Slug Emoji

Ryk brought home a slug today. He said the following: Mom, it only peed on my twice. Not bad. If I was in the wild and this was the only thing around, I’d have to eat it.”

Fast forward an hour.

Dempsey and I chatting on the family bike ride.

Me: Demps, what happened to the slug?

Demps: oh Ryk put it in the garden dirt so that it can have a happy life.

❤️these small conversations.

Yesterday I wasn’t patient. I was super nag mom. I didn’t love it. It’s so important to practice self-compassion in this world. Some days you’ve got it and some days you don’t. I think I just hope to learn a little bit everyday. Yesterday, I did bad and I felt bad. Today, I’m hoping to do good and feel good. 

Me

She’s back

Dempsey started soccer again! She took a year off to travel but has decided that she is ready to commit. Actually, she decided at the last minute to join but every team was full and she couldn’t. She was so sad that she wasn’t on the team with her two good guy friends. This year we lucked out and got on the team.

Dempsey has been telling me how excited she is for soccer, which is awesome because Dempsey has a few things that she gets really jazzed about. Even though she said was excited I was sure how that would translate to the field. Luckily, it did! She did so darn great and I was super impressed!!! She immediately went out and worked hard, even with the 90 degree temps. So proud of her and can’t wait to see what this looks like on game day!

❤️Momma

Switching Gears

We're backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
This week has been a bit of a doozy.  I'm back to work.  The boys are back to school, Dempsey soon to start on Thursday.  Russ is out of town.  My parents are here.  Transitioning is happening.  I truly feel grateful for having the summer to be with my kids.  We get to have so many adventures that we would never get, if both Russ and I were working in the summer.  That being said, transitions are hard.  It takes awhile to get used to moming in the summer.  AND then when we go back, it's hard to get used to moming at work.  To put it frankly, it's exhausting. 

On one hand it makes me happy to be in the same world as my kids.  I went to back to school night with them, and then had to jolt over to my own back to school night. 

I had my first day of school today, the boys had their first day of school.

I love seeing my friends, my kids loved seeing their friends.

We are all exhausted. 

This was the first year that I didn't walk the boys to school.  It was hard.  Hard for me, probably  not that hard for them since they had their awesome grandparents there to walk them to school.  I knew that they didn't need me, but it was the end of a phase for me.  Luckily I still will get to take Dempsey to kinder on Thursday.  But they are getting bigger.  And working at a middle school is hard, because you learn that kids need their independence and they also need you.  So I'm starting to play the game with them.  Let them go, and hold them tight.  When I got home I  tore open the door to find them.  I had to know about their days.  I was instantly competing with Fortnite, and you can guess who lost there.  I was reminded that kids don't love the question, "How was your day?"  I need to get more creative with my questions.  SHOOT I hand out the list of other questions to parents all the time. 

BUT it's okay.  I'm practicing self-compassion.  I'm a good mom and I'm going to provide myself some grace as we all transition back into this thing called school.

<3 br="" mom="">

Yellowstone

Ohhhh Yellowstone. We finally were able to make this trip after having to reschedule twice!  AJ led the charge on this after he read about Old Faithful in 2nd grade.  We were able to visit the library and get several books about Yellowstone before we left, which was an awesome way to spend the time that it took to get there.  LONG journey, but much better with books and technology!  The trip was my parents, the kids, and myself.  Russell stayed home.  Here were some of the highlights that I took  notes of:

• We pulled off to eat lunch with this awesome view of the Tetons.  Where we parked was a hill and at the bottom was the most amazing lake with clear water!  Ryker immediately headed down and within minutes was soaked from his head to toe.  It's like he knows how annoyed I get when he gets his shoes wet and he just can't help himself.  I both love that about him and it drives me bonkers.
• The whole trip we are constantly looking for animals.  While at the Old Faithful geyser area, Grandma spotted a snake.  It was a small guy and it provided an insane amount of entertainment for the kids.
• We lost Ryk for 10 seconds and it was insanely scary.  He went into the bathroom and somehow came out without anyone seeing him.  He hid himself behind a pillar.  When my parents and I went into action, this guy overheard us and let us know that he was hiding.  AGAIN, I love this about this guy but he drives me INSANE.
• We managed to catch 3 Old Faithful eruptions on the first day.  So pretty and inspiring.
• While walking around at the geysers we came across a geyser without a name.  It was small, yet very active and bubbly.  We called it "Dempsey Geyser" and continued to refer to it that way the whole time.
• Being in a truck and camper with 5 other people can be a bit....loud.  Russell let me borrow his noise-cancelling headphones.  After making a strong plea for someone to quit humming out loud, I remembered I had those puppies and put them on.  *SILENCE* 
• Ryker came up with the best mission statement for himself: "If there's a rock, I climb it.  If there's a hanging thing, I hang on it.  If there's water, I play in it."  GUH.
• AJ put out his intention that he just really, really, really wanted to see a bear.  Within hours, we were watching a sweet momma grizzly with her 2 young cubs play on the mountainside.  I thought AJ was about to cry because he was so happy.
• A storm came through on the last night while we were in the camper.  The loudest craziest hail ever.  Dad and I played this game where we talked really quiet and game-planned what we would do if this storm produced a tornado.  Dad had a small hatchet and was prepared to do what he needed to in this small building nearby.  Grandma played fun videos and laughed as hard as possible with the kids to help distract them from the insane noise of the hail hitting the camper.

It was a great trip and really fun to combine my memories of traveling with my parents, to traveling with my kids.  They were troopers, considering how much time we were in the car.  We got to see so many darn things that it made it easy to take pitstops everywhere.  I really think this trip will stick with my kids for a long-long time!
<3 p="">Mom

July-tastic

July was intense. Between the end of baseball seasons, Mom's trips, and family visitors we stayed busy.  These are just some highlights!  It was fun to go to a wedding, since our time of life doesn't include many weddings anymore.  It's always a good reminder of love, commitments, and reflection of what marriage means.  My  parents bought a boat that actually works for them!  We got to thoroughly enjoy it--and there is nothing better then seeing my kids enjoy the thing I enjoyed so much at their age.  Russell led the charge on tubing down our St Vrain river.  Longmont has put some time into creating this awesome outdoor adventure, and we finally were able to take the grandparents on it.  Lots of laughs in this journey!  Summer was good and packed per usual.  The kids and I talked about how we were "always doing stuff".  But I can't help it.  So much fun is out there!
<3 p="">Mom

Mom Gets Out

It just so happened that within 9 days of each other I would be traveling to 3 different places, with 3 sets of girlfriends, to have 3 different adventures.

 The first was our annual backpacking trip.  The original plans were thwarted for several reasons: 1. the weather has caused quite the mess in the high country.  Every place we looked at backpacking was filled with snow.  We finally found a place that was 6 miles in....which led to 2. I recently got diagnosed with a shredded meniscus which can be pretty painful at times if I do things my knee doesn't like.  Heavy weights/squatting=no likey.  This led me to back out a week before the trip-which then led to my badassssss women saying, "Oh heck no....you're still coming.  We will change our plans."  GUH...Things I learned/had reinforced on this trip:  1) Women are amazing and adaptable and do almost anything for the tribe.  2)  Backpacking is the better way to go vs. sleeping near people that umm....caused us to have to go into work mode 1/2 the time.  3) Being on water is truly the best place to be. 4) Having a tribe of non-judgmental women is truly one of the biggest gifts a lady can have.

The second trip was Las Vegas with my originally work-turned into-life friends!  This trip was insanely packed with fun from am-pm.  It was hot and sweaty and fun and tiring and just wonderful.  Last year we did a trip with our oldest boys, and this year we decided it was time for just a girls trip.  Things learned here:  1)You truly can convince your brain that it can do anything, even when it's tired and says "there's no way.".  2) Vegas is definitely not just for gambling-there is SO MUCH to do that isn't even related to that!  3) Having girlfriends that support you no matter what the situation is so important. The ones that can let you say everything you need to say, and then say it again are invaluable.

The last trip was to Nashville for my bestest friend's Erin's bachelorette party.  It was the first time in Nashville for 3 out of the 4 of us, and talk about being where we should be for a bachelorette party. Holy Bachelorette Mecca, my goodness!!!  It was so wonderful being with my friend and hearing about all the awesome details of her wedding that normally I would love to hear, in comfy clothes while I sit on her porch and we talk about it all since we live doorsteps from each other (I WISH:(!!!)  Here's what I learned from Nashville:  1) A great friend of my best friend, is no doubt an awesome match for me too.  2)  Good friends let you watch your kid's tournament baseball game in a bar in Nashville, great friends watch it with you and cheer even louder.  3)  There is no place that has live music like this place....truly epic from sun-up to sundown.  4) Dancing is truly my happy place!  Jumping feeling the music/up and down with 100s of others doing the same thing...sparks joy for me like no other!

These trips felt nuts.  They felt crazy to leave my kids and Russell. They felt crazy because I rarely spend this money on my myself.  They felt crazy because they stretched my limits of travel/late nights/beverages/lack of sleep.  They felt crazy because "no one does girl trips" like that anymore.  And despite the feelings of crazy, I came back feeling so fulfilled.  Being a mom and working and staying home in the summer, it's very easy to lose yourself.  It's easy to just hang with the moms while the kids are around and not talk about the things that only the ladies understand and best talked about out of the earshot of others.  It's easy to say,, "I can't go because ...." of finding childcare, feeling guilty for being gone, the money, etc.  BUT life is short darnit.  YOU need your friends.  You need to be around people who get you and your struggles and support you.  YOU deserve to have conversations away from little kid's ears and go several nights without doing the nighttime routine. 

You are worth it.  I'm worth it.  AND I feel so darn fortunate that I can make this my reality.  Thank you grandparents, thank you Russell, thank you kids for understanding that Momma needs some time.
<3 p="">Momma