Grammie and Pop Came to Town

Grammie and Pop (Seth's parents) were in Monterey, CA for a week and popped down to see us for a long weekend before they headed to D.C. for  Seth's youngest brother's wedding. Taft loved having them in town for his birthday. 

Taft and Luke wasted no time having Grammie and Pop play with them. We headed out for breakfast before Taft's party. 

Ever since a waitress here recognized Taft from a day at the beach, he thinks he owns this place.

Last night together, Greek food.

A random guy was making the BIGGEST bubbles after our Greek dinner. Taft took chasing these suckers down and popping them very seriously. 

Really. Both these boys LOVED having Grammie and Pop in town. 

Whenever Taft and Luke were fighting over something Seth's mom would say,  "Here Taft, I have a plan." She'd whisper something in his ear to "trick" Lukie into giving the toy back. It worked like a charm to calm Taft down. Ever since he'll ask Taft or I to "make a plan". 

Blue eyed dreamboats. 

Thanks for coming Grammie and Pop!

Taft is FOUR!

Taft 4 Year Interview from heidi herway on Vimeo.

All of the sudden, this kid is four. Taft has personality. He will talk to anyone who will listen (ask Colie and Jed how long their "quick" birthday call ended up lasting). He does not hide his feelings, the good and the bad. He will randomly squeeze you and tell you he loves you, and it will come out of nowhere. He is super sweet most of the time. He is a typical first child and thinks he runs the show. Seth (and maybe some others) are convinced he has inherited this unfortunate trait from me, but I think it's an oldest child thing. For the record, I think my bossiness has really come down a notch or two or five. I know other grown ups who are WAY more bossy than me. Ahem, back to Taft... He has a really busy imagination. He would watch tv almost all day long if I let him. If he watches more than an hour though he gets really grumpy. On the flip side, he loves books and loves being read to.  He loves to ride his bike. He's a very sweet older brother and has recently started mentioning he wants a baby sister.

We made it home from St. George in time to celebrate his birthday. We started the morning off right with a bike ride to the donut shop. I think I'm going to request that for my birthday too. Donuts are deeelicious. Later that evening when Seth got home from work we opened presents. Taft got a new two-wheeler (he's been riding a balance bike) so he and Seth took it out immediately. Unfortunately it was a little too small so we're waiting for a new one to come in the mail. Taft requested Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his birthday. We were happy to oblige on the video game part, but talked him into something else for dinner. I told him Chipotle had chocolate milk and Chuck E Cheese did not. He was sold. I felt a little guilty but Chuck E Cheese food is NOT good, nor cheap. This was not my bossiness stepping in, Seth didn't want to eat there either. We came home to do cake. Taft requested a Spiderman cake, but since we picked it up last minute they only had a Batman cake or a Spiderman "puh-cake" (cupcake) so we got both. There's a new Mexican supermarket near us and Seth wanted an excuse to buy a Tres Leches cake. We thought that's what we were getting but I think it ended up being kind of soggy regular cake. Oh well. Taft liked it.

Although I swore last year that I would do a low-key party this year, it still ended up bigger than I had expected. Taft requested a "quinata" and a bouncy-house. I'm not kidding when I say that literally every birthday party we've been to since living here, with the exception of ONE, they have had a bouncy house. Since we're living in an apartment, there isn't really room for a party, so I knew we'd be having it at the park. The problem with the park is the city makes you get a $200 permit just for the bouncy house. I didn't want to dash Taft's birthday dreams of getting a bouncy house (although it is completely ridiculous to have children EXPECT that at a party!) so I convinced him that a baseball party would be way cooler than a bouncy house. Again, he took the bait and didn't mention the bouncy house again.

Taft was lucky enough to have his Grammie and Pop in town for his birthday party! Taft had lots of fun with all of his friends from our street, church, school, and other friends of ours. I think we had about 20 kids. Yeah...The thing here is that it's not just the kid who shows up to the party but the entire family. It ends up being a lot of fun, but kind of stresses me out mixing social circles and wondering if we'll have enough food. It all works out and we always have leftover food. We had t-ball set up with lots and lots of balls, some yo-yo balls -- whatever they're called, Pin the Ball on the Bat, baseball tattoos, a baseball pinata, baseball snacks, and of course Big League Chew as the party favor.

About to see his gifts...

Happy...

Very happy!

Testing out the new ride

Birthday call from Colie and Jed

Pirate costume from Nana and Grandpa

I wanted to mention Taft's "Pee Wee Sports of All Sorts" rec center class he just finished. We've been working on sportsmanship at our house and this was the perfect activity to have Taft learn more about it. His first day was rough, the second day was good and we celebrated with a treat afterwards, and the rest of the session was smooth sailing. He had a blast.  Excuse the pictures. I had to take them through glass and he was super far away.

Workout fuel. This class was 30 minutes after school so he always had to scarf his lunch on our walk over. 

Clean-up time. Look how efficient he is. 

Working hard

Cracker Jack, Popcorn, and Red Vines.  It wasn't around a meal time, so we opted for snacks. Oh and I threw in some veggies for good measure. And for all the hippie parents here who only feed their kids food that comes from the earth.

Don't judge. I'm clearly not a perfectionist. 

Grammie with Luke. Pop was here but I failed to get a picture. 

The pinata broke off the rope after about half of the kids went. Seth risked his arm being knocked off for the the sake of the party. 

Feeling a little embarrassed about the attention. 

We love our sweet birthday boy.

Grandma Shaw

Anna Olga Plepis Shaw, 86, passed away peacefully on March 10, 2013, surrounded by her family. She lived a long life full of love, service, teaching, learning, travel, adventure and so much more. She was the sweetest, strongest and most smiling woman we know. 

Anna was born December 6, 1926, in Hanover Township, PA, to Lithuanian immigrants George Plepis and Dorothy Dubra. She was raised in Pennsburg, PA, and then attended George Washington University in Washington, DC, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education and was a member of Delta Gamma. She later earned a master's degree in Guidance Counseling from the University of Delaware.

She married Alan Alfred Shaw on September 17, 1950, in Philadelphia, PA, and together raised their family of three children in Claymont, Delaware. Anna was a PE teacher and then later, a guidance counselor. She retired to St. George in 1984 after the passing of her husband.

Anna was very involved in many community organizations, including the first president of the Democratic Women of Washington County and president of the St. George Historical Society. She served on the committee for the restoration of the Pioneer Courthouse and was very involved in the Art Community in Southern Utah, encompassing Art in the Park, the St. George Art Museum, and various art shows held at the Pioneer Courthouse. In addition, she managed publicity for the Institute for Continued Learning and the Southwest Guild, was involved in organizing and promoting the World Senior Games, was an active member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and volunteered at the DOVE Center. 

Anna loved playing bridge and was very active in several bridge groups. She also loved to travel and literally traveled the world visiting every continent on various ElderHostel tours. She enjoyed swimming and competed in water ballet in college. She loved being around people and was a friend to all. Her greatest joys came from her children and grandchildren. She took great pride in their accomplishments and supported them in their goals and aspirations. 

She is survived by her daughters Cynthia Lam and Kathleen (Brent) Bluth; nine grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alan Alfred Shaw; her son, Michael Alan Shaw; her sister Hilda P. Murphy; her brother Herbert Plepis; and her son-in-law, Robert Lam. 


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The boys and I and headed out to St. George Saturday afternoon. We were able to see my grandma in the hospital for a couple of days before she passed. She was no longer on the machines that were helping her to breathe, but the doctors had her on medication to keep her sedated and comfortable. Monday evening, along with my mom, aunt, cousin Danielle, and cousin Nate, I was able to sit next to my grandma, rubbing her arm, as she took her last few breaths. 

Like the obituary mentions, my grandma lost her husband almost 30 years ago and lost her only son, Michael, about 12 or so years before that. Thinking of their reunion the night she passed, gave me so much comfort. I had images in my mind, of the three of them hugging, kissing, laughing, and crying together. What a sweet reunion it must have been. 

It was great to spend the week with my family and my cousins, going through my grandma's things and remembering her and learning things we never knew about her. 

Even though I knew a few things from her obituary, I hadn't realized just how actively involved she was in her community, especially in her retired years. It's inspiring to me and makes me more motivated to be involved in my own community and to work harder at getting the nonprofit off the ground. 

I loved spending the week thinking about my grandma and all the things I've learned from her, the characteristics I've inherited from her, and her qualities that I want to try to have. 

We managed to fit in a little fun during the week when we took breaks from cleaning, sorting, and organizing my grandma's house. 

Cousin Amy and Lukie. She was awesome. We had the best babysitters all week!

Taft and his buddy Nate. Nate rocked this week. He helped out with my boys soooo much. 

Rock crushing contest.

Grandma Shaw's famous apricot tree. As long as I can remember, my grandma has made apricot jam, every single year. 

Buzz boy. This momma's boy let me hold him for 5 whole minutes!! Well...his mom wasn't around, but still!

The funeral was Friday and Taft's birthday was the next day. I really wanted to get home to celebrate his birthday with Seth, so right after the funeral, we as a family had a picnic in Snow Canyon before we left. We used to always have picnic's with my grandma, so we found it fitting to have one that day. 

I'll miss my grandma dearly, but I am so grateful for her legacy and the wonderful family she has created! 

Disneyland/Big Bear Vacation

Seth had his vacation week the first week of February. We decided to do a stay-cation of sorts again, and did a couple of days at Disneyland, followed by a couple of nights in Big Bear. 

We had talked about taking Taft to Disneyland for his birthday, but ended up buying annual passes to Disneyland instead. (Gulp. They were not the cheapest thing we ever purchased.) I think it will end up being a good thing. We've already spent a total of 3 days at Disneyland, and I'm sure we'll go enough to make it worth the price. 

The boys both had a blast. We did California Adventure the first day, and checked out the new Cars Land first thing. It is SO adorable. They've completely recreated the town from Radiator Springs and I just died at all the detail. The boys liked seeing the Cars characters, but didn't go nuts for them either. In fact, they didn't really care too much about any of the characters in all of Disneyland. The would point them out, but didn't want to have their picture taken with any of them. 

I must say, I think I have a love-hate relationship with Disneyland. I love that all the workers are over the top happy, that it's a magical place, but I super hate crowds and boy, does Disneyland have crowds. I just think it is completely unreasonable to expect a small child (or even parents for that matter) to wait 45 minutes for a silly Dumbo ride that last 2 minutes. I know, Bah Humbug right? What I'm saying is, if we didn't live so close, I don't know if I'd make a trip just for Disneyland for my kids. Unless they had a crazy Disney obsession and going there would make all their dreams come true. In that case, I'd go. Probably. 

However, I love that Disneyland lets one parent ride with two kids on a lot of the rides. This makes it so much better when I go by myself with the boys. Legoland is not like this, which makes it pointless to go without Seth. 

Anyway, enough about me. Here are some pictures of the day. 

Taft laughed hysterically on this ride. I wish I had it on video.

The Toy Story ride. A family favorite.

These crazy boys. Throwing their hands up on the ferris wheel.

Day 2: Disneyland side. The happiest place on Earth right? It is pretty happy there, I must admit.

Are they not twins?

Luke insisted on being with Seth on every ride. Taft was nice enough not to complain, even though we all know he would have had some turns with Dad. 

After two days in Disneyland, we headed to Big Bear Mountain outside of the L.A. area. We got in to town in the evening, settled in to our hotel, rented skis and such, and got some grub. Bright and early we headed to Bear Mountain Resort so Taft could start his snowboard camp. We had signed Taft up for an all-day group class from 8:30 to 3:30. I was hesitant to sign him up for such a long day, but we decided we'd just check on him at lunch and if he was over it we'd take him out. He ended up being the only kid in the class so he had a private lesson all day and had an absolute blast. He loved his instructor, Adam, and just had a great time. It was really cute watching Taft get pumped about snowboarding once he tried on all his gear at the rental shop. We would have rather had him take ski lessons since that's what we'll do as a family, but he had to be four. Yes, only a month shy and they still said no. 

Seth and I took turns going on runs. It was the firs time I had skied in 5 years! I was a little rusty but took it easy and stayed on greens and blues. The weather was PERFECT for my kind of skiing. Sunny and mid to high 40s. This was the first time I've been skiing that I haven't been miserable with painful fingers and toes. 

Against our better judgement, we took Luke up on a couple of runs in the hiking backpack. Eventually someone told us we weren't allowed to do that, so we stopped. We decided to get Luke some skis and Seth took him down the bunny hill a few times. Luke was content just to be pushed around on the flat snow wearing his skis and helmet. 

I have several videos from our ski day, but turns out that my camera is too new for our version of iMovie so I can't upload it. Normally I could just upgrade iMovie, but apparently our computer is too old for the new version of iMovie. Grrrrrrr. 

There was a story that happened in Riverside that made national news while we were in Big Bear. Some of you probably heard about it. A disgruntled former LAPD officer shot and killed three people over the course of a couple of days, one of them being a police officer. The shooter, Christopher Dorner, was trying to "clear his name" for the reasons why he was let go from the LAPD force. He wrote a super long manifesto and said he was planning to kill multiple officers from the LAPD. The morning we were leaving we saw this "breaking news" in our room on the news and that there was a multi-county manhunt for this guy. As we were driving down the mountain heading home, we saw multiple police cars, armored vehicles, etc. heading up the mountain. We wondered if they thought the shooter was hiding in Big Bear. When we got to the bottom of the hill we saw police cars parked, with officers out of their car holding rifles!! It was crazy! Later we found out he was in fact up there. Police were unable to locate him exactly for a few days, but did eventually find him in Big Bear. CRAZY. 

We finished off the week with a half-marathon that I had been training for. The training paid off and I beat last years time by 8 minutes. Woop woop! That night we got a sitter and had an early Valentine's dinner and movie. So basically, we had a really great week.