Loving Louisville

This week was such a treat!

We loved being with Grandma and Grandpa in Kentucky. The Midwest has a big, big piece of my heart. I haven't even been back to Indy since living there but just being back in Louisville feels a little like home. We had such a good time, the boys were in heaven. I'm so grateful they have such fun and loving grandparents.

Westin loved seeing some big construction work when we watched trees go through a grinder, and Bennett was all about watching all the birds in grandpa's bird feeder -- cardinals and blue jays and woodpeckers. Both of them used about every piece of paper in grandma's house to color all sorts of pictures, and they loved playing hide and seek before bedtime with all the lights out, holding flashlights. Camden went on this trip without being a walker and came home pretty proud of his new stepping ability. His record is about 10 steps and he loves to walk and walk while holding someone's hand. His brothers even do a pretty good job in that role sometimes and it's adorable. Camden also looooved grandpa and Michael said, "I don't think he's ever reached for anybody when he had me." He wasn't offended though -- this week I asked him what it's like to be loved as much as Camden loves him and he said, "Exhausting. But really sweet." Haha. We've never had a baby be so far from being a mama's boy. Westin loved Michael but he still wanted me around sometimes, and Bennett was a mama's boy for quite a while. But Camden... it's all about dad. It made my flight to Louisville pretty easy :) I tried to take my turn but he wasn't interested. But the way home was different -- he wanted to be where his brothers were for most of the time, and he cried for both me and Michael quite a bit. But we survived!

Other trip highlights were walking across the bridge to Indiana and the boys picking out big lollipops, playing on the playground there, Michael catching up with friends in Evansville, Kendra and her kids meeting us at the park and eating lunch after, making a fire for hot dogs and s'mores, Westin helping grandpa with empanadas, Bennett helping grandma with cinnamon rolls, doing a temple session for the first time in over a year, waking the boys up to see a raccoon on the back deck, driving to Cincinnati to eat dinner with the Woolfs and catch up with them while the boys had a Friday night movie night with grandma and grandpa, hiking to a neighborhood waterfall, driving through cute Madison, Indiana and seeing another pretty waterfall at Clifty Falls, seeing the chicks at the tractor supply store, a constant stream of deliciousness from Grandma's kitchen, seeing Camden climb the stairs (but never the last two) for his first time, over and over, late night Tater Hole tournaments, and just soaking up time together. We loved our trip so much and we're grateful we got to spend such a fun week with grandparents.

Dinner with the Woolfs was seriously so much fun. We just love them, and being with friends from our dental school life is just special to us. Becca just knows the ins and outs of my life in ways I can't even describe, and thankfully I don't have to describe them to her. We just share our long road path and family balance situation and road trips with little kids and lots of boys life. When I broke down on my last Utah trip I texted her, "broken down in Wyoming." And she just knew. She knew I couldn't update her more because my day would be spent holding and entertaining Camden for 6 hours straight in a tiny mechanic office, and she knew I'd be "on" that day in the exhausting way and it would all catch up later. But just sending her that text gave me comfort because we have cheered each other on through soooo many road trips and she just knows. I am excited for their new job and life changes coming up, and I also just mourn the simplicity they're leaving in the same way I look back sweetly on some parts of our simple Fresno life.

Some parts ;)

Seeing Kendra's kids and catching up with her was so good for my soul, too. I was told in a significant blessing once that "I will make many dear friends in this life" and I do not take that lightly -- these dear friends mean the world to me. I see how our lives get busier and busier and faster and more complex, and they just mean all the more to me as we navigate it all from where we're at. I'm amazed by my friends all the time. Their examples really do mean a lot to me. It's so funny to me that Kendra has in laws in Fresno and I have in laws in Kentucky, and even though our Cedar paths are going to cross less and less, we're still keeping tabs on each other in unexpected ways :)

We flew home early early this morning and the boys did a surprisingly good job being awake for so long and having a chill day at home. They are so good. I love the way they play and play and play together. Today they colored wings and cut them out and kept working on "learning to fly" and they're convinced they got a couple inches off the ground for a bit. They want to go somewhere high "to test out these wings!" and don't worry, I take my job of keeping them alive very seriously.

Here's to a week back to reality! But Covid has us feeling pretty grateful for the pieces of reality that we have right now. I can't believe we're back to March after such a strange pause of a year.

The boys LOVED watching these tress being chopped up.

Camden was.... not so sure. And pretty cold. And pretty cute.

Painting the empanada edges.

Bennett blew a whole bottle of bubbles. He was very focused. And soapy.

The highlight of this park visit for Bennett was when he found a tiny turtle on that hill.
Made us all miss Mr. T a little extra :)

Camden ended up wanting OUT of that backpack and OUT of our arms and just to walk and walk and walk on this hike holding hands with Grandma and me. He was taking about 10 steps to our one step, until he got pretty tired, and then it was 20+. Sloooooow moving but adorable :)

Cutest little chicks!

A wood-turning show thanks to Grandpa. His creations are always so fun to see.

Grandpa doesn't mess around with fire-making.

I feel completely at home when I'm at Becca's home. This night was so happy for me.
And seeing Jaxson as a big(ger) kid was just so sweet. He's hilarious and so good and it's just fun to see who he's becoming.

Going through some family history photos post-Tater Hole.
Sally and I had a pretty good track record through those tournaments :)

Brrrr

 This week saw some realllllly cold temps in Fort Collins, and we were so sad to watch how much the cold is hurting in Texas. We've been checking in on some Texas friends and just feeling some PTSD from seeing their grocery store lines and empty shelves. None of us have recovered from 2020 and 2021 has already had some of its own curveballs. I loved our Relief Society lesson today about prayer. It gave me a renewed commitment to making my prayers more sincere and specific.

Michael:

Finished up his first week of call, which only ended up needing him to come in one time. He's loving work, missing outside projects (snow and cold), and is Camden's #1 guy.

Maddie:

Is working on Kickstarter stuff each night and during random breaks in the day, and I spent Michael's day off on Wednesday driving to our packaging store to pick up all our custom boxes and packing envelopes. We placed a big order for all our inventory and I was so bummed to see how much it cost to ship shipping supplies (the irony just hurt), then I looked at the address and realized it was just about 50 min from me. So Michael helped me empty the van of all car seats and seats so I could fit it all in one trip. We put the van back together pretty quickly and it was one of those moments were I felt like we are now seasoned parents. Car seats are the worst, and when you're proficient there... you're just skilled parents. I took my time coming home after that and went shopping by myself in person for the first time in months and months. Kindal and I are going to be on Good Things Utah early next month with our book, and I decided that called for some new shoes :) I had fun with my boys this week. Westin especially is just older and so fun to observe. Bennett's heart. Camden's little personality. They're just all so lovable.

Westin:

was so thrilled all week when he'd talk about getting on an airplane soon to see grandma and grandpa in Kentucky. He doesn't remember much of any of his plane rides in life, and he was stoked. We got the nicest note from Westin's teacher this week all about how he's a hard working, kind leader in the classroom with just the right amount of spice. I thought that was such a fun way to describe him and I'm grateful he has such a great teacher that he likes so much. 

Bennett:

ALSO couldn't stop talking about getting on an airplane this week. He even told his speech therapist all about it and about Kentucky. That may sound so small but it just made me so happy that something really out of context was both shared by Bennett and understood by someone he loves. I know that he doesn't share all he'd like to because of his speech delay, and that not having context makes him extra hard to understand. But when I picked him up his teacher told me how excited Bennett was to go on a trip, and Bennett just seemed like he had had a really good time at school. He's getting more comfortable there and talking more, and I want to do all we can to help him be understood more. 

Camden:

is so cute to watch when he takes steps! He'll take zero every time you try to stand him up and send him off walking somewhere. But if he stands on his own, and is in the mood, he can get 4 or 5 steps in. He loves Michael SO much and is so cute and cuddly when we put him to bed. He still booty scoots around more than anything else, but he's also made it up 5 or 6 stairs, goes backwards off our couch and bed, and crawls more often when it makes sense to. He's making progress all the time, always on his timeline.

President's Day felt like a mini vacation -- not having to make our typical three trips to the school just makes the day feel wide open. We celebrated with an extra long and extra splashy bath.

This shipping label printer was not cooperating with me...
and I need to print 500+ labels next month very very quickly, so I'm antsy to get it figured out.

This table constantly looks like a kindergarten bomb went off.
Valentines style, this month.

Watching our bunny friend, who didn't even care about the carrot we strategically threw by him.

Ready for boxes!

Books are going out in the world in less than a month!

Bennett loved listening to one of Michael's headphones when Michael was vacuuming.

The boys thought the empty van was super cool.

Bird Feeder: Squirrel Feeder.

Even the train to your gate is an adventure for cute little boys.

Camden was so weirded out by our security and airport experience.

The fun thing of having a total daddy's boy right now means my flight was suuuper easy.
I tried to take my turns, I did. Camden wouldn't have it.
He just wanted to be with Michael, and play peek-a-boo/dance with the nice family behind us.
They were so sweet to indulge him during a ton of the flight.
Camden stayed up until 10pm our time on this travel experience, and slept 8 hours and then took a 4.5 hour nap the next day. I was grateful he caught up on what he needed so fast and has been happy happy.

Looking for fossils!

Westin's snowman dreams finally came true.
Our snow has been too wet or too fluffy every time in Colorado,
and he's just been dying to make a snowman "the real way."

Grandma let Bennett crack eggs and help her with some homemade noodles.

He loved cranking the noodle machine.
"I've got lots of power to do this!"

Just so happy and laying there awake when I went to wake him up 4.5 hours into his nap.