Dempsey-ism

 "Mom, I wish I had a pillow of you. I think that would really help me sleep better at night." -Demps.

The girl has really been creeping in our bed at night. Some of me gets so frustrated, only when it wakes me up and interrupts my sleep. The other part of me keeps saying, "This IS ONLY temporary. What a gift that I get to help her feel safe. "

I honor both parts, but mostly the last one wins:)

Love,

Momma

Summer Pics

I could add so many more pictures to this blog. SUMMER is special and such a gift. I feel grateful to have 2 whole months off. It's good to reflect because at this time of year I can feel work creeping in. I start to feel anxious, and frustrated and annoyed and I can't always put my finger on it. I start to feel like "I need my own time." AND I know that this is my body's way of pushing my kids away, so that I can start to detach from our time together so that I can accept that I'll be back to work. I don't love it. AND yet it's all part of the process for sure. 

We have traveled, we have swam, we have watched many shows/movies. I finally watched 3 episodes of Bluey. I attempted to play video games with the boys. I have almost read 2 books, AJ is still kicking my butt. Ryker, Dempsey and I have created a couple dances in the pool. We have gone to Rogers Grove, a big ask from AJ this year. We have synced up with friends. We have gone to Union on a whim, several times. We have come up with fun contests-that include the pool. We have boated, We have camped, not as much as last year. We have hiked a bit, not as much as I wanted to. 

It's weird, I can look at all the things I wished I would have done--but then it robs me of the joy of all the things that we have done. So I'm going to work on letting that go and really celebrate another successful summer. We ain't done yet...a few more things next week. 

The seasons change.

-Momma

Lady Time

I have had two trips this summer with ladies that are very important to me. I sometimes feel surprised that I've been able to conjure up this amazing group of females. I'm not quite sure why I feel this way, but I guess it comes from this reality that it is really hard to find friends as adults. So many people are doing their own things, and it makes it hard when your lives don't exactly meld well together. SOMEHOW these two groups have worked for me, and I just feel so grateful.

Glenwood highlights with Katie and Beth included hiking Hanging Lake. This hike has been on my wish list for quite some time. It requires a reservation, and that can sometimes be hard for my family to commit to. I was so excited to finally get to experience this hike. The powerful waterfall at the top was everything. Water is my element, and when water flows in abundance I feel connected to the Gods. We also experienced two hot springs which is the ultimate place of healing for me. 

Backpacking highlights! We went to Lake Charles/Mystic Lake Island this year. This was a previous hike that the ladies had gone on before me. I had to keep hearing about this hike in previous years because it was just "so gorgeous." I felt excited that I finally got to experience this hike. This group is everything to me. They know everything about me, everything that I've gone through, everything that I'm working on, and they always accept me with full loving arms. When we are together we are encouraging, we allow space for all things, and we laugh. This year we laughed over ridiculous logs that we have to get over with our packs, the hail storms we experienced, the mud, the water crossing that we took our shoes off for, running out of TP. It was never-ending. We screamed at the mountains to let some things go. I fetched water, because it is my favorite job to do. I made myself go out with another to pee in the middle of the night so that I could surround myself in the bowl of stars. NO CLOUDS. EVERYTHING was visible. Talk about feeling one with the Gods. outside in the stars is a spot for me. I never cried on this trip. That's nothing to get a sticker over, but I guess I didn't need to cry. I felt very peaceful on this trip and that was refreshing for me. 

My tribes of woman are something that I will forever cling to. They carry me when I need carried. They celebrate when I have celebrations. I love them so hard.

Love,

Meg

4th of July!

I'm finding myself, at times, not having my phone on me. I sometimes wonder if I just feel like I don't want to be bothered by it. I want to be more present. AND then I start to blog and I wish I had more photos. Oy vey! 

We had our first big celebration at our house for the fourth of July! Although the weather didn't exactly cooperate, it was a great time! 

We had people here from so many different walks of life. Family of our kids' friends, neighbors, framily from Nebraska, my school people, etc. I was a bit apprehensive about the part of me that would be so focused on people pleasing and wanting everyone to have a good time, that it would rob me of really enjoying myself. While I don't give myself an A+, I did find that I was able to enjoy the time:)

Fireworks during torrential rains? Ok, lets do it! Spending $350 in Wyoming with Dad, while I'm gone. OK. BLOW IT UP:)

Love,

Momma

We DID DC!

Awhile back we got an invitation from my cousin for her wedding in DC. I spoke to Russell and my parents and we thought it would be a great opportunity to explore DC and be a part of my family's celebration. My Dad got the hotel rooms, thank goodness.  A couple of weeks before we left I put on my planning hat. I booked a museum per day for the 5 days we were going to be there. We learned from our NYC trip that it is best to plan things out so that you can really get the full experience while you are there!

We went to the following places: International Spy Museum, The Holocaust Museum, The Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Zoo, The Capitol, 8 Monument Night Tour, Washington Monument, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Store, Smithsonian National Museum of American History. 

We walked so much, so, so so, much.

I was so impressed by the kids because they did a great job! It helped to get hot dogs and ice cream to break things up! 

We stayed in an Airbnb for 1/2 the time and then a hotel on the Wharf for the other half. 

I feel very grateful to travel with my parents. My kids feel so safe with them, and they are down for whatever we want to do! Grandpa and AJ tend to take over all navigation, which makes my heart soar. Dempsey found a sloth stuffy that she got, which was THE BEST. 

Family time was wonderful! I don't always get to see my extended family all the time, and for whatever reason I experience anxiety when I'm about to be with them. I think this comes from being a mostly only child when I went to visit and also feeling a bit out of place because everyone (or most everyone) lived closer together than we did. BUT as always, I was relieved to find that it was a joyful experience for me. Spending time with dear aunts and uncles, and fun times with the cousins made my heart full.

Love,

Momma

Viva la Mexico!

I believe in continuing to celebrate my 40th birthday ALL YEAR LONG. We finally took a couples only trip with our dear friends Mandy and Sean to Mexico. It was their first time out of country, and it felt super special. Some of the highlights included:

• All the food and drinks
• Sharing Diareque for upset tummies that seemingly hit us all-some down in Mexico and some once we got back
• Me messing up the date that we would be going on a tour and getting our whole group up at 530am only to realize it was the next day. OMG.
• Going on that said tour to find WHALE sharks. THIS was an extraordinary experience for me. I'm not sure my counterparts felt the same due to the length of the day/being on boats/snorkeling/etc. BUT this tour was everything to me! I had determined that I was going on this tour with OR without any of my friends, because I had this dream to swim with whale sharks. Luckily or not, my whole group signed up to go with me.
• SWIMMING WITH WHALE SHARKS AND MANTRA RAYS- was so amazing. It was worth the sea sickness that I felt on the way out of the hour long bus ride, plus hour long boat ride. I got to see the Whale Sharks eyes! I MEAN SERIOUSLY. And I swam right beside them. Insane. 
• I never gave up hope even when it looked like we wouldn't be finding enough whale sharks for the government to safely allow us to swim with them. But a few hours later, I said to some new friends on the boat. "I mean what if a whale shark showed up right now." AND I swear to god, it happened. AND I swam a couple times with this shark. SO COOL.
• We went into town one night for dinner and that was quite the experience. Vendors love tourists. I don't love vendors. It's like my worst nightmare- a bunch of people schmoozing you to buy theirs goods. BUT it was fun to see a different area, and then of course we walked back home on the beach during a storm. This has been a tradition of ours...nightly walks back home on the beach.

I really hope this isn't our last trip together:) I don't think it will be!

Love,
Meg

We got Some Extra Fruhwirth Time!

We have a fun tradition starting where we invite our Seevers cousins to come and spend some time with us in Colorado. The kids get so excited to see their cousins. While the trip is only 5 1/2 hours to see them, the school year gets so busy and it's hard to find the time. This summer included LOTS of pool time! We were able to celebrate Ellie on HER BIRTHDAY, which seemed extra special. Ethan still hangs by AJ almost the whole time. Most years AJ loves it, but I did start to see a hint of him being 13 and a bit of an introvert. He needed a little break every now and then!

We also had a Fruhwirth reunion in South Dakota. This past year has included lots of changes and learnings, which might have left us all without adequate amounts of energy to plan this reunion. This might have led to a bit of stress during the trip, and yet we were able to soak in some very good moments too. We journeyed to Mount Rushmore together. We were able to play on the rocks at Sylvan Lake. During these reunions we seem to always come up with some version of a 'death march'. This year, I definitely played a part in it all. We decided we all needed some water. Russell identified a place called Devil's Bathtub, and in my "quick" research I found that it was an easy .25 mile hike. We (minus the Seevers clan) headed off to this easy hike, quickly to encounter an AMAZING trail that required more than the sandals we all had brought. OOPS. 12 different river crossings, all progressively getting more impressive, we made it to the famous bathtub. It ended up being closer to 1.25 miles, darn decimal point got me. IT WAS beautiful, and completely our jam! So cheers to maybe not reading the fine print!

Oh and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ridiculously cool landmark that we passed along the way to our Vrbo. It was the Wharf Mine, which is an open pit gold mine, that shares the same mountain as a ski hill. So fascinating. And the trucks they used to shuttle dirt back and forth....INSANELY huge. 

I feel very grateful that the cousins are similar ages to our kids. It really allows for some very special times, and getting more time with the aunts and uncles is really special. 

YAY for family time!

Love,

Momma