Family Vacation

We just got back last night from a fabulous family vacation. Just the seven of us headed up to a beautiful lake about 2 hours away from here. It was super last minute and kind of crazy trying to pull it together, but was just what we needed.

We spent most of our time at the lake. The smartest thing we did was to bring our big container of plastic animals, the kids played with those in the sand and water for hours.



The second smartest thing was renting this fun little toy

The girls spent lots of time digging holes



Brennan spent lots of time entertaining these guys


While I spent my time keeping this sweet baby happy and out of the sun

When we tired of the lake and the sand, we'd head to the pool.

Some things I learned from this trip:

1. I'm always kind of shocked and appalled the first time someone throws a tantrum or fights with a sibling when we're on vacation. Once I remember that our kids are still kids and when they act up it doesn't mean the whole trip is ruined, I enjoy myself so much more.

2. There are a million reasons not to go on a family trip, but do it anyway.

3. When Nate yells, "Let's swim to the big white booby" he really means "big white buoy"

4. Brennan is an amazing Dad. He invented game after game that kept the kids totally enthralled.

5. Abby is funny. There was a guy we saw at the pool and lake several times. For some reason Abby was kind of fascinated by him and talked about him a lot referring to him as the "Teriyaki Chicken Guy". I will never be able to tell you why but it totally fit him.

6. Anna isn't too cool to play with plastic animals in the sand with her 8, 6 and 3 year old siblings and I love that about her. She's also really funny and loves to tease (like by pretending to spill the million of little shells she insisted on bringing home much to Brennan's chagrin and laughing when he gets all stressed out). When he gets over the stress, it cracks him up.

7. Ben has some very challenging moments when he melts down, but other than those he is such a fun, happy, game, scrappy, bright little boy. He keeps up amazingly well with his older siblings and makes everything so much livelier.

8. Nate is possibly the sweetest little guy ever, and I just can't get enough of his sincere, serious mood.

9. Sometimes I'm not sure which is harder, when the kids are getting along (and being wild and crazy in the condo at bedtime) or when they're not getting along ("Nate is breathing loud and it's bugging me!" in the car).

10. Fun does not accrue. After we had been home for literally 10 minutes we heard that oh so dreaded phrase, "I'm bored."

11. There aren't 6 other people in the whole world I'd rather spend time with.

Birthday, Baby Blessing and Inauguration

I find myself with some rare quiet time so I thought I'd attempt to catch the blog up on a few of the goings on around here. It's been an eventful week.


Thursday was Anna's birthday. Brennan took the 4 big kids plus Anna's best friend, Chloe, to our local amusement park. They had a great time and I think Brennan deserves big-time kudos for even attempting that, let alone having a good time. Anna wanted an Ipod shuffle and barbie stuff. I think that pretty well captures the state of transition she's in. Part of her is anxious and excited to grow up and part of her is still clinging to her childhood. I'm so grateful she's still got some little girl in her, but am also enjoying watching her transform into an older more independent version of her self. Another of her favorite gifts was a cookbook.

Saturday all of my siblings were in town to support my Dad in his latest adventure of soon-to-be Lieutenant Governor. We missed two of my SIL's and their kids, but it was so much fun to have that many of us together. 3 of us live in the same State and 3 live far away so it's a rare thing to be all together these days. All the adults had dinner Sat. night and then went to Lize and Josh's for more chatting.

We decided to take advantage of the fact that all of my brothers would be in town and blessed Joshua at my parents' home on Sunday. John and Jamie and Brennan's uncle Dixon (who's the reason Joshua's middle name is Dixon) and his son Cody kindly travelled (again, in Jamie's case!) so far to be with us. It was such a nice gathering and Brennan gave baby love a beautifully sweet baby blessing. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and for Brennan's willingness to bless us with it.

Abby, Lucy, Anna and Belle

my brother, Christian

My brother Davis, and his wife, Melissa

Brennan's uncle Dixon and Joshua

Monday night all my family gathered at a park for dinner and games and a FHE lesson. It was so nice and relaxing and the weather was wonderfully cool.

Tuesday was the inauguration for our new Governor. It was kind of out of control keeping all the kids quiet, especially Ben, he's not a quiet kind of kid, but I'm so glad they had that experience. It really was just thrilling to be there. The choir was amazing and as they sang I was so moved with gratitude for our country and state. Our prophet, President Monson, said the closing prayer, which my kids and Brennan and I were so excited to be there for. My girls were particularly excited that a former American Idol contestant, who is the daughter-in-law of our new Governor sang.

Mom and Dad

We came home exhausted from all we've had going, but very happy and very grateful. Meredith and Rebecca, we really missed you and your kids, but thank you for holding down your respective forts so Braden and Christian could be here!

Oh, the Adventures

This will be perhaps be a new series. It will be my attempt to record some of those moments as a mom when you find yourself looking around to find a hidden camera because the circumstances are too much of a perfect storm for real life. Okay, perhaps that's a little over dramatic, but you get the picture.

Yesterday I had to make a Costco run so I left the three big kids home (a wonderful option although you do get a lot of calls!) and took Ben and baby love with me. My sister and her little boy were going to meet us there just for kicks. They were running a little behind so I decided to go to Ross first. I loaded the two boys in the stroller and headed in determined to find something to wear for the big inauguration (after all there will be tv cameras and I'm going to be prepared this time unlike the press conference when we thought we could just slip into the back of the room and then were ushered to the couch right behind the podium!).

Things went well in the beginning, I actually found several great options for oh so great prices. Then I made the questionable decision to go try them on. A rookie mistake. As a seasoned mother I should have known better, but I lost my head for a moment. As you might guess the minute I managed to get my big old stroller into a big enough dressing room things took a turn for the worse. First of all this one big dressing room didn't have a lock or even a latch so I just had hope for the best there. Ben was climbing all over the stroller playing with and losing my keys but at least he was happy. Right as I got my clothes off, but before I got anything else on, baby love started screaming. I picked him up and attempted dressing myself with one hand while Ben kept accidentally knocking into the door sending it wide open. Then my phone rang and I couldn't find it. That was about the time I started looking around for Ashton Kutcher.

Once I was satisfied that there were no hidden cameras, I regrouped. I sat Ben on the little bench and asked him if he would please hold Joshua. He agreed and I planted myself right in front of them and without taking my eyes off of them managed to hurry and try on my favorite option and then take it off and get my clothes back on. Ben was great although he did keep telling me to hurry because he was late for work.

In the end, it all turned out. I got a new suit and another jacket all for the low price of $26.76 and we went on to Costco and Barnes & Noble where Eliza held the baby (he's an angel as long as he's being held) and supervised Ben and Abe so I actually got to think about what I was buying there. Thank you, Eliza! All in a days' work.

Happy Birthday, Frannie June!

How did this little thing:
Turn into this lovely young lady:


All in two seconds. Okay if you want to get technical it's actually been 11 years today, but it feels like 2 seconds. Seriously, wow.


We are so blessed to have Anna in our family as a daughter, sister to Abby, Nate, Ben and Joshy, and as a really talented unique person. She has had to deal with a pretty big obstacle for someone so young, but she's also been blessed with so many talents and abilities that have given her strength to deal with the hard things as well as enriched all of us who get to be close to her.

Anna is so full of life and love and affection. She has a serious thoughtful side and a playful mischievous side. She's super girly but never prissy. She can be amazingly tough, confident and determined, but is also very sensitive and vulnerable at times. She can be very philosophical about her life and struggles and joys, but at other times she's all emotion. The one thing she isn't is predictable. Mostly she's Anna and that means there will be affection, fun, laughter, creativity and joy. We love Anna so much and hope you have a wonderful 11th birthday!

Update

Well it seems that newborn sleepiness has worn off and the colicky stuff set in this weekend. It's been a little crazy just the last few days, but Joshua is still as lovable as ever it just breaks my heart when I can't immediately soothe him. We were completely spoiled last week with a visit from Jamie, Brennan's mom. She took wonderful care of all of us and it was SO nice to have an extra pair of hands. We were also surprised by a neighbor who showed up and insisted on cleaning my house. Not to mention all the continued help I get from my Mom, Eliza and Macy. Thank you all!!!

Anna, even more the other kids, is OBSESSED with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. The other night we were watching a show which discussed tips to avoid getting attacked. She wrote them down. Cracked me up. She also begged me to let her take pictures with our camera of the sharks they were showing on tv doing some amazing jumps. Earlier this week Anna asked me how babies think if they don't know words how do they have thoughts that aren't with words? I didn't know what words to use to reply, but I was impressed with the question. We love Anna.

Abigail overheard my sister tell my Mom that she had left a bag of some of her toiletries here. Later one of my kids was asking what that bag was, Abby quickly replied, "It's Grandma's toilet plunger." Close enough. She's such a faithful little helper, she's always gets right up and gets her chores done and always remembers to take care of Patches (our guinea pig). She even reads him a bedtime story. We love Abigail.

We're always telling Nate he's our best eater and praising him because he loves broccoli. He's really proud of this and tells everyone he's so strong because he eats broccoli. He also tells everyone that his Grandpa told him he's starting look like he's built like a football player. We love Nathan.




Ben's cute nursery teachers came by the other day to give Ben a ride on their motorcycle. He was on cloud 9. He has learned to play the sympathy card with his cast. Every time he gets in trouble or gets denied something he wants he starts crying about how his leg hurts. Nice. We love Benjamin.

Here's the latest of our baby love

We love Joshua.

Update and Random Pictures

Well it's always a little stunning the extent to which life marches on regardless of life altering events. There's just no way to freeze time and ultimately I think that is usually a good thing, or at least the healthy thing, but it does make me sad to know that this amazing newborn time is going to be gone in 2 seconds. As soon as I turn around he'll be 3. Sigh.


Brennan is juggling a sleep deprived wife, 5 kids, work and golf quite well and all on about as little sleep as me being on Ben duty. Benny hasn't slept well since he broke his leg it itches him a lot at night and if he naps he's just not tired until late at night. I guess not being as physically active makes a big difference on how much sleep he needs. Saturday Brennan stayed with all the kids including the baby so I could have a few hours to run errands all by my self! It was wonderful. I'm so grateful he works so hard to take care of all of us. We love Brennan.


I am doing well, I feel strong but tired. I just love my sweet Joshua. He's been a little fussy the last few days, but still not terrible and I can usually hold him in a certain way and he calms right down. People have been asking me if I'm feeling the craziness of 5 kids and honestly it's not so much the fact that there are 5 for now, it's more the newborn thing. Feeding the baby and several others needing me too, or trying to make dinner or shower when Joshua decides he really needs to be held by Mama and only Mama -- that kind of thing. As difficult as it can be, it's also amazing. There's just something so peaceful about a baby so fresh from heaven. The other morning he was awake early so Brennan took him so I could sleep in a little. When Brennan had to leave for work he put Joshua next to me on our bed and I awoke to his little noises and his big dark eyes staring up at me. Ahhhhh, there's just nothing like it.


Anna has been my life-saver. She is so competent and willing to take care of baby so I can attend to Ben or make a meal or take a shower. It's truly a luxury to have such a great helper. She can't go 5 minutes without telling me how cute Joshua is. It's been so cute to watch how proud she gets to show him off to her friends. She'll be turning 11 in a few weeks and we've watched her grow up sort of overnight since Joshy was born. We love Anna.


We let the girls watch some of the dances from "So You Think You Can Dance". There was a really neat dance about breast cancer (I know it's hard to imagine how you dance about breast cancer, but they did). As Abby watched she first said, "I don't get it, is she the breast and he's the cancer?" (The girl was portraying a woman with breast cancer and the guy was her support system). After the performance the dancers, judges and audience members were very emotional. Abby was really stumped as to their reactions and blurted, "I just don't get the touchingness of it all!" We love Abigail.


Nate has surprised me how into Joshua he is. He begs me to hold him all day long and gets so excited to tell me every little thing the baby does. "Mom, Joshua just said his first word! He said, 'Uh'." "Mom, Joshy just pulled the funniest face, hurry and come see." etc, etc. We love Nathan.


Last night I was laying with Ben because he needed to stroke my hair, Brennan's just wasn't cutting it :) Anyway, he'd taken a late nap and his casted leg was itching and he was just generally having a hard time going to sleep. He kept changing position and then finally turned to me in the sweetest little exasperated voice and said, "Mom, I'm getting REALLY fust-er-ated!" "You're getting really frustrated?" "Yeah!" Poor sweet boy. In addition to his cast he is now also sporting a big old black eye. He banged it on the stair railing. He's also picked up a swear word and unfortunately Anna and her friend were the first to hear it and were so caught off guard they of course burst out laughing and made a pretty big deal about it. That sealed the deal and he now says it several times a day. We're working on it, but let me just apologize right now if your child comes home from my house with a new word. We love Benjamin.


Joshua is starting to be awake more and I love it when just stares into my face. He's also starting to coo a little and there's no sweeter sound. We love baby Joshy.

Ben, Abby and Nate in super-hero outfits and poses

Ben's shiner

Joshua
The only two pictures we managed to take at our family party last week

My niece Molly loving Joshy

Benny

I had to get some footage of Benny scootching while I could. He's also been walking on his cast now for a few days.

Lately his favorite show is "Kung Fu Panda" which he refers to as "Ku-Ku Panda" and he wanted to do some Ku-Ku moves for the camera.

Untitled from Andrea W. on Vimeo.