Breaking Point

I reached it yesterday with running errands with my kids. I hear a lot of moms say how easy their kids are to take shopping, and I envy them. Jacob hates, hates, hates to go to the store. It doesn't matter which one or why we are going there, he will fight me tooth and nail. Mya used to be pretty easy going especially if it was just her. Well, lately, she doesn't want to ride in the cart. She wants to walk everywhere which means running and me constantly telling her to stay put. Or if we have a car cart at the grocer store she is in and out up and down every aisle. An errand that should take 20 minutes ends up taking an hour. Then there's them asking for treats and toys and me telling them no over and over and over. So I have a game plan: once a month shopping. That is my goal to do one major trip once a month with smaller trips in between for produce, milk, etc. Things that won't stay good for a month. The one thing I dread every week is making a menu, creating a grocery list, and shopping. I HATE it. I hated it before I got married and before I had kids so that is not new. But trying to do these things with them is making it worse. So I will be making a master meal list with a master grocery list. bonus: the less time I spend doing these things means more time doing things with my kids instead of around them. We are all much happier when we spend the day playing and even cleaning up the house than trying to run errands.

Summer Time

This summer has flown by so fast. I know most kids are heading back to school next week so today is their last day of summer. Luckily for me, Jacob still has two and half weeks before preschool starts so we have some time to work on getting him out of bed before 9:00 a.m :) I never thought I would see the day when he would sleep that late. Now he plays so hard that I'm lucky to see him much earlier than 8 or 8:30 each morning. I'm so glad he's not starting kindergarten this year. I really feel like we made the right decision. I just can't wrap my head around sending him off to the big school on the day he turns 5.

Anyways, this summer has been a roller coaster for sure. Lots of things have contributed to that, and I am looking forward to fall with a lot of mixed emotions but mostly with a hope that things will settle down and that all the people I care about who have struggled this summer can overcome their trials.

Bear Lake

This has been one of my most favorite things that we do with Jarom's family. And it is probably going to be a few years before we can go up during the best time of the year to be at Bear Lake. August is prime time up there! The kids had a blast and were so worn out by the end of the weekend. We played in the lake, went swimming, launched rockets, rode bikes, etc. When we left Jacob kept saying, "Grandma is sooo lucky she gets to stay til Friday." I put pictures of Bear Lake up on facebook but will try to add some here later when blogger is cooperating better.

Seven Peaks-SLC

One of our summer fun destinations this year. The kids love it!! I love that at the SL park he can go on most of the tube slides with an adult. I got fired from taking him after we flipped out of the tube at the top of one of the slides. It was hard enough to get him to try again with his dad let alone me. Mya loves the kiddie area since it's so shallow. She can go wherever she wants and she does! They have a few little slides in that area, but she's not a fan even when her dad takes her down. Her eyes get really big and she says no, no, no. She's heading into that "do everything myself" phase so taking her into the wave pool or lazy river can be frustrating because she doesn't want to be held, but she can't touch throughout the wave pool or in the river at all. It's mind boggling because at home she wants me to carry her up and down the stairs. I tried to add pictures here, but blogger is not cooperating with me today.