Olympia

Contrary to popular belief, Seattle is not the capital of Washington.

The capital is Olympia.

And we decided to make Olympia one of our travel destinations this summer.

We poked around at the beautiful capital building. Which really does have great acoustics, especially for a screaming child. Both of our littles gave a demonstration on that.

We found a great park for a picnic and then a little rolling and walking.

We stayed the night in Olympia so we could keep traveling south the next day.

back at it

After four weeks off (thanks to amazing benefits of microsoft he had paternity leave to use because of our adoption), Eric went back to work this week.

That was brutal.

Everyone got so used to seeing him in the morning at breakfast. We loved having him around all day. And then eating with him at night.

Now we are back to just an hour or two with dad before bed.

There were tears that first day. When Perry woke up on Monday morning and asked for dad and he wasn't there, there were tears. When Layla fell down and bumped her leg and daddy wasn't there to comfort her, there were tears. When I was trying to cook dinner and Perry was having a scary meltdown, Layla needed help in the bathroom, and the boys had cool lego projects to show, I was very close to tears myself. It was a hard blow to all of us having Eric back at work.

I loved seeing E so relaxed. I loved impromptu waterfights, wrestling, and cuddles. I loved having E there to talk to. I loved all of our adventures and outings (who am I kidding, and having someone help me to load up the car and the kids and help with bathroom trips, tantrums, and fighting).

We are at the end of the first week back. Things are falling back into place as they were before magical july. We are doing fine now. But those four weeks were such a gift. Dad time, family time, is so precious. It made for an amazing, memorable summer.

girls camp

It was my 12th year as part of a Young Women's girls camp. 6 years as a youth, 6 years as an adult leader. As you can see, I kind of love going to girls camp.

The theme for our stake girls camp was "Believe: Be your own superhero".

Our 1st year girls were the Incredible Individuals.We focused everything around the value of Individual Worth and its color red.

I worked with these incredibly awesome ladies.

And a few photo bombing girls.

Our girls, our YCL's, and the leaders in our red superhero capes.



Our ward wearing ice cream mustaches in honor of the greatest camp dad, Bro. Stewart.



I had a great week getting to know the girls, the other leaders, listening to great devotionals and speakers, reading my scriptures and writing in my journal, floating down the river, and more! Girls camp is incredible.

I'm 30

I have had 30 years of life.

30 used to sound soooo old.

Now it is here

and I am just fine with being 30.

And isn't it funny that even 40 doesn't sound so old anymore.

I have done a lot and experienced a lot.

I made a commitment to myself  a looong time ago to live with no regrets,

to be thoughtful about my decisions and experience life to the fullest possible.

For the most part, I feel I have done just that.

My 30's are here! 

I'm ready for all that they may bring.

To celebrate, we hosted a murder mystery party. As it always seems to go, I was so busy getting things ready and then hosting the party that I only snapped a couple of pictures. 

There were 28 of us there in our backyard for a night of 1980's murder and mystery.

I was Molly Mingmold and Eric was Alligator Dundee.

I should've been born a red head.

The boys wanted in on this red head action.

 

I assigned out the characters without looking at what exactly would happen. And it just so happened that it was Eric who was murdered. By a rubiks cube to the head.

Two days later Eric and I went on a bike ride for our date night. 

I throw that in here because I threw the "it's my birthday tomorrow so can we please do what I want to do tonight" card.

Isn't he a stud?

On my birthday morning, Eric and the boys made breakfast and gave me sweet gifts. And then I was frantically getting my stuff together to head off to girls camp.

We managed to meet at Target and eat pretzels for lunch before I drove the rest of the way to cascade park.

Our attempt at a photo in target. :)

Kyler made me the necklace I am wearing. :) :)

I was feeling pretty sad all morning to be leaving my family for the week.

I was so glad that they surprised me and came up to camp a few hours later.

Anna asked me to come with her to help her get a few more things and when we got over by the cars there was my sweet family with a big birthday cake and a few other leaders and girls to sing happy birthday. I was just thrilled to get to give Eric and my kids hugs again. 

And that is one happy 30th birthday.

while my parents were here

I was so grateful that my parents took care of our boys for a week each. But they reached hero status when they drove Kacin all the way back home in time for 4th of July bbq and fireworks.

I was glad they ended up staying for a week. And especially that it ended up being the week that Eric was gone on his own adventures.

While my parents were here,

I took my mom to a sip and paint class.

We rode a ferry and explored Bremerton.

We went to the navy museum, a farmer's market, and looked out at lots of boats and beautiful water.

We went on a little hike, ate at Ivar's, and tried to find a flower field. And they watched my kids plenty of times when I was taking P to therapy and to his dr. appointments.

So glad they were able to spend a week with us!

101 in Summer

In summer's past I have held us together with a summer schedule of homeschool and relaxing, earning points and adventures. It always worked so well for us.

This year was different.

Eric got 4 weeks of paid paternity leave to be used within a year of our adoption. He took the month of July off. We knew that would make our summer a bit unpredictable and busy. We adjusted our summer routine to match his time off. Oh how I love that he got 4 weeks off! It helped to balance how much he works and commutes the rest of the year.

We made a list of 101 In Summer. Essentially, it is our bucket list/to-do list for the two and half months we have off of school. Everyone contributed ideas. For example, watch Tangled (Layla), go swimming (Perry), paint the front porch (mom and dad), camp at Kalaloch (mom and dad), stay up until midnight (Kyler), pillow fight (Kacin), etc.

We have been checking things off left and right. And crossing things out and changing them if we changed our minds :). It's been a fun way to set some goals, have some adventures, and spend time as a family.

Lest you think my kids got out of homeschool, they did not. It just has become a must do on the days we take Perry to therapy. In theory, three days a week for about two hours while we sit in the waiting room they work on spelling, vocab, math facts, researching history and science topics, and doing art. I say in theory because between house guests, Perry's finger, and family vacations I don't think we have made it to therapy all three days each week.

Layla doesn't have the same work as the boys, but she has her own tasks to do while Perry is at therapy. She sings songs with me, reads a book, and practices her name.