Travels and triumph!

Hannah and I took our first real road trip this last week. Hannah kept telling me how much she enjoyed this "LIFE ON THE ROAD!" I just enjoyed getting to California and back in one piece... as driving typically makes me sleepy. And now I know that I can successfully make the trip alone. Yay!

So here's the low-down and the highlights (I'll pepper in pics to hide the length):

Tuesday was my birthday (31 on the 31st!) and I had class that night... So I agreed to let Hannah skip school to have some time together during the day. That night, Bug stayed at Mom and Dad's while I was at class, after which I went out with a few friends from class for some celebrating and karaoke. I even got up and sang for the first time. I was told that I have to sing alone next time... We'll see.

Anyway, I got home about 1:30 am - not too late - and tried to fall asleep, but Hannah woke up and was too excited to sleep. This meant that I didn't actually doze off until somewhere between 4 and 4:30 am. The original plan included Robin coming on the trip - and driving the first leg so that I could sleep a little - so I wasn't too worried. As is often the case though, things don't always go according to plan , and Robin didn't come with us. So, instead of heading out in the wee hours of the morning, I got up around 8 and we were on the road by about 9 am.

Hannah had a great time in the car, and loved watching movies and eating snacks all day. I mostly listened to music, and called Mom and Shana to let them know that I was alive and hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. ;o)

Hannah, licking peanut butter off her fingers. Protein, right?
Mr. Snugglebug is keeping an eye on things.

A little bit of snow in the beginning, followed by LOTS of high winds, and work zones with low speed limits slowed our progress, but we made it! I think we ended up rolling into Mark and Ellie's around 10 that night (???) and headed to bed pretty quickly thereafter.

Yay! We made it to California!
PS - Taking a picture while driving is harder than it sounds.

The next morning we got up bright and early (since my cell phone hadn't switched over to Pacific time, so my alarm went off at 8 am Mountain time...). Mark headed out for a crazy day at the office (see proof here), so Ellie and I decided to take the kids on a little day trip to San Francisco. PS - I've determined that you get to learn a lot of cool stuff about a city when you go with a local. Thanks Ellie!

Hannah and Griffin in the car on the way to San Francisco.

We spent a little time perusing shops on Pier 39 and even saw some seals out in the windy sunshine. After sitting through the Keith Show (think ShamWow + juggling) to escape the wind, we made our way to Fisherman's Wharf for some fresh seafood. The kids both had delicious fish and chips, and I had Garlic Crab and Shrimp. It was super yummy, but I think I like my food to involve less work.

Coming down from their sugar highs.
Standing in the wind, looking at the seals.

Plus, I'm fairly certain that Ellie stifled a giggle when I didn't know quite what to do with peel-and-eat shrimp. I couldn't imagine why people would want to eat shrimp with the legs still on them, but I figured what the heck... try something new. Thanks for stopping me!!! Next time, I'll stick to the crab cakes. All the deliciousness, with none of the mess (or work).

We finished off the trip with a sundae at Ghirardelli, and made it back by mid-afternoon.

Yummy!

Hannah and Griffin spent most of their time crusing around in his not-Barbie Jeep, going on various missions and fighting a lot of bad guys. These efforts were aided by the contents of Griffin's weapons box, including a bow with foam arrows, various guns, and a big stick or two. Luckily for everyone, Hannah is good at bossing and Griffin is very good at driving the Jeep and saluting. This worked out very well, and only a few tears were shed. If I can figure out how, I'll load a video of one such mission.

These sure are cute and happy kids!
Nice how Hannah's providing an unimpeded view
of her huge tonsils and her new front teeth.

And while the chilluns were entertaining themselves in the gorgeous California sunshine, I got to hold a VERY CUTE Slyvie!!! I loved it! She was happy and chubby and absolutely adorable! I miss her already!

Who could resist this little bundle of cute?!?!?!

Friday (April 3rd), we spent the morning with Mark and Ellie and then headed towards Sacramento to see Becky and Shana. We made an obligatory stop at the Jelly Belly factory where we got loads of yummies for friends and family, as well as a few goodies for ourselves.

This way to certain weight gain...

We stopped at Panera's for dinner (yummy soup and sandwich place we don't have here), and then got to Becky and Shana's around 8. The weekend was fairly uneventful, though we did play some American Idol karaoke and Guitar Hero World Tour. I felt adequately prepared by my recent karaoke activities, so I had great fun. Hannah didn't know many of the songs, but she danced her heart out nonetheless.

We got to go to Chevy's (another favorite we don't have near Provo) and had lunch with Becky, Shana, BrAngela, and Karisa. The food was delicious, and it was great to sit and catch up with everyone. We also got to attend a breakfast-themed recipe exchange, so I added some new yummy recipes to my breakfast options.

In fact, the only restaurant I didn't get to stop by (that we don't have here) was La Bou. I was really looking forward to a baguette with dill sauce. I guess I'll have to visit again soon!

Yesterday, we had to leave and head back to Utah... hoping the sunshine would follow us home. The drive was long, but speeding helped. We made the return trip in about 9 hours, but it will probably take me a couple days to get caught up on my sleep.

Sorry for the novella. More pics to follow.

If you made it this far, you deserve a treat. Come on over, we have Jelly Belly's!

More Hannah-isms

#1 - Yesterday we went to go visit baby Eva in the hospital, as it was her last day there and she was finally getting to spend more time in the room with Mom and Dad. After loving on her for a while, it was time for Eva to go back under the lights for a while... Sunbathing to get her billyrubin count back down to normal.

As it was time for us to head back home anyway, we followed the nurse and Eva's crib out. I had a bit of a time getting Hannah to stay with us rather than follow Eva's crib all the way into the nursery, but I managed... barely.

Since we were still waiting for Miss Chats-a-lot (aka: Mom) to leave the room, Hannah was watching Eva get situated for her "tanning session" through the window. I decided to join her while we waited. That's when I noticed that she was leaning really close to the window and breathing on it, so that she could draw a heart in the fog with her finger. Knowing how irritating it is to clean fingerprints off of windows, I told her to quit it.

She promptly replied, rather sassily I mist admit, "I'm just doing the same thing I always do." She started to walk away and then she turned back and said over her shoulder, "It's called breathing."

Thanks Bug. I can't wait til you're 15 and really get in touch with that sassy side...

#2 - On the way home from the hospital, Hannah was expressing her frustration with grown-ups in general. She especially dislikes that they ignore little kids (like her). In particular, she was upset that she was being ignored at the hospital because it was "all about Nancy and Will, but she only wanted to see the baby." At least she's comfortable being honest...

After some frustration, we settled into a brief irritated silence. Then, out of the blue, she says

H: At least I don't live in the '80s.
Me: (quiet, trying to figure out what she could mean and how this could relate to her frustration at the hospital)
H: Then I'd have to wear ugly clothes.

Perhaps no relation to the previous conversation about her feeling ignored, but I can't argue with the truth. Good riddance wall-bangs and shoulder pads!

Babies make Friday the Thirteenth even better!!

For those that don't know, my sister Nancy has been expecting a little girl - after 4 years of unfulfilled efforts to grow their family. Yesterday, she finally arrived!!! So here are the stats:

Eva (pronounced Ava) Marie Hale
born March 13, 2009 at 8:06 pm
weight: 8 lbs., 0 oz.
length: 19 1/2 inches

Look at those chubby cheeks!
And her skin feels like velvet. So kissable!!!

LOTS of soft hair!


And cute little feeties!
The pinkie toe curls under... apparently just like Daddy's.


Mommy and Daddy Hale
Recovering from the C-Section... and so happy!!!

The sign over Eva's crib in the nursery.


An Eva-burrito. Nummy!

*Unwrapped*
Check out this cute little nugget!
No worries... The IV is just for glucose since her sugars were low.
All better now!

Welcome to the family, Eva!!!

Cynic's Clubhouse?

A few days ago, Hannah was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel while we were getting ready in the morning. For those of you that do not have children, or if your children are too young/old for this, let me explain. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a 30 minute computer-generated cartoon where Mickey and his pals get together for unrealistic adventures. There is always some kind of problem, which is promptly solved by the use of their Mickey MouskeTools. The tools are hailed by calling out "Oh Toodles!" which is apparently the name of their mobile toolbox who flies over when called. There are usually 3 visible tools and a "Mystery MouskeTool" which are used during the episode.



So I was putting my face on in the bathroom when I heard the characters call out, "Oh Toodles!" during the thick of another predicament. Hannah then made the following comment (paraphrased here because I could not find anything to write on fast enough)...

H: You know, on one of these episodes, one of those tools shouldn't work. Because then it makes kids think that if they have a problem and they just go, "Oh Toodles" then it will get fixed. And their life will be perfect. But it isn't. So why do those tools always work?!
H: (after hearing me chuckle at her comment; mockingly) Yeah... next time I have a problem I'll just go "Oh Toodles" and we'll see what happens. (She then proceeded to do so, quite sarcastically I might add.)

Hannah's comment parallels a similar comment made by my nephew while we were visiting them over a year ago. He was watching Bob the Builder and gave the hilarious (and honest) reply of "No we can't!" to Bob the Builder's familiar call "Can we fix it?!"

So are we raising cynics or realists?

Startlingly funny

The other day I got a text from my friend Ryan during class. Hannah spends time with Ryan, his wife Becca, and their little son on Tuesdays while I'm at school - and she loves it. So, the other day I got this text. The only struggle was not to burst out laughing in the middle of class:

"... she came in tonight and said JESUS CHRIST really loud... i was stunned until i realized that she was talking about the [tapestry] of Christ we have hanging on the wall. she had just see it. we started laughing. it was so funny. we enjoy her being here."


Chalk it up to another Hannah-ism!

Note to self...

...Save the more random explanations for a time when you're not drunk with fatigue.

Hannah and I went to IKEA the other day, to cheer ourselves up. It had been a long, difficult day already, and IKEA is one of my favorite discount shopping and decorating centers on the planet. And I desperately needed a reason to smile. So, after letting her go play in the playroom for a while - so that we could both say we enjoyed the trip - I finished shopping and checked out. After picking Hannah up from the playroom, and getting in the car, she asked if I had gotten her anything. (Typical.) I told her that I actually had - a little chandelier that we might hang in her room, but probably not until we get into a new apartment. So we continued chatting about how much fun that would be. After a few minutes, Hannah said, "Ok... But I don't even know what a chandelier is!"

M: Oh! Well, it's a hanging light. But it's all fancy.
H: Ok...?
M: (in a stammering sort of explanation) You know... It's a light, but it's more pretty than it is useful...
H: Uh-huh...?
M: I mean, it's got the light that hangs, but then there's all these crystally things that hang down and make it look real pretty.
H: You got me a diamond light!?!?!?!
M: Well, no. It's not diamonds, but it's cute. You know... little crystals... some are different colors. (blah blah blah... trying to explain it so that it made sense, but I was rather tired so I wasn't thinking real clearly. Normally, these explanations go a lot more smoothly.)
M: (finally) Does that make sense?
H: Yeah. (pause) Well, no. That doesn't make sense, but I don't want to hear any more.

Awesome. Can't fault her for being honest.

PS - She loved the chandelier, once we got home and she could see the picture on the box. Now she can't wait to hang it somewhere!

Isn't it cute? :)

Happy Late Birthday, Bug the Second

Hannah celebrated her 7th birthday on Saturday! Yay!!! She's pretty proud of her new pierced ears. Here's a sneak peek:


Here are 7 things you might not know about Hannah:

1. She writes songs and then performs them for me (after leaving the room and then announcing her entrance). She is too shy to perform for other people, though, so don't expect a performance anytime soon.
2. Her lyrics are actually pretty good. I'll post a sample when I find one. Hannah had me write a few down for her and then she put them somewhere "safe."
3. She has excellent inductive AND deductive reasoning skills.
4. She has a fairly impressive vocabulary, but doesn't always use it properly.
5. She is GREAT at cutting paper, as is evidenced by the copious amounts of paper shards that I find every time I clean. She likes making little books with the tiny squares she cuts.
6. She knows to be honest with me, and does so to a fault. "I love you, Mommy... even if you have a big tummy." Thanks, Bug.
7. She REALLY wants a baby sister. She even informed me that one of the kids in her class wished on a star for one... and GOT IT! I told her that I need a hubby first, so she decided to ask for a boyfriend-turned-hubby for me next time she wishes on a star.

I love you, Hannah! You're the best thing in my life, and I only hope that I can be worthy of you!

Hugs and Smooches,
Mommy