Hot Springs, Harry Potter Party, and Etsy

Hey guys, yup once again I have a gap in post. Sorry about that. My head has just been a mess lately and I haven't been able to keep things as straight as I normally do. Yup it happens to all of us.

So Monday we went to the Fifth Water Hot Springs here in Utah, and it was pretty awesome, but tiring. It's only a 30 min drive for us, so it's great having something like that pretty close. The hike is long, or well long for us beginner hikers, but totally worth it in the end. It's 2.5 miles there, and yeah 2.5 miles back. I think it took us about an hour to hike up to the hot springs, and 45 min to hike back down.

We had so much fun, and I feel like we picked a good day to go, because the temperature was great. Nathaniel took the lead on the hike up, and Darien took the lead on the hike back down. They both set a good pace and kept us going.

For all of you Harry Potter fans, our Harry Potter Party is in a few days. We are going to have it on the 25th, 26th, and 27th watching 3 movies a night (except for the last night). If you've been following this blog for a while you what we do, and what goes on, but for all of you newbies, I'll explain. We are big fans of Harry Potter, and we love to watch the movies, so every year around Halloween we have a Harry Potter Party, where we watch all of the movies. We usually change it up every year by how many we watch in a night, but we always make yummy Harry Potter themed snacks, and we always have games and trivia. If you want to know what we normally make I have it all laid out on last year's post.

If you are looking for any new ideas I do have a few links for that as well. I follow this YouTube baking channel called Nerdy Nummies (you need to follow it too), and since our party last year she has posted 3 new Harry Potter treats. Golden Snitch Caramel Apple Cider, Felix Felicis "Liquid Luck', and Pumpkin Pasties.

If your looking for trivia questions I do have the list from last year, and I am willing to e-mail it out to anyone how wants it, so just let me know.

I have opened a shop on Etsy called Thread Bed Head it has mostly beaded jewelry but I am going to put more crochet things on there as time goes on. So if you have some free time, or some money just laying around and taking up space, you should go check out my store and buy something (maybe), or share the link. 

Thanks for reading everyone :)

True friendship is a beautiful gift from God :)

Once again I was lucky enough to see my friend Jessica, yes she visited me back in February, when we were still in Washington. Well this time she came here to Utah, for a whole week. It was wonderful.

You know when you have someone, someone who knows a lot about you, who loves and accepts you just the way that you are? For me that's Jessica. The most beautiful thing about it is, we don't always agree on everything and we like different things, but we don't care. That must be true friendship, because if it isn't, than I don't know what is.

So what did we do all week? Well... We did some hiking, played some minecraft (she's not to bad for a beginner), watched some Anime, went to the water park, did some shopping, watched some Mythbusters (because they are awesome), and sometimes we just hung out and talked.

I didn't find out she was able to come until two weeks ago. Once I found out I was of course over the moon, but not just because my best friend/sister was coming, no that wasn't all, she was going to be here in just a week, and she was staying for a week. The jumps for joy and  the running around the house shouting "Aunt Jessie is coming", were just the beginning of my expressions of delight. I think I may have driven my husband nuts all of that week, but at least he came home to a clean house near the end of it.

I got to drive to Salt Lake city airport for the first time, and it was very easy to get to. I really love it when that happens. From the map it looks like it's laid out very similar to Sea-Tac, but when you actually get there, you realize it's not. That's okay though, I was only lost in the airport for a minute until I got where I needed to be to meet her. Once her plane had landed I told the kids, that the first one to spot her wins. Darien won :P, but not by much. We nearly knocked her over, but I don't think she minded.

Having her here was just like the good old days back in San Diego. The inside jokes, the helping hand that insisted on doing something, the awesome conversations, and the discussing and watching of our shared interests (Anime, Star Trek, Dr Who, Mythbusters... you know all of the good stuff).

Dropping her back off at the end of the week was hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I know (but mostly hope) that it won't be long until I see here again.

All in all, you are awesome Jessica! Don't you ever change!

3000 miles, for a vacation with the Legates family.

See the title? That's what my brother and my sister-in-law did. Crazy right? Yes crazy, but awesome. They arrived in Seattle at 10:45am on July 4th. I left the house at 9:30, so I could meet them. It turned out to be pretty perfect timing to, because I had just parked the car when I received a text from Jessica (my sister-in-law), that they had just landed. After that I just put myself right outside the exit to terminals A&B, knowing they would walk by there. Yes I completely caught them off guard when I ran them down the moment I spotted them. I guess I should also mention at this time, that I had left my kids at home with Jeremy, so I was completely kidless (it was awesome).

That's us waiting at baggage claim :)

It was an awesome week. Friday the 4th was spent grilling, playing in the sprinklers and with the water guns, eating good food, and playing board games and video games.

Saturday we walking all around Seattle. We did a lot of walking that day we walked to the ferry.

We walked to Pikes Place Market and the original Starbucks.

We walked to the mall to catch a ride on the monorail, then walked all around the Space Needle, and through the Pacific Science Center.

And yes of course this meant that we had to walk all the way back. :) Wesley (my brother) and I estimated that we walked a total of 6 miles that day. Needless to say my feet were hurting by the end of it. It was a good day though.

Sunday we had set aside to just relax. We made pizza, watched tv, and play more games. Everyone made their own pizza and it was fun to see all of the toppings and pizza creations.

Monday we got in the car and made the 2.5 hour trek pass Port Angeles and to Lake Crescent. We walked the trail up to the water fall, and had a picnic lunch on the way.

Tuesday we went to Scenic Beach, then to Skippers for some awesome Chowder, and lastly to Poulsbo to get some yummy donuts.

Wednesday we played mini golf, and ate out for both Lunch and Dinner. We played more games that night, and we were a little sad because it was their last full day with us.

Thursday was spent packing up and saying good-bye :(. The kids and I drove them to the airport, hoping it wouldn't be long before we saw them again. Olivia had fallen asleep in the car, and didn't awake until we were almost home. Her first question was "Where is Uncle Wesley?" :(

I'm so glad they took time out of their busy lives to come and see us, and I had a wonderful time just hanging out with them. I'm glad they made it home safe and sound, and back to their puppy Steven. :)

Finally Went Hiking!

YAY!...

I announced to the kids Wednesday, after picking them up from co-op, that we would be going hiking tomorrow (Thursday). Zachary then asked "What about school work?" and I answered "We are playing hooky." there were shouts of excitement in the car after that. I love homeschooling. :)

Thursday morning I woke-up and packed a lunch for us to eat when we got there. It's an hour and a half drive to get to Port Angeles, and a half an hour more to get to Lake Crescent. We stopped at Port Angeles to visit the Olympic National Parks' Visitors Center.

They have a really nice staff, and they helped us pick out some trails that would be easy enough for us to do. We had already done the Marymere falls trail and we wanted to do that same trail again, with maybe a few new ones. The lady who was helping us recommended the Sol Duc water fall trail as well, because it wasn't to far from Marymere, and it was an easy mostly flat trail (we really can't hike strait up a mountain with little ones).

The Marymere Falls trail starts at the Lake Crescent Lodge, and is a mile long. It is a mostly easy trail, with a few steep steps at the very end of the trail. Going back down those steep steps is the worst part.

I always feel the need to carry Olivia on the way back down because I don't want her to lose her footing. The tail and the view is beautiful! 

After Marymere we drove another half an hour to get to the Sol Duc Springs Resort. From there we went on the Sol Duc Falls trail.....

...and the Ancient Groves trail

The Sol Duc trail was easy and like she said mostly flat, so we had a great time walking it, and it was also a mile to the falls and a mile back. Not bad at all. The Ancient Grove however was terrifying. It was a short half mile loop, that lead you to this cliff side trail, that is very narrow, and had a huge drop off. I'm just glad no one lost their footing. The view was breath taking but that might have been because we were fearing for our lives.

We had a really good time, and it was nice taking the day slow and seeing the sights. The kids collected  rocks and they came back to the car with full pockets (even Olivia).

So glad Jeremy is finally healed enough to do things like this :)