Side eyes {Then & Now}

Happiest Father's Day! We are in the middle of an entire weekend of fun. Can't wait to write proper blog posts about everything. But when I snapped this photo of Juliet yesterday I knew I had to post it. I reminded me so much of myself, in a classic photo from my childhood.

Juliet, at three, 2015.

My mom and I. I am three as well. Apparently I loved this side-eye face and did it constantly. 1984.

And here is a really old video of Juliet doing side eyes when she was one years old. Time flies. So fast.

Juliet's three year interview

Each year, on the kids' birthday, I do a little interview. I love to look back and hear what their favorite foods were, who their best friends were, and so on. Plus, their little voices change so much as they grow. I interviewed James on his birthday this year, but never posted because he just seemed like such a big kid. Just matter of fact answers and none of the funny moments little kids provide. He's growing up.

But, Juliet, luckily is still a little kid. And she's hilarious. Here is her interview, I hope you enjoy!

She has grown SO MUCH since I interviewed her last year when she turned two.

And here is James for his three year interview. Gah, these kiddos need to stop growing so quickly.

Juliet says, James says

Age two is hilarious. Everything that comes out of Juliet's mouth is pure gold. She is so funny!

Here are a few of my favorites over the last few months:

• "If you pretend my tooters not stinky that is fine!"
• Me: "I love you sweet dear" Juliet: "Me know deer, me snuggle bunny!"
• "I love to snuggle daddy!" or "Daddy is my snuggle bunny!"
• "My coink is sticky" (I love the way she says "coin")
• Fuss fuss fuss "I can't even cry!"
• "All perfect! Me a princess. Princess Ana!" (After rubbing herself from head to toe in mud.)
• "Whatever you say princess mommy."
• "Me learned that at preschool."
• "Me ignore you guys! Me mad at you mommy!" (Not one second later) "... me getting happier!"
• "When I'm a little boy I go to preschool."
• "My doggie is named rice-a-roni!" So funny because I'm not sure I've ever said "rice-a-roni" in her presence.
• "I love you so so so so much! Like 10,000 pounds! When we get home I'm going to give you a big hug!"
• Me: Can I sing "you are my sunshine" Juliet: "No. Sing goodnight."  Me: "How does that go?" Her: "Goodnight, me love you so! Goodnight, me love you so!"
• "Me in a sad situation."
• Me: "Why are you fussing?" Julie: "I don't know me crying." (better honest, right?)
• "A little bit pukey!" (spooky) whenever she sees Halloween decorations.
• "Ba ba weeeee!" whenever we go down a big hill in the car. I don't know where she and James got this, but they say it all the time. Funniest coincidence is E said "uggy-moo-weee!" when going down a hill when he was small. Crazy similar. 
• Out late one night she says "Me don't see Mr. Golden Sun!"

She has been on a two+ week nap strike due to cutting a hole in her binky. It's been rough. When she got up she had a big long story about a bugger and the fact that it disappeared. I love her little voice so much I just had to record. Here's what she had to say about it the other day:

James, at his age, talks with such skill that he hardly ever says anything super funny these days. Sob. He's growing up. When he does, I always try to write it down.

• James: "Why is that company gone?" Me: "They ran out of money." James: "They need a sticker chart to earn more money!"
• After calling him dear "I'm not a moose, I'm a James"
• "I think the beach is headed right for us, I hear a lot of EagleOggle. They're headed right our way!" (He calls eagles "eagleoggles" but this entire statement it entirely out of left field.)
• "There is a little boy and my tummy that helps me with my think abouts. And there is a shark in my tummy!"

And he learned the pledge of allegiance at his school and was so proud of it. Of course I had to record it. I was proud too.

Frightmares {Lagoon 2014!}

Each year since having kids we've visited Lagoon (the local amusement park). Back when the babies were babies we went in the summer with E's work and only rode one or two rides. Now, instead, we go in the autumn for Frightmares. It is a million times better. The weather is fantastic and there are hardly any lines. Most rides we were able to walk right onto! Plus, now that the babies are kids, they totally get it and LOVE it.

E and I didn't ride a single adult ride. Not one. We could have, I suppose, but we were having such a fun time with the kiddos, riding along with them, we really didn't want to. And it's amazing how many "adult" rides James is tall enough for, and some Juliet is even tall enough for. There was a full size roller coaster meant for adults that miraculously Juliet was tall enough for. James rode it with me before and said it was his favorite ride in the park. And because there was no line at all, we'd hop off and run around and jump right back on, over and over.

But soon we found E and Juliet and I suggested that she try it. It was fast, but smooth. And the sign said she was just tall enough. So we tried it. One thing about Juliet, is she is a total daredevil. Much much more than James ever is or will be.

She totally loved it.

So much so that we rode it again and again until one old fart (me) started to feel sick. Juliet, James and Daddy rode it five more times laughing all the way.

For the Halloween festivities there are also little walk throughs for the kids. Our kids did one, and liked it, but passed on the other one. They rather ride more rides.

At two and four years old, I've created Lagoon monsters. It's kinda amazing.

Ready to go on one of the scarier rides. I asked if I could hold his hand, he said no.

Looking festive in this dress that has fit since Juliet's first Halloween. Every year it just gets shorter and shorter, but is still a favorite.

Weather perfection, and crowds were small.

And before I quit riding on the roller coaster I decided it was worth it to try to record Juliet's reaction to the fast ride meant for adults. She'd already ridden it once, so I knew we were in for a lot of laughter. 

This video is better than I could have hoped for. LOVE!

An update on the bunny

Lots has been changing around here. James is impressing me every single day with his memory, skills, loyalty and learning to read (!!) but today I want to write an update on Juliet.

Lots has changed in this little girl's life since I last updated when she turned two. Soon after her second birthday we took down the crib rail on her crib and gave her a big girls bed. And soon after that we got rid of the crib all together, and the glider chair too (sob!) and transitioned her to a mattress on the the floor. She has done amazingly. Never getting up at night and staying in bed in the morning until I come and get her. Recently naps have been iffy but right after we transitioned her, which was about two months ago, her naps lengthened a touch and she started to wake up happy instead of scared.

Also, she's potty trained! She has been pooping in the potty for ages (before she was two) but wasn't staying dry otherwise. Finally about a month ago I just bit the bullet and started putting her in underpants. Sure, there were quite a few accidents but within a few days she had it. Now she will have an accident from time to time, but it is becoming more and more rare. And, although she is still in diapers for naps and bed, she is waking up dry more often than not.

Because of all these big girl accomplishments I decided that she may be ready to be done with the binky too. I understand, the older they get, the harder it sometimes is to wean from the pacifier. James didn't have a problem with it (but he was three), so I was hopeful for my girl.

I cut the tip off of her binky and when she discovered it we told her it was broken and threw it away just like we did for James. Then the crying started. We were strong. She finally fell asleep without it on night one but woke up multiple times throughout the night. Day two was horrible (no nap and even worse nighttime sleep). By day three I was exhausted, she was exhausted and I caved. I gave it back to her. I suppose we'll try again when she's three. Oh my does she love it so.

This girl of ours makes us laugh so much daily. She dances and sings made up songs all day long ("sometimes happy! sometimes not happy!") and has the silliest moves known to man. I adore her and all she has to say. The other day I gave her a little Corolle doll catalogue and she sat there in complete awe turning each page slowly whispering "wooooow" with each new turn. I was darling to say the least.

Oh snuggle bunny, how I love her. I love that when I lie next to her at night and sing her two favorite songs ("Sunshine" and "Happy Birthday") she always asks to "nuggle whole time" afterwards. I think she'd be happy if I snuggled her till morning. And that is one of the million things I adore about her.

And these crazy moves I'm talking about? Yea, no idea where she came up with these.

The best day of our Park City trip!

To make our Park City vacation feel like the real deal, E took Monday and Tuesday off of work to extend the weekend. On Monday morning we woke up and ate and didn't head to the pool. Instead we piled into the car and drove about 45 minutes out to the Uinta Mountains.

The Uintas are the highest mountains in Utah and someplace E and I really love. Getting to them from Salt Lake City takes well over an hour, but from Park City it was luckily under an hour.

A spot I've been dying to take James for over a year was this place, Provo Falls. I saw a similar shot of these falls on my brother's IG a year ago and have been wanting to take my waterfall loving boy ever since.

The Provo River Falls isn't one enormous fall, instead it's about six or eight mini falls. Many are connected by a dozen feet of calm water, or a couple hundred feet. Again and again the river fell. The strong current and lots of side streams (you can see one below) made it absolutely mesmerizing.

This boy was HAPPY beyond measure.

Morning light in the Uintas had be captivated. Remember I backpacked in the Uintas when I was pregnant with James? This is the first time I've been back. Five years. Pretty sad.

Waterfall family photo. Look at the water!

Riverside picnic. Or maybe I should be more specific. Top of waterfall picnic, which is the best place to be.

This girl was less than impressed with the water, more impressed by trying to hike away from us at top speed. 

After we finished up with Provo Falls we found a secluded Uinta lake and got out again to explore.

Juliet picked wildflowers.

And got soaked.

Don't fall down baby girl!

The meadow was absolutely lovely, filled with wet marshy mud and thousands of wildflowers. The new Keens are thanks to my Dad, he noticed I was hiking in flip flops on our outings with kids because I wanted to get in the water. New Keens are the best birthday gift ever.

iPhone Panorama. You may need to click it to see E and Juliet.

Golden mushroom found in the woods.

And our little waterfall loving boy found another waterfall to enchant him.

We heard frogs (and one thing I LOVE is catching frogs) so into the water I went. I discovered that the shallow lake was... quite warm! I I was able to convince my hesitant kid to join me in there.

Love this shot. This is how I often look with the kids five days a week while E's at work. Juliet grumpy and too tired to walk so she's on my shoulders sulking. James somewhere nearby (or not so near) with a stick that he's found.

Again we went back to the hotel after our extremely fun morning and tried to nap the kids. AGAIN James fell right asleep and Juliet pinched E's nose and pulled his eyelashes for two hours. We decided on Park City Main Street for dinner, hoping Juliet would hold out. She looks exhausted, doesn't she?

Our first date 15+ years ago was on Main Street. That day when we were only high school seniors, we ate at Main Street Pizza and Noodle. It didn't disappoint, and everyone, even the kids, slicked their plates clean.

A visit to the Main Street chocolate shop after dinner is always a must.

The kids chose their first ever rock candies, and were clearly thrilled with their choices. James said "this is the biggest sharpest lollipop ever!"

Yum!

My fella.

Goodnight Main Street! We are off to bed. Well, at least Juliet is, I decided to take James down to the pool. Nothing better than swimming past his bedtime and having a s'more to finish off the night.

Cabin fever

This year my brother did something genius. Genius I tell you. When asked what he wanted for his birthday his only request was "time with the family", so way back in November my Dad got hard at work reserving Wasatch State Park's only two cabins.

First we chose December so we could enjoy snow activities, but moved it to March hoping for more snow. But with an early spring and weeks of mild temperatures, there was little snow to be found, instead we had glorious sunshine.

One cabin was for my crazy bunch, the other for my sibs. My dad and his fiancee brought their trailer and spent the night in that.

The kids were thrilled to play on their first ever bunk bed. They thought the cabin was the neatest thing ever and couldn't wait to explore everywhere. (When we were checking out the next day James got teary, asking why we couldn't just live in the cabin.)

They were being so silly and happy on the top bunk I thought I'd try for a photo. Anyone with more than one kid knows, getting them both looking at you and smiling is a rare rare gem. 

James wasn't grumpy, he just really didn't want to stop playing for a photo.

This one cracks me up. He has the worst forced smile ever and she looks like Chris Farley.

This one may be the best I got.

After a rough week with this girl she seemed to be cheered up.

Our hosts, who live only minutes from our home, but we don't see them nearly enough. An overnight trip was just the ticket to finally get us all together.

Wasatch State Park's Visitor's Center is right near this beautiful pond and playground. We spent so much time there. We took a long walk and explored the visitor's center from top to bottom. James kept going to see the taxidermy animals saying "I want to visit those beautiful animals one more time."

Both of my brothers were loving seeing these two kiddos in action. They don't see them hardly enough and they couldn't get over how much each had grown.

The views up there are stunning wherever you look, and when I found a pocket of golden light and my boy stood still for a moment, I snapped my favorite shot from our trip.

After far too long in the sun and cold air everyone agreed we must go get Mexican food. Looking at this photo makes me hungry. But also sad because I seem to get plenty of photos of my kids, but none of my brothers. Must fix that. 

After dinner we discovered the most amazing bakery located at the same restaurant. I swear we paid for something, found something else that looked good and paid for that, over and over like 6 times in a row. It was hilarious. I choose a huge sprinkled sugar cookie for the kids and James's half was gone in record time. Juliet, however, didn't think to bite the cookie. She was more interested in licking off the sprinkles.

Earlier in the afternoon we had found the most perfect little stream. Nice and shallow in areas and nice and deep in others. What made it the most perfect was its abundance of big round rocks. Earlier James and his uncles had dammed the river with rocks to make a big deep pool. He was so excited to take Daddy back to throw rocks. As you can see, we got some spectacular splashes. (Side note: I love the time change. Light at seven pm?!! LOVE!)

Goofy and all smiles.

Forty five minutes later she's still licking her cookie...

The sunset was beautiful, clear and cold.

As we relaxed with my brothers (my sis was unavailable), my Dad and Tracie, E spotted some wild turkeys off in the distance.

E and I are sticklers with bedtime, but since it was a special occasion, we let the kids stay up laughing and playing with their uncles and Grandpa until eight o'clock. I know, big deal. ;)

Finally we bid farewell and made it back to our cabin with two very excited not-at-all-tired kids.

Only moments later my dad came knocking. "The full moon is on the rise! Come out and see!" So out we went to watch the perfect circle of a moon inch slowly into the sky. Since my not-at-all-tired kiddos were not-at-all-tired they decided to make the picnic table a stage and sing to the rising moon. And dance. And act completely and utterly heart melting. As I stood there watching the moon I realized, this, this is my life. I am raising these two. I get to experience things like this with them. I will treasure that memory forever.

And in action. In the above photo I edited out the houses on the hillside, but you'll notice them here. These kids of mine are goofs!

Back inside we changed into jams and they still were not exactly acting tired.

Soon lights were off and somewhat soon both kids were asleep. Success! The both slept all night and quietly peeped at seven am, saying "is it morning?"

And the sunrise was just as beautiful as the sunset. Cold. Oh so cold. But so beautiful.

James was beyond thrilled to find a "perfect strong hikin' stick."

After using the stick to break apart what little of the snow remained we wandered over to the river to find it covered in the most beautiful intricate ice I've ever seen.

James was entranced. He expertly climbed on every rock and every log so he could use his big stick to crack the ice.

Juliet was clearly not too happy about the cold. So she and Daddy went back to the cabin while I got to spend an hour exploring the frozen river with my sweet boy.

Sometimes when your focus isn't just right you still add the photo anyway because it is too darling to pass up.

Better, but not as sweet as above.

He was as happy as I've ever seen him. This boy is in his happy place out in nature.

Mostly I just obsessed over the ice before James could break it up.

Up the river we went, walking, stopping, taking it all it.

Never did he slip or fall, which frankly surprised me.

Tongue to the side for ultimate concentration.

Back near the cabins I finally got a shot of James with his uncles. These three are thick as thieves and laugh and laugh when they see each other.

After bags were packed and cabins were cleaned we headed to downtown Heber for breakfast. Chicks is a famous diner style breakfast joint.

Although classic diner food is far from my favorite, there really is something so charming about small town diners. And the breakfast burrito was quite yummy!

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to some of our favorite people in the world. Happy birthday Brandon. You are a genius. Let's do this every year, ok? Love you.

We are wiped.