Utah v. 8.12

The kids and I recently returned from Utah, where we spent the first half of the month. Originally, we were only to be there over an extended weekend; a couple days in St. George for a reunion and a weekend in Salt Lake to bless baby Simon.

Our plans changed when Joseph's sister found a killer deal on airfare from Maui to San Jose for their mom. She'd be on the mainland for about two weeks and figured she'd spend most of it in Utah, where most of her kids are. Since we were her ride, we stayed in Utah, too.

Joseph had to stay behind, so I'm glad his mom was able to drive with me. I would not be able to handle that drive alone with the four kids. Even with my older kids on their best behavior, driving with a small infant for that long would have made the trip about twice as long.

So, our first stop was St. George for Grandpa Bill's 90th birthday bash/Wonnacott family reunion. Joseph has 48 cousins on this side of his family. It makes for a super grand time. His cousins range in age from the mid-40s to three years old.

Akiko and Moses had plenty of cousins, first cousins once removed (Joseph's cousins), and second cousins (Joseph's cousins' kids) to play with. I lost track of my kids several times and every time I found them they were fine and safe and having a ton of fun. And there were plenty of girls available that were willing to cuddle my sweet baby so I could have two hands to help Asher, who didn't like to wander very far from me.

I was super glad to have the help because it was on the morning of the first day that I'd gone on my run and injured myself. I didn't stop limping till two days after we'd returned home. Yep, I limped around on swollen sore feet the entire time we were in Utah. I had to wear my flip flops to church. Super embarrassing.

Most of the activities at the reunion centered around water based activities. The cousin who did most of the planning was 8.5 months pregnant, so you can't really blame her for it. Oh yeah, and it was hot in St. George. But it was the nice arid kind of hot. Not the muggy humid kind like you get where we live.

Moses had just stuffed half a popsicle in his mouth
and immediately realized that wasn't such a hot idea.

Asher ate the popsicles so fast he made a surprisingly small mess.

Simon either slept or was being held by an auntie or cousin nearly the whole time.

They may be dressed for water play, but they didn't play in the water at all.

Asher considered it for a while though.

Akiko tried to convince him it would be fun, but to no avail.

Akiko spent most of the time hanging out with the boys, Noah and Thomas.

My favorite picture of the entire trip.

Uncle Mark was really great at getting everyone involved in activities.

Everyone had tons of fun with this giant water slide.

Moses actually got in the pool with no floaties and no coaxing from me.

I learned later that he made friends with Joseph's cousin Troy, an adult, while at the pool. Troy told me he thought Moses was such a cool kid. I agree.

Akiko gets ejected from the water slide...

... and poses for the camera.

Asher wanted nothing to do with any water.

He will, however, give me his stink face for the camera.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill! And yes, Asher is wearing Akiko's headband.

After the reunion and birthday party were over, we drove up to Salt Lake. We figured we'd bless Simon in Utah since most of our family lives there.

Joseph and I were extremely frustrated when we found out that Joseph wasn't going to be able to bless Simon. We could get him out to Salt Lake easy enough on a buddy pass, but wouldn't be able to get him back to the Bay area. Joseph had to make a tough decision and ended up asking his brother Carl to bless baby Simon in his stead.

Simon and his Uncle Carl

We were glad that we were able to have most of the family there, but we really, really, really missed Joseph and wished he could have been there.

Later that evening, Joseph's sister Emma and her husband Bryan hosted a barbecue for us. I took a picture or two, then set my camera on the table. Kristen and Moses found it and started taking a bunch of pictures for me.

My picture of Kristen and Simon.

My picture of Asher playing on Odin's four wheeler.

My picture of Akiko with her Grandpa Fred.

Kristen's picture of a dirty-faced Moses.

Dorky self-portrait.

A couple of weirdos.

This is where Moses took off with the camera. I'm only posting about a third of his pictures.

Sam's back.

Extreme close-up!!

Poser.

More extreme close-up!!

A better self portrait than most of the ones you'll see on FB.
My goodness! Someone needs to wipe that face!

Cute Alene.

Birdbath!

Carl and his adorable twins.

Cute pregnant Megan and Josh.

Me hiding the baby.

Handsome Ian and funny-looking Terra.

Danny with a crazy look on his face.

Now Terra looks more normal.

Grandpa Fred and his oldest grandkids.

Grandma Sachiko

... Emma... nuff said.

Cute little Savannah.

The rest of the week consisted mostly of visiting family, having a birthday party for my step-father, and going to the pool. Moses surprised me when he got in the big pool without his floaties. He usually stays in the kiddie pool or in the shallow end near the stairs where his feet can touch the bottom. Of course, he just clung to the side the whole time, but still. After a few minutes he came and got his floaties on and let himself drift from the side.

This was only our third time at the pool this summer (pathetic, I know) and Moses has never taken lessons (someday, I promise), so the fact that he felt so comfortable in the water was kind of a shock to me. He still won't get his face wet though. Not even in the tub.

He was so proud of himself. I was too.

Feeling more confident with floaties on though.

Simon just lounged in the shade.

Akiko was elated to have his company in the pool.

I also got to go to lunch with my BFF Jesse so he could meet Simon (the rest of the kids opted to stay with their grandma).

Love you Jesse!!

Thursday night was the pits. I was in the middle of trying to get my kids, who really didn't want to, ready for bed, when a bout of mastitis suddenly hit me. Ugh! Mastitis is the pits. I had it once before when Moses was a baby. I thought I was going to die then. It was no fun the second time around either.

I had plans to see a couple friends on Friday and had to cancel plans with both of them. I was so bummed.

One was a friend who used to live in our ward. Her oldest daughter was in my Primary class. They're one of the sweetest families ever. They just had their fourth baby girl right after I'd had Simon. I really wanted to see them and meet their new baby.

My other friend is one of my dearest friends from high school. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding seven years ago and haven't seen her since. Her husband was in the army and they had been living in Germany for the last several years. They now live in Florida and happened to be in Utah the same week as we were.

So I spent all day Friday in bed. My mom took me to the doctor, so I could get antibiotics and my mother-in-law watched the kids all day for me. Fortunately, the mastitis wasn't nearly as bad as when I'd had it before. I got medicine right away and a whole day of bed rest, so I actually felt better by Saturday morning. The first time I had it, I was out of commission for three or four days.

Saturday I wanted to spend the day with my dad since we hadn't seen him much during the week. After running a few errands, we went downtown and took the kids to the Church History museum, a place that was 1) free, 2) air-conditioned, and 3) a place where I could sit and rest while my kids could run around without me worrying too much about them (and my dad could help keep an eye on them, too).

Asher would have been perfectly content to splash in City Creek.

My kids pretending to be little pioneer children.

Akiko tries her hand at transcribing some ancient plates.

Of course, Moses liked the video games the most.

Playing so hard is so exhausting!

Stink face spent most of his time in the truck.

Akiko loved learning Mexican dances.

"Hey! Get your tortilla cart out of the road!"

Simon and I just chilled out together most of the time.

He let me do silly things to him.

Akiko and Moses thought it was neat to see
"the guy that is on top of the temple" up close.

I'm glad we were able to make this trip to Utah for the kids' sake. The kids told me they had "the best summer ever." They had tons of fun. My experience, on the other hand...

Now, I've traveled solo with the kids many, many times. It's not always easy, but I've managed to pull off most trips with aplomb. This trip just about killed me.

Between the injured ankles, the mastitis, and having to get the kids to bed on my own (ugh, bed time was just the absolute worst), I just about lost it. Perhaps it was because Asher is just "that age" and I've also got a small infant to contend with. I had a really hard time this trip. Next time, Joseph is coming with me or else we just won't be going anywhere for a long time. I'm so glad I had my mother-in-law in the car with me. So so glad.