August is ending. I can’t believe it. We’ve had the best summer but I’m honestly ready for fall. I am nervous if it gets colder that we won’t be able to spend as much time outside, but it’ll be ok. I love fall weather and I am pumped for the change in the seasons.

We’ve been spending as much time as we can at Cherry Hill, Graham is getting SO good at wearing his mask, we’ve been making yummy food as always, and spending time with family and friends when we can.

We went to the zoo with friends and it was SO fun! Graham LOVED it and was obsessed with all the animals. He wore his mask like champ, loved walking around and riding in the stroller, and of course was obsessed with the train that we rode.

I’m so excited to see what the fall will bring and hope it means less coronavirus and strife.

I can’t believe summer is winding down. Kids are going back to school and I just can’t believe how fast it flew by.

We said goodbye to my brother and his family which was sad, Graham loved spending time with his cousins and we will miss them!

We spent the week playing with cousin Mel, learning colors, going to Cherry Hill (Graham is SO obsessed. We’re in trouble when it closes! Also this week we helped Graham and Mel learn how to hold hands and it was PRECIOUS. They kept wanting to hold hands everywhere and even when Mel was over it, Graham kept trying to make her hold his hand haha. We explained that if someone says no, you need to stop!), eating fresh peaches, reading Little Blue Truck a thousand times, doing crafts (Graham and I made pipe cleaner butterflies and he and Dad made a little August book), having nerf gun wars, and enjoying treats. Saturday we had a bunch of errands to run and had to return something to Home Depot. Graham is getting SO good at wearing his mask so we all went inside together for the few minutes to do the return. The super nice worker gave Graham a Home Depot apron and the kid’s craft! He and Randy had a BLAST putting together his little locker. So cute.

This week also marked the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. 100 years ago we made a huge step forward. Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Elizabeth Cary Stanton and thousands of other women used their voices to make change.
100 years ago some women were finally given the right to vote.
But it would take 45 more years for all women to get the right to vote. And more years after that for laws to be removed that stood in the way of women of color voting.
And today there are still obstacles in place that make it difficult for many women, particularly women of color, to have their voices heard.
So today I’m so insanely grateful for the women who have come before me, and done the hard work to make change. I’m grateful for women today like Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Jill Biden, Malala Yousafzai, my mom, sisters, and friends who are continuing to make strides for ALL women.
Today I’m so grateful for the rights I have. And I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting to work to continue fighting for every, single woman to get the things they deserve.
The future is female.

We have been having the time of our lives here! We’ve been enjoying so much time with my family, social distancing together. Randy is a favorite with the kids, building trains with them and pretty much doing whatever they ask! We’ve played games and eaten so much yummy food, played in the water out side, played on the swings (Graham got a little foot in the face from one swinging incident but he’s ok!) and CAMPING.

My parents have a big beautiful RV and we took it up to Idaho for a fun camping trip. The kids had a blast running around, playing in the dirt and moving their chairs around to sit. We had to rope off the areas so they knew where to go and not go and it actually worked super well!

We hiked, ate caramel corn, played games, had smores and cake, roasted hot dogs and really just had such a blast. Getting there was a small hiccup, we had to turn around and meet my grandpa to deliver one of our car keys back to our landlord to move our car. And then a Jeep almost rolled while we were almost to the campsite, so Randy hopped out to help, but other than that it was smooth sailing! It was so fun just to escape with the family for a few days.

Randy was also pretty into working with the fire and found this amazing stick that was perfect for moving wood and stirring everything so it was burning well. He fell in love with that stick hahaha we even did a little photo shoot of him with it at the end.

We’re lucky and so sad that our family is heading home now, but we can’t wait to all be together again soon.

Only a few more weeks of summer—I’m not sure where the time went really. We’re sad but hope that fall will bring some new adventures and fun times, and hopefully more coronavirus help and a chance to get more back to normal.

I blinked and it is AUGUST. I’m not sure how it happened! We’ve been in pure bliss mode with cousins to hang out with all the time. We spend so much time at my moms playing around and letting the kids have a great time together. We’ve all been really careful to social distance around others so we keep each other safe.

We’ve fed the ducks and the kids loved laying in the grass, we’ve been having art class where we’ve learned about Jackson Pollock and Van Gogh, we play at my grandparent’s house (Grammy and Grampy to the kids) and that has be SO sweet and fun. And we’ve just loved being all together. And we’ve had game night with the adults complete with the great cookie tasteoff where we ordered SO many cookies and tried them all, which was super delicious and fun.

In the middle of the coronavirus crazy it’s been so great to have time with family. We miss my sister on a mission but we get to facetime her and that’s been super awesome. I’m so glad Graham gets to have such good friendships with all his cousins!

We have been having so much fun with cousins! We masked up and went to meet brand new Bentley (Randy’s brother’s new baby) and he is SO sweet. Graham was SO obsessed with him and kept asking to hold him, talking to him so sweetly. He also loved seeing cousin Charlotte and eating cookies with her!

My brother and his family came to Utah for a few weeks and we’ve also been having a blast hanging out with them. We haven’t seen them in a while and it’s nice to break up our social distancing by spending some time with family! We’re all avoiding other people and trying to stay as smart as possible, and it’s nice to have new people to see and hang out with.

We’ve been staying busy working, trying to make new recipes, doing art lessons (Last week it was pointilism with Seurat,) music class, playing at Cherry Hill (last week Graham was actually begging to go down the Dragon Slide which was a SHOCK because he’s usually so afraid!)

We’re still loving home church, I’m running a ton, and we’re just having a great time.

We potty trained Graham! It’s been insane but also SO good and worthwhile!

We chose to do the method where Graham ran around for 2 days with nothing on – no diaper, no underwear, nothing. It was exhausting but I really think it helped him get the hang of it. We had stickers and M&Ms and the chance for a new toy and some really cool character underwear! Buzz Lightyear to the rescue as always.

We’ve been reading tons and tons of books, playing at Cherry Hill, playing with cousin Mel, seeing uncles while they are still close by, and more.

Graham is getting super into reading lately, he loves having us read books and he loves to pretend to read while we read too. It’s adorable!

He’s super in to singing Mr. Ray’s “Let’s Name The Zones” song from Finding Nemo. He’s been getting so brave at Cherry Hill, actually asking to go down the big slides and I’m so proud of him! Also, I swear it’s because he is singing the Mr. Ray song!!! It’s actually adorable.

We are doing music class online, and together we are doing art class (We’ve learned about Monet and the Lascaux cave), we have a fun scripture hero every week which is so fun and helps him learn. We’re really having a super fun summer even with all the craziness.

Graham is growing up too fast, he’s getting so sweet, and I’m just so grateful he’s mine.

We had such a fun 4th of July! I made homemade biscuits but did too much baking powder so they tasted bitter:/ luckily we had gravy and hash browns and eggs too! And of course watching Hamilton for the 2nd time (Graham is obsessed with it, it’s too cute!)

We spent the day at my mom’s house, playing outside in the pool and sprinklers, swinging, doing parachutes and pop-its, eating burgers and cookies, making popcorn and playing games, and then watching fireworks with two sleepy kids! It was weird not to go to the parade and the big firework show, but it was a great time.

Things are strange with COVID, but it’s nice to take a step back and be spending more time just at home or with family. It makes you grateful for the things you have and the things you miss.

As we celebrate Independence Day this year, I’ve been thinking about all the ideals of our country and how far we have left to go. I’m grateful for all we’ve gone through and for all the sacrifices people have made to get us here. And I’m ready for the work we have ahead and willing to do my part to make this country a place where everyone feels safe and welcome. We have a great tradition in our country to fight and work to make things better. That’s work worth celebrating.

My parents bought an RV! It’s been super awesome, we’ve already gone up camping with them twice! It’s nice to escape and get outdoors. It reminds me so much of camping when I was a kid. I was probably 10 or so when we had our trailer and I loved going camping. We went with my grandparents and cousins. We ate caramel corn and played with special trailer toys (Hamtaro!) and went fishing and hiking. We rode in the back of my grandpa’s truck, rode the 4 wheelers and dirt bikes when my cousins came, and just had so much fun.

We snuck up on Tuesday and I worked in the mountains, Graham loved playing with Melanie in the dirt and throwing rocks. We went up again Sunday-Monday and it was kind of a rough night, two little kids have a hard time sleeping in a new place! But we ate amazing food and had fun being all together. Of course it rained on us (it’s happened to us at Payson Lakes before!) but we saw deer and still had such a blast.

Graham and Mel are such good friends and I love it! It’s so fun to see them play together.

I’m loving the summer and it’s going by too fast. It’s weird because the days feel long with work and COVID keeping us at home for the most part, but they are also flying by too quickly. I can’t believe June is already over! Luckily we’ve had fun camping, playing at Cherry Hill, seeing most of Randy’s brothers often, and spending time outside. Here’s hoping the rest of the summer is just as fun!

We have been having a great summer! Playing in the water at Cherry Hill or our yard, adventuring out into the mountains, and more! Graham has been having music class and he’s obsessed with it! Almost every day he will ask if today is music class day or not. He loves watching Miss Karli on the computer and singing along with her. It’s adorable! We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and got some courage to go adventure into a cave! It was actually kind of scary but really fun!

Today we are celebrating Father’s Day! We got some Shake Shack over the weekend to celebrate, too, Crumbl Cookies to Randy’s dad and played games, and then had breakfast in bed on Father’s Day and ate delicious food at my parent’s house!

Shout out to my dad – I couldn’t have asked for a better father. He was always there for me, came to every dance recital and took me skiing. He played games with us and taught us about music. He has always supported and loved me unconditionally. He’s an amazing grandpa, gives the best advice, has helped me navigate my career, and more. I’m so lucky to have grown up with him as my father. I LOVE YOU!

Randy is seriously the BEST father. I can’t believe how lucky my kids are to get him as their dad. He is so attentive and absolutely obsessed with being a dad. Right now he’s being a stay-at-home-dad until his job starts and seeing him and Graham together, playing during the day just makes me so happy. It’s the BEST. We LOVE you Dad!