Snowbird

My family had a timeshare at the Iron Blosam, and every year we'd head up there in June and swim, hike, play bingo, and hang out in the game room, scavenging quarters from the machines. I have fun memories of the friends we had there and the beauty of being up in the mountains, but still close to home.

We went a couple of weeks ago with our family. I thought the trees would be bare, but I was so happy to see how beautiful everything was. It smelled so good! We had fun playing on the playground in the dark, and being spooked out by some racoons. My kids loved playing board games in the room and eating plenty of junk food. We swam in the pool and looked for animals. The best thing about Iron Blosam is all the fun little activities they have scheduled. I love bingo especially. Miles and Elise both won bingo twice, so we were lucky! We even went to church at the Snowbird Center. You don't even have to dress up, it was "come as you are." Kinda cool.

I remembered why we don't have a TV on our main floor, or cable for that matter. Disney channel was starting to get me in a very bad mood. Thankfully I had a good book to rescue me. My family used to have a one room place with two queen beds and just a bathroom. No kitchen, no privacy, nowhere to escape. I don't know how my parents handled having 6 kids bouncing around. Maybe they did a lot of reading too. I think I'd need a bigger room if we were going to stay a whole week. This mama gets a little cranky without some quiet and alone time.

My favorite was we took the kids to the ropes course and the bungee trampoline thingys. They loved the ropes course. And we had to stand in line for an hour for the bungee trampolines--Miles looked so mad, I had to get a picture of his little pouty face. So we got to watch a lot of kids just bounce, and nothing else. My four kids got to go all at once, and it was a proud mom moment. They were doing double and triple flips, even Simone. It was a beautiful little fall getaway.

Another Brother for the Winger Kids

We had our ultrasound today. It was the perfect ending to a fun weekend up at Snowbird. We went to the mall so we could find out extra early what we are having. I've never been one to like waiting to find out. I even rip open a tiny bit of my Christmas gifts if they are sitting under the tree too long, so you know waiting just isn't my thing.

The ultrasound tech is totally sure it is a boy, and it certainly seemed obvious in the pictures. I've been thinking this was a boy since this pregnancy was a lot like my pregnancy with Miles. I was absolutely exhausted--which I never had any of with my girls. And I didn't get sick until much later, and it wasn't like throwing up daily like I had with my girls, but more of a once a week or so kind of thing. And I have felt so good. No moodiness or crazy hormones. It is wonderful.

I told Jared's dad back in September that I was about 98% sure it was a boy. But right after I said that I started thinking that maybe I was wrong. I love little girls and the thought of another girl baby just makes me happy. But I know how much Miles has wanted a brother all these years and how sure he was that it was a boy, and it made me sad to think of the disappointment he'd have if he missed out on brotherhood. He has a really sweet relationship with all his sisters, especially Simone. But I'm glad he'll get to experience having a brother.

It was so fun to see the baby kicking around in my belly. He was putting his hand in his mouth and moving all over. The kids loved seeing how this tiny baby was so active already. I love having that little window into the womb. It makes me feel like this is real.

We have a couple of names in mind. One of them is a bit different--but I think we are all leaning toward that one. I'll have to share when I think of a good middle name. We've always done family names for middle names, and nothing seems to go with any of the first names we like. So we'll just have to see.

Elise is Twelve!

I officially have a "young woman." Lol. I know how much I LOVED being called that when I was her age (just kidding, I hated it.) I am so excited to have my daughter in Young Women's with me. She is officially a Beehive. Since I am a Beehive Advisor, this is a really fun thing for me. I think she was excited to miss being the tallest one in the primary program at church.

I've still got Elise by about a quarter inch, since I've grown 3/4 of an inch since college. She is officially 5'4" and we are hoping she gets to at least 5'7". Feet don't seem to be growing anymore, and at 9.5, she is happy about that.

What has changed the most about Elise this summer is she outgrew her shyness. It happened literally overnight it seems. Last year, she spent a good part of each day reading. She talked very little to the kids in her class. Although she was very outgoing around her close friends. Her teacher mentioned to me at both parent teacher conferences that Elise rarely talked and that he couldn't really tell what she was thinking, and he didn't think she was really close to any of the girls in her class.

I talked to her a bit afterwards and asked who she played with at recess, etc. She named some girls from school. So we invited them all over for pizza and smores. And with a whole bunch of girls from school over, suddenly we got a bunch of boys showing up to hang out with the girls.

Ever since that day, we've had a steady stream of friends hanging out at our trampoline. And Elise is not shy anymore. At our first parent/teacher conference, for the first time ever, we found out that Elise talks a lot at school. Having some of her best friends in class is probably a big part of that I guess. It is clear that we are moving into new territory here. It is fun to see all the fun things they do together.

Jared and I absolutely love watching her play sports. It is fun to see what a good athlete she is. She is trying out for a competitive basketball team this week. For a few nights before tryouts, Jared had butterflies in his stomach for her. LOL. It is hard to choose just a couple of sports we'd like her to try. I keep thinking of more and more things that she'd be great at. But for now, it is basketball and lacrosse. Although I know she has the perfect swimmer's body and that with her hand eye coordination she'd be great at tennis too.

I am always impressed with what a loyal friend Elise is. She is pretty competitive in sports, but off the field, she is mild-mannered and easy-going. Low drama is always good at this age.

Earlier this year, she made a goal to finish the Book of Mormon before she entered Young Women's. She read almost every night and reached her goal. I don't think I did that until college. So I think that is neat. She's even inspired Monet to do it too.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

We took the kids to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Hale Theater a few weeks ago. It is one of my favorite musicals, and I thought the kids would love it. We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa G come too! We went to Jared's favorite Thai food before the show.

The kids were very excited to be invited to be part of the show. At the beginning the narrator is telling the story to a few kids out of a book. Miles and Monet were a couple of the kids. Miles got some laughs from how shy he was. He kept looking down everytime one of the cast members would talk to him. He loved it even though he was a little uncomfortable in the spotlight. I wish we could have taken a picture in the theater. It was funny.

Newport Beach Trip

Jared and I wanted to do something fun with the kids before this baby arrives and while traveling is relatively easy. So we headed down to California; our favorite place to visit. We chose to go over Elise's 12th birthday because she loves nothing more than the beach, fishing, and Knott's Berry Farm.

I love roadtrips. The whole way down, I just thought of roadtrips from the past. Driving to California with 8 or was it 9 of us? crammed into my grandma's Opal--which is a little bigger than a Suburu. But back in those days, you just laid blankets over all the luggage and the big kids got to sit in the back and sleep. I sat on Grandma R's lap the whole way. She had a nice cozy lap, but it seemed to take forever. There were apples at our feet and a gallon of water if we got hungry or thirsty.

Our car broke down in the desert. But with a little coaching from grandma, my dad was finally able to get it started again. I remember my mom singing "California here we come, right back where we started from!"

We went to Disneyland when I was five or so. We slept on my other grandma's floor in San Jacinto the night before. And I could hardly sleep. I remember grandpa eating cornflakes with me out in the driveway under the carport, because grandma was too nervous to have kids eating in her house. Lol.

Our roadtrips these days are a little different. My kids don't even know how lucky they are. Devices such as iPod touches all loaded with movies, music, games, etc. They have their books too. We did hear "how much longer?" about a hundred times from Miles and Simone. Jared is always a good sport and plays the ABC game with Monet over and over again. I love hearing how excited he gets about all the baby animals we see on the way. He is funny. I was able to get into a good book, Sarah's Quilt.

We stayed at the Newport Coast Villas that Jared's sisters stay at. We were excited to have a trip where our kids could spend a lot of time together. We love that we usually have so many cousins and friends to play with. But this time we thought it would be good for them to play together more and get some sibling bonding time.

They were very cute together. They swam in the pool every second they could. Sunday we spent going to church at our old ward in Tustin. It was fun to see the same people from years ago when we lived there. We watched the Steeler's game afterwards with Nana and Papa.




Monday we swam in the pool and explored where we were staying. Jared participated in a basketball challenge and won. Miles was so proud to carry around that first place ribbon. He made 11 of 13 three pointers in less than a minute. Elise and Monet were excited to find that there were several tetherball poles. Simone loved the kids room. We celebrated Elise's 12th birthday with cake and ice cream at Nana and Papa's with the aunt's, uncles and cousins in California. It was fun to see everyone.

Tuesday was Elise's big day. Elise and I went shopping at Fashion Island. We learned quickly that Fashion Island is not really our scene. We aren't big on designer clothes. But we did find some really cute things for her at Forever 21. Jared had been watching the fist counts out of Davey's Locker, Newport Landing, and Dana Wharf. He was really anxious to get out and fish since they were catching thousands of squid. The day Elise was born, when I was in labor with her, we went walking on the beach and there were these red squid washed up all over the beach in San Clemente. I guess they come in at that time of year. Elise loves calamari, so we thought it would be fun for the kids to catch some. Jared and papa took the kids fishing that night. Simone and I stayed home and had a girls night in.

Unfortunately, the squid were gone and the main thing they caught was birds! These crazy birds that would dive under the water and eat their bait. The kids don't really care much if they catch a lot though. They have a good time even just playing with the bait and watching what is caught. Miles got the only keeper of the night, a sand bass. He was so excited to cook it up on the grill. He is pretty sure he is a pro fisherman now.





Wednesday was Knott's Berry Farm. We love that place. I absolutely loved the Accelerator and Silver Bullet. But the Revolucion and the Supreme Scream are my favorites! Simone was barely too short to do a lot of the rides. So that was kind of a bummer. Next time, we are bringing her clogs. Monet of course reads all the rules before getting on any rides. She looks at me all crestfallen, "Oh mom, you can't ride this one because you are pregnant." Lol. I had to explain that my little baby is so small that I can still fit in the seats just fine. So we are all good. It was cute that she was feeling so badly for me. Jared of course had to do some of the crazy expensive basketball games. He won some jerseys for the kids and some stuffed animals. They were pretty excited about it--even though the jerseys were huge. Elise wants to be a rapper/gangster for Halloween. So maybe they will be useful afterall.





Thursday we headed to the beach! Newport is one of my favorite places. We love walking down the pier to see what everyone was catching, and visiting our favorite shell shop. Miles was really excited to get a shark tooth necklace. We got yummy wings for dinner. The kids were so excited about all the fancy cars. We saw a Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, etc. They were busy looking up how much each one cost. I have to admit, I am always just amazed at how many nice cars there are down there. The kids loved playing in the sand and the ocean.








We had some discount tickets to Legoland, so we decided to go. It was fun. Jared was bored out of his mind most of the day. Maybe just tired? But I loved seeing how excited Miles and Simone were about the rides. It definitely catered to the younger kids better than Knott's. Miles loved the big Lego store where you can create your own minifigures. Monet and Miles both absolutely love Legos right now. So the miniland was really cool too. There were lots of different cities (Washington D.C, Vegas, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Etc all made out of Legos. It was fun to see Legoland since we've always wondered what it was. It is probably not somewhere we'd return to, unless it was just the little kids.
We visited the Sea Life Aquarium that is attached to Legoland too. My kids all loved it. I think someday we'll have to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.



On the way home we stopped off in San Clemente and watched the sunset over the pier. I think it was my favorite part of our trip. I loved that little city! We only had one car when we lived there. So I walked all over to the grocery store, the post office, etc with Elise in the Baby Bjorn. There are not a lot of babies there. So she got tons of attention and everyone was so excited when she was born. Jared and I used to love going to Fisherman's on the Pier for a bucket of clams, or their ice cream pie. We got tacos at Pedro's. I think they are even better than we remembered. We even drove down into our old apartment complex to show Elise her first little 400 sq ft. home. We only lived there for about six months before we moved to Utah. But we had some fun memories there.




Saturday we headed home early so we could get to the wedding reception of a girl I used to babysit. It was so fun to see Maddison Peck getting married! I love that family.

It was a good trip. Next time we'll visit Catalina again. I think the kids had a great time and it was so fun to see them all playing together all week. Simone just is right there with the big kids, doing whatever they are doing. It is amazing to me that a year from now, we'll have a six month old. It will be so fun to see how the dynamics change again with this new little sibling. It was so nice for me to have time to just relax and hang out by the pool. I loved being able to just sit and read. And I think Jared was just absolutely loving the idea of having a job where he can work from wherever he wants, and still get paid. It is his dream come true.

Teaching Social Graces to a Six-Year-Old

Miles and I were having a little discussion this morning about polite terminology. I told him that it wasn't nice to say things like, "That's so gay," or "That's so retarded." I explained that those words mean different things than what the intent is when a kid says them, and they could hurt someone's feelings.

Then I reminded him of a previous conversation that we had about "little people" and how we don't say the word "midget" because it isn't the right word to use. He looked at me and said, "I saw a little person once, but I didn't know what to call him." I reassured him that he shouldn't call him anything, but just say "hi" and be nice and that is all he needed to do. Then he looked at me all serious and said, "Mom, midget people should be happy because a lot of people like them."

Sigh.