Crystal Hot Springs

The first weekend in October Dillon and I took the girls on a little camping trip to Crystal Hot Springs.  It was the first time in three months Dillon and I had the same days off, so we figured we better celebrate!  The fall weather was beautiful and the water temperature was ideal with the crisp fall air.  Perfect spot for a autumn camping trip!

I'm always really proud when we manage a successful camping trip in the tent.  This time we didn't even have my parents and their trailer and we survived!  Although we did eat out for every single meal, ha!  We will have to step up our camping game I guess.  

I never let the girls sleep in our bed, like ever.  But when we camp I snuggled this munchkin all night and I love it!

 

Zac, Kelsey and Mav camped with us but were hunting so we didn't see much of them.  We just lounged in the hot springs for two days.  The girls loved it!  There were two slides and we would have family races.  Such great memories!

We stopped by Grandma Ford's one night after going into town for dinner and ice cream.  We love her so much and always love to visit her.

Can't wait to go back!

Mom's Timeout

I love my family.  And I love my job.  But sometimes its all too much and I just need a timeout!  Dillon let me hop on a plane and head to San Diego for a few days, all by myself, and it was just what I needed!  I miss my sister sooo much!  We had the best time together doing a whole lot of nothing!

I was sure to bring the host one of our favorite treats!  There was no shortage of sugar this trip!

But we did work out together everyday.  All about the balance!

 

Em let me sleep in everyday.  When I finally rolled out of bed she would either make me breakfast or take me to a delicious local brunch!

 

We met up with my uncle Brad one night and he showed us another local favorite!

 

Em and I shopped, watched movies, ate, and hung out at the beach.  Seriously, so perfect!

 

It was so hard to say goodbye!  I love this girl so much!  And I'm so grateful for my amazing husband who understands sometimes this mamma just needs to get away!

Picnic in the Canyon

We didn't get a chance to do much for Labor Day.  So, one evening around then, which we both had off, we took the girls and some dinner up the canyon.  The weather was perfect.  We ate, the girls played, we went for a little hike, then Dillon and I played volleyball with a youth group up there.  Love this little fam!

Back to School

To be honest, I'm usually more than ready for school to start.  I feel like I'm burned out and the kids and I are ready for a break from each other.  This year was not like that.  I have to attribute it to Dillon being home as well as working more myself.  I was so sad to see summer go and really felt like I would miss the summer days with my girls.  But, we buckled down and did the back to school thing.  

First thing, Quoia chopped her hair!

  I am so pleased with how it turned out and I think she is too.  She just looks so grown up!

Quoia also lost a bunch of teeth just before school started.  She looks like a second grader with all those missing teeth!

We went to back to school night and met Q's teacher.  She was darling and we are so excited to have her this year!

Finally the big day came!  Second Grade!

Sequoia was so ready.  She has lots of friends in her class and has loved her teacher.  She really is so smart and tested beyond a third grade level in most subjects in their first of school pretests. We are so proud of her!  Also, I thought her school pictures this year were just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

 

I debated sending Winter to preschool this year or waiting one more.  She has an October birthday and ultimately I decided two years of preschool was plenty.  But, the whole first week of school this would happen when we dropped Sequoia off:

She would scream for Sequoia and cry how much she missed her.  She would beg to go to school and I literally changed my mind daily about just enrolling her and letting her go.  Poor thing.  I tried to take her to do fun things just the two of us and that seemed to help. 

Another thing that has helped is I enrolled Winter in dance this year. She has done night and day different from last year.  She LOVES going and asks daily if its 'dance day.'  I think it helps her feel grown up and 'like sissy.'  

School, homework and dance has kept us busy.  Quoia is also enrolled in several after school/extra curricular activities.  More on all that later :)

August/End of Summer Wrap Up

August seemed to just fly by and before we knew it school was starting.  Here are a few random things that happened before summer ended.

I had made a list (in my head) of things I wanted to do with the girls during the summer.  Visiting the duck pond/park was down on the list, but one day we grabbed lunch and headed over.  The girls were cute and seemed to enjoy it.  We will have to go back.  

Visiting Lagoon was also on the list but I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off between my work schedule and Dillons.  His company actually ended up having a work party at Lagoon right at the end of summer.  I had to work but Dillon really wanted to take the girls.  We decided he may need some help so he invited Marisa (the girls favorite person) to go with them.  From what I hear they had a great time and rode rides until the park closed.  I'm so glad they got to go!

For three months Dillon and I had opposite schedules and felt like we didn't see much of each other.  We had tickets to the UFC fights when they came, so I took the night off and we took full advantage of a night out on the town together!

Date night was just what I needed.  We went to dinner, the fights and even out dancing after!  We stayed the night in Salt Lake and enjoyed sleeping in and going to brunch kid free!

Lastly, the girls enjoyed many sleep overs at both grandma's houses over the summer.  They are lucky girls!

Pioneer Day

This was the first time in 11 years that Dillon and I were able to celebrate Pioneer Day, together, in Utah!  I think we were both just happy to have a day off together, but I wanted to DO something.  I tried to think of something specific to Utah since it is a Utah holiday.  We decided the Alpine Slide was a winning idea!  Neither of us had ever done it either!  

Would you believe by the time we loaded up the kids and drove to Park City a perfect summer day had a sudden rain storm!?!?  Of course the slide closed down.  We decided to grab a bite and hang out on Main Street to see if things turned around. 

Luckily, it cleared right up!  

We rode the lift and walked to the slide.  My kids are so cute!

 Dillon took Quoia and I took Winter.  The last thing I said before we both took off was "Take pictures!"  Not a single dang picture from those two.  They were way too concerned about beating Winter and me.  But, guess what, Winter and I kicked their BUTTS!

There was so much to do up there, we had no idea.  We decided to do a little mini-golf cause, why not!?

Such a great day celebrating the pioneers in Park City!

Lemonade

Sequoia asked all summer to have a lemonade stand.  Every time she asked I feel like I made an excuse as to why that day was not a good day to do it.  Truthfully, I just hate projects and messes and this sounded like both.  I know, terrible mom.  

 

This summer I worked weekend graveyard shifts and poor Dillon had to get creative sometimes as to how to keep the kids quiet so I could sleep.  He finally gave into Sequoia's lemonade stand request one morning while I was sleeping, and the two of them nailed it!  Dillon made the lemonade completely from scratch!  They set up a darling table outside and we were all shocked at how much money Q made!  Dillon even used it as an opportunity to teach her about saving and spending.  I'm so impressed by both of them!