Random Funnies

So many times my hilarious kids will do something to just crack me up.  I always think I"ll write it down and it never happens.  Here's a couple for the books...

A month or so ago we had a big storm come through.  It snowed for a few days straight.  Sunday morning Brandt had to go early to help shovel/plow the church so he was gone most the morning.   I was scrambling trying to feed the masses, get ready for church, get 3 cute boys ready for church and make it there by 9am (or a little before so that we would get a bench).  Brandt ran home and got ready and we were down to the wire.  We ran out, threw the boys in the back and told them to buckle.  Charlie couldn't get his buckle and we were starting to drive and Charlie was freaking out.  Dylan leaned over and said, "Hold on tight, Charlie!"  I lost it.

Oliver goes to nursery.  Last couple weeks he's had a tough time wanting to go.  Two weeks ago they told me that the week prior he spent in the corner reading books by himself.  Most of the books were upside-down, but no matter.  What a cutie.  Last week they were doing the lesson time and the lady who was teaching held up a coloring picture and asked the kids who the picture was.  Oliver blurted out, "My Dad!"  She told us she couldn't stop laughing.  Fair enough...looks like dad.  Oliver only says like 3 words so it kills me that he's even said anything.

 

 

Merry, Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year.  The boys were so excited for Santa to come visit and they enjoyed all the parties, activities, and treats leading up to the big day.  Dylan got a camera and new scooter from Santa and Charlie got a pirate ship and new scooter from Santa.  Oliver got a Cars book/toy and a new trike from Santa.  I think one of the favored gifts, though, were the remote control cars from Granna.  Merry Christmas!

Disneyland

The week after Thanksgiving Mimi & Papa treated the entire family with a trip to Disneyland.  It started off crazy as there was no way for Brandt to get off work on Saturday and I had a craft fair in Beaver that I was to be at.  So Friday night I took the kids to my mom's house and the next morning I woke up bright and early and drove down to Beaver.  Finished that up and drove back home that night.  Finished up packing everything and went to bed.  We woke up the next morning and headed out for Disney.  We drove to Primm and spent the night.  Then on Monday morning we finished the drive to the Peacock Suites in Anaheim.  We decided to head to the beach for the afternoon and went to Newport Beach which is one of my very most favorite places in the world.  We all enjoyed a hotdog on a stick on the beach and ran through the water.  It was beautiful with the sun setting, perfect temperatures, few people.  The boys LOVED the beach.

That night Oliver puked a few times.  We still got up and went to the park.  The kids thought it was great.  They went on rides and played with their cousins and thought it was awesome.  Oliver pooped out his diaper and into his clothes.  I was hoping it was just him getting rid of whatever bug he had caught.  We grabbed a pizza on our walk home that night and when we got back to the room the boys were so tired that they really didn't want to eat.  We went to bed and I think Oliver threw up one more time that night. 

We lazily got up the next morning and packed up again and headed over to the park.  We went straight to Cars Land as that was the big thing we wanted to do.  We went on a bunch of rides again and meadered through the park.  We met up with everyone a little while later and I noticed O smelled again and he had blown out one more time!  We left and went to find restrooms and I took him in to clean him up and put him in the jammies I had brought just in case.  As I came back out, Dylan was by the stroller and Charlie and Dad were missing.  Dylan told me that Charlie had choked (their word for throw up).  So we waited and they came out and Brandt said Charlie had puked all over.  We had him sit in the stroller and Dylan wanted to go on more rides.  So I took him on a few rides cause Brandt said he didn't feel too hot either.  We went on those few rides and during that time Charlie had thrown up about 3 more times.  Finally I said we should go cause he wasn't doing well, I didn't know if Brandt was getting it, too, and I was either getting sick or my mind was making me think I was.  So we got on the shuttle and I gave Charlie the towel I had brought (just in case) and told him if he had to choke to do it in the towel.  Sure enough, choked on the way back.  We got back to the hotel and all hell broke loose.  EVERYONE got it.  Puke, diarrhea, miserable, awful, couldn't write this type of misery if I tried, disaster. 

Next day was Thursday and we were all too sick to go to the park.  Stayed in bed, or on the toilet, or on the floor all day.  I changed multiple sheets throughout the day.  Ran to the store for medicine for us.  Not good.  Had we felt able to drive we probably would have left that day but we were too fearful of throw up all over the car!  So the next morning  about 6 am we were up.  I feel ok to drive so I packed us all up and by about 8 when we were leaving Brandt was functioning enough and we hit the road. 

And drove the whole way back with nothing but stopping for gas.  I told Brandt that the best news about the whole trip was that we saved a bunch of money by not buying food.  Maybe next trip to Disney will be a little bit better.  Has to be.  Can't be much worse that's for sure.

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.....