The great road trip of 2014

Quick recap of our 40+ hour summer road trip:

First, we went to Utah to visit Jared's parents and sisters. Libby had so much fun playing with her cousins, especially Bethany. Libby and Piper jumped on Rachel's trampoline every chance they got. 

What else? 

It was hot. 

We missed the fireworks. 

We specifically left Iowa on July 3 so we could get to Utah by the afternoon of July 4 and make sure we could see the fireworks. But, as luck would have it, all the nearby cities decided to do their fireworks shows on July 3. Bummer.

After a few days in Utah, we headed up to Yellowstone with Rachel's family. It was just as awesome as I was hoping. The scenery was just unreal and we had a great time. Despite a couple rainy afternoons and cold nights in the tent, I enjoyed the relief from the heat we experienced in Utah! (Iowa is making me a sissy.)

Hayden Valley was my favorite part of the park. 

We camped at Grant Village, on the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. We could walk just a hundred yards or so to the lake; it was beautiful. 

We saw bison and elk, but no moose or bears...this time. We'll be back for sure!

After Yellowstone, we said goodbye to Rachel's family and headed back to Iowa by way of Thermopolis, WY (where we soaked in the world's largest mineral hot springs), Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills. Mt. Rushmore was pretty neat, but we got there as the sun was going down and it was cold! We bought Libby a sweatshirt at the gift shop because we knew we'd need it camping that night. We camped at Horsethief Lake, just a couple miles from Mt. Rushmore, in Black Hills National Forest. The next day, we drove on Iron Mountain Road for about an hour or so before getting on the highway. I'm so glad we took that road, even if it was a little out of the way. It was the most beautiful part of South Dakota I've seen! If we hadn't already been away from home almost 2 weeks, we would have spent more time in the Black Hills.  

Had to take a picture of the DuPont explosives, used to carve Mt. Rushmore (Jared works for DuPont)

Piper - 20 months

My 20-month-old Piper is growing up so fast. She started climbing out of her crib so regularly (as in, immediately after we put her in) that there was no point to keeping her in a crib. So I converted her crib to a daybed before the age of 2, which I never thought I would do. Libby was in a crib till the week she turned 3! Bedtime is a challenge every single night, keeping those girls in their room, but I think it's getting better.

It's amazing how much we can learn from kids. My sweet Piper reminds us to pray before every meal. Usually before I even sit down at the table, she is folding her arms and saying "prayer, prayer."

One thing she likes to do lately is put a blanket over her head and pretend to be a monster ("mon-her").  She also likes to hop like a frog and say "ribbet" and play Ring Around the Rosie ("ring round"). She cannot get enough of jumping off the couch, but she doesn't always wait for someone to catch her. Yesterday, she dove off and landed on her face.

Libby and I like to play a rhyming game where one of us says a word and the other names a word that rhymes. Libby is getting pretty good, but still uses a lot of made up words to come up with a rhyme, and usually those made-up words start with a b. For instance, if I say "what rhymes with table?" she might respond with "bable." Anyway, one day in the car, Libby said "what rhymes with water?" and Piper spoke up and said "bater." Libby and I cracked up. It was so awesome. I'm 95% sure she was actually trying to say "bottle" as in water bottle, which she was holding, but it was hilarious nonetheless. This morning Piper was saying "bater" over and over just to make us laugh.

Piper is now interested in helping in the kitchen. She sometimes helps me put away the dishes that go in the lower cupboards. She likes to press the button on the blender and push the plunger on the salad spinner and add ingredients to the bowl when I'm baking. Of course, she also likes to take dirty dishes out of the dishwasher, rearrange my pots and pans, climb onto the counter and steal chocolate chips, and leave stuffed animals in the pantry.

I'm so glad Piper is still an adventurous eater. This morning, she was munching on frozen kale while "helping" me make a smoothie. She will eat nearly anything and regularly packs away more than Libby. I'm having a hard time thinking of her favorite foods, because she eats everything with the same gusto.  

Kids' first camping trip + Texas

For this year's trip to see my family in Texas, we decided to go through Arkansas and meet my parents there to do some camping. Our way through Arkansas took us right past the small town where my cousin Ken and his wife Danielle live. We spent the night with them, had some great pizza, took a tour of the college they attend, and had a great time catching up.

Then, we met my parents at Mt. Magazine State Park. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids played with glow sticks and bug-catching kits. For their first time camping in a tent, they did pretty well! They went to bed way too late (after 10 PM), but that's pretty typical when they're in a new place. They were too excited to settle down.

After hiking around the park the next day, it started to rain and was forecast to have severe thunderstorms, so we packed up the tent and stayed in the lodge the next night. The storm was pretty intense, so that was a good call. We swam in the indoor pool and ate dinner at the restaurant, so it was a pretty cushy second day of "camping."

After that, we headed south to Crater of Diamonds State Park to dig for diamonds. It had just rained the day before, so the field was crazy muddy, but apparently that's the best time to find diamonds, so we went for it! We didn't find anything more than some cool looking rocks, but it was fun. Libby and Piper really got into it and were covered head to toe in mud. They were jumping in puddles, laying on their stomachs, squishing mud in their hands. It was awesome. (Those pictures are on Jared's computer, so I'll have to add them later.)

They were freezing after we hosed them down, so we had to bundle them up in blankets.

Finally, we spent a few days in Dallas, making the rounds to see my siblings and my grandparents. I love this picture of my sister, my mom, and me. I feel so tall next to them!

May picture dump

Libby loves to draw and is getting so creative. Today she drew a bee, complete with wings and antennae. It was quite impressive. Here is a carrot she drew with sidewalk chalk.

We had a Cinco de Mayo party, so we could have an excuse to have people over, eat Mexican food, and make a pinata.

 The kids loved the pinata!

This is classic Piper: sneaking her toes up on the table and saying "cheese" for the camera. 

Libby playing make believe...not sure what her intention was here, but it was adorable.

Piper loves the swing and insists on buckling herself in.

This is the face Libby makes for the camera, if she acknowledges it at all. :)

One hot day, the slide got too hot to touch, so I let the kids put their swimsuits on and I made a "water slide" by spraying it with the hose while they slid down. It's a fast slide to begin with, and the water made it crazy fast. They were both done after one turn - it was too scary.

Libby loves her playset.

Piper - 18 months

At 18 months, Piper is definitely her sister's best friend. I'd say it was around 15-16 months that they really started playing well together and I didn't have to worry (as much) about Libby sitting on or strangling Piper. Just last week, I decided to move Piper into Libby's room at night, hoping it would help quell Libby's "I don't want to be alone!" protests at night. So far, so good. The first night was adorable...I could hear them giggling and talking for nearly an hour before they went to sleep.

They climbed onto the counter and finished off a package of sprinkles while I was taking a shower!

A few things I want to remember about Piper at this age:

She is so obedient when we tell her it's time to pray. She will stop what she is doing and clasp her hands together. She sometimes even bows her head, but usually she looks around at us to make sure she is copying us just right. If we fold our hands, she folds her hands. If we fold our arms, she folds her arms.

She knows so many words now I can't even keep track anymore. She will attempt to copy nearly any word. Some of the most repeated words we hear from her: no, stop, mine (those are usually directed toward Libby), snack, eat, milk, bike, bath, back (when she wants to ride on our backs), drive-drive (whenever she sees a car), Bibby (Libby), and of course Mommy and Daddy. She can also name body parts (eye, ear, nose, mouth, hair, cheek, chin, hand, foot, toes).

She is still crazy obsessed with animals, particularly dogs. I'm pretty sure we are the only ones on our street that do not have a dog, but we get plenty of use out of the neighbors' dogs. If we are in the backyard, Piper is usually sticking her hand through the fence and calling "Lily! Lily" to the dog next door.

She likes the Old McDonald song and the Slippery Fish song. She knows sounds for duck, cat, dog, cow, horse, owl, rabbit, alligator (snap!).

She plays tag with Libby and can say "got you!"

She LOVES riding her tricycle, which is why we hear the word "bike" so often. (For a while, I started parking outside of the garage and going in through the front door, because if she saw her bike in the garage and I did not immediately let her ride it, it resulted in a major temper tantrum.) She is so fearless on her bike. Our driveway has a bit of a slope and she will push off, lift up her feet and fly down with hesitation. Problem is, her trike is not all that stable, so I try to run along beside her in case she tips. She wears a helmet and it's already come in handy a few times.

She is happiest playing outside, on her bike, in the swing, petting the dog, or rolling around in the grass with Libby.   

Flower arranging

I have a few sets of fake flowers that Libby has been really interested in playing with lately. Today, she decided to spruce up our beloved aloe vera plant.

I love her creativity.

So, we moved again.

For the past couple of years, Jared and I have often discussed how awesome it would be to live in Utah again. We love the mountains and the skiing and just the insane amount of fun outdoor recreation. And of course, we would love to live near family (his sister and parents are there). Well, as we were boarding the airplane to fly to Utah for a visit in September, Jared got an email about a possible job at BYU. It sounded amazing. Living in Utah, working at the greatest university on earth (no bias here), free tuition for our kids? Oh yeah. But even as he started to work on applications, we both felt hesitant. We didn't know why, but now that a possible opportunity was here, it didn't feel right.

A month or two later, we got another surprise. Jared was approached by a colleague in his company from a different department and basically recruited for a new position at headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. They seemed to really want him, so we thought, why not? Let's apply for this one, too. Almost immediately, he was offered the job and expected to respond soon. If he accepted the job, it would definitely be closing the door on the possible BYU opportunity, which hadn't even closed applications yet. But for some reason it seemed like the right thing to do, or at least...a good thing to do.

And so, here we are, in our 4th home in 4 years. And while I think I will always long for the mountains of Utah or the pine trees (and warmth!) of North Carolina, or the BBQ and Bluebell (and family!) in Texas, Iowa is starting to feel a teeny tiny (tiny) bit like home. But let it be known that I am only able to say this because we've had a bit of reprieve this week from the truly awful winter we've had (can't forget that record-setting -55 degree windchill in January). Ask me in the dead of winter what I think of Iowa, and I will probably be harsh.

In the 2.5 years we've lived in the midwest, I've kind of scoffed when I've heard people talk about "midwest hospitality" or how great the people are here. Maybe we have just lived in the wrong neighborhoods before, but I haven't felt particularly welcomed. (Or perhaps I'm being a little unfair by comparing midwesterners to southerners - that charming southern accent makes any exchange seem friendlier.) But this past week, I have met quite a handful of friendly neighbors and church members and I am feeling excited to be living here. We had a beautiful, warm day yesterday and our street was suddenly full of kids, weaving in and out of each others driveways, garages, and backyards. Libby took off on her little red bike, "I'm going to go play with my friends!" and followed them around for hours. The parents congregated in one of the driveways and told me the names, occupations and family histories of everyone on the block. It's apparently a pretty friendly place after all.