Trip to California - Part 1 - The Drive Down

Two weeks ago we came home from a week long vacation to Newport Beach, California. In December Corey found (using our timeshare exchange) that there was an opening at the Marriot Newport Beach Resort, so he booked it and then gave a ticket to Disneyland to the kids for Christmas. So we packed up Friday night at 6 and loaded the car and were ready to head in the wee hours of Saturday morning (aka 4:15 a.m). I had the first driving shift, and although I didn't go to bed as early as planned, I did fine cause I was listening to a CD of Brian Regan, our family's favorite comedian. There was some fog in Utah County that slowed me to the speed limit, and other than that I was bookin' it at 85/90 most of the time. We were pulling into St. George around 8:30.

When Corey's parent's and siblings heard we were planning a trip, they wanted to join in the fun, so they booked a week too and were driving down. They had left the night before and had plans to stay the night in Las Vegas. We called them when we were in St. George to wake them up and see if they wanted to meet up for breakfast. Wayne was awake and answered the phone, and told us they had stayed over in Cedar City instead of Vegas. "We didn't make it that far..." So we were already ahead of them and Corey told him "Yup, Tiff's a speed demon. ...she's got the ticket to prove it." Yes, as a side note, I did get pulled over in Cedar City. Doh! I was trying to get as many miles gone as possible before the kids woke up, but should have remembered to slow down when we neared a populated city. I was getting a little droggy at that time, so I had just barely called Nicole to chit chat to help me stay awake (She's on East Coast time, so it was 9:30 a.m. for her) and just as we had said hello, I said "Oohh... I think I'm getting pulled over... I'll call you back..." The cop had taken a quick turn around and put on his lights right away. I slowed down and pulled over behind another car hoping he'd pass me for someone else in front of me he was going to go after. But nope, he got behind me, I pulled over, and to my disappointment, with the car now stopped, all the kids woke up. Corey woke up when he heard me tell Nicole I was getting pulled over. The kids in the back started asking "Why is there a police man behind us?" The officer came to Corey's window. "License, registration, and insurance... I clocked you at 89 mph. Any reason why you were going that fast?" "Nope, just on cruise control..." I handed him my Virginia driver's license, he asked if we were from there or Utah. (Doh! Another thing I haven't taken care of yet eventhough we've been in Utah for a year and a half... Maybe I'm holding out in hopes we'll move back) We told him the address on the registration was correct, we are in Sandy. He went back to his car and I called Nicole back quick "Yup, it was me. So we're just sitting here." When he came back he said "You must have gotten on the road early this morning..." Yeah, we left around 4, trying to get going while the kids can sleep. "Where you headed?" California, just a little family trip. He said he only put me as 9 miles over at 84 mph, which made me should-have-been $200 ticket into a just $100. Thanks officer. He was nice. But I still hate highway patrol. They are like spiders waiting to kill unsuspecting passer-bys.

So yes, as Corey told his father, I am a speed demon and I've got the ticket to prove it. As he talked with his parent's we were gloating to each other a little on how slow they were! Only in Cedar City? and they left LAST NIGHT?! Later when we were in Vegas Corey felt bad for gloating as he said "...At least my dad takes his car in for tune-ups...." Yes, in another side note, that statement came over the phone as he was at GoodYear Tire and I was at the Las Vegas Outlets with the kids. As we were entering Las Vegas, a car pulled up to the side of us on the freeway and said our back left tire was really low. We got off at an exit and went down the strip looking for a gas station with an air pump. No luck, so we finished the cruise down the center of Sin City and then Corey dropped me off at McDonald's to get the kids some breakfast and he took the car to get the tires checked and to get an oil change. We had meant to take the car into Jiffy Lube before we left, but never did, so better late then never. Well, as I was at McD's with the kids, Corey called me and said that the car was in need of some emergency repairs. The Goodyear guy took a look at our car and asked how far we were going. "California." "You're never going to make it." He said that our oil gasket was about to explode, (I don't know what that is, but I think it would have wiped out our engine...) and lots of other things - basically we needed $500 in emergency repairs, another $900 of repairs could wait until we got back to Utah. So here's thanking the Lord for a flat tire and for sparing us the experience of having a broken down car in the middle of the desert somewhere in the California desert.

So we got back on the road after 5 hours in Vegas, got to Newport 4+ hours later at 7:30 California time. And that was our trip down to California. More exciting adventures and pictures to come.

I Love Abi!!!

Abigail is so cute. It's amazing how observant she is. I got a haircut last week, I've needed one for a while - just way too many split ends. I must have been sitting on the couch picking my split ends a lot, cause occassionally I'd hold Abigail on my lap, and she'd take a handful of my hair, then divide it once, twice, then pull out a strand and look at me with a mischievious smile. The first few times I didn't know what she was doing, then I realized she was imitating me picking my split ends - way funny I thought - what a smarty pants! (and time for me to get a new hobby! What a waste of time!)

Also, she's naturally taking to learning how to be a future mother. She'll walk around with empty bowls with spoons and mixes her invisible batter - a future cook! Several weeks ago, she spilled some yogurt on the kitchen floor and then washed it up with her empty hand (aka spreading it around on the floor). I got a washcloth to wipe it up, which she took from me then she got on her hands and knees and wiped it up herself - she looked like a little cinderella, it was so cute. All the kids were watching her with me and laughing, we all love Abi. After wiping most of it up, she walked over to the garbage and shook it out over the trash - something I never noticed I do when I wipe up the tables. Again, it's fun to learn again how observant kids are!

I take way too many pictures with the digital camera - I took like 20 of her in the tub this day, she was just so darned cute. It's fun to be smitten. She's cute when she's clean or when she's dirty!
In California when I spent the day at Disneyland with the older kids, while we were on the Riverboat ride I scrolled through the pictures I'd taken of us during our day, when I scrolled back too far and saw these pictures of Abi. I called Joe over to show him, then Mel and Ethan came too, and we all laughed as we looked at all the pictures and thought of how we missed Abi and were so excited to see her little face again that night.

Husband's are Great

Thank you thank you to Corey for figuring out how to transfer my photos for me! He's amazing in everyway.

When we went to California Corey was sick for a few days and stayed home from Disneyland with his favorite little girl, Abigail. Eventhough he was still feeling sick on day 5, he came with all of us to California Adventure (first photo).

Kid's Job Chart

This weekend I made what I humbly believe is my best kid's chore chart yet. It includes 3 simple Daily chores for the kids:

1) Clean Rooom
2) Do Homework and Read
3) Clean their Zone



Numbers 1 and 2 are simple enough. For #3, I drew a map of our home and color coded each area (I've got 6 kids, so I made up 6 zones, adjust for your household size accordingly).



Each kid rotate turns having each assigned area/zone for one week, shown here on this chart with all the above zone colors and a rotating center wheel in the middle with the kids faces on it:





Red Zone (1) - KITCHEN & DINING ROOMS
Yellow Zone (2) - UPSTAIRS LIVING & FAMILY ROOMS
Green Zone (3) - BATHROOMS
Orange Zone (4) - DOWNSTAIRS FAMILY ROOM
Purple Zone (5) - TOY ROOMS
White Zone (6) - SPECIAL HELPER - just to do whatever jobs I need help with until I feel they've done enough work. This started being a "free week" but the kids wouldn't do ANYTHING, claiming it's their free week, so I said "OK! We'll scratch that then!"

I haven't done it yet, but I might make a colored paper for each zone that will list the jobs for that area, something like this:

GREEN ZONE - BATHROOMS
Daily: clear and wipe counter
sweep and clean floor
wipe toilet seat with disinfectant wipe
clean mirror
empty garbage
Weekly: Clean Toilet bowl

It's been working great so far! Our house is looking really clean, the kids are doing great, I think it helps them to be able to see what is expected of them everyday. It helps to cut out a lot of complaining from them and a lot of nagging from me.

An Only Child

From 12:30 to 3:45 every day, Wesley is an only child. Hyrum catches the bus for afternoon kindergarten at 12:30, which is the same time that Abi goes down for her nap, and with the other three in school too, it's just me and Wes. Today he happily said as we walked in the door from seeing Hyrum off to school, "Now I can play with Hyrum's stuff!" which a half hour before Hyrum was teasing him with. That made me laugh, Wesley is the little king of the house! And he plays great by himself, I'm usually able to take a nap in my bedroom or whatever else I want to do, and he doesn't bother me at all - he's just happy to have free reign over all the toys. Wesley is my easy going little perfect boy, he's an angel. And everyday at random moments he'll find me, come over, look at me and say with a sigh, "Mom, I love you..." The terrible two's have never occured with my children, but the feisty fours are vicious. I'll keep enjoying this time while Wesley is still 3 and hope the 4's don't ruin my little only child.

Pregnancy and Lost Camera

We are expecting again - baby #7 will be here the beginning of July (I'm going to catch up with my mom!). I was basically out on the couch the entire month of November and the first half of December, then spent the next week trying to get ready for Christmas, which I did a pretty pathetic job of. So I'm pregnant and also lost my camera - those are my two excuses for not having posted anything for over a month. But thank you to Patrice for asking me to post and getting me to do what I've been meaning to do. I also haven't written in my journal for over a month - posterity will look back and wonder why Christmas 2008 went undocumented. I didn't even take pictures. But with the first trimester done I am almost back up to functioning mode and hope to have a great 2nd trimester before my big belly 3rd trimester makes me of no use during the last 3 months. I really don't enjoy being pregnant, but if I can endure this short time (in the eternal scheme of things) of discomfort, I'll have a precious soul to enjoy and love for forever. It is worth it.

Thanksgiving at the Hibberts

We are looking forward to having a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast at Neil and Amy's new house this year! You guys are awesome, thanks for hosting all of us, again!

My 2 cents on the election and life on this earth - "The Best is Yet to Come."

I was very disappointed that Obama won the election. I was also surprised that he won by such a wide margin of electoral votes. My kids who are so influences by me were obviously equally disappointed. (They are so funny, Ethan has been the most upset.) I think people that voted for him are well intentioned, but I also believe the majority of his supporters were uninformed, as shown by the video and other content/facts on this website. I agree with Rush Limbaugh who has said that Ignorance is American's most dangerous commodity. I also agree with Rush that it's very difficult to win an election by voting against someone, and I was definitely voting against Obama and not necessarily for McCain.

Time will tell if his new president leaves our country better or worse. Although Congress equally bears the responsiblity of leading our country, and things haven't been great for helping Bush with them in control for the past 6 years. I'm a little worried with Democrats having control of both houses of congress and the presidency. But we'll keep living our life and hope that none of their policies and taxes kill Corey's business.

At General Conference, Elder Perry said "we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come." - I did notice at that time that he didn't put a disclaimer saying "...depending on who wins the US election for the Presidency." so that gave me comfort to be still and know that God is in charge and "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" (I also did notice that President Monson talked about "Change" and Pres. Uchtdorf talked about "Hope" and I was jokingly thinking "What?!? They support Obmama?!?! What is going on here?!?!"

From my journal the morning after Election Day
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Well, yesterday was election day, and it is now 7:36 a.m. and I checked out the results online and will now begin trying to get used to the phrase "President Obama". Oh that does not sound good to me. I've said my morning prayers and told the Lord that I am not happy that Obama won, but will be of good cheer (perhaps mostly by avoiding the lack of cheer that would inevitably come to me by watching the news, thus I shall rarely watch the news again for the next 4 years) and that I also pray that Obama's win will somehow help God's Kingdom to roll forward and fill the earth... cause it seems that all the people in Iran and Iraq and Palestinian wanted Obama to win, so maybe now the US will have good feelings with them and they'll open their borders to the preaching of the gospel? - that's my theory. I also just read in the book of Ether how the Lord had compassion on the brother of Jared and his family and friends despite the crumbling culture chaos around them, which leads me to hope and believe that the Lord will bless and protect America and the Church even though Obama is the next President. I will probably say "Oh Dear" for a while these next few months, but will try and push those thoughts our of my mind and replace them with faith.
Also, last night before bed Corey and I read a great article called "The Lord Can Ease Our Burdens" which had a lot of time/election results appropriate advice for me, I will probably read it again. It ends with this scripture: "Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God" (D&C 101:16). We can trust in the Lord (as I sigh "oh dear...").

My Little Ladies

Aren't they sweet? You can just tell they are made of Sugar and Spice, huh! Abi has some obsession with her nose, it's pretty funny. Mel's just playing along with her long awaited little sister. I love my girls.

Future Chess Master Joseph

Joe has a new passion - Chess! Don't be fooled by the above photo - I was black and beat him, but, since he's the real chess lover, I let him take my side for the photo op. He's become a really gracious loser, too. "That's Checkmate Joe..." "Let me check... yup. (sticks out his hand) Good job! Wanna play again?" Joe even made his own chess set out of Legos - I was quite impressed.

My brother Neil, his wife Amy, and their kids came up for a quick visit a week ago and Joe asked Neil to play. Amy sent me an email tonight telling me "Ever since Joe beat Neil in chess he plays one game of chess online every night before he goes to bed to try to sharpen his skills for the next time him and Joe come head to head. Boys, boys, boys, there's nothing like competition. Neil can't be having a nine year old beat him." I thought that was so fun, and I am going to tell Joe in tomorrow and get him psyched for the Thanksgiving Showdown when we go up to their place in two weeks!

Creative Corey: Sledding on the Grass

In September on a beautiful fall evening, Corey had a grand idea - Today seems like a perfect time to go... sledding! He blew up the innertubes, got some cooking spray, and wouldn't tell us where we were going. I was able to figure it out when he turned toward FlatIron Mesa park which has a huge hill. He tried to water down the hill with a gallon of water, but that really wasn't enough to make a difference, so it was a good thing that he'd brought along the cooking spray. I was being a party pooper though and didn't want them using the rest of the can cause I didn't have any extras at home. Sure, it would be easy enough for me to run out the next morning or whenever and buy some, but it just seemed like a waste of perfectly good olive oil cooking spray! Now, if I had bought the cheap stuff, well that would have been different! Maybe not. But, but, but they're gonna get hurt or break their glasses! They kept falling off the tube about half way down the hill where the cooking spray ran out (Corey would have argued "Well, if you'd let us use more spray!!!") As I kept raining on their party saying it was time to go, it's getting dark, or the kids are gonna get hurt, Corey told me "There's never going to be a perfect time (or perfect way) to do anything, let's just do it and enjoy it!" He was right, it's a fun memory and the kids still talk about it and remember it, and we'll probably do it again only will come better prepared with more oil. Moral of the story - don't wait for a perfect opportunity to present itself, take the opportunity you have and make it work.

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now." - Thomas S. Monson

Memories with and time with our kids is important, cooking spray conservation is not!

Sick Day

We've all been throwing up today. I just had my turn and am feeling much better now. I'm old enough that I know how to throw up with minimal clean-up - right into the garbage disposal (which I prefer over the toilet bowl). Hyrum was the first today, he threw up at 11:30 all over the wood floor (yes! Not on the carpet!) so he didn't go to afternoon kindergarten, then at 12:30 the school called to tell me Melodie threw up and to come get her. Corey had the car at work so I called him and he ran and got her at the school. He went by the redbox and got us 4 dvds to keep us company on the couch, then he headed back out to work where he was going to stay an extra hour to make up for this unexpected trip home. The school called again at 2:30 telling me to come get Joe. Doh! I said I still had one more kid there in first grade and asked if they'd like me to take him too, she said "We haven't heard anything from that class... oh, I have another kid here, gotta go." I guess we'll see how long Ethan lasts. Ok, gotta get Joe... I didn't want to call Corey again, so after a few calls my wonderful neighbor Monica went to go get him. Joe came in and seemed to be feeling well, and proudly told me he didn't even make a mess - he threw up in the sink as he was getting a drink! Way to go! Ethan did make it through the whole school day, and as he walked in alone he said "I don't feel good..." and I told him of everyone else's sick episodes so he'd know what was in store for him. He's in the kitchen moaning right now. Luckily Abi and Wesley haven't thrown up, as for the older ones, we've all been watching movies and I'm making them keep bowls and water pitchers in front of them to catch any messes. The joys of motherhood!

Update: Ethan threw up after an hour of bellowing. That's 4 down, two to go.

Update: Ok, this is gross... When Ethan threw up, he did so as he was sitting at the kitchen counter into a big white salad bowl. I rinsed it out, then went back to the couch. Fast forward 2 hours - Corey's home, the kids haven't eaten anything all day, I hear them in the other room - Corey's going to make them macaroni. After a while I come into the kitchen, everyone's happy and eating food, looks like they're gonna keep it down, then I see the macaroni has been served out of a big white salad bowl. I didn't say anything as I looked at each of them happily eating. I pulled Corey aside and quietly asked him if he washed that bowl out before he used it. "No, why?" Oh gross... We didn't tell the kids, but did throw out all the leftoveres. After I told him, he felt like throwing up. I guess we'll see how Wes and Abi are tomorrow, cause I don't think there's a way they could have escaped contamination now...

Update: Wednesday morning - Abi and Wes are still ok, Corey threw up.