Time is a thief...

Does anyone else feel like January 1st was just yesterday?  What the heck happened to this year? I cannot believe we are already in July, and in a short 6 months we will be in the year 2020.  My mind is blown!

Time is such a crazy thing.  Sometimes I want to speed it up and sometimes I want it to slow down.  Recently I have been trying better to live in each day, in each moment, instead of wishing time would slow down or fly by.  

It can be so hard to try to make every moment count.  I will be the first to admit that I can get caught up in the social media hole, or getting mindlessly caught up in whatever TV show I am watching.  But as my kids get older it makes me sad to think that soon enough they will be out of my house and all of these moments I could have been doing a better job.  I want my kids to remember that I tried my best, had fun with them, but also encouraged them to have fun on their own.  I want to remember the fun times we had, and also the simple quiet moments of movie watching as a family, or eating dinner together.  

It seems like the older I get the faster time goes.  I don't know if there is a correlation because I am busier and most days just trying to stay afloat.  Or if time is playing a trick on me.  But either way I don't like it.  

Being present.  It can be so.dang.hard.

I recently took a trip to Utah and told myself I would try harder to put my phone away.  It was so refreshing to spend time with my grandma, to just listen to her stories and take it all in.  I don't know how many more years we will have together, nobody really knows how much time they have left on this earth.  It is so important, to be present, ask questions, take it all in.  I am so glad that I made a more conscious effort and it truly made a difference.

What are some ways you stay present and enjoy the little moments?  I would love any ideas that you have.

Slacker, Slacker, Slacker

Ok I know, I have been a total slacker.  Truth is I just don't have the time or energy to blog.  There has been tons of fun happening, I just don't feel like taking the time to upload pictures and blog about it and since my husband is now working opposite shifts than me, it is a little harder with miss k who is always trying to "help" me.  Anyways....a quick update.

After our trip to Fish Lake we came home for four days and then I packed Kenz and I back up to head back to Utah for my family reunion.  We were there for a week over the fourth of July.

Happy Fourth of July!

It was so nice to get a away to and just relax.  Utah is my favorite place to vacation.  I love the scenery, the weather, the laid back feel, I just love everything about it.  It was also nice to spend a week with my grandma, and for Kenz to be able to spend that time with her.  They were best buds.  While in Utah we did lots of fun things.  We went on a picnic and to a small zoo in Logan.

Holding Uncle Sky's hand heading to the zoo.

Her favorite animal was the ducks.  So strange haha, she just wanted to watch them the whole time.  Everything else scared her.  She also loved spending time with her Uncle Sky, she things he is a pretty neat guy.

We also got to watch fireworks in Brigham City.  Kenz was not a fan.  She screamed and cried.  Eventually my mom got her to sleep (I don't know how she slept through them because we were pretty much right under them) but the show was awesome and it was nice to be so close but not have a huge crowd.

Here are a few more random pictures from the trip.

Love her expression in this photo. So cute!

No pictures please.

Waiting for fireworks, eating pringles.

The beautiful Howell Valley

Kenz got new shoes while we were there. I love them!

The sign leading into the valley my Grandma lives in.  I love it!

Fish Lake

Fish Lake, Utah

This past week we packed up and headed out to Fish Lake, Utah for Kenny's family reunion.  We left at 1:00am so that the kids could *hopefully* sleep most of the drive.  Kenz did surprisingly well and did sleep most of the way.  We finally arrived about 11:00ish and sat down for a picnic lunch until we could check into the cabins.  The view was incredible, the weather awesome and we enjoyed ourselves (despite having NO phone service :)).

The cabin we stayed in slept 22 people.  We shared a room with the lovely Charnae and Ryan, who have a daughter miss B., who is just 6 months older than Kenz.  The girls were a hoot! They were instantly best friends and followed each other everywhere! I am so glad Kenz has a built in best friend and I know they will cherish each other as they get older.  Here are some cute pictures of the best friends.

Going for a walk with Uncle Ry

Bath Time  - They soaked each other and us!

Driving the boat

Fishing

They seriously followed each other everywhere!

This was Kenz's first experience fishing and she seemed to enjoy it.  Miss B. had a cute little fishing pole with a plastic fish attached to the end of the line, so every time they threw it out, it magically came back up with a fish.  It was so cute to see the girls throw it out over and over again.  

Miss B. is a pro

Loving the water

Focused

Uncle Ry teaching her how to fish

I LOVE her facial expression

Happy she caught a "fish"

Kenz was not, however, very fond of real fish.  Every time Kenny would catch one and bring it on the boat, she would freak out and spaz her hands around and run. haha, she definitely takes after her mom for that.  

Kenny's family is full of boys.  There is only 1 girl cousin on Kenny's fathers side (the reunion we were at.)  It was so cute to see all of Kenny's boy cousins play with Kenz.  She was definitely spoiled and love all the attention.  Kenny has twin cousins, Josh and Jared, who spoiled Kenz too much :).  They took her for walks, bought her a stuffed animal, played catch with her and so on.  It was nice to get a little break from her while Kenny was out fishing.  

Playing with cousin Jared

Here are a few more random pictures from the trip.  Sorry this is kind of a picture overloaded post, but they speak better than words sometimes.

Walking with Uncle Cam

Falling asleep on daddy's shoulders

And she's out

She loved to drive the boat

Hanging with Uncle Dano

Our little fish

Kenz has ALWAYS been a fan of water.  She loves taking baths, showers, playing in the pool, playing in the dogs water bowl (I know it's so gross!), basically any water she finds she plays in it.  And now that it is getting super hot and hard to keep her inside we decided to take her to a splash pad last Saturday.  She had a BLAST and was completely in her element.  She ran back and forth, playing with the kids and in the water.  It was great, I enjoyed seeing her so happy.  Here are some pics from our outing!