You are allowed to live life less than perfectly.

When one child throws up on the way to a hike, another falls in the water, and you plan to take family pictures, it’s okay to laugh and cancel the family pictures. The hike was still beautiful.

When both of your small children are grumpy, it’s okay to put them both in the beds and take the time to nap yourself.

It’s okay to not get chores done well, to have a house that looks lived in and is not ready for a photo shoot. A clean house is an impossible goal, but cleaning up occasionally and following a basic chore schedule at least means it’s not all that bad.

It’s okay to spend 10 years writing a book that might not ever get done. It’s okay to finish a project months after you thought you would. You are still creating things and helping people.

If you want to go have a picnic up the canyon instead of finishing the house projects that you planned on getting done, go for it. The house projects will still be there, but watching a toddler walking through the fall leaves is fleeting.

When you have a great idea of something to do with the children and they all whine at you and it never happens, maybe it never needed to happen. If we miss out on opportunities now, there are always new opportunities in the future.

It has been a long time since my husband and I took a trip together. The baby wasn’t a baby as much anymore, so we finally got the time to go out on an adventure. We went down to an area of Utah I haven’t visited much. The biggest activity was hiking to Lower Calf Creek Fall, and we also went to the Escalante Natural Bridge after.

There’s a swimming hole at the base of the falls, and I thought it would be fun to get in. Even if it was October. We dunked in, and it was a little cold, but a lot of fun.

My husband and I were talking a lot about who we are. And we are very different, often flawed people. But as we talked, we committed to acceptance. Even though we are different, we can accept each other for who we are, completely. That’s part of loving someone with all your heart: you don’t want to change them. I do want improvement: but that’s different. That’s making who you are better, not changing who you are.

Zack started preschool. He was nervous for one day and now runs inside as fast as he can. (He likes to run and be faster than everyone.)

That means we are now into a more stable routine. Except for it’s crazy, taking all the kids to their various activities. Curtis loves tackle football. He plays nearly the full game. Henry’s in a play, Peter is doing flag football. There is a lot of driving and watching.

I have found time to go hiking. I went with a group of moms, and then took the primary boys out. I love to hike. I’ve also been working on landscaping projects out in the yard. I love it, and have to usually force myself to stop earlier than I want. The weather is so nice, it’s been a wonderful time to spend a lot of time outside.

Sometimes I get grumpy and the only way to cure the grumpiness is a good adventure.

We canoed done the Jordan River. It was Joe, Zack, and me, and we went a 3-mile downstream route that took a couple hours. So much fun. (It was in contrast to the disaster trip I had done on this same stretch of river when I was a teenager. We tried tubing, and the river was too slow.)

We made it to Splash Summitt. The kids have wanted to do this all summer, and it took until the last weekend of summer to make it there. It was rainy, but not all that cold. That just meant no lines and we had a great time.

We also went hiking. In the snow. It was a short hike around Teapot Lake and out to Provo Falls, which was perfect for the weather.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with these two cuties as well.

We planned a few activities for the end of summer, and then Peter got sick. We immediately took him in due to the pain intensity, but nothing seemed all that wrong. He got a little better, and we went to Lagoon.

And then a couple days later he was getting worse, so we took him in again: he had a ruptured appendix and needed surgery and a week-long hospital stay. He ended up missing a family reunion for my family.

After all that, we had Zack’s birthday, and he went to a monster truck show for his party.

It was an interesting end to summer break.

And now the kids are back in school!

On our first trip, we went up to Bear Lake and stayed in a big house with Joe’s family. We mostly hung out in the house (that was cool) and visited North Beach at Bear Lake. My children loved it, I think because they got to spend hours playing video games.

We also stopped by Bridgerland Adventures for tubing, Hobbit Falls where Joe was adjusting a rope that sent me into the stream while holding Evie (we were wet, but not harmed in the slightest), and Limber Pine Trail. There were beautiful wildflowers everywhere, and it was a great trip.

The second trip was four nights of camping. It was not without misadventure, including some physical challenges, and arguing, but tempered with beautiful scenery, and a good time with the family. One method I used to plan the trip was just looking around the driving route on Google Maps for places that sounded interesting. I found two waterfalls that way that were amazing, Faux Falls and Adrelanine Falls.

On our first day we stopped by Arches and hiked Sand Dune Arch. That’s all we did there because it was hot. We next stopped by Faux Falls and climbed around the waterfalls. We ended the day camping at Warner Lake.

The next day, our car started to misfire and the check engine light went on. In that circumstance, we were really blessed. We just kept traveling and pulled up to the small town of Monticello. There was a small repair shop that was able to get our car right in, the parts were in stock, and we were back on the road in a couple hours for a reasonable price. While the car was being fixed, we went to a small museum and mostly hung out at the library playing on the computers. The kids had a grand time. The rest of the day was just too hot. We stopped by Fort Bluff, which was cool but hot, and Hovenweep, which was too hot (in the 100’s) to do anything. The best part of the day was waiting in the library for the car to be fixed.

We camped a couple of nights in Mesa Verde. We did the Cliff Palace Tour first at 9:00. It was awesome to be the first group through the site, and I would recommend it. We explored the area around until 3 where we ended the day with a tour through Balcony House.

The next day we drove to Ouray, and on the way stopped by Adrelanie Falls where the majority of us jumped in the water. It was great. We visited Box Falls and Cascade Fall in Ouray and camped at the Ridgway State Park. Where we ran out of bug spray and everyone got covered in mosquito bites.

Home, with a quick stop at the Black Canyon National Park.

The pretty mild spring has given way to long days of dry heat. The kids have mostly finished summer camps, and we will soon be into a July full of vacations. We’ve been to the Zoo, and more than 10 parks this summer too.

Last week, we had a good week celebrating Little Miss Chub’s first birthday and the 4th of July. We saw a lot of family and had some great adventures. We woke up early for the hot air balloon festival and enjoyed a parade. And we’ve been spending a lot of time at the pool.

Also, here is my nature play hill that is close to done now. It’s been so much work that I’ve piled onto my dad and husband, and I’m so grateful that they trusted me enough to put the work in.

Summer is an awesome busy time.

We went to the aviary, and the kids got to actively participate.

The kids have been doing summer camps: Clear Creek, Space Center for Curtis, FSY, basketball for Peter, and a drama/swim camp for Henry.

Joe went with Peter to boy’s camp.

We’ve also been to the Natural History Museum, BYU museums, and parks, watched a parade, and swam at the pool.

We spent last Saturday with my sister’s family at the pond, where we canoed, biked/scootered, and did other mischiefs like losing kids, tangling fishing lines, and finding dried-up waterfalls. I took one picture at the very beginning and then forgot to take any more. Such is life.

There’s also been a ton of work in the yard. We’ve been putting in sod, building a nature play area, and finishing the deck.

Amidst all the busyness it’s nice to remember that what gets done doesn’t necessarily matter as much as having a life that reflects my values. I’ve been thinking about my life and what is important. I have a lifetime to develop a career, to pursue my own interests. But right now I only have a few years to raise my children. So that’s where I spend my time and energy.