January 2014 - Part II

In honor of the new Cubs' Spring Training stadium, the City of Mesa had a big party. We went with Ryan and his family, my parents and what seemed like every other resident within 30 miles. We got to see the stadium, which was cool, but we didn't do much else. There were just too many people. It's exciting for the City and also, for us, because they put a really fantastic park for the kids on the grounds.  

Christmas tree box:::she asked for it:::they love each other:::makeup thief:::deep concentration:::my friends bought a huge clock for my wall and then even hung it up for me:::chalk with Margo:::little artist:::peek-a-boo

dropping Lilly's notebook off:::folding laundry:::my awesome deal - zucchini, tomatillos and serrano peppers, 25 cents each - then they rotted in the fridge because I got sick:::yardwork is a family affair:::Dan and Karen had baby Miles:::a giant orange

one day I walked all over, the park, through neighborhoods, etc., and when I got home, I noticed a bird had pooed on me!:::crazy hair:::my tiny little Sunbeam:::goggle phase - her pose and expression are too much:::pretty flowers in my yard:::they grew into the trees:::beautiful fresh produce:::Jason playing restaurant with the girls while I was sick

Clara got sick at school and although she seemed okay the next day, she stayed home just in case. She stayed in her pj's all day and they painted and blew bubbles to avoid watching movies all day. They missed the sleepover at my mom's too since we were all going out of town the following week and I didn't want to take any chances, so I tried to make sure we had fun.

Ostrich Farm

I miss having Clara home all the time so whenever she has a day off school, we try to do something fun. We usually drag Angela and Margo along with us. We went to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm January 20th when she was out for MLK day. It was kind of a drive, but we had fun. Clara probably liked it the most, considering her passion for animals. She saw me looking at these pictures and asked if we can go back. Her love for animals cracks me up. There were deer, goats, prairie dogs and ducks in addition to the ostrich. The deer noses were all slimy and snotty and the ostriches were super mean and aggressive. There were a few tiny goats roaming around and Hazel chased them all over saying, "Here, goaty-goat." 

The best part, however, was the lorakeets. It was awesome how they would just land all over you to eat the nectar. We bought three rounds of nectar because we were having so much fun. I'd probably go there just for that part, it was that fun. It is a bit of a drive, but if I'm ever on my way to or from Tucson, I'd probably stop for sure. Good times.

Hazel

I know I've mentioned before that I was worried Hazel would have a really reserved personality. Having an older sister like Clara, I thought she might hide out in her shadow. My fears were absolutely unwarranted and Hazel is a reminder that everyone comes to earth equipped with their very own personality. She is a bit of a whirlwind and there are days that I seriously can not keep up with her mess making. It's incredible how quickly she can undo things! She reminds me a lot of my brother Daniel and I think she has a very mechanically-able mind like him. She undoes things to see how they work. I'm just hoping we avoid some of the pricey repairs my parents enjoyed thanks to Daniel's curiosity. Here are just a few of her expressions one day at the park. I was laughing so hard. I asked her to smile and this is what I go. I normally don't include so many pictures of the same thing, but every expression makes me laugh. 

By chance, I realized I had pictures with most of Hazel's favorite things... the park, especially swinging, reading books, candy, reading books, peeling and eating her own carrots, chapstick and the park. Basically books and parks are all she needs to be happy.

This picture on the left is funny because it's one of Hazel's favorite toys at the park by our house. There are four of these things that spin in circles, but each one has a different shaped platform and her favorite is the circle. She won't get on any of the other ones and it this one is occupied, she'll wait until it's vacant. She is great.

January 2014 - Part I

Around the middle of 2013, I took on a new role with one of my clients. Things snowballed and by the end of December, I was working way too much and got much more involved than I ever thought I'd be. Unfortunately, no matter how much I gave, no matter how quickly I responded to e-mails and phone calls (replying to e-mails while at the park with Hazel, talking to lawyers in the Costco parking lot) and no matter how many hours I worked and despite how little I slept, it was never enough. Although they couldn't provide a single example of a time I didn't perform, they said the situation wasn't working out. I came to a point where I had to decide if I was going to defend myself and fight to maintain the level of responsibility that I had, or surrender, step back and possibly lose a lot of work. Backing down and letting it go would make me feel like a failure. But it would also free up my time for other things. Around that time, Hazel woke up from her nap one day and came into my room where she found me working. This was a normal every day thing and usually, she'd hop up on the bed next to me and watch me until it was time to get Clara from school.

This day, however, she said, "Hold me." I tried to get her to sit next to me and she said, "No, I just want you to hold me." I set my computer down, and she laid on me like this until it was time to get Clara. In that moment, I knew what was more important to me and I knew what I needed to do. I was overwhelmed knowing this time at home while my kids are little is precious. I can't get this time back. I felt sick to my stomach for days and worried so much about what my role would be with my client, how we'd survive without that money and what this would do to my reputation. Early one morning, around 4am, I woke up and had impressions that brought clarification and comfort. I was choosing this and this was a result of priorities. If I wanted to work full-time, my client would have me full-time. But that wasn't what I wanted. So I stepped back and not only did my time free up, but the stress the left was incredible. I felt like a different person and I was doing what mattered most to me. My role has changed with my client, but I have been blessed to continue to have a role there. Everything worked out ideally. I don't know how long it will last, but I do know I won't have any regrets when my kids are grown up. 

Onto lighter subjects from the month of January...

Clara's first top tooth was so wiggly and the end of the month. She kept pushing it forward and it looked like she had really buck-teeth. But she refused to let anyone help her pull it out.

In January we set a family goal to memorize all 13 Articles of Faith in 2014. I knew I could use a refresher and I love how it is the basics of the Gospel. Each time we memorized one, we'd go do something as a family, the park, ice cream, etc. Here we are enjoying ice cream. (as of 4.30.2014, we've mastered 1-5).

Margo and Hazel have the most intense love/hate relationship. Although they will be a year apart in school, I think they are going to be really good friends. They are cute together and I love taking them places. Both of them make me laugh and while it's pretty rare to get through a playtime without one of them freaking out about something, overall they have a good time. These pictures are from a trip we took to Riverview Park.

Hey Baby...

In January, Jason and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I posted on Instagram that by this point he thought we'd have more money and I thought we'd have more kids, but we have each other and that's all that matters. And that's true. Things don't always go as planned. In fact, things rarely go as planned, but we can still be happy and we are. I often think about how well Jason and I go together. Actually, he's pretty laid back so he probably could have got along with anyone. My personality, on the other hand, needed someone exactly like him to make it work.

Since 10 is such a nice, round number, we wanted to do something more than just dinner or an overnight in town like we did a few years ago. However, I still have issues leaving my kids for too long and we didn't want to spend too much since there are a lot of things we should probably be spending money on other than a getaway vacation (i.e. furniture, our yard, food storage, etc.). All of things considered, we planned a two night trip to Vegas. I hadn't been since I was there at the temple for a cousin's wedding when I was probably 10 and Jason hadn't been since he was there for a high school basketball tournament. It was somewhere we could drive and we thought we could do it fairly inexpensively. We packed our bags, dropped our kids off at Kathryn's and headed to our destination. We stayed at the MGM Signature, which we both really liked. The first night we ate a nice dinner at The Steakhouse. I love a nice meal. Then we walked around. Friday we went shopping, went to Ka, a Cirque de solei show and then walked around some more to take in the lights one last time and get some souvenirs for the girls. Saturday morning we had a very late breakfast, packed up and headed home.

This was our breakfast at Hash House A-go-go. It was huge. Like out of control.

Night view from our balcony.

On our way home, we stopped at the new bridge by Hoover Dam. It was awesome. I joked that I enjoyed that more than anything I saw in Vegas. And unlike Vegas, this is something I want to bring my kids back to see.

We also stopped to get a picture by the Joshua Trees. They are so crazy and awesome looking. Pulling off to the side of the road is one of Jason's least favorite things to do, but he still does it when I ask. :)

Here is our conclusion on Vegas: we'd probably never go again. Ha! We had fun because we got to spend three days together and if there is one thing we are good at, it's being able to enjoy each other's company without having any other entertainment. So yes, we had fun, but I would've preferred San Francisco or Santa Monica, which were options we considered. Our resort: it was really nice: off the Strip, non-smoking, very secluded from a lot of the filth. I'd stay there again. Walking: I felt like we spent most of our trip walking. Now don't get me wrong, I like to walk. In fact, I love to walk, but we walked excessively and the only thing we got to watch while walking was gambling, drinking at 9am, women with no respect for their bodies, illusions and sleeze. I had a guy say to me, "You're smiling too big to be from Vegas, where are you from?" And all I could think of was, yeah, I'm smiling because of my lifestyle. It seriously was a little depressing seeing the filth there and the people gambling and drinking first thing in the morning, young girls being paraded around the Strip in next to nothing to have their pictures taken with people. I joked with Jason that the one good thing about that is not once did I wish our kids were with us. The food was okay, but very over-priced. We didn't end up going to any buffets. The Ka show was probably the biggest disappointment. We paid a lot of money for our tickets and it was about 90% play 10% acrobatics. We both expected much more. I do think it might be a fun trip with a group of friends and being more prepared on activities that aren't super expensive. We learned after we got home about some things we probably would have enjoyed. Even still, I think Jason summed it all up nicely: if I drank, gambled and had no morals, Vegas would be awesome.

The kids did fine without us. They stayed with Kathryn the first half and then my parent's the next half. I remember being little and how much fun it was when my dad would travel because he'd bring us the coolest things. Granted he was traveling mostly to the Orient so the things he brought back were pretty awesome. We settled on these hat/mitten animal combo things, a Las Vegas monkey with magnetic hands and dice suckers. Four months later, the girls still love their monkeys. The length of our trip seemed just right. Anything longer and I probably would have missed these darlings too much.