Cody brought in the newspaper where I was still snoozing in bed this morning and my midwife was on the front page, hooray! The kids and I just spent the afternoon celebrating the opening of her new birthing center in Rigby. When Noah was born I had all my prenatal check-ups at her home in Ririe. The new center is beautiful and there is also a birthing suite for those who wish to not birth at home. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with other clients and those who were just there to learn a bit more. It's nice to be somewhere and not feel like the odd duck out when visiting about childbirth and your views. We had some food and the kids played in a jumper, always a fun time :) I never watch our local news, so if you missed it too, check out this clip. Three cheers for Idaho's midwives, I love mine!
new beginnings...
wedding weekend...
Well, I can't speak for the rest of the Hansen clan, but I had a fantastic weekend. Actually, I think I can speak for them in saying that only when Dad watches them do they get to watch TWO movies in one day and eat ice cream and Cheetos (on the couch-the girls made sure not to leave out the important details!) Now I know all his secrets. I think he also had a BBQ or Man-a Q was the term he used with a few buddies. I always know my little ones are in good hands, even if those hands are covered in orange cheese, so thanks to Cody for being a good sport!
My cousin Amy who lives in Boise was married outside of Sun Valley. It was a beautiful location and drive there. She came down the mountain where we were all seated, having hiked in a little bit, in a wagon. The backdrop was lovely as you can see. While I'm more of a temple girl myself, it was neat how well everything reflected she and Ron's personalities. My Mom and I played around in Sun Valley and passed by the $1300 Dolce and Gabbana dresses for the local thrift store. We got to visit with cousins, aunts, uncles who I hadn't seen for quite awhile. Shay and Steve were there which was fun too. We stayed Saturday night in Twin Falls and went to a random ward in to morning. So crazy, I ran into a family who lived just around the corner from us in Moscow, such a small world. It was a fun getaway, really recharged me for a few days anyway!
Still painting here on the homefront, the shower is being tiled this week, and we ripped up some carpet yesterday upstairs, exposing great hardwood floors underneath, just gotta scrape all the paint off around the baseboards. I love hardwood floors and they are much easier with kids, mud, food, everything. We'll probably just have one piece of new carpet put in upstairs in the piano room and leave the rest hardwood and rugs.
I think I'm off to dig out my food dehydrator and dry some herbs before some of the plants go to seed. Some are just getting to big. I can't wait till the raspberries come on! Have a happy afternoon!
4th of July fun...
We hit the parade in Soda Springs Idaho, close to my parents home this year. Cody and I grew up with small town parades and I have memories of the front seat of my Grandma's Buick overflowing with parade candy. So, needless to say, we were a little disappointed in the parade here in Idaho Falls last year. It was so long and hot and NO candy, what's a parade without candy? A poor one right?! We do have lots of beautiful floats though.
Anyway, this was a fun one, not too long and the kids had a good time scrambling for treats. I thought the otter pops were a pretty good idea, until I realized that between them hitting the pavement and the plastic candy bags dragging on the road they had left multi-colored puddles all over the van seats, not so happy about that. We'll know next time...
We watched Cody and Loren play in a 3 on3 basketball tournament. It turned into a bit of a long afternoon, but it wasn't terribly hot. Noah was exhausted, I'm a stickler for naps, regular and long, and when he gets grouchy it's hard for me not to :) It was a fun day, Noah's still talking about the loud fire engines, made quite an impression. He was too wiped out to see the fireworks once we got back home though. I was too, but I went to the school with the girls and enjoyed them, what a show, has to last us until next year! Happy birthday America!
new eyes...
One of my favorite quotes of all time since college has been by Marcel Proust- "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Life sometimes seems to really be a lot of the same tasks and routines and finding new and fresh views keep it much more interesting! My children are constantly giving me 'new eyes.' It's a toss-up at the moment, but I think the nethermost regions of our backyard are perhaps the worst looking part of our home. We yanked out a bunch of shrubs last year and have not placed sod there yet. I look out the window and all I see are the terribly overgrown weeds about to go to seed and the huge hole that needs dirt. My kids however always play back there. It's been a campground for pioneers, a jungle with wild beasts, and the favorite-yet messiest is the pit filled with water-a giant stew. Most recently these plentiful milkweeds have gone to seed. Noah was fascinated when Lauren showed him how to blow them. And so while it may be a few years off until I have a weedless backyard and beautiful plants, hopefully the kids will remember all the fun they imagined and in the meantime maybe I can see a little bit of what they so easily see-fun!
a new routine...
Ah, summertime, weeding the garden in your pajamas, eating watermelon off the rind, washing the car in the driveway, slip n slide in the backyard, and evening walks...
Wow, is anyone reeling from the shock that it's July ALREADY?!
This summer is flying by for me. We've been busy, but in a low-key fun kind of way. The girls finished two weeks of swim lessons and loved it. They did well considering it was a catch-up year since I dropped the ball last summer and we didn't enroll. They can swim a short distance now and hopefully that will improve this summer. We're actually going to try to go to the pool more often, lessons probably don't help much if you don't swim until next year's lesson :) Noah has an o.k. time at the pool, he preferred the beach area in Blackfoot with the sand and bugs though. He scraped his toe and knee falling right on the NO RUNNING sign painted on the concrete, fell down right on the 'N'!
Cody enjoyed his annual fishing trip with some mission buddies last week. I guess the fishing wasn't too great, he spent it mostly visiting our families.
I've been busy watering, feeding, washing, painting, driving, all things garden and kids. We sold and bought a new refrigerator, that completely made my day. Our old one which came with the house, leaked inside and out and periodically froze all produce inside, so annoying. I'm enjoying this spacious new one, plus it has a light that works, never knew what I was missing! I only have a few pairs of capris that are working for me right now, I'm a little sad that I won't be wearing any of my summer bottoms, but I'm getting over it. It feels like I just popped out that the last couple weeks or so. Fun times, it's a different perspective knowing this will probably be my last pregnancy. I'm enjoying the journey more. Well, wishing all of you a very happy and safe 4th of July. We'll be in Bancroft, Soda Springs, and back here for the fireworks of course. To me, summer has arrived when the 4th of July is here!
