Utah

I realize I haven’t blogged in awhile. I’ve been trying to live in the moment lately, and be present, and enjoy life. Anyways, for the sake of the easiest way to catch up, I’m going to write a list of what’s been going on lately. Here it is(not necessarily in the right order just as things come to my mind):

1. We’ve been in Utah for 2 weeks.

2. Brandon has done a combination of work and hunting.

3. He was successful at work. He failed at hunting.

4. Brandon flew back home to Detroit once since we’ve been here for a work meeting.

5. Brandon took Joah hunting with him last weekend. They elk hunted up in the mountains, and hiked around 15-20 miles each day. Joah kept up great until…….

6. Joah got dehydrated and most likely had some altitude sickness. He said “dad I don’t feel good.”

7. Then Joah fainted. 🤦‍♀️ I’m glad I wasn’t there. According to Joah dad made him drink 8 bottles of water after. He threw up and he felt much better.

8. Brandon may or may not have discovered a business opportunity. It consists of raising cattle……in Utah(28 hours from our home in michigan). Pray for me that I will remain a saint and keep my opinions to myself. 🤣

9. Isla turned 2 yesterday. Every time I tell her “Isla, you’re two” she says “no I three.” Don’t try to grow up so fast child!

10. Caed has a new phrase that I absolutely love. He says “I haven’t done this in years.” Example: he was riding in our friends child size vehicle. He very excitedly said “I haven’t driven this in years.”

11. The other night we ate out at a Mexican restaurant. I came back to the table from the bathroom to find Caed looking very sad. I asked him what was wrong. He said “dad is being very mean. He won’t let me marry Isla or Brielle. He said I have to marry outside the family but I never want to leave this family!”

12. Yesterday for Isla’s birthday we took her to climb a mountain and see dinosaur footprints. We had seen the Dino footprints 2 years ago and it was one of our favorite things. After hiking for awhile we asked Isla where she wanted to go for lunch.

13. She said “ummmmm, Mickey Mouse.” We said “oh you want to go to Disneyland?” She said “ummmm, YES!” You know just your average 2 year old request. Yes, I recognize that my kids are spoiled.

14. Utah is one of our favorite states. It’s beautiful! We love the mountains.

15. We have been camping out at Brandon’s cousins house the last 2 weeks. We hook our RV up at their house. They run a family business. They always feed us so much amazing food. We love it here!

16. Cedar City, Utah has lots of memories for us. I have taken the kids up to the park several times. The other kids here are so friendly. Utah has tons of children and huge families. The kids are used to playing together. Every time I go to the park I’m amazed how well my kids fit in. They make friends with so many kids around them.

17. Speaking of Utah being full of kids, I checked out a thrift store and had great luck. I ended up going a total of 3 times. They had tons of books, games, school supplies, and Sunday dresses.

18. We love the scenery here and went to Bryce Canyon one day. It was incredible!

19. We start back towards home this afternoon. I always have mixed feelings. I’m sad our travels are coming to an end, but I’m excited to establish some normal again.

20. Pretty much immediately when we get home, we leave again for furniture market. Our kids are going to stay in Ohio with Grandma and Aunt Bethany. I am going with Brandon to market to help out.

21. Joah ran right smack into a tree branch yesterday and scraped up his eye pretty bad

22. Brielle read an entire book(pretty good size one) by herself yesterday. She is finally starting to get the hang of reading. I forgot how hard it is to teach a child to read. I’m sure I’ll forget again by the time it’s Caed’s turn to learn.

23. I am renewing my love of reading again. I’m realizing I need to model reading for my kids. I’m always trying to encourage them to grab books. They should really see me reading too instead of on my phone. I picked up a few books for myself at Goodwill at I’ve been reading through them these last couple weeks.

24. Caed keeps saying “we are in the West Wild”(when referring to being in Utah). I can’t bring myself to correct him and tell him it’s the Wild West.

25. These last two weeks, Isla has really started talking. I absolutely love this stage. She learns and repeats new words daily. She’s starting to talk in sentences. She’s telling me when she goes potty. Potty training is coming very soon for this one. I don’t even know what I’ll do with myself when I have no more kids in diapers. I’ll have to talk Brandon into another baby.

I realize we have a very non-traditional life. Sometimes I struggle with all we’re missing out on(back home). But I know those back home are struggling with all they are missing out on(from not traveling). So anyways, I’m trying to live in the moment and be thankful. I’m trying to enjoy each moment. I’m trying to not stress about all the unpacking I have to do when we get back home. I always dread that. It will get done. It always does!

Here are a few pictures to recap the last couple weeks: