The Olympics

I have loved the Olympics since Atlanta 1996. I blame it on my dad. He has had a lifelong love of the Olympics. His love went deep enough that he took us to Atlanta in 1996 to be part of history. At the time, I don't think that I fully appreciated the magnitude and awesomeness of being there. But now I am in awe just thinking about that experience. I can't help but get anxious in anticipation the weeks and days leading up to the games every 2 years (yes, I love the winter games too). I keep the TV on every waking hour and stay up way too late for 2 weeks straight. I have come to the conclusion that it is the perfect combination of many things that I love and am fascinated by:
1. tradition
2. America
3. sports
4. personality pieces
5. obscure facts
6. different cultures
7. competition
8. rooting for the underdog
9. record breaking/history in the making

I love to watch gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, and diving. But I also get excited for rowing, track and field, archery, and just about anything else I can watch.
What are your favorite events?

don't date boys from Idaho

 Those were the lone words of advice (at least the only ones I remember) from my mom as she dropped me off at the dorms to begin my BYU experience almost 9 years ago. Her reasoning was if you date boys from Idaho, you will marry a boy from Idaho. Then he will make you move to Idaho and you will have to deal with Idaho winters for the rest of your life. Her words of wisdom were pretty convincing, that is until I met Mr. Wonderful (not to be confused with this Mr. Wonderful). You know who I am talking about. He swept me off my feet almost instantly, but he had one flaw.

"Mom, I'm dating this guy, and he's pretty fantastic." I gushed in a conversation that can only be had between mother and daughter. "But {dramatic pause} he's from Idaho." I waited in anticipation for what I was sure would be a disappointed response.

"That's great! I take back everything I said about dating Idaho boys. The people I have met from Idaho are all really good people," she quickly diffused the situation and eased some anxiety as only a mom can do.

As they say, the rest is history. We fell in love, got married, finished school, got our first "real" job, bought our first house, had 2 kids, got a new job, sold our first house, and moved to Idaho!

So here we are, where I swore I would never be, but I couldn't be happier! My mom was right, as she usually is. The only Idaho boy I ever dated convinced me to marry him.  (But let's be honest, it really didn't take much convincing.) And now I find myself living in Idaho. She was right about another thing, Idaho people are just good people. That is one of many reasons why I am so happy to live here. But as far as dealing with Idaho winters for the rest of my life, well we will have to wait and see. But considering I've been living in Utah and Colorado for the last 9 years, I think it will be just fine.

Visitors

We LOVE visitors around here. We love them so much that one of our first purchases after we bought this house was a guest bed and we have gotten plenty of use out of it. A couple of weeks ago I got a surprise phone call from my cousin Vanessa. She and her cute family just moved to Kansas and were headed through Colorado on their way to Utah. It was so great to see them! We got to spend 2 fun evenings with them (once en route to Utah, the other on the way home). Their cute baby is Grayce, not to be confused with Grace. They are about 7 months apart. We discovered that they have matching dresses and could not miss a photo op. I think my favorite part about these pictures is their matching arm rolls! I think if you desire to have a baby with arms as luscious as these, you need only to name her Gra(y)ce!

 Clara and Tommy are about 6 months apart and they loved running around together. They ran in circles, and jumped, and danced and had a grand ole time! Of course they never stood still long enough for a decent picture, but I did my best. I didn't get any pictures of Vanessa and Matt but we enjoyed having them around. They even introduced us to the world of speed Rummikub. My life may never be the same again!

 My former roommate and dear friend Amy came and stayed a few days with us between the Johnstons' two visits. It was so great to see her. We showed her the city and mainly just enjoyed hanging out and chatting like old times.

 We even celebrated National Donut Day with free Krispy Kremes. Yumm! I think the look on Clara's face says it all.

Thanks for coming guys! Clara still asks about Amy and Tommy on a daily basis so come see us again soon!

Date night and the Chalk festival

We have started a new tradition around here. A couple of nights a month we do a stay-at-home date. We put the kids to bed then the rule is no computer, no phone, no housework, just us. We take turns planning fun activities. This was Nate's turn. We did facials and ate a yummy treat while watching a fun movie. It was so relaxing and so perfect. These may not be the most glamorous pictures, but the evening needed to be recorded for posterity's sake!

 Last weekend we went downtown for the Mile High Chalk Festival. Think Mary Poppins times 1000! These chalk drawings were spectacular! If you live in Colorado and haven't been to see the chalk drawings you should check is out next year. Here are some of the highlights.

An explorer and an artist

Grace has started army crawling and she is quite pleased with herself. She gets into all kinds of mischief now. I have to keep all the doors in the house closed because of course she always makes a beeline for forbidden hangouts like the laundry room and the bathroom. Her clothes are always filthy by the end of the day. And she always manages to find hidden treasures to taste along her way no matter how clean I think the floors are--gross!

 She also does this cute thing when she gets excited where she goes up on her toes and straightens her arms like a push up position. I am always too slow to get a picture though.

 Clara has been drawing a lot more lately. Unfortunately her favorite medium is the whiteboard so her creations never last long. I was quick enough to grab the camera a couple of days ago.

 These are two different renditions of "funny faces". I think they are pretty good!

Cute girls every day

I am blessed to be the mom to the two cutest and sweetest girls I know. I had a fabulous Mother's Day complete with breakfast in bed, thoughtful notes, and a hand painted flower pot with a beautiful plant. Here's a photo recount of all the cuteness going on around here.

 I have been experimenting with Clara's hair a little bit. This a few hours after the braids were put in, hence all the frizziness. I've never really known how to French braid so it's fun to have someone to practice on!

 Grace is always happy to model with her awesome sausage arms.

 Clara was Daddy's little helper cooking dinner on Mother's Day.

 Clara has gotten really good at smiling for the camera and I think she gets prettier and prettier every day.

 Grace LOVES to play with toys. Especially if Clara is around. Our house has never been so messy, but I love it!

 Grace has been experimenting with lots of new foods. Corn on the cob is a favorite. She also really likes cheese, black beans, cheerios, Kix, watermelon, and bananas.

 I promise, we don't wear our pajamas all day.

 Just getting cozy with some of her "friends."

 We have spent lots of time at the park lately. Clara asks me several times a week if we can go to the park for a picnic. So once or twice a week that is exactly what we do. The slide is a favorite of hers.

 These two play really well together. No one can make Grace laugh like Clara. Clara is learning to share and Grace is learning to stand up for herself!

 As I said before, Grace is always a willing model. Nate about died when I had her wear this hat to church, but it was just too adorable to not have her wear it!

 Clara is super picky about her clothes so she wears this dress to church most Sundays. Good thing it is so cute!

 One of our many picnics.

 Both girls LOVE to ride on the swings.

This headband also made her father cringe, but I love it and she didn't really mind.

Well, that's your dose of cuteness for the week. Hope you got your fill!

Anniversary Trip

I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm going to try to break it up into pieces over the next couple of days. Here it goes! On May 5 we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We never imagined our lives would be so different and so wonderful after 5 quick years. To celebrate we  went down to Colorado Springs for the weekend. We checked in at the Academy Hotel where we took full advantage of the pool.

 We had dinner in Manitou Springs. Then got up the next morning to explore Garden of the Gods.

It was a hot but beautiful day! We got to have a fun weekend and crossed Garden of the Gods off our Colorado bucket list. I can't believe we've been married for 5 years! Can I just say that life is great being married to the most wonderful guy I know. I am one lucky girl!