Grand Tetons

The Grand Tetons did not disappoint! I was most excited for this part of the trip and it did turn out to be one of our favorite stops. We spent an afternoon in Jackson, Wyoming riding bikes, checking out the antlers in the Town Square, and watching the wild west shootout and riding the stage coach. And we met up with part of the Tanner clan! Ron, Leslie, Grant, Kelsey and kids came to meet us. We loved getting to spend this part of the trip with them. 

We stayed in Colter Bay Village inside the park in charming, rustic log cabins. We spent a morning hiking to gorgeous waterfalls near Jenny Lake. This was the first hike of our trip and the girls proved to be fantastic hikers! It's always fun to have friends and family to hike with, especially when you can share sour patch kids along the way. The waterfalls were cool and misty, the trail was shady and green and it was a gorgeous morning. We had a picnic and drove around to see wildlife--tons of Bison off the side of the road! We drove to Mormon Row, one of the first settlements in Grand Tetons settled by the Mormons, to check out some of the old houses and barns.

Another day in Grand Tetons will go down as the girls favorite day of the trip. We did a short hike along the shore of Jackson Lake, close to our cabin and then spent the afternoon playing the lake  while the majestic Grant Tetons soared in the background. Mumsi brought dollar store nets that were such a hit! The girls spent hours catching little baby rainbow trout. The paddled in Uncle Grants kayak and we lounged in the shade of some aspen trees. It was idyllic! 

We spent an evening on horse drawn wagon ride where we rode to our dinner spot overlooking the Tetons. Some memorable stories from that evening. The wagon ride started out pretty hot and dusty. Thankfully Mumsi and Grumsi had an awesome mister-sprayer thingy they brought that helped to cool us all down.  The dust bothered Kate and started an asthma attack where she couldn't stop coughing. Her puffer was in the car, an hour horse ride away. We thought we may have to have the company drive her back to the camp in their truck so she could get her puffer and breath again. Thankfully Mumsi had the idea to try a caffeine pill that she had with her--about the same amount of caffeine in a can of coke. It worked like a charm! Kate was extra hyper, but no longer coughing! Hooray! She could stay and enjoy the dinner and wagon ride back with us. 

The other memorable and slightly terrifying story that goes along with this wagon ride was when Clara's pee in the woods attracted the mama Grizzly Bear and her two cubs.  We were finishing dinner and loading up the wagon. Clara needed to use the bathroom but in her exhausted state threw a big tantrum about how she didn't want to use the "pit toilet" but instead "pee in the woods". We'd been on lots of hikes and she was getting used to peeing in the woods!  Tired and not wanting to deal with her melt down, I gave in a took her around the back of the bathroom building in the tall sagebrush to squat near a tree and pee before we got on the hour long wagon ride back to camp. She went, and we headed back to the wagon where we were the last to get on and everyone was waiting for us. As we were loading the wagon, our driver gets a call on his walkie talkie that there are grizzly bears near the dinner site behind the bathroom and the cooks are screaming at the bears trying to get them to go away. The bears were in the same spot Clara was peeing in just 1 minute before! Thankfully by this time we were safe on the wagon, but feeling terrible that now they had to close the dinner site down for 5 days to calm the bears down and keep them away from people. The driver also told us then how he mentioned to the children to stay out of the tall sage brush behind the bathroom because that is where the bears have been sighted. He forgot to tell the parents!!

Thankfully it was just a close call and we didn't encounter any bears face to face on that trip. Phew!

Road Trip of our dreams!

July 1, 2017 was the start of the road trip of our dreams! We have always talked and dreamed of taking a month off to see some of our beautiful country and we were so excited to make this dream a reality! We planned and talked about and anticipated our "month long road trip" for over a year. Planning trips is one of our favorite things to do, so we had a lot of fun getting ready for this big trip. 

I think one of the best decisions we made in planning this trip was to invite family and friends to join us along the way. We spent a lot of time together in the car driving 4500 miles in total! And it was nice to get out of the car and spend time with people that we love. Overall the girls did great in the car. We had a system that worked well. They each had a binder with a daily list of "must-dos" like reading, journaling, workbook, scriptures and some extras like games, audio books and hand sewing or stickers. When drives were longer than 5 hours we watched a movie for the last couple of hours and this seemed to work well for the most part! 

We started out making our way to Utah. Our first nights stop was in St. George where we met up with Mimi and Papa, and Randy and Rob's families. We saw Shrek at Tuacahn outdoor theater. Once we got used to the 105 degree heat at 9pm, the show was amazing! The production quality was on par with many Broadway plays I've seen and the music and comedy were really good.  We also said goodbye to Clara's "ni-night" or pacifier our first night on the trip. At almost 4 years old she was way overdue to be done with it, but it made her so happy it was hard to part with. Not sure if doing it on the trip was a good idea or crazy, but after a couple nights of crying and almost giving in at 4 am, she was ok and so were we. But it made us a little tired for the start of our trip!

After a night in St. George we headed up to Provo, Utah for Grandpa Jay's 90th birthday party. We stopped to see the new Cedar City temple that's being built and to check out how WKS Krispy Kreme Store is in Utah. The girls always love due diligence at Krispy Kreme! 

The morning of the birthday party we went to Kneader's for their unlimited french toast breakfast, drove up the canyon to see Bridal Veil Falls and stopped at BYU. It was fun to show the girls around our alma mater, stopped at the creamery for the best pralines and cream ice cream cone on the planet, do some shopping at the bookstore and reminisce about our years there together. We showed the girls our first apartment and felt old! And also very blessed.

Grandpa's party was fun and stressful! Fun to reconnect with extended family we haven't seen in a while. Stressful because I was worried about my children being swept away in the beautiful Provo river behind Aunt Connie's house. But it was a special event and we are lucky to have such a great extended family and such longevity and health!

4th of July was spent with some of our dear friends, the Lloyd's. The showed us a good time at in the gorgeous mountains at Snowbird resort. The kids always have a good time with the Lloyd kids and loved the alpine slides, ropes course, trampoline and bouncy houses. We went back to the Lloyd's beautiful home in Salt Lake for BBQ and then fireworks over a golf course. It was a fantastic day!

June

June! Paul and I had a night away in Pasadena. We visited the Huntington Library and Gardens--the roses were so beautiful! We went out to dinner, slept in and went for a bike ride on a gorgeous Saturday. It's so nice to get some extended time together!

A few random photos from June. Kids book club! We have had a lot of fun with our friends the Troutmans, Scolls and Dayleys. We read "Wonder" this month and loved the great story and positive messages about being different and being kind. Our friends hosted a stick horse rodeo and Kate and Gwen made a good team on the wheelbarrow races. We had several swim meets this month and the girls enjoyed spending extra time with friends on swim team. Clara was proud of her dollar store craft she colored and at Costco she asked "mom, please take a picture of me with the giant duck!". After school snacks on the porch with friends. Clara wishing for a ukulele and Gwen making slime. Gross! And a date to see The Bodyguard.

Our garden is growing! We had lots of apples to pick as well as strawberries and our sugar snap peas went wild! Clara is a good helper in the garden. She loves to put on her long apron and play Cinderella.

Swim dates at Mimi's with cousins!

I got to spend extra time with Kate and her class on their field trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. Kate is so fun to be with and we enjoyed seeing the beautiful architecture and learning about the mission. We also went on a mommy/daughter date roller blading by the beach and out for ice cream. Love our Kate bug!

Clara's last day of preschool. This is the same dress she wore to the first day of preschool and look how short it has gotten on her! I felt a little sad as I watched her across the classroom wash her hands, she seemed so big to me! She had a great year with Ms Radhika but I think she is looking forward to her summer break! 

Talent show! I was so proud of both Gwen and Kate. They decided to participate in their school talent show and were so brave. Gwen sang a song from the movie "Trolls" and Kate and her friends, Tessa, Anna and Lola, choreographed their own dance to "September" from Trolls. They had so much courage to get up in front of their whole school to perform and did a great job!

The activity day girls group at church hosted a daddy/daughter pinewood derby. Paul worked really hard with the girls on their cars and they almost won! They had fun designing and making their cars. 

Father's Day! We love our dads! Kate made Paul this placemat for Father's Day. The girls gave him some chocolate and I made him a mango toast with his favorite coconut peanut butter from Hawaii. Paul is an amazing father to our girls and we love celebrating him.

Summer nights! We love eating dinner outside and then jumping in the pool after. 

Last day of school carnival. The girls have great friends and had fun at the carnival. Clara was happy to come along and be my helper.

Our sweet neighbor Lucy bought this cool antique surrey bike at a garage sale. We feel blessed to live around such great neighbors. 

Last day of school food fight! This has become a tradition the girls look forward to every year. We have friends over after school on the last day, eat lunch and then have a food fight with chocolate syrup and whip cream. Then the girls jump in the pool. Always lots of screaming and laughter!

My birthday! I turned 35 and my mom still throws me the best birthday parties! She hosted some family and friends at her pool for dinner, amazing dessert and swimming. She throws a great party!

On my actual birthday I felt spoiled by friends dropping by. I was busy packing for our month long trip we were getting ready to leave on the next day, but was able to get a pedicure in the afternoon and pick up my favorite Indian takeout for dinner. We had ice cream snickers--my favorite. Kate made me a cool baseball hat and Paul gave me a beautiful pearl bracelet. 35 feels great!