School's Out for Summer!

Can I admit I'm a teeny bit nervous?
I will no longer have any hours of dropping off my kids
guilt free so I can grocery shop or take a shower in peace.
I am looking forward to having more play time with my boys
and not having to be up early in the morning.

Weston and Davin finished up preschool last Thursday. Weston is now officially done with preschool forever. I was a little sentimental. He has been with a lot of the same kids for the last two years, so it was fun to watch their little program and see their progress. They sang their alphabet sounds song and did a few nursery rhymes. Weston got to use the ABC stick to point at the letters they were singing. He did a great job and was very cute.

I am so proud of my biggest boy Weston. He is smart and fun. He was nice to everyone in his class. On his end of the year testing he got 100% on almost every category tested. He aims to please and he did not disappoint his teachers. They loved having him, and Weston loved preschool. In the Fall he will be a big kindergartener!!!

Pardon the less than stellar pictures. I was trying to take them from the back row while holding Talia.

Davin got to go to preschool for the past 3 months also. He had fun playing and socializing. I don't have tons to report about his "Early 3's" preschool experience except that he loved his Teacher Tami, the water table, and puzzles. On his last day they got to go outside and blow bubbles and run around. I am so grateful that our boys have been able to have this great preschool experience.
This is our first week off of school and so far we are keeping busy! I am anxious for the Utah weather to catch up with the fact that we are out of school for the SUMMER! We had a fun Memorial Day weekend despite the lame-o, cold, wet weather. Friday night Ian and I went on a date to the temple and then out for cheesecake. It was so nice being in the temple. This was the first time we had been since Talia was born. I know! It had been a long time. Anyway, I was glad it worked out and we got a babysitter last minute.

Saturday morning I ran a couple errands while Ian hung out with the kiddos. We had lunch then took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Talia stayed home with a babysitter so we could all just enjoy the movie. It was a fun one, but I like the original better. :) We ended up inviting friends over for dinner and grilling. It was raining, so we ate inside, but we had a really fun time and Ian's burgers were SO good!

Sunday we had a busy church morning, then as soon as we got home Eli, Emilee, and Ivy came over for lunch. They had been in Provo visiting Emilee's family, and stopped in for a few hours on their way back to Washington. They hadn't met Talia yet, so that was fun. We had grilled pork chops and zucchini, with salad, strawberries, and mashed potatoes for dinner. It was delicious. Today is Ivy's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday Ivy! We gave her a new Pooh coloring book and a new box of crayons. She got right to work. :) In other fun cousin news . . . Eli and Emilee are expecting baby #2 in December! We are excited for another Bowles cousin!

Please excuse grumpy Talia. This was right after church and she hadn't napped all morning.

Post nap Talia :)

Ian ended up having to work all day on Monday, which was a bummer. I had to do the first holiday our YW put up flags for their fundraiser. Since I'm YW president I have organized this fundraiser. Let's just say I had a rather stressful time getting it all ready to go for yesterday. I'm hoping by the next time we do it things will be settled and it will all go a little more smoothly.

In the morning after I got flags finished I took the kids to the dollar theater to see Gnomeo and Juliet. It was ok, but I'm glad we only paid a dollar to see it. Plus we all had to leave to go to the bathroom at a pretty critical part, so we may end up Netflixing it anyway. After the movie we picked up Ian and his boss, Steve, and we all went to lunch at In N Out. It was nice to see Daddy a little bit on the holiday Monday. This is the second Monday holiday that Ian has had to work though. And I'm pretty sure there have only been two. This does not bode well for our summer.

Today I am being a little lazy and hanging around the house getting caught up on stuff. The boys have been playing relatively happily, the sun is shining, and Talia got a good morning nap. We will probably go to the park this afternoon (unless I decide it's just way too windy). Happy day.

Boys' Weekend

I know this post is a little late in coming, but I've had a rough mommy week. Today is actually only marginally better. I offered to take the kids to the aquarium if they cleaned up their toys, but so far there has been no move to clean up, so we may end up inside all day. Sigh. I'm having a good hair day too. What a waste.

So, last weekend while Talia and I basked in the sun in California, Ian played with his boys in sunny/rainy/you-never-know-what-you're-gonna-get Utah. He was definitely Superdad! He took Friday off of work and spent most of the day at the Gateway. They went to the Apple store, which everyone loved, and got a new mouse for our Mac Mini. The boys played around the fountain.
Then they went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. That pass has been worth every penny and we still have two months left to use it! I cannot get over how hilarious this video is of Weston doing the news and Davin chiming in with random words. I think I caught "naps" and "hot dogs" in there.


On Saturday they enjoyed some nice, sunny weather. Ian worked in the yard and the garage while the boys played. They also released our painted lady butterflies! They started as tiny larvae and ate and ate and ate until they got big and climbed to the top of their little cup and formed chrysalises. After about a week they started emerging as beautiful butterflies. We fed them and watched them flutter in their little enclosure for about a week, then they got released into the wilds of our yard. It was a fun experiment and very cool to watch. For a much more insightful post about this butterfly experiment, check out my friend, Lori's blog HERE. Amazing.
They took advantage of the nice weather and headed to the park later that afternoon.
I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed their weekend. I know the boys love their daddy so much. I love him too and I so very much appreciated his willingness to spend the weekend playing with his boys so I could enjoy some much needed time with my family. We are all lucky to have him. :)

Weekend Getaway!

All last week was wet, cold, and gloomy here in SLC, which meant I was more than ready to hop on a plane with baby girl and escape to California last Thursday! This was a last minute trip sponsored by my awesome parents. I was in serious need of some sun therapy. It was wonderful. Talia was a pretty good baby on the plane. She was tired by the time we landed and, unfortunately, was rather crabby for our quick visits with her great grandparents. It was still nice to get to see them and introduce them to Talia.

Grandma B and Talia

Great Grandma Ardean Olson, Grandpa Bob, me, Talia

Great Grandpa Arnold Olson, Talia

Great Grandma Ruth Snowball, Talia

me, Grandma B, Great Grandma Snowball, Talia

Friday morning Mom, Jules, and I got up early and took the train up to Ventura to visit my sister, Joy. She hadn't met Talia yet, and I hadn't seen her new house yet. It was nice to take the train so we could relax and visit while we traveled. Driving in traffic is much more stressful (and not necessarily faster than the train). It was SO fun to visit with Joy and her girls and play with baby Talia. We picked up Lizzie and Mimi from school, then I got the grand tour of the new house. Talia took a nap while we ate a delicious lunch Joy fixed for us. Then we all played with the baby and visited for a while before heading back to the train station. It was a long, but wonderful day.


One of the best things about going home is the food. My dad is a fantastic cook. I got gourmet meals and didn't even have to think about making them. Friday night Dad made the best grilled salmon with grilled zucchini, yummy rice, and mango/blackberry salad. Saturday we ate carnitas tacos in corn tortillas with cilantro, fresh salsa, and a little cheese. Sunday morning Dad made me this amazing poached egg dish with avocado and papaya on the side. And Sunday dinner was just as delish. Dad made pork roast with spicy blackberry sauce, rosemary red potatoes, sauteed veggies, salad, and watermelon. Sigh. It was worth the trip just for his cooking. Thanks Dad!!!

Friday night after dinner we did a little shopping. We hit up Babies R Us and Target. I got some cute summer clothes, binkis, burp cloths, and the most adorable white sandals for Talia (thanks Grandma!). I think Jules was more than done with Babies R Us by the time we checked out, but I swear I could browse that store for hours. By the time we got to Target we were all running out of steam, but I did find some really cute silver sandals to go with some of my summer outfits. I'm really excited about them. Our last stop was Golden Spoon, of course. I actually branched out and tried new flavors, cupcake swirled with cinnamon. Mmm.

Saturday morning Mom and I went and practiced our musical number for Stake Conference with our accompanist (yes, I got roped into singing at Stake Conference during my visit j/k loved it!). We went to a friend's baby shower that morning too. After the shower I got to spend some one on one time with my dad. We took Talia in the spa. This was her first experience in a pool of any kind. She loved splashing and didn't seem to mind getting water in her face. It seemed to surprise her every time she would splash and it would land on her face, but it didn't bother her. Plus she looked adorable!

Talia was exhausted after her swimming experience, so Dad and I got to enjoy lunch outside in the sunshine without interruption. It was really nice to have that time with my dad. He's the best.

Saturday afternoon I went shopping with Mom again. Do you sense a pattern here? Eating, shopping, playing, more eating, more shopping. That's how we roll. :) Anyway, we went to Kohl's and I spent my Mother's Day gift card on a really cute summer top and new sunglasses! They felt like such a splurge. I love shopping guilt free (thanks Jim and Den!). Saturday night was the adult session of Stake Conference. Our song went well. We sang a duet of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." I love singing with my Mom. One treat I really wanted while I was there was a good donut shop donut, so after conference we went home and ate donuts and watched TV. It was a good end to the day.

Sunday was so relaxed. We went to Stake Conference in the morning, then spent the rest of the day napping, watching movies, playing games, and playing with Talia. Usually when we go to my parent's house I am busy entertaining my kids and stressing about the mess they are making. It was just so great to have some down time with my family. It was so quiet, and I didn't have to worry about keeping anyone else happy (Talia doesn't really count. She's happy if she's fed and napped). My Dad cooked for me, Jules babysat, Mom shopped with me and snuggled Talia every chance she got. Even though I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked, I feel so restored from my getaway!
Talia and I flew back to Utah early this morning. It was, of course, gray and raining today, but there is sunshine forecasted for later this week and it's the kids' last week of school. I got all the laundry done today and vacuumed the house. I have to give a HUGE shout out to my wonderful hubby who was so quick to take time off work and plan fun things to do with the boys so I could enjoy my trip. That means so much to me. I'm a lucky girl. Next post: the boys' weekend.

Camping and Primping

This weekend was fabulous! Ian took the boys camping with the scouts on Friday as soon as they got home from swimming lessons. They were gone for less than 24 hours, but they had a blast. It was Davin's first time camping overnight. The first thing he said to me when he got home was "Mom, I pee on pwants!" Only two of the young men ended up going on the camp out, so it worked well for the kiddos to go too. It was also perfect weather for it. Almost 80 and didn't cool down too much at night. A couple hours after they got home on Saturday though a storm blew through and dumped rain across the valley, so it was good that they didn't stay too long.
While the boys were gone I cleaned the house (which was kind of a waste, but I enjoyed it for one night and a morning). I mopped the kitchen and entryway, vacuumed, cleaned the stove, tidied, folded laundry, etc. I ended up staying up a little bit late to paint my nails and watch Psych. Talia was a champion sleeper and we both had a great night's sleep. It was nice having the bed to myself and not having to worry about being kept up by snoring. Talia was only up once and then slept in until 7:30! It totally made up for my having to get up early all of Mother's Day weekend. Maybe next year I'll ask for Ian to take the boys camping. ;) I didn't get any pictures of Talia while the boys were away because she honestly slept most of the time, but here's a shot from this morning of my littles playing on the bed while I got dressed for the day. I love my job.

Doesn't Talia look so much like Davin here?!?

Weston and Davin were exhausted on Saturday from staying up way too late the night before, so they took naps and everyone rested and hung around the house while I went and got my hair done. I am so bad about waiting and waiting to get it done until my hair is a desperate situation and I just cannot put it off one more day! Needless to say I am loving having fun color (we did dark mixed with a bright red) and a cute cut again.
It's kind of refreshing and renewing to get my hair done right in the middle of My May Challenge. It is motivating to keep taking care of myself, you know? Speaking of the Challenge . . . we are on to Week 3 and going strong!

I may have sort of failed at last week's treat goal, but in my defense I baked the batch of cookies I ate with whole wheat flour! :)

Week 3 Goals:
-Do 30 Day Shred Level 2 at least 3x.
-Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies per day.
-Choose healthy options on my CA trip this weekend!

That last goal is a bit of a cop-out, but I honestly believe that life isn't worth living if you can't have food you love, so I'm not going to make any unrealistic goals for my trip, however I am going to try to be mindful of what/how much I am eating.

Tidbits

Tidbit #1:
Talia Christine is officially 5 months old (yesterday)! I swear the first year goes by faster with each child. I just barely got out the baby toys for her because I just realized that she is old enough for them and has probably been bored for the last couple weeks. Talia is now reaching out and grabbing and gumming toys (including my hair and jewelery), laughing, trying to sit up constantly (but usually failing), and sleeping on a more reliable schedule at night. She is usually only up once between 7:30ish pm and 7ish am. I know this picture is a little fuzzy, but I love it as her 5 month photo because of her huge, cute grin. Love my baby girl!

***Is her bow far enough to the side for you, Joy? ;)

Tidbit #2:
The boys are taking swimming lessons! They are actually pretty close to finished with this session, just 3 classes left. I have brought my camera every time, but kept forgetting to get it out and take pics until Wednesday. Whoops. Better late than never though, right? This is Davin's first time and he loves it. He is going to be my fish.
Weston is having a grand ole time too. He is in the same class as his friend from last year, so that's extra fun! The boys got these cool goggles with holograms of monster eyes on them for this summer and they can't seem to swim without them.
I have enjoyed having swimming lessons in the afternoons too. It keeps us from being on the computer or watching a movie every afternoon. Every SAHM knows that the hours from 4-6 (or 3-5 if your hubby gets home earlier) are the hardest, so having something to do during those hours has been nice. Plus it's a bonus that I get to sit and visit with my friend (Weston's friend's mom) for half an hour.

Tidbit #3:
Healthy eating. It's coming along. I was surprised by how hard it is to eat 4 servings of fruits/veggies each day. I really have to think about it. Thank goodness for V8 VFusion juice! :) It also takes lots of time, energy, and planning to eat healthy! I spent awhile on Tuesday in the kitchen chopping up veggies to use for the rest of the week. It paid off though because I have been able to throw together salads and wraps for lunch and dinner pretty quickly and easily because of that hour or so of prep.

I am also surprised by how quickly I am going through fresh produce! Yikes! I already ate the big cucumber I bought and an entire bag of carrots. I only have about 2 salads worth of romaine lettuce left from the big Sam's Club bag too. I guess that's a good thing, but I'll have to go shopping twice in less than a week. I have to say how much I am liking this increasing fruits/veggies goal because I'm basically not saying "no" to any foods. I eat what I like, but by the time I eat that many servings of fresh produce I'm too full to eat too much else, you know? I'm really trying to listen to my body and not eat emotionally (which is a big problem for me). OK, enough about that for now. I will do a full wrap up of what I am learning from My May Challenge at the end.

BTW I had almost this entire post done and ready to post yesterday morning, but by the time I went to actually post it at lunch time Blogger was having maintenance problems. And apparently they lost what I had already written, so blah for having to re-write everything! Not cool, Blogger. Not cool.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed to be a mother, especially to my awesome kids! I had a very nice Mother's Day. Weston made me a laptop computer card complete with wannabe qwerty keyboard (which he is just learning about). He was very proud of it and gave it to me as soon as I was up. Unfortunately it just wasn't feasible for me to get what I really wanted for Mother's Day . . . sleep. We have church at 9am. I would have slept in on Saturday, but there was a ward service project that morning at 9am also, so it just didn't happen. I did, however, get a very nice Sunday afternoon nap. :)

Just because she looked SO cute in her Spring outfits this week!

The universe gave me a gorgeous, sunny, 75 degree Saturday. The boys gave me a grill pan that I had been wanting, an exercise mat, and a movie. Talia gave me a decent night's sleep on Saturday, and Ian gave me a good back rub. Ian also took care of baking me a chicken garlic alfredo Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner. Yum. I talked to my mom on the phone and got to tell her how much I love her. She really is amazing. I credit her with most of my best qualities and mothering abilities. I can only hope to be like her when I grow up.

Just in case you missed my guest post over at Mamablogga, and for my own records, here's a copy of it. I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day!

Lessons Learned

I tend to struggle to learn life lessons. I generally only really appreciate them in hindsight, which seems slightly unfair. They would have been really helpful to know in the middle of my life’s experiences! Lessons in motherhood are no different. I am finally able to apply many of the things I have learned as a mother with my third child. It sure would have been great to know that it was not that big of a deal and not to freak out when my newborn wouldn’t nurse for 5-6 hours. Or to have known that my insomnia, crying spells, and lethargy could possibly have been something a little more than “baby blues.” Now that I am a veteran mother (hey, I’m on newborn number three, that should give me a little street cred!) I have a tin bit more wisdom under my belt.

Oddly enough I had a motherhood epiphany while cleaning toilets last week. I was thinking about all the things I wish I would have appreciated while I was in the middle of them, and I suddenly realized that someday this exact toilet scrubbing, diaper changing, baby cuddling, Dr. Seuss reading stage will be one of the times that I will look back upon and wish I had appreciated. Ten years from now I may be going back to school or working or possibly both, and I’ll sigh wistfully and think, “Man, remember back when all I had to do was be a mom? Those were the days.” And I will be right. These are the days!

I am a doer by nature, so being a stay at home mom has been a struggle from the beginning. Now that my brood is growing I stay a little more traditionally busy, but really my days don’t usually consist of much that the world would define as productive. I used to really struggle with that because I felt like I wasn’t really doing anything. I have come to realize over the last five years that I am mothering! It’s my job, and whether or not it is acknowledged by the world in general, it means the world to my family. And to me.

I am lucky to have this season in my life to just be a mom. I am still a doer; motherhood hasn’t changed that, but now I count things like finger painting, baking with my children, going to museums, aquariums, parks, and libraries, doing laundry and dishes, and reading picture books as productive. They are producing the most important thing . . . my children. Although I will still probably look back on these years and think “Man, remember when all I had to do was be a mom?” I like to think that realizing it now will help me enjoy just being a mom!

***Unrelated to Mother's Day . . . here's My May Challenge update:

Update on Week 1: I did ok. Not perfect, but not bad. We ate Taco Bell tacos on Cinco de Mayo. I exercised 4 days then my knees were both bothering me, so I counted the clean up service I did on Saturday as my exercise. We also walked to Weston's school to register him for kindergarten. It was a good mile walk, so there you go. I will continue with my week 1 goals throughout the challenge.

Week 2 Goals:
-Drink 64 oz. water daily
-Take my multivitamin daily
-Eat 4 servings of fruits/veggies daily (this will pretty much be increasing throughout the month)
-Limit treats to two each day (I like to end every meal with something sweet, so two is the least I can do. Happily.)

Baking Bread

Today was a very big day in my domestic life . . . the first time I baked my own bread. I'm sure this sounds anti-climactic to the majority of you talented ladies, but bread has been my cooking nemesis for the past 5 years. It's not that I had tried it and failed, I was just too scared of it to try. It sounded so overwhelming and hard.

You may recall THIS post in which I listed my 11 things to do in 2011. Learning to bake bread using wheat and my new wheat grinder was on the list. Well, 4 months later I did it! I unwrapped my (apparently top of the line, thanks Mom and Dad!) food mill, managed (with help) to open the pail of hard white wheat I bought for our food storage over a year ago, and got my first glimpse of what wheat looks like! Sad, right? My sweet friend and bread tutor, Alison, was kind enough to not laugh at me. We ground 12 cups of wheat and made enough wheat flour for a batch of bread plus a gallon Ziploc full for my pantry. I felt so wholesome. :) I remarked that the wheat smelled like a farm, (aka dirt) but not in a bad way, in an earthy way.
Alison mixed up the water, honey, and oil while I fed Miss Talia, who had NOT been a fan of the noise of the wheat grinding. I was an active participant in the rest of the bread making process. We ended up kneading it by hand because we weren't sure if the recipe would fit into my Kitchen Aid. It would have. I was still glad that we kneaded by hand. It felt so domestic I could hardly stand it. Alison and I chatted while we took turns kneading and keeping the chaos of 5 kids at bay (thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). We shaped 3 loaves and a pan of rolls and left them to rise. I put the kids down for naps and cleaned up the kitchen, then decided it was time to bake! The bread all turned out fabulous! It tastes great and smelled even better. I am so glad that I took the leap and made it. I couldn't/probably wouldn't have done it without Alison's help, so I definitely give her a ton of credit, but I feel so accomplished.
Having freshly baked bread on the counter made me want to have a clean house. What a great motivator. I was more productive today than this entire past week. I dusted the house, swept the kitchen (twice . . . it was a messy kitchen day), did a load of laundry, washed all the bread dishes, and vacuumed the floors.

Lest you think I am Superwoman or something . . . we had Taco Bell tacos for dinner. It's Cinco de Mayo and I was out of tortillas and tired of doing dishes.

Ian came home a little early and we all went to the park to enjoy our gorgeous 70 degree day! We brought the kids' bikes too. Weston hasn't had a chance to practice riding his new bike since he got it for his birthday in January, so he was really excited. He did great too! He is going to be pro by the end of the summer. It was so nice to get to play outside. It was so nice to have Ian with us. It was a good day.


As I finish writing this I can't help but be grateful for all the blessings in my life. Especially my family, my home, lovely weather (it's important), good friends, good health, and the peace that living the gospel brings.