Another Word for Giant

For yet another year, Philip so deservingly gets the credit for coming up with an amazing family costume idea. The Flintstones! Pippa has been running around with a ponytail on top of her head for a couple of months, which made us think of Pebbles. Hunter is crazy about dinosaurs, so being the pet dinosaur Dino (a purple one no less!) was a great fit for him. Philip busted out his DIY skills to make my Wilma necklace, the Pebbles bone, the tail, collar and shirt for Dino. He pulled out all the stops- and I did too getting all the stuff on Amazon!, and staying up super late the night before the Weil Halloween party to get it all done because Philip had to work late. It really Is so much work and focus to make Halloween happen...but feels all worth it to see the fun the kids had at the Weil party and even trick or treating on Halloween night. The first people that saw us walk into the Weil Halloween party said “oh look you guys are going for first place again!” And it really was clear t...

Dear Hunter hoo, Hunter boo : )  We call you pet names less and less now, but you are still my Hunter boo! I love you so. Wow, this year is your golden birthday, where the age you turn is the day of the month you were born. October 5 though is always a golden birthday, seriously. It is such a beautiful, golden time of year- especially thinking of where you spent your first year of your life in Virginia. But this  is a birthday that will serve you well no matter where you live in the world. The time of year is amazing. You being the oldest in your grade has put you in a really incredible position of being the smartest and the biggest, even though you might have been the smartest and the biggest as the youngest in your class. The whole world this time of year is a glow from the joy of summer, the promise of fall and the weather changing. This is the season for my Hunter and I just love it.  There are so many reasons you are excited to have a birthday- presents! Treat...

Pippa is an absolute scream! She's talking and running and doing. Almost in the same breath as someone says she's cute or pretty, they say she is so independent. That's our girl! She will go to the ends of the earth to have an experience (Like when we went drove monument valley a few weeks ago after Grandad's funeral). But the car ride can be brutal! Walking around the house she is such fun! She has a sweet presence and has fun every morning playing with Hunter in their room before it’s time to get up. She cuddles close to read a lot Highly logical and methodical and can execute that with motor skills and stacking. Claps and claps for herself when she does her block box but less so now, but also a lot less frustrated Whether it's a pumpkin or a bucket or a heavy book, Pippa wants to lift things and do it herself! We tell people she is 1 year old going on 5 because she wants to be able to do just what Hunter is. She is an avid climber and scales all of the 12-yea...

Grandad Hurst took a turn right before Labor Day and died August 31. He had taken a turn when we were all visiting in Lake Tahoe and hadn’t quite been the same, but still his death came about very quickly. Our little Family was in a very up in the air with what to do about maybe moving into the Hursts’s house, what to do for Hunter’s schooling, getting pregnant, where to travel for our fall family trip. When we heard grandad died we knew that we would go forward with a plan we had always envisioned- taking a good amount of time to see southeastern Utah and connect with that heritage. We had always liked the idea of taking the kids to red rock but the logistics and time of getting there we had a hard time justifying (it’s like flying to Europe the time it takes to travel there!). But grandad’s death and the reunion it would be with the family we knew we had to be a part of.  don’t often instagram often, but when I do it’s to shamelessly plug m...