No Cruise

We had a great time despite being extremely disappointed and distraught at being refused boarding onto the cruise ship. Curse Casablanca Express (for many reasons, but in particular) for not asking us if my wife was pregnant. Apparently it's a mandatory question when you book the cruise, but we didn't book it, they did and they didn't ask. So Alene was 24 weeks and a few days Monday Dec 1 when we got all the way from Provo to SLC to LGB to Queen Mary Port and within a 100 feet of the ship before someone told us that pregnancy was not allowed on board. Totally distraught, we were even more saddened when we saw Jason Gray boarding the ship and heard that, yup, 8 of the 11 or so Studio C crew were all going to be on that very same cruise. We're REALLY big Studio C fans, so that was like salt in the already bleeding wound.

Well, flying back, saving the PTO and trying to plan something else for another time was incredibly expensive, so we found a nice little worldmark resort an hour away at Oceanside CA. Tuesday was rough, but we tried very hard to choose to be happy. A cruise is just so nice in that everything is taken care of for you and there's such good food all the time everywhere. We both were looking forward to it SO much. But alas, we went shopping and found a few things to do. The weather wasn't great - it wouldn't have been great on the ship or at ports either though. We relaxed on the beach and in the resort - would have done a bunch of that on the ship too. We got more personal time together than we would have on the ship. We certainly didn't eat as well though - I was already feeling the pain of extra expenses for making the backup vacation happen (although I was doing pretty well at being liberal in order to make it fun/bearable). And, truly, we did have a good time.

Here's some pics:

Repairs

Alene wants me to stay awake as she takes care of things before our Sunday night comics routine. So to keep me awake, I'm thinking of all the things I've built or repaired over the past year.

Leaky water inlet on the fridge
The back patio was both built and repaired with a lot of help from me
The vacuum
Kitty doors in mud room door and outside next to garage
Window in bathroom
Garden boxes
Sand box
Probably more but Alene is ready to start comics

Reflections about the boys after a week with Grandma and Grandpa!

Dear Alene,

  Today I put into words some reflections on last week's wonderful experience.  I thought you might enjoy:

Monday-Friday, December 1-5, 2014- Camden and Xan Come to Visit

Two very excited little boys ran into our home Monday morning.  They had waited  days for this event to happen-5 days to spend with Grandpa and Grandma.  Alene had carefully prepared an agenda of all their activities, time schedules and the addresses where these events were to occur.  Camden would need to be taken daily to Freedom Academy in Provo for kindergarten, both boys had a tumbling class, Camden had a dance class and there was an optional library class.  I, as well, had an arsenal of activities for the boys.  The plan was to be flexible and do what fit best into the schedule.  Camden, even though in kindergarten, had daily homework of math, spelling and reading.  I was also given the opportunity to read stories to his class on Tuesday afternoon.  Lunch needed to be early, 11:00, in order to get him to a 12:00kindergarten.  Specific clothes needed to be worn to school, dance and tumbling.  The boys were also excited about our ward Christmas party where Santa was scheduled to appear and then there was the ride in Grandpa’s truck up to Thanksgiving Point where we would all see the magnificent display of lights, enjoy hot chocolate and see real live reindeer.  Indeed, there was a lot packed into these five days.  All went well the first day.  The boys were very cooperative and obedient.  Their excitement filled our home and hearts.  On the second day as we were looking at the calendar, I mentioned that Alene’s birthday would occur while they were gone. Sensitive Camden really struggled with this.  Oh, how he wanted to be with his mother on her special day!  We discussed the situation, his mother knew she would be away, this was her choice; we could make her a card, present, banner; her birthday could even be celebrated a day late when she and Kelv would return to Utah.  These discussions helped, but didn’t really heal his aching heart.  During the rest of the week, Camden mentioned his mother’s birthday to his school teacher, tumbling, instructor and to any adult who came into his circle.  I was impressed by his deep love for her.  His tender heart yearned to share her celebration.  On her birthday we quickly ate breakfast and made her a wonderful banner.  Both boys smiled joyfully as I took the picture to text message across the miles, Camden seemed to feel at peace.  I was impressed with his maturity.  This truly was a difficult situation for him and he handled it in such a grown up manner.  The days passed quickly with routine, fun and many activities.  The daily dose of homework, especially reading, was a challenge for Camden, but once again, he swallowed hard and read each book the required three times.  On Thursday, little Xan had a sudden longing for his mother.  I hugged him and told him I understood how he missed her.  He cried a few tears, and very much like his brother, carried on valiantly even though his heart was feeling sorrow.  My heart felt his pain and Camden’s homework and birthday mother challenges.  Both boys were learning that life is hard but that we can do hard things.  I was so proud of them!  Overall, the week was wonderful.  Win came home early on Friday and enjoyed backyard play with Xan.  I was very surprised to look out the window and see my 67 year old husband swinging with his grandson.  (I had never seen him on a swing!!)  I felt the tender mercies of the Lord during this whole event.  Oh how He loves these little boys and I know he loves the grandparents who cared for them.  We enjoyed this experience very much and feel blessed to also experience a closeness to our Heavenly Father and big brother as we served.

Love,
Mom

Will you marry me!?

So cute little Xan story tonight. (Xan 4 years old)

Tonight after dinner, he told me how wonderful he thought it would be, if he and I got married. So sweet. I assured him that although I was already married to Daddy, that I would for sure, 100%, be at his wedding when he got married someday. He made me promise that I would stay with him the whole time, and that seemed to reassure him enough for now. :-D

Also at dinner tonight, Camden asked me if it hurt to have the baby in my tummy. I told him that sometimes it does. Kelv went on to explain the difference of uncomfortable vs pain to Camden. He seemed to understand fairly well, as Kelv told him I'm just uncomfortable a lot too. After that, Camden told me how he felt bad for me, that I have to be uncomfortable while the baby grows. He has such a sensitive understanding of the feelings of others! He'll make a good husband someday!

I love being a mom of boys and can't wait for our 3rd little boy to arrive in March. There is a special bond for a mom and her boys and I'm so happy to have this chance to raise righteous young men. Both Camden and Xan are extremely sensitive and loving boys and I'm so lucky to have them.

 

Bob,HadABabyItsABoy

We found out the gender and threw a gender reveal party :-D

Alene's mom, the Chattertons, the Bunns, Joe and Liz, Katie Duersch & fam, and the Andersons came to support!

A good 2/3s of everyone across all voting platforms (G+, Facebook, in person, etc), thought we'd have a girl.

Course it's a boy! ;-)

Halloween

Ancestry threw a pretty sweet Halloween party this year with loads of carnival like features. The boys really enjoyed themselves and we had a good time too!

We also took a quick trip to the nearby corn maze (just down the street toward the airport)

Camden had to wear "fairy tale" style costume or nothing to school, so Peter Pan it was (3T costume I think?)

Miga provided little sweeties and markers to make mini jack o' lanterns

They had a photo booth too which was quite fun!

Picture Catchup

Sunday morning conference with Brock and Audrey - Camden was hiding under the couch

Mom and Dad spent a week in Park City again this year and we joined them their last day there and I had a very enjoyable, relaxing ride with Dad 

Rachel, my product manager, was in town for a Product Summit event and so we did a team building activity at the art gallery at Thanksgiving Point. We pulled glass candy dishes or flowers. Cool experience, lots of fun, neat candy dish in the end.

I took the boys up Saturday night to Park City to celebrate Jane's 1st Bday while Alene went to the Conference center for Women's session. They party-ed hard and Camden was this pooped by the end.

We went swimming after Jane's party, then warmed up at the fire.

Jane enjoyed the musical laptop, and Camden's homemade paper wad with something that rattled inside. He played "fetch", "just like a doggy" with Jane

We had some yummy melon from our garden this year!

Go cougars and the fun sweatshirts we got them!

Another successful Celebrate Women's Fitness! Alene took 3rd in her age group, but was announced as receiving the 1st place prize - she ran great for being 15 weeks pregnant!

Funny Phrases

The boys have been asking to go to McDonald's lately. Xan will say though, that he wants to go to "Old MissDonalds".

Camden talks about patterns that he finds in numbers or that he builds with trios or what not and calls them "patterens".

When Camden poses for pictures and Alene wants him to "pose" so that he's got his thumbs in his pockets or what not, he calls them his "supposes" and makes up his own poses that he prefers.

Xan still says "nilk" instead of milk.

Camden still says "grill" instead of girl quite often (not all the time any more).

Kindergarten!

So on August 18th, Camden started Kindergarten! He is in Mrs. Rumsey PM class and LOVES it. He had a few friends in his class already (Siri Ferguson, Sophia, and Jonah Stubbs), and just is so happy each day. He attends Freedom Preparatory Academy here in Provo, and we're just so glad he got in and is having a wonderful time already. 

After our trip to St George Camden got swimmers ear. Swimmers ear is an outer ear infection and just hurts like crazy to get your ear/head/jaw hit during recovery. 

Well, the day after we started antibiotics his teacher mentioned to me that Camden and Siri had ran into each other at recess. They were both ok, but Camden said his ear hurt a lot so they had Camden come inside to read books during that time. His teacher told me she was so proud of Camden though. When he initially came in he kept insisting that the collision was completely on accident and not Siri's fault, so don't get upset at her. Mrs. Rumsey went on to use the experience to teach the whole class about being more tolerant and forgiving of each other when accidents happen. I was so proud of Camden! 

Wonderful Aunt Ruth sent me a gorgeous scarf AND some candy, and some Malaysian money! The boys loved the candy almost as much as I love this scarf!

Funny story: Camden and Xan play really well, and relatively safely together all the time. Well this week I was mowing the lawn while the boys played outside. They were in the tramp and kind of wrestling/tackling each other a lot. I watched to make sure I didn't need to intervene but soon saw and heard even over the lawn mower, that they were having a blast. Laughing and giggling up a storm. And they were even tackling each other pretty evenly. But after a while Camden seemed to be tackling Xan over and over so I decided to pipe up and said,

"Camden- make sure you let Xan tackle you sometime too!" Which he happily agreed to, and let Xan plow him over immediately. All smiles. I continued to mow and then it dawned on me... What did I just say?! I must be a mom of boys!

Another cute story, is Camden (and Xan for that matter) are getting very good at math. After talking about the 10 commandments being written on 2 tablets Camden piped up, "Hey, there must have been 5 on each!" His ability to logic out math in his head is fantastic. And they are both doing so well at reading too! Camden is starting to get his confidence back, and his teacher said he's doing fantastic. Xan is already starting to spell out words and sound out different letters he recognizes. Watching the boys learn is delightful!

Camden has also been very good about trying to help Siri feel more comfortable. When he learned she might be a little nervous about carpooling with us, he decided straightaway that she just needed to get to know us better. He even told me he would tell Mrs. Rumsey to have them sit by each other so she wouldn't be nervous around Camden. 

From our garden! Our cucumbers are doing awesome!

 
Another thing, both boys love are crafts and to draw daily! I was taking pictures of some new ties I'm adding to my shop, and Xan decided to draw me in the process! The pictures he drew include the ties, the actual pictures I'm taking. Me holding the camera, and the swirls on the mustache. :-D

Two cute little ultrasounds of our 9 week old baby! She/he was kicking and moving the whole time with a great heart beat. You can even see little legs and arms here! It was a wonderful appointment and our last at the ferility clinic. It was so emotionally happy and yet sad to be leaving the clinic we so appreciate, that it made me cry!

Boys out on a Kayak trip with Uncle Trent and Daddy.

Camden takes a big plunge!

 

Little 6.2 week heart beat!