What we'll be doing this summer

Summer Bucket List

Wow!  Tomorrow is June 1st!  JUNE!  I honestly cannot figure out where May went.  I knew it would be a very busy month, with tons of work and personal commitments (hence, little blogging), but it was even busier than I imagined. I'm happy to be able to take a breathe now that the chaos is getting under control and really think about how I want to spend the summer.

Because my life is so full of "have to do's", I have begun to be really intentional about where I spend my (very limited) free time. I want to spend it doing things I enjoy, with people I love, rather than just letting it pass by.

Summer is my favorite season - I love the more relaxed pace, the chance to be outdoors, the many festivals and events, and the general spirit of play and adventure.  I want to make the most of this summer, the last summer before my Girl enters school (Kindergarten this year - I KNOW, Right?!) and make sure we are focusing our time on the things we really want to do.  So- we talked about it and came up with our "Summer 2012 Bucket List." 

Brainstorming this list with Riley was a lot of fun.  She surprised me with some of the items she added to the list, especially "watch a baseball game."  She hasn't shown much interest in this before, but....ok!  Let's do it.  She also added "Red Butte Gardens" to the list - she loves the walking trails and the flowers there and I am more than happy to spend time with her outdoors.  The items I am the most excited about - "Go see Aunt Becky" and "Farmer's Market Photos" (with one of my favorite people - Alisha.) 

I'm excited about our bucket list and VERY excited about the upcoming summer.
So what about you? What will you be doing this summer? 

Bring on summer! Bring on the happy!

 

*Sidewalk chalk art

*Swimming lessons

*Outdoor concerts 

*Pedicures 

*Long holiday weekends 

*Summer nights in Bear Lake 

*Afternoons by the pool 

*Coca-cola slurpees 

*Riding my bikes

*Baseball games 

*Flip flops

*Watermelon for breakfast, lunch and dinner

*Evenings on our rooftop deck

*Hiking 

*Fireworks 

*Paddle boarding

*Rose gardens in bloom 

*Sprinklers and slip-n-slides 

*Festivals 

*Birthday parties 

*Barbecues 

*Camping

*Trampolines 

*5Ks, 10Ks and maybe a Tri or two

 

I love summer -can you tell? 
There are so many things to get happy about!
So c'mon! Get HAPPY!

Little rewards

Riley locked herself in the bathroom today.  I figured she was working on some elaborate hairdo or makeup look, so I didn't worry about the time she was in there or the bangs and bumps I kept hearing from behind the closed door.  When she was done,  she grabbed me by the hand and ushered me in, singing that she had a "big surprise" for me.

She had cleaned the bathroom. For me.  All by herself.  Because, in her words, she wanted to "show me that she loved me by doing something nice." 

Of course, it wasn't perfect.  I could see that she had used the decorative hand towels to mop the floor and it appeared she wiped the mirror and countertops down using her detangling spray.  But things were picked up and put in the right spot, and overall, she had done a pretty decent job.

She declared it "sparkling clean" with a huge, proud smile on her face.  I declared it "absolutely perfect" because, well...I think it is.

It seems like, as a mother, we have those days when it feels like we give and do and work and help, with little reward or recognition (at least, I have those kind of days.)  But little moments like these remind me that I have a little girl who, somewhere along the way,  learned that it's important to show others that we love them through our actions.   And her actions today spoke volumes to me.

A clean bathroom is nice, but above it all is this truth:  I love this little girl.  She loves me back.  That's all the reward I need.