Moses Lake or Bust

One of the greatest benefits of Stephen working from home is the amount of time he has gotten to spend with Baby Ada. Well, that and the fact that I never have to bring kids with me to the grocery store anymore (silver lining!), but mostly the Ada thing. This baby loves to sit by Stephen while he works and chew on his mouse, extra keyboard, or Panic Pete (his stress relieving friend). Also, Ada gives better cuddles than any baby I have ever known and we are all here for it. 

We were enjoying being back to our regular quarantine routine and everything was going fine until I started chatting with my sisters. Kristy decided she had had enough of being stuck in Duvall with nothing to do, so she and Declan took off to Moses Lake to hang out at Mom and Dad's. Trevor came up and saw them over the weekend and they just decided to stay for a while because they were having so much fun. Courtney had been stuck at home super quarantining since Curtis is working at the hospital and clinic right now, so they are the most likely to be infected, but that meant a lot of time with just her and her kids and nothing to do (seriously, her neighbor yelled at her because her children playing in their backyard were upsetting his dog) and so she had had enough and decided that she was coming to Moses Lake, too. I was immediately so jealous! It wasn't as if I could hop on a plane to join them like I usually would. Courtney texted me saying she would love it if I could come too, but no pressure it would just totally make her birthday and I immediately started mapping routes. I went to Stephen and said, "What if I told you I wanted to drive to Moses Lake?" and he said, "Ok." Shocked, I said, "What if I told you it's a 21-hour drive?" and he said, "Ok." And that is why my husband rocks. 

We left for St George on a Friday in the evening. We spent the next day playing in the pool and hanging out with cousins and golfing. On Sunday we loaded up in the car early and psyching ourselves up to spend a day trapped on the road. The nice thing about the drive to Moses Lake is that it is all so familiar to me, so I actually find the scenery pretty enjoyable. We had to stop at Lowe's to pick something up for my mom's current home project and the Lowe's she picked happen to be about a five minute walk from Madalyn's apartment, so we were able to stop and chat with her for a minute and she FINALLY met Ada. It was the best little fortuitous gift. The ride actually went really well. Stephen drove most of the way and we rotated between listening to Hank Smith talks, to the Frozen 2 soundtrack (whenever we were trying to put Ada to sleep) and then whatever we had loaded on our own devices. Rory sat in the back with her headphones and iPad and quietly watched Disney movies or slept the entire drive, pausing only temporarily to yell for a snack or a drink every so often. She is the best. And Ada, for all the car hating she did early on, actually did surprisingly well!  At one point, just a few miles outside of Boise, we got stuck behind a wreck at a very poor time when we both were starving and all needed a restroom. We were paused for about an hour and were almost resorting to all using Ada's diapers when things finally started to move again. In the end we made it out alive and were so happy to see Grammy and Grandpa and all of the cousins!

As soon as I arrived I found out that my parents had booked Kendall a flight out since we had quite a little reunion going so she and Ethan got there the following morning and there was so much cute baby cousin fun time. 

The best part of quarantining together was that we really had nowhere to go and nothing to do. I can't remember the last time we were altogether and didn't have every day scheduled out with things to get done. It was crazy to have nothing to do at the dance studio, but we all loved mom's undivided attention and boy, did she deserve the break!

Here are some things we enjoyed doing together in no particular order. There was story time with Grammy every evening, and Rory usually opted to read in the book nook with Grammy all to herself instead of joining in on cousin reading time. We also got to do a lot of dance parties once everyone had their jammies on, and as always the Goldfish Song was the hit of the night. 

We loved heading outside for some bike riding time. There are one million varieties of toys with wheels to choose from and the perfect number of helmets for the crew that we had together. I remember always being scared to ride down the hill on anything (anything being a scooter because I couldn't ride a bike for forever) but none of these kids even bat an eye at it! The weather was perfect and we could sit and chat on camping chairs while kids rolled around and occasionally fought over whose turn it was. Grammy even gave some magical tours of the garden in the red wagon and they were such a hit that the older boys almost immediately tried to knock off her idea and start their own guided tours. 

Most of the days were a little cool to truly enjoy the lake, but we still got out there and braved the cold water a couple of times. I finally got to try paddleboarding and I loved it! I was nervous about having a child with me on my first attempt, but it was Dean and he was just as cautious as I was about staying exactly in the center of the board and not rocking too much. Rory came out on my second attempt once I had learned the ropes a little better, which is a blessing because she was much less cautious than Dean. She had no problem standing up instead of sitting (like the other kids were) and I had to battle her several times in order to regain control of the oar. We also blew up the giant flamingo and the kids enjoyed jumping on and off of it while it slowly succumbed to the holes popped in it's side in a previous summer. I love the picture of bare bottomed Rory at the edge of the dock because 1) I'm not exactly sure why she took her bottoms off and 2) that's my dad in the boat in the background trying to keep the boat from sinking because he forgot to put the plug back in after they winterized the boat- again. Same thing happens every year and it's never not a little funny. He had to keep the boat going a certain speed because if he slowed down enough the boat would take on water and start sinking and it was quite the drama trying to get the lift ready for the boat to dock. At one point mom had to rush to the detach garage to get the heavy lift battery, which she then hefted onto one of the kids scooters and rode down as far as she could. Once the boat was finally on the lift Courtney was the brave soul who jumped in the muck to try to get the plug back on, while my own husband sat there watching her and saying, "There is no chance I am going in there." when she had difficulty getting the job done. So much for rocking. Haha, only kidding. 

There was lots of cousin trampoline time and zero trampoline injuries, which is really quite the feat. 

The cutie cousin babies were rarely awake at the same time, but when they were together they spent a lot of time stealing toys and whacking each other. True friendship. Ethan is very physical and loves to be standing up or trying to scoot around and Ada just sits there and watches him. They are so fun to watch together. 

One thing we did A LOT of is baking. One of our main goals was to make a fancy cake for Courtney's birthday and it turned out so good! We did a brown butter Rice Krispy treat cake. We also made a Dark chocolate strawberry truffle cake, which was also delicious. We made several cheesecakes, copycat Crumbl cookies, banana muffins, creme brulee, and all kinds of other delicious things. The funny thing was that my mom's oven was broken so the temperatures were way off and it couldn't hold a steady temp and you had to keep constantly watching every little thing. Most things came out alright, but we definitely had a few burnt casualties. When we weren't baking we were completing puzzles left and right, and I was actually good at them! I'm telling you, it was the most magical trip. 

Before we officially decided to come to Moses Lake, my dad sent a text to Stephen promising free golf for his whole visit. Stephen was a champion and worked all day in my mom's office while I played with my sisters. My dad invited him to golf every day, and I think he managed to get out once or twice, but he ended up with a larger workload than he had originally had when we planned this trip. Anyways, upon arrival my dad told us that the Coeur D'Alene resort was running a special so the boys were going to go golf Saturday morning and then Stephen and I and Brad and Jules would all go stay the night at the resort (while my sisters watched our kids!). For the record, I would have never asked Courtney to watch my children on her birthday. I specifically drove 21 hours to spend her birthday with her! But like I said, this was all planned and decided before I arrived, so I wasn't about to turn down a free vacay!

The boys left early in the morning for their tee time, but Jules and I didn't take off until the afternoon. We met up with the boys and got all checked in. Stephen and I ended up with the strangest but coolest room. It was on the penthouse floor, but it was basically an extra room they crammed in with the windows all around. When we checked out the lady told us they refer to it as the birdhouse room, and that's exactly what it felt like. It had an amazing view and was so quirky and cozy. 

Luckily for us, it was the first weekend that Idaho was opening back up, so there was tons for us to do. We had a delicious dinner out, went for a walk along the water, and then tried our luck at an escape room. We got out just in the nick of time, and headed back to the resort for an ice cream sundae. In the morning we slept in and then grabbed a quick breakfast at a local bakery before driving back to our kids. It was one of my top weekends ever. 

As our unplanned Coeur D'Alene adventure ate up our weekend, we were forced to stay another week since we would need a full two days to drive home. Oh what a bother. We did even more baking, puzzling, biking, boating, and playing and had the best time. We had so much fun playing we felt renewed enough to take on another project and so we helped my mom fix up the playroom. We took down all the old decals and painted it sky blue for a jungle theme. I didn't take a picture of the final product of the room, but I did catch Prince Harry blue-pawed. 

One of our other highlights was getting to visit with Grandma and have her see Ada again. I'm so glad we remembered to take a picture this time and that Stephen was actually with us to see her. I love my grandma so much and I'm grateful for every minute that I get to spend with her. When we got there, Grandma was finishing up visiting with Donna and Dennis and so Rory and I waited for them to finish their game while Stephen and Ada went to visit with Uncle Doug. Rory sat down and said, "So she's looking very old today. I wonder if she's going to die soon?" with the ease in which one might say, "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" This girl kills me. When we actually had Grandma's full attention Rory was sweet as can be and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. I'm grateful for the ease she feels around old people because I know that is not the case for a lot of kids. 

Just like Ada enjoying her first Oreo, our weeks in Moses Lake were pure bliss! I love being at home and I love being with my family and I especially love sharing all my favorite things with my little family. In the midst of all this uncertainty and unrest, it was exactly what my heart needed. 

We finally made our way back home on Saturday and once again the kids did a fantastic job in the car. We stopped in Provo to have dinner with Bryan at Cafe Rio and even though our visit was short it was so much fun to see him in person. He was just finishing up his first round of med school applications and we are so so proud of him. Rory was most interested in turning her movie back on and Ada was most interested in trying to eat my salad, but they are so lucky to have him as an uncle. 

We stayed the night in St George once again and played at Grandma and Poppop's all Sunday. Monday was a holiday so we were able to take our time. We left Monday and stopped in Vegas to eat lunch with Kacey and Jon and John and Ashleigh's crew. Kacey picked up delicious sandwiches for us all to share completely last minute because she is the best like that. Seriously I said, be there in an hour or so and without any more questions she just took care of the rest. I got to see all 6 of my siblings in one week in the middle of a pandemic even though I don't live in the same state as any of them, and if that is not a miracle then I don't know what is! Thank you coronavirus. 

Quarantine Level Up

By the time April came upon us we were all getting just a tad stir crazy. The Team Dance season had come and gone with no events. Stephen worked tirelessly to finish up his busy season in the discomfort of our guest room. The first full week of April, once Stephen filed his client, we were supposed to be going to Mexico with my parents and just Ada. We were able to get a refund for our Southwest flights and the resort allowed us to postpone our trip for a year, but boy was I disappointed. I had so many things to look forward to in January that it didn't matter that it was so stinky, but now I had nothing! Stephen decided to keep the time off of work and we packed up the car and headed to St George instead. We checked with all his siblings first because we didn't want to risk getting anyone sick, but we had been pretty cautious about our quarantining and the only thing we had left the house for was an occasional grocery run or walk around the neighborhood, and in the end everyone was fine with it. 

Ada has always had clogged tear ducts, first in both eyes, then mostly just her left eye. We were told if it doesn't clear up by nine months that they sometimes require surgery, and for some reason it got particularly bad right before we left for St George, right as she turned nine months. 

Also, my quarantine baking was not just limited to cakes and I started working on homemade pretzels. I made salty pretzels with cheese dip one day and they were so good that I had to try to make a dessert pretzel with cinnamon sugar and frosting the next day. They popped out of the oven as we were finishing packing up the car so we bagged them and the frosting up and brought them along as a car snack. 

We had been tentatively planning to leave for St George on Saturday morning, but Rory spent all of Friday asking when we were leaving and was way too excited to turn down, so we ended up just packing up and taking off that night. As we packed she spent about an hour just sitting strapped into her car seat saying she was ready to go. She LOVES Grandma and Poppop's house. 

The girls did great on the drive, Rory watched movies and Ada slept a little bit, and we got there around 1 am. Rory popped awake as soon as we pulled into the driveway and instantly ran inside to find Grandma and Poppop and the special princess bed. It was the cutest thing in the world to see her little half awake body so giddy with excitement. She made Grandma promise that she would play with her in the little kitchen and that we could swim in the pool and then she happily passed out for the rest of the night. 

We woke up just in time to catch the first session of General Conference and had fresh Grandma Pancakes waiting for us. Ada is a true Marsh and devoured them happily. Lucina made all sorts of Conference activities for Rory to do, complete with special crayons and stickers to use. I was able to pay more attention to the messages than I have been for the last couple of years and I didn't fall asleep once while watching it (although my nap in between the morning and afternoon sessions went a little long so I missed the first couple talks of that one). It was a lovely conference weekend, and it made me reminisce about watching conference at the Marshes when Stephen and I were engaged, just two months before we were going to get married. How was that already five years ago!? 

Ada thinks Poppop is the funniest guy and she spent all week growling and shaking her hand at him. They would have growling conversations back and forth all day and she thought it was just the best. She also loved all the food that Grandma made and always having someone that wanted to hold her and cuddle her. This baby lives to be held and she was in baby heaven. 

Corona virus didn't shut down the golf courses since it's a sport you can easily socially distance yourselves while playing, so Stephen and John were able to go out just about every day and play a round. 

Nate and Linne had been keeping their distance from John and Lucina's house since Nate still had to be going in to work every day, but when we came they decided they were ready to expand their circles a little more. They came over to swim and then stayed to play for a little while and Rory was in cousin heaven. At one point she needed a little break and I let her watch Moana on the iPad (I think after watching so many movies on road trips she goes through a little withdrawal or something) and when I went to check on her she and Tanner had cuddled up to watch it together. Tanner and Rory get along so well and I love watching the two of them play together. 

One of the days Linne suggested we all do a hike together because she is so good about getting her kids out the house and doing something every day. We went in the late afternoon so that the golfers could join us. I went back and forth on whether we would join them or not, but in the end Ada woke up from her nap just in time to hop in the car and go so we decided to just go for it. We were a little under prepared, and quickly realized it when we saw Linne's group with their hiking backpacks and exercise clothes. It was hot out and I had not applied any sunscreen to our crew, nor did I bring enough snacks. We strapped Ada into the carrier, careful to keep her covered from the sun, and took off anyways. Rory loved hiking and exploring with her cousins and I was amazed at how well she did. We walked for a while, stopping to snack and drink every once in a while. At one point we took a little break in the shade while the kids climbed up a scaly mountain and Rory told me she needed to pee. I pulled her shorts down to her ankles and tried to help her sit back in a squatting position to relieve herself, but she ended up peeing all over her shorts while Stephen looked on bewildered with how poorly I seemed to have handle the situation. Her shorts and one side of socks and shoes were now all covered in urine. She didn't seem too bothered by it and ran over to slide down the mountain with her cousins some more, resulting in a dirt/urine combo streak running down her back side. 

Rory remained happy and oblivious until it was time to begin hiking again, at which point she remembered that she was covered in urine, tired, and uncomfortable. Stephen was wearing Ada, I had the heavy diaper bag, and neither of us wanted to carry our pee-soaked toddler. The rest of our party had moved on while we tried to negotiate with her to get her to move even a little bit on her own. All the sudden, John came back around the corner and scooped Rory up on to his shoulders, dirt-covered pee pants and all. I'm going to have this picture blown up for our home and title it "A Grandfather's Love". 

Linne and Stephen decided to run ahead of us to finish the trail and run the two mile dirt road to where we parked the cars so that we wouldn't have to walk with all the kids that far. I took Ada in the carrier and the backpack and John, Lucina, and I tried to wrangle all the kids on our own. We stopped in a shady spot for a minute to allow Linne and Stephen some time to get ahead of us. Cooper instantly threw a rock on a beehive and upset the bees just as Rory threw a rock at Tanner. It was a bit touch and go, but we finally made it to the end of the trail, and took long enough that Stephen and Linne had parked and hiked down to meet us on the way. 

One of the days we headed up to the Rockville house to clean it up and do some yard work. I had a zoom call scheduled with my sisters and shortly after arriving Ada fell asleep in my arms, so while everyone worked around me I got to chat and enjoy a sleeping baby. Any time spent at the Rockville house is time well spent. 

During the week we spent lots and lots of time in the pool. It was the most magical thing because there was still snow on pine mountain and the air still had just a little bit of a chill, but the pool is always heated to 85 degrees. Most mornings while the boys were out golfing and as soon as Ada was down for a nap we would head out to the pool and Rory would swim her little heart out. Towards the end of the week she started getting bold and wanted to go in without her floatie, but that mostly meant she swallowed a ton of water and would come up sputtering and smiling every so often, completely oblivious to the panic she was causing me. 

When Stephen was finally able to join us in the pool we decided to bring Ada in as well for her first pool experience. She loved kicking around and splashing on the step with me, but didn't love when I stopped her from drinking the water. She loved when Stephen swirled her around and would dip her up and down. And the kids loved watching her every move. The cousins all love Ada and want to hold her and think that everything she does it just the cutest and it's funny to see Rory who is usually so ambivalent towards her want to join in on whatever the cousins are doing and suddenly thinks Ada's the best. 

We ended up staying through Easter weekend which I hadn't really anticipated so I didn't bring any of the Easter stuff I had prepped and ready to go. Grandma Blucina saved the day with egg decorating kits, plastic eggs for a hunt, and even Easter cookie cutters for us to make some sugar cookies with. Rory loved decorating eggs with Grandma Blucina, and I loved not having to be in charge of decorating eggs! She even let her use the glitter powder on them, which I most likely would have hidden from her. While they worked on the eggs I whipped up some sugar cookies and Rory helped me frost them once she was done. Then Lucina found some bunny head molds and we even made little rice krispie treat Easter bunnies. It was the most festive Easter we have probably ever had!

Once the boys were back from golfing (a common theme on all our St George trips) we did a fantastic Easter egg hunt in the backyard, and I think Rory thoroughly enjoyed having the hunt all to herself with no one to compete with to find them. She kept stopping to check the candy inside them or to yell at Poppop, "Can you even believe it?! Dad saw the Easter bunny!" 

I didn't get any pictures, but I spent most of the week baking away in the kitchen. We made homemade tortillas, I got a lesson in cinnamon roll making, and we even tried our hand at homemade pizza, though that one went a little wonky and you can't beat Costco pizza anyways. I had the best time chatting with Lucina, using all her fancy kitchen gadgets, and learning all her baking secrets. 

We also spent most evenings playing Marbles, but tensions got so high by the third or fourth night that we decided we needed to change up the activity if our relationships were going to survive the visit and played Mormon Bridge instead. We also watched Count of Monte Cristo together since Stephen and I had just finished it for our book group and we loved comparing the book and the movie (we had both already seen it loads of times it had just been a while). 

When it was time to go back home we were all pretty hesitant to actually leave. 

Rory, the champion of road trips, didn't last long and slept most of the way home, as did Ada. We woke up the next morning to bunny footprints and Easter baskets and celebrated Easter 2.0. 

It was so nice to have a change of scenery and to feel renewed and refreshed and ready to tackle quarantine with a fresh new outlook. Ada kept herself busy with some of her favorite hobbies- kissing herself in the mirror and eating. Any time I hold her up to see herself in the mirror on my closet door, which also doubles as her bedroom right now, she leans forward to lick/kiss/eat her own reflection in the mirror and it is my most favorite thing ever. Nothing brings her more joy than "mirror baby". Except for maybe food. So far she loves all food and does not discriminate against anything that can be put into her mouth. It's funny to me because Rory was always a good eater, but Ada gets a certain amount of joy from eating that just takes it to the next level. Plus, she will lose her mind screaming at you if you are eating something that she does not have. Man, I love this baby. 

To continue my baking streak I tried out a Crumbl cookie copycat recipe and oh my goodness they turned out delicious. So delicious that I want these cookies in our family history so while I am reading about all the cute things my babies did someday I can pause and drool over these cookies I made. Mmmmm... cookies....

I knew that Rory and I would be missing the pool a lot when we got back home, and the community pool is obviously still closed amid all the chaos so I bought her this little blow up pool at Wal Mart. Her excitement was next level. We blew it up, filled it up, and set it under the slide. We also set up the PVC water park Stephen made for her last summer and had our own little splashpad in the backyard. Throw in a popsicle and Rory was basically living her dream. After about fifteen minutes of playing I noticed that she froze abruptly before letting out a giant wail that her foot hurt. She had been stung by a bee and the fun was officially over. We got the stinger out, changed into some comfy clothes, and let Doc McStuffins soothe her pain. She ended up rallying and going out to play in the pool again after quiet time, which impressed me I have to admit. We have gotten some good use out of this pool and so far we haven't had to deal with any more bees. 

One day Rory came to me out of the blue dressed in this get up and told me that she was going on a fairy hunt. She had a hat to protect her from the sun, the fancy dress to attract the fairies and to keep in the sweat, and a hand drawn map she had made to where the fairies would live. She also packed a bag full of snacks and toys, just in case. It was maybe one of my favorite days of being a mom so far. She said I was allowed to accompany her on her quest, so we left a napping Ada home with Stephen and set out on our adventure. We walked around the neighborhood and I tried to point out flower bushes or rock gardens where fairies may be hiding, but every time Rory said she couldn't see anything or find any fairies. We decided to make our way home as pink-cheeked little Rory mused that maybe Arizona was too hot for fairies to live in. We decided that maybe we could make a nice shady fairy house for our yard so that the fairies had a place to live and then they would want to come to Arizona. She checks it almost everyday to add "food" and water, but so far she says that no fairies have decided to move in yet. Man, those fairies sure are picky. Three year old mood swings are hard to deal with sometimes, but three year old imagination is one of the best things I have yet to encounter.