Pack up the babies and Grab the Old Ladies...Everyone goes!

Catch up time.

We went on our air/road trip.
Day 1: We flew to San Francisco. Early. Thought the kids would sleep on the plane. Ha! They fell asleep as we were landing. Got picked up by my brother Michael. He drove us to his house in Sunnyvale. Went to check out Google - it being the place of Michael's employment. Will was thrilled to discover that Google employees have more toys than computers. At Michael's desk he found a light saber, a skateboard, and a cardboard fort. They also had a ball pit. And lots of snack bars and beverage coolers where everything is free. They also have a free gourmet cafe, but it being Saturday the cafe was closed. Then we went to lunch and thought about why we hate eating out with children. Then we went back to Michael's house with the thought that the kids might take a nap (yeah right) and Will played Rock Band and Asteroids for a while. After several hours we paid Michael (mostly...we'll get the rest to you shortly!) for his second car that we had flown in to buy from him and drove to the hotel. We stayed at the Santa Clara Hilton for $55 plus tax (thanks Priceline!). We went and got something to eat at In-N-Out and then planned to get back together with Michael, but the kids were already overtired so we just went back to the hotel. For unknown reason there was a fireworks show that we could see perfectly from our window. End day 1.
Day 2: We got up early and drove into San Francisco. We were worried about traffic so we wanted to leave plenty of time and ended up getting there 2 hours early for our ferry to Alcatraz. So early in fact that we waited in line to get on the ferry and when the lady checked our tickets she told us we weren't on that ferry and to wait for the next one. Alcatraz was pretty interesting, but Will got bored of the hour long self-guided audio tour in about 4 minutes. He did okay until the last 15 minutes when he started screaming like something possessed, which was rather conspicuous in a room full of silent people trying to listen to tour through headphones. We took the ferry back and wandered around Pier 39 until we found somewhere to eat. Will's behavior had not improved during this time so after eating we found a tiny playground and let him burn off some energy while we waited for it to be late enough to check into our hotel. Then we saw the sea lions and walked to the hotel. We stayed at the Fisherman's Wharf Hilton for $70 plus tax (thanks again Priceline!)...found out that to park at the hotel for 1 night was $36 (could have mentioned that Priceline!). The kids were asleep when we got there, but it didn't last long. After sitting around for a while we went out to take the trolley. This is when things turned into more of our typical vacation. The end of the trolley route was right next to our hotel. My mom had told me horror stories of trying to ride the trolley with my pregnant aunt and having people just rush in front of them and actually knock my aunt down and walk over her in an attempt to get on the trolley. That was 25+ years ago. Michael had assured me that now they had lines and it wasn't just a free for all so we figured we would take Will to ride a historic San Francisco cable car. There was indeed a line. A long line. We patiently waited our turn as the cars came about every 20 minutes. We were getting close to the front of the line and figured we had about 1 more car to wait and then it would be our turn. There was a little souvenir shop about 10 feet away from us so Bryce ran in to buy Will a little trolley car. As he was paying a second trolley pulled up right on the tail of the other trolley car that had just pulled out. The paying process was going slowly so rather than get on the car without Bryce, I stepped to the side and let people go past. By the time Bryce came out the car was completely full so we said "That's okay, we'll just wait for the next one." So we are now first in line. Yay, we can get good seats. About 15 minutes later a trolley pulls up. Now at the front of the trolley there are bench seats which face outward. These are the good seats. The bad seats are located inside of the compartment on the car where they smash about 30 people into an area that is about 5 feet by 6 feet. But we are first in line so we will get good seats. So once the trolley comes to a complete stop, Bryce heads around to the other side of the car for a coveted outside bench seat. After about 2 steps we hear someone yelling after us "Hey! You have to bring your strollers back here!" So Bryce stops to hand me the umbrella stroller to give to the employee guy. When he turns around the good seats are taken. So we head to the back of the trolley. Also taken. So we give up on "good seats" and try to go inside the compartment. Full. Meanwhile the employee sees the predicament that has occurred as a result of us stopping to give him the strollers so he says "Come on. I'll get you seats." So he looks down at the closest people and says "Stand up. These people are sitting there." Although he spoke quite clearly the people just stared at him and squished over to create about 2 inches worth of space which apparently Bryce and I and the two kids were supposed to sit in. The employee was in the process of again telling them to stand up when I said "Can you just give us our strollers back and we will wait for the next one?" The guy assures us that he will get us seats and once again tells the pretending-they-don't-speak-English folks to move. I was feeling like we were kind of creating a scene so I said again that we would just take our strollers and wait. The employee got us our strollers and demonstrated how when the next car came we should hold them out to act as barricades while we got on board. Please note: all the people in line can see and hear this whole scene. So we get off and stand in line (once again). We are first in line (once again). This time we decide we aren't going to lose this game again so we step out from the covered boarding area and stand a few feet up the sidewalk so that we will have faster access to the far side of the trolley when it arrives. After another 15 minutes or so a trolley pulls in. Before it has even stopped moving, the woman standing in line behind us darts out in front of the car causing the driver to yell "Hey! Don't walk in front of the train!" We, being obedient type of folks, stay put. Not this lady. She continues running and climbs on board the bench seat on the far side of the car. Our seats! (in case you didn't catch that). Not only does she sit there, she spreads her arms and legs out in an effort to save the entire bench for the rest of her party. We did, at least, get an outside seat...but I spent most of the ride thinking of the unkind things I wanted to say to that woman. Like "Excuse me Ma'am. Did you fail to notice that we were in line in front of you? Did you fail to notice that we have been waiting for 2 cars now because people pushed in front of us last time? Did you fail to notice that we are also dealing with a toddler, a baby, and 2 strollers?" or as Bryce said "Too bad the train didn't hit you." (No, he didn't say that to her.) To counter my disgust, I should mention that a lovely couple named Abby and Steve from Chicago stood on the running board and rode on the side of the trolley right in front of us. They talked to the kids and gave some restaurant recommendations. We spotted them walking a few blocks ahead of us about an hour after we got off the train and after a while they saw us too and waved and said hello. The world needs more Abby and Steves and less crazy trolley women.

Moving on. Our plan was to ride the trolley back to our hotel since we had gone quite a ways, but we wanted to check out China town so we started walking. And kept walking. Have you seen those pictures of San Francisco with the roads that go up hills at like 45 degrees? We were conveniently downhill of all of those hills and therefore walked up them...pushing strollers...I think I almost died. Will was throwing a temper tantrum because he kept insisting that Bryce let go of his stroller and "let it go by itself." No amount of explaining would convince him that letting go of the stroller would result in one long downhill roller coaster ride ending in death. We found the Chinese restaurant that the hotel had recommended and waited in a long line before having the inspired idea that maybe we could order take-out instead. Bryce went in and discovered that yes we could order take-out. Unfortunately they told us 10 minutes and it took more like 45. During which time Sawyer was doing some unearthly screeching and alternating between throwing his arms in the air while arching his back and throwing his entire body weight backwards into my face. I'm sure everyone was sad when we got our food and left. Please note crazy child in picture below. We couldn't figure out a good way to catch a ride back to our hotel so we kept walking. We walked through the Little Italy area and bought desserts and kept walking. We did eventually make it back to the hotel. Nothing fazes Bryce (I think he is one quarter Pack Mule), but I think my legs will never be the same again. We ate Chinese food and watched the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics.

Day 3: We got up and walked down to Ghiradelli Square. I really wanted an icecream sundae for breakfast, but decided against it after buying a whole bag of chocolate. Should have gotten the icecream sundae. Still thinking about how delicious it looked. Dang. We went back to the hotel, loaded up, unloaded Will and went back in the hotel to go potty, and drove out of San Francisco towards Eureka, California. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (we must have been lucky because it was hidden by fog and I hear that hardly ever happens...) and found Highway 1 which goes right along the coast. I think possibly it should be renamed as Highway Vomit or the Motion Sickness Scenic Byway. I lasted about 30 minutes before I made Bryce pull over. I took 2 Dramamine (too bad they take about an hour to work) and then tried to survive the next 30 minutes until we could get off that road and find Highway 101. We drove through Humboldt State Park and saw some huge redwoods, but managed to drive all the way through it before realizing that there would never be a "you are now entering the park" type area...so all we did was drive through it. Well, Bryce did pull over and take a picture or two of Will with a big tree lest we have nothing to show for our redwood efforts. We might have turned around and gone back, but we planned to also visit the Redwoods National Park so we figured we might as well just keep going towards Eureka. We got into Eureka a little before dark and found our hotel. We stayed at the Econolodge for $50 (not so much thanks for that one Priceline!)...I'm pretty sure $50 was an increase over their regular nightly fee.

Day 4: In the morning we checked out historic downtown which has a lot of fancy victorian houses and old book shops and stuff. Then we loaded up and headed north. Again. We came across this fellow with his giant ox -Bryce and Will are sitting on his boot. We planned to spend the afternoon visiting Redwoods National Park (as previously mentioned). I guess we are suckers for signage because once again we expected some sort of "Welcome to the National Park...here is a map...here is all the cool stuff you should see...and don't miss the gift shop!" sign. After several hours of driving our atlas appeared to confirm that we had managed to drive through the entire park and were now some ways past the end of it. Hmmmm...I didn't think you could hide giant trees that well. After a bit of a discussion about the proper way to plan a vacation we stopped at the Crescent City visitor's center and went in to get some information. The visitor's center was staffed by two elderly women and Will immediately began telling them all about our drive from "EurekaCalifornia"(he seems to think it is one word) and finished off his little narrative by stating that "Mommy was yelling at Daddy in the car and driving him crazy." He always takes Bryce's side. See if I make you a Halloween costume this year kiddo! His little pronouncement is funny now, but wasn't really at the time. Everyone needed a break so we let the kids play on the nearby playground for about an hour. Then I dragged Will into the visitor center bathroom (tried not to make eye contact with old ladies) and told him he needed to go potty before we got back in the car. At which point I discovered he had already gone potty in his pants. Disgusting. I didn't even have the diaper bag with me so the only reasonable option seemed to be to throw the offending underwear in the bathroom garbage, clean Will up, pull his pants back on and take him out to the car to find some new clothes. Did I mention that as Will was telling the ladies about our drive, I had been signing the guest book? So I'm sure those ladies have a really high opinion of a certain family from Utah. After leaving the visitor's center we drove to Jeremiah Johnson State Park and saw some more giant trees. This park was the setting for a scene in Return of the Jedi--I learned that from a pamphlet. The kids were both asleep in the car and the mosquitoes were terrible so we just took turns taking a quick look around and posing inside of giant trees. Then we got back on the road and drove to Springfield, Oregon where Bryce's sister Becky lives.

Day 5: We visited the Eugene library, ate burritos at Laughing Planet, got an eclair from The Sweet Life Patisserie, and let the kids play at a park. The times the kids were playing at parks were the only times they were behaving so we saw several parks during our trip.

Day 6: We drove to the Oregon coast (more Dramamine for Erin) and after one false try found the ocean. Dramamine pretty much puts me into a coma so I dozed on a blanket while Will ran around on the beach with Bryce and Sawyer ate sand-covered snacks including a piece of pb&j sandwich that had fallen in the sand about 3 hours earlier that he dug out and popped in his mouth before anyone could stop him. Then we ate at Mo's by the water and drove back.

Day 7: We went swimming at a local pool and then ate at a Mexican restaurant. I stayed at Becky's condo with the baby while Bryce, Becky, and Will went and picked blueberries from a farm and blackberries from the side of the road. That evening we visited some of Becky's friends who have a few kids. Will was thrilled to see toys again.

Day 8: We searched out a store called Real Deals that I had heard about online. Sawyer was asleep so Bryce stayed in the car with him, but Will was restless so he came inside with me. The store had a kids play room so Will happily amused himself in there while I looked around. That lasted about 5 minutes. Then I heard him calling for me and answered him saying "I'm right over here." I turned around to see him running towards me with legs spread about 3 feet apart yelling "Mom, is there a potty here?" It was clearly too late for a potty so I went and got the diaper bag and herded him into the bathroom where I did my best to get the situation cleaned up. Disgusting. Note to self: limit quantity of berries consumed by potty-training toddler. I had forgotten to pack a change of clothes and we were on our way to the Eugene Saturday Market so rather than driving all the way back to Becky's condo we stopped at the nearest Wal-Mart and bought him new pants. Did I mention there is no sales tax in Oregon? Ask Bryce how much I liked that. We met up with the same friends as from the previous night and saw all the wonders of the Saturday Market. Never fear, the hippie culture is alive and well. Then we went back to Becky's condo and hung around for the rest of the afternoon before Bryce and I decided that we should run to the grocery store to buy some food for the car ride since we were leaving in the morning. The grocery store was right next to a dollar store and I thought it would be a good chance to pick up some toys to try to entertain Will during 2 days worth of driving. After some quick shopping we got to meet a firetruck...and an ambulance...and a police car, but you'll have to ask me personally for that story! Note to self: 2 places we can't return to- Crescent City, California and Springfield, Oregon.

Day 9: We got up, loaded up, and headed out. We had mapped out the most direct route on the atlas and planned to take a mountain pass even though I was afraid it would end up taking longer than staying on the highway that appeared to go up and around and avoid the mountain. The pass turned out to be a good plan and at the top of the mountain we were surprised to find huge lava fields. Don't you think they might have mentioned that on a map?! I just kept thinking that whatever mountain man first discovered that area must have been wandering along through the forest and then stepped out of the trees and thought "What the?..." There was an observatory you could walk up to that pointed out various craters and formations in the lava. I took Will up with me and there was snow whirling in the air which led to him declaring "It's snowing! Now Santa can bring me more presents!" I hope it doesn't snow very many times before Christmas. We drove the rest of the way to Winnemucca, Nevada and found the Red Lion Inn . . . which (at first anyways) was nicer than expected (thanks Priceline). We went to McDonald's for supper after Will saw it and asked to eat there and we said no and he very cheerfully said "That's ok! We can find somewhere else! Like another McDonald's!" He was so cheerful about it that we gave in and took him there. He played in the playground for over an hour and was joined for half the time by three 13 year old girls who humored him by playing hide and seek. When they left he yelled "Wait!" and ran out and gave each of them a hug and kiss. I think we need to have a stranger danger discussion soon. We went back to the hotel and told Will he could stay up late (thinking it would lead to him sleeping in the car the next day...ummm no, no it didn't). The kids finally went to sleep and in the middle of the night Sawyer woke up screaming. Sawyer never wakes up crying at night. Will always does. Never Sawyer. This night, however, Sawyer was screaming his little lungs out and would not be consoled. Bryce thought he might be hot so he took off the sweatshirt and pants Sawyer had been sleeping in. When Sawyer still wouldn't calm down I went into the bathroom and flipped on a light and saw some kind of bug bites on his stomach and back that hadn't been there previously. Draw your own conclusions. He eventually calmed down and went back to sleep in bed with us. Will also insisted on sleeping in bed with us. This was the only hotel during our trip which gave us a room with only 1 bed. When Bryce asked for a 2 bed room they told him that we had booked our stay through another company and had to request room assignments through them...even though our confirmation printout from said company says explicitly to speak to the hotel directly for things like bed requests. Upon returning home we also found out that my sister Megan and her new husband Chad had stopped at our hotel that afternoon before our arrival and left a note for us at the front desk, but they never gave it to us. (Megan and Chad were on their way back to Idaho after their belated wedding reception in California.) So the Red Lion Inn exceeded my expectations upon arrival, but had succeeded in disappointing by the time we left.

Day 10: We got up (not very early...since no one had slept much) and drove home. For unknown reasons, Will called me "Mother Duck" the whole way home. At home we found that my sister Mollie (who had been staying at our house while we were gone) had cleaned pretty much the whole house which we had left in a state of late-night packing disaster. Over the next few days we also discovered that she had cleaned our fridge and freezer and washed Will's drool-marked sheets. My brother Kyle had also managed to figure out how to change the batteries in our garage opener (a task we've been needing to do for at least 3 months). Someone had also put up streamers and had a vase of fresh flowers on the kitchen table (I'm guessing Mollie, but Megan might have been involved as well). I guess we should leave more often.

Roadtrip complete.

Pictures are on the other computer so I will have to add them tomorrow. Since getting back I have...not finished unpacking...and not accomplished much of anything really. We did go to the State Fair on Saturday. And I did almost succeed in ruining our printer. Whatever you might read on the internet DO NOT try to print directly on to freezer paper with a laser printer. Bad things will happen.

PS: The pictures from the second half of the trip are apparently, once again, on the other computer...so they will have to wait...some more.

Attention Walmart Shoppers

Just got back from Walmart where I picked up 13 little boy shirts and 8 pairs of little boy shorts for $21 plus tax. All of the boys summer Garanimal brands shirts and shorts rang up at $1 a piece. Considering how Will treats his clothes, $1 an item is about what I prefer to spend on them! Whatever your feeling about the super-duper-mega-run-mom-and-pop-out-of-business-chain store, you really can't beat the prices. And since I'm lame and clearly don't do very exciting things, finding $1 clothes to keep my kids decent next summer makes me kind of happy.

I think we'd be friends

I came across this after clicking on a link on my cousin's blog. Now you can come across it too. Warning: unless you live in the heart or some other vital organ of Mormondom you probably won't think this is as funny as I do. It will also help if you've read a few blogs broadcasting from one of the afore-mentioned areas.

http://www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

More later about the road trip...recovering today.

The Latest and Greatest

I took the boys for their check-ups and found that both are holding steady on their respective ends of the growth charts. Will is almost off the top of the height chart and Sawyer is almost falling off the bottom of the weight chart. The little guy is in the third percentile. I thought it was interesting that starting at age 3 they calculate a child's BMI--so I now have statistical proof that Will is not overweight...because I was really concerned about that...rriiigghhht.

We have started potty training week and thus will not be leaving the house for several days. For some reason Will only remembers to use the toilet when he is buck naked...so that is how he has been for 3 days now. He is doing pretty well except for when he pees on things for his own amusement. This morning he peed down the ramp of Sawyer's toy car garage.

Last weekend we took the boys to the zoo and to Wheeler Farm. Megan and Chad came with us. Unfortunately, both places were having events that day so everything was extremely crowded. The only place that was pretty empty was the farm part of Wheeler Farm. I guess everyone else was over at the carnival and car show. This is how Will reports on the trip: "My favorite animal was that grill slot that just sleeps in the basket all day and then the black guy went and got in a truck and the white guy had a gun." Translation: Will liked the girl sloth (not sure how he concluded it was a girl sloth) at the zoo which was sleeping in a hammock. At the Wheeler Farm carnival he saw Darth Vader, but Darth went and got in a truck before he could get a picture with him. Will did get his picture taken with a storm trooper with a gun, however. Sometimes I worry about what people must think when Will tells his versions of things.

Anyone have ideas of fun things to do in the San Francisco, northern California coast, western Oregon region? We are headed there in a week and a half and not sure what to do. We will be picking up the car that we are buying from my brother and doing some vacationing and driving home.

Sawyer's new record, which was set yesterday, is 17 baby steps. I was watching the Olympic women's gymnastic finals and thought that if I was really creative I would do some kind of video montage contrasting those girls flipping and flying all over with little Sawyer trying his hardest to take a few steps and stay upright. Who is working harder do you suppose?

So I have never done blog tags because this blog is (theoretically) about the children, but I was recently tagged and since I don't have much to say today maybe I will sneak it in here.
Three joys:
1. Watching Will dance
2. Watching Sawyer walk
3. Reading a good book with a bowl of ice cream on the couch with a blanket after both the kids are asleep-- aaahhhhh...
Three fears:
1. Tornadoes. Not sure why. I have nightmares about them frequently. Will never live in the Midwest. Let's move on.
2. That someone will break into my house some night when Bryce isn't home and I will be stuck upstairs with no way to escape or to get my kids out. Now you won't be able to sleep the next time you're home alone with the kids either!
3. Highway driving. Specifically merging onto the highway. I would much rather drive at home back East than in Utah. Here people seem all too eager to run you off the road while shouting "See you at Church on Sunday!" No offense to any Utah drivers reading this. I'm sure it doesn't apply to you.
Three current obsessions/collections: (Good thing it says current because these change frequently leading to closets and storage boxes full of half-finished projects...but please don't raise the subject with my husband)
1. Watching the Olympics at night after the kids go to bed and in the process staying up way too late
2. Letterpress printing...where can I take a class? anyone? please?
3. I couldn't think of another one so I asked my husband what my obsessions are and he said "being right and being right." I don't really think I'm obsessed with being right though...I just happen to always be right. Not my fault really.
Three surprising facts:
1. I play the saxophone.
2. I have made over 50 citizen's arrests.
3. I had a fiction piece I wrote published 2 years ago (I won't go into details because the reality is definitely lamer than whatever image you conjured in your head when you read that.)
I tag...my husband. Ha!

And now for some pictures. (There is only 1 picture of Sawyer because he was hot and tired and cranky and crying all day...which I didn't feel like documenting.)

Will fought the duck...
and Will won.
Just kidding. See they aren't even the same color. Really. That one was like that when we got there. I swear.

Happy (belated) Birthday Boys, but not you Boy Scout

Alert! Do not attempt to read this entire post unless you have a.) 2 hours of free time with nothing better to do b.) severe insomnia c.) a fetish for long boring blog posts or d.) some kind of craziness like the child pictured below.

The weekend after getting back from Connecticut we headed to southern Utah for Bryce's family reunion at which the boys got to ride a horse. Some of the boys enjoyed it more than others.


Both my boys are one year older...and maybe a little wiser too. Will and Sawyer are 2 years and 2 days apart. We were spared from having back to back birthdays thanks (ha!) to a doctor who gave me enough drugs to delay labor just enough that Sawyer wasn't born until 2 in the morning on the next day. So we get one day off in between birthday celebrations.

We told Will that he could choose where he went to dinner on his birthday and he, of course, chose Chuck E. Cheese. In the morning he helped me make muffins--or "nuffins" as he calls them. Then I had to take Sawyer to BYU for Part II of the study he was in (more on that later). After BYU Will requested to go to the library so we stopped in there and Will proceeded to grab every book within arm's reach. There was absolutely no discrimination in his book snatching. Thus, we ended up with about half of his selections in Spanish and a book about getting ready for baby. The Spanish books might be alright except Bryce makes fun of me for trying to read them with my French pronunciations. Will also ended up with The Potty Book for Boys which is his new favorite. We read The Potty Book for Boys about ten times a day. Number of times Will uses the potty in a day = zero. He completely understands the concept, and knows full well that he is supposed to use the potty, he just doesn't feel like doing it. Instead he prefers to do things like pee on the entertainment center...which I found out about when he told me "Mom, I peed on the entertainment center! Look!" and yes, yes he had. He is also fond of telling me things like "Mom, I went stinky in my underwear. You need to change me." Sorry to gross you out. I write this for posterity's sake...or blackmail...depending on how things turn out. We have tried the whole reward system. He just plain doesn't care. Have you ever seen the show John and Kate Plus Eight? When they were potty training their three boys they gave them a mini-M&M every time they used the potty. One mini-M&M. I can't even explain how not motivated my child would be by a nearly invisible piece of chocolate. I can't understand why not because we definitely do not eat chocolate very often in our house. I mean, I have never found my child hiding under the high chair with a half-consumed king-size chocolate bar that he found who knows where because if I had known where it was it would have been gone a long time before.

Back to Will's birthday. While at the library, the kind library lady informed us that they would be starting a puppet show outside in ten minutes. So we checked out our books and went outside. When the show started they asked if it was anyone's birthday and then they sang Happy Birthday to Will...leading Will to believe that the entire puppet show was staged in honor of his birthday. Which I let him believe, because hey who is it hurting if I take a little credit for the birthday puppet show?

When Bryce got home we went to Chuck E. Cheese with my mom and my cousin Melissa and her daughter Chloe who were staying with us that week. This time Will was really into the games. The last time we were there (after the Bar Exam) he only wanted to play in the playground and go on the rides. This time it was all about the games. He especially liked skee ball. Will fell asleep in the car on the way home, but we woke him up because as luck would have it the ice cream truck was going by our house right as we pulled in the driveway. So Grandma bought him an orange ice cream since orange is his favorite color. We came inside and sang to him and let him blow out his candles and open presents. He had no interest in his cake and no one else really wanted any either so we just put it away and saved it for later. Well actually Sawyer really, really wanted some cake but I made him wait for his birthday.Here is Chloe at Chuck E. Cheese (above, not below, below is a boy contrary to the opinion of the waiter at the restaurant last week).
Should it disturb me that the first thing my child did upon arrival at Chuck E. Cheese was run over and grab a shot gun and cock it? Because it does.

So back to the study at BYU for a moment. I got a phone call from the BYU infant and development lab and they asked me if I would bring Sawyer in for a two part study on infants who have been determined to be exceptionally gifted. Just kidding. It was just a study on 1 year-olds. I had to take him in two days in a row for 15 minutes each. The second day I had Will with me because they had assured me that there would be people to watch him, but as it turned out there weren't people to watch him so they said he had to come in the testing room with us but that he couldn't make any noise. Riiiiggghhhttt. Will doesn't believe in quiet so he made a great deal of noise and Sawyer spent the whole time looking at him instead of the video he was supposed to be watching. After a while they announced that the test was over and let us leave...but I highly suspect those test results were going in the garbage. Oh well.

The following day Bryce had a work party at Boondocks Family Fun Center where Megan and Chad are working for the summer. They got off duty right when we got there so they bought passes and joined us for the evening. Will really wanted to go on the bumper boats so we waited in line and then right when it was our turn someone on one of the boats sprayed us and he refused to go on. So we got out of line and went and stood in the go cart line instead. Once again, when it was our turn he got nervous about the noise and didn't want to go, but Bryce took him anyways and he ended up loving it. He wasn't technically tall enough to ride as a passenger, but he was pretty close so Chad talked to the supervisor and got permission for him to go. Then we played a round of miniature golf and then we went home.

The next day was Saturday and Sawyer's birthday. We had a cookout up the canyon with my mom, Megan, Chad, Kyle, Melissa, Chloe, my cousin Liz, and my Aunt Karen and Aunt Joyce (who were in town for my grandma's funeral). We brought a little cake for Sawyer and we also brought Will's cake with us since no one had taken even a bite yet. Will was unimpressed with the idea that it was anyone's birthday besides his own. When we got Sawyer's cake out Will started singing "Happy Birthday to Will" over and over. Unfortunately, as soon as Sawyer saw Will's cake he became obsessed with getting his hands on it and had no interest in his own puny cake and much crying ensued. Sawyer reached out and touched his cake and got frosting on his fingers and then totally flipped out. I tried to put a piece in his mouth to show him that he would like it, but he threw a total tantrum and never even had a taste of his own birthday cake. I think the week had been a little too festive for his taste. Will, of course, "helped" Sawyer open his presents and then "showed him how to do it" i.e. Sawyer saw only a fleeting glimpse of all of his toys before Will absconded with them. Will got Hot Wheel Crashers, the Penguin Race, a Lightning McQueen towel and ball, and a kiddy swimming pool for his birthday. My mom gave him Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz on dvd because he watched them at her house over the summer. The Wizard of Oz came in a collector's set with Goonies and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I told Will that those two movies might be a little scary for him now so he keeps telling people that "when he gets a little older he can watch Goonies and Chocolate Factory." Sawyer got a car garage (he always wants to play with Will's and Will won't let him touch it), some clothes, and a giant dump truck.

Will wearing the "party clothes" Megan made him. It is kind of a long story. Just check out Maisy's Amazing Book of Words the next time you are at the library and you will be mostly in the know.

Will had his friends birthday party a week later. He had four kids from the neighborhood over which was just the right number. It was incredibly hot and we do not have a speck of shade in our yard. We set up some kiddy pools and a sprinkler and bubbles and called it Lightning McQueen's car wash because Will requested a Lightning McQueen party and I am not very creative and couldn't think of things for 3 year olds to do. Even with the water the poor kids were boiling!

Sawyer was sick all of last week. He had a fever for 4 days so I took him to the doctor's office and waited an hour before asking how much longer it would be and discovering that there was some miscommunication and they had never marked down my arrival and the doctor had gone home. Frustration. Luckily they had another doctor there who was able to see us and looked Sawyer over, swabbed his throat for strep, determined that he did not have strep, and told us it was most likely just a virus and to wait for it to go away. I knew that was what they would tell me and I would have skipped the trip to the doctor's and saved myself $20 and 2 hours of time if I hadn't been nagged by guilt for three days that he might actually have something wrong with him and I was just letting him suffer. The next day the fever was gone, but he had a lovely rash all over him that just went away today. I have to take him back to the doctor's tomorrow for his 1 year check-up. Will also has his 3 year check-up tomorrow. So that should make for a fun time since they'll both be getting shots.

I think that pretty much brings us up to date. Some random extras...
- Yesterday we drove by the local high school and Will declared "That is England. Aunt Mollie is in England. There are scary guys in England. Aunt Mollie likes scary guys." Aunt Mollie is in fact in England...the second part is possibly true too.
- The other day Will went upstairs to my bedroom. I asked him "What are you doing Will?" He said, "I needed to show the Roomba something, but he didn't follow me."
- I got the movie The Red Balloon for my birthday and Will and I watched it for the first time a couple days ago. Surprisingly, Will watched the whole thing and he burst out in tears when the boy popped the balloon at the end.
- Will told me that he needed to use the computer to "pay his bills and e-mail his friend." I asked who his friend was and he said "Aunt Mollie" (he really misses Aunt Mollie). I was letting him type a comment on Aunt Mollie's blog and all of the sudden he says "Uh oh. Um. I've got some bad news here guys!" I said "What happened?" and looked over and saw that he was now on the Firefox home page. He said "Um. I was typing and I clicked on something and it transformed."
- I heard Will telling Sawyer the other day that something was "NOT appropriate." It went something like this, "Sawyer, don't throw toys...that is NOT appropriate Sawyer!"
- Bryce put Will in time out for something and Will kept screaming "This is really not fun!"...then I put him to bed later and he was whining and told me "This is really not fun Mom. I'm miserable." He has a tendency to be a little dramatic.
- Will has started saying "actually" about 2 times per sentence. He tells me things like "Actually Mom, I actually do like chicken nuggets."
- Will says "amn't" as a contraction of "am not"...like "Will you are being awfully bossy." "NO I AMN'T!"
- Sawyer says "Ah!" So Sawyer doesn't really say much. I'm sure he's gifted in other ways.
- Like standing for instance. He now stands up for long periods of time and he broke his own record today by taking 4 steps in a row.
- Sawyer fell asleep in a sad little heap against the bathroom door while I was showering.

The pictures are with my new fancy-dancy camera that I finally bought after not buying it in NYC. I have no clue how to use it, but it is fun anyways. Oh yes, speaking of NYC...if you recall reading about how Bryce had to go to the emergency room in Connecticut and spoil all of our night-without-kids fun...he got an e-mail a couple days after we got home informing him that it had been determined that the water supply at Scout Camp had been contaminated during the time he was there (2 days before going to Connecticut) and that anyone who had become ill should be tested for e.coli and giardia. Thank you Boy Scouts of America!



While out to lunch the other day, some random people told me that my son (this one) "looks exactly like" me. I wasn't sure what to say...."thank you"?

Please pick up your phone and call now

For just a dollar a day you can make a difference in the life of this child.

Ilene Adelaide Hunt Hurst

September 24, 1917 - July 10, 2008

My grandma passed away yesterday. She had a massive stroke at the end of May and never regained very much use of her body or the ability to speak. The last year was hard on her. She broke her hip, went through rehab, and moved back home only to break 2 vertebrae a short while later. The pain medication from the spinal problems about did her in, but she improved and moved to an assisted living apartment which is where she was when she had the stroke. This time last year Grandma was still living on her own, driving occasionally (yikes!), and planning her 90th birthday shindig.

If you couldn't guess, Grandma was extremely independent. Even when forced to use a walker after breaking her hip, Grandma wouldn't let anyone else do even small things like taking a plate back into the kitchen or putting the newspapers in the garbage. Two summers ago after Grandma's first spinal fracture I planted a small garden in Grandma's yard thinking it would give me an excuse to go up and check on her every other day. Most days when I stopped in she was out working in the garden, watering or pulling weeds, which wasn't the point at all! Grandma did, after all, hold the record for swimming the longest length of time underwater as a girl in Bluff.

When Grandma had to stay in the rehab unit after breaking her hip she complained that the other people there couldn't even carry on a conversation about current events. Grandma watched the news every night and kept up on politics. It wasn't unusual to find some article that had interested her taped to the hallway wall. This past winter Grandma frequently lamented that she did not have the energy to go out and do her own Christmas shopping. Even if someone else volunteered to do the shopping, Grandma insisted upon going along so that she could pick out her own gift for whatever the latest occasion was. Christmas, birthdays, new babies, graduations -- Grandma recognized every event and accomplishment. I think my favorite gifts from Grandma were when we had a vacation planned to go out west. Grandma would send us a note with some money in it "to buy souvenirs." For little kids who never had any money of our own, being entrusted with a sum of cash to use for whatever we wanted was quite a novelty. I know I used mine one year to buy a little cedar treasure box from a gift shop at the Grand Canyon.

Grandma was at my high school graduation, my wedding, my college graduation, and my law school graduation. She visited me in the hospital when both of my boys were born. When I came to BYU I didn't have any of my family nearby. Grandma took me in and frequently invited me up for dinner or offered to take me and whatever cousins happened to be in town out to dinner. She had me and Bryce up for dinner when Bryce and I were just dating and was impressed because Bryce did the dishes afterwards. Grandma couldn't stand to have visitors in her home and not offer them something to eat and drink. No matter how loud and long we insisted that we weren't hungry, Grandma would go into the kitchen and start baking some cookies, or put a frozen pie in the oven, or bring up sodas from the downstairs storage. When my brother Evan came out to do a term at BYU, Grandma treated us all to chair lift rides at Sundance and rented mountain bikes for Bryce and Evan. In her younger years, I suspect she would have been riding down the side of the mountain as well if she'd had the opportunity.

When I brought my babies to her house to visit, Grandma always wanted to hold them and would rock them and sing them lullabies. Will especially loves visiting Great-grandma's house. He knows where all the toys are and knows he won't get in trouble for dumping them all out in the living room and then racing cars around on Grandma's glass coffee table. Grandma was even gracious when Will puked concord grapes all over her dining room floor. I tried to clean up and rushed him home. Grandma called first thing the next morning to see if he was feeling better. On another occasion, Sawyer was really fussy when we were at Grandma's house because he was overdue for a nap. Grandma was concerned even though I kept saying that he was just tired. The next day Grandma called just to make sure that Sawyer had recovered and was feeling better. One time when we visited Grandma brought out a new toy she had purchased so that "there would be something interesting for Will to play with." One of the buttons made a doorbell sound effect which on more than one occasion caused Grandma to open the front door for nobody.

On one of our family vacations out west, my parents took us to go see some Indian ruins they remembered going to when they were dating. We eventually located the ruins, but getting to them required crossing a rope and board bridge over a river and then crossing a large expanse of plain before we could reach the cliff in the distance. We had made it about halfway when we came to a barbed wire fence marked with frequent no trespassing signs. We stood around wondering what to do until Grandma grabbed hold of one of the no trespassing signs and pulled up, creating a gap between the wires and instructed us to "Go through right here."

In her later years, Grandma was constantly frustrated by the limitations of her aging body. Grandma, I hope you are enjoying life without physical restriction...and I hope you didn't have to cross any "no trespassing" signs to get there!

[I've been trying to get a few more pictures on here by stealing them from my brother's website, but it is not responding so I will try again later. I know I had pictures of Grandma holding both Will as an infant and Sawyer in the hospital, but I think they are on my dead laptop because I can not find them.]

(Pineapple) tidbits as Mollie would say

So I still haven't gotten around to getting the pictures and videos up on the last post . . . but here are a few random items.

My mom watched the boys for us while we went to NYC. At some point she told Will to do something "in the meantime" (I don't remember the details). Will responded, "No Grandma! Not in the meantime. In the happytime."

Last night I woke up to Will screaming. This happens at least 3 to 4 times a week. I went into his room and asked him what was wrong. He stopped screaming long enough to tell me: "That teddy bear ATE MY MP3 PLAYER!" I told him that his MP3 player was safe downstairs, but he kept sobbing and added "Nacho took it out in the street and it was tied round and round a truck and he gave it to the teddy bear to eat it" followed by more wails. So these are the horrific nightmares of an almost three-year-old.

Celebrations....waning.

So since my Mom's birthday which was mentioned in the last post we have celebrated my birthday, my brother Kyle's birthday, Megan's wedding, my anniversary, Megan's Connecticut reception, and the 4th of July. We also had the quarterly Enrichment meeting for the women at church. Still to come within the next 11 days are Will's 3rd birthday and Sawyer's 1st birthday. And I just remembered I still haven't made a doctor's appointment for their yearly check up...hmmmm.

My birthday was on a Sunday this year which is always a little disappointing - I'm sorry but it is true. Bryce and I went out for dinner the night before and I kept pestering him and saying that I would like to have dinner with my family on my birthday. Growing up we always had birthday dinner as a family and afterwards was when you opened presents and ate cake. I happened to have quite a bit of family in town at the time so I wanted to take advantage and relive the tradition. Bryce was acting less than enthused about the idea, but since I didn't want to be disappointed I kept mentioning it repeatedly. After birthday dinner on Saturday night I said "So don't we need to go to the grocery store if we are going to have family over for dinner?" and Bryce agreed. He bought a bag of chicken and when I asked what we were going to have with it he said we could have some frozen broccoli and rice or something. Which was fine with me (really!). On Sunday a.k.a. Birthday morning Bryce had a meeting which took an unusually long time and when he got home he asked me if I wanted him to make me breakfast. I informed him that I had already eaten since it was almost 11 o'clock. Waiting for food when hungry doesn't bring out the best in me. We went to church at 1 and when we got home I opened the front door and saw that the table was set all fancy for dinner and there were birthday balloons. I thought Bryce must have sneaked (okay I had to try snuck and sneaken before I found one that wouldn't get underlined) back home during church and set it all up but then my little sisters and Mom jumped out and said surprise and I found out that my sister Mollie had already had the dinner planned as my birthday present...explaining Bryce's less than thrilled attitude towards my dinner demands. We had salads like at Costa Vida with tortilla, chicken, beans, lettuce, and cilantro-lime rice with tomatillo ranch dressing. She used the recipes I got from my friend Joanna when she did a cooking demo at Macey's grocery store and it is amazingly delicious. I think it is the only meal I make that tastes as good as a restaurant. I will have to put the recipes on here and you can all (all 3 or so of you) try it and you can worship the name of Joanna with every bite like I do. So I had dinner with Megan and her fiance, Mollie and her boyfriend, my brother Kyle and my Mom and then my cousin came over to have cake with us. It was really nice. I think birthdays have the unfortunate potential to be really disappointing so I am happy to say that what I expected to be a rather lame Sunday birthday turned out to be quite enjoyable. Thanks hubby and family!

The next day was Kyle's birthday. My mom came over to my house to bake a cake and used Mollie and Megan's standard chocolate cake recipe...which I had tried to bake last year for his birthday and failed miserably at. I felt a little better this year when my mom had the same troubles I did. Turns out the recipe is altitude dependent and prefers to be baked at sea level. I frosted the cake and with enough frosting you can make pretty much anything respectable. That evening we took the cake to Kyle's apartment where Kyle had so kindly provided his own gallon of milk to go with the cake and a package of birthday candles. We watched Kyle open presents including the Wii Fit from Mom and Dad. Unfortunately Mom left before witnessing Kyle do the hula hoop exercise which I will try to post here.

On June 17th we traveled to Idaho in preparation for the wedding the next day. The flowers were purchased in Provo and brought to Idaho in a cooler and then transferred to a hotel mini-fridge. Unfortunately the mini-fridge would more accurately be called a mini-freezer and we discovered the next morning that the $15 orchid for the bride's hair froze and then once exposed to room temperature turned brown and fell apart in about 30 seconds. We also lost the red and yellow rose petals that were to decorate the luncheon tables to this identity-challenged fridge but luckily the other flowers were in a different fridge and were spared. The wedding was in the Rexburg temple at noon and it being a brand new temple with what I assumed would be brand new sealers (people who perform the wedding ceremonies) I expected the ceremony to take about an hour. It took 11 minutes start to finish. This should have given us an advantage in getting set up for the luncheon that was scheduled at 2:30 in the BYU Idaho gardens. We took pictures outside of the temple and then everyone took off towards the gardens. I stayed at the temple to help Megan with her dress while she took pictures. I headed down to the gardens at about 2...which proved to be more than the 3 minute walk I was told to expect. When I got there none of the decorations were up and I was told that, despite my mom getting 2 confirmation e-mails and going to talk to the people in person the day before, when she arrived at the gardens there was not a table nor chair to be seen. When she telephoned to inquire as to why the tables, chairs, and linens which were supposed to be set up at 11 were conspicuously absent at 2 she was told that they "had no order for her." Some tables were eventually located and the catering staff graciously helped with set up, but it was kind of frantic. The luncheon was in full sun which caused the guests to use their dinner napkins as protective headwear. Mollie and I got ridiculously sunburned...which of course was in the nasty blistering, peeling stage just in time for the Connecticut reception. Seven days before the wedding in Rexburg it snowed with a high of 45 degrees so I guess we shouldn't complain about the sun.

We drove back to Utah after the luncheon because Bryce had to be at work in the morning...and there really isn't a lot to do in Rexburg anyways. That Saturday Megan, Chad, Mollie, the boys, and I were scheduled to fly from Salt Lake to Laguardia (NYC) and then we planned to take a shuttle and train to get to Connecticut. (The tickets to Laguardia were about $150 per person cheaper than flying to Hartford.) The morning of the flight Delta called and said our flight was delayed and would be leaving 2 1/2 hours late. I found this highly irritating and got in "lawyer-mode" as Mollie called it and called Delta to let someone have it. I was surprised to find them extremely accommodating and offering to get me on any other flight. They suggested a few other flights to Laguardia with layovers (we were supposed to be on a direct flight) and I told them that was not acceptable because I was flying with young children and had purposefully purchased a direct flight. I told them that I was actually trying to get to Connecticut and maybe they could fly me to Hartford instead. Which they, amazingly, readily agreed to. Then I told them I was traveling with 3 other people and they agreed to rebook them as well. Since we now had a layover I also told them I wanted a golf cart thing to take us to our connecting flight and they agreed to that as well. So in the end we got on a flight to Hartford and avoided the whole shuttle, train situation and the flight attendants were very attentive the whole way. Delta's willingness to meet my demands was cleared up a bit when we found that our flight which was originally delayed 2 1/2 hours was later delayed 4 hours and then 5 hours and then canceled all together. So luckily we got put on a different flight before all the other people that waited until the flight was canceled to find some other alternative. The moral of the story is...even when you don't expect any results it is always a good idea to call and chew someone out...at least you will feel better...right? is that a moral? or immoral?

The reception in Connecticut was on the following Tuesday and was perfectly fine which was surprising considering my mom and I made the wedding cake and my sister and I did the bride's hair and I have no experience with either of those things. My 6th anniversary was the day after I flew to Connecticut so Bryce and I didn't have a chance to celebrate. I decided to look into getting a hotel in NYC as a delayed anniversary celebration. I found what was theoretically a 4.5 out of 5 star two blocks from Broadway and after hemming and hawing booked it for one night. Nonrefundable. Bryce flew to Connecticut a week after I had left and got in late Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon he commented that he felt achy all over which I attributed to his long day sitting on a plane and train. By Sunday night he had a headache and went to bed early only to be up all night throwing up. Which I was blissfully unaware of having retreated to another bedroom at the first inkling of germs. Bryce woke me up at 6 a.m. and after trying unsuccessfully to locate a walk-in clinic I took him to the emergency room in Middletown. We probably would have been totally ignored, but it was still pretty early and the nurse seemed a little concerned because his pulse was 130 and he had a fever. They got him in a room, gave him 2 liters of fluids over the course of the next 5 hours, gave him a prescription for antibiotics and an anti-nausea drug (coincidentally the same one I was on the last time we were in CT...which was 1 1/2 years ago when pregnant with Sawyer) and sent us on our way. Bryce spent the rest of that day sleeping. Of course, you may recall the nonrefundable hotel room which I had booked for the next day. Given the laws of my universe it was, of course, mandatory that someone end up in the emergency room when there is a nonrefundable hotel room booked within the next 24 hours. So we left the kids with my Mom and went to New York City the next day anyways with my purse full of prescription drugs. We stayed at the Royalton which I'm not sure was 4.5 stars-worthy but oh well. (I booked the hotel on Hotwire so we didn't know what hotel it was until after we paid for it.) After checking in at the hotel we headed to the South Street Seaport to get half price Broadway tickets for a matinee the next day. The selection was unimpressive so we ended up with "premium orchestra seats" for the Phantom of the Opera which I had already seen. After buying tickets we headed straight to B+H Photo to purchase the digital slr which Bryce funded as my birthday/anniversary present. My older sometimes-photographer brother had pointed us towards B+H for the best prices on cameras, but when we got there we found that the camera I planned to purchase was discontinued and the new model was $200 more than I had planned to spend. A phone call to brother revealed that the new model could be had from Amazon for $50 less anyways so we left empty-handed. Which was particularly sad because I didn't bring a camera to New York thinking that I would be able to take pictures of our getaway with my new fancy-dancy camera. After that we spend forever trying to find somewhere to eat dinner. In fact, probably 80% of our time in the city was spent trying to find somewhere to eat. We weren't even being overly picky...we couldn't find any place that served food! At one point we thought we found a deli place but they informed us their grill was already closed (at about 5 p.m.). After finding somewhere non-memorable to eat we went back to the hotel since Bryce was still not feeling too great. The next morning we checked out of the hotel and wandered around for a while before our show. Our "premium orchestra seats" turned out to be under-the-mezzanine-and-the-last-2-seats-on-the-far-right-side-of-the -theater seats so apparently "premium" means "what no reasonable person would pay $60 a piece for which is why they are still available the night before this performance". The cast was having difficulties as well. The conductor kept sticking his hand up out of the pit and trying to get them to come in on time or stay in time to the music. They had good voices but the acting was about small town high school or perhaps Primary talent show level. Then the girl sitting behind me decided to sing along and I thought I might have to kill her or perhaps drug her with my purseful of prescriptions. After the show we walked around playing the find somewhere to eat game and ended up at that truly unique New York eatery known as McDonalds. Then we found some trinkets to bring back for the boys and went back home. This was our first night away from children since Will was born (except for the Bar Exam which I do not count because I try not to think about those 2 days in general). I do not write all this to complain, I write it simply to explain our Dickerson family motto: "We're not cynical, just realistic."

On the 4th we went for an "adventure" as Will called it. We drove to the neighboring town and checked out an "archaeological preserve" that neither my parents nor I had ever heard of despite living 5 minutes away for over 20 years. It was the remains of some old factories. Afterwards we went out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant (God bless America!). We didn't see any fireworks since it was rainy and overcast and we were busy packing up to leave.

We flew back to Utah on the 5th. Our flight was out of Laguardia so we had to leave my parents' house at 3 a.m. The kids did sleep in the car, but after arriving at the airport at 5 a.m. both kids managed to be up until 10 p.m. Connecticut time.

We had some friends bring us our car at the airport and they washed and detailed the entire thing inside and out while we were gone. Can you believe that?! After eating lunch with them we headed down to Payson to meet up with 2 of my former roommates and their spouses and kids. It is so nice to hang out with people who you've known long enough that there is no awkward conversation-making and you can just laugh and relax.

And that brings us up to today. I will add pictures and video tomorrow hopefully, but I figured I better get this written or I never would. If you made it all the way to the end you deserve some kind of award. I, shamefully, don't keep a journal so this is the only record of my comings and goings.