A Winter Trip to Utah

The boys and I headed to Utah the day after Christmas. I had decided before going out there that I wanted to have a family-only visit this time. I love getting together with friends and catching up, but I always feel like I'm trying to fit too much in when we visit. It was nice to just relax with my family for a week. Plus, everyone basically had the whole week off from work which NEVER happens when we visit! 

Highlights of the trip: 

Eating at all the bad-for-you places I love

A quality afternoon with the Herways, Herways, and Stouts

Sledding at Sugarhouse Park 

Tubing at Soldier Hollow

A Bluth family party and my parents house with extended family

Wedding dress shopping with Tates

Grandpa and the boys building a snow fort turned sharks mouth. 

Goodnight hugs with Nana and Grandpa

My mom and dad remodeled their kitchen/family room and added on. They added this darling breakfast nook. 

Trip to Scheels.

Looking the part in his camo coat. 

We saw "Saving Mr. Banks" and I fed my pregnancy cravings. For the record, I have always thought Red Vines were gross until like 3 months ago. Now, I LOVE them.

So inappropriate but he was so excited to show everyone his new CTR ring he got in Primary at the parents' ward. He just chose the wrong finger. 

Target practice with Grandpa. My brother sent my dad and the boys Nerf guns for Christmas. They were a major hit. I think Grandpa liked them the best.

Sledding

Sledding at Sugarhouse Park

Train ride at the mall.

Tubing at Solider Hollow. I loved this!! This is a must do next time we're here in the winter again.

Everyone knows these boys can be pretty cautious at times. I was shocked that they BOTH insisted on going down the sledding hills by themselves. They go pretty fast!

Christmas 2013

For a recap of this years Christmas festivities I should just copy and paste from previous years. The kick off to Christmas started with Santa coming to Coronado via the ferry. They had all sorts of activities at the Ferry Landing that day, including bounce houses, cookies and hot chocolate, ornament decorating, cookie decorating, and a snow hill. That night Coronado held their Christmas parade along Orange Avenue. 

We also checked out the Boat Parade the next week and had our best seats yet! We walked down to a dock that we had always thought was private, but turns out it isn't! It also happened to be next to the judges so the boats were sure to come up close to the dock. 

I wanted to go to our Stake's live Nativity, but like most holiday seasons one or more of us was under the weather and we had to miss it. 

Seth and I went the Anesthesia Dept Holiday Dinner at a hotel downtown. It's always fun getting dressed up for a date. My hair looked better earlier in the night. Sigh. 

Letters to Santa. Taft asked for a Finn McMissile that shoots ink, a Lego police car, and a grabber.  Luke asked for a Lightening McQueen and a Mater. 

Our ward holiday party was chaotic. For the last couple years the Primary was in charge of the Christmas party and they would put on the Nativity. This year the party planning responsibilities changed and we had a "Christmas Around the World".  Our ward has a lot of diversity in cultural backgrounds so it was fun to try all kinds of different ethnic foods. 

Taft's preschool puts on a short singing program around Christmas and Easter each year. He did a great job. Unfortunately Seth had to miss it this year. 

It was our warmest Christmas yet so we headed to the beach Christmas Eve. At this point Seth was out in the water with his SUP. Later in the night we had our fancy dinner, opened pjs and Christmas books, and left out cookies and milk for Santa. Sidenote: Poor Taft forgot that our  Christmas Eve present is always pjs. He was excited to open a present and the disappointment on his face was heartbreaking. He was trying so hard not to cry but I saw his eyes filling with tears. He wasn't snotty about it, just disappointed and unable to hide it. I also had the epiphany that since we're having all boys the pjs tradition will probably just be something they tolerate and eventually protest. I loved this tradition as a kid!

 The next photos are my attempt to get a shot in their Christmas Sunday outfits.

The boys woke up Christmas morning happy to find that Santa had fulfilled their requests. I was horrible at taking pictures but we got a little bit on video. We had invited some friends to spend the afternoon with us and had plans to have a bonfire dinner at the beach. I came down with a most terrible cold and had to withdraw the invitation. I felt terrible about it, but spent a good part of the day in bed, slowly dying. The best part of Christmas was seeing the boys so excited and having Seth around all day for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Luke is Three!

Like last year, we (minus Seth) were in Utah over Luke's birthday. For MONTHS, Luke has been saying that he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday with "Mom, Dad, Taf-Taf, Luke, and no more peoples!" I really didn't want to disappoint him so we kind of breezed over his actual birthday while in Utah and celebrated the way he wanted to the day we got home. If these pictures look familiar it's because this is the EXACT thing we did last year. I'm not complaining, this kid is easy to please.

For gifts he got a new balance bike and a Spider-man costume. Both boys love dressing up. We're starting to grow quite a collection. He also got great gifts from other family members.

Lukie was THE BEST 2 year old. He rarely threw fits and was pleasant almost all of the time. It's kind of funny, because I'm already noticing that 3 year old Luke might be a little trickier. We'll see how it goes. Luke's personality is much different than Taft's. Luke likes to play with kids he knows well, but is hesitant about playing with new kids. He is shy around new adults. When he gets in trouble, he doesn't cry or get mad, but will just hang his head and walk away. As different as the boys personalities are, they are great at playing with each other.

Luke is a charmer. He will randomly tell me he likes my lips, eyes, hair, teeth, hands, or whatever else he notices. He also thanks Seth and me all the time for stuff. Most places we go, he says "Thanks for taking us here!" It's really sweet.

Luke is a great eater! This gives me so much satisfaction as a parent. I seriously beam with pride when he clears his plate of whatever I make for dinner, including multiple vegetables, things that have unique textures or sauces, and a wide variety of items. The other child of mine is quite opposite in this department.

Taft goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays for 4 hours. I love being able to give some undivided attention to Luke. Often times we'll walk to the beach after dropping off Taft to look for shells and crabs in the tide pools. We've recently started doing "Mom School" in the mornings Taft is gone. He loves doing his projects and school books. He'll start preschool in the fall.

Lukie does not like to go to sleep. He doesn't put up a dramatic fight about it, he'll go along with the whole process but once we've said goodnight he'll quietly creep out of his room multiple times before falling asleep. It's hard to get mad at him because he's just so dang cute.


Favorites (according to him):
Color: Blue
Food: train tries (french fries)
Lunch: Crackers with Laughing Cow cheese or Hummus
Show: LeapFrog
Toy: Duplos and cars
Book: Knuffle Bunny
Game: Spot it
Drink:
Place to go: Legoland
Friend: Alex. (I don't know who this is. I asked him and he said, "He's a zebra!") I think his favorite friend is actually Taft.

 

Hangabur and Train Tries. 

A mini-camping trip and a trip to Monterey, CA

Back in November decided to take the boys camping. We had to laugh because it wasn't really in the wilderness, you could see houses from our campground, but it was close enough to the real thing for two little boys. I would love to camp more with our family but we need to invest in some camping equipment. Like sleeping bags. It actually got pretty cold at night and both Seth and I woke up several times during the night FREEZING. We had the boys between us with the bulk of the blankets and they seemed to sleep fine. We were close enough to civilization that we just hopped in the car in the morning, drove to breakfast, and then came back to take down our tent. The night before we did manage to cook our dinner of hot dogs over the fire with coat hangers. See? We need real camping gear so we can do it the right way. Like dutch oven style. Anyway, here are some pictures:

At the beginning of December, Seth had an interview in Monterey, CA. He had to use one of his vacation weeks for it, so we made a family trip out of it. We spent the first two days of the trip at Disneyland. The highlight of this particular Disney trip was when Taft got picked to be a Jedi trainee in Tomorrowland. He was so stinking excited. He got to fight Darth Vader with a light saber and later asked if we thought it was the real Darth Vader.

Monterey is GORGEOUS. Oh my. So Gorgeous. We loved it up there. We decided against taking the Monterey job at this point in our life, but man, it would be awesome to live there. During Seth's interview day, the boys and I drove about an hour north to have brunch with my cousin Katie in San Jose.

In line at Disney.

We never see Seth in the mornings in our regular life, so having him around in the mornings on vacation is extra special.

The water! This picture doesn't do it justice. It was so clear. To the left there is a cove and we saw a group of seals and a few seal pups. It was cute to see the pups sneaking off into the water to play with the grown ups slept.

Europe 2013: Belgium

For the last few times we've visited Seth's parents, we've thought it would be our last, figuring his dad would be retiring and moving back to the States before we'd have a chance to visit again. This time truly was the last. Seth's parents moved out of the home they lived in since 1989. I know Seth is glad we really were able to make it back "one last time."

We arrived to Brussels in the morning, but it was the middle of the night for us. Seth, Luke, and I all took naps but Taft was excited to be around his cousins and aunts and uncles and stayed up ALL day long. He adjusted to the time difference the quickest out of all of us. Nicole (Seth's sister) and Jed were finishing up their European vacation/honeymoon but we overlapped for about a day or two. Seth's other sister, Natalie, and her family overlapped with us for about a week. They had been in Belgium for 3 months! It was really fun for the boys to spend time with their cousins that unfortunately they rarely get to see.

First day in Belgium. Uncle Jed built these kids the COOLEST fort in the forest behind Seth's parents' house. We were sad to have only overlapped with them for a day or two. 

A really fun park. Wish I remembered the name??

In Leuven, heading the the official Herway family restaurant, Domus. 

Lukie and I took a morning walk into Sterrebeek one morning when we were awake waaaaay earlier than everyone else. 

The way to Sterrebeek. It was a creepy/pretty foggy morning. 

Jet lagged Taft about to enjoy his waffle from Stokkel market. I have to admit, I never thought waffles were all that great, but THESE ones are amazing!

One night Anita, Natalie, and I went downtown to a restaurant to get dessert and play cards. That's a major difference in Europe, you can sit for HOURS in a restaurant, taking up a table and it doesn't bother the servers one bit!

Excited for the "Sumway"

On a day when I simply couldn't get out of bed, Seth, Anita, and the boys got out to some sights. This is at Beersel Castle.

Also without me, they checked out/sampled til they were sick at the Neuhaus chocolate factory

Gaasbeek Castle

Gaasbeek Castle with Grammie

Downtown Brussels with these hooligans

While the Portugals were still in town with us we all headed to Brugge for the day. It was SUCH a pretty day there. This is also where everyone had the best frites in all of Belgium. I was feel queasy so didn't try any, but everyone raved about them. 

Cute Brynnie Boo trying to get her loose tooth out with a chocolate wheel

 

Antwerp

Breendonk Concentration Camp. Seth's family has lived in Brussels since the 80s, and his mom just learned there was a concentration camp here. It was pretty incredible to visit. It's such a fascinating time in history because it's just so unfathomable. It was a very sobering day, but I'm so glad we were able to visit it.

I didn't take any pictures of it, but we were in Brussels for their "No Car" Sunday. People could ride their bikes all over downtown with no cars. We all headed out for that and it was a lot of fun, although some cars didn't seem to get the memo. 

And I have to mention AGAIN how much Anita, Tom, and Seth stepped in while I was in the throws of terrible morning sickness. It was such a bummer to be sick there, but it was also a blessing to have so much help with the boys. Plus, the boys absolutely loved spending time with Grammie and Pop.