I know it's kinda cheap for cramming one last post in for the month of May but you guys, today was my first real day of summer! And it was so summery that I just want to share it with you really fast.

This morning, Mama Laura and I went to a Barre class that kicked my butt because you can pretend all you want that chasing kids around for three weeks is physical exercise- but it's not. So that hurt a little bit.

Then I spend a million years unpacking my giant mess of Utah State stuff (that was never put away), a little bit of Bozeman leftovers from Max's lax tournament a while ago, suitcases from being a nanny, and then my bag from my trek through Idaho and Montana this weekend. It took forever. And I'm just going to have to pack it all up in a few months anyways before I head off to Alaska. I feel like I'm constantly living out of a suitcase.

Later, Edwin came over and we stacked all of our hammocks super high in our front yard. All the cars that would drive by, slowed down a little bit to see what all the colorful commotion was all about. We even got Mama Laura to join us! Grateful for selfie sticks that helped us pull off such a fabulous selfie in toast to the ENO hammock company.

Yay for summer!

Love, Caitie

They're Growing Up & Graduating On Me

It's so insane to me that I graduated high school a year ago. Honestly, it feels like it was yesterday and then other times it feels like it was a different lifetime. And SO much has changed. Life is crazy. After my grandparents dropped me off in Rexburg Thursday night (after my car had a mental breakdown on me), Mama Laura came and picked me up then we drove home to Jackson. I unpacked my nanny bags, finished writing my talk for church in Belfry on Sunday, took a shower, climbed into my own bed (bless), woke up and packed my bag for the weekend, and drove with Mama Laura back to Rexburg for my cousins' graduation on Friday.

They had over 350 students in their graduating class! It was so big they held it in the BYU-Idaho Center and it felt just like General Conference- they even had an organ and an opening prayer. Both of these twinner are heading to BYU-Provo in the fall and I'm kinda sad that I won't be just up the freeway at USU to hang out with them. But I'll be back later to party. After graduation, the twins went to their graduation party that the school puts on for all the graduates that lasts all night so Anna, Brynnie, and I watched Cheaper By the Dozen and then fell asleep. Grandpa wanted us to be awake with the car loaded by 6am on Saturday so Laura, Eliza, Grandma, Grandpa, and I could drive to Bozeman to watch our other cousins (Johnnie and Katie) compete in their State Track & Field competitions. It was really early but that didn't scare Grandpa away from giving us quizzes. 

Johnnie, Eliza, me, and Laura FREEZING in Bozeman
but cheering Katie on anyways 

The twins pulled an all-nighter last night, so once there was a little break between Johnnie and Katie's events, the twins and I went and took an hour long power nap in the warm and cozy car. We headed to Belfry, MT after the races were all done for Johnnie's graduation party.  It was in this cute little barn and the twins and I ate almost all of the Costco cinnamon bread there because it was so delicious. Then we went to John's house and I don't remember anything else but falling asleep really fast that night.

On Sunday, we went to church in the Belfry branch where I spoke about the Holy Ghost. If I was way more tech-savvy, I could post it for you but it's kinda long (my uncle Bruce, the branch president, asked me to speak for ten minutes). So if you really want a copy, text me or something. Eliza spoke before me and then Laura and Johnnie played a musical number after me. It was like the meeting was run by eighteen year olds. After church, Johnnie drove us out to their new property where we got to see their brand new foal that was the cutest little thing ever. Then it was time for John's graduation which was TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG even though the graduating class of Red Lodge was only 38 students. Like, what. But I sat through the whole thing on those super uncomfortable bleacher seats because I love Johnnie. Go family.

We didn't know if we were going to make it.

John will be joining the twins (and Anna and Soren) down at BYU-Provo in the Fall. Again, we will have to party when I come back. Hopefully they wait until I come home from Alaska to get married. After his graduation, we went back to his house and ate dinner then played board games until it was time for John's school's graduation party so we had to say bye to him because he would be gone all night and Grandpa wanted to leave at 7:30am Monday morning for the cabin.

When we headed out of Red Lodge in the morning, Grandpa had planned for us to drive to the cabin in West Yellowstone by way of the Beartooth Pass but when we passed the sign before the pass, it said that Beartooth was "temporarily closed" due to snow on the Wyoming side. So I called "YOLO" on it and we drove to the top. But when we got there, there was a whole lineup of cars because the gate was closed and locked. So we sat there for about ten minutes before Laura and I climbed out of the car and started running around in the billowing wind and snow. It was so cold, but looked a little bit like Alaska so I wasn't mad. Almost an hour later, we found out that they were not going to be opening the road all day so we got back in the car and headed back down then had to drive through Cody and then Yellowstone to get to the cabin. It just gave us some extra time for quizzes from Grandpa. I honestly think that we took almost a thousand quizzes this weekend.

*pretends to be in Alaska already

WE ARE SO DONE WITH THE BACKSEAT

We finally got to the cabin around 3pm and then I hiked up to the Rocky Knoll with Anna. She's the coolest. 

We had dinner and cleaned up then headed home. I was at the cabin for a total of like five hours. Sad, huh? I love the cabin. It's one of my favorite places on this entire planet. But I'll be back.

#explainthecabininonephoto

So that was my Memorial Day weekend. It was a lot of driving and a lot of graduating. I'm so excited to be in Jackson for the next little bit while I get ready for my next big adventure!

Love, Caitie

Nanny Caitie: Week #3

You know when you only have one more pushup to finish the workout and even though it's only one pushup, it's like the hardest pushup you've ever done? That's how this week felt. But at the same time, you know that feeling after your workout? That rush of endorphins that feels so amazing? That's how this week felt too. Being a nanny is so hard but so fun and finishing this week with Charlotte, Lizzie, and Bennion is so bittersweet.

The whole time I've been nannying, Charlotte has been DYING to fly kites. On Monday, I decided to make a reward system called "Caitie Coins" that the girls could earn- by doing things like eating all of their lunch, getting dressed without crying, making their beds, clearing their plates, and sharing- towards buying a kite on Thursday morning before I left. It was brilliant and I should have thought of it like two weeks ago. Oh well.

Charlotte was the mastermind behind the Caitie Coin designs

look at Lizzie's duckie boots- they're the CUTEST

happiest baby Bennion

Tuesday: We did SO MANY beads all day. 

But the girls loved it so no complaints here.

And it was the only way I could get them to sit still enough to brush their hair (that was last brushed on Thursday- oops).

Wednesday: the girls were really wanting to go to Lagoon today but because I am not sure how to balance a six week old newborn, a two year old, and a five year old at an amusement park yet, we went to the new Church History museum at Temple Square that the girls loved. I told them that if there was no crying, whining, or fighting then they could each have ten Caitie Coins. That was a brilliant incentive and not a single tear was shed. Blessed.

Thursday: THEY EARNED THIER KITES! 

We all loaded up and went to Wally World where the girls each got to pick their kites. They made sure everyone we passed in the store knew that they had earned all their Caitie Coins to get kites. It was so cute. Then we went to the top of the street and flew them around for a little while before I had to take them to the dance studio and drop them off to their mom before I headed home.

grocery store cart load

charlotte only crashed twice

If you remember, my car had a super hard time making it to Salt Lake three(ish) weeks ago. After it was taken into the shop in Salt Lake and got a new radiator, the car guy said it was good to go and it had done pretty well until I was about an hour outside of Pocatello on the freeway coming home. All of the lights started flashing, my cruise control kept setting and resetting, and the front of my car was smoking. So I exited the freeway asap and called Mama Laura- freaking out and crying. Long story short, we still don't know what's wrong with my car but my Grandma and Grandpa were about an hour behind me and came to rescue me (again) then my car was towed to Pocatello to be fixed. So that's super fun. Yay.

Cars hate me.

Love, Caitie

Nanny Caitie: Week #2

So there's lots of things that I love about Utah (Utah State (duh), Grandma's Dessert Freezer, and the Salt Lake temple). But also it's like 80° every day in May, all of the radio stations play more commercials than music, and the freeway is TERRIFYING. 

So I think I'll stick to Wyoming for a little longer. 

Here's another weekly report from Caitie in the Nanny World:

Monday: we spent the day setting up for the girl's tea party- cupcake prep, window streamer decorations, etc. At one point, I had to leave and go feed Bennion and came back about twenty minutes later to Charlotte and Lizzie's drawings all over the table. They learned about the magic of Clorox this week and that tables are not the same as coloring books. They don't color on tables any more.

Tuesday: Tea Party Day! It can basically be summed up as ten little girls screaming and running around the house on a cupcake sugar rush for an hour and a half. Woo. Charlotte and Lizzie decided that they wanted their party to be Alice in Wonderland themed and so we read the story of Alice in Wonderland, had a dance party, colored in Alice and Wonderland coloring books, ate heart shaped pb&j's and red velvet cupcakes, then had their faces painted like the cards in the movie. Best tea party planner ever? I know.

Wednesday: Courtney didn't need me until later that night so Allie, Ashly, and I met at Chipotle for Ashly's lunch break and then Allie and I wandered around Temple Square and then the University of Utah campus (and got so lost) for a little while. I miss my roomies.

Thursday: Lizzie started feeling pretty sick so she spent most of the day in the basement watching TV shows and taking naps up in her bed. So Charlotte and I had craft day! We made these bird feeder pinecones that I found on Pinterest (one of the greatest nanny tools ever) where you spread peanut butter all over a pinecone and then put it in a bag of bird seed and shake it around until it's covered. Then you hang them up in the tree and it's so cute!

Then we rode bikes to the Shell gas station at the top of the street and got slurpees then took tons of photos with Snapchat filters and it was the funniest thing Charlotte had ever seen.

Friday: Lizzie was still feeling sick so Courtney took her to the doctor's office for a check up while Bennion and I dropped Charlotte off at preschool and then came back and took a nap. He was so pumped it was finally Friday. Me too little dude, me too.

Saturday: Courtney didn't need me at all today so Allie and I headed up to American Fork Canyon and hammock there for like five hours and ate our Chick-fil-A up there too.

Then we headed down to see Abbey and her new house then went for a drive up to the temple. We hiked up to this cool overlook where it was super windy and cold but you could see like all of Utah from up there! Not really, but you could find like five temples. Go Utah.

 

 

@jasondunlop

Be safe on the freeway,

Utah drivers are insane.

Love, Caitie