Pass of all Passes

Shout out to Catie Vineyard for hooking us up with a Pass of ALL Passes that has so many goodies, we can't even believe it. Catie found it for $10! The crazy thing is that we were pumped to pay $30 to get it. But right before we bought them, as in hours, Catie found the deal of all deals. Thanks for saving our family money, Cate. We appreciate it.

We are stoked for all the 7 peaks and Real soccer games and Trafalga that we can handle this summer. And it will never feel like a burden to stick it out if kids get cranky (or poopy as demonstrated in our first Trafalga trip) because we only paid $10 to get them in. Totally awesome. 
 

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

Hear ye, Hear, ye Lords and Ladies of the land

We hereby invite you to an event that will be grand

Evelyn is turning three

She's as princessy as can be

We'll have regal competition with noble reward

Lunch will be served and drinks will be poured

On the castle cake, three candles we will light

And we'll also be having a royal food fight

So come to the party and celebrate

Saturday, April 7 from 10 am to 12 pm is the date

1375 West 1460 North Provo, Utah

Let us know if you can come!

Love,

Queen Christine & Lady Evelyn

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Happy Birthday to Jesus and Grandpa Rey! April 6 is always a fun day. We just happened to go to Macey's grocery store and they dressed us up like bunnies. Here is the story of my life. Davis goes down for his morning nap at 10:30 and sleeps until 12:30. Because Johnny works from home, I pack up both of the other kids to run an errand or leave one in front of a show and take the other with me. I would never try this with Davie's afternoon nap because by then, little people are potentially more cranky. So, morning nap, it is. It makes errands much more bearable but now that I'm at the end of my pregnancy, I'm significantly less patient. It's hard to chase little people around stores. It makes me tired. It's like some invisible magic switch is flipped. At 34 weeks pregnant, it's cute to watch Evelyn pile the Cheese Nips from the bottom of the display into my cart. At 35 weeks, it's annoying and unbearable. So now I take all of my kids to Beal's house so I don't have to have any children to run after during errands. So if Macey's does a 4th of July face paint, my kids are automatically out of luck. Errands without them are so much faster. Maybe my energy will come back post-partum but my current assessment is that kid-free errands are more enjoyable. For me.

Rhymes with Sheen Shoeseum and Polling

Our dad works from home. And from libraries. And from the Anderson's basement. And from the carhouse. I love the end of the day, or the middle of the day when he takes his lunch break or the beginning of the day when we are all together in our bed, when Johnny wrestles and tickles his kids. We love to all be together. It's why we chose the carhouse lifestyle and it's why we will go back to the carhouse lifestyle after Scotty is born. I like to see my husband every day. And this Saturday, our dad worked all day and then we went out for some fun. We want to take advantage of the best parts of Provo while we are here.

The Bean Museum. Evelyn and Johnny were totally willing to pet the snake, the turtle and the bearded dragon at the live reptile show. Johnny brought me his toy turtle later in the week and asked when it would move? And who turned all those birds into statues? That's not nice, mom. I tried to explain taxidermy but he still said that was not nice and he wishes they would move. I think he thinks all of his toys used to be alive until someone turned them into statues...

Evelyn taking a rest by the arctic wolf. You can see the spikes in her side ponytail from her under-aged and unauthorized haircut. I can't get it out of them if it was Eve cutting her own hair or Johnny helping her out. Johnny cut his flush to his head, but the rest of his hair is so long, it covers it up. I keep postponing his next authorized hair cut because I don't want to expose the bald spot.

Bowling was a hit for everyone except Johnny. He sulked and sipped soda while sitting on the sidelines. So silly.

Eve dropped a bowling ball on her toe. Ouch. And you know she means bidness when homegirl puts her hand on her hip. Davis kept picking up bowling balls from the dispenser and walking around with them. Cute, but dangerous.

Iron Chef Marriott America

We stayed at Mountainside Marriott Resort, thanks to Aunt Marilyn's generosity. She let us use her week there because her plans changed at the last minute. Something about a wedding going on and needing to prepare for that...We took full advantage of watching the skiers right out our window, the hot tub despite warnings for pregnant people and children, the kids zone, the gym we walked through as the best short cut to the lobby but never used, luggage carts that we transported kids on and tums from the desk clerk when I had another stomach acid attack. Lovely trip.

We also won the illustrious title of Iron Chef Marriott America. Coconut was the ingredient. We made coconut peanut brittle, coconut chocolate chip cookies and a coconut fruit smoothie. It was fun. And out of thousands of Mountainside Marriott guests, we won! Even though the only other guest that registered to compete was a ten year old...We are the champions!

Say Yes to the Dress (up, that is...)

I love that we live down the street from each other. And I further love that everyone loves to play dress up. And the fact that Nigel was determined to fit in the 18 month old batman costume. Adorable.

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, Blue fish

Since we've rocked the little people's worlds (living in a home on wheels, going to a different ward in church every week, living out of various relative's basements, moving into a new house) I decided to make this newest transition exciting by bribing them. Evelyn still cries sometimes and wants to go "home". When I ask her where home is, the answer varies: Nigel's house, Nana's house, the carhouse, Beal's house. With a fenced in backyard, I was seriously tempted to get my children a dog, but the thought of separating them from a beloved animal when we leave again in the carhouse in the fall broke my heart. So we settled on a fish.

His name is...Blue. He is a beta fish. Johnny and Evelyn are awesome at feeding him. I am awesome at changing his water every Saturday as part of household chores. Blue is awesome at eating his food, swimming and pooping. It's a win-win situation all around and has hopefully helped with yet another transition.

Ice, Ice baby

Nana took us sledding in Midway. It was quite the adventure because there was a family there with a dog. They were generous in letting us pet their dog and play with her. There was also a playground that was partially available in the snow. The sledding was fun even though the hill was an intense climb. Climbing up a hill strategy 101 says walk in the deep foot impressions of those who have climbed before you. The duck pond was cute. It was 90% frozen over with a small opening for the ducks that were there. I was still putting layers on Davis in the car, but I looked out the window to see Johnny boy venturing out onto the ice. I screamed for his dad to go get him. Instead of venturing out, he beckoned Johnny back because he didn't think the ice would hold 2 Johnnys. Good call. Evelyn didn't have so great of luck with the ducks. She leaned a little too close and fell in. Poor girl! Freezing water. Great dad with fast reflexes to pull her right out. We hodge podged another warm outfit together for her and enjoyed the rest of the day. I think Van, Katie, Collette and Kyle had a slightly less interesting time cross-country skiing while the rest of us flirted with hypothermia.

 

Suckers on the slopes

Sundance was fun! We gathered together and hung out with cousins. The best part was that my kids went skiing for the first time. It was AWESOME! We walk out the front door of the cabin and throw them on the slopes with Nana and Daddy. Then I drive down beside them in the car so I get to watch for a little bit before picking them up at the base. To celebrate the victorious run, we got gigantic suckers. Thanks for hosting us, Papa and Grandma!

 

Tag! You're it

I never want to see my name on a tag like this again except for when I give birth. I am about to share the most painful moment of my life. Johnny and I have been living in Beal and Micah's basement for the past month. It's awesome. For child-care purposes alone, it has been a life saver. Our kids play together during the day and then when they are asleep, either set of parents can slip out relying on the other set of parents for fire duty. You know, when in the case of a fire, you are responsible for making sure all of the occupants of the home make it out safely.

So one night I wake up with discomfort in my stomach. Scotty has been kicking north lately, pushing my stomach into my throat. I can't eat a normal size portion of food, so I eat fairly constantly throughout the day in small amounts so I don't feel uncomfortable. I went upstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a cheese stick, thinking for some reason that it would settle my stomach to have something in there. I also drank a large glass of water. The pain did not go away and I tried to go back downstairs and sleep. Not happening.

The pain simply increased more and more until I woke Johnny up and asked him for a blessing. I was instructed to listen to my body and take care of it. The pain continued to persist so we both went back upstairs and I paced the room trying to stretch out my stomach. The pain took my breath away and was so persistent. I thought for sure my appendix had burst and I was suffering from toxins being let loose into my system. I told Johnny to drive me to the hospital. Totally awesome to just leave our sleeping kids because I was in incredible amounts of pain. I have never been in pain in child birth (thank you, all the German physicians who laid the groundwork for epidurals as I know them today). I have had a blood clot and that used to reign supreme as the most painful experience of my life. Move over, coagulation. Here comes heartburn.

That's right. Heartburn. I get to the hospital writhing in pain and I was positive I was going to go into surgery and kiss my appendix, or whatever pieces were left of it, goodbye. After an excruciating 30 minutes of checking to make sure the baby was okay, the doctor gave me a couple ounces of thick chalky substance and then some morphine. The official diagnosis was gastritis. The acid in my stomach was eating away at the lining of my stomach, hence the persistent and excruciating pain. I was so embarrassed, but could have kissed the nurse after administering the stuff because finally, the pain went away. I keep thinking about it, wondering if I was making it all up, but after a second attack in Park City, I was reminded of how crippling and painful it was. Yikes. Just thinking about it scares me.

Thank goodness for doctors and pain medicine and relief. Goodbye spicy food, at least for the duration of this pregnancy. I don't know if I'm brave enough to try after Scotty is born, but I think I have to try and just be prepared with the Pepto. Goodbye, name tags on my wrist and I don't want to ever see you again except for giving birth to children.