Santa Cruzin-Part One

For the Fourth of July (yes, I'm still playing catch-up!) we headed to Santa Cruz with Alex's brother, Jake, and his family. We loved spending this holiday weekend with them. We hardly ever get to have time together with just our families and it was great to get to know each other on a deeper level. We absolutely adore their kids and had such a blast! 

 I was sitting in the sand with Annie strapped to my chest, trying to take pictures of Alex playing in the sand with the two older kids when a gentleman walking by stopped and simply said "BYU?" I was looking around for a hat or t-shirt or something that had the BYU insignia on it. But we weren't wearing anything. How did he know?! We talked to him for a little bit and he just said that he "could just tell". You mean a young family of five with pasty white skin has "BYU" written all over their faces? Hmm... I could see that.

Kellie and Jake...and Cheetos.

 Reesa and Jake...and Pringles.

 Annie and Mitchell were there too...they slept under our make-shift tent most of the time.

Towards the end of our beach day, birds just started flying in. Like HUNDREDS of birds! I had never seen anything like it! It was truly a spectacle. The birds peppered the sky and water. We might as well have been in Hitchcock's The Birds. They circled and grazed the water as they slowly headed north. Pretty cool is all I have to say.

{mid-week musings} This Close!!

There I was, intently listening in church with Lucy coloring by my side. Alex was quarantined at home with the other two sick kids. It was a peaceful hour in which I felt uplifted and could actually listen rather than throwing toys, crayons, and Cheerios at the faces of my kids to keep them quiet. About half way through the meeting, I get this text (Alex is grey, I’m blue):

You see, we were this close to naming Anna “Winnie”… thiiiiiis close! Oh! I love that name! What started out as a “we-could-never-name-our-kid-that” name, slowly turned into a possibility when we found out we were having a girl. Not only does it sound beautiful, but it means “holy peacemaking gently friend”.

Just beautiful.

We struggled and struggled for months to find a name for Annie. She must have tried on at least ten different names for several weeks at time, but none of them stuck. Alex would love one name, but I wasn't sure. Then I would like a different name that he somewhat detested.

I am a huge nerd when it comes to names. Alex has had to put up with me show after movie after show, reading through the credits and looking for interesting name combinations. I've been on the internet countless times looking up the meaning to a name. I read wacky articles about names. You know those “Top 100 Names” lists that go back for decades? Yea, I've gallivanted through those as well.

What can I say, names fascinate me. I am a huge believer  that babies are meant to have a certain name on this earth. When naming each of our kids, it’s like I would wait for that bam! lightning moment of knowing that this was our child’s name. With Lucy, it happened before I knew she was even a girl. With Todd, it happened around 34ish weeks. With Anna, it just wasn't happening. We had prayed to find the right name (I begged!) because this is so important to me and for my child’s entire life! At 37 weeks along, we had decided that her name was Winnie. We both loved it. But of course I was still hesitant. Not only because when we tried her name out on about a dozen people and getting reactions such as, “Oh, like Winnie the Pooh?” or “Oh! Like Winnie from the Wonder Years!”, but also because I just wasn't sure!

But, you know... I was okay with that.
I guess I didn't always have to have that this is it! type of discovery.

So, we moved forward with Winnie. And we were anxious to put a face with a name! But I still looked around at other names. One night, when we started to really doubt our naming choice, we sat down at the kitchen table, pulled out a book called “Heroines of the Restoration”, opened the index, and just started writing down names we liked. We knew we couldn’t go wrong with one of these beautiful, old fashioned names. Names such as Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Rachel, and Rebecca.

I went to bed, feeling defeated. Was I ever going to get this right?!

Early the next morning (like 4:30am… darn that pregnancy insomnia!), I sat down at the table and studied the list. I wrote out different first and middle name combinations, then crossed them out. 

I came to the name Anna and started doing the same. Anna Jo. Anna Paula. Anna Mae. Anna Dell. Anna Dell!! Ooohh! My heart was immediately full and my whole body was overcome with emotion. It was as the first time I felt I really knew my child and could truly feel her special spirit. It was like she was telling me that that was her name. The connection I now had with her was stronger than ever before. 

I couldn't wait to tell Alex! Of course he was nice about it because he didn't want to crush me. I basically told him nicely, but matter-of-factly, “I don’t care what you think. This is her name! I know it! And I LOVE it!”

And the loving, supporting husband that he is, he agreed.

We've contemplated even just calling Anna “Winnie” over the last few weeks. But no. No, no, no. Not if you would ask me a million times would I ever change her name. Because she is Anna. My dear sweet Annie. And her name fits her perfectly.

But there is something about the name Winnie that strikes my fancy. Perhaps there is a Winnie waiting to come to our family, maybe not. Whatever the case, Winnie has unexpectedly stolen my heart.   

What's a trip to Sea World without a visit to the ER?!

I'm sure you can guess who made the special visit. I'll give you some hints: He/she loves to climb. He/she has been to the ER multiple times. He/she is particularly fond of shark teeth.
That's right... Mr. Todd.
It wasn't quite lunch time yet and we had decided to go through the shark exhibit before grabbing a bite to eat. We made it through the underwater aquarium and the kids were just enamored with the sharks swimming above and all around us. At the exit, there was a large set of shark teeth on display behind a double-barred railing to prevent people from going up and touching it. Lucy had her face pressed against the aquarium while Todd went to go look at the teeth. We had both kids in our view as we stood with Annie and the stroller. All it took was one second for me to take my eyes off of Todd and I hear screaming. I ran over to him as fast as I could, knowing he had fallen. The gentleman next to me told me all that had happened and that he smacked his face on the ledge where the shark teeth rested. I picked up Todd, getting a first glance at his bloody mouth. I shoved him into Alex's arms to take him to the bathroom to clean him up a little bit and to try and get a better look. For about ten minutes, he was scream-spewing blood all over himself, me, and Alex. After visiting the First Aid office in the park, we decided we needed to go to the ER because it looked like his tooth had broken all the way through his bottom lip.
He was so exhausted from crying so much (and probably from the loss of all that blood) that he slept the entire time in the ER, even with the doctors poking all around in his mouth. I was worried about a concussion, but that was not the case. No stitches needed either (shocking!).
Just a swollen lip and bloody gums for the next week.
That boy, I'm telling you! Three ER visits and he's only two!
We went back and finished off the day with the Shamu show, penguins, dolphins, and frozen lemonade.

I don't even want to go into Lucy climbing around in the playground, high above the walkway with people below, and having an accident. There were many innocent passersby who had an unexpected rain shower. Oh, the embarrassment!! The pit in my stomach still resides.

Birthday Girl

I have a slew of pictures and whatnot to be blogged about from this summer. But I'm going to alter the chronological order of things to give a shout out to this beautiful FOUR year old!! Lucy had a birthday on August 4th. So, does being four on August 4th make that her golden birthday already? 

Each birthday I make sure to have the birthday kid wake up to special birthday decorations. Lucy saw the streamers spiraling down the staircase. Coyly she says, 

"Mom...what's this for?" (very well knowing what it's for)

"What do you think it's for?!"

"Umm...my birthday."

"YEA! It's your birthday!! Happy birthday my big beautiful girl!"

"Thanks mom. It's soooo special and so magnificent!"  

Yes...she used the word 'magnificent'. Gosh, I love her!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl who started me on this wonderful journey called motherhood! She is my bestest little friend whom I adore and squish and love up on every day. 

Her birthday wish: "Make a rainbow with a rainbow pony to fly on"

I interviewed Lucy and asked her a few of her favorites:

What is your favorite color? Purple

What is your favorite toy? Playing with Barbies and dollies

Who is your favorite person in the whole wide world? Janie and Auntie Laura too

What is your favorite book? About girl things

What is your favorite song? I Am a Child of God

What is your favorite food? Pizza

What is your favorite game? Playing Minnie

What is your favorite animal? Elephant and giraffe

What is your favorite movie? Sleeping Beauty

Who is your best friend? Shauna and Charlotte (I'm glad to see Shauna is her best friend, not "mom" along with Charlotte who was once a friend a year ago but has since turned into a fantastical, make believe friend)

What is your favorite thing to do? Play at the park

What is your favorite time of year? Floating by myself with my floaties

What is your favorite part of day? I like to go on a sleepover tonight

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom and a rocking roll star

What is the thing that you do best? Go swimming

If you could go anywhere in the world, you'd go to: Disneyland

If you had one wish, what would it be? Playing on a unicorn

What was your best memory of being three? Go at the park and swim and swim and swim

What is the thing you look forward to the most about being four? Doing a sleepover party with Auntie Laura