Front End Loader, Good As Gold

Have you ever heard this song before?

You're missing out.

If you have a boy and some sort of iphone/pad/pod, download these truck tunes.

Mac can sing along to almost every song (if he's in the right mood and nobody is watching), and has recently discovered dirt under the corners of the putting green; resulting in hours of digging and dumping.

And yes, we've already bought his Christmas presents.  They involve big trucks.

So you can bet we'll be playing these songs loud and clear for the next three months, just to make sure this stage doesn't pass ...

Forward, Ho!

While in Utah, Belen perfected her forward crawl.

I thought she would finally be satisfied.

 

Why in the world did I ever think that?

 

Now it's like she's realized: "There's a whole world out there, and it's all within my reach!  Bwahahaha!"

Like this picture.  She took off while I was attempting to change her diaper, zipped right up the stairs, and squealed and laughed and bounced as I chased her. (And paused to take a picture.)

In church, if I let her out of my pew, it's straight to the front with the speakers.  Every time.

If I leave the room, she's between my legs.

If Mac leaves the room, she's pulling on his feet.

She is constantly getting scraped-up knees from following that kid outside to our cheese-grater of a putting green back yard.  But heaven forbid you pick her up and bring her back in!

She destroys book shelves and drawers alike.  Nothing of Mac's is sacred any more, and I feel like I am settling a lot of disputes these days.  (Only the beginning, I'm sure.)

I must say, however, that I love her zest.  She is super involved in what other people are doing.  If Mac has a toy, she wants in.  If I'm cooking, she wants to dump the measuring cups.  If Mark is tapping away at the computer, well then by golly she needs to tap too.

And naturally, crawling isn't enough. 
This girl is also trying to walk.

Oh sweet little Miss, you make our house so very much fun.

A Fond Farewell

This little beauty has treated us well.  I was allowed to purchase her for my 18th birthday, and she has seen a lot.  She was a party wagon in high school, a make-out mobile in college, she's been stolen, wrecked, stuck in the snow, and trekked through four different states. 

I felt like the coolest person when I first stepped into that car ...

But those feelings have passed.

I actually haven't driven her for years now; Mark felt that his fancy schmancy Nissan Altima would carry his little family much safer than my trusty Neon ... and I didn't argue with him much.

Between the Neon and the motorcycle, Mark has been getting around well enough the past three years.  But it's also been just the right amount of annoying to keep him checking Craig's List for about two years straight.

He finally found the perfect replacement.

We decided to honorably discharge the Altima from family life, and now this baby carries me and the kiddos around.  I am in love.

And so, with a little Craig's List magic, we sent my Neon off to make another 18 year old happy.  Her boyfriend came over and bought it for her ...

I hope she's not too mad at him.

Logan Reclaimed

Yes, I have reclaimed Logan.
It is mine yet again.

You see, it didn't feel like mine, not since we moved so far away.  I mean, twelve hours?  How could I ever go back to Logan without significant money, planning, etc. etc. etc.?

Well, I had just finished two doula clients in two days, gone to a game show, and felt exhausted.  I wanted my Mama.  But Mac is now old enough to cost a plane ticket, so flying felt more unreasonable than it has in the past. 

So ... why not drive?  Why not drive?  Honestly I could think of a million reasons not to drive, but I brushed them aside.  Every time I got in the car and turned on my Garmin, Mac gave me detailed instructions on how to go Bumpa's house.  He was game.  Belle was questionable, but she could make it.  I was going to drive to Logan.

And two days later, I did.  How?  Not caffeine. 
Sunflower seeds.
Sunflower seeds, and naptime.

I only drove once it was bedtime for the kids, or their afternoon naps.  And I chomped on sunflower seeds till my mouth felt like bleeding.  I was thirsty and sore, but not over-stuffed and definitely very awake.  Add listening to "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks (lame, but entertaining) and "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See (SO GOOD), and you're set for a very comfortable trip.

Oh, and lastly, I took three days getting there.

Here's the breakdown categorized by all the distant loved ones I attempted to squeeze into two weeks time:

T H E   G U N N S

• Spent the night at Grandma's, and played catch, jumped on the tramp, shot zombies, and sang about excavators all morning long.  And took pictures.

"Grandma so happy" by MacAlister

• Hustled over to Josh and Heidi's to enjoy some cousin time.  We are so lucky to have so many cousins and need to play with them as much as possible!  Plus Josh and Heidi are always fun to talk to, and so knowledgeable.  Also still wanting us to move there .... ??  (Yes, our future is still undecided.) 

• After a little more driving, we made it to Salt Lake where Benny-bless-his-heart babysat my kids so Katie and I could get some girl time.  And some fatty cheesey bacon fries straight from Heaven.
• The next morning we got to meet up with Rachelle and the kiddos ... but not long enough to feel satisfying.  (Can we try that again sometime?) 

• On the way back (two weeks later) we were able to squeeze in a little more Gunn time with the Salt Lake-ish family memers, where Katie shared her Cafe Rio with me (sigh), Belle and Grace became best friends, Adam solidified his best-Gunn-uncle status, and I got to meet the lovely Sam.  Adam has snagged a real catch with this gal.

Okay ... so maybe I wimped out on taking actual pictures of her ... didn't want to scare her off you see.  But is it weirder that I facebook stalked her to get a picture? 
Maybe. 
Don't tell.

• We then were able to snag Matt and Danika for a bit before we settled in to Grandma's house one last time.  The following day (Sunday), we met a celebrity.  Turns out being late for church can be beneficial in all sorts of ways.  We caught Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in the parking lot as we has leaving an earlier meeting.  He and his wife shook our hands, fawned over Mac and Belle (naturally Belle grinned back and reached for them, while Mac hid in my skirt), and then told us they didn't want to keep us from chruch.  I'm pretty sure my reaction was somewhere between Mac and Belle's, while Chris attempted to make connections with them through similar friends.  Yes, we were a little star struck.

• After church, Chris and Heidi combined forces to make so much delicious food.  You know, the kind that tastes good and feels good.  And of course, more cousin time.

T H E   T H O M A S '

• Oh my wonderful family.  I wish everybody could experience being the oldest sibling, with the first grandkids.  We get spoiled rotten.  (i.e. Dad took a day off work to spend entirely with Mac.  We picked his berry bushes dry.  I went out to eat, to a movie, and shopping without my little lovelies and without feeling the need to rush back.  And ... I went to the temple.)

 

• They were even so good as to call up the neighbor boy (who I used to babysit and who used to enjoy throwing tomatoes on his mom's white carpet and dancing on them,) and having him set up his homemade rocket launcher.  He made it rain candy and toys.  Yes, it was awesome.

• I also got to watch Dad act as the new Bishop of my home ward, which was wonderful.  The man oozes love and compassion; he does wonderfully. 
• And I helped Trent ask The Hair Girl to Homecoming.  It was hilarious ... and probably made her hate him.  I hope not.  We stuck real live bags of trash on her porch, one of which contained Rachel holding a diaper with Trent's name and mashed candy bars inside.  The poster read, "Don't trash my life, come to Homecoming with me."  The plan was for Rachel to wait patiently while they rummaged through neighboring sacks, then when they got to hers, she was to thrust her arm out, hand them the diaper, and take off running.  Unfortunately, The Hair Girl (and some guy she was snuggling with on a couch ... WHAT? ... supposedly he's "getting ready for a mission") started bringing the trash bags into the house.  When they tried to pick up Rachel's bag, she panicked, threw the diaper (which landed in the bushes), and took off running, losing a shoe and falling a few times.  Would you have said yes?

T H E   E X T E N D E D S

• I don't know if you've heard of #52 on Utah State University's football team, but he's kind of a big deal.  And he's my cousin.

•  Many many Thomases from all over the place gathered to watch this boy hand it to U of U.  He did wonderfully (surprise) and the fam went crazy.

Who doesn't love these three?  Kenzi, Kyler, and Lori.  Absolute gems.

Mac played catch with a beanbag football all during lunch.  (Frederico's ham & cheese salads of course, had to get a lunch of champions in this big guy.)

Me, Rachel, and the parents ended up being on kid duty.  It was actually very very fun.  I wish I could've taken Alexa home with me.

After an intense overtime, USU pulled out a win and the victor came home bruised and all smiles.  And so of course we had to watch the entire game over AGAIN to hash out all the details.  Also, Kyler's lady friend is a BABE.  I like her too much.

•  We even got to spend a Sunday afternoon with Darrell and Kolby, who my kids adore (Mac still talks about Darrell) and we had a hard time pulling away from at dinnertime.  Why can't I have a yard like this?

T H E   F R I E N D S

• I was quite swamped with all the family love going on, and only got one high school friend in.  But Lacy was a good one, and one I haven't seen in a while.  Also ... she brought her babies.  Same ages as mine.

My goodness, did you make it through all that?  I feel about as tired putting that together as I did making it happen.

But of course I loved every bit of it, and most importantly:
I proved to myself that I can do it.

If we end up living here forever (which is still an unknown), I can come and go as I'd like and soak up all the extended family time the kids and I need.

The only bummer:  what about Mark?

I will say that the homecoming is heaven when we finally get our own little family back together. 

But ... I still want to live close enough that we can do more of these types of things together. 

We'll see.

Macisms #2

Mac: "Mom, Mom!  Where my Hulk hands?"
Me:  "I don't know, bud. Where did you last put them?"
Mac:  (eyes widen) "Oh no.  Hook take 'em.  Sneaky Hook.  C'mon Mom, lets get it back!"
(Lately, Hook is responsible for a lot of mischief at our house.)

Mac:  "Mom, I need help, Mom.  Check this out.  Help me do computer games."
Me:  "Alright, let me just finish getting ready and I'll be right there."
Mac:  "Mom.  First you get ready, then you help me do computer games.  That's the rules, Mom.  That's the rules of Mac."

Me:   "Mac, I need you to lay down.  You are a little bit grumpy.  A small nap will help you be happy."
Mac:  "No, Mom.  No small naps.  Just t.v. makes me happy."

Mac:  "Mom, check this out!  My front end loader -- good as gold -- diggin aaaaaall the dirt.  Makin huge piles, Mom."

Oh this boy is fun.

A Client and a Friend

My word ....

I was lucky enough to be asked to attend the birth of a friend out here.

Jordan and Nate are our friends from chiropractic school (and the softball field), and have been so fun to get to know over the last couple years.

We were excited to find out they were expecting, and thrilled when they decided they wanted not just a doula ... but me.

They had decided on my favorite Birth Center:  Simona's.

They were determined to go all natural, and they had the perfect setup to do it.

Jordan did wonderfully.  The baby was in a difficult spot, but she breathed, paced, and relaxed the best she could in that massive jacuzzi.  Nate was a natural; I generally spend a lot of time helping the guy get involved, but not with him.  He took the reins and I just filled in where his third arm would have gone. 

These two worked together like peanut butter and honey, and the moment they met that little gal they worked so hard for?  Magic.

Baby Reese was beautiful.

 

I love this little side job as is, but being able to help out some friends?

 

Mmm doesn't get any better.

Let's Make a Deal

Have you seen this show?

 

I'll be honest.  My morningime t.v. is dominated by Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse.  Game shows never make it on my screen.

 

But I met somebody at the Corn Fesitval, helping Mark to bring in a few extra clients.  She said I should come be on her show.

 

So I rallied a couple friends, and we went crazy on costumes.

(If you haven't seen the show, every audience member is required to wear one.  And if they're clever enough, and if you're energetic enough ... you might get chosen to make a deal!) 

We were SUPER STAY AT HOME MOMS, saving America's future one baby at a time!

 

 

And if you'd like to find out what happened, you'll have to watch us on election day. 9 am.  CBS.

(Sorry guys, no online spilling the beans ... it's the rules.)

 

Naturally we were running around like CRAZY trying to get there on time, so I didn't even think to take a picture of us all till we were home.  Our capes ripped off, our sweaty cleaning gloves were toast, and Janae had taken off to YWs.  Sigh.

A Weekend in San Diego

If in a place that countless people come to vacation to, where do you go to vacation? 

San Diego.

I suppose most people go to Vegas too ... but San Diego is closer and more our style.

Luckily for us, Grandma Arlene is an absolute gem and called to see if we would like to use her timeshare condo down there.

It was heaven.

Mac loved the super cool hotel, and I did too.  Gotta love a change of pace.

Scouting out places to go.

 We spent the morning walking around the gaslamp district (maybe jut downtown ... sure couldn't tell), then came back for Belen's quick morning nap. 

We spent the following three hours walking around Balboa park, which was only a block away.

After another return for Belen's second nap (and maybe a nap for Mark and I as well ... of course Mac opted to stay up), we spent the evening at La Jolla.

While Belle and I practiced crawling forward and eating raspberries, Mark and Mac swam with a curious little group of seals.

Uncle Adam even came for a visit.

Don't worry, Mark is just working some chiropractic magic on Mr. Handlebar down there.

I thought a lot about how we could have lived here ... sigh.

Thank you Grandma Arlene, that little getaway was just what we needed!

Belen's First Angels Game

She finally did it ... Belen made it to an entire Angel's game!

She was enthralled by the lights and all the smiling people.

But like me, her attention faded a little quicker than either one of the boys in our family.

A little walk will always do the trick.

The best part about this game:  Uncle Adam took time out of his fun California adventure and drove clear over from Santa Monica to catch the game with us. (We were lucky the Angels were at home ... who knows if we would've snagged him otherwise.)

Mac was thrilled.  He couldn't decide who could throw harder:  Albert Pujols, or Uncle Adam. 

I suppose you could say we are fans.