Childish Things

I spend everyday with kids. My best friends are between the ages of 3 and 11 years old and I couldn't be happier.
I love children. As a child I loved adults. Kinda backwards but it is working out in my favor.

I really wanted to be a nanny this summer and have been so blessed to work with some great families.
Children are refreshing and exhausting all at the same time.

I love the blunt honesty you get,
The pure joy at the simplicity of life,
The fast friendship and quick forgiveness,
I love that they love me, want me and need me. That's what we all want in life isn't it? My little people fill my tank.

It has been the best way to make money- I paint bird houses, make play-dough, run around splash pads, explore children's museums... as well as be a human jungle gym, calm tantrums, take 10 trips to the bathroom in an hour and best of all get lots of hugs and snuggles.

The combination of a couple families this summer has resulted in me loving 11 children that aren't mine. I've thought a lot about the way I want to raise my own family watching the dynamics play out at different houses. Everyday is something new and I'm learning lots of do's and don'ts.
This last week we saw "Santa Claus" at McDonald's when we stopped for ice cream. Santa was super friendly.  He warned us to be good as Christmas magic sparkled in children's eye on a hot July afternoon. It's little moments like that. It is when I show up to pick them up from preschool and get wrapped in hugs, proudly handed paintings and told multiple stories all at once.

I love coming home from work with sore arms from having a 3 year old on each hip (twins are an adventure), with greasy hair from little hands that play with it all day, with occasional mystery spills on my clothes and stickers on my legs and paint on my hands. My big craft bag has a permanent home in the back of my car and I've become a pro at car seats. I honestly love my job!
They are full of life, funny and ambitious. They are good for me.

(PS could I have more run on sentences or fragments? I love having no rules and no grading rubric.)

Snap chat filters were made for easy babysitting entertainment.

Paper bag puppets were a hit of an activity.

classic kool-aid playdough

We had a Christmas party complete with presents and Graham cracker houses that sadly resulted in sick tummys. I'm not the healthiest nanny they have ever had..oops.

This was such a fun day though. They were so proud of the presents they made me. So sweet and thoughtful they were in their drawing of the activities we had done all summer.

This was a cute Pinterest idea and awesome for the hot St. George sun. Freeze little treasures and then use a hammer to smash them free.

I like to try and see the world through their eyes- sometimes it's upside down or inside a castle fort.

Some days we play so hard... exhausted kids are the best reward.

It's fun to be a 21 year old kid. One day they asked me if my friends were as "kid-like" as I was. Living life like a child is healthy. Be happy and excited, show emotion easily, be bluntly honest, love without judgement or expectations. My summer job is 50% playing mom and 50% playing kid- perfect balance. xoxo Summer 2k16 :)

Havasupia

It took WAY too long for me to get this post up. Summer has been busy and I spent far too long looking through hundreds and hundreds of pictures of this trip. Here are a few of my favorites and some thoughts on the most beautiful place I have ever been.

They were four of the most incredible days I have ever lived. And boy did we live.

Our journey began before the sun in the early AM hours of Monday morning. We drove for what felt like a million hours stopping to eat some breakfast in a Nevada parking lot and continued our journey until we made it to the trail head in Arizona. It was there we ate a yummy lunch and set out on the trek.

For weeks I had read blog post after blog post soaking in every tip I could about this adventure. I had never done a backpacking trip and this was a bit out of my comfort zone... or WAY out of my comfort zone. Everything we used for the trip we carried in. The first few minutes with the 30+ pound backpack on isn't too bad but after you have gone a couple of miles in the hot sun you feel like it weighs 30hundred pounds. My hips and shoulders were about ready to give out on me when we made it the 10 miles into camp.

We spent that first evening setting up camp and goggling over the nearest waterfall which was a short 3-5 minute walk from our campsite.

 I was so excited about the idea of sleeping in a hammock and I was not disappointed, it was so so so fun! Big thank you to my uncle Daniel who hooked me up with essential backpacking gear. I was so grateful for my light weight sleeping bag. Our weather while we were down there was practically perfect. The nights were cool but not cold and the days just sunny enough for swimming! 

We spent the next couple of days playing as hard as we could. We hiked around to all the different waterfalls jumping, swimming and taking loads of pictures. I think I might have used the word 'Wow' a billion times. It is hard to explain and as cool as the pictures are they don't even begin to portray what it is like. All I know is that God did something special with that part of the world.

 (of all the places we stopped this was my favorite. It wasn't one of the main waterfalls but a little pocket of goodness along the trail. It was what I picture a fairy-tale scene to look like.)

(This wasn't me jumping but falling off the waterfall... I tripped- classic haha)

(I ordered these Vibrams online for this trip. BEST thing I ever did! They worked awesome in the water and spent most of my time hiking in them too.)

 The water down there is the craziest clear blue. I was told it is so brightly blue from the lime stone. I loved walking through it and being able to clearly see my feet at the bottom as if I was looking through glass. As we walked we found ourselves in fields of green and then weaving through beautiful flowered cactus. The warm sand found its ways into our shoes and the sun sent down rays of happiness. I was so at peace, so in enchanted as we turned every corner. I will take my kids there someday as soon as they are old enough to climb down the ladders and swim through the pull of the waterfall.

 It was fun to have no alarm clock. I slept the longest the first day curled up in my hammock. We stayed up and became friends during the nights. I knew some of the people I went with and others not at all. We began our trip as a group of random acquaintances. It was fun to see us start to really like each other. I wish I could make all of my friends in a setting like that. No makeup, no social media, no past.. just new friends!!! Really cool humans that learn to like you for you at your most physically drained state. We bonded over dehydrated foods, personality tests, and not being able to walk normal due to the soreness of our muscles. I really love them and am sad that we don't all live in the same city or go to the same school.

 For our "last supper" we hiked 2 miles one way to get warm delicious slightly expensive food. and yes I did pay $5 for a large Dr. Pepper- so worth it!!! Lacey, Hailee and I shared a grilled chicken salad and a havasu taco. Both were so good!
You pass through the village of Supia on your way in and out. It is so neat! I felt like I was in a different country. If you look carefully you'll find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints among the school and houses.

Fun with glow sticks below. We were attempting to make a girl, waterfall and sun picture thing... if you use your imagination you can see it ;)

It was the most incredible trip ever! However, I wasn't sure I was going to make it out. You can just ask my friend Brendon who told me stories the whole way out to distract me from the fact that every step hurt. I have never felt more physically exhausted. We left before the sun was up to beat the heat but by the time we were climbing the sandy switch-backs the sun was out and I thought I was going to pass out.

I made it though. I carried my pack in and out. It was the best hard thing I have done post-mission.

Three cheers for LIVING.