We had our first family camping trip ever as a family of 4 over the weekend. Our kids aren't known to sleep well outside their own beds. However, Jack has been doing better at it this last year, and we haven't tested Alice for a long time (we didn't travel really at all last summer--it was the year of moving). We decided that this summer might be the time to try dipping our toes back into camping by way of renting a camper for the very first time. I have never slept in a camper/RV, and I'm pretty sure Jared hasn't either. I grew up camping, but Jared doesn't love sleeping in a tent. We figured since our house happens to have an RV garage, we may as well try out RV camping and see if an RV/camper could be a 10-year dream for us.
Unfortunately, the night before we were supposed to pick up our camper rental, the owner called Jared to make sure our car was all set up for towing. Turns out we overlooked needing 7-pin trailer wiring and brake adapters. Luckily the guy was willing to reschedule our rental for later in the summer, so we can have time to either get our car fully set up to tow a camper, or borrow a family member's truck. We decided that since the campsite was booked and family was coming, we would still do the camping trip in a tent. It was a good time to leave town and let our freshly poured patio cure and mellow in color for a few days. I was stressed for a few days there since the patio was a bright oompa-loompa red-orange color for its first few days. It's supposed to be a subtler earthy brick color once it's fully dried in a few more weeks. Back to the camping trip though.
Preparing and packing to camp was a lot. We made poor choices driving there and back during Alice's sleep windows, thinking she may take some good car naps. Our kids don't do car naps though for some reason, and so she basically was tired and grumpy and whiny for both 2.5-hr drives. Oops. We camped at Fish Lake--a place we had never been before. It was beautiful and we made some good memories. If I were to go back again someday, I would definitely go in the fall to see all the Aspen trees in their golden glory. Otherwise, it was nice nature by a nice lake, which is something we can find closer to home next time.
Highlights of our weekend included watching the kids kayak on their kid kayaks with cousins, s'mores around the campfire, and even though it was cold and Savvy dog tried to bust out of the tent a few times, I even liked sleeping in the tent as a family of 4. I know my people well so I packed our best camping mattresses, fitted sheets and cozy blankets for all of them, and our warmest sleeping bags. If it weren't for the restless nearby cows and Savvy, I think it would have been a great sleep. Alice woke up once wanting me to move closer to her, which meant a thinner pad for me, but she stared me straight in the eyes and said, "I wuv lou mom" (that's how she says I love you). Melted my exhausted lil heart.
It's getting late so I'm going to jump to pictures:
It's Parade season! We're talking summer city parades (Jared took the kids to one last weekend) and also Parade of Homes. With young kids and scheduling, it can be tough for Jared and I to get out on regular dates. We love the Parade of Homes because it's 2-3 weeks of prioritizing time together doing something we both love. We aren't able to make it to all of them in this season of life, but we pick the ones that look most interesting, schedule out some babysitting, and then tour the rest online. On Saturday we did a babysitting swap with my brother where we each took turns babysitting each other's kids and touring some homes. We saw a 25,000 sq ft mansion in Provo that was unlike anything we've seen before, and we've seen a lot of Parade homes over the years. As an added bonus they were giving away free cookies, drinks, candies, and nachos at the end so we got a bonus dinner date out of it. This is our adult version of Disneyland--it isn't "real life," but to me that's kind of the point and what makes it fun.
We also spent a lot of time in the sun this week--pool days, beach days at a nearby lake, park days, and more. We met several of our neighbors at the pool one morning and were excited to realize just how many kids there are around here. Unfortunately for Jack, most of the kids are under the age of 5, but Alice is going to have lots of kids her age to play with. I'm sure as the neighborhood grows we'll get more kids Jack's age too.
And now for some pictures from our week:
I had a burst of inspiration this week. On Monday we broke in our new community pool by inviting my siblings and nieces/nephews to come swim on Memorial Day. One brother brought pizza and the kids had the best two hours together. It was such a classic summer kick-off and I felt so light and happy for the rest of the day. The next two days were normal at-home days with the kids. I'm sure we left for little outings at some point, but mostly they were typical days at home with kids, and it was kind of miserable. My kids can be really sweet together, but Jack is mourning the loss of seeing his school friends every day, and homeboy copes with sadness by raging at loved ones to try and bring them down to his level of sadness🫠 So it was lots of bickering and crying--just not very fun.
On Wednesday evening I was like, THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE, and it's only week one of summer break. I thought back on how fun our Monday at the pool with family was, and decided that I was going to sink my teeth into to having us a *fun summer* this year. The last half of the week was filled with pools and splash pads, rolling around in the grass (oops, allergies) and playing Wild Jack/Alice in Grandma and Grandpa's new backyard (Jared's parents haven't moved in yet but have given us permission to play at their Utah house anytime while they are still packing up their life in Washington). And that half of the week went much better! The kids were happier. I was happier. I think the sunshine is doing us good. So even though historically I've been the type of parent who likes to lay low at home and only leave the house for a once-a-day park visit or similar, this summer I am all in. It helps that Alice is older this year and can really understand what's going on and stay safe/happy with less involvement from me.
So I think I'm going to tiptoe into fun-mom land this summer, which isn't my usual wheelhouse, and fill our days with sunshine and two adventures a day, and all the sunshine and popsicles. It's fun to realize that this isn't just for the kids--I feel like I am back in the magic of childhood enjoying a fun summer myself, too! I keep coming back to how my new goal is to have a HAGS summer--like when we all used to write "Have a Great Summer" in each other's yearbooks as kids, and the dream was pools and popsicles and lots of time outside with family and friends. I even spent my weekend coordinating an upcoming camping trip with my parents and some siblings, which is very unlike me. I'm excited that my children are old enough now for that to be likely enjoyable instead of miserable. Summers are looking up! And now for some pictures:
Happy Memorial Day! It's fun to experience our house in each new season for the first time. I have a feeling that once our backyard is finished, our house will be a total Summer house--this feels like the season it will shine the most. Because we live in the foothills, we can hear crickets most of the time in the summer, and it just feels like magic to have this corner of the world to ourselves. I'm writing this with our windows opened, listening to Jared and the kids play in our backyard--it's still all dirt, but with the levels in place they can get a game of ball going pretty well. From the view out our bedroom there isn't another house in sight--just foothills and backyard and my family, and the sounds of crickets and birds. The backyard is such a big undertaking that I really don't think it will be ready until July at the earliest, but it's going to be pure magic when it's done. From the front yard we still have an unobstructed view of the entire valley. Eventually there will be houses blocking about half of the view, but I'm hopeful they can hold off on that until after July 4 so we can experience one Independence Day with a view of all the fireworks in the valley.
We reached a new level of adulthood this week when we purchased a Garage Fridge. I've been loosely planning out our summer days now that school is out, and a cornerstone of the plan is going to be making and freezing a hundred pbj sandwiches. Last summer we went to a park or splash pad most days--it's nice to be able to grab a sandwich on the way out the door. Our inside freezer is really tiny though. Our fridge/freezer is counter depth, which I love and prefer for the flow and aesthetics of the kitchen. I even prefer having that reduced fridge space because I find that food is less likely to get lost in the back corners and go bad. The freezer space is really lacking though. We ended up getting a small stand-up freezer rated for garages instead of a chest freezer, because I know us and I know food would just get lost in the bottom of a chest freezer. Exciting milestone in our garage.
I caught a random summer cold this week. It was pretty bad for a day or two, so on Saturday Jared and the kids went to the sheepdog festival in Midway while I stayed home and rested and framed some random pieces of kids art to hang around the home. I love getting an unexpected few hours to myself at home and usually spend that time ignoring the to-do list and puttering around the house doing random house projects that aren't urgent or necessary but do feed my soul. I'm realizing that for me, self-care isn't a nap or a face mask. It's puttering around with the house to myself doing non-essential creative house projects.
For Memorial Day I visited my grandma's grave with my parents and some siblings yesterday. It was a nice time with family--Jared and the kids were having dinner with his parents, who were bringing another moving truck full of things to their house. Today we will likely visit our new neighborhood pool and have dinner at my brother's house. It's good to have family to celebrate with! And now for some pictures from our week:
Big weekend. On Friday and Saturday we attended my Grandma Roper's viewing and funeral. It was a beautiful occasion--wonderful to see all my cousins and the close family she created. I loved hearing the talks by her children and learning things about her I'd never heard before. She was a determined lady--I wish I could have known her at my age. There never would have been enough time with her, but she was 98 and lived a full, happy life.
My favorite story told at her funeral was when my Uncle Delwyn talked about how he was cocky as a 10-year-old, because he could outrun all the other kids in the neighborhood and thought he was the fastest human alive. My Grandma saw him rubbing it into some younger kids' faces while she was inside the house, and she stepped outside in her housedress to challenge him to a race. Grandma was quite the athlete and beat him easily, to the other kids' delight. Uncle Delwyn was embarrassed and expected a rubbing-it-in or a talking-to about humility when she walked up to him afterward to hand him a glass of lemonade. Instead she just gave him a squeeze and told him that he was growing up to be such a good boy, and she and his dad were so proud of him.
I'll write more in the picture captions:
The sun is shining, Alice is out of preschool for the spring, and I'm beginning to wonder if we need to find a new landscape company. These are the days when it would sure be nice to let the kids loose in the backyard, or have a meal on a patio. We have liked our landscaper's renderings, communication, quote, and work they've done so far. But the speed has gotten slow enough that we're wondering if it may halt to a stop before summer, or just creep along at a snail's pace until fall. We are willing to forgive some pacing issues because this is typical in construction, and beggars can't be choosers. But they have been not showing up for entire days more and more often as the weeks go by, even sunny weekdays. They are also working on our next door neighbor's yard at the same time as ours, and at least half of the days they are "here" they don't touch our yard because they are next door. Again, I'm ok if the yard isn't ready by summer (it won't be). But I'm suspicious it won't be finished until summer is completely over and that isn't my favorite. I'll keep you posted.
I had a wonderful birthday/mother's day weekend. I went in with lowwww expectations because Jared has been slammed with work lately, but it was a great day! We started the day off strong going to Original Pancake House for breakfast. I'd never been and was impressed! The kids didn't really touch their food but I devoured my eggs benedict and then ate their pancakes for leftovers the next few days. Jared had the day off from work and we spent a couple hours antiquing during Alice's preschool. This was my activity of choice because I figured, if everyone forgot presents I can at least pick something out for myself while antiquing. We found a cool original painting, and I tried to buy an old wrought iron bistro set, but Jared kept discouraging me and when I wouldn't let up (mind you the whole set was like $40) he admitted that maybe he already got me something for the patio for my birthday. So I let the bistro set go and off we went to pick Alice up from my sister-in-law's house where she was playing. When Jack got home from school we loaded into the car and drove to my parents' house to have cheesesteaks for dinner and open a sweet gift from them. We rented a Wes Anderson movie to watch after the kids went to bed, and I opened some nice gifts, including a sales receipt for my dream wrought iron garden bench that will arrive soon ! We need to go with heavy wrought iron patio furniture because our backyard is so insanely windy, but I actually might end up putting the bench in our interior tree room. The couch in there now is much too bulky for the space and there would be something lovely about having a beautiful garden bench in a tree-mural room.
The next day was another Saturday that felt like a real Saturday! Maybe we are moving into a new stage of parenting where we can catch the occasional weekend breather? Don't get me wrong, this is made possible in part by our longtime system where Jared and I will each take a couple hours for ourselves on the weekend while the other one handles the kids. It's a good system. We went to a football game for Jack that was a nail-biter and lots of fun to watch. I planted some herbs. 10/10
Sunday was Mother's Day. With my birthday so close to Mother's Day, low expectations are key. Good thing I've figured that out because the kids both woke up in weird, competitively clingy moods? I do think Mother's Day was the cause. Jack is an extremely competitive person, and inevitably he has rubbed some of that off on Alice. They can be quite competitive over me. "My mommy!" "No, my mommy!" Jared attempted a breakfast in bed, bless him. But Alice ended up in there with me while he was cooking it, which I loved until Jack came in swinging and competitive and neither of them wanted to share me. Eventually I had to get out of there and shove some breakfast down my throat before anyone could steal it from me. (Alice has a strong tendency to only want what I'm having. Like actually the food that is on my plate. My own food.) After breakfast I decided it would be a good time to sneak away to my mom's house to give her a mother's day gift of a peony plant and a promise to help with the interior design for her bathroom remodel. (I have 60 vanities of the right dimensions for you to filter through by the way mom!)
Jared's parents are moving to Utah !! and drove their first batch of belongings into town over the weekend. Jared and the kids took their mother's day present to his mom while I puttered around before church. Then after church we went back over to their new home for a delicious Mother's Day steak dinner. The kids had a ball running around the new house and yard--the previous owners left their hot tub in the backyard so at one point the kids stripped down and jumped in. It hadn't been heated but at least it looked clean. They had a blast, and no rashes . . . yet.
More I could say . . . including spilling the beans on Jared's Mother's Day present for me, but I don't have a picture of it on my roll yet so I'll save that treasure for next week (it is awful and also it made me laugh so so hard). Now onto some pictures:
^^Antique store date with Alice. We ran into my sister-in-law taking herself on a Mother's Day antique date while we were here. Such a wild coincidence.
