Life with my 3 kids

Life is hectic. Life is crazy. 

I honestly thought that living in Gallup would somehow eliminate half of my "to do" list, since we're always saying, there is nothing "to do" in Gallup! Well, somehow there is. There is still laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, driving to school and jui-jitsu, playdates, church callings, exercising, blogging, special occasions and general up keep of all things kids, husband, me, car and house. That stuff doesn't change no matter where you live! Plus, on the contrary of being less busy in po-dunk city, we are probably more busy since we're always going out of town! When I was growing up, the ONLY time we drove for a semi-long time in the car, was once a year to go family camping. I could never count the amount of time my kids have spent driving long distances in the car. It's a little out of hand. I've started to put a lot more effort/care into luggage/traveling accessories, given we use them so much. It's a strange life. Not one I ever pictured, but it's OUR life, so it's good. 

OK, not sure where that rambling came from... on to the pictures of my life with these 3 crazy kids.

Olive is at that stage of putting EVERYTHING into her mouth. She especially loves the texture of plastic bags. Always hearing my mother's voice warn of the danger of plastic bags, I'm careful to allow only a moment of contented sucking on a thick bag that couldn't possibly be torn or inhaled. She loves it.

There is NOTHING sweeter than a babe sucking her thumb while asleep. Be still my heart.

Been trying out the mohawk "do". Not much to do with these wispy tendrils.

If I can ever hope to get dishes washed or dinner made, I must have Olive two feet away in her Bumbo. Her throne.

She is so tired of her toys. Spiderman it is!

Lilly is pretty obsessed with her. She always tells me how cute she is and asks to hold her.

I saw this Rainbow Foam Dough online. It's just 2 ingredients, shaving cream and cornstarch. Can't fail. Seemed like a fun activity for the boys.

Nailed it.

Bah! I tried all combinations of proportions, but could not get it to the right consistency. I still had a ton of shaving cream left over, so I decided to get crazy and let the boys drive their cars in a foam race track. (It had been a long day of watching TV. My guilt meter was through the roof. Obvs this is NOT normal behavior around here. But also, I never got to do stuff like this when I was a kid. So every once in a while when I struggle with whether to let the kids make a mess, I let my inner kid out and think, to heck with it... lets have some fun!)

I knew they'd eventually get it on themselves. I wasn't quite prepared for this though. I had made a giant pile of shaving cream for them to drive their cars through and before I could stop him, Collin slammed his body into it. Awesommmme. Guess that's what I get. I really wanted this activity to last a while, so I won't even tell you what I did when Weston suddenly had to pee. I DID NOT get out a diaper. And I DID NOT let him fill 'er up! That would be gross. And we are clearly not gross around here.

Even the underwear eventually came off at the end. Hiding their pee pee's for one last picture. I hope they remember my generosity for years to come. My kitchen had the faint smell of men's cologne for quite a while after.

I was in my bathroom, getting ready one morning, when Weston sauntered in, nonchalantly. I glanced down at him, then did a double take and gasped. I think my shocked face threw him off and he instantly got a worried look. I asked, "Weston, why did you color on your face?!" Ever more upset, he quivered, "I didn't color on my face." 

Kids. I had to laugh. Like lying was going to cover his behind. 

Perhaps the highlighter goatee will become the new fashion.

Apparently the boys were taking simultaneous pictures.

One thumb suck with a finger curl around the nose, and one nose pick with a booger taste, please.

Shameless selfies. 

Hey, when your hair spends 75% of it's days in a top bun and your apparel of choice is pajamas, it needs to be documented that you can actually get ready.

Collin was loving this.

Favorite picture of the year. No contest.

How sweet is this moment??!!

LOVE that they are holding hands. All, self initiated.

I made Travis take this picture. It's never enough to have one child in your arms. In no way does that send the message to the other kids that your lap is full. There's always room for one more.

(This is also our second home. Travis's parents spare granny apartment on the side of their house. They are so nice to let us crash there so often!)

My view from the toilet. You're welcome. 

Note that Collin is mid-animated sentence, Weston is digging through a box of bathroom amenities (smelling something?? hopefully not tasting something!!), and Olive is bouncing away. 

Never. A. Dull. Moment.

Blue and Gold

I've heard the words "Blue and Gold" before. 

Never knew what they meant. 

Really hoped to keep it that way. 

NEVER thought I'd ever be in charge of one though! 

Holy work. This bugger was a TON of work. Besides the time that went into planning, I spent the entire night before and literally every minute of the actual day, frantically getting ready for it. (Travis was nice enough to consider setting up tables and chairs an appropriate FHE activity :) Plus I was calling the Scout shop and Fed Ex multiple times because the awards didn't arrive until hours before it started! I can't believe I didn't break out into hives. I had to make and print the programs, figure out how the heck to do an Arrow of Light and Bridging ceremony, order and get the cake, buy extra salad and bread, decorate the tables, call all the families and people I was able to coerce into bringing food, and dozens of other tasks. I was driving around town all morning with my 3 kids just running errands that had to wait until the day of.... like getting the balloons and cake. Thank GOODNESS for amazing friends that rescued me that afternoon and took the boys. At least I only had Olive at the church for the couple hours right before. She was quite the mess though.

I actually found a bouquet of blue and gold flowers! Ha! I had the boys write thank you cards to their parents the week before, then during the program they gave their parents a flower with the card. I also bought 3, six packs of those glass bottles of IBC rootbeer for each of the den leaders. I forgot to take a picture, but I had printed out a card that said, "We are SODA-lighted that you are our Bear/

Wolf/Webelo leader!" I had them all come to the front to be recognized and give them their little gift.

Sis. Davis gave an announcement about Day Camp while the Bears got ready for their skit.

I was sweating bullets the entire time. It was so nerve racking to be in charge of something I've never even seen done before. The Arrow of Light Ceremony caused me the most stress. I just wanted to do it right. Well, turns out, you're not supposed to light candles in the church building! Arrghhh! I guess that should probably be a no brainer, but I just thought it was what everyone did for this particular ceremony. I swear scouting is like a different culture/language. And I don't speak it.

I could not have been happier to have this over with! It was wayyyy more work than the Pinewood Derby! I guess the biggest mistakes were not having any forks, dropping my glass vase of flowers on the sidewalk outside and the unfortunate demise of the table centerpieces. The idea was for the scouts to take the balloons and candybars HOME, thus eliminating the need to store centerpieces. #fail 

A lot of people were really kind to say how nice it all was and that it was the best one they had ever been to. That was seriously so nice to hear!!! At least maybe it was all worth it then. Maybe. :)

March Madness

Albuquerque

At the beginning of the month, the lap top died, so that called for a trip to Albuquerque! We just made it a day trip and started out at the Explora Children's Museum. It entertains all ages though.... ;)

There was this little room with musical instruments inside. Collin walked back out puzzled and asked us, "Is that the African American room?" We had to laugh over our own confusion at such a remark and asked why he thought that. He said, "Well, there's lots of African Americans in there." Ohhh, haha! Well, I guess he learned that term at school. Can't recall a conversation I've had with him about what black people are called. Glad he's PC, but also had to explain, those are probably actual Africans. It's confusing. :)

After the museum, we went to the Target at Uptown, that has an escalator for your cart! Never seen anything like it before. Made me pretty nervous actually!

Then it was time to get the computer fixed. After talking about the Apple store all day, Collin was pretty disappointed to not be munching on an actual apple there.

I was nursing Olive on a bench, watching the boys running around when I noticed they both had on Lng shirts. Don't even ask me how that brand's pronounced! They were on clearance at Dillards! We aren't fashionable on purpose around here. :) But these might be my favorite pictures of them this year! They really are best buds. They couldn't be more different, but I'm so glad they have each other.

Then we had some yummy lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I've decided I like that place because they have crayons and paper and Collin was busy coloring the entire time!

It wouldn't be a trip to Albuquerque without a visit to Costco! We found the perfect pool chairs for you, Grandma! 

These day trips are always long, but I love them. I love being with my little family. I feel so incredibly lucky to have a husband that loves to be with us. He's always so good with the kids. He's never treated them as my responsibility. It's not like I'm in charge of them and he's just there to help. He takes equal care of them, if not more, in these situations. Here's a good example. We were checking out at Target and going to be late for the Apple appointment which was across a very busy intersection and a ways down the street. And we had walked there. I handed him the lap top and told him to run and I'd catch up with him and the kids. But of course he wasn't going to leave me with all 3 of them, so he grabbed Collin and started to take off when Weston began crying because he wanted to go too. I was fine to console him and keep him, but Trav heard him and ran right back and grabbed Weston and threw him on his shoulders, then took off again with the heavy lap top and two kids in tow to run 1/2 a mile to the store. I know that's not some big, amazing story, but that sort of thing happens all the time and Travis is always more than willing to take the heavier load. He amazes me. He is the honest to goodness reason I can be a Mom. Both literally and figuratively! Ha! 

St. Patrick's Day

I'm not sure when St. Patrick's Day became second to Christmas, but I'll be honest, I was feeling more and more guilty, seeing the numberless leprechaun traps, rainbow colored food, and crafts inundate my Instagram. It's just exhausting. That stuff is all great and I'm not anti- holiday themed fun, I just wish it wasn't all taken to such great lengths. Or that I'd feel like a bad Mom, just because my kid wasn't going to school with a green themed lunch and clover cut sandwich. I just have to remind myself that that is some moms' forte and not mine and that is OK and we'll all live! :) At least we all got our green on. And better yet, we were invited to an actual, legit St. Patrick's day party by some friends in our neighborhood! Collin is friends with their son at school and we've gotten together with them a few times. They are strong Catholic's and the husband, Mark, is Irish. So the beer was flowin' and the house was full of Catholics and green! We ate corned beef sandwiches and got to listen to Mark play guitar and hear everyone sing Irish songs. I was really excited about all of it! This will sound weird, but it was so fun to be in a group of people where we were the only Mormons. Diversity, haha! It was refreshing. And one after the other, all 3 Catholic priests assigned to our area's cathedral, came in. We met a lot of new people and everyone was so kind and eager to talk to us. It was such a fun night! I don't know, it just felt authentic. I'm so grateful we were invited!

 

CJ's Funeral

On the day of Collin's birthday party, I got a very unexpected text that my 11 year old cousin, CJ, was missing and they feared he had fallen into the canal behind their house. Immediately we said a family prayer and then waited for any more news. A few hours later, Marcie called to tell us they had found his body in the canal. I was so shocked. I didn't really think the worst would have happened. Our family has never experienced anything close to this. It was heartbreaking. I can't even describe how sad I felt for my Aunt Jori and Uncle Dwight and their family. I just cried all afternoon. He had Down Syndrome and had found a way out of their fenced in property, where a rod was missing, covering a ditch. They think he got in the water, trying to save his dog that had fallen in the canal. It all happened right after a scout outing they had at their house. They were eating breakfast when they realized he wasn't around. Asking, "Where's CJ?" was not uncommon since he was always taking off. He hadn't been gone long at all when they realized it though. His dog was still alive in the canal and barking when they went searching for him. They could even see his footprints and the spot where he had sat down and slid into the canal. It's not a place they had ever taken him. Hearing the details about how the dive team pulled his body out was almost more than I could bear. So so heartbreaking. I can't even imagine the grief his parents felt. 

The funeral was the following Saturday. We drove into Mesa Friday night to make it in time for the viewing. They had a slide show of pictures of his life and fun music playing. They were trying to make it as upbeat as possible and call everything a celebration, instead of a funeral. It was the first viewing my boys had been to. It was open casket and very solemn seeing him. It feels somehow irreverent saying this, but it really was a good night seeing all of our family banded together and there to support each other. A good reminder that this is what family is all about.

What started as Abigail, Sarah and Marcie making plans to eat at Gecko Grill afterward, snowballed into all of us joining the party and eating a late dinner! It was great. It's always good to visit and catch up with my Udall family. (Trav had taken the kids to bed earlier. He got a Sweet Fairy cupcake for his generosity. See??? This is another example of what I was talking about, him being such a thoughtful Dad!)

I have a new love at Gecko... the clam sauce. Yum. How had I not heard of it before?? Emily was enjoying hers so much, Nixon got a little too. He didn't seem to mind a bit!

The funeral was the next morning at 10am, but we left at 8:45am to get there in time for the family prayer part. I guess they were expecting a ton of people. Jori was a big part of the Down syndrome  and scouting communities. It was a very emotional funeral, but it actually wasn't quite as devastating as I had pictured it would be. His parents provided him with an amazing life and countless opportunities. I joked that he had done more in 11 years than I had in 30! They have been stalwarts in the gospel and know where he is. They know he is whole now and was needed behind the veil. He was named after Jori's father, Carvel Jackson and they know he is with him. Of course, everyone is still grieving and heartbroken, but they wanted everything about this day to be more about celebrating his life rather than crying about his death. I felt the Spirit very strongly during some of the songs. My heart just ached for his family. 

We all met at the cemetery for the grave dedication and they had a balloon release.

Then it was back to the stake center for a family lunch. Olive got her first taste of food. A veggie straw from Aunt Shelley. She was a fan.

Then Grandpa upped the ante with some bites of ice cream. Grandpa needed to be reminded she was only 7 months and not used to anything but milk! ;)

I think it was 3:30pm by the time we left (we had grabbed the boys on the way to lunch) and I was ready for shopping! We were in Mesa after all. :) Our poor boys really need beds. So we shopped around for those. No luck though. Then I got some time at Hobby Lobby before meeting up with Wayne and Paula to try out the Blue Lemon! Our tacos looked amazing but actually weren't the bomb. I'm not giving up though. I'll give it one more chance!

After the boys were in bed, I made a Target run, then grabbed some Mesa Frozen and headed to Miss Josie's house. For as much as I've heard about her family and home, I couldn't wait to be there in person. Her youngest sister, is absolutely adorable and they sang a couple of songs for me. Loooove. There is nothing like guitar music and singing.

On Sunday evening, we got to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa was in the hospital over the past week, having fluid drained from his heart. He looked so frail. I'm not used to seeing him like that. He's always full of energy and smiles. 

Olive was keeping an eye on her namesake. :)

Birthdays!

My parents have birthdays 3 days apart... March 31 and April 2. Somehow I thought up the idea to do a themed gift based on the year they were born. So I printed out some random facts about the year they were born in, and included a few things that went with those facts.

For my mom's birthday she had actually requested no gifts and just wanted us all to watch her favorite movie, Fiddler on the Roof! We were also instructed to take selfies watching it and group text it out to the family. It was on a Sunday and I felt bad making Trav sit and watch a 3 hour flick, so I was just going to put in on and have it playing in the background while we did our things. Well, Travis wasn't having any of that! If she wanted us to watch Fiddler, then we were going to sit and watch Fiddler!! Haha. I'm glad he was so willing, because I loved it. I laughed and cried and laughed and cried. It really is such a good movie and has so many great songs. "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match!!!!!"

Farmington

For quite a while I had been seeing advertisements online about the Run or Dye 5k in Farmington on March 29. I knew I wanted to do it, I just wasn't sure I could make it happen. Well, then we decided to use our same tax place that we used last year, which is in Farmington and knew we'd need to make a trip there to sign all the final papers. Lucky for me, we were able to make it happen the same weekend as the run! Annnd, I was able to get a few friends to do it with me so I wasn't a total loser! Haha.

We left Friday after work and I was so excited all day. I even woke up happy to exercise that morning, just knowing I'd be in Farmington that night! That never happens! I don't know what it is, but Farmington has my heart. Sounds weird, for sure, but I love that place. Even as we were pulling into town I felt so happy and comfortable. It was like I was pulling into home.

The Shaheens drove in that day too so we met up with them for our favorite... Si Senor. Yummmm.

Then the husbands wrangled the kids back at the hotel (we managed to get rooms across the hall from each other), while Megan and I shopped at TJMaxx and Target and got some frozen yogurt. Have I mentioned that I love Farmington yet?

The next morning, Jessie picked us up at 7:15am, and then we grabbed Katie, before heading to McGee park. It's not so much a park as a horse racing track with a lot of land. Not the most scenic of runs, but eets OK. It was also freezing cold, so we registered then hopped back in the truck to keep warm til starting time!

So it's basically just a fun run, with multiple stations throughout where people throw colored cornstarch on you. Us humans are weird. I kept my Pandora radio playing on my phone and we just chatted and had a good time. I was hoping to at least run the whole thing, but a few of the girls weren't so much into the running thang. I'm no runner, but this wasn't hard. Oh well! Chalk it up to just having fun instead of actual exercising.

All of our husbands met us at the end with the kids. They had a stage set up with music playing and more colored cornstarch a flyin'! After listening to the music for a while, I couldn't help myself and got Jessie to go up on stage with me to take some pictures. If we danced a little, it was just coincidental. Promise. I had to laugh later, when Trav told me that Katie's husband questioned him, "Sooo, she likes to dance, huh?" He must have seen me itching to go up. Trav answered honestly, "Yeah, she's ghetto." Haha. It's da truf.

I didn't mean to, but even Olive's fave got in on the fun.

When we were done, we showered back at the hotel while the kids swam with the dads. We got some lunch at Costa Vida and met up with Martin. Then it was off to the tax office. They must have just cleaned, because it smelled like a doctor's office when we walked in and Collin instantly got worried and asked if he was getting shots. It was good year for tax returns, so we were high fiving and hugging as we walked out! Yay! At least when the government takes 1/3 of your paycheck, they give a smidge back at the end.

We did some more shopping at the mall and then let the kids play at Big Bounce. I love that that place is right next door to Hobby Lobby. :)

Finally, we ended on a sushi kind of note at Mikasa. Mmmmm. Steel kept looking down at Olive and she'd look back up at him. I thought it was so cute! The kids slept most of the way home. It was a goooood weekend.