Enjoying the last days of summer
My heart hurts today, and it hurt yesterday. We left Southern Alberta, my favorite place in the whole wide world, and drove 12 hours toward home. I am never this quick to blog, but my emotions have been running high and I wanted to blog before I forget the moments of our wonderful weekend. It was short, way too short, but every single moment was filled with pure awesomeness. I am so grateful for a place where we can block out the rest of the world by turning off our computers and cell phones and focus on what really matters. This place brings me down to earth each time I’m there.
The whole weekend was fantastic. We stayed up till morning talking, belly laughing and making fun of eachother. We attended Hillspring’s mini biathalon, 1st of July parade and program, beans and beef at the park, the rodeo, and fireworks that night. The next day we went to Waterton for the day and had a weiner roast at the park followed by some baseball. We spent every night talking until we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore, and we ate more ice cream from pioneer parlor than we could probably handle.
I count myself lucky to be part of such an amazing group of people.
A few moments from the trip. I rarely had my camera with me.
Cotton
I swear this boy still needs naps. But how my heart melted when I saw this after the computer keys went quiet one afternoon.
I sometimes wonder if parents have a lot to do with a girl being girly. Reese couldn’t recognize a disney princess, she refuses to let me pin her hair back, she prefers legos and train tracks over dolls, doesn’t feel pain, picks on Cooper relentlessly, and laughs when I get mad at her. Have I influenced her tom-boyish behavior or is it from having a big brother? Dave and I joke that one day she’ll dominate track and field with her shot put skills or maybe rule the softball field. Despite her boyish tendencies she cracks us up more than most people can on a daily basis. She is hilarious and mischievous and feeds us with endless entertainment. She is the reason I am constantly repeating to myself, “Serenity now”. No one has caused me to feel so much anger and so much joy.
One day, a few weeks ago, we went sledding up Cottonwood Canyon. Holy cow, it was beautiful. I vowed to never take the mountains for granted again. We parked off the side of the road and followed a small trail up to a couple little sledding hills. We had a blast, though I realized that day, I hate getting dressed up in snow clothes and trekking all over the place. It just ain’t for me. T-shirts, jeans and flip flops are my forte. Effortless and casual, please.
We have officially switched to hibernation mode. The Christmas high has worn off and we’ve all slowed down. I don’t mind it so much, being a home body. Christmas was glorious. Dave took the week after off and we enjoyed doing whatever we wanted, it was great. We were able to see friends we miss, watch movies, play a lot of wii, and pretend we were on vacation by eating out almost every meal :)
We bought ourselves the Death Cab for Cutie cd, “Transatlanticism”. It is fantastic. If you want to hear a beautiful and emotional song, listen to Tiny Vessels. It is amazing. I have had a crush on this band for awhile, they always remind me of Calfornia. Wince. My heart has been aching for that place lately.
Around our house…
Far too many repeats of Finding Nemo
Reese has a love of drawing. I mean a serious passion. She could do it all day. I was proud as punch when she showed me this picture and said, “Mama, wook, bug!”
Cooper got Lego Star Wars Wii game for Christmas. This boy eats, breathes and sleeps Star Wars. It’s terrifying.
Cooper dumped Dave’s wedding ring down the sink LONG ago and we could not find it. SO, for christmas I’m debating on getting him a new one. I am debating on a few gems, and thought I would share the joy. I just can’t decide.
This one is great because it’s two-tone…and looks like pure luxury. And Dave is the epitome of luxuriousness. Have you seen his car? Thank you ‘98 Mercury Sable.
I had no words for this one. Only feelings of pure joy.
Awe…how presh. We could get something really sentimental carved into the inside of this one.
And THIS one. Oh this one. I thought every true-religion-wearing dude around would covet this one.
My sister and I have wanted to do a “photo shoot” for awhile, so we finally decided to do it. We agreed the snow would be the most fun to do it in. And it was. We had a hoot. They were easy and fun to be with, as always. It’s just not fair how much the camera loves them. Remember that episode from Friends when Chandler and Monica were getting their photo taken? I feel like Chandler from that episode WHENEVER the camera is in front of my face.
They finished with a snowball fight
My parents treated our whole family to a blissful vacation in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. It was absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it before. We’ve been to Maui and Oahu before, but this took the cake in my eyes. The north side of the island was incredible. Bright green hills and mountains, cloudy skies, misty rains, a tropical paradise. We stayed in Poipu on the south side, which was beautiful and sunny. Great beaches and snorkeling. It was amazing. Thanks to my parents we were able to experience 7 days of heaven on earth! We got back weeks ago, so hopefully I haven’t forgotten all the details. But I’m warning anyone who does read this, that there are a lot of details, so it will bore you to death. I just don’t want to forget anything.
We arrived after dark Tuesday night and were exhausted after a full day of traveling and 7 hours of delays on top of that. The next morning we were up as early as 3:30 am thanks to the time difference. We were all antsy for sunrise. When the sun came up around 6 am we were all out swimming and having the time of our lives. Our poor neighbors. These pictures from our 6 am swim party will always make me laugh.
We went to Poipu beach that morning for our first taste of the island.
We took a walk around our neighborhood to enjoy the sunset and let the kids run wild.
Kipu falls was amazing. It was a big pool of water at the end of a river with a rope swing and waterfalls coming down into it. (bad grammar) It was rough carrying the kids and climbing down the rocks to see the falls, but it was beautiful.
More fun in the pool
Wailua Falls
More beach
A lighthouse…can’t remember if there was a name. On the way up to north shore.
We stopped in Hanalei for lunch. THE most gorgeous little town I have ever seen. The picture doesn’t do it justice. This is taken from the main street. Seriously???
Roosters, EVERYWHERE
Tunnels beach on the north shore. This was our favorite beach. The drive up, through north shore, was my favorite part.
The water was so clear. It was amazing!
Fresh coconut
On the way home in Princeville, another favorite place. These are the rice fields.
Snorkeling with meliss and brad. There was a rainbow almost every day
Waimea Canyon
The tunnel of trees. We drove on this street every day. GORGEOUS!
We went to Tunnels beach again, couldn’t get enough.
Reese being hilarious while eating fresh pineapple
There was fresh water coming down from the mountain right onto the sand by the ocean. It was a shallow little river that the kids played in the entire time.
This is why I loved this beach so much. The ocean was in front of us, and the green mountains (in the next pics) were directly behind us. I have never seen anything so beautiful.
Melissa snapped this picture of us snorkeling at Poipu
Gorgeous sunrise the last day we were there.
My mom had to get one picture with everyone at the beach, so we ran to the beach before we went to the airport. It was complete chaos but I think she got it. We got one too…and I love it because of the kids. So classic.
We all weren’t ready to leave.
It’s time I upload the photos from my p&s onto my computer. Since I keep it in my purse and never remember to upload them, I like to do it all at once and do a run-through of our happenings. I thoroughly love looking through all of them and finding little hidden treasures. Here are a few chosen ones in the order they were taken, unedited and sloppy of course.
Bee’s game. We scored free tickets as a part of Coop playing t-ball.
We were invited up to Bear Lake with some of our favorite people, the Larsens. It was a great weekend and I wish I would’ve taken more pics. We relaxed, ate and listened to good music the whole weekend…ideal. Notice the reading material. We’re a classy bunch.
Dave Matthews Band. FanTAStic.
Sometimes we meet Dave after work on Fridays and ride the tracks to main street for pier 49 pizza. This particular night was beautiful so we decided to make a stop at temple square on the way home. I can’t remember the last time we came just to appreciate it!
Dave and I had our first night away last month. We both agreed it was one of the best weekends we’ve ever had. We stayed downtown at the beautiful Hotel Monaco. We walked down the street to The New Yorker for some of the tastiest food we’ve had around here, walked to the Capitol Theatre to watch the amazing broadway production of Lion King and then crashed hard. The next morning we went for some Bruges waffles, hit up the farmers market and then went home. The whole weekend was perfect, and we have hardly any photos to show from it.
The next weekend my friend, Kristen, and I planned a last minute trip Las Vegas. It was absolutely heavenly. We basically shopped and ate. The best part was, for sure, the pool at our hotel. We brought our books expecting to lay out and relax, but we ended up doing the best people-watching of our entire lives. It was a complete hump fest. I was sure Kristen Cavallari and Brody Jenner were going to make an appearance. I’m not going to lie, I loved it.
Motherlode cake at Claim Jumper anyone? We ate it all.
I am not pregnant.
The last of our busy weekends. We drove up to Idaho to visit Dave’s sister and her family. The kids lo-oved it. On the way there Coop had to pee, so naturally I took a picture of his coppertone baby butt. Is this inappropriate? Sorry. Remember I’m too lazy to edit?
Gardner village to see the witches and pet some goats.
Last, but not least, a quick photo in Dave’s office.
