Pittsburgh spoilin!

My Mom and little sister and I all have April birthdays so way back before our birthdays, we talked about getting together in Pittsburgh to celebrate together but it took till September to get our schedules all aligned.  My parents are temporarily living it up in Pittsburgh in a downtown apartment right in the theater district so we decided it would be fun to play in the city for a few days.  Honestly I have never left my kids and with all the moving stress and Garrett starting his new job I kept thinking it wasn't going to happen, but in the end, my awesome friends came to the rescue and my amazing husband stepped up to make it one of the best weeks ever!

After arriving at 2 AM on Thursday after flying for seriously all stinking day long, Abby and I crashed and slept in as late as we wanted!!  Well actually first we stayed up giggling like we were 12 again for quite some time:)  Seriously I don't know what it is about sleeping in the same bed as my little sister that just made it seem like we were in our shared room growing up again and being dorks together.  It was so fun!  So after we finally woke up around 10:30(sigh) we took this really fun double decker bus tour of the city and learned all about the history of Pittsburgh.  For instance, did you know that Pittsburgh holds the record of the most bridges in any city in the world?  462, which is five more than Venice, Italy.  Who knew?  Anyway after that we had lunch at this amazing little restaurant two doors down from my parent's apartment where we had the best bruschetta I have ever eaten in my life.  The restaurant used all local organic produce.  SO good.  Then that night we went to a little burrough as they call them in Pittsburgh for an Italian Fest.  Basically like Little Italy.  The food was so yummy!

They had live music playing and tons of vendors so we got to share and try everything.  Some highlights were homemade meatballs, canolli, and Spinach and feta grilled pizza.  After we were sufficiently stuffed we went home and went to bed.

On Saturday we spent the morning at the Strip district which was one of my favorite places.  We ate breakfast at Pamela's which is famous for their crepe style pancakes.  Apparently the Obama's recently went there and were so impressed that they flew Pamela to the white house to teach their chef how to make her pancakes.  So yummy!  Honestly the strip felt like being back in London.  Every Saturday morning we would go to portobello road and shop and this place was so similar.  I love the little shops and markets with all the fresh produce.  This was a fish market that had tons of fresh fish.  

This was inside the chocolate shop.  Umm need I say more?  I am pointing to a vintage Guittard chocolate sign.  I wanted to buy everything!  I bought the kids some presents along the strip and we shopped for a while before heading to the German settlement called "Economy" for their Oktoberfest.

Abby is showing her muscles by crushing the apples in the cider press.  This place reminded me of Nauvoo with all their little demonstations.  I loved the blacksmith shop the most which is also one of my faves in Nauvoo.  The bakery was also a hit with hand churned butter and fresh baked bread.

That night my amazing Dad scored us 5th row seats right behind home plate at the Pirates game.  This is the view just a couple blocks from their apartment on the walk to the Pirate's stadium.  I loved that we could walk everywhere!

  We made it on the jumbo screen twice and the little girl in front of us told me we were on tv too.( her friend had texted her).  While the game was very entertaining, the true highlight of the night was the buffet that was included with our fancy seats.  Are you sensing a theme on this trip?  The buffet was amazing and then when we came back to our seats we got to order any ball park snacks for free.  Seriously that is how all baseball going experiences should be!  Plus they won so that was even better!

Since it was the last home series of the year, they had "fan jam" after the game which was a concert by Steve Miller Band.  My Dad was so excited when he got the tickets because he was thinking that it was Dave Matthews Band, who I love, but he had gotten mixed up.  It's okay though, it was still fun.  Let me tell ya Steve Miller is no Dave Matthews though:)

The next day was another adventure as Abby and my Mom, and I drove out to see Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright.  I have always wanted to see Falling Water since taking interior design classes in high school and college plus my great grandpa apprenticed under FLR so that made it all that much cooler.

This is a picture on the front bridge walking up to the house. 

This is the entrance to the house.  One of the themes of the house was horizontal lines so the rock is all going horizontally throughout the house.   

This is the amazing view from the overlook in the woods.  The Kaufman's who built the house also owned 1500 acres around the property.  The grounds were so beautiful with leaves just starting to turn gold.  

Every room had it's own balcony throughout the house and the point was to draw the Kaufman's outside as much as possible.  Even the family room had a special staircase going down to the river.  The glass staircase opened up to act as their air conditioner and to bring the sound of the river into the home.  It was so cool to finally see such an amazing piece of design in person.

After Falling Water, we went shopping on the "south side" at H&M, another love I discovered while living in London.  There it was Abby's mission to get me some clothes that were actually in style:)  She did well.  That night we went up the Dusquesne (pronounced dukane) incline.  It was basically a trolly that goes up the side of the mountain that the steel workers used to ride to get up and down from the steel mills to their houses.  The view was so amazing!

This is a picture of the incline so you can get an idea of what it looks like.  

It was fun to ride at night with all the lights of the city.(Notice the stylish outfit:)  When we arrived at the top we went to an amazing fish restaurant that was at the top of this huge building so the view was even more amazing.  We seriously could see the entire city from our table.  Oh and yet again the food was amazing!

The next day was our last day so after all our hard work we decided we needed a spa day:)  We got so spoiled and got highlights and haircuts and manicures.  My Mom's hair stylist struggled though so after three sets of color her hair was finally right!  Unfortunately that ate up a big chunk of our afternoon so we only had time to run home and get ready for another amazing restaurant before going to WICKED!

This restaurant was Italian and it is right across the street from the theater so it was totally packed!  Everyone there was going to Wicked that night so about 10 minutes before the show started, everyone got up and left.  

I was so excited to see Wicked again eventhough I saw it in May.  It turned out to be the same cast but the Glinda was an understudy.  I  could listen to Elphaba's voice for ten straight performances and never get tired of it.  Seriously she is amazing!  We had awesome seats right behind the orchestra so it was a totally different experience than the first time I saw it.  It's crazy to be so close that you can see the actors spit while they sing:)  So THANK YOU to my fabulous parents for an amazing week of fun and spoiling.  I really needed it and though I missed my family terribly I loved every minute of it!  

Ward Campout

I have to catch up yet again on my blog so here some highlights of the ward campout from the beginning of September.  Garrett was gone to Texas to celebrate his birthday at the BYU game so at first I was planning on skipping it, but then my friend Erin had the best idea!

 

I was worried about setting up the giant tent and dealing with all the camp equipment by myself, but the truth is, I was dying for some dutch oven, so Erin said let's just do dinner and the bonfire and then come home.

And this made it all worth it!!  MMMM!  Erin taught me this fabulous recipe when we went camping together last summer and I have made it everytime we have gone camping since because it is one of those things you just crave if you don't have it for a couple months.  In fact I really want it right now!

The kids were really excited we went and had lots of fun playing in the lake and roasting s'mores at the campfire.  They love the dutch oven cookin' too.  

My little sleepy head.  Carter is always the first to zonk and the bonfire didn't end till about 10pm so he was done well before then.  I love how Beckett is touching his face.  So sweet!

And then there is my little night owl who would stay up till midnight every night if I let her, but I don't!  She had a great time with her buddies Izzy, and Livvy.  

ch-ch-ch changes

My Mom often said, if there's one thing you can always count on, it's change.  Well the seasons are a changing, our address is changing, Garrett's employer has changed as well as his age, and I am officially entering a new stage of motherhood!!

I now have an elementary school student!  Rylynn is so me and it is so fun for me to see her entering this new stage of her life but it's also sad.  We are both such worry worts but then we bring our A game when it's time!  The two weeks leading up to first grade starting, Rylynn was really nervous about school and kept asking me questions and every time we talked about it she got anxious.  Then the day before school started it was like my confident Rylynn kicked into gear and she was super excited and all her fears were gone.   

She was really excited at back to school night to see her very own desk and to see lots of friends that were going to be in her class.  I think there were only two kids in the whole class that she didn't already know.  

Rylynn got a really sweet blessing from her Daddy the night before school started and it was so perfect for her.  I walked her in on the first day and she was so excited and ready to go.  I however was so sad to think of her eating lunch in a cafeteria without me.  I don't know why but the whole lunch thing hit me the hardest.  I always dreaded the day Rylynn started first grade because it is the beginning of the end to me.  Once the first kid starts into real school it seems like the rest of the years just fly together.  Carter of course was so mad that he didn't get to eat lunch at school but I told him that Rylynn had eaten lunch with me almost every single day for the past 6 1/2 years and he had to pay his dues!  I am not ready to let him go and honestly I still can't believe that Rylynn is gone all day at school. Im so happy that she loves her class and her teacher.  She is loving her school too and can't wait till we move so she can walk or ride her bike to school.

Garrett had a great birthday this year.  We went out to lunch to the brazillian grill and stuffed ourselves full of meat.  Now that is my husband's idea of a great meal!  Then we had a family birthday dinner a couple days later complete with blueberry cheesecake.  Then to be extra spoiled he got to fly to TX for the weekend and go to the BYU football game with my brother.  This year brings on a new job with a great firm downtown.  He is very excited to have a new challenge and experience.  It is funny how the Lord takes us on paths we didn't think we would travel.  Garrett's firm taught him so much about how to be a good attorney and about his strengths and weaknesses.  He got more experience in 2 years there than most attorneys get in 7 at a firm and it definitely opened up doors at this new job.  

After a painful week of waiting and watching his sister go off to school, it was finally time for Carter to start Pre-K with Miss Teri!!  Carter has been waiting for this moment for two years and he was so excited when it finally came!  The only downer for him was that he doesn't get to take his awesome lunch box to school like Rylynn but that will come soon enough.  My sweet Carter boy is so funny.  This picture shows his shy and tentative nature when it comes to new things, but that little smirk also shows that he's secretly really excited too.  He really is growing up.  Sometimes I still think of him as my little man, but now he is the same age as Rylynn was when we moved here.  I can't believe that!  He also got a really sweet blessing before school started and we were totally amazed at how still and reverent he was during the whole thing.  It was pretty long and he listened so well to the whole thing.  I am so thankful for the priesthood in my home and the peace and comfort it brings to me and my kids.  

Lastly, we are moving into a house in two weeks and get to move out of this apartment much sooner than planned!  I am so happy I don't have to look out of that window every single day and picture my baby down at the bottom anymore.  The apartment manager let us out of our lease and the house became available in a perfect way and at the perfect time.  I am so humbled every single time I see the Lord's hand in my life and I am so thankful that he always provides for me and my little family.  So for once in my life I can say in all honesty: "bring on the changes!!" 

catching up

I have back posted pretty much our whole summer so if you want to catch up with us scroll down!  I still have a couple more posts to go but at least I'm almost completely through July.

A little perspective

I just love this boy so much!!  This picture is right before they let us leave the hospital on Monday night. I still can't believe we got to leave that night and the worst injury on the list was stitches.  Honestly this whole experience has just put everything into perspective for me.  When I was standing outside the CT scan room I was just praying and crying in the hallway and I just kept repenting for every cross word I had spoken to this boy and to all of my kids and promising that if I got to keep him that I would be so much more patient and loving.  Since we got home I have found that all his two-year old ways of getting intp trouble bug me much less than they did before.  Like getting in the dishwasher and unloading all the dirty dishes after I just loaded them or insisting that he open his yogurt himself and spilling it all over the carpet.  I just hold him and hug him and tell him I love him every chance I can get.  It is such an emotionally draining job to be a Mom but this experience has reminded me what a gift and a blessing each one of my healthy beautiful children are in my life.  I need to celebrate that more each day.  It also reminded me yet again how much my Heavenly Father loves me and helps me each day in this most important job.  He never asks me to do it alone.  He is always there.  I am so thankful he saved my son and let me continue to try each day to be a good Mom. 

This was when Beckett was strapped to the board and the hospital.  It was so sad to see him like this and I was so thankful when they finally unstrapped him and we could hold him again.  

Here he was all ready to go home.  

And here is the window he fell from.  The screen stayed broken and hanging there for a couple of days.  I still can't look out this window without reliving the whole scene.  All I can say is what a miracle!

Another Miracle

I know I have to update about two months worth of pictures and events on this blog but due to recent events I decided to just jump ahead to this news clip.  I will post more soon but I just wanted to get this up for my family to see.

http://www.khq.com/story/15312140/child-falls-from-third-story-window-in-liberty-lake?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6179551

The follow up story and my interview was on tonight so that will not be up for a little while.  We are just so thankful he is safe and we know this was truly a miracle.

http://www.khq.com/category/195686/video-landing-page?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6183492

The above is the follow up interview.

Finally home!

We used the term "home" very loosely for a couple weeks after we got home but we were thankful for a place to be together again.  While staying at our friend's house we got to celebrate our little Beckett's birthday!

I still can't believe our little man is 2 already.  We love our Beckett boy so much.  While staying at Stacey's house Beckett became obsessed with nerf guns so we bought him his very own for his birthday and he was so excited!  

He loved his tractor from Nana and Papa too!

Beckett was so funny about his candles.  He was hiding his eyes and saying hot!  He was not so into the whole blowing out the fire idea so Rylynn helped him out.

He was all about the cake when the fire went away:)

In my family growing up we had a tradition that on our birthday we got to pick a junk cereal since we never ate junk cereal on regular days.  We have continued this tradition in our family and it is one of our kids favorite presents.

With Beckett there was no question which present was his favorite.  He is our cereal boy.  That kid could live on cereal alone if we would let him.  He calls it "mook" and typically averages about 4 bowls a day.  

He was not so excited about the delicious birthday dinner I made him but he drank every last drop of his birthday cereal.  Ever since he started eating solid foods I could tell Beckett was going to be my picky eater.  The Dr told me that is very common in babies with bad reflux and since he was on reflux medicine the whole first year of his life I just sort of expected it.  He is doing better now but he is still by far my pickiest eater.  Some of the things he loves besides cereal are cottage cheese which he calls "moo" because there is a picture of a cow on the container, yogurt which he calls "woguk" and any kind of fruit.  He has such an infectious personality and anyone who is around him for a couple minutes falls in love with him.  He is definitely strong willed and independant but he is also so polite and affectionate. He is such a cuddly boy and he is always my first baby to say thank you.  He adores his "sissy and Caca" and still cries most times when Daddy leaves.  His favorite book in the world is Goodnight Moon and he already counts and pretends to read his books.  He also loves his blankies more than anything and he always has to have both blankies to sleep.  His favorite show is bubble guppies which he says in the cutest voice ever and his favorite movie is Tangled which he calls"ga guys".  His favorite song is "baby oh" by Justin Beiber and he shakes his little booty ever time it comes on:)

After Beckett's birthday party Garrett left for High Adventure for the week and the kids and I moved over to another friend's house for the week while we tried to find a rental house.  It was so fun for the kids to reconnect with their friends and get back to a normal routine.  One day we went to hang out with the Slacks while they ran a snow cone stand.  It was so much fun and the snow cones were yummy!  The ice cream truck came around while they were selling and he offered a trade of a free snow cone for free ice cream for all the kids!  I think he definitely got the losing end of that deal but he didn't seem to mind and the kids were thrilled.

After it was clear that the rental house was not in the cards at the moment I took the kids over and signed us up for an apartment.  Poor Carter was so worried about all his toys in storage and kept begging me to get them out for him.  I couldn't take living out of suitcases for one more day so off to the apartment we went.  One major plus to the apartment was that they had a pool!  We spent lots of time enjoying the pool over the next couple of weeks.

Things finally got a little bit back to normal as we settled into the apartment and then we got to do one of our favorite things we do each summer...get together with the Poyfairs!!  We started out the festivities with a trip to Silverwood.  It was so much fun!

    

I didn't take very many pictures at the actual park because we were having too much fun but here is s cute one of my boys flying in the helicopters.  This is one of the few rides Beckett could go on without a parent and he was loving riding all by himself with Caca!

We did a great job of wearing these babies out.  Mid-day Beckett was ready to crash, but he resisted the urge so he didn't miss out on any of the excitement.

The day after Silverwood we went to the lake for the day and played and then that night the parents got to go out and have fun while the kids stayed home with a babysitter.  This is what we came home to!  The babysitter said they were insisting that they all sleep together!

The day of goodbyes was a hard one.  Rylynn and Olivia were both crying.  These girls love each other so much and I can't believe they are so grown up now!  Olivia is going into 2nd grade and Rylynn is going into 1st.  When they met they were only 1 and barely 2.  

Carter and Jack didn't cry.  They love each other deep down but they still like to fight over toys and beat eachother up when they're together:)

These two had me cracking up!  I love these silly smiles.  It was so fun to get to know Madelynn's personality more on this trip.

We love you Poyfairs!!  Next time we will try to have a house for you to stay in:)

Aria's Baptism

After we left Provo my Mom and I drove the kids down to Portland to attend Aria's baptism.  It was a great few days playing with cousins and celebrating Aria's decision to be baptized.

 
 We got there a couple of days before the baptism so we could play around together.  One day we went to this really pretty beach.  I wish I could remember the name but it was somewhere just outside of Portland.  The weather was perfect and they had a beach as well as a big splash park, playground, and gardens.  The kids had a great time playing in the water.

After the beach we went to the spaghetti factory to celebrate Aria's birthday.  They had a balloon guy come around and make balloon animals for the kids. Nathan got a sword and sheath.  He was quite talented.

Beckett was a big fan of his balloon robot but nothing topped his very own cup of lemonade!

Marianne's friend is a photographer so we got some really beautiful pictures of Aria's special day.  

Aria's baptism was such a special day. We were so glad we got to be there for her.  The kids and I got to sing with Aria's other cousins and Nana and Marianne both gave wonderful talks.  Nana made an amazing baptism quilt for Aria that I wanted to steal.  I can't wait for Rylynn's baptism to see her quilt!

We are so proud of Aria and love her so much!

The day after the baptism Nana flew home to the cabin.  After church we went to a beautiful park with gardens and ponds.  The kids loved the frog/fish pond.  Rylynn brought a net so she could be fully prepared to catch a frog:)  The flowers were beautiful and along one of the paths we saw a giant banana slug.  Rylynn was so grossed out and tried to kill it but Marianne quickly explained that in Oregon they like banana slugs.  I had to laugh because it was such an Oregonian thing to say.

We stayed until it got dark and we had to drag the kids to the car.  I love being surrounded by God's beautiful creations on the Sabbath.

Oregon was the last stop on our month long trip.  As we headed home to the unknown I felt a mix of relief to have our family back together and to be back in our own town with our own things but we still had no place to live.  I was completely shocked that Garret wasn't able to secure a rental for us while we were gone but I knew something would work out.  The day after we got home we went and walked through a rental house right by Rylynn's elementary school.  As soon as we left we started preparing the application.  I called the management company to ask a question and was informed that they had just received an application on that property.  Seriously!  That house had been sitting there for like 3 weeks and no one had applied and then the day we apply someone barely beat us.  At that point we were staying with Garrett's cousin and then we moved over to our friend's house who were out of town for a week.  After staying at friend's houses for two weeks and nothing was working out with rental houses I decided to just get an apartment(Garrett was gone for a week with the YM on high adventure).  I was not thrilled about the idea but it was an immediate solution and at that point I had been living out of a suitcase with my kids and moving from one house to the next for 6 weeks straight!  The week before I signed up for the apt Garrett got an interview with a firm that he had wanted to work for straight out of law school but the interview wasn't going to be for another three weeks.  We were completely in limbo...