Cabin

So I meant to do a little re-cap of our trip up to the cabin but the past few days have been SOOOO incredibly busy! We had the 2nd annual STARNESPALOOZA up here in old Idaho Falls and so we've been playing hard with family the past 5 days.

SO...back to our little trip up to the cabin! Rewind to last weekend.

I invited my mom, sis, brother and grandma to come and up and spend a couple of days up in the mountains. It really is so peaceful and calm to be up there away from everything in the world. On Saturday Ash and her mom and grandma came up to spend the afternoon with us. My mom and Ashley's mom have been the best of friends since before Ash and I were born and both of our Grandma's went to high school together. ☺ The relationship that our families share is a very rare and special one to say the least.

Nate and the boys built some sweet boats our of scrap wood:

Then we watched them set sail down the stream!

We rode 4 wheelers, shot the BB gun, went on walks, saw some deer, and loved spending time together. I love the cabin. I'm so grateful that my kids get to go up there and make those cherished memories that my husband had while growing up.

The Birfday week!

It's been a week almost and we are STILL partying! If I knew that turning 30 was going to be this fantastic I would have had NO apprehension what-SO-ever!!!!

Rewind. Last Wednesday. I was awakened to 4 sweet faces and handed my princess crown. I was instructed to wear it all day long. ☺As Landon clearly stated, "Mom, you are the PWINCESS in our family!" After daddy left the boys and I cleaned the house and I was surprised to have a couple of friends stop by and drop gifts off. I looked like a scary witch wearing my grubbies and NO makeup! They were probably thinking...."WHOA..30 surely isn't agreeing with her!"  Then we went and picked up Jessi and her boys and headed down to Pocatello to meet my best friend since birth Ashley and her darling girls at the water park. It was Ashley's first time up here to see us and I was SO excited to have her come and stay for a couple of days!

After the waterpark we came home and had a little BBQ.

Then Ash gave my my gift. Well, she gave me MANY gifts but the ONE gift that made me cry and cry! Ashley put together a WONDERFUL book. You see, Ash and I have been celebrating birthdays for each other since the very beginning.
Here we are on my very first birthday:

She compiled all sorts of pictures of us through the years. In the book were sweet letters written from family and friends. It was the most thoughtful and kind gift I think I have ever received.

I loved this picture....I hadn't ever seen it before.

Ash is a friend like no other. I love her like she is my sister.

O yeah, I almost forgot....my big gift from Nate! I am SO excited because in October Nate and I are going on a little trip. We are headed to.........................
 
 

YAY! Washington DC!!! Nate has never been east of the Mississippi and I have ALWAYS wanted to go back ever since the good ol 8th grade trip where I had absolutely ZERO appreciation for anything I was seeing! Oh yeah...AND the best part is, we get to see our DEAREST friends the Perry's!!!

I'm counting down already!!!

.

 The next day Ash and I  packed up the kids and headed to Mesa Falls...ironic because that is where I took the boys for my birthday LAST year! It was a PERFECT day...no people, beautiful and sunny....everything was going SO smoothly. Well, up until this point anyway. ☺

Then as we headed home we started hearing this crazy loud noise. Ash was like, "Pull OVER...I think you have a flat." We jumped out of the car to find that yes indeed, we picked up a nail somewhere. I have never in my life had a flat tire so I immediately called Nate. He was a good 45 min away so we resorted to plan B. I ran over to a Port of Entry that we had just passed and asked the 2 men there for some help. They were happy to help. About 3 minutes later another man with a tow truck stopped to help. The scary looking yet very nice men had us back on the road in 30 minutes. I love Eastern Idaho.

 Good people over here I am telling ya.

We laughed and laughed. Of course something like this had to happen to us!

THEN....we headed up to one of my favorite places on earth:

Ahhhh...the cabin. A post for tomorrow.

The BIG 3-0

(The clouds and the moon tonight.......so beautiful.)

Wow. The day is juuuuuuust about here. I'm sitting here watching the last few minutes of my 20's fade away. Rarely do you ever hear anyone say, "I can't WAIT to turn 30!" and I too have spent years preparing for this event with mixed emotions, a little bit scared to move forward yet excited to see what the future holds. Thirty is by no means "OLD." I've heard it referred to as a time when life really begins. BUT I would be lying if I didn't admit that I'm a little apprehensive to embark on this new decade.

It's a bit early to have an authentic mid-life crisis— But when approaching a milestone birthday, I think it's only natural to stop and take stock of life. To compare your list of dreams with your list of realities and assess where you are in the journey. To ask yourself whether you have achieved what you had hoped to by now, and if not, is it too late to do so? To accept that your body will NEVER ever again look like it did when you were 16, and finally realize that maybe you don't want it to. ☺

For as long as I can remember, my primary goal in life was to be a mom. It's not the most glamorous path a young girl could aspire to, but there was nothing I could imagine wanting more. My maternal instincts were beckoning to me louder than my drive for a career and I felt compelled to follow. I knew my education was very important though and I had to learn to manage the challenge of finishing college with a baby at my side. Nothing motivated me like my Dallin. And none of my education goals would have ever been met if I didn't have my supportive husband and family cheering me on the entire way.

 With three pregnancies under my belt, most of my twenties were spent sacrificing my body to various little tenants who toiled away for months, kicking the walls and banging on the pipes until they finally evicted themselves to scream at me face to face. While others my age were getting their masters degrees, and interning at jobs, my years were spent supporting my husband, celebrating births, nursing newborns, taming toddlers, and potty training preschoolers, often all at once. But I emerged through it all with something I hold more precious than a high-paying job: my three beautiful boys. Many can argue that forgoing a career was unwise, but I’m content with the course of my life so far and I can’t imagine it being any other way.

If you told me 10 years ago that by the time I was 30 I was going to be a law school widow, live on food stamps for awhile, have a zillion dollars in student loans, move 7 times, have a young child with developmental delays, have a husband with a brain tumor, be a Young Women's president, experience job loss, have to leave my first house, and most recently have to deal with the heartbreak of infertility I probably would have locked myself in a closet to avoid my fate. Would I really though? Nah. There have been SO many incredible and good things to be thankful for. The good FAR outweighs the bad. I am blessed with the BEST husband I could have ever dreamed of. He is so kind, thoughtful and sweet to me. We are crazy about each other and my love for him just continues to grow. I have 3 handsome boys that bring me so much joy and teach me so much more then I could ever possibly teach them. They have revealed to me both my talents and my weaknesses. I am quick to know without a doubt that the difficult times have shaped me and helped me to grow into the person that I am today. After all, thats why we're here right?

There are times when I look at my boys and am completely amazed that I am old enough to be a mother at all. (Especially with how tall Dallin is as of late!) The surprising curveballs life can pitch makes me wonder what will shock me before I turn 40. What will I be like as a person in ten years? Will I find the balance between motherhood and womanhood? Will I have a career? Will I travel? Will I embrace middle age and start to wear mom jeans and complain about the crap on the radio?

 At 30, I am now old enough to have the confidence to stop apologizing, the wisdom to stop trying to fit in, and the ability to enjoy the fact that I never will. I have been celebrating my birthday for the past 17 days in such a fun and secretive way doing all sorts of little random acts of kindness for others and it has been so incredible and rewarding. I want to write all about it but I think I'll keep those experiences as a gift to myself. ♥ And finally, I have forgiven myself for the indiscretions and weaknesses that I succumbed to during my twenties. The past is the past, and a new chapter is opening before me. I am concentrating on being a person I would want my boys to be. And I will no longer try to squeeze into the mold of a perfect daughter, wife, and mother and instead start to carve a new mold: the perfect me.

Ready or not......30 here I come!

Allan Butler Memorial Twilight Criterium

We had such a great weekend. Nate's parents came into town to watch Nate in the Allan Butler race downtown. We started the day by going over to the Museum to see the BODIES exhibit! So COOL!

The boys really enjoyed it as well. I thought they might be grossed out but they weren't at all.  It runs through the middle of September and is 1/3 the cost that it was in Salt Lake! That means....COME and see it...and stay with us! ☺

Later that afternoon the kids took to the streets for their races.

May I introduce you to the FIRST PLACE champion of the 4 and under division? Yep...Landon's little legs got the job done...and I don't think he even realized he won!

Then it was time for the older boys to race. Dallin finished right in the middle of the pack and Parker pretty much VANISHED during the race. I started to panic a little bit until he came around the corner dead last with 2 firefighters on bikes. His chain had come off 3 times during the race. He was absolutely heartbroken. Parker is SOOOOO competitive (wonder where he gets that?....Daddy, any ideas???) Poor guy...I told him we'd get him a new bigger bike so really, I think things turned out OK for him.

Luckily Grandma and Grandpa were there to soften the blow.

 Then it was time for Nate's first race. He raced in the Category 3 race first. Nate and his teamates were still warming up with the whistle blew for the race to start. Everyone was yelling..."GO GO GO...IT STARTED!" They had to HAUL to get caught up with everyone. Nate's coach still took first place from a break though!  Then Nate and a teammate set up another teammate for the final bunch sprint, which he won! It was so much fun to watch. And no one got hurt......honestly that is ALL I care about anymore. All I do is shake like a leaf the entire time Nate races because of what happened last year.

 I used to laugh at guys wearing spandex....now I look at my husband and think he is the hottest thing ever when he rocks his team kit! Teehee.

 Anyone else notice how incredibly SKINNY this husband of mine is? He is disappearing before my eyes!

Nate's SUPERFANS!!! I'm so glad so many people came out to cheer him on!

After the 40 minute race it was time for the PRO 1 2 race which is a 60 minute race. Poor Nate only lasted about 25 minutes before having to pull out. After already 40 minutes of racing previously his legs were toast. But hey.....he was racing with PROS! I'm so proud of him. He was disappointed but REALLY.....look at how far Nate has come over the past 3 years! He is my inspiration!

The Glorious 4th!

 We're home after an amazing long weekend in Boise! The 4th of July did not disappoint as usual. In typical Starnes style we crammed it all in over a few short days. Get ready....for picture overload time.

 I ♥♥♥ the 4th of July!!! And here is why!

Food:I made some delicious white chocolate strawberries and then dipped the tip in some blue sprinkles. I saw the idea in Family Fun and they turned out SUPER cute!

 We indulged in all sorts of delicious BBQ, yummy salads and delicious goodies over the holiday including 3 cakes! One for my brothers birthday, one for my birthday and of course we had the traditional flag cake!

 Here is everyone singing Happy Birthday to both James and I!  ☺

 Friends: We had such a blast getting together with our friends. We went over to the Haskells on Saturday night for a BBQ with the Langfords and the Koppings. Then we went swimming in the pool that WOULD have been right across the street from our old house. It was a little sad and a little surreal to be there but we still had lots of fun nonetheless.

Here is my (sniff sniff) house.....kind of felt a little stabbed in the heart when I would look over at it but hey....life goes on right? I like symbolism of the gate in the picture. Me on the other side of the fence looking in...haha. Hey, at least the people who bought it are taking care of it..as well they should since they bought it for a freaking STEAL of a deal! Nate just had to keep whispering in my ear..."It's ok hon...I'll buy you a better house...I promise."☺Ok...moving on.

Later on that night we met up with the Koppings again at around 11:00pm at a place that my brothers absolutely LOVE to go. It's a place I have heard a lot about but have never been. We were totally game for a little adventure so we headed out to State Street. We went to this DIVE called Merritts for some white trash 24 hour delicious SCONES! The place was so gross looking, some Hells Angels rolled in while we were there. Oh, we laughed. GREAT times. And REALLY great scones.

Another night we met up with the Haskells again after Nate's bike race for some Cheesecake Factory. We adore the Haskells. Once again...laughed so hard my cheeks ached! Nate and Chris were rocking the same hat that night. Biking brothers....that's what they are.

Family:My sweet baby nephew was blessed over the weekend. I couldn't get enough of that little guy. He is SO darling. I wanted to snatch him up and bring him home with me.  ☺

We also found some time to run over to the MK Nature center to see the huge 6 foot sturgeon (YIKES) and enjoy some wildlife.

Of course the only nature the boys really enjoyed was this:

Gotta love boys.

Fireworks:We enjoyed the fireworks including the almost $300 worth of illegal fireworks that my dad picked up over in Mt. Home. It was a very LOUD exciting night. Hehe.

Flat Water:Earlier on the 4th we headed over to our favorite (secret) lake. Lake Owyhee. Seriously....warm water, no crowds, no waves...it was INCREDIBLE. Shhhhh...don't tell all of the millions of people who when to Lucky Peak on the 4th. ☺

  Freedom/Fun: We decided to head back to Idaho Falls going a different way. I was getting so sick and tired of the same ol' drive so we decided to change things up a bit. We went through Fairfield and Arco. On the way we stopped at the National Monument Craters of the Moon. What a little boys dream! We had fun exploring a new part of Idaho that really isn't very far from our IF. The caves were incredible! We want to go back there ASAP!

Love the 4th, love the freedoms that I am blessed to enjoy, love my friends and family and I love making memories in a country that I am proud to be apart of.

"God Bless America....land that I love."