A Little Getaway

 The end of June meant we were coming up on another anniversary! I know, five years, and they said we would never make it. I don't know who "they" would be in this scenario, but every anniversary that is the Shania Twain song lyric running through my head all day and it always makes me laugh. 

We were hoping to cruise for our anniversary, the same cruise as we did for our honeymoon, as we would also be celebrating Stephen being promoted to Manager at KPMG (and potentially finding a new job that he likes much, much more), but, you know, Corona. 

So instead, we headed back to our favorite getaway Sr George, where the food and accommodations are free and the babysitters are a-plenty. 

On a previous drive we discovered that if we covered Ada's carseat with a blanket then it would be dark enough for her to sleep. On this drive we discovered that Ada has learned how to play peekaboo. 

The first stop at Grandma and Poppop's is always the pool! Rory was swimming like a little fish after her swim lessons and she seriously could not wait to show off her skills to her cousins. We typically swim once Ada goes down for a nap, but when she is able to join us she is a pretty big fan. 

The Sunday after we arrived we headed up to Rockville for irrigation. Stephen and the men worked hard outside, Lucina and Linne provided dinner for everyone, and I ignored my children for at least an hour so that I could paint this s'more rock. Rory and Tanner were little adventuring best friends, and while I'm not entirely sure what their mission was, I know they took it extremely seriously. 

In the middle of the week, Stephen and I sneaked away to officially celebrate our anniversary. We left the kids with his parents and stayed at Inn on the Cliff, where we also spent our two year anniversary. It was just as beautiful as we remembered and this time we were able to have Bekah and Steve join us for dinner for a double anniversary date celebration. Nothing is more luxurious than going to sleep knowing that there won't be a baby crying in the middle of the night. We didn't get to visit the temple on this visit, but we did go check out the construction they have going on. 

Since the world is shut down, Bekah and Steve drove out from Virginia and decided to stay for the summer, which meant that once John and Ashleigh joined us for the fourth we had all the Marsh cousins in one place. The moms quickly put together these sharpie-d number shirts for a picture that I'm sure we will make them replicate in years to come. It is tough to get a picture of 11 smiling kiddos, but number 11 was not the problem! Ada smiled and laughed the entire time and thought the whole photo shoot was awesome. Does this mean she will be less impossible to take pictures of than Rory is?? Only time will tell. 

The fourth of July is always a good time at the Marshes. We kicked off the day with some family pool time, after the men had celebrated their freedom with a round of golf. Kenzie was the ultimate pool MVP on this trip and was always happy to swim with the little kids so we could keep track of everybody. She even gave Jackson, Mara, and Rory some swim lessons! It was a great pool day and I probably went down the slide no less than 20 times. 

After some yummy food we donned our patriotic apparel before heading over to Linnate's to continue the festivities. The older girls set up a sno cone, lemonade, and cupcake stand and spent the evening trying to hustle neighbors into tipping them. Covid really tanked their profits this year. Because no one was able to meet in large crowds to watch fireworks, everyone all over St George decided to do their own personal fireworks show. From up on the hill we could watch fireworks the entire night. There was literally a show going everywhere you could turn your head, it was hard to decide which one to watch! Finally when it got dark for real the city ones started and they did not hold back. Ada LOVED them and got to enjoy the whole spectacle from the comfort of Aunt Bekah's lap. When we made our way back to John and Lucina's around eleven at night, Rory quickly passed out whereas Ada looked like she was ready to hit up the after party. 

On Sunday, we were able to celebrate John John's birthday with presents, steak, and Just Dance before we headed back home. 

Then it was back to business as usual, like Rory spending most of her time dressed up as Elsa, begging to put on makeup, or pretending to be someone or something else. 

My friend Sarah had a birthday and she let me make her a cake as a gift this year. I made a triple chocolate banana cake that was to die for and I only stuck my finger in it accidentally on once. It is probably also worth noting that the new cake carrier I purchased in St George was not, in fact, tall enough to transport this cake and I about lost my mind- a fact that Stephen will not let me forget any time soon. 

But the fun didn't stop with dress ups and birthday cakes. My freshman roommate Brianne was driving through Arizona on her back to Texas from California. The brave soul drove her very pregnant self and two girls, Caroline (5) and Rose (almost 4), all the way out to California and that added a day onto their trip home to stop and see me. True friendship right there. We drove up on a Monday night to meet them at an Air BNB in Flagstaff. Our first stop was dinner at Chick-fil-a, which we stopped to eat in a park. The park toys were closed, but there was plenty of little walking paths and the girls loved it. Caroline, Rose, and Rory acted as though they had known each other forever and I was a little teary eyed at seeing them all play together. Brianne's girls are so sweet, so funny, and have a little bit of strong willed sass that made me wished they lived right next door and could rub off on my children for forever. 

At one point I was feeding Ada a bottle and Rory and Caroline hid under the bed in the room pretending it was a fort so I got to overhear this conversation. 

Caroline: I wish I was a mom. 

Rory: Me too. 

Caroline: Because when you're a mom you can tell people what to do. And if they don't do it you can say RIGHT NOW. 

Rory: Yeah

Caroline: And if you hit your sister, then they put you in time out. But I don't hit Rosie. 

Rory: Sometimes I got to time out because I hit Ada. 

Caroline: You hit a baby?! You should not do that. 

Rory: I know, just sometimes it's hard for me to be good. And then my mom gives me pinches. 

Caroline: Like this? 

Rory: No. HARDER. 

Caroline: Woah! I would never pinch you hard. I would only pinch you soft like this, because you're my best friend. 

The next morning we braved taking the kids out for brunch at a local place. The food was decent and they let our children be loud and make a total mess, so that's always a win in my book. After stopping by Wal-mart to buy Rory shoes (because I had inexplicably lost one of hers) and Ada Tylenol (because girlfriend was teething hard), we headed back to the hotel to change for the pool. It was pretty warm outside and the pool was even warmer, but the girls didn't mind it one bit and swam happily for a nice long time. Afterwards we picked up a dinner of tacos that was too fancy and spicy for the children, which was awesome because it was also very expensive. Then it was time to pack the car back up and make it home before bed time. Even after just 24 hours together, the girls were so sad to say goodbye and my heart about burst when Rory opened her arms wide and said, "Come here!" so they could all come in for a group hug. Is there anything sweeter than reuniting old friends while simultaneously creating new friends. Also, I just want to cherish these toddler days when they are so open to new people and new friendships and they love everything so deeply. It's just magic. 

Rory's First Dance Recital

 

After being with family for so long, going back to reality was a tough pill to swallow. Not even sister matching could save us from our dark moods! Since we had the car space driving back, my mom asked me to FINALLY clean out all my childhood junk that I had left behind since moving out 10 years ago. One of the things I took back with me was my Kitchen Fairy collection. Trying to be a cool easy going mom, I picked two of the fairies that seemed the sturdiest and least likely to break and I told Rory that if she was very careful with them then these special fairies would live in her room with her. Well, this was one of my fairies by the end of the afternoon (it didn't even take a whole day!) and I remembered why I'm not a cool mom. 

To help get over our post vacation blues the Collins invited us to go to the Salt River with them. We had never been before and we all enjoyed the cold river in the morning heat. Rory picked out sea shells and used her goggles to look for other treasures the entire time. Ada liked splashing in the water. Stephen had a little adventure trying to chase Rory's lost water shoes down the river. And we were only mildly jealous of the people riding by on paddle boards. It was a lovely morning. 

Then it was time for Rory's first dance recital! I debated a lot about putting her in dance this year, but I ended up doing it because I knew she needed some kind of scheduled class time since she wasn't yet old enough for preschool and I also wanted to get the feel of the studio to decide if I would want to enroll her in their preschool program the following year. Just barely turning three in October, she was the youngest in her class by a lot and it showed. She stuck with it and in all my going back and forth about whether it was the right decision or if paying tuition was a waste, I held on to the vision of her first dance recital! And then coronavirus hit. I was so so so sad that her first recital would not be what I had been envisioning all year, but bless her little studio they did the best that they could! With only two in person classes before the big show (because really, you can only accomplish so much on zoom), her teacher tried to whip these little dancers into shape for both a tap AND ballet routine. In the end, they decided to have specific performance times for each class and parents would be able to watch from monitors set up in the lobby of the theater. Only one parent was allowed per child, but they would also live stream the performance online for family and friends. It was not ideal but it was at least something. 

For Rory's call time we were going to need to leave by 8:15, which is very early in this house, and so I tried to prep her as much as possible the night before. I did everything in my power to wear her out during the day and I had her in bed by 7 pm sharp. She spent the next three hours coming up with excuses to come out to talk to Stephen and I, sneaking toys and water into her bed, and generally just not sleeping. She finally dozed off at 11:00 pm and I knew our morning would be a tough one. After waking up early to get myself presentable I had to drag her out of bed, force her half sleeping body into tights and a costume, curl her hair,  and THEN do a full face of make up on a sleepy, cranky toddler. Doc McStuffins helped enormously, but it was still ROUGH. In the end she looked like a tiny ballerina doll and I felt like all my sweat, anger and anxiety was well spent. I also threatened her with the most dire of consequences if she were to rub her eye or lips. Being a dance mom is not for the faint of heart. 

We picked up Rebecca and Sarah, who were still scrambling to get ready themselves, and made our way to the theater. We sent the girls backstage to wait with their classes and then waited and waited and waited for it to be their turn. Thanks to some technical difficulties they were having, we were allowed to actually sit in the auditorium while they performed and it was such a wonderful little miracle. I was so proud to see her up there on that stage! She was every bit the tiny dancer on her ballet dance and it was all I could do to hold back the tears and play it cool and  then she stood there and yawned through her tap dance and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at her. Here she is with her teacher, Miss Shelly. We went to a park afterwards to snap a few pictures of the girls together and to make up for the fact that I had missed Rory's dance pictures. 

Stephen was able to watch on the livestream while he stayed home with Ada, and I was so sad we couldn't all be there together as a family. To celebrate as a family he took us all out to Handel's!

One benefit of home church is getting to have cute matching babies without the pressure of dealing with any public tantrums. Ada only gets her pacifier at nap time but sometimes she manages to sneak it out and on during this photo session she was trying to share it with Rory- talk about sisterly love! Our meetings haven't been anything earth shattering and some weeks we definitely do better than others, but I've actually really loved our little home Sacrament meetings. I try really hard to make our house a peaceful, safe place where the spirit can be felt and I have loved feeling my efforts coming to fruition on these sabbath days at home. 

Ada is still not crawling or scooting or moving around at all, so sometimes we like to leave her places you should never put a baby, because we are only ok parents. One of the cutest of these places was the top bunk of Rory's bed, and Ada LOVED it. Perks of having an immobile little buddy. 

One of our go to quarantine activities was painting rocks, which I almost immediately regretted because it meant that Rory was always collecting rocks when we went outside and I would find them everywhere inside the house. I finally convinced her to keep her rock "collections" outside until we had a painting day. We went back to having play dates with the Bartons this month and so I let the girls paint rocks for their activity. I decided to let them use some of my old nail polishes, feeling like a genius because it meant I wouldn't have to deal with paint brushes, pouring paints, and water. Well, about ten minutes in when the fumes got really bad I realized my mistake, but by then the girls were much too enthralled to stop. The rocks turned out cute and sparkly and now I have to tell Rory every other day why we can't paint with nail polish again. 

Sometimes I find myself completely blown away by how cute Ada's little baby details are. I love her leg rolls, her double chin, her squishy little bum. I love her gummy smile that shows off her two little teefers. I love her little hands and feet that circle all around when she gets excited. I love her full body shakes and shrieks when she sees something she wants. I love the smell of her neck and the feel of her and if I could bottle this baby up I absolutely would. Instead, I'll just take pictures when I'm overwhelmed by the desire to eat her up. 

At the end of June, Rory's friend Naomi had a last minute 5th birthday party that was Fancy Nancy themed. They played games like Plain, Plain, Fancy (Duck, duck, goose), took pictures, ran around and got goody bags. Rory was in HEAVEN. I snapped these pictures of her "fanciest outfit" that she picked out and I loved that she was clearly feeling herself. 

I didn't take any pictures, but Rory did two weeks of swim lessons this month! We found a girl in our old ward that did one on one thirty minute lessons and Rory loved them. She got so much better and she now lives to show off her swimming skills. She's not quite ready to be completely floatie-less, but she swallows a lot less pool water now! Rory asks about her best friend Carlie and when she gets to go swimming at her pool again regularly. One of my favorite moments was in her very first lesson right before getting in the pool she said, "Hey guess what! I threw up in Grandma Blucina's pool!" Girl knows how to make a first impression.