CA Trip-The Drive & Family

As you have probably surmised from seeing this post up . . . we are back! We got home from our week+ family vacation to California. We had an awesome time and I am so excited to share our adventures and cute pictures. I am going to split the trip into several posts. This will probably be the shortest and most disjointed since I am SO tired after our 12 hour trek home today.

We took off last Friday afternoon around 4:30pm with high hopes of reaching my Aunt's house in Vegas by 10:30. Ha! We ended up taking a ridiculously long stop after only an hour and a half of driving. The food was slow, Weston was slow to eat the food, we changed kids into pj's and in general dilly dallied. Needless to say we didn't get into Vegas until well after midnight. After about 5 hours sleep, we had some fun visiting with the Overson's in the morning. By the time we got back in the car at 10am everyone was ready for a nap.

I should mention that the boys both did awesome with all the driving. My tech nerdy, I mean savvy, husband rigged up the portable dvd player (THANKS Burton's!!!) and a little 7 inch flat screen he randomly had so that they hung in front of each of the boys. We had a car full of little vidiots the entire trip. It was fabulous.

Back to the story . . . about an hour outside of Vegas we (Ian) noticed that the temperature gauge was reading really hot, like almost over the hottest it could read. We didn't notice any other signs of overheating, but stopped in Baker to check things out just in case. After hanging out in the car with the boys for a bit while Ian talked to his dad, the mechanic and my dad, we determined it was most likely that the temperature sensor was bad and it wasn't overheating at all. Then we ate lunch at Bob's Big Boy and picked up some Alien jerky. Yum.
Finally we made it to my parents' house just in time for a family party! Right off the bat Weston got to hang with his cousins and I got to hang with mine. I really appreciated everyone making the effort to be there for me to visit with. I know that's really why they were all there. ;)

We were celebrating Sara and Katie's 17th birthday and they were so sweet doing crafts with the kids half the night.
I forgot to get 4 generation pictures last time I took the boys to CA, so this time I made sure I did. They are extremely informal, but at least I have them now.

Me, Davin, my dad, Weston, Grandma Olson, and Grandpa Olson
Me, Davin, my mom, Weston, and Grandma Snowball
Sunday morning we thought ahead to take pictures of all the cousins looking nice, but the porch swing wasn't the best idea. I still think these kids are all pretty stinkin cute.
Church was interesting. Davin was running a fever Sunday morning, so I drugged him up, but he was still pretty warm and fussy and just slept on my shoulder for most of Sacrament, so as soon as that was over I dropped off Ian and Dav at home so Davin could get some rest. When we all got home from church Davin was still napping. He seriously slept half the day. Poor kid did NOT feel good. By bedtime though he was starting to act more normal and didn't feel nearly as warm. That night was crazy though.

My kids actually slept through the night just fine. Weston went potty once, but Joy's girls were all sickies. Lizzie kept waking up just screaming because she didn't feel good, Mimi woke up fussing and ran down the hall to get Joy and ended up peeing everywhere, and Rachel just woke up like normal for her 8 month old self. While helping Joy clean up Mimi's mess, Joy decided that she and the girls would not be joining us at Disneyland in the morning. It really was just as well. We did miss playing with them at the happiest place on earth, but I'm not so sure it would have been so happy with tired, sick kids. Anyway, here are the kids and Joy playing Zingo right before we took off for D-land.
We had such a great time playing with the Henshaw's. I know it's a lot of work for Joy to bring the 3 girls down by herself, but I was so glad that she was there and we got to have some fun playing time. Woo hoo for visiting with family!

Stay tuned for the Disneyland post . . .

A Whole Week!

I can't believe I haven't posted for a whole week. I apologize. Things have been pretty crazy. We had a really nice Valentine's Day weekend. I had to go to a really long (3 hours) ward conference leadership meeting Saturday morning, so Ian stayed with the boys and took them to the mall to buy some See's for our Valentine's evening. When they got home I made heart shaped pb&j for lunch. Weston thought it was awesome. I also brought the boys home mylar heart balloons. They were a big hit. Davin was fascinated for 20 minutes at a time and Weston just ran back and forth through the house pulling his balloon behind him. He also called himself the balloon man, of course.
I finally got the carseat thing taken care of from my rear-ending accident. It turned out to be a pretty sweet deal. Davin needed a new carseat since he is pretty much done with his infant carrier, so that was on the list to buy, but with the accident the insurance paid a portion to replace both carseats. I got both the boys new carseats and ended up paying just $70 out of pocket for both. Anyway, Ian installed the new carseats on Friday night, so we had 2 huge boxes all weekend. Weston pretended they were rockets, but mostly just hid in them.
Ok, so back to Valentine's Day. That evening I made Weston heart shaped pancakes for dinner and then let Weston open his Valentine gifts from me and Grandma B and Grandpa Bob. After the kids were in bed I made spaghetti with mizithra (a fav dish of ours from Spaghetti Factory) for Ian and I. We ate by candlelight with no interruptions. It was great. We had rented this movie to watch while we enjoyed our See's. It was one of the worst movies I have ever sat through. So slow and disjointed with a horrible ending. Oh well. It was still a nice night.

So then we had Ward Conference on Sunday where I taught YW and sang with the choir. In the midst of all of this we have ALL been sick. Davin and Ian have had it the worst. Weston and I have mostly just been congested. Monday we took both the boys to the doctor just to make sure it was just a cold and not ear infections or strep. Davin still had a little bit of an ear infection, so he is back on an antibiotic and I am doing his inhaler again. Weston is pretty much fine. Hopefully we will all be in good shape by the time we leave for California on Friday.

As most of you know we have been thinking about selling our house for awhile now. Well last week we talked to our mortgage broker to see about getting approved for a new loan before we put our house on the market. All was well on that end, so this weekend Ian brought home the nice camera and we took pictures of the house. We finally got a hold of our realtor on Sunday and he sent us a list of comp homes on the market right now in our area and a list of homes that had recently sold. Unfortunately they were pretty much ALL under what we are trying to sell our house for. Long story short, we have decided we need to wait. We are not going to be moving for a few more years at this point, so no more questions about it. I'm a little bummed, but at the same time excited for the house projects we will now do and the possibility of getting a new car.

Yesterday we spent the day running some errands and then met up with my friend for lunch. They came over to play after lunch and spent the evening with us. After dinner Dawnie and I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was so fun! I loved the movie, even though it was different from the book in a lot of ways. Isla Fisher was awesome as Becky. I hope they make another movie using the other books in the series.

So, yes. We have been busy. This is what Weston is doing right now. Literally. Davin is doing the opposite (screaming in his crib) even though he is equally exhausted. Sigh.
Anyway, I am going to take the car to get the oil changed tomorrow and then pack up and we will be hitting the I-15 on our way to CA on Friday afternoon. I will try to post while we are gone, but I make no guarantees, so at least there will be a good excuse for my absence from the blogging world this time, but rest assured I will have lots of fun stories and pics to blog about when we get back. So long!

Hey Sugar

The title of this post makes me smile simply because I can only hear my dad saying those words. He often referred to his four daughters as "sugar." I loved it. It made me feel special. It still does since I still get a little "Hey Sugar" every now and then. Speaking of sugar, I decided that my once yearly baking and decorating of sugar cookies would be for Valentine's Day. Last night Weston helped me make the dough. It was a double batch, but still no match for my Kitchen Aid. After Weston went to bed I spent an hour and a half rolling, cutting and baking all the cookies. I should have counted how many I baked. Oh well.

This morning my friend, Tara, was supposed to come over with her kids to help us decorate all these cookies, but alas, her car was not cooperating, so we headed to her house instead. The 3 year olds each frosted and sprinkled 2 cookies, ate them, then headed off to play with an "I'm done!" That was fine by me. Tara and I got to spend a good hour just visiting and frosting cookies. A good time was had by all. The cookies taste amazing, which would explain why that is all I've had to eat today. Oops. :) Good thing I will be giving most of them away.

Here are the kids licking the frosting beaters. Talk about a sugar rush. I would also like to point out that these 2 are almost exactly 2 months apart, but Kenzi is SO tall and Weston is extra short. What a pair.
Check out the concentration on Weston's face while frosting his second cookie. I love that he is sticking out his tongue. I always did that as a kid when I was concentrating and still do as an adult on occasion.
The finished product. We just did kissy lips and little hearts. These are plates for neighbors and ladies in my ward.
Lastly a random pic of my newest cowboy. He had so much fun playing with Weston's hat while his brother napped.
I hope everyone has a fabulous Valentine's Day with their sweetie(s). Don't forget to spread the love. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Addendum:
If you would also like to get in the Valentine's Day spirit and do sugar cookies, here is the recipe:

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. flour

Mix all ingredients 3 at a time starting at the top. When dough is well mixed, refrigerate for about an hour. Using lots of sprinkled flour roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Place cookies on greased cookies sheets and bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes (depending on how thick you roll out the dough). I try to roll out the dough about 1/4 inch thick or less. They will rise in the oven. I did all mine for 8 minutes. I also doubled this recipe and it made 3 trays FULL of frosted cookies.

Powdered Sugar Frosting

1 c. butter softened
1-2 tsp. vanilla
milk
1 pound powdered sugar

Mix everything together using a little bit of milk, then add milk 1 Tbls. at a time until you get the consistency you want. Divide frosting into multiple bowls to color.

Aspirations

Recently overheard: Weston standing in front of the mirror while waiting for me to help him put his cape on . . .

"This is Clark Kent here to tell you about the letter P. It makes the "puh" sound."

I turned around and put his cape on for him, then back into the mirror . . .

"This is Superman here to tell you about the letter D. It makes the "duh" sound, Davin, Davin, duh, duh, duh."

Then off he flew into the night.
I'm pretty sure Weston wants to grow up to be Clark Kent, Superman and an actor on Sesame Street. I believe he has great potential.

Busy?

This will be a pretty random post, so hopefully you all can follow me. I got to spend part of this last week driving around a fun, red sports car. It was the rental they gave me while my car was in the shop being repaired from when I was rear-ended a few weeks ago. It was kind of a pain dropping off my car, moving carseats to be driven to the rental place, then putting carseats in the rental then doing it all over again 2 days later when we picked up the shiny, clean, fixed car. It was worth it though because the body shop took care of, not only the bumper, but also realigned my driver side doors (they were sticking post accident), re-attached my front bumper (which ripped off a couple years ago and was just held on by baling wire), and washed my filthy car all at no cost to me! Woohoo! The other perk of the accident is that the insurance company will pay partial costs to replace the kids' carseats, so yesterday I headed to Babies R Us and bought brand new carseats for both the kids. Yay! I still have to go to the office and turn in the old carseats and get the check for the new ones, but hopefully that will all work out well.

Yesterday I threw a little baby shower for my friend, Becca. It came together well and we had a good time. Now we are just waiting for her to go into labor . . . any day now. While I did the shower Ian took the kids to the dinosaur museum.

That's about all we had going on last week, but here are some random pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Here is the Wilson clan all squished onto our little sofa watching the Super Bowl last weekend. We had a good time with our impromptu Super Bowl party.
Davin LOVES to take baths. I don't know of many babies who don't enjoy bath time. Davin's favorite thing is to splash. He can make quite the water mess in the bathroom. Also, he has really bad ectopic dermatitis (DRY skin), so he doesn't get to play for long. The boys take baths together most of the time and it's really fun now that they kind of play together.
Ok, seriously, I love this kid. He is so cute and fun. Our newest favorite game is "rolly ball." Davin gets so excited when he gets the ball. These colorful wood balls that go with his Melissa and Doug toy are his absolute favs too. Weston enjoys playing with us too, so it's our go to thing when we are bored at home.
I think this was on Saturday and Weston insisted on wearing his dinosaur shirt to go to the dino museum. He is such a funny kid and almost always is dressed up as either a cowboy (riding his hobby horse, Sprite), Superman (in his red cape and cowboy boots), or as Captain Knife the pirate (in his pirate hat, boots and holding his pirate knife). He asked me to take a picture of him with his Valentine card that he got in the mail from Gram and Grampa Squire. He really enjoys getting mail.

Theater Buffs

Last Friday we had some visitors. Uncle Eli and Aunt Emilee were in town! We spent the day hanging out with them. They helped me out and watched Davin while I took Weston to his 3 year old check up. That night we had Cafe Rio takeout and then headed downtown to take in a show. We got free tickets to this "kids" show through Ian's work and decided to take Weston to his first theater show.

Here we are in front of the theater. Weston was very excited to be included in such an adult activity and felt special since Davin got left home with a babysitter. He had a hard time focusing for a picture though.
The Crystal and the Sphere was a modern dance show. The stage had 2 main stage props, a large sphere and a large crystal that the dancers went around and that changed colors and such. The show used a lot of cool lighting and even black lights. Weston was riveted. He thought it was really cool. There was a little stretch in the middle that got kind of boring. The jelly beans I bought in the lobby came in handy. There were some really kid friendly numbers and then some weird modern dance ones. We were glad we went though and had a really fun time. It was nice that Eli and Emilee could come with us too.

Yes, I am a dork.
The morning after the play I asked Weston if he had enjoyed the show.

Me: So, did you have fun at the show last night?
W: Uh huh. I didn't laugh though. I didn't think that ball and that party hat were very funny.
Me: laughing.

He was referring to the stage props. The crystal really did look just like a party hat and seeing as this was the morning of his birthday party he kind of had party hats on the brain. Hopefully we can take him to a kid play with more of a story when he's a little older, maybe in another year. I still say it was a successful first "arts" experience.

Party Time!

I am going to post the birthday extravaganza weekend a little out of order, starting with Weston's birthday party! This was the first kid birthday party that I had thrown. It was a lot of fun. I think Weston enjoyed it too. ;) The party was at noon, so I spent all morning cleaning, decorating, putting together food, etc. Weston ran around and kept asking when his friends were coming.

Here is the big 3 year old birthday boy.
The party had a "sports" theme, so I made baseball and basketball cupcakes. They turned out pretty cute. For future reference, has anyone ever found black writing icing at the grocery store and if so, what brand? Anyway, we also did some fun treat bags for the guests and included little soft baseballs, party blowers, candy and a balloon. You can kind of see them in the background of the cupcakes.
15 minutes before party time and we were all pretty excited.
Weston and his buddy, Makenzie play fighting. I love the face Kenz is making in this picture. Also, despite the sports theme Weston insisted on wearing his pirate hat for most of the party.
All four birthday guests (Mason, Makenzie, Weston, and Jarom). I did not attempt any organized party games. The kids just got out all the toys and played and played and played.
Dawnie playing with Dav. It was a miracle that he wasn't crying since he is not in my arms. We have officially entered the extreme cling stage.
After we all ate pizza and chips the adults hung out in the kitchen and the kids migrated to the bedroom and living room to play. After a bit, Weston asked if he could open presents. He was quite the champ present opener and got some really fun gifts . . . THANKS everyone!
His final present was a tricycle from Ian and I. He was pretty stoked. He is not very good at riding it yet and is still a little short for it, but I'm sure by summer he'll get the hang of it.
After we opened presents Weston just wanted to open them all and play with them. I had to tear him away to blow out candles and do cupcakes. He knew exactly what to do and blew out all his candles in one try. He got a little embarrassed while we were singing to him. I almost thought he might cry, but he was ok.
Davin thought those party blowers were hilarious. Weston kept blowing it right at Dav and making him laugh.
Everyone slowly left and we got things cleaned up. After everything settled down we opened Weston's new pirate chest toy from Grandma B and Grandpa Bob. Weston thinks it's pretty great, but I did have to hide all the tiny pieces.
All in all I would say the birthday party was a success. To be honest though I may regret having my boys so close together. When Davin is older and I have 2 parties to put on just two months apart I may be too tuckered out. :) I'm so glad that all our friends could come play with us and I'm thankful for my cute Weston boy for providing us with a good excuse to party!