Blake and I took a one day trip away for his birthday/Mother's Day to Carlsbad! It was pretty short and sweet but we were incredibly grateful to Nancy for coming down and moving heaven and earth to get all of the kids to all of their different locations! Games, dances, soccer practices, friends' houses, you name it! Loved being able to spend a very short time away with Blake- we hadn't had a chance to do that in so long with all of the cancelations of last year. Next time, we'll go longer... but walking along the beach, shopping, eating at Rubys and just having a moment to talk and enjoy each other's company was a heavenly respite.
LOVED Mother's Day this year. Blake grilled a delicious dinner, the kids spoiled me with cute little cards and notes and drawings and flowers. Evelyn even sent a text asking what I'd like to do to celebrate. Shocking! We delivered baskets of treats to a few moms in our neighborhood who are on their own and that was a special part of the day as well. Evelyn picked up 12 boxes of Crumbl cookies to celebrate the girls at the office- yay! Love my little family so much and appreciate all that they do for me.
Blake and Nancy took over the weekend after Mother's Day so that I could go on a little girl's trip to Palm Desert with my friends. We hiked, swam, played tennis, ate out, stayed up way too late, and laughed our heads off. I was so grateful to Blake and Nancy for the few days away with my friends. I feel like this month has kept my social calendar full to maximum capacity with birthdays to celebrate- Kelsey's 30th, Leticia's 40th and Heather's 50th! And visits from so many loved ones and even friends (Amber!) I'm grateful for all of the wonderful women I get to spend time with in my life- they always make everything more funny, more sweet, more fulfilling. But I also enjoy my quiet time-- particularly my walks alone where I can connect with God and listen to a podcast. I love walking along Lake Poway- especially this time of year with the beautiful weather. Ah..... life is good!
A huge highlight and main event this month was a 2 week visit from Grammy and Papa! We had so much fun with them in town.... adventuring around the city, shopping, eating Handels ice cream way too often, hiking, boating, tennis, Seaport Village, the Taco Stand, Annie's Canyon! It was so nice to have my Mom here to help me with crafting for girls camp and ortho staff appreciation week, bake with the kids, and chat about everything under the sun! Nice to have my Dad around to drive the boys to soccer and the scooter park, grill salmon and steak, help Evelyn with her end of year projects -like the Cold War Jenga game, and hike around RB Community park during soccer practices. The kids enjoyed an almost daily game of Skull King-- so much fun. We loved having cookie tasting contests from Batch Box and Crumbl and of course baking s'mores bars and Memorial Day berry trifle! Seriously, it was such a blast and went by way too fast. Love my Mom and Dad and grateful for the joy and happiness they bring into my life.
A few more highlights for the month included a new puppy for Grandma and Grandpa!!!! Dutch!!! The boys were in heaven meeting her and playing with her all weekend. They live for fun pictures of Dutch and Grandpa- sleeping, playing and enjoying life. I guess if they can't have their own dog, playing with Grandma and Grandpa's dog is the next best thing!
Evelyn and Dane enjoyed a few outdoor dances this month sponsored by various parents in the stake, hosted in their backyards. Dane was asked 3 different times to dance--what a stud...ha! And Evelyn enjoyed asking her friends from school to join. Dane and Ev also enjoyed Poway's Youth Conference- based on the game of "Life". The kids dug trenches, made fleece dog toys, ate Jersey Mike's, played volleyball, attended classes, and played a huge game of Amazing Race. I loved being a speaker at the event-- my topic #Livingyourbestlife. It was such a wonderful event and I was so happy the kids could attend- after a year of hardly any fun church events- this was such a treat. Dane's first one too! Can't believe the kid is about to graduate middle school! Searching for a picture of him as a young kid for the ceremony made me so sad because it's all happened so quickly. All of a sudden Dane is taller than me--- off with friends all the time, hanging out with girls, moody and a full blown teenager. When did that happen?
Aside from youth conference and church dances- Evelyn has kept busy hanging with friends, celebrating Caylie's birthday, thrifting with Amaya and Emma, getting acrylic nails- yikes! She may not do that again anytime soon- ha! And of course prom with Cooper- just as friends. She is finishing up her school work for the semester, already registered at Palomar Community College for the fall and eager to enjoy summer!
The highlight of Grant's month occurred at the skate park last week when a famous youtuber-- Faze Rug-- showed up at the Poway Skate Park. He filmed a video and asked Grant to do a trick for $100 on the video. Grant performed the scooter trick no problem and then won $100 and a spot on the video! He's been in heaven ever since!!! Aside from living at the skate park, Grant spends most of his free time on the soccer field and finishing off his lacrosse season. He was excited that Nancy was able to see him play! It's been a hard but fun lacrosse season and we've been so proud of our little guy whose about to promote from elementary school to middle school!!!!!! He could not be more excited to grow up.
And speaking of growing up.... Anna is becoming more and more social by the week. She adores spending her afternoons with Kate and having the occasional weekend sleepover/playdate with the Doud girls. When they spend the night together- they always wear their matching clothes and pajamas and have the very best of times. Anna and Kate spent the majority of the month putting together a slime store- and creating various types of slime to sell. Anna made a special slime for me entitled: the mom slime. She knows I really dislike slime- so I'm grateful she mostly keeps it outdoors! Aside from slime mixing, Kate and Anna also fashioned beautiful pinewood derby cars for the big race next month. Anna is almost always 100 percent happy and eager to do just about anything and everything. Love when she comes on my walks with me and picks a few wildflowers along the way. She is a joy to have around- almost always.
