For the past seven years, my mom has been using her day off to come down and hang out with my kids. SEVEN YEARS! It has been an amazing blessing in my life and in the lives of my children. They adore their grandmother almost as much as she adores them. But times, they are a-changin' and my mom is losing her day off in the middle of the week. We are sad about it, but hope that her new job is a better fit.

Anyway, one of our final Grandma Days was when we hiked to Donut Falls with both of my parents. I remember doing this hike when I was younger, and it was so fun to share it with my own little ones.

 Anna is definitely transitioning to that next stage of kid-dom where she is adventurous and independent and curious. It's fun to watch her explore the world.

 

 My parents are so cute. They have this tradition of taking a picture together at waterfalls. They are a great example to me of what marriage is all about. I love to see how they enjoy spending time together, they sacrifice for eachother, and they support one another. It's an enduring, happy kind of love. Or, in the words of the song from their generation, "a groovy kind of love."

 Grandma and her girls. My kids are the luckiest because of how much love is poured into them-- not just from my parents but from all of our families.

 My mom's biggest concern about taking her new job was giving up Grandma Day. She is especially worried about not having as much time with Max as she has had with the older girls. I assured her that Max is looking forward to lots of sleepovers at her house so she doesn't need to get all worked up about it.

This is such a classic example of why my mom is good for my kids. Because she is always on the lookout for new "adventures" that may delay the original activity a bit, but definitely bring it greater joy. We love you Grandma! And Pappy too!

Boating: Check

Seems like the theme for our summer is We Love Water. We've spent so much time swimming, boating, splashing, slip n sliding, beaching, etc. And it's been a blast.

These photos are from our first boating trip of the summer. After being on the water for less than 30 minutes the lightning started flashing and the waves got rough. We decided to bring the boat in and drove to Heber to get shakes at Granny's. So, you know, at least the day was not a total loss.

Max's first trip on the boat was not a dream come true. This may have been the only minute he was not crying. He was pretty darn mad about the life jacket that zipped up to his cheekbones.

I sure do appreciate my parents always being willing to haul out their boat so we can go. They are the most generous people I know, both with their possessions and their time.

Kate Turns Six

 It is unreal to me that this girl is already six years old. She has turned into such a lovely, funny, caring person. I am honored to be her mother.

 Kate wanted a dog themed birthday party, so we had a dog bone hunt, decorated dog collars, played pin the nose on the dog, whacked at a dog pinata..... the works. It was a blast. Just don't look too closely at the cake, which I tried to decorate like a dog but looks more like a 50 year old man.

Kate had a special request for her birthday party this year. She told me she wanted to "help the poor and needy" by having her friends bring gifts for them. I explained to her that would mean they  would not bring a gift for her, and she told me she would have to think about it. Later that day she came to me and said she wanted to do it, and when I asked her why, she just stated "It's just that we have so much.... and they have so little." Blessed girl.
So we found an orphanage in Haiti that needed medical supplies and told all her friends to bring Band-Aids, Neosporin, and Children's Tylenol. They were very generous and she collected a lot of stuff. I am sure glad to  be her mom; she is a tremendous example to me.

Cabin Day

One of my chief complaints in life is that I don't have a sister. Someone to go shopping with, someone to have playdates with, someone to call and talk to anytime about anything, someone to leave my kids to if Trav and I ever die suddenly.... It's pretty pathetic how much I wish I had a sister.

However, I am extremely blessed because God gave me a best friend back in the seventh grade, and she is like a sister to me. We have a lot of history together-- embarrassing moments and road trips and nights crying on my bed after some high school boy broke her heart (don't worry, he ended up changing his mind and marrying her.) We also have a lot of common life experiences-- same high school, both Oakcrest counselors, both had our first babies within days of one another, both have husbands who did/are doing BYU law school. But really, it's just that I love her like she is my sister. 

And, if I had a sister and if that sister married into a family who owns an amazing cabin, then I am certain I could not love it more than I love going to the cabin with Kristi and her family. For real.

Because there is a tire swing.

And a flippin' awesome jump-off-a-ledge-and-hold-on-tight swing.

Which can be so scary that you might have to ride it with your mommy.

And certainly too scary to take a little guy on, so he got to sit on the ground and eat dirt. Which is what boys like anyway, right?

There's also tetherball.

And best friends.

And a zipline! Which suddenly my kids are not only wanting to do on their own, but also able to do on their own. When did they grow up?

Seriously! It's not like a little drop there! But Anna, Kate, and Gwen were all over it.

And when Kate got tired of the mini-hike, Kristi's awesome husband Blaine took her back to the cabin to play Qwirkle. Which she won, because she has never lost a game of Qwirkle in her life.

Between the two of us we have a boatload of kids now, which makes it fun (and extraordinarily difficult) when we get together. 

So grateful to you Bassetts for sharing a fun day with us. And so grateful to you, Kris, for subbing in as my sister. You're the best!

San Diego Vacay

For our family vacation this year we let our children choose between Sea World, Disneyland, or the Pacific Northwest. Much to our surprise, they all voted emphatically on Sea World, especially after seeing YouTube videos of the dolphin shows. 

So, off to San Diego we went. We were so fortunate that our good friends the Millers let us stay at their place in St. George on the way down. We love being with them.

The big news for Anna was that she lost her tooth about 34 seconds after we got to St. George. Here she is looking in a mirror at the new space on her top row.

Sea World was amazing! The dolphins were so friendly toward humans; they reminded me of our dog Daisy. The girls loved getting splashed by them.

 The shark tunnel was so cool! It is amazing to see those creepy things glide over your head. I was glad to be separated by glass.

Good news! There's gluten free pizza at Sea World!

 The next morning we went to La Jolla pretty early, before the crowds arrived. This was the highlight of the trip for me. There were TONS of harbor seals and pelicans, out in the ocean searching for breakfast. It was awesome to see them playing in the water, literally 20 feet from the shore. The girls loved playing in the ocean. What is it about the beach that never gets old?

The best part was that we got there early enough that we were the only ones on the beach for quite a while. Once the crowds showed up, we were ready to take off.

 The bad news of our day was that the kids wore their clothes to the beach (didn't plan on getting in, just watching the seals), so they had to wear swimsuits the rest of the day. Luckily it's cool to do that when you're little.

 We had lunch in Old Town (best Mexican food EVER) and then walked around a bit. The Church has redone the Mormon Battalion site and it is awesome. My kids said it was their favorite part of the trip. They got to watch a video and then they did pioneer activities like washing clothes, using the well to get a drink, and panning for gold. So fun!

 Later that day we went down to Cabrillo National Monument for the tidepools. We loved seeing the little anemones and crabs crawling around. Kate was playing tag and ran right up to a cliff, then turned around and saw a crab right next to her face. Freaked out, she screamed and ran. When she stepped back, we realized the entire cliff wall was teeming with little crabs. It was awesome.

 We returned to Sea World the next day. Trav's parents had flown down and joined us so that we could alternate going on rides, which was super nice. Trav took Eve and Max to see the Arctic exhibit while the rest of us went on a ride, and Eve fell in love with the Beluga whale, which you can't really see in the photo.

 Of course, we loved watching the shows as well. The sea lion show made us laugh, the dolphin show made us jealous of trainers who get to ride dolphins every day, the Shamu show was just plain incredible. The only downer was when a bird flying overhead pooped on Trav and Eve.

 We had a crazy experience the last night in our hotel. Max woke up at about 1 am and I waited a few minutes before going to him to see if he would go back to sleep on his own. Then I heard someone pounding on our door and I got scared! I made Trav check it out, and it was his stepdad. Turns out the fire alarm had gone off and the entire hotel had been evacuated,except for us. We never heard the alarm (which Trav's parents described as a loud beeping sound and flashing lights). Isn't that crazy? There is no way all 6 of us could have slept through that, so the alarm must not have gone off in our room. I am sure glad it was not a real fire!

The view on the ride home. It got a little crazy back there. We drove home on a Sunday, and the night before the girls were wondering what we would eat on our drive. Trav and I explained that sometimes you have to go to Wendy's on Sunday when you're on vacation because you don't have a way to cook food. They seemed to understand, but a few minutes later I noticed tears running down Kate's cheeks. She was so worried about breaking the Sabbath! The girls asked us if we could just buy some snacks on Saturday for the drive so we wouldn't have to go to a store on Sunday, and what parent could say no to that? I am grateful for their good example in my life. And... also grateful to the Millers for providing us with dinner at  their house again that night.
We stopped at a church in Vegas for sacrament meeting and it was such a great spiritual experience. The bishop challenged his ward members to do a better job of sharing the gospel. They had a goal that each family in their ward would talk to 3 people that live on their street and invite one into their home by Labor Day. He said, "I am not asking you to bear your testimony or give them a Book of Mormon. I just want you to have them in your home, let them feel the Spirit there." I loved that so much. I hope that my home is a place where the Spirit dwells and can be felt by all who enter.
Vacation is so good. It was great to get away as a family. To see fun things, to stay up late watching Good Luck Charlie while eating ice cream in bed, to build up the thrill of the roller coaster for the kids, to watch their little faces light up when Shamu soaks the audience, to hear Eve repeat "Look at the pelicans" a hundred times, each with awe in her voice. It's not cheap, and it's not easy, but these are the moments we will remember. I love my family.