We are finishing up an absolutely lovely two weeks visiting Utah. We've always desired to move back here eventually, but in the meantime we've enjoyed living in and getting to know other states and countries. We've always looked forward to our pop-in trips to see family, visit our favorite Utah hikes and viewpoints, and eat at our favorite Utah restaurants. That said, we are starting to feel done making enormous twice-yearly pilgrimages here. These pilgrimages have been ongoing for over a decade now. They started out as 20-hour travel days from the Caribbean, with multiple flights and looong layovers. For long-time readers, can you even believe that was a whole decade ago?? We didn't have children yet, so it was doable.
Then we lived in Georgia and drove 3 days across the country no less than seven times in the span of two years, and made an additional several flights across the country on top of that. Lots of travel in the last half of medical school for rotations, interviews, etc.
In Wyoming our quarterly trips to Utah were relatively "short," as the drive was "only" seven hours. However, we had a colicky baby in tow so they felt much longer and more treacherous, especially in the winter when road conditions were life-threatening and we'd frequently have to stop for the night in Rock Springs when the freeways were closed due to snow and ice buildup.
Now we're in Washington and have 14-hour drives with two kids who BOTH hate traveling and spend a good chunk of the drive screaming. We could fly with them, but that wouldn't stop Alice (and possibly Jack) from screaming the whole way, and we're not willing to do that. Even if the kids were perfect traveling angels, there's a weary type of feeling around our trip this time. We are ready to just live here in a home of our own full time. Visit family often, whenever we feel like it, but not frantically cramming family time into every day to make the most of a brief one- or two-week stint here, sandwiched by really draining travel days. I'm joyfully exhausted from all the fun we've been cramming into these two weeks, but also really sad that I haven't been able to stop in to see my grandma more often while we've been here. It's impossible to do it all while we're here, but that doesn't stop me from trying to anyway and then I'm, again, exhausted. And still somehow feeling like I'm not doing enough. And the cold I've worked up from not getting enough sleep (yay kids) isn't helping.
I want to see what it's like to spend some of Jared's time off doing something besides traveling to see family. With babies that hasn't been a need or priority so much, but as our kids get older we want to start branching out a bit. We wouldn't want to do that at the expense of getting to spend time with family though, so ya, we're just ready to be living here, for a cornucopia of reasons (that's definitely not a real phrase but I like it). Hopefully these desires will line up with positive outcomes from the interviews Jared has gone on while we've been here: two in Salt Lake valley, and one in Vernal (that's actually where we're headed today). We figure if we keep taking shots at jobs in Utah, we'll eventually hit something. As always, I'll keep you posted! Also as always, here are some pictures from our time here in Utah so far:
Jared and I are celebrating our anniversary today with an overnight trip to Leavenworth, WA. It is our 11-year anniversary, but since we didn't do much for our 10-year anniversary because Alice was just a little baby, we are using up some of our leftover 10-year anniversary energy with our first stay in a FaNcY spa hotel. I'll report back next week how it went! It has been the best decade and beyond with Jared. I love us.
Alice got her cast off this last week! Her arm is looking just how they wanted it to. We're going to continue being extra cautious with her for the next month, but otherwise she is enjoying her ability to splash around in water again and run wild and free.
We had a wonderful 4th of July with Jared's parents. We spent the afternoon at our little town lake and smoked a pork butt for dinner. The fireworks were absolutely out of control. It's fun to have a 360 show of aerial fireworks all around us in our neighborhood. It can be a lot with 8 explosions happening simultaneously for several hours. We knew it was tie to call it a night when Jack ran inside crying with his hands over his ears because it was just too much (and it was also way past his bedtime). Grandma Lambert made some homemade ice cream and a delicious raspberry cake.
We just finished up a much-needed slower summer week than usual, so I thought I'd do a post of things I've tried lately that I would recommend!
(1) Kids' YMCA Camp. Last summer was rough on lil' Jack. Too much time at home with us. Not enough active time or social interaction. So I signed him up for a week-long summer day camp at our local YMCA this year. Each week of the summer they do a different theme. Some weeks are focused on crafts, other weeks on animals or water play. I signed Jack up for the week called "Game On," which I figured would be lots of active play, sports, and, well, games. Jack's perfect trifecta. I was initially bummed that it happened to be at the very beginning of summer, but ended up feeling so grateful that the week overlapped with Alice's time in her cast. We can't do much during cast time, so it was good for him to be out having fun, and for me to take a deep breath and regroup after a tough first week of summer.
It was a hit for everyone. He came home so tired and happy every day. The hours were 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but because many of the kids at YMCA are there primarily as a means of childcare during the summer while parents work full-time jobs outside the home, we could drop him off as early as 7 a.m. and pick him up as late as 6 p.m. At a very reasonable price for full-day summer camp. The first day I dropped him off at 9:00 and picked him up at 4:15. But it seemed like most kids were there earlier and leaving later, and he had so much fun that each day he requested I pick him up later and later, until at the last day we let him stay all the way until 6:00. Apparently the big Jack Fun was all happening after hours in the form of dodgeball and "sharks and minnows." Hooray. YMCA camp will be a new summer tradition as long as we live near a Y. (He was really tired/amped up all weekend so I'm looking forward to giving us both a more relaxed pace at home again next week.)
(2) At-home laser hair removal device. Technically I think it's called an at-home IPL device. This is the one I got for my birthday in May. I've been using it for a month now, and so far it's a big success. No more bumpy, ingrown hairs or constant itchy phase all summer. It does require regular upkeep, but less upkeep than shaving and it's so convenient to be able to use at home. I know it works best on people with pale skin and dark hair (hi). But yes--would absolutely recommend. As long as I get a good shave before using it it's pretty painless.
(3) "Do not disturb" sign for neighbor kids. Lol. I ordered this sign for our front door after last week's neighbor kids debacles. It swaps between "Welcome, Please Knock" and "Do Not Disturb." This week whenever a neighbor kid would knock on our door, I answered and said, "Hi! Jack is at YMCA camp this week. We got this sign so you can see when he's home and available to play. If it's red then that means he's gone or can't play. If it's green, go ahead and knock!" Hopefully this will make next week go better than the first week of summer. It will probably be swapped to the green side in the late afternoons and that's all.
(4) Peach Fresca with a splash of cream. Heard about it on a podcast. Incredible. Would recommend.
And now, some pictures from our week:
