Girls' Retreat 2018

Ohhh man, it's time for one of my favorite posts of the year: girls' retreat recap! 

This year's theme became 'better together' thanks to Kara and her worth-the-wait Christmas gifts. One of my favorite things about this group of girls is how they help me become better. We share ideas and inspiration and frustrations and solutions and compliments and SO much love and we are all better because of the time we spend together. 

We did a repeat destination trip this year of Boise, Idaho (don't worry, I promise for 2019 we're leaving the Treasure Valley haha). Availability times on Thursday were staggered, but Kara and Nicole and I all had time to fit in a quick temple trip which was lovely:

And then it was time to meet up with everyone for dinner! We went to... Louie and Lings? Louie Ling? LL Cool Bean? Basically a fancy restaurant with fancy exotic food that Nycole had to plate for me ;). It was all delicious, even the sushi! Don't I look like a natural with the chopsticks and sushi and very sophisticated facial expression? 

After dinner we headed home to settle in to our new digs. And by 'settle in' I mean talk and talk and puzzle it up and talk and compare hair wands and pass Kaitlyn around and talk some more and also figure out room arrangements! 

I'm not going to lie, room arrangements this year seemed slightly more complex but eventually everyone had a place to lay their head. Paulina and Melinda - coming off two years in a row sharing the master room - insisted on taking the futon and couch in the open upstairs area. By default Emily was given her own room... aka her own room to share with Kaitlyn ;). Kara and Nycole both had their own rooms last year so they buddied up for the other smaller room and gifted Nicole and I the master suite to share:

Ahhh, here's where the magic happened. And by magic, I mean STAYING UP UNTIL 4AM EVERY FREAKING NIGHT TALKING. Nicole and I have lots to say and very little self-control about zipping our lips and going to sleep. We've been bedmates for three years running and every year we get less and less sleep. It's a problem. With a solution: mandatory nap times in the afternoons. Imma start that tradition this year at girls' retreat. Or die (of sleep deprivation) trying.

Friday morning got off to a sporty start as we availed ourselves of the neighborhood tennis court. A few of us adorably jogged over because #showoffs while the rest of us drove because #smart. I'll let you deduce which group I was part of ;).  

Um tennis was SO SO fun. I've literally never been superior to any of these six girls at anything remotely athletic so it was most excellent to finally have my chance to shine haha. We ran around and played and laughed and Kaitlyn slept like a doll and it was the best! I love watching people realize what a fun sport tennis is!!

Definitely missed having the selfie stick this year, ahhhhh.

Okay, our goal was brunch somewhere but after tennis and getting ready for the day... yeah, lunch it was! Def don't remember the name of the place where we ate, but it was super downtown Boise trendy and cool and we clearly fit in like regulars... stroller and all! 

Don't we just give off a very obvious 'trendy, edgy, hip' vibe? Ten bucks says no one would guess we were seven moms in our thirties with twenty-eight kids between us. (ALSO, TWENTY EIGHT? That's like the size of an elementary school class where they're scrambling to fit a couple extra desks in the room to fit everyone... yiiiiikes....)

At this point the rain started up a bit so we made a dash for cars and opted to push our 'Boise scavenger hunt' back a day and devote the rest of Friday to shopping and eating... always a solid choice. 

First stop was D.I., where as we walked in Nycole had me attempt to narrate the joy the fills my heart upon entering that blessed space... and also where I bought more than anyone else ;). Next up was Ross, which is more everyone else's speed. There was a lot of pillow talk going on there - LIKE ACTUAL TALK ABOUT THROW PILLOWS, sheesh. We wandered out of the store into darkness and everyone was hungry and indecisive (this miiiight be a recurring issue when the seven of us are together... we're looking into possible solutions/professional help) but we made it across the street to the village and ate street tacos and other assorted items generally featured on foodie instagram posts. #cool #hipster #ameating #amjoking #amnotactuallycool

We rolled in back at home circa ten-ish which is generally a solid time to hit the hay but in girls' retreat time actually means the party is just starting haha! We delved a bit into hair, finished our St. Francis puzzle:

and then piled back onto couches and futons and the floor upstairs for our nightly therapy session/girl talk. Ohhh man, things got real. Everyone always laughs at me when I say that I wish counseling was socially acceptable and affordable and just like a regular thing that people did - but I honestly think it would change the world. But in the meantime, I'm grateful for six friends who are willing to be a sounding board for me. It's brilliant because we're all pretty different (as in, we've taken a couple different personality tests with minimal overlapping) - so we approach things differently and have different experiences and insights... but with a binding connection of love and trust and vulnerability and genuinely wanting the best for each other.

Kara figured since we were already crying, she might as well keep the tears a-flowin' by pulling out our belated Christmas gifts:

these incredible keychains, which she put SO much work and effort and time into. My instagram caption: “It has a secret and a surprise...” so grateful that life is better when we open up and talk and serve and love and I’m just so enamored with the beautiful souls that make up my ‘together’💗💓💞

Quick reminder that Kaitlyn is the sweetest and snuggling with her made my night. 

Saturday morning. Ohhh man I've never been hungover but I was achy and groggy and grumpy and refused to get dressed in real clothes and kept my sunglasses on for brunch soooo I feel like I'd be a natural ;). 

Okay, I'm NOT a natural at photographing my food in a way that conveys how delicious it was but this food was SO GOOD. We went to Terri's Cafe over on Fairview and that stuffed French toast cured allll my ails. 

Next it was back to the homestead to actually get ready for the day... we may have fit in a spot of karaoke as well (thanks to Em for bringing the karaoke machine... reminiscent of her hooking us up with Just Dance and her XBOX last year... have we officially designated her our tech sugar mama?)

Um this is random and vague and an inside joke (as is basically this entire post...) but Nycole came through once again as our own personal MacGyver (albeit a more casually dressed version), thus saving Nicole's life/earring and no one actually threw up and we all feel confident in our choices to pursue careers outside the plumbing industry. 

Quick pit stop at Shopko on our way to our next adventure... which turned into a lengthy stop at Shopko because purses! Umbrellas! Fake succulents! (that was my purchase haha - which required me sitting on the floor?) 

And then it was time to get our adventure on with a downtown Boise scavenger hunt - too bad there weren't extra points awarded for being smokkkkkkin' hot because I'm pretty sure we'd have nailed that one.

There were points awarded for creativity, so instead of just submitting a picture of a beige building, we leapt in front of it instead. In a VERY synchronized manner, no less.

The scavenger hunt was pretty fun - I think we had the app running on three phones, so it was a bit of a frenzy as we all scrolled through and yelled out things to look for and threw together random poses and uploaded pictures as quickly as we could.

Um yeah, our team name was St. Francis and the Animals. It's also the name of our band. And possibly the documentary that will be made someday about our epic friendships. 

Felt cute, took a picture with an orange flower. Alllll the thanks to Kara for my hair/makeup during the retreat!!!

Um, Nicole pretending to be a dinosaur (AKA ANCIENT LIZARD, IT COUNTS) is the best. 

I'm not going to lie, after an hour or so we all started to slow down a bit... also hunger rolled in... sleep deprivation... etc. We abandoned our hopes of beating the sketchily-named teams on the leaderboard and started heading back to the car.

.... but randomly Nycole and I were the hold outs who kept nonchalantly glancing around for things to count haha. Nycole makes sense because she's competitive and used to winning... I think I just wanted an excuse to see if I could still do a bridge from my gymnastics days. Fun fact: I got stuck like that; I think it ended with me awkwardly collapsing into a heap on the concrete. A heap in need of ibuprofen.

buuuuuut it was worth it because we ended with over TWO THOUSANDS POINTS which earned us that impressive trophy... and literally nothing else. 

Kaitlyn was pretty psyched to be done with the stroller and heading home, as she communicated via these killer smiles to Nicole.

We sneaked in some adorable visitors - normally we try to shield our husbands and children from the madness that is a girls' retreat, but these two weren't fazed at all by our craziness - and watching Bailey's happiness at being reunited with Kaitlyn after a 48 hour absence was pretty sweet...

as was Alayna's excitement at matching Paulina with their adorable blonde haircuts!

Before they headed out we recruited KR (see what I did there?) to get some formal portraits of the seven of us:

Allllllll the feels.

Our visitors departed juuuust in the nick of time: the homestead living room went full karaoke bar at this point! (I mean, not "full" karaoke bar.... it was still alcohol free... most clothes stayed on... we all went home with the one we came with...)

The kitchen remained full beauty shop haha. 

And Kaitlyn squirmed and smiled and fussed and got rocked and squeezed and loved! Kaitlyn is the fourth baby to tag along on a girls' retreat (previous stowaways were Myla, Gideon, and Carly) and I'm have so much love and admiration and gratitude for those four mamas for making the retreat work even with their little additions. Traveling with babies can be stressful and tricky and the opposite of relaxing but they all have done it so that we could all be together each year and I love them for it! (Also I'm so grateful I got out of it; our retreat the year that Carma was nursing was a day trip that I could ditch her for, wooo!)

A few final shots from Saturday night - one last puzzle, one last comfy nap, one last minute Relief Society lesson prep haha.

Sunday morning was a whirlwind of packing and cleaning - Nicole and Nycole both had to split early, but these five of us found a random sacrament meeting to crash before saying our (snowy!) goodbyes.

And then it was back home to a beautiful welcome home sign.

....and laundry. and cute kids! who were also somewhat whiny. and regular life. and stress. which is why that night we were all back on our text thread, sharing pictures, reliving the good times and commiserating how exhausted we all were:

Girls' retreat 2018: in the books. 

Will is ELEVEN!

Happy happy 11th birthday to Will.i.am today! 

Again, possibly jarring since I just did his (very belated) 10th birthday post... and also possibly jarring because I feel like this kid has grown sooo much the last year. 

So here's what you need to know about Will as an eleven-year-old: he loves comedy. He loves humor and jokes and figuring out what's funny and why. And he has the most infectious giggle ever. Chuck lets Will stay up late to watch funny youtube videos... just so Chuck can watch Will laugh haha. I've been printing my old instagram posts into Chatbooks and we take them to church for the kids to look at during sacrament meeting - but Will apparently finds me HI-larious (who could blame him??) and I generally have to shush his giggles a few times throughout the meeting. 

Will's future career plans change prettttty much daily, but 'sketch comedian' recurs regularly so thanks Studio C and JK! Studios ;). Still loves piano. Recently played "Fur Elise" at the ward talent show and reportedly did a-mazingly well. Wrapping up his stint in Cub Scouts, which has been a really positive experience for him. Continues to be a pretty devoted brother to all three of his siblings - one of his favorite things is going to the library with Clyde. Makes Carma chicken nuggets more often than I do. Shows consistently large amounts of patience with his bunkmate Jackers. Will probably does more chores around the house than any other child because it's never a fight for him to get up and start in on the chore when he's asked... is it somewhat of a fight to keep him doing the task because he's possibly VERY easily distracted? Um yes haha. But he generally has a good attitude when helping out :). He's still my favorite to tease just because he's so darlingly gullible - and again, his giggle when he knows I'm joking but I refuse to admit it is the best thing ever.

Will continues to not be super cuddly but he does love giving hugs... and squeezes haha. His go-to move is to come up and grab you around the waist and cheerfully exclaim "Here's a hug!.... and a squeeeeeeeze!" and then squeeze you for juuuust long enough that you are scared for your life.

Will is still a pretty hardcore creature of habit. He eats breakfast first. Then gets dressed. Don't even think about asking him to switch that routine up ;). He takes cold lunch everyday - the exact same thing: a Nutella sandwich, a string cheese, and a frozen go-gurt that thaws perfectly by lunchtime (and in the meantime, keeps the string cheese cold). 

Willy boy loves school and learning and storing everything he learns for future reference. 5th grade with Mrs. Keene has been wonderful this year. We're navigating some tough waters as he figures out how to balance his stimming vs. being present in the moment and also not wanting to alarm his classmates or cause them discomfort. Mrs. Keene brought up the possibility of Will sharing some information about autism with his class and Will went above and beyond - he created an amazing powerpoint and did a presentation about autism and self-stimulating behaviors and shared those aspects of himself SO bravely. I have VERY real intentions of having him recreate the presentation here at home so we can record it - someone hold me accountable for doing that pleeeeease. His friends and classmates reacted so well to the presentation and (cue alllll the crying emojis) voted for him to receive the "Courage" character award for their class the following month at school. 

Each of my kids' birthdates (like the days they were actually born...) are so incredibly special to me. I love remembering how anxious I was leading up to Will's birth and all of the fears and doubts I had about my ability to love and mother a second child as much as I did my first... and then Will surprising us and coming a few days earlier than anticipated... and how completely and hopelessly in love I fell with him as soon as I saw him. Right from the get-go, when he decided he'd rather not have an April Fool's Day birthday (although it would seriously SO fit his cute goofy personality!) he's been catching us off-guard and keeping us on our toes and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way. 

Happy happy eleventh birthday to my William Patrick. I feel like this coming year holds so much promise and so many milestones for this sweet boy and I'm so happy to be along for the ride.

Most of March

Obviously the best thing about March is spriiiiiing. Chuck and I were so excited to see our little day lillies and tulips begin to awaken in our front garden. I'm not saying we're more proud of these plans than we are of our children, but.... I mean, I see how people might make that mistake.

Simon Holland is one of my favorite funny meme guys and I feel this very deeply... on Chuck's behalf. 

Clyde had his spring choir concert as they prepared for festival and it was super cute. 

The middle school had a door decorating contest for Kindness Week and Clyde's advisory won - here's their awesome 'kindness tree'.

Two highlights this month having to do with one of Eden's and my favorite books, Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson. A) Julianne Donaldson re-tweeted my reply (that was about Eden!) to a question she asked:

and b) Quinn read Edenbrooke! Jk, but he did hold it in front of his face long enough for Eden to send me a picture haha.

Oh man, the Nampa library started including an attachment at the bottom of the 'checked-out' email that calculates how much you would have spent had you purchased those items at a store instead of checking them out from the library and it's basically the coolest thing ever:

Ummm facebook memories kill me, especially when little Clyde and little Will are involved.

Of course, sometimes the memories are more alarming than sweet, but I'll take what I can get...

"Grandma said, 'I wonder who will hang up first' so I hanged up." hahahahahahahahaha

Well this was slightly too true to be funny ;). jk it was still funny:

Cough, Carma, cough. 

Yesssss. That's got to be an important life skill that will aid them in the future, right?

Random picture of my wedding rings? It makes me so happy that I love my rings as much now as I did 14+ years ago when Chuck and I picked them out.

One day I got to pinch hit for my cousin Amanda and run her cute girlie to an appt and I loved getting some time with Cecily!

Will had a music program at school before Spring Break and Carma was prettttty excited to be in attendance there. She also has developed a fun habit of putting stickers randomly on her face. That's normal, riiiiight?

So sometimes I shy away from 'successful/unsuccessful' comparisons because it's highly possibly my definition of successful is different from everyone else's haha BUT I liked a lot of these - compliment vs. criticize, talk about ideas v. talk about people, accept responsibility vs. blame others.

Pretty sure people avoid hanging out with me a second time when I make them take pictures with me the first time... but it's a risk I take. So one day Janell and Chris were talking about how they needed to see Black Panther again because they missed one of the extra scenes after the credits and I might have mentioned how my family saw it without me aaaannd a girls night was born! We laughed since it was my first time seeing it, Chris' second time seeing it, and Janell's third time ;). Love these two and any excuse to hang out with them and force them into a selfie!

March = Dr. Seuss' birthday = Literacy Night at the Ridge = all sorts of fun. We were super psyched to wander into the kindergarten room at the same time as the Curtis family so that Clark and Jack could finally hang out with Mrs. Koeppen together!

And for the first time in our lives, we won a school raffle basket! At Literacy Night Will put all his tickets in the 4th grade basket and was THRILLED to hear his name announced the next morning. He was so excited about the books, games, and light up glasses. Pretty sweet!!

So we had a couple family nights playing this game... that probably has a name but I don't know it... but it's where you start with a random phrase or sentence and then pass it to the next person, who draws a picture of what you wrote, then they fold over the paper so only their picture can be seen and pass it to the next person, who writes a sentence or phrase based on what they see. Then they fold it over so only their words are visible, then pass it to the next person who draws a picture based on what the previous person wrote... and so on. It's the best game ever. Will had played it at school and was very insistent we try it at home and we all laughed and laughed:

Also, I'm at peace with what a terrible artist I am. It's cool. I have other redeeming talents in life... I hope.

The Curtises had a baby! I take my role of 'closest neighbor on call for middle of the night delivery scenarios' VERY seriously and was thrilled that Joy picked to make her debut in the wee dark morning hours so that I could come over and hang out with Clark and Andy. Such a cool family and we are so excited that Joy is here safe and sound!

Um this is random buuuut so is Will haha. He and Clyde stayed home while I ran errands and this was the email I got from Will to check in. "code word for almost completely charged is luck" - that right there is PURE Will and I love it haha.

Grandma Pam adopted a puppy and got to bring him home in March and our lives have never been the same. All four kids immediately fell in love with Albie (his real name is something long and British) and I think he's cute but prefer not to touch him or get anywhere close.

But seriously, my children are obsessed with this dog. If you've never heard Carma's little voice call out, "Sit Albie! Sit!" then you're legit missing out.

You know what I love about school projects? When Chuck does them with Clyde so I don't have to haha. This is some kind of Greek? structure? Maybe Roman? Who knows? Not me, because I didn't have to work on it haha!

Willy boy in the spring music program. That excited wave in the top left when he saw us is priiiiceless.

Chuck's parents came up for spring break and all sorts of adventures ensued, including an outing to see Black Panther with cousins!

Dave always comes willing to help out with projects around our house, and this visit the name of the game was replacing our random half fence with a random half gate! I love being able to glance over that section and see in the back yard so I asked for a gate to stay this height and Chuck and Dave created this beauty and it's so perfect! Only took us 10 years in this house to put a gate in haha.

More pictures - fun at home...

 and at the Discovery Center!

More Spring Break fun with the Walker kids - Clyde's always delighted when he finds someone who will actually play frisbee with him:

Ivy made me this - soooo sweet!!

Still not sure how we got away with having girls' night the same month as our retreat (more about that next post... get excited) but we did! Other girls' group related things: we continue to be obsessed with Marco Polo and it cracks me up when a bunch of us are on there at the same time, hence the screenshot in the upper left. Also Emily is gorgeous and no one ever believes me that she looks like Julia Roberts' prettier twin sister sooo I took that other screenshot as evidence.

Chuck found this bike for my mom and took it out for a quick spin. Chuck on bikes that are a) too small for him and b) purple is a sight that will always bring me joy.

Sooo obviously I over document our lives and take a million (probably) unnecessary pictures but I'm more than okay with that. I love looking back and remembering little moments that I wouldn't otherwise. These random shots of little Izatt children playing and wrestling and reading and jumping on the trampoline together throughout the month warms my heart.

We are always a pretty happy family but we are a suuuuper happy family once March and spring hit and we are freed from our cabin fever. Yayyyyyy March!!