Christmas 2023 (no pictures)

 This Christmas was so special. The first Christmas without Mom. It was going to have difficult moments. When Britt asked me if it wouldn't be inconvenient for her to come for Christmas I was so excited! Of course, we wanted her to visit!! We were lucky enough for the previous three years in Maryland to have Britt as part of our Christmas morning so it just felt natural that she be there with us. 

Let's rewind just a little bit to the beginning of Christmas season. Putting up the Christmas tree is one of my favorite parts of this season. Setting up a bright, beautiful new decoration in your home is so fun. I was a bit worried about Nelson and the tree, but we didn't have any ornament casualties. Not that he didn't try. 

This was the first time I had to deal with a spirit week at a kids school. We tried to dress up appropriately with each day, but I wasn't going to spend money on it. One of the days was a grinch theme. We had nothing grinch related, not even in his color. About 10 minutes before we have to head out the door I decide that I could try and create something. I grab a white shirt we don't care about, felt, a hot glue gun, and some needle and thread. Lo and behold I create a grinch shirt!! I was actually very proud of my efforts. I don't consider myself to be very creative or artistic, so whenever I do something artsy that looks half good I'm very proud of myself. 

I was so excited for Riley to get out of school for Christmas Break. Sure, having Riley in school has been very helpful these past few months while I've been sick and sad, but I miss our slower mornings and outings together. 

Britt got in on the 20th after the kids went to bed, so we had her surprise Britt in the morning. Britt came out of her room when she woke up, and Riley was shocked! We had SO much fun having Aunt Bo back in the house. It was so fun having Nelson get to know her better. Kids grow up so much in those first few years so he had much more personality than when she last saw him 6 months earlier. 

Christmas Eve was an emotional night. We had a family call and while we did read the classic stories we also talking about Christmas memories with mom. After rereading some emails I'd had from Mom I realized how much pressure she felt to make Christmas wonderful for her children, no matter how old we got. Of course, I can relate to that feeling. We always want the best for our kids. I remember the Christmas I came home from my mission Mom had someone put up Christmas lights and we went and got a real Christmas tree. The year I was gone they'd had a fake tree and no lights, she knew how much I loved those two things so she went to the extra work to make the year I came home extra special for me. 

Christmas morning was a blast! I was a little worried they wouldn't be excited about their Santa gift. I had sort of taken a gamble with this gift, I had seen them enjoying a giant Squishmellow at Ana's house in November. I wasn't sure it was exciting enough for the big reveal in the morning, but boy was I wrong! They loved those things! They were jumping on those things non-stop for weeks and weeks. 

 

Halloween 2023 (No pictures yet)

 Our first Halloween in Georgia. My main goal for this Halloween was to help Riley choose a costume that wasn't another troll. We started talking about costumes months before Halloween. I knew she'd change her mind plenty of times so I waited to commit to something until it seemed like her answer to the question, "What do you want to be for Halloween?" started being consistent. She decided she wanted to be Detective Hops, the main character in one of our very favorite movies, Zootopia. 

I think it's so cute that people put together these family themed costumes, but I also don't like spending money on things for one night of cuteness. Riley wanted us all to be characters from Zootopia, so I figured I could at least get a costume for Nelson from the movie. We wanted him to be a little fennec fox, but it may not surprise you a fennec fox costume for a two year old was not easy to find. Ben came up with the idea that Nelson could be the fennec fox when he dresses up like an elephant in the movie. Perfect! Elephant costumes were MUCH easier to find. 

Putting together Riley's costume was fun. I didn't want to just buy the Detective Hops costumes because they weren't very cute and it didn't look very hard to put together. I bought some bunny ears and police outfit. I also looked up some ideas for bunny face paint. Painting on her bunny face was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was very impressed with my own work! 

On Halloween night Ben came home right before we were going out to trick-or-treat. He disappeared for a minute and came out in the perfect Nick costume! It almost made me regret not getting any sort of costume for myself, but the three of them were cute enough. 

We were invited by a friend to come trick or treating with them in their neighborhood. Our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks so we gladly accepted the offer to go to a more little kid friendly area. One interesting thing was that everyone puts their candy out on a table, we didn't knock on any doors! Some people sit out with the candy so they can see the kids go by, but my guess is that since it's such a popular neighborhood they don't want to have to come to the door every 10 seconds. 

Riley and Nelson had an absolute ball. Nelson was absolutely adorable in his little elephant costume, and even though it was definitely too warm for that costume he wasn't phased at all. He was laser focused on collecting candy, no matter how rosy his little cheeks were getting. I should've taken off his outfit, but he was just getting so many compliments! Once it got dark we took off the hat and let his head breathe. He also was holding on to his pumpkin for dear life, but it got pretty heavy after we'd been going for a while. Ben had to start stuffing candy in his pockets so sweet Nelson could still carry that heavy thing. Riley was so jazzed the whole night. Saying things like Halloween is the best night! Isn't it the best Clara?? We are having so much fun! But she didn't have never-ending energy. When we suggested heading back to the car she was definitely on board. She just wanted to start eating some of her collection! 

I'm not a huge lover of the creepy parts of Halloween (like the house down our street with it's yard full of severed body parts!), but I do love the sweet little kids dressing up and living there best lives! 

Rileyism (no pictures yet)

 *Nelson hearing the crinkle of any wrapper* TREAT! TREAT! TREAT!

Watching the Grinch cartoon. Riley: Cindy Lou doesn't have any legs. She has...something else. 

Ben asking me if it's okay to do something that I didn't want him to do, but Riley did. Riley: You don't always have to ask your wife permission to do things. Sometimes you can ask your daughter.

Riley and I were playing a game that I was a cat and she was my owner. We played it for a while and then she went off to the play room to play with something else. It had been a few minutes and I started talking to Ben when I hear a yell from the other room, "Mom, remember you're a cat!"

Riley trying to figure out what happened to all the cookies we had left over from an event. Talking to Ben she said, "If Nelson didn't eat them and I didn't eat them and you didn't eat them....WHO ate them??"

Riley talking to a bug: "Go live your life. Go find a mate and try and see if HE'll like you. Go and have babies and make a family."

Riley: I'm already kind of like Jesus.

When we were visiting Utah and the adults were being a bit loud after I put Riley to bed she came out with her hand on her hips and sternly said, "All this talk, talk, talk, is making it hard for me to sleep, sleep, sleep." 

I was asking Riley if she knew the names of the other teachers that help do Prek pick up. She told me a few of their names and then she says, "Ms Jennifer is the really old one that calls our names. I wonder why she's not dead yet." Thank goodness we were in our car for this conversation! 

Riley: "I found another weed pretending to be a flower!" We've tried starting a very low stakes garden, but it does prove to be tricky when you can't figure out what's a weed and what is a bud of something we are trying to grow! 

Riley randomly while in Utah: "I wish you were Grandma and Grandpa's granddaughter and I could have grown up here playing with the doll house."

Riley: "Welcome to Riley's Restaurant...that's alliteration!" I'm always so excited to hear things that Riley is learning in Prek come out at home. She doesn't seem to remember a single thing they've done once she gets in the van and I ask her about her day, but every once in a while something slips out. 

Riley: Do you know my leg hurts?

Mom: Oh I'm sorry.

Riley: But just when I hop on it. (Begins hopping vigorously.)

While watching the original Grinch cartoon, "Cindy Lou doesn't have legs. She has...something else." Haha I explained that she just has a long nightgown and we can't see her legs because yes that would be some weird anatomy if that was her bottom half. 

I've never been prouder of my girl than when while we were carving pumpkins Riley asked, "Can we listen to music from the month after November?" Haha yes! We are an early Christmas music family! 

Nelson brought the book Love You Forever over to me and asked me to read it. It was not long after Mom had passed and I knew I wasn't gonna get through it without some tears. When I inevitably started to cry Riley asks me what's wrong. When I explained why she said, "Ohhh...but you're going to see her again!" An important reminder. 

While playing legos with Riley she begins singing, "You're not better than me at legos. I'm the best at legos. I'm better than you."

This moment was witnessed by a few people on the family call. When Riley first heard the idea to use the name Millie for our baby girl her reaction was, "I agree with that! I will help you tell Daddy to say yes!"

Usually when you go to get your child out of his crib you'd assume his "Up, up!" is referring to him being picked up. Not so with Nelson. Before he request for me to pick him up he insists I put my hair up in a bun. Haha I guess I'm not myself when my hair is down. 

Nelson and Riley have entered the stage of being siblings where they will play nicely together occasionally. Usually it's Riley just telling Nelson what to do and him following blindly. 

Walking On Sunshine…and Then Rain…and Then Sunshine Again

After spending the majority of our July moving to Georgia and trying to get our new life figured out we decided we deserved some fun! We drove the four hours to Florida to join in on the Rollins Reunion for Ben’s last week of freedom. 

I’d never been to Florida and Ben had only been recently for a conference, so that hardly counts. Four hrs is just about the length of a reasonable car trip in my book. Six hours is too much for a day, but four is just about right. The kids did great on the drive, and I was so impressed! Nelson is getting a lot better at putting up with car rides and I’m gradually getting better at prepping for these rides as well. 

We arrived Tuesday evening and got settled. Walked around the area of our Airbnb and saw some baby gators! 

Wednesday was going to be a big day. Ben was a huge Harry Potter fan when he was younger and still can do remarkably well with Harry Potter trivia games. Of course, when they created Harry Potter World he really wanted to go! Unfortunately, his family first went to HPW a week before he got off his mission (it was in connection with a reunion so they couldn’t choose the date). The second opportunity came around the summer he started Med school so he had to miss that as well. Finally, the Florida reunion would be a time that he had time off! And as a bonus we were moving super close to Florida! Ben’s mom and dad were the real heroes by watching Riley and Nelson after getting off a red eye flight that morning. They arrived around 8 am, we passed the kiddos off to them, and headed for Universal! We had Ben’s brother Tim and his wife, Annaliesa with us which made it fun! They had done Universal the previous summer so they were able to suggest which rides we should seek out and how to use the Universal App to our advantage. 

When we were planning this trip I realized I hadn’t been on a real rollercoaster probably since senior year of high school, maybe freshman year of college. And those rollercoasters were just at lagoon so not the coolest rollercoasters. The rollercoasters at universal were amazing! After the very first ride I was like, ok that was worth the $200 ticket. That was amazing. The kind of 4D, virtual rides were my favorite. Also, the butter beer was amazing! It was $9 a glass, but we still got it twice! Overall, we had a super fun time. I will say having not been to an amusement park it’s crazy how much money you have to spend to get to ride like 8 rides. The lines are so long you spend so much time trying to ride one ride. We did the single rider line a few times that can make the wait faster, but I wasn’t going to Universal just to ride rides I was going to experience it with Ben, not some rando. It’s fun to hear the screams and sounds of the people you know next to you. So I requested not to do the single rider line too much. 

We lasted at Universal until about 7:30. It had started raining and thundering at 6:30 so that really diminished the options of things we could do. I was perfectly fine being done a little early. It was a long day which lots of walking, but such a fun time! 

Thursday was sort of a down day because a lot of the crew was sleep deprived either because their red eye had been delayed and they’d arrived at 5 am or because they’d been out late kayaking till 3 am. So most of the morning I was just trying to keep the kids quiet. Eventually Ben’s dad suggested taking the kids to the aquarium. Aquariums are always fun for the kiddos so I was onboard! When we walked in they had us pose for some pictures that came with the price of the ticket, good thing too! They turned out so well I would’ve had to buy them if them didn’t. I was holding Riley so I couldn’t tell that she was actually following the directions the camera lady was saying to look up and look scared so when I saw how the picture turned out I LOVED it. 

After the aquarium we took the kiddos on a carousel. Riley was having the time of her life. Nelson was not. Everything was fine until I had to move him so I was in between both him and Riley. He was NOT happy to be picked up and then discard so quickly. He spent the whole ride grasping at my shirt trying to pull himself off the horse. 

Thursday night it was our turn to go do some bioluminescence kayaking. It was the best part of the whole trip. I kind of feel bad the best too outings were just Ben and I without kiddos, but it was also really fun having adult fun together which hasn’t happened in forever. I realized that the day at Unviersal was the longest I’d been away from both children since Riley was born. 😨 So yeah this trip was good for us. Uncle Paul took a group of us out to this lagoon that has these algae that glow when you touch or move them. It’s incredible. As you row your ore is making the water glow. You trace your finger in the water and can see marks of where you’ve been. You pull your hand out of the water and watch the glowing water run down your arm. Kayaking through a school of fish is the best, it’s midnight so you don’t see the fish, but when you disturbe them all the sudden you see flashes of light speeding away from your boat. It was the most incredible night! 

Well the incredible night made for a rough morning. We kind of drew the short straw in that there was an early morning activity planned for Friday morning. So we were up and ready to go at 8:30 after getting to bed around 4. Also, did I mention we were sleeping in a bed with Riley in between us? So none of our rest was super restful. That girl likes to go horizontal in the bed and then start to kick. So we drove up to some blue springs and went swimming for a bit. This activity would’ve been more fun if the water hadn’t been so cold! Nelson was immediately not a fan and was in hysterics on and off the whole time. 

Most of Friday was a daze because of how absolutely exhausted I was. I definitely passed out on the couch at some point while Nelson was napping and maybe I’d let Riley watch a show. 

Saturday was our last day in Florida. We still hadn’t been to the beach and I realized it wasn’t gonna happen unless I just did it and said hey people can come if you want but we are going to the beach. I’m so glad we did because we had such a fun time! I wish we’d had more time, but we had to be back at 12 for the birthday party tradition they have. So we only got a few hours, but the good news is we live very close to some great beaches here in Georgia anyways. 

We hurried back to the house, had a fun birthday party, which Riley was a HUGE fan of. After the birthday party we said our goodbyes and got out of there as quick as we could because it was already 2:30 and our arrival time at home was going to be later than I’d hoped. 

But even when we left it didn’t feel like the reunion ended because Ben’s parents actually followed us back to Savannah for two days! It was so fun hosting our first guests and getting to share a small bit of our new life with someone. It was also a bonus for me was having Meredith in town to show me some of the basics on the organ so I could play the organ instead of just sticking with the piano. We went to Forsyth Park and and awesome wildlife nature center.  

I told Ben I’d wait for him here and then I turned to see this sign. 

It was a wonderful end to our month of vacation, we so enjoyed having Dad at home, but I’m happy to report we’ve found a bit of a rhythm to our days now that Dad’s back at work as well. Riley is now doing PreK 5 days a week and so far hasn’t put up too much of a fuss to going each day. We will see if it starts to wear on her after a few weeks of this, but I’m hopeful she’ll just be a girl who enjoys school 🤞🏻. 

Rileyisms

These posts always speak for themselves. These quotes range quite a few months...enjoy.  

"Mama you really need to take care of me a lot today." Don't we all wish we could tell the world to be gentle with us some days. 

Riley likes to dictate how I'm feeling or things I say when we play together. This one cracked me up when she said, "Can you be sad because there isn't a lot of beautiful things in the world?"

 Riley has started enjoyed jokes, she told me a pretty good one the other day. "Why was 6 afraid of 7? Well because 7 was a vampire!" Then I tried to tell her the classic why is 9 afraid of 7 joke and after I told her the punch line of because 7 8 9 she said, "I don't have an answer for that." 

Another joke moment. She was pondering this horse joke her dad told her, "What did the horse say when she fell down? Help, I've fallen and I can't giddy up!" She disagreed she said, "He would just ask another horse to help him!" Pretty simple guys.

Ben had his Ukulele out recently and Riley was putting on a little concert for us. After playing for a few minutes she looked at us and said, "So you guys know, I don't know how to change the notes." Haha thanks for the warning after we're already in our seats for the concert. 

One of those classic little kid burns. Riley says to me, "Your teeth are more gold than white." 

Riley telling me about playing red light, green light during her primary class. "One kid was really good at it! But some of my little friends just kept on running!"

Standing tall tapes. There is a song in the love one about a Dad who now lives at a different house, but "still there is love". Riley really related with the kid because she told me, "My dad doesn't live here sometimes too." 

"I can help so you don't have to live your life doing that alone." Haha encouraging...I think. 

"I just like pepper when it's mixed with mint."

Riley's been really into dad jokes recently. Ben will tell her the joke and she'll come tell it to me. While one of the jokes he told Riley was, "What did the horse say when she fell down? I can't giddy up!" Riley responded, "She would just ask another horse to help him." 

Me trying to teach Riley the real Spanish word for things. "I like making up Spanish words, that's just about being a kid."

Just totally out of the blue, "So Nel is gonna be another dad huh?"

Playing with Riley and she pretends that she's having twins. After giving birth to both babies she makes a motion of doing up a jacket and says, "Zip!" 

Grandma Jack wanted to capture a cute Riley moment, but didn't have her phone. She said, "I wish I had my camera!" Riley responded, "It's okay, you can just look at me."

One day I hear Riley singing, "Mama works day and night." She comes in the room in my shoes and says, "I'm being a mama. I'm very busy."

We were reading a book that mentions a pilot whale. Riley says, "Pilot whale! Did you know pilot whales are actually dolphins?" The knowledge she holds onto amazes me. 

No specific quote, but I just wanted to remember walking through Costco with the kiddos in the cart. Nelson was trying to "eat" Riley and she was just laughing and laughing. It is so fun seeing Nelson and Riley play together. It doesn't happen very often without Nelson getting hurt or Riley getting upset he's taking her toys. So I enjoy the small moments. 

So far the list of things Riley wants to be include: firefighter, bug girl, opthamologist, and most recently "a pediatrician so I can work with Daddy."

I think I was bringing something out to the car, but Riley was concerned I was leaving her behind. She called to me, "You can't just skip away with out your child!"

Riley was playing on the couch, slipped off, and landed on a tub of magnatiles. Through tears she exclaimed, "I told you we shouldn't have the magnatiles there!" "I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't hear you say that." "That's because it was in my mind." 

A hilarious out of the blue question. "Mom is your life gonna be hard when we have lots of kids?"

We were reading some Kratt Brothers books where they talk about getting different creature powers. I ask her what creature power she would want. She responded, "A spider! I could scare everybody in my reach!" Haha her joys of scaring her aunt Bo with spider things runs deep. 

I'm sure this was referring to remembering something that I didn't, "It's funny that my little brain is better than your grown up brain."

"Life will be hard if I don't get a baby sister." "But we will love all our baby brothers right?" "Well....depending on how cute they are."

I made molasses cookies the other day and while they may not be much to look at they are very delicious. Apparently Riley felt the same because when I offered a cookie to Ben she told him, "They are better than you think!" Then she repeated the same phrase when I offered one to Britt. 

We were over playing at her friend Lily's house. I was playing a game with Lily's little brother that was similar to Memory, but it was all in Japanese so I was definitely being beat by a two year old. Riley gave me a pep talk, saying, "It's okay if you aren't good at it mom! You'll just be a little slower, but you can do it!"

"I can't sleep! I'm so excited for Father's Day!" This girl loves any reason to celebrate. 

Another moment of her book knowledge: "Camouflage means using colors to blend into your surroundings. Adapt means change over a long period of time. It says that in the glossary."

Riley coming in from outside commenting on her state of cleanliness, "Pretty dirty huh? And I don't smell good either!"

Hops on my chair and says, "I'm warming your seat for you." A few minutes late after I've totally forgotten, "Should be warm enough now mom!"

Playing doctor with Riley is hilarious. She's got to work on her bedside manner. "Oh no, this isn't gonna be good." "Oh, you aspirated a kitty." "We have a problem with the lungs. Kittens."

Overhearing a conversation at soccer practice said to her friend Sarah, "I can help you, what do you need?"

I just realized maybe I should add a few little Nelson things. 

When you give him a hug he responds with a grunt. That is because his Dad loves to hug him and make a mmmm sound as he squeezes him. He now things that sound needs to accompany each hug. 

If the pantry is ever left open you can expect this little boy to be walking over to you with a bar in hand requesting it be opened. 

When he's really happy with you (usually because you gave him yummy food) he'll look up at you and give you the cheesiest little grin. 

This is Britt and Nelson's relationship.

This may look like a touching picture between siblings, but really Riley is yelling at Nelson to stop taking her flowers. Note how many flowers are all over the yard.

Riley's soccer practice was such a fun few weeks. This coach was hilarious, he kept me laughing on the sidelines.

Riley went to a Paw Patrol party at a fire station. She refused to sacrifice either theme. 

Her face when Marshall showed up. But don't let that fool you she refused to look him in the eye or approach him in any way. I can't imagine Disney is going to go very well. 

Always riding in style.

Trying to capture his cheesy grin.

Goodbye Love (No pictures yet)

 The last month in DC. Not only was it filling with preparing to move, but we also had the added pressure of this could be the last month we live in DC. What do we want to experience again or what have we not done yet that we need to do? We tried not to get too crazy with it, but we did have a fairly eventful few weeks. 

One of the museums that had been on my list to checkout was the Bible Museum. It's one of the museums you do have to pay to go to, but I'd heard such good things about it. So on a Sunday in May we headed to the museum and man was I sad we hadn't checked it out before! It was a great museum for kids! Not only did it have an adorable little play area with Bible themed games, but even just the main museum areas were very engaging and kept Riley interested. 

The Old Testament section had this big multimedia presentation to summarize the Old Testament. There were moments where things got a little too intense for Riley so we did have to cover ears a bit. At one point it was talking about Cain killing Abel and a splatter of blood covered the wall. Riley said, "Look at all those cool red lines!" Haha glad she didn't catch on to that one. 

The New Testament area was made to look like what Jerusalem would've looked like at that time. The olive press was a favorite of Riley and Nelson's. Oh, and I didn't even mention! We found an amazing parking spot for free near the museum. So all in all and amazing day. 

Strawberry Picking!!

Mel has been picking berries with her kids for years and years and I guess I finally gave in to the FOMO. A friend of mine posted pictures of a near by farm where she picked berries and I said...you know what? Let's do it! I had two kids in tow on a hot day, after driving 45 minutes to get there, but man if those berries weren't totally worth it!! They were the yummiest berries I've ever had, and Nelson and Riley seemed to agree. 

Over Memorial Day weekend we had visitors! Ben's brother's family came to stay with us for a few days. Most days they adventured on their own, but we joined them for a visit to the Botanical Gardens downtown. Lo and behold another awesome place for little kids! I really wish I would've known how cool this place was earlier on. It was really fun to look around at the plants, but my favorite place was the kid section. They had shovels and watering cans so the kids could plant and tend to the plants in that section. Such a cute idea! It's these little gems that you just don't know about when you are new to an area. It can be so hard finding places that are good for kids when you move. 

Another weekend in Downtown DC. This time our destinations were the National Gallery of Art and the Holocaust Museum. I was bummed we didn't allow more time for the Gallery before our appointment at Holocaust because it ended up being one of my favorite places! Who knew that art can actually be moving? Seeing famous painter's works of art in person actually was really cool. Things from Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet...it was an amazing collection and we had to rush through it a bit. Riley was so funny with the painting, she was pretending like they were all about to fall and she was catching all of them. Then she would pretend to put them in the stroller. I hope none of the security guards were listening too closely or they would've thought we were planning quite the heist. 

In the Holocaust museum Ben and I separated. I kept the kids with me and he took the museum nice and slow. It was our first time at this museum, but the first time we also had Riley so we couldn't take it too slowly. His wish before leaving DC was to really read everything in that museum. The first floors of the museum were absolutely packed so I took the kids down a few floors to the section about the helpers and the survivors. I hadn't made it that far the first time I'd been through and it ended up being my favorite part of the museum and the best to take your kids through. I still had to explain to Riley how awful things happened to a lot of people, but these stories had some uplifting and amazing endings to tell as well. 

Our last weekend of adventure we went to the Spy Museum. I had been with Mel and fam, but Riley was too young to appreciate any of it and I wanted Ben to get to see it. So we bit the bullet and paid the money to go to the Spy museum. It's a really fun, interactive museum. I wish we could've seen all the cool things there, but we enjoyed what we did get to see. After finishing at the Spy museum Ben got to go explore the African American museum because I did that with Britt when I went, and I just took the kiddos home. 

There were still so many museums we didn't get to visit, but we hope that we may get to return to DC someday and keep adding more to our checklist!  

Beach Days (no pictures yet)

 Family Beach Trip! 

Something crazy that I realized while booking a little weekend for our family was that this was going to be the first trip we took simply for fun. Every other vacation we'd ever done was in order to see family. I really wanted to have a little beach trip with the family, we ended up booking a place in Ocean City. Ocean City is kind of the touristy beach in our area, but we didn't mind that vibe. I just wanted a good, relatively clean beach. It ended up being a perfect little place for us. We were steps away from the beach, a short walk from a park, mini golf, and custard. The first day was a little stressful because Ben had to arrive later than me and the kids. So it was just me, Nelson, Riley, and the Ocean. Luckily, Nelson was so thrown by this new place that he just sat still most of the time. So I could be down at the waves with Riley and just have my eyes on Nelson sitting on our towels. The waves were a little strong and there was a little scary moment when I had my back towards the ocean and ended up getting pushed over by the waves. I had to remind myself not to take my eyes off those waves. Even if I'm standing right next to Riley scary things can happen. Of course, she had on her floaty, but I still have a respectful fear of the ocean. So after playing in the waves a bit I encouraged Riley to do some shell searching. It was also clear I was new to beach days when all of a sudden a wave hit our towels and things. That tide comes up really fast! 

Saturday was a much less stressful day at the beach. When we had one parent to each child I was actually able to enjoy the day. Nelson wasn't a fan of the water so I mostly played in the sand with him and Ben did the heavy lifting of playing with Riley in the waves. 

Since we couldn't spend all day at the beach we eventually found some new entertainment. We decided to try some mini golf. I hadn't played a round of mini golf since my dating at BYU days! It was actually really fun. Riley even enjoyed it for the first few holes...but then she was over it. It didn't help that these were not super fun holes. Back in my day I feel like there was a fun gimmick with each hole! This place was just a bunch of little putting greens. But Ben and I were getting competitive so it was still fun. On the way home we stopped for custard.

Oh, just a quick note. I could NEVER live in a beach city. Do you know how much sand was constantly covering the floor of our airbnb?? It was insane. You just can't get rid of it! It looked like we were bringing buckets and buckets in with us every time we came back in. If you're gonna live in a town like that you need a room to enter before you actually enter your house to shower and get scrubbed down. I'm picturing hazmat suits being involved. 

On Sunday it was a bit cold so we didn't go swimming. I did walk to the beach and just sat for a bit. The sound of the waves, the feeling of the sand...I just love beaches. When I don't have little kids I'll be able to enjoy them even more. Maybe I'll even be able to read a book! 

DC Pictures (no pictures yet)

 One of the amazing things about Bo is her commitment to helping others get good pictures. She knows how much she appreciates a good picture so she cares about helping other to get that too. So when I asked her to come downtown and try and take a decent family picture of us she willing came along. Of course, whenever you need kids to be at their best they rarely feel like cooperating, but we managed to get some good pictures. I'm going to miss this beautiful area. It really is a very unique part of the country and I never would've imagined I'd come to love it so much. Also, one of these days I'm going to remember how much walking downtown requires. I wore shoes for pictures, not for walking. The size of the blisters on my heals were horrific. 

(No photos yet) Trip to Utah and Idaho (with Easter Sprinkled in)

 We love our trips to see Grandparents and this trip we were able to see both pairs! It was a long trip, but it was so nice to have time to see everyone. Britt travelled out to Utah with me and the kiddos and then Ben met us in Utah halfway through the trip when we was done with his rotation at Fort Bragg. 

Our trip to Utah was pretty uneventful except for the crazy tetris we had to do to get all our stuff to fit in the Uber. I'm sure we couldn't have gotten a good review from that guy. As we were leaving he said maybe next time we should book a bigger car. I would've felt bad if when booking the uber with a carseat it didn't specifically say that the cars will typically be larger cars. I was lied to! And it's not an easy fix because I needed a car with a carseat for Riley so we just had to make it work. Britt hopped out of her SUV uber to be crunched into our tiny Honda uber. We had learned from our last Frontier flight and instead were flying a direct Delta flight so we felt like we were living in style. Also, I'm never going back from TSA precheck. It's the best thing ever. 

The first days of our trip were all about cousin time and playing at grandma and grandpa's house. Riley loved playing with her cousins, but with little kids things are never quite picture perfect. The first day they all had such a good time. Elena read a book aloud to all the younger ones. Elena and Riley seemed to play together perfectly. At one point I heard Elena start a conversation with Riley by saying, "Have I ever told you..." Which was just the cutest adult thing to hear in a little kid conversation. It seemed like they had a wonderful time together. After playing together for a while Elena came up to me and said, "She (Riley) should be a narrator." Haha Elena noticed Riley's habit of talking like a book when playing (Phrases like: "Oh no," he gasped. "Don't do that," she exclaimed)

The next day when a cousin arrived Riley whined, "Not again!" Haha I figured she'd be thrilled because of the fun they had the day before, but I guess I still should've let her know to expect company. They ended up having a great time again after Riley got in the right mood to play with others. 

Riley and I also went over to the Coopers house a few times to play over there. Then it was Andrew's turn to not be so sure how he felt about the visitors. At one point Riley sat down and played on his little Vtech table. When she was done he went over to take his turn, but clearly still distraught that his cousin had been using his toy he stood back up immediately, tossed the stool aside, and declared, "It's too hot!" 

An example of simple moments you just don't capture in zoom calls with kids, Riley sits next to Matt and asks, "What'd you do at work today Matt?" Matt replies, "Thanks for asking Riley! No one around here ever asks me about that!" 

We got to celebrate Easter with the Utah fam. Mom, of course, put together a wonderful egg hunt for the Cooper and Jack cousins. Knowing the importance of fairness to kids she had a specific big egg, one gold egg, and four or five normal eggs. During the hunt Riley got a little discouraged when she couldn't find her last few eggs, but she had great older cousins that helped her not get too upset. In a more controlled environment Riley probably would've just been allowed a few of her eggs, but she went right to it and had basically eaten it all before I even registered when was happening.  

My favorite part of Easter was the darling outfits Mom and Dad had gifted the kids. They all look so darn cute! I loved all the photos we got. And it's hard work taking pictures of that many kids while also in church clothes. My favorite quote from Ana while we were taking pictures, "I feel like I need to gird up my loins." 

Oh, I almost forgot that we also performed at church. Ana, Elena, Dad, Riley and I sang a primary song together and it was so sweet. I was so proud of Riley learning all the words, and singing her part in front of everyone. It was 50/50 if she was gonna be in the mood to actually do it the day of, but to my memory she did actually sing her part and did really well! 

After lots of fun in Utah we got to pick up Ben in Salt Lake and drive up to Rexburg to spend some time with his family. Riley always has a great time with her Grandma and Grandpa Jack, but she is always equally as excited to see their dog Dobby. I don't know what we will do when that dog's time comes, she'll be so distraught. She just loves having a little dog to constantly keep track of. 

Riley was pretty adorable playing with the kitchen and dolls at her grandparent's house. She had put on this cute little apron to work in the kitchen. At one point she decided work in the kitchen was done and in her words, "It's time for me to take off my apron and show them (her dolls) some moves." 

Our favorite stop near Rexburg is always the aquarium. It's a very small aquarium, but it has a lot of hands on options for kids with the animals, so it's usually a lot of fun. This time when we walked through one section there was a bird being VERY noisy. Riley was not happy about that and wanted to get out of there quick. Once we'd passed through that room she exclaimed, "That scarlet macaw was too loud!" Haha always impressed by her animal knowledge. 

Since this has been a post about visiting family I'm just gonna also squeeze in the trip from the Thompsons. While we were in Utah the Thompson family arrived in DC and broke into our house. We came home from our trip at like 1 am to find a little preteen asleep on our couch. They only had a few days left of their trip when we got back, but it was still fun to see them for a bit. That first morning Riley was amazed as cousins started appearing. When Calvin came up the stairs she said, "Who's that?" I answered, "Calvin." She responded, "But he's supposed to be the small one." She loved to comment on their comings and goings saying, "There goes the tall one," as Brady walked by. She also told me, "Brady is like a grown up." 

There was a really cute part of the day when the boys and Riley somehow got into a dance party. Riley excitedly called over to me, "Mom it's a party over here! It really is!"

One of the best parts of their quick visit was that Mel and I went to a barre class at my gym. We wore matching outfits, at one point the teacher found out we were sisters and realized we meant to dress the same, she just thought it was coincidence. It's so fun that whenever Mel, Ana, or I are together we can share our love of workout classes and have fun working out together. 

Before they left we had to take more pictures in front of our beautiful flowering bushes! 

Cherry Blossoms (no pictures)

 Another wonderful, unique thing about living in DC is Cherry Blossom season. We saw the blossoms in at least some capacity every year we were in DC. We almost missed them this year because Ben was gone from midMarch to midApril and that's right when they bloom. I didn't know if I had it in me to go downtown with the kiddos with him, but I really wanted some cute sibling pictures with those beautiful trees if it was going to be our last spring in DC. Well I knew there was a nearby neighborhood that also has a ton of cherry blossoms where people go to take pictures, so I figured I could handle that. I was so glad I ended up doing it! The kids were very well behaved and sweet Riley was smiling and hugging her little brother in all the pictures. I didn't get anything picture perfect, but I absolutely love these two little kids so these pictures are precious all the same.