Spring Soccer

 We aren't quite sure how we feel about soccer yet.  Initially we wanted Brinley to try it simply because it's a team sport and it's important for kids to learn how to work as a team.  She's come a long ways from doing cartwheels on the field the first year she played.  She was back and fourth on playing this year, but eventually decided she wanted to play.  Sometimes she loves it and sometimes she hates it.  It may not be here thing and that's okay.  Regardless, they had a good year and she had an excellent coach, two of them actually.  Dustin helped coach Brinley's team this year.  I know she loved having him help out with her team. 

Made me Smile

We were doing yard work one Saturday and the shrub Dustin and I were pruning had a million ladybugs on it.  Lun made friends with one and it stayed on her finger for seriously like 15 minutes.  

My Favorite Friend

"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning."

 

 

One thing I could not live without right now is my weekly date night with husband!  He's my rock and I love spending time with him.  He's found me in a heap on the kitchen floor, listened to things that weigh me down and let me cry on his shoulder (literally) more than I care to mention as of late.  Life has a crazy way of working out, when I am weak he is strong and when he's been weak I have managed to stay strong and that is one of the many reasons I know that when God created us, we were intended to be together. 

 

 

Having a few hours of just -him- each week has been a huge blessing in my life.  Sometimes we sit around watching our favorite series (may or may not be Gilmore Girls right now), we've been trail running, hiking, mountain biking, dinner dates with and without friends, worked out at the gym and even had premier seats to see Dave Ramsey live.  No matter what we do, I'm grateful for the moments spent investing in our marriage and healing my soul. 

Easter 2014

It's quite the bunch when we all gather together at Grandma's.  Hope these days never come to an end.

She Did It!

This cute girl has wanted her hair as long as Rapunzel's for...  Well, probably since she first watch Tangled.  Her long hair was beautiful, but if I'm being honest, I was more than ready for her to have it gone.  It was just such a pain, she was always bawling when I brushed it or curled it or did anything with it.  I've tried to convince her to cut it, but she just wouldn't give.  So what convinced her to finally cut it?  The fact that her hair will now be worn by a sick child in the form of a wig.  Donating her hair to Locks of Love was all it took for this girl.  She was proud of a peach to hand over her 12 plus inches.  Isn't she darling? 

What Happened in Vegas... (Day 7 & 8)

Our girls love the temple, often time when we are on vacation we like to walk around the Temple Grounds.  They love it, they really do.  For Las Vegas being such a scummy place the Temple holds no exception to it's standards.  It really was beautiful.  And remember me saying I wasn't a huge fan of the desert?  We found the funnest location when we went out for dinner.  I'm sad I didn't get pictures, of course it was developed desert, but it was beautiful and the atmosphere was so fun.  I loved it! 

And as for day 8, well it was hardly a vacation.  Just a long drive home to beautiful Cache Valley.

What Happened in Vegas... (Day 6)

One thing we loved about our stay at Grandview Las Vegas was the pools.  There were so many of them.  We were excited to see that we had the whole upper deck to ourselves.  We spent the day swimming then went to Hoover Dam and walked across the bridge.  It's not hard to get used to the sunshine, it snowed at home while we were away.

What Happened in Vegas... (Day 5)

We spent the day experiencing Vegas life... kid style of course.  We went to Circus Circus, watched some of the circus acts, ate lunch at the Rainforest Café, went to watch the mermaids swim at the Silverton, but they weren't swimming that day.  If you knew how much these girls loved mermaids you would understand that it was truly and honor just to have their pictures taken with them.  We also did some shopping... like a little bit of shopping... like we had two rambunctious little girls with us kind of shopping. 

 

What Happened in Vegas (Day 4)

 

On day 4 we went to Red Rock Canyon.  For someone who does not love the desert, I thought this was really pretty.  And by "doesn't love the desert" I mean I just couldn't live there.  I appreciate the sun and all, but if I'm going to live somewhere hot you can bet there will be an ocean nearby and I just prefer a bit more color in my life.  Brinley spent most of the time behind the camera or being a party pooper so here's the array of pictures we ended up with.

What happened in Vegas (Day 3)

 

Something I loved about this vacation was the fact that I was able to get up before my family every morning and workout.  The gym equipment was mediocre, but 21 flights of stairs, now that's a workout.  However, I don't understand why in the case of a fire you are directed to use the stairs when it took me three days to find them.  Whatever.

 

We spent the third day swimming (of course) and then went to the Bodies Museum.  We didn't intend to go to the museum since we had the girls with us, I just didn't think you could take kids, but we saw a brochure and noticed it had prices for kids so we asked Brinley if she would like to go.  She agreed, so we went.  We sort of rushed through it because their attention span is shorter than ours, I would have like to read everything had we not taken them.  The human body is so AMAZING!  Brinley really liked it and learned  a lot, like what cancer looks like, and what smoking does to your lungs.  I will never forget the impact the babies had on her though.  There is a whole section of babies, first she saw a set of conjoined twins and her eyes started to tear up.  I think it was the reality that those were real babies.  She said seeing the babies made her want to have a baby brother or sister.   There is a part that shows all the stages of babies in the womb.  The first one (I think it was 10 weeks) was just a speck.  Brinley was fascinated and couldn't believe that she used to be the size of a crumb. 

 

The other day I stood and watched her at Gymnastics silently thinking, she's almost 7, look at her, how did that happen?

And then today she woke early and crawled into my bed while I was getting ready, she rested for a bit, preparing herself to start the day.  I jumped on top of her, threw my arms around her.  I kissed her forehead and ran my fingers through her hair.  I spent several minutes studying her, the cemetery of her face, the arch in her eyebrows, the fullness of her lips.  I pay particular attention to the freckles that have developed on her nose, they are like the ones I used to have.  She is perfect!  And I too can't believe she used to be the size of a crumb.