It was bound to happen eventually....

Sydney had her first fender bender. Unfortunately (or fortunately from an insurance perspective) the car she hit was mine. She was pulling in to the spot next to me and scraped along the side of my car. The damage looks fairly minimal, but we haven't taken it in yet to be sure.

I forget sometimes how much she has going on this year.  She's working and swimming and still getting straight A's. The night in question, she was leaving the district swim meet to rush to her choir concert. She was trying to get there on time because she had a solo and wanted time to warm up. She also was taking the PSAT the next morning. No pressure, right?

I think we handled it okay. We still try to impart the importance of driving safely, but we've all made silly mistakes behind the wheel. Our saving grace is that we have more experience and can often times recover before it's too late.

I'm pretty confident she will be a lot more careful from now on. She was pretty darn freaked out!

Unfortunately, while this was her first accident, it may not be her last. Hopefully if it does happen again, it will be equally as minor. 

For now, she's just having to deal with a whole lot of teasing...and a lot of parking practice!

Tverdy, party of 3...

Well, it's finally happened. The time has come for Peyton to leave for college. In fact, she and Mark drove away about an hour ago.

Even though we have been preparing for weeks, I think the denial is still super strong for all of us.

We walked by this pile so many times that I'm pretty sure we stopped noticing it!

It doesn't seem like too much stuff. I'm sure that dorm room will fill up quickly though.

Here it is in packed form...

I feel like I've been doing a pretty good job of staying chill. Especially since jury duty coincided with moving week. Nothing like having to wait until the last minute to see if you are able to travel. And I am the eternal optimist so I was SURE I would get to go. Finding out at the last minute that I didn't in fact get to go was bit heartbreaking.

I did lose it at Church Sunday. The priest had all of the students headed to college stand in the aisle and the congregation blessed them. That's so far been the only time I cried. I also made my people take photos after Mass to commemorate her last Sunday at home. They were thrilled.

We had a fun going away lunch with Emma's family after church. I hope she and Peyton will be successful roommates! I think they will do well.

Syd is still super terrified to be our sole focus. She's pretty sure swimming will take up a lot of time so she won't constantly be bugged by us. I imagine she'll find a few extra hobbies if we get too obnoxious.

As of now, I'm waiting to hear that they arrived safely. Tomorrow is official move-in and I made Mark promise they would face time me so I can at least see her room!

The tears haven't actually started yet, but I'm definitely on the brink of crying. I'm pretty sure it will be short lived if and when it comes. At least I hope so! Peyton will probably stay fairly tear-free since it's Mark there and not me. Fingers crossed anyway!

And it's ONLY 7 weeks til U of I's Homecoming and I get to see my girl again.

Sweet 16!

It doesn't get much sweeter than this girl!

It's hard to believe that our "Absent-Minded Professor" is 16 already! Syd is one of the smartest people I know. She also has moments where I'm completely terrified for her. We have story after story of times when Sydney just made us shake our heads in wonderment. Both good, and bad. Ha!

One of the things that has always struck me about Sydney is that she is seemingly fearless. When she was really little, she would jump into any pool she saw. Whether she was wearing clothes or not...and even though she couldn't swim. It was extremely difficult parenting her through the toddler years. Childproofing was just a challenge that she was always willing to tackle. We never did find anything that would work to thwart her. Thankfully she was (and is) adorable!

As she's grown and matured, she has transferred that fearlessness into other areas. Including this:

Mark took the girls to the Basque picnic a couple weeks ago. Syd decided she wanted to try the weight competition. Maybe it's the fact that I'm pretty timid when it comes to things that could end up making me look foolish, but I'm always surprised when she volunteers for something like this. She never, ever worries about looking silly! Amazing. Oh, and I guess she actually did quite well, especially for never having seen this competition before!

She is also fearless when it comes to performing in public. 

 Even if she's wearing a swim suit!


I've never met someone who is more comfortable in their own skin. To be honest, I'm a little jealous! Whether she's cutting her hair super short, being into totally "geeky" things, or wearing whatever she wants, she definitely stays true to herself.

One of her other amazing qualities is her willingness to work hard. She's definitely willing to do the work and try to improve. I really love watching her determination in the pool!

I do think she's a little nervous about her sister heading to college. Not only will they really, really miss each other, I imagine she's terrified that she'll be our sole focus. I think Peyton's big personality has always let Syd fly under the radar. A role which she plays quite well. Hopefully we can temper our helicoptering a little. 

I am pretty thankful that she still likes to hang out with us. She really is about as sweet as they come!

Happy birthday, Tommy Waffles! We love you and are so humbled to be your parents. I'm still not sure how we got so lucky!  XOXO

Adult-ish

To borrow a phrase from one of my friends, we have a "newly minted adult" at our house. Yep, Peyton turned 18.

What is even happening right now? The joke has always been that our goal was to keep her alive until she turned 18. Nailed it! But it wasn't always easy...

 In honor of her birthday, I decided to catalog a couple of the big events in her life. 

Starting with:

Probably the first time we were a disappointment as parents...still in the hospital

And then there was this:

Her baptism...this was right after we had to fish her pacifier out of the baptismal font...

Or this:

The first, but not last, time we broke her...

Her arm was actually broken in this photo...

And her first haircut, as if we hadn't traumatized her enough already.

Or this:

30 photos later, and this was the best...

I will say, this was probably one of the biggest life changes for all of us!

There are so many other momentous events that have taken place. This post could go on forever and ever!

But, I'll just post one more event:

Happy 18th, Dude! (Peyton on the right...)

The above tattoos are in memory of this lady. She loved us like no other and we still miss her every day.

Next up is graduation and college. It really has flown by in the blink of an eye. We are super proud of you, Peyt!

And I promise I won't tell anyone about you getting pulled over on your birthday last night. ;-)

There is something about 
a red-headed girl.
She'll make you crazy, 
and shake up your world.

The Mountains Are Calling...

Camping - Take 2...

So, we hit our second camping weekend. It was fun going somewhere new. We had been to Lake Cascade several times, but never camped there.

It's pretty tough to beat the scenery...

 

And the sunsets definitely don't suck...

And just because we like to camp, it doesn't mean we are savages. This little gem is one of my favorites as far as "camping gear" goes....

The weather was gorgeous. We took a bike ride Saturday that had us all tired and probably pretty smelly. No showers = stinky Tverdys.  We decided to wait to go to Church until we got home Sunday evening. You're welcome to anyone who would have been in our immediate vicinity.

Macie had a great time running around like crazy. She was pretty tired by Sunday...

Peyton was scheduled to get her wisdom teeth out Monday so since she will have to be popcorn free for several weeks, Mark bought her some Jiffy pop. Remember this stuff? Way more fun to watch cook than it is to eat...

We roasted a few marshmallows...

But mostly just hung out with each other. So glad the girls are still willing to hang out with us...most of the time anyway.

Not sure when or where our next camping adventure will be.  Peyton only has one free weekend this summer since she's starting her job. Maybe this will be the year I'm willing to leave her home alone? Maybe...

Like campfires and marshmallows, we're just better together...

This past weekend we headed to Bruneau Sand Dunes. If you've never camped here, know you better go early in the season. It tends to get super hot and mosquito-y later.

We left Friday night and rolled in just in time to set up camp and play some Yahtzee before bed. We are wild y'all.

Saturday, it was pretty cold and windy when we woke up. We decided to have breakfast inside the trailer. Solid choice. After breakfast, we figured if we were going to hike the dunes, we had better get to it!

About 15 minutes in, the sun came out. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately, we also found the mosquitos. Poor Peyton gets it the worst. We have decided it's because she squeals and flails around so her adrenaline is an attraction for them.

Macie and Sydney had boundless energy. I think I hate them a little.

Just as we rolled back into our campsite, the heavens opened up and it rained and hailed for a few hours. Perfect time for a nap! I love naps.

One must always dress appropriately for the occasion...

The rain stopped about the time we were getting hungry for dinner. I was able to cook outside which makes me happy. Mark and the girls went to the Observatory Saturday night. I stayed behind and read and went to sleep early. Macie did the same. Minus the reading...

It was the perfect combination of activity and rest. Just what I look for in a camping weekend!

Accidents Happen...

So, I got one of those dreaded calls. If you have teen drivers, you know what I'm talking about. The calls we all hope never to get...

Driving home my phone rings...caller id says "Georgio Armani".

Me: Hey Dude, what's up?
Peyton: *crying* Mom?
M: What happened?
P: I had a little fender bender.
M: OK.  Are you okay? Is anyone hurt? Do I need to come get you? Where are you?
P: I pulled over on a side street to call you. It was minor. I'm fine.
M: Did you exchange info?
P: Yes.
M: OK, you did the right thing. We can talk when I get home. Calm down, go home and do your homework.

It could have been SO much worse. So much that I can't even imagine. Or pretend like I can't imagine or I'd never let her out of my sight...

So, Mark and I get home and there is a message from the guy that she hit. I think he was mainly just making sure she told us. Ha! But, he left his home number and also told us it was minor. I think just a scuff on his bumper. We tried to call him back with no luck. So will try again.

After talking more to Peyton, we find out she didn't even realize she hit him. (Exactly why we bought her the big green tank!) She explained what happened from what he said, and told us she at first didn't even know why he was honking at her. awesome.

Anyway, we will find out the damage when we get a hold of him. If it's enough to turn in to our insurance and our rates go up, she will be responsible for paying the difference. Or, if it's not worth turning in, she will have to pay for his repairs. It sucks for her, but this is not without consequences.

My guess is she just got over-confident. As far as I can tell, she mostly drives too slow.

Although, if you ever see differently, we would really like to know.

BOLO  Just kidding...kind of.

Well, she was just 17, you know what I mean...

And the way she looked was way beyond compare. You know that Beatles song, right? Please tell me I'm not horribly old!

I mean I do feel horribly old as my first baby turns 17 today! Last year on her birthday, I wrote this post and it's all still true.

My new favorite thing going in to her 17th year is that we are 99% sure she will be gainfully employed this summer! No more free-loader! Just kidding, she will totally still mooch off of us for a long while. Sigh.

This is part of her gift:

And yes, those might be lottery tickets. Shhh...

Her other gift is getting her car detailed. I mean, what teenager doesn't dream of car detailing as a gift? Actually, she's pretty excited. Her third gift didn't ship in time. I'm awesome like that. She is celebrating with friends tonight by having a bonfire in our back yard. Unless it's super windy...then I will shove a bunch of money at them and send them to a movie or something. Not that I'm praying for wind or anything. ;-)  Just kidding, these friends of hers are amazing.

So, here is what 17 looks like at our house...

Pretty exciting, huh? I'm sure that melted wax in the sausage patty was delicious!

17...get it? This definitely earned me an eye roll.

Happy 17, Peyton Grace!

Sigh...

Smiling's my favorite! - Buddy the Elf

Peyton has declared 3/16/16 the BEST DAY EVER!!!!

After 4 1/2 years (3 years longer than anticipated) the braces are off. Can I get an Amen?

Without retainer

With retainer...that hopefully won't get lost for at least a little while!

This is what she looked like the day they put them on...

She's changed a little I think.

I took the morning off work to go with her...and to document the occasion, of course. Because if THIS isn't blog-worthy, I don't know what is.  :-)

I almost don't know which of us is happier. J/k, it's definitely me...