Bring on the Year of the Rat!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone; it's the year of the Rat!!! Had I still been living in California surrounded by a bit more culture and diversity, I suppose I would have remembered (before I had to be informed by the news), that today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. I remember growing up in my neighborhood how a lot of my friends would be given LOTS of money from their relatives in honor of this special day; I was always a bit jealous my family didn't celebrate the Chinese New Year and shower me with money too. Noah and I honored the Chinese New Year this morning by watching Disneys Mulan 1 & 2.

Anyhow, speaking of "RAT"; my prediction for the year, now that Mitt Romney has decided to drop out of the Presidential Elections, is that a "RAT" surely will receive the 2008 Presidential Nomination! How appropriate that it's the Year of the Rat. I had the chance to vote on Tuesday- the boys came to the polls with me. Unfortunately although we arrived early to the polls, we had a really LONG wait in line, one that took well over an hour, but surprisingly the boys behaved well. I'm not sure what kept Noah entertained the whole time as he sat waiting in the stroller, but Ian amused himself by pulling at Noah's ears and hair (he was sitting in a seat directly behind Noah); I'm happy I had at least one chance this Presidential Election to cast my vote for one RESPECTABLE, qualified person but now I don't really care for any of the remaining candidates. I think I nearly got an ulcer on Tuesday after watching all the LIVE coverage of the elections; it really pains me now to think of who could possibly be our new President and what unfortunate changes will be made for the future of our country. I think I'm going to ditch watching any of this election coverage for a while; I need to let the pain heal without injuring myself anymore watching patrons support total "idiots".

It may suprise a lot of you that I've been so passionate about following these elections, but along with Majoring in Broadcast Journalism, my minor in college was in Political Science. I'm fascinated by politics; I've just dulled my fascination these last few years since I married into Spencer's family. His parents, ESPECIALLY his mom, are VERY active in politics; his dad was on city council for 8 years and his mom has been on every board for the state and every organization imaginable. Actually, a funny, yet interesting fact about me is that while I was a Senior in high school I took this Career Aptitude Test and my testing results suggested that I should be either a Politician, a Lawyer or an Indian Chief (no joke, it seriously suggested I should be an Indian Chief!) Needless to say, I chose to be a homemaker, imagine that!

Moving on, it SNOWED AGAIN TODAY. We just got another 3, maybe 4 inches of fresh new snow. I don't mind the snow, I actually really enjoy it. I've thought about how fun it would be to go snowboarding in all of this snow, but that's not even a possibility, at least not this year while I'm preggers. Today's a lazy day, pajama day. That's right- I'm staying in pajamas all day long. Don't worry, I did shower, but I don't plan on going out today so I dressed down in my P.J.'s. I can only hope no unexpected visitors come by...

This snow today worries me just a little because Spencer and his two friends, Kalun and Jimmy, are driving back from Denver- the roads between here and there can be a bit tricky to drive on during a snowstorm.

I really can't wait for Spencer to get home, I started to miss him after he'd been gone for only one day! He's been gone now for nearly a week and half... well correction, he was home MOMENTARILY because he flew back from New York, arriving late Monday night and then left again for Denver by noon the following day.

He said he had a great time in New York. He really enjoyed the Writers Conference and Book Fair. He even had the chance to talk to and get some insight from a few representatives of all of the schools he's submitted graduate applications to. He caught two Broadway productions in one day, "The Lion King" and "Wicked" and he did quite a bit of sightseeing. He also found the time on Saturday to stop by Dylan's Candy Bar for me. He said the place was AMAZING. I guess he spent quite a bit of time in there and quite a bit of money- apparently everything in the city, including candy, is well overpriced. He picked up these GUMMY ALPHABET LETTERS for Noah. Noah LOVES them. Aren't they cute? Can you tell what letters we were missing- there's two we didn't have. By the way, in the last week, Noah learned to recognize the letter "S" and "B". He also counted perfectly from 1 to 13 for me all on his own! He's learning really quickly!!!

Spencer stayed in White Plains, NY at his aunt and uncle's house instead of staying at a hotel in the city. He just caught the subway into the city every day. Spencer's uncle is actually a Stake President for one of the stakes there in New York City, so on Sunday, Spencer woke up early and accompanied his uncle on all his meetings around the city for the whole day. Spencer said it was cool to see some of the different congregations and see the city from a different stance rather than from "on foot" or a tour bus. They were out making the rounds for well over 12 hours so SURPRISINGLY Spencer missed all of the SuperBowl. He said he didn't even catch a minute of the game! If anyone knows Spencer, that's really a shock he missed the SuperBowl! He's not a fan of either two teams, but it's still an event he would NORMALLY NEVER MISS. I think it was the first time my entire life, minus the SuperBowls that took place while I was on my mission, that I never watched the SuperBowl either; actually, I did manage to catch the last quarter of the game on television. It was a pretty good end to a SuperBowl game- definitely not disappointing.

Sadly, I didn't have the New York adventure that Spencer had, but I did watch a program on PBS Sunday evening that talked about the history of the city. It was really fascinating. One fact I learned was that in the late 19th, early 20th century, residents of New York City had no where to go to escape the busy, polluted streets, so they flocked to the large city cemetery to picnic and play ball between the headstones. So many citizens gathered for recreational purposes at this cemetery, it encouraged city officials and developers to create New York's Central Park.

Anyhow, Spencer went to Denver with his two friends to watch a Jazz/Nugget basketball game. I guess the Nuggets are leading their division in basketball so that's why the guys really wanted to go to the game. Spencer never told me where he'd gotten tickets to sit (I just assumed they were in the "nosebleed area" somewhere) so imagine my surprise last night when I turned to the game on television and saw Spencer on t.v. seated two rows behind the Jazz coach and players!!! I almost had an aneurism wondering how much he spent on his ticket; I thought for sure he'd have spent $600 or $800 for the seat, since that's about how much a seat at a home Jazz game front row would cost; but actually he only paid $90 to sit behind the visiting team there in Denver. Not bad, not bad at all and thankfully it didn't really put any dent in our savings. The Jazz won in overtime too- pretty impressive; I saw Spencer on t.v. jump when the last shot was made.

I know that Noah will be extremely excited to see Spencer once he returns. For a little while, Noah thought Spencer was just in the back room where he usually is during the day if he's at home doing work stuff. Noah would ask for Spencer, and then I'd tell him that he was in New York, but some how, Noah misinterpreted New York for "work" and just thought Spencer was off in the back room working. Too funny.

The boys have been really well behaved for me while Spencer's been gone. Even though Ian's cutting his first tooth, he wasn't too whiney or cranky. He's actually been sleeping a lot more lately than he usually does. He's still not crawling yet; so close but it hasn't happened this week.

My sister Trish asked me now that Spencer's been gone all this time if once he returns he's going to take me on a cruise somewhere. She was just kidding of course. I don't really care to visit anywhere other than San Diego. Spencer doesn't know it yet, but I'm making plans to visit San Diego in March. Hopefully he'll be up to a drive there and back- we could have some fun at the beach with the boys.

Speaking of San Diego, one of the things I loved so much about growing up there was that there was ALWAYS something or SOMEPLACE to visit, and it didn't always have to cost money. San Diego's the perfect family place, minus the crime and overcrowded streets. Seriously though, you could buy annual passes to the Zoo or Wild Animal Park, or Sea World, or to the Museums or Birch Aquarium, or you could visit the seals or the tide pools for free down in La Jolla or Point Loma and even go snorkeling, swimming or surfing nearly all year round in the ocean. There's even a hand full of amusement parks all situated with in an hours distance from where I lived. These places are so fabulous and the lifestyle there is rich and indulgent in this kind of life visiting museums or animal sanctuaries. I loved my childhood!!! I regret that my own kids probably won't ever have the same opportunities to visit places like these as often as I did growing up; that's one of the reasons I L-O-V-E to skip back home to San Diego for a week or two every couple of months to let them have the experience.

It's been difficult here in Utah finding things to do with the boys. Aside from visiting with friends or family, and taking trips to the mall just to get out, there isn't a whole lot that can be done outside the home here during the winter... or so I thought... I've done some searching and I've found a few places I think I'll buy annual passes to. During the summer we always buy annual passes to Seven Peaks. It's the best and really one of the only places we can visit here in Utah County to cool off from the dry summer heat. I've been to Thanksgiving Points Dinosaur Museum a handful of times with Noah and I think I just might buy a family pass there and to their Farm Country where they have the petting Zoo. I've thought about buying a season pass to the Hogle Zoo, but it's so small and the animals enclosures are even smaller, I always leave there a bit depressed, probably out of sympathy for the animals. I was spoiled growing up with the Worlds Best Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, just a hop, skip, jump and away! I've heard that there's an aquarium up in Salt Lake, so perhaps next week I'll visit there with the boys.

I just took Noah and my nephews to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake yesterday. I decided to buy a family season pass there so I could take the boys back whenever. The museum is actually really cool; I was pretty impressed. The boys had a blast alone just in the first exhibit where they could play with balls and watch them get sucked up into a network of tubes. Noah was nearly flabbergasted when he saw the helicopter on the 2ND level of the museum. He could hardly believe he was allowed to sit in a REAL helicopter. After he got seated in the copter, he kept yelling to his cousins, Luke and Jake, to hurry and climb in too because he was SURE the helicopter was going to take off with out them. Too funny! If any one wants to make a date and take their kids to the Discovery Gateway Museum, let me know and I'll meet you there!

Luke, Jake and Noah doing some construction...


Here's one of the twins dressed in construction gear ready to get to work. It's terrible of me to admit I can't tell which twin this one is; I can only tell them apart in person because one has a freckle on his forehead while the other one doesn't, otherwise they are COMPLETELY identical.


Noah and one of the twins watch as a paper parachute fly's up through a wind chute.


Anyhow, so I'm on a quest to beat the "Winter Blues" and find things to do with the boys outside of home. Sure I have to drive a bit a ways away to get to all of these places I listed above, but it's worth it cuz I want to give Noah and Ian exposure like I had as a kid.

I'm so excited because while I was at the museum in Salt Lake yesterday, I grabbed a free copy of one of Salt Lake's news journals for families and I found a club that teaches soccer lessons to little kids 2 years and older!!! I've been looking for something like this forever now, and I know nothing here in Utah County offers soccer classes for 2 year olds. Noah really likes to kick around the soccer ball we have at home and both Spencer and I played a lot of soccer growing up so it's definitely a sport I want Noah to try out. The club is up in Murray, about a 40 minute drive from here, but classes are just once a week, so I'm seriously considering signing him up. The exposure would be good to get him to start working with other young kids his age, not to mention the exercise could help strengthen and tone his muscles and help with his hypotonia.

I had a funny little conversation with my nephews, Tricia's twin boys, Luke and Jake, on our drive up to Salt Lake yesterday. They asked me funny things like who makes clouds and who makes snow. They're only 5, but together, with their little inquisitive minds, some of their questions even had me guessing half the time. Noah really had a good time hanging out with them. When he's around them, it seems as if Noah instantly matures and warps into this older boy because he wants to do and be a part of everything they're doing. Too cute.

I had a precious moment with Noah last Saturday while I was driving to my sister's. We were driving up the road that cuts off State Street towards the Timpanogas Temple and just before we reached the top of the hill, Noah must had seen the Angel Moroni on top of the temple spire, because he was quick to shout out "TEMPLE"! We drive past the Timpanogas Temple practically always on the way to my sister's house, but never has he recognized the temple. This time he did and it was so cute to realize he'd recognized the Angel Moroni from pictures of other temples we've shown him during church, figuring out that what we were driving past was a temple too!

Last Saturday morning we watched President Hinckley's funeral service. I left to take our car to the car wash just minutes before the service was over. I got back just in time though to hear Noah humming along on his harmonica while the bagpipes played "Amazing Grace" during the funeral procession from the Conference Center to the city cemetery. It was so cute how serious Noah was about humming along on beat with the pipes. He really loves his harmonica.

I took my nieces, Alana and Victoria, along with the boys, Noah and Ian, up to the South Towne Mall to visit the Sanrio Store where they sell girly stuff like Hello Kitty. I had to buy Victoria and two other nieces birthday presents so I figured they'd like some small things from the store. I was a bit impressed at first, because everything appeared inexpensive, so I loaded up my basket with all kinds of little Hello Kitty knick knacks. I wasn't expecting my total to be anymore than maybe $20, so imagine the shock I had when it turned out to be three times that! I hate stores like this where you think you're getting a great deal because everything is so cheap, but then you end up spending a fortune (IKEA, Costco and Target are perfect examples. I can go to Target only expecting to buy Toilet Paper and somehow I never leave the store without spending less that $50!) It blows my mind! Anyhow, thank goodness for now, I only have boys and they won't be begging me to go to the Hello Kitty Store!

Saturday night I went out with my mother in law to watch August Rush which was showing at the dollar theaters. This was a FABULOUS movie; if you haven't seen it, I have to recommend you do!

I surprised myself Sunday morning by having both myself and the boys dressed and ready for church 45 minutes before church started! I even found the time to sweep off the 6 inches of snow that had fallen on our cars windshield. (We easily got a foot of snow on Sunday here at our house in Orem). I mention this feat because it's really impressive I managed to do it on my own since usually even with Spencer's help, I'm running just a minute late to our sacrament meeting that doesn't start until 11:30.

Noah's teachers took a funny picture of him in nursery on Sunday. He has this new fascination with cameras and he likes to have his picture taken. Thing is, he's got this cheesy new smile he's been flashing around recently; it's funny to look at, but also a bit embarrassing to think that's my child who honestly thinks his smile looks GREAT! I can't help but laugh...
This is the funny picture Noah brought home from Nursery. Gotta love it!

Another cheesy smile from Noah...and a snarl from Ian.


Monday night before I picked Spencer up from the airport, I stopped by my sister Celeste's home in Kaysville; her home is a good hour drive from my home, so it's not often I see her or her family. My nieces and nephews are always so good about playing and entertaining the boys; Noah had a blast chasing them around. I think he also enjoyed being around their dog and their cat- I can't wait till we're settled permanently somewhere where we can get a dog of our own. I really miss having pets.

Noah had two instances where he managed to do some "unwanted" damage this week. Last Friday I took him and Ian shopping at Maceys with me. I seated Ian in the front of the cart and I let Noah sit in the more spacious back of the cart where I loaded all of my groceries. Very bad idea on my part... You see, he managed to get his hands on the yogurts I threw in the cart with him. He decided he wanted one while I wasn't looking and in an attempt to open one, the entire contents spilled ALL OVER HIM and my other groceries. There was yogurt EVERYWHERE and even dripping from my cart as I went up and down the isles. I only brought my wallet in the store with me, leaving my diaper bag behind in our car, so I jetted over to the baby isle, where I found a pack of wipes, ripped the bag open and used about 100 of them to clean the mess up. It was a bit embarrassing. I paid for the wipes of course, along with the pack of yogurts that were no longer edible, and as the bagger bagged a pack of mushrooms I'd purchased, the contents flew out everywhere! It appears Noah had opened the plastic wrap on the container of mushrooms too without my knowing it!

On another occasion, yesterday morning in fact, I opened the door to Noah's room to find him with two legs from one his chairs in hand. He had ripped two legs off of a chair of his. When I say ripped, I literally mean RIPPED! Typically the legs would have unscrewed off the face of the chair, but somehow he managed to RIP the legs off, screws and all! I was pretty upset, but it was still too early in morning for me to think of disciplining him. I think I was in a lot of disbelief. You see, about a month ago I had taken both chairs and their matching table I kept in Noah's room for him to read at, and I sat them all upside down on the top part of his bunk bed. (He'd been misusing the chairs and table as stools to turn on lights and get other things down off his book shelf he wasn't supposed to have). He never seemed to bother the chairs or the table while they sat in their new location. I don't even see how he could have reached them to be honest! I'll have to figure out somehow to fix the chair; there's absolutely NO WAY I'm just going to junk them- I found the chairs and the table at an Amish Store while I was visiting my grandparents in New York over a year ago. It was a hand made set: hand carved, crafted and painted. The tabletop has the ABC's painted on it along with various animals and each chair is painted and carved with either an Alligator or a Zebra- Noah managed to destroy the chair that had the Alligator carved on the back of it.





That boy!!! Sometimes I still can't believe we're having another boy, what will I do with 3 if they're all like Noah?!










I've been feeling pretty well this last week. My belly is still growing, but despite it's growth, I can still sleep peacefully and comfortably on my tummy- I dread the day I can't sleep on my tummy anymore. I've felt the baby kicking now for two weeks- just small flutter kicks for now. I've been craving chips and salsa lately. I've also been craving juice and hot chocolate. Nothing too unordinary, but the hot chocolate is something I HAVE to have nearly every day!

Well that's a wrap up for the week. I just got a call from Spencer. He said they're stuck in a traffic block about 30 minutes outside of Evanston, WY, so about 2 hours from here. It appears the roads have been temporarily closed behind and in front of them thanks to a blizzard! They're not the only ones stuck though, there are probably 100 other cars waiting out the snowstorm. Let's hope they can make it home some time tonight, SAFELY, or at least wait out the storm comfortably through till tomorrow morning.

P.S. I thought I'd mention that I got a new cell phone to replace the one that Ian slobbered on and damaged last week. I'm so thankful for cell phone insurance! I never knew we had it till I needed it!