7

He is now 7! 7?!?! Seven feels so old. I have this little human man now who has a big personality and has his own opinions and ideas. And I love it. Of course I miss my squishy baby rolly poley river monster, but I am taking in every stage with him and loving it all. I am so grateful I get to be present and there for it. This kid is one of a kind and totally rocks this motherhood role for me...in a good way. River has taught me more about myself in his seven years of life than I have learned in all my years of life. Thank you my little boyfriend. 

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Some of rivers favorite things at seven years old goes like this...

He loves stories, reading, telling, listening to, etc. He is still obsessed with dinosaurs and building/creating things. He can name any car we pass on the street, tell me the make and model and random facts about them. Just tonight we pulled up next to an Acura NSX (which I had no clue what that even was) and he was telling me how its the new Acura and it beat so and so, but then they made the new blah blah blah and I am just over here, like ok, I don’t even know what youre saying or how you know all this.

 This kid is incredibly aware, pays attention to detail, is very in tune with his emotions and the emotions around him, but he also has this wild, silly side where he loves to play pranks, reenact things for a laugh, and tease his baby sis. He is sweet and sour, but mostly sweet;)  

His favorite color: grey and black

Favorite animal: a cat (he’s so allergic, but we go to cat cafes and adoption centers still because he truly loves them) 

Favorite book: Harry Potter, but is super into the Sam Fox adventure series right now. 

He loves drawing. 

Tonight he said he wants to be a policeman when he grows up, but that also changes on the daily. Yesterday he wanted to be a photographer for super cars and races. 

He thrives with one-on-one time, and our dates are some of my favorite memories. He does really well in school and is such a good student, but begs me every night not to go to school. 

He is an animal lover at heart. He has been stung by bees four times already, but will always save one if its flipped over or stuck in a pool. He takes such good care of his dog brother and baby sister. He is a natural born leader and dances to the beat of his own drum. I am still learning to stay back far enough to get out of his way and let his journey unfold. 

We love you River Zen. 

To infinity and beyond. 

You are smart. You are wise. You are strong. You are kind. You are important, and oh so loved. 

Happy Seventh. 

Xo

wild and three

My baby girl turned 3 (on september 14). She is pure sunshine and full of so much joy. We don’t know how we lived life without her. I hate that she is growing up. I want to freeze her right now. She is just too dang funny, sweet, and full of saaaaass. 

Her Current Favorites

Color: purple and blue

Animal: gorilla and polar bear

Food: noodles, pancakes

Drink: coca (coconut water)

Movie: Elsa (frozen)

Book: interactive ones (we read this poke-a-dot alphabet one nightly)

She loves swinging, riding her balance bike, all animals (snakes, spiders, you name it), riding “neigh neighs” at the farm, telling stories, building with magnatiles, playing poison ball on the tramp, making little setups around the house, her dog, babies, living room dance parties, makeup, and the list goes on. She is so full of life, sometimes we are just trying to keep up;)

Lately she has been going thru an attachment phase and is acting shy around people, but once she gets past that she is wild and silly. She is so sweet and always checks on her brothers. When I tell her, I love you, she always says, thank you back. She has to cuddle BOTH mom and dad at night before bed and we love it. She is so tiny and sweet, and gives the best hugs (when she decides to). We can’t get enough of her!

We celebrated by taking some friends and family to the butterfly museum (another one of her favorites) and then having a backyard butterfly party. It was so much fun! Thank you for all those that showed up for our baby girl. We love you! And now for a few pics, because what is a blog without pictures;) jk. still waiting on pics from the party, but here are a few from my phone. 





Happy 3rd birthday Rumi Rey. We love you to infinity and beyond! 
Xo

RV Life

well, we closed a chapter of our lives. we sold harvey the rv. he's gone, off to a new family to make memories with, and to be honest, i am a tad bit jealous...in a good way. it has been a few months since moving on from the rv life. i thought i would be only extremely excited and ready to put down some roots for a minute, but i was surprised to find mixed emotions. there are some days when i miss it. bad. the freedom to get up and go. california. the freedom to know we can move at any time. the non attachment to things or places. living minimalistic is soooooo freeing. it was so fun to know we would be somewhere for a short while, so you would really live there, ya know. the second we got somewhere we would explore it and find great places to play and eat and be. we would really live there, because we knew it wasn't permanent. we never knew how long our neighbors would be our neighbors so we got together as strangers and became friends for life. river has little friends from all over the country and world. one day we would be playing with a boy from columbia and the next week some boys from canada were over playing. we loved it. the people we met, the places we got to see were some of our very favorite memories. there are so many lessons we learned, and can only be learned when you live in an rv and travel full time. for that, i would say everyone should do it. but it definitely is not for everyone;) our perspective on life has changed, for the better. it really strips down what is important. and for me, that is making memories with the people i love. life is short people, you have got to live life on purpose.

ok, now i am off my soap box.

so why did we stop? well, for one, it was only suppose to be a one year journey, which turned into almost two. we knew we were going to move out of it before the summer came, but this little pandemic hit the world and moved our plans up a bit earlier. we put our rv up for sale and we quickly had potential buyers who were super interested, except they were in Utah. we decided to just do it, packed up our stuff, and headed back to Utah. within the week we looked for a house, and something so great came up that we just couldn't pass up. we were pumped because it seemed like everything just aligned and we were on the right path. we didn't really know how long we would be in utah, but things were working out so we went with it. well, the night before we got home (we stopped in St George to play) the house we were going to move into sold. no worries, we looked for places to rent. then the people who came to buy our rv loved it and were so stoked, but when it was time for the sale, they couldn't get the loan. they offered a cash offer, but we didn't feel like it was right anymore. that high of feeling like everything was aligned really went downhill in a matter of a couple of days. we were like, what is happening? what did we just do? it was a moment that's for sure. so we were now in utah with harvey, and we did what we were good at...we winged it. haha. we had gotten pretty good at winging it. we rented a home and settled in. if we have learned anything from rv living this month really put us to the test. home truly is wherever your loved ones are. it doesn't matter if we were in an rv, hotel, tent, or house, we had each other. it sounds so cheesy, but it is so true. i love my team, and i am so grateful we had this experience together. the memories we made were worth more than all the break downs. ha. so long harvey the rv. it was a good run.

now for some random rv pics...

my next post will have to be about all of our animal encounters while rv-ing because i am going to need a whole post for that one...also, all of the places we went. we went coast to coast to coast and it made for some pretty epic adventures.

xo

2.5

Rumi is at one of my favorite stages of life.  Yes, she is right in the middle of her terrible twos, but they're also the sweetest and most imaginative time. I love watching her experience new discoveries. I love how caring she is towards animals or when someone gets hurt. She has such a tender heart. She is also feisty and saaaasy. She pretty much rules our family, but we don't mind, because her smile brightens our whole day. Her dimples are unreal. I have to refrain myself from squishing her and kissing her all day. Every morning she wakes up and wants to watch Elsa (frozen), and also gets out every one of her stuffed animals and lays them across her floor. I'm not sure what that is about, but maybe she doesn't like to see her animals in a bin. I feel ya girl, animals in cages are one of the most heart breaking sights. Rumi is miss independent. She likes to brush her own hair, feed herself, have her own space, and is the best little mommy. There are so many things on the daily that she says, i am either constantly blown away by her genius, or in utter shock that that came out of her mouth;) She definitely keeps us on our toes. Currently, her favorites are:

colors: purple and blue

drink: coconut water

food: rice, dad's smoothies, and chocolate chips

toys: babies, animals

activity: jumping on the tramp, swinging, riding her balance bike

animals: horses

Rumi has the most adventurous soul; she is down for most anything. she is a little nature lover, and happiest outside. She loves reading and her made up stories are my favorite. If we don't read books and tell stories (which need to be very long and detailed) then good luck going to bed;) Her imagination and creativity is endless. 

She tells me that when she grows up she is going to drive a jeep and have a pet hatchling. haha. I love her. 

She is our sunshine, and we count our blessings everyday that she is a part of our family. 

We love you Rumi Rey. 

To infinity and beyond, and beyond that.