Ruby is FOUR!

For her birthday, Ruby asked for a princess cake with cousins and presents. She also asked to go to the Fun Park (indoor playground). She is easy to please!

1. She is a very docile and easy child. She is eager to please and gets along well with others. Babysitters often comment how amazingly good she is. She is very obedient, and doesn’t often complain.

2. She is NOT like Olivia in that she is not driven by sugar. She often chooses not to eat the rest of her dinner, knowing that she is giving up her dessert, but she just doesn’t care.

3. She is a peacemaker. She will give up her toys or her turn or whatever in order to make others happy. Olivia has caught on to this and often tries to take advantage of it.

4. She loves to sing to herself (and to others). We often find her alone in a room happily playing with toys and singing to herself, or riding her tricycle, singing as she goes. She also loves to dance.

5. She is honest. She is learning to be a little bit sneaky sometimes, but for the most part, she can be trusted.

6. Ruby seems to be a very mature and well-spoken. She started preschool at a very young age, so she seems to be advanced in many social and some academic areas.

7. She still has a very small bladder. She still has to pee more than anyone we know, which makes for looong road-trips with maaany stops.

8. She is brave in that she doesn’t get scared of bugs or squeamish at blood. She loves to find ants in our kitchen (in the springtime when they are all coming inside), pick them up one by one, and take them outside.

9. She is a sensitive soul. She has a very dramatic cry, which she uses (some might say she OVER-uses) when her feelings get hurt… sometimes there is actual physical pain involved, but usually, the screaming wails that most others interpret as sure-emergency-type-of-cry, are just the result of hurt feelings.

10. She is very helpful. She loves getting diapers and wipes for her sister Sonoma. She loves to help unload the dishes, fold laundry, and do pretty much whatever she’s asked (unless Olivia complains about it first, at which point, Ruby catches on, and decides that chores are not cool).

11. She loves gymnastics right now. She also loves “Nutty Nuggets (like Grape Nuts that she calls “nuggy nuggets”)with blueberries and milk” in the morning.

Olivia is… jealous that her birthday isn’t until the end of the summer!!

1. She is so eager to please. She is so anxious to show or tell me when she’s done something good. She longs for the approval and recognition that she followed directions or remembered to follow a rule. It is very sweet.

2. Almost every day, her school work comes home with “I love you mom” doodled somewhere on it. I know that won’t last forever, but for now, aren’t I lucky!?

Sonoma turns one!

I know it is cliché to say this, but I really can’t believe that a whole year has passed by since Sonoma was born. That was such a fast year. She is a big adorable toddler now with rolls and chunky thighs to prove it. Some things about her right now…

11. She likes to make a sort of siren noise, and if you copy her, she’ll repeat it over and over with some variation. It’s really cute.

2. She can say 6 words: “dada” which means baby, “dada” (Dad), “Mama”, “Hi”, “Down”, and “Uh-oh”

3. She can sign a few words: milk, please, all gone, sleep, … but she is not terribly consistent with signing, and is not particularly fond of signing. She mostly doesn’t want you to be in charge of her hands if you try to teach or guide her signing. She likes to be in control of her hands and fingers at all times (clipping her nails is a challenge!).

4. She can take a few steps (I think her record at this point is 9 steps in a row). She still prefers to crawl or cruise along furniture.

5. She is stone-faced for strangers and often for us. This is just following in the footsteps of her older sisters. They grow out of it :)

6. She is generally a very easy baby (mild-mannered, mellow).

7. She likes to climb dangerously on chairs and anything she possibly can.

8. She loves animals. She always wants to pet and touch and poke and grab at cats and dogs.

9. She likes to sing. When we are singing or when music is playing, she often tries to chime in. She’ll also shake her head from side to side in a form of dance.

110. She is constantly rolling her ankles around. It’s not a conscious action, she just does it all the time. She used to do it with her wrists as well, but not as much anymore.

In other news, we took a trip to MOAB this last week, and had a great time, not the best time ever, but a great time. Let's just say that camping with three kids after 6 hours in the car is hard enough, but then having one of them throw up all night in a tent (the smell alone could have killed us) while not-so-considerate camping neighbors noisily set up camp a 4am and then proceed to become noisily intimate with each other, is even harder (we felt like we were in a bad movie!). Ah, the joys of "roughing it"!

Munchkins

We had the opportunity to do some fun Springy things this week such as see (and pet) baby animals at the American West Heritage Center, go on walks, and go to the park and play. If feels good to finally get some natural vitamin D in our systems. I'm glad we took advantage of that because it is forecast to rain all week. *sigh*.

So here's the update on the kiddos who are all growing up too fast.

OLIVIA: is LOVING gymnastics. She is in a class with only one other girl in it, so she gets a lot of attention. She is learning to climb a rope, do handstands, cartwheels, walk on the beam, to pull-overs on the bar, and much more. It's exciting to watch her do something that she is passionate about (as opposed to soccer... which WE love, but she didn't really take to it... yet). She is anxious to learn how to ride a two-wheeler bike all by herself, and she practices a lot. She is also anxious to learn how to swim and is quite daring in the pool. She is a really good reader when she wants to be (life can be rather distracting). She is a good friend at school, which she enjoys most of the time (but it's hard to love anything in the mornings, and morning kindergarten is sometimes a challenge for both of us). She is enjoying participating in the upcoming "green science fair" at school. Her experiment is on the effects of food coloring. Olivia is a good eater and eats a pretty good balance of vegetables and candy. She likes them both. She is, and always has been, a very independent little girl who is desperate to grow up. She loves being a big sister, and she loves to play with Ruby. She often prays that Sonoma will grow up fast - I can only assume it is so that she can play with her as well.

RUBY: surprised us all yesterday by throwing up 4 times and napping early in the day, but has been fine ever since (thank you for not being the flu!). Ruby is such a pleasant little girl. She is always singing and giving hugs to people. She is thoughtful and sweet. Perhaps her disposition also makes her a bit of a tender soul (sometimes people also refer to it as cry-baby-ish), and she is working on being brave about things. For example, she used to get scared at night until Adam told her that the elephants that are hanging on the mobile in their bedroom are strong and nice and would protect her. Now she talks about them all the time and mentions that she isn't scared because of them (genius, Adam, genius!). Ruby also loves gymnastics. She also enjoys coloring pictures for people. She has an adorable attachment to a "fluffy green pillow" and a "fluffy green blanket". She doesn't need them all the time, thank goodness, but sometimes when she is feeling tender, they are the perfect snuggle companions. She says the cutest things. Here are two quotes from this morning: 1. Ruby: "Look mom, FIRE!" Me: "No, that's the sunset. It's beautiful." Ruby: "No, it's the moonset." 2. "If we hold hands super tight with all the people in the world, we won't fall." (rather profound for a 3-yr-old).

SONOMA: is fast approaching her 1st birthday!!! Yikes, that went by fast. She is really coming into herself (what does that even mean?), and her personality is showing more and more. She is babbling all the time. It's so fun to listen to her communicate - most of the time. Lately she has been teething, and so much of her communicating has turned to loud, insistent, and rather dramatic yelling. I hope those teeth come fast. She has said her first word: dada. No, it does not mean "daddy", it means "baby". She has adorable mannerisms. She flexes her whole body in an almost-frightening way when she is really excited. She likes to click her tongue. She is always growling - about everything - something she has done for almost her whole life. She also started picking up phones and putting them up to her head. Amazing how quickly they catch on. She loves taking baths. She still has impressively large thighs, but she is moving around so much that they are thinning. She wants to walk so badly. She is such a cutie and we love her to death!

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy the photos!

So We're 3 Months Behind - So What!

Not posting for 3 months has its benefits – I assure you. On the top of the list is fact that there's plenty to talk about, and buckets o' photos and videos to show off.

With Holly traveling back from Provo right now, I'm gonna have to wing this part. How about I try and do a top 5 list? Sweet.

(Note: this first slideshow is a set of videos, the 2nd are photos)






5 things that have happened since January. 

1.  California
Sam and Kristen are, for lack of a better term, "da bomb". Yes, and old school phrase, but true nevertheless. They rented a huge estate (much bigger and expensiver (my word) than a house) on the coast of Santa Barbara and invited us and other family to go chill for a week. It was quite amazing. Check out the photos for some cold hard proof if that. Two downers from the trip, however: 1. Sam got a tick and ended up contracting Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever -- it knocked him down to a slug for a week!  2. Holly lost her iPhone at the beach – not cool. Fortunately her bro, Jackson, was gracious enough to send her his old iPhone. It was a rough few weeks for her ... not having her Words with Friends games and all :)

2. Thailand ... again. Then San Diego.
I had to take another trip back to Bangkok at the beginning of February. In fact, it cut my time at the luxurious Santa Barbara in half. Holly dropped me off at LAX and as I walked in I saw the sign flashing "Canceled" next to my flight. Turns out someone had died on the plane that was coming to pick us up. My schedule was already so tight that I'd be arriving 5 hours before a very important pitch for some work with a client. I scrambled to find a different flight–and after a few hours finally got on one, but it was scheduled to arrived just 3 hrs before the pitch...and I'd have just traveled for 28 hours. Not cool.
I made it on time and the pitch went as well as we (me and a Thai partner) could manage with so little time to prepare. The rest of my time in Bangkok reminded me of how much more fun traveling is when you're with someone else! I managed to eke by with some stellar Lebanese food and the crazy Chatuchak weekend market.
Less than 48 hrs after my return to Logan, I had to jump back on a plane with a few co-workers to pitch to another prospective client in San Diego. The pitch went well, but jet lag had set in and I realized that I'd be a crappy traveling businessman ... at least if I had to hit opposite sides of the world on a regular basis!

3. Cabin
For my birthday, Holly arranged a surprise trip up to our friend's lush cabin in Bear Lake. She told me Friday afternoon and said we had to leave by 6pm. All the kiddies were coming along of course. One problem: there was a severe winter storm warning starting around 4pm.
Around 6pm when we decided to leave, the snow had nearly stopped and the roads seemed fine. The first half of the canyon was also perfectly fine, but suddenly the storm arrived with fury! The snow was coming down so heavily that within 10 or 15 minutes, we could barely see the road. The snow was piling up so quickly that the car tracks were disappearing at it felt like we were driving through a field of white snow ... but we knew there were steep canyon drop-offs somewhere in the whiteness. It was quite possibly the most terrifying 12 mph experience ever! At times it was a complete white-out and we had to hit the breaks because it was so disorienting. We were sure we were going to have to sleep in the car in the middle of the highway...but somehow we suddenly found ourselves at the canyon summit and made our way down very carefully. Then we turned off onto the sideroad for the cabin and just over the half way point our AWD wagon became NWD - no wheel drive! We were totally stuck! We tried for nearly 30 mins to get out, but it was useless. There was nearly a foot of new snow and slippery snowpack underneath. Suddenly a guy showed up from a cabin nearby -- he noticed us out there in the dark (fortunately!) and grabbed his snowmobile and took 5 trips the rest of the way to the cabin. That man deserves a free ticket to heaven! What a relief and blessing. We left the car right there in the road ... we had no choice.
The next day I had planned to go skiing with friends from Advent at Beaver. I was still determined to go. I packed up my stuff and started hiking the mile or two out to the highway. Holly was happy to hang at the warm, cozy cabin and wait for our friends to come later in the afternoon.
I hitchhiked to Beaver, had a killer day of deep powder and hitched back home with an old railroad worker who skis every day in the winter.
The city plow that does the backroads gave us a ticket for illegal parking -- lame! Holly contested it and we got off -- cool!
Check out the pics and videos from the cabin. We took great advantage of the snow by doing leaps and flips off the upper deck of the cabin into the mountains of snow below. Awesome and momentous birthday thanks to the oh-so-lovely Holly.

4. Provo/Orem
As you've probably noticed by many of our posts over the past year, we take quite a few jaunts down to the Provo/Orem/Alpine area. And it takes a LOT of love to get us down to such an area of Utah!
But with Sam and Kristen AND Marshall and Kristen and Rick all living down there, it's worth it. We love getting down there to chillax.

5. Drew's Birthday
Just wanted to mention that it's been 5 years since Drew died. Time passes so extraordinarily fast. Drew continues to inspire me in my life. His relaxed and animated personality, coupled with his passion for learning, music and simple honesty made him a magnet to all around him. I miss him and hope he's keeping up with the drums in a celestial band. :)

We'll try and stay a tad bit more up to date from here on!

The Resolution Evolution

The other day I wheeled into the Sports Academy parking lot and have never in my life seen the lot overflowing with cars … specifically at 6am! I entered, geared up and made my way over to the machines … not one treadmill, elliptical, or bike was available. Every hamster wheel was occupied with sweaty, determined folk with an ambitious new year resolution to be fitter, thinner, sexier. I mentioned it to a woman next to me and she flatly replied, “Yeah, happens every year – by March the place is back to normal”.

Two questions seem to hang in the air at the first of each year.

1.      1.  What drives us to set goals that statistically we’re so unlikely to stick to?

2.      2.  What force(s) inhibit us from reaching these far-fetched goals? 

Although my memory is about as useful as a spork, I’m quite sure I’ve set several personal goals for myself come January 1^st every stinkin’ year throughout my adulthood. And since my math is about as good as my memory, let’s say that I’ve been setting goals for the past ten years. Only one year did I ever successfully hit my goals. One. Year. I’m sure you’re aware of the goal I speak of – my weight loss goal of 100 lbs. It was a smashing success, but that’s not my point today. What confounds and frustrates me (and likely you as well) is that only 10% of my goals in the past decade were attained! WTF! (it means Why The Face – watch Modern Family ;))

So – back to question 1 – how do we keep thinking that this time it’ll be different? Are we setting the wrong goals? Are we expecting too much from ourselves? Do we already know that we’ll mostly likely fail but choose the “reach for the stars” mentality because that’s what we’ve been taught?  Did I just discuss a question with a slew of additional questions? Clearly you won’t find many answers here … just some food for thought … mmm food. 

And question 2 – why do we stop? Why do we fail? What helped me succeed on that tenth time after losing miserably nine times prior? What’s the difference? 

I suppose the most important question I want to pose to myself (and you diligent folk still reading this brain dump) is this: How can I make that 10% more like 50% … or is it ludicrous to even think 100%?

This is what I think it boils down to … at least this is my conclusion for the moment:

1.       Set a minimum of 4 milestones for every goal. You know the saying – how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And believe me, I was an elephant!

2.       Tell as many people as you possibly can about your goal. ESPECIALLY if it’s slightly embarrassing --- like “I’m super fat and I want to lose it all this year”… that was embarrassing to me.

3.       When you fall off the horse, (and by damn man, you absolutely will!) ask yourself if you are on the right horse – because occasionally you’ll realize that there’s a better horse right behind you that’ll take you the next 4 miles and help you get over a mountain you now realize your other crap horse could never get you over. And don’t forget to over-use lame horse analogies as often as needed.

4.       Don’t follow the rules of some lame-o “self-help guru” --- or even some dude blogging about his amazing ability to lose some weight, then gain some back, then diet some more. We’re all playing this by ear and everyone is so fundamentally unique, every individual needs their own rules and guidelines. I know my weaknesses and strengths and my goal-reaching bible is penned primarily by me, with a dash of a various hand-picked authors/idealists. 

So – there you have it. A quick idea of what seems to work for me. Now throw this in a blender, pull out the useless chunks that won’t break down and add the main ingredient: your unique secret sauce. That totally got cheesy at the end…

So – Holly mentioned that we needed to write a blog post this week and this is what you got. You were probably looking for adorable pics of Sonoma on the verge of crawling (she pulled herself up for the first time this week!), Ruby as a priceless snow bunny or Olivia assisting as sous-chef in the kitchen. Well, maybe next week.

2010 - A Fantastic Year

Here are photos and videos from some of the fun we had in December ... mouse over and click play for the videos.



At the close of 2010, we feel good. It has been a wonderful year full of change and busy-ness. Right now, we are just ending the holiday break. We had a lot of fun with family in town. There were many a family gatherings, games, snow-storms, and over-eating opportunities. We managed to go sledding and - for the first time ever with the kids - ice skating (the girls really loved both, and were champs at skating). We also celebrated the pregnancies of Amber and Mandy with a girl's night. Jen told us about the Navajo tradition of a "Blessing Way", which I will incorporate into all future baby showers. Amid all of this, we were remodeling our home. We ripped out a bedroom on the main floor to open up the main room. It's a construction zone, but luckily we spent the majority of the holiday at my mom's house.

We are now waiting to hear about whether or not we will be moving to Asia in the late summer or early fall. Until then, Olivia will go back to BRCS in kindergarten, singing in Cache Children's Choir, dancing at the Bullen's Center, and who knows what else. Ruby will go back to Union Preschool and dancing with her sister. Sonoma will inevitably learn to crawl, walk, and talk amid other things, forcing me to re-baby-proof the house. I will go back to teaching at USU. Adam will continue to keep his nose glued to the computer at Advent Creative. The new year promises uncertainty, adventure, and fun. I am genuinely excited. Despite challenges that come with a recession/struggling economy, poor housing market, three small children, intermittent poor health, bills, sub-zero winter weather, and whatever comes, life is amazing. I am so happy. I feel like the luckiest person alive. I am learning and experiencing so much all the time. I feel it a privilege to participate in this round of existence. So, 2011, welcome.