The Rest of February

The rest of our chilly/rainy February included the following:

• Pass of All Passes ... finally started to use it.  We went to a gymnastics meet this month, and with the crazy weather we have been thoroughly enjoying the bowling alley included on our pass.

•  Hogle Zoo put on a free-entrance day ... which was awesome!  Except for the fact that the rest of the state of Utah agreed.  The place was wall-to-wall people.  I saw several people from my hometown, which was fantastic ... but all in all, I felt like we were back at Disneyland on a Utah-Spring-Break day.  (We learned quickly that if there is ANY kind of kids-get-out-of-school holiday going on in Utah, STEER CLEAR of Disneyland.)  But the kids loved the animals.  I'm still debating whether or not I should get a season pass.

•  We said goodbye to our beloved Pujols Fish this month too.  Mark discovered him on the counter on evening, and immediately flopped the poor little guy back in his water.  We had no idea how long he had been lying out there, but he did seem to swim around a bit .... but by the following morning, it was certain.  Pujols had moved on.  I told Mac, who was quite solemn but very curious about the whole thing.  I asked if I could flush Pujols down the toilet, to which Mac replied, "But Jesus will never find him in there!"  We decided to bury him outside, and Mac picked out Pujols's burial ground.  He was fine until we started to shovel dirt on top of him ... then he burst into tears.  "I just miss him too much, Mom." he said.  I held him and pointed out all the ducks wandering out of the water - probably to see if we had any bread - and Mac said, "Oh look, Mom, they miss Pujols too!  The duckies want to come say goodbye."  I agreed.

The following morning, Mac jumped out of bed and said, "Mom!  Let's see if Jesus took Pujols yet!"  I told him it wasn't very polite to dig up dead things ... how do you explain THAT to a kid? 

•  Mac gave his first talk in Primary.  It was about the Savior's Atonement.  The whole thing was about how Jesus made it so we could live with him and all our friends and family again.  I ended up whispering most of it to Mac, but we had specifically worked on a couple parts that he could just talk about himself.  But when we got to them, he said, "Mom, I think you'd better just tell me."  So I did.  He finished, patted me on the back, and returned to his seat.  So proud of that guy.

•  And Miss Belle has started experimenting with potty training ... it's been a bit of a process, but she's slowly improving.  So crazy to think my house might be diaper free pretty soon ...

•  And finally, we had our first incident with using-mom's-makeup-without-her.  Thankfully it was just red lipstick (which I never use) and not eyeliner or mascara ... but it was quite messy.  Two months later, I'm still finding random red fingerprints on the walls.

Valentine's 2014

Another year, another day to celebrate love.

(One of my favorite things.)

Mark watched the kids the day before while I ran some last-minute errands.  Those included ingredients for a romantic family meal, candy hearts, chocolate ... and decorating Mark's office.

I wish I would've taken a picture ... it's fun to make his office all festive.  I feel like it makes the place feel more community-oriented; a family gathering place.  But of course, we gotta keep it professional ... I'm still working on the balance.

Still, we made thank-yous for Mark's employees and left them with chocolate.  (That ought to inspire them to work super hard, be super awesome, and make everyone want to tell all their friends ... right?)

And then I did a little deep car cleaning for my sweetheart.

And I thought a lot about how I've gotten lazy at doing specific little things to help HIM and no one else.  Not the kids, not our family in general ... but I need to be better at regularly finding little things that make HIS day easier.  Props to Valentine's for the reminder!

Finally, the big day came.  We had toast in the shape of a heart and eggs, completely with chocolate and silly string fights.

We read each other's love notes.  Some favorites include:

•  "Belle, I love when you play baseball with me.  Love, Mac"
• "Dad, I love when you let me stay up late and finish watching basketball games. Love, Mac"
• "Belle, I love your hugs and kisses.  Love, Dad"
• "Mac, I love how excited you get to do things together as a family.  You make everything so fun! Love, Mom"
• "Dad, I love when you help me put on princess dresses. Love, Belle"
• "Mac, I love the silly names you make up.  You are so funny.  Love, Dad"
• "Belle, I love it when you are so nice to other kids, even if they are acting grumpy.  Love, Mom"
• "Mom, I love to wrestle you. Love, Mac"
• "Mom, I love when you let me 'do it'.  Love, Belle"
• "Mac, I love playing sports and watching baseball and basketball with you.  Love, Dad"
• "Mac, I love when you are so nice to your sister and your family.  Love, Dad"
• "Belle, I love your strong will and independence.  I love you.  Love, Dad"
• "Mac, I love when you help me get out of bed.  Love, Belle"
• "Mac, I love your big smart brains.  I love to hear you figure out adding and subtracting.  Love, Mom"
• "Mac, I love when you share your bowling pins with me.  Love, Belle"
• "Dad, I love when you throw me in the air.  Love, Belle"
• "Belle, I love it when you give me hugs and pat my back.  Love, Mom"
• "Belle, You are so cute.  I love when you copy me.  Love, Mac"

Compliments go a long way.  It is so fun to sit and think of specific little things that I love about each of my family members (didn't copy down the ones I wrote for my sweetheart .... his eyes only!), and then to see my kids reactions as we read them?  Priceless!  Mac giggles and claps at each one, whether or not it's for him.

Compliments rock.  I wish they flowed out of me verbally more often.

I'll work on it!

For lunch we prettied ourselves up to go out to eat with the greatest guy ever.

And Mark and I vowed to do a Valentines lunch without kids next year.  (They were nuts.)

We topped off the day with a candlelit dinner for four, and eventually ... got a bit of alone time.

Love is the greatest.

Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

The Winter Olympic were a lot of fun to watch his year.  Mac and I prepped by making a banner of flags from all the participating countries.

He was thrilled.

We were about to witness the bestest, fastest, strongest people from all the countries come together to compete in their favorite sports ... what a treat.  Flags, medals, songs, races .... and plenty of timers and countdowns.

I was particularly interested in seeing how the Olympics would go; what with the book we had just read in book club about the Romanov family and the lady who had lived there on and off for years.  Plus my newest brother-in-law had taught English and later served his LDS mission there; Russia is incredibly interesting to me.  It feels like a massive, old, not quite third-world but definitely not first-world type of a country.  I had heard a lot about the preparations that went into building a town capable of housing the world's top athletes for weeks ... it was quite a feat, considering there was nothing but a few homes and a one-way street to begin with.

There were a few hiccups, and it was incredibly obvious that the hotels had been thrown together last minute.  But I liked what the gal in my ward said about it, "What they were able to accomplish, with what they had to work with ... the Russian people should be proud of their homeland."

I hope they are!

My little family sure liked watching them.  Mac had questions about every sport and every athlete.  We loved cheering for the Utahns in there.  (Since I moved to Salt Lake, its been crazy to see that training for the Olympics is completely attainable and almost - but not quite - commonplace out here.)

I love the Olympics for the honor it gives to dedicated athletes and their dedicated families.  The persistence, the determination ... and even plenty of examples of compassion and camaraderie!

Can't wait for two years; bring on the Summer Olympics!

An Experienced Book Club

I love reading.

And I never had the opportunity to get to know my biological grandmas at all.  

So ... my new ward out here has a book club headed and attended by grandmas.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  Yes.  I've been thrilled to attend.

A couple of them work at the library and are on the board to select books for Salt Lake County's top picks.  The rest are incredible cooks (we get treats every time), hilarious story tellers, well-traveled, well-studied, and all are incredibly loving.

They pat my hand and tell me I'm precious while they recount their lives as they relate to the books.

I happen to love historical fiction, and both of the historical books we've read have had personal meaning to at least one of the ladies.  It is so fun to listen to them talk about World War II, especially the German gal who remembers the "tall, handsome Americans" who "saved" Germany, as she put it.

It makes me feel like I have a lot of good thing ahead of me.

And it reminds me that this stage, this stay-at-home-all-day-with-crazy-little-kids part of my life is just a moment in the vast sea of moments that will make me who I am.  I don't want to miss it; building a foundation for our future is kind of a big deal.  If our little family can thrive during this often-menial part of our lives, we'll be set up to not only weather, but enjoy the long, wild ride ahead of us.

I love the perspective I gain from being with these experienced ladies.

And I love that they pat my hand and call me precious.

Our most recent book; so fun to read while the Olympics were going on.  Russia is interesting; particularly when you get to listen to ladies talk about it who have lived there for years.

A Little Bit of January

January began wonderfully.

NewYears Eve was spent unwinding from our holiday adventures.

Meaning, we both fell asleep on the couch watching Property Brothers and House Hunters International.

But ... I happened to wake up 5 minutes before midnight, so we saw Ryan Seacrest and that horrible Mylie usher in the new year.

Mark doesn't remember it, but he did stir enough to kiss me before I turned off the t.v.

Yes, our month started off with a bang!

And it continued that way.

Mac had his first basketball class.

He told me, "Mom, I think basketball is my other favorite sport.  With baseball too."  But honestly, that boy loves anything he can score and/or time.

Every Saturday we would get to practice a bit early.  Mac would pick up a basketball, and methodically work his way from one end of the court to the other; dribble, shoot, other side.  Dribble, shoot, other side.  When the kids would practice dribbling around the outside of the court, Mac was the ONLY child who not only refused to cut corners, but clung to every line.

Gotta do it right, I guess.

Waiting for his first basketball game to start.  Wish I could show you the crouching, wide-armed wiggle that counts as his defensive stance

 

Miss Belen was always bugged she couldn't go play with them, and I had to pull out all the stops every Saturday to keep her with me.  But whenever anything close to downtime happened, you can bet she was out there weaving between players, following lines, and kicking any basketball that dared come near her.

 The season ended with a mini trophy ceramony.  Mac was thrilled.

"Mom, this is my first trophy and I love it.  I'm going to get SO many of these, cause I practice so much."

He liked basketball before, but this heated this love to an almost baseball-esque passion.  We have since taped a basketball court in his room, and he is constantly asking me to keep his score (we're currently at 1,527), shoot so he can practice blocking my shot, or making up games in which he is always the Jazz, there's always 10 seconds on the clock, and he often gets fouled.  "Stop the clock Mom, there's three seconds left.  I made that shot, but that guy bumped me so I get one more 'three'-throw.  Made it!  So now that's three points.  Write it down, Mom."

He's four.  What ever happened to heroes, fighting bad guys; you know, playing pretend?  All our pretend involves numbers.

Besides playing referee/teammate/scorekeeper, I was able to go out on a ladies' night with some of my cousins on the Thomas side.

I can't believe how many live in the Salt Lake Valley.  We caught up on each others lives over pedicures and Olive Garden ... and though the food was as bleh as I remember, I loved it.

January also marked the opening of Holladay's new fire station.  The place was open for tours to the public all day, and Belle was in love.

"Wee-ooo wee-oooo weeeeee-oooooo!"

Mac thought it was alright, but was ready to go after a bit.  Belle screamed and hollered and clung to the door frame for dear life when I told her we needed to leave.

Her ability to spot fire trucks/ambulances has intensified dramatically since then.  In fact, at a parking lot the other day she suddenly began sprinting ahead of me.  Mac and I raced to catch her, eventually seeing what she was running toward: a parked ambulance.  She began climbing up and pulling on the door handle just as the two paramedics came out of the store (luckily not in the process of saving anyone).  She saw them in their gear and asked, "Belle drive?  Ambulance?"  They gave her stickers and showed her the back of the truck while Mac hid behind my legs.

Again, she was sad to leave.

But coming home to a pond-ful of ducks always helps.

It's been such a warm winter (compared to how I remember winters in Logan growing up), that we've actually been able to spend plenty of time outside.  We've been reading, playing basketball, drawing baseball diamonds in the sand and then playing games, admiring all of our neighbors' dogs, and feeding ducks.

Though mild, the crisp wintery air inspired Mac to discover the joy of warm clothes fresh out of the dryer.  It is now our favorite way fight off that playing-outside-so-long-I-forgot-I-was-cold chill.

And we have had loads of family time.  Drop-ins from my family as they've had various things to do in Salt Lake.  Babysitting trade-offs with cousins.  Going out to eat, Sunday dinners ... and cousin Todd's birthday party.

Finally, between working at the office, working on the office, and networking around the office, we've had a good share of quality time at home with this handsome devil:

Why he instigated random sleepover nights is beyond me, but the kids are in heaven.

 Judging by the way this month of 31 one days has flown by .... the year is going to be over before I know it.  We'll be sure to make it a good one.

Catch up #7: December

December began with something momentous.

Our first     .......     real    .......   Christmas Tree.

Yes.  This is a BIG deal.  I was raised by a man of tradition, and one of our favorite traditions was going to pick out a live Christmas tree.  I remember racing from tree to tree, searching for some sort of Pocahontas/Ferngully-style connection with the perfect tree for our family, and then doing my darndest to convince the rest of my siblings that yes, this was the tree that was meant to fill our home with holiday cheer.  

But since having virtually no income while in school in California, I have survived my last six Christmases on a $5 fake tree from a yard sale.  It served its purpose, but I was more than happy to throw that sucker out as my little family went to find a real, breathing, fragrant Christmas tree.

See, we are adults now.

The rest of December was followed by a mad-dash to do all the holiday things we wanted to do with all the family we have now, as well as attempt to form some new friendships out here.

We hosted a Christmas party for some friends from church.  Two couples showed up.  I'd call it a fail - since we invited 8 couples - except for ... I really enjoyed those two couples who came.  A lot.

Our ward held their Christmas party in the morning with a breakfast ... Santa Clause came and though I brought my camera, I forgot to charge the battery.  I am devastated to report that I do not have Belle's first picture sitting on Santa's lap.  She was totally fine with it.  We handed her over to a magnificent, legitimately white haired and bearded Santa ... and she just looked at him.  Then she turned to us, held out her hand and said, "Where Mac?  Mac!"

Where was Mac?  Hiding face-down in his chair.  Several hundred feet away.

Besides this, we went to Christmas-themed story time at several nearby libraries.  We went to Temple Square, where the sardine-style crowds of people made us feel like we hadn't left California at all.  Aaaaaaaargh. 

At least Belle loved the lights.  So much so, she had to hug them all.

And, I saw two different marriage proposals ... so that was, of course, fantastic.

My dad called me one day in December to ask if he could buy my kids a dog for Christmas.

What.

My first thought was, "Do you not remember how I had to beg and plead to get a dog from you people back in the day?  And now you're just offering up some dog to my kids?"  And my second thought was, "How in the world would I fit a dog into this tiny apartment?"

But then .... my thoughts changed to, "I do need a dog.  My kids would love a dog; he could be a new playmate!  Something that might enjoy wrestling, ball games, and sleepovers, and give me a break from being the grand entertainer every now and then."

Unfortunately I took too long in deciding, and the dog my dad had found was given to a different family.  

So I've been day-dreaming.  And researching.  And I want this dog:

 Big enough that my kids won't kill it, but small and lazy enough to survive apartment living.

Unfortunately, these guys cost around $1,800-$2,500 ... and I'm sorry.  I just won't ever pay money for a dog.

Can't find the right fit at any animal shelters either ... so if you know of any perfect little/medium dogs, send one my way!

Next, the biggest event in December (besides Christmas itself), it snowed.

As in a white out.  Blizzard.  Can't-see-two-feet-in-front-of-you.

The little Logan girl inside of me jumped out of her skin with excitement, and I bundled the kids and we headed out.

We visited Mark that day at the office; bringing him lunch and prepping to tell him about the bomb snowmen we made.

He was just sitting there, at his front desk.

Staring.

At all that snow.

After we all barged in, he said, "Do you realize what we walked away from?  We lived 20 minutes from the beach."  (It was more like 45.)  "We had enough money for a down payment on a house."  (But probably not the kind of house we would've wanted with California's real estate market.)  "We were comfortable."

My poor St. Georgian husband just realized what he had signed up for, for the rest of his life.

Winter.

Luckily, we had a Christmas in Panguitch to look forward to, and that seemed to keep him going.

The Sunday before we took off, the entire Gunn family got together at Rachelle's house for a family dinner and Nativity.  Chris brought some adorable homemade costumes, and Mac refused to wear a single one.  So he got the job of the sign-holder, which was perfect.  ("Don't worry, I'll do the words, Mom," he consoled me.)  I was a star, and got to hold up Belle ... an angel.  So clever and completely adorable; and though I  remember taking plenty of pictures, there isn't a single one on my camera.  Utterly depressing!

And last the best, Christmas.

We went to Panguitch.  Grandma Gunn, Grandpa Rand, Uncle Adam and Aunt Sam were our company this year, and we had a blast.  We picked out and cut down our own Christmas tree, we went four wheeling, jogging, yoga, took the kids to Thor 2 (Mac loved it), read plenty of books, and played even more games.

We cooked and ate ourselves silly; particularly since we had Chris Gunn as our personal chef.  Belle made herself an assistant.  At one point she dumped an entire bottle of garlic salt all over our Christmas Eve steaks, moments after Chris had finished telling me she'd been saving them all year and this is the way to season them, and that  is the way to cook them, etc.

Oops.

Luckily a quick scrub of the raw meat saved the day, and we still ate the best steaks ever.

The night ended with stories, gifts from Santa's Elves (pajamas ... surprise!), milk and cookies for the big man, and one massive carrot for the reindeer.

But someone else almost really ruined Christmas ... me.  It seems Santa Clause forgot to bring his main presents to Panguitch.  But don't worry, he left a note on the stockings explaining that something was too big and had teeth far to sharp to make the journey to Panguitch; and would be waiting for them at their home when they returned.  (Turned out it was a GIANT stuffed shark.  Bruce the Big.)

Chris looked at our pile (mostly from my mom) and said, "If I had two grandchildren ..."
She has 23.

Christmas morning was great.  Mark actually ended up being the one to wake the kids in our little room downstairs.  "Mac," he whispered, "Mac, get up already!  It's Christmas!"  Mac stumbled over to our bed and tried to snuggle in and fall back to sleep, till it registered.

Then he was up.  And Belle was up.

But Gunn family rules; you must wait in the hall till everyone is ready, then you march out to the living room single file, so we can capture the look on each person's face.

"Can I come out YET?"

Belle was very helpful while Grandma tried to read the story of the Three Wise Men.

Please note Adam and Sam in the background.  These adorable newlyweds were SO fun to have; and I loved getting to know Sam a bit better.  Hopefully she survived her first Christmas away from her family.

And then we were on to the presents.  My kids gorged on stocking candy and were plenty entertained by their Santa presents (which Mac enjoyed, but then said, "Mom, I think Santa put a big Bruce at our house.  We'd better go get him.").

Belle made things interesting yet again by throwing up.  All over the rug.

Then she was up bouncing and playing with toys like nothing happened.  Uh ... too much candy?

Piles of presents.  Why does he have the iPad?

Princess Belle with her princess bat.

Mac was thrilled to get a truck before Daddy.  This ended up being a good sub for the shark, since he was stuck in Salt Lake.

"Swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, SWIMMING, swimming, swimming SWIMMING!"

Mac gave Mark a book about all the greatest moments in the history of baseball ... and these three boys went through the entire thing together.

Precious ... Adam serenading Sam.  And trying to teach her how to play.  It's so fun to see him be all grown up and husband-ish.  Sam, you bring the best out of him!

Then Christmas day, a bunch of our cousins up and decided to trek down to Panguitch to join us.  Video games, gun fights, and wrestling took up the rest of our day.

Panguitch never fails to impress, and Christmas in Panguitch?

Perfect.

Merry Christmas!