October, Supposedly

So my calendar says it's October.  The weather outside my door says it's more like the end of August.  LOL.  I'm ready for Fall, y'all!  I can't get in a hot chocolate drinking mood when the thermometer outside keeps reading 90 degrees!

It's been a crazy little while.  Natural disasters abound, and, though not horribly impacted, our little corner of the world did get quite a bit of rain and wind from two hurricanes in the last month (Irma and Nate).  These are the times I'm grateful for the counsel of a living Prophet.  Our little family can be better prepared, but at the same time, I am grateful for what we have done thus far to prepare.

My in-laws came for a visit for about a week.  The kids LOVED having them here.  So did Jeremy and I.  We took them to the beach so they could experience the Gulf Coast.  Jeremy took each of the kids into the ocean and into the waves.  They both really loved it.  The anxiety mom in me had to just trust that he had a good grip on them.  It is insane how much I love my babies.  Not really insane.  Just something I had no concept of until I became a mother.  Or maybe I'm just a crazy person...

So just a few pictures, because what else can I do?  I'm so behind I'll never catch up.  So I just start somewhere ;).

 Here's our little family at the beach in Florida.  It was a nice day, and a Monday, so not many people there.  Plus we went to a State Park, so had to pay.  But totally worth it for the covered picnic spots and bathrooms.  And fewer people.

 Lynnaea spelled her name in the sand.  She has gotten so good at writing her name!  Sometimes, when I look at her, I can't believe she is almost 4 1/2. 

And this is what I've been doing:  getting fatter.  Hahahaha.  We have a baby girl growing and wiggling around in there.  Which means I keep growing too. 

I had other pictures I thought I'd saved somewhere.  Like of the kids in front of a peanut by the Krispy Kreme.  And on the carousel at the mall.  But since those didn't end up being where I thought I'd saved them, I guess I'm done ;). 

We're going to do a Hila-ween party for the first time in 4 years.  I'm excited.  Maybe I'll even get around to posting a blog about it ;).  One can hope, right!?!

Summer-time

I'm such an awesome blogger anymore...

But let's be real.  Other than those people who actually have popular blogs and, usually, lucrative ones, not that many people seem to be doing the blogging thing much anymore.  It's all about the facebook and twitter and instagram.  Of those 3, I think I'm signed up for two.  And I only use one.  Sort of...  I've gotten out of the habit of sharing a ton on facebook lately. 

But since I've grown tired of getting anonymous comments (that are sales pitches for ridiculous products I can learn about by following their link -- no thanks) on my most recent post (though, if I counted, I'm pretty sure I'd learn that it was one of my most commented on posts...), I've decided to write a new one ;).

So what gives with my 1.5 month hiatus? 

Well, we went on vacation.  More on that below.

And I've been reading a ton.  I tend to go in phases.  Currently I'm in my "all I want to do is read" phase, and I've largely been doing just that.  I've read over 10 books since the end of May, and since some of those were 500+ pages and not the most engaging books ever, I'd say that's quite an accomplishment for me. 

And I'm totally using the pregnancy card.  Because it's true.  And exhausting.  I feel lots better than I did during weeks 6 through 10.  But I'm still really tired and take a nap almost every. single. day.  It's sort of ridiculous.  And it also means I lose out on that really productive time when the kids are down for a nap -- because now I'm napping also ;).  Growing a human is no joke.

Speaking of which, I'm a little over 17 weeks.  Starting to feel the baby move.  Going to listen to a heartbeat tomorrow.  And then the next appointment will be the ultrasound.  And I'm seriously thinking about finding out gender.  We already think we know.  But if I can get confirmation on that, we can down-size some of our baby stuff.  Because I'm pretty sure this will be our last one.  Granted, Heavenly Father may have other plans for us, and that's fine.  But this will be our last intended pregnancy (at least as of this moment...).  Because, for the record, this doesn't get any easier as you age ;).

So anyway, that's what life has been like these last several weeks. 

And now, to re-cap our vacation.

We flew out of Atlanta.  And we'll never do that again.  Too crowded and too much extra hassle.  But we survived.  Then we rented a car at SeaTac.  Something else we'll never do again.  Let's just say this trip was all about trying out new things -- and learning what we won't do again.  LOL.

The first full day at Jeremy's parents' house, the kids got lots of farm life experience.  Corbin loved the chickens.

 Then we went to one of Jeremy's brother's house and they have rabbits, goats, chickens, and ducks.  The kids loved petting the bunnies.  AND both the goats gave birth while we were there (on two separate days), so Lynnaea loved "herding" the baby goats.  She also learned that a goat does not lay an egg.  Which was her previous supposition.  I wish I'd have taken some pictures of her with the baby goats.  But, true to June and early July in Washington, my allergies acted up something fierce, so I tried to stay inside a lot. 

 I did a lot of napping.  And most days this cutie was my nap partner.  He is pretty much the cutest sleeper ever.

 We attended my friend's daughter's wedding near Bainbridge Island.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful venue.  And a very beautiful wedding. 

 So I snapped a picture of us waiting for dinner.  Much to Lynnaea's chagrin, we had to leave before the dancing, because it was getting too late, and we had over an hour drive back to my in-laws'.  But we really enjoyed being there for such a special time.

 Corbin felt quite overwhelmed at times.  He kind of made my in-laws' house his "new normal" and preferred to be there.  This was Saturday when I took the kids to Bremerton to stay with my mom.  He pretty much clung to me most of that night.

 We enjoyed seeing a lot of the family on the 4th of July.  But I didn't take any pictures.  I was pretty lame about that this trip.  And then, since getting the pictures off my phone isn't always the quickest process, I was pretty selective about the ones I chose.  So now you get to see Corbin sleeping on Jeremy on the way home in the airplane.

 Which leads me to say this about our return:  that was the most horrific beginning to a travel day ever.  We left my in-laws' at 3:10 in the morning.  Lynnaea had eaten a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast.  And then puked it all up all over the rental about 15 minutes before we reached the car rental facility.  So we had to stop to get gas and spent 15 minutes changing her and trying to clean out the car as much as possible. 

We returned the car, had to haul 2 car seats, 2 backpacks, 2 pieces of luggage, and 2 kids (one of whom smelled like puke) to the shuttle for the airport from the car rental facility.  We got to the Southwest line (which was loooong) and mid-line, Lynnaea said she had to throw up again.  Which she did -- in my hand.  So we frantically ran around trying to find a bathroom while Jeremy stayed in line with all our bags to check in, because hey -- we got there about 45 minutes before our flight was to leave and hadn't gotten anything checked in yet as far as bags go.  So I changed Lynnaea again and tried to wipe her down as much as possible.  Get back to the ticket counter and Jeremy is up at the front.  30 minutes to flight departure and we still haven't gotten through security.  I really didn't think we'd make the flight.  All our stuff was late-checked. 

Tender mercy of the trip:  the sniffer dogs were out at the security lines which seems to mean it's a lot easier to go through security.  Jeremy's bag was flagged (a bunch of electronics mixed with the squeezie pouches apparently looks suspicious), but even with that small bump, we arrived at our gate just after family boarding had ended (we were A boarding group, but we'd missed that too).  But the kind lady at the beginning of B let us go first (bless her). 

Once on the first flight, Lynnaea puked in the puke bag one more time.  And then she slept.  And so did Corbin.  Sadly, our first flight was the short flight -- to Oakland, CA.  Corbin was still in his pajamas, so we changed him in Oakland.  And pretty much it was time to board there.  On the second flight, Lynnaea had more tummy troubles (but on the other end), and we visited the potty twice during the "fasten seat belts sign" is on phase :/...  But I think they understand with kids.  Lynnaea pushed the flight attendant button in the bathroom as I was washing my hands, so I had to hurry and open the door to assure them we were fine.  And then, after that, I made Jeremy take her the last time.  And then, thankfully, the rest of the flight was pretty uneventful.  Just long. 

We made it to Atlanta, and the other tender mercy of the day:  so did all our late-checked bags.  We finally got to our car and started the 3 hour drive home.  But we stopped at Cracker Barrel to eat, so we didn't get home until 10.  By that time, Corbin had cried himself to sleep. We still had to throw Lynnaea into the shower so we could get all the vomit smell off of her.  AND, we had to strip down her car seat and wash all that PLUS all the vomit clothes. 

For now, I've pretty sworn off flying.  My current plan is to drive out next summer and see how I like that.

Life back home has been fun.  Several pool days out back.  Enjoying popsicles, S'mores, and hot dogs.  Trying to "cook" in a home-made solar oven.  Looking forward to cousins arriving soon and having snow cones. 

So now I'm somewhat caught up.  And it's getting close to my bed-time ;).  Oh!  We signed Lynnaea up for dance.  She's super excited.  I have to learn how to make a tight bun.  Hair is not my forte.

Beaching It

Well, this is already 3 or so weeks old.  But in the interest of putting something on this blog, I figured I'd briefly say that our little family went to the beach at the end of February for a wedding.  Weather here has been wonky this year, and that weekend in February, it was downright Spring-like.  So the beaches were populated like it was Spring Break-ish time. 

So anyway, this was the first trip to a Florida beach for everyone in my family but me. White sands, blue water, and sunshine.  It really was a beautiful day.  And we got to see a beautiful bride get married (even if it doesn't seem right that that 3 year old little girl I used to spin around in the air was there saying I Do to the love of her life...).

Corbin loved the sand.  Lynnaea hated the way the wave knocked her over.  And we all enjoyed the experience overall :).  And I took a picture with my bestie.  It doesn't seem so long ago that we were the brides...  But that day, she was the mother of the bride.  Again:  how did that happen!?!  But it did.  Time marches on.  Thank goodness for the memories :).

 I especially love how my kids are making almost the exact same face in that picture above.  Cracks me up every time I see it!

The Journey East: Part 2

On Tuesday morning, we awoke in Glenwood Springs, CO, ate the continental breakfast, and got on our way. There were some really friendly people in the hotel lobby, so one of them actually held and entertained Corbin while I enjoyed a waffle. Lynnaea had a pastry in the hotel room with Grandma. As I mentioned before, my mom drove the mornings. This particular morning took us over the Rocky Mountains. To say it was beautiful is an understatement. There are many states I have decided in my 3 trips driving across the country that I couldn’t live in. I could live in Colorado – but only if it was in the mountains. Anyway, we drove through some impressive snow-covered tunnels. The thought of how much weight was above us was a little daunting, honestly. Truly amazing feats of engineering. We passed through Vail, Colorado, where there were still skiers going down the slopes and lots and lots of snow. Even the road was a bit slushy, so I felt bad my mom had to do all that driving. There was a snow-filled rest area at the summit. I would have loved to stop, but the kids were asleep. And everyone knows you don’t sleeping babes when driving across country! Plus the traffic was nasty due to the slush, so getting back on the interstate would have added un-needed stress. It sure was pretty, though.

During my mom’s stint of driving, I texted my friend April who was headed to Denver from Alabama.  And it just so happened they were going to spend the night in Colby, Kansas.  Which was right on our route – and was actually one of the towns I’d been contemplating for our stop!  So guess what we did :)…  We stayed in the same hotel!  Super-duper awesome.  Of course, before the awesomeness could begin, we had to actually make it to Colby.  We went through Denver at a non-rush hour time (yay!) and then we hit Eastern Colorado.  Which is boring and flat (my apologies to anyone who loves that area, I just don’t).  We stopped in some random place either in Colorado or Kansas.  There weren’t any convenient rest areas, and it was time for the kids to get out.  Plus I needed to get gas.  I want to say the town was Deer Park or something like that.  Anyway, I asked the convenience store clerk if there was a public park nearby.  She told me there was and how to get there.  So we found it (it was a very small town) and we unloaded and put the kids out in the grass.  Just as we were sitting down to relax for a bit, the wind started blowing.  And sand and dirt were going everywhere!  So that ended that stop, much to my children’s chagrin.  We found our way back out on to the Interstate and watched the dark clouds roll in behind us (thankfully we missed their storm).  But oh my goodness.   The wind.  The wind in Kansas is like nothing I have ever seen before.  I can’t even tell you how many tumbleweeds we hit, because I lost count.  It’s a little alarming, at first, to see these big balls rolling across the road in front of you, and you have no choice but to hit them.  Thankfully, they are light and wispy and it is nothing to hit them.  But until you realize that, it’s a little scary!  We had to pull off again at a rest stop for the kids, since our lunch stop was so short-lived.  We just got to a rest area that was ahead of the storm enough that we felt we could spend 20 minutes or so there.  So we did.  I think that was the last one before we hit Kansas.  The wind, though.  The wind just did not stop.  It was unreal.  I can see why tornadoes are spawned in states like Kansas. 

We finally made it to Colby around 4 p.m.  True, we could have driven further, but then we wouldn’t have had the enjoyment of a night with friends.  Plus, we’d already planned to stay the following night with my dear friend Ladonna in Fort Leavenworth, and there was no way we could make it that far on Tuesday night, so going further would have just meant a very short day on Wednesday.  So I think opting to stop in Colby and stay in the same hotel and Greg, April, Bennett, and Eleanor was the way to go!  We got settled in our room, got showers, and waited for April and family to show up.  They got there after 6.  Turns out the weather coming from their direction was awful.  She said at one point, there was so much dust in the sky, they had a hard time seeing to drive.  And they were pulling people off the highway going in the other direction (apparently closing the Interstate in this part of the country is a common occurrence).  So I’m grateful they were able to make it!  They got settled, and we met up in the lobby and headed to dinner!  It was so nice to have friends to enjoy dinner with.  Though my Lynnaea was a bit naughty during dinner.  She was just up running around a lot and had to be reminded constantly that she needed to sit.  Of course, it didn’t help that both Lynnaea and Bennett wanted macaroni and cheese, and they had sold out of it shortly before the server put in our order.  Blah.  We visited for a while and then knew we had to call it a night when the kids got to rambunctious.  We drove back to the hotel and made plans to meet up for breakfast in the hotel the next morning.  

Wednesday morning we had a leisurely time getting ready.  Then we all headed down to eat breakfast.  And, of course, to take our group picture!  I mean, how often to you run into a dear friend in Kansas when neither of you lives there!?!  Then April and her family headed for Denver, and we headed for Fort Leavenworth.  We had extra time, since we were only going to the other side of the state, so we decided a good place to stop for lunch was Rolling Hills Zoo.  It was a totally worthwhile stop, let me just say.  The zoo also had a museum, and that had a little room for kids full of stuff to do.  It was a weekday, during the school year, so we had the place to ourselves!  It was awesome!  We saw a few animals in the zoo, and Lynnaea fed the swan.  But we didn’t see everything – or even most of it.  Even so, we were still there so long that we ended up getting to my friend Ladonna’s house around 6 that evening.  We also had to stop for a 15 minute break, because Corbin was screaming bloody murder at one point.  Bless his little heart.  Thankfully that only happened twice on this whole trip, because it was unpleasant, to say the least.  But we made it to Ladonna’s house, and she fed us and we visited.  I hadn’t seen her since 2010, when she and her family drove through Bremerton.  It was awesome to see her again.  She was one of my Young Women leaders in Panama (many moons ago), and we have managed to stay in touch all these years, which is just awesome.  I so appreciated her letting us crash at her house.  When you have two kids, both of whom are very young, it’s not always the most convenient thing.  Especially when your house isn’t baby-proofed anymore, since your own kids have grown up!  So I appreciate so much that we could stay. 

Here's Lynnaea on a metal statue at the zoo ;).  Also a picture of her looking at some very real looking robots in the museum part of the zoo.  They freaked her out.  A lot.

Thursday morning we had to say our good-byes to Ladonna.  She had to head to work (which we made her late for…).  We headed out and got to driving.  We drove around St. Louis and saw the Arch from the road.  Though I had contemplated seeing it, apparently it’s under construction, so there were extra rules – and Ladonna said there is a lot of crime in that area.  So we skipped it and just drove on.  We stopped at a Chick-Fil-A for a late lunch/early dinner.  And then we pushed on to Paducah, Kentucky.  I have to say, my kids were amazing.  We drove about 8 hours most days with only 2 or 3 stops.  They really were troopers, and I know they don’t have a clue now how much that helped me.  But I’ll be sure to tell them in the years ahead, when they will understand more.  We got settled in Paducah and took Corbin’s 10 month pictures!  Because he turned 10 months on the road ;). 

Friday morning, we ate breakfast, and packed up.  I was pretty sure we could make it to Dothan that day.  Jeremy had his doubts, but I told him I thought we could.  So we aimed for it.  I told him if we didn’t make it, we’d stop in Birmingham and stay with friends.  We crossed over the Alabama line around lunch-time, so we stopped at the awesome visitor’s center with the shuttle.  We stayed there about an hour letting the kids explore.  Corbin goes straight for sticks and rocks…  It was chilly and windy (the way Alabama should be ;)).  We got pictures, of course.  We decided not to stop in Birmingham, though it would have been nice to pop in and say hi to April’s daughter Courtney.  But the timing of things meant if we didn’t keep going, we’d hit rush hour in Montgomery, and we just didn’t want that!  Especially on a Friday.  So we kept on going.  The kids were ready for a break, so we finally stopped in Troy at a Chick-Fil –A so they could play in the play place.  And then we pulled the last leg to Dothan.  Jeremy was beyond happy to see us.  The kids were happy to see their daddy.  And we were all happy to be done with the driving!

I’m sure I missed a lot of details, but what can you do?  It’s been over a month since this journey, and memory fades.  But it was a better experience than I could have hoped for.  I’m so grateful for my mom who traveled with me.  So grateful for the blessings from Heavenly Father of safety.  So grateful the van had no problems (the day we moved out of the apartment in Washington, it didn’t want to start and stay running – which had never happened before).  And grateful for the tender mercies of being able to see loved ones along the way. 

The Journey East: Part 1

Hard to believe it's been a month since we started our crazy road trip to Alabama.  And I'm just now sitting down to try to document the trip.  I'm sure I'll have forgotten many details, which is a total bummer.  But life continues marching, and I haven't had the time.  And even now, I'm going to do this in installments. 

Also, my dad probably doesn't look at my blog much anymore, now that he sees us in real time.  So my readership has probably dwindled to zero anyway.  Blogs don't have the popularity they once had, and yet I still enjoy updating mine.  When I get around to it ;).

So we left Bremerton, WA on Saturday, April 2.  We had spent the previous two nights at Jeremy's parents' house, since we had to vacate the apartment by March 31 or pay for the full month of April.  Jeremy left early early on the 2nd as well.  He was picking up his brother and the moving van full of stuff (which had been parked at his brother's house all week) and they were getting on the road.  I was taking it a little slower, because I had a 9 month old and a 2 1/2 year old.  They don't make moving fast very easy.  So we got packed up, picked up my mom, dropped off my library book (which I had just finished that morning -- it was a great book I wanted to finish before leaving!) and got on the road. 

And we drove.  We took I-90 over the Snoqualmie Pass (which had some snow on the ground in places, but nowhere convenient to stop for the kids to play in it).  It was pretty, though.  I'd never driven over the pass when there was snow on the ground (not on the road, just on the sides).  We stopped after about 3 hours of driving.  Took a couple pictures that didn't turn out that great.  But hey, that's okay.

 This was at the first rest stop, somewhere in Washington.  And that may be the worst selfie ever.  I guess I needed a selfie-stick.  But Corbin's face just cracks me up.

 Our second stop was somewhere in Oregon.  This grass was crazy tall.  The kids were just so happy to be out of the car.  Lynnaea climbed a tree and Corbin tried to conquer the grass.

 We made it to Baker City, OR that first night, which was our goal.  I went and grabbed Subway for dinner and brought it back to the hotel.  No need putting the kids in the car again.  They were soooo happy to be out and free.  Meanwhile, Jeremy had made it to somewhere in Montana by that first day.  And they kept driving.  We, however, felt it needful to stop every night.  and believe me, with two kids...  It was needful.

Day 2 took us all the way to Provo, UT, where we got to see Brad and his family.  That was probably the hardest day of driving for me.  My mom drove in the mornings, and I drove in the afternoons.  For whatever reason (partially the lack of sleep the night before), I was really struggling the last hour of the trip.  Yuck.  But we made it.  I envied the kids ability to sleep in the car ;). 

We stayed with Brad Sunday night and most of Monday.  We took the kids to the park, played a game, watched part of The Hallelujah Trail and slept like rocks.  All of us did. 

 This was on Monday, on the way to the park.  And then Corbin doing what Corbin does best:  putting stuff in his mouth.  Love this picture of him though.

 Lynnaea loved the park and playing with her cousin Vivienne.

 On the way back to Brad's, they held hands a lot.  It was cute.

 The weather was nice in Utah while we were there.  Snow on the mountains and a beautiful view.  But Utah living is not for me.

 Me, Brad, and Corbin.  Brad's been through quite a lot this past year.  If you aren't sure of what all went on, feel free to ask.  I love him lots.  Also, I'm not pregnant in that picture.  I just look like it.  Boo.

 We managed to make it into Colorado on Day 3.  This was a cool view.  But overall, it was dry and grey and blah.

 I'm pretty sure this was in Colorado -- or right before the Colorado border.  Crescent Junction rest area (I think).  It was a pretty cool view.  We spent a while at this rest area to let the kids stretch their legs. 

Then we continued the haul into Colorado and into Glenwood Springs, where we stopped for the night.  That was our latest night driving, but since we'd left Brad's much later than originally planned, I wanted to make up for the time.  The hotel owners were really kind and hospitable.  Though it wasn't the ritziest hotel we stayed in during our journey East, it was clean and the fact that the people were so kind and helpful made all the difference.

Alabama 2015: Part II

In an effort to post my 2015 trip before 2015 runs out, I'm sitting in bed typing this at almost 10 at night.  I may choose to be less wordy.

Here are a couple pictures of us hanging out outside at my dad's house.  The weather was so perfect.  The kids loved being outside.  Lynnaea loved seeing all the bugs (centipedes and beetles and ants) roaming in the grass.  Corbin loved trying to eat leaves.

 Super happy boy!

 We headed back to Birmingham on Friday, the 20th.  It was mostly so we didn't have to do a ton of traveling back to back with the kiddos.  So we made the most of the rest of our stay with my dad.

 Then we started packing.  Lynnaea played outside while we packed.

 Corbin checked out more leaves.

 And tried to eat them some more.

 Lynnaea's got better taste than her brother...  She was sticking with the THRIVE Snackies.

 We snapped a few pictures outside my dad's house before we went.

 I love this picture :).

 On our way back, we swung through Montgomery and met up with Julia-Ann.  I'm so glad it worked out where we could see her this trip!  We got to see her cute library and then we hit up Chick-Fil-A.  Mostly because it has a play place, and it's a great way to let Lynnaea get some energy burned off before we get back in the car.

 We got back to Julie's and unpacked once again.  We hung out and Jon grilled burgers.  Yum.

Saturday morning, we all went to Cracker Barrel!  It was a fun time!  Greg and April and family plus Jon and Julie and family plus us!  The only downfall was that we couldn't all talk together.  A huge round table would have been way more fun.  Ah well.  It was still awesome.

 Greg and April and the littles went to Jon and Julie's house that evening too.  We watched the Alabama Football game (they won) and ate football food.  We all made different things.  Do delicious!

 We got pictures of these two cuties:  Corbin and Eleanor.

 We snapped a picture of the three of us gals.  And then we had to say good-bye to April and Greg :(. 

Sunday we went to church at the Alabaster Ward.  They invited us to move there and go all the time ;).  In the afternoon, we went to a park in Hoover and met up with my friend Patrick.  Got to meet his two cute kids. 

Then we had to start packing.  And getting prepped for the next full day of travel :(.  Boo.

So Monday morning, we took some pictures.  Corbin is awesome.

 We love Julie and Jon.  We so appreciate all they do for us every time we visit.  Julie collected a ton of baby stuff from people she knows so that we would have what we needed for our Corbin-roo.  Traveling with kids -- especially a baby -- can be a challenge.  I so appreciate how much Julie and April did for us to make it easier!

And then we flew away.  We got back home about 11 our time (which made for about 13 hours of travel time for our little family).  The kids did great.  We were exhausted.  But it was worth it. 

Until next time, Alabama.  Stay sweet ;).