Kelsey's Birthday Party

I have put this blog off for so long that I almost have forgotten every detail about her party and that makes me sad. I just wanted to such a good job that I kept saying I didn't have time for it. Great life lesson I guess.
Anyway, on June 4th, we had a birthday party for Kelsey and her friends. Originally we were going to do a swimming party but there was a random heat wave that weekend and it spiked from 98 to 115 in two days. Although people do swim in that kind of weather we decided that we didn't want to do that with just a little kiddy pool and a whole gaggle of 4 year olds.  On Monday we decided to just do a beach/princess/fairy party (she did originally also have Daniel Tiger in there but I convinced her to throw that one out). Basically, all things girly and fun and it went swimmingly (see what I did there)
Kelsey helped me shop all week and on Friday we set things up. Saturday we all worked together to get things together and by 10 we were ready for the guest who were coming at 11. The longest hour of Kelsey's life.

I would LOVE to be a big party person. It looks adorable when you do it right. I have absolutely no qualms with my party. It was exactly the way I wanted it.  I will never apologize for the streamers and napkins not matching and I will never have confetti that matches the table clothes. I can live with that and isn't that the key. Being able to live with the things we can't do? Wow, RANDOM!! Anyway, the point is we had so much fun throwing a very Wing party! It was practically perfect in every way

These were the prizes but all our games ended so "horribly" that we pretty much started just giving them out for random things. It was awesome. 

We colored while Madison hugged all the guests and they totally hated it!

We sat on balloons to get the candy out. It was a disaster and they hated but Ethan and I thought it was hilarious!!

The best part of the whole week!! A MAGIC SHOW BY ETHAN!! It was AS cool as it sounds

Can we notice three things: 1 white gloves 2 the kids faces 3 Madison in the background trying on everyone's shoes :)

We got wrapped in Punzle's hair. Some hated it, some loved it, and all ended with it wrapped around their necks. whoops!

And of course the best part... presents!! Everyone was so excited. Some kids even opened the presents for Kelsey as they walked into the house.

After the presents we have a picnic, but I forgot to get pizza so they had cupcakes, chips, and Kool-Aid squeezits. I haven't seen a happier group of 4 year olds ever.

Kelsey got really nervous to be sung to

After the "picnic" we decorated crowns and made bracelets while we waited for parents. It was basically like a glorified preschool but it was so much fun. After the party, Kathryn and Jordyn stayed a bit longer which I was grateful for. We miss them.

Ethan and I had so much fun planning this party. I really hope we live in a place next year that allows us to have friends to do it again.
People who came:
Jordyn and Kathryn
Aliah Mallinger
Rowan Petersen
Parker Bunn
Will Madsen
Adysue Brown

We also did a cake walk thing where they had to stop on a color and if I called out their color they got to come pick a prize.
We also tried Bingo but that was a COMPLETE disaster. Way to advanced. Basically we just told them to come up one at a time and pick something from the bowl. Lesson learned.

After we cleaned and rest up, we drove up to Kay's dropped Kesley off for a slumber party where she got to have hot chocolate, watched a movie, and went to Build a Bear. We picked her up Sunday morning where she also got to go to church with Kay. And this is why her crash the next week was so hard! 

May/June randoms

Here I sit. Its July 15th and I am trying to remember the moments from May. I really need to do better at keeping up with the time. Either do better or stop trying. Those are the options. May seems years ago. It wasn't super hot yet so we were able to get out some but we were also getting really excited for our upcoming vacation.

Kelsey and Madison started playing this game were Kelsey would hand feed Madison and then they would both laugh and laugh. The pictures I got weren't the best, but I can still hear their giggles in my head.

90% of the time it ends with a hug

Kelsey hates water in her eyes. She hates it so much so that she literally wears goggles while she runs through the sprinklers.

We had a surprise visit from Xander and Adisue and things got crazy goggles and all.

Kelsey and Madison were coloring one afternoon and I noticed Madison was going back and forth from my bathroom to the coloring spot. I followed her and this is what I found. She was so proud of herself too.

Kelsey got so mad at me about a week after her birthday. I'm not really sure why other than the birthday crash hit her hard. She was exhausted, spent a week getting what she wants, not sleeping well, and having a diet of pure sugar and the first time I said no, she just couldn't handle it. It was  sad fit, but she cried so hard that she fell asleep. It was a needed break for both of us.

I caught this moment during family prayer. Definitely worth opening my eyes during the prayer

I cut my hair. Like it, don't love it. The dresser did EXACTLY what I asked for so she is not to blame. I just can't decide what to do with my hair, like ever, so I keep trying new things and finding that I don't love them. Good thing I didn't do anything crazy and that hair grows.

I went to the temple one evening by myself. I was feeling especially down about the hardship that come with motherhood and still super confused about Luxembourg. Although I didn't receive any sort of pointed answer to my issues, I left feeling so at peace with the confusion that we were facing. I'm so grateful for temples. There is such a peace in our lives because of them.

One day I was making black bean brownies (delicious!!) and I spilled the mini chococihps everywhere when I opened the bag. IMMEDIATELY the girls ran to the kitchen and started eating them off the floor. It was hilarious.

I can't remember what Ethan was doing, but the point of this picture was Kelsey's face. I seriously can not express enough just how much she loves Ethan. Everything he does is perfect. She just watched him with wonder and awe. Its so cute to watch their relationship.

I saw Madison emptying out the book crate and wondered what she was doing. I came out of my room to find her reading her books in it.

I just love how old this picture makes her look. She still is so little but this picture is just priceless to me. Love the bun

Early morning cuteness before work

First time pigtails

Waiting for swimming lessons and it turned into story time. The Parker's also brought out watermelon. It was wonderful except it was already 107 outside. Swimming is at 9:15 AM.  Boo to AZ summers!

Fancy feet there kiddo

A maintenance crew came to clean up the yard next door and it created an unexpected exciting hour.

Laundry day!

For the most party the girls still play really well together, but this day was particularly awesome. They stayed outside for like 30 minutes just laughing and talking. It was so cute to listen to. This picture makes me so grateful for backyards and siblings.

Kelsey fell asleep while shopping! She hasn't done this in YEARS!!! It was so cute though. I tried to lift her and wake her up but she would not move for anything. I had to get stuff done so I just started piling everything on her and she STILL didn't wake up. It was so cute!

At our last zoo outing (before the weather got hot) Kelsey and I snapped this picture. It is now my favorite picture of us.

Sedona

Since we know a move is approaching, we are trying to finish our Arizona bucket list. We are doing a good job but one of the major check marks was a trip to Sedona. We didn't have anything over Father's Day weekend so we took the trip up.

I made a list of all the things I wanted to see and then prioritized them. The first priority was Slide Rock so that is where we headed first. It was crowded and the water was like liquid water, but it was amazing. Some of the most fun I have ever had in water. We tried to convince the girls that this was really cool, but they wouldn't buy it so Ethan and I took turns sitting with them, while the other went on the slides. Luckily for as crowded as it was, we still got to go down the slides a lot.

We didn't get a spot in the shade, so we couldn't sit in one spot too long. The girls had fun in the pools. Also, can we all notice that Kelsey has her googles!!! :)

 And here is the proof that we are terrible parents! Poor Kels

 Here are the videos of me and Ethan going down

And then this random nice old man helped Kels go down a slide and she actually liked it

 I tried to film what it looks like while you go down, but I started laughing so hard because it was freezing and this is the result. I don't see vblogging in my future

To get down to the slides, you have to walk through an old apple orchard. It was as beautiful as Slide Rock.

There's never a bad time to snap a "chaleader" pose

After we got back to the car we were going to take a few stops before our hike at Cathedral rock. Well Madison literally fell asleep as we were buckling her into her car seat, so we decided to can the hike and just do a picture tour of Sedona. To be honest, it was for the best. Sedona reached 103 on Saturday which is very unlike them.
We didn't get to hike, but we got to see some awesome sights including Oak Creek Canyon, Cathedral  Rock, Bell Rock, and the Chapel of the Cross.

Chapel of the Cross was very unusual. It was just a very basic chapel, but because it was built against this incredible red rock back ground, it has become a major tourist attraction. The views were very stunning but the parking lot only allows about 20 cars at a time. The line of cars to get to the parking lot was really long so Ethan stayed at the bottom with the girls and I just ran up to the top. I love how easy going Ethan is. He doesn't mind at all to just sit in the car while I check off all these crazy "must sees." I can't tell you how many times he has pulled over just so I can get a picture.

After chapel of the cross, we decided to call it a day and drive back. Before we hit the road, we thought it would be fun to get some ice cream. We stopped at Mikes Hot Dogs and Ice Cream. The place reminded me a TON of my dad's ice cream shop. It just has that new store smell, look, and feel. It has costumers, but it didn't have a flow or rhythm. You could just tell everyone there was learning. Anyway, as I was paying I asked the man helping us, "How long have you been open," and with a huge smile on his face he simply said, "Oh about an hour!" It was so cute. He was so excited that people actually stopped. I'd love to go back even in 6 months-12 months to see how it is doing. Go Mike. Good luck buddy

Phoenician Blood Ramblings

Growing up in Spokane, I never really appreciated just how mild the weather was. Don't get offended Spokane! This is not a knock on our wonderfulness. Embrace how mild you mostly are. Yes, you can get cold in the winter and yes, there is a week in the summer where you reach into the 100s. Thats hot because if you step outside and its hot, its hot!  But for the most part you have BEAUTIFUL weather. Warm in the day, cool at night, four beautiful seasons, a winter that is cold but not brutal (although early morning seminary with no sun and 15 degrees is always the worst thing in the whole world!! Also did I mention I had to walk home from school. Up hill BOTH WAYS!!) and a summer that is so wonderful that mowing the lawn at 10:30 isn't going to send you to the hospital. So this is where I grew up. Then I moved to Utah.

Every time I described Spokane to my Utah friends I'd say "Spokane weather is just like Utah only a little less hot in the summer and a little less cold in the winter," and I still think that that is true. The summers in Utah are definitely hot, but they are so much fun. There is such a window of time that you can still get out and do. You wake up, run your errands or hike or run or whatever, come home in the afternoon and wait for the heat to pass, and then at night MOST of the time, you can enjoy the evening just fine without too much sweat or discomfort. Coming from Spokane, I remember thinking I would just MELT in a Utah summer. A whole 3 months of nearly 100!! Are you insane! That is like a death march. But such as life would have it, I learned, adjusted, and figured it out making my 7 year (on and off) stint in Utah some of the best years in my life. Four seasons, cool evenings, brisk fall air, beautiful snow fall, hot summers that will dry up water, and a spring that can knock your socks off. Utah is awesome.

We were watching a video of when we lived in Holladay. In the video, I was complaining to Ethan that it was 103 and we were totally beside ourselves. We had never seen anything so hot let a lone lived in anything so hot! "Its a 103 and we just have to find refuge," were my exact words actually. So Utah is hot, but also perfect. Bases covered hopefully. 

Bring on Arizona!! I have so many thoughts about Arizona weather that I just don't know what to say. I once visited AZ while living in UT and I got so sick of people in AZ telling me how hot it was. "why would you visit AZ in the summer?" " Bet its your first time in hot weather huh?" and so on. I remember being so offended because Utah is hot. Its not like I was visiting for the Arctic! Stop being the snobby hot police AZ. Other people can be hot too!!

 And then I moved there and I think now I can say that I FINALLY understand what they are talking about. Its not that Arizona is the only hot place in the world. That's not what they mean. Its just such a different kind of hot. For starters there are two season in Arizona, nice and hot. They have nothing else to talk about. There are no natural disasters, no snow storms, and no leaves changing colors (our tree literally stayed green all year!) . My goodness!! They hardly even get rain!! 

Moving there I thought the winters would be dreamy. They are, but they are not perfect like I was told.  December and January were disappointingly cold. They would get down to like 40 during the day and even cooler at night which to me is cold enough to stop being enjoyable (My sister from South and North Dakota will now be giving her input about living in a cold place and will quickly tell me that 40 IS in fact enjoyable) As I say this, I also do have clear memories of going to a Christmas carol party in the middle of December and eating cookies at night at a park and no one had a coat so...

Starting around the end of January, after about 8 weeks of pretty chilly weather, it starts to slowly reach that "perfect" level I was told about. Around February is hits the 70s and works is way back up towards the 100s. By June we are still having fairly enjoyable weather like 85-90, but by end of June its game over. 

I'm rambling at this point I just want to get this all down. 

We moved to AZ on June 2nd. It was 95 degrees. We went to dinner with Aunt Kay and when we stepped outside we said, "man its hot, " and she quickly said, "no its not." I was so annoyed, but now I get it. After a solid summer in Arizona, I can confidently say 95 is "hot" but it is not HOT!! People there get so used to the summer hovering at 105 that when it drops to the 90s they find outside activities to do. "Did you see the weather! We should go to the park or something." They don't say its going to be cold, because its not cold, but they find something to do outside. We have even found ourselves saying "its not going to be hot today," or "it was only 103" when the temperature stays around 100 degrees and the scary things is that we mean it! 

So why does Arizona feel as though they can talk about their heat more than other places? Why do they feel like other places simply are not hot?  I have a few thoughts

1. The sun is a different sun down there. It is SO intense and SO hot that it just burns to touch your skin. Even when is cooler, the sun just is brutal. I don't know how to explain it and unless you feel it, I can't but the sun is BRUTAL! It is so so SO intense. 

2. 120 is something else. It is a take your breathe away, knock you backwards, don't touch me, sweat by existing type of heat. It is nuts. (Although, it can't fry an egg on the sidewalk ps)

3. Not only does the temperature get hot, but when it gets hot (And by hot I mean 110+) there is this wind that won't quit. Its like standing in front of your oven right when you open it over and over and over again. You can't escape. 

4. Its doesn't stop being hot. We will go to bed at 10 and it will still be in the 100's. At 6:30 when we wake up, its already 85-90. I took Kels to swim at 9 and it was 102.  It never leaves you alone! EVER! Even the rain is hot (the three times it does rain)

5. "So go swimming" people tell us. Yes true, but have you ever stepped into a puddle of water that has been sitting in the sun for a few hours? Not cool any more right? Right. The pools here can only get so much sun for so long before they quit being cold. By July, the pools are like bath water. Fine but not refreshing. Now don't get me wrong: I'd rather be wet and hot than dry and hot and by October the pools are refreshing again, but there is that two month period of just "ugh!"

6 Last thought. "summer" last from about May-Oct and even November is hot but the nights cool down. It is a solid 7 months of 95-120 degree weather with weeks of not dropping below that. WEEKS! of 105-115. People just except this as acceptable! It crazy!! 

So why am I writing my life story of weather?  Well, because Madison is napping and Kelsey is at a movie and I wanted, but mostly because  I wanted to document that its 98 in Utah (where I am) and I am finding the weather super nice! A few years ago I would have been hiding inside, but now I am loving it. No I'm not in the sun and yes, I have a small line of sweat on the back of my knee, but my hair is down and I'm fine. I open the door to come outside, bracing my self for the inferno  that awaits,  and  instead find myself saying "oh! Its really nice out here!!" There is a soft breeze that actually helps to cool you down,  and shade that actually means "cooler under here!!" I can let the girls play outside without worrying about heat stroke and I haven't used sunscreen once (mostly because its too cold to swim. Our pastiness would fry even in or rather, especially in Utah!!) 

 I used to think, 85 was hot, then I thought 95 was hot, now I think 110 is hot. Its amazing what our bodies truly get used to and learn to handle. You never get used to 110+ but you get used to it being that hot all the time so all of a sudden 95 seems "nice" Super weird but so cool! I am loving this concept of adaptation. Man I am a nerd!  I never would have thought that this would be my reality. When did I become this lizard! I keep waiting for the hot days to come, but they just don't and for that I love you Utah!
So I guess I not only have reached Phoenician blood status but I think I have finally reached the snobby heat police that all Arizonians can claim.