My birthday

I got to celebrate my birthday all weekend. It started with a fun shopping trip with Hailey on Friday while Chris and the kids cleaned the house! We went up to the Traverse Outlet Mall in Lehi. It was a really nice few hours.  A lot of my clothes don't fit anymore since I've lost so much weight (over 60 lbs since a year ago when I was 9 months pregnant and only ~15 lbs were pregnancy related).  Its all due to having diabetes and needing to exercise every day and eat a low carb diet.  I'm not sure I've ever needed so many new clothes all at once, its kinda fun. 

Then on Saturday we went for a fun family hike to the dripping rock in Spanish Fork. (The first few hiking pictures are from a different hike a few days earlier up Rock Canyon) But the Dripping Rock hike involved crossing some bridges, including a cool suspension bridge) and some fun steep hills. We passed the dripping rock within the first 1/2 mile, so we motivated the kids for the rest of the hike with a promise to stop and wade in the creek on our way back. 

The water was cool and everyone enjoyed stepping on the rocks and going under the dripping embankment. 

After our hike we got donuts at a grocery store and I gave myself a whopping 4 units of insulin so I could have a salad and 2 donuts for lunch.  Then Gwendolyn helped get a nice hot bath ready for me to soak in and afterward gave me a long foot and hand and back massage (with a little help from Chris).  Then Chris and I went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Its the first time we've eaten IN a restaurant for many months due to the COVID quarantine.  We got out of the mostly messy-again house a little late and Outback wasn't our first choice and the whole evening didn't feel as 'special' as maybe I had hoped it would and it was a little depressing for me to have to walk in with my mini cooler stuffed in my purse that held my insulin pen, look up every interesting item on the menu to see how many carbs were in it, and try to add up various portions of various foods to try and get a balanced, perfect amount of carbohydrates.  So the evening started out a little sad but my mood improved with good conversation and delicious food served to me. After a short walk in our new favorite park, Neilson's Grove, we snuck in the house and watched a movie in our room (unbeknownst to the kids... Alec put Max and Freddy to bed and Charlie helped Gwen get safely to her bed). It was a great evening. Then Sunday, my ACTUAL birthday, Chris and the kids gave me a yummy, 30 carb breakfast in bed of scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberries and yogurt and an english muffin.  I opened some really thoughtful and amazing presents! .. a massage gun, a simple pearl necklace and earrings, a scented candle - from gwen, Throw Throw Burrito game - from Max, a beautiful nail polish with a bottle of clear top coat - from Freddy, an amazing generation chart with pictures from my grandma and a sweet card from my parents.  

During our home sacrament time and Sunday School lesson, the kids were maybe a little more reverent/participatory than usual. (Which actually isn't that reverent... we're really really struggling with getting through even a 10 minute thought!)  Then we went over to Thom and Brittany's house to celebrate all the June and July birthdays with the rest of the Archibalds.  Dixie made a delicious salted chocolate caramel tart... which I could have a tiny tiny piece of!  Chris kept giving me sweet compliments all day like, "You look so beautiful" "I love that new skirt" "It feels like my birthday because I get to look at beautiful you"  I also had a lot of friends send me birthday wishes of some kind, it feels so good to be remembered.  I made a commitment to myself to improve in few areas as I embark on another year of life, like morning study time and intentional positive moments with my children.  Its only been 5 days and I can already feel a difference in my inner strength and peace. 

Oh! I almost forgot that I got together with my sisters on Monday for a dinner and craft night in that same Neilson's Grove park. It was such a beautiful evening and the conversation/company was so relaxed and enjoyable.  They also gave me such thoughtful gifts. It feels like one of my best birthdays ever. What a wonderful thing life is. 

Gwen's Golden Birthday

10 years old on July 10th! Thats fantastic age for a golden birthday. Gwen has been planning and thinking about this non-stop for the last 2 weeks.  We planned it down to every detail.  She had breakfast in bed and opened her first present, a metal golden crown that she wore the rest of the day. 

Then we spent the rest of the day getting ready for her party that night. Mary came down to help me set up!... so helpful.  Lunch was egg salad sandwiches and she opened a few family gifts: golf clubs, golden golf balls and fruit mentos.  

Her party was a special spaghetti dinner with golden foods like cheese sauce, corn on the cob, garlic bread, cantaloupe and pineapple, sprite and lemonade.  Chris and Todd were the chefs and waiters and acted in character accordingly.  Then after some time on the trampoline, the girls came in for a relaxing Spa treatment. 

With spa music playing and essential oil misting, the girls washed their faces, applied toner, face lotion and then either a mud mask or a peel-off mask.  While the masks dried, they soaked their feet in milk bath water and I massaged them for a minute or so. 

Then they peeled off the masks or washed them off and then it was back upstairs for a golden dessert/snack bar, cake, ice cream and presents. 

Gwen went back and forth on what kind of cake she wanted but she settled on a lemon blueberry donut cake. 

It was so great to celebrate our Gweny. She's thoughtful of other's needs and wants and such a deep thinker. She's the first one to read her scriptures and complete the related 20 Question worksheets.  She is so coordinated on the trampoline and looks like a gymnast. She loves to sing, rhyme, solve puzzles (she learned how to solve a 3 X 3 rubix cube in one day), play make believe with her younger brothers, and go for walks/bike rides with me. She loves to watch crafts and pranks on youtube, studio C and is getting into Psych when its not too scary.  She is quick to say she's sorry to me, and is sensitive to how others are feeling.  She loves food, but doesn't overeat, and is such a joy to have in our family. We love our Gwen!

Theo's walking, MS dinner and Freddy's tooth gets pulled

Theo loves to walk. Max and I were standing near him where he was holding onto the couch and as Max and I walked away to put the popcorn bowl back in the kitchen, Theo grabs onto Max's shirt as he passes! Max doesn't skip a beat and continues his march to the kitchen and Theo manages to stay on and in sync by the skin of his teeth and they walk in tandem for 15 feet before Theo falls. It was super funny. 

We had some MS friends over for dinner! Jessica Smith, our trek daughter and McKenzie Gines! We love to see old friends. 

Freddy had some major cavities at our last dentist appointment and one was bad enough that the dentist wanted to pull the tooth before the decay spread. By the time we got in a week later, there was some fluid build up and leakage... it was a good thing we were taking it out! Their laughing gas was already in use by someone else and so the dentist sort of wanted to postpone it but we went ahead cautiously to see how Freddy would handle it without it. He did amazing! He was pretty inquisitive and kept asking the dentist questions and messing with his lip after it was numb but he stayed still and squeezed my hand through his discomfort.  I was so impressed.  He was pretty excited to put his first tooth under his pillow! The tooth fairy must have been really backed up with all the new COVID-19 procedures that it didn't come the first night, but it BARELY came the second night... a few minutes after Freddy woke up and complained about the tooth fairy not coming AGAIN. Poor 4th child. 

July 4th!

We got together with our Archibald family on Friday, July 3rd for a Cafe Rio Salad potluck at our house after Chris and his brothers and dad had the occasionally annual Independent AGA golf tournament.  I'll let Chris put in some details about how the round went, but I do know that Chris won it. :)   I was running around like crazy most of the day trying to get the house clean for the party. I had had some down days the previous few days and so the house was NOT in good order.  I felt a little pressure to have the house looking really good to show Chris' parents that we're taking good care of it and it would be the first time that Edward and Kayla saw it since we've taken it over.  I was trying to fit too much in and was painting a final coat on the mantel a little bit AFTER Chris' mom and grandma came, behind their backs so they wouldn't feel awkward about me not being 'ready' for them. It was kinda funny. Not that they would've cared one bit! It was a fun to see family and eat good food.  Insulin is allowing me to eat more of the yummy food at all our family dinners and its helping me not feel so sad about diabetes. Modern medecine is great. 

On Saturday we went for a family run and almost did a 5K. Chris and I ran pushing Theo and Max in the stroller, Freddy and Alec biked and Gwen and Charlie rode scooters. Then we got ready for our Betteridge party up in Herriman. We invited Thom and Brittany's family to join us and it was a lot of fun.  We planned to do some fun water games like kiddie pool kick ball, and other lawn games.  We planned the food last minute so it was just a big BYO meat/buns and a few sides. So basically we had tons and tons of food.  We also just sat around talking under the gazebo for a lot of it so we didn't play very many games but we did get in a good game of kiddie pool kickball.  We sang some patriotic songs before eating the traditional flag cake and by 8:30 we all left to go get ready to watch the fireworks from our own houses. Jared and Ashley's family and Todd a few of his big kids joined Thom and Brittany and our family down in Provo at our house to watch the Stadium of Fire's fireworks. They were lighting them off from 3 different locations around the valley, one of which was just south of our house a mile or two.  We thought it would be the perfect place to see them. Turns out they were a little bit farther away than we thought so they were mostly along the horizon but we could still see them and our neighborhood was shooting off big fireworks like crazy so it was still really entertaining and festive. We had sparklers and pop-its to share as well. 

Happy Birthday, America! We love you.

Utah Evening Weather

Two things I appreciate recently are the evening summer weather here and Max's cuteness. Its been pretty hot during the day but without the humidity its still bearable to be outside... but only just. When the sun goes down its a different story, its perfect! The air is still warm but the heat is way less. Chris has been doing a daily routine with practicing golf in our backyard.  He has a net set up on the front of the soccer goal to hit balls into from a little practice mat and he uses his birthday gift: a swing speed monitor to help him gauge how far the balls go.  While he does that, we sometimes let the babies stay up late enough to jump on the tramp or hit balls with him.  Also on Friday nights our neighbor friends have been having kids over for a Late Night/ Night Games from 8-10. They love this! Chris and I love it too. Its given us some fun walks or trampoline time with just Max and Theo. 

Max loves the trampoline. He's pretty fearless and coordinated for one so young. Theo doesn't mind it, as long as he's touching mommy or daddy.  Thats pretty much his M.O. for anything. He loves to play with us and climb on or claw us. He especially loves us to hold his hands while he takes steps!