Beckam, the Wise Guy!

We are in a preschool carpool with the Kubik's. A couple weeks ago on our way to preschool the boys were having an interesting conversation that went something like:
Connor: I threw up.
Jaxton: You did? Yuck!
Connor: Yeah, yuck.
Jaxton: What if when you threw up you turned into a girl?
(lots of giggles)
Connor: That would be disgusting!
Jaxton: Yeah, sick!
(more laughing)
Connor: And then we turned into bugs.
Jaxton: Gross!
(more laughter)
And then Beckam, who up to this point had participated in the conversation with only his giggles, piped up and said,
Beckam: 'Cause then you'd be a LADYBUG!

Beckam totally cracked me up. Pretty smart for a three year old. He's hilarious, but he's very careful and thoughtful about his jokes. Love that kid!

Jilli Billi Poke-a-nilli

My baby turned 13 months yesterday. She is growing so fast! I saw a picture that we snapped of her and for just an instant I saw her as a 12 year old and it scared me. Jilli is working on standing on her own and just 2 days ago she took her first wobbly steps to our neighbor Angela. She loves her babies, which she calls "dadas," trying to stuff her chubby little feet into any shoes she can find, putting on and taking off her sunglasses, and crawling up the stairs. We're all amazed at her every move and the boys compete all day for her love and attention.

95 years of total WONDERFULNESS!

Yesterday my Grandma Venice (whom Jillian is named after) turned 95 years old.

Unlike most 95 year olds, yesterday my grandma was found making zucchini bread in her own home, writing down memories, visiting with loved ones, and going out to dinner. To say she is amazing would be a complete understatement. Grandma's life has not been without trials -- she lost a son when he was in his teenage years, she's lost siblings as both an adult and a child, and she lost her husband 24 years ago. But, she's raised a wonderful family, served a mission for our church, wrote poems, researched thousands of names for her genealogy, served in the temple, and has exemplified beautifully unwavering faith, humility, and charity.

In our family, if there is ever a problem, we immediately tell grandma, knowing that she will instantly be on her knees praying for us and if any one's prayers are going to be heard, it's grandma's.

While her health has been wonderful, this last year she has struggled on and off with shingles. During one awful episode of it, my mom took my grandma to the hospital and as she went to park her car she could still hear my grandma in horrific pain. The shingles were affecting nerves inside her chest and causing her excruciating pain. At one point my mom went to check on her when she thought she was sleeping, but my grandma called to her and said, "Vicki, come in, I'm not sleeping. I'm just laying her counting all of my many blessings." What an example she is to our family.

When my mom and her siblings told my grandma that they'd like to put her picture and a write-up in the newspaper for her birthday her reply was, "If you're going to do it, make it short. I don't want you to say everything, because then what will you say in my obituary." Her humor and love for life has put a smile on every one's face who knows her. I can still remember things she'd say to me as a child like "Go chase your face," or "Itch it if it itches, even if it's in your britches." She would also sing songs to us and one that I particularly remember well goes,
Jami, Jami, pudding in the pie.
Kissed the boys and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Jami, Jami ran away.
I find myself singing a slightly different version of this song to my kids a lot. But instead of them kissing the boys/girls and making them cry, my song specifically says that they DON'T cry -- I think this is a little easier on their self-esteem and unlike me, they won't have to wonder every time it's sung, why in the world their kisses are making people cry, which in turn makes them run away.

I love you grandma! This world is such a better place because you're in it. Happy 95th birthday to the person I strive to be more like each and every day of my life.

15 Tips for Surviving a Road Trip with Kids

Our Relief Society activity this month was a "Talent Fair." Each sister was in charge of bringing a "talent"/"something they had accomplished over the summer" to the activity and display it (somewhat like your 5th grade Science Fair). Well, I thought to myself, "What in the world have I accomplished this summer?" My answer, "I survived taking four kids and three adults across the country in three days and actually enjoyed it." So, just in case you are planning a road trip soon, or are wondering if you should take a road trip, let me share my tried and true tips.

1. Try to keep your luggage in the back or in a roof storage, not under your feet. You’ll already be fighting feelings of claustrophobia, so try to keep around you as uncluttered as possible.
2. Buy all snacks ahead of time and have them put in baggies by individual servings -- this cuts down on spills as well as one person getting more than you want of one thing. Don’t bring any snacks that you wouldn’t mind you or your children eating large amounts of. I found that string cheese, blueberries, crackers, grapes, granola bars, dried fruit, chex mix, crackers, gogurt, and almonds worked great. I had one small bin and one small cooler that kept all of the snacks and waters. This was the only stuff kept up front.
3. Bring a large case of water bottles and freeze some to use as the ice for your small cooler. Each night you stop at a hotel, freeze more waters for the next day.
4. Don’t bring any candy. If needed, use a treat as an incentive for your kids to behave in the car and when you stop to get gas, if they’ve earned it, then they get to choose an item.
5. Buy movies ahead of time when you find them on sale and put them away. Watch for deals at movie stores like Blockbuster where you can buy 5 moves for $20. I didn’t worry about my kids watching movie after movie – I just kept telling myself that I don’t do this on a regular basis, so three days of it won’t ruin them.
6. Bring books on CD. I recommend “The Treehouse” series. The author reads the book and can get through the entire book in 40 minutes. The kids loved it and it was even tolerable for the adults to listen to as well.
7. Always have a grocery bag or two handy in case someone gets sick or to gather trash in.
8. Attaching a roof storage of some sort is very useful. But only store things you won’t need to get at until you get to your destination.
9. Bring as little into the hotel each night as possible. I carried in two duffel bags – one with the whole family’s toiletries and one with everyone’s change of clothes.
10. Dress comfortable and do away with pj’s for the nights you’ll be in a hotel. Each night we spent in a hotel we would eat dinner, shower, and dress into the next-days clothes. Sleeping in next-day clothes was also one less thing we had to do before rushing out in the morning.
11. Stop every three to four hours while driving. It makes long days seem not so long and keeps your gas tank around half full in case you run into some kind of emergency.
12. At every stop make sure everyone gets out and everyone uses the bathroom. Be sure to run around, play follow-the-leader, tag, or do jumping jacks. Remember, you’ll never see these people who are giving you funny looks again.
13. Have a plan, but also be flexible. If your kids are doing well, keep driving. Also be sure to have a route planned and an atlas handy. Following a map makes it fun to see the progress you make each hour.
14. Don’t book hotel rooms ahead of time. You can get a great deal by just negotiating at the front desk and this also doesn’t limit how far you travel each day.
15. Put as much planning into your return trip as you did on the way out. (We learned this the hard way.) Take the time to replenish snacks, drinks, and movies.

So what it all comes down to:
Don’t be afraid to make that long road trip. It’s not bad and very cost friendly. Our “across-the-county trip” cost roughly $400 one way including gas, food, and hotels. Considering it costs that much for one airline ticket, it made it well worth it for our family of six. It was also so nice to have our own car when we arrived at our final destination.

Happy Road Tripping!

berry pickin'

A friend recommended that we take advantage of the great local blueberry patches before it was too late, so we took the recommendation (picked 6 pounds worth) and made dessert out of it! Good times and super yummy!