You'd Cry Too If It Happened To You

I thought it was going to be a good day, since I was getting birthday text messages before I even woke up.  But then I went in to get The Lime from his crib, and despite him saying, "Mama!  Wake!", he was not happy to see me.  So I got a blanket and curled up on his floor while he kicked the crib.  He eventually stopped and we were going to eat breakfast, blueberry yogurt to be exact (his request), but once I took the lid off, he freaked again and didn't want  blueberry.  I reminded him it was my birthday and we don't yell at people on their birthdays.  He didn't care.

My visiting teacher saved my early morning by dropping off some Thrifty's chocolate malted crunch ice cream, a sweet card, and darling notecards.  She's the best.  I also got several more birthday wishes which balanced out the being hit and having snot wiped on me.

I needed to go to the post office to get a stamp for a post card, but as soon as I pulled into the parking space, I realized I didn't have the card.  Shoot.

We then went to Ross to get a photo album but barely made it through the door before the security guard reprimanded me for having Dieter hold onto the end of the cart.  "We've had too many kids get hurt doing that," he said.  I sarcastically thanked him as I walked away thinking, "Then will you hold my screaming kid because he won't go IN the cart and refuses to hold my hand?".  Of course we saw a little girl doing the exact same thing The Lime was told not to do, which made it fun to try and explain why he couldn't but she could.  I guess I just like to follow the rules.

The Lime did eat all of his lunch without me having to make multiple items, which was a treat.  And he went right down for his nap, which isn't unusual.

But then I had over 2 hours where I was alone...on my birthday...with it raining outside.  Then I started to cry, while reading about a girl's husband that was accepted to Duke.  Why that set me off, I don't know.  So I thought about my 9th and 18th birthdays, which I believe were the best, and I felt better...sorta.

LaVor got home and we opened my new pair of shoes, a new purse, and a cute sweater, before we were off to Red Robin for my free burger.  Nothing says, "Happy Birthday!" like changing a poopy diaper in a restaurant when your kid hates the changing tables (and the mom, for that matter).

I was happy to finish the night with a note from my best friend and a voicemail of my sweet nieces and nephews, singing to me. It's good to receive a birthday wish when it wasn't prompted by a Facebook notification.

Can you tell I'm ready for a new day?

Birthday dinner - Taken on April 1st at my parents' house.  Isn't Will's face the cutest?

Back In Time

While I was ironing my church clothes this morning, I got a whiff of something that reminded me of a trip my friends and I took down to Southern California to visit Katie.  That then took me back almost 20 years (ugh!) to when we were all in Activity Days.

And that's where it all began.

I want to say late 1994 - early 1995, based on my hair length.

Each week, we'd have a sleepover at each other's house.  I loved spending the night at the Willyerds' house because they had blackberry and raspberry bushes, chickens, tons of kids in their court which turned into hours of Capture the Flag and Red Rover, they lived close to the little league field where all the cute boys played every Saturday morning.

Katie's house was a second home to me.  It's where I had Mommy School, where we made up dances in the backyard and played in the magnolia tree out front, we'd walk to SK Donuts (which we thought was named after their daughter, Sandy Kong) or Brother Barnum would wake up bright and early and have doughnuts waiting for us when we got up.

We had a great time together and created so many memories before Katie moved down South.
   

1996 - we did a "photo shoot" before Katie left.  Katie & I had matching overalls, from Wal*Mart.  Why do I remember that?

Lizzy, Sarah, and I went down to visit Katie for her 15th birthday.  I remember Valentine's Day being on Sunday, which was also Stake Conference, and Sister Barnum having Valentine's on the kitchen table for us.  Lizzy also gave me one of her foil candy wrappers, folded into a heart, which I think I might still have in my scriptures.

We also went to Disneyland on that trip, where I lost an envelope of money.  It was in my backpack and I believe when I took my sweatshirt out, the envelope came out with it.  Sarah was sweet enough to buy a big enough dinner to share with me.

I think that was also the Disneyland trip where we broke down on Splash Mountain so they gave us a pass to be first in line on another ride.  They wrote 4 people on the pass but we ended up meeting some friends later that night so we added a 1 in front of the 4.  We got to the front of Indiana Jones, only to find out that the maximum number of users per pass was 9.  They picked up the phone to verify our pass and we quickly turned around and briskly walked away.

At Ruby's in Huntington Beach.  Don't mind my appearance...blah!

The last time we were all together was in 2004 at Lizzy's wedding.  A lot happens in 8 years; the rest of us got married, moved around the country, had and are having babies, and living life.

And all of this remembering, just from a smell.  Go figure.

Unbelievable!

It's happened to me numerous times; I'm in a parking lot and come to an intersection at the same time as someone else.  They motion for me to go, I motion for them to go until eventually, one of us goes.  Most of the time, it's a silly game and both of us end up laughing.

Not today.

I pull into the Target parking lot and a lady swiftly approaches the road I'm on.  She stops, I stop, she motions, I motion, she gets mad and motions again but I motion.  She then peels out in front of me, angrily waving her arms in the air, yelling something that I can't hear because I allowed her to go first?  I immediately said to The Lime, "Don't end up like that person." 

Times like this make me wish I had a loudspeaker on my car.

If you imagined her to look like this, you're pretty.dang.close.

Tally Mark 26

I've figured unless we have another kid, these things are still going to show up.  Sorry, folks.

-Got a haircut yesterday and even LaVor admitted how dang cute he was with short hair.
-Now says, "(name), help me" rather than just "help".
-Was finally healthy and willing enough to go to Nursery today.
-Didn't want to eat anything while we were gone.  My parents were afraid they were giving him back to us as a picky eater.  Nope.  I think he just went on strike.
-Gets extremely excited when LaVor has a baseball game on.
-Mentions Jared and Great Papa (both just recently had surgery) any time he sees someone with a cast or brace on their leg.
-Likes to put his socks on himself.
-Likes to eat olives off his fingers.
-Tried to eat his blackberries off his fingers today.  Didn't work so well.
-Recently started saying, "Go away, (name)!"  We are NOT fans of this.
-We don't ever plan on going away.  Sorry, Dude.

Brothers

I can remember the days when my brothers left California for their new homes. 

The image of Tommy and Kenny embracing, the day Kenny left, is forever engrained in my mind.  The day Tommy left, I held Baby Hayley as long as I could, shooting for forever, so he wouldn't have to leave.  But they both did.

Becky's picture - Valentine's Day 2011 in San Francisco

As long as LaVor and I have known each other, I've known the Hatch family and boy, do I love them.  There isn't another group of people that I feel more comfortable with, besides my family.  They were the 1st people to find out we were pregnant with The Lime, after our immediate families found out.  They've welcomed all 3 of us into their homes and we truly feel like we're part of them.

One of our last days together @ the zoo

Before we left on our cruise, we had to say goodbye to another brother, John (and his wife, Becky, AKA "Baybay").  We've known John and Becky were heading back to Utah, since they moved here 3 years ago.  But like with my own brothers, part of me hoped and wished for a change of heart.  Didn't happen this time, either.

At Dieter's 1st birthday party.  LaVor was trying to get John to eat more and John was telling him he had enough.

It's been a week and I feel out of my element.  No text messages tonight, wondering where the other couple wanted to eat dinner, no 9:00 trips to the gym for LaVor, no late night runs to Donut Wheel. 

Becky's photo - At John's graduation party.

With more of our friends and family moving to Utah and Idaho, we might have to make a trip out there one of these days.  Maybe.

Going Home

Good morning, Miami!

My alarm couldn't go off soon enough, Thursday morning.  I just wanted to get home to The Lime.

The day dragged on and on and eventually, at 9:00 Thursday night, we arrived at the airport, to find our sweet little boy waiting for us.  The whole way home, we heard, "Mama, Dada, big boat!"  We have a feeling that's what my parents told him the whole week.

He survived, we survived, and we're happy to be home.

Mom, me, The Lime @ the airport

Day 5

Looking back on our photos, I realized there are no pictures from our last day at sea!

We were so anxious to get home but tried to keep busy with a few activities.  First was a cooking competition between two chefs on board, next was watching "Moneyball" which we thought was OK.  We were just glad we didn't have to pay to see it.  We enjoyed our last dinner with the entire group and ended the night watching the "Newleywed Game".  My number wasn't picked to participate in the game, which ended up being a good thing!  Some of those questions were a bit personal!

I did get one picture but the flash totally flushed both of us out.