My Funny Valentine

I thought it only fitting that in my Update-A-Day project,  I should highlight John on Valentine's day.

Would you believe out of the two of us, he is the romantic?  I'm actually not a fan of Valentine's day.  It feels forced and cheapened.   The giant tent outside the grocery store for your "One stop shopping Valentine needs!" really bothers me.  Ridiculously over priced roses.  Crappy chocolates in giant red boxes.  Tacky ugly stuffed animals.  Just because the date on the calendar tells you so.  Talk about a scam.  I would be insulted if John came home with any of the above.  And yet the giant tents that have set up camp make me wonder if I am in the minority in my way of thinking.  (I did however purchase season 2 of Downton Abbey and told John he got me that for Valentine's day.)
 
I don't need a particular day to know that John loves me.  It's in the little things he does every day.  For instance, he helps with laundry and the errands when he's in town.  And he doesn't need a special day to pick up some chocolate for me if he runs across something he thinks I will like.  Except for now we are both on diets so hopefully that will stop.  I gave him grief for supporting me in word, but not in deed. "But you like chocolate, and I thought of you and had to get it."

Anyway, he's gone this week. That seems par for the course.  Good thing I'm not all about Valentine's day or I might get my feelings hurt.  He's traveling as much as ever.  I barely bother to keep track. It changes day to day.  He just hit diamond status (the highest level) with Delta.  And he's the highest level with Southwest as well.  Yes, he travels that much.  And at least with Delta, he gets upgraded all the time and is actually annoyed if he has to sit back with the commoners in Coach.

There's even talk of him going back to Belgium sometime in the near future.  For like three weeks. I've got my fingers crossed he can put it off until June, then maybe I can join him for a week. They really like him in Belgium.  Last time he found a job application on his desk.  It's only a little tempting. 

A few years ago, we were looking to work abroad for a couple years.  Belgium in particular.  I wanted it so bad it hurt.  We knew a guy who did a two year stint, kept his house in the states, made a bunch of money (tax free, he was working for Uncle Sam) paid off debts and traveled all over Europe.  And what an awesome experience for our whole family!

But alas, it was not meant to be.  So we accepted that we are where we are supposed to be and continued on with our lives.  And Nick went to high school and is having an awesome year, and Christopher is going to a special kindergarten and is doing AMAZING, and I am sure any experiences we would have abroad would be awesome, but I think these are the experiences we are meant to have today.  Besides the job offer isn't for a 2 year stint.  It would be permanent.

Even in this economy, job security isn't something I worry about.  I am grateful for that. They seem to value him at his job.  John is a hard worker.  He's a really smart guy, but not arrogant, and people just like him.  And he actually gets job offers all the time. Nothing we ever considered even thinking about.  Most of them require moves to places like Washington DC or San Jose.

And I mentioned he's on a diet too?  He is doing some kind of diet with a couple of friends with an iphone app.  So it's competitive and they can see how each other is doing and keep each other honest. He lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks.  Life is so unfair. I think I was averaging 3 lbs a week with CATZ and I was killing myself to do so.  John cuts his calories, and tries to get some exercise in "even if it's just walking around the airport" And he's already lost the equivalent of my unrealistic goal for an entire month's weight loss.

So that's it.  He works.  He travels.  He's losing weight.  And he gets in a little English Premier League Soccer in between loads of laundry.

Sundance

Since (a week of) our vacation happened to coincide with the same week that John's sister and her children were going to be in Utah, they invited us to stay with them at the cabin they were renting in Sundance.  (There was plenty of room for all of us.- that place was so big and so nice. We loved it there. )

Anyway, we had fun.

   

Hanging out on the back porch, (best place to read, even if I did get interrupted by the local wildlife like squirrels and woodpeckers)

going for walks,

playing pool and ping pong in the basement,

and playing endless games of uno and dominoes with these two pretty girls.

Of course we would venture out of the cabin and down into the Provo valley for some fun.

Swimming at Seven Peaks,  laser tag, miniature golf, (btw- Christopher LOVES mini-golf.  He must have played nearly a dozen rounds.  Except it's more like shuffleboard.  And you're not allowed to get your ball in the hole first, and he has little patience for the slower groups ahead of us - which is everybody since he can golf 18 holes in about 10 minutes or less. )

and go-karts at Trafalga (we got a deal on a season pass to both those places)

lunch at Corrine's favorite burger place- Burgers Supreme.  (a wannabe Apollo Burger)

I volunteered to stay back and take care of the little kids, but John and the bigger kids made the mile and a half trek up to the snow not once but twice.  The first time Ben decided to strip down to his swimsuit and stand in a frigid waterfall formed by snow run off.  Or maybe it was a spring, but apparently is was pretty dang cold.  The second time it was cause they bought boogie boards at the local Wal-mart and decided to take them sledding. Both times they all came back tired, sore, wet, and cold, but with big smiles on their faces.

And of course Corrine couldn't help but try and brainwash my kids into being little BYU fans, so we stopped and got ice cream from the BYU creamery nearly daily.  (I admit it was really good ice cream)  Of course I didn't make it too easy on Corrine.  I did go to the U for a whole day.  That makes me a Ute at heart even if I got a full refund (we were moving out of state). 

I think that's about it.  It was a busy but fun week.  And the best part?  The kids all got along famously.  Very little fighting.  Christopher adores his aunt and cousins.  They were so cute to play with him.  But we didn't want to overstay our welcome, and planned on heading back to Salt Lake on Friday, I know we're awesome and the life of the party and all that, but we like to leave people wanting more.  However, we ended up staying until Sunday. (we really enjoyed ourselves and didn't want to leave) 

Thanks Nelson's for such a great week!

we made it.

After babysitting the kiddos so I could go to Vegas with John, grandma (my mom) stuck around for another week so she could help me drive to Utah.

John surprised Nick with a "man trip" back east.  Exciting locations included visiting John's dad in Ohio, Kirtland, Palmyra, the Susquehanna river, and New York City. Hopefully Nick will blog about it all (hint, hint).

Our trip was mostly uneventful, we stopped in St. George to eat at our favorite restaurant- Bent Fork.  This was a must because besides the fact that the owners are good friends of ours, the restaurant's days are sadly numbered as the landlord won't renew their lease (so if anyone happens to be traveling through, or to St. George, I'd highly recommend stopping by, the food is seriously amazing- be sure to check the specials board, and get the tortilla soup.)

We visited with Shelly and Jayson and the kids played with Carson (their little boy) upstairs in the office, and then finally decided to leave after Christopher tried to give Carson a black eye. (they were playing with the door, and Carson caught the doorknob with his face) It promised to be a real beauty, but according to Shelly, it never really did much.  (thank goodness)

I forgot to mention that in related news, I went to the dentist during that week when my mom was in town and John was not, and it must have been a particularly violent visit because the next day I was complaining that it "felt like someone punched me in the face", and by the next day I had a lovely bruise on my cheek.  Normally I'd blame John, but as he has an alibi (he was in New York) so I'm sticking to the story that I got in to a bar fight.

 So, at the end of a very long and mostly uneventful day, we made it.  My parent's house is at the end of this cul-de-sac. (somewhere behind all those trees- all that's visible is part of my dad's red truck.) Every year I am amazed at how big the trees are.  And how green everything is.

two beaches and a rainforest

No trip to Cali, or almost any coastal state for that matter, is complete without a trip to the beach. 

Even if you don't plan on getting too wet.

Since Legoland closed at 5, we picked up John, headed to the beach, and arrived at around 6 pm.

Too late to do any real swimming, right?

I mean, the sun would be setting soon,

the high that day was like 78,

so that's definitely not swimsuit weather.

More like, walk-along-the-beach-and-get-your-toes-wet-and-look-for-seashells-weather, right?

Clearly, my family had different plans.

Plus, there weren't even any seashells.  Just seaweed.

Of course, the next day while we dropped John off to take a test to renew his CCIE (which he passed- Go John!),

I let the kids don their swimwear, we grabbed the boogie boards, and we headed for a beach near Los Angeles.

Middle of the day, sun was shining, should be warmer than yesterday, right?

Apparently not.

The kids froze their tootsies off.

Madison was stubborn, and stayed out the longest, but even she admitted defeat, and we packed up and headed back to pick up John. 

We figured waiting for him in the parking lot would be preferable to hypothermia.

Since we were in the LA area, we couldn't not at the very least meet John's aunt Vickie and uncle Bob for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Normally we would stay with them when we are in town, but this trip was too short, and John had to get back to catch a plane.  We always enjoy seeing them, and as John and I always say "We have got to visit them more often." Hopefully soon we can make good on that. (and not just cause they live 15 minutes away from Disneyland!)

Legoland

 

While Nick was away in Happy Valley (Provo Utah), John and I decided to take the other kids to Legoland.  

Actually John found some super cheap tickets on line and since he was going to be spending the entire week on his computer attending a virtual class, for some certification or another, we decided I could take the kids to Legoland while he sat in the hotel room all by his lonesome self.

We did feel a little bad about not going when Nick was in town, but since the optimal age for kids to visit is somewhere between 5 and 10, we figured Nick would be slightly bored anyway, so really, we were doing him a favor.

Madison had fun, even if she was a little old for some of the rides (she has always been a thrill seeker- and most of the rides are just downright tame. ) 

She was happy to spend time with her brothers, and share in their enjoyment,  but still managed to go on the "funner rides" every opportunity she had.

Zach had a lot of fun, he's really into Legos these days so he was fascinated with all the models scattered all over the place.

He could have spent HOURS in the little mini-land area studying each of the cities on display.  He liked the Star Wars, Washington DC, and Las Vegas sets the best.

I made him go on ALL the rides.  The first one was a little much for him, and he cried and flipped out, and then when the first big hill was over, he turned around in the car and said "That was it?  That's the scariest part?"- but of course he refused to go on it again. 

Honestly though, I didn't like that ride much myself.  It reminded me too much of  "The Wild Mouse" ride at Lagoon when I was a kid.  That ride scared the snot out of me, mostly because I thought the cart was going to run off it's tracks.  (There were always urban legends flying around that it actually had, and kids had died- which only added to my fear. )

However, there was another rollercoaster that he went on over and over again.  As a roller coaster lover myself, I was thrilled to finally break through that anxiety riddled shell, and have him decide that yes, rollercoasters can be fun.  I don't know that I will be able to get him on California Screamin' the next time we make it to Disneyland (who knows when that will be anyway) but it's a start.

Christopher loved everything.  Especially the rollercoasters and the slides. 

He was all smiles, all the time.  He only cried when it was time to go home.

On the way to the park the first day, he was all "No go Legoland.  Go see mountains.  Go find sticks.  Go find fire.  Go find tent."  Now, even a month later, he's still asking to go back to Legoland.

 I just can't tell you how happy I am that all of my kids will go on rollercoasters.  Zach still puts up a good fight on some of them,  but he's getting there.  I look forward to the day when we can go to a place like Disneyland, and ALL OF US can go on a ride like California Screamin' instead of only half of us, while the other half go on the kiddie rides in the Bugs Life land. 

It's not over...

...until the fat lady sings.

(yes, this means I am finally finished with the obligatory vacation slide show.)

Other fun stuff

The harsh truth is that 7 straight days of amusement parks is too much even for the most die hard fans.

So we took a break in the middle of all that fun and went to the beach. It was a well needed break. The kids had so much fun. Christopher was almost polar opposite what he was from just last spring. Last spring he wouldn't so much as get within 10 feet of the water, and just 6 months later, he was venturing too far out and trying to drown himself.

Although we tried to keep food costs to a minimum by eating cold cereal for breakfast and packing snacks and water for the park, and there were a few nights we actually ate hot dogs and ramen and mac and cheese for dinner, we did have a couple splurges.

One of our favorite nights was when we ate at Mickey's Diner for dinner. It was one of those character meals where the characters came to your table, posed for pictures, gave hugs, signed autographs, etc. We met Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. (I know, my pictures suck- the lighting was terrible). It was also a buffet, but the food was pretty good and we were paying quite a bit for it, so we didn't leave until we were all sick. (not something I usually encourage, but we don't usually frequent buffets either)