Kiersten’s Blog

I have 24 boxes of cereal.  They don’t all fit in my pantry so some of them have found a new home in the garage.  11 of those boxes are Rice Krispies.  And I bought them all on the same day.  They were a good deal.  How could I pass it up?  Plus, they have the codes on them to get free movie tickets.  I spent something like $15 on those 11 boxes of cereal and they will translate into two free movie tickets.  Plus I get to eat the cereal too!  I’m thinking I got a pretty good deal.  Then other cereal was on sale a week or two later at another store.  Again, the bargain was too good to pass up so I bought more.  Of course I made Rice Krispy treats the other day.  I think it’s time to make more.

I love this picture of my mom.  I’m guessing she was about London’s age.  It’s the perfect summer day and she was waiting, dime in hand, for the ice cream man.  It looks like she missed out on the ice cream that day.

I just spent the better part of an hour cutting up chicken.  I bought chicken today since it was on sale.  Usually when I buy fresh chicken, I open the package and freeze each breast individually in its own little ziplock baggie.  Today I decided while I was at it, I might as well cut up some of it for dinners I have on the menu for this week.  I only cut up 4 breasts.  It takes me so long because I’m so disgusted by the whole process.  I only ever buy boneless skinless chicken breasts since that’s about all I can handle.  One time we cooked a whole chicken and another time we cooked a turkey.  On each of those occasions, I made Taylor pull out all of the nasty guts.  And he used to be vegetarian.  It takes me forever to cut up the boneless skinless chicken breasts because I won’t touch them with my bare hands.  I use a fork and a knife and I’m very careful about the chicken not touching anything besides the cutting board and the fork and knife.  I don’t know why I’m so grossed out by it.  As I was cutting, I was thinking about this whole process that I do and started to wonder why I even eat meat at all.  I have had beef only once or twice in the last seven years, just because Taylor doesn’t eat it.  I remember making meat loaf once when I was a teenager and was totally grossed out, having to stick my hands in and mix up the ingredients.  Now I don’t eat it and I can’t even fathom why people like it.  We don’t eat a ton of meat, but we do have it and I think I would have a hard time going completely veg.  But then again, I would never have to cut up raw chicken again.  It might be worth it.

I think there must be a crazy gene that comes through the Henrie line.  I’m glad I didn’t get it.  Maybe I did and it just hasn’t surfaced yet.  I wrote about my dad’s crazy bike trip down the California coast with is brother.  While they were on their week-long trip, my cousin and his dad (my dad’s brother) were on their own crazy bike trip, except theirs was even more insane.  Wayne, my cousin, decided to ride his bicycle across the country and somehow he conned his dad into going with him.  Because of a really bad motorcycle accident a few years back, my uncle couldn’t ride a bicycle, so instead he rode a moped.  Either way, they were in for an adventure.  My uncle pulled a trailer with supplies and they typically biked around 100 miles every day.  They started in June and arrived in San Diego the third week of July.  That means they were riding through Arizona in 127 degree heat.  Did I mention that they’re crazy?  The nice thing about their ride was that they finished in San Diego.  That meant that we got to have company!  Not only did my cousin and uncle come, but my aunt, my cousin’s wife, and their baby (the same age as Ashton) also came!  Sharon and Jenna wanted to be there for them when they finished.  We had a nice visit with everybody and I was so glad they stayed with us!  Wayne, Jenna and Chase live in Barrow, Alaska and Curt and Sharon live in Calgary, Alberta so we don’t see any of them very often.  I wish we could have spent more time together but they were all leaving the next day, as were we.  I’m so glad we were here when they were so that we could visit a bit and I’m glad we have a place big enough to accommodate guests.

I think these two (2nd cousins) look more alike than London and Ashton! Chase wasn't so happy about the grass, but Ashton was just happy to be outside.

Ashton is finally a walker.  He was taking steps around Father’s day, but it wasn’t until a week or two after that when he actually started using his feet as his main form of transportation.  Now I can’t get him to slow down!  He even thinks he’s big enough to walk up and down the stairs!  While on vacation, he was walking around somewhere (maybe the beach) outside and stepped on something that got lodged into his fat little foot.  I didn’t think much of it and assumed it would find its way out soon enough.  It didn’t seem to bother him at all.  But Friday morning, I noticed a red line traveling from the wound up his foot.  Fearing blood poisoning, I scheduled a Dr. appointment.  The doc said it looked like it was infected, but of course didn’t want to slice the thing open and dig it out so she put him on antibiotics and told me to have him soak his feet twice a day, use an antibacterial ointment, put wart remover on it at night while he’s sleeping, and keep him out of beach water.  What?  It’s summer time and we live in San Diego!  Poor guy.  We went to the bay yesterday and he was pretty mad that he couldn’t go in the water.  Of course he HATES the antibiotics he’s taking.  In fact, I’m not sure if he even swallows any of it at all.  But it does look like it’s getting better.  At least the red line has gone away.  My favorite part of the whole prescription is the foot soaks.  It’s hilarious to watch my little boy soaking his feet every night.  I think it’s his favorite part too.

For some reason, London is obsessed with Spanish.  Maybe living in Southern California will do that to a kid.  We have a number of children’s books that have both English and Spanish text.  She constantly asks me how to say things in Spanish.  Of course I never know.  So she makes up words and tells me that’s how you say {enter random word or phrase here} in Spanish.  She never really remembers the word she makes up, but she has used one specific word (or it may be two words, I don’t know) consistently.  That word is “elenationkwokeemoncho.”  Apparently this word means just about anything.  It means, “I’m done pooping.  Please come wipe my bum.”  It means, “I’m hungry.”  It means, “Are we there yet?”  It means anything London wants it to mean.  Maybe she’ll be a linguist when she grows up.

With all of my vacation posting today, I almost forgot again about my Flashback.  Here it is.  I love summers at the cabin.

I'm the baby in this picture

This evening we discovered, while eating Rice Krispy Treats, that London has a loose tooth.  She’s four.  That’s right, my four-year-old daughter has a loose tooth.  Tonight she prayed that her tooth wouldn’t be loose anymore because she doesn’t want to grow up.  I guess she knows how good she has it being a little kid.  My poor baby is growing up.

Our last day in Oregon we spent at the county fair.  It was a quaint little small-town fair, which was a great time for all.  We walked around a bit and saw the animals.  We watched some dancing done by a group Karli clogs with when she’s not pregnant.  They were great!  It was fun to watch.  It’s too bad Ashton didn’t want to sit still.  Right after the clogging finished, we went to and adjacent stage where they put on a wild west show in which the kids could participate.

Mylie and London both scored parts as cows.  Of course they were excited to dress up and get on the stage and perform.

Afterward, they wanted to go on rides and we promised them each that they could go on just one.  There was also a booth where they could learn safety and become a junior deputy.

In their swearing in, they promised to obey their parents and go to bed on time.  It’s too bad London doesn’t remember that part.

Later that evening, we got a babysitter and all of the adults (including my parents who were also in town) went to see Taylor perform at the student concert for the conclave he was attending.  He did a great job and it was nice for us to go spend some time with him after not seeing much of him all week.  It was also a much needed break from the four kids we had been wrestling all week.

We had a wonderful time staying and playing with Nick and Karli and Mylie and Nolan.  Before we went, I knew that London and Mylie were quite a bit alike.  I had no idea.  I was amazed by how similar these two girls really are.  I was a bit worried that their similarities would make them clash a bit with each other, but it was quite the contrary.  I think they understood each other so well, that they played really well together.  They even made up some crazy games.  One was pretty gross.  It had something to do with one of the girls pretending to eat the other, then the one who was eaten, climbs on the stomach of the other who is laying down, and covers herself with a blanket.  Then the girl who “ate” the other girl poops her out.  Gross.  They loved it.  Sure, during the week they had some blow-ups, but I think that was also good for them.  That way they could see what they look like when they throw fits, by seeing the other one do the same thing.  By the end of the week, they had even learned to talk things out!  Karli and I were so impressed.

Our week in Oregon was a great thing for us.  We loved spending time with cousins.  Nick and Karli were so great to let us stay with them.  I hope some day soon that we can return the favor!  We miss them already!

We had friends to visit while in Oregon.  On Tuesday night, Nick and Karli were gracious enough to watch our kids while we went out with an old friend of Taylor’s from college.  I never knew Darcy.  She had moved away by the time Taylor and I met.  It was a lot of fun to go out with her and hear stories from their college days together.

On Friday, we went to the park in downtown Portland where there is a water play area for kids.  There, I met up with an old friend from college.

Can you believe that adorable chunk of hers is only 9 months old???

Halsey and her husband and 9 month old son are living in Portland for the summer.  It was nice to see her and meet her adorable little family.  We had a good time catching up and letting the kids play for a bit, even if I was chasing them around the whole time.

When we finished at the park, Karli and I took our kids down the street for cupcakes at Cupcake Jones.  Ashton was almost asleep, so I didn’t get anything for him.  I got myself a big yummy cupcake, and London got two mini cupcakes.  I put her cupcakes on a plate, held onto mine, and pushed the stroller with the almost-sleeping-toddler out the door.  As soon as we got out the door, London’s vanilla cupcake was on the ground, frosting totally gone.  The whining and crying started and I headed back into the shop with my sad looking no-frosting cupcake, which they willingly traded for a new one.  I took it back outside to where we were sitting and gave it to London.  She took one little taste of the frosting and decided she didn’t like the frosting.  By this time Ashton was awake and wanting a treat, so I told her to feed the frosting to him, which they were both happy about until he decided to take a bite out of the cake instead of just the frosting.

Even so, all ended well and we headed home, tired from a long, fun day.

Nice teeth