Back to California: Sad Times and Fun Times

So this summer I won a couple of Disney gift cards from a sweepstakes Bashas did. I was pretty. darn. excited. The only thing better than winning cash is winning money that has to be spent at Disney. :) Pretty cool. So with part of it Jeremy said I should do something fun like go to Disneyland with my sister. Um, okay!!
We originally planned to go the first weekend in December, because that day worked best, we thought. But then she found that she needed to move it to the Monday after Thanksgiving. So we did. But then that reason was gone, so it seemed like we had moved it for no reason. Until I heard the crushing news that one of my best friend's dads had died, and his funeral was going to be held the Saturday before our planned trip in the same area. Suddenly the timing of our trip seemed like a bit of a blessing in disguise, because I was able to drive home Friday with my family, and turn around to leave for California about an hour later and make it there by Friday night. I stayed with my other best friend, and got to hold her sweet new baby. The next day we were both able to go to the funeral and support our dear friend, and I was able to offer some help to her family with carting things around. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to be there, and to have that trip already planned, also on a flexible enough weekend that I could go two days early. It was a tender mercy for sure.

While I was gone, the kids and Jeremy stayed pretty busy putting the tree up, getting out of the house, and meeting up with some cousins to see Wreck It Ralph 2!

Emily was sweet and willing to rent a car and drive out to meet me Sunday evening, so I picked her up at the John Wayne Airport (and adventure, since I had to go down in an pick her up at the car rental return) and we spent the evening at Downtown Disney. It was a super fun time, and so fun to explore and see all the Christmas decor and shop and be together without our nine crazy kids.

We stayed at kind of a sketchy hotel, but it was super cheap, haha. It didn't feel unsafe, it was just about as basic as you can get! But bright and early the next morning, we were at Disneyland, and we rocked that day, let me tell you. We had park hoppers, and used MaxPass, and rode 26 different attractions, took 35,000 steps, and I finally found someone that would drag ME around Disneyland like I do to everyone else! She was slightly more excited than me to be there (because she hasn't been without kids or to California Adventure since 2005, and has only been to Disneyland once a couple years ago with all 4 boys, including a nursing baby...) and her legs are longer, haha. We had a great time, and I'm so glad we went!

How Did This Happen?

I remember before school started, I was thinking, "maybe when some of the kids go back to school, and things calm down, maybe we'll try potty training with Bridget." Ha. Ha ha ha. Since school started, my days have gotten SO busy. It's true that sometimes things are quieter at home, with the girls both in regular school and Reilly at Prenda from 8-12 every weekday, but things have not calmed down. I feel like I spend SO much time in the car. Even though Jeremy takes and picks Reilly up maybe half of the time, that is a 10-15 minute drive twice a day some days, plus Jaina has to go early (7:30) on Tuesdays and Thursdays for orchestra, and stays after for an hour+ on those same days because of band. Jaina and Katy both have Activity Days twice a month, as well as musical theater on Thursday evenings. Reilly has piano lessons once a week. I have scouts Wednesday nights. Shawn is going to pre-school M-W, (which he LOVES) and until very recently, it's been too warm to want to walk him over, so that's two more car trips. Bridget is getting slightly better at riding around in her seat, but she's still not a fan. On top of all that, Reilly just turned 12 (what???) and went to Mutual for the first time Wednesday. He didn't get home until like 9 o'clock! (He's usually in bed before then) He had a great time, of course. I don't feel like anyone is over-scheduled (except maybe Jaina with her double music involvement) but that is a whole lot of stuff! How did this happen? It's just a little crazy...

Since I last wrote, lots of fun things have gone on. Most notably, I went to Hawaii for just over a week, and spent time with my parents, and Phil and Emily and their spouses. That was amazing, and Jeremy is completely awesome for pushing me to do it and keeping all the kids (as well as trying to work some) as I was gone. Jeremy took Reilly (and then also Jaina and Katy the next day, after they'd been at Bearizona for a cousin's birthday) to the Grand Canyon. They had a great time doing that! I forgot to mention that earlier, in July, we went to the cabin for the 4th of July, which was crazy. It was so nice to be up there again though, and see it safe with my own eyes after all the crazy fires last summer. Also, Jaina and I just got back from a really fun mother/daughter trip to Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party.

Jeremy and Katy are currently gone to Utah, where they will be attending two sessions of conference. Katy has been pretty excited for this trip! They won't be back until Monday or Tuesday. October Break starts on Monday, and we don't have any plans... I guess we'll see what happens! (My kids aren't very impressed with my lack of activities lined up for them, or whatever they think I should have done...) Here's a picture of Bridget, just because she's super cute, and talking like crazy these days, just a few months over 2. :)

Nobody actually reads blogs anymore, right?

I like Facebook. But I spend way too much time there accomplishing almost nothing, and use a lot of emotional energy empathizing with people that are having a hard time, or reading random facts about other people I barely know in real life (or don't know at all, really). I miss blogging. I miss lots of people having blogs. I enjoyed reading what people were up to, seeing their cute pictures, and getting a glimpse into their life. I don't know many people that still blog regularly, and I don't think I'll become one of them. Five kids has kind of done me in. So many things I used to enjoy, or at least used to get done at a decen pace, have fallen by the wayside... Katy pulled out her first year scrapbook the other day and I realized it wasn't done. It's like 1/3 done. And she just turned 7. Sigh.
I don't know why five has been so much harder (it seems) than four. Maybe because Katy was a year older than Shawn when she was born. Maybe because there was just a touch bit more space for four little people in our 3-bedroom rental than there is for five. I really don't know.

Nursing went better with Bridget than with Shawn, (not having a c-section or tongue tie helped a TON) but there was still lots of worrying and donor milk and supplementing and pumping. She was getting a few extra oz a day of donor milk until about 2-3 months until she decided bottles were not for her and she refused to take them anymore. And then I worried about her very slow weight gain and nursed and nursed and nursed and had to eat a ton of food to keep my milk supply even adequate for the next 4 months until she finally decided to take a bottle again at 7 months. By 9.5 months she was completely on formula (Nutramigen) since my supply declined rapidly once we started supplementing again, and I have been mostly just relieved. I am so grateful I was able to nurse her so much and give all of them a good start, but I sincerely hope I never have to try to nurse another baby. And I pray my girls won't have the same trouble I did when they have babies of their own someday!

We sent my little brother, Spencer, off on a mission to Tampico, Mexico in November. It was really awesome to be together with all my siblings in the temple the month before that, and it has been cool to see how much he has grown and matured in the last year or two as he has prepared for this. I still can't believe he's all grown and off saving China, since I was almost 16 when he was born, and helped raise him quite a bit for the first 4 years of his life before I transferred to BYU. It was especially fun to have David surprise most of us and fly home from Kentucky (where he's been going to medical school) when we were all there for Spencer's farewell. Spencer has been out like 8-ish months now, and he's doing awesome.

One of our biggest adventures of the last year was our family trip to Disneyland. It had been almost 4 years since we had taken the kids, and they have been asking to go back ever since. For some reason I thought going with a 4-month old wouldn't be too bad, since they're still pretty portable at that age, and Shawn was still free until last mid-December, so we decided to do it the week after Thanksgiving. We got an AirBnb with two bedrooms/2 bathrooms and a living area so we'd have plenty of space, sprung for 4-day tickets, so we could take our time, and loaded up an amazing amount of stuff into our Honda Odyssey (which I love) and headed to California. (A good friend lent us her double jogging stroller, so we didn't have to try to pack ours) Our kids had a blast, mostly, and have great memories from our trip, and ask when we're going back. But Jeremy and I are a bit traumatized. The first day, instead of being the Best. Day. Ever. (like our first trip) was pretty rough, starting when Shawn woke at 3:30 AM local time and the other 3 olders woke at 4:30. And nobody went back to sleep or napped. Ever. And Jeremy was sick with a bad cold the whole time, and just tried to soldier through as much as he could. I think the latest we managed to stay one night was about 7:30 PM maybe. We barely made rope drop (and it was at like 10 am most days), never saw any fireworks, Bridget was too stimulated to nurse well half the time, but wouldn't sleep out and about unless Jeremy was wearing her (not me) and were an exhausted mess (the parents) by the time we were done. And my, was it expensive. But we rode everything we wanted to (usually several times), including the misses from the first trip. Reilly and Jaina were both tall enough for Screamin' (one loved it, one hated it). All three older kids got to do the Jedi Training Academy, and they -loved- Hyperspace Mountain. Shawn loved all of it, and had a blast, and only got lost once. We enjoyed all the holiday decor, and got to experience the holiday versions of Small World, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion. Bridget did pretty awesome, other than not nursing well, and I got to check out both baby care areas. We managed to see the parade, though getting a seat was a little iffy. We got a ton of cute pictures, and made some more memories for the kids. Jeremy said we need to go back, just the two of us, so he can remember that he likes Disneyland again though.

As soon as we got back from Disney, we jumped back in the car and headed to Flagstaff for a fun Polar Express experience that Abbie had planned for the kids for part of their Christmas. They had a great time, and we enjoyed it. We probably would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't been so exhausted, but it was fun to go up in the cold and see some snow and be together with Jeremy's family.

Our other big adventure in the last few months has been Jeremy moving his chiropractic business into his own office. It has been quite the endeavor, and has been very exciting and fairly nerve-wracking. It's hard to take on all the debt and responsibility of being in charge of your own office, and hope that things continue to go well and you can pay all the bills and still have enough left over to take care of all your family's needs. It has been fun, but I also look forward to being a year or two forward in this process and having all the dust (literally) settled.

This summer has been a little overwhelming for me so far. Okay, a lot overwhelming. There are lots of wants and needs and questions and arguments and kids wanting to go-and-do all the time. And with 5 kids (including a baby), in this heat, I don't feel much up to going-and-doing. Things kind of came to a head a week or two ago when we had Cub Scout day camp (I was called to be a wolf leader earlier this year) and I ended up doing a lot of the coordinating. I think my coping skills just got maxed out, and it was harder for me to not yell at the kids and spend a lot of time wishing everyone would just leave me alone and stop talking to me. I'm working on my self a lot, and taking time for quiet, and creating, and the scriptures, and writing out my feelings (on paper!?) so they can get released little by little and not explode in frustrated little thunderclouds. Hopefully it will help, because there are only 5 weeks of summer left, and I want us to have some more good times.