one of the happiest families on earth

Holy Hannah! We were so excited to get to this place. We started planning this trip early on last year. I didn't want to buy the kids loads of things for Christmas, toys and more clothes and all the other stuff they don't really need. It all just ends up under their beds or pushed into closets anyways. I wanted to take that moula and put it towards a fun trip to Disneyland instead. I'd much rather have great memories than more things. Luckily, I got Ryan on board with the idea. And then it was easy peasy to convince the kiddos. 

But we didn't want to go at Christmas time because it would be way tooooo busy. So, we went at the end of January instead. 

And, boy, did we have fun!

Molly didn't remember our last trip, so this was like her first time! She was over-the-moon, bouncing-off-the-walls excited.

First up, Space Mountain!!! Yes. We were slightly thrilled about this prospect. Oh my. This is our very favorite ride! Sadly, Molly was still too small for it. And since Ryan gets motion sickness, he held Rory (although we got him on it later on in the vacation and it didn't make him sick! Although...he didn't want to go on it again). 

We must have jumped on the Haunted Mansion, at least, a thousand times. Seriously! I have no idea how many times we rode this. The kids love it. And it's one we could all go on, Rory included. Although I'm 

not so sure how much he loved it. 

Especially when we got stuck on it for about 15 minutes. Ack! We were right near a ghost jumping up from behind a grave, too. Molly just stared at it. It was totally freaking her out! I didn't want to go on that thing again. And I didn't think she'd ever want to, either. But she did! The very next day we were back on it again. 

It was so great going at this time of year! We walked onto most of the rides. There were hardly any lines. It was awesome!

The kids got into a bit of pin trading. That was something new for us and totally fun. 

Grizzley Rapids. Weston's favorite ride at California Adventure. He went on this with a lot...with his brothers, with everyone and even running off to go do it by himself a few times! 

Molly wasn't tall enough though. So, we watched for them. And, of course, I took pictures of her....

I asked each of the girls what kind of princess dress they wanted me to make for them. Molly chose Ariel's pink dress. 

This little girl was (mostly) so good and patient about the rides she couldn't go on. I think it helped that we prepared her for it. I showed her pictures of the rides she could ride and we talked about them. And I warned her there were some she couldn't do. 

The Ladybug ride was the one she was most excited to try! And look at that face! Yes. She was definitely loving it.

Zoe asked me to make her Sleeping Beauty's dress. So, our girls were very very pink for one of the days. 

Oh! I love this family of mine. I love that we were able to take this crazy fun trip together. And I love the memories we built.

We splurged and took the family to Ariel's Grotto for lunch one day. The girls loved meeting so many princesses at once. They chatted with each of them and got their autographs and pictures taken with them. It was great!

Although Rory wasn't too impressed with those sparkly-dressed ladies. 

Maybe it's crazy to bring a baby along to Disneyland, but I think he had fun! In other news, I have no idea what Ryan was looking at. 

California Screamin' Oh my! Zoe was really looking forward to this. She was finally tall enough for this ride and she could. not. wait. And her brothers were pretty excited, too. 

And I think the next picture speaks for itself about whether or not they enjoyed the ride...

We even managed to convince Ryan to go on that one later. And he loved it! It didn't even make him sick! So, he went on it again. I was so happy he could ride it! 

I love this blurry shot of my little princess. This was her for almost the whole entire trip. She practically danced everywhere! I have this lovely, snapshot of a memory of her walking down the Disneyland Main Street toward the exit on our first night. All the bright lights were shining. We'd had a great day. And we were definitely under that magical Disney spell. Molly danced and twirled down that twinkle lit street, parading along, happy as a lark. Everything was completely perfect and wonderful in her life. It was the best.

These boys went on the Grizzley Rapids quite a bit together. I love that they were able to spend time together, laughing and having fun. 

Family trips are the very very best. 

Halloween

I'd planned on writing up a nice post about our fun Halloween. But...wooh. It's been quite the week. And I'm still trying to recover. So, here's some Instahalloween fun instead...

  

The obligatory Halloween pose on the front porch and The Sorting of the Candy.

  

Trick or treating in clown shoes is no treat. And my new Facebook profile pic.

Hopefully next week I'll manage to share more than this!

We Ran Away

Last weekend I ran away with my handsome cowboy...

We were long overdue for a good trip away . What with a new baby, the firefighting season and then the deer hunt, we hadn't had a lot of quality time together. So, we decided to take a (late) anniversary trip. And we didn't want to drive far, so we decided to simply go down to St. George. 

My awesome and wonderful mom agreed to come watch our kids, well most of them. We brought our cute little Rory along on the trip.

Doesn't he have the best smile? That's one of the things I loved
about him on our very first date, that great big happy grin.

And do you want to know the best part of this trip? 

We didn't have any plans! I'd gotten us a hotel room in St. George. But that was about it. We were open to whatever. We just wanted time. Together. To talk and laugh and chat and enjoy each other without little ones needing our atention.

So, as we were driving along the freeway, Ryan asked if I wanted to go drive out to a spot where he's been on some camp outs with our oldest son and the other scouts in our ward. I said, "Sure!" Why not, right? I didn't really care what we did. I just wanted to be with him. 

We drove out to a place they call Babylon or Sand Cove on mega-bumpy roads. What a beautiful place it is out there! Sometimes we really take for granted this lovely place we live. I mean, come on! Look at those colors!

We'd packed us some sandwiches and grapes, so we munched our lunch while I fed Rory. Then we decided to get out and hike around a bit. We held hands and talked about everything under the sun. Literally. :) He is such a fun person to chat with. He has a great sense of humor. He even let me ramble on about the plot of the new book I'm writing. And he offered some great suggestions for my magic system! Yep. He's an excellent husband of a crazy fantasy writer. 

Later when we got back in our suburban and were heading back toward the main road, we spotted this Desert Tortoise. Of course, we had to check him out! His little neck reminded me of Rory when he stretches his little skinny neck up.

Back on the road, we headed toward an outlet place to check out microwaves. Our's broke and we really really need a new one! When we got there I wanted to rest my eyes for just a bit more. Ryan realized we were close to Sand Hallow. So, he started heading that way. When I woke up we checked it out. It's so big! We need to go back there with our kids. Then this guy needed a break from his cage (aka car seat)...

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?! He's a pretty fun traveling companion.

We eventually got to St. George and checked into our hotel. I fed Rory again (yep, he's a hungrey fella) and we headed to dinner at one of our very favorite restuarants, The Olive Garden. We went there on our honeymoon so, it's a popular spot for us on anniveraries.

We both ordered the same thing, Chicken Parmigiana, which is what I always order there. And it was fantastic, as always. Rory was a wee bit grumpy, so after a bit I had to plop him in the sling and put him to sleep. And then I proceeded to eat the rest of my dinner while trying not to drip sauce, noodles or chicken on his head.

Ryan and I talked about going to a movie, but decided to just hang out at the hotel and watch TV. MNy cute man went out for milkshakes at Icebergers later. I asked for a mini cookie dough shake. I'm trying to be healthy. I had no idea their minis were GIANTS! I couldn't believe it when he walked back in with two humungous shakes! 

I love getting away with Ryan. It's so nice to spend so much uninterupted time together!And I also love it when we have a little one to take with us on our trip. It was great spending time with that little guy. I love our happy brood of kiddos, but it's nice to have the chance to focus on just one of them. I've heard some mommas talk about how they don't like being tied down to their babies when they're nursing. 

Personally, I love it. Love, love, love this time. Love him needing me and being the one who gets to take care of him. Being a momma is the best (Ok. Sorry for my foray into the sunny hills where the birds are singing and the roses bloom....I know blogs can sometimes make everything sound so lovely and perfect. It's not. Babies are loads of work. But still, I love it.)

The next day we slept in and grabbed a late breakfast of scrambled eggs, waffles and sausage at the hotel. Yum! Those malted hotel waffles are the very best. 

I met a super nice lady in the waffle line. We got chatting about this and that, what we were in town for, where we were from. Sometimes my family laughs at me about all the strangers I start chatting with wherever we go, but it's fun! I love meeting new people and learning abou them.

Later Rory started fussing after Ryan and I sat down and started to eat. This nice lady offered to take him while we ate our food. How nice is that?! She sat nearby and played with him and we were both able to eat with full use of both hands! Fantastic.

We did a bit of shopping at the nearby outlet mall. Rory needed new jammies since he's growing out of his so fast. In a store I spotted Ryan checking out some little girl skirts that were ruffled and sparkly. "Whatcha doing?" I asked. 

"I was trying to find the price. I thought Molly would like this." 

How cute is that? 

Next we went to see Red 2 in the theater and loved it! Such a great flick. 

Afterwards, Ryan took me to Chic-Fil-A for lunch because it is my very very (cannot write very enough times) favorite restuarant in the whole entire universe. And I was extremely good and didn't order the 12 piece nuggets for myself and instead got the Cobb Salad, which was heavenly. 

I tried to eat healthy on this trip, but...well, actually let's say, I tried to eat healthier. I still ate breaksticks at The Olive Garden. And I enjoyed half of that giant cookie dough shake. I loved the waffle and sausage for breakfast. And I let myself have some of those little bits of shang-ri-la called Chic-Fil-A nuggets. Because even though I'm eating healthier, I'm still going to let myself indulge every now and then. And sure I probably could've dropped another pound if I'd stayed away from all the extra fat and calories, but, oh well. It was fun. And the food tasted great. 

Next....(Now this shows how much that man loves me!)...I ran into Target to do some quick shopping while Ryan drove around with a sleeping Rory. I dashed through the aisles, throwing things in my cart and whipping into the dressing room to try on clothes. I think I was in and out of there in 45 minutes. That's a personal record. 

On the way home, Rory was a bit sad. But we didn't want to stop because we needed to get back so my mom could get on the road and get home. I pulled out a container of Tic Tacs hoping Rory would like the noise. And boy did he ever...

Isn't that the best sound?

We came home to happy, huggy kids who'd had a great time with their Grandma. My mom made us Chicken Tetrazinni (which was very very good!) so were ableto simply belly up to the table after we saw her off. Isn't she the best?

Yep. It was a great trip. Great to go and great to come home, too.

inspired by my son {and yes, this post probably sounds like an after school special}

This boy.

I am so proud of him.

So, here's the story. A few weeks before school started, I was out to lunch with a group of girlfriends. One of them mentioned how she'd become one the Cross Country coaches for the high school on our side of town.

I picked her brain.

I thought Weston might like to give Cross Country a try. He was involved in band. And he loves computers. But since I didn't want him to become the pasty kid in the basement who stares at a screen all day, I thought it would be great for him to get involved in something active, that got him moving and also let him be part of a team. My friend assured me it wasn't too late to join, although they'd been meeting for awhile and there was a meet coming up.

I came home and told Weston all about it. I wasn't sure what he'd think. The practices were at 7 in the morning. He'd have to get up super early and get himself to the school (we had a new baby and his dad was gone fighting fires). But he said he wanted to give it a shot.

I thought he might decide it wasn't for him. I know teenage-me would not have wanted to give up sleep in the summer to run. But I was completely wrong. He liked it. He wanted to keep going. Yay!

And then it came time for his first meet. He was told he had to run the three mile course in under 30 minutes in order to run in the rest of the meets for the season.

It was probably one of the hardest runs for him. His back had been bothering him a week or so before. He thought it had gotten better. But when he stretched before the race he pulled something. As he started the race, his back began to ache again. Running made it worse. It was aching him so bad that he ended up walking for part of the course. He really struggled with this race.

But he finished it.

And...he was last. It had taken him around 33 minutes.

Oh! I felt so bad for him! I encouraged him to talk to his coach and tell her about his back. And also let her know he wanted to get faster before the next meet. He did and she said he could race again.

Yay! He kept going. He went to the practices. They were (and still are!) tough. Cross Country takes up quite a big chunk of his after school time. But, still he's enjoying it.

And he eventually did the 3 miles in under 30 minutes. Which was awesome.

We've gone to all the meets we could. At every one of them, Weston has improved his time. It's so great!

Last week the meet was at Cedar High. It was the same course at the beginning of the year, the one he did in 33 minutes.

It was a bit of a chilly day...

These cute brothers of Weston's wanted to be right by the fence so they could cheer him on when he went past...

Would you like to hear what this freezing cold-looking girl asked me right before I snapped this picture?

"Mom, can we get some ice cream?"

What?! Funny girl. She didn't like me laughing at her though. Which....is why she looks kind of grumpy in that picture.

We cheered Weston on every time he went around the track. He'd shoot us quick smiles as he went past.

At the beginning of the race his stride was very small. I couldn't understand why he wasn't running with a larger stride. But at the end of the race, he lengthened out those long, long legs and took off. It was so fun to watch him go!

As he was coming in for the last turn, some of his friends who had already finished the reace ran across the field to encourage him.

"You've got this, Weston!" they shouted.

It made my little momma's heart so happy to see them cheering him on. Because you know what? He was last again. But who cares! He ran that course in 28 minutes (and some seconds...I wish I'd taken a shot of him going over the finish line with his time! Urgh.)

That's less than 10 minutes a mile. There's no way I could run that fast or for that long (right now anyway...hopefully I will soon!)

I'm so proud of this boy! He beat his own time. He said, "I didn't walk once."

And he probably could've done it even faster but he twisted his ankle at the beginning of the race (which is why his stride was so small to begin with) Maybe this course is his arch nemesis.

This has been a hard thing for him. Everyone on the team had been running together for weeks before he joined. They were already running faster and farther. But Weston still gave it a shot. And he didn't give up! He stuck with it. 

He's a pretty awesome example for this mom of his. 

back to school

(I'm finally getting around to posting this.)

I was not excited to see my crazy brood of kiddos go back to school.

There was so much more I wanted to do with them! We never got to The Lake on the Hill. We didn't finish our art journals. We didn't get to as many parks as I'd wanted to. We didn't finish the library summer reading program. I had crafts and games and art projects and and and....oh! There's always so much more I want to do with them.

Summer is never long enough. But this one seemed shorter than the rest. Well, not always....those middle-of-the-night-nursing-the-baby-wondering-if-I'll-ever-sleep-again kind of nights went pretty slow. But that sweet newborn really limited the amount of things we were able to do together.

But instead of regretting, I should focus on what we did get to do. The kids got to welcome a new little brother into our home and family. They got to hold and cuddle and watch and sing to and love a new little person. They got to watch his little hands curl around their fingers, touch his tiny toes and marvel over his soft little sounds.

No, we didn't get to do all the activities I'd wanted to somehow magically squeeze into the small cracks, small windows of time left over after taking care of Rory, but what they did get to do was much much better.

We started out the first day of school with a yummy breakfast of waffles, strawberries and whip cream. Yum!

I snagged some shots of Weston and Emmett before they took off.

Those are some good lookin' boys. (Yes. I'm biased)

I have a son who is a Freshmen in high school. Wow. That is quite amazing. And he's been growing so fast lately! This kid is almost six feet tall. This is not surprising seeing as how tall his dad and other relations are, but still. I used to be able to walk next to him with my arm around his shoulders. Now I would need a stool to do that. 

And Emmett! This is his first year in middle school. Wow. He seems so young! I can't believe he's not in elementary school anymore. He was a bit nervous about going to a new school, but now he's loving it. 

I told these handsome fellows I'd take a silly pic....

Ha! They crack each other up on a regular basis.

Niiiiiiice one, boys.

After those two left to walk to school, I needed to finish getting the next two out the door. Zoe was super excited to have her hair done up in foam curlers the night before. And this was their maiden voyage. There's probably some rule about not experimenting on your daughter's hair the night before the first day of school. The possibility for some deep emotional scarring is a bit likely. But, luckily, her hair turned out great! 

The kids were all excited about their first-day-of-school clothes. I surprised Emmett and Sam with their shirts from Zulily. The bots' backpacks came from their, too. I adore on-line shopping. Especially when I have a newborn.

I'd wanted to make Zoe a fun and bright dress for the first day of school, but couldn't quite get around to it. (But I did a few weeks ago. You can read about that HERE.) She decided to wear the outfit I'd made her for her birthday. I love how this t-shirt skirt turned out. And I whipped up that fun pink feathered headband the night before. 

Let's pause for a minute to notice their shoes. These kids were thrilled with the shoes they picked out (Weston's came later) It's a good thing my brother is a Nike bigwig so we can get a great discount. Oy! Back-to-school shopping is expensive!

Sam's and Zoe's silly pics...

Goofy kids!

Zoe adores her teacher and first grade.

Sam is super happy to be in an advanced 4th/5th grade class. And he thinks his teacher is the coolest, bestest ever. (He is pretty awesome.) But it's also more of a challenge which is so great for this kid.

Sadly, I don't have pictures of the older two with their teachers. I told Weston I could gat all his teachers in the lobby for a picture. For some reason he wasn't on board with this idea.

So, the start of another year.

It's always such a bittersweet time. I love to watch my children get excited about new classes, new friends, new shoes and new experiences. But I sure do miss this house being full of them, full of their plans, laughter, friends and chatter.

But hopefully I can squish in some of those fun things I planned for the summer into free Saturdays.