What's Up Wednesday

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

What we've been eating: 

Same old stuff but my favorite thing I've been eating is my friend, Katie's, knock off Swig/Soda Run coconut lime cookies. She adds fresh lime juice and lime zest to the frosting and they are TO DIE FOR!

 

What I'm reminiscing about:
Yesterday's reverse bucket list post had me reminiscing about all sorts of things!
What I'm loving: 

• This meme that my friend sent me! #sotrue

• This meme that is also SO TRUE! hahaha

 

• And in honor of addiction recovery month, the third step prayer. You don't have to be an addict to benefit from the 12 steps and working them truly changed me. I think most people are familiar with the serenity prayer, but I love the 3rd step prayer just as much :)

 
What we've been up to:

• Playing with friends! Jack is in a kindergarten play group and the mom's rotate taking all of these cute and wild boys home from school every Tuesday to eat lunch together and to play :)

 

• Swimming! I think we went on our last outdoor swim of the season on Friday night because it's finally getting too chilly! Kate loved it anyway. Quite milestone update - she's 5 months, army crawling, super busy, super happy, and has one tooth! We love her!

• Visiting the Natural History Museum in Mesa. We found the dinosaurs in Arizona :) Admission was free on Saturday so we decided to check it out, and it was better than I expected it to be! We might just have to get a membership because Jack LOVED IT of course.

panning for gold
 
 

• Washing and organizing sea shells. Jack accidentally left his shells and sand dollars in California and he was DEVASTATED. James and Maddie are so nice and mailed them to him so he has been organizing them, cleaning them, and collecting more shells on our canal.

• Running/biking OUTSIDE. The weather cooling down, having a friend to run with, and these gorgeous views has helped me to start to like running again.

 
 
What I'm working on:
Getting packed and ready to go on our trip to Utah! 

What I'm dreading:
The 12 hour drive with an infant! (At least it's not a 19 hour drive anymore!)
What I'm excited about:
Cooler weather! It's been in the 50s and low 60s in the mornings this week and we have enjoyed playing outside and walking Jack to school!
 
 
 
 
Jack and David loved this park so much because there were so many fish. They insisted we go back in the evening with the fish net and Jack caught so many fish! It was hilarious and he had quite a group of people watching him. He LOVED showing off! haha
 
 
What I'm watching:

Grey's Anatomy
What I'm reading:
Still nothing since I had Kate #readingfail
What I've been listening to:
I've been liking the Bold New Mom podcast lately
What I'm wearing: 
Still summer clothes because that's what you do in Arizona :)
What I'm doing this weekend: 
Our family is doing the Walk to Defeat ALS in honor of my mother-in-law who is suffering from ALS. You can join us or donate to the cause --------> here!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
Spending time with family in Utah, two weeks off of school for fall break, and all of the Halloween things!

Show and Tell Tuesday: Reverse Bucket List

Today I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesday. Today, we're telling about things that were on our bucket list that we've already crossed off.

I grew up with my mom always telling stories of her experiences going to college at Utah State University, doing a BYU study abroad in London, and living away from home in Chicago when my parents were newlyweds while my dad was in grad school. I always loved her stories and could tell how much she loved her own experiences so I always wanted to do the same - I wanted to go to Utah State, do a study abroad, and live far away from home after I got married. It ended up playing out a little different than my mom's experience, but I got to experience all three of those things!

• UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY When I graduated from high school, I went to Utah State on an Ambassador recruiting scholarship. I got my degree in Elementary Education. I loved my experience at Utah State and loved the other Ambassadors that I worked with. Plus I met and married Spencer there :) I am a hard core Aggie and Logan will always have a special place in my heart :)

• STUDY/LIVING ABROAD I saved for a long time for a specific study abroad but the program got canceled right when I was about to apply. I was devastated, but it ended up being such a blessing because I was able to do a 6 week USU study abroad in Europe and also teach English for 6 months in China for the same price as the one study abroad that I had saved for. 

On my study abroad, I visited Bath, London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Naples, and Pompei. It was amazing! My top three favorite experiences were hiking the 5 coastal villages in Cinque Terre, Italy, going to a West End musical or play every night for almost two weeks while we were in London for my theater class, and riding bikes in Versailles, France over a weekend with my dad (who by chance was on a business trip in London the same week that I was in London! He hasn't traveled abroad very much in his career so it was a crazy coincidence!)

Cinque Terre
 
 Rome
 
Bath

Paris

Versailles

I loved teaching English in China. We lived in Zhongshan, China which is a city in southern China and I loved the primary school that I worked at. It wasn't a touristy city, but we were given 4 day weekends to travel every month we were there. While I was there, I got to visit Shenzhen, Sanya, Chengdu, Beijing, Xian, Yangshou, and Hong Kong.

Yangshou is still the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I know Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Xian are the more popular cities to visit, but Yangshou is by far my favorite!
 


One of my favorite memories of all time with my dad is riding bikes with him in Versailles, France and one of my favorite memories of all time with my mom is riding scooters in the pouring rain with her in Yangshou, China. (I am one lucky girl!) My mom came to visit before I went home and we toured Yangshou, Xian, Beijing, and Hong Kong together.

• GRAD SCHOOL IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA and first job out of grad school in Davenport, Iowa. I was hoping that grad school would take us to a big city or somewhere back east, but that didn't play out. I never had a desire to live in the South or the Midwest, but I'm so grateful that we got experience both :) It was exactly what we needed.

•  MARATHON While I was in China in 2009, I signed up for the Top of Utah marathon because I thought all of my bucket list dreams should be realized before turning 20 ;) I skipped over the 5ks, 10ks and half marathons that usually take place before the full 26.2 miles because my goal was just to finish without walking and to just check that darn thing off my list! I trained in the sticky summer humidity of Southern China, the sweltering August furnace of Arizona, and the brisk canyons of Utah. I hated my marathon. I finished the race and I ran the whole time, but it was the longest and most physically painful 4 hours and twenty minutes of my entire life. If I ever do another marathon, I want to have a stronger base and be able to run it a lot faster. I can't even find a picture to prove that I actually ran that dang race! haha

• WIFE AND MOM I know it's cliche, but the thing I wanted more than anything was to be a wife and mother.  I am so grateful for Spencer and our little family, and I'm so grateful that I'm able to stay home with my babies while they are little.  Ever since moving to Arizona, I jokingly keep telling Spencer, "We've made it! I have my dream family, driving my dream car (a minivan! haha), living in my dream location!" But seriously, this simple life I'm living is a dream come true :)

Engagement picture
 

 

• DISNEY WORLD After surviving the first year of David's life (he was a really hard baby for me and was a horrible sleeper and he scared me of wanting to have another baby for a while ;) I decided that Disney World needed to be checked off of our bucket list before having another baby ;) I wanted our boys to experience Disney while they were small enough to believe in the magic and I really wanted to go to Disney World! (I wasn't sure how long we would be living somewhere where it was easier to get to Disney World than Disneyland since we wanted to eventually move back west.) We saved for over a year and got to go in May of 2016. My entire family decided to join us too which made the vacation even better. Disney World vacation post ------> here.

That's all of the things that I can think of right now. I have been a dreamer and a planner my entire life, and this post was fun for me to write :)

Friday Favorites

• Birthday freebies! Grimaldi's pizza gives you a free large pizza on your birthday month and it was sooooo tasty!

I also got my free sandwich at Firehouse a few days after my birthday. Jack and David loved the free hats :)

•  Halloween decorations! We couldn't wait any longer to get our decorations out. Kids make the holidays so much fun. This little Frankenstein is our favorite.

Jack's costume this year is KILLING me! He has been talking about being a pterodactyl for months and knowing Jack, I know he will not change his mind. (David on the other hand, is a different story.) Jack wanted an $80 pterodactyl costume from Pottery Barn Kids and I feel very lucky that I was able to talk him out of it and into a much more affordable alternative. (The only problem was that they only had toddler sizes so I ordered it early to make sure it fits him.) It's a little snug and short on the ankles but it will work, and he thinks he's the coolest thing ever when he wears it! hahaha The day we got it, he wore it outside to play and show it off with his friends (in 100 degree weather!), he slept with the hat, and then traveled to California with the hat on him the entire road trip! We were dying! hahaha
 
 

•  The perks of my new job :) (I work about 45 minutes a week right now, it's really rough ;) We LOVE living so close to Lifetime Fitness! We usually drop Kate off at the Kids Academy while we swim, but last time we took her and she loved swimming! 

• Jack's school picture! When Jack first saw his picture he gasped, "Oh my gosh. I'm SO CUTE!!!" hahaha I sure love my cute (and confident) Kindergartner :)

I love my not-so-little preschooler too :)

•  These three all playing together :) It doesn't last long, but it sure is cute.

 
Kate LOVES playing with Jack but she has trust issues with David because he is still learning to be soft :) This was as close as she ever got to smiling while David held her. haha

• The fact that it is cooling down in the mornings and evenings! The days where I take the kids to the park, but wait in the van (because AC!) are almost over!