Getting Old

I know 40 is the big dreaded birthday but this past year killed me. It's official . . . I am old. Not sure when it happened. But know it was shortly after I turned 38. It started with creases in my face every morning. At first I thought I just needed more sleep and was probably just tired but as it continued every morning I realized the skin on my face was changing. The lines from my pillow took there own sweet time leaving my face. I no longer got to choose if I wanted to change the color of my hair. I now get to dye my hair every six weeks or have really light (some might call them white) highlights. My metabolism is shot. It's harder to lose weight. Oh the list goes on and on and if my short term memory wasn't shot I'd list all of them.

I've always been fine with getting older. It never bothered me to turn 30 even though all of my friends were upset and worried about it. I still felt young. I didn't care about eye creams and wrinkle creams or any creams. I was determined to be like my mom and age gracefully and beautifully. Certain I wouldn't ever turn to injection or surgery to take away my wrinkles. But I have to admit that it has been so much harder on me than I could have ever imagined. I guess it just snuck up on me way too quickly. In my mind, I still look 25 but then I see pictures and realize I'm no longer that young girl.

Not really sure where I'm going with this. I just know I'm not so quick to judge those who choose Botox and Collagen anymore. I no longer fear turning 40 next year. I know they say that 40 is the new 30 but that's totally a lie. I'm here to say that 38 is the new 40.

I celebrated my birthday in the car with all of the family. We left at 7 am for a 12 hour road trip to Sun River, Oregon. My sweet kids made sure I had some sort of celebration before leaving and surprised me with this candy bar poster/birthday card.

Thanks "Heath"er for always "burst"ing with fun! Even though we're going to be driving through "Idaho" on your birthday. I still think that you "skor"ed. You are sometimes a "butterfinger" but mostly not. You will always deserve "100 grand". From your beautiful "sixlets". WE LOVE YOU

We caravanned with my sister Heidi. The best part was that I could split up Hadley and Ryan -- my two fighters. She took Hadley and I took Will. Hadley loved riding in Aunt Heidi's car with her cousins. And Will loved . . . well, let's just say Will was a good sport. He tried but was unsuccessful in finding a seat out of Morgan's reach. He ended up sitting in the seat in front of her and sinking as low as possible so she couldn't grab his hair and hit him. We stopped for ice cream and hopefully that made up for all of his pain and suffering. The kids did surprisingly well. They were happy watching movies and taking short little naps. It's hard for the little ones to understand the concept of a road trip but once they hear the word "condo" (which is synonymous for Disneyland, beach, nan and papa, family fun, etc.) , they know however long it takes in the car is worth it.

We made it to Bend, Oregon just in time for a birthday dinner. Cafe Yumm. Not sure any of us would describe it as yumm but it was definitely better than McDonalds.

Park City

I love the Utah mountains in the summertime. Even though I grew up snow skiing, I rarely make it up to the mountains in the wintertime. Probably because I'm not a fan of being cold and all of the work it takes to put on all of those layers of ski clothing. But the summer? Love the mountains!!! Perfectly blue skies. Green mountains. Cooler temperatures. Swimming. Shopping. Dining. Olympic Park activities. And family time.

We got a babysitter for the youngest three and headed up to Park City with Jack, Ryan, and Hadley. We also took Kennedy and Cassidy (two of my nieces) who were visiting from the northwest. They come to Utah at least twice a year and hadn't even heard of Park City before. It's funny how we fly and drive such long distances to visit places just like Park City. I don't know why we don't go to Park City more often. We only live 20 minutes away and it's such a beautiful, fun resort town!

In front of Olympic Park--alpine slide, alpine coaster, zip lines and trampoline launcher.

We started with the Alpine Coaster. You control the speed but it's safest to go fast so other sleds won't crash into you. I rode with Hadley. She's was terrified the whole way up. We had time to see other sleds going down the hill super fast and she plead with me to please use the brake down the mountain. I explained to her how it worked and that it was like a roller coaster and couldn't fall off of the track like the Alpine Slide ride. No one explained this to Ryan and he rode the brake all the way down, fearing his sled was going to fly right off the track. We'll have to go back up so he can get his redemption ride. Everyone loved this ride!

Ski lift ride up to the top of the mountain to do the Alpine Slide.

Hadley started to panic a little again. It probably didn't help that Gavin kept asking the worker how many people had died on the slide today. When it was her turn, she started down the slide going really slowly. I laughed with the people waiting behind her that they may want to wait awhile before they go down after her. And then it was my turn . . . I think I know where Hadley gets her fear. I started asking the worker all of the same questions Hadley was. The lady standing behind me commented to her friend that she was going to wait awhile before she went down. How rude!

Jack begged to do this trampoline bungee ride. Then spent the rest of the night complaining about how it hurt his 'inner loins' and that the Alpine slide and trampoline are so much better at Snowbird. Kennedy wouldn't let that comment drop. Everything from then on was compared to Snowbird.

We spent the night at The Yarrow Resort. The kids had fun swimming in the pool. Kennedy is a full blown teenager and can never get too much sun. So she had fun laying out in the mountains where the sun is even stronger.

We fit all of us into one hotel room. Gavin and I had a bed. Hadley and Kennedy had the other bed. Cassidy slept in a chair. And Jack and Ryan earned sleeping on the floor after thinking it would be really funny to throw about 30 towels into the pool and leave them there for the employees to clean up. We didn't find it quite as funny. They got to go home first thing in the morning while the girls all stayed up there and swam and shopped at the outlets.

Breakfast at Flippin' Burgers

And just because you can't get enough of this post and are wishing you could read more and more about our Park City getaway and see lots of the same pictures all over again. Ryan's post. Heidi's post. I'm sure Kennedy and Cassidy are going to blog all about this trip too just as soon as they remember they have a blog.

It's my birthday today . . .

. . . and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than driving 12 hours in the car with all of my children. Sun River here we come.

Happy 4th of July!

This 4th of July seemed to go on and on and on and . . . well you get the point. We started celebrating on Friday and didn't stop until today. I can't remember when we've had so many parties and get togethers for Independence Day.

We started the celebrations on Friday with a Stewart Family BBQ at my sister's home. It was a beautiful night, the kids played and played while the adults enjoyed yummy food and great conversation.

All of the Stewart cousins (20 total). We should've had grandma and grandpa get in this picture with all of their grandchildren!

BBQ picnic in the backyard

We celebrated on Saturday by going to The Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood. It was amazing. I had chills the entire evening and not just because I forgot my jacket. It's the perfect way to celebrate the 4th and be reminded of what we are celebrating. The event was broadcasted live to all of our troops overseas. Every branch of the military was honored. Eagle scouts were honored. And our country was honored. And then Carrie Underwood topped it all off with her incredible voice and talent and reminding us all to honor God and let "Jesus take the wheel".

Getting ready for the show to start

They had all of the Eagle Scouts stand up in the stadium. Gavin decided to remain standing just a little longer than everyone else since they never told them to sit down.

Amazing evening with an incredible sunset!

Hadley and Karsyn try out their fireworks glasses

And we were so lucky to have the Rushings in town to go with us. Kennedy got us all ready on the drive down to Provo with some good Carrie Underwood tunes. Apparently mine were a little dated.

We started the celebrations with early morning church on Sunday the 4th. Ryan was surprised in Sacrament Meeting that the songs we were singing were hymns. I think he even tried to argue with me that they weren't hymns even though we were singing them right out of the hymnal. The best hymns ever are saved for this week.

Mia and Morgan ready for church

Then we had a BBQ/Fireworks celebration with the Seal Family at Trevor's house. It was surprisingly cold for a July night. We ended the night with lots of fireworks (thanks to Scott who spent way too much on over-priced fireworks). Griffin was upset because he didn't have cool headphones like his cousin, Zach. Morgan and Mia stayed inside and watched them from the window. Morgan is not a fan of fireworks. The loud noises scare her and she usually cries the entire time, "All done! All done! All done!" but she did better this year. Every year it's a little better and maybe one year she'll surprise us and actually enjoy the celebrating that goes along with this holiday.

Hadley, Savanna and Matisse

My favorite part of the weekend? Carrie Underwood singing the National Anthem with fireworks blasting behind the stage and fighter jets flying above the stadium. It's a little shaky but so worth watching. She has an amazing voice!

Eclipse

Gavin had an Allstate customer appreciation movie event. Eclipse. We were lucky enough to see it the day before it was released. The theater was so crowded with radio stations, news stations, parties, girls and more girls, and Gavin's clients. I've never seen a theater so crowded or chaotic. Gavin's clients even made the picture on the front page of the newspaper. It just added to the excitement of the evening.

Gavin stayed busy meeting and greeting his clients

We stayed busy posing by Edward, Jacob and Bella

Movie theater just for Gavin's clients

My family wouldn't go to anyone else for their insurance needs which makes it fun to go to his movie events. We all get to be together.

And . . . this movie was the best one yet.

Two thumbs up!

Summertime!

A few of our favorite things about summer.

Finding the exact amount of loose change needed to buy your favorite ice cream treat from the ice cream man.

Reading books on the front lawn and taking time to relax after a bike ride

Getting sleep wherever you can because summer's just too busy to stop for naps.

Soccer tournaments. Jack was on a competitive soccer league and had two tournaments in June. He played really well and was the only one to score a goal during the last tournament.

Nothing screams summer like snow cones. The big kids choose "suicide" (the flavors all mixed together) every time and wonder why I don't want to a taste of theirs. The little kids choose by colors. "What kind do you want?" "Yellow!" "Blue!" "Red!" Which I interpret to mean banana, blueberry, and Tiger's Blood.

Everyday is spent swimming at my parent's house. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. (except for Sunday, of course). I love all of the sunshine and heat and sitting by the pool chatting with family and friends. It was a long winter and the heat is such a welcome change. The kids are at the perfect age for swimming. Jack, Ryan and Hadley are great swimmers and completely independent. Morgan and Griffin are taking swimming lessons 4x a week and absolutely lovin' it! I have to pull them out of the pool, kicking and screaming, when it's time to go home. And it's not like they just got in the pool. They swim almost 3-4 hours everyday.

Morgan shows off her "airplane arms and legs". Being on her back is her least favorite thing to do in the pool but she has improved. She's no longer wrapping her arms around Uncle Blake's neck and strangling him during the back float portion of her lesson.

P.S. Best swim teacher. EVER.

Griffin proves he was born to swim by showing how easy it is to do the back float all by himself.

After 5 years of jumping in feet first with her hands in diving position, Hadley finally figured out how to dive, head first, this summer!

Fridays equal "Cousins day at the pool". After a long winter of not seeing their Seal cousins very much, my kids are loving hanging out at the pool together. And try to sneak in a dinner and sleep over whenever they can too.

Griffin and Nixon are inseparable. They are two peas in a pod. Two naughty peas. They love each other and nothing is sweeter than listening to them say good bye to each other.

"I love you cousin! You're my bestest cousin ever! I love you so very much! You're my best friend and cousin!"

This exchange would go on forever if we let it. Cutest thing ever.

Grace bravely smiles in this picture, uncertain of what Morgan's next move may be.

Jack tries out his front flip. He refuses to listen to my suggestion of how get more air by doing a small hop before the final jump.

Starts his flip with zero air

Not sure if he's going to just dive or try to finish the flip

He made quite the finish. On his back.

Mia loves playing around the pool on the swing set, trampoline and plastic cars. She's still timid in the water and likes to be held. She's such an easy, always-happy toddler. She can entertain herself for hours around the pool while the kids swim.

And every once in awhile, even I get in the pool and swim. I need to do it more because I love having all of the kids hang on me while we swim together all around the pool.

"Do you think you have enough room in your arms for one more?" "Of course I do, Griffin!"

Morgan proves that taking breaths during swimming is overrated.