The mountains called and we answered

Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend we got invited to an amazing cabin high in the mountains, full of amazing people and amazing times and it was, as you can guess, totally amazing. The cabin is tucked into a spectacular valley in the Uinta mountains, accessible only by some sort of snow travel. We were lucky enough to get to take a snow cat in. Which, despite only traveling 10mph, was giddy-inducing fun. I'm pretty sure I exclaimed "This is so fun!" at least 5 times during the 50-minute drive.

Everett got his first taste of snow shoeing, which he loved so much he slept through the whole thing :) And there were 5 other kids there (along with 27 adults) so Ev got plenty of social time and Ty and I got to hang with the other parents in between adventuring out of doors. Ty even took a turn watching, I'm pretty sure, ALL of the kids while everyone else (me included) went skiing and cross country skiing and snow shoeing, respectively. Seriously, he's a champion.

It was honestly the perfect weekend. Sunday graced us with a light, little snow storm. And we all gazed out the picture windows in the cabin living room onto the strong, stoic pines and the meandering, quiet stream in the valley as the snow fell. I tell you what, I may have been born a beach girl, but I have slowly but surely become a mountain girl. They just do my soul so much good. That and all the wonderful people I get to share them with. After having so much time to myself lately, it was such a welcomed treat to spend three whole days with some of my most favorite people, with absolutely no agenda other than relaxing and having fun. Must do item on the life list: Own a cabin in the mountains.

In other news, I'm going to start a weekly mama adventure group in Provo. If you want in, say the word and we will go have outdoor fun together with our littles no less than once a week. Puppies welcome too. Ready....go!

Also also, I just realized I have zero photos of both Ty and I at the cabin. The lamest.

The most effortless hair

It floors me to think about all the time I had before Everett came on the scene. SO MUCH TIME! ALL THE TIME! What the heck did I do with all the time? Point being, with that cute little booger entering the scene, my get-ready time in the morning has been significantly downsized / obliterated / told to take a hike.

And so the ingenuity /  justifications have begun: "I don't have to shower every day, right? Because science. And, I mean, it's not like I smell. And washing your hair more than once a week is bad for it anyway! And I'm not actually going to see anyone today so..." And so on and so forth. But while I might be quite convincing, I still find myself in the shower every day (cause gross). And to save time on hair-washing days I have come up with a new easy peezy hair solution: Cut the blow dryer, enter the Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray.

Once I'm out of the shower, I simply douse my hair with that lovely stuff and let nature take its course. I don't even brush it (every second counts people), and this is how it turns out. And I kind of love it. Maybe not the best date / job interview hair. But for an everyday, tousled, I-don't-really-have-anyone-to-super-impress-besides-a-cute-baby day? Super perfect. Plus, the volume! My natural hair is fine and limp, so this surf spray does it some zesting-up good. And the no blow drying does seem to be doing some good for my sad brittle ends. Win, win, win.

Working on being snoozers over here

When he's not working or in class, Ty has been spending every waking moment studying for his first actuarial exam. Sidenote: crossing of fingers and sending of good vibes and praying for a pass totally welcome. Which leaves me a lot of time to myself. So, I have been working on getting Everett on a good eating schedule and sleeping-through-the-night pattern as of late. Both of which will come in mighty handy as today is my first day back to work (yay for working part time from home!) He has yet to sleep longer than 7 hours continuous, and that only happened once -- we are usually about 4-5 hour stints at night. But I just read a couple books that I found SUPER helpful, and they have been making a big difference over here. Everett has even gone down for naps without fussing, crying, or needing to be soothed multiple times recently (WHAT?!), and overall I feel way more competent when it comes to helping that guy get the sleep he needs. If you feel you'd like a little enlightening too, here are the goods.

The 90-minute baby sleep program - This was a nice eye opener as to sleep patterns in babies and how to maximize on them. It gives a good little guide into sleep timing and patterns in sleep development that can be expected in the first year of life. This was my fav, and it was a SUPER quick read.

Heathly Sleep Habits, Happy Child - Although it's a bit redundant and hard to re-find information (not the best-written book ever), this book's content was super insightful into sleep timing as well. It also gives good ideas on routines and soothing and has extra information on sleep training for multiples and colicky babies. As added content, it gives insight into baby behavior patterns (aka -- normal fussy behavior for all babies vs. hard-to-sooth babies).

Neither of these really fits the Babywise pattern well, but we have found they have really been good for us.

As an afterthought, I have a friend who had a lot of success with this one, but us...not so much. Could work for you though.

A movie for date night

Ty and I watched Labor Day for our date night last night. It started off a little weird but turned into quite the enjoyable movie. By far the saddest film I have seen in a good long while.* To quote Ty, "The amount of happy is not enough for the amount of sad in this movie." Agreed. We both cried. But it was good. Even Ty thought so. So if you need a good date-night movie (or even just a watch-by-yourself movie), and you don't mind some tears, totally go for it. It's on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

*Volcano was definitely the last saddest movie I watched - MUCH sadder than Labor Day. SO SAD. It was showing on our plane ride back from Iceland. Go ahead and watch it if you feel like bawling your eyes out over and over again for 1 hour and 43 minutes. I exaggerate not. SO MUCH SADNESS. But really, it's actually an incredible movie worth a watch (even if it is incredibly sad).