Edwards Haps and Mishaps

Recently I took the pictures off my phone and since I haven’t blogged in awhile I thought I would put up some of these to document a few of the things we have been up to. I may have to put up a couple posts with these!

Preston came out in this outfit, very red…I think I tried to say something nice about how red and red didn’t really match just because they were both red. A few minutes later on the news they said “today is wear red day for the American Heart Association”  So I went ahead and didn’t care that he wore an all red outfit to school that day…I probably wouldn’t have cared anyway, but I thought that was really funny that it was actually Wear Red Day.

Ada and Dallin at Old Navy with the closest thing they will get to a pet at the moment.

Reading at night with Preston:

I turned one year older!

Dallin got himself some breakfast…not skipping the caramel and fudge.

Our Oregon Jigglers on the day of the football National Championships…too bad Oregon lost!

Preston got a “Hobbes” for Christmas so Dallin had to go buy one with his Christmas money…and Ada ended up buying one too! Now we have three Hobbsie-Wobbsie’s, as Dallin calls them.

Uncle Erik came into town in January with his cute girlfriend Grace and we had all kinds of fun with them! We went ice skating…which was so much fun! Preston was a pro after just a few minutes! Ada loved it and Dallin loved being pushed on the dolphin sled.

We also went and picked oranges and mandarins in Newcastle. We had done this a few months earlier during the peak mandarin season, but this time the kids got into it more and I think we had like 20+lbs of citrus!

Dallin at the park.

This is kind of blurry but it was the only picture I got of our Christmas Eve smorgasbord. We tried to continue the Swedish tradition, even if we weren’t out with Shaun’s Family…but we probably kept out some key ingredients like pickled herring and smoked oysters…and other canned/tubed fish!

Dallin and “grandpa George”

Here is our Christmas day walk down to the American River. We have done this at family gatherings at my grandparent’s house ever since I can remember and I love it down at this part of the river but I have purposley never taken my kids there because of this bridge! If you haven’t heard me mention this before, I am a total paranoid and I picture things happening…like tragic things, and I try and figure out how I will handle it and it usually ends up with me having a panic attack. So, in my mind one kid has fallen into the water and I try and figure out what to do with the other kids so they don’t fall off while I jump in but then my other child is being swept down stream so I have to act fast…and then I get all freaked out and try and shake it out of my head. I know. Not logical. At All….but I can’t help it! Soooooo… the point is, we took them out on the bridge and it was just as nerve wracking as I thought it would be since there is only a loose wire railing. But we all survived!

The older kids lugged huge rocks out there and tossed them over the side. The splashes were HUGE.

Babysitting my precious niece!! I sat snuggling her pretty much the ENTIRE time my brother and his wife were gone!

Oh, and another time I got to snuggle her…took lots of creepy, obsessed aunt selfies with her :) She clearly thinks I am a weirdo.

And that’s it for now!

It was a little colder this week than it has been…and I mean cold for us…I was freezing, but it was in the 50’s…soooo not exactly that cold! Most mornings were foggy and wet, but we tried to get out anyway. The kids are out in shorts and t-shirts still…they are crazy. I don’t think they get cold. I asked Ada one day if she wanted to go have a picnic at the Lake and she said she wanted to have one in our backyard instead because she likes our house. It was kind of a gray day anyway so I was fine with that! We took our tent and blanket and went on a “hike” around our yard through the bushes and behind trees and finally ended up back on the patio where we set up camp.

And we like to color…the little ones like to draw “muscles” which includes scribbling all over their arms. I find them after the muscles have been drawn on most occasions. Ada is also getting really good at drawing other things too…like the Sully and Mike Wazowski pictures she drew for Dallin. She is a mini-me…she loves art. When I was little I would say I wanted to be an artist when I grew up…and I guess you could say that I have!

And Dallin…he is quite the character with his facial expressions and the things he says!

I took some engagements this week and they wanted to take them at a place that they had been on a date before and it ended up being right under the Foresthill bridge. I have been over that bride many times and it is SO high! In high school we used to go up there and walk across and I have taken my kids up there but I had never been under it! Looking up was almost dizzying but it was so beautiful and I felt so small! This picture doesn’t really show the enormity of it, but if anyone is looking for a lovely little hike go to the Confluence in Auburn..there is also a fun little (well, big right now in the winter) swimming hole there. I will have to come back another time with the Fam..or at least with Shaun. Parts of the trail were pretty sheer and all I could do was picture my kids slipping off the trail and tumbling into the river below…but that’s me being the super paranoid person I am!

This week has been such lovely weather! I know we are in need of more rain…and hopefully we get more, but since we are having nice weather…I should probably enjoy it, right? We’ve been spending lots of time at the park, in the yard playing catch (prepping for Preston’s first season of BASEBALL!!!!) out in the hammock…and just enjoying the outdoors. I’m not really ready for it, but spring is pretty much starting here in our area. Lots of blossoms and lots of green everywhere. I’m realizing I seriously love spring and all the new growth and beauty…but I kind if feel like the end of January/beginning of February is a little too soon! This was the first time in my life I have missed snow. I can’t believe I just said that. Well, I will soak it in…even if i feel spring has come a little premature!

Here are some of the only pictures I took on Valentine’s day as well as a few other noteworthy things that went on this week:

Teh kids eating V-day breakfast…which I was trying to make a tasty treat/breakfast but in my opinion they weren’t that good! They were homemade pop tarts with Nutella inside. Maybe I skimped on the Nutella…but I guess they look cute? That’s all that REALLY matters :)

My in-laws got me an awesome  preparedness gift which we took outside to try out. This little stove is something we can bring camping but also use in case of an emergency…all it takes is a few sticks to get your pot all hot and cooking! We just made some hot chocolate but the kids had fun making it!

Ada tells me she will be a better cook than me when she grows up…i believe it!

Ada needed to get updated on immunizations and I told her she could pick any treat when she was done so she wanted a cookie sundae from Chick Fil-A. She was so excited to get shots…I kept telling her it was going to be fast but it was going to hurt…i didn’t want her to NOT know it was going to hurt! She kept thinking of her cookie sundae…and giggling before the nurse came in with the shots…I felt bad that she really didn’t understand that this wasn’t going to be fun, but she was super brave, there were a few tears but she was so happy go to Chick Fil-A afterward.

This week has been one of reminiscing. For awhile now i have been wondering where all my journals were that i kept as a youth and this week I found them in my parent’s attic! I was so happy to know where they were finally…because it has YEARS of my teen drama in them! Besides the journals I found many other gems from my teen and young adulthood…namely this amazing pink unitard. I had a dress up box in Utah and my roommates and I would dress up quite a bit. This was a key piece in several hilarious memories. My best friend/Roommate was going to be in town for Valentine’s day weekend and we set our hair appt’s to overlap and when i told her I found this she triple dog dared me (yeah, we are still a little stuck in 5th grade) to wear it to our appointment….

Who am I to turn down a triple dog dare like that?

So, pretty much, that’s it. We spent Valentine’s day night with some of our good friends and had dinner and decorated sugar cookies with the kids. A good end to a nice week!

Yes, we partied. ALL of the Edwards cousins (there are 9 right now) were there and we moms took the kids out all over…Bridal Veil Falls, J-dawgs, Antelope Island, Kangaroo Zoo…It just seemed there was always something going on, someone to play with, something good to eat…it was such a fun trip! We also did fun things with the rest of the family too…crab pot for Father’s Day dinner, walks, trampoline  park, games, puzzles, stories…it even snowed on the mountains one of the days we were there! I was not prepared for cold weather but it was a nice change from 100 degree weather!

And I am tired so I will only put up our Father’s Day and trip to Provo. I really wanted to visit Provo and reminisce :) So I tried to stop at as many places as I could…but eventually we ran out of steam and just wanted to get home!

Jumping on the neighbor’s trampoline:

Bridalveil Falls

Creamery on 9th…it would be a sin to come to Provo and not get German Chocolate Crunch.

I love the Provo Temple!

Wow…just realized how many typos were in this thing…oops. Fixed now…hopefully!

At the beginning of the summer I looked at my calendar and realized that there was pretty much one week out of the whole summer where I didn’t have some sort of photo event or other thing going on and it was the same week Shaun was supposed to be at scout camp so I decided I would hop in the car and head out to Utah. This was the first time I had attempted this by myself so I was a little nervous. When we usually go to Utah we just want the drive over so we stop as few times as possible but this time I figured I could go at my own pace and we made lots of stops! I tried to stop at most view points and vistas and also at rest stops or parks…and I really think the trip was more enjoyable! It did end up taking about 2 hours longer!!! But oh well..joy in the journey right? :)

Here are some pictures from our drive:

View point at Donner Lake:

I asked someone if they could take a picture for us…the lake looks really nice :)

Someone lost his second front tooth before we left! No more snaggle-tooth! YAY!

Another view point outside of Sparks, NV…not sure what we were supposed to be looking at…at the bottom was someone’s house and a bunch of old tires.

Stopping to clean up barf…the sky was really pretty though (and yes, I am stopped…not snapping pictures while driving…just in case anyone was wondering…)

Dallin looking happy after not being covered in barf. I am pretty sure he just gagged himself with his hand. (again, not actually driving here)

A park in Battle Mountain:

An awesome park in Wendover full of lots of old toys…who misses the merry-go-round?!

Playing in the salt flats:

And then we ended up at grandma and grandpa’s!! Everything went well and we were safe…such a blessing!

I know this was last month…but we are only a couple days into July so last month wasn’t all that long ago! Plus, I kind of want to go in order so if I ever make another blog book I don’t confuse myself! I did make a blog book through Blurb last year and it comprised 3 or 4 years so it got pretty thick…but I love it! I think Blurb did a great job printing the photos and binding the book! I was pretty happy with it.

Back to Ada, she turned 4, as you can see in a post below, and we had a Frozen party! A Frozen party on a 100 degree June day :) With it being summer and the characters in the movie trying to bring back summer I decided we’d do a Bringing back Summer in Arendelle theme, and I think it turned out to be a fun day! We made some snow slime, shot snowballs out of the trees with our water squirters, and thawed ice cubes full of jewels. As long as there are friends and sweets involved, Ada is pretty easy to please, so she was happy :) She is already talking about her 5th birthday!

The school year FLEW by…and now summer is doing the same! Preston grew up so much in first grade! He lost lots of teeth…one of which was very stubborn and you can see in the pictures below…and I wanted to “accidently” bump them out! Luckily he accidently bumped it out himself and now he has man teeth growing in. In my opinion, after baby teeth are lost in the front kids start to look so much older. Anyway, Preston had a great first grade year. Lots of good friends were made and we all really liked his teacher. Hopefully second grade is a great year too!

Waiting for school to get out.

Cute Dallin:

Happy birthday to my pretty Ada Sue! We love having her in our family! She wants a Frozen party (like EVERY single other little girl I know!) So we’ll see how it goes!

She is my little helper in the kitchen (always wants to crack the eggs!), my photo location scouter (below), my lover of all desserts, leotards, and bathing suits, and my blue-eyed, curly Sue!

 

How many kids can you fit in a miniature pool?! Luckily this is an upgrade from the last two summers, that pool was extra miniature…but still, it is looking a little crowded in there! I need to do a full post one of these days coming up but for now, this will do!

Happy first day of SUMMER VACATION!!!