Cabrillo Point

I think this may have been taken at the San Diego harbor. We walked, and saw boats, and looked at the USS Midway really expensive aircraft carrier museum.



Someday we'll go when we have all day to spend.

After the harbor, the kids wanted to go back to Seaworld. Our one-day tickets happened to be good for seven days. So we bit the bullet and paid for parking again. We'd seen almost all of the shows the day before, but we saw another show and spent some time in the kid's area, and went to touch the bat rays again, and then they were good. We never could get them on a ride in SeaWorld. I think they were all rided out.

Since we had a couple hours of daylight left, we wanted to go to Cabrillo Point. We'd heard good things about it, specifically its tide pools. Well, low tide was at 9 am that day, so we kind of missed that one, and we didn't even make it down to the beach before it closed. Cabrillo Point is on a Navy base, a point of land between the harbor and the ocean. It used to have a working light house, and it housed a lot of defense outposts during WWII.

 A sideways picture of a lighthouse.

 A view of the harbor. There were lots of sailboats out to enjoy the sunset.

 And, airplanes landing at the Navy base.

A monument to Cabrillo, the first European to set foot on this point. It was a beautiful spot, the perfect place to end our last day in California.

The next morning we woke early, got breakfast with a college women's volleyball team from Hawaii, and got an early start on our drive back to Utah. We planned to stop if we needed to, but the kids napped quite a bit and were content to play and draw and listen to books on cd. We ended up driving all the way home, all without any fighting or asking "Are we there yet?" Miraculous.

Before I forget

Here's a story for each of the little ones:

Alice: We bought a bunch of candy canes to give to friends, and Alice knows where they are kept. Yesterday she kept pointing at them and grunting convincingly. Then she raised her hand and said, "Me!" (Going to nursery has at least expanded her vocabulary by one word).

Clara: Today, picking up Nathan from school, we parked in front of a house that has stairs and a wheelchair ramp to the front door. She asked why, so I explained that the ramp was for people who couldn't use the stairs. She said, "Like babies!" I told her maybe it was for people in wheelchairs. Then she went on, "The babies could crawl up it and then the grownups could pick them up and take them in the door!" Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what it's used for.

Nathan: This morning he found an envelope, wrote a note, sealed it, and wanted to deliver it to the mail lady. After I made up some difficulties why we couldn't do that (like, maybe, we don't know her name or address?) he said I could just have it instead. So I opened it and it said: "Mom mom mom mom." It's maybe a good thing it didn't make it to its intended recipient.

SeaWorld

 Alice was a big fan of Seaworld. She was still really tired and we kept having to wake her up when we took her out of the stroller to go inside buildings or into one of the shows. But she didn't mind too much. Here she's enjoying the penguins swimming. Later in the day she even deigned to say a new word: ish. We've never heard it since, but she really liked the freshwater fish aquariums.

 Nathan's favorite: the shark house. This is the megalodon jaw, giant dinosaur relative of the shark.

 I think this was in the turtle building? Enjoying some sit-down time.

 When we saw the Shamu show Nathan insisted on going down to see him up close. He wanted to sit in the soak zone, and we thought we did, but it turns out we were a couple rows too high. He was really upset we didn't get wet.

 But it was probably good we didn't. Levi managed to get Alice out of the stroller without waking her and she slept for a portion of the show.

 Everyone perked up after the show when we sent to the Shamu viewing area. Here Alice and Clara are dancing. After this we went to the dolphin area, where the trainers did some talking and people on both sides of us got to touch dolphins--we were in the exactly wrong spot to get to touch them. Luckily the kids seemed okay. I was more disappointed than they were. Once we'd seen pretty much everything the all-important souvenir hunt began. We'd been putting them off all day because we didn't want to buy them one thing only for them to find something they loved more later. So we walked all over the park to get things, because of course they can't have all souvenirs in one convenient gift shop. Back to the penguin building for Alice, a dolphin for Clara, and (of course) a walk to the shark building for Nathan.

And then a long walk back to the car. The park closed at 5, which seems pretty early, but we (me, mostly) were wiped out. This was the hottest day we had and I was ready to be done.

California Adventure

We checked out of our hotel before heading over to make the most of our time at California Adventure. Our hotel allowed us to park for free until 2, so we decided we could do it all in four hours. And, mostly we did. We walked on to just about every ride with no waiting. And most of the rides we didn't get to the girls weren't big enough for, or none of the kids were big enough for. And now we have a reason to go back. Because in a few years, it will be really fun to watch Nathan on Tower of Terror.

The cars would talk to you. Nathan liked it. Clara would not come stand by it.

Thanks to our stop a Whole Foods, our kids discovered a love for Pirate's Booty. I think, meh. It's kind of weird.

Sorry; I don't know why this is sideways. Levi took Nathan to do Soaring over California while the girls and I shuttled between two rides in bugs' land before they decided they needed (another) snack. While waiting, Clara started playing and doing "magician tricks" behind this bench. They were pretty fantastic magician tricks.

Alice was starting to feel better by this day, although she was still really tired. She missed the first couple of rides because she fell asleep on the walk into the park.

When we got to the front of the line for this ride, we realized I couldn't take both kids at once, and Nathan wasn't old enough to drive alone. So a nice lady behind us offered to be with him so he wouldn't have to wait for me to take him on the next ride. He was surprisingly okay with it.

Clara was not so expert on bumper cars. Oh well.

The kids really enjoyed waiting for the Bug's Life show to begin. I forgot to realize that they might not enjoy the actual show. Oops. Little scary.

Christmas in November? Yes. Although in a few places we saw Halloween decorations, almost everywhere in both parks it was already Christmas. On November 4. Nutso.

And behold, by 2 we had seen pretty much everything that we could all do as a family. The kids were exhausted after three days of playing hard. Time for a nice nap as we drove to San Diego.

Seal Beach

 The day we drove from St. George to Anaheim we had a bit of extra time before we could check into our hotel, so we headed to Seal Beach, a town with quaint (read: expensive) beach homes. It was long past lunch, and the nearest place we could find with food was a Whole Foods. I joked that it was probably the only time I'd get Levi into a Whole Foods. Their pizza is kind of cardboardish, in case you were wondering. But the beach was beautiful.

After we cleaned the sand off Nathan's hands and arms, we headed to Anaheim and found our hotel. We parked the van and didn't move it again for three days. It was awesome.

That Disneyland place

 "The sun is too bright. Let me have your sunglasses." He was going to give me his hat, but quickly asked for it back.

First, let me just say, that staying at a hotel across the street from Disneyland was the absolute best. We parked our car at the hotel and left it there for three days. Five minutes and we were there.

The first morning we got there just a few minutes after it opened. Once we picked up our tickets and headed inside we had to...stop for a bathroom break, notwithstanding the bathroom break we'd all taken just before we left the hotel. I may or may not have been part of this first bathroom break (I was.) We saw some characters, walked down some magical real estate, et cetera. Our first stop was Tomorrowland. We rode the little rocket ride right at the entrance. Alice liked it until we put the seat belt on; meaning, she liked it for the first ten seconds. She was all right after it started going, but there was  a lever that she really wanted to reach and it was not cooperating. Clara, who I thought might be scared, giggled the whole time.

After that ride Clara was (surprise!) hungry, so Levi fed the girls a snack while I took Nathan on Star Tours. He was in heaven.


It was a little crowded that first day so we tried to avoid rides with a long line. Clara got to ride the tea cups, which she had been highly anticipating thanks to the Disneyland website? We had some ridiculously overpriced lunch in Toon Town, Levi walked a grumpy Alice around in the stroller while I took the kids to meet Mickey.

Midway through the afternoon everyone was fading fast and wanted to head back to the hotel. So we did. We rested for a little while and then went swimming. We walked to McDonald's for dinner and then went back to Disneyland until it closed at 8. We rode a few rides and watched the parade. Clara got really excited and waved at the princesses. Nathan enjoyed it as well. I think Alice was asleep (poor sicky).

The next day we had Magic Morning early entry tickets, which was a little less magical than I'd expected. The gates didn't open until 9:30, instead of 9--so imagine a bunch of hyped-up kids told to hurry up and get ready so we could wait in a line outside Disneyland. Then, when the gates opened and we hurried to get on a ride before the lines piled up, all the areas with rides were roped off. But, said the voice over the loudspeaker, "our shops are all open." Thanks so much. We bided the time in the candy shop where I convinced the kids the best option was what turned out to be ridiculously expensive jelly bellys. By the time the kids "helped" me put several kinds into our bag it turned out to be something like 14 dollars. This was not a large amount of jelly beans. It was still cheaper than the giant lollipops they wanted, and much less of a sticky mess. The kids also enjoyed the antique "moving picture" shows in the candy shop. At a penny, they were the best deal in the whole park.

Once the rides opened, we had a better time. The crowds were less, and I had  a bag full of sugar to help make waiting in the lines easier. I doled out those expensive blobs of flavor one at a time, and it helped to make the kids much more patient. We rode almost all the rides in Fantasyland before Alice got too grumpy. We had a late lunch and then rode the paddle boat, which made us too late to get over to Tom Sawyer's island. Nathan was very sad. Levi and Nathan went to do Haunted Mansion while I took the girls to Winnie the Pooh. Then we rode the train all around the perimeter of the park. Clara, true to form, somehow managed to find even this scary (the dinosaur dioramas). After the train, we (finally! allowed the kids to pick out their souvenirs. I picked one for Alice, Clara was really fast, but Nathan had to go to two different stores before I allowed him to choose his because he wanted everything (especially the really annoying Buzz Lightyear toys with lights and noises). He ended up making his own droids at the Star Wars shop, which I was much more okay with. After we had those, I wanted to ride some more rides, since the lines had really dwindled as everyone gathered for the parade, but the kids just wanted to go back to the hotel to play with their new toys. So, all the fun rides I could have taken Nathan on, since the girls were so tired and really too small, will just have to wait.

 Nathan, working on the art of the photobomb. He totally did this on purpose, and got a little surly when we caught him.

We went to there

The kids were ridiculously excited about packing. Nathan wanted to pack himself. We got all our clothes packed Saturday so we could head out Sunday right after stake conference. I've got oodles of bajillions of pictures to share, but I'll break it up a little. But here's a little overview of our trip.

We left Sunday and drove to St. George.
Early the next morning we headed out and drove to California
Visited Seal Beach and then checked into our hotel
Spent the next three days at Disneyland/California Adventure
Drove to San Diego and checked into our hotel
Spent time at Sea World, walked along the harbor, and ended our trip at Cabrillo Point
Got an early start Sunday and made the 12 hour drive home all in one day

The good:
The kids were absolutely amazing in the car. I went to the dollar store and stocked up on new coloring books, blank notebooks, and a couple small toys for each kid. I packed a box with stickers, treats, presents, pipe cleaners, and didn't even have to use most of it. They spent most of their time coloring. We also had some books on cd to listen to (side note: love is renting the Berenstain Bears cd from the library even though you know it's hugely annoying, with synthesized cheesy music in the background and ridiculously overdone voices and side effects, but those childrens do love it). We brought our car dvd player along and didn't even get it out of the bag, which was a huge win for me. Call me old fashioned, but I think it's important for my kids to learn to deal with boredom without just plugging into a device all the time; this trip showed me that they are on their way. Even Alice did awesome. Good thing she had her fingers to suck on, though. They were really the lifesaver.

Overall, the kids were well behaved all week, barring tired/sick/hungry tantrums (see The Bad below). No children were (really) lost or sunburned during the making of these memories.

The weather was just about perfect. It actually felt a little hot at Seaworld, even though the weather said it was only in the high 60s. Mid-70s and sunshine all week.

Moderate crowds at Disneyland, and almost no lines at all at California Adventure. We didn't have any trouble getting in to see all the shows at Seaworld.

Being able to spend the week with no distractions from the kids. At home I have so many other things on my mind it's hard to focus on them. No housework, cooking, Relief Society stuff--it was so nice to just focus on my kids and enjoy their personalities.

The bad:
Everybody in the family (except me, amazingly, knock on wood) got a cold the week before we left, so everyone was on the uphill side of things by the time we left. All except Alice. Her cough got worse and developed a slight fever our first night. (It's fitting, though--I, the youngest in my family, was sick during my first trip to Disneyland at age 5. My parents just kept giving my tylenol when I started to flag and then I'd be off again to play.) So we gave her some motrin when she needed it and she spent a lot of time napping in the stroller. Poor kid.

Clara seems to have a habit of licking her food rather than eating it. Then, when it's become sufficiently slimy and disgusting (think of a well-licked banana), will quietly throw it away and say that she's full. We have such a hard time getting her to eat a full meal at home, and it was worse because she was so excited to get going. Then we'd walk to Disneyland, be ready to ride the first ride, and she'd cry that she couldn't go on a ride because she was Too Hungry. This being no more than 10 minutes after we tried to make her eat a snack before we left our hotel room and she insisted she was full. She wanted to constantly snack, all day long, and her temper suffered as a result of her grazing ways.

So that it that and we are home and attempting to adjust to real life again. Are you sure I couldn't just live the rest of my life on vacation?

18 months

Yeah, this picture's a little old. Go with it. Since Alice is nearing 19 months this week, I thought I ought to tell about what 18 months has been for all of us.

She has a new favorite word: No. Everything is no. Her other favorite word is: Mom. Surprise! She'll also say a few others, occasionally: Dad, yeah, hi, eye. Mostly she does a lot of really expressive grunts and gestures. She will nod her head yes or no, which is helpful, and she's really learned that the sign for please opens a lot of doors. We're still working on the sign for all done, hopefully to replace all the screaming and throwing of food that currently happens when she's done eating. She knows it, she just is too much of a stink to do it usually.

The last few weeks we've been leaving her in nursery. Levi took her in there for a few weeks to help her get used to it, so now she's doing really well. Toys and snacks? What isn't there to love? We sat in front of her nursery teachers last week in sacrament and she kept looking and smiling at them. And Alice going has helped Clara to feel better about going. Clara's not been loving nursery lately, I think because she's so much older than the other kids.

She loves sunglasses. She will bring you some, grunting appealingly, until you put them on her face. Then she'll smile and walk away, coming back a maximum of two minutes later to repeat the process.

She loves dolls and pushing dolls around in strollers. Big brother and sister mostly ignore the Little People toys under their bunk beds, but Alice will crawl all the way under there to get them out. And, she knows about guns. Nathan builds guns out of trio blocks, and Alice shoots them at us. She even makes shooting noises.

She's learning that hitting, pushing, and kicking are hilarious, and doesn't understand why there would possibly be negative consequences for said hilarity.

The other night at bedtime she wanted to get into Nathan's bed. She climbed up towards the pillow, pushed him out of the way, lay down with her head on the pillow, and pulled the covers over here. Clara was very disturbed we'd leave her there all night. So I got out a pillow and put it in Alice's bed. She was very happy. As soon as we laid her down she waved to us to get us out of there already so she could enjoy this pillowy luxury.

She loves strollers. Anytime we're playing outside she'll climb in and try to grunt her way into a stroller ride. Once as we got home from school she climbed out of the double stroller, walked into the garage, and climbed into the single stroller. She was pretty upset I wouldn't take her for a ride.

A couple of weeks ago I took the older kids to the dentist. When they got their new toothbrushes from the hygienist she walked up to her, expecting her due. She was pretty upset she didn't get one.

Oh, and we finally transitioned her out of the infant seat and turned her forward facing. Happy day! She feels so big, which, of course, she's been trying to tell us for oh so long.

Happy Fall

We made it--October! It's here! and glorious. October, weather-wise, is my favorite month. The air is so crisp. Such a great time for doing and being.

I've got several projects I've been saving up for the coolness of September: the garage, fixing and staining the fence, and a little masonry work, anyone? But the doing of them just doesn't seem to be happening. It's hard to gird up the will for even these exciting (!) projects when I can't even keep to my regular housework schedule.

Here's to hoping my energy comes back soon. I'm out of the first trimester this week, so that's encouraging news. I'm sure everyone will appreciate a little more normalcy around here.

Also, would someone please tell Nathan to pick a costume and stick with it? I'm not doing anything about his costume until he stops vascillating.

Stories about a bed

So, what's a month and a half between friends? Or a blog? Here I am, I'm back...briefly. Two short stories about what's been going on here.

A couple weeks ago at bedtime, Nathan asked, "Can Alice get in my bed for just a minute?" I said no, dad said no, but Alice heard. She toddled over to the ladder and started trying to climb it. She was pretty unhappy when we didn't let her finish before taking her to her own bed.

Last night (again at bedtime) Nathan was sitting with us on the couch in the family room. He could see into the bedroom and said, "Something crazy is happening to Clara!" The crazy thing? She had climbed up to his bed to throw all his stuffed animals to the floor. She thought she was pretty funny stuff.

Tonight the kids rigged "curtains" by hanging blankets from the upper bunk so they could put on a "show." I love how much fun my kids can get out of boring furniture.

A family anniversary sort of day

 For our anniversary we decided to go for a hike. With our kids. And my sister's family. Super romantic, right?

 We started on the trail to Adam's Canyon, but there's a turnoff after about 20 minutes to this waterfall. It's a perfect kids' hike. Clara didn't even ask to be carried once. And Alice complained about having to be in the backpack.

 After a few minutes, Clara was brave enough to cross the water by herself.

 And Alice protested dad's efforts to help her climb down the rocks and the cold rushing water. She was so proud of herself and I was pretty impressed.

 Nathan found a water bottle (what's not to love about garbage?) which he used to trap a silver spider (see below).

Look closely, on the bottom corner of the rock. It really was silver. A few minutes after he released it on this rock in the middle of the stream, I convinced him he should maybe let it go on some dry land.

After we finished the hike, our companions took us to a really cool playground in Fruit Heights. It's a castle. It was awesome. After we'd played for close to an hour, and it was hot and we were beyond ready for lunch, Nathan tried to negotiate for more time: "Can I just play for six more hours?"  No. "How about three?" But after the bee stung him on the ankle he consented that it was time to go. On the way home he lamented: "Why did Jesus make bees and hornets? I hate them!" I've often wondered that about mosquitoes.

Then home, lunch, and naps! for me and then Levi. It was possibly my favorite part of the day. After we put the kids to bed we got some chinese takeout and watched a movie. It was a low key sort of anniversary but it was good. We've made it to eight years--so I guess our marriage has reached the age of accountability. How would one go about baptizing a relationship?

Hey, August

So, do you like how i posted a billion times during June, and then... kaput. I'm not dead. Alice has taken up playing peekaboo. And saying please! in sign language. Today at lunch she pointed at the drink she'd thrown on the floor. I told her to say please, then she clapped, folded her arms, and then remembered the sign for please. Success! We've been working on this one for a while.  Nathan and Clara have taken to playing Scouts. Which means they assemble a lot of toys in the living room and pretend they're camping. I love my kids, and their creativity, but everything involves a lot of mess.

I got to go to education week at BYU-Idaho last week, which was wonderful. I went with my mom, sister, aunt, two cousins, grandma, and great aunt. I was exhausted when I left, and more exhausted when I came back. We stayed up late to play games, and then not even on purpose waking up early, which meant I went to 7 am Zumba. I'm really bad at Zumba (no coordination and/or rhythm) but it's fun and a great workout and it was free. Also there was an awesome trip to the Rexburg DI, wherein I realized I have an addiction this summer to buying green shirts from thrift stores  (I'm up to 4 since June). When I came home (after only three days) it was really hard to adjust to cooking again. Cooking is the worst. I really like cooking, but lately it's too hard to think of things to make. I've even started making a monthly menu which hangs on my fridge. Then I look at the menu and think, "I don't want to eat that today," or "that sounds good, but I don't have the things for it." So I'll make something else on the menu or just come up with a new idea (thanks to Pinterest for last night's cornbread waffles and chili).

Also, August, what's the point? Why are you so hot? I'm kind of ready for fall. Fall should be six months long.

One day more

Levi's been at scout camp this week. It's been a pretty good week. A barbecue and playing at the river on Wednesday, swimming with my sister's family at the aquatic center on Thursday. We haven't even eaten out. I even took dinner to a family in the ward yesterday. I was rocking this week.

To celebrate a successful week of daddy-less-ness, I planned to take the kids to a Cinderella play tonight in Clearfield. I thought they'd love it. I even made some brownies, some to take to a neighbor and the rest to eat once we'd gotten home. A blissful family outing completed.

"All right, kids. Let's eat dinner and then we'll go to the play."

Clara: "This is not my favorite dinner."

Nathan: "I hate this! I want a brownie!"

Alice: contentedly ate her dinner and then asked for more

Clara: ate a quarter of her dinner and then wandered downstairs to fall asleep in her bed (at five o'clock)

Nathan: "I won't eat this! I hate this! You feed me! I want some ranch on it!"

Things hit a low when I "fed" Nathan by bringing the entire plate of food up to his mouth. Rice spilled over the kitchen. Mother of the year, right here. I went upstairs to put laundry away.

Forty minutes later, Nathan: "I want to go to the play!" Repeated wailings, etc. before falling asleep on the living room floor.

I think Alice and I will enjoy some brownies together, in the quiet.

Alice, nearly sixteen months

Funny girl, Alice, has discovered her baby's binky is quite wonderful. It's got only the tiniest of nubs, that you can wedge inside the plastic doll's mouth. But she latches on to that and howls if you take it away.

She has learned to use a spoon pretty well, thanks to her daily bowl of yogurt. She doesn't often let me feed her any more. And, her breakfast has to be just the same as brother's and sister's. One morning I gave her a bowl of cheerios and she wouldn't touch it until I poured some milk on it.

Her vocabulary, slowly expanding, now is "mom!" and the occasional "da." She's got all sorts of nonverbal communication, nods and head shakes and pointing and waving and grunting and, the newest, giving high fives. Oh, and don't forget the shrieking. That's always fun. We're working on the signs for "please" and "more" but she'll only do them if they're first modeled by Nathan and/or Clara. The other day at breakfast we had nearly the whole family doing the sign for please, but with cantankerous Nathan shaking his head no, it was nothing doing. And if you ask any question, she'll raise her hand. "Who's hungry? Who's in favor of nuclear war?" She's up for almost anything.

We went swimming the other day at the Clearfield aquatic center, which has an outdoor kiddie pool that's 18 to 24 inches deep. She was quite in her element, which seems to be a sort of drunken sailor motif. She wouldn't let me hold her hands, so with the slightest off-kilter step she'd keel over in the water, not at all phased with water in her eyes, or up her nose, or anything. I'm thinking the reason she didn't want much dinner is all the water she swallowed.

She's very invested in keeping up with those older siblings, be it drawing with sidewalk chalk or getting a sucker from the bishop's office after church. What a determined, very grown up girl. She's so fun. And when she stopped pinching and scratching me all the time, I'll like her even more.

Another week of birthday

14: Stopped at Juniper's for dinner in Logan on our way up to Preston. Also, a library trip.
15: Took a quick early morning jog with my brother and sister. Man, I like those people. Spent the day at Preston with extended family.
16: Father's Day, made a big breakfast for my husband and father-in-law. We did some delicious dutch oven for dinner.
17: Went to lunch with my mom and sister for her birthday.
18: Swimming at Layton Surf 'n Swim with cousins and grandparents. My nephew's orthodontist rented it and friends and family were invited. levi even got a free t-shirt (ironic, since he's the one who didn't need braces... and then Nathan won him some pretty sweet black and neon-green sunglasses).
19: Another t-ball game? I kind of don't remember this day.
20:  A trip to the main library in Ogden. Checked out and read a funny book.
21: Went to the temple in the morning, tried Desert Magnolia for lunch, and watched Midnight in Paris after the kids went to bed. (Three things in one day! Check that out!)
22: Yard work, while not fun, was satisfying to finish. I read some of Operation Mincemeat and Levi made an awesome dinner.
23: Levi took the kids for a walk just as I got home from ward council, and I got to read the paper in peace. Took a walk later, by myself.
24: Took a nap! and finished Operation Mincemeat.
25: Another library trip, to get myself some more books. (Have you noticed lots of my fun things has just been allowing myself to read more? It's been great). Oh, and tonight--late night appetizers (half price after 9!) at Applebee's with some of my book club friends.

So, nothing too ambitious. Mostly I've just been finding small ways during my normal day to slip something fun in. I've liked it. Maybe I'll pretend every month is my birthday month.

Father's Day 2013

Between Pinterest and my children's brains, Father's Day was pretty funny this year.

Clara:
My dad is 35 years old.
His hair is black and his eyes are blue.
My dad likes to wear glasses.
He loves to eat eggs.
He is smart because he knows how to help Nathan ride his big bike.
My dad works hard at writing on the computer and with a pen on paper.
Daddy always tells me to get dressed.
It makes my dad happy when I get dressed.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to the desert and  he would take Alice.
I really love it when my dad rides his bike. ("When will my father ride his bike?")
If I could give my daddy anything it would be a present.
My favorite thing about my dad is giving him a present for his birthday.

Nathan:
My dad is 35 years old.
His hair is gray and his eyes are green.
My dad likes to wear red clothes.
He loves to eat peppers.
He is smart because he knows about airplanes.
My dad works hard at work.
Daddy always tells me don't do something wrong.
It makes my dad happy when I obey.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to the desert or Australia and  he would take an airplane or he would drive.
I really love it when my dad takes me to the airplane museum.
If I could give my daddy anything it would be a house.
My favorite thing about my dad is he loves me so much.

This was the only surprise I could muster for Father's Day, and I'm surprised that we could even do that much. Levi I think is destined to not have any more surprises, ever. Nathan spilled the beans about his birthday ("We bought you a barn!"). Clara, at two different times, told him all about Father's Day (a screwdriver and a tool bag). And pretty soon Alice will be old enough to tell him things. Happy Father's Day, dad. We love you too much to keep any secrets from you.

House Work

First of all, let me give you some advice: Never never never buy a house with aluminum siding. Why? Aluminum siding is terrible. Especially if you live in an area with hard water, which, probably is the entire universe. Why else would there be such a roaring industry for water softeners?

My house, coming up on thirty, is showing its years. (I'd like to think I'm weathering the years a little better than the house, which is a few years younger than I am). I didn't think too much about it when we moved in because I was a little busy with the raptures of a new baby. But it's bothered me for years. So this year, with Alice not quite so dependant and no more babies imminent, is Operation: Deuglify. I started with the siding, faded, oxidized, and with hard water marks. I found a product online called Everbrite. You scrub the house with the included cleaner, let dry, then apply the everbrite, which renews and protects the paint on the siding. Magic! It's wonderful. And expensive. So, after buying some and loving it, and some talk with my parents and more research online, I decided to try some linseed oil on the siding above our garage roof. And...

It does the same thing, for a fraction of the price. I did the remaining 2/3 of the house with linseed oil. It gave my neighbors some entertainment to see me up on a ladder, laboriously rubbing a cloth over each square foot of the siding. My neighbor told me later his wife dared him to call across the fence, "You missed a spot!" I told him I would have invited him to climb up and finish the job himself.

So, working on it sporadically, on weekends, for a month, it's done. During that month I also repainted the shutters, planted a garden, all the work that goes with three kids and a demanding calling, et cetera, et cetera.

Worth it. Now on to the next project.

More birthday fun

Here's what's up. June is being awesome. And busy. I've been working some more on my birthday month of fun:

June 7: attended Whitney's wedding reception, where I got to see Shelly and Kristen. Four of the six from Morgan Hall apt. 203.
June 8: Finally finished linseed oil on the house (woot!), and free swimming at the complex.
June 9: dinner at my parents' house with all my siblings and their children, as well as Linda and my grandparents.
10: play group at the park, then getting my house clean before tball. Getting my house cleaned up, while not exactly fun, was deeply deeply satisfying.
11: Hosted cousins in the morning, and friends in the afternoon. During a busy day of kids playing, I managed to sneak in about ten minutes of uninterrupted reading time, sitting in the shade in the backyard. Wonderful.
12: Play date with my good friend Aubrey and her kids, watched Mulan with the kids in the afternoon, t-ball pictures, picnic at the park, and then more t-ball.
13: cousin day at Beus Park, princess party at the community center, and, the highlight of every month....Book Club. It deserves to be capitalized.


And, I better write this down before I forget it:

Nathan, after we drove past the house in Roy I lived in until I was seven: "Mom, thanks for showing me about the good old days. When you were little, did you have cars?"

He then told me that if I didn't have cars, we could have just ridden around in carriages pulled by horses.

Golden Birthday Month

In my bloggy reading, I came across this poster. Which, really, can you argue with that? And so I've taken it for my mantra. Doing things fills up that anxious time between waiting for things to happen and fixing things that aren't going right. It's a poster that I would like to own, but then again, I'd have to pay money to get it. Which really isn't part of my strategic plan.

This month is my golden birthday. I've looked forward to my golden birthday, since it's supposed to be some magical golden shimmering thing of wonder. And, really, you need something to dress up 29. Such a blase number. So, my strategic plan for my birthday month is to do 29 fun things, one for each day.

Here's what I've done so far.
1. helped at a yard sale benefit for my cousin (sometimes, work can be a fun thing). Got a bike trailer/jogging stroller for only 35 dollars
2. taught a Relief Society lesson (it went well--I made people cry--and so that was a sort of fun thing. Can you tell I have to look for fun where I can find it?) Levi dutch ovened steak, potatoes, and a pineapple/mango cobbler--delicious
3. finding myself alone in the middle of the afternoon, I took myself out to lunch at Cafe Zuppa's. That night we used our gift certificate to Farr's and went out for ice cream.
4.  visited an elderly couple in our ward, who insisted on making cotton candy and sno cones for my kids
5. attended Nathan's first t-ball game. It was an excercise in hilarity.
6. worked on making a mix of funny love songs as part of a wedding present. As part of this I reconnected with an old college friend whom I haven't talked to in too long.

So, there's six days so far. Nothing too ambitious, but I think I can fit fun things in every day, or at least recognize that I'm already doing fun things. Any ideas for what else I can do in my birthday month?

Memorial Day weekend = zoo trip!

First, just let me start by saying, I love the Charlie and Lola cartoons. We get them from the library. Maybe I love them so because of the charming artwork, or their British accents, but I think it's because Lola says things like "Snow is my favorite and is my best." For whatever reason, it's lovely.

But enough about television. The Zoo is why we are all here today, reading this blog. Right?

 I brilliantly thought the zoo would be less crowded on the Friday before Memorial Day. And it possibly was, but it still felt pretty crowded.  The parking lot was full. We ended up parking up the street near a little monument about Emigration Canyon, which was well worth the read. Very interesting. So we had a fairly good walk before we even got to the zoo.

For the first few minutes Nathan would look at an animal for about ten seconds before he was ready to move on. At that rate, we would have covered the entire zoo in about thirty-seven minutes. Luckily he slowed down when we got to the seals.

Having a snack at the elephant pavilion. Arriving at the zoo around lunchtime, armed with only paltry snacks, was not my best moment as a mother. We snacked on peanuts, carrots, banana chips, and pretzel balls for a couple of hours before I broke down and bought the popcorn Nathan had been requesting since we arrived. All the treats available, and he wanted popcorn? But the bag fed all of us, and paired with a tiger's blood snow cone, it felt pretty good.

 Unbidden, he decided to see if his head would fit in an elephant's mouth. It would. Good to know?

 The seals were really cool. We stopped here for a long time, had more snacks, then watched a short presentation about animal habitats, when the kids got to touch a snake and a rabbit.

 Part of the zoo is closed, but I'm glad they moved the lion drinking fountain so we could get a drink. We had to wait in a pretty long line. According to the kids, totally worth it.

 After hearing these kids fight so often, it does my heart good to see Nathan help Clara with things. He's turning out to be a good big brother. Here he's pushing the button because her hands weren't strong enough.

 Alice got a short nap. Lucky. Later Clara was tired so we took (now-awak) Alice out so Clara could ride. She got pretty mad. That was her stroller.

 Lego monkeys!

 In the reptile house. We had to take two trips inside to see the alligators. Or are they crocodiles?

 Nathan put his hat on the tiger but wouldn't stay for the picture.

 Hm. Blogger has decided to stretch horizontal pictures weirdly. Sorry.

Alice loved this elephant. Also, she prefers not to hold your hand while walking. She knows that's just a ploy to get her to go where she doesn't want to. She's a smart cookie.

The kids slept all the way to Burger Bar, where we picked up dinner before we got home. Burgers and a peach shake. Hello, summer. Nice to meet you.