Is It Naptime Yet

Luckily we’ve been able to visit my sister Andrea and her husband Brien once a year since they’ve moved there.
It’s always fun to just visit them and enjoy the delicious food they feed us.

This year we went camping with them at Great Basin National Park at the Wheeler Peak campsite. We were about 10,000 feet above sea level. It was beautiful but the night was very cold. I’m not sure how low is got, but Ely is around 45 degrees at night and they’re only 6,200 feet above sea level so I would say 35 degrees is a safe estimate, if not modest.

We got to the campsite a little before 5 on Friday night. Andrea and Brien had camped there the night before so they had done some hiking that day. We went on the short nature trail to see how the girls might fare the next day. It was fun and we decided later that night that we would attempt to do the 3 mile, round trip,  Bristlecone Pine trail that Andrea and Brien had done that day on Saturday.

While on our nature hike Brien made dinner. A delicious roast with veggies. We then roasted “smarshmallows“, according to Eden, for smores. Lilah had about 3 smores and 3 marshmallows. Eden had less because she was too busy going done the hill next to our camp with her little lantern. Brien said she was brave and that as a kid he would have never attempted to go that far in the dark.  It was only about 30 feet, but he would be scared because his father would hide in the bushes and then scare them as kids. I’m not sure if we are nice or not cruel parents for not scaring them and letting them be brave or if we’re boring for not having more fun and scaring the wits out of them in a dark campsite. (We do play games where we scare them at home, but I think we try to not scare them in new situations that might scar them for life.)

We extinguished the fire and went to bed around 9, I think. We had a lot of marshmallows and the girls kept saying how tired they were. I think they just wanted to get in the tent since we had banished them once the sleeping stuff was laid out so it wouldn’t get too dirty.

It was a very cold night. Jon and the girls appeared to sleep fine but I woke up pretty regularly due to my cold face. My eyelids were so cold that it had the affect like I was sleeping with my eyes open and they felt miserably dry. I had to go completely into my sleeping bag or cover my eyes with a shirt to keep from waking up from the cold.

That morning while getting dressed Lilah said it was too cold of a campsite. I totally agreed. Eden awoke around 6 am so, so did everyone else in our tent. It was fun.

We had some granola and Andrea heated up water for our apple cider. It was a cold but beautiful morning. We, in which I really mean Jon, started to pack up after breakfast so we could go on the hike later that morning. Andrea and Brien had a church activity that evening, which Brien had been put in charge of, so they had to go home to Ely while we went hiking.

The Bristlecone trail was beautiful and we saw a couple does as we started the hike. We also saw a doe on the way back. The girls did the hike fairly well. Lilah and I were wearing new shoes so our feet hurt. (I know we should have worn them before the trip to break them in, but who likes to wear shoes in 100 degree weather. She had to get new shoes because her feet had grown, and I needed new shoes because my current shoes hurt my feet because I have weird feet and thus mostly wear flip flops.)

Jon completed the hike but the girls and I rested while he finished the last 10 minutes, which would have been 20 minutes with the girls. (We had no idea how much longer the hike was, we just knew we we’re close to the end. It turned out to be pretty rough right before he got to the Bristlecone Pine grove so it was better that we had waited.) While waiting we ate trail mix and talked to passing hikers.

Jon carried Eden for most of the return on the trial. She was really tired so he carried her and then would have her walk and then carried her etc. I stayed with Lilah and we talked and sang a few songs, and made up some songs. Eden also made up songs which she sang to Jon. She loves making up songs when she’s by herself.
The weather was perfect for the hike. Since we were in the mountains there was always a cool breeze. It was perfect for long sleeves.

It took us 3 hours to hike the 3 mile hike. After the hike we packed back into the car for the drive down the mountain. We ate at the cafe connected to the Lehman Caves visiting center. We haven’t taken the tour yet, and hopefully we can next time we pass through Ely.

After eating we headed to Andrea and Brien’s. Showers and the comfort of electricity awaited us.  I stopped by the Church activity for food that evening and took Zarina back home so Andrea could help clean up. I enjoyed the Olympics while we waited for them to return home.

The girls shared a room with Zarina and Jon and I were in the living room. We didn’t have the air mattress pumped up enough so whenever he moved I woke up and whenever I moved he woke up. It was a warmer, but still restless night like the night before.

Zarina started making noises a little after 7 am so I checked in on the girls. Eden was awake and Z had seen me so I had no choice but to pick her up. I watched her until she got a little more fussy and then gave her to Andrea around 7:30.

We had breakfast and since church wasn’t till 1 pm for them we were able to visit that morning. Lilah and Eden loved Zarina’s toys, I guess I only need baby toys to keep them entertained, and Eden said she didn’t want to leave Ely. Too bad for her because we left there around 11:30 am.

It was a nice visit and I always just enjoy being with family.

I slept like a rock Sunday night. I don’t remember waking up or turning over till that morning. I was so tired that the bathroom light hadn’t awoken me when Eden went in there sometime that night. Jon found her asleep on the bathroom rug with the light on. (We sleep with our door open for better air circulation and normally the bathroom light is too bright for my eyes.)

Thanks for having us and bringing extra camping gear Andrea and Brien. We all enjoyed it and the girls are telling everyone about their adventure to Ely.

Here’s a video of our trip.  (The song is by They Might Be Giants and is called ‘C is for Conifer’.)

I’ve decided Trader Joe’s is one of the friendliest stores I’ve been to. The employees are friendly but so are the customers. I think shopping there you know you’re apart of a small group of people, that’s growing mind you, who try to be more aware of how the eat and what they consume or use, so people are just a little more friendly to each other. (Kinda like camping this weekend. People at the surrounding campsites were so nice because we were all there enjoying life and it was easier to be nice for some reason. Though my BIL, Brien, said people are friendly because they don’t want you to steal their stuff, but the hikers we encountered were also friendly. 😉 )

Today I went to Trader Joe’s for a short trip and my cashier was so nice, which they all have been. I was shopping for my friend Sam also and asked for two separate transactions. He said sure and said how nice it was that I was getting things for my friend. He even gave me a ton of stickers to give to the girls when I asked. Then in the parking lot my shopping cart got away from me and it started rolling down hill at a high speed. I didn’t notice right away and I had to chase it so it wouldn’t hit the car it was aiming for. I caught it about 4 feet away, luckily there were no cars in the parking spots it rolled through, I would have felt so bad had I not noticed it missing soon enough. As I was taking it back a gentleman commented on it getting away from me and he finish taking it to the cart return area for me. I said thank you and went home happy knowing I had nearly caused and prevented a disaster, but also because of the friendliness I had encountered.

I really like Trader Joe’s. It’s just a happy place to go to.

Today while at the jewelers my girls were playing rather loudly in the kid play room across the store from where I was. The middle aged woman helping me asked if those were my children and I said yes. (I had kept looking that way and had there been any other customers would have gone and hushed them a little.) She asked how old they were so I told her 3 and 5. She then commented on two years being a good age difference and her boys being two years apart. At one point she commented that she missed the young ages and that 5 and 3 are such fun ages.

I love the ages my girls are at, but lately I haven’t always enjoyed being a mom. I wish I could remember all the good rather then the bad some days, like those who no longer have young children.

Then at Old Navy an older woman held the door for me while I tried to have Lilah and Eden quickly follow behind as we left the store. They always seem so amazed when a stranger holds a door for us and they just stare at them as they slowly walk through the door. I urged the girls to go faster and the woman laughed as she joked “Oh, yeah right.” in a very kind way.

As we got ready to walk to the car she then told me how cute my girls were and asked how far apart they were. I told her two years and their ages and she told me her DIL was just expecting her second so her grandchildren would be two and a half years apart. I commented that I thought two to three years apart is perfect for playing and getting along. She agreed and then said she also wanted this new grand baby to be a girl, it would be their second girl. I replied how I love girls and agree that they are the best, in my opinion. She then asked for the names to my girls since they’re trying to get ideas on names. I told her Lilah and Eden and she went off thoughtfully repeating Eden’s name a few times, since they already had a London she informed me once I said Lilah.

Part of me would love to know the outcome of her developing grand baby’s name. If it was a girl would her DIL consider Eden, or would she think it too old fashion? My sister Carolyn thought Eden was a grandma’s name and that we should have named her Eden’s middle name, which I won’t post due to privacy. It didn’t flow to have the middle name first plus Jon and I really loved the name Eden, so she became Eden.

There’s been some discussion on names due the the last Stephanie Meyers book, which I just refuse to read because that’s all anyone can talk about and I just don’t like to read books when they’re so popular. I’m strange I know.

Back to the name topic, I’m also a bit of a name snob. I love unique names that aren’t crazy, but just not used, but still pretty. Of course I think Lilah and Eden are beautiful names, though some I’m sure do not.

I rarely care about other people’s children names unless it’s something really odd, strange, or the whole ‘lets give a crazy spelling to a popular name so they’re different’ thing. I like simple and unique for my own children, hence why we will never have an Aaliyah, even though Jon loves that name. It’s just too hard plus we have a Lilah and I find them to similar. (I’m considering Roxie for a girl name, Jon loves the name Roxie and it’s starting to grow on me with it’s unique strangeness, but I think it will still have to be a middle name, though he says he would call her Roxie even if it was a middle name.)

Lilah will probably have to say, Lilah with an ‘H”, but the h is there because it’s Hebrew, not because we ‘just felt like it’.

Eden I’m sure will have to repeat ” ‘E’ – Eden not Aidan” for part of her life, I’ve already had to do that. Of course I always have to say” Lacey with an ‘E’ “and “That’s B-lake, with a ‘B’, not Lake.”

I also find my name odd because I don’t think it’s a ageless name, ageless in the way that I think it fits younger people but not grandma’s. I don’t ever think of a middle aged women or elderly person when I hear Lacey.
Jonathan is ageless. Lilah I feel is also more of a young name, like through high school, and then it’s a grandma name. I had a few old ladies tell me that had never heard of the name Lilah except for one friend they had. Apparently they all knew the same Lilah. 😉

I think Eden is also ageless like Jonathan. Maybe it’s because she is young to me and I can see the name being for any age, but I feel it’s a name that fits all ages.

So what age is your name or your children’s? Do you think it fits every age, or iss it a good youth name, or is it a good grandma or grandpa name?

When people tell you they miss having young children do you wish you had selective memory like they obviously do? Because it couldn’t have been all good, all the time.

We’re watching the Olympic Mens gymnastics. Kevin Tan, for team USA, was doing the rings and Lilah declares:

“I really want to tickle his armpits.”

I asked why and she replied:

“They look ticklish.”

We do a lot of arm pit tickling in this house.

Lilah’s been obsessed with Jack, Andrea and Brien’s dog. We’re going to be camping with them later this month and since it’s on the horizon, still far away, but close enough that all she can think about is Andrea, Brien, Ely, camping, and Jack.

Case in point. She wrote this letter to Jack last week.

She wrote this letter to Andrea and Brien the same day. Well I wrote it but she dictated it to me.

She drew this picture for Andrea and Brien while at Grandma Blake’s on Friday.

That’s Andrea and Brien in the upper right corner.  She’s writing “It’s Lilah” on all of them.

She drew this picture during sacrament on Sunday.

She drew these Monday.

Before Lilah added the spots Eden told her “That’s a cute mouse Lilah.”

She also had me write a letter to her friend Britta about how Jack is so nice to kids and she should meet Jack. I didn’t get a copy of that one though.

I’m enjoying her art and her willingness to start writing letters and words. I’m happy she’s writing any letters and trying to write new words.

This is pencil.

Yeah, I guess we need to work with sounding out words, but I’m happy she tried, and I was sleeping so she wasn’t able to ask me.

It was a hint to Eden that she needed to find the pencil so she could find the pictures Lilah had drawn for her while she had taken her nap.

I’m loving her new love of drawing and writing.
(Did you notice the dog, even in a picture for her sister.)

So I’ve become hooked on a new blog/ website. thepioneerwoman.com

I love it and it’s been lots of fun looking at her different blog post.

I also love the look of her recipes, except the fact that I can’t make most of them because of Jon, so I would be left eating the very fattening food alone, or sharing with the girls, but would still be eating the bulk of it.

I ventured to make this recipe though. I bought a lot of blueberries at Costco and made it last night.
The girls and I enjoyed it this afternoon while watching Cinderella III.

It was tasty.

So, I actually forgot to make Eden’s video for her birthday. (I think it was lost in my mind somewhere.) So, today I made the video celebrating her first three years of life, though half of it is pictures from her first year. (She was such a a cute baby.)

Since I’ve made a few of these some of the pictures will be duplicates, but what can you say, if it’s a cute picture it’s a cute picture.
And the song is the same one I used for Lilah’s, but I love it too much and have not found another song that I like better.

Eden watched the video twice tonight and enjoyed it. I’m just happy she’s young enough to not care that it’s a little late.

I’ll post events and pictures from the birthday celebrations later.

I know while growing up we all had things we secretly wanted to be, do, or be recognized for. I had several things and in a way I would still love to accomplish some of them, if only I knew how or maybe if I put a lot of time and effort into them. For the most part I’m happy just dreaming about them and maybe someday I’ll accomplish one.

I’d like to share some of my secret wishes for talents I wish I had.

When I was little I wanted to be the voice to a major character in a Disney cartoon. Of course when I was little I wanted to be Ariel in The Little Mermaid, or Bell in Beauty and the Beast. I knew every line and hoped that one day my voice would somehow be discovered.
I continue to dream this, though I know singing is not something I’d want to do, but talking, I could do that and how awesome would it be to be in like a Pixar film, and I’d be happy with just two lines.

Becoming a wonderful writer is next on my list of my secret talents that I want to develop. Now I’m still young and I have a lot of life to live, but writing something unique and interesting or making the norm interesting is hard for me or I only get the creative bug every once in a while. I love a few blogs where the writers can make anything funny or elegant.
I’d be happy just being a really good blog writer, but I would also love to write a book.

I’m sure most writers would love to be featured on Oprah’s book list and if I were to publish that would be an honor. Now I’m not some big Oprah fan. I don’t even watch her, but to be on her book list would mean millions of dollars in free publicity, probably after spending a nice sum to be noticed. I’ve wanted to write non-fiction, fiction, a memoir or even a book about dealing with skin cancer and collecting stories of how it’s affected different people. Things that I find interesting, but wonder if I could make them interesting to others.

Next on my list is becoming a great public or motivational speaker. This wasn’t something I wanted when I was younger, but it goes hand in hand with wanting public approval on a grand scale, like writing a best seller. At one time I wanted to be a great singer, which I still do to some degree, but that’s kinda morphed into wanting to be a great public speaker. I really enjoy teaching adults and speaking in sacrament. I just have to have a good topic to speak on so I can speak for a long period of time. I don’t have any training outside of what I’ve learned at church and I wouldn’t want to be one of those phony public speakers, but a genuine one without all the gimmicks. I just need to become an expert in something.

I’ve always wanted to dance but I have very poor rhythm so it will probably never happen, but like my friend Elizabeth I love watching dance shows and wish I could be even half as talented as those performers.

A great cake decorator, baker, or candy maker. I feel I lack some of the natural creative talent, I’m good at mimicking but not always coming up with ideas. Plus all the time it would take to practice and all the weight those around me and myself would gain as I practiced.

Lastly a great criminal psychologist. I minored in criminal justice because it’s fascinating to me, though I don’t know if I could stomach being a criminal psychologist in the serial murder or sexual abuse way, though that’s the most fascinating at the same time.

It’s funny because I know I could accomplish many of these goals to some degree, but I’m not sure how to take them to the next level and I doubt my creative talent immensely. Which Jon says creativity in all in your head. If you think you are creative you can be creative. If you think you aren’t then you’re not.

Sewing is one of the few things I feel I’m somewhat good at, but then I read my Sew News magazine and realize how little I know and understand. I feel I could get really good at it if I had the time and space for all the right materials and became proficient in the lingo.

Jon sent me a link to this video on Ira Glass from This American Life air on getting through the suck. It’s about how everyone has bad periods where they’re learning and the finished product is still not as good as they want it and they know they can do better.

I feel as though the finished project isn’t what I want, but I’m not sure how to get it better because I have little confidence in my abilities.

I hope to get through the suck someday and tap one of these hidden desires/ potentials.

What’s something you’ve always wanted to do/ become?

Since Elizabeth left a comment on enjoying some past memories and since my sister Andrea just posted this I thought it might also be fun to do.

Here’s how you do it:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

It was after dinner a few nights ago and Eden started talking about her toes being skinny and asking if my toes were skinny.

After a little bit it appeared that she didn’t know what skinny was so I was trying to explain by using the opposite of skinny, fat.

Then Eden told me I was fat.

Thanks babe.