the Graham Cracker House

As may or may not have been proclaimed from the mountain tops: I turned thirty this month!  Kind of a big deal.  I kept thinking of awesome ways to celebrate, but as it turns out, being 30 weeks pregnant and just being at home with my big and little boy were enough to make it grand.   We just packed the Saturday full of small treats like:

* Breakfast in Bed (small) from my favorite boys

*Kneaders french toast for Brunch

*taking Gabriel to library storytime as a family so he could meet Curious George. (when I found out about this Curious George one I knew he would love it.  When I realized it was on my birthday  I thought "What better way to make me happy then to see my 2 year old in happy heaven!). He did love seeing George and was only a wee squirmy

*pedicure with a good friend. We talked the whole time. It went by way too fast!

*pumpkin patch with my family

* home made dinner (my husband is amazing) with my favorite mashed potatoes.

*Redbox and Ben and Jerry's to finish up the night.   Nothing too spectacular.

I had planned to see a play at the Hale Center Theater for my birthday, but tickets were sold out for that night.  So my birthday present to myself was 2 tickets to Catch Me If You Can for October 25th.  We loved it!  Bjorn enjoys musicals so much when he is there.  I love sharing that with him.

What I really want to record here is some of the things I have accomplished in my 30 years on this year, and list some things I HOPE to accomplish in the next 30 years.

THINGS I HAVE DONE:

graduated college
got married
have 2 kids
worked as an RN at an amazing pediatric hospital.  I have done well and learned a lot here!  I am a clinical coach (meaning I precept and orient nursing students and new hires) and I am the "surgical clinical expanded role" (meaning I go to meetings and plan and present stuff to our staff and make sure everyone's up to date and help teach and do audits on everyones charting.... answer emails,  etc)
bought a house
bought a car (a few now)
Alaska Cruise
Disney Bahamas Cruise
attended all 4 Walt Disney World Parks in one day
several small road trips with my family of 3
brought my family to a professional conference at a fancy shmancy hotel (they played while I worked)
spent over 20 hours (total) on an airplane, with a toddler, while pregnant
learned to make homemade bread
received a professional pedicure, manicure, and a massage
mountain biked the pipeline trail in Millcreek
been to New York, LA, DC, Houston, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Indianapolis, Las Vegas
been to 35 states and 8 countries
visited 5 different zoos in America

THINGS I WANT TO DO:

become certified to teach yoga or Zumba
go on a mission to Arkansas and teach the restored gospel to the Dugger family :)
tour Italy
participate in ski to sea race 
attend a non-classical music concert (believe it or not I have NEVER been to a real concert)
make homemade cinnamon rolls
plan family reunions for MY future  generations/grandkids
live in a beach house
go to Mexico
give birth unmedicated (**ACCOMPLISHED with the birth of baby boy #2!)
prepare my sons for missions

As the summer sun slowly sets behind us and we welcome with open hearts a wonderful fall, I'd like to take a moment to share some of the accomplishments and lessons learned in our little family during the summer of 2014 ('cause I'm not making a blog post for each event!)

Learned to whip egg whites.  To those of you amazing chefs and homemakers and avid cooks out there this may not be a big deal. But it was a first for me. I whipped those egg whites (with a little help from Gabe, and some you tube tutorial) to go in a delectable homemade cheesecake for Bjorn's birthday.  I would even do it again.

Bjorn has met every single one of my 44 cousins. I think we're at 44.  Counting both sides of the family, but not spouses.  The big "wahoo" about this (besides the fact that there are 44ish of them) is that they live in many different states scattered across the US, and that he is the ONLY in-law to have ever accomplished this task.  The culminating figure was Brandon (#2), who happened to swing by from Minnesota for the wedding of cousin #12 (ish)  this summer.    (I am #4 BTW)

We survived the longest road trip our family has ever taken. Driving from Anacortes, WA, all the way home to West Valley City, UT.  14.5 hours.  (Gabe and I had flown up the Washington a lot earlier than Bjorn could get time off work for).  I wasn't too worried about it. Gabriel always does great in the car. And I don't mind waking up at 5 am to get the drive done in one day.  I did, however, forget to factor in the fact that I would be 26 weeks pregnant. This meant I was NOT able to get comfortable enough to SLEEP in the car. At all.  After my 4 hours stint of driving through Seattle, I spent the rest of the road trip entertaining Gabriel and wishing I was sleeping.  I even made Bjorn pull over at a rest stop in middle of no where Idaho just so I could lay out a blanket and lie down for 10 minutes.  I'm sure future road trips will be fine. I'll just remember not to go more than 10 hours when I am over 25 weeks prego.  New rule.

All three of us made good use of our 7-peaks pass of all passes. Meaning, we got them in time to get a good deal, redeemed them in time, and went enough times to 7-peaks (and hollywood connections and Tracy Aviary) to make it totally worth it.  Even though 7 peaks SLC is pretty lame.  For our last trip there we splurged and rented a tube.  Gabe fell asleep in my lap (after much finagling to get everyone comfortable) as we rocked with the waves in the tidal pool.  good times.

...And Gabriel has taken six airplane trips, all completely free.  On his last flight the crew and entire plane of passengers even sang him happy birthday and commented that he will never fly again- free.  This I know all too well. And with two kids.... it might be a while before I make a frequent habit of flying again.

I am also proud that Bjorn's family has started a family newsletter- with a little tiny nudging and encouragement and explanation on my part.  It is running strong for 3 months now. I take some credit for that.

And I guess the fact that Baby #2 is alive and well and moving around tons and probably happy and healthy should count for something as well.

What a summer!