Utah Bucket List: Hike Y Mountain

I'm not afraid to say it - this hike is hard! It's steep the entire way up but I love the views of Provo the entire way up, so I think it's worth it. I hiked Y Mountain with my friend Lindsay about a month after we moved to Provo and Rob and I have looked forward to hiking it together since then. We plan on doing it at leas once more, hopefully Henry will be able to join us sometime. The beloved concrete letter Y on the mountain has become a fun part of living here, we love finding it when we're out and about, checking to see if there is anyone on the Y, watching it disappear when the snow comes, and waiting for it to light up during homecoming and a few other times during the year.

The fall colors on the way up:

Enjoying the dinner we packed while sitting on the Y.

 Provo temple

An odd panoramic shot.

There were a lot of people up on the Y with us, maybe mostly because on a nice Friday evening at the end of summer there usually is, but also because it was in the middle of homecoming so a lot of people wanted to be on the Y while it was lit. We had to get back to our Littles so we didn't wait for the lighting.

Looking Back: 4th of July 2014

The 4th of July started out with my first 10k! It was pretty exciting and I was pretty proud. It almost didn't happen because I was injured a couple days before. I tried running the night before and still hurt but tried again the morning of and I actually was fine. I was nervous about running but Rob convinced me to do it - I was so glad he did because I didn't hurt at all during the race. 

I ran pretty much right past our house (and along the parade route) where Rob snapped this photo of me leading the pack. That's a big joke. I was just happy to be still smiling at this point in the race, a little over half way.

Yay! I did it!

I was initially nervous to run by myself (I've run my 5ks with Rob) but it was pretty cool to hang out at the finish line by myself and reflect for a few moments about my accomplishment. I don't even look too dead, huh.

Back home with my fans. I think I convinced Henry that I won the race.

The big event in Provo is the parade. Seriously, everyone attends this parade- and it's kind of lame and way too long. I think that maybe if you wanted to break into someone's house to steal all their belongings, during this parade would be a good time to do it. I did like that it was just a few feet from our house and I liked that it was good for photo-ops like this one. Almost a Norman Rockwell.

I was a tiny bit homesick these couple of days knowing that I was missing out on some of my favorite family/Seattle traditions. We learned, however, that there is a perk to being one of the few families without anything to do on the 4th of July: the water park is virtually empty! We didn't think about going until the afternoon and it was the least crowded, by far, that I've seen it. It was so awesome spending our last few hours of the day together there.

As much as I love the 4th of July, I don't care much for the firework part of it. And living in Provo where the huge loud aerial ones are legal made me a bigger ba-hum-bug about it. We're talking a fireworks out our window every evening for a week). Luckily Rob cared enough to find neighbors who were letting off fireworks that evening for Henry to enjoy it a bit.

It turned out to be a great holiday and I look forward next year. I'll probably even go back to the parade next year, since all of Provo is there anyway, I might as well! I'll be sure to lock my door next time in case anyone thinks of my idea!

Utah Bucket List: General Conference

We've both attended Conference in Salt Lake before, but it's been years so we really wanted to go again while we live in Utah. I don't know easy it is for Utah residents to get tickets, we got ours from Rob's parents (the tickets given to their stake in Washington). It's nice to have connections. Sorry people in Silverdale Stake. What's even better is that they were in town too, so they watched our kiddos while we attended the Sunday morning session! Rob also was able to attend the Priesthood session the evening before with his Dad. We invited our friends, the McDonnels, to come with us because we had an extra pair of tickets.

First off- Dear Ensign editors, feel free to use this very genuine photo of me taking notes at conference in the November issue of the magazine.

Lots of Mormons here.

Lots.

Looking Back: Farrar cousins!

At the end of June the most wonderful thing happened: the Farrar family came to visit us! I still can't believe that they made a detour from Ohio to Washington to spend time with us! It was a quick couple-day visit but it was so good to spend time with Jacob and Lisa, to see the kids (meet the twins!), to have them be in our little world, and especially have the cousins be together! Thanks so much you guys!

I didn't want to edit out any of these photos, I just love seeing these cousins together. Henry was so so happy to be with them. Aren't cousins the best friends ever?!

Utah Bucket List: Pizzeria 712

We received a gift card from Rob's parents for Pizzeria 712, yet another restaurant on our bucket list. We actually went in mid-July but I'm just finally getting around to posting about it.

I don't know the official history of Provo dining (okay, this is actually Orem but it should be Provo) but it seemed to me that Pizzeria 712 was the first of the "new" (= since I left BYU) cool eateries. I kept hearing about this place from everyone and Rob and I wanted to go the couple times we visited Utah but just never did for some reason. Now that we live here, it was an obvious choice for our bucket list.

We did a couple things different for this dining experience: we went for lunch rather than dinner and we brought the kids. The lunch decision was a good one, that's when the menu includes the paninis (the BEST part of our meal!), but we could have done without the kids :)

Yum! I would definitely return, get a different pizza but the same panini, and leave the kids at home. Although we love them dearly. However, it did take us this long to get to Pizzeria 712, so I don't know if that will happen.

Looking back: sick Baby June

These pictures are from June 30th when June was so sick she wouldn't even eat a cracker! I can't remember much about it, actually, but her diaper must have been off because of a diaper rash. Her breathing was bad so we took her to the doctor who said it was a good thing I brought her in (thanks to the Spirit telling me to go, I'm not very good at thinking I need the doctor) because it may have progressed to being hospitalized. We got a prescription for a nebulizer, which treatments kept the difficult breathing at bay. (We've since needed it for both kids when they get sick... this might indicate asthma like I have....?). We sat on the couch for a few hours and watched movies. I felt so grateful that my schedule easily allowed for that.

It's so sad when babies are this sick, but the silver lining is that they give the best cuddles.  Even now as I look at these pictures I miss that day taking care of this sweet sick baby. 

Summer 2014 Seattle trip

We have been looking forward to our summer road trip home since we moved to Provo a year ago! It went like this: We drove up to Boise for a wedding and stayed there a couple days, then I continued on to Seattle with the kids (and my mom and sister, so I didn't do that 8 hr drive by myself!) while Rob returned to Provo for a few more days of summer semester. He flew to be with us after a few days, we spent that first week with my family and our friends. The next week was with Rob's family (and Rob and I even left the kids for two days/one night in Victoria!) and our last week was back on my family's side of the water. On the drive back home we had another layover for another wedding in Boise! Phew - we were definitely ready to be in Provo again by the time it was all over (oh, I didn't mention that we moved five days before this trip!), but we had an AMAZING time while we were there!

We didn't take many pictures because Rob took a ton of video footage and plan on making a video (yay!) so here are the few that I do have and they are kind of a random sampling of what we did. I call this amount of photos "a few" considering we were there for an entire three weeks!

Hanging out at a park in Boise.

Cute Izzy

These reunited cousins are the best of friends (at the Boise temple for Jami's wedding).

At Kirkland Marina Beach. The trip was so great because it was a lot of what we used to do when we lived in the area. These two have been throwing rocks at this beach since they were babies!

June and Griffin win the most hair award out of all the cousins.

 From the front.

The intention was that they would not get wet on this outing... yeah right.

I love her squatting.

More cute sitting positions, which just make her seem so old to me. This is at the Seattle Public Library, it was one of the few "touristy" things we did, but we hadn't been there in years.

June had a tantrum right in the middle of the Red Hall. She was mad at me for not walking with her (while holding her hands... it gets old).

June LOVES to climb so she was in heaven at the Bellevue Square play place.

Also at Belle Square, Henry was introduced to the Lego store! Here he is with his customized mini figures. 

With most Farrar side cousins. This day was glorious: great weather, kids occupied in the sand, and just being together.

Super Henry and his friends Super Lacey and Super Ava.

We did an awesome job babysitting Baby Griffin.

June with her big-girl cousins. They adored her, of course.

Rob loves showing off his Rock Band skillz to his nephews and son. We had a fun night with Rob's side of the family playing in the backyard, roasting hot dogs and s'mores. I loved giving Henry non-stop cousin time!

June loved the sand at Juanita Beach! This was "our" park/beach, we lived just up the road from here. The ever-present water is definitely something I miss living in Utah!

Staying at Alicia's was one of the best parts of our trip. Cousin time is priceless.

Already on our way back home... manicures with the Farmer girls in Boise. Another group of girls enamored with Baby June June.

She sat completely still for her first manicure. So fun - hot pink nails on TAN summer skin!

Stay tuned for Rob's video from our trip!