A Manly Weekend

McKay thought this weekend was the best one ever, and I just wanted to take a shower.  So we are declaring this weekend a manly weekend, since it was lacking a little bit in the "clean" department.

We started the weekend out by camping in Logan with Mykelti and my dad.  My mom was out of town so they needed an activity to do, and lucky for us we were included in on their fun.  Our campsite was pretty high up in Black smith fork canyon and pretty nice (as far as camping sites go).  My favorite thing was that there were  no mosquitoes.  Seriously!  There were rattlesnakes, but no annoying mosquitoes.  The kids did great and even slept through the night.  Not one of them made a peep until 7:30 am!! So besides a little mix up on the directions and a slightly burnt dinner our camping adventure went perfectly.

Oh and we forgot Addie's shoes at home so those sparkly beauties are the Walmart special that she got for the weekend.  The sparkly ones were what she accepted after I said no to the high heels that she originally wanted.  Funny girl!

Eating our burnt tin foil dinners

 Declin spent the majority of his camping experience in the pack and play or in the carrier.  He was eating too much dirt to be trusted on the ground.

p.s. Many of those pictures were taken by Mykelti.  :)

After camping we did a little visiting around Logan to see McKay's brother and sisters families.  They both were generous in letting us invade their homes while we smelled like camp fire smoke.  But it was worth it, because our newest niece, Hartley, is adorable.  McKay really likes kids and babies, but he LOVED sweet little Hartley.  He just kept saying how cute she was and I think he really enjoyed seeing his sister as a mom.  So congrats Diana and Dax she is SO fun and I think she officially brought McKay over to "team girl" for our next baby.  lol (ps. lets not start rumors,,, I am NOT pregnant).  

The rest of the weekend was spent in  Evanston with McKay's dad.  We enjoyed celebrating Father's day with him and we think he enjoyed it too.  Sunday morning we even went out and saw the goats.  He has A LOT of goats.  From wee little babies all the way up to adults and every age in between.  They are his children so we try and enjoy them too. ;)  Addie wants to like them, Jensen LOVES them, and Declin seems to be following Jensen's path.  I wish my allergies would let me like them, but so far I end up wanting to scratch my eyes out after being around them.  bummer!  

   

Sunday was also church, lots of playing with cousins, and a nice sunday dinner.

Looking back on this weekend I am amazed that we were able to spend quality time with both of our dads.  All of these plans were last minute, but I am happy that they all came together so that we could spend time with the special dads and grandpas in our lives.  Happy Fathers Day 2015    

    

Excuse me while I unload my brain

I have been itching to blog for a few days now, but I haven't really had a good chunk of time to develop anything of real worth so I just keep putting it off.  

Guys I feel lame that most everyone out there has moved on from blogging and yet here I am still typing my little life out.  You are all just better wives and mothers than me, who actually use their time on more worthy endeavors like quality time with your children right?  I kid I kid... sort of.

But this past week I started following a new blogger who actually still enjoys to blog about her life and family.  She isn't super crafty and does not share weekly tutorials (kind of tired of the "Pinterest perfect" blogs), but just sharing her thoughts, feelings, and funny stories from her life. She is pretty sarcastic and witty, which is definitely my kind of humor (McKay can't stand too much sarcasm so I tone mine down for him... true love folks.)  But as I have been devouring her posts after the kids go to sleep I have rediscovered my love for blogging.  So today I am over feeling ashamed about my love of blogging.  It is cheap therapy for me, and I love this little outlet of mine (horrible grammar and all).

So here is my little brain dump for the day...

Live simply.  There are 400,000 summer camps/classes that I could sign Adalyn up for now that she is on the brink of being four.  My moto has always been 1 sport activity and 1 music activity per child starting when they are 5 years old/ kindergarten age.  But that moto has been tested several times this year as everyone around me signs their kids up for various activities and lessons ( Hello! Intro to Horses camp!).  I have thought the typical thoughts... "What if she falls behind because she didn't start young enough?!" or "Man it would be nice if  I could get a 2 hr. break a few times a week"  But then I dig deep and remember that these preschool years are short (although I swear they feel twice as long with your first child) and soon enough I will be running kids here, there, and everywhere; and that I should just try and enjoy this relaxed pace of life a little bit longer.

I wish I was more of a reader.  I used to read a lot before I got married, but mostly I would read little romance novels... not the greatest thing to spend my time reading so I gave those up.  I know I would feel better if I read more, especially if it was something with more substance than a few blog posts here and there.  Really I need to be better.  I am going to be, and next week you will get a full report on what I read. ;)

Neither McKay or I have "sunday callings" at church.  Our responsibilities fall during the week, which leaves us open to going to sunday school together.  Well really we are both asked to sub primary a lot, but we do occasionally get to go to sunday school together.  Currently we are participating in the the marriage and family sunday school class.  This is our second time going through it and a great refresher to the essentials of a successful marriage.   Our teachers are really dedicated to teaching the class and put a lot of time and effort into studying the material all week long.  The class is really small, which makes it even better in my opinion.  We all want to be there and we all want to improve our marriages.  Tonight we are taking a quiz together with questions like... "I am happiest in marriage when..."  Should be fun and informative.  :)

Kind of over celebrations.  Really of any form.  We have SO many fun activities/holidays/birthdays in May and June that by this point in the month I am ready to be done.  Sorry Fathers Day, I will try and pull myself together enough to make you a special day for McKay.

Meal planning I love you!  There is not much that brings me as much satisfaction and fulfillment as a mother then a well thought out meal plan for our family.  2 weeks ago I vowed to stop buying goldfish (this isn't my first time making that promise).  I think it has finally sunk in that if I just stop buying the cheap snacks (cheap as in quality, not price) then my kids won't be able to eat them.  They are doing just fine without their beloved cheesy crackers.

Declin slept through the night for 3 days in a row.  I am totally jinxing it now, but so be it.  But really, Hallelujah!!  Jensen was and is a terrible sleeper so he still wakes up some, but I feel us getting to a good place with sleep really soon.

And one last thought, probably the least of importance, is Down East's return policy.  Ok I love that store and shop there frequently, BUT (this is a big but) they don't take returns only exchanges or in store credit.  Pain, pain, pain for this mamma.  May be shopping there less... maybe.

Ok thanks for reading my blog and making me not feel too crazy!  Pictures of the kids soon.


Yep, I can't do it.  Must. post. picture. of. children.


So there you go!

They ADORE Mr. Declin... even when he pulls their hair any chance he gets.
Oh and just look at Declin and imagine him making all sorts of grunting and growling noises, because that is what he does all day long.

          



 

  
      

A Party for Him

Turning 30 is a bigger deal then your average birthday so I decided to throw a little party for McKay to celebrate this special occasion.  A surprise party would have been SO fun, but felt too stressful to me (and I can't keep a secret to save my life).  So all details about the party were out in the open and he even got to have a few requests on what kind of party/food to have.  

We had his party last Monday, June 8th.  We had friends from the ward over and their kids.  We had a pasta bar, salad, and corn (very similar to Declin's blessing menu).  We played volleyball and chatted and then had cake, cupcakes, and ice cream for dessert.  We had fun, the kids had fun, and I hope everyone else did too!  The weather was perfect and it was nice using our backyard that we have put lots of hours of love into.  

One final happy birthday to McKay!  

Oh and we got him "the game" for his birthday.  Anyone else play?!  We will be your very best friends :)  haha!!

Our Latest Family Pictures

We recently took some new family pictures.  I like to get new family pictures when a baby is about 6 months old when they look more like themselves, but before people start wondering (too much) if you love the newest addition since they aren't in any pictures.  ;)

With Declin, we got an updated family picture with him at his newborn photo shoot, so I debated if we should still do pictures at six months.  But for various reasons that I won't bore you with I decided to go ahead and still do the 6 month (actually Declin was 7 months old) photo shoot.

So happy that we did, because outdoor pictures in the spring are just way to fun!  We love them and hope you do too.

Katy Paskett Photography took our photos again.  We love her organization, skills and patience.  Adalyn pretty much believes they are bffs and now asks often when we get to go back to her house. And we WILL be going back to her in the future.  But you do have to schedule her pretty far in advanced since she fills up fast.  We scheduled these pictures in the beginning of January.  Crazy!  

McKay and I haven't really had pictures done of just the two of us since we got married so I thought 5 year anniversary pictures were in order (Maybe we will make it a tradition and do some on our 10 year anniversary too).  Katy is amazing at doing glamour sessions so I knew I wanted her to do some shots of McKay and I that were a little more sophisticated then "we have 3 kids aren't they cute".  
 

The red rose has a story behind it.  When we were dating/engaged/first married McKay always gave me red roses whenever he bought me flowers.  It was always red roses, nothing else.  So we used red roses in our wedding flowers and now we used them in our photo shoot.  Super sweet reminder of those first few years of our relationship.  Also if you want your husband to enjoy taking pictures, do some couple pictures. :)  Oh and bring a babysitter so the kids aren't constantly trying to sneak in the pictures with you.  We brought our favorite babysitter along for the ride and she was a lifesaver in helping keep the kids entertained while we were doing our photos.

   

We had fun dressing Adalyn up and posing her with all of the dandilions.  I am more then just a little bit sad that my only daughter is growing up and is not a baby anymore.  So this was fun since little girls are the sweetest! 

Declin loved all the attention and that little outfit on him is my favorite!  That box he is sitting in is the box that he layed on at his newborn photo shoot.  

Jensen actually LOVED getting his picture taken and wanted to be in front of the camera the whole time.  Oh and blow dandelions.  He liked that too.  

These little ones grow up so fast! Those bare toes are my favorite!

And that's a wrap!  We love them and I cant wait to print them out and hang them on my walls.  

Happy Friday!

Memories in the Making

We often have weekends where all we feel like we are doing is changing diapers... and washing diapers... and then taking naps to catch up on all the sleep we missed during the week.  This 3 kids 3 years and under can be intense, I won't deny it.  We talk about all the projects that we would like to get done, but doing many of them with the kids is more work then we are usually willing to give on any random weekend.

But then we also have weekends like last weekend (Memorial Day weekend... this post is a little late).  Where we pack more "events" into one weekend then we have done all month long.  I am not even exaggerating.  These weekends usually involve traveling and when you start planning a trip to see family all of a sudden tons of events come out of the woodwork and we have lots of things to do.  Hmm... wonder what life would be like if we lived in Utah.  Would things be crazy all the time?  I think I will take it in little spurts for now, because I am usually dog. gone. tired by Monday morning after a trip to Utah.

So the weekend started with us randomly deciding to fit in our latest family pictures session in Friday night BEFORE the early Saturday morning wedding in Utah.  This session had already been postponed once because of the rain but the sun randomly came back for us on Friday so that we could squeeze them in.  Yes I ran around like a mad woman all day on Friday getting the last minute stuff together for the pictures, wedding, and weekend fun.  McKay of course had to work and was not around to help.  Probably was for the best... since I would not have been the most pleasant wife to be around that day.  I did try to be as happy and chipper as I possibly could with the kids.  Because you know how a cranky mama makes for some cranky kids.  Luckily I fooled them well enough and everyone was happy as can be at the pictures.  The actual taking of the pictures was quite pleasant and we had fun posing and making silly faces at the kids.  Katy did an outstanding job and they all turned out better then I had hoped for.  I can't wait to share them all with you guys soon!

After pictures we packed the car as quickly as you can with little ones "helping" and then we hit the road by... 8:00 p.m. Friday night.  We arrived at the lovely time of 12:00 a.m. and tried to crash in bed. Declin had other plans so he and I partied until 2 am.  Saturday morning we headed to the Jordan River temple for Preston and Kaylie's wedding.  Mykelti came along to watch our kids while we went to the ceremony, having her help was SO nice.  Yes she is an awesome auntie.

Weddings are always SO fun with the Pace family.  I have pretty much gotten to know McKay's extended family through chatting in the waiting room at the various wedding ceremonies that we have attended.  They only get together for the big events and weddings are always well attended.  The ceremony was packed and the bride and groom were practically giddy and all googly eyed for each other.  It was sweet how their affection for each other just seeped out and you could see it written all over their faces.

After the ceremony we took TONS of pictures.  This is not normal for the Pace family, I am not sure what came over us, but it was a beautiful over cast day so we just kept snapping away.  Sadly I forgot my camera so you just get phone pictures here.

 All the sisters, sister in laws, and Mama Liz.  Except for Diana and Kaylie... not sure why we didn't include the bride.  Sorry Kaylie!

 Cousins!  We are multiplying like rabbits.  Also, three cousins are missing from this picture.  Cade, Madison, and Hartley.  

Girl. Power.  Coral was an easy wedding color.  THANK YOU Kaylie, we all appreciated it when we were shopping for wedding clothes.  

The luncheon was at Gardener Village and was pretty fun.  The actual eating part was a little bit of a circus with all of the little cousins surrounding us all trying to use fine china, cloth napkins, and they were not so in love with the fancy feast that we were served.  But the adults all tried to balance the best that we could and actually try to enjoy the meal.  And I am proud to announce that no wine glasses were broken.  Thank heavens!!

After the meal they had a little not so little program.  Kaylie's family likes to talk which I thought was great and it was fun to see what their family dynamics were like.  Plus hear a few stories about Kaylie  They were super sweet people and Preston will fit in great with them!  Dancing came next and things really started to relax (to the tune of Uptown Funk which I am not yet sick of hearing yet).  We let the kids be kids and have fun with cousins and the rest of us were able to chat and do a little bit of dancing ourselves.  Declin loved getting to slow dance with mommy and daddy.

After the luncheon we were done with the wedding plans for the day.  Their reception will be in Oregon so we didn't have that to go to that night.  But, even with the wedding plans being over, we decided to keep the party going with McKay's siblings all coming back to my parents house.  The kids played great, the babies napped (sort of), and the adults chatted.  Then we finished off the night with pizza and a little back yard volleyball.  I was so glad that everyone stayed we just don't get to see all the cousins often enough.

These kids are pretty lucky in the uncle department

Sunday morning we had two really fun events to choose from and it was REALLY hard to decide which one we should go to.  We could have gone to our nephew, Cade's, baby blessing in Evanston or stay in Draper and go to my cousins mission homecoming.  In the end we decided go to the homecoming.  That way we traveled less and we were able to hang out with Myketli a little bit longer since we hadn't seen her much on Saturday.  Going from Idaho, to Utah, to Evanston, back to Idaho is a tough trip to make with the kids and it was just a little easier to not have to do it all in one weekend.  BUT we WERE so sad to miss the blessing.

The homecoming was so sweet too and we were happy to be there.  Brady returned home a little early from her mission for health reasons, but we are so impressed with her desire to serve and we think she was a great missionary during the time that she was able to be out in the mission field.  My kids adore Brent, Heather, and their family.  They also love their dog Leah.  Jensen spent most of his time at the blessing 'acting' like the dog.  He especially loved going in and out of their doggie door.  Silly boy!

Ok, hang in here we have one more day to go!  Or just leave now,.. I wont tell ;)

 Monday was memorial day and since we stayed in Utah we decided to do some memorial day worthy stuff.  So... we went on a hike.  Really lets call it a walk, I would feel better about that.  Because it was quite short and we didn't even bring a carrier for Declin because we left his carrier in Idaho (remember we packed fast friday night, of course I forgot a few things).  There was a waterfall at the end and we all enjoyed being out in nature.  Win win in my book!  The kids really were just excited that they got to touch the waterfall and eat some fruit snacks that aunt Mykelti brought.  They are fruit snack junkies!  Since Mykelti there it wasn't terribly difficult to take the little ones hiking (no it was walking, really it was) and we had a nice morning.

After the hike I forced everyone the kids to wear matching clothes.  Of course.  Guys I have a disease and I don't plan on getting help anytime soon, Because dressing my kids in coordinating outfits way. too. fun.  Getting a new camera would also be fun.  Soon folks.  Very soon (aka. 6 ish months from now) and then we don't have to have these blurry beauties.

Then we started the trek back to Idaho (after saying one last FINAL goodbye to my grandparents/childhood/teenage-hood home.  Yes it was sad.  Thanks for asking.).  First stop on the way home was the cemetery.  Told you we were doing Memorial day worthy stuff.  It was nice and crowded at the cemetery, but that just made it more enjoyable in my opinion.  There was a peaceful reverent feel and the weather was gorgeous.  We visited my great grandparents (on both sides of my family) plus my Dad's parents.  Addie was concerned when we told her we were going to visit grandma Cannon's grave, but we straightened everything out...I think.  :)  I am grateful that I can remember my grandparents and great grandparents.  Lots of happy memories from my childhood were spent with them.

Yeah... I am an awesome photographer.

After visiting graves we went to cousin Kyle's 4th birthday party.  It was really fun and relaxing after a crazy busy weekend.  Addie and Jensen are at the age where they think birthday parties are the coolest things ever so they were SO excited to go to the party.  Aunt Candace did not disappoint and it was such a fun party complete with games, candy, and a really cool ice cream cake.  Not to mention the weather was simply amazing and it was so nice to just hang out outside.  Thanks Candace for the invite!  

And this is where we end this little novella.  I will just leave you with these last two pictures from the car ride home.