Spring Break at the Beach

 For Spring Break, we joined my brother's family in Newport Beach.  They have access to a beach home there, and we kind of crashed their party (THANK YOU!!!).  The home is pretty tiny - 3 beds, 3 couches and not much living/kitchen/bathroom space in between.  We crammed all 13 of us in there and absolutely had a blast!

We arrived Saturday evening.  This is what General Conference looked like on Sunday:

The kids have their hands up because we were watching it from a projector.  The kids were making shadow puppets on the speakers.

We went for a walk between sessions:

Hello Ocean!

The cousins had so much fun together.  Lot of games, playing and giggles.

Sunday drive to visit the Newport Beach temple:

My morning runs were HEAVENLY.  I can't imagine a better place to go for a run (roller-blading was fun too):

Running on the sand (the slant killed me, by the way):

I finished every workout with a walk along the water, my favorite thing to do at the beach.  Something about the crashing waves and sand on my toes soothes my soul.  Love it.

On Monday morning, we drove around the Bay to get to some tide pools:

We saw some fun creatures!  Sea Urchins, Anemones, crabs, lots of Hermit crabs, and our favorite, the Sea Hare (among other things I could not name).

Cute kids:

Our main goal for our trip was this:  spend as much time on the beach as possible.  It was so nice that that was our destination!  We LOVE the beach.  We spent every afternoon parked right here:

Everett's cousins were so kind to let him fly their kite and teach him the tricks:

Sleeping Beach Beauty:

Every morning we would go on a little adventure:  scooting or roller-blading to a nearby park, or walking down to the shops.  This morning we took the ferry to Balboa Island:

And if you go on the Balboa Peninsula, you must get a Balboa Bar:

Mmmm... I'm going to be sad when that gap-toothed grin fills in.

More beach: 

 Those are dolphins right behind the breakers.  We saw dolphins every day we were there.  And a whale.  And a sea lion.

The kids caught some clams and tortured them a little:

I wanted a fun family jump photo.  Yeah, didn't really work out, but looking through them makes me laugh really hard.

Oh, a nice photo too:

Nick and I got to go out on a date.  We got some yummy fish and then wanted a treat.  Hmmm... donuts or ice cream?  Tough call.  Ice cream won out for me (always does) but Nick was THRILLED to find this creation at the ice cream parlor:

It's called a milkybun and has a big scoop of ice cream sandwiched between a hot, glazed donut bun.  It was really good.  And Nick was in heaven.  Turns out you can have it all.

Thursday evening we took our family to Downtown Disney.  Boy, I'm so glad we weren't there for Spring Break, it was BUSY.  We had hopes to go to the Rainforest Cafe, but weren't going to wait for 2 hours to get in, so we found a much less busy restaurant inside the Grand California.  Everett and Maren got to make their own pizzas at the table (and then they take them to cook them) and thought that was the coolest thing ever: 

We had a little fiasco with security (note to all:  don't take binoculars to Disneyland, apparently it makes other guests wary - I had them in my bag from the ocean earlier that day).  I was so bugged that I had already walked all the way through Downtown Disney and now they wouldn't let us back in.  We walked around the hotels and back through another security checkpoint without a problem.  Take that, Mister Stuffy Security Guard Man.  

 Hot beignets and the awesome Disney fireworks made it worth the hassle.

And then, all my Disney frustrations were washed away with salt water (Ha! That was cheesy!):

 If you wanted Maren, this is where you would find her.  She was in the water the entire time.  Very rarely was she up in the sand!  I thought my kids would be a bit chicken about the water, but they were all in and loving it!

Cool action shot of Lu jumping the waves, their favorite thing to do:

 Nick and I got in the water too!  We had great fun boogie boarding!

Lainey tried some boogie boarding too:

We found a crab, which was hours of entertainment for these boys:

 Our last evening, we took one last walk along the water and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset:

Oh, take me back!!!

These girls were two peas in a pod.  So fun to have cousins as friends!  Check out their sweet matching friendship necklaces too:

Look!  The two same cute girls, in the same beach house, 10 years ago:

Awww...

Pretty great group of cousins:

Goodbye Beach!  Thanks for a week of wonderful!

I thought it was awfully ironic that we left the beach that morning and got home that evening in a snowy blizzard.  Welcome home!  ;)

Some Randomness

 Cleared off my camera tonight, so I have some photos to share.  Welcome to random.

Sights like these make my momma heart happy:

Isn't my Daisy baby BIG?  I have no babies here.  sniff sniff

Or maybe I do:

 For the first time in a long time, I had to take a pacifier out of a sleeping mouth.  I used to always do that with my sleeping babies so they'd get used to sleeping without a plug.  Am I the only one?  Although, this one had to come out for an entirely different reason...

And speaking of mouths (following here?), this kid lost another tooth tonight:

 He HATES wiggly teeth and freaks out if I even want a look.  He doesn't want to touch them, and he certainly doesn't want anyone else to either.  Being the mean mom that I am, I held him down and grabbed it, which was all it took for this thing to pop right out.  No pulling, no twisting, no pain.  Funny kid.

And speaking of funny kids:

 That is both hilarious and disgusting.  :)

We've had some great sunny Spring days (and then some really great rainy Spring days as well).

 I love this girl.  I love those mountains.  I love this trail.  I love that blue sky.  I love where I live.  

I feel so incredibly blessed.

Another sunny day at the pond:

And, this coming week is Spring Break!  Hurray!  It whets my appetite for summer, which is only 7 school weeks away, in case you were wondering.  ;) 

Peter Pan

 For the last few months, this girl has pretty much revolved around our school's production of Peter Pan.  She was in the Indian Ensemble.  My cute little (although not so little any more) Indian Brave: 

 There was a group in charge of costumes, they sewed them all, and I really think they turned out darling!  And, bonus!  I didn't have to come up with it or sew it myself!

It was so fun to see my girl trying something new!  I don't know that she dreams of being a famous actress, but I'm super proud of her for going a bit outside her comfort zone and hopefully gaining some confidence and making some new friends along the way.

The best photo I got was on my phone:

 Doesn't she just look like a fierce Indian?  :)

Some more from the show:

I love it that each of their costumes are unique.  The people in charge of this production really go all out!  The sets, costumes and scenery were just amazing.  Good job, Ellie Belle!

I got to go help out with the cast one evening.  I enjoyed being with the kids!  Especially this one:

And, some other things going on around here:

I LOVE it when my kids use their imagination and creativity.  It's their job at this point of their lives!  I was thrilled to see this little creation:

 That is a movie theater for Lego figures.  Awesome!

My kids were so happy to have a rainbow for dinner on St. Patrick's day:

Simple pleasures, people!  Boy, I sure love that ragamuffin!

I love this guy too:

 He just finished up a killer of a class.  Starts a new one tonight, but it was sure nice to have a pleasant weekend off!  We celebrated with cake - his creation.  It was yum.

Weekend Off

 I have really amazing friends.  Man, I feel so good when I get to spend time with them.  They laugh at my corny jokes and silly faces and make me feel wanted and needed.  They listen to me complain and tell me I'm a normal person, and they have me believing them!  They know my weaknesses, probably more than anyone living on this earth, minus my family, and yet, they love me despite.  

I got to spend an extended weekend with these wonderful people, and I'm still living off the buzz of it today. 

We played in warm and sunny southern Utah.  First up, Zion's!  We hiked up to the Emerald Pools, and it was so beautiful!  I love to get out and breathe the fresh air and enjoy this beautiful earth!  The best part though, was having an adult to chat with all the way.

At the top!

Good thing they had me along to hold up big rocks:

We ended the day with a delicious dinner in Hurricane at Triple TJ's Cafe and then an evening in the hot tub:

I didn't know we captured this, but we were goofing around and I got a good dunk in the water thanks to Emily!  Proof of the abuse:

Good thing I can take it.  :)  Actually, I love it that my girls are silly with me.  I needed some silliness.

The next day, we hit downtown St. George.  We explored galleries and antiques shops and toured Brigham Young's Winter Home:

And walked through the temple grounds:

And then, a delicious dinner at Pancho and Lefty's.  We love good food.  Yes, we do.

On Sunday, we cleared out of our wonderful rental home and found a local sacrament mtg and then, homeward bound!  We stopped at Cove Fort, just for a potty break and some lunch.  It was a sharp slap to reality to climb out of the car to chilly temperatures!  Take me back!

Thank you, ladies, for taking me away for a bit!  I sure adore you!

And, also, thank you to my Nick, who manned everything going on at home.  Thanks for supporting me and encouraging me to do things that restore my spirit.  It was so nice just to take care of me for a few days.

Transition

Do you ever feel like you need to just sit down and write?  Like you need to share your thoughts with the world?  That's how I'm feeling this morning.  I know, I may be weird.

I've been thinking a lot about transitions in life.  Change.  The dreaded word.  It's inevitable, as you know.  My entire life I looked forward to being a mother.  I knew that's what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I got a degree in Education because I had to have a backup plan, but really, all I wanted to do was birth babies and then snuggle them.  Reality came with a big smack in the head, because being a mother of small children is HARD.  And then, add four more.  BUT, it was still a dream come true, I recognized that, and I absolutely loved being at home with my munchkins.

Easter 2014.  Oh heavens, look how SWEET and LITTLE they all look!  Life changes so quickly!

And then, here comes transition time.  That dream I looked forward to my whole life, the one with babies?  Well, it's come and gone.  Wow.   10 years goes by so quickly.  No more night-time feedings, no more diapers, no more baby snuggle time, no more nursing.  I spent 10 years being physically and mentally drained, trying to meet the basic needs of little people.  Filling sippy cups.  Changing diapers.  Feeding babies.  Entertaining babies.  Finding little moments of time where I could take a breather for myself.  It was a busy time.

And now?  My kids are fairly independent.  It's so strange.  My 3 year old is completely happy following her siblings around, or even playing on her own.  I'm left with time to myself!  I don't even know what to do with myself!  I wander the house, checking in on kids (yep, they're fine) and then in boredom, check facebook or my email a million times a day.  Golly, I need something to DO.  And, don't tell me to clean house.  I find no joy in cleaning toilets and refuse to spend all my time picking up after kids.  (I do clean house, by the way, but the majority of cleaning is done by my kids.)  I feel like I need to find myself all over again.  I thought I had this worked out.

Thankfully, transition is a mixed bag.  It's not all bad.  In fact, I don't want to go back to those times with babies.  I loved that time, I really really did, but I'm ready to move forward.  Onward and upward!  And hello, there's a lot of really great things happening right now!  I mean, I get sleep, oh blessed sleep, these days.  My big kids are big enough to be helpful, and they really are.  Only one of my kids still requires help getting in and out of the car.  My kids can all put their own shoes and jackets on.  I can leave the house without a diaper bag.  My kids are old enough to go on family adventures and I'm not lugging an ornery, sleep-deprived baby around with us.  These are good times and I'm trying to soak in every minute, because if there's anything I've learned through this, it's that transitions come all too soon.

Away

 Late Winter.  Time to get away for a bit.  And thanks to Washington's birth, we were given a three day weekend to do it in.  We headed south to Moab in hopes of finding warmer weather.  And, nope, it wasn't really warmer.  But different.  Different was all I needed.

On Saturday afternoon we took the kids on a hike up Negro Bill Canyon.  Or Grandstaff Trail. Or Morning Glory Bridge.  Whatever you want to call it.  We knew it was a long(er) hike, so didn't hold our breath that we would make it very far, but guess what?  WE MADE IT!  All 7 of us hiked all 4.5 miles!  I was so super impressed with all of my kids.  There was minimal complaining and it was a perfect afternoon.  When we started out it was raining, so we were thrilled when it dried up on us after about 15 minutes.

I love that photo so, so much.

 Daisy won our "Hiker of the Day" award.  Seriously.  I pumped her up with positivity and she kept those little feet a trekking!  I was so super proud of her!  She knew she was a rockstar too, she'd tell us that she was a good hiker.  :)

 You can see Morning Glory Bridge in the background there.  Now, I may have lied a little bit up above.  I said we ALL made it ALL the way, but that's not entirely true.  Most of the crew stopped here.  

Everett and Maren had the best endurance, I guess, and made it all the way to the Bridge with me:

Not too shabby for this family!  This raises the bar for all future hikes!  Ha ha!  You've been warned, kids!

An aside:  We must come back to this one when it is warm and green!  It was beautiful, but I imagine beauty magnifies when it is green!  Plus, on a warm day, crossing the stream 10 times (x2) would be lovely.  In February, we were just worried about cold, wet feet.

I love hiking with my kids.  I feel like it is such a great way to really talk with them.  All I have to do is walk beside them and they tell me about all kinds of stuff.  I'm not telling them to get their chores done, or to get off screens.  I'm just talking real things with them.  And, it was such a great opportunity to talk positively with them.  "You guys are rockstar hikers!"  "Doesn't it feel good to do something hard?"  "I know your legs hurt - mine hurt too. That's our legs getting stronger!" (Everett especially loved that one).  All of us felt like champion hikers and that we had accomplished something when we were done.  This was, hands down, the best part of the trip for me.

On Sunday we attended a local ward and in the afternoon, went exploring.  We went to Matheson's Wetland Preserve:

 Daisy was the "map keeper", a responsibility she was quite serious about.  We also played at Rotary Park (in the rain).  My kids really enjoyed this park.  And then, we found bathrooms that were actually open (no one has to pee in February, apparently) at Lion's Park and the kids tried their hand at rock climbing.  Maren and Lainey are my best climbers, but found it tricky to get down once they were up!

On Monday, we explored Canyonlands on our way back home.  We live in one amazing state.

Mesa Arch:

Whale Rock:

One more stop at Grand View Point:

Mind the gap!

 And then, home again, home again, jiggety jig!  I sure love this bunch and the adventures I get to have with them.