in public. Although, I did just get a jumpsuit with nice wide legs and fairly light-weight fabric and I think that is a step in the right direction!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was wishing it was autumn and it occurred to me that I don’t like wishing away my life. So I decided I needed a reason to enjoy summer. The obvious answer was to have a table to decorate! And if you’re going to go to the effort of planning a table specifically for celebrating the season of summer, you may as well eat something delicious and summery and invite some people over and call it a party. 

So that’s what we did! 

My plan for the table this time around was to use beautiful summery foods as the decoration for the table. I had all these grandiose ideas of having everything perfectly set out on the table with enough time before the party started to take lots of lovely pictures that captured the joy of summer in my selected color scheme. But the reality was that by the time I got the table set (for the umpteenth time, because we had significant wind that kept blowing everything over) we had a lot of hungry people who were ready to just party and not wait around for the party to be photographed. Who can blame them? 🙂

Everyone seemed to enjoy the party! Even our miniature!

The summer party was lots of fun, and I think it did the trick a little for helping me enjoy summer more. Another fun thing we did this week was another family adventure to Craft Lake City (aka: the DIY festival). We took the train to downtown so we wouldn’t have to hunt for parking, and that was an adventure in itself for the kids! When we got there, it was really fun to walk around and look at the different booths and the amazing things that people do with their own hands! We didn’t buy anything, and the kids honestly didn’t last very long. But I am still glad we went! After the festival we dropped into “Daddy’s work” which was right next door. The kids enjoyed sampling the snacks from the kitchen and coloring on the white boards.

As we were heading out of Josh’s building to the train stop we had an adventure we hadn’t bargained for. We had just left the elevators and were heading to the doors when we realized Portia was nowhere to be found. I kept the other three kids right by me while Josh rushed around searching for Portia. She was still nowhere. After more searching and multiple prayers, Josh started checking the elevators (there were 6). He got each one to open except one. He had the idea occur to him that the final elevator probably waited at the top of the building instead of the bottom which is why it never opened. He got in an elevator, took it to the top floor and as he approached the top he could hear Portia screaming. She was in the final elevator stuck at the top floor. Josh saved the day!

As we waited for the train after all of this I had this little conversation with a very emotional Portia. If you have heard Portia talk, try to imagine her little dramatic, kind of whiney voice.

Me: I’m so so glad we found you, Portia!
Portia: Yeah.
Me: We need our Portia!
Portia: We doooo.
Me: She is a really special girl!
Portia: Her iiiiiiiis.

It was approximately the cutest thing ever. I’m glad Portia knows how essential she is to our family.

In other exciting news from this week, Fay learned to ride her bike without training wheels! She had practiced some with Josh before, but on Friday she requested that I remove the training wheels even though she knew I had to watch the other kids and could help her. After about 37 seconds she was riding like it was nobody’s business! I am very proud of her, and she is very proud of herself and very excited about riding! It was extra fun because her friend came over (who learned to ride without training wheels a few months ago) and they rode together! I think Irelyn’s being able to ride was a big motivation for Fay to learn! Friends are wonderful!

And alas! I don’t have a picture. I’ll get one!

Also, here are some other happy pictures.

I guess it was just too much for me to write last week. But my birthday was so fabulous that I couldn’t omit talking about it even though we’re almost two weeks out.

The best thing about having your birthday on Pioneer Day in Utah is everything! It is a holiday that very few people have really solid traditions for, and so there’s really nothing better to do than to celebrate a birthday! Imagine if your birthday magically fell on Labor Day every year, that is what having a Pioneer Day birthday is like, and has always been like for me. Plus, Josh is always so good to me! Take a look!

I only asked for one gift for my birthday this year, a rather substantial one, and it became available before my birthday, so I wasn’t expecting anything when I woke up that morning. But Josh couldn’t bear the thought of me not having a gift on the very day, so I came upstairs to this ultra charming tablescape! It made me happy all day long!

I wanted to make a fancy cake for myself this year and decided I wanted death by chocolate! So I used facebook to find a killer chocolate cake recipe, gave it a chocolate pudding filling, and a dark chocolate ganache! I wanted it to be a naked cake; but everything was so chocolatey that you almost can’t tell the difference between the layers of cake and pudding. 

For the day’s activities, we first attended our ward’s Pioneer Day breakfast, then the Muhlestein family Pioneer Day lunch, and in the evening I got my birthday date with Josh!! We went on a gorgeous hike! I was pretty tired before we left–long night with Helen, plus going all day–and wasn’t sure how much I wanted to do, but we ultimately hiked about 3 miles and I came back feeling energized and rejuvenated! I love the mountains!!

Anyway, it was a glorious birthday! And I’m very much looking forward to my 29th year! And if you’re wondering what my substantial birthday gift was, here is a picture.

That weekend, we went on a super fun retreat with Josh’s family to a cabin in Price Canyon. We relaxed, played on ATVs, ate yummy things, did some hot-tubbing, and just had a lovely time!

This past week has been a little less eventful. Probably the most notable thing in my mind is the fact that we have been sleep training Helen and, thereby, revolutionizing mine and Josh’s lives! It isn’t fun to listen to a baby cry; but after the Friday night at the cabin I was beyond desperate. So we “Ferberized” Helen the next night! She did cry a significant amount the first night; but she also gave me the longest stretch of continuous sleep I had had in a month or more. So even after night one we were sold! On Thursday night, she slept from 7:30 PM to 6:00 AM!!!!!

Some other fun things we have done include an “adventure” of a water party in the backyard, making cinnamon rolls, the kids workshop at Home Depot, swimming, and other ordinary, but delightful, family time.

Our Summer of Adventure is going great! And I must confess that, at least for me, it has been much improved by our efforts to get to bed on time each night. Even though Helen still is nowhere close to sleeping through the night (despite our best efforts), we are all a lot closer to thriving than just surviving now that we have a little bit of a schedule in our lives again.

Our official family adventure for the week was a beautiful hike up Bell Canyon and to Bell Reservoir. We went on Friday morning before it got too hot, and it was quite delightful! You are likely wondering how the kids fared; well Fay walked almost the entire way and with very little complaining, Carter walked probably half of the way, and Portia and Helen were carried the entire time. You can feel free to be impressed by Josh’s ability to carry two kids at once UP part of the trail (for a fairly considerable distance, I might add)! I’m impressed by him!

On our way down the canyon, Fay said it helped her pass the time to sing. And she sang “Families Can Be Together Forever” the whole way down. It brought me so much joy!

 

Another (unofficial) adventure we had this week was to Leatherby’s Creamery. It is basically everything you ever wanted when you think of the words “Ice-Cream Parlor.” Look what we got!

We were all rolling out the door afterwards. Good thing we only got the one!

That same day, Helen had a very big adventure of her own! It was her first solid food! She got to eat some apple sauce while the family ate dinner. This was how it went.

Here are some pictures of the kids having their own adventures.

 

This week, the only really notable thing that took place was that Josh’s phone up and died on him. He got a fancy new one that he is having lots of fun with! I actually don’t know all that much about what makes it fancy; but Josh is very happy with it and I’m sure would love to tell you more about it!

Anyway, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk a little bit about how the siblings are getting along with Helen. It is always a learning curve for everybody to add a new member to the family; but we have been very blessed to have even that tricky part filled with love from all members.

Fay LOVES being a big sister to Helen! She declared the other day, after holding Helen for about 28 seconds, “I’m ready to have my own babies!” She’s 6. 🙂 So happy! She loves holding Helen especially when there is somebody to see how grown up she is taking care of her sister. I remember being exactly like that with my baby sister, Mary! And, as usual, Fay is genuinely a big helper when I need assistance with Helen or the other kids!

Carter is such a sweetheart with Helen! He doesn’t seek her out quite as often as the girls; but he will still frequently go up to her and just talk sweetly to her and try to make her giggle. He is also a helper, like Fay, when Helen gets cranky. He will just play with her gently. Today Helen was raging as we were heading out the door to church; Carter came to the rescue and talked her into being happy. I thanked him for his help to which he replied “I made Helen be happy! I was like Jesus!” It basically melted my heart even though we were rushing off to church. Another thing Carter loves to do is blow on Helen’s tummy trying to maker her laugh. It’s basically adorable.

Portia also loves being a big sister. This evening she enthusiastically declared “Helen is my best friend!” But the love gets a little scary in Portia’s case. Sometimes the love looks like her putting her finger in Helen’s mouth in an effort to soothe her. Sometimes it looks like her trying to put the shirt she is currently wearing over Helen’s face. Once I came into the room to find Portia had taken the mitt off Helen’s hand and stuffed it in her mouth. I had been out of the room for less than a minute. So Portia does love Helen; we just hope she doesn’t love her to death.

I’m so glad these four cuties are mine forever!

 

We had a great 4th of July this year! We spent the day with all my extended family on my mother’s side, the illustrious Boones! Every three years they get together and have a week long family reunion known as Rendezvous (think mountain man more than french). We were only there for a single day, but it was so fun to see lots of cousins, cousins’ children, aunts and uncles, and even spend some great time with my siblings! I am so grateful for a fabulous family! And I’m so grateful to know they will be mine forever if I’m a good girl!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the past little bit.

Fay can’t always get Carter to play dress-up with her, but she succeeded one day this week. They were both rather dashing!

Here’s Portia and Helen matching a few weeks ago. The shorts are too big for Portia to actually wear without losing them, but it was still a fun picture.

Helen has been getting very excited about dangling toys recently. You can tell she is working really hard trying to grab them and get them to her mouth. But even with all her hard work, she will still take a break to smile at you if you talk to her!

Here is Fay after she successfully added every accessory to my lego set. We (Fay, Carter, and I) put it together a while ago and had it in storage mostly assembled; Fay took it upon herself to put it back together 100% and was very pleased afterword.

And last, but absolutely not least, here is my patriotic mantel for the summer! The mantel hasn’t been decorated at all since April 1st when the kids did it for Easter, and I haven’t personally decorated it since March! So it feels very good to have it look so lovely!

This past weekend, my littlest brother (second youngest sibling) got married. George is a great kid and we love Chelsea, his beautiful wife and my new sister! I am so grateful to have such marvelous siblings! And I am equally grateful that every one of my siblings-in-law is equally marvelous!

We had a super fun weekend with the family; but we also had a rather large task associated with the wedding.

Ta da!

Josh did such a great job decorating it! This masterpiece was 6 recipes of carrot cake! We used 5 pounds of carrots!! And despite the fact that the reception refreshments were all desserts, most of it still got eaten besides the top tier which we saved for the couple’s first anniversary.

And if you were wondering if making a wedding cake counts as a big project, it does. It took us all week. We seriously can’t quit. We have a problem. But it ended up being a beautiful and tasty problem, so we can’t complain too much. 🙂

Here are some pictures.

A few weeks ago Fay wrote her first full story, complete with illustrations. I recorded her reading it. I am so impressed by her willingness to sound out any word as she writes her stories.
Enjoy “The Secrit Door”

Today’s Sacrament Meeting was really special to me. I felt like the speakers each shared really deep, personal struggles they have dealt with or are currently dealing with and beautiful, profound insights on how the Savior and the Gospel have been their anchor and their support.

And as I was listening, I felt like I needed to share some things I have been dealing with the past week or so, and how the Savior has been my support. And I mostly felt like I needed to share it with my missionary, Mary. So, this one’s for you, Mara-Nara!

I am not proud to admit that I struggle with the same things over and over in my life. The Lord has taught me more times than I can remember about this subject, and yet here I am again fighting the same battle again. But again I have been struggling feeling my own worth/purpose. I have felt (and this is a non-exhaustive list) un-cool, un-fun, like I’m not pulling my own weight, and like I’m not becoming what I want to become. Though, I AM happy to report that I don’t believe this is mental illness talking here; it is just … Satan, really. So, maybe that’s not so happy after all.

Anyway, enough with the sad part, let’s talk about the learning part! One morning I was thinking about this subject, reflecting on YOUR words, Mary, and wondering how I could look to God to find my worth. As I was thinking I was reminded of Fay’s kindergarten experience and Carter’s preschool experience. It became very clear to me on multiple occasions during this past school year that to their teachers my precious children were, at best, some nice, normal students in their classes. Sure Fay’s teacher thought it was kind of cool that Fay’s favorite books are chapter books. And Carter’s teacher thought it was dandy that Carter never caused any trouble in school. But that was it.  I recalled thinking on those occasions, Wait! They clearly don’t get what’s going on here! How do they not see that Fay and Carter are truly the most excellent children in their classes, and possibly the whole world? And I want you to know that is GENUINELY how I see things. I really believe that if only everyone in the whole world knew my children like I know them, they would treat them differently. They wouldn’t be able to help loving and cherishing them.

And again, it hit me. Fay and Carter, Portia and Helen, not a single one of them really does anything to benefit me. I mean, they don’t pull their weight in the family, they don’t make any extra money, or do super excellent housework or anything. And yet, they mean EVERYTHING to me. Not a single one of my children is anything close to perfect. They have faults, flaws, and idiosyncrasies galore. But I adore them! And even if they all decided to make every wrong choice; or even if they all became paralyzed and had severe brain damage and just became vegetables, I would never NEVER. EVER. stop loving them. I love them … BECAUSE. Because I just love them. That’s it. I loved them as soon as I knew they were coming to us, and there’s no way for me to ever stop loving them. Ever.

And somehow, even though I have heard this idea before, it hit me good and hard this time; and I actually believed that Heavenly Father could feel that way about me. I believed that maybe even Josh could feel that way about me. That maybe I am worth love and even adoration just because I am.

But it didn’t stop there! I realized for a few blessed, beautiful moments that every single person on this earth (even me) is a Fay, Carter, Portia, or Helen to Heavenly Father. He probably looks on His children and how they treat each other and wishes they could only see just how exquisitely precious each of His children is. That person who swore at you in the grocery store parking lot, Heavenly Father sees her heart and hopes with all His heart that you will understand that those words aren’t who she is. Who she is, is like He is. And she just needs time and love to ultimately reach that potential.

And, it was so cool! Because as I learned that, and got other pick-me-ups regarding my own performance (thanks Meg!), it didn’t make me feel complacent. It gave me strength and courage to try a little harder and also to be a little more satisfied with my efforts.

Heavenly Father is so good! And I’m so grateful for His patient, tireless teaching, and also the wonderful people He puts in our paths to help us feel His love. I only hope that this time I can remember the lesson a little bit longer.

This past week we partied and partied! And we didn’t drive 8 hours to do it! (Josh had originally planned on us going to Denver, but I was a wuss about the drive and ultimately managed to sell him on the staycation idea.)

We started each morning with a fun continental breakfast because breakfast at the hotel is one of the kids’ favorite parts of vacations. We had fun sugary cereals, those huge muffins that are actually just cake, English muffins, juice, frozen waffles, fruit, etc. And even though we had the same options each day nobody ever seemed to get tired of it!

Anyway, some of our excursions for the week included the zoo, the pool, the splash-pad, BYU and the Bean museum, Bridal Veil Falls, new parks, and lots of restaurants!

Something really fun about our swimming pool trip was seeing Fay and Carter using their newfound skills from swimming lessons. I think it was a confidence booster for them to be able to practice their skills without the assistance of their teachers. I was very proud of them.

Being at the waterfall reminded me again just how much I love being in the mountains! I think we’ll need another hike this week…

We went to BYU to give the kids a little idea of what college was like for us; but they mostly didn’t care about the stories, and just wanted to run around and play on stuff. But it was fun and nostalgic for me. It’s so crazy that we have been gone from BYU longer than we were ever there.

The Hogle zoo is basically a completely different place than it was when I was kid. It is SO NICE! It was also PACKED when we went. I’m so glad that it is being well cared for and well loved.

I actually didn’t go to the splash pad with the kids. Josh let me stay home all by myself! (I read a book just for fun!) But I heard that everybody enjoyed it. Helen slept. 🙂

It was a good adventure for the week, and I have put another sticker in my passport! I think it is going to be a rough adjustment to go back to work this week. Fortunately, we have another reason to party this week: Josh Day!

 

 

Josh has been needing a break for … a long time. It is seriously hard to deal with a 3rd trimester wife followed by a newborn and a postpartum wife, and all the older kids, and work! And when Josh needs a break, he starts planning for a break. And the longer he goes without getting the break he is planning, the more he plans. And the more he plans, the larger his plans become. So here’s what we got!

Fay’s last day of school was the designated day (for over a month) for Josh’s surprise “Summer Kickoff Party.” He made all his planning secret–even for me! So, while I went to Fay’s kindergarten awards that morning, he was setting everything up.

We arrived home to this party.

So we partied for a while, then there was a treasure hunt!

But all of this was just to introduce us to our summer theme “Summer of Adventure.” Josh made us each a summer passport in which we put custom stickers for each adventure we go on. We do little adventures each week, and then a big adventure each month of summer. The kickoff party counted as the first little adventure, and we all put stickers in our passports for it!

This past week’s little adventure was water-gun painting in the back yard!

Our big adventure for June is coming this week! We are having an epic staycation!

But if you think the only adventures going on around here are our official ones for the passports, then you are mistaken. (Remember that thing I said about not being good at sitting still…)

And I also took the kids up the canyon the other day to do one of my favorite hikes.

Oh, also, this happened yesterday.

Josh said he wanted to do something cool before he turns 30. (He likes to say “I’m 29 with nothing to show for it.” After which, we list off all the higher education degrees, the full-time mission, cross-country moves, children, and that fabulous wife he has to show for those years. It is amusing, at least for us.) Anyway, he decided the Dirty Dash was something cool, so he did it! It was cool!

And I know that his birthday isn’t for another week, but I feel like we’re all getting the picture here: Josh is cool. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not amazed by what this man can do, and even more, who and what he is. I’m definitely excited about our Summer of Adventure, but the life of adventure I have with Josh is really the best thing of all! (Yes, yes, it’s all very corny; but it’s the truth.)