Daddy Daughter Fun Days - and other stuff

This is going to be full of a bunch of random stuff.  Josh is on "terminal leave" right now, burning through a bunch of the time off he accrued over the past 10 years in the Marine Corps before his official retirement from active duty on July 31st.  He starts his new job next week. We have enjoyed having him around.  The first month of that leave was pretty much just getting us moved.  But after we got settled, we made time for some fun stuff.

One day, I headed down to Provo to the office for the day and Josh told the girls they were going to have "daddy/daughter fun day".  He took them to the Tracy Aviary to check out some birds.  I got home earlier than planned and they were quite annoyed that I was ruining their fun day together. :)  Daddy bought them cotton candy - not something that would happen on "mommy/daughter fun day".

Then, last Friday, he told them they were going to have another daddy/daughter fun day.  Once again, I crashed the party and ended up joining them at Wheeler Farm.  There wasn't a lot to do - just some farm animals to look at and a fun playground.  The girls thought the goats were HILARIOUS.  There was a loud guy there.  Not quite like these ones - but he definitely had an opinion.

Also, we are starting to get a taste for what it's going to be like for these girls to be good at different things, and interested in different things.  They started a little dance class at school, something they both initially expressed interest in.  I got there the first time about halfway through only to find Piper BAWLING.  It was the saddest thing ever.  I pulled her to the side and she watched the rest of the class with me while Josie danced her little heart out.  She told me she couldn't do the dancing class because "people were looking at her".  Sad. :(  The next week, she refused again to participate, while Josie was up there having fun.

We've also been getting them out a bit on their Strider bikes.  Piper cruises and already has the balancing down. Josie absolutely HATES that Piper is faster than her and will set her bike down and sit on the sidewalk and pout just because she can't keep up.  The other day she said "Piper's fast and I'm slow".  It was sad, but these are lessons I guess they will have to learn.

Finally, here is a sweet picture of my little princesses playing together.  Dress-up is serious business at our house.  Piper earned that gold dress because she FINALLY decided she wanted to be potty trained.  She is one stubborn cookie.

Mt. Olympus Summit

Josh and I are taking a few days off together for a bit of a staycation before he starts his new job next week.  We dropped the girls off at camp this morning and headed up to hike Mt. Olympus.  We did this hike years and years ago and didn't make it all the way to the top because Jackson starting laying down in the middle of the trail.  In the interest of not killing our dog, we turned around and missed the summit views.  Today, we left the dog at home.

The trail is steep.  It climbs 4,000 feet over 3.5 miles on the way up ending up over 9,000 feet.  We felt like we were on a stairmaster right away - calves were burning and not much talking going on.  But it was so nice to get away and escape for a little, and have some time with just the two of us.  Once we got to the top, you have to scramble up a bunch of steep rocks and the trail is pretty nonexistent.  This part was a little sketchy and I worried about going back down.  But of course the views at the top are incredible.  Also, we have a little cool front here right now, so the weather was 75 degrees and perfect!

We are planning some more fun things for the rest of the long weekend.

Soaking Wet at the Ogden Half

Brynn and I ran the Ogden Half Marathon a couple of weekends ago.  We had been planning it for quite awhile - a nice little night away in our hometown and a good race.  Well, we woke up to pouring rain that unfortunately never let up.  It rained from the time we got off the bus at the start, through the race, then for 30 minutes afterwards when we stood around waiting to get our bags.

It was fun doing this race together, but we definitely need a do-over.  I think I was close to being hypothermic at the end there!  Pretty miserable.  I'm very glad we weren't running the full.

Here is some proof.

Isn't that lovely?  I don't know when she got so much taller than me.  At dinner the night before, we met Jeff Galloway, noted running expert and motivational speaker, or something.  We were eating at the Union Grill and he was spotted by some other runners there.  Nice guy.

Next up is a marathon in September after we train together through the summer.  Can't wait!

Ears pierced

I took the girls last night to get their ears pierced.  It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.  We were getting hair trims and Claire's was next door without anyone there.  They were both very big girls.  No tears at all for Josie and just a little crying from Piper.  Josie picked some pink hearts and Piper picked some butterflies. Everything that Josie wears right now has to be completely pink.  She has many cute clothes she refuses to wear because there isn't the correct amount of pink.  So we also spent some money at Target stocking up on summer pink.

Aren't they cute?

Memorial Day Hike

After spending our morning getting our buns kicked with "Memorial Day Murph" Crossfit style, we took the girls on a little hike up Butterfield Canyon.  We've never really been to the Oquirrh Mountains, but they're our backyard now, so we went up to check it out.

The girls did great - until the end.  Josie said "I'm tired, and I'm hungry, I'm hot, and I'm cold, and I'm slippery."

Jones Family Fun Checklist

Summer is finally here.  We have been so busy and working so hard on getting our new house set up the way we want it, we haven't had too much time for fun. Also, Josh is on terminal leave until the end of July (more on that later too).  We were talking the other day about all the fun things we want to do this summer, so I thought I'd make a list.  I don't want to get too caught up in getting stuff done and miss out on a fun summer together.

Here's what we talked about:

• Go camping
• Try out some new routes on the side-by-side
• Take out the boats on our lake here in Daybreak
• Lagoon
• Go to Cowabunga Bay (hopefully with the cousins like last year)
• Pony ride
• Arts festival
• Disneyland! (later in the fall when we go to SoCal for my cousin Kelcy's wedding)
• Snowbird for the 4th of July
• Hiking
• Summer festivals (Draper Days, etc)

This list might evolve throughout the summer, but I think this is a pretty good start.  

Last Day of Preschool

Josie and Piper finished up their last day of preschool at the Winner School this week and we got to attend their end-of-year program.  They had such a great year and loved all their teachers there.  The saddest thing about moving to a new part of town is that we'll just be too far away to keep them at Winner, so they'll be going to another preschool next year.

Their program was very cute - they sang a few songs for us, then we went back to their classroom and the teachers had put together packets for us of all their work throughout the year.  Josie sang her little heart out during the program and Piper sat right next to her with her face in Josie's shoulder.  She has become pretty shy over the past couple of months and is having a hard time with people paying attention to her (she also won't look at the camera, as you can tell).  It was very sweet though.  I'm glad she has her sissy to sit next to.  One of the teachers told me that she separates them when they start fighting in class, then they cry because they want to play together again.

Our girls are growing up so fast.

Mother's Day 2013

We had a great Mother's Day this year.  The family came over to our new house (more on that later) for Sunday brunch.  No waiting in line anywhere, no stressing about reservations, etc.  It was great.  Then later in the evening, we went up to Syracuse to see my sweet grandma and wish her Happy Mother's Day as well.  The girls brought home some perfect Mother's Day artwork for me from preschool.  And even though they refused to smile for these pictures (especially Piper!), they loved having everyone over.

Spring Break in Moab

Another weekend, another Moab trip.  We headed down there for one more trip this spring.  We could go back again and again, but there are so many other places we'd like to show the girls this year - Bryce's Canyon, Zion, etc, etc.  Even so, we were talking about how many times we have been there, but how much there still is to see.  We have only seen a fraction of the area.  We had a great time with Jim and Rebecca and their family.  The kids had an absolute blast with their cousins and we all had a great time riding the side-by-sides together.

After pulling into town Thursday night, we hit the sack and headed out early Friday morning to ride the Dome Plateau trail.

The trail is known for its old mining cabins, caves, and incredible views at the end.  Our first stop were these old creepy cabins, where we pulled up for lunch and the kids went exploring.

Just a short hike down the hill we also went exploring in some old mine shafts.  The girls and I skipped that part.  Too dark and scary for the little ones.

Our next step were these natural rock formations which were perfect for a little climbing and some photo opportunities.

Piper skinned her hands on the red rock climbing down and it threw her off for a good hour.  Now, two weeks later, we are still putting bandaids on her two fingers every night.

After another hour or so of riding we came to the end of the trail.  We had no idea what we were in for, but it was an amazing view of the canyon, the Colorado river, the La Sal mountains and miles and miles of red rock.  The drop off was pretty steep, so the girls stayed in their car seats and Uncle Jim almost peed his pants because of the heights.

 This is the panoramic view, which doesn't do it justice at all.

We acted like dorks and scared Jim by getting too close to the edge.  

On the way back we got a little bit lost.  Okay, a lot lost.  We probably rode for an extra two hours.  We were in front leading the way and holding Jim's GPS and we'll say it was a combination of me not understanding how the "bread crumbs" on the GPS and Josh zooming along in too much of a hurry to look at the trail markers closely.  So, when we finally pulled up to the car, the girls were DONE with the side-by-side (and we kind of were too).  It was close to dusk, we were tired, hungry and absolutely covered in red sand.  We went straight to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  No showers, so we washed faces and hands in the bathroom.  Good times.

The next day, we headed out on another trail called Snake Creek.  This was perfect - a little more low key and you get to cross the creek about 15 times on the way up.  Just enough splashing to make the kids laugh.  

Jim and Rebecca and fam in their side-by-side.  They also have two people ride on their four-wheeler.

 The girls loaded up and ready to go.  Baby doll likes to ride on the side-by-side too.

A little more than halfway up the trail, we dropped Jim and Josh off to hide eggs for the kids.  The rest of us rode about 10 minutes up the trail, then turned around to come back.  This is an annual tradition for Jim and Rebecca's kids, but the girls were pretty shocked to find out the Easter Bunny had come to Moab and hid eggs on the trail.

 They looked for eggs in trees and bushes, behind rocks, and up on the side of a hill.  Jim told his kids to watch out for two snakes he saw earlier (liar!).

After some time splashing through the creek on the way back down, it was time to stop for lunch . We found a spot by the creek and pulled up shop.  We ate, then had fun throwing rocks into the creek.

The girls found another use for the side-by-side.

We got back in time for a real shower before dinner at Eddie McStiff's.  Then it was an early bedtime for us.

 

The next morning we woke up on Easter.  The Easter Bunny brought baskets to the Holiday Inn where we were staying.

After breakfast, we hopped in the car to head back home to SLC.  We made it back in time to have Easter dinner at my parents where the girls got more baskets and got to find a few more eggs around the house.  All-in-all, a perfect weekend.

Dreams

Every morning when I go in to get the girls, I ask Piper about her dreams.  Josie is usually too cranky so I leave her alone.  This morning she wanted to talk, so I asked her.

Here's what they said:

"Piper, what did you dream about last night?"

"I dream about a rainbow."

"Really, what was the rainbow doing?"

"She was looking for the unicorn.  And the unicorn was looking for her baby".  Note: This lost mommy/baby thing is a reoccurring theme in her dreams.  Not sure what that's all about.

"Josie, what did you dream about last night?"

"I dream about .... MUD!"

"Really?"

"And the mud had a face.  And it was looking for its mommy!".

Oooookay!

Moab - Again!

We took a weekend off, then headed back down to Moab again.  We are apparently making up for lost time because we have another trip planned at the end of the month.  Josh has decided that it's his happy place and there are some stressful things going on right now, so we will go with whatever works!

We left the side-by-side home this time because I was running the Canyonlands Half Marathon and we knew we would be short on time.  I ran this race three times in 2000, 2001, and 2002.  I loved being back.  I will be back every year, whether I'm racing, jogging, or cheering for someone else.  It's just fun.  I really wanted to run a sub-1:30, but it didn't happen.  I ended up with a 1:31 and was pretty happy with it.  I had been sick all week leading up to the race and I just didn't have a lot of pep in my step.  I ended up 10th overall female and realized that I have dropped my time on this course 35 minutes over the course of 13 years.  

The best part was getting caught up with an old friend from high school, Hailey.  We haven't seen each other in years and we got to spend the morning together riding the bus up the canyon and catching up.  Here are a couple of pictures at the finish.

Josh took the girls to the park while I was running.  The race finishes right in a big play area, so they had a blast playing in the nice 65-degree weather.

We spent the rest of the day eating good food, swimming in the hotel pool, and driving through Arches National Park.  We got some great pictures of Balancing Rock with the girls.  We tried to explain to them how the arches and rock formations are created with wind and water and somehow it got jumbled up in their minds that they were "water mountains".

 The views in Moab just never get old.

The girls kept asking when we were going to Moab.  We told them over and over that we were IN Moab.  Finally, Piper said something about our other hotel and we realized they thought Moab was actually the hotel we stayed in earlier this month.  It's confusing being a three-year-old sometimes!

The next morning we were back in Arches and we decided to hike up to Delicate Arch.   Neither of us had done that before and the sign said it was three miles round trip.  No big deal!  I thought it was just a walking path, but it turns out it was a real hike up some slick rock.  We weren't really prepared and didn't have our backpacks to pack the girls in, so we ended up carrying them 80 percent of the 3 miles.  However, it was really worth it to see.  The view up at the top is breathtaking and its a shame it took us so long to do this.  Delicate Arch is on our license plates in Utah!

 The girls were troopers.  They stopped and picked up some rocks for souvenirs and we saw some lizards and little rock chucks.

We drove home with tired, sleeping girls and made it back to SLC just in time for Conor's birthday dinner with my family.  All in all, it was a perfect weekend.  Can't wait to go back.