Friday, June 26, 2015

Alaska

Aaron and I got to go to Alaska. 
Alone. 
For 8 days! 
I know, we were freaking out too. 
It was so weird and so awesome and so quiet with just us adults. 
(We totally missed the kids like crazy, but you guys already know that)
We started off the trip with a day and a half in Seattle.
We were super spoiled with hot, sunny weather and the best tour guide around (my cousin Dave and his wife Amy).
We loved Seattle. So many cool spots to see and eat at. 
And then we set sail for our week cruise to Alaska which was a trip Aaron earned through his work.
We sailed on Princess and stopped in Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria (Canada).  
Alaska was amazing. 
Aaron and I have been all over the world and I can honestly say Alaska is like no where else I have ever been.
It seems so untouched and raw. 
And green and fresh and beautiful. 
If it had a Target and didn't get so cold I might have been lured into living there. 
View from our hike in Juneau
One of the things that was so crazy to me was how late the sun went down. This was the view at almost 11:00 pm. 
Wow. Just wow.
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau
The White Pass Rail, Skagway
a peek into the port from one of our hikes
Where's Waldo...I mean Aaron?
One of my favorite parts of the trip was sailing through Glacier Bay.
The glaciers totally showed off for us while we were there.
We saw and heard lots of "white thunder" when large chunks of ice break off the glacier and fall into the ocean. 
So cool.
It was freezing but worth it. 
 Ketchikan was another really cute and quaint town. 
One of my friends actually grew up here. 
How cool is that?
And our last stop was to Victoria which I loved!
It totally reminded me of Europe just a whole lot closer.
I can't wait to go back and spend more time there in the future.

We also got to see tons of wildlife. 
Lots and lots of whales, bald eagles, seals, dolphins and even a grizzly bear (from far away...which I was thankful for). The only thing we missed were the orcas. 

All in all it was an amazing trip that we felt so blessed to go on, but by the end of the 8 days we were so ready to get home to our babies. 
They had so much fun with our friends and family while we were gone (a big, big hug to those people who entered into our crazy life while we were away and held down the fort) but they were ready for us to be home too.
And I got a fresh reminder how full and sweet life with the 6 of us is. 
Crazy to be sure, but absolutely blessed to the fullest.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Summer!!!

It's summer!!
Hallelujah!
I don't think I have ever anticipated a summer as much as this one.
I love my kid's school but I seriously miss them when they are gone. 
Oh and the lunches. I hate packing lunches every day. 
And homework. Not a fan of that either.
But mostly I'm excited to have them all with me every day and to go on adventures together.
Lots of adventures.
See the summer list. 
It might be a little ambitious but I think we can do it.
So far our first week of summer has been awesome.
We have been to the pool, beach or lake almost every day and all my kids are tanner than me.
I know it's only just started and in a few months I'm sure I'll be ready to be back in the groove of school again but for now all I can think is, "SUMMER FOREVER!"

How's your summer going so far?

Monday, May 11, 2015

Mother's Day picture

I told my kids for Mother's Day I wanted a good picture of them.
together. 
with the real camera. 

Most of my attempts looked like
this

or this.

But eventually with lots of bribery, some patience and a roaring dinosaur I got these gems. 


My loves. 
Being a mom is the very best. 

Hope all you Mommas had a Happy Mother's Day! 

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Hey there strangers

Hey strangers!
How have you guys been? 
I feel like we just need to grab a cup of coffee and sit down and catch up on life. 
Here's a little recap of what the Sellars' have been up to. 

The past few weeks were spent packing.
and packing and packing and packing and...

moving!! 
Literally just a half mile away from our own house so super close but still moving.
Remind me never to move again. 
At least for a long, long time.  

Our new house has lots of great things we love. 
Like an extra bedroom and these beauties. 

I love spring but I'm counting down the days until all I have to wash are bathing suits. 
#isitsummeryet
Also I'm totally the worst end of school year mom ever right now. 
If you haven't read Jen's post about it you.have.to. 
Click the link above and die laughing.
It's just so true.  

When Daddy's gone we eat breakfast for dinner. 
Heck who am I kidding. 
Lately my kids have been eating cereal for lunch.
Most days.
Don't worry. 
Sometimes I add in a green smoothie too.  

Adventures in the big boy bed. 
or not. 

Little love birds. 
This will be in their wedding slide show one day. 

Double trouble. 
They get so excited when we let them sit in the car next to each other and then we remember why we have to split them up. 
Every time. 

twinning with Daddy 

Five year olds playing baseball is the cutest and hardest thing ever to watch. 
It is the cutest train wreck you have ever seen. 

Always wanderlusting 

\Swim season started. 
If you need me you know where to find me.
Usually chasing the non swimmer around the pool. 

I love that they've been able to have so much one on one time this year while the big kids were in school.
It's so fun to watch their relationship grow. 
And Maddie's jumper. I need it in my size. 

Beware the tickle monster. 
Doing what we have to do to survive baseball games. 

We had the best time with friends in Big Sur (more detail post soon. hopefully)

Little man tripped and fell on the tile chin first. 
4.5 hours at the ER later he had 4 stitches. 

Our new backyard was overflowing with these morning cloak caterpillars.
It's been so fun to share them with friends and watch them turn into chrysalis' and wait for them to emerge as butterflies. 
Seriously, creation is the coolest. 
Thanks God for being such an awesome Creator. 

What have you guys been up to?

Monday, March 2, 2015

Life

These pictures pretty much sum up my life right now.
It's spent...
constantly multitasking.
This day it was pinning towels and tasting the kids play dough creations. 
Trying to capture peaceful moments like this and being intentional to notice and soak up the beauty that is around me. Sometimes it's right in front of my face and sometimes I have to search hard for it.
This bunch. 
loud, crazy, silly, energetic, fun
And me. Exhausted at the end of each day.
Getting out of town. 
Going on adventures and being in nature
and breathing fresh air and escaping the busyness
puppy hood. 
It is no joke people.
I want to kill her about 5 million times a day. 
If I had emojis on here this one would just have lots of hearts. 

Here's a peek at some other moments from the past couple of weeks. 
 parks, hikes, birthday celebrations, early mornings, crazy boys, 60 valentines 
 Thai food, bike riding, Moms in Prayer brunch, date night, painting, baseball practice, mini mama
hooded towels, boutiques, beach shenanigans, 7 going on a teenager, date days

I'm just one big hot mess most days constantly amazed at how much I need Jesus and even more amazed at how much He delights in me in spite of it all. 

If you had to sum up your life right now in one word what would it be? 

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Our monster van (Nissan NV)

We got a new car. 
Well if you can even call it that. 
It might better be labeled "beast" or "monster van" as my kids like to call it. 
If you have been following me for a couple years you will know that we have been eyeing the Nissan NV for a long time.
It is an awesome 12 passenger van. 
Yes you hear me right, it can hold twelve people!  

Last week we finally traded in our RAM truck and our minivan and got this bad boy. 

You guys, I didn't even test drive it.
I am a really bad driver. 
Well mostly parker. 
The thought of driving this thing freaked me out. 
And the thought of parking this thing freaked me out even more. 
But after thinking about our options and trying out different things we realized that the best car solution for our family was for us to get an all electric car that my hubby would drive to work (he got the Nissan Leaf a couple months ago) and for us to get the NV as our family car. 
And once I knew that this is what we should do I didn't care how hard it would be for me to get used to I was determined to make it work.

And praise Jesus I LOVE it! 
love. love. love. it
I wish we would have gotten it months ago. 

It is super easy to drive (even for me which is saying a lot). 
It is super comfy and spacious. 
We actually have room to take other people places with us and we have room for all of our stuff (on road trips, etc.). 
I've been parking in easy parking spots (i.e. back of parking lots, next to handicap spots) because I'm still getting used to parking it but I'm getting better and better.

Ok, ready for a little tour. 
This is the car with all 12 seats in. 
There are two rows of 3 and the back row holds 4. 
Crazy, right?!
Since the trunk is pretty small with all 12 seats in and we rarely will need to take 12 people, we switched it up a bit. 
We took all 4 seats in the back out and moved the two rows of 3 further apart so that everyone has a ton of leg room (our kids can almost stretch out their whole legs and not touch the seat in front of them). 
This also gave us a TON of room in the trunk (pic below). 
We put the girls in the front row, and the boys in the back row. 
Here's the trunk. 
Plenty of room for our stroller, box filled with sweatshirts, extra clothes for the kids in case of an accident, Ergo, diapers, etc., a quilt and a box with jumper cables/car stuff. 
The doors also detach and swing all the way open (around the sides of the car).
Plus lots of extra room. 
The front is super roomy too. 
This giant center console is one of my favorite parts. It can hold files, etc. but I organized all of our stuff into little tubs and have them stacked in there. There are also a ton of cup holders, seat warmers, and other goodies like 120V outlets to charge your laptop and more. 
One of the other huge reasons we got the NV was that it can tow a lot of weight. 
We have a tent trailer that we take on camping trips multiple times a year and needed something to tow it and more (one day we would love to get a bigger trailer).
We are so thankful to have found a car that works well for us and that we love! Oh and we saved hundreds of dollars a month by consolidating to one vehicle.
Now we just need a few more kids to fill it up with.