Utah Trip Part 1

I have a lot of catch-up to do! I have hardly said anything about our trip to Utah last month!

Here is how the trip can basically be summed up: We had a fun time, saw fun people, ate good food, and did good things.

Now for pictures!

(But first, this story) Our first real stop in Utah was to my grandparents' house in Orem. It had been an exceptionally early morning for us since our flight left at 6 am Eastern Time, which meant leaving for the airport 4 am Eastern Time, which meant being up 3:30 Eastern Time, which meant . . . ugh. 1:30 Mountain Time. So we were tired! And Joseph was a little bit sick on top of it all, so by the time we got to Utah he was overtired and hungry. Which makes pretty much anyone a little cranky, to the point that the only thing he was willing to eat at my grandparents' was ice cream. I was a bit worried about him playing with other kids given his state, but we really wanted to meet his second cousins who lives next door, so we decided to give it a shot.

Incidentally, I had been wanting to meet this their oldest son for a while. About three years ago, when I was three days overdue, Kevin and I went up to the Clyde Building to do some work. When I happened to check Facebook, I saw that my cousin's wife had had a baby that day, and pictures were up. As I scrolled through pictures of this adorable human being, I suddenly felt a strange bit of pain. It took me several hours to realize it, but I was actually going into labor. And, you can't help but feel a bit of fondness for someone who indirectly may have finally freed me from being pregnant.

And now we got to meet him! Luke and Joseph immediately warmed up to each other, and the entire time they played we were able to forget just how tired and grumpy we were.

Luke was excited to show him the funny rocks that were perfect for sitting.

The pinecone game.

After that, we headed to Duchesne and had a good time with family as they gradually trickled in and out of the house.

On Thursday, we made a quick visit to Huntington, Utah, where many of Kevin's friends have ended up. I also discovered that changes of elevation in Indian Canyon can make for some wicked Braxton Hicks. We had considered going to Arches that day but I think I would have been pretty miserable so we'll just go to Google Images sometime/play in the sandbox to capture the same feeling.

One thing we had been looking forward to was chasing the cows. I was eager to make a remake of the movie from last year,

so I had my camera ready and waiting while he and Daddy and Grandpa were out rounding up the cows.

But it was not to be this year. The cows didn't moo enough, they went on a steeper part which scared Joseph, and worst of all, the lightning and hail started before they could really herd the cows. I stood on the front porch waiting for them to return when I heard the sound of Joseph screaming in terror. After a few minutes being wrapped up in a towel and not being pelted by rain and hail, he calmed down, but his ranching experience was done. I made a movie of Kevin and his dad herding the cows for Joseph to watch later, but it wasn't the same. So, no movie this year.

One reason we decided to have the trip in May was to see Brant, Margaret, and Fiona before they left for Germany for a new exciting job. We got to witness a lot of cousin love . . .

There were a couple of hugs they toppled over for

. . . and it only got better when more cousins showed up!

Looking for the lizard that was hiding in the fire pit.

This one.

So, it turns out that there were still some trees that were blossoming by the time we got to Utah. And I loved them.

For Mother's Day, Joseph made me a macaroni necklace in nursery. And we took pictures with other people's cameras so there are no pictures from that day. But it was a good day.

He's a pretty safe driver, actually. Helps that the four-wheeler was never on.

Watching Song of the Sea

I think this was Toy Story 2 (?). It looks like a pretty serious part.

After a fun, relaxing week in Duchesne, we headed up to see my family, with more good food, good people, good fun, and good pictures.

Scrambled eggs and soap

I feel like it's been a while since I posted quotes from Joseph. I've looked through things that I had told people about over gchat, and they didn't seem that noteworthy for whatever reason. Most of his quotes seemed to have drifted over into the realm of normal, although they were still cute.

But this morning, I wondered if my standards of normal had perhaps changed. After all, it's not often that I get asked, "Can you tell me a story about a helicopter that wears underwear?"

Nor have I usually heard the declaration, "I had watermelon. It tasted like scrambled eggs and soap."

So actually, I think I've just gotten used to things he says.

As an unrelated postscript/teaser, this happened:

The new fridge, part 2

Part 1

Once upon a time, Kevin and Joseph and I went home to Utah for a visit. To our surprise, when we came home to Michigan, we needed a new fridge.

It was sort of a gradual discovery, to be honest. Almost a month ago, we bought ice cream for the first time in a little while. I was surprised by how soft it was coming straight from the store in cool weather, and I figured they had added some strange soft-serve-esque chemical to it to keep it softer. So, every time that I had it afterwards, the softness didn't surprise me too much.

Then I had some Wednesday night, and I wasn't 100% certain I could blame the ice cream composition anymore. But then again, all the meat in the freezer still was icy and rock hard, so it couldn't be the freezer, right?

The next morning I tested the ice cream out with a friend's freezer. When I saw that some Otter-pops in our freezer were more liquid than not, I knew it was time for a fix-it request, regardless of how the ice cream fared at our friend's house (it froze to a normal consistency, incidentally). While we were out, the fix-it people came, said they turned the freezer to the coldest setting (it was already there) and rearranged food so the vents weren't covered.

But alas, the problem wasn't fixed, so we sent another request this morning. When Joseph and I came back from some errands, Kevin was putting our food into a new fridge. And that was that.

I guess the moral of the story is:
1) If you live in university housing, they can fix things very quickly for you. Even if it doesn't happen on the first try.

2) It is good to buy ice cream every now and then to make sure that your freezer is still cold enough, since it will melt before most everything else.

3) Otter-pops are also useful.

New bed

I have lots to catch up on from our two week trip to Utah! But first, I'll talk about yesterday's big adventure. Our friends gave us a toddler bed for Joseph!

And . . . he seems to like it.

He even had a song to sing about it. (I only caught the end of it, but it was cute.)

Granted, the combination of jet lag and new bed (without bars to protect him from the monsters that he's suddenly conjured up) meant that we spent 2 1/2 hours putting him down last night, but that will probably get better.

Good mom

I'll say it straight out: Most of the time, I honest to goodness feel like a good mom.

But also, I feel like a lot of that has nothing to do with me. Right now we have a combination of good health, even temperaments across the board, huge support group, and a flexible work schedule that all contribute to a generally pleasant atmosphere. I try to do my part with hugs and smiles and stories and singing and cleaning, but I know that objectively I don't do any more than anyone else, and usually, far, far, less.

So, if you don't feel like a good mom, chances are it's just because things out of your control are difficult, and not because you actually aren't a good mom. I mean, there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve, but if you are feeling guilty or inadequate, those feelings are probably misplaced.

So, Happy Mother's Day! You rock!

5, 5*5, and more

It's been party season around here! First Kevin started finishing papers left and right so he suddenly had a lot more free time. Then things started warming up, with only the occasional polar vortex to drop things back down into the 40s.  Though it's been slow in coming, as Joseph says, "It's getting spring!" The grass has greened out, the trees have started to leaf and blossom, and I see gray less and less everyday.

Have I talked about how spring is my favorite season? It's hard to have a favorite season that can be so volatile weather-wise, so I get why people love fall. But oh, goodness, seeing pink blossoms and green grass and tulips sure is a great way to transition from winter to summer. In fact, as silly as it may sound, I cried one time when I realized I was going to be in Utah for the two weeks in Michigan that the spring colors peak, and I've sent out a few desperate and trying-to-mask-that-it's-desperate pleas for people to document it for me. That's how much I like spring.

Anyway, spring has been fun so far. For our 5th anniversary, we wanted to do something big, especially since we'll have a hard time getting out once the next baby comes. But, it was still too cold on our anniversary to go where we wanted, so we decided to delay a big trip until the next week. On the actual day, we went salsa dancing and went out to eat. I have to say, dancing through Braxton Hicks is a little uncomfortable, and by the end the baby was pushing on my right side so much that I looked lopsided. But it was fun anyway. And Indian food is always great.

The next day, we went to the Toledo Zoo to enjoy the nice weather and new aquarium. As always, we loved the penguins best. And I think they love us too.

And then . . . it was my birthday! It started out with a horrible sore throat and rain and 40 degrees and Joseph going to sleep late and waking up early, so I . . . well, I didn't start out as happy as I should have, and getting my frustrations out by driving to the church with my vacuum to use the extension cord there to vacuum the car and then driving around pretty neighborhoods with pretty trees didn't help as much as it should have. But food helped, and then Kevin and I were off to Holland, Michigan to see the tulips!

It was pretty. We had fun. Joseph was in good hands while we were gone.

At Windmill Gardens. There was a windmill, too.

Holland State Park at Lake Michigan. The waves were crazy!

We went to a Dutch-themed museum full of fun artifacts and art.

Next to the above picture, they had this fun re-creation. 

Centennial Park

Another park

Veldheer Gardens

It was fun roaming the cute downtown, admiring the delftware in the shops, and just being with Kevin. Here's to 5 more years, and many many more!

No more ambiguity

Note: This may seem like a strange thing to blog about, but it kept me up for longer than it should have the other early morning. So, bear with me and my random PSA.

Sometimes, I get stressed out by things that shouldn't stress me out, but do anyway. One such thing is the way people count sometimes.

Counting is hard, don't get me wrong. Oh, sure, it's not that bad counting objects. But what about when you're counting months?

So, here is my trick.
First, assign each month a number. January = 1, February = 2, and so on. This should come naturally because it is how we write the date fairly often.

Next, transform your question into numbers. For example, if you are trying to figure out what 5 months after March is, turn March into 3. 3+5 = 8. 8 = August. Done.

What about 5 months after November? November = 11. 11 + 5 = 16. 16-12 = 4. 4 = April. Done. (Subtract 12 because there are 12 months in a year.)

And that is all. No more worrying about whether you count a month one way or another. Because it's pretty easy to double-count if you are trying to count out loud.

What about days in the month? When Kevin and I started dating, we had a long, long, long discussion about this. He said that on his mission in Mexico 7 days was considered a week, but 8 days later was also a week. I think it was because if you were counting the days on your hand, counting from Sunday to Sunday really would get you up to 8 days listed. Even though a week is just 7.

This was entirely unacceptable. This sort of ambiguity was part of life before the number 0 was discovered (it really did have to be discovered, and it was more recent than you might expect), but now that we have 0 there is no reason to round up to 1 when 0 works just fine. So 0 days from now is today, 1 day from now is tomorrow, not today, and so on.

So the trick here is again basic addition and subtraction. What is 11 days from now? Today is the 3rd. 3 + 11 = 14. May 14. Done. Doesn't matter what time of day it is. It is still 11 days away. Or, if you are being cute, it might be 10 1/2 days, but don't say that unless you have to.

Now, if you throw words like first or second or 15th in, that changes things because the nth of something lasts until n actually happens (e.g. you are in your 1st year until you actually turn 1). So I understand complication there. But if you are trying to figure out the answer to "When is the ninth month of a pregnancy that began in the middle of October?", do this:
October = 10.
10+ 9 = 19.
19 - 12 = 7 = July.
So the ninth month would end in the middle of July and thus begin in the middle of June.

I think that's everything that kept me awake. I don't even know if it makes sense written down like this. But if I ever end up finishing that math book a polished version of this will appear.

You're welcome.