Kristina's Crew Comes to Utah!

Shortly after Christmas, Emma went back to Rhode Island and my sister arrived with her entourage in tow—four of her kids, including Manuel, Isaiah, and Jesus who bring a bit of mayhem with them wherever they go. And right behind her came one of her friends, who brought her teenage triplets, increasing the number of people in our home by 200%.    Within an hour, my house had transformed from a peaceful post-holiday sanctuary into something resembling a combination of a Dave & Buster's and a convenience store after a tornado. Actually it wasn't that bad.  It really was loud...and messy...and a bit chaotic, but I have a good bond with all of Kristina's kids and genuinely enjoy having them around!   

LESSONS IN FOOD: 
  I raised five kids and know a lot about feeding them, however I can never seem to get it quite right with the boys.   I had stocked up on a bunch of their favorite foods before arriving, but I keep learning the hard way with them that there's a lot more to it than just picking the right kind of food for them.   Last time they were here I learned that chicken nuggets cooked in the air fryer were inedible and that soggy microwaved ones were the only way to go.  This time I learned  that different brands of mac & cheese can vary in taste and apparently I picked the wrong one.  I haven't eaten mac & cheese in approximately 40 years or so,  so I was unaware of these nuances, but apparently it's a thing.    Also, much to their happiness, I did manage to remember to get some of their favorite snack in the whole universe before they arrived--Blue Heat Takis.  However they thought I was quite mean for portioning them out into serving sizes for them, as they wanted the whole bag at once!  Ah, well!  I'll try again next time!  

 

THE SNOW THAT WASN'T 
Kristina and her family (and their friends) live in California and came to Utah very excited to see some snow.   Unfortunately for her and the record breaking low snowpack in the mountains this year, snow has been hard to come by this winter.  It's been unusually warm (something I appreciate) and very dry with only a couple little skiffs of snow here and there.  The boys were very disappointed by this and so Kristina went driving to higher altitudes in search of some.  She found the jackpot up at Suncrest and the boys happily played in it!   Sadly the triplets had never been to Utah or seen snow and it was all melted by the time they arrived.  They were quite disappointed.  

A TRIP TO LUMINARIA
One of my favorite parts about people coming to visit us, is that it gets us out of the house to see more of what Utah has to offer.  We went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point a  couple years ago and loved it, so Kristina and company coming to town was a perfect excuse to go again!  It was as amazing as we'd remembered and I think everyone enjoyed it!  

A TRIP TO ANTELOPE ISLAND

Another trek we took was to Antelope Island.   To my knowledge, I'd never been there before and I was completely enchanted by this wild and beautiful oasis so close to civilization.   

We saw this great horned owl...

and these beauties, an American kestrel and a starling...

Heather drove and my Mom also  came along for the adventure...

as did Adam and Isaiah.   Kristina and her crew came up an hour or two after us.  

We also saw bison (real ones) and this incredible bird, which was probably our highlight of the whole trip:  

It's a burrowing owl and they're pretty hard to spot, unless you know where to look.  My sister, Heather, has gotten quite into bird watching and bird photography lately and she had the inside scoop.  I totally want to go back  in the spring and see if we can find him again.  

VISITING OUR WARD
My niece, Madeline, and the triplets hope to come to BYU in the next year or two, so they all came to our YSA ward on Sunday to see what it was like.  They weren't very excited that we meet at 9am and had a half-hour drive to get there, but they made it with smiles on their faces.   I actually have no idea what they thought, but it was an excellent fast and testimony meeting and we were happy to share our wonderful ward with them for a week! 

Kristina was happy to see Alicia there too!  Alicia was Kristina's friend first and her husband is now serving as Glen's 1st counselor, so we are all friends now!   

HAPPY DENALI
Denali is 100% a diva.   She loves being the center of attention and there's nothing like more people being in the house to give it to her.  Happily, the boys adore her and she gets lots and lots of attention when they're around.  I daresay she goes into a bit of withdrawal when they leave...

 A FEW MORE RANDOM PICS
I'll finish off with a few more random pics from their stay here.  There's also a few more in this post about the Buttercup Neighborhood game.  

Madeline, Kristina, and me...

Jesus has grown up A LOT over the last several months, which meant a bit more sass, a lot more stubbornness, and a whole lot of silliness. He just got baptized this past weekend and I was super sad that I couldn't be there to join him.  

My sister, Kristina, is probably the only true extrovert of the family and she seriously has the best friends!    I've become friends with a few of her friends since moving here and we went to this gathering one night knowing no one but Kristina's crew, but came out with more friends!  We've even hung out with one of the couples again since then.  

I love when K's family comes to town and somehow even miss the noise and the mess when they leave.  

Happy February to you!  

The Buttercup Neighborhood Game

 We played a lot of board games over the holidays--including Wingspan, Telestrations, Codenames, Coup, Nertz, Trash, Magic the Gathering, 10 Days in Europe, and Dixit.  We enjoyed the more laid-back time to play together and only had a few grumpy moments when the competition got a little fierce.  Haha!  

But there was another game we played over the holidays that I haven't mentioned yet.   It involved the whole neighborhood and some equally tense competitive moments, and also some very silly moments.  

It was all about this cute little Christmas inflatable named Buttercup. 

Basically Buttercup was purchased by the H family in our neighborhood and was introduced as a sort of reverse hot potato.  But instead of trying to get rid of it, the goal was to steal it from a neighbor's porch and see how long you could keep it inflated on your own porch. 

 

   In order to be an official participant in the game, you had to join the Buttercup GroupMe and follow along with the updates and rules.  That GroupMe was one of the funniest things I'd been a part of in a long time and it was quite humorous to see the silly {and competitive} side of our neighbors.  

We didn't even try to attempt any heists until Adam arrived home, but once he was home, the game was on!    He had a few unsuccessful steal attempts where he was caught before escaping, but I thought it was quite funny that the first time we actually managed to steal her was just after attending the temple together...

We took a little drive around the neighborhood on the way home and Adam snagged her in his church clothes.  Haha.  

We were quite proud of our conquest and guarded her pretty fiercely until we went to bed. 

  Guarding it meant playing games while sitting on our stairs just inside the door, then opening the door and yelling "we caught you!" to the would-be thieves.  

We caught a few and met a new neighbor in the process.  Much to our surprise, Buttercup actually stayed put overnight and was stolen while on our morning walk the next day.    Once we'd experienced the "thrill" of capturing and guarding her for ourselves, we didn't try too hard for a few days.  But then Kristina's family came to town and all that changed.   The second the boys heard about the Buttercup game, they were excitedly all in!  

Honestly it was a fun excuse to get out on neighborhood walks with the boys...

and the boys were far more diligent Buttercup guardians than we had been.   They literally sat outside waiting to yell at anyone who dared attempt a heist.   At one point in the final couple days of the game, the games keeper had  to change the rules to only allow an hour of "puppy guarding", because there were a whole lot of eager young boys out of school and willing to even sleep outside for the cause.  

It was a sad moment when Buttercup got stolen on New Year's Eve night and the boys'  final attempts in the last hours of the game (New Year's morning) proved unsuccessful, despite their coordinated efforts with fellow-would-be thieves to outsmart the conquering family.  

All in all, it turned out to be a fun distraction over the holidays and I 10/10 would recommend, as long as you get everyone on board with understanding the rules and the idea that it's all in good fun!   

Mid-Summer Visit from Some of Our Favorites

A few weeks ago, my sister and her kiddos came to visit!  Then my brother joined the fun.    

As always with their visits, it meant life got a little extra chaotic for a bit, but it was a {mostly} happy chaos, so we loved it!  

Highlights of the visit included: 

* lots of time with J, Manuel, and Isaiah!

* Denali LOVED all the extra attention with them there

* With three of the four C. girls (and Mom) there, it meant we got to do a lot of talking time

*  My Legos got well-loved again 

*  We took a trip to the aquarium

*  Silliness and potty humor was abundant

* I got to expand my repertoire of music to way more "exciting" genres (according to I, M, and J anyway)

*   Lots of combined family dinners and culinary offerings not normally found at our house...

*  Pete came to town and we  had a big family dinner down in Provo to include the college kids

* 7 of the 10 boy cousins were all together...just missing Ben, Jack, and Lincoln

* Had 2 of the 8 girl cousins together...just missing Cam, Ellie, McKenzie, Lauren, Bridgette, and Anna

*  4 of the 8 siblings together!   

*  We don't see Pete often enough, so it was fun to have him there! 

* Pete's son, Davin, is a superstar baseball player who had come to participate in a BYU sports camp.

Lowlights included: 

*  I had a  major meltdown that I can only assume was fueled by hormones,  lack of sleep, and lack of routine.  It was of the epic sort I have only once every few years, so that was stupid.  I got to practice all the skills I had recently learned in my emotional resilience class at church (FSITL).  

* Nate came into town a few hours after Pete and Davin left, so we barely missed having 5/8 of the siblings together

In other news:  

* Some big changes are happening and life has taken a turn for busyness in the extreme and the next few months/years are going to be crazy {and good...we hope!}  I'll probably share more details eventually...

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A {Semi} Spontaneous Trek to California

At some point during the summer, my sister, Kristina, got a bee in her bonnet about us coming to visit them in California.  And by "us," I mean she really wanted Cami and the kiddos to come visit them and was willing to tolerate Ellie and I coming along as well.  😆

As luck would have it, Cami was equally as excited about the possibility AND was able to easily change her flight home without penalty.   I worked on getting us some cheap tickets and thus our trip to California became a reality.   I think Cam and kids enjoyed the change of scenery about as much as K's family enjoyed doting on Lucie and Oliver.    

Oliver loved having all the floor space to scoot around and both kiddos enjoyed the attentions of  Madeline, Kristina, and the King Boys, especially Jesus and Manuel, who loved to snuggle them and try to make them laugh.  It was quite sweet to see their soft sides shining through.  

We arrived during one of the hottest weather spells they'd had in a year, with temps around 100* the whole time we were there.   The searing heat meant it was a little too toasty for hiking and such, but it was perfect for visiting Newport Beach--especially since the temps were a good 15-20* cooler at the beach too.  Here are some pics from our day at the beach. 

My nephew, Jesus, skipped school and came along with us too, a fact which made Lucie quite happy.  They played well together and I think they kept each other entertained far longer than either would have been on their own. 

It had been quite a while (maybe Hawaii in 2022) since I'd spent any time at the beach and it was a delightful day. 

I also enjoyed recreating this picture with Oliver...

Another day we headed to Balboa Island, where it was also 15ish degrees cooler.  We found some good food and enjoyed walking around together.

We also went on a whale watching cruise where we saw zero whales, but lots of baby dolphins and sea lions.   It was a bit disappointing not to see any whales, but it was still a delightful trip. 

We were only there a few steamy days, but we made a lot of fun memories together and Lucie keeps asking to go back to California, so we are calling it a success!  

Within 24-hours of  returning from California, we put Cami, Ellie, Lucie, and Oliver back on a plane and sent them back home to Birmingham, where Ellie has been nannying for them for the last month.  Our house is way too quiet and lonely without them here, but I am forever grateful for the fun memories we made while we were all together!  💗


 

Summer Happenings: Part 1

Well, what can I say?   All routine is out the window and I am having an incredibly difficult time keeping up here on the blog.  I known that there are approximately 2 people that may have even noticed that it's been while, but I feel like I need a little brain break, so here I am.

So here's a glimpse of the last few weeks...

Kristina and boys came to town for a couple weeks.  

It was loud and the house was a mess, but I very much enjoyed spending time with them...

I introduced them to Perler beads, which they'd never tried before, but Jesus dove in first, then when the other boys saw what  it was all about, got obsessed too. 

It was very cute how hard they worked (for hours a day) and how proud they were of their work...

Denali also very much enjoyed the extra attention!  

I taught them a couple of old-fashioned card games--Old Maid, Go Fish, and Slap Jack--and enjoyed watching them have fun playing those!

One day, we dropped by to wish Nana a happy birthday!   She's 95 now!  

I won't lie...it's a bit chaotic when they come to town, but it's mostly a good chaos that I enjoy.  

I always love my postcards, but this summer I've been a little extra obsessed with them. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't love sending and receiving mail as much as me, but it's literally a stress relief for me and I love that it's not a super time consuming thing I can do for myself.  I may have to do a whole post on this topic soon, because I've been having fun with it!

Speaking of postcards, here's a little postcard challenge I'm doing with my sisters (and Cam).  The challenge this week (chosen randomly by Heather) was blue-footed booby.  I had run out of my authentic Ecuadorean cards, so I adapted this one to fit the bill.  haha...

Also...Ellie submitted her mission papers a few weeks ago.  We knew her call would likely take longer because of her seizures, but we are hopeful it will come soon!  

She finished her second trimester at BYU-Idaho and she is happy.  She had good roommates and really enjoys the environment up in Idaho...

I picked her up from Idaho and we are enjoying the extra noise and action that comes along with having her at home.  

I have a bunch more to add, but blogger is not letting me upload photos today, so I'll do a Part 2 soon.  Stay tuned...