SPRING FEVER

According to Merriam Webster, Spring Fever is "a feeling of wanting to go outdoors and do things because spring is coming and the weather is getting warmer". Count that as a ü for all of us in my family! Spring some how has a way of playing with my heart as it gets warmer, we all get excited to spend a miraculous day or even a week outdoors and then the weather turns, and it gets cold again. My family and I are beyond ready for the permanence of warm weather, followed by the consistency of being able to get outdoors and enjoy some well needed sunshine and not freeze our fingers and toes off. With the local forecast telling us that we will once again be having some colder days, we decided to take a little drive to Tibble Fork Reservoir and have what Piper calls a "family adventure", but really it's just an short outing to mentally prepare us for a few more "playing indoor days".

There was still quite a bit of snow up the canyon, but with no winds and the sun shining it was perfect light jacket weather. I don't know why but it always amazes me how different both my kids are. Piper always leads the way! we call her our little "trail leader", and Hudson just slowly follows along, but Piper is terrified of everything that moves of makes a noise and Hudson just jumps right into what ever heads his way. So, of course when we reached the water Hudson loved to throw rocks and make splashes, and Piper decided rocks were for collecting, rather than throwing, but they did both agree that rocks were the highlight of our outing! 

We all left with with muddy shoes, wet clothes and in Piper's case, very full pockets. With a new found, and well overdue sense of peace and readiness, we headed home to start a new week. So, bring it on Mother Nature, we are ready for what ever weather you decided to bring our way this week!

DR. SEUSS'S BIRTHDAY!

In some attempts to be a more fun mom and make ordinary days be a little more entertaining, Josh and I decided to celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday with the kids. His birthday is March 2nd, and to be completely honest I didn't know this was even a day to know until spending the afternoon with a friend and she shared that they celebrate it every year. This gave me two days to come up with something to do in order to make the day special, but I also just wanted to keep it so simple! I got on Silhouette and typed in Dr. Seuss hoping that someone out there had already made something that I could just use, and to my surprise my sweet friend Amy Robison had the three cutest Dr. Seuss die cuts on there! Hallelujah!

Amy had made the Cat and the Hat's Stripe Hat, Thing 1 & Thing 2's Hair along with a Fish Bowl! So dang cute! We started our afternoon by watching an episode of The Cat and the Hat on Netflix while Piper wore her official Cat and the Hat striped hat. Afterwards, they went outside and played in their hats for hours. It was darling. Piper is known for asking grandma or I to color her blue so she can be like a mermaid, so I thought she would love being a "thing" too. Turns out that it was a boys hair do, so she went right back to be in charge with her tall top hat! Hudson however, walked around with blue hair like it was his baby job!

When Josh got home from work we read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss, and then told the kids that we had a surprise for them! Josh went into the garage and came out with a fish for each of them! They were both beyond thrilled! I still have a running bet with Josh that the fish die from our children and not from natural causes, but their whole day was made!

Piper then went on a walk around the neighborhood to show off her new pet fish that the Cat and the Hat gave her! She was so proud!

After Piper got back and we had rescued Hudson's bag from being dropped! We made red and 'white' pancakes so every one could build their own Cat and the Hat striped hat. I was a little worried this would be a job that my children: A. wouldn't understand or B. wouldn't eat, especially since we made them red waffles on Valentines Day that they didn't touch... but to my surprise Piper was thrilled! She must be just like her mama and have a love for all things little because she devoured her pancakes!

On top of all that we had also made a short little garland to hand up in the living room consisting of the three die cuts Silhouette had available... the hat and the crazy hair come with strips to make them hats, so I just deleted those and shrunk the shapes to make the garland. I swear a garland can make any day feel special!

We ended the night by reading some more books by Dr. Seuss and then put the kids to bed. It was a beautiful, simple, successfully celebrated day, and I truly am grateful to Dr. Seuss for the adorable stories we get to fill our children's heads with!

FEBRUARY - TOP NINE

February felt like a really bummer month. We were all sick for what felt like everyday of the month. Even Josh got sick, which doesn't happen very often! I found my self wishing the month away, especially because we are all so over these cold, play indoor months! It was nice however, sitting down to do this blog post and being genuinely surprised of how many little moments of complete joy we had this month. There were more moments than I could remember, which made it hard to limit my amount of photos down to a top 9!

1. Hudson and his puppies! This kid can seriously let out the cutest "meow" in the world, but his love for puppies is turning into our new favorite obsession. He now carries two stuffed animal "pu pu's" along with him for the majority of the day.
2. We missed 3 weeks in a row of gymnastic this month! 3! in order to feel like I hadn't completely wasted our money I grudgingly signed up for the make up Saturday class. This one class made up for our completely crappy last 3 Mondays! Piper got to be with her favorite substitute teacher, who really has encouraged Piper's new found love for gymnastics + we ran into the Spencer's! So, Piper got to do gymnastics with Lynlee and I got to watch my sweet Ellie do her gymnastics's class while Hudson had CeCe to play with! It made for a perfect class followed by a lunch/play date!
3. The snow is MELTING!! We are so thrilled and are secretly hoping this doesn't mean we are just going to get dumped on again in a week or so! Hudson has discovered the drops of rain that drip off the side of the house and it keeps him amused for hours! 
4. Like I said earlier, we were sick a lot this month but, no one gets more sick then our little Piper with her ear infections! She had an especially bad one that caused a pretty constant amount of infection coming out of the tubes in her ears! It was awful, and makes her super unconformable. However, the one beautiful thing that comes from her poor sick body is the amount of snuggles we receive from her that make being her mom 100 x over worth it!
5. Hudson is still on a train kick! He got 3 new ones for Valentines Day and I've never seen a kid appreciate a gift more. I literally melt inside when I watch him line up these trains over and over again!
6. Piper got her first Valentine from a BOY! They were homemade cookies which just added that extra touch of love! Jack's mom and I pretty much have their whole marriage planned out, but I think it struck a shock of terror for Josh!
7. Hudson is rocking a new hair cut! Dang Stud!
8. Piper received her first set of BFF necklaces from her sweet friend Sadee! These two our the perfect combo of just plain cute and ridiculously goofy together! Piper has worn her necklace every day since she got it and is just in love!
9. We finally had a beautiful day on Saturday! Like extremely beautiful! We ate both breakfast and lunch outside, the kids played for HOURS! + we got started on some much needed yard work! I live for these days!

UNICORN VALENTINE'S DAY PRINTABLE

I am super late at getting this out there this year, so I am just choosing to think that I am extra early for next year! :) Piper had two requests for her valentines to all her little friends this year and they were.... Unicorns and Kisses! I wanted her Valentines to reflect who she was at this beautiful age of three, so I told her that those sounded perfect and we headed to the store. To our dismay we couldn't find any Unicorn Valentines anywhere! I had one sad little three year old, so I gave in and decided to make them for her.

(Download free Valentines printable here)

(Download free Valentines printable here)

They were delightfully cute and she thought they were absolutely perfect for her with a unicorn and a rainbow. Plus I am the worlds biggest fan of silly little puns, like ugly cry laughing over them kind of fan!

I've decided to share this tag for anyone else who has a unicorn valentine loving child! All we did is print and cut the tag, then cut a slightly bigger pink tag out of card stock. We backed our bag with some more pink card stock, filled it with some festive kisses and stapled it all together. All done! Quick and Simple! Click the links below to download the free printable. There are two different versions of the unicorn with both including 3 magically cheesy sayings. Print out as many as you need!

• You're like a unicorn, pretty & rare!
• Have a Magical day!
• You're one a kind!

Unicorn #1 Free Valentine Printable

Unicorn #2 Free Valentine Printable

MIDWAY - ICE CASTLES

It takes some hard convincing to make my husband skip school or work or all of the above, but we succeeded a few nights ago, and decided to take a family night to Midway to go visit some Ice Castles! None of us had been before, but Piper's excitement to go see where "Elsa lives" could have made anyone excited. (They actually do have a live "Elsa" and "Anna" their on the weekends)

The process used + the amount of work and time they put in to building these castles was truly jaw dropping amazing! It was complete with towers, archways, mazes, tunnels, and even slides for the children. Then on top of all of that, they have multi colored lights frozen inside the ice, so when it got dark the entire castle turned into a beautiful palace pinks, yellows and blues!. It definitely exceeded our expectations. 

A good friend recommended having the kids wear snow pants instead of just warm clothes if we planned on going down the slides. I was happy we did, because the slides were the kids favorite part and nobody left with a wet bum! Second to the slides, my children loved grossing me out by eating the snow! I can't even count how many times I told Piper to stop licking snow off her gloves because of how many people had walked on it, or how many times I caught Hudson licking the castle structures. I just knew we would be that family who had their child's tongue get stuck to a castle! Josh must have thought I was ridiculous, because when I turned around he had broken off an icicle and given it to Hudson! I almost got mad at him until I saw the cutest little Hudson smile! He was so happy! So I calmed down for 30 seconds and let him enjoy his moment. 

After sometime walking through all the tunnels and making sure we had looked at everything, we decided to get one last picture on the ice thrown (which I actually didn't get a picture of, because the seat was so slippery that the kids kept sliding off!) and then we headed home. I'm even happy to announce that my children left with 100% of their tongues and haven't died from some dirty snow disease! The kids slept the whole way home and Josh and I enjoyed the beauty of the snow covered canyon. There really is just something special when you have a reason to enjoy the snow and ice instead of dreading it. We will definitely be going again.

JANUARY - TOP NINE

One of the things I want to work on this year is remembering the little every day life moments that make me happy. I often find myself in the habit of thinking "we didn't do anything this month", or "nothing is new", but in reality that is just not true. My children are growing and learning something EVERY single day, and there really is something just so heart warming about that. I'm often reminded of this by my three year old, but it really is the small simple things in life that bring the most joy into our hearts. That my friends is what I want to remember. I've decided that every month I am going to put together our best 9 everyday moments that I want to remember and cherish. Heres to the small and simple!

1. Piper's first day as a Sunbeam! Or as Piper calls it a "Sunpink!" I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that she is old enough to go to primary, but Piper had nothing but excitement for this new moment in her life, and I've decided that I really could listen to here sing "Jesus wants me for a Sunpink" forever! Hudson was really lucky and got his first month of nursery with his big sister, and now that she is gone he is having a very hard time! 
2. Trader Joe's! I have been going to Trader Joe's for forever! We use to spend summers in Washington and it was always on our must go and stock up list, and then when they opened one (now two) in Salt Lake we haven't even gone once... until now! Josh was given a jar of Cookie Butter at work for Christmas.. and we are in love with it, especially on our french toast on Sundays. :) So we just had to go their to get some more! It is officially Piper's favorite store! Mini Carts! Do I even need to say more... It made grocery shopping so fun, I wish everywhere had them!
3. Hudson Bear - the phone theft! This kid can pick pocket a phone out of anyone and get away with it! Which is shocking since he is just so short! You can always tell when he has one though, by his quick pitter-patter out of a room with a silent little laugh! Siri on my phone now has an accent.... and I have no idea how to fix it!
4. Hudson has found a love for lining up cars and trains! It's been one of my favorite things to find around the house since my little brother would do it growing up, and the fact that Hudson does them, and they keep him entertained for hours is just the best thing ever!
5. Piper has finally mastered head stands against the wall! Way to go little gymnast!
6. Teddy Bear Picnic at preschool, or should I say Unicorn Picnic! Piper finally had an excuse to bring her "Big Sparkle" to school. It made her whole week!
7. Zombies! Piper came out of her room one night and I expected her normal " I have to go to the bathroom" stall tactic.. but instead it started with "there is a wombie coming!" with a whole story of what sounds they make, and that they live in the mountains! I have no idea how she knows about Zombies but I was dying! Since then she see's their shadows everywhere... this picture was of her hunting one in Oliver's kennel.
8. Hudson's first time wearing a tie! I may be a little biased... but what a little baby stud!
9. Piper learned how to write her first word this month! Mom!! It was MOM! I was so excited! She can also now write her name! Her cute little letter scribbles are probably the cutest things I have ever seen! 

DAY 8 & 9 | NEWPORT TEMPLE - HOME

We woke up with heavy hearts as we had to pack to start the drive back home. I know lots of people get excited to finally be back home, we are not those people. Vacations Forever! After the car was all loaded and ready to go, we ran to the mall to see one of the Ecco accounts that Josh's mom manages. I'm not going to lie, I had never heard of Ecco's before she got this job, but they sure felt amazing on our feet! Josh and I both left with a new pair of shoes. We had already said our goodbyes from home, but did another quick round of goodbyes as we went our separate ways from the mall parking lot. As we were leaving I mentioned to Josh that I had really wanted to go walk around the Newport Temple, so he drove us there instead of starting our way home just yet.

It was beautiful! Of course, all the temples are, but this one was just so different from the other temples in Utah that it made it so uniquely stunning! I was amazed at how tiny it was! All the ones we have at home felt so big compared to this little guy, but it still took our breath away. The kids loved the fountains, and that the nativity scene was still set up. Josh and I loved its beautiful architecture that resembled the early Spanish Missions.   

This is how our family selfies turn out 99% of the time. I am always ready, Piper is hiding from the camera in some way or form, and Josh and Hudson are always playing some kind of games. It just makes me laugh at how many of these I have, but it is just so us. 

Goodbye, Newport Temple! I will definitely be seeing you again!

From here we really started our way home. We took the toll roads to avoid some pretty heavy traffic and then had a wonderful drive to St. George which consisted of feeling bad for everyone who was driving into California, the post holiday traffic was terrible! We got to St. George late since we had taken our morning/afternoon so slowly, and went straight to bed. We spent the morning with Josh's grandma, and as she headed off to church we re-packed the car to go home. Josh's sisters were in St. George for New Years so we grabbed lunch with them before we left. 

From St. George on was pretty easy and relaxing, The kids slept nearly the entire drive, which is always such a life saver. The weather was beautiful until we hit Ceder City, at that point until we arrived how was snowy and dreary. Josh and I kept ourselves occupied by recounting and rating our favorite things we had done over the vacation. When we finally arrived home, it was around 6 o'clock so we quickly unpacked, gave the kiddies in the bath and got everyone ready for bed. The first hour of being home was such a bitter sweet moment. We were all so excited to sleep in our own beds, but we missed the beauty of California and all of our family we had just spent 9 days with! Josh and I made a late but heart felt New Year's resolution.......MORE VACATIONS!