Park Time

I knew that last catch-up post was too easy.  I forgot about our trip to the park (Dolly's first) last month. 

She really enjoyed the swing:

She was a little afraid of the tunnel:



This was as far as she got:





I had just bought $1 sunglasses for Everest because she seems to really hate the sun in her eyes.  (My eyes are super-sensitive, so I relate.)  She was interested in the glasses but wouldn't keep them on:

The slide was a hit:

Touching dirt is fun, too:

We wanted to walk the little loop around the park, but Dolly took off in the wrong direction: 

We lured her with banana muffins, which may be her favorite food in the world:

It was a looooong short walk.

We enjoyed the moon on the way back to the car:

Ever fussed when I picked her up (we were never going to make it back to the car at the rate we were going), so I kept her happy by throwing her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes:

When I put her down, the meandering began all over again. 

It took lots of coaxing to get her back to the car:

We need to get outside more often.  It's good for the whole fam.

Dawn and Ed Came, and Kristie Got Married

Dawn and Ed Flinn (Jim's sister and her husband) came to visit last month.  They were scheduled to come last year but had to postpone the trip because of a family medical situation.  They arrived on a Saturday evening and flew out midday Monday.  'Twas a quick trip, but we so appreciated their coming down.  It was great to visit with them.  They were excited to see Ever since the only other time they'd seen her was when she was two months old and asleep the whole time. 

Saturday night we got a babysitter so we could go to dinner after we picked the Flinns up from the airport.  Ed requested Mexican food (he likes HOT food), so we ended up at El Torito in Oceanside.  It's a mediocre restaurant, but the food was fine enough. 

Sunday Dawn and Ed came to church with us, and then we introduced them to Vicious Gin (the whole darn thing) while Dolly took a long nap.  Then we ate dinner and went for a lovely walk on the trails around the perimeter of our neighborhood. 

Jim went to work on Monday morning, and I tried to go for a run with Dawn (and Dolly in the stroller).  My right knee started really hurting after a bit, so we ended up walking a lot of it.  I hate my dumb knees.  Sometimes they're totally fine, and then sometimes they give me such trouble.  It's been so long since I've exercised regularly; I probably just need to build them back up.  Anyway, after the jaunt we just had time to clean up and then head to the airport. 

In other news, Kristie Perkins got married last weekend.  She was my roomate in L.A. for years, beginning in 2002 right before I started law school.  The last time I talked to her before the engagement, she was despairing about possibly never getting married.  (She's 42, turning 43 next month.)  But then she met Howard Sharp (who's 51 and divorced), and they were engaged shortly thereafter. 

They were married in the Salt Lake temple on Saturday, March 2.  Our beloved babysitter, Mikayla Shirley, slept over on Friday night so I could leave for the airport on Saturday morning at 4:00 A.M. to catch the first flight out to Salt Lake.  (Jim was on a snowboarding trip with the Young Men.)  Ever usually sleeps for 12-13 hours and doesn't make a peep.  Not that Friday night, though.  I was on track to be in bed around 11:00 P.M., but then I think I woke Ever with my blowdryer.  She was inconsolable and couldn't/wouldn't go back to sleep.  At one point I thought I'd finally gotten her back down, but then she coughed for a long time (she's been sick, again) and eventually started crying again.  It was awful.  I finally got to bed around midnight.  By that time my throat was hurting, and I couldn't fall asleep right away because I was thinking that something horrible (like death) was going to happen to Dolly while we were gone.  Needless to say, I was hurt bad when my alarm went off at 3:25 A.M.

Nevertheless, I made it to the temple in plenty of time for the sealing.  I saw a few old L.A. aquaintances there, and the ceremony was really nice.  Kristie seemed so very happy.  (She did the cutest little giddy face and shoulder shrug when Howard's father, the sealer, pronounced them man and wife.)  When I was released from the post-sealing picture-taking, I raced to a nearby William Sonoma to get a gift and then to the wedding luncheon at a new restaurant called Caterina.  The food was delicious, and we got to hear from lots of family and friends while we ate.  Kristie gave a sweet, heartfelt speech, which she began by asking everyone who had ever heard her bemoan her single status to please stand.  Almost everyone stood.  Then she said, "I've been waiting a long time for this."  After the lunch I went to my friend Sarah Zobell's house.  We went together to the reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, where we saw more old friends.  I took no pictures of the wedding festivities, but I stole these from Kristie's Facebook:

(Somehow I ended up right in the front by Kristie.)

After the reception, I surprised Grandma Hastings at the Orem rehab center, where she'd just been transferred after another stint in the hospital.  She was so confused when I arrived around 9:15 P.M. ("You look like Whitney," she said), but the confusion eventually gave way to delight.  It meant a lot to her, and she said (jokingly) that she never would have forgiven me if she'd found out I was there and hadn't visited.  She also said I'd be glad and relieved that I had visited when she died the next day.  She talks as if her death is imminent.  (Remind me - I'm supposed to put a big, showy pink flower on her casket.)  At the same time, though, she wants to stick around long enough to finish her life story and see Danielle married.  (She told me that if I want to know how much longer she has to check in with Dani; as soon as Dani's settled down, she'll say goodbye.)  At one point, she said she feels as if she needs to get up there before Bob finds a young angel with pretty wings.  I said, "Grandma, he was so devoted; I don't think you have anything to worry about."  Then she got serious and said, "I never wondered about him."  I love their relationship so much.  I tried to leave much earlier, but Grandma detained me with stories until almost 11:30 P.M.  I felt so tired and awful I thought I might die, but I was super glad I went.  I wonder if that won't be my last visit with her. 

I got back to Sarah's around midnight, and then we stayed up until after 2:00 A.M. talking.  (It just felt necessary since she was putting me up at her place and we hadn't really had much time together.)  I had to wake up in the 6 o'clock hour to catch my flight back to San Diego, so I got a grand total of about seven hours of sleep Friday and Saturday nights combined.  My body can't take that in my old age! 

Despite the sleep deprivation, it was a great weekend.  Hooray for people finding companions in old age (at least old age in Mormonland), and hooray for wonderful, funny, spunky grandmas!

Reno in February

One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog promptly.  I seem to have lost my motivation to keep this and pretty much all of my other resolutions.  Must recommit...

Cornyee got cheap tickets to Reno on Southwest.  When she told me about it, I said, "Well, then we have to go."  So I bought tickets for us and e-mailed Rob and Anna and Cwon our itinerary, saying, "Surprise!  We're coming, too."  Cornyee thought it was crazy that I didn't talk to Rob and Anna before booking a trip to their house, but I figured if they were available for Cornyee they were available for us. 

We arrived on a Wednesday evening and left Monday morning.  I took no pictures while we were there, so thanks be to Ann Marie and Cornyee for documenting. 

We did lots of hanging out.  Dolly showed off the longest one-year-old hair known to man (along with an explained bruise on her forehead):

She also showed off her self-feeding skills.  I can't get her off the bottle and on to sippy cups, but at least she'll hold the bottle herself now:



Dalai spent much time enjoying Legos:

The Rob-and-Anna kids were very cute with her, and she enjoyed following them around.  



The keiki introduced us to Just Dance on the Wii.  I think I did a bang-up job.

Dolly caught up on her medical journals:

Friday we went snowshoeing while the kids were in school.  It was almost a total disaster.  We didn't have proper gear for Dolly, although Clarice's hat fit her perfectly:

We didn't have any gloves for her, so we put my extra ski socks on her hands to give them a little protection:

It was a FREEZING day, and by the time we got Dolly dressed and in the backpack and got our snowshoes on, my hands were in severe pain.  I have to blame the Raynaud's disease because I really think my hands get injured way worse (and way more quickly) than other people's.  We debated turning back immediately.  There was much concern about Dolly's little (sad) face:

We thought she might die from exposure.  But we ended up going on for a while.  My hands warmed up quickly, and Dolly eventually fell asleep.  It was really, really nice to be outside and enjoy the snow.  I was so glad we persevered.  

Me, Jim, Ever, Cwon, Udon

Me, Ann Marie, Jim, Ever, Udon

Dolly falling asleep; Jim apparently sleepwalking:

Cornyee's comment on this picture in her blog made me laugh:  "Despite appearances, Jim remained awake."



And . . . she's out:

Udon, me, Ann Marie, Jim, Everest

The socks on Dolly's hands turned out to be very ineffective, and her extremities were super-cold for hours after we got back.

The adults plus Dolly went out for Thai food that night.  It was hard to keep Dolly quiet and to stop her from throwing things on the floor, but we enjoyed dinner.  The Hastings kids (little saints that they are) were all in bed by the time we got home. 

The original idea was to ski on Saturday.  The snow was so icy on Friday, though, and there hadn't been new snow for a long time, so we ultimately decided against skiing.  Rob gave a talk at a medical conference in the morning (bigwig!), and then everybody but we Kringels went down to the Grand Sierra.  The gang played laser tag, checked out the various conventions, and bowled.  We let Dolly take a long nap and then joined them for their second game of bowling. 

The cute keiki outside the Grand Sierra:



We were excited by the cat convention, but apparently it was a sad event hosted by the Humane Society and not a funny convention filled with crazy cat people.  I'm glad we missed that part.

I was also interested in the Divas' Day Out and was bummed to miss that one.  (A Cher impersonator/drag queen?  Yes, please!)



Bowling was fun, even though I'm ridiculously bad.  It seems so easy to just throw the ball straight.  I can't figure out why I'm terrible.



There's a reason there are no pictures of me rejoicing.  I had nothing to rejoice about; didn't even break 100.  Ann Marie, on the other hand, had the game of her life:

By the time we were done bowling, Jim and I were in dire need of a treat.  We were going out for BBQ in a couple hours, so we figured the Rob and Annas wouldn't be down for pre-dinner ice cream.  Cornyee came in our car, and we tried to make a quick stop at the U-Swirl (frozen yogurt place) on our way home.  We got lost and had a hard time finding it.  When we finally got there, we saw this:

Closed due to lack of rent-paying.  We were devastated.  Mamo saved the day, though.  Her Valentine's package of turtles (the chocolate/caramel/mac nut delights) was waiting at the door when we got home. 

We had delicious BBQ at Men Wieldling Fire downtown that evening:

Cornyee got in a lot of trouble that night.  I wanted to split a pulled pork sandwich.  She said she wanted her own.  The sandwiches ended up being gigantic.  I, of course, had to force myself to eat the whole thing, and then I felt completely disgusting/exploding the rest of the night. 

Rob led us down the strip on the way home, which was really fun to see.  The famous sign:

Rob, Cornyee, and I took a really nice little night walk when we got home to try to alleviate the overeating discomfort. 

While we were there, Dolly spent a lot of time playing with the magnets on the fridge.  She loved them, especially the big dog magnet. 

(Side note:  Tonight, Jim bought Legos and magnets for Dolly.  I hope they provide endless hours of entertainment because we need some entertainment for Dolly around here.  We have so few toys, and at this point she's much more interested in the kitchen cabinets and their contents (grrrrr) than the toys we have.) 

Sunday Jim and I took Dolly home after sacrament to let her nap before the planned afternoon trip to Lake Tahoe.  I was so glad we did because Dolly vomited big time shortly after we got home.  We were afraid to take her to the lake in case she threw up again, so we stayed home with Clarence while the others took in the Tahoe scenery. 

This trip made me finally face the fact that traveling with babies is hard.  Ever was sick while we were there, which I'm sure made it worse, but she wasn't sleeping well at night.  It was hard to get her down, and then she makes noise during the night and keeps us awake.  I'm reluctant to make her miss naps to do things for fear she'll just ruin whatever we're trying to do by screaming the whole time.  So then we end up not doing much.  Which was fine for this trip, because we really just wanted to see the fam, but I feel like a lame-o lady who lets the baby's schedule rule.  I just fear sleep-deprived Dolly.  So I'm sort of resigning myself to staying put until we don't have little ones. 

In any case, it was wonderful to see the family.  Thank you so much to the Rob and Annas for hosting us.   I love that Ever is getting old enough to play with cousins.  The Hastings kiddies are growing up so quickly!