02/07/2011

Last week we went on a kids-free vacation. Well, almost. We did keep Ivy with us (she's still nursing, you know) and we only had the weekend to ourselves so we didn't drive very far. But it sure felt like a vacation, with only one little person to worry about (ok, I admit I still worry about the small ones that are not with me at the moment, but that's different). It's amazing how much time we spend every day on getting 4 kids out of the house, in and out of the car, negotiating, trying to keep them all moving in the same direction, etc. When you only have to do it with one baby, you all of the sudden end up with so much time on your hands, that you wonder if you somehow managed to stretch it and pack 30-ish hours into one day. I wish I knew this back when we only had 1 baby, and I felt like I could never ever possibly get any busier...

We spent all Saturday driving to places, hiking, doing some fun shopping. We decided to explore the Alpine Loop this time, and settled on hiking to Stewart Falls. All those websites with hiking trail reviews weren't kidding when saying it was a popular hike, especially on holidays and weekends. We still enjoyed it immensely, even though I prefer feeling less 'crowded' when hiking. The views were breathtaking, Mt. Timpanogos didn't disappoint, and the falls weren't so bad either. Ivy was a champ, and was quite content as long as we kept supplying her with chunks of Larabar...

there's an impressive amount of aspens in this canyon, definitely a must-see in the autumn




there was a lot of cold spraying from the falls, hence the lovely effect of the sunlight hitting the water droplets on the lens


and did I mention there was a LOT of snow on the ground down by the falls? I was not prepared for that, and was slipping all over the place in my 'shoes'. I think this is the dirtiest feet I've had since I was kid. Sunblock and dusty trail will do this to you


we did find a perfect spot on the rocks for a nursing break (don't let my pasty white knees distract you from the spectacular overlook)

can't complete this story without a cute baby photo, right? And yes, it's an Ikea towel on her head. Thank goodness we picked up a bunch of those on the way to the canyon. I'll also shamelessly say thank goodness for creative thinking on my behalf when we realized we didn't bring a hat for Ivy's fuzzy q-tip of a head. I am sure she appreciated it, even if she doesn't know it

By the end of the day, when we finally got home, we felt like we'd been gone for 3 days. And it was a good feeling, even if we still had piles of half-folded laundry all over the floor...

27/06/2011

I'm officially 30. Does it mean that the countdown for 'the rest of my life' has begun? Somehow I didn't discover any magical transformations (butterfly wings, maybe?) on the morning of my birthday, when I got up at 11:30 a.m. (thanks to Mark staying home, taking care of kids and letting me sleep in). Just like Mark said in his post earlier (which was a huge surprise :), I'm simply one day older and I still don't feel all that *grown-up*. Just taking it one day at a time, finding my place, working on my goals, struggling, learning and enjoying this little life I have.

I had a beautiful day with my friends and family. Mark was home all day and only worked while Ivy was taking a nap. Then, in my typical spontaneous fashion, I decided to have some friends over for ice-cream. I'm all for other people planning ahead, making invitations and having well-organized parties. But when it comes to our own, low-key is my mantra. No gifts, no birthday cakes, just people we love and enjoy spending time with. And that's exactly how we spent our evening, chatting away, with babies crawling around, kids running and playing games, slapping mosquitoes and meeting new friends, long after the sun went down.

(huge thanks to Katrina, who picked up my abandoned camera and took most of the photos. I was too busy enjoying everyone's company :)

(this was taken when it was pretty dark outside, my poor old Nikon did the best it could at ISO 500)

Annie the Warrior (with running injury no less), being her usual gorgeous self, crutches and all. And her little boy with a pair of matching mini-crutches nearly made me fall over when I saw them walking into our backyard.

looks like Anya was showing off her new mosquito bites here...

yes, there's always a child or two swarming around my lap, looking for a sweet spot to land on. If that's not love, then I don't know what it is.

19/06/2011

I've been loving the month of June here in UT for the past 3 years, rainy and cool (but not cold), just my kind of weather. We went to the farm for Father's Day, and the view was incredible. I stepped out of the car and didn't set my muddy feet into the house for half an hour, until I was done taking photos outside. It was good timing too. Just 3 days later, summer was in full swing, with 85 degrees inside the house (and no working swamp cooler yet).

Next time we go to the farm we'll see a different kind of beautiful, with sage brush and sunflowers taking charge of the land.












(I know my camera is in desperate need of cleaning...)

Life happens

I'm trying a new thing to make sure I can document our life more consistently. Instead of trying to lump my photos into a themed post (which is ok when it's about something like a hike, visit or some other event), I am going to embrace the randomness of our daily life and not be afraid to be random here as well. Because in reality, our life consists of a myriad of random moments that happen throughout the day, every day. Trying to tie them together into one post with some deep meaningful title to go along with it is what often overwhelms me, takes too much time and causes me to not document those things after all. And since I'm a visual person, photos often are the reason I want to post about something, as opposed to writing a story with a few photos to support it.

I hope this will help me to not leave out those small snippets of our life that make it real for us. Because years from now, those small things will be essential in making our memories more vivid and real to us.

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'Tis the season of Farmer's Market! We literally had been counting down the days, waiting for the opening Saturday. And then it happened. And the place was as crowded as ever, even with our 'early' appearance (by our standards, it's before 11 a.m.). It's not easy to take all 4 kids into a crowded place like our downtown Farmer's market, but with 2 of them on our backs and the other two being old enough to stay close, we usually manage to pull it off.

As a reward, we often get to hear local talent performing live music. Some guys are dedicated enough to haul an amazing old piano on a small trailer attached to their bike. They definitely know what they are doing, and it's pretty fascinating to see and hear them play.

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Our herbs are still alive, well, most of them anyway. Not necessarily looking strong and healthy, but good enough to keep us watering them. And I do love the fact that I can just go out the back door and get some fresh rosemary while cooking some vegetables to go on top of polenta.

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Ivy got into her head that she can't just sit on my lap when I'm trying to read something on the computer. Somehow she always ends up on top of the desk. She thinks it's a pretty neat trick and doesn't understand why on earth would I not want her to do it.

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We are losing our battle with laundry. I wash it, we fold as much as we can, then somehow everything gets unfolded and scattered all over the floor, or maybe the laundry multiplies with some help from house elves. No matter what we do, it always ends up looking like this, most of the days. Some day, when we live in a house with more than 2 bedrooms, I'll reserve a room just for the laundry, where it can go wild, roaming about, without living in fear of getting contaminated with oatmeal or smashed banana.

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I am *this* close to turning 30, and it makes me think all kinds of deep thoughts, look at myself, ask myself question. And it's not scary at all, because it helps me see things that make me happy and things I need to work on. In the end, life is good.

More than words...

Instead of writing a lengthy post about all the 174,387 amazing qualities that Mark possesses as a Dad (and husband), I'll post a tiny fraction of photos taken over the past 7 years, showing what kind of dad he is. I think it's pretty easy to tell, don't you?