Breaks

Recently I seem to be having a lot of Mommy breaks. I'm getting really spoiled. And I'll admit-- I do enjoy them. But I'm always very happy to see my kids again when they're done, so I figure I can't be too bad of a mother, right? In addition to all the napping I do (gotta take advantage of Craig being home for the summer!), I also spent a few hours in the temple while Rachael went through for the first time. We couldn't find a babysitter, so Craig stayed outside with the kids and took a bunch of pictures (the best of which will be at the end of this post).

And then, for our anniversary, Craig and I sent the kids off for a night with Grandma and Grandpa while we enjoyed a short vacation from being parents. We had our day all planned out, but of course, things changed-- some for better, some for worse-- but it still made for a fun day! We started by going to see Inception, which was both awesome and made even better by the fact that we got in for free! Yay for kids in the ward working at the movie theater (and yes, he had permission from his manager to do that-- it was totally legit)! As far as the movie goes-- it's awfully nice when all the hype turns out to not be exaggerated! Although it was pretty hilarious right as the end credits began and an older woman sitting behind us blurted out, "I didn't get that at all!" and her friends all agreed that the move made no sense and they needed a drink. I guess the movie isn't for everyone!

Anyway, we headed for dinner next. Normally we do a pretty fancy dinner for our anniversary, but we both felt like we'd had a lot of eating out this last month, so we opted to go cheap instead and headed to Chipotle, which I'd been craving. I love that place. I was even good and saved half of my burrito for lunch today.

Our next stop was supposed to be the water park near our house, but it had been raining off and on all day, so we weren't very surprised to learn that the park was closed. That was too bad, but part of me was just as glad that it was closed so we didn't have to decide if we wanted to stick to the plan even though it was a bit chilly. Sometimes it's nice to just have the decision made for you! So instead we went for a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the cool weather and not having to fight each other for stroller space on the sidewalk. It was really nice. We so rarely get to walk and hold hands any more-- even when we let the kids walk rather than pushing them in strollers, usually they want to hold our hands!

Then we headed to the bookstore. I like browsing the aisles and getting ideas about what to read next. This time I took advantage of Craig's iPhone to look up what books were already available at the library. Time well spent. Then we hit Coldstone (where I was NOT good, but it sure was yummy!) and finally headed home and watched another movie-- this time something a little lighter: Bride and Prejudice!

The best part of all this was going to bed not worrying about what time the kids would wake us up in the morning. When I did wake up, I lounged around in bed reading my book until Craig woke up, too. I can't remember the last time I did that, but I suspect it was before Bentley was born.

Tom and Donna brought back our kids around 2:00 and I was so happy to see them again! I love vacation. But I love real life even more. And I think that's a good thing!


Here are the pictures from Craig watching the kids while I was at the temple. He found a park nearby and they had fun:

Kendra got really dizzy spinning around in this thing. There's a video at the very end...

Can you see the Angel Moroni through the trees?

This spot is sort of hidden away on the temple grounds. A lot of our wedding pictures were taken there, so Craig took the kids there to see it.

I like that Kendra is trying to hold the statue's hand.

This is my favorite picture from the whole day.
Only on the temple grounds would Craig trust a stranger with his iphone!

Once we were done at the temple, most of my family went to a baseball game, but we went and visited my Grandma Bentley. Unfortunatley, Kendra wasn't cooperating for the camera, but you get the idea...

On the ferry, returning home-- nice and windy!

And here's the video of Kendra getting so dizzy. It's hard to see, because Craig kept changing the camera angle, but it still cracks me up!