Pictures of the First Born Versus the Rest

KK-


I had heard this before, but did not want to believe it was true.  


Parents take more pictures of their first born child than of the rest of their children.


There are a thousand reasons why this is true in most cases.  Unfortunately in our house it is true too.  Big D and I looked back at pictures of T Bear when he was 10 months old and we had a bazillion pictures of him.  The motherly guilt set in and I started taking a ton of pictures of Baby Cub in the last couple of days. (The hard part is not getting T Bear in the shot too - he wants to be in all the pictures!)

Isn't he cute?


Now you are probably thinking... Hey! Miss T is the oldest so there are probably way more pictures of her than me.  That may be true.  But whatever you do, do not call mom and remind her of this.  It will trigger extreme motherly guilt.  Trust me, you will understand someday.  But I do remember what a cute baby you were!


Loves,
-Miss T


PS. And yes, Baby Cub is naked a lot at our house.  It is hard to fit him into clothes - did you see those adorable rolls?

Feel Bad For Us, We Have Bed Bugs.

Dear Miss T,

WE HAVE BED BUGS! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

About three weeks ago we thought Tere-z had hives, because she had all of these itchy red marks. She went to the doctor and got some antibiotics and cream. Nothing happened.


A few days later I had two red itchy marks, and we looked at each other and thought "Oh no!" Yet another few days passed and our other roommate popped out in "hives" too! This was enough for Tere-z. She purchased a plastic mattress shield thing and went to put it on her bed. It was in this fateful moment that she SAW THE BED BUGS! Just to be sure we had Mr. P, who has experienced the awfulness of bed bugs and also worked a summer as an exterminator, inspect the mattress as well. He confirmed the awful and terrible truth that we had bed bugs.

EWWWWWWW. I don't even know how to describe how gross and yucky I feel about all of this. EEK. We called our landlady at 10:42 pm to tell her, and we hope to high heaven she takes care of this mess immediately.

Any bed bug suggestions in meantime?? How do you sleep at night? Tere-z and I slept on the couch last night instead...paranoid all night long that little nasty buggers were crawling all over us and eating us alive. Just in case you were wondering, that does not equate with restful sleep.


Love, a miserable itchy KK and Tere-z

Feel Bad for Us, We Took a Family Vacation

Looks like the ideal Family Vacay - right?

KK-


Last Friday, we packed up our little family and headed down to the Oregon Coast for a weekend getaway. I was so excited about spending the whole day on the beach playing with my boys.  It was going to be a perfect mini family vacation for us.


We woke up Saturday morning, enjoyed a lazy breakfast at 7am (why do kids still wake up early even on vacation?), and then started getting ready to spend the day at Cannon Beach.  Before we headed out the door T Bear got sick.   Like sit-on-the-toilet-many-times kind of sick.  Even though he was sick, T Bear still begged to out to the beach.


We got to Cannon Beach, admired Haystack Rock, and started digging in the sand.  Shortly after we had to make some more trips back to the public restrooms (yuck!) for T Bear.  He just didn't feel good.  We realized that although we wanted to stay on the beach all day, our first duty as parents was to take care of our kids - no matter how beautiful and sunny it was.  So we packed back up and headed back to the beach house.  


At the house, T Bear got some much needed rest, while Big D got some much needed BYU football.  I read a book and enjoyed some ice cream, so it was still a good situation.  Luckily, T Bear felt better than evening so we were able to walk to the beach and enjoy some more time outside.


We decided to take the scenic Highway 101 route up the Washington coast to get home.  We stopped at a gas station, where I decided to put the boys into their pajamas for the rest of the ride.  I lifted Baby Cub up and realized that he had a smelly diaper.  Big D and I debated about where to change it - in the dirty gas station bathroom or the car?  We decided for the car.  


I started changing him, but immediately needed back up because the diaper was a blowout.  It the tight car space, it was becoming a difficult and messy situation.  I ended up holding up a naked Baby Cub in the parking lot of the gas station while Big D wiped down his back and bottom.


Big D said, "Ok, that's good.  We are looking like amateurs. People are going to wonder 'Have they ever changed a diaper before or did they just kidnap those kids?' So get Baby Cub back in the car."


We laughed.  It was turning out to not be the most ideal family vacation, but we were still having fun.  


So you should feel a little bad for us because we did have some rough spots.  Mostly I am being sarcastic.  We do hope that if we do it again, it will be without someone being many-times-on-the-toilet kind of sick.


-Miss T

Welcome back college football!

HERE WE GO COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON!

The two teams I'll be rooting for this year are:


My beloved Cougars.

And...


My hometown Broncos.

Who are you rooting for?

A "Flash"back to Utah

Homer Family (We were only missing 5 cousins and 1 spouse - pretty good!)

Event: Homer Family Reunion


Date: July 30, 2011

Place: Provo Canyon

Best Part: The Cousins' FlashMob Dance (are you familiar with flash mobs?  Check out this one and this one)

Dancers: 22 cousins and 4 great grandkids

Music: Party in the USA/Single Ladies/Wavin' Flag/We are Family

Audience: Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, and anyone else in Provo Canyon

The Details:  We sent out instructional videos and choreography via YouTube.  We did have one practice the night before in the parking lot at Thanksgiving Point.

The Set up:  My mom is explaining how to play a version of musical chairs.  KK starts dancing to the song, and mom tells her to stop and sit down.  Before you know it POW!Its a flash mob!

The Video:


Doesn't it make you want to do your own Flash Mob?

Worst Plane Ride Ever

KK -


I know I told you in person about my worst plane ride ever.  But let's share it again with the rest of the world because it is such a great story.


Extremely early on a Thursday morning, we woke the boys up from their peaceful sleep and loaded them in the car to drive to the airport.  T Bear became giddy with excitement because Utah was the place were all his wildest dreams were going to come true (he doesn't know about DisneyLand yet).


We arrived at the airport a little bit later than we planned to, but rushed in to check our bags and car-seats.  Then we headed to the security lines which is where we made our biggest mistake.  We got into the slower-than-a-snail line.  A new TSA person was training, therefore bags had to be checked at least 17 times.  By the time our bags finally were scanned, my plane was boarding.  I told the TSA persons that we needed to hurry, so would they please do their triple extra check on our baby food quickly.  My simple request was bluntly ignored.


When we had finished redressing ourselves, and loading our bags back up, Big D carried the boys and while I started sprinting (in a dress) to the gate.  I arrived at the gate and knew that our plane was gone.  The lady at the counter confirmed that our plane had departed without us.  I bursted into tears.  Big D finally caught up with me at the counter and talked to the lady about getting me and the boys booked on another fight.


Once we were booked on the next outgoing flight, Big D tried to console me.  Still crying, I told him "One more minute with these boys is like an extra hour!" (all drama intended)  I was not prepared for a later flight, especially since it was not a direct flight.


After some breakfast, Big D left us and we boarded the plane.  The first flight to Boise went somewhat smoothly.  As we left Boise, things started to get rough.  Without too much commotion, we made it to Salt Lake City.  I got off the plane and walked Troy to the bathroom.


In the bathroom, I discovered that my period had leaked through my dress.  I don't mean just a little leakage, I mean a lot of RED BLOOD EVERYWHERE.  Ugh.  Panicking, but trying not to cry again in front of my boys, I walked out of the bathroom.  I walked down to the baggage claim trying to pretend that no one could see my strained dress.


At the baggage claim, I found a corner to hide in.  B-town (youngest brother) showed up with an adorable welcome sign and balloons.  You should have seen B-town's face when I told him that my period leaked all over my clothes.  It was definitely a TMI moment for a 22 yr old guy.  B-town was kind and gathered our luggage, which included 2 car seats and 1 small suitcase.  In that suitcase, I had only packed a few things for the boys.  There were NO CLOTHES for me because Big D was flying in later that night with our other luggage.  


When we got to B-town's car, I asked him to use his GPS to find the nearest clothing store possible.  We drove to a Target and I ran inside to find some clothing.  Since I was bloody everywhere down there, I couldn't exactly try on some shorts or pants.  So I grab a Maxi dress and a package of panties, bought them, then went in the bathroom and changed.  I tried not to even think about what the cashier must have been wondering (or the people BEHIND me in line).


With clean clothes on, we went to my lunch date with my dear college friend Roo.  It was a relief to sit with Roo.  You can always cry, laugh and calm down with best friends from college.  We enjoyed a great lunch. 


Luckily my day (and trip) went much better.  It was a red and rocky start, but I survived.  I have not had such a humiliating period experience like that since high school.  AH!  Can you believe it?  


Thanks for the humiliating/funny experience Red Fairy


-Miss T

Home again, home again, Jiggity Jig

Hi Miss T,

I am home again. Back in the states. The best part of it all so far has been getting caught up on blogs. That picture of Troy in the swimming pool is beyond classic! I happen to be showing people just to share in the silly joy that comes from seeing that.

What I miss most are the $0.50 ice cream cones at Mackers (McDonalds...which by the way everyone, and of course when I say everyone I"m exaggerating, but barely, loves McDonalds in Australia!). I had one every day except Sundays, and sometimes I had two. Why not?


Have any good cheap treat substitute ideas for me?
Love, Ice-Cream Cone lover