All the things...well, actually just some of the things. 2012- present

here is part of a blog I wrote a loooong time ago, but never posted.
I'm guessing Dec, 2012

We had a great thanksgiving. The first night of break, Oliver and I went on a fun date to see the movie “Lincoln”. It was very good. Then, Greg came to visit and boy was he a sight for sore eyes. I was actually a little nervous about seeing him cuz it had been a while and our phone conversations had started to become awkward and stale, lol. But my worries were nonsense and I should have known that greg and I are an unstoppable force of fun when we get together, no matter how much time has passed. I thank my lucky stars for a brother like him. The first day he was here we went to the nickel city, obviously. The best game at nickel city is deal or no deal, again, obviously. We won big. That evening we made dinner, went to have a chat at starbucks, and went to hobby lobby in search of a Christmas craft. We bought copious amounts of felt and spent the rest of the evening happily creating colorful christmas garlands.They will add a real Christmas cheer to our house. On thanksgiving day we spent all day playing games, well, specifically we spent all day playing nertz. Very addictive and very fun racing card game. We could not get enough. Then we went to find someplace to have thanksgiving dinner but no place was open and if it was open, it was full. So, yeah, we had thanksgiving dinner at ihop, it’s not something we’re proud of, but it happened and it is what it is. I don’t think I need to tell you that it was sub-par at best. While at ihop, we went through the black Friday ads in the papers we had brought. Disappointing selection of items this year. Nothing worth getting up at the crack of dawn for. So, we left ihop feeling a little embarrassed and a little queasy. Then, oliver had to go to work, can you believe that? On thanksgiving day. I should probably explain that oliver recently got a seasonal job at target. (babies don’t come cheap when you have to pay to force your body to do what it should do by itself via expensive pharamacueticals and many many ultrasounds. Hashtag- anyone who suffers infertility to any degree should have a free pass in all other areas of life) FYI- if not already obvious- we are trying for another baby. Go us!  anywho, one thing I love about oliver is that he has work ethic coming out of his ears. Wherever he works, he does his best always and even takes pride in the company. He also looks great in the tan pants and red shirt, and, like a boss, he personalizes the ensemble with a white thermal under his red tee, a nice addition and a little shout-out to the 90s all in one. His bosses say he is “extremely thorough”. I believe it. He mostly works in the shoe section and he leaves no shoe unstraightened. Let’s be honest, if you have to be walking around a store for 6 hours, target is the one to be at. Target is a wonderland of products. But, back to my point, he had to work at 8:30 pm on thanksgiving day cuz target opened at 9. greg and I went out to observe all the crazies do their black Friday shopping. I was shocked, (really seriously shocked, I couldn’t stop saying how appalled I was, greg started to get annoyed, lol) at the line wrapped around target. It was insane. Greg and I drove around and around just staring at people and trying to figure out what awesome deal motivated them to come out on thanksgiving night. Most people were buying either fake trees, tvs, or foosball tables. Friday, we kept playing games, crafting, and munching the unbelievably delicious peppermint jojos that greg brought from California. It was a great break and great quality time with some of my favorite people.

Greg and gabe

So, now we are 2 and a half weeks away from Christmas break and I could not be more excited.  Our days are busy and mostly good. Oliver recently finished up a field experience in a 5^th grade class. He got to work with a nice male teacher and a great class. He really liked it and one of the kids from the class even happened to be at my parent teacher conference with a sibling the other day and came up to me and told me how much he liked Mr AJ. Oliver is in a cohort with lots of crazy girls. It’s fun to hear all the strange things they say. Oliver got called to the Sunday school presidency and is excited to help transition to the new curriculum. It seems like a great change and we think it will be effective. As for me, my classes are going well and I was surprised to find that I love teaching 10^th grade. 10^th graders are silly and not quite “too cool for school” yet. Teaching is just such an odd job. Everyday is so different. So, let’s talk Gabe, shall we? He is mi vida, mi corzon, mi muneca, mi amor. (my life, my heart, my doll, my love). He has recently turned into a mama’s boy and nothing could please me more. He follows me like a puppy and reaches for me when other people hold him. My heart could burst with joy. He’s a snuggle baby. He eats everything now. He loves music. He loves other kids.

gabe

Other than working, school, and gabe, we don’t have too much time but we have managed to do a few fun things. We have taken up racquetball and it is so fun. We play about 2 times a week and are about at the same level so it’s fun to play with each other. Oliver has the absolute best victory dances when he wins. Oliver really enjoys playing the piano, especially when he is up at night doing homework or tending to gabe. It’s so fun to have a piano, just like it says in the movie “prodical son”, “mom always said, a piano really makes a home”.  For a while there, we were on a ticket to ride kick. We played every Sunday night.

Ticket to ride

I swear I could spend every minute with oliver and not get bored. Last night we went to see the lights at temple square with Hannah, Jake,  Mal, Wren, Maddie, and Carolyn. to kick off the Christmas season. It was beautiful, albeit and little drizzly. We discovered the most delicious hot cocoa at blue lemon and sang Christmas songs on the drive.

We are really looking forward to spending Christmas in California with our families. I like blogging- it helps me remember all the good things in life.

Dear Gabey-

I have especially loved being your mom these last few weeks. I have loved crawling around on the floor and making you laugh. Dad and I made a game where we crawl into another room and then burst out and crawl toward you. You added on to the game by giggling and crawling away from us and then looking back with the cutest, expectant look on your face. You laugh so hard that you fall over when we start crawling toward you.  I have loved looking at books with you and that you are starting to actually pay attention to the pages for a few minutes before you try to eat them. I have loved holding you and singing to you until you fall asleep and how you cling on to me even in your sleep. Today, I marveled at how the light fell across your face as we sat in the rocker together. You are one year old now. You were not really that interested in the cake at the birthday party that you shared with Christmas. You are my beautiful boy. 
Mom
Dec, 2012

 
here is part of a blog I wrote in May of last year, but never posted.
Well, the school year went by, just like we knew it would, and here we are in the middle of summer. This last year of teaching was much easier than the first and I think it will just keep getting better. There's nothing like those last few weeks of school. Everything is winding down and there is a feeling of excitement in the air. Oliver and I have enjoyed (for the past 2 years I've been at Mountain View) the final school assembly. It's a talent show at 8 am. We think it's hilarious that it's so early in the day. He comes and watches it with me. I was quite put out that there was no bacon left by the time I got to the food at the faculty end of year breakfast. I will miss some of my students. I love teaching 10th grade. They are sweeter than 11th graders...well, it's really a case by case thing, but generally I like 10th grade more. I got in a full-on fight with a fellow teacher after the last parent teacher conference over who got to use the life of Pi books. I think we can both look back and laugh about it now. (side note that I'm adding on feb 4, 2014: I am now really good friends with that teacher. We are even having a girls night next week. Ain't life funny?) I'm excited to teach a semester of humanities and a semester of creative writing next year in addition to my English classes. We are in the process of choosing new books for 10th grade. It's harder than it sounds. Any suggestions? (we picked them: the help and Miss Peregrine)  Oliver is heading in to his last year of school:)  Okay- so that's it for the school year.

As far as the summer goes, we have been enjoying the heck out of it. The first part of the summer was very busy with moving. We moved in to the Belle Monet condos in Pleasant Grove. We love love it here. Our place is so nice and has awesome little perks like stainless steel appliances, jacuzzi tub, walk in closet, 3 bedrooms, etc. Plus, we are loving having a pool and a raquetball court right across the street.  I always seem to meet someone new or make a friend when I take Gabe down to go swimming cuz there's often other  moms down there with their kids. I've decided that swimming with a child is a very different animal than swimming with other adults. Obviously, it's much more fun to swim with other adults cuz you can play all kinds of games, but it's nice to take Gabe down and he loves it. Once in a while Oliver and I will sneak down by ourselves:) We also go play raquetball often during Gabe's nap. We play 3 game tournaments and the winner always does a fun victory dance involving their raquet. Am I not spelling racket right? oh, well. Another thing that we have had more time for this summer is FHE and dates. FHE with Oliver is the best. We love conducting it as if it's a grand, formal affair and it's a great time to go over the calendar and upcoming things. Then we take turns giving the lesson and planning an activity. Activities have included: board games, sing-alongs (with Oliver accompanying, of course), reading on the porch together, swimming, walks, and crafting. I would love to hear any and all ideas for things you have done with FHE. Soon Gabe will be involved more in our FHE. We have had good intentions for dates like going hiking and exploring new things, but for the most part we are tired and just want to relax when we go out so we end up going to movies or dinner. We did go mini-golfing on our last date, though, and it was quite fun. Yesterday we went back to school clothes shopping pretty much all day with a break in the middle for Gabe's nap. He loved playing at the mall playground and can now go down the slide by himself. He's way too big. Oliver and I both had to stop ourselves multiple times from going over and helping him when other kids would be not that cool to him, but we wanted him to be a little bit independent and he did great. Oliver is loving having more free time this summer and is a little reading machine. He has gotten in to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I listen very politely when he tells me about it;) We are using our library cards constantly. What a wonderful thing: the library. We are always amazed that we can use all this stuff for free.
Gabe, as I previously mentioned, is huge and smart and really just getting cuter than anyone has the right to be.
We recently got back form a trip to California.
(K, it's me now, back on Feb 4, 2014) And that's where the blog stopped. I guess I got distracted. I honestly have not recollection of a trip to Ca this summer, but I believe myself that we went. I'm sure we had a lovely time. See, this is why I need to blog more often. Chunks of my life are erased from my mind if I don't document them.

 Gabey is now 2 years old. Oh, Gabey baby, how we love you. Here's some things I remember about the last year or so since I've written.

1) We went on some fun dates. Some of my faves were:
tubing the provo river: here we are afterward:

hiking the famous Y mountain and eating at the BYU creamery. Classic Provo date.
eating at Tucano's and going to comedy sportz. Another classic Provo date and my b-day celebration.
a "statycation" date. We played raquetball and watched a movie in the theater room in our condo clubhouse.
night swimming
seeing In the Heights at Hale theater- it was sooo good
seeing A Christmas Carol at Hale theater- it was sooo weird 
baseball games
2) I've spent more time with the Abbott girls. They are fantastic. I'm so glad I got 4 sisters as an added bonus when I got married. And lots of sweet cousins:) A couple gatherings I really enjoyed with them were: 4th of July everyone came over and went swimming and then played games and right before Mal and Wren moved, they came over and we ended up singing some songs. It was so fun. The Abbotts sang some Ben Folds, Les Mis, and Joe Jackson. I love when they sing Joe Jackson. It always makes me feel nostalgic even though I didn't sing him till I married Oliver. I guess I feel nostalgic for them? Anyway, it was great.Also, I really enjoyed our evening together at Maddie's new apartment playing cards against humanity (who would've guessed it could be fun with just us girls? and talking) They are just so great.
3) Oh, I remembered our trip to California. The highlight was staying at a beach house with Emilee and Shane. It was right on the coast and there was a hot tub on the balcony. I mean, come on. We played games, sang songs, hot tubbed, talked, went to the beach, and played with the babies. It was great. We just love them. Oh, another thing we did in Ca was purchase our first car together. Greg was a lifesaver with this process. He found the car for us, took me to San Fransisco to buy it and helped me through the whole thing. (ollie had not come out from Ut yet cuz he met me at the beach cuz he had to stay and work) Sooo, we got a pretty, silver prius:) We love it.

4) Then school started again. It is relentless, I tell you. This year I am teaching Eng 10, 11, Humanites, and Creative Writing. I have some really awesome and mature students in my humanities/creative writing classes. It has been fun getting to know them. I'm also in charge of prom this year. Yikes. I'm not sure what made anyone think that was a good idea.

5) Gabey dressed as a teddy bear for haloween. Josie was a pumpkin. They were quite a cute pair. He got the hang of trick or treating right away.

6) We had thanksgiving with Gregory again. It was very similar to the account of the previous Thanksgiving that I wrote about above with the notable exception of having thanksgiving dinner at a slightly less humiliating place this year: Chuck-o-rama. Yep, we really know how to party. This year Maddie, Carolyn, and Nate came with us. We sang Christmas songs back at our place afterward. I also could not get over how delicious the hot wings were at Chuck's. Nate agreed. Gregory and I spent loooots of time at Starbucks. We also checked out the outlets in Lehi where we debated the merits of the fine leather goods at Calvin Klein. You see, Gregory needed a new computer bag, and there was one on sale there. He ended up purchasing it, but then returning it at the outlets in Vacaville on his way home. lol. Oh, he is the best.

6) Christmas happened. Our tree is still up. Gabe has taken to playing with the ceramic nativity that is also still up. It is feb 4. mmhmm. He loves putting the baby Jesus in and out of Mary's arms and the manger. Um, we stayed in Utah for Christmas. I missed my family about a 6 out of 10. I always love going to grandma's for Christmas eve. We got Gabe a bunny for Christmas. We got rid of the bunny 3 days after Christmas. Not one of our best ideas.

7) I have fallen into a severe winter funk.Any ideas of how to emerge from it? I feel like I'm just hanging on till spring.
8) We went to Ca a few weeks ago for Maddie and Nate's wedding. What a sweet couple. Gabe was an angel in the car. He was a hellion most of the time in Ca. My favorite times of the trip were: the actual sealing- so beautiful. Maddie looked beautiful and so happy, decorating for the reception, getting to visit Jenni, staying with Micheal, and sitting on the porch reading Oliver's journal from when he was a kid. Hilarious. He really did coin the term "yolo.

April 10. 2014
Spring Break. Have there ever been 2 more beautiful words in the English language? My Oliver is the best dad in the world. He stepped up and took care of Gabey all weekend till Tuesday so that I could go visit Greg. I can't believe how great he is. He said that he and Gabe were in their "fort" almost all weekend.

 I was so happy to see them when I got home. My favorite was kissing Gabey all over and he would just giggle with this totally content look. The weeks previous to spring break we had just been working so hard. It felt like the grind would never stop. This break was exactly what the doctor ordered. So, my trip. Highlights include: beautiful hikes in Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz right along the ocean.

Exploring the city. Gregorio informed me that locals call it "the city" instead of San Franscisco or San Fran, or heaven forbid, "Frisco". So I, of course, began referring to it exclusively as Frisco. haha. He is considering moving there so we dedicated a day to exploring the neighborhoods, especially the Castro where he was considering moving. (he decided probably not the castro, but maybe the mission) Anywho, we walked pretty much the length of the city from Noe Valley to Fisherman's Wharf where we refueled with clam chowder.

Greg came with me to this church where my current favorite author Anne Lammott goes. I met her. I acted like an idiot. It was wonderful. I have spent many happy moments reading her books this summer. I'm so glad I went. The whole experience was great.


I also got to meet Greg's awesome friends. It made me happy to know that he has good friends there that care about him. We also ate some dang good food. We ate out for every meal. I was so upset when I came back and had to start cooking again. Actually, the first day back I decided I could not cook so we went to eat at Costco and poor Ollie had been eating pizza all weekend, so he had to get a salad. His semester ends in a few weeks and he is currently in business mode. In fact, he went to bed at 7:30 tonight so that he could get up really early and finish working. That is the absolute earliest I've ever seen him go to bed.Ollie's cohort: