I’m starting a new series of posts, which I’m calling ‘life lately’. It will kind of be a catch-all for any of the things going on in our lives that don’t get their own post like miscellaneous photos and general life updates.  So here are some things that have been making up our life lately.

We’re really loving the new house. I was more than ready to get out of our little condo, I think I outgrew it at least 18 months ago. I knew living somewhere I didn’t like was effecting my day-to-day happiness, but I’m still blown away at how much happier I am now that we’re living somewhere I like. I’m learning that my environment and surroundings have a huge impact on my mood. I like our house more and more every day, I love the layout and space my kids have to play. I like my kitchen. And I especially like the potential I have to make it my own, to make it our home.

John is still working up north, so I’m still solo- parenting half the time. Things were pretty chaotic for several weeks around the move, when John came home there were huge lists of things we needed to get done. But as things have settled we’ve become comfortable again with our routine. The kids and I are surviving (and dare I even say, sometimes, thriving).

But when John comes home we certainly have fun together. Sometimes I feel like I’m living two totally different lives. There are the weeks where John is working and I’m alone with the kids and our days have their own special kind of rhythm. We hunker down and focus on different things, live a quieter life. When John comes home we wake up, we do fun things together as a family (like go on walks, build snowmen, go to the water park, visit the farmers market, have friends over for dinner).

A short walk from our house is a ravine. As the snow has been melting we’ve been eager to get out and explore with the kids. Its still a little wet and snowy down there between the shadowy trees, but we braved it anyways. I’m looking forward to exploring and getting to know this area more this spring and summer!

We’ve had a few nice days where we’ve been able to get outside. Late last fall they finally finished this park a few blocks from our old place. I almost wish we were still close enough to walk here, because it’s a great little park and a shame we didn’t get to enjoy it while we were living so close. But it’s still close enough to drive to, or bike to.

Porter is still obsessed with spaceships. He creates spaceships out of every building toy we own, but his favourite medium is Lego. He’s constantly wanting to tell me all about them, and must take pictures of each one before he tears it apart to build a new one.

Last week I went down to Utah for an LDS Women’s Conference with two of my friends. We were gone for a whole week and it was such a blast. Aside from the actual conference and being with two wonderful ladies and catching up with some family and eating at my favorite places (why hello In-N-Out, Cafe Rio, and Krispie Kream) and having a break from being a mom and the shopping, the highlight of the trip was our visit to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Okay, so the whole trip was so fun its hard to choose just one thing as a highlight! I hope we can do it again next year!

Its always so fun to spend time on Temple Square. The grounds are beautiful and smelled like flowers, its so peaceful. Spring is always a lovely time to visit because Utah get spring a little earlier than we do. I wish we had been able to spend a little bit longer there.