Penny's Birthday

 Since I was a bum mom and was out of town on Penny's birthday, I threw a party for her on the Monday after I came back. We kept it simple and I streamed the new "Paw Patrol" movie and popped the kids popcorn. Then afterwards we had cake and ice cream. I just decided to invite the younger kids of all my friends but that meant we ended up with A LOT of kids. There was Peter, Lizzie, Isla, Reggie, Reed, Graham, Jesse and AJ (so many boys). Plus the neighbor, Jacob, decided to join in. It turns out most of the kids were not that in to the movie and about 40 minutes in (when the popcorn was all gone), a majority of the kids disappeared outside to play. My kids, however, all enjoyed it. They are such TV zombies. Pictures show the gang in the beginning and the gang in the end.

The "happy birthday" singing was soooo loud (as was most of the party) and then it was Penny's favorite part, the presents. She got so spoiled and got things that she actually really wanted. The Roblox toy she got has been played with fairly constantly since the party, the monster "gaming" chair has not left the living room. And the Skye bubble maker toy even made it to the beach with us this week.

It was definitely not the best party I've thrown but I think Penny enjoyed it anyways. 

Tuesday morning we slipped in a quick visit to the beach before heading out to the kids orientation for their new school that afternoon. There were multiple days offered for the orientation so it was just a small group of parents and kids. They gave lots of information and I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all but hopefully once it starts we will find a groove. I am really most stressed about logging into multiple platforms to find the kids work. I asked some questions about it and came across as the hot mess mom because someone came up to me afterwards and assured me it would be ok. Yay for great first impressions.

The school meets in a church building and it's a nice building. The kids got to go find all their classrooms (even the girls switch classrooms for subjects). And Steven met a boy his age and I met the boy's mom. They seem like a good family, really nice. I'm also impressed with how much more diverse the students are here than previous schools we've been to. I hope this well be a good experience. The only bummer is that Oakland County decided to come out with a mask mandate for schools Tuesday night. The kids are not happy about this.

Wednesday morning we had our first seminary class. We made the kids pancakes and waffles and they hardly ate anything. That seemed to follow for the other 2 days too. About half the class is not in to eating in the morning so food might not be the way to their hearts. Other than that, they were all fairly alert and did good during our classes this week. We'll see how that goes as we get further into the school year. I am pretty much exhausted all day and find my days to be way longer with such an early start. I've been doing laundry and dishes before the students get here, then running and showering after class. And then still lots of time left. This is all proving to be quite the adjustment.

Later Wednesday morning we went to the library. We are missing one book yet again and I hope we can find it before we can no longer renew it. Having so many library books can be great but ugh, I wish we weren't always losing them. That afternoon the May kids came over and that was a good distraction for the kids. They've been getting so bored lately, it's been driving me a bit crazy. It's a good thing school starts soon and then Ben and Lucy will start Soccer, Steven will start an archery class and Penny will be starting an online dance class mid Sept. Soon life will be busy enough.

Thursday I had to drive the kids out to Oxford so they could pick up their computers and get their school pictures taken. Everything went real smooth which is so good because I was feeling anxious about it. The kids all wanted to wear their uniforms for the pictures so they could document their first year of uniforms. They did not give the most natural of smiles but I am sure the pics will still be cute anyways...

Thursday afternoon I decided to take them to see the second "Boss Baby" movie. I really did not want to see it but they had all been begging to go. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be but it wasn't a work of art either. The kids enjoyed it and their was a good song that got Penny singing too. She loves singing and dancing. 

Friday we ran some errands in the morning, but other than that it was a real chill day. My exhausted self needed that. That night Tyler and I went out for dinner. It really was a nice day. 

Girl's Getaway

The beginning of the week basically consisted of me getting things ready for seminary, getting things ready for the kids to start school and getting things ready for a girl's get away. Just busy doing all the things, althought I did get to go out kayaking one night with Stefanie and that was nice.

On Thursday my friends (Caroline, Melissa and Grace) and I headed on a girl's getaway to the Upper Peninsula. We had an almost 6 hour drive to our first destination, Tahquamenon Falls. This has been on my list forever so it was so fun to finally get to see it. We visited the Upper Falls first which was a short walk to see. You can see why it is nicknamed "Root Beer Falls".

On the way back, Melissa and I took what looked like shortcut...and it was! The other two were to nervous it wasn't so it was fun to beat them to the end. Afterwards we strolled a souvenir shop and then drove over to the lower falls. It was too big of a hike to get a good view so I didn't really get any good pics of them (they were smaller too) but we did have this fun photo op.

Our next stop was our air bnb in Newberry. We were all ready for dinner after we dropped off our stuff but finding a food place turned out to be a challenge. Newberry was a SMALL town and the only open restaurant was crazy busy. When we went it to a random teenager popped out of a dark room and took our names on a piece of paper, told us it was an hour wait and disappeared into the dark room again. This room had no connection to the rest of the restaurant. It was so weird. We decided to leave and drove to the outskirts of town where we discovered a Subway in a gas station. That worked much better.

We brought our Subway back to the Air BNB and then watched the "Quiet Place". Afterwards Melissa thought it would be funny to sneak outside and knock on the window behind Caroline and me. Not cool. When Caroline recovered from that fright, we did Tarot cards because we are cool like that. I was told to nourish my relationships and in the future I would have many blessings. That sounds nice...

Friday we had a real laid back morning, learned some about Grace's live before she moved here and then we essentially had a therapy session with Melissa. She has had a lot on her plate and a lot of it is her doing too much for others, We tried to give her some helpful advice. Around lunchtime we headed to Munising and found some food trucks for lunch. I got a ranch chicken taco which ended up being tasty. The owner of the truck was also exteremly friendly and nice. Melissa is a lot like my dad and makes friends everywhere she goes so she enjoyed chatting with him. When we finished eating we strolled through some of the shops and even met a sassquatch.

When we finished shopping we headed to the beach. Melissa and Caroline got in but Grace and I just chilled on shore. I listened to a book and closed my eyes for a bit and at one point did some rock hunting. It was a nice, chill time. We also made friends with the Indian Family next to us because Grace shared her bug spray with them (there were these awful biting flies). 

Our last event of the day was a Pictured Rocks Sunset Cruise. We had to stand in the hot sun for an hour to wait to board but it was well worth it. Once the boat got going there was a nice cool breeze and amazing sites to see. This is not a tour that would've been super exciting for kids but it was so nice for grown ups.Caroline made a comment about the amount of time it took for these rocks to become so pretty and compared to the time it takes for God to make our lives beautiful. Deep thoughts. 

The only negative part of the cruise was when the boat would turn around so the other side of the boat could see whatever point of interest we were looking at. Those turns were always bumpy and nauseating. The ride back was especially nice as the sun set and the breeze blew. 

Next it was a scramble to find dinner. We tried a recommended restaurant but they said they were not taking any more orders, they were too full. So after driving past many closed places, we finally found one open food place and thankfully the wait wasn't terrible. I got a chickem pita and so did Melissa. She thought it was way to spicey and I thought it was just perfect. So either she's a wimp or maybe they over did the spice on hers? The ride home was dark and quiet and then we all crashed.

Saturday we got up and at it quickly so we could head out to Mackinac Island. We had the hardest time getting all our bikes back on the bike rack, it was a struggle bus but I am so grateful Melissa and Caroline are much more adept then me at configuring things. Everything went smoothly for getting on the ferry and getting to Mackinac. The first thing we decided to do was ride our bikes to the archway and oh my goodness it was hot. Then there was a walk up many steps. We were all roasty and toasty but the view was beautiful.

We climbed back down the steps and rode into town for some lunch. Grace, Melissa and I managed to find a good spot with smoothies and bagels but Caroline wanted a salad (she's GF) and she ended up having to go somewhere for food and waiting almost 30 mins for it. Bummer for her. 

Our next stop was The Grand Hotel. It was at the top of a hill and with the heat it was the hardest bike ride EVER. But we survived and eagerly paid the fee to tour the hotel so we could have some a/c. Only the tour wasn't really a tour and we could probably have gone without paying the fee because all we did was walk around the lobby essentially and peek out a window on the top floor. It was pretty lame. But the a/c was decent so we collapsed on their couches for a bit. 

Once we had cooled off, Caroline wanted to ride her bike further to get a good pic of the hotel. The rest of us were not interested so we found a shady spot on the hotel's lawn and rested some more. As we were getting up to go an older, bigger man was coming down the hill and collapsed. Melissa rushed over to help. Her some other passerbys got him up and brought him to a bench. Poor guy. She's always saving people. And then it was time for us to do some shopping. I wasn't going to get souvenirs but then I found an "I Love Lucy" cup and things sort of spiraled. I ended up getting something for each kid and the hubby.

After shopping we took the ferry back, got some food (with a cranky waiter who didn't appreciate doing seperate checks) and went back to our Air BNB. Melissa was pooped and passed out quickly. She attempted to watch "Quiet Place 2" with us but immeaditely fell back asleep and started snoring. After the movie, we managed to get Melissa to go back to her room and the rest of us stayed up chatting about how difficult it is to raise kids. Actually hearing about their kids, made me exteremely grateful for my own.

Sunday it was time to go home. I didn't really want to head back to reality and was feeling pretty meh. On our way back we stopped at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. As we were walking the beach, I saw a monarch butterfly and it reminded of Isaac and added to my bummer mood. It made me think of how much my life has changed and wonder again why I couldn't keep him. My friends all got in the water under the Mackinac bridge so they could have there feet in 2 lakes at once but I wasn't feeling it. They went into a nearby gift shop and I sat on a bench and took in the pretty view, trying to find peace with this life I have. I know if I had Isaac I probably wouldn't have been able to go on this trip and I probably wouldn't be teaching seminary and I just wish I could be ok with the turn my life took but every time I see an adorable baby or toddler I feel that ache. Clearly I am not good with things not going as planned.

We didn't do much talking the rest of the ride home, I think we were all tired and my bummer mood wasn't helpful. We ended up stopping at a Walmart for lunch because all the fast food places where we were at had gigantic lines. It worked out in our favor. And then we were home and I was scrambling to get things ready for our Seminary Orientation. Thankfully Tyler had done most of the prep work for it. I think the Orientation went well. Tyler insisted on doing a basketball analogy which didn't go as well since I think no one was really into basketball there but we got to give our spill and everyone seemed mostly ok with things. I am equal parts ready for Seminary to start all ready and not ready to wake up so dang early. It's going to be interesting to see how it all goes.

Back to Reality

Sunday was my birthday and for the most part, it was pretty uneventful. It being Sunday meant I couldn't go out to eat, so I had gotten all the good food the night before. And Mike's family was sick so we didn't get to hang with them. I ended up going to church with my parents, and just being lazy afterwards. 

Around dinner time, Penny and I went to the Hatch home. Tyler's mom made me enchiladas and she got me a bundt cake so that was nice of her. Most of our time there was loud and chaotic. It's hard to get a word in with his family and it seems like everytime I move to the room where his family mostly is, they leave so it wasn't super fun. And then I always feel awkward being sung to with everyone watching...But later in the night, mostly everyone left and it was just me, Tyler's mom and Keshia's family. That was probably my favorite part. I sat with Knox and we talked all about "thunder bees" and other silly things. He's a very entertaining kid and it was nice to be in a smaller group. That's more my jam.

Monday morning I woke up and got all the things packed. Amazingly I could fit all the souvenirs in my suitcase so that was a relief. Our fight didn't leave until early afternoon so we had some time to kill. Penny killed some of it playing games with Poppy and Grams. She was not a very kind winner, instead she shouted out her amazingness because somehow she won every game. Then we went to go walk around DI but when we got there, we realized it was Monday which meant it was closed. So instead we walked around the Dollar Tree and Tuesday Mornings. Penny found a sticker book that had guinea pig stickers and that just made her day. I found an awesome $500 dragon statue that I wish could've fit in my suitcase ;) Then we had some lunch at Kneaders and soon we were on our way to the airport. Everything went smoothly with our flight. I had a nice lady next to me that didn't talk too much but also we didn't sit in super awkward silence. It was the perfect mix. Penny flipped from movie to movie and I watched a super deprsesing movie called "Unbreakable". I kept hoping it would get happy but it was not that kind of a movie. And then we were in Michigan. Tyler apparently wasn't on top of things so we had a good 20 minutes of waiting before he picked us up but when we got home, it was so nice to be back in my own home.

Tuesday it was back to reality and it was a pretty rough day. I had so many things to catch up on and it just felt overwhelming. On top of it, I had a really annoying phone call from the new yw's president. I thought she had questions but instead she talked about how everybody was so excited to have her in yw's and basically just about how amazing she was. It was irritating and not what I needed when feeling overwhelmed. The kids were also fighting and driving me nuts. And I was trying to figure out if going to my Aunt's Memorial would be feasible. It was just a lot. Especially when my hormones felt all out of whack. But thankfully I survived the day.

Wednesday I decided I needed to take a break from it all and spend some positive time with the kids so I met some friends at the beacb for a few hours. I didn't stay as long as usual because I still had things to do but it was the mental health break that I needed. When we came back, we apparently timed it well, because we had a sudden huge downpour and we lost power again. Tyler ended up driving to get pizza since we had no power but he got stuck in traffic because of construction and the power outages. What normally is like a 5 minute drive, became a hour drive. It was just insane. Thankfully the pizza made it home ;)

 That evening the yw were supposed to meet at my beach for a last hurrah but because of the weather we met at Melissa;s house instead. It was a good little good bye party. I gave out candy awards to the girls (which they all left at Melissa's house but whatever) and then Melissa had them all say something they liked about me. That was awkward. It was funny that most of them said they liked that I fed them. One said she felt like I spent so much money on them (she's not wrong). Another said that she liked how I always seemed energetic (Really!?) And someone said that they liked how quirky I am. Ha! After that we ate cake and did a puzzle. Then once all the girls left, Melissa and I chatted for awhile. With us both having been gone on vacations it had been awhile. She is still in the yw's presidency we chatted a lot about the new yw's pres and her struggles. The new pres had called Melissa 11 times that day. Oi. It's going to be a rough journey for my friend.

Thursday I did another short beach day. This time we met Stefanie's family at Spring Mill Pond. She talked about her road trip that she took with a friend and her friend's boys and I decided I should probably never road trip with her. She was appalled that her friend's kids never ate fruits and veggies while road tripping....well that's typical for vacation life right? Right!? But really we had some good chats and the weather was beautiful so it was a good time.

Thursday evening, Steven went see "Jungle Cruise" with some friends from church- no parents came. Apparently the girls talked the whole time so hopefully they didn't annoy the fellow movie goers too much. And Steven said it was a very violent movie. Makes me curious to see it. Here's a pic of the gang on the car ride home.

Friday morning I took the kids (and Jacob) to Milford Memories. We had a rocky start getting there, Penny was having an emotional day, and then at the playground, Penny was still being emotional. But once I bought pretzels for everyone to share the attitudes got better and the kids started to have fun. I guess food is the key to everyone's heart. The only bummer was they moved the kid's activity/craft tent so we had a much longer walk to get to it. But still fun. Kids had ice cream, made sand art, played BINGO and ring toss, got tattoos and made art of craft scraps. We also hung out there with the Mays for a bit. Overall it was a good time.

Friday afternoon the girls went to play with Isla and Reggie and I ended up bringing Etta over to hang out with Steven. Etta has a huge crush on Steven but I don't think he feels the same. I'm ok if they are friends, but it better be just friends ;) They played video games and then rode bikes to Seven Eleven. Apparently she fell off her bike and Steven was more concerned for her fallen slushie than her, so that might be an indication of his feelings. Oh that boy.

Saturday, Tyler and I had our Seminary Symposium for most of the day. It was just a collection of classes on how to teach seminary. I basically left feeling like the most important thing is not to cover all the material and be a super fun teacher but to connect the kids with Christ and make sure they feel loved. I need to remember this when I see all the creative/fun things other teachers do because that can feel overwhelming. The Mays still didn't have power back from the Wed storm so they came over and watched our kids while we were at the Symposium (it just felt like too long of a day to leave Steven in charge) But the weird thing was they opened all our windows. Instead of enjoying our a/c, they let it all out. I'm super confused and slightly annoyed but they watched my kids all day so I can't be too angry.

When we got back, Ben headed off to a Tree Runner place in Frankenmuth with AJ which he had a total blast doing and is begging to go back, I'm thinking passes might be a great Christmas present since it's so pricey. Tyler and I ended up leaving the kids again for my "make up" birthday. This time we just left Steven in charge. We did some shopping for birthday gifts and ate a yummy dinner at 21 Burgers. It ended up being a nice night. 

Bishop's Castle, Durango, Farmington and AZ

 Wednesday we took an hour detour to go see Bishop's Castle in Rye, Colorado. This is a guy's special project that he allows people to come check out. It wasn't the most fun drive up to it but it was really neat to see and explore. Grams got too nervous to climb up the towers but Penny and I climbed up one. I got to the top, she got pretty close. She had expressed that she wanted to do the tower on the other side too but when she realized it didn't have a handrail, she changed her mind. I was a little bummed that I couldn't do more exploring but the whole thing never felt super safe so maybe it was for the best.

After Bishop's Castle we drove the remaining 5 hours to Durango where we met up with my Aunt Charlotte. She had got us 2 rooms at the General Palmer Hotel. It is a historic hotel that has been nicely updated, it was super fancy. Penny and I got one of the rooms and my mom and Aunt the other. It was nice to have our own space and probably good for my mom and I to get a break from eachother ;). We chatted with my Aunt and I tried to make conversation but learned that my Aunt feels at my age, I just can't understand her age, I also learned that my aunt is also anti-journal and doesn't want anyone to remember her (so apparently she wouldn't approve of this blog). 

Then we did a little shopping in downtown Durango and afterwards walked over to a restaurant on the Animas River for dinner. It was a fancy place and the pulled pork tacos I had were really good (and expensive). On our way back to the hotel some creepy guy asked my Aunt if he could have one of her daughters. Instead we gave him our left overs from the restaurant and I held Penny's hand real tight. Once at the hotel, Penny took a bath, just because she wanted to wear the robe.

After her bath, Aunt Charlotte took us to ice cream at Coldstone and then Penny and I cuddled and watched a show on her tablet because apparently fancy hotels don't subscribe to kid's channels. Then it was bedtime.

Thursday we had breakfast at Denny's, did some more shopping (Grams bought Penny a stuffie for behaving herself around Aunt Charlotte) and then we headed to my Aunt Irene and Uncle Charlie's house.

At Aunt Irene's she fed us a nice lunch and then Penny made some giant Lego towers that baby Jack (Breanna's kid) kept trying to destroy. She also got to see all of Uncle Charlie's animals (chickens, sheep, ducks and goats) and try to feed the goats a peach. They didn't trust her so she had to chuck the peaches at them.

She came back in and rotted her brain with baby Jack for awhile (watching baby shows) and then she decided to sort Aunt Irene's massive amount of toy cars. It was quite the project.

Thursday evening Aunt Irene had lots of people over- Breanna and Angie's families and a couple of Victor's kids that I don't know so well. It was nice chatting with people, although Angie's husband was a bit irritating. He was having a garage sale the next day and was trying to convince Penny to take some things- we have no room nor any need for more toys. In the end, while I was sitting on Breanna's porch and chatting with her, he got Penny to take a stuffed elephant. But we may have made an enemy because we left it at Aunt Irene's house. She does not need anymore stuffies. Especially used and dusty stuffies.

Friday we made the drive back to Arizona and made it just in time for Oliver's birthday party. There was good food and good cake and of course, good company. Penny ended up spending the night with her Brady cousins so I got the bed to myself that night, it was great. No feet in my face. However the giggling girls all kept each other up late and were all pretty emotional the next day. Penny got weepy twice over very silly things. She is like me and needs her sleep.

Saturday mom and I had our favorite crepes at The Broken Yolk and then shopped at Deseret Book. Then we hung at Mike's house. For dinner I had the amazing Mi Amigo's. It was a very chill day with yummy food which was needed after so many adventures.