Summer? Oh yes.

Well, I guess since it's July it's time for a post on the old blog, right?  Indeed.

I think "summer" really started for us when Jack's preschool let out in mid-June.  We then spent a few weeks at home hanging out and doing some fun stuff (can you tell that I just don't remember what was only a month ago?  Blame it on the children).  Then we headed off for a two-week trip to UT, ID, and MT to be with family.  Huzzah!  It was an AWESOME trip.  We spent a couple of days in Salt Lake seeing Mike's family, and Jack and I did an overnighter at my sister's house in Orem, which was super fun.  One of my all-time favorite things to do is to go thrift store shopping with her, and I got to do that, so the whole trip was a success :).  After a few days in UT, we headed up to Island Park, ID (just outside of Yellowstone) and spent the better part of a week at a cabin with four of Mike's siblings, his parents, and his aunt.  Let me just repent here and now for always deeming the state of Idaho a total loss in God's works of creation.  Clearly the beautiful part of Idaho that people rave about is not Rexburg, where I lived for a year in college, but Island Park, which is so pristine and gorgeous I might just think it was in a different state.  We spent two days going to Yellowstone (or Pinkstone as Jack liked to call it) and got to see some buffalo pretty up close as well as some elk and many, many geysers.  Jack is a little in love with earthquakes and volcanoes right now, so geysers were right up his alley.  He was in heaven.  Eli, on the other hand . . . he wasn't too fond of us not letting him walk on the boardwalks around the geysers.  Something about no barrier between the one and a half year-old and the large pool of boiling water said "Bad Idea" in our heads.  There was a lot of screaming.

After Island Park, we drove up to MT to see my folks.  Mike flew home after just a few days so that he could go back to the grind, but the boys and I got to stay for awhile and hang out.  We played in the back yard, went to the lake (multiple times, multiple lakes), went fishing, road the tour train around town, went to the local chocolate shop, rode the carousel, went to the kids museum and the historical society museum, and got to see my brother and other sister and all of their kids.  It was fantastic!  We had so much fun.  I think the highlight of the trip was just seeing our kids playing with all their cousins in Mike's family and in mine -- what a sweet, sweet, thing to watch.  I also got to indulge my thrift store cravings in MT, and, just like last summer, I was able to buy clothes for Jack for the next year.  Why are used clothes so much cheaper in MT?  Loved it.

Now, what would traveling in Montana be like without a great (read: the Biblical meaning of "great") flying story?  So, the kids and I were supposed to fly out of Missoula on a Friday night.  We drove the two hours there only to learn that our flight was heavily delayed; eventually it was totally cancelled (Note to self:  put San Francisco on the "do not fly through this city" list.  One word:  FOG.).  So . . . after spending some quality time with the ticket agent in Missoula, we concluded that there was no way we could make it home that night, and we drove back to Helena and were able to fly out of Helena at the crack of dawn the next morning.  All in all, we got to spend more time with my folks, which was great, but the 4-hour round trip drive and the whole run-around was kind of blech.

We are so grateful that we were able to see so much family; it certainly made us question why we live so far away!  Since then, there's been a lot of reminiscing on the part of the three-year-old and wondering if we can "go on another trip tomorrow".  Oh son, if only!

Here are, well, a lot of pictures.  And I have more on my phone that I'm too lazy to throw at you at the moment (and I think that might just be overkill).  I'll try to post the uberly-cutest ones at some point.

A special thanks to Tiffany (Mike's sister) and her family for letting us take over some of their living space at Mike's folks' house and to my parents for putting up with kid paraphernalia strewn about constantly.

Ok, I promise that I'm getting to the pictures, but it was just such a great trip, and I wish I could mention every fun moment, every conversation that was so pleasant, every helping hand, every laugh not caught on camera, every day that felt lighter than it would have been here at home, every delicious meal that we didn't cook or clean up after.  Thank you to everyone that let us chat them up, empty their frig, and generally just enjoy being with them.  We think about and miss you often!

{Click the picture to enlarge}

May, May, May!

Wait, what? We have a blog?? How come I never knew this? I totally would have been posted all the time if I'd known! Oh crap, I did know. Guilty.

Anyway . . . We've had a lot going on lately. About three weeks ago Jack came down with a fever that lasted for about five days. He hovered around 103 F. The doctor said that there was a virus going around and all we could do was try to make him comfortable. This was attempted but not achieved, and he spent the better part of those five days either grumpy and tantrumming or practically catatonic on the couch. It was so awesome! Nope. Luckily, the next week brought much happier times as Mike's sister Julie and her family (including their three little boys aged 4, 2, and 8 months) came to stay. Jack was in HEAVEN. He had such a good time playing and so did Eli. James, the four-year-old, slept on a mattress in Jack's room, which Jack found absolutely amazing and mystifying. We were able to go to the aquarium together as well as spend some good time on the beach playing and barbecuing. Gotta love San Diego! It was so great to see all of the little boys running around chasing each other, and we are looking forward to getting them together more in the future. Oh, and in between the Sick Week and the Cousins Week, we got to go to Disneyland with Mike's brother Jeff and his wife and their absolutely adorable three-month-old baby boy, with whom I did not get nearly enough snuggle time. It was a hot, crowded day, but we still had a good time (how could you not? After all, it IS the happiest place on earth!).

This last week we were surprised with a visit from Mike's folks. Unfortunately, they were here for the funeral of Jeff's mother-in-law, who had been fighting cancer for quite some time. We are glad that they were able to come and stay with us. It was so nice to just hang out Grandma and Grandpa and be able to chat and play with the kids! We are forever grateful for people who come visit us, no matter the reason or the timing. Ok, and way back in the Ice Ages, in March, Mike's sister Stephanie and her family came our way for a work conference, and we got to hang out. So fun! Love meeting all these new babies. Alright, without further adieu, here's the good part -- the pictures of the children and the insane things they do, random happenings and planned cuteness. I know I have a lot more pictures on my phone, but those will have to wait :).

Mom's visit

My mom came to visit at the end of February/early March, and it was WONDERFUL.  It was so fantastic to have her here to talk to, to play with the kids, to help out, but mostly just to spend time with her.  She got to stay for two weeks, and we packed in some fun things, such as orange picking, a trip to the Embarcadero (seaside promenade downtown), some fun baking, trips to the park and the beach, and even a 24-hour getaway for Mike and me.  My mom has a camera that takes beautiful photos, so she got some decent shots while she was here.  And by some I mean like hundreds.  So, here's a sampling.  I'm feeling too lazy to add captions right now, but you can probably interpolate what's going on in the pictures.  If all else fails, assume that Jack is telling a story about airplanes, Eli is hamming it up, and the rest of us are just hanging out {and perhaps trying to ignore the children . . . :)}.  Here goes!

Thankgsiving trip/December update

For Thanksgiving this year we headed up to Utah to see family.  It was AWESOME.  We were more than a little apprehensive about the 11 hour car trip with the three-year-old and the one-year-old.  I don't think that we'd ever gone more than about 1 1/2 hours in the car with them both prior to this trip, and around town they're not particularly stellar.  But they were surprisingly good.  I was going to do a fabulous run-down of the whole week, but then life happened, and I decided you'd rather see it all in pictures anyway, so feast your eyes on the 100+ fully-captioned photos below (click to make larger).  The photos run from Halloween until today and include a set from our camera and then from my phone.

Ok, ok, I feel like I should give a basic run-down of our trip -- we left home at 6:30 pm on the Friday before Thanksgiving, stayed the night in Vegas, drove the rest of the way on Saturday, and spent the week that followed staying at Mike's folks house and spending time with his siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, and also with my parents, sister and family, and my grandma.  It was a lot of family and a lot of fun, and both kids did totally awesome, seriously.  We couldn't have asked for better behavior from them both in the car and with our families.  I haven't checked, but I think some serious stars must have been aligned . . .

P.S.  We're all doing really well and getting excited for Christmas!  Especially the three-year-old.

Notes from today

My new brilliant idea - photonoting (yes, I made that up).

To my baby

Today is Eli's first birthday, and while this last year has been immeasurably hard in so many ways, Eli has almost always been the bright spot of the day.  He is my joy, my sweet, innocent joy.  He lives to be tenderly touching me all the time, whether that's just resting his hand on my arm or nuzzling on our shoulders or just sitting in my lap playing.  He smiles so easily, and when Jack is having a rough day, Eli can make it all not seem so bad.  He's a long and skinny guy, but strong.  He's quick and likes to scoot around on his bottom, sometimes peeking around corners to find us and then laughing.  He doesn't always sleep so well at night, but he's a great napper.  He is still much more attached to me than to solid food, so the mommy gravy train is still going strong.  But honestly -- I don't so much mind having the extra time with this sweetheart ;).

A Day In The Life

I tend to take a lot of pictures with my phone, and while they're not the highest quality pictures, they do show our daily life. I take pictures of places we go, faces the kids make, and things they imagine. Here are some pictures from my phone, spanning from mid-July to mid-September. The captions are a little long, but they describe our life!

In other news, Eli has a few new tricks to his name, including: clapping, peek-a-boo, distance throwing with a pacifier (watch for that one in the Olympics), scooting around while sitting on his bottom, quasi pulling himself up to a standing position, and pulling the paper out of the printer. Note that he has yet to master Growing Teeth. Still the cutest toothless baby around.

Enjoy.

{Click below to go to the slideshow where you can read the full captions}