Me oh My oh May!

Its May 31st and it wouldn't be this time of year for me without at least one panic attack and some serious stress. Welcome to the season that I work up to all year long, annual convention...
By some miracle we beat last years numbers for attendance and sold out our exhibit hall. I didn't expect that since I credited a lot of last years success to our state licensing board doing an audit year but our education committee did it again and its going to be huge. Part of me right now thinks I shouldn't be writing this blog post and instead should be working but I feel like if I don't take some time for myself or my family this job will burn me out quickly.

Its been a good month for us, April ended with our Presidents club to trip to Costa Rica. How can you complain celebrating your birthday in such a gorgeous part of the world. It was amazing, even including the black eye I got trying to learn to surf the morning of my birthday. It was a really, really relaxing trip for both Bren and I. We also felt like it was just the "reset" we have needed over the last year. Both of our favorite excursion was the catamaran boat cruise we took to a private island, so nice with the wind, sunshine and ocean. When we got home it was full steam ahead for Bren for training for the Iron Horse bike race in Durango on Memorial day. Lots and lots of two a day rides for him to get prepped and ready to roll.

He is amazing and finished it last weekend and we continued the awesome tradition of being in Durango with friends. It is amazing after 5 years with the Mays and Hallocks watching our kids grow up together is priceless. There are 6 kiddos all around and they stay pretty busy together. It was also cool because us girls got to go biking, do some shopping downtown and then the 6 adults managed to have dinner together Sunday night thanks to the Zane and Sara getting a babysitter. That adult time catching up was probably my favorite and made me sure miss not having all of us in one place again.

Hard to believe this Sunday our sweet girl Kinsey Kay of the Milky way will be 2 years old. She is just hilarious these days with her antics, giggles, deep conversations (we don't know what she is saying yet but it is serious and intense) and stubbornness. We are having a Frozen party and will have an Elsa princess come visit too. Seems fitting for the little girl whos first words were "Let It Go". I don't have babies anymore and instead have toddlers and little tiny humans who we love so much it hurts.

On to the summer which means lots of porch sunsets, pool time, biking and grilling. Can't wait!

Love
The Whites

Break a Leg!!!

 What’s new with us? I missed March for blogging because we were busy, out of the last 6 weekends we have had family in town 4 of those weekends. So awesome to be able to share what we love here with our loved ones. Lots of skiing, great conversations, yummy meals and just a good time. 

April has started out with a bang with the lovely pistol Kinsey breaking her right leg. We were at our local neighborhood playground last Wednesday night with my parents and out of the blue she stepped off of a high ledge about 5-6 feet off of the ground. For all the times we have played there, I was stunned because she had never done something even close to that. Fortunately she landed on her feet but we knew right away something was wrong because she wasn’t putting weight on her right foot. She has been dancing, walking and running everywhere so to see her want to crawl we knew it was trouble. Off the ER mom and daughter went to find out she does have a buckle break on her tibia. We will be getting her casted this week because of the swelling.

Just as she did when she was born she loves to align herself for my really, really busy work events. About twelve hours later we were packing up the car to go to St George for my spring conference. I am in charge of every detail and the events so I had to be there. Luckily my parents were in town this whole week so they were able to take good care of her. Funny enough, even a broken right leg hasn’t slowed her down and she is still hobbling around. I think we are in trouble for the future since she is that big of a daredevil even before being 2!

Quinn is good, talking up a storm. The other day he listened to my heart and then informed me that I had chicken in waffles in my heart. Pretty hilarious conversations we have. Thank goodness we have a little book where we write all of these gems down. Still struggling to keep him in his own room at night but we are getting by. Some weeks I feel like a new born parent again but I know once you have kids as a mom you always then sleep with an antenna up.

2017 is going to be the year of traveling. Bren and I decided we want experiences and travel. We have three international trips planned, Costa Rica, Ireland and Paris at Christmas. We can’t wait, we are also starting to work on planning a Brecke family trip to Norway in 2018. I don’t know if it’s going on mid-thirties or what, but lately we both have been taking a step back from our crazy, crazy lives and asking ourselves what we want. What kind of relationship do we want? What kind of life do we want to live? Is my job rewarding? am I happy with my day to day life? Looking further into these questions we have had some interesting and at times hard conversations. Nobody said being adult gets any easier. I do think you do have choices and you can choose to stay positive and you can change what isn’t working. For us its keeping the focus is on our little family of 4, having a happy marriage and raising these two lively babies. I think as a married couple take the trips and hopefully pass on a love of wanderlust and adventure to our kids.

Excited for my birthday month, warmer days ahead and Utah summertime!

Love,

The Whites

Hello Dreary February

The Dashing Steve and me at the Ballet

2017 is moving at lightning pace. Cannot wait, I have always had a dislike for the month of February, not totally sure why. I am just happy it is the shortest month of the year. March and April scream spring, snow melting, spring/sunshine skiing, clean open windows and birds singing.

Brendan in Jackson WY on a guys weekend

We are all good over here, more house projects. I know I need to do a blog post on them all which will happen but believe it or not we are still in the process. Its funny how you start small thinking your only going to re do or paint one or two rooms and next thing you know I have done every room in the house but the kids nurseries and their bathroom. I think both of those are going to be sooner then later since both kids will be in big beds pretty quickly. Quinn already has a bed but wants a big boy bed as he keeps insisting. The problem is you do one room and then suddenly you start looking at other rooms and think OH we could change this, it would be small and then suddenly your redoing the whole thing. Its awesome but ready to be done and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

We did Quinn's three year old pictures with Darren yesterday, pretty cool since Darren has been shooting my family since I was pregnant with Quinn. Its great to use a photographer consistently because my kids actually really know Darren and don't treat him like a stranger when he comes over. I will try to do a post with the photos once we get them. Kinsey is great too, she is babbling up a storm and has started to figure out we understand her words like "up", "gilles", "more". She marches to her own beat but I love that about her spunky personality.

Legislative session has been very, very quiet for me this year. I know I should probably enjoy it but it has felt bizarre. Still loving my job and so is Brendan.
Can't for March and April we have lots of visitors coming and can't wait to show off the house and see everyone.

Love,
The Whites

Fear

Hello Family and Friends,

I debated about writing this blog post most of the day because I worried I might offend and then I decided as the day went on that this is bigger than me worrying about upsetting someone’s feelings. President Trump won the election by electoral votes last November. He didn’t win my vote but I fiercely respect American policy and the peaceful transition of power so yes, he is my president and yes I am very proud to be an American even though it was not my candidate I voted for. 

President Trump is known for being very sensational in everything he does, as most of the world knows by now. As a new president, I think he was trying to make a statement or I am not really sure what his mind set was but this last Friday the same day as Holocaust Remembrance Day he set a movement into place that I can’t stay silent on. President Trump started a travel ban on six countries including worn torn Syria on refugees and who can enter America. Even though this program is only supposed to last 120 days it was the first time a leader of a well respect country put a ban on certain countries that are predominantly Muslim, thus the hashtag #Muslimban has taken off.

As a Catholic or Christian I thought on Friday and throughout the weekend “what a terrible policy but it doesn’t really make an impact on me”. Maybe I offend some by sharing that but I am sure I am not alone on that mindset. I try to read scriptures every day and I had an eye-opening moment on Sunday where I thought what if this was a Muslim president who banned Christians for 120 days, or from predominant Christian cultures. How would I tell my friends from Ireland who I love like the family and are family they are not welcome in my country? It started to really dawn on me the REAL, real, real impact of the message of hatred that America was sending to the world.

Here we are on Monday morning, once again consumed into the chaos of the beginning of the work week. My job is involved with a wonderful charitable organization that provides free eye exams and glasses to kids in need who have already been prescreened financially and visually to determine there is a desperate need for help. We were supposed to have over 100 exams between 2 days this week for kids who met this criteria, we provide the doctors who perform these exams. I found out today one of the days has been canceled. I called and asked what changed and to my horror found out that since the new President and administration has taken charge between his Muslim ban and his Mexican wall proposal that over 100 of these parents refused to sign consent forms for their children to attend this event. There is a fear of the government and our new president and even in a charitable situation a fear of being targeted. So, over 100 kids who already have been prescreened and determined they need help will not receive the exam and glasses they need because FEAR has taken this country by storm.

I will not be quiet.  This has impacted me now. Will my son be targeted someday because almost every school shooter has been a white male? Hatred and fear is not the America I know. Have courage, be brave and don’t be afraid to speak out when you see wrong policies start to impact your life. I saw a sign from the protests this weekend and I loved it. It said “First they came for the Muslims and we said not this time you Nazi F***S”.

Lets live in love and hope. Be the America we are and don’t allow fear mongering to win.

Love,

The Whites

Quinn is 3!

Is there anything in the world better than being three years old? I think not, at this age you still can be spider man when you grow up and a kiss from a parent magically heals every boo boo. I hope this magic continues to last. Our sweet boy turned three last Sunday and I still pinch myself every day that God blessed me with a family. How cool is it tonight when my husband is out of town I still have a little roaming gang of friends to go play hide and seek with in my house, pretty sweet!
Anyhow since we are now having coherent conversations (more then demands) I decided 3 years old is a good age to start the interview on their birthday. I hope this continues for many years. Without further ado......enjoy!
1.) How old are you?
Three
2.) Who is your best friend?
Jack and Bryson at Ms.Wendys
3.)What is your favorite thing to do?
Cut birthday cake, play with my screwdriver
4.) What is your favorite color?
blue
5.) What is your favorite food?
cake
6.) What do you like to do with your family?
Walk somewhere with Mommy and Daddy
7.) What is your favorite toy?
no favorite toy but really like spider (hexbug spider)
8.) What do you want to be when you grow up?
Five or do spider stuff for work
9.) What makes you happy?
vacuums and spiders for work
10) What makes you sad?
He pushed me down (something about the minion movie and being pushed down)
11.) What is your favorite show to watch?
Paw Patrol and Nim nims (minions from despicable me)
12.) What is your favorite book?
Nemo book
13.) What do you love to learn about?
bugs
14.) What is the best part of your birthday?
cake
15.) Where do you like to go?
with Mommy down the stairs
16.) Who is your teacher?
Ms.Wendy
17.) What is your favorite treat?
Crackers, Piece of bread, marshmallows
18.) What do you think about before you fall asleep?
No (this was his answer multiple times, Mommys guess would be dragons)
19.) If you could meet someone famous who would it be?
Dragons and Chase from Paw Patrol
20.) What is your favorite birthday present?
Cars

We hope 2017 is starting out right for everyone!

Love,
The Whites

The Christmas Carol

Like all good blog posts this one was suppose to be in November and then we would have one more in December. Time, energy, effort - all got away on me this last two months. Its all good but seriously you blink and poof its gone. I know people always talk negatively about time but I think time is a beautiful, mysterious element. It can heal, teaches you about yourself, it teaches to value what each day has to offer but also to stay positive to the future as well. I think this is a reason the book and movie the Christmas Carol is still one of my very favorite stories. So what has time given us in these last two months? Here we go....

Starting in November we had Thanksgiving at our house and had Brian, Carmen and Quinn over. We had so much fun and just had such a fun time watching the kids play with their Great Aunt and Uncle, having delicious food and just having time together. We did the usual 5k in the morning and spent Black Friday getting the house all decorated, It was so much fun to see the kids so excited about the tree and decorations. It felt like living in a new house since we have had so many changes in our house and different places to put decorations. I will do a blog before and after post in early 2017 but we have been doing so many cosmetic changes to really get the house the way we want it. We love it!

My Christmas gift from Bren this year was a Christmas time trip to NYC. I have a friend who has been a Rockette for six years and I have wanted nothing more then to see her perform. Bren made it happen this year and we had the best time! Spoiled us and babies Yaya Kathy flew to SLC to watch them and we flew in on a Friday. Crazy enough our friend Rick was in times square NYC to celebrate his birthday. We checked into our hotel and then met him for dinner, drinks and tours. It was great because he knew the city so well it was like having a personal guide tour. We went to Time Square, Rockfeller and saw the Tree, Saks fifth Ave. I think both Bren and my favorite moment was there was a huge light display outside of Saks and they were playing the Home Alone music, Rick starts screaming at the top of his lungs, "KEVIN, has anyone seen Kevin?". Hilarious, if you don't get the joke please watch Home Alone. After he left us we saw the late show of the Rockettes Christmas. It was beyond anything I have ever seen, their precision, the details, formations were all absolutely incredible. The best part was after the show my friend Heather even gave us a backstage tour and we got to go on Radio City Hall's amazing stage. It was surreal and such an incredible experience.

Since the weekend was just a weekend and we packed everything in, we hit the ground running early Saturday morning. We did a hop on/hop off bus and truly saw the sights. We got off at World Trade Center, Statue of liberty and central park. We had a yummy lunch right near the Dakota hotel and then jumped a cab back to Broadway. I took a dance class at Broadway Dance Centre and Bren went beer dabbling next door at a beer/whiskey bar, it was such a win for us both. We had dinner at a nice Italian joint and then went to the MET. I had been to the Met many years ago but forgot just has overwhelmingly incredible it is. Bren said it was his favorite part of the whole weekend. We stayed until close and just took in as much as we possibly could. One of my favorite dance students lives in NYC so we were able to meet her after the Met and she got off of work for a drink and to catch up. She took us to this great bar that was like a little Victorian secret called Lillies. They had amazing drinks and we had a great time. We made it back to Utah and decided Christmas each year might become a new trip away rather then gifts for each other. We have that travel bug.

Lots of work for both of us as 2016 comes to close but not before we have fit in some fun. We got Kinsale up on skis for the first time two weekends ago. We got a lot of snow and both kids were so excited to get up on the mountain. Bren was a trooper and amazing as ever in slugging both kids down the hill. Quinn loves to ski and hasn't stopped talking about it since last year. We tried to have Kinsey borrow his skis and boots but he was not happy so I think we will need to sign her up for the ski program and get her all set too. Its great having a family of four and knowing this is the right size for me since we can all fit on a chair lift together!

Many more firsts since that one as well, first haircut, first time on hockey skates, first time at a professional sports game, just so many. I am going to save those gems for an early 2017 post to start the year off with some good karma.

One final thought of 2016 is gratitude for the people we are so fortunate to have in our lives. I love the Christmas season and all the thought that people put into events, parties, gifts and my very favorite Christmas cards. Every year I hand write all of the names and addresses on the outside of my envelopes because I love the moment I pause and reflect on each person or family and think of them. I know that sounds terribly cheesy but its special because I will often think when was the last time I saw them, maybe send up a silent prayer if I know they need it, add an extra note, or just feel a moment of fullness to be surrounded by so many good people.

Merry Christmas

Love,
The Whites

Halloween

Halloween with kids is the best. No doubt about it, they love the costumes, the decorations and of course the candy! Its been a good month for us after starting out the months with lots of traveling, I was in Portland the first weekend and Bren was in San Francisco the second week we have finally had some down time. Although the travel schedule and holiday season picks right back up in 2 weeks again and this time goes through 2017. We ended September by welcoming our new nephew baby boy Griffin into the world. He is such a sweet, snugly baby. It was also fun this month because both Tom and Kathy came to town to meet the little man but also we had our nephew Owen and my Brother Ross in town for a weekend too. Always fun spending time with family. We even got a short visit from the Puffs as they were passing through to Nevada.
This weekend has been filled with lots of Halloween parties, one yesterday, another today and trick or treating tomorrow. Toddlers are doing well, Q is slowly adjusting to the big boy bed and Kinsey is getting a whole mouthful of teeth these days. The two have really started to play together which is adorable, often reminds me of two rolly, polly wiggly, wrestling puppies. November is going to go quick and I can't wait for some snow and getting the babies out on the hill!

Life is good!
Love,
the Whites

Our Seahorse and Dinosaur

Fall Baking with Mama

The G baby!

Too adorable

A sunrise the other morning

With Poppa T

My nephew Owen

Bren and Ross

At the aquarium

Carving pumpkins

The results