Disneyland 2010

What an adventure we had at Disneyland this year! We are so lucky to have my amazing brother, Dave, that gets us into Disneyland for free! It makes an otherwise very expensive trip actually affordable for our family. Soooo nice!!

Let me just start out by saying that these pictures may be a bit deceiving. In the past we have had nothing but amazingly fun days filled with excitement and laughter from our adorable children. Their energy and excitement is non-stop and we continually push our out-of-shape selves to keep up with their enthusiastic wonder. We all have a blast and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

This trip, however, was a bit tougher. In fact, it was just plain hard at times due mainly to our sweet little boy-child that we have, in the past, referred to as Captain Grouchy (or Captain Happy if you want to be sarcastic). We have determined that our Corban must be allergic to California because he didn't seem to be "right" the whole time that we were there. My brother, Dave and sister-in-law, Julie, probably don't have a good opinion of any of our kids after this trip, but for us Corb was especially hard to deal with.

So, with that said, (and no more negativity in my blog post) here are our happy pictures of our few days spent at Disneyland. This is my favorite picture of all of us waiting for the tea cup ride to start. Everyone's personalities are just shining!

When we got to the park we took Quincy to the little toddler potty's in the park's Baby Center at the end of Main Street. She was thrilled to have "little potty's" just her size and we didn't have a problem the rest of the time with having her go to the bathroom. Then we went to meet some of the fairies in Pixie Hollow. I wondered how Quincy would be with meeting the characters, but when she saw Rosetta and went running right up to her as fast as her little legs would go, I didn't worry any more. She was so excited to meet any and all of the characters that she could.
After the girls each got to meet Rosetta then they went and met Tinker Bell and Terrance. Thank goodness Terrance was there, because that was the only way we were able to get Corban to even be in the picture. All the fairies had little jackets on because it was a bit chilly while we were there. I didn't mind because it made them a bit more modest then they normally are. :)
After a few rides we headed over to California Adventure to see the Bug's Life stuff and then the girls and boys split up. The boys headed out to do some "boy rides" and get some lunch and the girls and I headed to Ariel's Grotto for lunch with the princesses. Ariel's Grotto might be an expensive lunch, but worth it to me to get to see 5 princesses and not have to stand in line to meet them. The girls were in heaven and I really enjoyed the lunch myself. We got to meet Snow White, Aurora, Mulan, Cinderella and, of course, Ariel.


I love this picture of the kids waiting for their turn on the tea cups. Overall the lines were not very long. That's the joy of going while most people are in school. I have sworn off Disneyland during the summer! It's not worth it to even go when the lines are so ridiculously long! In fact, we even got to stay on the Winnie The Pooh ride and go on it again there were so few people there at the time.




We ended the experience by taking a trip back to 1986 and boy those were some memories! Disneyland brought back the 3D show Captain EO for a limited time in tribute to Michael Jackson. I wondered if the kids would like it, and I shouldn't have worried, they thought it was awesome. And, I have to admit, so did I. What a classic!

We left the next day and drove the entire way to Utah in one day instead of splitting it up between 2 days. We were absolutely amazed that our little grouchy Corb was an angel through most of the drive. That's how we decided that he is just allergic to California (I hope he doesn't get called on his mission there :) I think that the kids were so tired that, in a way, they were grateful to have the excuse to just sit the whole day. And everyone took a nap in the car, which you have to understand, is a very rare thing for any of our kids to do. None of them sleep in the car!

I am both happy and sad to be home. I don't want to just get back to every day routines, I love vacation! But at the same time, routines are so good for the kids. Quincy is back on a really good potty schedule and Gabby and Corb are back in school. Everyone is happy and the house is peaceful. Was it a good vacation? Definitely. I would do it again even with the hard stuff we had to deal with!

It's that time again

Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was so nice to, first, have Bump sit with us instead of up on the stand and second, he didn't have any extra Sunday meetings. The kids just thought that it was great that they got to spend extra time with their dad on a Sunday. After the Sunday session we had a relaxing afternoon at home.

Relaxing until for some reason, Quincy decided that she doesn't like having a wet diaper and kept coming up to me every few minutes complaining about her diaper being wet and asking me to change an almost dry diaper (comparatively speaking). Well, those are the famous last words that every parent waits for to let them know that it is time for potty training. So, even though I didn't have potty training on the agenda for this busy week, I have dropped many things (namely my sanity and my housework) to be at the beck-and-call of my 2 year old potty princess.

At our house we have the kids go pretty much commando at first and Quincy was not too happy about that. She kept bringing me her diaper and pants and begged me to put them on her. I must say that it was a pretty rough day yesterday, but she only had one accident and that was when I let her put on some of Gabby's underwear and then got busy with other things - dang it! I put her little potty in the living room so she could sit in front of a movie and be a little distracted until the urges came and the realization and acceptance of what was happening had a chance to sink in.

She fought it a bit at first, but then loved the attention and treats she got for going potty. We figured out by the end of day one that she really preferred stickers to treats, and I didn't mind that one bit! She complained a bit this morning about not having a princess potty to use so I told her that she could decorate her potty with the stickers she earned. That seemed to make everything okay and so much more exciting! She also L-O-V-E-S, loves the Japanese Potty Training Video on YouTube that I used when potty training Corban (see here, please note that I changed the lyrics when I sang it to her). She asks to watch it all the time and I swear to you that it totally works to help them understand! Crazy!

Today was a much better day. She is actually getting it! I am still surprised as I am typing this at how great the day ended up being. When I dropped Corb and Gabby off at school I took Quincy and let her pick out some of her very own princess panties. She held them through the whole store and wouldn't let them go until we got to the register. She has earned a lot of stickers and by this afternoon was actually looking forward to going to the bathroom (both numbers 1 and 2)! I mean, how cool is that?

Hopefully, tomorrow will be even better and we will end up having one of the smoothest potty training experiences EVER! And this is coming from my most stubborn child! Whoa!

Here's a few pictures for posterity! :) In the first one she doesn't look happy, but I kind of caught her off-guard. I just wanted to post this picture to show you how excited the other kids are for her. They have been cheering, encouraging and praising her right along with me and have also wanted to see every result of her *cough* "work."

And here is the potty princess herself. Notice the new Aurora panties she is modeling, as well as all of her stickers adorning her otherwise plain potty. And, yes, it is in my living room. Whatever works, right? Here's hoping. . .

Jake, Feb 1998 - Feb 2010

The greatest dog in the whole world - Jake, died today, very unexpectedly. To help me deal with my own sadness I just wanted to do a little tribute and remember a big part of our little family.

I know that some people can be really freaky about their dogs and I don't feel like I was one of those people, but I am surprised at how much his death has affected me. We got Jake about 8 weeks after we were married in 1998. Bump has teased me for years that when Jake dies our love dies, because he was born right about the time we got married. I really hope that isn't true or this post announces the end of our marriage together! :)

Jake was an awesome dog right from the start and we have had more people than we can count tell us that if we ever needed to get rid of him that they would love to have him. He had a bladder of steel and I can count on one had the number of house accidents he has had since he was house trained, and those were only when he was sick. People joke that he was like an "only child" for 6 years until we had kids and, I must say, that he took a back seat when the new little ones came along and really became the family dog. But the kids loved him and we both loved him very much.

His death was very sudden, and in many ways that is better, isn't it? We wouldn't have wanted to watch him suffer. He was old. We knew that the time was coming in the next few years, but overall he was a really healthy dog. He was acting like he wasn't feeling well and has been sleeping more in the last few weeks. We were gone most of the day today. When we got home he walked very slowly outside and went to the bathroom, like the good dog he was. When he came back in the house he just stood looking at Bump and Bump could tell something was up. So he made Jake lay down and held him. He started having a hard time breathing and within 15 minutes he was dead.

Gabby was very sad and said that she prayed that Jake would get feeling better and he didn't. I explained that now he is feeling really good in heaven and that is how Heavenly Father answered her prayer. She wouldn't be calmed until I told her that Jake was playing with Adara now and just think how much fun they are having together.

We buried him by the side of our house where we will plant grass this spring. We couldn't have asked for a better dog and companion for the last 12 years. We will miss Jake so much, but are so glad that he really didn't have to suffer in the end. He always loved to chase lights and especially loved the flashlight. We always joked that when Jake died he would see the light and just run toward it as fast as he could. I bet that's exactly what he did. :)

Here are some fun pictures of Jake over the years. What a good dog!

Finished Fireplace

I finally grouted the fireplace tile last night and now I can show finished pictures of our work! But, first a little background.

When we bought our home 2 years ago I knew that there were missing tiles on the fireplace hearth and was anxious to do something to complete the fireplace. We had thought about ripping out all of the tiles and just replacing them all, because I honestly don't love them. We call them our cow tile, and I am sure you can see why. Well, after thinking more about it we realized that we needed to try and keep as much of the original things of the house as we could, because at this point so many of the original things are already gone.

Then we had to try and find something that matched our cow tile and could somehow blend seamlessly into the rest of the fireplace and not look out of place. That is where we have been stuck until last month when I was determined to get this project finished! Here are before pictures of our fireplace.

Last month we went to a tile store to check out our options and found some marble that I thought would work well (compared to everything I could see). The problem was that we were limited by a few things. First, the original tile was glazed and had a very nice shine to it, so we needed a tile that had a glossy finish. Next, the colors of the original tile are very unique. You can't tell by the picture but the background is white and then it has the brown color that you can see, but it also has a faint light teal-blue color throughout the background also.

We ended up finding a creamy colored marble with a nice shine and we thought it would work because some of the brown on the tiles would fade into tans and creams as it met with the white background. And really, nothing else even came close to being able to work. The problem was that every time I would look at it laid out by the original tile I just didn't love it. It would have been fine, but just not what I thought was right. The photo below shows a piece of the creamy colored tile in the "during" process of the fireplace re-do.
So, we began in earnest prepping the area to lay down the new tile. We borrowed a diamond bit grinder from a neighbor because we needed to smooth out the cement to have a level foundation for the new tile. We really underestimated the mess that the grinding would make! Holy Cow what a mess!

We hung sheets up over the parlor opening so the dust would remain mostly in that room and removed several things from the room and covered the rest, but that fine little dust found it's way into everything!! Below is a picture on the front porch of us trying to clear out some of the dust through the windows with box fans. It was so thick at times that I was afraid someone would think our house was on fire and call the fire department.
Here is a picture of the floor when we were finished grinding and ready to clean up the mess! And boy did it take a long time to clean up all that dust! I mean it was in every crevice even in all the texturing on the walls! Definitely NOT FUN!
After everything was prepped and ready to tile I had a thought about what kinds of tile they would have used 100 years ago. Most antique things that use marble use the classic white marble, right? So, as I thought more about our tiles I decided to go and check out the more white marble tiles to see how they would look. The problem is that usually the veining in the marble is grey and I didn't know how that would look with our brown tiles.

So we needed to get some things from Home Depot anyway so while we were there I checked out their marble selection. As I was looking I noticed the box right on the very front of the white tiles had brown veining in it instead of the usual grey! I couldn't believe it! The nice tile guy that worked there helped me pick through all the tile until we found 2 boxes that had brown and tan veining instead of the grey. I couldn't believe how perfect it was and I was absolutely excited to get home and get that awesome tile in!

Then came the process of figuring out the pattern. We wanted to incorporate some of the original tiles with the marble to blend it into the surround and look like it had always been that way. It took quite a few different layouts until we got just exactly the right diamond pattern with an original tile border that fit the space perfectly! I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am with the way it all turned out! You would never know that this wasn't how the fireplace looked when it was originally built 100 years ago! That is a success indeed! Here are some final pictures that I took this morning. I noticed when I look at the pictures that you can't really tell that the veining in the marble is brown. It looks a bit grey, but pictures never to things justice anyway do they? It looks even better in person! I am just so glad it's finally finished!

The Last 12 Years

Saturday we celebrated our 12th Anniversary. We spent the day tiling our fireplace hearth (which I just need to grout and then I will take some pictures) and then went out to dinner. I have been thinking about all that we have done in the last 12 years and came up with a list of a few fun things.

We have lived in 9 homes (2 of them we owned).
We have moved 12 times and lived in 4 different states (Utah, Vermont, Colorado and Idaho).
We have lived in 8 different wards (some multiple times) and 1 branch.
We have owned 5 cars and driven several work Land Rovers.
Between the 2 of us we have had 15 plus jobs since our wedding and countless callings in the church.
We have been to 36 out of 50 states. And have gone fishing in 18 of those states.
And we have had 4 kids in 3 different hospitals.

Kind of fun! Here are a few random pictures from the above mentioned list.

Colorado

Nice rainbow trout caught (by me) on the Colorado River

Photo Shoot on the Blue River outside Breckenridge, CO

New Years Eve in Nauvoo, IL (2002)

New York City after September 11th

Moving from Vermont to Colorado through snowstorms

Our 5th Anniversary, celebrated at Ullr Fest in Breckenridge

Salt Lake Temple grounds for my brother's wedding

Our home in Vermont

Our house in Idaho after we painted it for our landlord

Our current, awesome home in Grantsville

In the hospital in Idaho after Corban was born

In the hospital in Ogden after Quincy was born

We have had so many fun memories over the last 12 years and look forward to many, many more years ahead together! I wonder what the next 12 years will bring? I know there will be a lot less diapers involved! :)