High highs and Low lows

We've made some wonderful memories this month! Unfortunately, the laws of the universe demand we have some bad luck come our way as well to balance it out. This past week has been one of the most stressful weeks, but I'm happy to report we are alive and well.

I'll start with the lows so we can end on a high note! We got home from vacation last Tuesday and got into a car accident that afternoon. Talk about a rude awakening home! The girls and I had gone to pick up Ollie from a friend's house and were on our way home. I was stopped at a stop sign waiting to turn left onto a busy 5 lane road. I checked left and saw the car coming had their blinker on, so I checked right and it looked clear as well. I checked the left again, saw the car was slowing down and still had their blinker on so I started to pull out while double checking to the right. Well, while I was looking to the right, the car coming did NOT turn and I ran into it. The girls were scared and confused wondering what happened, but thankfully we were all ok. I got a ticket for "failing to yield to the left" and we'll have to shell out some money for repairs, but in the grand scheme of things it's only money. I felt really stupid and guilty but I also felt humbled. I was reminded of things that are truly important. Alyssa, dropped everything to come and pick us up the minute I called her. Friends and family reached out to us to check on us. And most importantly, our girls (and dog!) were unharmed in what could have been a much more serious situation. So through it all, I've found so much to be grateful for.

After the accident, we had a series of unrelated injuries to each of our girls. First, Adeline got hit by a rock in the eye! Eden was helping Nate move some rocks in the yard and accidentally hit Adeline. She got a cut on her lower eyelid and a black eye to boot. 

Next, Lydia had a drowning incident on Memorial Day! I think I can safely say that looking over and seeing her with her arms extended and face in the water, was one of the scariest things I've seen in my life! We had gone swimming at a friend's neighborhood pool and the girls had been wearing their floaties the entire time. As we were getting ready to leave, we took off their floaties and Lydia wandered back over to the stairs in the pool. Nate and I both saw her and I even reminder her she didn't have her floaties on so don't step off the step. We got to talking with our friends and the next thing I know someone says she was under the water and Nate was sprinting to pull her out. Thankfully, she was fine and even seemed relatively unphased. She didn't cry and didn't have a ton of coughing. I think she knew she was supposed to hold her breath because Nate had been working with her teaching her to go under water.  It was just such a crazy experience because it happened so fast. We were right there watching but looked away for a second. I read an article last summer about how drowning doesn't look like "drowning." It's not like what you see on t.v. It's not a loud, dramatic, splashing in the water calling for help. It's quick and silent. I'll just post the information on what the Instinctive Drowning Response actually looks like. Please stay safe this summer, friends!

1. “Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

Finally, to top it all off, Eden fell and split her head open on a corner yesterday! Once I got the bleeding stopped and the wound cleaned, it was pretty obvious it would need stitches. Luckily, our neighbor is a P.A. and her husband is a paramedic, so they were able to help us and stitch her up. She was a brave girl, and did great while she got three stitches. 

All of this happened within the last week, and I am exhausted! I hope we've had our share of accidents for a while. But, like I said, we've also had a really great month so let's talk about some positive things! 

The girls ran their first race and Nate and I were beaming with pride! They had so much fun and they were really proud of themselves as well. It was a half mile run and they both ran the whole way. Nate and I joined in with them and made it a family affair. I really hope they continue to enjoy running and we have many more of these races in the future. 

Eden and Lydia also had their spring dance recital. It was definitely an entertaining night. There was a lot going on onstage and probably only half of it was the choreography! But, the kids all seemed to enjoy themselves up there.

We took a trip to Miramar Beach  this month. We absolutely LOVED it, so that trip will be getting a post of it's own soon!

Nathan and I went on a date to the Adult Prom! First, we went to dinner with our friends Danielle and Remington (and their 8 week old baby!), and then we hit up the dance, ready to show our moves. We were disappointed in the music selection as it seemed we were at more of a 70s disco, but we still managed to have fun. We weren't really sure how to dance to a lot of the music but we were able to bust out some of our best interpretive dance moves! I bought the fabric to make my dress months ago, but of course managed to procrastinate until the day before the dance to actually start it. I worked some magic and it came together just in time. 

We took a hike with some friends on Memorial Day. The kids had fun playing in the creek and did great on the actual hiking part. It was short (just less than a mile) but a good length for them. We tried out our hiking carrier and Adeline seemed to really enjoy riding on Daddy's back. 

What a month it has been for our family! We are grateful for everyday we can spend together and feel tremendously blessed! 

Spring Time Round Up

I was afraid that having a newborn would cause us to miss out on adventures, but she hasn't slowed us down one bit. Adeline is really easy going and adaptable so we've been able to have a great spring.

We've had visits from both sets of grandparents. Our parents are so good to come to Arkansas and our kids absolutely love it! I'm always grateful to have extra hands to play with the girls and we all shed some tears when they have to go back home.

We loved having Nate's parents in town for Easter

With the beautiful weather, comes the itch to be outside as much as possible. We decided to brave a camping trip. We figured bedtime is a nightmare at home so how much worse could it be in the woods? We were pleased to find out it was actually so much better! The girls were super excited to sleep in a tent so they actually put themselves to bed. And by some miracle Adeline seemed to like sleeping in a tent as well and didn't wake up once in the night! We're considering sleeping in a tent every night at home...... We chose a perfect place to camp and had the entire campground all to ourselves, which was good since between us and our Shepherd and Pendleton cousins we had 6 adults, 8 kids, and 3 dogs. Nate got a new tent for his birthday. We went with the "instant tent" which was awesome! I'm all about the 2 minute set up! We also got one that was plenty big so we could fit our air mattress, the girls' cots, and Adeline's pack and play, plus space for Ollie and our stuff. It was perfect. Our girls had a grand time and I was relieved nobody fell in the fire or the pond.

Adeline spent much of the camping trip cuddled up with mom in the carrier

We are frequent attendees of story time at the local libraries. Yes that's plural. We hit up the Bentonville and Rogers library a couple of times a week.  The girls enjoy the fun songs and stories and there is usually a little craft at the end. I love that they get to be creative and I don't have to come up with a craft or gather the supplies!

Stringing beads at the library

Speaking of me not having to gather supplies, I love the Amazeum! It's a children's museum full of hands on activities. We have a family membership and it has been well worth the cost! The girls have a blast every time we go and I love that I don't have to clean up the mess!

Last weekend we were supposed to go to Branson with some friends but they had a medical emergency and we had to cancel just a few minutes before we were scheduled to leave. We were bummed to miss the trip but didn't want to let a perfectly good Saturday go to waste so we came up with a plan B. We headed out to the Gentry Wilderness Safari! The girls loved feeding and petting the animals. Well, Eden loved feeding and petting. Lydia is a bit more cautious and loved looking at the animals from a distance. Eden did get bit once by a little pony but after a few tears she declared, "I like to try again!" 

They both said the "Mama" (llama) was their favorite

The girls were very excited to see "Daniel Tiger" 

After a day with the animals, we decided to go to the drive-in movie theater and watch the new Jungle Book movie. We met up with Bryson and Alyssa. The girls thought it was pretty neat to get to watch a movie outside and of course any time spent with their cousins is a good time. The movie didn't start until about 9:00 PM so Lydia actually ended up falling asleep by the end in Nate's lap and Adeline slept in my arms, but Eden held strong until the ride home. 

It's easy to get caught up in the tasks of every day life so I'm so grateful that we've been able to take the time to do these fun things with our children and create such fun memories. Speaking of fun memories (or funny ones) Eden has an aversion to clothes so let me just leave you with this picture.....

Wrapping up Summer

Oh summer days! Where have you gone? We've been busy this month, and other than our entire household's bout with the stomach bug, we've been busy with good things!

Lydia NEVER sleeps on my chest anymore. This was the silver lining moment when she was sick! 

We took a little weekend trip to Kansas City so Nate and I could go to the temple there. We had an "interesting" adventure at our hotel. There were a couple of trucks parked right outside our hotel door whose owners apparently didn't believe in common courtesy or city noise ordinances. They were blasting their music, drinking their beer, and cursing at each other until all hours of the night. Naturally our girls decided to throw their own party and forgo sleeping. Nate finally called the front desk around midnight and they made them turn their music down. But I swear these people never actually went to sleep, and hotel walls are so thin you can hear everything. The girls finally relaxed and fell asleep around 2:00 AM and lo and behold a car alarm went off for 5 minutes! AHHHHHH! It was a long night, and of course our girls are incapable of sleeping in, so we started the next day at 6:15 AM when Eden woke us up. As we left the hotel, I noticed the trucks said they were part of an escort service. Nate says it was probably a trucking escort service but I think they were part of a different kind of escort service. Ugh, next time I'll be more willing to pay a little more and hopefully get a better night's rest. I guess when you pay to stay at the dump, you shouldn't be surprised when the trash shows up! Is that mean to say or just true? Other than our hotel experience, we had a good time going to the temple and exploring the downtown area a bit.

We also had the opportunity to do a little boating! Nate and I won a boating trip at a silent auction the Young Women at church held for a camp fundraiser. We were able to do some skiing, wakeboarding, and surfing. It has been way too long since we've been able to participate in any water sports and we definitely felt it the next day...and the day after that.....and the day after that! We used some muscles we forgot even exsisted and had a great time doing so.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Krystal told me they had free guest passes to Silver Dollar City and invited us to go with them. Say what? Free? You know we're all over that! It worked out great to be able to trade off watching the kids so we all could take turns on the rides. Despite the rain, I had a brilliant idea that we should all go on a water ride because we probably wouldn't get that wet.....yeah, about that......we got soaked. With the humidity and a light drizzle we pretty much stayed squishy all day! But we still had fun and did I mention it was free? Thanks Krystal and Cam!

It was a great way to wrap up the summer and we are looking forward to a fun-filled fall!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes (and Grandma, Uncle, and Auntie)

We love living in Arkansas but we don't love living so far away from our family. We were thrilled when my family decided to come and visit us. (And by us, of course I mean they were coming to visit the twins!) Sometimes I think my family wonders why we live half-way across the country, so we decided to branch out from our usual tour of the ol' Walton Five and Dime store/museum and show them there is more to our life than Wal-Mart.

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Shane, and Aunt Emily flew into Branson so we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in a condo for a couple nights. We found a great deal and ended up having more space than we would have at our house with all the girls' crap baby equipment strewn about the house. We enjoyed the amenities and took the girls for their first swim. Eden was a bit leery, but Lydia took to the water like a fish.

From a distance, Nate thought this was a basketball hoop but upon further inspection, realized it was an old person assist chair. After his initial disappointment, he was eager to give it a try with Eden. 

Lydia was a big fan of splashing

We also were able to check out Silver Dollar City (theme park) and had a blast. They had some pretty sweet roller coasters, including a brand new wooden coaster that is the world's steepest wood coaster (drop of 162 feet at 81 degrees) and the world's second fastest wood coaster at 68 mph. Yeah, it was pretty darn cool! (I had to ride it twice because I was terrified the first time and closed my eyes at the best part!)

Grandpa, Shane, Nate and I about to embark on the Outlaw Run. Nate was obviously excited!

Other than rides, they had some fun music/comedy live shows as well as demonstrations like glass blowing and old fashioned candy making that you could watch. One of the neatest things we did was tour the giant underground cave that the park is built on top of. The cave was stunning and a bit scary at some points. (I was afraid I would trip and drop my baby down a bottomless pit!) All in all, we were quite impressed with Silver Dollar City.

Touring Marvel Cave

After a great weekend in Branson, we headed back to Bentonville for some more fun and adventures. Some of the highlights included a Devil's Den hike, the food trucks and splash pad just off the town square, and a Jason Aldean concert. And of course, a lot of time just spent hanging around and loving on the babies! It was way too short a visit and we miss them already, but luckily we are headed to Utah next month so we'll be together again soon!

Family picture at the dam at Devil's Den

Grandma, Grandpa, Shane, Em and Ollie enjoying the beauty of the Ozarks

Lydia rehydrating on the hike

Eden was pretty sure she didn't want to get her feet wet and refused to put them down! She did like touching the water with her hands while Mommy held her though. 

A Dose of Humility

I consider myself a confident, talented person most of the time. But every so often it's good for me to suck at something to keep me humble. My latest dose of humility came over Christmas break when we went downhill skiing. I've water skied and cross country skied, but despite living in Utah for 4 years, I had never hit the slopes. Number one, I was a poor college student and too cheap to spend the cash and number two, I was probably too prideful to do something I'd never done before that was sure to involve a lot of falling down. Nate convinced me to swallow my pride and go skiing with him, my dad, and my cousin. We had a lot of fun, but I will say I did have to do quite a bit of swallowing! I was so afraid of falling down and people laughing at me. Well, I quickly broke the ice on that one and fell off the chair lift at the top of the bunny hill. I learned to get over my fear and embarrassment pretty quickly after that. My dad and Nate did a good job teaching me the basics and more importantly picking me up when I fell, literally! (I was certainly glad my dad was nearby when I tumbled off a catwalk and landed upside down in 3 feet of snow!) I was surprised at how fast I picked it up and improved. My last run of the day, I made it all the way down the hill without falling. We had a blast and I'm sure we'll go again the next time we're in Utah during the winter. 

 This was the first year we were home for Christmas since we've been married. I was excited to introduce all my family traditions to Nate. Although, due to various circumstances we nearly threw our Christmas Eve traditions out the window and ate at Chuck-a-Rama. Fortunately, they were closed and we had to fall back on tradition. In addition to spending time with my immediate family, we were able to see many extended family members from both sides. It was super cold and snowy (especially coming from Arkansas!) but we embraced that by skiing and snowmobiling and avoided it by going to Les Miserable and The Hobbit and sipping cocoa in a warm house! We had a wonderful Christmas break and hope all of you enjoyed your holidays as well.