Kiersten’s Blog

I had been itching to go to Sacramento for some time.  Jana had a baby in August and Bree had a baby in September.  I had seen not many pictures of either and I was excited to finally meet the babies.  I was really excited when a few months ago, I found a sale on a flight from San Diego to San Francisco, which made it totally worth it to fly, rather than drive.  I really don’t like that drive.  I can’t say that I enjoy flying either, but it doesn’t take as long so the experience is over sooner.  The kids were over-the-top excited about the prospect of flying on an airplane.  The last time we flew was when Ashton was a baby so, of course, he doesn’t remember it.  On our way there, we left early and the flight was fairly uneventful.  It’s kind of nice flying as a family because they let you go straight to the front of the security line!  I had no idea!  But that was good, because Ashton was not fun to try to keep in line while worrying about all of my luggage and the rest of my family.  We didn’t check any luggage because I am a cheapskate and I didn’t really want to pay for it.  $25 each way?  I don’t think so!  Once we got to San Francisco was where the craziness began.  Ashton had to be rolling a suitcase at all times.  He just had to.  And we were trying to figure out where my mom was.  We finally realized that we were on different levels.  I figured the only option for us would be to take the elevator down, but Ashton had other plans.  Taylor walked down the stairs with London while I tried to get Ashton on the escalator by myself with 2 suitcases.  I wouldn’t recommend trying that yourself.  You would probably end up with a scared 2-year-old that you make sit on the moving stairs while you run to the top trying to retrieve your bag that somehow didn’t make it on with you (probably because you were more worried about the 2-year-old).  I got the bag and Taylor was at the bottom waiting to help with the dismount of the escalator.  All was well and we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a grand time of mostly playing foosball and just relaxing.  And we made it just in time for Preston’s birthday party!

The return trip was a little more difficult.  We were dropped off at the airport extra early because we didn’t know until we got there that our flight was delayed.  Because of the delay, we had to change gates.  We gathered our stuff and headed to our new gate.  Once again, Taylor was with London and I was dragging Ashton along.  He stopped for a minute to tell me that he was going to go fast like Lightening McQueen.  The problem, though, was that he stopped right in front of a lady being pushed in a wheel chair.  Of course she couldn’t help but tell me that I need to watch my kid.  Sorry lady, he’s 2.  And it just doesn’t phase me anymore.  Old ladies tell me all the time that I’m a bad mom.  It’s always the highlight of my day, or something.  Anyway, we were fine and Ashton fell asleep soon after take-off and slept until morning.  What a good little guy!  We had a great time, as always.

When new years rolled around, we were in Sacramento.  Kenton and Bree planned a little family party at their house for new years eve.  We had a great time!  It was just Kenton’s family, our family, and my parents.  Ashton fell asleep in the car on the way over (SUCH a blessing!) so he missed the whole party.  I didn’t care.  But London stayed up until midnight for the first time in her 6 years of existence.  Usually we watch the ball drop at 9 and then we all go to bed, but that doesn’t happen when my family is around.  I remember many new years eves being spent at home eating yummy food, playing games and watching movies.  This year reminded me of those good times and I was glad that London was able to participate this time.  We had a lot of food so we spent the evening eating and playing on the Kinect.  In case you’re not aware (I wasn’t), the Kinect is a video game system that hooks up with the x-box.  It senses you and when you move, it “sees” what you’re doing.

It was a lot of fun.  It was especially funny watching Jameson and my parents.  When the clock struck 12, we ran outside with noisemakers and hats and party poppers and made a racket.

London had a great time with the cousins and the rest of us had fun too!

It’s hard to believe Christmas was almost 3 weeks ago and I have had my birthday already.  Weren’t we just in the middle of the craziness?  Despite all of our setbacks this year, Christmas was nice.  Our plan was to go to Taylor’s mom’s house on Christmas Eve.  Santa would come Christmas Eve morning to our house.  That way we wouldn’t have to haul gifts up there.  It seemed easier.  But the week before Christmas turned into a crazy blur.  It started out on Tuesday when we drove up to Los Angeles to see The Muppets at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood (more on that later).  After the movie, we headed up to the valley where we had Taylor’s extended family Christmas party.  We got home really, really late, but we had a fun day.  The next day Kerri came to our house to stay a couple of days before picking up Holli from the airport here in San Diego on Thursday night.  Holli’s plane was delayed a couple of hours and in that time, we received a phone call from a hospital that Taylor’s dad had been in a motorcycle accident.  Kerri left immediately for the hospital and left us to pick up Holli.  Because of these circumstances, we decided to just go to Hemet a day early so we could take Holli and so that we could visit Steve in the hospital.  So we packed all of our gifts (that were wrapped at this point), all of Holli’s stuff, our stuff for a few days, and our instruments into our car and headed out.

We were packed tight.  It’s a good thing we didn’t have too far to go.  Even though Steve was in a lot of pain (with a shattered pelvis, among other things), thankfully he was alright.

Ashton stole my camera and took hundreds of pictures. I asked him if he was taking pictures of Papa and he said, "No, I take pictures of Papa's pee!"

When the kids got too crazy, we left the hospital and headed to Kerri’s house.  I spent all morning of Christmas Eve cooking dinner.  We had an early dinner and then went to the hospital again, but not before a stop at Build-A-Bear, where both kids made bears.

Kerri told us that this year would be different, as far as presents were concerned.  With many difficulties, there wouldn’t be many gifts.  Looking under the tree would suggest otherwise, though.

We were spoiled.  Everybody was spoiled.  We awoke early Christmas morning (thanks to young kids) and opened all of the gifts before Denver called from his mission in India.  We chatted with him for a while then headed off to church.  When church was over, we ate before going back to the hospital for another visit.  The next morning Holli flew home and we drove home to unpack and re-pack for our next adventure–flying to Sacramento.

This afternoon I took London shopping with me. She was good and I wasn’t mean. In the store she told me that maybe I should take a class that would help me be a better parent. You know, so I won’t be so mean. She wondered if they have classes for that.

All day I have been listening to whine, whine, whine. Is it bed time yet? We got a magnetic chore chart from my parents for Christmas. One of the chores that can be used is “stop whining”. Of course that one was at the top of the list. That is, until it mysteriously disappeared. But I didn’t know it was gone. It wasn’t gone for long before the guilt got too much of her and London walked to the kitchen drawer and pulled the “stop whining” magnet out of the oven mitt. I just started laughing which, of course, made her even more upset. Finally she went upstairs to her room where she called for Ashton saying, “Ashton, LaLa needs help! I need you to come up here and help me count to 10 and take a deep breath!” Now she’s back downstairs, whining more than ever while Ashton sings “We Are A Happy Family.” Oh the irony.

I checked the weather last night when we got home. The forecast said 79 degrees in La Jolla. I threw all plans of unpacking from our trip and packing up Christmas out the window and we went to the beach. We had a grand time. It was the best decision I’ve made all day. The weather was gorgeous. Sunny and no breeze. The tide was low. I played in the sand with the kids while Taylor surfed. Then we checked out the tide pools and enjoyed the small bit of wildlife we found.

Before we left, I tried an old pair of London’s flip-flops on Ashton. They fit! So what if he couldn’t walk in them, the kid was going to wear them. Now he’s in his bed wearing his “new twip-twops”. Yeah, they’re a hit. Here’s to another great day tomorrow.

We’re home. I feel like we’ve been gone for two weeks. Wait, we pretty much have. So someday soon when we have internet again and I don’t have to blog via iPhone (yes, I got one for Christmas!), I’ll fill you in on the craziness around here and the joys of traveling with kids. Don’t worry, I won’t forget about the time that the old lady in the airport told me that I need to watch my kid, or how adventurous I was to take an escalator with a two-year-old and two suitcases. Those are stories to be told. And they will be. Just not tonight. I have some catching up to do with my own bed.

We’re spending time with my family in Sacramento. We get a lot of time to relax, which is nice. The kids are having fun. Yesterday Kenton and Bree took Ashton and their two youngest boys to the Railroad Museum in Old Sac. Ashton had the time of his life. At the same time London and her cousin, Preston, were fishing with Grandpa. Upon asking her if she caught any fish she replied, “No, but we went to McDonalds!” When they got home, they were found outside playing with the leftover bait. I said, “EW!” she said, “He’s so cute!”

Today the kids are out helping Grandpa clean up the yard and having a great time.

They found a bird nest.

Ashton called for help. I had sent him into his room with a blanket to put away. When I got there, this is what I found.

Yes folks, he had pulled the covers and mattress off of his bed and was rolling down the mattress. I’m pretty sure I didn’t figure that trick out until I was a lot older.

Merry Christmas! I hope your weekend brings joy and happiness. This Christmas holiday hasn’t gone exactly as I imagined it would 6 months ago. In fact, it hasn’t gone anything like I would have imagined even 6 days ago. Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, we came to Hemet yesterday to be with Taylor’s family. We are enjoying our time together. I do hope, though, that some year soon I will be able to have Christmas at my home with my own little family traditions. But that’s not what really matters. Christmas is a time for us to remember Christ and His miraculous birth. I have really tried to focus on Him lately and teach my children the true meaning of Christmas. Even with all of the commotion (and the sick kids) I hope that we can keep that focus (but we’ll see how that goes with all of the gift opening tomorrow).