The Young and the Restless

2 1/2 weeks to fill

I saw a quote today. "My kids totally get along. As long as they aren't near each other, looking at each other, playing a game together, getting dressed in the same room, or breathing the same air, they're all good." Nailed it. For the most part this break has been just what we needed and I felt like we bonded more in a week and half then we have in the past 6 months. But sometimes the only thing getting me through the day was the promise of a hot bath with a new book. There were also days when Jason would come home from work at 5:30 and everyone would still be in their pajamas and I couldn't think of a single productive thing we did all day (and on two occasions Kylie didn't even emerge from her room until dinner time). And there's the time we decided to go to the movies where the fight heard round the world (or at least the movie theater) took place involving white Vans and stepping on shoes and alleged sibling slapping that escalated to tears and an uncomfortable scene in the middle of the crowded Harkins lobby. Moana was sold out, Kylie and I lasted all of 15 minutes in La La Land where we couldn't eye roll hard enough at all the spontaneous singing and dancing and quickly texted Jason to see if there was room for us in Star Wars. It was better than I thought, but didn't keep the attention of Ryder, so that was fun. Jason, bless his heart, tried to end the night on a good note announcing we'd eat dinner at Johnny Rockets. $9 hot dogs and a heart attack on a plate later, we admitted defeat. But then we spontaneously decided we needed to add a 5K to our New Year's resolutions and raced each other back to the car, then spent the ride home imitating "classic Dad" faces and expressions. The thing with family is that sometimes when you're at your lowest, all it takes is breathless laughter and a classic Dad move and all is right in the world. And also when you walk by your teenage daughter's room at night and for no reason at all she stops you just to tell you that you're a good mom. That's what keeps me going on the hard days. Besides a few rough patches, we had plenty of good moments. The Desert Trails bike park is always a win. After coming here last year we had big plans to go again soon, but life happened and almost a year later to the date and we finally made it back. The boys love this place, Jayden remembered his helmet this time, no big wrecks and Jayden and Maddox even attempted the intermediate course. Although, the MVP of the day goes to Ryder's dollar store ninja vest flapping in the breeze. Thanks Ihop Santa. 

We had some more NZ visitors, the Blackwells who were there serving as senior missionaries in our ward that are now living in Utah. They were Maddox's primary teachers and the sweetest things ever. It was fun to catch up with them.

We're taking this get fit in 2017 thing seriously, kicking it off with a 3.64 mile run. It may have taken us an hour, including a pit stop at the park and a close call with vomiting, but we all made it back in one piece and I see a 5k somewhere in our not so near future. I just feel like we need to make some drastic changes in our eating habits and over all health. The kids eat sugar cereal for breakfast, I pack veggies and fruits in their lunch knowing full well the only thing they'll eat is the chips and cookies. The only after school snacks they like are the ones with sugar...cookies, pop tarts, donuts and baked goods. For dinner they always pick the vegetables out of their food. It's gotten bad. So we've made some goals and set some rules then the plan is to take a family trip somewhere cool next year if we can stick with it. Feeling optimistic, but it is only 4 days in. 

We have been playing games almost every night and it's been one of my favorite memories during the break. We usually play a rousing game of Aggravation where Ryder has earned the nickname "lucky five". After the little guys go to bed we bring out Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride and play well into the night. I love it. Even though Kylie likes to cheat.

Jason let Jayden tag along on a guy's shooting trip and he was pretty excited to reach that milestone. He started out shooting his airsoft but quickly moved up to pistols, rifles and even an AR. And now he wants a .22 for his birthday. Heaven help us.

We went with friends to KTR, an indoor kid heaven. We spent hours at their skate park, trampolines and obstacle courses and left exhausted and dripping in sweat, the best way to end a day.

I love when these two play so cute together. Maddox is such a good big brother to Ryder and has started this "Maddox and Ryder fun time" where he plans games and activities to do in the mornings before everyone else wakes up. Love it.

We had a few park days, just soaking up this beautiful weather. Ryder is always looking for an excuse to take his shirt off. And I'm usually found walking laps around the park trying to get my steps on my fit bit in for the day.

When you try to jump in on your brother's picture, he's not so subtle about letting you know it's not cool.

Desert Breeze has been one of our favorite parks ever since Kylie was little. It's such a treat because I splurge for the $4.50 train ride around the park. But this time there were no takers. They were all convinced it was for babies, even my baby. And a little piece of me died inside. Not really, but it did make me sorta sad. But Jason met us there for a picnic lunch, we rode scooters around and found this cool tree that reminded us of New Zealand. And then I treated them to donuts since our get healthy challenge didn't technically start until school started.

The Usery Pass nature center boasted a movie night featuring "the best film ever made about our desert animals! All ages will love this exciting Disney movie on the big screen!" with a live snake feeding afterwards. So we stocked up on Mike & Ikes and fruit punch (once again, filling their sugar canteen before the drought) then headed out to the desert. It was right up Maddox's ally, he loves learning about nature and animals and could spout off a hundred facts afterwards. His favorite part was the scorpions square dancing. Ryder's was buying an arrowhead from the gift shop. My nerdy side loved it too but Jason was convinced there were better ways to spend a Friday night, although we agreed that it was nice just having some time with the little guys. And that's that. We're back to early mornings, full schedules, an insanely quiet house for 6 hours and lots more memories to tuck away.