NEVER SAY NEVER

And no, I'm not talking about JB.

However, it wouldn't be completely out of character for me to gush about young love McBeebs.

But I digress.

Back to the topic at hand.

Among the list of things I've promised to never do:

smoke

become vegetarian

color my hair

admit defeat at Kaari's Annual Cookie Competition

move to Utah

I'm a liar.  A big fat liar.

I still am smoke-free, have natural hair, eat my in-n-out almost daily, and I won first place at the Cookie Competition last year.

But really, never in a MILLION years did I ever think it would happen.

But...here goes nothing....

{GASP}

we're moving to Utah.

Why?

Good question.

But what it really comes down to is this:

The Sunnyvale plastic bag ban has me in dithers.

Seriously.

I can't for the life of me get 3 tiny people, my cart, my wallet, and myself into the store in an orderly fashion, let alone bring my collection of reusable bags.

Why, California?

WHY?!?!

But I guess there are a few other minor reasons.

Like the fact that an incredible job offer fell into Tyler's lap

(which is saying a lot because he really enjoys his current job here).

The fact that we will be much closer to our families

(Hallelujah!!! We will be in the same town (Price) as Tyler's parents, we both have siblings in Utah, the kids will have cousins within an hour's drive, and my parents live about a 5 hour drive away).

And quite honestly, I'm looking forward to a slower-paced life for a bit.

I'm constantly torn between loving the chaos, excitement, hub of all the life and awesomeness in the Bay Area, and the nostalgic fantasy of a quieter, less stressful, slower-paced life.

So, I'm excited for this new adventure.

I'm excited for this new adventure.

I'm excited for this new adventure.

Did I say I'm excited for this new adventure?

I have to keep reminding myself.

Just kidding.

I really am looking forward to this new opportunity for our family.

It will be different, but we're looking forward to trying something new.

And don't be too sad about our absence.

I have high hopes we'll return to this part of the western United States in a few years.

Just as soon as Sacramento realizes the bag ban is doing nothing but driving away its finest citizens.



Easter Hoppenings





'Twas a lovely Easter as usual.

It started out with my friend's annual Easter Brunch & Egg Hunt on Saturday.

Everything was beautiful & festive.

The food was exquisite. 

The kiddos loved the hunt.

The chocolate surprises did not disappoint.

And although Ashby wasn't allowed the choco,

she helped her fat little self to a few heaping handfuls of grass.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day.

A nice break from all the rain!

It started with a morning scavenger hunt from the Easter Bunny.

The youngins found their baskets and Linc hasn't put his

"ball n glove" down since.

Then we prettied up and headed to church.

After church we had more egg hunting and dinner.

Avy had the table set so beautifully with name tags, chocolate, egg decorations, and even completed the look with Squinkies.

A Happy Easter, indeed.

Let it be documented...

...that there was a day in history...

when the stars aligned.

All rooms in my house,

INCLUDING BEDROOMS

are clean.

All dishes are done.

All laundry is washed, folded, and put away.

All 3 kids are napping at this moment.

I had a good visit with my treadmill this morning. 

And, wait for it,

my kids ASKED to have BROCCOLI with their lunch.

I delivered.

They partook.

I would love to brag and say this is the new, 

fabulous me,

 finally metamorphosis-ing out of my 6 month postpartum cocoon,

but let's be honest.

It's really the Twilight Zone.

Hope your day is going just as lovely as mine!

Fat & Happy

How rude of you.

No I was not referring to myself.

I was talking about the cute fluff who has been BEGGING us to give her food for weeks now.

Seriously, begging.

She puts her little roll-y arms out, opens her mouth, stares down our food,

then screams at us.

This is what I call a rice cereal success.

Linc's Sunday

1- made his own breakfast

Found the leftover pizza from the night before sitting on the counter,

pulled up a chair,

brought over his chocolate milk,

then went to town dipping pizza in chocolate milk.

He ate the whole slice that way.

2- forgot he was wearing his undies in nursery.

After church I picked him up to give him a big hug 

& noticed his pants were wet.

It wasn't just urine.

It was the full monty.

All down his legs.

Those cute green boxer-briefs you saw in the first picture are now in the church dumpster.

I find this funny for 2 reasons:

1- how did nobody in the classroom notice this?

It was foul.

2- how come he didn't seem to care?

Funny? Nay, I find it disturbing.

3- he broke the umbrella by running it through the house after I specifically told him not to run through the house with it.

And then he ran from me and found safety in the exersaucer.

With no pants on, mind you, because they had been defiled in nursery earlier.

February...where is the love???

I am so good to the month of February.

I decorate.

I throw parties.

I  bake treats and take them to neighbors.

I let the tots join in on the fun.

I make heart pancakes.

I leave personalized love notes on the wall.

I dress myself and my kids in red & pink as much as possible.

For goodness sake the Valentine's Fairy even comes to visit.

I celebrate with big Valentines.

So why has the month of love shown no return?

It started like this:

Tyler was told on Wednesday, Feb 1st, that he needed to be in Ireland for work on Thursday, February 2nd.

For 2 and a half weeks.

Okay fine.

I figured he would miss my talk in Stake Conference and our Annual Valentine's Day Bash, but other than that we could survive.

No biggie, right?

Well that 2 and a half weeks turned out to be just a few days shy of the whole month.

My talk and our party seem like years ago.

I wish that was the only excitement he missed around here.

We have had 8, I repeat 8, Dr's office visits since he left.

& trust me, that's not because I'm a paranoid mom...every visit was justified.

Here's what we've had:

Ashby

(fortunately, & somehow miraculously, she was the healthiest of us all)

flu...fever, cough, vomits

Linc

(his is a long list)

cold

ear infection

hives

yeast infection

failed hearing test

pukey stomache flu

Avy

cold

pukey stomach flu

Me

mastitis

flu

and the diagnosis of skin cancer

I realize a few things on this list are cause for explanation, but first let me just point out that our kitchen sink & bathroom sink were clogged for days...the week we happened to all be puking.

I called the property mgmt company and told them.  Nothing.  I called again 2 days later and left a message detailing how gross the sinks were and that we all had the flu and they needed to get here stat (thank you, heather), and they immediately, finally sent someone out.

Here you go.

The explanations:

1- Linc

hives

One morning he woke up then took his jammers off.

As soon as he ran past me with his nakey self, I initially thought maybe Avy had scratched him or hit him bc I saw this flash of red nakedness run past my eyes.

 I was like,

"Gus! Get yo hot bod right back here...what is all over you?"

Once he held still I started to freak.

I realized these massive welts and bumps were indeedy not the work of a big sister.

I threw everyone and myself in the car and headed to urgent care.

The doc said it was just a case of bad hives due to something.

Awesome.

I love when I get no answers.

She did say it was a common reaction to a brewing virus,

and low and behold, he and I both started throwing up later that night.

yeast infection

Poor guy.

I've never seen him in so much pain.

He woke up screaming one morning at 5 telling me his bum hurt.

He then continued to scream and fall to the floor in pain over and over again.

(A day before he did develop some strange rash on his bunsies, but I didn't think anything of it.)

Again, I threw the gang in the car and headed to urgent care.

We're regulars there now.

I'm sure when they see my car pull up they say,

"Oh goody! Here comes the circus again!"

The Dr. prescribed him a yeast infection cream & it seems to be working.

Thank goodness!

failed hearing test

So we've been a bit concerned about his speech.

He's just so stinking smart (just ask me) and gets so frustrated when he can't communicate with us.

So the go-getter in me kicked in and I started to make all sorts of appointments and fill out speech applications to get things checked out...in the event there is an issue.

He had an audiologist appointment last week and it turned out one of his ears didn't pass the test.

The Dr did say that this could be because he was on antibiotics and was recovering from the ear infection.

So we're going back for another test in a few weeks.

HOWEVER, no concerned mom (with her husband across the world, mind you) wants to leave the dr's office being told there's the possibility that her child has a hearing problem.

2- Me

I know.

Strange.

But also not strange seeing as how I am "abnormally white".

(Tat's words the first time we ever met)

Really, it was just a matter of time.

I am the perfect candidate for it:

fair skin- check

blue eyes- check

blonde hair- check

red hair- check

family history- check

freckle easily- check

no possibility of a natural sun tan- CHECK

So yeah, I'm still a bit shocked, but it's actually a good thing to have found it while I'm still young.

It's a HUGE wake-up call for me to be more uber sensitive to the sun & to make sure I am always covering me & my fair-skinned kiddles in hats and sunscreen.

I get this bad boy removed from my scalp in March.

So if I walk around with a huge bald spot and wearing one of these while at Gilroy Gardens all summer long:

you'll know why.

So let this be a lesson to you all:

Go visit a dermatologist for a little looksy at anything you think seems a bit strange.

DO IT.

NOW.

So that was our month.

Thank you Thank you Thank you

to the dear friends who have texted and emailed on a daily basis to make sure I'm not holed up in a corner twitching.

And for friends being so inspired to help, often without even knowing about the chaos going on here.

Thank you for dropping off dinners or bread or coming early to the party or taking my kids all day many days or asking what I need at the store or inviting us over to dinner.

Seriously, the list goes on.

I am so, so blessed.

And I couldn't possibly not thank my siblings for helping to save us too.

Whit-Whit held down the fort while I was often gone for Stake Play practice with the youth.

And Austy, well he was Superman.

There were many days he told me to go lay down and he would take over.

One day he even took Avy & Linc from 2-8pm.

They went to Golfland, dinner, a movie, and even stopped by the store for me.

He watched the 2 youngers while I worked in Avy's class a few times.

He let me bust out for a dinner one night with some friends.

He washed the non-dishwasher dishes out back with the hose.

Seriously.  He did.

He often watched a kid or 2 while I hauled myself and the others to & from the dr's visits.

I was going to cancel the V-day party but he told me no.

He helped decorate, run errands, then took the kids all evening & night.

And he even slept here the whole month because he knows I hate to be home alone.

What a champ.

Thanks!

Yes, we missed our Irish Tyler.

He missed out on quite the month over here.

When he called me from New York while on layover,

I said, "Are you really on American soil???"

And then I cried.

I sobbed.

I missed him a lot.

So overall, I guess the month of Februray did show me some love.

Life happens.

Crap happens.

Coincidentally enough a lot of really bizarre, unfortunate, every single day someone was sick, stuff happened to happen while I didn't have a husband here, but we survived.

Sure it didn't turn out to be the month I had hoped for.

But now that I've typed this and rehashed the past 4 weeks, I realize I am so loved.

There were countless tender mercies from the Lord this month that I would be completely selfish and ungrateful if I said February showed me no love.

Here's to a great March!

Afterall, isn't it the month o' the Irish???