Kiersten’s Blog

Did you know that Taylor has a blog? He’s trying to re-vamp one of his classes and needs your comments, so go check it out here and let him know what you think!

More to come soon. I promise.

…don’t say anything at all.” Hence the lack of blogging lately. I can’t say I always follow this motto, but I’ll try to in my blogging. I have written, but I’m not putting those thoughts on the internet for the whole world to see. I’m making progress. I’ll come back someday. Someday when I can start saying nice things.

I think I had been waiting for this one since February.  That’s when I found out that Coldplay was going to play a concert here in San Diego.  I thought that tickets for this even would probably be just about the perfect birthday present to give Taylor in April.  Plus, I assumed that if I gave him two tickets, he would take me and I wanted to go.  After all that waiting, we finally got to go on Thursday.  Since I’m a cheapskate, I bought lawn seats.  Maybe next time I’ll actually go all out and buy a seat, but either way, it was exciting to be there.  If you’ve ever been to the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Chula Vista, you know that the lawn seats are really far away.  Plus, the place was packed.  People were sitting for the opening groups but once Coldplay finally made it to the stage (2 hours after the concert started) there weren’t many people sitting anymore.  The bad news is, I’m short so it’s hard to see over people’s heads.  The good news is, people were moving around so much, trying to see better, that sometimes I actually got to see the band!  I was glad I brought my binoculars.

The band was great.  It was really exciting to be there.  The music was fabulous and the experience was fun (except the traffic jam trying to exit the parking lot after the show).  I noticed a few things.  There were a lot of people.  I kind of expected to see a lot of twenty-somethings.  I did, but I also saw a lot of older people and families with kids.  There was a guy I saw who was probably 70 years old.  Sitting right by us was a young family.  The couple had brought their son, who I would guess was about 2, and their daughter, who I’m sure is younger than Ashton.  I can’t even imagine taking my two kids to a concert like that.  I’m so glad Taylor invited me to come with him.  Coldplay is probably my favorite band.  I love their music.  It was fun to see them perform live.  Next time I’ll have to splurge for the better seats.

It’s about time I finish blogging about our vacation.  Our last stop was Zion National Park.  I’ve never had a huge desire to visit Zion.  I don’t know why.  It just never really seemed that exciting.  Well, now that I’ve been there, I’m excited to visit again.  It was definitely a nice way to end our vacation.  We stayed in a really nice motel.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron but it’s true.  It was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom with a full kitchen and a patio.  It was almost as big as my apartment!  Plus, right next to our room was a little playground that London got some good use out of.  The great part about the place we stayed was we had our own bedroom.  Well, the kids stayed in our room with us, but it was nice to be able to put them to bed and still stay up without them being awake.  That was our problem for most of our vacation.  We were staying places where London just couldn’t go to bed early.  We stayed right in the little town of Springdale, which is at the entrance to the park.  There is a free shuttle that drives through the town and drops off at the park.  Then there’s another free shuttle in the park that takes one to destinations inside the park.  The only time we drove at all was when we wanted to drive through the tunnel.  And it was totally worth the drive, even though Ashton was crying most of the time.  I loved that I could take the shuttle back to our motel without having to drag everybody else along if they wanted to do something different.

We stayed there with Taylor’s parents and Denver.  The boys did a couple of big hikes, including Angel’s Landing and The Narrows. I didn’t do anything long or super strenuous because I had children to care for.  Plus, I sure don’t have the guts to do Angel’s Landing.  That’s way too scary for me!

We stayed for a couple of relaxing days there at Zion and then had an uneventful drive home.  This vacation was much better than the last.  We had a good time but it’s sure nice to be home.

P.S. If you want to see more pictures from our vacation, check them out on our website or click here.  I promise to add more soon so subscribe!

I went back to the dentist today to have my last cavity filled.  I wasn’t so excited, wondering how many more they would find this time.  Things went much better than I had even imagined.  Here’s a summary of my visit:

11:38 a.m.: enter office

11:42 a.m.: taken back to “the chair”

Then the conversation starts:

Dentist: It doesn’t look like you need a shot for this one.

Me: Are you sure?

Dentist: It’s pretty small.  I’m sure you could get away without it.

Me: Will it hurt?

Dentist: Well, a lot of people don’t like the feel of the drill.

Me: But is it painful?

Dentist: You might feel a little sensitivity but I don’t think it will hurt.  I’ll go slow and if it starts to hurt, we’ll give you a shot.

Me: (in a high pitched voice) Ooooh, I don’t know.  I don’t want to be numb all day but I don’t want to feel pain.  We’ll just do it.  I’ll let you know if it hurts.  I’m so nervous!  I’m so nervous!

DRILLING

Me: (thinking) I wonder if it’s going to start hurting.

Dentist: Hmm, this was deeper than I thought.

Me: (freaking out in my head and thinking) Oh boy, what did I get myself into?

MORE DRILLING

Me: (thinking) Is he ever going to stop drilling?

Before I know it, I’m done and out of the office before noon.  That was the best filling appointment I’ve ever had!  It was even less painful than a cleaning!  I don’t hate my dentist as much anymore.  But I don’t want to go back anytime soon.

I woke up this morning with the motivation to start jogging again.  None of my friends would be walking with me today so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take a little jog.  I hauled the stroller down the stairs and loaded the kids in it but before I left, Taylor noticed that the front tire was completely flat.  He got the pump and pumped it up.  A minute or two later, we heard a loud POP.  That was the tube and the tire was flat again.  Now I need a new tube for sure, and possibly a new tire.  I bought a tube for one of my tires before and it seems like the stem wasn’t the right size for the wheel on the stroller.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a huge pain to find one to fit.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get one soon so I can get back on schedule with the kids.  Taylor was nice enough to stay home with the kids while I went on a jog all by myself this morning.  I think I need to start getting up early to do that anyway.

You would think a down stroller would be enough for one day, but not so.  This afternoon I was going out to get some grocery shopping done.  We’ve been gone for a week and a half so there’s a lot to do.  I left the kids at home with Taylor and headed out.  Before I got out of the parking lot, a girl decided to back her Ford Ranger into the side of Comancho (that’s what London calls our car).  Nice.  She pulled back into her parking spot and I quickly parked out of the way.  When she got out of her truck, the first thing she said was, “You need to watch the road!”  I couldn’t believe she was saying that to me!  I said, “Are you kidding me?  You backed into me!”  I really could not believe that she was trying to blame me!  Now the back passenger door of Comancho can only be open from the inside.  That makes it a little bit of a pain to haul kids around.  We’re taking the car in tomorrow.  Hopefully they’ll be able to fix it and not claim it as totaled.  For now, I’m down a stroller and down a car.  I guess I won’t be venturing out.  Annoying.

On Monday we headed out to our family cabin in Oakley, UT.  My great-great grandfather built it many years ago and it has stayed in the family all these years.  Now all of his descendants use it.  Plumbing and electricity have been added and there are beds everywhere so that a lot of people can stay and enjoy the place together.  It’s in a beautiful setting.  We had a nice time there. My parents came with my grandma.  Taylor’s parents came too.  They brought Denver, and Holli also came.  We invited all of my siblings as well, but only Brittany and Kirk showed up with their little William.  William is only 5 weeks older than Ashton.  I hadn’t seen him yet.  He’s so chunky, but what a cute little guy!  It’s amazing to see the difference in the two babies.

While at the cabin, Taylor blessed Ashton. I’m so glad we did it there.  It’s such a special place and it’s nice to have that memory there.  Alan and Marisa came out for the blessing.  My Uncle Dee also made the drive.  Rachel came and brought Annika.  They stayed the night.  Taylor’s Uncle Jack and Aunt Amanda came and brought his Aunt Rose with them.  It was great to have so much family in attendance.

Bishop Jones, my Dad, Kirk, Taylor and Ashton, Taylor's Dad, Alan, Dee, Jack

While at the cabin, we spent time relaxing and enjoying the beauty around us.  I took a couple of short little walks.  Others went on bike rides.  It was definitely nice to spend time together as a great big happy family.  It was great for us to have vacation time with both parents.

I love spending time with cousins who have kids.  London loves it too.  Rachel’s daughter, Annika, and London have a lot in common.  They both love Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse.  In fact, they were both Minnie Mouse for Halloween last year.  Annika just turned three and had a Hello Kitty themed birthday party.  The two girls loved playing together.  London’s still asking me when we’re going to go back to Annika’s house.  They had fun playing together at her house and at the temple and they loved playing together at the cabin.  The problem is, as much as they love each other, they really got on each others’ nerves.  Annika knew exactly which buttons to push to get London going and London gladly screamed any time Annika wasn’t doing things just right.  All of the screaming and whining aside, I think they had a great time together.  They were definitely cute.  I’m so glad we happened to have London’s Minnie Mouse ears with us.  They loved dressing up like Minnie together.

We just got back from our 9 day vacation last night.  We had a great time, but there’s sure no place like home.  Last Thursday we drove as far as Las Vegas.  We were able to find a nice hotel for really cheap there.  We had hoped it would be an uneventful day, but something always has to happen, of course.  The day before we left, we bought a bike rack for the top of our car.  It’s a fork-mount rack and it came with a wheel rack, also for the top of the car.  Taylor secured his brand new bike to the top of the car, along with the front wheel.  When we stopped for gas in Riverside, the wheel was nowhere to be found.  That little glitch aside, it wasn’t a bad drive at all.  We left Las Vegas later than we wanted to on Friday because we were wheel shopping.  Eventually we made it to Rachel and Steve’s house in Draper, UT.  She lives in a beautiful house on top of a mountain with an amazing view.  Since we got to stay in the basement, she set me up a little nursing station in front of the window.  The first night we were there, I was giving Ashton his late night feeding and saw an amazing lightening storm.  Sometimes those late night feedings aren’t all bad.

Brooke and her girls were also staying with Rachel that night.  The four little girls were crazy together and the house was definitely not quiet but I think they had fun.  The next day was Independence Day and was packed full of fun.

Chloe, Annika, Sienna, London

Taylor and I took the kids to visit some old friends (Ashley and Drew) from college.  They’re moving to Nebraska as we speak.  They also have a 3 year old and a new baby.  It was fun to talk and catch up.

Ashley and Oliver, Me and Ashton

That evening, my Aunt Julie had a get-together at her house.  It was a lot of fun to see so many cousins I haven’t seen in years.  It’s crazy how many of us were there.  It was a great time for all.  My parents showed up while we were there and spent the next couple of days at Rachel and Steve’s house with us (Brooke left on Saturday)

Ashton and his Uncle Alan

We saw more friends (Heather and Mitch) on Sunday.  It was really nice to catch up with them as well and meet their little Layton.

Monday morning we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house.  It was a beautiful temple, but the whole process was a little stressful for me and Taylor.  London wasn’t in such a good mood and didn’t want to listen very well.  Ashton was also hungry and grumpy.  The tour was self-guided, which could have been a great idea, but there were so many people there that it took forever to get through the temple, making it even more stressful.  I am glad, however, that London had the chance to go through the temple.  She gets so excited to see them.

Next stop, the cabin.

After going on two very long drives this summer with a 3 year old and a 3 month old, I have learned that there are some things you just shouldn’t travel without (if you have kids my kids’ ages).  Without further ado, here they are:

1. Portable DVD player.  My mother-in-law hates the idea of having built-in movie entertainment in the car.  She told me that they always played games like “the alphabet game” and “I spy.”  That’s all fine and dandy if you have kids who can be entertained by that kind of stuff for hours on end.  I guess her kids were good travelers.  My family, on the other hand, never had a vacation where we didn’t fight the whole time we were in the car until I was 23.  When my dad rigged up a 13” TV/VCR to a make-shift TV stand in our VW bus 20 years ago, we thought it was genius.  Now many people have DVD players built in to their car.  We have a cheap one with a case that ties on to the back of the headrest.  London gets to choose a slew of movies and she’s entertained for the day.  I won’t travel without it.

2. Monkey headphones.  Okay, they don’t have to be monkeys.  That just happens to be what we have.  The headphones are so that the movies brought by the 3-year-old don’t drive the parents insane by the end of the trip.  If I have to hear Monsters Inc. one more time, I think I’m going to go crazy.  London sits happily with her monkey headphones on and I don’t have to hear a thing.

3. Breast pump.  I learned the hard way on our first trip of the summer that a breast pump is an absolute necessity when traveling with an baby.  You’ve read about our trip to St. George earlier this summer.  It was awful.  This time around, I was more prepared, thus the driving was a thousand times better.  Since I pumped exclusively for London, I’m pretty good at using the thing.  I have a nifty pump strap so I can pump both sides at the same time and I can just cover up with my nursing cover.  I made sure to pump before Ashton got hungry so a bottle was ready for him when he was ready to eat.  It took much less time once we stopped to feed him (who knew that a half hour of breast feeding only amounts to five minutes on the bottle?) which meant more drive time between feedings.

4. Yummy snacks.  The night before we left, I took London to Target to pick out some snacks.  We got a bunch of really yummy stuff.  Of course she wanted to open it an eat it right then but I wouldn’t let her dive in until we were on the road.  When she woke up the day we were leaving, the first thing she said was, “Are we going on vacation today?  Can I have some snacks?”  A snacking girl is a happy girl.

5. A loaded iPod.  I think back to the days only a few years ago when we had to take piles of CDs with us when we traveled.  Now I can just throw my iPod in my purse (it’s there anyway) and have a great selection of music for the whole trip.  I don’t have to decide what I want to listen to before I leave.

There you have it.  If you’re planning on taking a trip with little ones this summer, take my advice and bring these few items.  You’ll thank me.  I promise.