Pool, Paddle Boards, and Boat

Corey and I went to a timeshare presentation this morning, it was part of the deal that Corey got for this week here. I was really impressed, Marriott has a good thing going. It was a chill day - I went to the pool and I even went swimming.

Peter liked the hot tub more than the pool. 

The pool isn't cold, but it feels a little cold when you first get in. But the hot tub is just nice and relaxing.

Mel was in the hot tub with him while I played with little kids in the big pool. Corey left to rent paddle boats with the big kids. I was supposed to join them later for a boat ride, but I thought they were going to come back and get us. But I was just supposed to go there. But since I was at the pool and watching kids, I didn't have my phone on me. So by the time I saw Corey's messages and the address it was too late to make it, so the little kids and I missed out. It would have been fun. (We didn't really plan out things together, so Corey knew what was going on but I didn't)

 I took kids back and made dinner. Vegan Hamburgers and fries. I'll try to get Corey's pictures later.

Vegan Resolution

So. Last night before scriptures, Corey thought he'd share one of his videos from his youtube and internet findings. It was an Unreported World episode called "The Vietnam Dog Snatchers". He only got 20 seconds into sharing it with us though, cause after the 3 clips in those first 20 seconds, the kids were screaming. Especially Lily. Well thanks for that sweetie! I added a few comments: why do we care about dogs and our pets but we eat other animals? You know pigs are just as smart at dogs. If we humans say we care about animals, well hey, maybe we shouldn't eat them? I'm glad Corey showed them the start of that video. They didn't like it, but I do believe it has helped push them another step in the hopefully plant-based eating direction. This morning, I found this note on Lily's shelf with a little reminder she made for herself:

I watched the whole video today. It is sad to watch, so you've been warned.
Here's one more vegan-ish article I've been meaning to share - a cow now named Brianna that escaped the slaughter house truck and delivered a baby calf 2 days later. I read that in January, after I was driving Wes home after picking him up from a LBB Tour, and on the drive home we passed like 5 semi trucks full of cows. It made me sad. I'm glad to plant based.

What else. Abi had an orthodontist appointment today, and right after that I had planned to go to the Tulip Festival with my dad. My mom came too, and we drove down together - Mom, Dad, me and a few kids. We got rained out though. Like downpour. We headed home rather than wait it out to see if it stopped. Kinda bummed, I don't know why I didn't check the weather this morning. Hopefully we have another chance to go before the festival ends.

NOVA Graduation

Daniel and Owen sleep in Mel and Abi's room right now. Daniel was all scrunched up next to the screen of his play pen this morning.

Are you comfortable, little D?

That was at 7:30 this morning, but I let him keep sleeping and I went and turned on the fridge.

It was making the stupid noise again two days ago, so we've had it off for 24 hours to melt. Gives me a good excuse to clean it out and find the rotten and moldy food hidden inside.

At 9:30 Daniel was awake. He doesn't have a carry around blanket like Owen. But he does have a twin sized bed comforter in his pack N play. He likes having a big blanket to hide in.

I see you Daniel!

Talk to the hand, Mom.

So today was a big day for Abi. It was Nova Graduation, oooo. Abi wanted me to come. I was able to because Wesley came home to attend to sleeping toddlers. Otherwise I would not have made it, cause sorry, it's just not worth it to wake them up.

Abi got a few awards for whatever it is that they do in Nova - build a rocket and something else...

Abi, refresh my memory.... And what does NOVA even stand for? I could probably google it to find out, but I'm not going to. She got to go give high fives and fist bumps as he received her diploma

Abi holding her diploma in her right hand. She does have one, she just forgot to hold it up and it just happens to blend perfectly with the floor.

Abi was one of the 4 students chosen to read her "Nova Constitution" and she felt very honored by that. But even with that prestigious privilege, that wasn't enough to beat out Peter for being the hightlight of the show...

Abi really wanted me to bring Peter, so I did, and I thought that photo was precious of her friends all adoring him... All those cute future mothers. And two other items of interest - my BlendTec pitcher had a broken seal, so I drove down to their showroom to buy a new one. And look at this entrance!

It's a blender! and as you walk in the door, under your feet is a glass floor and you can see a rotating blade under neath. I thought it was pretty fun. So got a new pitcher, yay, I'm going to start blending greens and some vegan protein shakes. And last pic - I save Peter his first haircut today. Cause it was looking a little silly with that dark hair in the back but nothing on the sides and only a little bit on top.

Junk Food

I went to Costco today. I usually go to the nice big Salt Lake Costco on Saturday mornings after I take Wesley to Utah Youth Junior Symphony Orchestra. Today I got the flat bed instead of the cart, which means I'm ready to do some serious food shopping. Here we are headed back out to the van -

Peter is there in his carseat under the blue blanket, and Owen was lucky he still had a little place to sit. He was a good little helper. I really loaded up on food since I missed going last week cause I was with Peter at the hospital. So this will get our large family through the week and then some, with probably a few short runs to the local grocery store during the week for smaller items that I didn't need to buy in bulk. We were short on veggies this past week though so I got a lot of that - which is what is in the tower of boxes there - I am learning more and more and doing better each week at living and cooking a mostly plant based diet for myself and my family. Yesterday we had a chocolate treat though - a big hershey's kiss that I had bought with the intention that we'd use it at our family anniversary dinner. But I forgot, so we had it today after the kids cleaned up the kitchen. The kids had never seen such a big kiss!

Daniel was very excited, we let him open it -

Which made him think that this big chocolate treat belonged to him -

Which was cute, but then the kids didn't want his hands or spit all over their piece of chocolate, so we took it away and let our vegan, who was not going to be eating any of this treat, have the honors of breaking it open - 

Which Daniel found personally offensive.

"You broke my chocolate kiss!! And now you're all eating it?!!" He rejected the chocolate scraps for a minute

...but then he joined in having some bites of chocolate. I was surprised but the kids didn't eat all gone right away. It was a hollow kiss so there really wasn't that much there, in my opinion, for what I know to be their junk food eating capabilities from what I've seen in past Halloween nights. But maybe they're slowly becoming less and less addicted to the junk. 

Here is another pictures of Daniel sad over junk food today - So I have a wood thing that is hanging on the wall by the stairs. On that wood thing, I have a dozen or so ornaments

You'll notice that there is a little orange ice cream popsicle. Those have been there for as long as Daniel has been alive, I think. But today he might have just seen them for the first time, and he wanted that popsicle. So we gave it to him. And he was sad that it didn't taste very good. So he gave it back to Corey and wanted him to take off the ribbon and hook in it that were making it hang up. So Corey did. And to Daniel's dismay it didn't make it taste any better. He came to me to get me to fix it - 

I think the poor kid really just needed a nap, but we were all smiling at his frustration and trying to figure out what the deal was with that sprinkle covered popsicle. Maybe I'll get more fake junk food treats and have them around the house - to kinda visually inoculate them against the sprinkles and shiny wrappers and the call/pull that such multi colored junk food treats have over children. Speaking of that, I've recently started two books - "Mad Cowboy" and "The China Study" - you don't have to get very far in them to realize that we really do live in a toxic food environment (see China Study foreword 2 on page xvii). I'm glad that I'm increasingly becoming more aware of it and that our health habits are improving little by little as we make changes - I'm getting in my "daily dozen" most days and I'm glad that even the kids are eating bananas and oatmeal more instead of "fruit snacks" and cold cereal. Little by little.

One more note - this morning, before I left to take Wes to orchestra, I checked Ethan's phone. At Corey's request, I've been checking his phone now and then this past week (usually while he's taking a shower) to look at his texts. I did on Wednesday when he was home "sick" all day. This morning he was still in his bed but his phone was within reach, hehe, and during my snooping, come to find out he totally lied to us last night! Corey's been telling him to go on dates with lots of girls, and said he'd even help pay for his dates if he would. So Ethan said he got a date with someone named Mailee and he was going with a group to the movies, but from the texts, we learned it was just him and Ella again, and he's already seen her every night this week. She's a great girl, but we just don't want him going steady with anyone right now as a 16 year old (regarding his age, Ethan said recently "...Why do you keep holding that against me?!?!! I'm almost 17!") So I told Corey, and Corey asked Ethan some follow up questions about his outing last night, and Ethan continued in his deception. So Corey called Ella's dad to talk with him (he's a friend of ours from high school) and let him know some of our concerns. Later Corey took his iphone, and it's gone for good. We've taken it away a few times had a conversation at 4pm about what we knew, how Corey had talked to her dad, and what the consequences shall be. E was then very discouraged and upset, said Corey calling her dad has ruined his relationship with her, and he went to bed at 6pm in tears. So, that's where we are right now with raising this teen. As Corey said once, Ethan is the teenage daughter we never had. We'll get through this, I hope.

Night Away

Corey and I went away for a quite night last night. Corey's parents watched the kids for us. We took them over around 3 yesterday, ate some dinner, and then we left. We went to the Grand America. We didn't have anything planned, cause we're old, so we just enjoyed the quiet room. We didn't go out to dinner, because it was the Sabbath. So we ate the dried fruit and nuts we brought along, plus some of the big chocolate chip cookies that they had out by the check in desk. Our room was 2632. It was a lovely room. I couldn't help but notice the stationary paper and envelope at the desk there, which reminded me of one of the jokes from Ryan Hamilton's Netflix show - Happy Face. I told Corey about it, then we watched it, and sitting still for an hour made Corey tired and so he went to bed at 8:30! He said he had planned to write Joseph and catch up on some church stuff, but he was going to lay down for a bit, and he ended up falling asleep. Good for him though, he needs the rest. He's been working hard the past five weeks as a single father of 10 children as I nurse Peter for what seems like 24/7.

Or if I'm not nursing him, it's because he's asleep. Unfortunately for me, when Peter finally is asleep, and I now have the one time I could actually go be productive and get something done, that is when I'm most tempted to just stare at his loveliness and try in vain to slow down time as I soak up the moment. 

(It's just heaven)

 

So that is what I did most of the time. Well, I did take Peter on a little walk around the hotel in the baby wrap before bedtime. I just did two laps. They have a beautiful display of flowers in the lobby!

Lilys - just like our wedding flowers. How appropriate.

So very pretty ~

After P was asleep, I came back to the room and just kept him snuggled on me while I slept on the couch. He woke up to nurse for the first time around midnight, and then I spent most of the night feeding him on the couch just like I do at home.

Breakfast the next morning - at the hotel continental breakfast bar.

Kinda pricey for oatmeal, muffins, bananas, and oj, but that's just cause we were all pretending to be living in luxury! I will say the oatmeal was very good. It was cold oatmeal but it was very good - with raisins and apples and probably had cream and sugar, it tasted like a dessert, but I want to find a vegan version of cold cinnamon oatmeal now, cause I liked it.

Our hotel "vacation" ended around 12:30 and went to Current Fish and Oyster Bar for lunch. They took us to our table, and notice the top of the menu - nice touch sweetheart!

The boys were drilling Corey yesterday before we left, asking him what he was going to do to make it a romantic event. (They just had a lesson in church the week before about strengthening your marriage though being romantic and how men and women view romance differently) Corey asked "Do you think Hyrum will be impressed that I called ahead to make the reservation and told them that it was our anniversary?" Cause both of those things show that Corey put time and effort into the lunch out, which makes the woman feel it's more romantic. I can't remember what he said, but for Women, romance is a sum of time, effort, and price or something like that (Corey, remind me what it was). As we walked back out to the car, Corey asked again if I think Hyrum will think it was "romantic" that Corey called ahead and said it was our anniversary. "Yes, sweetheart, it was very romantic of you to be so thoughtful". "And what about if I just clicked the "special occassion" button on the Open Table app... does that still count?" That made me laugh. No, Hyrum probably wont' approve of that, but your secret is safe with me.

The kids were disappointed that we returned so quickly. Sorry kids, we'll try to do something again tomorrow to get out of your hair. Boy, these kids put the pressure on. They were reprimanding us this past weekend cause we didn't go out on Friday night (not our fault, there was a snowstorm) AND reminding us about how last year we didn't do ANYTHING on our anniversary. Ok, I admit we didn't have a plan last year, but that was the weather's fault that time too. Sheesh, you guys, get off our case! We're trying! I am planning on doing a celebratory dinner tomorrow, unless I push it back til the weekend cause maybe I'll try to take Corey out tomorrow for something else fun. I have an idea in the works.

Highlights of 2018

2018 was another great and busy year, and also a pretty pivotal one for us with Joseph leaving for his mission. Our family pictures were taken just a week before he left.

Family Pictures in June

Things will never be the same as we are sure that from here on out there will always be someone off at college or serving a mission (or married!) And life goes on. Here is a recap of some of the fun our family had in 2018 -

January - Joseph turns 18, Spur of the moment trip to Park City, Hyrum the vegan

February - We've been married 19 years, Ethan in the Utah All State Jazz Band, Abi is flexible
March - Joseph gets his mission call to Guatemala, Ethan is 16, Joseph gets his wisdom teeth out, so does Melodie, Wes gets a new trumpet
April - Cousins from Indiana in town, Visit from Nicole, Natalie builds a snowman, Senior Prom
May - Wes wins SBO Governor, Joseph graduates high school and temple endowment, Family trip to California and Disney
June - Family Pictures! Lily is 9 (and Natalie had a tick in her hair!), Wes is 13, Joseph leaves for his mission, I got braces
July - Melodie goes to Paris, Natalie is 5, Owen is 3, Cowabunga Bay
August - Hyrum turns 15, School Year 2018-19 begins, Natalie starts Kindergarten, a new van, we're having another BOY!
September - Abi is 11, Sophi is 7, Daniel is 2, Lagoon
October - Park City for UEA weekend, Halloween
November - Momentum, goodbye guinea pigs, Thanksgiving, Sophi begins violin lessons, Lily starts the saxophone
December - Melodie turns 18, we talked to Joseph on Christmas

...and hopefully baby boy will be here in 14 days! We wish you the best in 2019!

Disney Trip in May

Family Screen Time

Sometimes, to get kids to come a little more quickly for scriptures, Corey will connect his phone to the Bose and start to play a video that he knows will catch their ears and thus their attention. Such was the case tonight. And soon we have a good gathering of most of the kids, sitting on Corey's lap and piled around him... everyone looking at the small phone screen. Family bonding.

Ethan was gone at mission prep. He goes to a class out by Skyline that a lot of his school friends attend. Joseph went to that one too, Joseph was doing double going to the prep class in our Stake as well as the one out by Skyline. I think right now Ethan is just going to the Skyline one. He still has over a year until he'll be getting his papers ready, so he doesn't really need to even attend yet, but I'm glad that he does. He seems to really enjoy it.

I wrote a letter to Joseph today. The house is pretty messy right now and I'm lacking desire. I think I might have used up too much of my energy last night at Kelsey's wedding, cause right now I'm really just wishing in vain that I could hibernate for the next 5 weeks. I don't feel like doing anything but laying down. 5 weeks until the baby comes - seems like it should feel close, but it's not, it's still forever away. I can do this. I'm trying to keep moving each day and have also started to distract myself by watching healthy eating/vegan videos to get myself all revved up and ready to shed these pounds fast and get my body back. I need to finish the HOPE video, but liked what I saw so far. That's it for today's report. Just 5 more Sundays, 5 more weeks.

Dinner and Santa Claus

The Christmas season is in full swing, with another year at our ward Christmas Party, and another year of sitting on Santa's lap, and another year of Owen being traumatized by Santa, again (see pic 4). And he didn't even go near him this year, just the thought of it made this little boy sad. He still can make the saddest little frowns (old video of his baby frowns, starting at 2:06). First we'll start with Natalie, who sang Santa a song - the one she's learned at school "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause"

Then Sophi had a turn.

And this is Owen's expression showing his disagreement at the mere suggestion that we have him go close to "that man..."

And a video of his vocal protest.

Sorry Owen, you don't have to go see him. And he didn't. He came and sat on my lap instead, my nice familiar lap (well, what is left of it with my preg belly).

The dinner was nice. I ate the broccoli salad I brought (that was vegan) and a few desserts (which were most likely not vegan.) After dinner there was a music program like last year. The Skyline Madrigals sang again (we miss you Joseph!) and then Santa. The kids are getting excited for Christmas. :)

A Thanksgiving Ski Day

Last night, Corey and Ethan drove up with to Park City with two cars full of kids and two trunks full of snowpants, skis, poles, and boots. Corey's family is all up there for the Thanksgiving break and we joined them this year. Corey got on the ball early this year and rented skis for Hyrum and under. He was ready to make the most of the choice location right by the Park City Mountain Resort, since this time we're there while there's snow on the mountain!

I opted to not sleep over last night (or tonight) and thus I was at home with Mel, who wanted to use the time to practice and catch up on homework, and with my two little boys so that 1) they would sleep in their beds and we can all get a good nights rest and 2) so that I could prep my contribution to the thanksgiving meal in my own kitchen. I got up early today and started making vegan stuffing for Hyrum and I, getting a vegan sweet potato casserole ready, baked potatoes, and I also brought up a vegan broccoli salad. I've been mostly vegan this past year but also allowed some flexibility during this pregnancy, so I would have been okay, but Hyrum is a man of principle and so I had to make sure he had some food options that wouldn't make him compromise his standards. Corey spent the morning on the slopes - a few pictures of their fun - Sophi ready to tear up the mountain

Natalie looking cute in pink.

Go have fun you cute girls!

They headed out, down the stairs.

Corey said it was a rip off, but totally worth the price. It made the day for him. On their way back in after a few hours in the snow, brr!

Corey got tickets for himself, Sophi, and Natalie. Abi had the 5th grader ski pass. Wes said he didn't want to go but then changed his mind, and Corey wanted him to go so he got him a half day pass.

The thanksgiving meal was set to begin at 1, and we were a bit late leaving but were on our way at 12:30. I was in the kitchen all morning and didn't think to look at the weather until we were in the car, doh! It was raining and the further we went, the more it turned to snow. 15 minutes into our drive and the car slid, and I became more and more concerned my bald tires were going to leave us stuck somewhere in the snow  I was glad the crew in Park City had all the ski stuff they needed and that they also had enough food to survive if I chose to retreat from the weather and head for home.

But I kept going forward, venting my stress I drove (thanks for the listening ear, Mel). We made it up the canyon without incident, and didn't have to stop at all for lights or anything when we got off the freeway, yay. We made it all the way to the resort and then had to stop for a truck to turn out before we could head in and up the hill. And that was where we finally got stuck with no traction. Corey must have been watching me on life 360, cause before I even got my phone to call him, there he was coming out to my rescue. He told me to back up into a neighboring hotel parking garage and then gun it. He watched for cars coming, gave me the all clear, and then I hit the gas. We slipped and slid but a cleared part of the road gave me enough momentum to make it all the way up. Phew! We made it! The weather said it would be clear between 5-9 so my plan was to be on the road around 5 and get down the canyon before it was dark. But we hunkered down for a few hours, enjoyed a nice meal together, and I went in the hot tub with Daniel, my one goal for the day. A few pictures before we ate - we went around the room and shared what we were Thankful for.

Then time to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast! Everyone tried to find a place to sit... we're starting to be a big group! enjoying good food an company -

Once the kids were all fed, Corey took them out to ski again, Owen, you excited?

Hm, that looks like a no.

Just kidding, he was just complaining cause the boots felt too tight. Corey had him and Natalie switch... all better. It's such a process getting little kids ready to ski.

I didn't see any of the action on the slopes, but I was still impressed with Corey. Such a good father.

So he headed out with Sophi, Natalie, and Owen, and I did my one to-do - I went swimming in the hot tub with little Daniel.

He's been a bit under the weather this past week, with swollen gums, stinky breath, and difficulty eating. I didn't take him in to the pediatrician, but my consultation with Dr. Google left me with the unprofessional opinion that it's gingovostomatitis. He took his bottle fine, so there was no concern about dehydration, cause he's had a lot of ricemilk. I've just kept an eye on him and he's almost all better. Aren't you, little guy?

He's such a cutie.

Cute smile with big sister Mel.

So we spent an hour+ in the hot tub. Lily tried out the gym.

And Corey headed out with Owen!

Natalie ready to go have more fun.

Looks like she's having a good time. (Once again, Corey, I think you're pretty amazing to take them all out!)

Some of the same from Owen. This is a reason why Corey loves skiing though, cause he can't help them all, they have to push through the hard and figure it out.

It's a good learning experience.

And Owen likes the bonus that there's free food all around!

Enjoying a little snack.

So, I headed home a little after 5 with Owen, Daniel, and Melodie again. Owen and Daniel didn't have naps today, so they crashed once they were put in their carseats. The drive home was great and there were no concerns. I put the kids in their beds, hoping they'd be down for the night. I blogged, exercised, and was almost ready for bed myself around 8 when Owen came into the basement to greet me, with wide awake eyes and full of energy. So that plan didn't work. Hopefully the last nap won't mean that they will be up until midnight. The weather says it should start snowing again at 1:00 am. The hotel reservations were just for two nights, so check out is tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about the Fiesta making it down if there is snow, but Corey was tired after a full day and didn't want to drive down tonight. So he's up there another night with the kids. We'll pray they're able to make it back home safely tomorrow. It was a good and memorable Thanksgiving day. We have very much to be thankful for. 11:00 now, got Owen and Daniel to bed at 10:30, small miracle, I'm going to bed now too.