Our Nomadic Adventure

So our family has been on an adventure around the country and I have not had any time to update our family blog. I started another blog about our adventures. You can follow it at:

thetravelingglutenfreemom.com

Christmas Celebrations

Every year Christmas gets better and better with kids.  It is so magical.  We had so much fun this Christmas season.  We played in the snow, sat on Santa's lap, drank lots of hot cocoa, road the train downtown to see the temple lights, watched Christmas movies, went sledding, saw the Nutcracker and much more.

Poor Tyler got super sick Christmas Eve and was throwing up all night.  He didn't even get to eat any of the seafood boil we had which is his favorite Christmas tradition.  

Thanksgiving in Vegas

We went down to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with Tyler's family.  It was a lot of fun and the weather was amazing.

We played outside a lot, went to Moana, hiked up in Red Rock and ate lots of good food.

Top 5 - December

Payton Millie - 4 Years 6 Months

1 - She is my snow bunny.  During the summer time she always asks me when it is going to snow.  She loves to eat snow (no matter the color).  I have to continually remind her that you are only supposed to eat the clean white snow.  She went sledding down a huge hill all by herself and didn't want to leave.

2 - Payton says the most genuine thought felt prayers every night.  It melts my heart to hear her pray for "everyone who is cold and doesn't have a house to sleep in".  She also prays to be "grateful for everything she has and not ask for more".  And she doesn't ever end a prayer without saying "please bless Uncle Ryan's rooster to not attack grandpa".  Funny girl.

3 - She has mastered her cartwheel and backwards somersault in her tumbling class and got her name up on the board.  She was so excited.

4 - All of sudden she has HATED taking baths and she will never get near a shower.  Bath time is fun at our house.

5 - She is a great leader.  She loves to help people and always organized the funnest play dates when her friends come over.

Cooper Seth - 21 Months

1 - Now that he is talking it makes life so much better.  Every time anybody gives Cooper something or does something for him he replies, "thank you bum bum".  I have no idea where he picked that up from but it is so hilarious.

2 - He is the definition of a momma's boy.  Anytime I leave the room or Tyler is holding him he yells for me and won't stop until I pick him up.  He loves to snuggle me and I love it.

3 - In the car while he is reading a book he constantly yells my name until I turn my head and then he points at the book he is reading and laughs.  He won't stop calling my name until I acknowledge him. It is adorable, but also super obnoxious.

4 - Every single present Cooper opened for Christmas this year was the best present in the world.  Even socks.  He was so excited.  

5 - He is a great sleeper, but a horrible eater.  Hopefully he will start eating more soon.  

Spontaneous Portland Trip

So my husband has a job where he can work from home.  He just started this remote job about 8 months ago and recently I have been thinking of how to take advantage of this perk.  Since he can work remotely I thought it might be fun to look into house sitting.  They actually have legit websites where you can sign up to be a house/pet sitter for someone and stay for free in their home.  I have always wanted to have the opportunity to travel more and really enjoy the city from a local perspective instead of a tourist.  

So I signed up for one of these websites and started applying to tons of places.  I didn't really think we would get much opportunity because I have two kids, and one of them is 18 months old and kinda crazy.  Not very many people feel comfortable letting strangers come and stay in their home, let alone ones with kids.  But it actually worked out and our first adventure was back to Portland.  I was super excited, but I had to really talk Tyler into it.  He would prefer someplace warm and sunny.  

So Ty worked from the house during the day while I adventured with the kiddos and then we got to do some fun family adventures on the weekend and in the evenings.  We went out to eat (a ton), took a day trip to Cannon Beach (my favorite), explored the woods, went to the zoo and awesome kids museum there, and explored the crazy weird city of Portland.  It was a fun trip.

They were obsessed with the cats.  There were three cats and one dog and when we were at the house the kids were always with the cats.

The Portland Zoo is a legit zoo.  It feels like you are walking through a rainforest and seeing animals in their natural habitat.  

It was a little rainy and a lot gloomy when we first got to Cannon Beach, but by the time we got to those rocks the sun came out and it was amazing!

Cannon Beach was the cutest little beach town.  I wish we could have spent more time there.

This picture is horrible quality, but we got to watch 2 fire trucks put out a real fire (pretty small) in an apartment building across from the best ice cream shop in Portland called Salt & Straw.  We had just gotten our ice cream and walked outside to eat it and got a front row seat to the fire trucks pulling up and hooking up the hoses.  The kids were in awe.  It was pretty fun to watch them experience this.

My Favorite Season

I love the fall here in Utah.  Growing up in Vegas really deprived me of this amazing season.  We try to always go up to Silver Lake in September when the colors are so vibrant.

Making Rice Krispy Pumpkins...

Cornbelly fun with Grandpa

Pumpkin Picking

Our festive painted pumpkins

Radmall cousins

My little superheroes