July

We went to Utah for the 4th of July to visit the Russells and headed straight out to California after that to visit the Andersons. Here are the highlights and stories. Sadly there aren't as many pictures as I would have hoped, but oh well...

For the 4th of July we went to the BYU gymnastics room to play. This really is my favorite thing to do in Utah. I am a woman of simple pleasures. All it takes is thousands of dollars of equipment and a special room to make me happy. Emma loved this and as she gets older she loves it more and more each time.

That afternoon the kids went swimming in the pool and we BBQed. Later that night we set off fireworks in a church parking lot. There was one scary incident and Emma looked up at me and said, "I don't want to do this any more." She was a little apprehensive but warmed up to it and by the time we got to the sparklers she was all over it. I thought that would freak her out but she wanted to do more and more of them. By the end of the evening, she said that fireworks were her favorite thing to do. That would again be the Russell side of things..... Aaron has a long history with fire.

The next day the kids played at Kerrie's house. Emma got to try out a scooter and look for bugs with Elle, play on a jumping castle, watch a movie, and play with new toys. That night Aaron and I went rock climbing at the Quarry - an indoor climbing gym. My senior year of college I joined the gym with a friend and we went climbing 2-3 times a week. I got pretty good if I do say so myself. I would have told you that 8 years ago when I was doing it, but after that night, I would have been less shy about it. It was painful to see what I was able to climb and what I could now only just look at. Even lifting a 19 lb baby hasn't accomplished the same thing as climbing 2-3 times a week. It was fun but a little heart breaking at what might have been, had I kept it up. In my defense, there are no mountains in Houston, and I had to use my wrists for a career and babies. That said, it would be cool to still be climbing. Regardless, it was wonderful to climb again. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So the next morning I woke up sick. I haven't been that sick in a long time. It was pretty ugly so I won't describe it. Fortunately family was around to care for John and Emma while I was otherwise occupied. Emma went to a birthday party for her cousin Elle. Since I wasn't there, I can't comment on the pictures.

That night, Emma got the same thing I had. Poor thing. The stinker was that we were supposed to fly to California the next day and one leg of the journey was supposed to me flying solo with the kids. I was terrified to say the least. We decided to brave it even though we were sick. We flew as a family to Denver and from there Aaron would go to Houston and the kids and I would go to Orange County. By the time we go to Denver, I was at least able to eat again a little bit. Emma on the other hand puked as we were getting in line to board the airplane. I was about in tears, ok maybe my eyes may have been welling up. It was quite evident that the powers of Heaven weren't going to take away our illness but provided angels along the way. One lady offered to put one of my 3 bags (that's right, 3 bags and 2 kids is the definition of crazy) in the over head compartment for me. We ended up getting a row to ourselves and so Emma could stretch out and sleep. The powers of Heaven did render my kids unconscious for the entire flight. When we landed the lady behind us took one of my bags and helped me to the baggage claim and helped me to get my one checked bag. From there we went to my Aunt Maren's house that she only lives in during the winter. We were trying to avoid spreading our pleasantries. So we spent a few days recovering which really meant laying around watching elmo and sleeping and eating not much. Emma got to squeegee the shower and loved it. My Aunt Rosie was a trooper and risked coming near us to help us out with recovering. Overall, it was a lesson in not being in control. Generally, control is something that I love to have. Love to have. In fact, it is really hard to relinquish control. It turns out that Heaven is in control and runs things better than I do.

We spent a week and a half at my parent's house and a week and a half in Orange County. We got to see Mary and Brian and Emily and her kids. We took Emma to the beach and she loved it. She would fall over in the waves that were cold and just laugh. When it got to cold for the ocean, she played in the sand. It was hard to get her away from the sand. She didn't have any tools for the sand and would just dig in the sand and mound it up and start all over again. Emma also loved to swim in my parent's pool. She learned to do a somersault off the edge of the pool. She has no fear. She also jumped off of the top of a kiddie slide that we had pulled to the side of the pool. She saw the older kids jump off the top of the slide, and of course she is one of them so off she went. All of the adults in the pool just about freaked out when they saw her go in with or with out some one there to pull her out of the water. Here are some of the funny stories from our trip:

My mom might or might not be known in the family for having freezer burned food in the freezer. I tried to feed Emma some peas from her freezer and Emma wouldn't eat them. She said that they weren't yummy and then she said "the peas are sick." So true.

Emma loved to play with cousins and Cosmo (Emily's pug). Cosmo probably wasn't as excited to see Emma. Emma spent her days chasing Cosmo, yelling at Cosmo (finally there was someone smaller than her to boss around), and jumping on Emily's trampoline.

Emma discovered ketchup on this trip. So, she is almost 3 and doesn't know what ketchup is really but she does know what gumbo is. I don't actually make anything that would require ketchup. If we have burgers they are salsa verde burgers with guacamole. I have yet to make hot dogs. She has had a hot dog a costco with ketchup on it but apparently it wasn't memorable. After having ketchup she was in love. We had something that required ketchup and she just wanted the ketchup, not the actual food item.

Emma picked up the phrase "That is crazy talk!" and would use it appropriately periodically.

Emma was excited to see Uncle Brian. She kept asking about him on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house. When we got there she followed him around. She actually invited him to come live with us. I am not sure if the same invitation was extended to Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary was a little perturbed that there was nothing that she could do to compete with Brian seeing as she was a girl. Mary, in her frustration said jokingly that Emma was a girl bigot. Emma wasn't too far behind us and I swear that I heard her say, "I am a bigot!" I am hoping that is the last time I hear that phrase from her. With that said, Emma tells everyone that she meets that she is wearing an "Aunt Mary dress." Aunt Mary is the source of all dresses that are pink, fluffy, and sparkly. Emma is quite in love with her Aunt Mary dresses. So there is some love there, it is just that Uncle Brian provides some tough competition.

Emma loved to go swimming and Emily let us borrow one of her life preservers because managing John and Emma at the pool by myself is a bit scary. So Emma put one on for the first time in her life. Suddenly, she could swim (or so she thought). She didn't quite grasp the concept that it was the life vest that allowed her to swim across the pool. She came to me and asked me to take it off. So I took it off. She then told me to go across the pool and she would swim to me. She was extremely frustrated when I wouldn't do it. She tried to explain to me that in fact she could swim now. Oh well, she is doing better and has since come to terms with her abilities without the life vest.

We went to the Wild Animal park with the cousins and Grandma Lindy and Aunt Mary. Grandma was super squishy and bought food for the lorakeets two times.

This last picture is Emma trying to talk a lorakeet into getting on her arms without the food. She wasn't ever successful in her negotiations.

In true Aunt Mary form, she offered to buy ice cream for the kids. I thought that they were getting a small cone like what you get at McDonalds. Please note the size of the ice cream cone. Pretty much Emma ate that on her own, with a little help from Mary.

It was a fun trip. There are fewer stories than we had hoped for but we kinda went through one round of illness after another for about a month. We "helped" my parents get ready for their move and played with cousins. The purpose of the trip was to attend something called Parent Child Interaction Therapy. It is essentially a intense parenting class. It has totally changed the way I view parenting. The sum up idea is that you praise kids for behavior that you want to see more of and give zero attention (no positive or negative attention) to the behavior that you want to see less of). So no yelling, negotiating, or pleading for good behavior. Then there is administering consequences for certain behavior and strengthening the parent child relationship. Emma is a different child after this. She listens much better and is a happier, more affectionate child. It has been a wonderful blessing. The test will be if I can maintain it.