Christmas Tree Question

Oh, does anyone happen to know of a nursery anywhere in the Salt Lake area where you can cut down your own Christmas tree? I remember doing that as a kid in San Diego and really enjoying it, plus I figured that a fresh-cut tree would last a lot longer than one that’s been sitting in a lot. I’m not too huge about the idea of getting a permit and hauling all the kids up into the mountains to find a tree (maybe when our kids are bigger some day), but if there was a nursery somewhere where we could cut our own, I’d be excited to find it. Thanks!

Isaac Really Taking Some Steps

So, Isaac had taken a step here and there since we returned from San Diego, but on October 20th after naps he took three steps across the room and got to the wall without falling down. So I pulled out the camera, determined to catch his new skill on video – this is the best that I got, but he really did take three steps in a row! He has only taken two or three steps since at a time then, but I figure that it won’t be too long before he really starts walking around.

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Opening Gifts

Since Kolby and Isaac both have October birthdays, my parents gave them their birthday presents to open early on the morning we left San Diego.

Camden’s 2nd Haircut

So, I finally did it – I cut Camden’s hair. It’s been a little over a year since he had his first haircut, and I really didn’t want to cut it short, but I had to admit that it needed a trim. I was surprised that it wasn’t as noticeable after I cut it as I thought it would be – I cut off a good 2 to 3 inches – but I guess it’s harder to tell with those curls. Don’t worry, I didn’t chop off all of his curls, but now his hair isn’t down to his shoulders anymore. Here are the “Before” and “After” shots:

Isaac not quite taking his first step

Isaac kept standing up and then moving his foot like he was going to take a step, especially over our last week down in San Diego. We thought he might do it there, but he decided to wait until we got back home to Daddy before taking his first real steps.

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Playing with Haley

While we were in San Diego, my friend Sidney came over a couple of times because my mom was teaching her how to smock a blessing outfit for her baby, Meggan. The boys were very excited when Sidney came and brought Haley over to play. They had lots of fun playing chase, marching in “parades” around the house, and playing games like ring around the rosie and duck, duck, goose. Here are some photos and video from them playing together:

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Day at the Beach

Ok, so I'm going to try to get caught up on posting some more pictures from the last couple months. I actually wrote all the posts for the pictures from the San Diego trip when we got back into town a few weeks ago, but I hadn't had the time yet to post the photos. So, here goes:

We enjoyed a day at the beach when Matthew and Aaron had a day off of school one day.

Doesn't Isaac's hair look curly in this shot? It isn't usually that curly, but he always has some little curls around his ears. So cute!

(So, I don't know why the picture of Camden is sideways -- it wasn't that way on my computer).

Camden's Birthday

We had a birthday party for Camden with Daddy and his friends and some cousins before we left Utah, and then when we got down to San Diego we got some key lime pie for his birthday cake on his actual birthday.

Photos from our San Diego Trip

I’m going to try to catch up on posting the photos from our trip to San Diego.

So, when we got there my dad and my little brother, Aaron, were going on a scout campout, and they took Kolby and Eli with them. They ended up going to Palomar Mountain, and the boys had lots of fun. (They were talking about pancakes and syrup for days afterwards).

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After the scout campout we needed to wash that smoky campfire smell off of the boys, so we decided they could just all go for a swim. They enjoyed swimming with Papa and Uncle Matthew and Uncle Aaron. Kolby liked floating around in the little raft, Eli swam back and forth across the jacuzzi the whole time we were out there, and Camden liked jumping across the jacuzzi to Papa.

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Catch-Up

Well, it’s been a few weeks now since we’ve written our “weekly” blog post because I’ve been busy having fun in San Diego with the boys for a month and Michael has been busy at the hospital on his ICU rotation, so I’m going to play a little catch-up now. I have lots of fun pictures from our trip, and a few video clips. Since I last wrote, a lot has happened. We took the boys to the beach when my brothers had a day off of school, we attended several playgroups at the fun splash park and big playground in 4S Ranch, my brother Matthew got his Eagle Scout, Kolby and Eli had lots of fun with their new friend, Brittany Giles, at the playgroups and swimming at Nana’s house, Isaac started to stand up without holding onto anything quite often, and he made us think that he was going to take his first step more than once in San Diego, my friend Sidney came over to the house a couple times for my mom to help her smock a blessing dress for her baby girl and the boys really enjoyed playing with her daughter Haley, my brother Aaron had his 14th birthday party and I found out that pregnant women are not allowed to play laser tag, my dad and I went shopping for my grandma’s birthday gift and he got me a cute shirt – it was fun to just hang out with him, we went out to an Italian restaurant downtown to celebrate Grandma Faun’s birthday, Camden got his second haircut ever – even though it’s not a really drastic looking change, I did take off 2 or 3 inches – and the boys warmed up to my parents’ dog (which they had been rather afraid of when we first got to San Diego), my mom got me some maternity jeans and three cute maternity shirts – thanks Mom!, Camden learned how to climb out of the playpen about a week before we left San Diego which made it rather difficult to figure out sleeping arrangements where he couldn’t get up and get into anything, mom and I got to go look at model homes (always fun), and we all got to spend lots of fun family time together.

Then on October 16th my Grandma and I drove back to Salt Lake. It was a long drive, and what made it seem even longer was the fact that about ½ an hour after we left Kolby needed to pee, then ½ an hour later Eli needed to, then Kolby, then Eli, etc. all the way to Las Vegas! After stopping for a quick dinner at In’N’Out and threatening the boys that they had better “get it all out” because we weren’t going to take any more potty breaks for a long, long time, we made it a whole 18 miles outside of Las Vegas before Eli started insisting that he really had to go again. After telling him that he couldn’t possibly need to go again that soon and trying to ignore him for about 10 or 15 minutes, I started to look for a good place to stop for him, and then he fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home, so that was nice. Kolby also slept until about an hour before we got home, and then he woke up telling us that he had to go right away. By the time we stopped and got him out of the car about 10 minutes later his shorts were all wet, and he told me that he just couldn’t keep it all in. Oh well. At least we made it home without any major problems.

The day after we got home Michael had a day off work at the E.R., and I took Camden for his 2-year check up, and I forgot that it was his first official appointment with this doctor since we moved here and so I had to go back home and get his immunization records from our old doctor in Milwaukee and then return for him to get his 2-year-old shots later in the afternoon. The doctor also ordered some blood work just to check for iron levels and lead – I guess she must do that for all new patients, because she had Isaac’s blood drawn after his first appointment there too – and I was amazed: Camden not only didn’t cry for the initial needle prick, the moving the needle back and forth in his arm for about a full minute before they got his vein, the blood draw, or the later shots, but he didn’t even make any noise at all. Amazing! Anyways, while we did that Michael started getting things unpacked and then vacuumed out the van when we got home. And while the boys napped I folded all their clean clothes from the trip and put away all the shorts and t-shirts in the storage bins and got out all their fall and winter clothes. After the boys got up from naps, we decided to take a break from getting things done and we all drove over to the Jordan River Parkway to take a fun walk and then play on the playground for a few minutes. Then we decided to go to Denney’s for dinner, a mistake which we probably won’t repeat – the restaurant was run down, the waiter messed up our order even though we were the only customers there for most of the time, and they were skimpy on the portions so we had to ask for more of things that normally come with the meals. But it was nice to go out together and not to have to cook or clean up afterwards.

When we drove home that night, Kolby said something pretty cute: He asked what it was called when things sleep in the daytime, and I said “Naps.” He said, “No, like when owls sleep in the day.” And I told him that was called nocturnal. And then he said, “Oh, so the moon and the stars, they’re nocturnal, huh?” He is such a little thinker.

On Saturday evening after Michael got home from work Grandma offered to watch the boys for us while we went to stock up on groceries. We got some bigger things at Costco and then went to WalMart for the rest. I got a bunch of different vegetables for a couple of big batches of soup that I am planning on making this week. One thing I like to do in the Fall and Winter is make a big stock pot of soup and have it for dinner, and then freeze the rest of it for several more easy and healthy dinners.

On Sunday Michael had to work. He says that a career in the E.R. would not be for him – there are so many patients who come into the emergency room with minor problems, either because they don’t have health insurance or because they are overly concerned parents who bring their babies in for a cough. Also, he said that patients are either discharged because they shouldn’t have come to the E.R. in the first place, or they have a real problem and they are treated and sent home or they are serious enough to be admitted to internal medicine, the ICU, or surgery, and then Michael, as an E.R. doctor, doesn’t get to find out what happens to them later on. That’s one thing he likes about dermatology, is that he gets to see patients and their families over time and watch their progress and build a relationship with them. Anyways, on Sunday after church we went down to Mel and Christian’s house in Lehi to celebrate Kyler’s 1st birthday. The boys had a lot of fun running around with Jaden, as always.

And today after taking Kolby to preschool, the other boys and I went to Wheeler Historic Farm for the playgroup that one of the other interns’ wives has organized. Melissa, the one organizing the playgroup, and her daughter Chloe were the only ones there. We had a great time taking pictures in the pumpkin patch, seeing all the animals, and letting the kids play in the little tree house there. After the playgroup we came home to pick up Kolby, then headed downtown to turn in my voter registration paper – we realized when we got back in town that today was the last day to turn in the registration. I am still unsure if I will be able to vote or not – I know that you have to have either a photo ID or proof of residency to vote, and I don’t have a Utah driver’s license because I decided not to pay for a Utah license and then turn around and pay for another one in New York next year, and since we are living with my grandma we don’t have any rent, mortgage, or utility bills that come in our names – and I don’t know if they will take junk mail or catalogs as proof of residency. Oh well, at least I’m registered now, so I can try to vote if they’ll let me.

Tonight I am going to try making spaghetti squash for dinner, so wish me luck. (Last time I tried it I did it in the oven and it took much, much longer than the label on the squash said it would so we were very hungry by the time we ate late, but my mom said that you could do it in the microwave for about 20 minutes, so that should be good if it works out this time). And then for our family home evening activity tonight I was thinking of going to a pumpkin patch (if we can find one) or at least getting some pumpkins at a store, because the boys need little pumpkins to paint in their preschool class this week. So that should be fun for them to go pick those out.

Oh, and we have been very lucky that Camden has not yet climbed out of his crib since we got back, even though he got very good at climbing out of his playpen in San Diego. Also, Isaac has officially been off the bottle for about 3 days now. And he took two steps in a row without falling down this afternoon – although I could only get him to take one step on the video afterwards. But it shouldn’t be too long before he really starts walking around. And his birthday is on Thursday, so we will officially have a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old all at the same time for just over a week until Kolby will turn 5 on Halloween.

Well, my computer continues to have internet connection issues, so I’ll get this posted for now and then try to add the photos later.

Having Fun in San Diego

Well, we’ve been in San Diego (wink wink) with my family now for a week and a half. We’ve been having a great time while we’ve been here. So far, we have been able to go to institute class with my mom, go swimming in the pool several times, help with a little yard work, watch some fun movies, do some shopping, go on a walk, try out the features on dad’s new I-phone, play card games, listen to Aaron practice the new piano (and the boys have done their own piano practices on the old piano too), Kolby and Eli got to go with Papa and Uncle Aaron on a scout campout, I got to go with Mom to help serve at a luncheon for a missionary zone conference, the boys have played a little with Nana and Pap’s dog (and Eli and Camden are slowly improving and becoming less afraid of the dog), we have visited with a few old friends and met some new friends, I’ve been able to take several afternoon naps since I’ve been here – something I rarely do, we have had humus with pita bread (a taste that actually does grow on you), we took the boys to a story time at Borders and Nana got them a couple new books, we took the boys to a playgroup at a nearby pool, we got to go to Ladies’ Night Out, we went out to California Pizza Kitchen while Papa took the boys camping, we have made it through a couple weeks of church here and the boys like their primary classes, Isaac has started to stand up beside furniture and then let go and just stand for several seconds before getting down and crawling again, I have spent a little time looking at houses for rent in and around Rochester on craigslist, I have caught up a little on friends’ blogs, the boys have had lots of fun playing with their uncles, Papa taught the boys all about gophers (and how they love to tickle little boys, especially whiny little boys), the boys have built lots of lego towers, I have realized that one nice thing about having basement bedrooms back in Utah is that the boys don’t wake up as soon as there is any light out like they (especially Isaac) have been doing since we’ve been here, Eli jumped off of the top of Aaron’s bunk bed (fortunately, he wasn’t really hurt from that), Mom and Grandma and I got to go to the General Relief Society Broadcast last night which was very good, we have met people named Camden – one little boy at story time and another mom who is planning on naming her baby Camden when he is born next month – and that is a name I barely ever hear, and I have met two people who know people named Courtland (which I didn’t know that I would ever hear anyone else with that name out there), we have had a couple yummy meals made on the outdoor grill, I have been able to call Michael almost every day to talk and have our family scripture reading, I have learned one very good reason to have a dog: you can let it come inside and eat up all the crumbs off the floor after 4 babies get done with a meal and if it’s a big dog it can even reach up and clean the crumbs out of the highchair seat, we have made several trips to Costco where the boys were excited to get samples for lunch (the Costco here has a lot more samples than the one in West Valley, and it’s actually enough to make the kids full at lunch time), I have had fun playing with mom and dad’s new toy – a ClearPlay DVD player which edits movies so you can watch anything and it will only be at a PG rating, and Mom and I got to go to Canterbury Gardens for their Christmas opening and I found the cutest little dinosaur ornaments to give to the boys this year. We’ve done a lot more stuff since we’ve been here, but I can’t think of it all right now.

And tomorrow Matthew and Aaron have the day off of school, so after the morning institute class and dropping Grandma Faun off at the airport, we are planning on spending the day at the beach, which should be lots of fun!

Wisconsin Dells

The day after we got back to Milwaukee from San Diego we drove to La Crosse, Wisconsin for Michael’s last interview – for the transitional program there. On our way back from La Crosse we stopped at Wisconsin Dells for a little vacation at the water park there called the Wilderness Lodge. We had so much fun! The boys loved it, and I just wished we could have had a few more days to spend there. Here are our pictures and videos from the Dells.

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The Last of the San Diego Photos

Here are the rest of the photos from San Diego in January. The first few pictures are from one day that the boys were playing with the stroller and decided to take a walk (inside my parents’ house), and they wanted me to take pictures of them on their walk. Isaac enjoyed sitting in the stroller basket for that little walk too.

The next set of pictures is from a day that we all walked with my mom to a nearby playground at Patriot Park, which is a nice little park that is right next to the elementary school in my parents’ neighborhood (the school that Kolby would go to if we happened to end up in San Diego for Michael’s transition year). I loved the fact that we were playing barefoot in the sand while it was blizzarding at negative temperatures in Milwaukee.

And the next big batch of photos in this slideshow is the day that we went down to Old Town for the Mormon Battalion anniversary. There were all sorts of fun little pioneer activities that the boys had fun doing, including making their own rope, making bricks, making pioneer (boy) dolls, cooking their own biscuits, drinking buttermilk, dressing up like pioneers, and panning for gold.

I took a few pictures of Isaac in his blessing outfit that my mom made while he was laying on the blanket that my dad and all of my boys have used on their blessing days. I couldn’t believe it when I realized that I had brought that little blanket all the way across the country to use on Isaac’s blessing day and I had forgotten to get it out for the blessing. But I still had to have some photos of him with it.

And the rest of the pictures are of the little birthday party that my family threw for Eli the night before we left San Diego. He adored that Elmo balloon that my mom got him, and he even took it all the way through airport security the next day until it popped in the airport. He also got a really fun little train track for his train set that has gates that open and close and it makes different train noises. All the boys were excited about that toy.

That trip sure was fun! The only bad thing about it was that Michael spent so much time interviewing that once we reached the last week of our stay in San Diego I felt like we really got to start vacationing with Michael there too, and then we had to leave before too long. (Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining that Michael got several interview invitations, but when he’s away I always miss him).

So, there it is. All caught up on the photos from our trip. That wasn’t too much work to get those all posted. Now I just need to get caught up on posting all of the photos from the last two months since we’ve been back in Wisconsin.

Long Lost California Photos

So, I've been having a bit of a rough week. Since we got back to Milwaukee almost two months ago I have been doing such a good job of always doing the dishes immediately after they are used and keeping up on cleaning the house a little bit here and there all the time so there is never a big mess that will take hours to clean -- and it feels really nice to have it clean all the time. This week we got extra busy, even though I was thinking that things couldn't get much more busy with Michael being gone early every morning and me taking the kids back and forth to school all the time, keeping up with the housework, and running all the errands. But our van got totaled and we were looking for a new one. We found one we really liked that was in our price range, but the bank that the car dealer tried to get us financing with turned us down for the loan of a few thousand dollars that we needed after we used the pay-out from the totaled van. Because Michael doesn't have a job and we therefore have no income (and no, they don't count the student loan money that we live off of as income), we are considered "high risk" and they wouldn't give us a loan. I was concerned that we were not going to be able to get a loan anywhere, and that the van that we liked would get sold to someone else while we were trying to figure out the financing, and then we would be stuck without anything because the other guy's insurance company would only pay for a rental car for 4 days after our van was totaled. Anyways, we ended up going to our bank and they didn't give us any problems (although they did give us a nice high interest rate -- but we aren't too concerned about that since it is a small loan and we should have it paid off before too long). Anyways, we got our "new" (2001) minivan, and we love it! But I was rather stressed out this week with the whole process of trying to get it paid for and all the other little things that had to be taken care of (and several that still do) with the van being totaled, getting a loan, and getting the new van. So, all the normal everyday things got put on hold and I was yelling at the kids a lot more than I know I should have been the last few days. Today has been better. One of the things that got put on hold was the cleaning, so in a matter of one or two days the entire house looked like a hurricane had gone through. We suddenly had four-day old dishes sitting in the sink, the kids had gotten food all over the floor that hadn't been swept in days, there were little piles of "stuff" all over all the furniture and countertops, there were loads of unfolded laundry, and toys, clothes, blankets, and other assorted things were spread all over the floors. So, besides being stressed about the car stuff I had also lost that good feeling from having the house nice and clean. It took two days to do all the dishes, scrub the kitchen floor, pick up all the stuff around, and get it looking nice again. And then, when I had a minute to "relax," I started thinking of all the unfinished things that I would like to catch up on. (Yeah, sounds really relaxing, huh?) One of those things is getting caught up on posting all the photos and videos from our trips and from after that on the blog. I keep thinking I will just not worry about the photos from January, since that was so long ago, but then I look at them and think, how could I not include the pictures of Kolby's first time skiing and all the other fun stuff we did? So, I am still going to try to catch up. I think I'll just make a few big slideshows of all the photos, though, instead of taking the time to upload each one separately, then hopefully I can get caught up quicker. (By the way, I am feeling a little better these last couple of days. Not so stressed, even though I still feel like there are still a ton of things that we need to get done. But I feel a little less like I am drowning now, and even though it’s probably only about 30 degrees outside I have bright sunshine streaming in through my window at the moment, so maybe this depressing winter will actually come to an end sometime in the next few months. At least we have another good day to look forward to – Match Day is only 6 days away. Next Thursday we find out where we are going for residency. And then that night we are going to go out to dinner to celebrate (hopefully it will be a celebration). [Anyone up for babysitting four adorable little boys that night for us?] :)

These are the photos of our trip to my parent's cabin in Mammoth Lakes, California in January (Mammoth is six hours north of San Diego, near Yosemite). We always have so much fun in Mammoth. Camden was being especially cute the first night up there when the cabin was not yet heated up and I wrapped him in a big down blanket on the bed -- he was all smiles. My brothers, Matthew and Aaron, had a lot of fun playing with the boys. And the one picture of the three older boys shows how deep the snow was on their back deck -- just about as deep as Camden was tall. I love the photo of Camden folding his arms for prayers -- I had to take a picture of this before he starts growing up and is big enough to reach his arms all the way across his little belly; I just love that he rests his little arms across the top of his chest when we tell him to fold his arms for prayers! And then there are the pictures of Kolby skiing, of course. That was so fun! And Kolby was lucky to have my dad as his ski instructor. And then the last photo is of Eli in his uncle Aaron's old "moose hat." Pretty cute!

Erin

While we were in San Diego I got a chance to see my best friend from high school, Erin Devenberg. She moved to northern California when we were younger, and I hadn’t even seen her since before Kolby was born. She brought books for Kolby, Eli, and Camden and a rattle for Isaac – the boys enjoyed having her read the books to them. We had lunch with our moms one day, and then she was able to come visit again before she left San Diego. It was so nice to see her. Hopefully it won’t be as long before we do it again.

A Really Cool Frog

While we were in San Diego, my mom and I happened upon a cute little park in 4S Ranch right behind the library. It had pretty fountains and a "river," but the best part was this frog statue that squirts water out of its mouth when you push a button. It wasn't long before Kolby and Eli were soaked (and yes, in that picture of them with their feet in the water their shoes are still on), but honestly I didn't mind. Oh, to play in the water outside in January and not get frostbite . . .

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Sleeping on the Job

My mom took these pictures of Camden while we were down in San Diego. We thought it was expecially fun that he not only fell asleep sitting at the table during lunch, but that he still had his sandwich in his hand. Pretty cute!

Photo Shoot

While we were in San Diego, my sister Jennifer gave the boys Hawaiian clothes for Christmas (she is going to school at BYU Hawaii right now). And we had a fun day doing a photo shoot of the boys in their new clothes with Jenn’s fancy camera before she left to return to Hawaii. Kolby learned that Jennifer lives near the beach, because every time since she left that we drove past a beach in San Diego or past Lake Michigan here in Milwaukee Kolby asks if Aunt Jenn lives there.

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'Christmas' in San Diego

These pictures are of the day we arrived in San Diego (January 5th). Since we were in Boise for Christmas, we waited until we got to San Diego to exchange Christmas gifts with the family there. The boys were very excited about their new toys!

Playing with the Lincoln Logs:

Nana giving them their toy trains:

Camden's Puzzle:

The Train Set:

(Thanks, Jenn, for taking these great pictures of the boys -- I still want to hire you to be my personal photographer!)