Rocky Mouth Trail, Lisa Falls, healthy foods

I've been drinking green smoothies for breakfast, for over 8 years. I love the energy I get from all the greens, plus all the vitamins and minerals. What mom doesn't want to have more energy? And you can do it without caffeine! I had been doing just fruit and greens in water, but recently, after reading more about the science of how our bodies work, I decided to use less fruit (sugar), and add some fat, fiber and protein (greens have some, but I wanted more), to see if I'd feel satiated longer. So far, so good! 

Seeing things like this, an older brother reading to his younger sister, while relaxing on the couch, melts my heart. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen sometimes.

My kids favorite hike we do is called Rocky Mouth Trail. I think they love it so much because it's short, mostly shady and it has a beautiful waterfall they can get close to and touch. The caves and stream are cool too.

We went with our friends the Murphy's, who moved into the neighborhood not too long ago, and we've been doing weekly hikes with them which has been fun.

Afterwards, we drove over to Lisa Falls Trail, which isn't much of a trail, it's more like a very short walk from the car to the falls, but it was beautiful.

Scott's sister Krissy, years ago, served a mission in Germany, and when she came back, she brought us a couple of little things, including some pig gummy candies. I don't know what made me think of them recently,(actually I do....it was a divine orchestration, because at the same time I was wanting these and thinking of them, I remembered Krissy would be doing her last chemo and radiation treatment, so we sent her a bag as well...and she called later to ask us how we knew those were her favorite. We didn't, but the Lord did), and I went on Amazon and found them there (but they're expensive, so it'll probably be a special occasion treat). These are my FAVORITE gummies, I think because they're kinda foamy feeling and marshmallowy.

Our favorite place to eat is Cafe Rio. We don't go often, at least not with everyone, because it's expensive when you multiply it by 7 people, but I took the kids just before school started back up again, on a day when we get triple reward points, so we got a free meal out of it.

I love these lettuce wraps; they're like tacos, but wrapped in lettuce. So yummy!

Have I mentioned that I'm preparing for a marathon? I'm doing the St George marathon in October, and last minute, I signed up this week to also run the Big Cottonwood Canyon marathon which is in less than 3 weeks! So, it means I'm running a lot, sweating a lot and needing to immediately replenish electrolytes once I'm home; and eat of course. I don't normally like coconut water on it's own, but this peach and mango flavored one was good, and no added sugar! What I use most are these nuun hydration tablets. I just put one, or half of one, into a glass with water and it dissolves quickly.

We love my honey sweetened peanut butter no-bake cookies, and we decided to try them with almond butter instead of peanut butter. They were equally as good!

Sugar, our dear sweet neighbor, who often takes the big kids to the temple and McDonalds (and who was my weekly temple partner last school year), had a birthday. So the boys made her a card, bought her some flowers and took it over. I absolutely love their relationship. Happy Birthday Sugar!

Kitties and Trek

Our neighbor April had 2 kittens wander into her backyard. They reached out to neighbors trying to find the owners, but to no avail. They just moved into the neighborhood, and had thought about getting kittens once they were settled in and maybe come Christmas, but because these two fell into their laps, they decided to keep them. My kids have been over lots to snuggle with the kitties.  

 We had a neighbor on our street move out this past month, and she sent a text out asking if anyone in the neighborhood, wanted any of their food storage. I did, so I went down, and I got wheat and oats and kidney beans, and then she also said she was giving away anything in her front room and garage, so we also got a glass desk, an armoir, a dresser, some snow shovels, a yoga ball and a few other small things.

 We put the armoire in our room and put all the electronics inside with their chargers, and the drawers keep our papers organized, my school papers, my papers for my books and notes and our family history etc.

Elisabeth went to Trek with the youth in our ward; Charles just barely missed the age cutoff date, but he'll get to go in 4 years when they do the next one. Elisabeth had a great time. 

16 year marriage anniversary

Here's our first family picture...besides our wedding picture. This was taken about a year and 5 months after we'd been married. So we have 21-year old me, and 23-year-old Scott and baby Elisabeth. 2004

 2006

 2007

 2008

2009

 2010

 2011

 2012

 2014

 2016

 2017

2019

 Scott and I did several activities over the week in celebration of our anniversary. We did temple sealings the Saturday before our anniversary. On our anniversary, which was a Thursday, we had dinner down in Provo at the Brick Oven, which is where we went on our first date,

 and then we walked across the street to the apartments we lived in when we met,  (I'm sure the young single adults living there currently, thought it was odd to see a married couple snooping around the complex taking pictures)

 and then we went on a stroll through an area of BYU where we had a bench we'd sometimes sit on and kiss :).

 Friday, our good friend Stacey agreed to come stay the night at our house with the kids, and Scott and I went to Park City. We did a horse trail ride at North Forty Escape in the Oakley area,

 and then a zip line tour in park city.

 Saturday morning we went on a trail run together and after we went to the Park City mountain village and rode their Coaster...which is kinda like a go-cart on a track. They pull you up, and then you go down, really, really fast.

We loved all the active things we were able to do together...so grateful for these amazing bodies that can do so many things when they're in pretty good health. And I'm so grateful for Scott! We have worked hard on our marriage over the years by continually nourishing it through weekly date nights (which have looked drastically different over the years, from when we were poor and had lots of littles, to now where we have built-in babysitters and can actually go 'out' and do things often), praying together nightly, going to bed together (at the same time) nightly, encouraging and supporting one another, and speaking kindly to and respectfully of one another. It's been a great 16 years, we've gone through a lot together, I know Scott more now than ever, and I am grateful for the ride through life that we get to experience together.

Hiking, kid date night, scout camp, kid entrepreneurs, driving permit, lessons learned

One of my roommates from BYU, Shayla, messaged me a few months ago and asked where exactly I live and what ward I'm in (for church). Once I answered her, she said that a good friend of hers from California was moving into my neighborhood and asked if she could give her my phone number. Of course you can! So April reached out to me and we chatted multiple times before they moved in, mostly me answering her questions about local things, and then they moved into the neighborhood in June. We both had family trips soon after, but whenever we're both around, our kids seem to gravitate toward one another, or at least, Charles with her boys, and Nora and Jane with her daughter. They're an active family, like us, which is fun, because now we've been on many hikes together (usually without the dads, because they're at work). So over the next few posts, you'll probably see pictures of us on different hikes with our friends the Murphy family. Here we are at Bells Canyon. 

 I continue to LOVE our monthly date nights with the kids (we take one kid during the month, so each kid has two months during the year when they get to go on a date with mom and dad, or sometimes just one of us depending on the schedule and the price of the activity). Annabelle wanted to go to the Riverton City play, Beauty and the Beast because her good friend Annika had a small part.

 Afterward, we stopped by Menchies for some Froyo. Inevitably, I get more froyo and more toppings than I had pre-planned...I'll keep working on it :).

 Charles attended scout camp with his troop and had an awesome time. One of the days they hiked 20 miles! Way to go troop! Before he left, I reminded him of some things to do (carry some water, and a couple of nourishing snacks; wear sunscreen and be positive and encouraging) and not to do (don't allow doubts/fears/negative thoughts to linger; try to avoid sugary foods and other non-nutritional foods or foods that will quickly raise and then drop your blood sugar) during his long hike, and I reminded him, if he starts to feel like things are getting hard, to remember that his mom recently ran 26.2 miles, and he can for sure beat his old mom :).

 While Charles was at scout camp, these girls baked a bunch of Lionhouse cookies and set up a bake sale. They wanted to earn enough money to go to Hale Center Theater to see Rogers and Hammersteins Cinderella. Over a few days, they totally earned all the money they needed ($22/ticket, so $66 total). So proud of these girls and their entrepreneur attitude. Way to work for what you want!

 I can't remember if I mentioned before, but the organist in our ward (church), asked if Elisabeth would be willing to play prelude on the organ once a month before church. So the week before, Elisabeth likes to get over to the church and run through several songs on the organ. I love that she was asked to do this and is developing this skill.

 Elisabeth also received her driving permit in the beginning of July. She was pretty excited, but she's also pretty nervous about driving (and so are we!). The first several times out were really rough...she'd go really slow, and completely stop on turns or when we went over speed bumps, which is scary, especially if there's a car coming up behind you! But she has been getting better every time. We are adding new things for her to try, for instance, last week she drove on a busier street for a few minutes, and had to switch lanes, which was new for her. I don't love that she's supposed to do all the initial driving with us first, and then take driver's ed, it seems backwards, especially since the drivers ed instructor is the one with the brake on his side of the car. Oh well, it's all good. Oh, and as of yet, we only let her drive with either me or scott in the car. We don't have her drive yet with any of the kids in the back.

 One night before bed, I decided to take my pajama pants that were a little short for long pants, but too long for shorts, and cut them with my fabric cutter (it looks like a pizza cutter). Well, I learned that that's not a smart thing to do when you're really tired. I sliced my middle finger on my left hand, and it bled a lot for a long time. I applied pressure for a long time, and once it slowed down some, I put on liquid bandage medicine, plus we wrapped a bigger piece of gauze around it and tapped it. The next day I went without the gauze, and just did liquid bandage and a bandaid, and I continued with that for a week, and then just did liquid bandage for another week and this is what it looked like at that point.

 Elisabeth had some EFY friends over on a Friday and Saturday; one was visiting from Saratoga Springs, which is only about 25 minutes or so, but another was visiting from Colorado (both boys), plus she invited some friends from the neighborhood. So I thought I'd make angel food cake. I grabbed a box from the store, and thought I'd followed the recipe exactly, but then it turned out like this! I was so grateful I had baked it on top of my pizza stone! Otherwise I would've been cleaning my oven for a long time. Anyhow, turns out I cooked it in a cheesecake pan, rather than the bundt pan I was supposed to bake it in. The cheesecake pan is smaller. Another lesson learned!