What's Up Wednesday

Today, I’m linking up with Shay, Shaefer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

What we're eating: 

Pretty much just this ice cream :) It's my new favorite Blue Bell flavor! 

What I'm reminiscing about:
I got a bunch of pictures from my father-in-law while we were at Lake Powell and found all of these from this winter when we went sledding for Spencer's birthday. A few favorites:




What I'm loving:  
 These screen shots:


What we've been up to:

Still swimming since it's still dang hot in Arizona!

Jack gave a talk in primary this week and Kate was enjoying being with the big kids :)

We attempted to go out to eat as a family, and then we were again reminded how stupid it is to pay money to wrestle your kids in public!

What I'm working on:
A couple of months ago I got trained to run Facebook Ads for businesses. I got my first client this month and I'm so excited!

What I'm dreading:
Jack ever losing another tooth ;) It's all just too traumatic/dramatic! haha
He lost his first tooth last week and his second tooth a couple of days later! When he lost his first tooth, he was at school and he had to go to the nurse's office. He said that the blood made him have a tummy ache so he stayed at the nurse's office during recess too :)

What I'm excited about:
My new nephew, Max Fielding Wirthlin. Isn't he the CUTEST?!

I love him already!!!

What I'm watching:

This is Us!!!!
What I'm reading:
I am still very slowly re-reading Harry Potter. I'm just about to start the Goblet of Fire :)
What I've been listening to:

• Serial Season 3 podcast just aired and I like it so far!
• I LOVED this entire BYU devotional - Making Room for Struggle as Well as Faith. 

"Remember Christ has no human body now upon the earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours, my brothers and sisters, are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion has to look upon the world, and yours are the lips with which His love has to  speak." - Sarah Elizabeth Rowntree

"Only by learning to follow the Lord's example of testifying to, compassionately mourning with, and persistently loving people in a variety of circumstances can we effectively minister to the one. As aspiring Christians but still imperfect Saints, we may not always understand the struggles of others or know how to help. But we can always love them, creating safe spaces where others - and often we ourselves - can struggle with the hard sayings of life." - Eric D. Huntsman 
What I'm wearing: 
I'm loving my new Pura Vida bracelets. I signed up for the monthly club for my birthday and this was the September pack.


What I'm doing this weekend: 
Jack has his first soccer game!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
October everything!!!

Bonus Question: What is your favorite way to eat/drink pumpkin? 
I am not a huge pumpkin fan, but I love pumpkin bread!

All about Kate

I keep telling myself to wait until Kate is 18 months to do a post about her, but there are just too many pictures of her to post and too many little quirks about her that I want to remember right at 17-months-old so here it goes:

• Kate loves shoes and trying all of her shoes on. We call her Joe Jr. (from the movie While You Were Sleeping) and when she's sad, we jokingly say when she needs cheered up like Lucy tells Joe Jr in the movie, "Awe, why don't we go try on some of my shoes..." (and it seriously works!) However, her Nike shoes trump all of the shoes and she would wear those everywhere if we let her (and we usually do!)
• I don't know many 17-month-olds who can request "The Newsies" but she does! She LOVES dancing and always begs at the TV and says, "Noooneeee!" and while I queue up the Newsies soundtrack, she already starts dancing in silence :) 
• The only song she can sing is This is The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman. And it's just the beginning, "Oooooooh" part with lots of clapping involved :)
• She loves her "beebees" (her stuffed animals) and won't go to sleep without them all in her bed with her. (I find it interesting that she is drawn to all of the teddy bears, which are the stuffed animals that Jack and David rejected and were never interested in)

• She picks fights with David and we can't figure out why because he is the scariest when he is mad! 
• She loves swimming and she loves floating on her back, which I think is so funny! She also LOVES her puddle jumper. Jack and David always refused to wear one so it has been significantly more relaxing going swimming since she will actually wear one. We have to be careful to put it away when we are done swimming or she wants to wear it around the house too ;)

• She loves going on walks and I think life will be significantly easier with her when the weather cools down and we can go on longer walks!
• She loves doing "yoga" - she has the best downward dog and scorpion pose and she has mastered her summersault :)
• She loves playing with Jayci (our neighbor's baby who moved) and still walks over to their house and says "Jayci." So sad! Luckily, we do baby swaps during preschool still :)

• She loves dogs and puppies. She loves watching puppy videos with Spencer on his phone and meeting a real dog is quite an emotional experience for her. She laughs, she cries, and she makes the funniest "surprised" faces.  
• She loves reading books but her attention span only allows for about 15 seconds per book ;)

Kate photo dump:

We love you, Kate!!!

bday :)

I had a great 29th birthday! This is the year where being the youngest in my grade is finally paying off! haha When I was 13, all of my friends went to stake dances the summer before I turned 14 and I couldn't go. They seriously would stake dance hop, so they went to stake dances almost every Saturday night (or at least that's what it felt like) and I hated missing out and I swear that being the last to turn 14 was worse than being the last to turn 16!!!! But now, all of those friends that ditched me for stake dances and dating are turning 30 in the next few months and I'm barely 29 so stinks to be them ;) hahaha

I went running before Spencer went to work and then did a little yoga. Kate likes to do headstands with me :)





































This is the first year I did the bday freebie hustle! Spencer said that driving around getting free crap is the last thing he ever wants to do on his birthday, but I figured I had to try it at least once! I made it to 14 places!!!

My "freebie" at Joe's Farm Grill costed me $19, my white shirt (that Kate spilled pizza sauce on) and a full blown temper tantrum, so I didn't play that freebie very well ;) They look cute but they got VERY naughty and thought their $14 pizza was way too fancy and too un-Little Caesers-like to eat. [insert eye roll]































































I signed up for the Pura Vida monthly club for my bday! Every month, they send you a pack of bracelets and you don't know what you are going to get. I waited until my bday to open August's pack and I can't wait to get this month's pack!





































We taste tested sugar cookies instead of having cake! We've been wanting to taste test them for a long time, but never wanted to drive to 4 places but since I was driving around getting my freebies anyway I grabbed the cookies too!












































































































We went to Skateland that night! There is nowhere else I'd rather be on my birthday! haha Some kid named Mark (who turned 11) and I celebrated our birthdays ;) My love for rollerblading is intense, irrational and a little immature but hopefully it keeps me young!!! 

































Some other not-birthday related pictures:
This is David's new food request - "A little bit of everything." He is in a MAJOR food rut and it's driving us crazy!!!





























Jack started playing "transformers" with our pillows! haha This is why we don't spend money on interior design!







































My old neighbor, Catherine, posted this picture - I miss her!!!!

Lake Powell

We had so much fun at Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend! We thought it would be a lot more fun and less stressful to dump Kate off at my parent's for the weekend and while it was a little logistically complicated, we pulled it off! I flew up to Provo on Wednesday, got to spend all day with my family, drove down to Lake Powell with my sister-in-law and her family on Thursday, drove back up with her on Monday, and flew back to Mesa on Tuesday evening. Four days of travel for three days at Lake Powell, but it was totally worth it! We enjoyed a baby-free vacation, Kate was spoiled at my parent's house instead of being stuck on a boat with a life jacket in the sun all day long, and I got to spend almost 48 hours with my family.
On Thursday morning before I left for Lake Powell I got to go mountain biking with my dad! It's one of my very favorite things to do! Look at my parent's view from their front porch!!!


































































































We got to Lake Powell late Thursday night, grocery shopped, and went to bed so we were up and ready to go the next morning. Our Airbnb was a quarter mile away from Paige Rimview Trail so this was my view on my run on Friday morning!!!




























My brother-in-law and his family drove down early Friday morning with a second boat, so while we waited for him, we went to Horseshoe Bend. The kids loved in and it was slightly less scary than the last time we went because they put in a railing! It's so amazing and breathtaking that I think it looks fake! haha


































































 








































































































































































































































We had some mechanical issues with one of the boats the first day on the lake and a flat tire on one of the trucks the next morning, but after the first 24 hours, everything was smooth sailing :) On early Saturday morning, we hiked Paige Rimview Trail with the kids while we waited for the boat to get fixed then hit the lake!































































Boating photodump:

David was a crazy cliff jumper!!! He jumped over 10 times! I think we have an adrenaline junky in the family :)










































































Jack and David had SO MUCH FUN with their cousins. Some of my best childhood memories were the vacations I took with my cousins and I'm so grateful that my kids get to make memories with their cousins too, especially because we live far away from them. We missed Jason, Alicia, Kenzie, Dan, and baby Addy but were glad that most of Spencer's family was able to come!





































On Monday morning, most of us took a tour of Lower Antelope Canyon before we headed out. It is something that I had been wanting to see for a while and it was so amazing!!! So here comes another photo dump :)

My mom sent pictures of Kate every day. We missed her, but we were glad she wasn't with us ;) She had a lot of fun with my family :)











































































































On Tuesday I got to go to lunch with my parents and grandparents before catching our plane back to AZ. Love these people!!!

Also, these signs in the bathrooms all over Paige were killing me! Lot's of Chinese tourists here! haha