Summer Break 2016 - Week 8

Week 8 of summer break was HOT! We had a really fun time going swimming as a family on Monday - I think the kids could have stayed in the pool all day. I was surprised at how much Bradley liked the pool compared to earlier in the summer... Matt suggested it might be because the pool is warmer now than it was at the beginning of the summer :-) It was nice seeing how much more comfortable Tyler was in the pool and I could see that Kylee was so much more confident and a better swimmer.

The highlight of the week, though, was definitely our Passport to Boise adventure - a hike in the foothills with Richard the Mule. Richard (along with his owner Matt), pack up coffee and hot chocolate into the foothills to share. On our adventure, he packed popsicles :-) We learned about the difference between a donkey and a mule, how long mules can live, how much weight they can pack, and more. The kids thought it was pretty cool to feed the mule too. It was such a lovely morning!

Summer Break 2016 - Week 5

Our big highlight for the week was the 4th of July! But we did do a couple other fun things to round out the week.

Thursday

Matt and I took the boys to Eagle Fun Days Family Night. It was honestly a little underwhelming, but Tyler had fun. He played in the bounce house, tried his hand at "fishing" and got to meet some firemen and police officers. We were bummed there were no food trucks as advertised, but we made up for it by stopping for some yummy Mexican food on the way home.

Friday

It was a cooler morning, so Beki and I took the kiddos on a walk around the wetlands. It was so lovely and just so nice to be outside and active. I wasn't sure how Tyler would do walking the whole way, but he did great. He did hitch a ride a couple of times on the front of Ellie's stroller :-)

Summer Break 2016 - Week 4

Here are the highlights of this week!

We wrapped up swimming lessons! Like I mentioned in last week's post, the kids both made great improvements. Kylee passed off all her beginner and intermediate skills so will be in the advanced class next summer.

Tuesday
Kylee learned all about Tae Kwan Do at our next Passport to Boise stop. She learned some of the history and then got to try out some moves. She was SUPER proud of the fact that she broke a board with her foot!

Parent/Child Class at the Little Gym

Kylee has taken classes at the Little Gym for 2 1/2 years. She took gymnastic classes up until this summer when she tried out a sports class. She loved it, but we've decided to switch things up for her a bit. Kylee told us that she'd like to take swimming, so over the next few weeks I'm hoping to find a good year-round indoor swimming class for her.

In the last year between Tyler being born or Kylee being sick or having family in town, Kylee ended up missing seven classes at the Little Gym. I love that they've let us transfer those make-ups to Tyler, and the last few weeks Tyler and I have been doing a Parent/Child class. The first week, Tyler wasn't so sure about the class, and was quite needy. Since that first week, though, he's really started warming up to the idea, and as much as he can he seems to enjoy the class. I like that he gets to "play" with other babies, learn new skills, and strengthen muscles important to his development.

Kylee came with us this last week and was our photographer. She took 164 pictures and video! I pared it down a bit - here are a few of the highlights. Looking forward to the rest of our classes together!

#14 A Waterfall

101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12
#14 A Waterfall

8/11/14
Marsing, Idaho - Jump Creek Falls
Mom, Dad, Kylee, Tyler

I can't believe this little gem is only an hour outside of Boise and I've never been until today! BJ joined our family as we drove through some beautiful Idaho countryside to get to the Jump Creek Falls trail head. We "hiked" about a quarter mile through the canyon, following the creek to the falls.

Most of the path was shaded by the canyon walls and trees that ran along the side of the creek. We had to cross the creek at one point along the trail, but the water was shallow enough to just walk across. There were also rocks to walk on if you didn't want to get your feet wet :-)

Along the trail were some fun little "caves". I think next time we'll have to explore them a little better - maybe when I'm not carrying Tyler!

We enjoyed wading in the pool at the base of the falls - it was nice and cool, but not so cold that our feet went numb. Matt and Kylee also went on a little hike up the trail near the falls. It got so steep at one point that Matt put Kylee on his back as they scrambled up the mountain. Kylee loves hiking with  her dad.

BJ came prepared with a bucket to catch crawfish.

He ended up with about a dozen and a half - a nice little snack for when he got home! Kylee was nervous to touch them, but she finally gave in and held one.

After a picnic lunch, we headed home. But we will definitely be back!

(3/101 complete)

#38 A Wetland

101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12
# 38 A Wetland

8/4/2014
Boise, Idaho - Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve
Mom, Kylee, Tyler

For the last couple months, Kylee and I (and Tyler) have been exercising every morning. Our exercise usually consists of me running (pushing Tyler in the Bob) and Kylee riding her bike. Last week we decided to do something a little different and go on a "hike" in the wetlands behind my parent's house. When I was growing up, we called it the gravel pits, and it was a "secret" escape, known and accessed by very few people. In the late 1990's, the land was donated to the City of Boise and later became the Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve. It is now a protected home of birds and other wildlife and has pathways and overlook areas. It was a fun change from our regular routine!

(1/101 complete)

Grizzly Cub Clinic

 

Kylee has talked about wanting to be a cheerleader, so we thought it would be fun to sign her up for the Grizzly Cub Clinic - a dance and cheer clinic put on by the dancers and cheerleaders at Rocky Mountain High School. She had a blast! Thinking it's time to get her into a dance class!

We were so proud of our sweet girl. She did awesome!

Crafting

I really enjoy crafting and was excited to have a dedicated craft room in our new house.  The only problem is that I have hardly spent any time in my craft room since we moved.  I blame that on a couple things.

1)  I have been busy.  Or sick.  Or both.  I got pregnant just shortly after moving in and didn't feel like doing anything (besides laying around) for months.  If I had tried to craft at all, I wouldn't have enjoyed it.  I also studied for (and passed!) my project management certification exam.  That was no small feat.  And finally, since I've been feeling better, I've been focused a little more on this coming baby... like scouring Craigslist for a dresser, painting a small end table white to match the room I pictured in my head, etc.  Oh, and I decided to get my personal training certification.  It's an idea I've been toying with for the last year or so and decided to just do it.  We plan on turning part of the 4th bay of our garage into a home gym and I would love to take on a couple clients after I have this baby and get back in shape.  But that means more reading and more studying and another test.  Speaking of the garage, Matt and I finally started epoxying the floor.  We had hoped to do it before we moved in, but they didn't finish the house in time.  Anyway, we finished two of the four bays this week and it looks great!

2)  My craft room is rather uninspiring right now.  It wasn't top on my list for setting up and decorating since the room isn't one of the main living areas.  The rooms people would see took my attention first.  Which, by the way, I've decided most of my house doesn't feel very homey.  I'm going to work on fixing that.  But back to my craft room - who wants to craft in an uninspiring space??

Needless to say, I've got some work to do.  I do have a bit of a vision in my head of what it can look like, though.  I've looked through plenty of photos on Pinterest, but I also have a great example in my friend Mandy!  I went to her house a couple weeks ago to make cards.  It's always fun to get together with her to craft.  Here are a couple pictures of her craft room (which happens to be a converted garage bay).

Looks like I've got a lot of work to do... maybe I should get off the computer and get going :-)

Two-Thirds of the Way to Baby

I'm officially in my 3rd trimester - wahoo!  Less than three months until Baby Hudson will be joining our family, and we can't wait. 

Once again, not too many changes since last time I posted... 

• I'm still sick almost every morning and I'm still covered in acne.  Yuck.  Hopefully just three months (or less!) of this left.  I think the acne bothers me more than the sick part.  It makes me totally self-conscious.
• I had my glucose test and my blood work came back normal - hooray!  So glad to hear that I don't have to worry about gestational diabetes.  Several people had told me how awful the glucose test was, but I didn't mind it at all!  I thought the drink tasted like orange soda. Sure, it was sweet, but I don't mind sweet, and was able to drink the entire bottle in like a minute.  No problem. :-)
• At my doctor's appointment this week, my doctor told me that my weight gain and measurements were perfect.  I'll take that!
• I don't have any swelling in my legs or ankles, although I think my legs look fatter.  I guess that could be due to my weight gain during this pregnancy.  I have noticed my fingers look gigantic and when I tried to take my ring off a couple nights ago it was completely stuck.  Maybe I'll try again this weekend.  I've also started to get a little tingling in my fingers every once in a while, mostly when I'm laying down.  Probably because they are so fat...
• I sure wish our baby moved more.  I've had several people say how at some point I will wish him to be still... but I don't know about that. I don't feel like he is super active, but I don't like when I don't feel him move. The movement reassures me.  The doctor told me if I get worried to do a "kick count" - lay on my left side and I should feel five movements in an hour.  I haven't gotten to that point yet, thank goodness!  One cool thing is I was actually able to see my belly move one night last week when the baby moved!

Beyond that, I'm still trying to work out with Brandee as much as possible.  I'm hoping if I continue to work out throughout my pregnancy that the baby will be healthier and that I will have an easier time getting back to a "normal" size after the baby is born.  On that note, Mandy and I walked a 5k a couple weeks ago - the Celebrate Women's Fitness race organized by my friend Tonya Cutler.  We came in second in the walking group with a time just under 45 minutes (a little different than what the results say, but all but one person who finished in front of us ran at least part of the race).  Here are a couple pictures - the second is of the number wrapped around my belly!

And along those same lines, I got new running shoes this week - aren't they so cute!?!

My Superman

I post a lot about the things I do or the things we do as a family, but I'm not as good about posting the things Matt is up to... so this post is all about Matt!

With Matt's work schedule, he and his co-workers like to do crazy things... like going on a midnight run!  I was fast asleep when Matt left to join the others on a run and a late night dinner.

In true Matt fashion, he takes this next picture as well... at a gunpowder golf outing with his buddies from work.  They basically had a golf ball shooting competition.

A few weeks ago, Matt joined his dad, his brother-in-law Gavin, and a couple others on a trip to Colorado to hike Longs Peak.  With the summit at over 14,000 feet, and snow still on the mountain, it was a pretty long, strenuous hike.  But of course Matt loved it.  He didn't stop talking about the trip for days.  Pretty sure it was the highlight of his year!

And one last picture for this post.  Matt is an awesome dad.  He loves spending time with Kylee.  He makes her laugh and feel so special.

I really do feel like one lucky girl to be married to this man.  He is my best friend and my superman.

Another Year Older!

My birthday weekend has been awesome!  Matt had to work yesterday, so we started celebrating a little early on Friday evening.  Sunny's family came into town for the weekend because Steve was running a race, and I was excited to have our first official "guests" stay in our home.  We had a BBQ with them and Corinne's family on Friday, and I got to open a couple presents.  I was super excited when I opened Matt's gift - it was a Silhouette Cameo!  Sweet!  It will cut paper, fabric, vinyl, etc. and I can't wait to start playing with it.  I'm already making a list of things in my head I want to use it for :-)

My day yesterday couldn't have started off any better.  Knowing that Matt was going to be working on my birthday, I had signed up to run Color Me Rad.  What I didn't know is that we would have Kylee, since we don't typically have her on Saturdays.  I had bought Kylee some cute running clothes/shoes a couple months ago and have "practiced" running with Kylee a little bit, but I wasn't sure that she would actually be able to do a race yet, let alone a 5k!  I showed her a video of the race and she seemed pretty excited to try it, so we decided to give it a shot.  And she did AWESOME!  I was seriously so proud of her.  She didn't complain at all.  She ran quite a bit of the course and walked for a bit when she was "out of breath".  I was lucky to have run the race with Brandee's family, and Matt so graciously let Kylee jump into the stroller for a couple stretches of the course. 

Photo compliments of KBOI2.com

Kylee absolutely loved getting the color tossed on her, and had fun throwing color at people at the end when she was given a couple color packets.  I am thinking we need to make this an annual tradition!

All clean before the race

Post-race photo

After getting cleaned up, I enjoyed a lovely lunch with Sunny and Corinne at Costa Vida (where else?).  It was great catching up with my college roomies.

All in all, it was a lovely day.  Looking forward to dessert (and more presents!) with my fam tonight.  A happy birthday weekend to me indeed!