Snowbird Tram

After a delicious breakfast at IHOP we took a drive back up the canyon and this time stopped at Snowbird to ride their tram up to the top. It was beautiful even though the kids were super whiny. Easton just wanted to go home. :/ Nathan and I want to go back someday when we can go without kids so we can attempt the hike back down the mountain. Someday...


Then we came home and watched an excellent session of conference. Although with Easton asking how many more minutes we had left of conference the whole time we both agreed that we got more out of the 3 talks we listened to on the way up to Snowbird than in the whole two hours we watched at home. I guess that's life with kids. Its so great they print them out in the Ensign!


Lincoln will NOT sit down and watch a TV show. Nothing interests him. But golf? Yep.



Lincoln had a rough day today. He's actually had a rough couple of days and hasn't napped well if at all. This is the tantrum he threw when we got out of the car. Super wet diaper and all. Needless to say, it took him FOREVER to fall asleep and he only slept at most for an hour. YIKES.

Cecret Lake

Finally something worth posting about this week. Nathan was gone from Sunday at noon til Friday at 5:30 in Atlanta. I'm usually just fine keepin' it together when he's gone but this time I don't know why but I had a ROUGH time. My poor kids. The week just dragged. But now he's back and all is right with the world! :)

I've been planning this hike to Snowbird Lake for a long time. We drove up and asked a guy at Snowbird if he knew where it was...cuz the place was a LOT bigger than I imagined! He had no clue at all. So we kept driving and made our way to Alta ski resort. Asked the lady there and she said "oh you mean Cecret Lake?". Er, okay, yep that's what we meant! It was a half mile longer each way than I thought making the round trip 2 miles instead of 1, but the kids did awesome and I loved every second of being out in the mountains. The lake was totally hidden until you are right on top of it. And we showed up at the perfect time since as we were making our way back down a HUGE group of people were going up.

I like this picture

This looks a little lame compared to the real thing but the mountains were just starting to get their fall color and that big mountain with nothing on it was SO beautiful! It was like different colors of rocks all swirled together. (can you spot the copper mines?)

If I was not pregnant I would have so climbed that rock instead of Nathan.

Fun in Boise

We had such a great time in Boise! While Nathan and his brothers and Dad were having a blast golfing and attending the BYU game, we were doing all sorts of fun things in Boise. Easton was absolutely enamored with Grandpa Seibel and just had to do every single thing that he did. All day.

We spent our first day hiking in the Boise foothills. Easton LOVES hiking. Since my dad was on call for work we couldn't go hiking in the mountains but he didn't care. But he does want to know where the roads are to get up to the mountains, so Nathan and I are planning on taking him hiking for reals sometime soon before the weather gets too cold. Lincoln loved it too but he tripped and fell a lot and it was pretty hot. Next year I"m sure he'll do a lot better.

Our next day we went to the old train depot in Boise. It has a beautiful view with gardens and a pond with huge koi and of course, an old train. The kids loved it. I LOVEd playing there as a kid so its fun to take them there too.

While Lincoln and I were napping my dad set up his old Lionel electric train set for Easton. Easton was seriously in love. He played with it for about 6 hours. Not kidding. He was so careful with the trains and just loved to watch it go around and around. Now he wants an electric train for his birthday....great. I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in trains!!

Sunday was church and then on Monday while my mom and sister and I were shopping Easton stayed at home with grandpa. They set up the tent in the backyard and then my dad taught him how to pick green beans. Easton wanted to even try the green beans that he picked that night for dinner. That's pretty huge for Easton. He also wanted to try a tomato in from the backyard. He didn't like either of them, but it gives me hope that as he watches us grow our own food he will want to try them more and more and learn that most food is pretty darn good :)

There are seriously so many pictures to go through because my sister is a great photographer and I keep telling her she needs to buy a good camera and work on that talent!

Quilt Retreat

I have been meaning to blog about this forever but I still haven't gotten the pictures from April. (hint hint). Luckily I snapped a few on the last day just for fun. We had the first Judd Quilt Retreat at Uncle Charles' cabin. It was a blast! I was lucky enough to even go. My sister called at the last minute and offered to babysit for me since Nathan was out of town. I was tentative to ask my sisters at first but when they said they actually wanted to...I jumped at the chance! So I drove down on Monday night and got there at 11pm. I was fully expecting to be able to go to bed (hello my pregnant self was tired) but as soon as I got there Nathan's Aunt Sharon told me to get a drink, get a snack, and get my sewing machine and get started! Yikes! I think I stayed up sewing until about 12:30 or 1, but I was lucky enough to get a bunkbed in the room where we set up all of the machines and people were sewing until at least 2 or 3. I don't even know. I wasn't able to fall asleep until they stopped and then I woke up at 5 the next morning and needed to pee so bad but I didn't know how to get down from my bunkbed without falling! (i found out there was a ladder at the end of the bed that was covered up with quilt instructions...cool)

Almost everyone was working on either a lap quilt or queen sized quilt that they all started and finished there. I was SO impressed. A few of the girls had never quilted before ever! I made a table runner that was kind of a little side project for the group and I worked on my Book of Mormon quilt and I GOT IT FINISHED!!! WOOHOO!!! I literally worked all day until about midnight until i just couldn't move anymore. I fell right to sleep I was so tired. I found out the next morning that my mother in law and Sharon stayed up til 3:30 or 4 in the morning working on their quilts. Now that is dedication! Anyway, I finished my quilt the next day and it is off to the quilters! I can't wait to hang it up in my house.

It was seriously so fun yet SO exhausting but I loved every minute of it. I went running with Cheryl in the mornings with beautiful scenery to keep us going, we had AMAZING food (hello those Judds can cook) and awesome company. I hope they do another one!

I can't figure out how to separate and arrange the pictures better but here is what it looked like in the basement, the beautiful sunset view from the cabin, more sew-ers, and a sample of the quilt tops people did. Everyone's fabric was so different and it all came out looking awesome. I couldn't choose a favorite.

Kennecott Copper Mine

I felt so bad for Easton today when he kept asking me when quiet time was. He just could not wait to watch a show. I told Nathan how depressing that was, that the only exciting thing he had to look forward to during the day was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and that we should do something or go some where. So...10 minutes later we were out the door to the Kennecott Copper Mines which are SO close to our house. It is pretty incredible. I'd been there before but I think it was in 8th grade or something. It is the biggest copper mine in the world. Its like 2 1/2 miles wide and 3/4 of a mile deep. They have 70 gigantic dumptrucks that can carry something like 300 TONS! Easton just went wild. It was like he'd died and gone to heaven. He was just in awe of the dumptrucks and MASSIVE diggers (which, by the way, can hold 70 tons in just one "bite"). Lincoln was in heaven too. He absolutely loved looking at the tractors.


The dumptrucks look so small and so does the digger.


Be amazed that Easton is even in this picture. This tire is a little intimidating. Oh and Nathan hadn't been here for 15 years or so but he did remember that one of these tires cost $25,000. I should have taken a picture of the plaque that had all the stats on it. That is one expensive tire!

Oh and they had a pretty impressive tractor collection in the visitors center. Lincoln just kept saying "WHOA!!!!" when he walked from case to case. I can totally see Easton working here someday. It would honestly be his dream job. Maybe he could be their CFO? :)

After that I decided I would take Easton to see Toy Story 3. I loved it, he loved it. It was such a great day! So great, that Easton - FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER - fell asleep on the couch after the movie.

*not necessarily a good thing because its 11:05 and he's still awake

Things have been tough for Easton so it was fun to give him something fun to do today! I love my little (big) boy!

Getting out of the house

We have been cooped up for the past 2 days waiting for things like our furniture to come, blinds to be installed, and our phone jacks to be repaired. I'm getting really tired of strange men in my house. Easton isn't really shy at all. He'll go up to them and say "hey! How's it goin'?". I was going crazy and I felt so bad for my kids so today I left the house super early (I left it a MESS too) and we went grocery shopping, dropped the groceries off and then went on over to the aquarium that is in Sandy. It doesn't even touch Sea World, but Lincoln loves it and Easton still enjoys it and it is a fun quick little outing.

(not the greatest picture, but whatever)

Its not over for my kids today either. I plan on taking them to the library and then on a walk. Easton prays for walks every night. He loves them. But I need to get some books so I can ban the TV for the next week or two. Easton is addicted like you wouldn't believe and lately I have been giving in because...well....its easier. I'm totally ashamed.

Oh and guess what? We are finally going on a date this weekend and for the first time in the world we are PAYING a babysitter. Sad day. But date night is a must and totally worth the money! WOOHOO!!

Newport Back Bay

I have a friend (and she has two boys!!!!) who recently told me she goes hiking every Friday and finds new places to go. I'm bummed that we are moving because I love discovering beautiful places. Newport Back Bay was definitely beautiful. If you live around here, GO!!! Its so close*. Theres also a fun nature center or whatever that has fun games and toys for the kids. Oh and its free parking! Here are some pictures...





Easton and Nixon had a blast throwing sticks in to the river. Here is Easton's biggest stick. He did it all by himself!


Lincoln LOVED wandering around. He thought it was pretty cool.

*to get there go north on the 405, get off on McArthur and go left, then turn right on Campus Dr. Go til you hit University and its the first parking lot on your left.

Stuff

Well, since we are moving now life is probably going to get a little crazy. Thankfully Nathan's new job is hiring a moving company for us and we won't have to do much besides pack the boxes since I would feel weird having someone else pack my stuff. But there is still a ton that i want to get done before I go. Like see all our friends and hang out with family as much as we can, go to the beach, maybe go up to LA to get some fabric for the house that i have NO IDEA how to decorate. (I am going to need some major help so I'll definitely be asking for it!) I have some other sewing projects I want to get done before I'm away from my technical support group (i.e. cheryl and elizabeth), and I don't want to gain 10 pounds from all the stress eating I am doing right now. Oh, and I want to try and keep my house somewhat decent because for some reason all this stress and anxiousness to move makes me not want to clean as much)

Anyways...so there's a lot that happened last week. The day we found out that Nathan got the job, well the very moment, we were on a whale watching trip. We didn't see any whales but lots of dolphins and it was just fun to be on the water. I didn't really enjoy it as much as I would have since Nathan got the phone call ON the boat.





We left Easton with grandma Judd and all the cousins and we left for St. George that night. We got in at two in the morning and oh man. WE WERE TIRED! Lincoln sure was a trooper thats for sure. We spent the next few days looking at houses. It was fun yet tiring and hard to find the perfect house. We made an offer and we're supposed to find out more today but nothing so far. I took pictures of it but I'll show you more if it goes through I guess. I don't really want to get my hopes up too much. So here is what the front looks like. it has 4 bedrooms on the top floor with a large loft and it has a beautiful kitchen. BEAUTIFUL. It was a model home so it has all the bells and whistles. We really really love it.


It was really fun to just have Lincoln with us. We totally missed Easton and we talked about him every day, but it was fun to have one on one time with Linky. He is such a sweetheart and was so good. He's also a big cheese ball. Love him.


Oh, I finished the squares on the book of mormon quilt. Its not anywhere near done, but I feel like it was a big accomplishment. I actually really loved doing it and it was a great experience. I thought a lot about the story being depicted on the block as I was sewing and as crazy as it sounds it reaffirmed my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true! Who knew sewing would do that to you? Now I am kind of lost when I am sitting watching TV with nothing to do! I hate just sitting there now! Kind of bad, but also really kind of good.

Oh and I love this picture of both of my kids playing with flour

Well, that's all for now. No guarantees on how much I'll be posting but hopefully we get some good house news this week!