Around the house . . .

We've been slowly working on decorating and making our house ours.   Right now the back yard is a big dirt mound with sprinkler trenches dug up everywhere.  The front yard has some plans and there are a few more plans for the house.  Even though we both feel inadequate and indecisive about decorating, we have enjoyed thinking and planning and creating spaces of beauty and comfort for us.  Here are a few spaces in our home we like.
This project was started last YEAR.  I pleased with the outcome and it should NOT have taken that long :)

 I saw this little arrangement online, but I couldn't decide what photos to put in the frames.  I finally thought it would be interesting to see ourselves and our kids compared at similar ages.  I find people often talk about what kids looks like who so I thought this would give us a different perspective.  I really like it.  The plan is to change out the photos as the kids get older and older (however, there may be a 10 year period where I don't put my photos in to compare ;))

Hallie and Mom

Jackson and Dad

 Mom and Hallie

 Mom and Mariah

This gallery is located on a large wall in the Master Bedroom.  We love it because it is a picture from each one of our major trips, with little pins in each place we travel. We love being in bed and looking and reminising on the wonderful trips and times we've had as a family.  We plan on changing out the photos as time goes on and adding more frames. 

   We love to be able to add more pins to the map! 

 The collage frames are usually one trip or a genre of trips.  This one is Germany.  There is another of 'hiking/camping" and another of our recent road trip.  

 This is our front entry way.  Still a work in progress, but it is so much more designed than in our last house :)

 Here is the collage in the living room.  

 It is a collection of sunset shots taken by Dave in our favorite places (Hawaii, Arizona, California, and another Hawaii).  We've been trying to get a great shot in Utah, but alas, it hasn't made the wall yet. :)

It is so different to be able to has a (small) budget for decor and home design.  It is fun, but so difficult for me.  I find it hard to commit to a certain style (or item) if it doesn't either serve a function or have meaning in our lives.  I find it hard to spend money on it where there are other things I like more.  However, I am learning that I love being around places I feel are beautiful and meaningful to me.  

Road Trip #3 Colorado, New Mexico, Home)

We arrived in Denver around 4:30 on Sunday and relaxed at Ryan and MaryAnn's house.  I didn't realize that they had the EXACT same van body style and color!  So we have totally matching cars.  Fortunately, the chances of both cars being together ever again is slim :)  (we fly, not drive)

All three of our kids are about the same ages (and the kids furthest apart in age are still the same size).  So the kids had such a good time with their cousins.  Jackson and Dayton look like brothers.  They loved playing and having a sleepover.   On labor Day, we had a picnic at the park.  Jackson learned to ride a two wheeler!  I was coddling him and slowly trying to keep him up and balance while he learned.  Then my brother just grabs the bike and shoves him off and then . . .he could ride a two wheeler.  I guess you just have to be brave sometimes.  

Bree is 7 months older than Mariah, but they are the same size.  (And I think Mariah has more hair, even with the bald patch in the back.)  This girls loved trying to grab each other.  Hallie and Afton played dolls and read books together and I'm not sure what the boys did, but they played and stayed busy the entire time.  I loved having time to catch up with Ryan and MaryAnn and being entertained by my brothers passion. Thanks for hosting us Ry and Mare!

I wish we could've stayed longer!  We left around 4:30 and the kids immediately fell asleep.  We took a quick pit stop somewhere in So. Colorado and then continued to Albuquerque.  Surprisingly, both kids fell asleep 2 hours after their naps and we drove further to another Super 8 (only $40! including a small breakfast!)

 We tried to find something to do in Albuquerque in the morning.  We went to Old Town and saw a few sights, but were pretty bored so we took off for home.

We took a pit stop in Snowflake for another Temple visit.  It was gorgeous with a waterfall and a great view, but we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.  4 patrons coming out of the temple were carrying empty dishes . . . so they have pot lucks at the small temples?  I'll never know since we can't go inside with our kids around :)

Home Sweet Home.  We got home at 4:00ish and spent the rest of the night unpacking, doing laundry and cleaning up the car.  Surprisingly, most everything was back in order by the next morning so we could hit the ground running back to school, work, hosting play group and learning circles (a moms group).  

We are so glad we went.  We got the van for about $3000 below blue book and below the prices around here.  It cost about $1000 in gas and hotels to get it home (not to mention lots of memories) so we think it was worth the time, effort and money.  I am thankful for Dave driving us safely and doing so much at work so he could take off.  I'm so thankful my kids were wonderful!   

We have a map of the US and put pins in where ever we travel.  The entire middle of the US was empty and we didn't have plans to go anywhere there, so a road trip gave us lots of 'dots' in places we can't fly to.  It was a perfect trip for us.  I LOVE the van and am already addicted to the sliding doors and wide open spaces.  So happy!

Road Trip #2 (Ilinois, Iowa, Nebraska)

We left the children's museum around 4 and headed through Illinois.  After the kids naps, we googled best parks in the upcoming city (Bloomington) and found this gem with a splash pad to get the wiggles out.   

Too much fun to take many pics.

  We tried a new place to eat and loved Culvers.  Unfortunately, that means we will now have to eat there many times since we have one in AZ and I never stopped in because I didn't know what it was.  The shakes were GREAT!

Maya joined in on the shake suckin.

We drove a couple more hours to Nauvoo and stayed at a house right by the temple.  It took us a while to pick where we wanted to sleep to be near our kids with so many rooms and beds in this house.  We finally got the kids down and took a midnight stroll to see the gorgeous edifice.

In the morning, Dave and I took turns doing initatories.  I really love this temple.  IT is so different and such a great symbol of our pioneer heritage.  Loved it.

We tried out the oxen ride first.  Did you know that the women only spent one day in the wagon when they had their babies becasue it was so uncomfortable.  My question is HOW did they walk 12 miles the day after birthing a baby (or better yet . . . HOW did they walk 12 miles the day BEFORE birthing a baby?!?) Strong women!

This absolutely loved (despite the heat!) the little log cabin.  They had pioneer dress ups, laundry wash bins, clothes pins and irons, little tin dishes and tea sets, a fire place with metal pots and pans.  Everything a pioneers heart would desire.  These little ones went to town.  Daddy and I tried to join in on the play, but they were already "Dave" and "Jamie" and they asked us to get out of the way while they played mom and dad.  We talked to the sister missionaries and played some pioneer games until we could bear the heat no more.

On our way out of Nauvoo, we drove down the trail of tears and looked at the Mighty Mississippi.  We ate lunch in Keokuk and then drove on.  The kids napped until Des Moines.  

In googling things to do in Des Moines, the #1 hit was repeatedly the capitol building.  I thought. . .'yeah right, BORING'.  But because I joked with Dave about it, we ended up taking the exit and driving up to it.  It truly did not disappoint.  It looked like a building straight out of Europe.  We snapped a bunch of pics and I taught the kids about the Revolutionary war and Civil war as they played around the monuments they had there. 

Once again we googled best parks and found a great one (with a splash pad).  We were planning on swimming at a hotel later that night, but our hours were fading, so when we saw the man made "beach" off the Missouri River, we decided to take a dip there.  It was so warm and quite dirty, but the kids loved splashing and playing and Jackson and I swam out to the ropes.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset at the 'beach' even if it wasn't Miami :)

The kids were asleep when we arrived in Omaha, so we took a little detour for the Winter Quarters temple (I'm working on my 100 goals in 1000 days and I am up to 15 temples!)

We stopped in a Super 8 which had a free breakfast and crashed for 6 hours.  We got up early, ate and headed to church 2 1/2 hours away.  Dave had to speed and he calculated it cost $8.00 to go to church going 85 mph rather than 70.  We did make it on time for the sacrament (despite the GPS malfunction) in Kearney Nebraska.  There they had an archway museum, which we visited for a minute.  If you get a chance, it looked like a great museum.  The museum is built as a bridge over the freeway so you can't miss it :)

We drove 5 hours to Denver.  Now is a good time to talk about WHAT the kids did in the car.  People told me I was crazy to take 3 little ones cross country, but the kids did SO well.  Even better than I expected.  I packed an entire suitcase (which we checked) full of road trip items.  I got the trays to go over their laps.  I wrapped about 15 gifts and labeled them with a sticker and when they got it.  They were good about waiting until it was time to open them.  I got Jackson 2 workbooks and he independently read the instructions and did EVERY SINGLE PAGE in both books.  I kept asking if they wanted to watch a movie and he would say "No, thanks!"  They watched only 1 movie the entire 35 hours in the car!  I was shocked.  Dave and I listened to an entire Grisham novel.  We listened to The Twits with Jackson along with a few other kids stories.  We started listening to Junie B Jones which he LOVED, but felt like it was a super bad influence.  The language and the negative attitude . . .anyone else?  Do they get better?  So we turned it off.  I loved that every time the word STUPID came up Hallie would remind us that "We don't say too-pid" but then when she would get angry she would swear "TOO-PID" to let us know she wasn't happy.    Hallie loved browsing through book after book (I brought 15+ books from the library for Jackson to read). Hallie napped everyday and the day Jackson didn't nap I had a princess puzzle for Hallie that Jackson meticulously colored for Hallie during her nap.   I had several road trip games or songs ready, but they never acted interested nor needed them.  We did eat lots of snacks (also packed in the suitcase I checked).

Mariah was a little angel.  She would nurse and play in her carseat happily and fall asleep easily.  Jackson would entertain her from the back seat sometimes.  She was happy and content and smiley and perfectly enjoyable.  The only 'hard part' I can remember was when I lost her favorite binky in the car and she couldn't get to sleep with her '2nd choice binky' at Nauvoo.  Luckily, Dave found it as he cleaned out the car and we were 'good' for the rest of the trip :)

Thank goodness for google, pinterest and other such modern conveniences for making this trip such a success.   Not to mention patient and loving husband and children!

Road Trip #1 (Ohio and Indiana)

When we decided to buy a car, we were excited about the possibility of getting the best deal we could anywhere in the country and then taking a road trip.  Since flights are free, the only cost would be the actual trip (which we love to do anyway).  We did  A LOT of research and looked at even more cars.  At one point, flights were looking good so we were feeling pressured to decide which car.  We found the car we liked, but then started thinking maybe we would rather get one in Florida (more fun on the road right?)  We ended up waiting another week to go get the one we originally liked best.  

The week we wanted to go was over Labor Day holiday.  We wanted to take a red eye because our kids sleep better and it doesn't take a day out of the travel time.  Unfortunately, flights were NOT looking good at all.  We were going to have to take 3 legs and with standby, 3 kids and lots of luggage, we didn't want to do that.  The day before we wanted to go, I spent 2 hours looking for a way to Cleveland and finally decided to fly to Indianapolis, getting in at 10 pm our time and then take a direct flight to Cleveland (paying a small fee since it was a United flight) at 2 am our time.  We had so much stuff!  We checked 1.pack and play, 2.suitcase full of road trip supplies and food, and 3. carry-on.  Through security we pushed a double stroller, carried 2 car seats and a booster, a diaper bag, cooler full of food, blankets and pillows, laptop bag and another carry on.

The kids fell asleep on the first flight and then we found some great little benches to sleep on for our 4 hour layover in Indianapolis.  Dave was super busy and stressed with work, so he ended up working through the night.  Luckily, he was up when Hallie suddenly woke up and started walking away from us!!  Scary!  

 

This was looking in at Mariah at 11 pm... apparently awake, but we never heard from her.  

Unfortunately, they close the airport at night, so we had to go get the luggage that we had checked, re-check it and then re-do security.  We were hoping the kids would stay asleep/go back to sleep, but apparently 5 am in Indiana was  a good wake up time for them (this was 2 am our time)  I was worried we were starting out the trip terribly, but they did really well on the short flight.  Mariah was a lapbaby and she was happy as could be for the entire flight. 

We had to wait for 3 hours in Cleveland for the car dealership to come pick us up.  We ate breakfast and Dave tried to sleep.  The kids would not sleep, but since they were happy, I didn't push it.

The airport had a few things of entertainment value for the kids. 

When our van arrived to pick us up I was excited!  It looked great and we started loading our stuff and trying out the gadgets.  Right away, I noticed the power doors weren't working.  This was the ONLY requirement I had in getting a van, so I was super anxious that this van was going to have problems.  I worried that we would have to find a way home without a car or buy a van I wasn't happy with.  Luckily, after we got to the dealership, they figured out that there is a button to disable the power doors and they quickly switched it on, much to my happiness! I took the kids to the park while Dave finished the details of  buying the car and we were off on our road trip.

Kirtland was only 4 miles away, so we took a lunch break in the shadow of the temple there. 

The church has a historic village we got a glimpse of, but everyone was fading fast and we wanted to get back on the road.  Ironically, we were trying to make it BACK to Indianapolis for the night :)

I drove to Columbus while EVERYONE slept.  We stopped at an ice cream shop/ play place/ ice cream tour.  It really was amazing ice cream and a perfect place to get the wiggles out.

I love Mariah's focused-face (unfocused by the camera) in this one. 

We also stopped at the temple for a few minutes.  I love the peace even on the temple grounds that you feel walking around the temple.

Dave got a Marriott card for his travels and with that we earned one free night.  We took advantage and stayed on the Indianapolis canal.  We loved the Marriott and all they provided for us.  We realized that staying in nice places was going to make us realize how bad the other places we stay are.  We decided to keep the kids on our time zone which means we took them swimming at 10 pm, much to a young couples dismay :)  We ate pizza on the canal and then crashed for the night at 10 our time (1:00 am in Indiana)  This room had a bedroom and living area, so we got to be separate from the kids which was nice.

Dave and I got up early and ate (separately) at the buffet on the canal.  It was amazing food and lots of different options so we took enough for a lunch later, too!

The kids slept until 10 am.  They ate in our little kitchen and we headed to the Children's museum. When I was researching what to do in each city I learned about this museum and how it is apparently the best in the world.  When I saw the prices ($18.50 adult/ 13.50 for kids) I thought there was no way we would go.  The more I read about it, the more I wanted to try it out.  I then found coupons for buy an adult get a kid free which expired on Friday, so that is why we were rushing to get to Indianapolis by Thurs. night.  Well, we were not disappointed.  We spend nearly 6 hours there and barely scratched the surface of things to do and see.  I regretted that we spent so much time in some of the exhibits only to miss the better stuff we saw later.  

dinosaur exhibit (much like the Natural History)

 train museum (with 2 different train tables and toys)

I said, "look serious" and this is what they came up with. 

There was a little area where Mariah could play untouched by the bigger kids.  She liked the mirror and trying to grab toys.  She is getting fairly mobile with scooting and reaching.

Teddy bear house (dramatic play for little ones)

This is a glass art work the ramps went around and up for the 5 levels.  There was a small corner with plastic pieces shaped like these where the kids could build their own 'glass art' tower.  Also, a table that you laid on and it turned as you looked up at the different pieces of glass.  A very interactive way to make art come alive for kids.  Instead of yelling, "don't touch the art!!"  I was happy to have them create and look.

On top of the areas already shown, there was a Egypt exhibit, filming of Avatar,  Science center (water tables included), airplane museum, national geographic history exhibit and more.  It was like 4+ different museums combined into one.  Plus every nook and cranny had something to see/do.  There was an amazing water clock that filled up each second, which turned into minutes and hours.  There was a stage with dress ups for plays, an indianapolis race car, miniature doll house rooms and creations, etc, etc.  Absolutely amazing.  I recommend it to anyone with kids!