Done Nursing

Here is the Wride weekend report -  

Yesterday morning when I went downstairs to make my daily pot of steel cut oatmeal for the family, and it was noticeably much colder than upstairs. I went to check the thermostat. It was set at 68, but the temp was 63. When I got it tuned in October, he told me that something was almost worn out, and asked if I wanted them to fix it or just run it till it broke. I said we'd run it till it broke, and today was the day. I guess I hoped it'd last a little longer, whatever it was that he said it was. Oh well. They're coming to fix it Monday. We are now all wearing jackets cause it's cold, and especially shoes, cause the floor is so cold! I think the air ducts warming up the floor from underneath is just as important to house warming as the air that comes through the vents. 

Let's see - most of the kids didn't practice yesterday, Sophi and Natalie didn't practice at all this week. :( that's sad. I need to learn how to help them manage themselves. We've started to get treats from the neighbors and I ate more than my fair share of the ferrero balls that Gonzales gave us last night (...and Pepperidge cookies from Chandlers.) I need to fix my mindset. I read this quote from an Oprah article article, not sure how I stumbled up on it, but it was good:

"The way we eat reflects the way we think, and the way [we] think keeps making [us] fat. The same is true for other failed dieters. Every time we drop weight without changing our psychology, we may be changing our brains so that we become more prone to overeating. The only way to beat the relapse syndrome is to both eat and think differently."

Corey went shopping at Costco and Scheels yesterday. He got lots of goodies and gifts, most of which were for our dinner guest tonight, Father David. He was up in SL and asked if he could come by for a visit. It was very nice and Corey and I are a good team. He cooked while I chatted with my aunt Judy who I said I'd call today. Then I came down and finished the salmon while Corey helped the kids play musical pieces for Father David. Then we ate, it was a good feast - salmon, potatoes, salad, and a big ol' pot of barley soup. At 6:15 a neighbor knocked on the door - a package Corey ordered had been delivered to their house across the street. I could tell is was the large print Corey ordered of the Tree of Life for Iveth and Diego. Corey continued to entertain Father D while I went up stairs to wrap the print and 3 other gifts Corey had gotten for their kids. Corey also got a Christus statue for Father D and a book of Saints. I think they're not opening it until Christmas, but they don't read this blog (pretty sure) so I'm not letting the cat out of the bag by sharing that here. Corey told Father David that he will send a text with an explanation for his gifts. He's been looking for that particular photo for Iveth and Diego for over a year, but since their Catholic, and the painting is from a Book of Mormon vision, it might not make a lot of since, so yeah, hopefully Corey will get that text to them to explain his thinking. He also said he needs to find an article or video that he listened to that was talking about how hard it is to start a new religion, and that is going to provide some context for the Saints book. 

Here are some sweet pictures of Peter this morning. 

So big news about this little man - He is no longer nursing. Corey has taken over putting him to bed at night and Peter has not nursed for 4 days. Corey suggested on Monday that it's time Peter learn to go to sleep on his own. So now, when it's time for bed, I top Peter off with a bowl of cereal or a banana, change his diaper, help him and Daniel brush their teeth, and then Corey goes with them into their room and stays in there until they accept the inevitable and go to sleep. Corey reads until they are in bed, and I am able to blog or read in our room. So it's working out really well. Corey put him to bed for the first time on Tuesday the 15th, and Peter slept through the night that time. I nursed him the last time on the morning of the 16th. So I nursed this little guy for 23 MONTHS! That is the longest I've nursed any of my babies, crazy. Peter kinda got his own bed in September, but he was also kind of a floater and he and I slept on our floor most nights. Starting in October, it became the boys room, and then I slept in there with Peter on his bed. Owen was with us for a few days but opted to go back with Hyrum and Wes. Joseph sleeps on the middle bunk in there now when he's home, with Daniel on top, and Peter on bottom. I've probably slept in there with Peter more than I've slept in my own bed, so yeah, it was time to bring and end to the madness. Of course, Peter now wakes up and then comes into our room. I am not nursing him though, I just hug him and he lays on my chest and he goes back to sleep. Sometimes I'm able to sneak away, other times I'm stuck, like I was this morning - as he was asleep on my legs.

One leg out... maybe I can get free!

And here's a video that I took of him yesterday as he contemplated this new nurse-less life. His main take away seems to be "No." 

He doesn't like it maybe, but he's doing great. Today was our Christmas program at church. It wasn't he usual choirs, and the congregation is still not allowed to sing, but there was a singing musical number which was nice, and then two other piano and organ pieces. Abi spoke at church and did a good job, and Corey called as a Sunday School counselor. At home, to further Corey's attempt to pique Abi's interest in Jane Austen, we watched Pride and Prejudice. Kinda good for history and culture lesson I guess, which is one of the things we try to do on Sundays - Spiritual, History, and Culture lessons. It's still cold on the main floor, furnace should be fixed tomorrow. We kept the oven on for a bit today to try to heat up the room. We talked on zoom to Shelina and her two cute kids Alan and Naira. Have I mentioned her, she is someone that Ethan is teaching in Leon Mexico. Corey met her through reaching out over WhatsApp to her when she started texting us, after we tried to text Iveth. Iveth cancelled her Leon phone number and we were trying to text her, but instead were testing Shelina, we all started talking/texting, and she and her kids are planning on being baptized soon! Her daughter Naira and Lily are seriously twins. I'll have to get a photo of them side by side on the zoom screen, it's really fun and crazy! Natalie playing with Peter tonight, making a nest around him, ha.

I got a good Polo from Nicole tonight too. She shared about her clutter, and I can relate. I want to simplify and I want less stuff. We'll work on that after Christmas I guess... At 10pm - Corey and I went over the spread sheet he's made with Christmas gifts. There are just a few more things we need to get tomorrow, and I'm thinking about what our policy might be on what we gift older kids in college. We might go the Helen Wride route and just start to hand out cash. Ok, that's all for tonight, thank you Corey for putting Peter to bed! I get to blog, maybe I can catch up soon and will be able to stay caught up!

Bullet Journals

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to try and catch up on life. The kids practiced today, did homework, and I did laundry, ran some errands, and I caught up on Marco Polo messages. There is a new group on my polo for Lily and Sophi - it's an "activity days" group for the primary girls. Using Marco Polo for it is a new idea to help them keep at it during this time of social distancing. The plan is to give an assignment and have all the girls try and do it during the week and then have a new activity the next week, etc. This past week, they challenged them to keep a bullet journal. I was totally impressed by the bullet journals that the Powley's are keeping! The Powley's gave the activity this week and I was inspired. I want the girls to keep journals. Sure I keep the blog for our family, but they should start to get in the habit of writing down their own thoughts and memories, cause a lot of things happen to them that I don't know about and that don't make it here. I have kept journals for years, and it's important. I brought up my journals from downstairs for some show and tell. 

My journals from 8 years old, high school, college, mission, and a few years of marriage are on the left there, and my planners and calendars are on the right. The Powley's bullet journals looked like they are a creative outlet artistic planner/calendar/journal all in one. I might make the transition to that this next summer when my current academic planner ends, we'll see. I like the idea of writing down the bullet points from each day - kinda like writing down my Wins that I used to do with Holly. The girls hadn't listened to the Activity Days polo yet, but I was prepping to make sure they were inspired too. One problem I have is that I tried to keep too many different journals for: Sunday notes, Study group notes, planner, EJC notes and challenges, workout notes, etc - like I have over a dozen notebooks for different things and none of them are used right now cause I'm not organized. I spent part of the day collecting all of them onto a shelf in my closet, and I'm not sure what I'll do yet - I might rip out pages I've written on if I'm not doing it anymore and use it for something else, or maybe I'll keep what's been recorded but just use them all for future bullet journals. It's ok if they aren't uniform. My journals started as 3 ring binders - just what my mom was able to put together to get me started. The first entry in my red 3 ring binder journal is from the day I was baptized, and was half written my my mother. Junior high moved onto the teal binder, and then for years I've used the hard bound 8x10 journals from Deseret Book that they still sell. I have 2 of those right now that are both half written in. Anyway, it was fun to talk to the girls about it. I read them some of my journal entries, like of when I was on a date with Corey after my mission, and we went by Deseret Book and I got the blue journal and had "Tiffanie Wride" engraved on it even though Corey hadn't proposed yet, haha, I recorded that Corey called it "a relationship defining moment"! Also the first date we went on after I was released from being a missionary and we went down to temple square and had an amazing moment when President Hinckley came in to thank and encourage a youth symphony on their upcoming Christmas concert, and then the conductor persuade him to take the conductors baton and direct the choir and orchestra in Handel's Hallelujah chorus, it was so fun, and I'm glad I wrote down what happened, cause if I hadn't, I wouldn't remember as much about it. So - moral of the story - Sophi: keep your journal, cause you're not going to remember what your life as a 9 year old was like! Lily: write in your journal, cause 30 year old Lily is not going to remember how 11 year old Lily felt about things. I gave them all a task to write about Thanksgiving and about our Trip to Hawaii and then I went and got some journals at Walmart for them to use. And fun stickers, pens, etc. :)

ALSO, when I was out, I first went by Dollar Tree for stickers and a few things, and on my way to Walmart after that, I passed the DI, and I thought I'd just run in real quick to look at snowpants, cause yesterday we didn't really have enough big snow pants for the big kids - Joseph Hyrum Wesley and Abi. It helped that Abi didn't go skiing, but I knew we needed a few more big kid snow pants options. Plus I still didn't have any snowpants yet (I had officially donated my old ones from when we volunteered for the 2002 Olympics to Hyrum) and I had to ask a lady where they were - they're with the coats. I looked through the women's coats and found one pair. Then I looked at the boys coats, then I totally hit the jackpot over at the Mens section!! I FOUND very nice snowpants, that were brand stikin' new for $10!!! Originally $225!!!! The ski sale at Ski N See can't beat that deal!! And I tried them on at home and they ALMOST fit me perfectly, they fit Abi great. They'll fit me after I stop nursing Peter and finally lose this baby weight, but yay, I was so excited!! What an over the top blessing!!! Hawaii was over the top, this was another over the top, wow! Thank you Heavenly Father!! 

What are the chances of finding snow pants that are such good quality and that are my size when I happen to run in to look? And they are black and match my black coat and my red and black coat perfectly well. Pretty amazing. I don't believe in the prosperity gospel, but I do believe that God helps us when we are doing our best to help ourselves and others.  

And then we had another fun surprise on date night. We called in and ordered food for Corey at Blue Lemon. I decided to skip spending $ on an entre because I was working on the left over arugula salad from Thanksgiving that needed to be eaten before it went bad. We picked up Corey's order, then were driving away when they called - they had given us the wrong order. No problem, we said we hadn't touched it and could turn around and bring it back. She said "No, you can keep it, but we will have your correct order here ready for you." So we went back and they gave us Corey's fish tacos order, and the order we got that wasn't ours was a delicious sandwich and pear salad, something I probably would have ordered, so I did end up getting a delicious meal anyway!

AND they gave us two desserts to say sorry for messing up. Like, what's up with all these blessings? Hawaii, great snowpants, an extra date night dinner and dessert? It has seemed today like God's showing off a little bit. He does go over the top in a lot of ways, huh? Like all the amazing kinds of flowers, pink sunsets, the incredible variety of weather and what happens in each season, not to mention the miracle of life, babies, the human eye, hands, heart, breain - how everything works and we get to live and think and experience it all. Maybe the Give Thanks challenge of President Nelson is having an effect on my thinking, or maybe there really are just miracles and blessings all around us everyday, if we just pause to notice them. And sometimes God is really obvious so we can't miss it. I have seen his hand blessing my life today. Thank you Heavenly Father. These are important things to record in my journal! I'm going to try and keep a personal journal more now, even though for the past few years this blog has been my main source of recorded memories. But there are things I'd write for myself that I don't put here, more of my feelings and stuff. So yeah, keep a journal and write your story and with eyes to see, we will be able to look back and recognize all the ways God helps and blesses us everyday. GIVE THANKS!!

Unpacking

Hey there. Just a short entry for today. We're back, and Hawaii was just a dream. Now Thanksgiving is upon us. We were going to all get together with Corey's family in Park City, but we are following the urgings of our government leaders to not gather as family and that's ok. So it will just be us at home tomorrow with a home cooked meal. My mom is an angel and stocked our fridges and freezers on Tuesday, AND brought us by Costa Vida for dinner, so we had a meal ready for us and all the shopping done for Thanksgiving. Turkey, potatoes, pies, she got it all. I ran out today for whipped cream and ice cream and gravy packets, but other than that we're covered. Thanks Mom, I hope to be as kind and helpful to my children someday. 

We were talking with Abi tonight about her crush, about relationships, about how things change. Corey told the kids, kinda jokingly, that he felt like he got the bait and switch with me - like I was all about Corey Corey Corey during dating and our courtship, then once I had him, it switched to babies babies babies. I admit, the desire for children came upon me like a switch, and it was unexpected. Kinda like playing violin. I don't know where it came from, but, like my developing violin talent (ha), children also are a good and worthy thing to desire. We'll be glad in the long run, sweetie! And I know you're glad now too. I know it is hard and a lot of work, but it is doable and it is worth it. They are turning into great adults. I picked up Joseph this morning from Frontrunner. It's nice that he will be able to be with us over Thanksgiving. I haven't done much prep work for the meal, I'll do it tomorrow. We're trying to find out where the kids stand on homework before they go back on Monday. Also trying to get them practicing again. We slacked a little bit in Hawaii. We have a lot to unpack and put away. There is a mess everywhere, and that's to be expected, and it's ok. (Trying to channel my Fred Rogers). There's lots of laundry. This is the opposition that comes after a nice vacation. The kids aren't in the mood to help me clean, and I'm not really in the mood to clean either. And that's ok. Corey'd like to take them skiing tomorrow. Right now (7:24pm) we are not on target to have the house clean any time soon, and I'm not in the mood to cook a big meal in a messy kitchen, and that's ok, so we'll just see what happens. Maybe my mood will change by tomorrow and I'll have the spirit of service and gratitude. 

Making Their Mark

Owen and Daniel wrote in my scriptures recently. It's nothing too horrible yet. No pages have been ripped out so that's good. 

Owen just circled 22 a few times in 1 Nephi and Alma, which was pretty adorable.

Daniel practiced his ABCs in the margins of Micah and Nahum

I really shouldn't leave my scriptures laying around. I need to remember to put them up and away every time I get interrupted, even if I think I'm going to be right back. 

They've also vandalized every month of my academic planner. Not a big deal, cause I'll be getting a new one next July. I can deal with their scribbles until then. But the scriptures, I am going to do my best to keep this one all in one piece and maybe it will out last my babies. Peter has been doing really well sleeping in his room. He wakes up and plays with his trains or looks at a book, aw!

He does great until he sees me. Then he starts nagging for "nana" = "night night" = nurse me and snuggle with me. Here he is asking nicely for nana...

I'll try to just snuggle and kiss him, but then he gets mean cause I'm not giving him nana.

Sorry buddy, I'm trying to cut back. So hard being a baby. I often tell Peter, "You know, when Joseph was your age, he was the man of the house and had a 6 month old baby sister and he wasn't getting nana... you've been a bit spoiled" Joseph and Mel are 11 months apart. Owen got booted out of his "baby" seat too - he and Daniel are just 14 months apart. Peter Peter, what a baby. He really likes cars and if he catches me or anyone at the computer or on our phones, he'll come up and say "car" and we have to show him pictures of cars. Today he and I watched a video of the top 10 crazy conceptions of cars and that was pretty fun. I can see why he likes cars. Some of those are just not practical though, and I would never get them while living in this fallen mortal world. I'll get one in the next life, trusting that it can't get stained or ruined. I'm sure angels and celestial beings move faster without cars

I did a Costco run to SL today, cause that is the only place with ricemilk. I stocked up on that and a lot of other things - I think we're set until we leave for Hawaii, if that ends up really happening!

I was sneaking out and Owen saw me, and he didn't have coat or shoes, but lucky for him there was a jacket in the garage and Natalie left her boots in the car, so yay let's go. We're set until Hawaii and for a few meals after we get back, and I'll probably make one more run right before we got to get things there, or maybe I'll run to Costco in Las Vegas? I don't know. I hope we are actually able to go. We'll see how crazy things get next week with any election fall out.

Owen 22

At the elementary school, in most all of the classes, each child is assigned a number. This is true for Owen in his kindergarten class. (O waiting for the bus on 9/23, they like to stand on the rock when they get to the bus stop. It's part of the waiting for the bus tradition.)

Owen's class number is 22. And he is very proud of his number. Two weeks ago (9/24), I was studying in my General Conference notebook, and thankfully that was a book that was ok for kids to mess up, because when Owen found page 22....

...he wrote his name to officially claim it as his territory. 

He will pick up any book and if he finds a "22" he is so excited! Or if we are reading a chapter 22 or verse 22 during scriptures, he comes up and points at it up on the screen "Mom! It's my 22!" Yep! You're Owen 22! 

I've been getting a real kick out of finding little drawings all over the house with his name and number on them. Owen 22...

Another "Owen 22" name and self portrait.

In case anyone doesn't know, Owen's number is 22. It is more important to him than his last name. It is super fun and cute. 

I think this one was one of his first self portraits.

Here is another one of his first papers - from September 1st. 

He has really been learning so much so fast! They have a little ABC stencil that I bought years ago - from a set of 6 stencils that I bought at a Tupperware party in like 2003 (I know I bought them when we were at the pink house, where we lived from 2000 - 2004) They little boys all work on their ABCs with it - 

And then I got a kick out of Owen doing his ABCs freestyle. That's a big improvement in one month, huh! It's so fun to watch them learn and grow.

Daniel's been drawing a lot too - he found Joseph's spiral school notebook and started drawing in it. Here is another picture he drew in there with Joseph's fire pen of these little cars "having a race". 

I think Peter helped him with the other scribbles on that page, judging by his work here. 

Those were the three papers from Joseph's book that they drew on. I left them in Joseph's book, so he could smile when he finds them, and thus why they are documented here. I love your drawing, Daniel and Peter! So, the kids are busy with drawing and writing lots of stuff. I've been cleaning up a lot of paper. and as I was cleaning up, I also found this treasure! 

 

"Dear Owen perits your son Owen is haveing a hard time cochichrating" ha!! So cute! So funny "Dear Owen's parents. Your son Owen is having a hard time concentrating." haha, I thought that was so funny. This one is a scrapbook keeper. I asked Natalie about it, if that was a note from her to Corey and I? Like maybe she thought Owen was being noisy during scriptures and so she decided to write us a note. But she said it was actually from when she and Owen were playing school, and she wrote it as his pretend teacher to his pretend parent. I got a real kick out of it, so funny!

One other note (for those that actually read my posts and don't just look at the pictures) - so, in August I was like a week overdue for my period, and I was sure I was pregnant, and then I started. I don't know why I was a week late, but I thought that was annoying. I took a few dollar store preg tests in Aug, and they all said neg, but then I still didn't start my period, and I read online that the dollar store ones aren't able to detect small levels of hcg, so they kinda won't work until after a week, but I was sure we were pregnant, the baby was going to be due in April, and then my period started while we were at Bear Lake and I wasn't prepared and I had to go buy stuff. This time, I was supposed to start on Saturday, and on Monday morning, I decided I didn't want to have a week of wondering. So I walked down to Smiths before school to buy an first response pregnancy test. And they were locked up in the pharmacy, which didn't open until 9. Annoying, And Walgreens across the street was closed until 8am. It was 7:30, annoying. Ok fine, so I walked home. When I got home, the elementary girls decided they didn't feel well, so I said ok and they stayed home, which meant I didn't have to stay to get them out the door, so then I drove down to Walgreens (cause it was past 8am now) and I bought a test. Stupid expensive, but atleast I would know. There were two tests, one regular test and one digital. I took the regular one, there was kinda a line, but maybe not, ugh, stupid. After I took the test, I read the instructions and realized I might not have done it right. Not that it's complicated, but the test instructions made it seem like if you don't do it for EXACTLY 5 seconds, you'll mess up the results. So, I took the second one this morning, and followed the rules and times exactly and very carefully and...

So I was like wow! I guess I can give up relax about these last 20 pounds that refuse to budge. I googled a pregnancy calendar and found out the baby would be due June 11, 2021. If I plan for 9 months of pregnancy then a year of nursing... maybe I'll get my body back in June 2022. I decided to tell Corey about it this morning. Are you ready for another joyful burden, my love? I think we both handled the idea of even more responsibility very well. I marked each week in my academic calendar, we decided we'd tell the kids at Christmas, and mulled over other ideas like that, and then after dinner... my period started. 😶 So... apparently that pregnancy test was incorrect. I was a little confused, but ok... I know I have nothing to be sad about - its' not like I haven't already been blessed with twelve babies. Some of my sisters have struggled with infertility, and one is still yearning to be blessed with a child. I pray for them everyday (love you Beka). I have nothing to complain about. Also, it was just a few hours of expectation. I can hardly imagine the heartbreak a mother would have to deliver a still born baby. My Grandma (dad's' mom) had two still births. Mary Williamson's first baby Amy Ann (last pic) died after 3 days, so so sad. So much work and hope and dreams for the child and yourself enjoying a lifetime watching them, and then to lose them so soon after they're life had just begun, I would cry and cry and cry. 

I am crazy old, but I still feel young I guess. It would definitely be high risk with my two conditions of AMA and GMP ("grand multiparity", aka I've given birth more than 5 times), but I still feel like we might have more children for three reasons: 

Reason #1 - Joseph had felt prompted to say children, not "child" when he gave me a blessing. (Start reading after the second video in this blogpost). That blessing was given after Daniel, and before Peter was born. So Peter would be one child born to us after that blessing, but since Joseph had felt prompted to say "children" then there is probably more than just one/Peter? (or two?) 

Reason #2 is because of the answer I got once when I was pondering "how many kids" we were to have. We were watching the movie 17 Miracles, and at the end when they were telling what happened to some of the characters, and they wrote about the girl who died but came back alive, they said that she grew, married, and became a mother to 14 children, and on that part I felt a slight impression that "14" was my answer. I thought that would be a bit crazy, but ok, I'll think about that. I think that happened sometime between Natalie and Owen or right after Owen was born. 10 kids, really Lord? FOUR more?!?! But then along came 

Reason #3, and I searched all over here on the blog and I can't find a time when I share this, but I thought I had... I know I've shared it with several friends, I just assumed I had put it here. Anyway, once on a date night, I remember we went to Nuan's Thai Kitchen... that might have been the Thai food from this date in 2013? Hmm, maybe I need to go look at the photos on the cloud drive, cause I remember I took a photo of the post it... I wonder if I can find that photo... Actually let me go look in my 2013 planner, cause I know I took the post it paper and saved it in my planner.... just a minute... Yeah! Just found it! This was not 2013. this happened on our date night on Friday, January 6, 2017. At this time (Jan 2017) I was a mother to a 3 month old Daniel and a very young Owen, just a year and a half old (they were very close). I was probably feeling a bit stretched and wondering "Ok, are we good, Lord? Is this it for us? Or would you like us to have more?" Wilst I pondered this, we were on date night at Nuan's Thai Kitchen (I didn't need the help of the planner to remember that detail). I hadn't told Corey what I was seeking, but we sat and visited. We ordered food. We sat and talked. Our plates were delivered. We started to eat, and I noticed on the bottom of Corey's plate, on the edge that was close to me as I sat across from him, there was a little post it note sticking out. He didn't seem to notice it. I thought it was out of place, so I took it to remove it. "You've got a paper on your plate..." I said, and I took it, and looked at it, and.... IT SAID "14"!!!! I looked at it, my eyes went wide with surprise, and I was like "oh my gosh!" as I held it up to Corey with a "LOOK!" expression. Then I had to explain to him what I had been wondering all day, and IT SAID 14! 

I don't think I would have thought anything of it, HAD IT NOT BEEN the SAME CRAZY ANSWER/NUMBER that I had received before in the experience of Reason #2. So I thought that was nuts, but it was also second answer/witness that the first crazy answer that I didn't believe might actually be right. Whenever I mention 14 kids to Corey, he teases "Look... just cause "14" is your lucky number...." ...and that is true, because 14 was my soccer jersey number all throughout my AYSO and high school soccer days, and any other time I had to choose a jersey number. BUT, this isn't a lucky number thing, this is just a matter of fact/answer to prayer thing, I think, unless y'all make me doubt myself. But this has been my answer twice, so I don't know, I kinda can't dismiss it now. Some people also counter with "maybe it was just the number of people in your family?" in which case we're good now! Cause Corey + me + 12 kids = 14. BUT I wasn't asking or pondering "how many people should be in our family?" when I prayed. It was "How many kids should we have?" And as my sister said in a fb comment that made me laugh - I had shared a family photo and joked "#toomanykids", and Trice replied with "#nevertoomanyuntillucky14" So, that's that long story about kids and babies and numbers. Owen's number is 22, mine is 14. (I hope Owen's wife is prepared, haha, or that she has her own lucky number!)

Park City Recap

Hey! We got back last night from a fun week in Park City, and it was great. I ended up staying up there the whole week, as did Corey. I think I vowed to myself in 2017 that I wouldn't make myself stay up there if I had babies and/or toddlers (That first picture at that 2017 link gives a clue as to what/who were wearing me out.) I decided that it was better for my sanity to drive up and down several times, rather than trying to spend the night up there with a baby and toddlers. I don't think I've stayed the whole week since 2016.  That year I was in my last trimester with Daniel but I think I stayed the whole time. 2017, I couldn't do it. 2018 I was struggling and tired. Last year 2019 I couldn't hack it and we suggested maybe this could be my annual "me" time to prep for the school year and get the carpets cleaned. Corey is usually coming and going quite a bit, too, as are the kids, like last year when E and W left midweek to hike King's Peak. This year was different though for several reasons -

1) I haven't found any monarch eggs, so I didn't have any caterpillars to tend at home.
2) Corey isn't consulting, so he was able to take the whole week off with vacation time
3) The kids didn't have anything pulling them away, as Corona cancelled most all summer plans
4) Social distancing at the Marriott made it so that this wasn't the typical "kids week" where they are all just running every which way wild and free. The Marriott had "social distancing" things in force, so we had to schedule time at the pool and they couldn't just come and go whenever they wanted. Also the "Mine" was closed and the movie theater. So we did a bit more swimming together, playing card games, and we even went mountain biking this year!

Those were all reasons that I kinda liked it better. It was a bit more structured and family/group oriented and less total "kid" focused. Natalie said at the beginning of the week "This isn't fun like it usually is..." I perked up and said "I like it better!" and Corey teased Natalie "Your mother is only happy if you kids are sad..."

So yea, the stars aligned and we all stayed up there the whole week and it was great. Peter only got his toenail bent back by a door opening on him once. Daniel and Owen escaped quite a bit, but I wasn't as worried about them getting lost since it wasn't as busy with people as it is other years. I even stayed on top of meals, dishes, and laundry! And I didn't feel stressed out. That might also be because I've tried out Gut Connect 365 and it might have stabilized my mood? So ANYWAY, it was a great week, even with sick kids for 4 of the 7 days (4 kids threw up a total of 8 times, and one of Sophi's was a doooosy!)

Here's the recap, and then I'm going to go back in time and post each day under the date it happened on with more pictures.

SUNDAY 7/26 - nice drive up via Guardsman's Pass, we saw lots of moose, dinner at the hotel, sacrament together as a family.

MONDAY 7/27- Owen's Birthday! Swimming, even I got in the pool with the kids.

Joseph flew in from California, arrived at 9pm, I picked up Joseph in Provo then headed back up.
TUESDAY 7/28 - all together again - kid picture!

Lots of swimming, Corey, Mel and W went biking, then I went to get Mel cause she crashed a few minutes into it (her bike was too big)

WEDNESDAY 7/29 - Spongebob, Corey took JMW and Seth biking. H and N sick, both threw up in the AM. Swimming. We made dinner tonight and did an activity - getting everyone's handprints, Kids played 5000 with Grandma.

THURSDAY 7/30 - Abi sick, spent the morning hunched over in pain until she threw up a few times, then she felt better. We watched Spongebob, made a mess with beads, Corey went biking at night with J and W, it's his new favorite sport.

FRIDAY 7/31 - Sophi sick this morning, threw up a little. Group family picture, Corey took MHWA biking on Jenni's trail, then Corey, Mel and I went up the lift to do Jenni's trail again

SATURDAY 8/1 - W and E went biking (It was Ethan's "p-day") Owen was sick this morning, and Sophi threw up twice last night. Lily came to inform me of the amazing mess in their bathroom (S threw up on the closed toilet lid, lasagna and watermelon, it was such a big mess). O threw up, then felt better, ate, then threw up again, repeat. He threw up a total of 4 times. Corey took the bikes home then ran errands in the valley while we went swimming in PC, we left for home around 9pm.

Owen is 5!

Today is Owen's Happy Birthday! Finally! It was a long time waiting for this one, but at last Owen is 5 years old! And he is so excited to be old enough to go to school! He opened one present this morning - an Iron Man action figure.

And Corey's parents gave him some presents of toys and clothes. Then the kids did crafts with grandma and then we made a reservation to go swimming. Their first attempt at social distancing in the pool. I guess we did ok at it? 

Peter and I went swimming today too.

Then I went to the store to buy a cake mix and ice cream. I got Owen some Red Button Animal Cookie ice cream, and he wanted a "red guy" cake. He likes the "red guy" from Star Wars (see the last pictures at that link), that was his favorite toy from Christmas. So a few weeks ago I found some generic non-Lego brand First Order Red Sith Jet Trooper guys on ebay, and I got 20 of these babies and a Darth Vader for $20 bucks, baby!! Oh yeah! And they just came last week! And with that, I was ready to make his dreams come true with a "red guy" cake!

Did your mom deliver? Or did Your Mom DELIVER!

Yeah, he was happy with it.

He was impressed. We invited everyone over to sing to him. Singing Happy Birthday to Owen.

It took him seven tries to get all the candles blown out, funny!

We didn't worry about corona this time, cause we're up here in Summit County, so we're kinda asking for it. Elder Wride came over from his MTC class for some cake and ice cream.

Peter front and center on the table. It was pretty fun for Owen to be able to share his birthday party up at Park City with all his cousins.

Then I practiced violin and brought ODP home with me to grab a few things (we forgot rice milk) and some other things for a little bit and we're waiting here before we to pick up Joseph in Provo. Joseph is arriving at 9:20. We'll leave in a bit to go get him. I brought ODP so that Corey and the kids could do "big kid" stuff without these little guys slowing them down. I was able to bribe them with fries and a frosty

Cute kids. They are simple little people.

It was a good day up there, and I didn't go crazy, I'm packed for and hoping to make it through the whole week.

Early Date Night

We had a very nice feast tonight for date night. Sorry I cut off your face sweetheart.

We love India House. The past few months we've been getting three dishes instead of just two, and today we upped the dining experience again with two orders of Peswhari Naan cause we were hungry and we had the wiggle room in the budget. We had leftovers for breakfast tomorrow if we can keep the teenage boys away from it. We went on a very early date at 5 and we were the first customers of the evening. I guess that makes it a date "evening", not a date night. They hadn't even started the Carnatic ambiance music when we got there. I think we'll go that early again. We also went out "early" as in Thursday instead of Friday, because tomorrow Corey is taking some of the kids backpacking or something like that up in the Uintahs. Should be fun for them. Someday I'll camp, once the baby roommates are all gone, but for now I'm happy to stay at home with them. Speaking of baby roommates, this Jim Gaffigan "Babies are magic" is so great. Skunk smell.... "I miss my baby!" We listened to Gaffigan on drive to the restaurant. I had sent Corey his Ketchup sketch for us to listen to, we also laughed at this one on Kale. I sometimes send him videos for us to listen to together, but usually he's in the mood for something light and humorous. So no Jody Moore today, but I did listen to that one last week on my drive topick him up. He and I need to listen to Jody Moore Successful Parenting together, that was good. Also on the way to eat, we saw a billboard that said "It's time to talk about Alzheimers" so I said repeated that to him outloud, and I started a Neal Barnard Ted talk about Alzheimers (listen to that one too, it's important!) but we only got in a few minutes and then it was back to Gaffigan. This one had us almost crying with laughter - "My dad, always making time for me, squeezing me into his errands, what a guy!" Very funny.

It's been a pretty chill pandemic week for us here at home. I did kinda fix our back deck screen on Wednesday. Tada! It looks better.

I don't think Corey's noticed yet. It's been broken for a long while but we never use that little deck so there was no rush to put it back together. I finally decided to do something about it today cause it was a bit windy last night and it blew it apart more than usual.

I also ran errands today, which felt like my first time for a while cause Corey likes to go. I was gone for a few hours doing that and then we left for our dinner date shortly after I got home. We were out of ricemilk so I went to the Costco downtown and now we're stocked up and should be good for abut 6 weeks maybe! I do like that with rice milk you don't need space in the refrigerator to stock up. Our current meals are: protein shake with raspberries and spinach for breakfast (HWAP all like my shakes) and everyone's enjoying rice and sugar again cause they are all sick of my steel cut oatmeal, so rice it is. We haven't had rice and sugar frequently since Brazil in 2015, so it's bringing back some fond memories for them, funny. Chao