Insta-Tuesday {2.23.16}

Ummm... apparently I haven't uploaded any instagram pictures since 2015. Not that I've been doing so much instagramming, but still. Here are the insta-snaps from our life so far this year. 

{1.3.16}

Lydia's first day as a Sunbeam. Be still my mushy-mama heart. #noshoesbecauseshedidntwantthem #isntshestillmybaby?

{1.4.16}

That one time when the number one-very top- thing on your Christmas list is a Roomba (a robotic vacuum) even though you know it's way out of the budget and not realistic. And then Walmart accidentally sends you a package containing what? An awesome robotic vacuum. And then when you contact them to tell them about it, they say they will have someone come pick it up, but then it just keeps sitting in your living room making you wish it was really yours! #thatonetime #cantmakethisstuffup #iftheydontpickitupsoonimkeepingit
#notreallybutifiwasntdeterminedtobehonestiwouldalreadybekeepingit

{1.5.16}

He found a glass door at@_amyperkins's and he loved it. #squishyface

{1.7.16}

I just love looking at pictures of my parents when they were young and raising a family. It reminds me that they went through hard things together and that all too quickly their kids were grown and living lives of their own. It reminds me to appreciate the time I have with my little ones and to take the time to teach my kids like my parents taught me. Also, today Lydia and I watched a Sophia the First about mothers and it made me cry/left me wanting to be a better mom. Today that looks like staying home in our PJs all day, watching tv, playing games, and eating fruit snacks.

{1.15.16}

David has been gone for 9 of the last 11 days and we have missssssssed him. The bottom pictures were from when he left the second time (last week was Minneapolis, this week was Tulsa). They didn't want to let him go, and neither did I. Tonight Lydia asked if she could fall asleep in our bed so she wouldn't miss him coming home. I told her that he would come home and move her to her own bed. Melt my heart. I can't express how grateful I am that David works so hard for our family but also so grateful that he will be home tonight! #mayormaynotbewaitingrightbythedoor

{1.16.16}

Happy Birthday Camille! Nieces are just the best. So are grandpa's, especially when they are willing to deliver endless "ding-bumps". #clockturnedsevenandweallturnedintopumpkins

{1.17.16}

Trying to get our blog book finished before the 30% discount ends tomorrow. Turns out we are 483 pictures over the 1,000 picture limit and have to split our year into two books (again!). That means double the cheesy taglines and an extra late night trying to get both books finished. #lovethemwhentheyaredone #teamwork #davidiscornyshantelissappy

{1.20.16}

Although it was not snowing when I left at 5:30 this morning, headed to visit my grandparents in Wyoming -nor did the weather forecast appear too bad - we are now going on 3.5 hours stuck in Wanship, UT. The roads are closed both East and West of us. However, my prayers were answered as I prayed for safety from the snowy roads and for a safe place to stay until the storm passed. Who knew the Rafter B Gas and Grub would be such a blessing (in direct answer to heartfelt prayer). They've let us sit in their parking lot, come out to check on us several times, and even brought out some chocolate milk and treats. (The owner asked Lydia what treat she wanted and she requested an orange sucker. He came back with two bags full of suckers. One bag of orange and one bag of red.) Counting my blessings: We are safe. We are warm. We have people looking out for us. I have phone service. I have internet. My kids are doing great. It's an adventure to be sure. #sogratefultobesafeandwarm

{1.20.16}

So, so, so glad to be home. #safeandsound

{1.22.16}

These kids loooooove to climb. Both of them. Yesterday, we traded our couches and kitchen table for the Dinosaur playground at City Creek and they were in heaven. Second favorite was going up and down all four flights of escalators multiple times. Lydia keeps asking when we are going back. #soon

{1.27.16}

We had a wonderful afternoon spent with David's grandma, Joyce Bennion Peaden. She showed Lydia how to crochet, let her play with the stuffed ducks, and took her on a ride (sitting on her walker) all over the center/complex. Down the hall, through the common room, up the elevator, to the balcony, and back. Both grandma and Lydia had a blast. Grandma was walking fast and said "You didn't know your grandma could move so quick!" A while later Lydia leaned over to me and said "I like her, she's really nice." It's so neat to see them together. *sigh* I am in awe of this picture taken of Joyce when she was a young woman. So beautiful and special. So loved, then and now. #familyhistory

{1.27.16}

You guys. I'm sorry for tagging basically every single one of you in this giveaway, but I reallllllly want to win! The incredible @alimiddleton is hosting the most amazing giveaway of the world. She is the kindest, most genuine person and her photo skills match the amazing person she is. My dream is to have her follow me and and document my life because she has such a good eye for capturing the most simple, yet beautiful moments. She took this picture of Lydia and H. I love it on so many levels (not the least that I plan on it being on their wedding video someday). Help make my dream come true if only for a couple hours by going and liking her page, but don't enter because I want to win sooooo bad. (Or do, because really she's amazing!) #AMfamilyathome

{1.29.16}

Joining a babysitting swap is the best thing we've ever ever done for our date nights. Knowing that our kids are having fun and being well taken care of while we get some one-on-one time together is so, so good. (Thank you@karlishields!) City Creek looked so festive and we had a great evening. Finishing out the night with some Shark Tank. #livingontheedge #hesthebestdate #always

{1.30.16}

You guys! I WONNNNNNN! I don't know that I've ever been more excited to win something in my whole life! Thank you for letting me tag 100 of you and a huge Thank You to @alimiddleton! I'm jumping up and down all over the house right now!

EDIT: The giveaway was for an in home family photography session. Ali Middleton is an amazing photographer and I've been dying to book a session with her. Check her out at @alimiddleton.

{2.1.16}

Our 2015 blog books are printed! (Yes, part one and two, because apparently I made up for my lack of blogging by just dumping massive amounts of pictures into my posts. About 500 over the book limit. Oops. So excited to add these beauties to our collection! #thisishowiscrapbook #ourfamilyjournal

{2.15.16}

What do you do when it's beautiful outside (or rather, just not completely freezing) and your TP pass expires in 3 days? You go to the farm. This was Austin's first real adventure at the farm and he loooooooved it. I just love the age that he is at right now. (Makes me a little sad not to be renewing our passes.) Also, Lydia loved all the giant puddles and jumped in each one. I love her age, too. #themholdinghandsmeltsmyheart #shedressesherself #heheldmyhandbasicallythewholetime

insta-david

{1.5.16}

Had a fantastic day off and loved spending time with Shantel and Lydia and Austin. The highlight was definitely building this awesome snowman with Lydia! Check more about our snow adventures at www.thepeadenlife.blogspot.com #carrotnose #wehopehestayswarm

{1.15.16}

Had some great food in Tulsa and now I'm super excited to head home after a week of work. If you are ever in Tulsa, you need to go to Burnco and get the happy plate and fat guys burgers for the fat and juicy burger. #missingmyfamily #gettingonaplane

{1.16.16}

Happy to be home and make lunch for this wonderful girl. #starshapedsandwich

{1.21.16}

Busy season has started and tonight was one of my "late" nights, which means I got home after the kids were in bed. When I did, I found out Lydia had left me a surprise in her room. I am so lucky, she left me a card, a paper with my two names (Daddy Peaden), a tower and various other things, including the Tulsa magnet I brought here from my trip last week. She is so sweet. I hope she likes the note, bubbles and candies I left for her.

{1.27.16}

I have been riding the train to work the last couple of weeks and been thinking about my wonderful family.@alimiddleton caught a great moment of them on the train and I love it. She is doing a super awesome giveaway that you should check out. Even if you don't win, you should book her for your next family photos. #AMfamilyathome

Goodbye Thanksgiving Point

So it's finally happened, my Thanksgiving Point pass expired this week and I'm not going to renew it. I feel good about the decision, because there are just so many other fun things to do around here that it makes sense to take a year off and not spend the money, but I'm still a little sad.

I knew the pass was expiring, so we tried to use it a lot. I said that we were going to go every single day of the last week, but we really only ended up going a couple of times. I didn't get pictures of the Children's Museum when we went - but I got some cute ones at the farm. It was really Austin's first time going and walking around and knowing what was going on and he loved  it. That alone makes me sad not to be renewing, because I'd forgotten how much I love going there and walking around with the kids. But then Austin wanted to go one way and Lydia got upset and ran a different way and I thought that maybe not dealing with that didn't sound so bad after all. But it really was a beautiful day. Just cold enough for jackets. Puddles everywhere for Lydia to jump in to her heart's content. Austin wanted to hold my finger everywhere we went, only letting go to grab Lydia's hand. This is one of those beautiful days in a mother's life.

The day that my pass actually expired, I decided to try to hit all of the spots with the kids. We started at the Dinosaur Museum, then walked over to the water tower and got ice cream and fries. The kids were in heaven. Then we went to the farm and walked around for a little bit. The weather was actually pretty cold, so we didn't stay long - but we were there long enough to have a nice time. I was planning to go to the Children's museum afterward, but I asked Lydia if she wanted to go there next and she said that she just wanted to go home. I asked her a couple of other times on the way home, but we had already had such a nice time and if she was happy - I was happy. 

 Lydia's a little concerned about the fact that I don't have a pass anymore, but she's decided that it's okay because we can "still go to museums that don't need a pass". (We call a lot of things, museums.) So, it's sad to say goodbye to Thanksgiving Point for a while, but I'm excited to go explore other things. The end.

The weather today.

This morning while I making breakfast for the kids, Lydia insisted on turning off all of the lights (it's this thing that she's been doing lately. She just really, really, really likes when all the lights are off) so I opened the curtains on the sliding door. It's been nice outside lately. For a while, the inversion was so bad that it looked like there was fog outside, but it wasn't innocent little clouds - the inversion had just sunk so far that if you went outside you were literally walking in smog. But it's cleared up a bit. The other day we even went to the Farm to walk around and all we needed were some jackets and boots. The outdoors must have been calling to both kids because they stood by the door and just looked outside. They watched a train go by, and before I knew it - Lydia had the door open and was venturing outside. She was thrilled that she could be outside without her shoes on. I called her back in, but Austin was not to be left out. He stood by the door, and grunted and whined and pointed. He convinced Lydia to crack the door and that's all he needed to pull it open and squeeze outside himself. I was covered in raw chicken because while breakfast was cooking, I was cutting up some chicken to freeze for meals this month. So he got all the way outside, down the stairs, and into our play structure on the back porch. He was thrilled. Lydia was equal parts nervous for Austin (shouting about her "precious baby") and excited that she had another excuse to be outside. It was a little crisp, but really not very cold.

I was tempted to let them play outside for a while, but breakfast was ready - and I thought that "good mom" would probably bring her pajama clad babies back inside. But already I was planning to make it back to the farm later today to take advantage of the chance to be outside.

Lydia went to preschool and the wind started howling. I had just put Austin down for a nap and I was upstairs when I heard the wind really pick up and rush past, rattling the house, and knocking over some unseen objects outside. I love the wind. Kind of scary, and thrilling, and makes me so grateful to be able to wrap up in a blanket inside my toasty house.

I still had plans to try to make it outside today.

But dark clouds just rolled in and the rain let loose! Pounding the windows and ground outside. I can even see a few pieces of hail mixed within all the giant rain drops. It's beautiful. And makes me want to cancel all plans that would take us away from our house so that we can just sit inside and watch the rain (or blog, whichever the case may be).

The weather today looks grim and grey, but it's brought so much happiness to my little life. In all honesty, yesterday wasn't the greatest day. I was far from the mother that I want to be. The mom that jumped out when irritated, matched the yuckiness of the inversion outside. But the weather outside, as well as many heartfelt prayers, seem to be clearing my heart and helping me focus on the two little people who my world revolves around.

So today, rain and wind. Thank you for visiting us. Please blow and pour to your hearts content... and take the inversion away with you when you leave!