Redwoods

Last month my entire family (minus 1 brother) made the trek out to the Redwoods in Northern California.  It was absolutely amazing and we had such a great time.  We left Sunday morning (after being at the Utah/BYU game til midnight) and drove to Reno.  We stayed the night and let the bambinos get their wiggles out in the pool.  The next morning we ate breakfast and drove the rest of the way to Crescent City, California (stopping in Medford of course to stash up on our Costco supplies).  It is approximately a 14-15 hour drive.  Long time in the car but the boys were troopers. 

 Once we were getting closer to our destination it was just beautiful.  The road is windey and the trees are on both sides of the road.  Huge, massive trees.  I tell you, I don't know that I'm happier anywhere more than in nature.  I love, love, love the forests, the mountains.  Brandt and I are determined to be camp hosts when we retire.  Anyway, I digress, trees.  We arrived on Monday afternoon/evening and unpacked, checked out the place, and had dinner. 

Tuesday we drove down and met Paul Bunyan and Babe.

  It was hilarious.  The Paul Bunyan talks, welcoming you to the little attraction, and comments when you are talking amoungst yourselves.  My brother Craig had said something like, "I wish I had chest hair like that."  You know, just being funny, and all of a sudden he says, "You'll grow into it, son."  We died.  One of us also called Babe a cow and he corrected us that he is an Ox. 

Anyway, you pay money and you get to go look at their little preserve they have and see all these amazing trees, and then you get to take a gondola ride up the mountain which was really cool to see the ginormous trees at that perspective. 

 Then we drove further down the coast and went to this Fern Grotto, Fern Gully, Fern Something place.  I forget what it is called.  It was awesome.  It was just a little walk but you go through streams and climb over trees and there are walls of ferns and it is breath-taking.  You think that you are in Jurassic Park. 

The next day we went to another little walking trail called Stout Grove.  Also awesome.  The kids had a blast climbing over these huge trees and playing.  Seriously in awe of the amazing creations of our Heavenly Father.  Unbelievable.  I've never seen anything like it.  It was a really, really fun day. 

The next day we drove through a tree...because you have to.  It's on private property and you pay them money and they let you drive through it.  Kinda silly but we really wanted to do it.  The truck BARELY fit.  There was probably a couple inches on each side. 

And the last day we went to the lighthouse.  It's only accessable during low tide.  We checked it out (it was closed for renovations so we couldn't go in) and walked around the ocean.  You could walk out on the rocks and see the crabs and star fish and the rocks were covered with mussels.  After that we walked down the pier and watched the birds and just purused.  Life gets so busy that it's nice to just do that sometimes.  We definetly don't do enough of that at our house. 

Then on Friday we drove home...ALL THE WAY HOME.  We got home I think about 11 that night.  It was a long drive.  Charlie puked 3 times cause we went the "scenic," quicker route.  Note to self...NO SCENIC ROUTES WITH KIDS!!!  You would think we'd learned our lesson when we took the round-a-bout way to Yellowstone.  Poor Charlie.  It was such a great trip and I am trying to figure out how we can convince Brandt's family we need to go with them.

Be still my heart...

Yesterday I dropped the twins off for preschool.  Charlie quickly got himself out of the car and had his backpack on and ran off since his little girlfriend was already running in.  I had to get Dylan's bag out so I put it on him and as he ran off I said, "Be good, have fun, love you," like I always do.  He stopped half way there and turned around and as he was running back said, "Oh mom, one more thing..." followed by "I forgot to kiss you."  He kissed me, turned, and ran off.  Ahhh - makes it all worth it.

It's all in a day...I mean, morning

Dylan woke up with a big puffy, oozy, pink eye.  I had to wait until 8am to call the doctor.  They said, "Oh, ok, we'll just call in a prescription."  Perfect, I think.  I had to wait until 10 when Costco opens.  Called to make sure they had the prescription and they said it'd be ready in 20 minutes.  Decide to go deposit some checks to kill some of the time and as we're leaving I notice Charlie has some goopys in his eye, too.  Crap.  So I call the doctor again and let them know that Dylan's twin is having the same issue so they call his prescription, too.  So - to give Costco some time I run to Michael's to get some crafty stuff, taking my time.  As I leave I look at my receipt because I paid more than I thought it should be and of course, I grabbed the paint that wasn't on sale.  No way am I going back in with my whiney, oozy eyed kids to save a buck, so off to Costco.  I went to the pharmacy and they couldn't find C's order.  Finally they did, said it will be 10-15 to fill it.  So, we wander.  15 minutes.  30 minutes.  45 minutes.  Finally it's done.  They ask if there is insurance.  I say yes.  They so their thing and because they're twins and have same birthday it is saying that the refill is too soon on the 2nd one.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  They tell me they'll call but it'll be a few minutes.  Ok.  So I take my cart of food to the car to load (because you can't wander for near an hour and not spend another hundred dollars).  When I come back she tells me they called and that I need to call to sort it out.  Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  So, I pay full price for the one prescription and go to my car.  I'm loading the kids and a woman comes by and says, "I'll take that for you (meaning my cart)," and because I'm frazzled I thank her, grab my prescription bag, pull Charlie from the cart and get us all in and leave.  It has been well over an hour for this dang errand.  I get home and the saga of putting eye drops in my kids eyes begins.  Dylan lays down, I get the one eye done and he flips.  So I have to hold him down and get the other eye.  He's crying so of course Charlie is crying.  He's saying "Mom, I don't want the medicine."  I chase him around, hog tie him and literally have to sit on him so that I can get the drops in his eyes.  He is screaming, screaming, screaming.  Fantastic.  I get the drops in and then I hold him and sing to him for another 10 minutes while he tries to get his breath back.  I put them all down for a nap and go to call the freakin insurance.  Um, where's my wallet?  CRAP - it must have been in the cart.  Call Costco.  Yep, they have the wallet.  I'm stuck home cause the kids are all in bed.  Luckily my dear aunt lives down the street and she came up so I could run and get my wallet.  Came home.  Called insurance.  Pointless.  They said that Costco didn't even file anything for Dylan.  Only Charlie.  So the girl at Costco must have been dumb.  Whatever.

I guess now I'll put away our 10 loads of laundry.  Yuck.  Can only go up from here....right?!?

DONE!!!

When it came time to buy booster chairs for the twins I looked into them and found that I was looking at about $60-70 for the chairs I wanted at Babies-r-us.  I also found them at Costco and when Brandt and I looked at them, the price was right around there.  Later on when we were discussing it he said he thought they were like $40, not $60.  I thought he was crazy and went ahead and purchased 2 "girly" boosters on KSL with the intent that I would just recover them in cute fabric and wha-la, stylish booster chairs for my kiddies.  I started work on my project and immediatly thought, "What in the crap am I doing?  This is way more labor intensive than I anticipated and I have TWO to do."  And following that proclamation I went to Costco again, ran into the chairs and found them for $34.  WHAT?!?  I must have seen the wrong sign.  So...I paid $25 for each of my boosters, about $30 in fabric for a grand total of $80, AND I'M OUT ALL THAT FREAKIN' TIME I spent working on the dumb chairs.  So, moral of the story is double check the price tags at Costco but at least my chairs are done.  Grrrrrr.....

Preschool

After much debate on whether or not to send D&C to preschool I finally gave in and we started preschool this year.  Good move on my part I think.  Their teacher is Mrs. Melanie and they had a great first day.  They were so excited to go and went right in and sat down and didn't care that I was gone.  I know it helps that they have each other.  When I picked them up they said that they were naughty and had to put their heads down.  I asked if it was just them that got in trouble or more kids, too.  Apparently there were more (but I wouldn't be surprised if we were the leaders of the "naughtiness").  I can't believe I'm taking my kids to school already.  They were a little disappointed that they didn't take the school bus.  They asked why Brother Allphin didn't take them.  Time sure does fly. 

{FOURx2}

Dylan & Charlie turned FOUR this year.  WHAT?!?!?!?  Take a step back, seriously, what happened?  I cannot believe we've made it to four.  Four amazing, trying, funny, exciting, and awesome years.  I'm so lucky that I get these two wonderful little boys (or big boys, I guess).  I love them both dearly and have enjoyed every moment being their mommy.  To celebrate we had a big Superhero Party at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  I made all the kiddies masks and capes, my friend made an incredible Superhero cake, and had dinner.  Sorta low key but I think they had a lot of fun. 

 

Four....wow.

O's 2!

Our baby is no more a baby.  Oliver turned 2 last week and I cannot even believe it.  He is still my little boy and I'm afraid he will always be.  We still rock him before we put him to sleep and snuggle a little longer and you know...I'm not in a hurry to change it.  He is a sweet boy but is learning to whine and cry a bit now.  Mostly this occurs when he doesn't get his way or a toy is taken from him.  He is spoiled.  I see it.  It is probably a bit of of "baby of the family special treatment."  Not that I'm opposed to that being that I fall at the end of the line, too.  But he's the best.  Brandt has asked me if i would have another baby if it would be just like Oliver and I said, "right now, without a doubt."  He has been an AMAZING child.  I couldn't ask for a cuter, more fun kid.

Couple things about O:
1.  He loves anything that moves.  Trucks, cars, motorcycles, planes, traines.  You get the idea.
2.  He doesn't like to talk much.  Lots of sounds like "uh", "nuh", etc. with a finger pointing.  He does say some words and more and more are coming along each day.  Our favorite right now is if we ask him a question, any question, the answer is "no."  Typical for a 2 year old but when he says it is so darn cute.  He says no and will shake his little head and look down.  We egg him on and just laugh.  Terrible parents we are.
3.  His brother's names are "Na."  I don't know if you remember, but the twins called each other "Na" when they were about this age.  I don't know where it came from and then the crazy thing is Oliver just started doing it, too.
4.  He is the MESSY kid.  Oh my.  I thought Dylan was bad, oh no, Oliver definitely has him beat.  When the kitchen chair needs to be wiped down we state that the chair has been "Olivered."  It is incredible how quickly and thoroughly he can goop up anything from the table to himself.
5.  He still sits in his car seat backwards.  What a guy.  I need to get the twins boosters so I can get rid of their current seats and hopefully have room to flip Oliver backwards.  He comefortably rides facing the rear of the car and it is all possible to his...
6.  Eensy, weensy legs.  This poor kid is all torso.  Brandt fondly calls O Stump.  That Curtis gene is pretty strong and all my boys are long in body and short in legs but O got the worst of it.  Stubby little leggies for this one.
7.  O will eat just about anything.  He loves food and doesn't make a fuss.  I'm the only one who makes a fuss cause of the aforementioned mess he creates.
8.  Oliver loves to drive his cars, motorcycles, trucks on the ground.  He'll lie on his side and rest his head on the ground and drive the vehicle around and around.  Occasionally he'll scooch up, down, to the side to accommodate the driving area but it is super cute.
9.  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is his favorite song.  He sings it all the time and my heart swoons.  When he was little I would sing it to him and he would shake his head back and forth like he was embarrasssed.  He won't do that anymore but he will sing it in his crib, while he's playing, or sitting at the table.  Anywhere.  So cute.  Lately I've heard him humming As A Child Of God from the primary program this year.  That is Charlie's favorite song so he will sing it quite often and I think O has picked it up from him.
10.  Oliver has the STINKIEST & SWEATIEST little feet.  Man those things are fierce.  Cute little chubby feet but man oh man watch out.

Oliver is my buddy.  I sure am lucky to have him choose me to be his mommy.  I can't believe how big he is getting and I am convinced one day he will be the same size as the twins and passing them up.  He loves his brothers and tries to keep up and does a pretty good job of it.  Occasionally I'll hear one of the twins crying/whining in the other room and when I go in to check on them Oliver is laying on top of them keeping them down.  Don't mess with this little boy.  He'll take you down.  He is the best.  Oh, and those little front teeth of his are slowly making a comeback.  He'll be a bit of a snaggle-tooth kid but snaggle-teeth are better than no teeth in my opinion.  Gives him character, right?  Happy Birthday O.  Love you lots and lots and lots.