Visit from the Homers

I'm facing my fears and trying to catch up on the blog. Thanks to Cwanza for posting about all of this so I could just steal pictures and generally plagiarize... 

Last month Dustin had a conference in San Deego's house (phrase by Clara). Bags took the opportunity to come visit, too. I'm very pleased that this conference occurs every year, so we hope these visits will be a regular thing. 

Bags arrived Friday around noon. She helped me take my car into the shop for a super-overdue oil change because I'm a wonderful host, and that's what I do. Then we got some lunch and went home so Ever could nap. When Jim got home from work, we went to Bull Taco for dinner. Ever wanted ice cream for dessert, so we complied with a Baskin Robbins run. I got Ever chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone. She has eaten cones a few times before and done OK. Jim was horrified at the mess she made (it was pretty crazy) and was outraged that I had gotten her a cone. Ever was happy, though:

Saturday morning Jim cleaned the church while Bags, Ever, and I fetched Dustin from the airport. Shandie and the kids happened to be in California visiting her family, so they braved traffic and headed down to Oceanside to spend the afternoon with us. It was wonderful to see them. Ever is finally old enough to play with Tristan and Betsy a bit, so that's fun. The kids are so cute. We lunched at the house and then all headed to the beach. The ladies:

Dustin entertained the kids, and I took the opportunity to sit and be lazy. I felt a little bad, but it was nice.

Ever loves the water, and she gets very cold. She wore her wetsuit for a little while, but I don't think she's a big fan.

Jim and Dustin took surfboards out for a bit. After they came in, Jim put his board on the sand so Ever could "surf." She had fun trying to keep her balance when the board was lifted up by the water. Betsy looked on:

Before long Tristan joined the fun. They had a grand time.

We got burgers for dinner and bid farewell to the Shandras.

Sunday was church and hanging around the homestead. Bags took Dustin down to his conference that night, and she came back to Oceanside Monday morning. Jim was camping with the YM all week. Bags and I didn't do a ton during the week - mainly walks, parks, cooking, eating out a couple times, and watching My So-Called Life and movies at night. (Devon and I loved My So-Called Life in high school, and Bags very kindly bought me the series for fun.) We watched the famous, award-winning Terms of Endearment, and it was bizarre. The characters were so weird. I can't figure out why people liked it. I had a babysitter one day so Bags could go shopping with me. I need clothes so badly, it's ridiculous. We tried on a lot of stuff but bought pretty much nothing. Our shopping trip turned primarily into a long and slightly disappointing lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We tried. 

Park time:

We weren't supposed to be seen in public in our matching outfits, but Ever really likes to twin:

She made some new friends on the train:

Thursday morning we went for a walk at the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad. It was my first time there, and I enjoyed it. I think it'll be a nice place for our family runs, as long as it's not too crowded on Saturday mornings.

Bags told me not to post this first picture. Sorry, Cwan:

 

My friend Susan Oddou met Bags on Sunday, asked what we were doing for the week, and suggested we go to lunch. It was kind of funny since they'd never met before. I'm always afraid of mixing people, but Susan has no such qualms. So Thursday we went to lunch with Susan, Mel, and Haleigh Bruns. Thursday night Bags picked Dustin up in San Deego's house, and they had dinner with Cornyee's friend, Kara, and her husband.

Dustin worked from home on Friday. Jim got home that night. We went to Torrey Pines on Saturday. The weather wasn't amazing, and the trails we ended up on weren't quite as scenic as where we went with Rob and Anna the only other time I've been there. It's always good to get out, though.

Bags talked to Udon on the phone about plans for the upcoming Reno reunion while we hung out here:

Hiking with Ever is tough. She is generally incredibly slow. Jim got her moving at the end as we headed for the car, though, and they left us in the dust:

We went down to the beach below the cliffs for a little while. We got some grub from a food truck and hung out. Coco and Dun Dun took Ever into the water because I am a bad mom and didn't want to. It wasn't warm enough to make the water at all enticing.

Jim tried to clean Ever in the sink before we got back in the car because we didn't want to wait for the showers. She looked cute, but I can't say it was particularly effective:

Somewhere along Ever took these photos of herself in the car. Pretty artistic:

We went home to clean up and then drove out to Vista to drop Ever off at the Wilsons', where Cali babysat. Ever got to watch princess movies (to my dismay) and make and eat cookies, so she was pretty much in heaven:

We big people went up to the Orange County fair. The main event was the monster truck rally, but we had time for nutritious fair food first. We began with deep-fried Snickers and deep-fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups:

Dustin did the manly-man thing and got a giant turkey leg:

We saw the end of a hypnotist show and discussed whether it actually works (some were clearly not hypnotized).

Then it was monster truck time. First the smalls cars sped around the track one at a time trying to get the best time. Then they brought out these guys to jump over junk cars and do spins:

Bags asked me to take a picture of her and Dustin. This was the best I could do, and I think it's sort of charming:

It was fun, but no cars flipped over, which was a bummer. We also decided that a demolition derby may be more fun. More destruction is always better, right? I'd also be highly interested in the extreme rodeo. So many wonderful offerings:

We visited the animals and agreed we have no idea how they are judged:

The Peking Acrobats' show overlapped the pig races, and we were torn about what to do. I was interested in pig races, but we decided to go get seats for the Peking Acrobats. Dustin watched some of the pig races and then came and found us. He sent Bags funny texts from the pig races. ("They hurdle!") He took a couple videos for us, which I very much appreciated. The pigs run amazingly fast, and they do, indeed, hurdle. Do we feel sad for them? Anyway, the Pekings were fun, too. I loved the tumbling and the crazy strong man who can balance in any position:

Sunday morning we had delicious crepes before church. We brought out the whipped cream maker Bags, et al.  had given me as a gift. I hadn't yet spent the time to figure it out, so Bags read up and put it together. When she pulled the trigger the first time, the stuff spattered EVERYWHERE - onto eyelashes, hair, clothes, floor - in probably a 12-foot radius. It was crazy. Dustin sprayed it more gently, and it worked fine. Jim tried it, and Bags encouraged him to pull harder. So then we had round 2 of the mess. Clearly we need a little more practice with this thing:

In any case, the crepes were delicious. Ever needed a little help stabilizing hers:

I stayed for choir practice after church; it was the last Sunday practice before a performance, and I thought I needed to support. Jim had some bishopping to attend to. Dustin and Bags brought Ever home and fed her lunch. Apparently she was distressed at her separation from us. They calmed her down, and then Dustin got her to eat by telling her a story about a seagull that took her away. He required a bite for him to continue the story. 

Ever wanted to help Dustin pack, which evolved into Dustin's carrying her around the house in his suitcase, jiggling it for turbulence, and then dumping her out on the bed in a crash landing. She loved it, and she was a perfect fit in the suitcase:

Jim came home from church with a present for Ever - a broken microphone. She loved it and carried it around the house singing and talking into it for weeks. She kept calling it "my present."

Dustin left Sunday night. Monday we went on a long walk. Ever took her microphone in the stroller. When we let her out at the end, she performed "Close  to You" (aka, "Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear?"), which Bags videotaped and posted here: http://courtneyhastings.blogspot.com/2014/07/california-second-part.html. We made a nice dinner and a delicious homemade yellow cake for FHE. Ever likes helping. She's good at holding down the top of the Kitchen Aid (which is actually loose, so that's the teensiest bit less unhelpful than it sounds):

The hard part is preventing her from putting her hands in and sampling until it's all done. She, like all children, is a good licker of spoons, spatulas, etc.:

I always feel bad that we don't do more when Bags comes to town, but it's just awfully nice to have a sister/BFF with whom to hang, chat, and cook. We are so glad the Baglers visited!

Sweet Bedtimes

I am so incredibly behind on the blog that I want to give up. Still have to post about Bags and Dustin's visit in July and our Reno reunion the beginning of this month. Because I may or may not ever catch up, I'm going to break the cardinal rule of blogging (always post in chronological order) and post about some sweet bedtimes I've enjoyed with Ever this month.  The below blurbs were written on the day of.

August 11, 2014

Jim's in Mexico this week, so Ever and I are all alone. We had family home evening together tonight and then enjoyed a most affectionate bedtime. For tooth brushing, she sat on her stool and put her arm around me. It made it a little harder to see her teeth, but I loved the half-hug.

When she lay down in bed for her "made-up story," she hugged me to her and said, "I'll keep you safe" over and over again as she squeezed me hard and rubbed my back and arm. "I'll keep you safe. I'll keep you safe. I'll make you safe." It went on and on. I have no idea what prompted it, other than that sometimes lately she has spoken of a "bad man" who's going to come get us (which really freaks me out).

Then we snuggled while I tried to think of a made-up story. Eventually I began, "Once upon a time, Ever was walking in a forest." She asked, "And Mommy?" And I said, "Sure. And Mommy." I went on to say that they came upon a huge, tall, twisty, twirly tree, and Ever wanted to climb it. When she got to the very top, she could see a rainbow very close to her. She jumped as hard as she could and landed on the rainbow and slid all the way down it. At the bottom, she found a pot of gold, but it was so heavy she couldn't carry it. She took a block in each hand but then realized she didn't know where Mommy was, and it was starting to get dark. At this point in the story, Ever's face just broke, and she cried, "Where is she?" Ever was devastated. She turned on her side and pulled me down and put her arm around me for a half-hug that lasted the rest of the story. I quickly changed what I was going to say and continued, "And just then, Mommy whistled and called, 'Ever, where are you?'"  They were happily reunited in the story and went on to save thousands and thousands of sick children in hospitals with the $5 million they got from the gold. Nonetheless, real-life Ever was still fragile. There was much more hugging before I finally pulled myself away.

Such a sweet thing.

August 23, 2014

Tonight a couple minutes after I put Ever to bed with the regular bedtime routine, she called out that she wanted to give me a big hug. She came out and met me in the hallway. She hugged me and hugged me and said, "I very, very, very love you," and "Sometimes I want you to hold me." She asked for some kisses, too, and wanted me to hold her and take her back to bed, where the hugging continued. After I lay her in bed, she pulled me in and said, "Come here, and I'll keep you safe" and stroked my hair as she hugged me. She may just be a pro at bedtime stalling, but man, it's pretty amazing.

Visit from the Davises and Swimming with Nanny

A couple of miscellaneous items:

1) The Davises (minus Bret, who was working) came back to California for a visit at the end of June. Audra drove with the kids all the way from Kansas. (Jim home taught them for years, and they lived up the street from us for a while. Ever was obsessed with the daughter, Poppy.) They came to our ward one Sunday, and the kids attacked Jim, jumping all over him as he sat on the floor of the Primary room. Those kids are crazy. I love the bond Jim built with them.

We got together with them and the Karners at the park for pizza and play before they left. It was fun to see them, and Ever had a good time.

Poppy, Jim, and Ever:

Hyrum, Jim, and Ever:

Liam and Ever played headless in the parking lot before we left:

2) Karen usually requests Ever a couple times a month. One Wednesday when Ever was over there, Karen texted me this picture:

It gets hot in Fallbrook in the summer, and Ever loves swimming in Nanny and Papa's pool. I forgot to send her swimsuit that day, but it was obviously not a problem.