Island Park for the 4th

This is my last "catch up" post.

 The day after we got home from Chicago we packed up and headed to Island Park.  Island Park is the Idaho version of Lake Powell.  Not literally the same (there is not a big lake or house boats) but it is a very common vacation destination that everyone goes to (although funny thing, I have never been to Lake Powell).  It has gorgeous views and the Snake River winds right through it.

We went there with my family and my dad's sister (Oakley's) family.  We stayed at a cabin there.  It was my uncle's cousin's cabin (did you get that) lol yeah we didn't even know them at first but they are really friendly and nice.  So sweet to let these complete strangers stay in their house.  We got there on there on the 4th of July.  Here are my cute kids all dressed up...  Why I feel like I need to dress them up I do not know, but I do the same thing with Christmas, Easter, and Valentines day.  Sometimes it is just too fun not to!

 

The majority of our time there was spent floating down the snake river.  It was slow moving and took about 3 hours to get down but it was SO pretty.  The first day we took Adalyn and Jensen with us in the raft.  Not the most enjoyable thing and Adalyn didn't "warm up" to being in the raft till the last 15 minutes.  Little stinker!  But Jensen slept the whole way thank heavens!

 

10 minutes after we pulled our canoes and rafts ashore it started raining.  Big time! and then the hail came.  We grabbed the kids and hid under the nearest tree. 

 

 

 

 It rained off and on the rest of the night, but cleared up just in time for fireworks.  McKay and I chose to not go to the fireworks since it was way past the kids bed time.  So we went to bed early on the night of the 4th of July, but after our fun week in Chicago sleep was a very nice thing.  :) 

 

 

 

The second day there the ladies decided to go for a run.  Here we all are looking so cute in our bright colored shirts and bed head. ;)

 

 

 

 

McKay and I also snuck in a family hike while others were four wheeling. 

 

And just to keep it real-  I would have you know that I would have NEVER done this when I was nursing Adalyn, but I have definitely "matured" since then and feeding Jensen in the middle of no where was no big deal.  :)

 

 

 

Adalyn soaking in Mom's and Dad's undivided attention...

 

 

Jensen fell asleep on the way back

 

That afternoon my mom and Mykelti watched the kids while McKay and I went in a canoe down the river.  That was much more relaxing than the day before and I loved spending time just with McKay.  He really likes canoeing so it was fun seeing him do something that he loves. 

 

 

That night we played a few night games.  Animal signs was a huge hit and everyone got a really good ab workout while playing.  It was hilarious watching everyone do the different animal noises.  My dad barking like a seal.... hehe

 

The last day McKay and I packed up early to get home and get settled before Sunday.  It had been a fun few weeks and we were sad to see the party end, but it was good to get back to our lives with our two cuties. 

Although I am not going to lie... The first few weeks of July were rough for me as I went back to the daily grind.  I sure had been spoiled with all of the social and fun activities that we had been doing in June.  Too bad life can't be one big party. jk  These last few weeks that have been kind of depressing have taught me a few things about good hard work and I am working on not being selfish with my time.  This post really helped me catch the vision that I needed to refocus my efforts at home.  I love being a mother and am happy to serve my family and their many needs.  Sometimes I just forget the importance of it all and wish that I could be off on another vacation. :) 

 

 

Hope you are all having a good day! 

 

 

 

 



    

My Journey to Health, 6 months Post Delivery- Part 4

Hello everyone!  So are you so tired of hearing about me and my health goals yet?  Yes?  Well your in luck because today is the last day you will ever have to hear about them.  (don't cheer too loudly) A girl can only talk about herself/body for so long and I have been talking about me on this blog for about a year now.  Time to get on with life!

But before I give you this final update I have to say thank you!  It was very therapeutic for me to write about my struggles.  Not one harsh or snarky comment was made but lots of love was sent my way.  It truly helped me stay on track and find the right balance for my body.  Thank you, Thank you!

So today I would like to give you one last post with my results and a few words on what I have learned.

As you all know I started this journey a couple months after I found out that I was pregnant with baby #2.  Oh the things I wish that I had known before I had baby #1!  Like the fact that the weight did not just fall off after giving birth.  Really wish that I would have watched what I was eating back then!  Seriously felt like I was ramming my head into the wall when I tried to lose the 25 extra pounds that I had gained after I had Adalyn.  But with Jensen I ate right during the pregnancy AND after and the weight was a whole lot easier to get rid of.

In fact I was able to get rid of ALL of the extra weight that I had put on since having kids.  I ate the exact same way that I ate while I was pregnant and exercised just a little bit harder (really not much harder, just a little more hip shaking at Zumba :) and the weight slowly came off.

Here is the goal that I wrote down the night before I gave birth to Jensen...

I wanted to reach my goal by July 1st, but wasn't going to stress about it if I didn't make it, just needed a general guideline.  Obviously I was starting out 9 months pregnant so the first 15 lbs weren't going to be that hard to get rid of (then again giving birth is not the easiest thing in the world).  6 months past and at Jensen's 6 month appointment I weighed myself (we don't own a scale) and happily learned that I had reached my goal and had lost an extra 3 lbs!  This was my very first weight related goal that I have actually achieved and I am so happy that I was able to stick to my new lifestyle and make real and lasting changes.

No I am not tiny or perfectly fit, but I now weigh 8lbs less than I did on my wedding day, which makes this mama of 2 feel pretty good.  :) 

But with all numbers aside....

  I feel healthy!  I can hike, run, swim, and play tennis (McKay loves that game).   And best of all, I ENJOY doing those things.  I have the energy to take both my kids to the grocery store and then wrestle them back into their car seats when we are done.  I now feel strong enough for and excited about future pregnancies and births (no I am not pregnant).  Yes I will gain 20+ lbs again but it will be for a good reason, and I will happily gain 20lbs for as many children as Heavenly Father sees fit to

 bless us with. :)  

Honestly my last advice would be-  Focus on what makes you feel good, not just in the moment when you are eating a big o' bowl of Kraft Mac and Cheese but what makes you energized and happy.  This quote has been on my fridge for a while now and it helped me put things into perspective on a daily basis.

"Obtaining anything of great worth, often requires great sacrifice"  

    

Our health is worth the sacrifice.  Forget the scale, forget that cute dress, forget the friends that you want to impress and focus on the core of why you are doing this.  I did it for my babies.  The ones I have today and the future ones that will bless our home.  They are worth it. 

This was a hard journey for me, and I still feel weird putting myself out there like this but I guess I want to tell you that if you are struggling there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Go for it because it is worth it.  Delicious, colorful whole foods are waiting for you.

Thanks for reading!  Have a good day!   

   

Jensen- 6 Months Old

This is a late post since Jensen will turn 7 months old on Saturday, but I still want to document it. 

Jensen turned six months old on June 27th.  We were in Chicago then so that is why I am not more up to date with this post. 

Jensen's 6th month of life was almost identical to his 5th month as far as new things that he learned.  And honestly I almost just skipped this month's update and went straight to the next one because he has started doing SO many new things in the past few weeks.  such as sitting up, super fast army crawl, and shaking his head just to name a few.  But alas we will wait a few more days and then I will tell you all about his adventures of late. 

Anyways back to his 6 month update... He still was/is waking up once a night, he was still SUPER wiggly in your arms, and he still was just rolling over.  He had not mastered sitting up or scooting.  He was a very happy baby most of the time, but let it known when he wanted to be held.  June was a busy month for our family so we were happy that he wasn't moving around too much and still was just nursing so we didn't have all of the mess of baby food.  He got REALLY tall this month and was fully in 6/9 month clothing.  I can't remember his height from this last doctors visit, but he weighed 17.1 lbs.  I questioned the doctor a lot about his flat head at his check up, but he assured me that he thinks it is going to be fine and a helmet wasn't necessary.  We will check it again at 1 year, but thus far he is helmet free (hopefully we avoid it all together because those things are expensive!)  He has been sleeping and playing on his stomach and it seems to be helping a little bit, but I am still nervous.  Anyone have experience with helmets/flat heads? 
Example of his flat head-

As I always say in every post we love having Jensen around.  He seems to be just as social as his sister, no stranger danger yet.  And my heart just about bursts from happiness each time I hear him and Adalyn laughing together.  Adalyn and Jensen really are so good with each other and I can see that they genuinely love each other.  Adalyn is at that "mine" stage right now.  She is struggling daily with learning to play nicely with other kids and almost needs constant help on how we properly work out situations.  But with that being said she is SO good with Jensen.  She is almost always so helpful and kind to him.  It has been a true blessing that she loves "babies" so much.  I am still amazed at how well she has adapted to having him in our family.  Children need siblings and I am so happy that Adalyn and Jensen have each other to learn and grow with.  Fun sibling memories are in our near future as Jensen gets older and can start to "play" more with Adalyn. 

 

 

Ok this has been the worlds most random post.  I guess I am just tired of being behind so I am writing really fast before Adalyn decides that my computer time is over and starts whining at my legs.  So I will just end here and hope for a more thought out post in the future.  Thanks for reading anyways!

 

          

Adalyn's Adventures in SLC

Like I mentioned before, Adalyn spent a week in Salt Lake with my family while the rest of us were in Chicago.  Up to this point the longest I had been away from her was when I had Jensen and she still came to visit the hospital each day.  So needless to say I was a little worried/nervous about being so far away from her for so long.  Luckily my family was available to watch her that week and I knew that if I couldn't be there I would want my mom to be the one to watch her. 

random side note... Have you made a will before?  It is interesting trying to decide who you would have raise your kids if you weren't there.  Not a fun conversation to have with your spouse but a necessary one.  This post just reminded me that McKay and I need to get on that.  We have talked about it, but never actually written it down officially.

Anyways back to Adalyn...  She had a ton of fun in Salt Lake.  Obviously I personally don't have a lot of pictures from their adventures that they took her on

, but it sounded to me like a 1 year old's dream come true.  Lots of play dates with kids that my sisters were babysitting/nannying and my cousins came and stayed at my parents house while we were gone so she got to play with those kids too.  We have just barely started into the world of play dates the past couple weeks so her time in Salt Lake was good practice for her.  They also took her to her first movie theater movie, Monsters University, and it went... ok.  She didn't make it through the whole thing, or even close but it sounds like she still had fun.  And best of all she got lots of bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa.  My dad even took her to one of his basketball practices at the park.  :) She loves playing with all of my old toys at their house so I am pretty sure she didn't even have a moment to get bored.  Thank you thank you mom and dad for watching her while we were gone!  Oh yes and thanks Mykelti and Corinne, they definitely helped a ton too!

 


Quick rewind-

 Before we left to go to Chicago we did a few things in Salt Lake that I wanted to talk about, but don't really want to do a separate post since I am already way behind.  So here they are...

The Sunday that McKay was suppose to leave we went to my cousin's Mission Farewell talk.  He left for the MTC on the July 10th (I think) and will be heading to Mexico in a few weeks.  So excited to see all the faithful men and women serving missions!  His farewell went great and the food was so delicious.  Guys, breakfast burritos is a good idea for a party.  just sayin...  I really loved that we were able to be there for his farewell since we often are not able to go to family get togethers. 

p.s. Do you notice that guy in the picture by my sister Larissa?  Ya, that is her fiancé. Sweet!  She is getting married on August 31st and I am SO excited to have a married sister.  He is a great guy and they are darling together. :)

 

I love this next picture of Adalyn and Trevor.  Adalyn is one of the only little kids around on my mom's side of the family so she gets spoiled rotten by all of my cousins and she LOVES it.  I can't wait to see how much they both will have "grown" by the time he gets back. 

 

Speaking of how much Adalyn has grown.  Trevor's brother, Bradley, gets back in about a month from his mission.  This was Adalyn (and Dayton) at his farewell.  She was less than a month old.  So crazy how much they grow in the first two years! 

 

 

 

 

The next day after the farewell my mom and I took the kids to the Carousal at the mall.  It was a really hot day so it was nice to do something indoors.  I was excited to see if Adalyn would like the ride because she is obsessed with animals right now.   Kids are funny at her age and you never really know what to expect when they are trying something new but she did great and LOVED the whole thing.  She rode on the horse all by herself with grandma standing right by her.  Jensen and I enjoyed the bench on the carousal.  :)  Thanks grandma for the fun little outing!

 

 

So grateful for all of the fun times we have been able to have this summer.  Have great day!

 

   



 

Chicago Vacation 2013

So happy to be able to write that title!  McKay, Jensen and I just got back from a very fun trip to Chicago.  We left Adalyn at Grandma's house in SLC, and I will talk about her fun there in another post. 

We really aren't traveling kind of people, we are mostly just content to stay close to home (as in within driving distance) but I have always had this desire to see Chicago.  After all it is tons of movies, one of the biggest cities in the U.S., and another bonus for this trip was that we have family in Chicago to visit.  So when McKay told me that he would be heading there for work this June (so work would be paying for EVERYTHING for him) it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up.  Of course I am still nursing Jensen full time and since he is only 6 months (didn't want him to be done yet) he got to come too.  But honestly I NEVER want to have to take a toddler on a plane so Adalyn was not welcome to come too.  But don't worry she had lots of fun still. :)

The plan for McKay was to leave Sunday June 24th from SLC to be there for work (His company needed him to do an audit on a company out there for a project they are working on) on Monday.  Unfortunately his flight got canceled and he ended up not leaving until Monday morning, so he missed the first full day of the Audit, but it seemed to have turned out ok. 

I just hung out at my parents house for a few days (Sunday until Wednesday) and then met up with him Wednesday evening in Chicago.  My first flight with a baby was not that great.  Nothing went wrong per say, but I was just so darn nervous that I think I made it worse for myself.  Nursing Jensen in a busy airport and on a small plane was terrible.  He is so wiggly and hates the nursing cover over him so it was crazy trying to keep myself covered up.  :P  I think I tried to feed him like 3 times before he was actually able to fully eat.  Can you say stressed out mama?!  The second time around (meaning on the way home) I decided to just go in the family restroom at the airport (they really should have nursing rooms), lock the door, and nurse him standing up (gross germs right?  you do what you have to).  That worked tons better because I was able to just relax and actually get some milk out :)  He also is the type of kid that does not love being held all the time so he was SO done being in my arms by the time our 3 hour flight was over and fell asleep fast in his car seat on the way to the hotel.  In the end we survived and got to Chicago safely. 

Now I am going to break our adventures up by days just to keep things in order. 

Thursday:

Thursday may have been one of my favorite days.  Why?  Because I didn't HAVE to do anything.  I got up with McKay in the morning and ate breakfast with him (I didn't even half to cook it) and then sent him off to work.  Then Jensen and I slept on and off until 2 pm.  Crazy nice right?!  Loved it!  We then watched a little TV, did a little shopping, and then went out to dinner with McKay and his work buddies.  After dinner McKay and I headed out on our own to drive around town.  We were a ways from the actual city at this point so we didn't do anything too big.  In the end we found this cute little part of town that had benches decorated with characters from different movies and nursery rhymes.  Here are a few pictures...

 

After our little scenic walk we went to Culvers because I had heard on a blog that they had good frozen custard (we had never been there before).  OH BOY I am an ice cream lover so I was in heaven!  It was SO delicious.  We loved it so much that we made sure to go to one again on the last night we were there.  So wish that we had a Culvers in Idaho...  If you have one near you, go and get a Turtle sundae.  You can thank me later.  :)

 

Friday:

McKay had his last day of work so I spent the morning packing us up to leave the hotel then I went and met up with him at a Chicago pizza buffet for lunch.  I definitely got lost on the way to the restaurant, but thanks to the GPS I finally made it there to meet him.  The pizza was yummy and I am glad that we got to have a Chicago deep dish pizza while in Chicago.  I also got to try my first hush puppy, another delicious creation.  :)

 

That afternoon we drove to my cousins, Brian and Holly's house.  They live north of Chicago so we got to drive through the city on our way there.  Unfortunately we only got to spend Friday evening WITH them because they were leaving Saturday for Connecticut for a family reunion.  But they were very kind and let us stay at their house while they were gone.  Staying at their house was MUCH nicer then staying in a hotel.  They have twin boys that are Adalyn's age so they already had all of the baby gear/stuff that we needed for Jensen.  Also Jensen was able to sleep in his own room for his naps so that we didn't have to be super quiet while he slept.  Thank you Thank you Brian and Holly for letting us stay at your house!  They were so kind to us and holly can make some delicious pizza!  Since Friday night was the only time we would see them we had a fun little party.  McKay's cousin Jennie also lives in Chicago with her husband and two little girls.  They used to be in Brian and Holly's ward so Holly was kind and invited them over Friday night too so that we could all get together.  Talk about a small world!  It was such a fun night chatting and catching up with each other's lives.  I was a little sad that Adalyn couldn't be there that night because she would have loved playing with all of the kids.  Here are all of the "cousins"

 

From left to right- Clare, Emily (holding Jensen), Carter, Owen

Don't mind that they are all half dressed, it was late

 

 

Here is McKay with his cousin Jennie.  We think she is a pretty amazing woman so we were really excited to be able to spend some time with her and her girls.  Her husband had to work so he wasn't able to come. 

 

The girls (and Brian and Holly's baby boy #3)

 

 

 

Saturday:

 

 Holly made us a yummy breakfast (we were spoiled), and then we headed out for the city.  Our first stop was Millennium Park and Michigan Ave.  We walked around Millennium Park for a while and looked at the fountains and made sure to get our picture with "the Bean"  or I think it is called the cloud. 

 

 

Can you see us in that last picture?

 

After the park we window shopped through Michigan Ave and stopped at a little soup/sandwich place for lunch.  We wished we would have had time for the museums but we had tickets for a White Sox game that afternoon that we had to get to.  So we loaded up after lunch and headed to the south side of Chicago for the game.  Definitely different feel to the south side than the north side, but everything went great and we loved the game.  Jensen even got a soft baseball to remember his first major leagues baseball game by.  The White Sox played the Cleavland Indians that night, but we aren't sure who ended up winning because we had to leave in the 8th inning because Jensen was done.  They were tied when we left so it could have gone either way. 

 

Also, I must also take just a moment and say the weather while we were in Chicago was perfect.  While the west was having a major heat wave we were enjoying lovely weather in Chicago.  Not too hot with a small breeze most of the time.  The night of the game I wished that I had packed a jacket, but in the end it wasn't super cold so I was fine.  Seriously it was SO nice each day as we went sight seeing.  I feel like the weather can sometimes make or break a trip and this weather definitely made this trip.  :)

 

 

Saturday night after the game we just watched a movie and relaxed at the house so that Jensen could get a good night's sleep. 

 

Sunday:

 

While visiting with Jennie on Friday night she invited us to her house on Sunday for church and dinner.  It happened to also be her birthday so it was super nice that she let us crash their Birthday party and she even made US dinner.  Thank you Jennie and Devin we had a ton of fun!  Their daughter Emily is SO funny and cute and Clare is so sweet.  It was their first week at their new ward in church so I am sure people were confused about who was who and if we were just visiting or staying. 

Jennie and I follow each others blogs and we both write fairly often so we felt like we already knew each other pretty well so it was fun to talk more in person.  This was only my 4th time visiting with her and my first time meeting Devin but we all clicked right away and had fun talking about Pace family memories and our lives. (sorry I didn't grab any pictures on Sunday)

 

 

Monday:

 

Our last full day in Chicago :(  We started out our day by heading to the Hancock Observatory for some lunch.  This is dorky but on our way there we saw the American Girl Doll store (and the millions of little girls in there with their parents) and I forced McKay to go in there with me.  I loved playing with the American girl dolls as a kid.  My friend Courtney had almost all of the historical dolls (Molly, Samantha, Kit, etc.) and I love their books and magazines.  So fun to watch the excitement in the little girls eyes and they shopped around and took their doll to the doll beauty palor (yes there was a doll beauty Parlor).  I was SO close to breaking down and buy a look-a-like doll for Adalyn.  But in the end I talked myself out of it since she is still so little and really loves any doll (doesn't have to cost $100+) .  Maybe in the future... 

Once we finally made it to the Observatory we rode up in an elevator to the 96th floor and enjoyed a lovely lunch with fantastic views of the city. 

 

The restaurant was a fun way to relax and enjoy the city.  Yes I was a little nervous to be up that high, reminded me of when we climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty.   

 

After lunch we headed to Navy Pier to see what all of the fun was about.  :)  On our way we ran into a small beach area for lake Michigan so we stopped and enjoyed the view.  McKay had wanted to walk along the shore the whole trip so I was glad that he got his chance.  Jensen slept the whole time on the beach so it was relaxing for us.

 

 

Once we got over to Navy pier we were pretty tired and we knew that we still wanted to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo (we parked by the zoo) so we only walked around for a little while and didn't end up riding any of the rides.  We both get motion sickness so it didn't sound appealing to either of us.  

 

It was still worth the trip over to the pier to see Lake Michigan up close and personal.  We even took the scenic route back to the zoo so that we could enjoy it more.  There were tons of people out biking and running on the path.  Seriously a runners dream.  I kept wishing that I had brought my running clothes. :)  But alas I hadn't and had just stuffed my face with a steak sandwich so we stuck to walking. 

 

Our last tourist stop was the zoo.  It is a free zoo that they have there and so that fact alone made it awesome.  The animals were pretty tired by the time we showed up so we just saw a few.  My favorites were the apes.  There were darling baby apes that were SO interested in all of the people so they kept looking at you with these big curious eyes.  Melt.my.heart.

 

Here is McKay at the entrance posing :) 

 

 Mama Ape hanging out by the babies through the wall...

 

That night we headed back to the house and ate more custard.  mmmm...

 

Tuesday:

 

Big travel day.  We started out not flying on the same flight, but ended up being together in the end (yay!).  The flight home went perfectly and I even got to start my book on the plane since McKay was there to help wrestle Jensen.

 

Once we landed in SLC we got to see Adalyn again.  She was really excited to see us as was I to see her.  She learned a million new words while we were gone and grew up tons (longest we had been apart) and I was happy to spend my days with her again.  Thank you thank you mom for watching her!  We ate dinner at my parents house and then headed home to Idaho.  LONG day, but we were happy to be in our own beds for a night or two.  (we headed to Island Park two days later). 

 

 

 

So grateful that we got the chance to visit Chicago.  Never could be a big city girl though.  After we got home we realized just how small town Idaho is, but we are happy to be here.  :)  Well, bonus points if you read that whole thing!  Hope you are all having a great summer!  Good night!