Austin Texas

So much has been going on I better start trying to catch up.  Jake and I got to go to Austin, Texas for his builder group meeting.  It's always fun to get away without the kids.  I also love seeing new places, and with Jake in meetings most of the time I even get some great alone time in a fun new place!  I definitely enjoy these trips much more than Jake does;)

Austin was a great place, but way too hot.  They had record breaking heat while we were there (100 degrees), and with the humidity I maybe thought I was going to die.  My runs were painful every step of the way.  Thank heavens I live in a place that cools off every night.  Heaven!  I've also learned on these trips that I really, really love working out and then jumping in a pool.  It feels so good!  I wish I could do that every day!  Except that my workouts would suddenly be a few hours long due to hanging out in the pool, so that probably wouldn't work. 

Anyway, we always have dinner with the group every night while we're at these things.  The food is usually delicious and we get to know everyone better.  The first day we were there I walked to a fun area with lots of shops.  The only place I bought anything was the candy store, which is kind of embarrassing, but also appropriate since I'm the worst shopper ever.  I lasted until about 12:30pm, and then I got so hot I couldn't take it anymore.  I decided it was time to retreat to the pool.  By the time I got back to the hotel I was literally dripping with sweat.  How embarrassing.  Spjutes are not made for the heat.

For dinner the second night we went on a boat ride in the lake by our hotel.  It was really pretty and a fun way to see Austin.  We also saw like a bajillion bats flying out from a bridge when it got dark.  Kind of creepy.  On Saturday Jake only had to meet for a couple of hours and then we got to hang out.  We went kayaking on the lake, which was fun, and then we walked around the city.  We ate fried mac and cheese balls and saw the state capital.  Who knew fried mac and cheese could be so delicious?  Oh yeah, I also made my first visit to Voo Doo Donuts.  Delicious and crazy how many donuts they make.  I didn't get anything too crazy when I realized that some of their extreme donuts are $6!  For one donut!  I don't care how good the donut is, that's crazy!

Beautiful Austin

Kayaking - isn't Jake doing a good job rowing?

If I look hot its because I was

Fried mac and cheese balls!

Capital rotunda

Scary snake by our hotel

Beautiful Austin

The builder group

Spring Fun

I'm always amazed at how busy spring is.  Especially the month of May (which I realize hasn't happened yet).  I'm gearing up for all of the craziness.  Field trips, recitals, field trips, competitions.  It's busy, but I love it too.  And love the warm weather.  And love when it finally turns green not brown.  Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.  Not including any pictures of the theater, even though that's taken up a lot of time.  A lot.  It deserves a post of its own.  But it's almost done!!  Carpet this week!

We got a Jeep!  After hours and hours of looking Jake finally got one.  Hallelujah!  Jake and Zack took it to scout camp in San Rafael for its maiden voyage.

Jake smiles every time he drives it

A cool tumble gym Jake's building

The dairy farm right by us had a baby animal day.

The older Zack gets the more alike they get

Jake hooked up to an IV in the ER.  He got super dehydrated one day, then got the stomach flu.  He couldn't stop puking so to the hospital he went.  And then of course worked the next day.  Killing me.

Sage came in 2nd place in the 3rd grade jump rope competition, so she won this jump rope.  She was sooo excited!

Sage loves events.  Loves them.  It doesn't have to be anything big, just something out of the ordinary.  She was so excited for this field trip because it was ALL DAY.

Spring Break!

It's been a while since I wrote, but not much has been going on here.  Nothing I want to bore you with anyway.  Spring break wasn't too crazy this year.  But we've done a couple of big trips, so we can handle staying in Utah.  We went to St George from Wednesday to Saturday and had a great time.  We didn't have such a great time from Monday to Wednesday.  I warned the kids that I needed to get some things done before we left Wednesday so I didn't have anything exciting planned.  Big mistake on my part.  You'd think I'd learn.  Actually, you'd think my kids would learn how to entertain themselves for more than 20 minutes.  It actually kind of makes me crazy that they couldn't survive two days without being entertained at all times.  They'll regret they're actions though because I'm already making up lists of things for them to do this summer:  laundry, weeding, cook dinner, wash the car, etc.  Ok, I know kids need to have fun. I promise.  And I know I should have planned something fun with them.  But really, I figured we could survive two days with the promise of a fun trip to St George.  It wasn't pretty.  Mom of the year award for sure:(

Anyway, the St George part was great.  We got to stay at Greg and Tracy's and we had great fun!  We went mountain biking, hiking, lots of swimming, ate yummy food, the kids stayed up super late, and we made Jake take a detour on the way home just to get delicious pie.  Basically, we made the most of our trip and it was awesome!

They were super excited for this picture.  The only one documenting our ride together.

We may or may not have teased Jake for having his arms straight out when he jumped.  Super aerodynamic:)

Sage was mad I made her take water on our hike.  Then she wasn't so mad when it was roasting hot and she had water.  Mother knows best!!!

The cool elephant rock we hiked to

Sage loved her pie so much she pretty much shoved it in her face.  It was pretty funny.

Targhee!!!

We finally made it to Targhee for some amazing skiing!  Jake grew up going there every year with a big group of family and friends.  Like for reals, every year from when he was 4 til his mission.  A lot of the same people still go every year.  Talk about a long-standing tradition!  My dad would be proud;)  Jake and I went once when Zack was a baby, so 13 years ago.  So pretty much I've never been there because that was like a lifetime ago and I essentially remember nothing.

On the way there we stopped at Big Jud's outside of Rexburg.  My 20 year old college stomping grounds.  When we pulled up to the super small whole in the wall in the middle of nowhere Jake said, "Is this what you were expecting?"  Yes it was.  Gotta love little Idaho towns.  And little food joints.  It had been redecorated since I last went (shocking) but otherwise it did not disappoint.  The amount of tater tots that came with the kids meals was like a normal adult portion.  Jake made the mistake of getting a large fry and there was no way anyone could eat all of that.  We didn't let Zack get the Big Jud special (1lb hamburger), but I'm sure he would have finished it easily.  They now have a Big Jud's Double - 2 lbs of meat on a hamburger.  Nasty.

The skiing was amazing, especially after the lack of snow in Utah this year.  I love that it's a small resort - 4 lifts.  Sometimes Park City is a little overwhelming in it's hugeness.  The first day everyone but Jake did lessons.  The kids all did a full day.  Their lessons were good I think, but I have to admit that I didn't notice much of a change in their skiing ability.  Well, take that back, Kate showed improvement.  Everyone else not so much.  Jake talked me into doing a half day lesson.  I have to admit I kicked and screamed a bit.  I really didn't want to, but I finally did to keep the peace and as usual Jake was right (I hate that).  I ended up having a private lesson without paying the big bucks, which was awesome.  My teacher was amazing.  She taught me some really good things and I felt like an amazing skier with her.  My amazingness lasted the rest of the day, and then I started slipping back into old habits.  I'm still fighting the back slide, but at least I know what to focus on.  Every night we hung out in the lobby of the lodge with everyone.  The adults got to chat and the kids got to play games together.  A definite win-win. 

Friday was just a good ski day.  Our family skied together the whole day and it was awesome.  The kids did great skiing for that long.  I can hardly manage that, so I'm impressed.  We got some fresh snow in the afternoon, so it was pretty good skiing.  At one point we went to the top of the mountain and couldn't see anything.  The snow was white, the sky was white, and it was super disorienting.  We slowly made it down (after convincing the kids to stop crying and keep moving) and then we stayed off of that lift.  It was pretty cloudy the whole time we were there, so although we were in the Tetons I never got to see them.  Bummer.

It snowed all night Friday night so we woke up to a foot of fresh powder.  We were checking out that morning, so we got the car loaded up in record time because Jake was determined to make it on the first lift.  Miraculously he got his wish.  We were in line waiting for the lift to open.  The snow was amazing.  Knee deep powder.  Poor Sage was really slow because the snow was over her legs.  She was a trooper though and made it down some really tough stuff.  We only skied til like 1:30 that day, and it's a good thing because my legs were exhausted.

On the way home we stopped with some friends at a diner in Pocatello.  We had a great time visiting with them.  I love stopping at random food places in small towns.  In between Pocatello and Ogden the roads were horrible.  Snow packed and slow driving.  We managed to make it home safe though.  We were all dragging the next day because we skied our guts out.  I love that our whole family skis!  I'm so grateful Jake works hard so we can do such a fun activity together.  It definitely makes the winters more enjoyable!

Prepping our skis for the big trip!

Sage being Sage

Big Jud's deliciousness

The girls playing games together

Sage eating s'mores in the plaza

The best visibility we had the whole time we were there.  Beautiful!

Every Day Stuff

Life has continued since Hawaii.  Not sure how, but it has.  Nothing too exciting these days, but a few noteworthy things.  Kate got braces!  Poor girl.  She's adjusting to them, but they're definitely not her favorite.  She has to get a few teeth pulled this week.  No fun!  Kate also got to go to New Beginnings for YW.  Finally!  My first New Beginnings with my own daughter.  I'm so excited for all of the fun things she'll be able to do.  Now we're just hoping she can go to girls camp.  Fingers crossed! 

Jake has been working his brains out finishing the restaurant.  Hallelujah that it's done!  And we even managed to get paid.  Now on to the million jobs we have coming up.  So fun.  Zack is consistently Zack.  He spends most of his time printing things on his 3D printer.  He's made some pretty cool things.  His least favorite class at school is english.  He doesn't mind reading, but writing is definitely not his thing.  They've been learning about the Holocaust.  At the end of an assignment his teacher asked what they thought of the assignment.  Zack wrote, "I thought it was boring.  I don't understand why we have to learn about how horrible dead people's lives were."  Heaven help me.  We've since discussed couple of things with him.  Why you never say things like that about a teacher's assignment (strange that he got a 'C') and why it is important to learn from other people's lives (even if they were horrible).  Sometimes I wonder why I even try.

Sage is just busy.  Always.  She's always doing something and it usually involves getting mass amounts of stuff out.  The other day she was a dog.  All day.  She barked a lot.  She had a collar with a name (Cookie), ate food and water out of bowls, and made a bed with chairs and blankets.  I thought Zack was going to kill her.  But those are the kinds of things she does.  Oh yeah, I have to share this story.  Sage learned about Mother Teresa and dressed up as her for a wax museum thing at school.  The day before she mentioned that her teacher had given everyone typed up info on their people and hers was a lot different than what she had learned.  But like the rule follower she is she went ahead and learned what the teacher gave her.  When I walked up to her at school she started telling me about Mother Teresa.  "I was born in South Salt Lake in 1927.  I thought, "Wait, Mother Teresa wasn't born in Utah."  Then she said, "I married Francis on ..."  What??!!  Her teacher heard her and we both stopped her.  We figured out that her teacher had accidentally given her the paper on Thomas Monson (there wasn't a name on it).  She was confused it was so different but learned it anyway.  We had her get her Mother Teresa paper out and she proceeded to give the correct info.  Luckily I was one of the first people there so we caught it quickly.  The first and only time President Monson and Mother Teresa were confused.  So, never a dull moment around here:)

Had to document the restaurant on here since it almost killed us all

New Beginnings

The girls turning 12 this year.  Kate is always the shortest

Sage was Mother Teresa for the wax museum.  She is always frustrated with her non-crafty mom.  Don't mock the costume!

A rare ski day due to lack of snow.

Kate getting braces.  A torture machine if I ever saw one.

Kate with braces.  

Sage's valentine box.  Zack helped her.  One of the few times they actually worked together and didn't fight.  Miracles!