How is he 4 years old already?

Tomorrow morning I will wake up and we will have a four year old little boy. He is the absolute best and I pinch myself that we get to be his parents and entertained with his stories and his love every day. Continuing last years tradition of interview on the birthday, here are his answers from earlier today:

Q’s Fourth Birthday 20 questions

1    1.) What is the best thing about turning 4 years old?

getting a present toy because I get to play with it.

2    2.)What was your favorite present this year?

Um Bakahhhhhh. My favorite present was a flashlight was from Tommy and Brandy.

3    3.) What is your favorite color?

Black and orange

4    4.)What are you going to be when you grow up?

I want to be a swimming guy, swimming guys swim fast up so alligators don’t chase you

5.)What is your favorite food?

Cake and a storm trooper cake, he runs around quick as a bubble juice

6.)What do you like to do with your family?

Swim with your family, go get pumpkins

7.) What makes you happy?

Packing up, owen tyde and lennon too

8.)What makes you sad?

Pinching you makes me sad

9.)Who is your teacher?

  Miss Emily

10.) What is your favorite thing to play with Kinsale?

Build a tent with her

11.)What is your favorite TV show?

Scooby doo

12.) What is your favorite movie?

The lion king

13.)Where is your favorite vacation?

Minnesota

14.)What do you think about when your going to bed at night?

Sleep and spooky things

15.) Whats your favorite holiday?

Halloween is my favorite because I told you a lot of times

16.) What do you like to do with Mom and Dad?

Go to the pool (can you tell we are trying on swimsuits for Florida) and ski with Dad

17.) What is your favorite restaurant?

The cookie place and the marshmallow place.( I asked where is that?) and he said Salt Lake city

18.) What do you like to do with your dog Gilles?

Take him on a walk

19.)What is your favorite book?

Mr Magee Camping

20.) Where is Your favorite place to go in SLC?

I like to go to the zoo water-skiing

Love,

The B, A, Q and K

2017 was the year of BUSY

Its funny I really like this blog because I use it as a yearbook of what the family has been doing and are up to. I also know a bunch of out of state family read it. This blog and I have a love/hate relationship for the simple reason that it is ALWAYS on my to do list to update. I try super hard to do once a month but if I have 12 blog posts at the end of the year I am happy enough.
Yes, 2017 was the year of busy, I think since K is 2 years old now and Q almost 4, I have been in my job for almost 2.5 years that we all finally settled into a nice steady paced jog. November was the month of travel hitting up New Orleans, New York with my Mama, Las Vegas for work and Paris with Brendan. Here is my conclusion, New York or any girls trip travel with my Mama is always a fabulous, fun time. Not a fan of Vegas, I like real culture that New Orleans serves up even on a work trip. It was lovely to see all my friends and other directors in Vegas. The real conclusion is Paris was incredible and lived up to every dream I had about it. From start to finish the whole trip was a dream. Both Bren and I were shocked at how much we enjoyed it and just how special of a city it truly is! I already want to go back. 2018 already has a filling docket of travel with a super special trip to the Mother ship that is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We can't wait!
Whats new around here, is Bren was an amazing single Dad during all this work travel. We have been busy, we continued our tradition of having his Uncle Brian, Aunt Carmen and Big Quinn for Thanksgiving as well as Charlie and Julia and getting them to slug out the turkey day 5k with us. I got my best time with a double stroller! Christmas is really pretty magical with a 2 and 3 year old, they love all the lights, the new decorations up, the songs, the special movies and everything that is December. It feels pretty special to see it all through their eyes. They are absolutely over the moon for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to get here. They did get to celebrate early with my parents before they left back to MN. We had a nice dinner and opened gifts two days after we got back from Paris and had a really great time.It is our off year so we are home in Utah having our own traditions.  Bren's parents get in this week and will be here to celebrate with us for the actual big day!

I think looking back on my takeaway from 2017 it was really about getting into a steady jogging pace with my little family of four and letting go of expectations that hold us back or take away from the beauty of our journey we are on. I think so often we get wrapped up in all that is around us. It can be work, friends, whats the status quo is and just trying to please others that we lose sight of our own path and spin in circles. I feel like 2017 is the year I put on my headphones, put my hair in a pony and got down to business on running my path, at my pace. I am proud of that growth.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and take a moment to appreciate the journey you are on and the lovely people you get to run it with!

Love,
The Whites

October 2017

This was supposed to be second upload from Ireland but lately I can’t seem to keep up from down and right from left. Maybe next post. The pumpkins are carved, the kids have their costumes and tomorrow evening never seemed so exciting to a two and three-year-old. Bring on trick or treating tomorrow with Belle and spooky pirate. The kids are so excited that I think if we make to our daycare provider Wendy’s house tomorrow (three blocks away) mission accomplished.

Its been a fun October with nice weather which has meant a lot of biking both mountain and road biking. Although we are getting excited for ski season, Q is all signed up for ski school and we ordered all of the long underwear, ski socks and mittens over the weekend.

I had a fun weekend away with the girls mountain biking Fruita, Colorado. It was such a good time and so good for my heart to see some of my best friends and catch up. It was only four hours for all of us and we stayed at a great Air BnB that was right off of main street area. Last weekend we also had a good one carving pumpkins with Uncle Charlie and Julia and having Steve over for Swedish meatballs on Sunday.

The end of the week starts my November sabbatical as I am calling it. I go to New Orleans, New York, Las Vegas and Paris all in this one month. I am literally gone more than I am home. It is a mix of business and personal travel. I am kind of looking forward to it and also kind of dreading it all at once. God bless B that he is such a hands-on Dad, god bless Wendy our other Mom who helps and my parents who are coming in so B and I  can enjoy Paris.

We hope everyone else is enjoying the change of seasons and hope to post somewhere on the road during my November Sabbatical.

Love,

The Whites

Ireland 2017

I was supposed to do this in September but per the norm lately time got the better of me. Brendan and I had a great trip back to Ireland the beginning of the month. My wonderful, generous Mama flew to town to watch the babies and off we went again. The last time we were in Ireland it was for our honeymoon 8 years ago. We stayed with The Agnews again this trip and feel so spoiled that we get to spend the time with them when we have visited. Funny enough Brendan's Aunts Karen and Maureen and Uncle Elliot were also in Ireland at the same time and we all got together. Colm and his family came out to the US for Tommy and Brandy's wedding 4 years ago, at that time Colm made a challenge to all the family to make it to Ireland to claim your official Agnew Guinness mug. We made it just in time and literally between Aunt Karen and us claimed the LAST three. Time for the Agnews to come back to America and make a new challenge!

Last time we were in Ireland we saw a lot of Dublin both on water and land (duckboat, viking cruise) and spent time south in Cork, Kinsale and Waterford. This trip we wanted to see more north and West. The other excitement from this trip was meeting the White side of the family. The first evening we were there we had a really nice dinner and got to meet a lot of Tom's cousins. More family to come visit us in Utah and us visit again in Ireland and London. It was really nice and memorable evening. The newest family member that we fell in love with though was Karen's sweet Willow. I love Karen like a sister and just wished we lived closer together, she is an amazing Mom and Willow is beyond perfection.

One of the cool trips we did in Ireland was a day trip that went North. We left Dublin at 6:45am and took a bus to Belfast, the dark hedges (game of throne site where the trees create a tunnel effect)and on to Giants Causeway. It was interesting hearing the history of Northern Ireland and seeing the different flags of loyalty on route there. Giants Causeway was pretty incredible, we sat on some of the hexagon rocks, watched the ocean and ate our lunch. Definitely a picnic I won't forget. After that we headed to the Rope bridge and saw a few other game of thrones sites including the cave which the shadow baby happens. We ended the day back in Belfast seeing the city hall and getting a pint at a pub there. It was a full day but really incredible tour that hit a lot of sites.

One of the other really special days we did was driving out west to Galway and Cliff of Mohr. The cliffs were extraordinary and we were fortunate enough to get a clear day. It is breathtaking how it goes from grass to straight, sheer drop off to the ocean. The height was dizzying and there were no gates or barriers to keep someone back from falling. It was neat to hike along and see the angry, churning waters below. After we left there we continued on the coast stopping at a few points that had cool rock formations. Ireland is spectacular in the idea of you can drive two hours and the landscape totally changes. After a nice stop at a harbor restaurant for seafood chowder (the best I have ever had) we went on the Galway. Galway was really cool, very old but fun harbor town. We had a great dinner and there was live music everywhere. We saw this incredible band at the end of the night that had the tin whistle, drum and fiddles and were amazing. We even salsa danced in Galway, who would have thought! It was an overnight trip the Agnews treated us to that was a night I won't forget!

We saw some new sights in Dublin such as the Jameson Brewery which was neat with their integration of technology and whiskey brewing, also saw the Book of Kells as well. One of our favorite parts of this trip was the biking, Colm and Triona have gotten into road biking so we were able to make it out on a few bike trips. It was neat seeing more of Dublin that way and getting our heart rates up. Bren even biked to the highest pub in Ireland Johnny Foxs, I made it there too but only after Triona took us on a countryside tour in the car to see Guinness lake. We ended the trip on a high note with champagne (our tradition for our champagne celebration Christmas tree) and dinner at Colm's sister Niamh's house. We even got treated to fireworks and a little excitement in getting locked out but making it back in for dessert. The trip was amazing and we are already planning what we will do the next time we make it over!

PS I will do an additional post with more pics too!
Love
B and A

Sweater Weather

Chilly nights in August that call for a sweater means it is back to school time! All the neighborhood kids went back to school today, Quinn will start preschool morning program two days a week in two weeks. Hard to believe how old they are both getting. I try to stay updated on the blog once a month but time seems to be always slipping by and we are busy. Its usually all fun stuff or just lots of work. I hope you enjoy following along on what we are up to.

After our Michigan trip we went camping with the kids for two nights. I love camping and the idea of teaching our children a lifelong love of the outdoors. The only issues we have is our beloved tent is going on us and two and three year olds together don't sleep despite running them around ALL day. We are keeping an eye out for a new tent but the one we have had forever finally has a bent arm and is really only semi functional. Funny story from camping on the first night. We finally get everything set up, we have dinner, we have s'mores, the kids play and explore a whole bunch and it starts getting dark. We do a slightly different bedtime routine but get the kids down in the tent, K on a cot and Q on a single blow up bed. After really struggling to get them sleep we finally just zip them in and go have some adult time by the fire. Keep in mind the tent is yards away and we can see and semi hear everything. Leave it to Q to figure out how the flashlight lantern works and suddenly we see a dance party and wrestling in our tent shadows. This goes on with lots of giggling and an occasional roar with the lantern lighting up. We finally unzip the tent to find both babies not only out of bed but down to their undies jumping on our bed and having a wild rumpus. All I could think of was the children's book; Where the Wild Things Are. Unfortunately both nights seem to take on that feel and no one really got much sleep. Finally so sleep deprived we packed up bright and early Sunday and made it home for everyone to have a very long nap in their own rooms including Mom and Dad. Despite the lack of sleep, we still can't wait for next year.

The last two weekends have been fun with lots of mountain biking, road biking, pool time and enjoying Utah. Our pool closes over labor day weekend so we have been really trying to be there a lot. Bren and I had our 8th wedding Anniversary this month and are excited for our upcoming trip to Ireland to celebrate. My mom is flying in to watch the kiddos and we will be in Ireland visiting family and seeing the sights. We can't wait as this trip we are trying to make it out West and North.
Life is good, busy, busy, busy but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Love,
The Whites

Canada Creek 2017

Just got back from an amazing trip to Michigan for ten days. It was awesome! Michigan is a pretty special place for Brendan and I since that is where he was born, we lived for a year and got engaged. My job allows me some flexibility during more quiet times of the year to be able to work remotely, which I did. We flew in and out of Chicago and were lucky enough to have my in-laws pick us up and drop us off so we didn't have to rent a car. We spent a night at the Aunt Laura and Uncle Mikes cottage before heading up to Canada Creek. Canada Creek Ranch has been around for a very, long time and its the coolest recreation, cabin type area. It is about an hour and half southeast of Mackinaw Island. They have hunting, fishing, archery, the Ranch House Lodge and so much awesome wilderness. There is always something to do, somewhere to go or some great nature to enjoy.

Fortunately during our trip up there this year we had the opportunity to see a lot of family. My Husband's second cousin Amber had her baby shower and we got to see lots of family and friends from Michigan, which is always great. The shower was gorgeous and it was fun bringing Kinsale to it and seeing her love all the table mints and entertain everyone with her antics. When we got back to the shower my Mom and Dad where there. We are so grateful that everyone loves my kids so much and just wants to share time together. My parents drove the north coast and UP area in Michigan and stayed at the Ranch House. Uncle Rod also drove in and was always the life of the party!We had such a good time and did everything! The best news of all though is Brendan is now working to get his membership at Canada Creek so we will continue to visit there and go often. Crossing my fingers we get approved!

After finishing up there we headed back to the cottage and really enjoyed ourselves with the Puffs. My parents had left but Kathy switched out Tom and we all had a blast. We took the kids to Fredrick Meijers Gardens in Grand Rapids. It is so cool with a lot of nature interactive gardens for kids. At the Puff Cottage you stay busy, busy, busy with all the fun water sports. We water skied, we swam, we paddle boarded, we kayaked, we boated, we did it all. Quinn even water skied on the wet grass with Uncle Mike pulling him. We ended the long weekend on such a great high note with Uncle Rod and Julie and their family and Grandma Barb and Bud coming down for a busy Saturday of fun and BBQ.
I have left over mosquito bites, a nice glow to my skin and a little exhaustion and I feel AMAZING!!! So blessed to have family that take part in our little family vacations!

Love,
the Whites

5 Year House Anniversary and the BIG Reveal

Hi All,
If you have been following my posts this last year you know we have been working hard over the last year to get our house the way we wanted it. With the help from my amazing Friend Stacey here is the changes, enjoy:

The front of the house before:

The front of the house prior to moving in had a ton of snap dragons and overall clutter. Between Mothers day and summer gardening, I now am thrilled with what we have done. Most evenings we sit out here for a glass of wine after the kids go to bed.

THE AFTER:

Love this so much, although this is my 3rd red maple I have planted in the front. The blue pots were a house warming gift from my parents five years ago.

The Front Room Before:

The front room used to be so plain and we really didn't know what to do with it for most of the year. It always looks amazing at Christmas because we put our tree in there but it needed more for the rest of the year.

The AFTER:

We love what Stacey suggested for the front room with the round rug, two chairs and traveling wall photo collage. This hallway also got an updated light fixture from West Elm and also you can see in one of the photos we got a larger light fixture also from West Elm on our stair case against the red wall.

The TV room off of the kitchen before:

The AFTER:

This room felt so incredibly different when we were done. The build in bookshelves made the room and fireplace so much more cozier and less stark. Also a bigger rug has made a huge difference. I can't believe it took us so many years to fill in around the fireplace.

The Kitchen Before:

The Kitchen After:

I got bad lighting in one of my photos but the big change is new stainless steel appliances and getting the cabinets painted white. It makes our very tiny kitchen feel so much more open. We still are going to be getting granite and a new back splash probably this year too.

The Powder room on the main floor before:

The After:

Bren and I are particularly proud of this room because we did the tin ceiling our selves. I had always not liked the color of this room so we painted it almost a navy, changed the light fixture and felt like the room had the needed face lift.

The Laundry Room Before:

The laundry room After:

Not a whole lot done here but a coat of mint paint, some signage and chandelier lighting. We really also use this as a mud area as well winter gear in the ski season and towels and pool gear during the summer. Iron man (the red washer and dryer) continues to kick ass.

The Basement Before:

The Basement After:

The basement really needed more work on the guest room. We added a TV, dresses, bed frame, curtains, bedding and a lighter coat of paint to give the room an open feel. Even though our basement has a ton of toys, we like the feel of the high top table, some new art and more games.

The Office Before:

The Office After:

I decided since I work from home and have been for the last two years I really needed a lighter space. So we painted and added colorful artwork which is extra special because my God Mother Trudi painted it. We also have a navy, velvet futon in here in case we needed more beds.

Our Master Before:

Master After:

This was the room that really made a difference. After putting so much effort into both kids nurseries both Bren and I decided that our master really needed a facelift. Lots of paint, new furniture, bedding and artwork made a huge difference.

Slight view of the master bathroom before:

Master Bathroom After:

New lighting and eventually we will be doing a full remodel of this bathroom with hopefully a soaking tub and shower and new window. In the meantime I like what we did.

Upstairs Rooms Before:

Upstairs Room After:

This makes my heart happy because I had always hoped when we bought our house that this would be the house we started a family. Now that we have our family seeing these two nurseries makes me smile. 

The backyard Before:

The backyard after:

Same as the before picture, I love all the junk in the backyard. it says a happy family that likes to get outside and enjoy nature together. 

Life is good! Five years into our house and we love Utah. Next up, a cabin!

Love,

The Whites