Year Of America: Less than a month!

We are less than a month away from our Year of America departure date, and plans are in full swing!

While I haven't been talking about it much lately, this trip takes up most of my daily thought. It is a slow going large project, which has its own designated folder on my computer desktop of ideas, camping hacks, packing lists, menus, itineraries for each state, and maps. I also have a Pinterest board of cool things to see and car trip ideas for kids. Slowly I have been sifting through these articles and picture posts to find exactly what will work best for our little family. :)

I now have road trip specific calendars hanging on our pantry door in the kitchen so that our whole family knows when we are leaving, and where we will be on each day. Together we made a paper chain link countdown so that we know visually how many days are left until the big road trip :D

cute, and mildly terrifying...

This week we also started a list of all the crafts and projects we want to make for our car ride to be more enjoyable. Starting any of these before now just seemed silly because a) I would need to store them somewhere, and b) I didn't want the kids to get REALLY excited 3 months ago and then lose interest by the time the road trip actually got here. So we spent most of the last few months making lists and gathering ideas, and now we are finally going out to purchase things and make stuff.

The whole point of making the Year of America our family theme for 2016 was so that we could spend time bonding together in a unique way, while seeing many parts of the country that we have never been to. The last thing I want is for this 3 week car experience to feel like torture, or have us rolling our eyes and wishing that we had thought of "this" or "that" because we are miserable and want to go home early. My ideal would be that we have a simple and stress-free vacation where everyone is comfortable, warm enough, cool enough, full of yummy food, hydrated, happy and entertained, loving each other, and that all of our supplies are easily accessible and nothing gets lost. :D Ahhh, that's the dream!

While Pinterest is full of LOTS of ideas, I wanted to be realistic about how much time and money I was spending to create hours of toddler-car-ride-entertainment, and I also wanted to create things that would entertain them repeatedly for long periods of time, not just a "once and now this bores me" type of situation. I also didn't want anything sticky or potentially melty, and the activities had to be age appropriate because my kids can't spell or read yet, and their imagination is great only within reason. (I didn't want Kate to get frustrated with having to stay in the lines, or reading coloring prompts when she basically just draws jellyfishes and scribbles on everything.) She also can't do bingo or alphabet challenges on her own, so hands-on, tactile, and snack oriented games definitely sounded more appealing.

Here is what we have planned so far to make our road trip enjoyable for everyone:

A prize box. Ahead of time I will be wrapping small prizes that we can open as we go. Some will be individual things (like play-doh or sidewalk chalk), and others will be family goodies (like giant bubble wands or U.S. Flash Cards). I found this great idea for DIY scratch off cards for the trip, so each day they will scratch off a picture of where we are going to go and when we get there and the kids "FIND" the landmark, we will open a prize!

I also found this Car Scavenger Hunt which is something we can do all together as a family, and whoever points out each item will get a snack. :D Once the whole sheet is full we will unlock a prize to open for the trip. (I am laminating all this stuff because I especially like activities that are reusable!)

Calming Bottles. I found lots of recipes for these online. They are bottles full of goo that you shake and then watch as they "calm down". We are planning to do a couple with glitter and one with alphabet beads or little toys to play "I Spy".

Personalized Plastic Tubs. This one is REALLY important to me. Each kid will have their own plastic tub with a lid on it to keep their own toys, snacks, stickers, and activities in. This way there is no fighting over what belongs to whom, the car stays less cluttered, and Kate and Wynn are responsible for their own clean up each day.

Snack Necklaces. The day before we go, the kids will get to make necklaces with pretzels and cheerios to eat and wear in the car :D I'm hoping this will help them be less messy without loose snacks everywhere ;) I can dream.

Binoculars. This week we will be making binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. The kids can look for things extra well with their own personalized spy goggles! Paint and stickers, here we come.

What types of activities and games do you play with your family on long car trips?

Thankfully we will only be on the road 3-4 hours each day, so nothing incredibly long at one time, but still. Being in the car and away from home every day is going to be a challenge. Tell me your ideas! :D

Mountains, May, and Mother's Day

 May was full of some amazing moments!

For Mother's Day, the kids drew me some exceptionally stellar cards. I love Kate's "jellyfish" family!

Jon had the kids list some things that they love about me. It just made me melt! By far the best gifts ever. :)

For dinner we had a garlic herb salmon over brown rice with asparagus and homemade artisan bread. It was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture before we ate it all! My mom came over to share dinner with us, and we wrapped up the evening with a rich dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate buttercream, which was all made from scratch. It was seriously the best, and will be the only chocolate cake recipe I ever use for the rest of my entire life.

I even made cupcakes out of the extra batter so that the kids had easier to devour hand-held desserts. It was a hit!

My mom also got me this gorgeous bracelet: *swoon*

And I got this really awesome card from Jon's parents in England. A lady in their ward hand makes them!

It was really great getting to spend the day together :)
Mom, Kate, Me, and Wynn:

The most surprising thing about Mother's Day was that it was a nice and sunny morning (we even got to take a family walk after church) and then hailed like crazy during dinner! It was extremely windy with marble size hail coming down for at least 5 minutes. It was nuts! Thankfully things cleared up again for mom to walk back home :) I'm glad we didn't have anywhere to drive that night.

***

May also brought a fantastic weekend at the first annual Ammon Scottish Festival, where Jon competed in the Highland Games :D This was at the coaxing of his good friend Stephanie that he works with at Porter's. She's legit.

Jon was super out of his element, but he kept trying! He got a marked distance/height in every event, which was cool. It was really fun to watch the games and spend our day outside. We only got rained on a little bit in the afternoon. Totally worth it. :)

***

Near the middle of the month, my mom and I took the kids to Utah for a few days where we visited my Grandma Carolyn (the kids' last-living Great-Grandparent). We had an excellent time exploring Provo and enjoying the company of my Grandma :) We were also able to see my Uncle Carl and cousin Nathan Hardy. The kids had a blast!

View of the original Provo Temple from Grandma's porch:

This cracked me up! I asked Kate to make sure she took off her shoes and put them by the door... she took me very literally. ;)

Gram playing blocks with Kate:

Uncle Carl hiding under the coffee table with Kate and Tortoise:

Family selfie! (I love Kate's arm around Edwin. She totally did that on her own)

One of my favorite parts of trekking down to Utah was getting to see the Webers who now live in Springville:

Their backyard opens up to this awesome park with a stellar playground and mountains just behind :D

***

When we got home from Utah, my dad came to visit for a day. (ignore Kate's evil glare here, and the fact that my dad is sleeping...) It was a whirlwind trip, so I wasn't very good about taking pictures.

We have been so blessed by friends and family this month, we have really felt the love!

***

May wrapped up with some picnics at the temple:

date nights:

space helmets:

Helping make dinner:

and FINALLY some warm weather, which means the return of evening walks and excellent Idaho sunsets. There is just no way to accurately capture how fantastic the sky is here. It is incredible:

I guess you could say we've had a pretty nice month! Idaho is treating us well :)

Steph @ no particular milestone

Since I've been doing updates on everybody else recently, I thought it might be a good time to post one on myself! I don't usually ever talk about my own interests and growth on the blog, since I'm usually behind the scenes and just generally update on our family activities and such. :)

Right now I am 28 years and 8 months old, which is a rather un-exciting age. 28 has been good to me so far, but 29 is coming up really fast, and it feels weird to have gone through this decade so quickly. The years 10-19 seemed to take a lot longer than 20-29...

Just really loving my glasses! I'm becoming increasingly more blind in my old age.

For the past two years I have been a full-time student at BYUI, and it's been amazing! (But also a ton of work and really stressful.) Since reaching our goal this past month of becoming debt free, we re-evaluated the pros and cons of me being in school right now, and decided together that this is a good time to take that leap of faith and settle into me being a full-time mom. :) It's always been the goal, but when Kate and Edwin were babies I had a full-time job and Jon couldn't find consistent work. Once we moved out here to Idaho, things started falling into place, and once Jon had a couple semesters of adjunct teaching we were able to see that he can support us, and I need to trust that it's working! So as of this Spring semester I have officially withdrawn my enrollment from the school. I know we aren't 100% in the place we'd like to be yet (we still look forward to having one full-time job someday, maybe even with benefits!) but the point is that we have what we need. It's tight, but we are in a great ward, in a community that we never expected to love like we do, and we're planning for the most awesome family Summer that we've ever had, plus exciting adventures for next year. Things are good, and even though it took a few years longer than we originally planned, I don't want to miss this time while the kids are little and really need me at home the most.

Blacknose sheep from Aunt Michelle :D

mini-Jamba's with my pals!

I die!! <3 td="">

While being on break this past week, and facing my full-time mommyhood square in the face, I've had a lot of time to think more about myself and my likes, dislikes, interests, and goals. I'm working toward being more physically fit, and healthy overall, and I'm also embracing my bakerella side. I've made some sort of cake, cookie, or dessert almost every other day in the past two weeks!

SO MUCH YUM.

So here are just some things about me that I've thrown together:
-Oatmeal Raisin cookies are my all time favorite!
-I have a love affair with Panda Express. Which is about as legit Chinese as Taco Bell is legit Mexican, but I love them both. My favorite plate: orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp with fried rice on the side. In fact, Panda Express was the first thing I asked for after Edwin was born. Thanks to some amazing friends for delivering on that wish while I was in the hospital. <3 p="">-My favorite meal to go out to eat for is breakfast. I especially love egg scrambles or omelets with goat cheese. :) That, and large fancy muffins.
-I could pretty much live off of Mexican food for the rest of my life. Too bad most of it is covered in cheese :(
-One of my favorite things to window shop or browse for are accessories. I know I'm 10 years old, but I seriously love Claire's. The problem is that I swoon over costume jewelry, but then I never talk myself into actually wearing it. I find myself becoming ever increasingly conservative in my earrings and necklaces. I wear studs and posts of simple pearls or single stones most of the time. Although I love the look of rings on every finger, if I ever try to wear more than two rings at a time, I feel like my hands are drowning. ;)
-Current jewelry goals: getting a really good birthstone ring.
-I hate the word "Wanderlust". I deal with it, but honestly it's right up there with "moist".
-At church we are occasionally given positions to serve in, like as Sunday School teachers, or in leadership roles. Right now I am the first counselor in the Relief Society presidency, which is the organization for all adult women in our ward area (a ward is a group of families who all live in a close regional boundary area, and meet together as a congregation on Sundays). My job is to coordinate our Sunday meetings, so I take care of the lesson schedule, hold teacher training, and make sure the music is lined up each week. The BEST part of this calling is being able to serve the sisters in our ward and get to know them better. We have weekly presidency meetings, plan monthly activities, visit our sisters, and provide for their needs. The ward becomes your extended family. I only do a small part of this, and it is a huge group effort, but it's been one of the best callings I've ever had. :)
-I like to take selfies, but hardly ever post them. Also, I don't understand duck lips...
-I realized about a year ago that I have the makeup bag of a 7th grader, and I set out on a quest to learn what to actually wear and how to wear it. :) I started interviewing my friends via text message to find out what they use and why. I want to makeup like an adult with brushes and stuff! I began a journey of makeup confessions and experiments... only to find that I really didn't have the time or money to do so. haha! It's still a work in progress ;) But I feel like I'm on the right track to looking more like an almost 30-something and less like a high school freshman.

-I am also on a mission to find a fantastic red everyday lipstick. Recommendations would be appreciated.
-About 11 years ago I was an avid musician. I would play for hours every day. I always told myself that I wouldn't be that person who stopped and let music become something that "I used to do". I still have my flute, but I haven't touched it in months. When I do occasionally practice, the kids just cry at me and say it's too loud... haha! I still imagine that someday I will join a community orchestra or something. :)
-Dark chocolate is the only kind worth eating.
-I LOVE camping! It's always been my favorite kind of vacation.
-I've never been to Hawaii, but I would really really like to go someday. Maybe just one pampering resort vacation would be fun ;)
-My favorite book genre is memoir, and my favorite book series are Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia. My favorite author is Roald Dahl, and I especially love his autobiographies. The book that made the biggest impact on me growing up was The Giver. I've read it so many times! -- no, I have not seen the movie. C.S. Lewis is also amazing, and I'd love to read everything he's ever penned. The list of books I would LIKE to read is unfortunately much longer than the list of books I have read. I used to read constantly, but now I think that the last time I read a book all the way through was about a year ago... and it was for school. Still I like to spend hours wandering bookstores, and have a hard time leaving without at least a few to add to our bookshelves :)
-While I love being a mom, it's also the hardest thing ever. And hard in ways that I never expected. Mostly it's just hard to never get a break. Or be able to pee alone. It's like every time I enter the bathroom the kids decide to sit on each other or break something. I have so much respect for moms.
-One thing that I really love, but would like to be TONS better at, is photography. It's a fun medium of art, but I would really like to actually take a class someday. That's always been a far off goal.
-If there is bread in the house, I WILL eat it without reservation. I cannot take a loaf of homemade bread out of the oven and not cut off a hot slice to eat with butter and honey. It is impossible to resist.
-One of the best traditions that Jon and I started over the years has been collecting mugs. We don't own any regular glasses, but every time I open the cupboard it makes me smile to see where we have been. Every mug holds a memory. :) The goal was to have these hanging on the wall to save cupboard space. Someday we will do that.
-I think spa style bathrooms are amazingly gorgeous. I'm a sucker for the white towels and natural light with candles and plants mixed in. I've been trying to get our family bathroom to move in this direction for years. This is my someday bathroom.

If you want to see other stuff I'm up to on a daily basis, or things that I like, follow my Instagram here or my Pinterest here. I'm REALLY into food. I would also really really like to make a Spring grapevine wreath for our door. So that's a current goal.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. :) More life adventures up ahead!

Jon @ 31 years

On Monday Jon turned 31!

Because he had to work (adulting sucks) we had a birthday brunch at home. The food was so good it was pretty much all gone before I had a chance to take any pictures! We had roasted red pepper, spinach, and goat cheese omelets with homemade strawberry pastries. mmmmmm :)

loving Edwin's super-cheesy-squinty-eyed face right here!

After brunch we had a Nutella chocolate cake! Turns out it is possible to overdo it a little on the ganache... it dripped over the whole cake and pooled on the cake stand, haha! Next time I'll remember that less is more ;)

Jon was completely spoiled by friends and family on his birthday. :) I got him a new pair of hiking boots, because his old ones went to hiking-boot-heaven a couple years ago, and he definitely needed some for our Year of America with all the camping we'll be doing!

Amongst other things, Jon received cards, birthday care packages, a new edition of Munchkin, lots of yummy candy and treats, and a NEW CELL PHONE. (*cue angels singing*)

He had his last one for about 6 years. It would randomly shut off on him, you could only talk on speaker phone, and it was very much an old-non-smart phone, so it was getting increasingly harder to text with him and take pictures--or do much of anything--because his phone was not compatible with any type of emoji or fun. NOW his phone is extremely more fancy than mine. It even tells you how many more minutes until it reaches a full battery charge when you have it plugged in! The reason he held off on getting a new phone for so long was because he did not want a touch screen keyboard. In the end, Blackberry came out with a genius new phone called the PRIV which is the same size as my Samsung Galaxy S5, has curved edges like the Edge, with the same Android OS and touch screen capabilities, but with the added addition of a slide-up screen that has a full tangible keyboard underneath! (like the old Chocolate phones from around 2006) It's basically Jon's dream phone. Everything he ever wanted, including an 18 mp camera... are you kidding me??

Jon's coworkers even made his day at Porter's special by decorating his car and bringing him cupcakes and cookies. #spoiled

Let's also not forget that we surprised Jon a few days before his birthday with a bowling night!

The kids helped me make mini Nutella cheesecakes in homemade chocolate cookie cups (*swoon!*), and then we rocked out at Fat Cat's with an hour of bowling! (Which I am still totally sore from, btw.)

The night was so fun, that this is the only shot I actually got of anyone really bowling, HAHA!

Who says that getting older means your birthdays can't be amazing??
Happy birthday, Jon!!
Showing that third decade of life who's boss. ;)