pretty awesome...

Blogger was not being very friendly last night...I posted the pictures, wrote a post and then it was deleted! I realized it immediately - but I didn't want to stay up and write the same post.  I finally bit the bullet and rewrote it...thankfully this time blogger was kind :)

Friday the older kids have early out at 1:05 & Jacob's Kindergarten starts at 1:10 up at the UofU.  The timing doesn't work really well to have everyone where they need to be at the exact time, and since my mom usually has Friday off - I have her pick up the older kids so that Madeleine can have a piano lesson and they get time with Grandma while I take Jacob up to class and either volunteer that afternoon or run errands.

This week she had the kiddos earlier in the week, so I picked up the older kids from school and then we cruised to get Jacob to his class...he was late, but thankfully his class is laid back about this :) We then drove down to Gateway and had plans to go shopping at Gymboree (Gymbucks time!) and head to the Children's Museum.

Two strikes were that 1) Gymboree is no longer in the Gateway. I should have double-checked! and 2) the children's museum was insanely busy as part of the Salt Lake area must have been on Spring Break. Every foot of the museum was packed with kids and it was not fun - so we left after 20 minutes...we signed up for the 6 month pass back in March so coming and going will be much easier and I won't feel guilty at how long we stay :)

We tried to find a park while I drove through the avenues back towards the U. I saw a big grassy area up a few blocks and drove towards it --- only to realize that we had come upon the Salt Lake Cemetery. This may seem weird to many people - for me, it's natural. My father was a Funeral Director when I was growing up - I wouldn't say I'm at home around death and the things related...but it doesn't bother me. I also love this specific cemetery as my Grandma Miller is buried there, and it has one incredible view of the Salt Lake Valley...oh, and it has many of the Prophets buried there as well :) We drove by George Albert Smith's family plot on the way out and saw his headstone. The older kids and I were amazed & I want to go back and see if we can find the other Prophets plots at a later time.

Anyway, we were able to find my Grandma's headstone after I drove up and down those narrow little "streets" and could feel that I was getting close, but couldn't remember the exact location. I'm so thankful that Grandpa Miller decided to get a headstone that is prominent to read from the street...that it is VERY close to the road also really helps.

The kiddos and I got out and we viewed her headstone and talked about how long she had lived, and then also viewed the headstone of her parents which are buried in the neighboring plot, as well as her sister who died at 2 years of age. It was a brief visit as it was chilly & windy - however it was sweet. There is a very special spirit, one of reverence and remembering, at cemeteries and I'm looking forward to Memorial Day when we will do a tour of a few cemeteries to go and visit ancestors that have passed on.

On the way out, we passed by this amazing flowering tree and I was just in awe at how intense the blooms were. I asked Madeleine to take a picture for me & she snapped one on the phone from the car (1st photo). Then she looked at it, and told me she needed to go closer to get a better shot. She hopped out, and took the 2nd photo - which really was better! I'm so proud of her little photographer eye!

Photo 1

Photo 2 (I made it larger - but look how much better it is!)

When we got home, the kiddos and I worked together to make Zuppa Toscana soup for dinner. This is THE meal that we all love and could have on a very regular basis....oh, it's so yummy! The great part as well is that everyone loves to help make it, which I love as it's not a complicated soup - it just takes time.

The boys got to work peeling potatoes & in the middle of their work Bryson Jr. asked me if we could open a family restaurant so we could work together. I love the idea & would love to be able to do that...

Hopefully it can be sooner than later - I love working together and it's especially nice when we are all working on a project and everyone is getting along. Ahhhh...I'll take a 1/2 hour of {almost} bliss :)

Madeleine was trying her hand out (literally) in cutting the slice of potato --- however she still needs some tutoring and I was worried a finger would be chopped off in the process of trying to finish dinner. Then I had a brilliant thought - the slicer I had purchased after a demo at the local grocery store (yes, I fell for one of those sales marketing little demo shows!) - so I pulled it out and she whipped through slicing the potatoes on the new little kitchen gadget - she was happy to get to stay on this important task & I was happy we didn't lose any fingers in the process!

To finish the evening, Bryson and I left the kiddos with Nana & Papa Lord at our house and we enjoyed a date night to the Jordan River Temple. We are so blessed (and now spoiled - we haven't had this many dates in years) with family around to watch the kiddos! I love how it allows time for the kiddos to develop a relationship with their grandparents - how awesome to have a pick-up soccer game in the backyard with Papa Lord?  Attention from Nana for whatever it is a child needs at the time.  And to have piano lessons from Grandma Joy and play in her backyard each week?  

It is certainly true that the little things make life pretty awesome indeed.

My BEST DAY ever!

This {my BEST DAY ever!} was a common phrase that I heard from the little Kahuna Bugaboo as he ran laughing about the waves and getting a fabulous ride in on his boogie board.

Although he is the one that verbalized it....and often!.....all of us felt that way as we enjoyed a few hours on the beach at one of the favorite spots that we found on our trip 2 years ago.  It is a quiet spot, where there was only a family on either side of us....and they were off by a good 20 or so feet in either way.  How often do you go to a beach and have that much space to yourself?!

We landed in Oahu late Tuesday night.  By late I mean somewhat late here (local time was 8pm) but even later was NY time which was 2:30am.  We had been traveling since 8am that morning - and had 3 legs of the trip....which was one more stop-over than I had planned on.  It was the LONGEST flight(s) I had been on.  Ever!  And yet - as anything goes, it was finally over and I realized once again, anything is possible when you know there is an end in sight.  And the end in sight just happened to be 3 weeks in Hawaii.....so it's not as if complaining was actually valid!

The two hardest parts were 1) the last leg of the flight from San Francisco to Oahu.  We were now a little tired of sitting in a small space and were getting tired.  Considering that it was bedtime back home, that was reasonable - however it's always hard to fall asleep in those airline seats and somehow Jacob and Madeleine decided to stretch out to get more comfortable...which was great for them, but made 2 hours almost unbearable for me!  I would glance at my clock and wonder how 5 minutes chunks of time could go absolutely so slow!

We finally landed ---- hooray! ---- and I called the guy that was picking us up at the airport.  This was to be the 2nd hardest part of the trip.   He and his family had been renting the home we were staying at, and he offered to pick us up at the airport so that he could keep the car for the extra day.  In theory that worked for us in planing - as it gave us the van to drive back up to the North Shore in.  In reality -- it was not such a great idea, given that you have 20/20 vision for everything that happens after the fact!

He was a funny character and we ended up needing to drive him back to his hotel over in Waikiki - and he was complaining about this trip just about every minute of that drive.  It was a long 20 minutes....on top of already a long day of traveling.  I was ready to be done!  Too bad I know had to drive back the 20 minutes, plus the 45-50 minutes it was already going to take to get home from the airport.  Sigh.  These are the times when it would be nice to have Bryson around :)

 By a miracle we made it home alive.  And really - I mean miracle.  I had gone to sleep at 5am and slept until 7am before we left for the trip....the nights before that I was averaging 3-5 hours of sleep each night.  Finishing the school year and wrapping up events had been much harder on the schedule than I had anticipated.  

Thankfully there was a point that I realized I couldn't do much more - and put everything into suitcases and walked out for the next 2 months.  The things that are most important I can still work on while on our trip - otherwise, there are things that will just have to wait until we get back.  

And when I'm sitting and looking at a view like this - I'm in no hurry to get back!! 

Thankfully on the drive home I passed by a McDonald's and dosed up on Diet Coke - something I once loved and now tolerate for such emergencies.  I then had Madeleine stay up and talk to me, and then thankfully Bryson and Jacob both woke up.  We were all exhausted, but with their voices in my head it became real that I had to stay awake and get us to the home safely.  

I have never been so tired in my life.  My eyelids were trying to close on their own - my body didn't seem tired, but my brain and eyes were obviously much more tired than I realized.  To add to already feeling like I could fall asleep in an instant, driving on a two-lane road with very little lighting on the roadway made for a really hard 40 minutes. 

Thankfully within an hour we had arrived & I was so thankful for the help my kiddos were on the drive and also that they were now awake to take their own things into the house!  Especially this girl - she is a real take charge, oldest who takes responsibility and tasks really seriously.  I love her help always - particularly during that drive.   

As in most cases, getting to a new place was a bit exciting - but thankfully by this time it was after 10pm local time, and that was about 4am back to NY time.  We were now all exhausted and ready for bed! 

It was a hilarious night of sleep!  I was woken up around 3:30am by Bryson - he'd had an accident in bed.  I changed sheets and thanked above that they had a water proof mattress cover!  I put him back in bed, only to be woken up by Jacob who was crying that he was scared and had to go to the bathroom!  I pulled him off the top bunk (why don't they have a ladder to get up on that one?!) and we visited the bathroom and then found a night-light to put into their room.  

I crawled back into bed and fell asleep exhausted.....however by 6:30am everyone was up and ready to start the day.  I suppose considering it is about noon back in NY that at least they slept that long! 

So - we started our morning by unpacking, sending the kids to play with the dog of the family that we are staying with (they are SO excited to have a dog for the 3 weeks we are here!), hit the grocery store so we can have some food.  And - the crazy part of going shopping is that 2 years ago I was shocked by the prices at this grocery store.  Now - it seems so reasonable compared to what we play at our neighborhood grocery store on the island in the city.  I've becoming hardened to NY prices....nooooooo!!!!! 

We finally packed up around 10am and went to.....

The BEACH, the BEACH --- we went to the BeAcH!!  

Although it was a bit different being the only adult and working hard to watch all 3 children - these 3 are much more comfortable and confident in the water.  Jacob holds onto his boogie-board and will walk right in fighting the waves to get out to a spot where he can catch a great one and ride back in.  Madeleine was great at helping me keep an eye on Jacob as I ran back and forth between the kiddos and worked to keep us all in a spot directly out from our towels and gear on the beach.

As much as I think everyone did a great job and can do a lot on their own in the water --- we are going today to get a life jacket for Bryson and hopefully one for Madeleine as well.  I will feel more at ease knowing they are wearing something that would help if anything came up that they couldn't handle as swimmers.  We will stand out as tourists when wearing these....but with so many stories about children who have not made it back after a summer swim, I need to have some extra insurance and security.

Other than that - we are all happy to be in a place we absolutely love and look forward to enjoying the next few days with Nana and Papa Lord who are coming into town for the long holiday weekend.  Sadly - Bryson Sr./Dad won't be joining us at the same time --- which was the original idea.  He has a project at work which is all-consuming right now, so he will be able to finally get out and visit us, but he will be arriving July 9th and staying until the 17th.  Thankfully we are going to get time with everyone...just not at the same time.

Well, at least for those coming in...because lucky me I get to spend every day with these 3 while we are here.

I'm one lucky mom --- and one lucky wife.  Thanks to Bryson let us come on this adventure - while he is still hard at work we are off playing....again feeling really lucky.  And really thankful.  

 * post clean-up after the beach.  the kids were hilarious playing with the water.....I forgot how simple pleasures like playing with a hose of water become such big things to these city-dweller kiddos :)