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.