Adam and Heather Hayes

 

Viola turned two recently.  Happy Birthday to her!  We were glad she had a cake to stick a candle in.  Our oven is going out and the first cake was a hideous disaster.  Adam wouldn't let me put the picture of the first cake out because he was in it.

 

Viola is big into babies, books, and cell phones right now.  So that's what I got her!  She got some cute dresses from the Grandmas too.

 

She's determined to grow up.  She potty trained herself a couple weeks before she turned two AND she's sitting at the table with us instead of in the highchair!  She's a big girl!

 

 

I really thought we didn't have anything exciting to write about, but today I realized that I'm doing this blog so I can have a history of our family.  So if every entry isn't that exciting to you, I'm sorry, but it's information I want to remember.

I need to remember my first time calling Poison Control, which happened last night.  My sweet little two year old Viola has learned to use chairs and stools to climb onto tables, counter tops, pianos, and anywhere else we thought was a "safe place."  She climbed onto the bathroom counter and grabbed an Air Wick scented oil with fan refill and sucked on the wick like it was a straw.

 

She started bawling and ran to me.  She smelled very strongly like Harvest Orchard oil and said she needed a drink.  We gave her lots of water to drink and Poison Control said we probably gave her too much to drink which might make her throw up, which might get in her lungs, which might give her pneumonia, which might start an infection, but most likely she would be fine.   Which she is, just fine today, didn't even wet the bed after all that water before bed.

She is definitely in the terrible twos though.  She has to do everything her way. Don't even think about helping her out of the car.  She fell flat on her face at my mom's house a couple weeks ago getting out of the SUV by herself and skinned her forehead and nose. I had to cancel her picture appointment that week.  Since Erith and Tric are at school five days a week, Vi has 2 less sets of eyes to watch her.  She  is quite the adorable trouble-maker!  She is communicating so much better though.  She says simple sentences and knows how to count to 13 in English and 6 in Spanish.  She can say the ABC's pretty clearly and knows the color red.  She can play several games on the Ubuntu computer that Adam set up for the girls to play on. She knows who's turn it is for family prayer which we do by order of birthday! Crazy huh!

 

Erith lost her fourth tooth last week.  She has lost 3 on bottom and 1 on top with two more quite loose.  She can read quite a few books and verses of scripture without any help now.  She knows how to change Clara's diaper and draws and prints picutures on the kid computer nearly every day. (We had to give her a paper limit per day recently.)  She is taking piano lessons and doing quite well, when she practices!

 

Tricity is quite the social butterfly.  I hear story after story about all the kids in her kindergarten class when she gets home.  She loves to help me cook.  She likes to draw and play on the computer as well.   She is quite good at remembering to practice the piano.  She is doing great at school and has helped me find homes for 10 of our 19 kittens.  (You heard me right, 19!)

 

Clara is jabbering a lot and she seems like a permanant hip ornament on me.  She is definately a momma's girl.  She laughs when Vi or I entertain her.  She rolls like crazy but is not wanting to crawl or sit up on her own much. She is eating lots of new foods and seems to never get full.  She's very cute and sweet and I love her a lot.

Adam's business is picking up again, it usually does right before year end.  His brother is working for us in the evenings so Adam's challenge is to NOT stay in the office from morning till 11 at night.  He got to meet Dallin H. Oaks when his stake presidency got replaced, that was cool.  He likes the boys in his scout group really well, they are going swimming tonight.

 

I have been crocheting baby booties for humanitarian newborn kits.  I am still quite slow and have a lot of mistakes, but they keep Clara's feet warm, so I'm sure they are good enough.  I have lots of Primary stuff to do before the end of the year and I help a lady I visit teach quite often, and the PTSO have something they want at least once a month.  I just keep busy without a whole lot to show for it.  It's kind of frustrating, but I hope I'm making a difference.  Adam and I are going on a date this week if it kills us!  It's been about a month.  Between his schedula and mine, there's never a free night.  I really want to do a session at the Rexburg Temple, I haven't done one there yet.  We're still in the Idaho Falls temple district.   Have a great day!

Our girls were so excited when I bought a Slip'nSlide that they invited a bunch of family over for a water party.

Viola surprised us by potty training herself this week, so this is her first time swimming without a swimming diaper. She'll be two next week.

What would a water party be without hotdogs and Adam in his grilling apron?

We had otterpops and splashed it up to stay cool in the hot sun.

The slip'nslide said for kids only, but what fun is that? Yes, that person is me, Heather.

I just had a baby remember, I've got some baby fat to lose!

Here are some skinnier splash kings and queens.

Kami and Josh

Tricity and Sarah

Some just came to chat and laugh at the rest of us.  Jaleesa was there, how did she escape the camera...

Erith was being a prim little princess and didn't want to hit the water with her face very badly.

Clara had a trick up her sleeve that day too. She rolled over from tummy to back about 6 times!  Loa got a video of it, I will try to get it from her and post it soon.  She will be two months next week.  She is very active and alert and determined to grow up on me.

 

Hope you all are keeping it cool! 

 

• A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
• B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
• C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. 10 Years ago (1997/1998)
1. I had just finished working at the auto parts warehouse
2. I went into the MTC on Jan 31st, 1997 (my amazing new years party consisted of going to bed at either 9:30 or 10:30 (can't remember)
3. I was back in my on and off again relationship with McKenzie Adamson.
4. I took my first airplane ride. After 15 hours on the plane the novelty wore off.
5. Spent most of 1998 living on two islands off the coast of Korea.
2. 5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Clean up after our New Year's Eve Party with Daniel and Darcy Lundquist
2. Finish the box that the heater in my office sits on andand carpet it so it blends with the office.
3. Clean the new office
4. Finish some odds and ends on websites that I'm working on
5. Relax and try to catch some football
3. 5 snacks I enjoy:
1. My wife's chocolate chip cookie dough (and the cookies too)
2. Reeces Peanut Butter Cups
   
3. White Chocolate anything
4. Cinnamon Bears
5. Ice Cream
4. 5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Build my parents a new house
2. Build a new High School for Ririe with two really nice gyms
3. Visit Korea with my family
4. Spend a lot more time reading and studying things I'm interested in learning about (art, painting, wood working, volleyball, etc)
5. Spend lots of time having fun with my family
5. 3 of my bad habits:
1. Taking on too many projects
2. Messy (just look at my desk compared to the rest of the house)
3. I get bored with the same old same old so finishing big projects becomes tedious
6. 5 places I have lived:
1. Ririe, ID
2. Kojedo, South Korea
3. Youngdo, South Korea
4. Milyang, South Korea
5. Idaho Falls, Idaho
7. 5 jobs I have had:
1. Lawn Mower
2. Truck Driver (small auto parts truck, not big rigs)
3. Professor's Assistant
4. Webmaster
5. Business Owner
8. 5 things people don't know about me:
1. (Excluding my parents) I attribute a lot of what I've become today to my high school coach, Coach Gardner
2. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from BYU-Idaho with a 4.0 GPA
3. I coach one of the club volleyball teams for Ririe
4. I took piano lessons for 5+ years when I was young and can still play a little (I have 7-10 songs that I can play quite well, but I can't sit down and sight read a song)
5. I still get together with my high school buddies once a month
9. People I tag:
1. I'll list them when I get a list together... (I have to run...)
   

I figured it is my turn to give everyone an update.

I made my goal of losing 30 lbs. I got back down to 175 which is about the weight I was when I graduated. I haven't been below 180 since before I got married, so I was very surprised to make the goal. I've been hovering around 175.5 and 177 for the past couple of weeks, so I didn't just "bounce" up after losing it either.

I rode my first horse last Friday. We went up to Daniel's house and I got my first ever chance to ride a horse. It was ok. They told me that trotting isn't the most enjoyable and that I should go gallup, but I'm not sure that I enjoyed that any more than trotting, but that could have just been because of how far down the stirrups were. (I have short legs and Daniel has really long legs.) All-in-all it was pretty fun. Darcy threatened that we should go for a trail ride. So we'll see how/when that happens.

T-ball. Heather finished her season (I'll let her tell you about that more herself.) But from my position as designated 3rd base coach, I thought her team did excellent. Heather was soooooo patient with the kids.

Erith and Tric were on her team and they did amazing. Tricity hit two home runs this season (which is pretty hard to do in T-ball.)

Erith keeps getting taller and her long legs kept her ahead of most anyone (even when I thought for sure that she would get out, she always beat them to the base... even if the ball was hit directly at the base she was running to.)

Overall Heather's team had a winning season and I am very proud of her and the girls. 

I've started painting again. I haven't painted in a lot of years, and I've never done oil painting. I did water color when I was in high school, but I haven't done anything since then. I convinced a very nice lady in my ward to teach me how to oil paint. I've been planning this for a while and had asked for oil painting equipment last year for Christmas, so I had most everything I needed to get going. I've completed two paintings so far, one an abstract picture based off of a Paul Klee painting that I really like. The second is a still life of a couple of bottles. I think I'm getting better and I'm really enjoying painting again. I had forgotten how much fun it can be.

Well there is my update. I'll get the pictures out here as soon as I can for people to see. Please let me know what you all think.

Well last week Clara decided that she was going to grow up.

 

She started crawling last week (more of a two armed army crawl, but she is getting up on her knees more and has done some "actual" crawling since then). Also, Heather brought her in and said she had something in her mouth. I looked and she had just cut two teeth. Normally the kids get all droolly, fevery, and down right unhappy. Not Clara. She has been just as smiley and happy as ever.

Now she can put herself in a sitting position from crawling and back to a crawling position. When she does it she gets this big grin and you can see her thinking, "See what I can do." She is also jabbering quite often now. Erith and Tric swear she said "mom" the other day. I think it was just more jabbering, but who knows.

Well we had our third volleyball tournament which puts us half way through the season. The girls did amazing this week. We won our pool and then played against Hillcrest again. We are the only ones that have even beaten them during any games. Although we won the first game against them, they rallied back and won the next two. However, it was extremely close and one call one way or the other could have changed the outcome of the game.

In our second game against Tabu, we came back from being down 7 points to gain the lead at 17-16. However, we decided that defense wasn't that important and gave them the next 9 points (I was all out of time outs and they just started picking on one of my back row people.)

• Blackfoot - Tabu
•       25-18 (win)
  
•       17-25
• BVC (win)
  
•       25-16 (win)
  
•       25-12 (win)
  
• IF - Tracy (win)
  
•       25-13 (win)
  
•       25-22 (win)
  
• Hillcrest
•       25-23 (win)
  
•       19-25
•       10-15

All in all it was a great tournament. As long as we don't talk about where one of the coaches son's got upset about some calls and tried starting something with the 95 lb, 5' nothing girl ref. He got in her face after the match, and I couldn't just sit there waiting for him to hit her, so I got between them. He kept saying not to touch him, and I kept telling him to calm down. I wasn't sure if he was going to through a punch or not. Anyway, in the end he didn't swing (at me... though he did hit some lockers on his way out of the school) and I'm not sure he'll be allowed into any more tournaments.

Day 5: Disneyland!  We had to delay our departure to Disneyland by an hour Tuesday morning.  Why? You ask, because Adam was puking again!  He passed 2 kidney stones that morning!  Some people's bodies just don't know how to kick back and have fun! 

It could have been worse though, they only took an hour to pass, he wasn't on a ride or driving in traffic.  Praying for safety is definately worth it!

As you can see we got there safe and sound.  The first thing Vi wanted to do was the carousel, even though we have those in Idaho we jumped right on.  Those who smile get put on the blog! (hint, hint, Erith)

Then we did Toad's wild ride, (which our friend Wade tells us is the only ride in Disneyland, all the others are 'attractions') Peter Pan, Pinocchio's daring journey,Snow White, Flying Dumbos, and then bought some cute Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears on our way to lunch.

Gotta love waiting in line.  It was a hopping day that day.  Most lines took 50 minutes which is still tons better than summer lines I'm told.

I have to say that my kids were amazingly patient in the lines.  I was way more annoyed at waiting than they were.  They just gaped and stared at everything going on around them. 

I had a backpack full of snacks to give them something to do in line and I only brought stuff out twice the whole day.

Andrew was key to the success of this vacation.  He drove us around once we got to his house, he dropped us off at the gates, he left and brought back food right at mealtimes, he volunteered to take Clara and/or Vi when they were too short for rides.  He bought our girls big pens and other treats. He saved Adam's life in the ocean, he is a miracle man, we owe him big time!  Oh, and he's single ;).

We got to meet his little boy Jake for the first time that day.  He hung out with us at Disneyland for a while.

This outside picnic area became our home away from rides for a couple days.  We'd get our hands stamped, walk out and into it's hard to see entrance and there would be Drew with food for us.  It was awesome!

After lunch Aunt Cory, Jake, and Drew joined us for Roger Rabbit, (that was the worst long line with cranky kids we had this trip) when we got out there were tonsof fun picture opportunities before we did the Rescue Ranger rollercoaster.

Notice the pink Mickey Mouse balloon on the stroller?  Some nice random lady gave it to Vi. It made the other's jealous I'm afraid, but it did help us find our stroller among the thousands there.

We couldn't forget Adam, the usual picture taker!  I have a picture of Adam 9 years ago in this same spot on our belated honeymoon.  I should scan it and show how he's changed!

The Rescue Ranger rollercoaster, the line anyway, our first thrilling ride of the day.  Clara went with Cory, Brenda, and Drew to the play yard/picture area next door.

Clara loved the slide and the jack-o-lantern.  We couldn't resist taking a few pictures when we came to pick her up.

She is so cute and sweet when she's not throwing a tantrum!

Gotta love 5 cute girls on boxes.

Vi is the kind of kid that makes you forget your useless cares and just smile...or laugh!  (Again, when she's not throwing a tantrum)

We wanted a picture with Mickey or Minnie, but the wait time was close to 2 hours, so we opted for the 5 minute wait with goofy instead.

After that we popped into It's a Small World, which was better and newer than the last time I went.  I then draffed the younger croud who joined us to go to Captain EO, Michael Jackson, 3D show.  Then we did a fast pass onto Autopia.  Erith and Tric were big enough to drive themselves.  Vi drove me.  Clara fell asleep in the stroller with Cory on the way to dinner.  After dinner it was dark and we split into 2 groups: Erith and Tric big kids, Vi and Clara little kids.

Adam and I were in the big kid group.  We did Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Thundermountain Railroad, (during the fireworks) Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and with 7 minutes to spare till midnight, Adam, Wade and I booked it to Indiana Jones.  Poor Tric was asleep standing in line for Space Mountain.  Andrew took the two girls on the train to get to the car to sleep while our crazy trio ran to Indiana Jones.  Not bad for s day's work!

I got majorly soaked in the front of that log.  I didn't want anyone else to be wet and cold that late at night, so I guess I took one for the team.  I could hear Tric behind me saying "Mom, you said only you would get wet, I just got a little wet!"  Thanks to Evie and Gregg for braving it with us.

Poor sleepy Tric looks like Cousin It in this pic, and Wade and Andrew are hilarious as always.

The little kid group did Winnie the Pooh, Astro Orbiter, Dumbo again, and the train.  Then bless their hearts, Ryal and Cory took Vi and Clara home and put them to bed.

I was very impressed that Erith and Tric could handle the big rides.  As you can see from the look on my face, I can barely handle the big rides!  The Matterhorn was Erith and Tric's favorite, Thundermountain was mine.

 

I saved since the beginning of the year to take off for Spring Break and go to Disneyland, and we did it!

Day 1: We left Friday and drove to Layton to get a recalled wiper motor replaced on our SUV.  Then we drove to Salt Lake and had a delicous barbecue at Bethany and Eric's house.  The adults played settlers and pinnochle while the kids fell asleep to a movie in the livingroom.

In the morning we had a scruptious hot breakfast, played a few songs on their piano, (Thanks Eric and Bessy! You're awesome!)

opened some birthday presents and then hit the open road.  10 hours of it,

thank goodness for portable DVD players and books, that is a lot of driving.  We gained an hour when we got to LA, and the power had been off all day and came back on just before we got there.  That was lucky!

So we drove all Day 2, Day 3: went to church with Adam's uncle Ryal, aunt Cory, and cousins Andrew and Evie, and had a barbecue and egg hunt with their local extended family. It was a fun day and I didn't even think to take a picture of it. Nice.  Day 4: we went to the beach.  It started off beautiful and sunny.  These first pictures are the "Before Adam almost drown" pictures.

Adam and Andrew were having a great time body surfing until Adam got caught in a riptide and kept getting sucked back into the ocean.  He swam and swam and swam, but was not getting any closer to the beach.

He tried swimming parallel to the beach but that just took him farther away from me and not any closer to the beach. 

So he called for help and Andrew pulled him in to where he could touch.  I was quite worried by now, and was very happy to see Adam stumbling up the beach to me.  He was in shock.  He asked for any drink that did not contain salt.

I gave him a Capri Sun, he drank some of it, then layed down and didn't move for quite a while.  Then all of a sudden he flipped over and started puking sea water.  I realized how tramatic it really was for him at that point.  I covered him up with all the towels and clothes we had, and let him rest for a couple of hours.

While he was resting, the girls and Andrew and I had a fun time.  Two sand castles were made,

One closer to the ocean than the other.  This first one was too far away to fill the mote with water before it sunk in.

Tons of shells were collected.

White bodies soaked in some sun.

Some bodies were whiter than others.  I do have olive skin like Erith and Tric, I just don't wear a bathing suit very much.  You'll see later that poor Vi has Adam's white freckley skin, we don't know about Clara yet.

Little girls made memories.  This is Clara's first time on a beach.  Vi's first time getting wet on a beach.

I noticed Andrew and Vi had been standing in one spot for quite a while, I walked over and Vi said "Look Mom my feet are gone!"

It was fun to stand right at the edge of the water and feel yourself sink after each wave.  She loved it so much, she and Andrew stood there for almost an hour.  Andrew got a bad sunburn for that one.

When it got close to her knees she started to chicken out, mostly because the water was splashing her face.

We were happy to see Adam back to normal after his nap and some lunch.  Evie and her friend Jerica joined us after a while to do some sunbathing.

Look at all these cuties at the beach.  I thought I had sunscreened everyone head to toe.  But alas, it became apparent that I had missed a couple spots on Vi when I put her in the bath that night.

A word to the wise, don't scrunch your nose while applying sunscreen.  And don't be overly cautious about getting it in the eyes.

Oops!

I was really perking up during the warm, snow-melting days we've had lately. Then Adam started us off on a LONG week! He was up at BYUI from 7-3. When he finally made it to Jacob Quinn's mission-come-home party he had a high fever and was hungry but couldn't eat much. He slept the rest of Sunday, most of Monday, all of Tuesday, by Wednesday he could at least get out of bed and work. All this time he ran a 103-104 fever. He'd be fevered, then it would break, then a couple hours later he was fevered again. It seemed to come out of nowhere. He had a sore throat and a cough, but who knew such a fever would come with that? By Wednesday Viola had it too. Thursday Erith had it. We took everyone into the doctor and they said we all had the flu.

So we all started TAMIFLU and it really helps! The fevers went away super fast. We're still working on the sore throats and coughs. Viola broke out in a huge swelling rash Thursday night, the day she started taking Tamiflu. So I called the doctor and said she must be allergic to it but he said that was not a side affect of that medicine and it must be an allergy to something else. Well, I did switch laundry detergent that week. So lucky me, I got to go buy the old detergent and rewash everything. Two doses of children's Benadryl and rewashing took care of the rash thank goodness.

Then Friday Vi woke up with goopy eyes. By Saturday they were swollen and pink and would hardly open! I was really starting to wonder if she was supposed to make it . We got her on Vigamox eye drops and by Sunday they looked normal again.

Here it is Monday and I'm praying the sunshine will bring health and happiness back to this house! I never got the fever but the sore throat/cough part has not been a laugh. Tric never got the fever either and bless her heart, she's been such a good little nurse. She checked Erith's temperature and gave her cool rags for her forehead all day Thursday while I was taking care of Vi.

And I guess I should say Vi and Adam who got it the worst really pulled through! The sleepless nights were worth it!? I can't tell you how humbling it is to see the thermometer say 103.9 at one o'clock in the morning and knowing if you just let your body give in to sleep your child or husband may have a fried brain in the morning.

I LOVE GOOD HEALTH! I love to see my kids with energy to run and play! You don't know what you got till it's gone!

Well this has been quite the year for politics.

I'm normally not one to talk about politics (except between myself and Heather). However, this year (and last) I've followed the primaries fairly closely. I've watched as the field has narrowed to practically one candidate (McCain) on the republican side and two candidates (Clinton and Obama) on the democratic side.

As I've watched I've noticed something quite unique in the approaches of the candidates. There seems to be only one candidate that is playing end game. As I listen to victory speeches, there was only one that was truly trying to appeal to both sides (not just their party). One that was speaking of uniting a nation instead of merely uniting a political party. The only one that is speaking of us as a country, instead of the usual us versus them of politics. The only one that is playing end game, that is gathering supporters from all walks of life, political backgrounds, and economic status is Barack Obama.

I have to say he is extremely good at speaking. Now, that doesn't qualify or disqualify him for political office, but invigorating speeches of unity, change, and hope surely aren't going to hinder his chances of getting elected. Play this clip and you'll get an idea of his eloquent speaking ability.

I absolutely love the line "In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."

There are numerous issues that we disagree on, but I doubt I'll ever have a candidate that I ever fully agree with unless I run for office (and I'll never do that.)

I think that tomorrow after the Texas and Ohio primaries the field will narrow down to Obama and McCain. I'm doing my research into both to get a better idea of where each one stands on issues.

Regardless of how I vote this upcoming November, from what I've seen I think that Obama will win the election with over 65% of the votes.

We try to go on a road trip every summer and this year we decided to go to to the West Coast.

MONDAY July 23, 2007

We left our house at about 9:30 in the morning and drove straight up and over to Moses Lake Washington. It seemed to go really fast. I read Harry Potter 7 aloud and it kept our minds off the clock. We arrived at my Aunt and Uncle Allen and Christine Quinn's house at 6:00 pm our time but, oops, 5:00 pm their time. They were very gracious hosts to us even if we were an hour early. We were fed well, updated on what all my cousins were up to, and got to see some pretty hilarious pictures and YouTube videos. Lisa let us sleep in her newly painted room and entertained our girls to their heart's content, bless her!

TUESDAY July 24, 2007

We left the Quinn's after a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast and headed for Canada. This is where our perfect trip started to mock us. We had never gone through the border before but wow, don't get in the left lane! The right lane is 5-6-10 times faster! So after looking at the peace arch in Blaine Washington for a couple hours we finally got through the border.

Canada doesn't look that much different from Washington! There were lots of people picking berries out in the berry fields and the people are very proud of their country and they know french. That's the impression Canada left on me. We went straight to Vancouver which is huge and has a lot of Asians. We tried to find some Korean shops for Adam's Korean pleasure but we burned out of walking downtown before we found any. We learned there are no left turns from 8-6 on several major roads in Vancouver and when you see a big sign that says Parking you'd better take it fast! We went on top of the Vancouver LookOut which is like the Seattle Space Needle but not as tall and you have to stay inside the glass. It was cool. I love seeing the lines of boats and seagulls and all the sights you never see in Idaho. We then went to Burnaby with the intention of going to a "see what it was like in the old days" Burnaby Village, but alas it was closed and wouldn't be open until 11:00 the next day which we didn't have time or patience for.

So we went to the "Second best campground in North America" which is in Burnaby to camp for the night. We checked in and asked if there was anywhere close to eat and they said there was a Subway a ten minute walk from there. We didn't think the kids could last so we drove with a scribbled map on a paper and the ten minute walk turned into a 2 hour lost in Canada adventure that eventually brought me to tears. They rename the roads every mile or two in Burnaby and we kept accidentally getting on the freeway and leaving Burnaby and trying to turn around and get back in and find the campsite. It was a joke. So the swimming pool and playground had lost their zing when we finally made it back. We got the tent pitched and all the kids settled down the best that was humanly possible and then the air tram/train something LOUD sounded like it was going over our heads FOUR times that night. Viola would finally be asleep and then ROAR and WAAA! It was NOT a good night's sleep. Needless to say as soon as it was light we got out of there and didn't look back till we saw the American border.

WEDNESDAY July 25, 2007

You'd think we would have learned our lesson about the left lane but alas, we obviously didn't because we were in it again and the right lane just WIZZED through. We sat there for an hour which is better that 2 hours I'll admit but still, I guess I have patients issues.

We got through and drove straight to Seattle and parked the car by the Underground Tour in Pioneer Square. Walked in and found out they do it on the hour and we'd missed the last one by 5 minutes so did we want to wait for 55 minutes? We probably should have but no we walked to Pikes Market. It was a refreshing walk with the ocean breeze blowing in at you. We didn't see them throwing fish I'm afraid and the high class luch we bought was too high class for the kids. They refused to eat it after waiting an hour to get it. But they liked the fresh raspberries we bought and free samples of other fruits. That market is huge takes up both sides of a road and like 8 levels! Adam really wanted an oriental painting but we thought it would get ruined (or get too heavy) while we walked.

Then we walked to the Space Needle. Tricity was NOT coping well with the walking by this point. It was fun. You could go outside and feel the breath catch in your throat as you looked down.

When we were done and heading to the children's museum the kids couldn't stop staring at the rides around the base of the space needle. I told them we only had time for rides or museum, and what do you know, they chose rides! There was a monorail right there by the rides and we took it to get closer to Pioneer Square. When we got off we found out that they offer FREE buses to all the tourist spots in downtown Seattle! Now you tell us! There were no buses to be seen and we really needed to make the next underground tour so we walked the rest of the way anyway. We saw a lot of Seattle that we probably wouldn't have noticed by bus at least. There was a shop that had a gorgeous full size fox I really wanted but again, how could I carry it? Or find room in our packed car where it wouldn't get ruined?

The underground tour was very funny and interesting. We were the only ones with little kids. Vi finally fell asleep, but our poor arms were so tired from carrying her all day, it was a task walking up and down the stairs to the old underground Seattle buildings. As soon as it was done we rushed to our car and rushed to Adam's high school buddy Clifton's house. Clif had just barely moved there from Arizona so he didn't know the area that well yet and his directions were a little sketchy, but luckily we made it there just fine.

It was so nice to see Clif and Bree! After a LONG day of walking it was heaven to sit back, relax, eat the amazing barbecue they had prepared for us, see their new twin girls, and chat to our heart's content! When it was the kid's bedtime we said goodbye and headed for our hotel which after about an hour of trying to find it we realized it had a 3 foot concrete median in front of it and you could only get to it from one way! Mapquest can be a blessing but it can also be a cursing because it doesn't know the little details, or, how to tell you there is a median down the middle of the road for 10 miles!

The hotel gave us a room someone was already in. AWKWARD! But It's much funnier now than it was then! Oh well! The important thing was we did eventually have a room to stay in.

Thursday July 26, 2007

We did have a pretty good night's sleep to get us going Thursday morning. We left Seattle and drove to highway 101 right as Washington meets Oregon. We were under the impression that highway 101 gave you a view of the coast from Washington to California. It does follow the coast as best it can but it's not a constant ocean view. In fact it's a s-l-o-w, winding, occasional ocean view kind of road. It's absolutely beautiful! But very slow. (Especially if you're used to taking the freeway!)

Most of the 400 pictures we took on this trip are of the Oregon coast. We have a less than 20% sample of all the pictures we took in the image gallery if you would like to see more than you see here. (Which is worth the time, I promise!)

We wanted to see all the lighthouses we could between Seaside Oregon and Florence Oregon. Sadly again we planned more than we had time for. The Lighthouses that were open to visitors were only open from 11-4 and we never made it to a touring one during those hours. So we made the best of it. We went to Seaside to see the Lewis and Clark Monument that probably said something like "That's ocean, so I guess this is as far as this land goes, let's turn back and tell the President" but we never found it!

We did find a beautiful beach though, so we let the kids get a taste of the ocean and the beach and Vi, the sand. They loved building sandcastles, collecting shells, and running from the rip tides. The next day they got a little braver.

We saw four lighthouses, one really close up (Yaquina Bay), the other three, not very close up. One was on it's own little island (Tillamook Rock) and another was on a rocky ledge we couldn't find a road to (Yaquina Head). The Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse is actually an old lighthouse keeper's house he built like a lighthouse but you can't get too close. The Yaquina Bay lighthouse would have been fun to tour if only we could have made it between 11-4!

In Newport Oregon I REALLY wanted to go to the Newport Aquarium but it closed at 6 and we got there at 6:45. I must say if nothing else I learned some valuable lessons about planning opening and closing times into family vacations! We had reservations in Florence so we couldn't just camp there and go to the museum in the morning. (Another valuable lesson learned, reservations aren't always the best way) We got to our campsite at Honeyman State Park quite late because 35 mile an hour curves only let you go so fast down the coast

FRIDAY July 27, 2007

We got up early and went to the Sea Lion Caves just North of Florence, there were tons in and outside the cave. Then we went to the Hecta Head Lighthouse which is right next to the Sea Lions but we didn't think the kids could handle waiting 2 hours then hiking up the trail to the lighthouse, so we didn't tour it. We took lots of pictures on the beach there of the kids and the lighthouse. Erith and Tricity loved getting their legs and feet wet this time. It was so beautiful. There were about 15 painters out there that morning painting the beautiful scene.

Then we drove across Oregon, all day long.

We started Harry Potter over again because we were in such need of an escape. It was quite beautiful, but not very fast, till we got to the desert and drove like the wind.

We got to New Plymouth Idaho at about 8 pm. Our old neighbors from in town Ririe moved back there after they were done schooling at BYUI. It was so fun to be out of the car! Our girls played with their girls and the parents could talk and relax and have ice cream. We spent the night there and chatted and ate great food and went to a classic car show next door.

SATURDAY

It was a great end to a less than great road trip! The drive from New Plymouth to Ririe took about 5 hours. Which wasn't too much compared to what we had been doing each day! We arrived back home at about 6:00 pm and were amazed at how hot it was. The coast had a nice 70s feel to it, Ririe Idaho was over 100!

Anyway, though I planned it poorly, we have family memories that we'll never forget! The kids handled a lot of time in the car amazingly well. It was poor Vi's first road trip and she got a little anxious when we put her in her car seat shortly after that, bless her heart. But we survived it! Our kids tell anyone who asks how the trip was something like "It was GREAT! The best trip ever!" So how can you have any regrets! :)

Day 6: California Adventure

We didn't get to bed till super late Tuesday night, so we had a late start Wednesday morning.  (Plus I felt like we should take it slow so Adam could have his daily health issue.  But, he didn't have any more problems that trip!)

Wednesday was the coldest day of the trip.  We had shorts and short sleeves thinking, it's hot in California.  But alas it was windy, overcast and sprinkled on us a couple times!  We should have brought some warmer things!

We started out in It's a Bug's Life and rode Flik's Flyer.

We let Andrew take the camera for a while, it's nice to see us all together.  It was kind of cool to see what it's like to be tiny like a bug.  I'm used to the opposite, too tall to see the underside of things.

We did the spinning ladybugs next, and like I said, Andrew had the camera.

Adam, Clara, and I chose to be together so we wouldn't have to spin more than necessary.  Ugh.

Our girls were terribly impatient to drive the bug bumper cars.  They all feel it empowering to be the driver.

Wonderful Drew stayed out with Clara who was too short and took pictures.

The rides seemed a bit short and non thrilling after the wild night we'd just had, but this vacation was for the kids. 

I didn't go to Disneyland till I was 18 for my senior trip and I wanted my kids to have some fun kid memories. 

The Heimlich ride was more a ride for your senses than anything.  We traveled through a watermelon rind that smelled and felt wet and juicey, and an animal cracker box that smelled like some of my favorite childhood snacks.  Like I said, not thrilling but creative.

This bug land place had SO many fun places to take pictures.  We didn't put a dent in the possibilites. 

They had a fun 3D bug show with a stinky stink bug, black widdows coming down from the ceiling, and wiggley maggots.  I love 3D shows like that.

Wade joined us and brought us lunch.  Clara had a tradition of falling asleep through every meal.  It was so cute to see Vi share the stroller and hug her till they both fell asleep.

Oops, I forgot to flip that pic.  After lunch we went to the forest rangery part. 

They had a cave to tell you what your inner animal was.(Adam was a skunk!) rope bridges, tire swings and Clara's favorite: rock slides!

Poor Vi barely made the height measurement at the bottom of the swings, walked all the way up the rope bridges to the swing ride just to be told she was too short to ride.  She cried and cried and said, "That lady thinks I'm little and I'm not, I'm a big girl, waaaaaaa!"  Gotta love it!

Adam took Vi back down and while he was comforting her, she decided she wanted to get a picture with Brother Bear.  Good idea Vi!

The lines at California Adventure averaged about 30 minutes except the next two: Mickey's Fun Wheel and Toy Story Mania, those were looooong. (probably an hour)

The fun wheel was way too high for Adam's taste, I was afraid he might toss his cookies for the third time on that one!  It's a huge feris wheel with most cars on rollers.  Vi and Clara put on their brave faces.  Andrew, Wade, Jerica, Erith, and Tric were making theirs rock and roll like crazy!

Toy Story was a shootem up video game ride, I was terrible, Andrew and Wade smoked us.  Then we went to the tortilla factory for free tortillas and the sourdough bread bakery for free sour dough.  Then we ran into these green army guy musicians.  That was pretty cool.

We went to a super cool Aladdin live production.  Who knew you could get a 45 minute Broadway show at California Adventure at no extra cost!? We then had dinner in the brr cold and split into groups again.  The big kid group did Soarin' Over California (which is VERY cool, if you're on the front row you don't have feet dangling above you and it really feels like your're flying into the green screen!) and California Screamin'.

Screamin' is pretty intense!  It was Erith and Tricy's first upside down rollercoaster!  Erith said she was too scared to scream, Tric asked, "Did we go upside down yet?" Yep! (Get Fast Passes to both, like we did!)

Yeah right Wade, even a ride pro like you couldn't fall asleep on screamin'!  Then the boys took off to play stake volleyball.  I'm not sure where Ryal and Cory took the little ones while we were gone.  I believe they did King Triton's carousel more than once.  We girls met up with them and watched the electrical parade, then the second it was over Ryal, Erith, Tric, me, and yes Vi, did Hollywood Tower of Terror! Sleeping Clara stayed with Aunt Cory.

Remember Where's Waldo?  Where's Viola?  It was a pretty scary story line (Twilight Zone) and it is probably too much for an almost 4 year old, but I didn't think she would behave for Cory while we went, so I took her, and she did it!  I told her it was all pretend and she was extremely proud of this picture. "HER picture".

Vi threw a huge fit on the way to the car.  She wanted me to carry her, not Ryal, not the stroller, give me a break kid, you're heavy and I'm tired!  Another late night, got kids to bed and did 2 loads of laundry.

Day 7: Drive to San Diego to see Trevor at Camp Pendleton

My brother has been at Camp Pendleton since last summer when he went to do marine boot camp to join the marine reserves.  He tore the cartilage off his hip while doing the usual drills and whatever and was declared physically unfit enough to finish. (2 weeks before his graduation no less) He has been sitting in the the hospital wing for 5 months waiting for his discharge papers to come home.  It's very depressing and he longs for company, so we came to visit.

He can't leave the base, he got leave to have this visit with us, and they have an awesome rec center to play and eat in, so we played and ate.

We bowled 2 games at the bowling alley and then had lunch, hamburgers and pizza. (There were about 4 choices on the menu)  Vi wailed on her big sisters at bowling! (Bumper buddies and a ramp helped!)

Then we hit the free arcade.  Trevor's favorite game is this shoot deer and elk game, I think he liked having a gamer like Adam for competition.

I couldn't pry the sunglasses off Erith's face this trip!  That was a dark room!

Tric loved the basketball hoops game, Clara loved the one thing she could climb on by herself and reach the controls!  Vi had too short an attention span to do much of anything.

I had to give them my driver's license to get the air hockey puck and paddles, so muscle men, don't hit the puck hard enough to jump the table and lose it!

Speaking of losing things, Clara lost one of her shoes and it took forever to find.  Guess where it was? Behind the propped open door, that tiny triangle of space was the last place I thought to look!

We got Trev back a tad late for his 4:00 cut off, oops, bad shoe.  We're glad we could see him.  We zipped back to LA without too much traffic trouble and then climbed in the passenger van for an Angels game!

Praise to Andrew again for the tickets and chicken burgers hot and ready in the van when we got there just in time to leave.

This is our family's first major league baseball game. 

We didn't have as much red as the average fan.  But I did buy a t-shirt before we left.  I know, I am a junkie for vacation suveniers!

The angels did not win I'm afraid.  They lost to the San Diego Padres 5-2.  The whole experience was awesome though, being able to buy hotdogs and peanuts from your seat, the great american pasttime.  I have to say though, Adam playing here at Tauphaus Park moved tons faster! (no raking the dirt!)

Surprise Tricity!  When we got back from the game this was waiting for us!  Andrew is magic, I'm telling you!  Tricity's surprise princess birthday party!

Day 8: We drive 11 hours to Andi's in Ogden Utah, goodbye California, Wheelers, Trevor, we love you!

Only a cool sister like Andi would let 6 people crash her one bedroom apartment at 12:30 AM!  Thank goodness she did because we were having a hard time getting that far, all the way home would have been misserable!

Day 9: Conference, birthday presents, meeting the infamous Mike, and Fat Cats.

We finally got to meet Andi's best friend she's been hanging out with for 3 years.  We met up for a between sessions lunch.  I liked him a lot, we need tall men in this world like him!

This Fat Cats place had a ton of fun things to do, but we just didn't have enough time to do all we wanted before conference started, so we settled for Jazzi style bumper cars and ice ball. (skee ball)

It was a fun ending to a fun vacation, I'm very glad we went.  I'll write about Tric's birthday later, and that's all she wrote!

Well, now that we've got Clara paid for (or at least her doctor bills, hospital bills, etc.) we're starting to get some money so we can do things I should have done earlier. The first project on the list was to insulate above the new office.

 

I ran into Home Depot and got 10 bags of "natural" cellulose insulation and rented a insulation blower. I also saw a slide while I was there that I got for the upcoming swingset project. Unfortunately, my eyes were bigger than my car. It took a bit of pushing, shoving, and manhandling to get the insulation, blower, 8' slide, and all the other stuff that was still in the car (3 car seats, a playpen, and a stroller) to fit. I'll just say it was a very very very tight fit and I'm really glad I didn't buy two extra bags of insulation or I would have been up a creek.

Well, I got home with all of the said stuff just in time to run off to softball. I got back home around 9:30, got the kids in bed by about 10:10 and then we decided to blow the insulation. It took both Heather and I to do it. I took the hose up in the attic and Heather manned the blower. After fiddling around with the machine, we finally found how to open the trap door at the bottom to actually let the insulation go through the machine. After we figured that out, it was just a matter of trying to navigate around in a attic that is not lit and fairly short.

 

We finished up right before midnight. I came out of the attic very hot, sweaty, and covered from head to toe in dust, dirt, and insulation (good thing it wasn't the fiberglass kind). I think it worked because the office is MUCH cooler today than yesterday so I hope that it was money well spent.

 

Erith and Tricity started school.  Erith is in first grade and Tricity is in kindergarten. 

 

Erith is so excited to go all day and eat lunch at school. 

Tricity is excited to go everyday and ride the bus. 

 

Viola is kind of lonely when they are gone. It has definately been quiet, sometimes too quiet... Two year olds definately know how to get into trouble.  She loves Clara so much, she appreciates her more when the older girls are gone.  Vi is talking a lot more now.  It's so good to be able to communicate with her.  I have never been a good guesser about what she wants when she's bawling.

 

She has also developed an obsession with books and wearing other people's shoes.  We read LOTS of books while the girls are at school.  She would have me read all day.  I have to eventually draw the line and say, "All done, mom has to get some other things done."

 

Clara can roll both ways now.  When she's really ambitious she rolls clear across the room.  She's four months old now and has started having an opinion on who holds her and how.  She is so sweet and beautiful, she smiles so much, it melts your heart. 

Adam's business is doing well despite the majorly slowed down economy around here and across the country.  He and his brother love working in the new office, complete with new furniture.  They both have plenty to keep them busy. 

Adam is done being a stake clerk at BYUI and just got called to be Assistant scoutmaster and deacon's quorem advisor.  (That's what he was when we moved from our old ward) So yea for Adam getting to know our ward finally, but it is definitely going to take more time on more days of the month than the last calling did. (Lessons on Sundays, mutual on Tuesdays, Flags every patriotic holiday, campouts almost every month, roundtable and other training)  It's okay though, I won't complain, it'll be nice to have him sit by me in sacrament meeting.

I'm just trying to lose weight, and do everything I used to do with four fast-growing kids!  I am amazed how many directions my four kids want to to go at the same time, while I'm trying to can green beans and do laundry and dishes.  So yes, my house is messier than it has ever been, yes, my garden is more like a weed patch, yes, bedtime is my favorite time of day, and yes I love every one of my four very different girls and I wouldn't trade a one of them for the world!

Clara is growing up so fast lately.  She has 2 bottom teeth, she crawls, she says Dadda a lot, she can open the doors on our entertainment center and pull all the stuff out, she is using a spoon a little bit on her own, she jabbers, gets into whatever is left on the floor or couch and last but not least puts her hand into the 5 gallon bucket of catfood and eats a few each day. 

 

Poor Tric, she has a kind of morning routine of doing a puzzle or two first thing in the morning.  She started out with 24 piece puzzles, now she does 50 and 100 piece puzzles. But she has to be quick, as soon as Clara gets out of her crib, not even an open package of chips on the floor will keep her from those puzzles.

 

Vi is now a big sister who doesn't like her little sister getting into her "stuff". She won't call Clara by her name, she calls her "Baby".  She constantly runs up to me and says "Oh no Mom, Baby touching it". Vi likes to draw and color and tends to leave her coloring pages and crayons (or writing utensils) on the kitchen floor, so naturally Clara usually has a pencil or pen in her mouth.

 

The other day I left Vi with a coloring book and some crayons while I went to pick up Erith and Tricity from piano lessons.  (Adam works from home, so I don't leave them alone) When I walked in Vi was looking nervous and said "Baby did it" it took me a minute to see that our TV was covered in crayon scribbling and Clara was on the floor holding a crayon.  Clara can't put herself to standing quite yet and even if she could, her arm couldn't reach the top of the TV where there was plentiful scribbling.  It was so funny to me.  She really thought she'd framed Clara beyond a doubt. (You can see why I'm hesitant to put in an LCD TV in there)

 

Yesterday Vi was being quiet, almost all day long... She is really into this art thing lately.  She got into Clara's dry formula and was making sand drawings all over the kitchen countertops one of the times. The other time she was making lotion fingerpaintings all over a green plastic storage tub in her bedroom. Gotta love age 2. We always call Viola Vi, so today I told her that her whole name was Viola Pearl Hayes.  She said "No mom, I'n not Viowa Pol, I'n Vi" She talks so well now, it's cute.

 

For those of you who don't know, Viola is my Grandma Quinn's Mom's name and Clara is my Grandpa Quinn's Mom's name.  They really have a connection with each other.  They get each other laughing all the time.  Vi does something silly like hits herself on the head with a flyswatter and gets Clara laughing then that make Vi laugh. Some toys that Vi refuses to share with the older kids she happily shares with Clara.  They even share my lap pretty well now.  They used to try to push the other off.  I'm hoping they'll be best friends forever.

 

Clara is officially one now.  I can't believe my newborn fresh from the hospital baby is one already. 

 

She is jabbering and screaming a lot now, no quiet time here anymore.  She's taking a step or two but no serious walking yet. 

 

She is so cute and curious.  She can climb out of her high chair onto the tray, and climb completely out of her walker.  She loves climbing from the recliner to the piano bench and lately, standing on the keys!  Trouble!

 

Clara opened Tric's gift early right after an ug Mom got back from walking and lifting weights.  They were cute socks Tric bought from the dollar store with her own money. We waited till our late cake and ice cream party to open the rest.  We had an extended party the next day with the Purser side.

 

 

My sister Jaleesa is the haircutting and now Mary Kay beauty queen of the world.  She is helping me get over my beauty aversion.  She convinced me to cut and frost my hair before I had Clara, which I have absolutely loved.  Then she practiced her new Mary Kay party pitch on me and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and actually convinced me to care about how my skin ages and... wear foundation! I am actually wearing foundation on days that I go out in public.  I never thought I'd see the day.

 

Well she came over again this week and showed Erith, Tric and I how to put on... eyeshaddow, eyeliner, blush, and lipstick! Am I turning into a mom of girls or what?  Next thing you know, she'll be teaching me to frenchbraid and other girly hairdo's. 

 

If I had a million dollars, I'd pay J twice what the JCPenney salon is paying her and have her come over every morning and beautify all 5 of us girls every morning. But alas, I don't, so I guess I'll have to grit my teeth and do some kind of simple hairdo on all 5 heads all 7 days a week, all my life long... Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll actually like hair!

 

Erith idolizes  J, Santa got her a Barbie head to practice hair on for Christmas.  (When we weren't watching Vi took some sissors and cut two chunks of hair off that night) She is so proud of the... unique hairdo's she comes up with.  I might just get lucky, and have Erith take over the beautifying when she's old enough!  

 

I've got to admit, I have got some cute, cute little girls.

 

Sorry it's been so long. I've been run, run, running since school got out.  I am coaching Erith and Tricity's T-Ball team, it's not been the easiest thing ever for me, but I'm liking the time with the girls. 

 

Scouting is taking quite a bit of time right now, the constant rain is making the grass grow like mad, and I'm trying to plan our summer vacation.  Adam kidnapped me and took me to Boise for a couple days. 

 

Adam made the Miss Idaho website this year so we got free tickets and a huge table to advertise on.  It was really fun.  I loved it.  It was held at Boise State's Morrison Center.  It was a two day thing. Our hotel was within walking distance and they held the Boise IronMan triathalon right through the middle of campus.  The roads got blocked off and the judges for the paegent didn't get there till a half hour after it was suppose to start the second night.  So it didn't get over till 11:00pm, and that put us home at 3:30 am.  Then I had to get the binders with our ward's flag routes to the place they are stored by 6:00am.  I am still trying to catch up on sleep.  It was fun to get away from it all for a couple days though.  I have to put in a plug for the place we ate the first night.  It was right in between our hotel and Boise State  It was a locally owned Italian resteraunt called Papa Joe's.  They make everything from scratch and it is goooooood.  I still have not painted the trim in the bathroom, maybe I will finally do it tonight, and then I will post the after pictures.

 

Well my latest project has come to a close, (for now at least). We finished off the main components for the swingset recently. It was quite the project. It went through a couple of revisions as we worked on it and we added a number of features as we saw just how large a 12 foot swingset can be. 

 

We will be adding a rockclimbing wall on one side and possibly another slide and a zip line. (I mistakenly joked with Heather that all it was missing was a zip line... and next thing I know she wants one added.)

 

Anyway, we figured we should get it done before it snowed. Unfortunately it snowed on it the day we were planning on staining the whole thing. So it got snowed on once before the stain was on.

 

As to other projects, I hung two lights and replaced a ceiling fan that Heather got for our 8th anniversary. Unfortunately it included some crawling through the attic and digging through insulation so I could put in some extra supports for the heavier ceiling fan. All in all it went quite smoothly and it is giving the house a more modern feel compared to the older "brassy" lights we had up.

My next project will probably come around Jan/Feb as we tackle the master bathroom. Heather wants to completely redo it.

• New tile flooring/walls
• New deeper tub
• New cabinets
• New sink/toilet

So it will be interesting to see how well that goes. I'm hoping we'll have the money by then to do it.