Wicked

This post is a long time coming and let's face it no one probably really even cares anymore, BUT here I am writing about it anyways. In May after we (our graduated siblings and our family) all went to Disney World, David's mom planned a couple of days for us in New York City to see two Broadway shows and do a little sight seeing. I was actually not looking forward to this potion of the trip. At the time I really wished we didn't have to re-pack AFTER going to Disney and accumulating more stuff only to fly to NYC and stay in a smaller hotel. Add my fear of flying two more times (it was actually 4 because of the layovers) with a little boy who had been throwing up every flight and I was actually quite irritated. I know, I know I was literally complaining about my blessings and opportunities but packing two kids around on airplanes and in big cities is not ideal. Not to mention the fact that I really don't care that much about big cities like New York.

So there I was annoyed all the way around and to top it off my MIL had bought tickets for us to see Wicked... ugh, I was like wut ev! The tickets are free right? The reason behind me being so negative was varied. I'm a little bit of a reverse culture kind of person. When skinny jeans became popular I didn't like them, so I didn't wear them for quite some time. When flats became popular I hated them forever (I still can't believe they are as popular as they are it's been like 10+ years). Some of it is just to not follow other people and some of it is because I genuinely don't like MANY of the "new" trends at first.

 Wicked has a similar story for me. I won't go into vast details but during High school in drama class there were people I liked and others that I did not for any number of reasons. When wicked came out it was huge! Some of the kids I did not like had gone to NYC to see it, some with their families and some for a Drama club field trip. Either way there were girls that loved the show that I did not like and they talked about it all the time. You could say I was experiencing a bit of transference. I didn't like these girls and I was transferring that dislike to Wicked. 

Going into the show I had low if not almost no good expectations, I was sure I was not going to like it. I should also add that stories, movies and TV shows today often love to have the "twist" in the plot be the "bad" guy is actually a "good" guy and the "good" guy is actually a horrible person. I don't like that. I think it's confusing and that many times our culture does that to make kids think that bad people are not actually bad. To a point this is appropriate because black and white situations are not common, but not the way our society portrays it nowadays. I was sure the show was going to be about how horrible the wicked witch of the West was and yet somehow she was also simultaneously the "good" guy. 

Totally random- Look! It's Roy! This add was in our playbill and I was totally wishing we could go see it!

Brian and Anna (they liked it too)

I'm pretty sure there are only about 3 people reading this post still. So I am going to go end this quickly without talking about the plot other than to say I did not feel like wicked did this. For those of you who have seen it you know what I mean and for those of you who haven't... well you SHOULD definitely see it. I LOVED the show. I thought it was great! I loved the music, the characters the story and I even cried a little at the end. I was so glad I went! Thank goodness for a Mother in law who forces you to do things (Haha I'm kidding ;). This literally ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip. Who'da thought?!

Moral of the story? Try new things. Wow, you would think I had learned that by now.

Hypocrisy

Recently I have realized I am super annoyed when my friends don't update their blogs. I mean how am I supposed to know what's going on with them if they don't write blog posts? Or be entertained when my friends only update their blog once a month... then I realized I've been just as bad lately AND worse. It's been over 2 months since I updated on here and I'm ready to admit that it's not to lack of time. It's due to my desire to veg. So here is my promise to do better, at least for now. 

So what is there to say? The kids and I have been in Idaho Falls for almost a month now. I bravely flew solo from Columbus. The saddest part about our vacation to family this year is that David will not be joining us. He has several bad rotations in a row between November and February. Our plan for a while now has been to come out for Christmas this year and since money was tight we realized quickly that would be our only visit during this year. The original plan was for the babies to come with me and david would join us and his family for Christmas (or Thanksgiving) however short of a time. Then David was given another Intensive Care Unit rotation, and several surgery rotations in a row and now we are in Idaho and he is and will be in Ohio. No visiting for him (BIG sad face).

So what's happened this year? I know we aren't to the end of the year yet but I'm so far behind on it all I might as well create a list re-cap. This list is not exactly in order, but almost.

1. We came home from Idaho in January 3 days late due to the polar vortex in Ohio.  

2. I started my last school semester! And so did David!!

3. I experienced my first level 3 snow storm.

4. David's brother Brian and his wife Anna have their little boy! Our first nephew!

5. I had my 3rd baby and my 1st girl!

6. We found out that David matched, and that we were moving to Columbus this year and Orlando in 2015.

7. We watched a LOT of Veronica Mars and I procrastinated my 25 page thesis paper for a LONG time.

8. Macy has COLIC. (so much crying)

7. I graduated! 

9. I added Georgia to my list of states visited.

10. David, Brian, Anna, Davie, Baby Brian, Macy and I all go to Disney World to PARTAY!

11. Then we go to New York. 

12. I attended my first and second Broadway musical. AMAZING! One of theses days I will write more about that, it was my favorite part of the whole trip. 

13. I add New Jersey to my list of states :)

 

14. David graduates medical school. WAHOOOOO!!

15. Macy gets blessed. 

******WE SOLD OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!!*****

 

Bonus we only had 3 people look at our place before we sold it. Thank goodness 

because those viewings were ROUGH on us! Apparently we do no live life in show mode.

16. We move to Columbus

17. David's first rotation as a Pee-on is the ICU and it's basically horrible.

18. Macy STILLLL has COLIC!!!

19. Macy starts to crawl way earlier then expected and is super good at it. 

20. David and I celebrate our 4 year anniversary, separately. So far our only tradition is to celebrate it separately. We are very romantic like that. 

21. David's brother Mike and his wife Lauren have their baby! I now have TWO nephews!

22. Macy, Davie and I spend a TON of quality alone time together. 

23. My least favorite rotation of David's is night float. Basically David works all night and then comes home and needs to sleep all day. It's horrible and I hate it. Also my kids are really loud.

24. We decide to start to potty train Davie. We took the 3 day approach and it works out REALLY well. It's been great. 

25. Macy was waking up several times a night for about 4 solid months. Which left this mama way too tired way too often. 

26. This leaves David and I super lazy and we spend most of our time together vegging out and watching Biggest Loser whenever we have free time.

27. Macy turns 6 months old and slowly starts recovering from her constant crying. 

28. Davie is getting so BIG, talks so well, and can be so incredibly sweet. 

29. We did nothing for Halloween, because we invited our friends over to play games. Then on actual Halloween (in Ohio they schedule what days communities get to trick or treat) it was horrible cold and rainy AND David and I just didn't want to deal with it. Grade A parents right here.

30. We all kissed David good-bye and got on an airplane to visit family for the next two months. 

Annnnd there you have it! That's the basics of what has been going on around here. So admittedly even though I have been busy and lazy those are not the only reasons I have not been blogging. Can I just say right now that I almost never ever write a blog post that isn't thoroughly thought through first. This year I got comments on a post that were quite rude and most likely from someone who I'm honestly quite shocked even reads my blog still. I also got deleted as a friend by someone on Facebook after I wrote a VERY personal, VERY long (and in my mind well thought through, as in months before I finally published it) blog post. WOW. To say I was shocked was an understatement. And while I might like to think I have thick skin, I most definitely do not. Imagine how a punch in the face feels because that is what it felt like.

I write my blog for my family first and for my friends second. Without blogs and Facebook I would feel totally alone sometimes. For those of you who have never lived a long way away from family and close friends for longer than a year you have no idea the kind of joy silly things like blogs and Facebook can bring someone. I'll openly admit that I often imagine deleting my blog and Facebook accounts and then I remember that without those I would never know what is going on in the lives of people I care about. I LOVE seeing my friends babies, your new houses, the fun places you go and any and every other fun thing you post on Facebook/blogs. I fully enjoy knowing the things you are struggling with are the same as mine and lastly I just like feeling as though I still get to be a part of your life. Even if it's just in text on a screen, it means something and I enjoy it.

Expect the Unexpected

By Wednesday morning Davie and I were already saddle up with David's parents to go to Salt Lake and pick Daddy up from his flight.

 A little outside of Pocatello Davie threw up... twice. In fact Davie probably threw up about 2 minutes after I took this picture. Pit stop at Pocatello's Wal*Mart. Davie's grandma graciously volunteered to essentially wash my poor little guy in the bathroom sink while I grabbed him some new clothes. That's right I didn't bring an extra pair of clothes. While I hurriedly searched for clothes that fit Grandpa Warden was holding Davie when Davie got sick AGAIN... ALL OVER grandpa. Miraculously Grandpa had an extra shirt so at least he was able to change. The carseat Davie was in was so soiled we ended up just getting a second one for the remainder of the trip. By the time we got to Kaysville my tummy hurt too and it continued to all night. I think we all felt a little tired after that.

New clothes, new seat, new blanky, time for some rest. Poor little guy. 

 David flew in almost two hours later than expected so we stayed at his grandma's house for the night. Thank goodness for family because it was raining and freezing on the road that night and we would have slid right off the road if we had tried to drive back.

 That was the night my cold/ cough congestion started :( I keep saying now is a better time than any time during the semester I just finished, but I can't say I'm happy to be sick over Christmas break. The next evening David got a taste of the tummy woes for himself then his Dad then David's cousin. Thankfully all the Davids have been 100% since and so was David's cousin. I unfortunately have sounded like a frog and struggled to breath ever since Thursday.

Getting all super soapy washed up when we finally got home.
So that's the best update I have for now. I'm really going to try to update some pregnancy stuff on here since I've had a couple of people ask recently, but no promises. I've lived in survival mode since day one of this semester and now I'm actually sitting in a chair relaxing in Idaho Falls. Which just goes to show, Christmas miracles really do happen.

A Final Free Ride

Monday December 16th Davie and I flew out to Idaho Falls by ourselves (meaning I flew with him on my lap). I've flown solo with him before but most of the times he was still nursing or he had his binky or I wasn't 30 weeks pregnant. Really the pregnant part was the part that made me the most nervous.

First flight nap, that was lightly drug induced. I was too afraid of what would happen otherwise. He slept for over half of the flight and was very quiet and easy going for the second half.

 So sweet

 BIG creepy jerk that sat next to us. The second he saw us sitting next to the window and went to sit down he rolled his eyes and acted all annoyed. RUDE! At first I was making extra sure to keep away from him when it dawned on me that I could NOT reward his RUDE attitude. After that I no longer tried to lean away I just sat resituated when needed as well as talking and attending to Davie. He did SO good on this flight.

Such a sweet boy.

 Then we landed.

 We tried to let him run a little and we tried the baby leash and this is what I got.

 He seriously screamed so much, my eye was twitching.
Aside from the rather painful one and a half hour in the Denver terminal the flights all went smoothly and in my mind that's what counts. If he had to break down somewhere I figure in the open terminal was a million times better than an enclosed airplane. We arrived in Idaho Falls a little after 1pm mountain time and after being awake since 3:30 am Eastern time I was thoroughly exhausted. 

Palmyra Temple

SUPER early 7 am session. That was the only session they had open for 4 people by the time we remembered to call (and by we I mean Lauren, Thanks sister).

Eating breakfast at about 6 am, right when breakfast started.

I was pretty tired

We arrived at about midnight and had to wake up around 5 or 6 in order to clean ourselves up enough to go to the temple. 

Coming to join us.

After our session we walked around the temple and it was beautiful. I love this stained glass window!

David was a little obsessed with the bolts on this thing.

It was quite crisp, but I enjoyed it because Toledo had been so warm recently. 

It was worth the 3 years we have been waiting to be able to visit. I love the peace I feel when I get to go to the temple and I enjoyed it even more knowing my family was there.

Us!

All together.

Mike and Lauren

And us again. Thanks to David's parents for watching Davie while we did a session. It was great! I just wish we lived closer to more family or a temple. Thankfully with Mike and Lauren living closer that will mean we can all take group trips to the temple more often.

And One More Makes...

32! That's right after this last weekend I have now FINALLY added New York to my list of visited states. David and myself have been trying (super unsuccessfully) to get to Palmyra since our friends wanted us to go with them in 2011, but our schedules (medical school and law school) were impossible to coordinate. So when David's mom asked us if there was anything we have been wanting to do or see, the trip to Palmyra was the first thing I listed.

In the car about to hit the road.
It was a crazy trip because we left around 5pm on friday and didn't get home until 7 ish on Sunday... translation- LOTS of driving to and from, back to back. BUT it was worth it because we got to visit Joseph Smith's family farm, the temple, the sacred grove, the hill comorah AND Niagara Falls. Sadly it was just the American side, but David and I are planning to tackle the Canadian side of Niagara falls later when he FINALLY has some free time. 

Being entertained by Grandma.

Totally awesome angry bird hats. Davie actually left it on for 2 seconds while we took pictures. BONUS!

I was going to stuff all of the happenings from over the weekend into one post, BUT Davie is in bed and David is waiting for me on the couch with an episode of one of our guilty pleaser television shows that is in it's final season. Come on, I mean seriously what would you choose?

It Pays to Fly

This is a small update. When we flew in December to Idaho for Christmas I lost Davie's bag, or rather the airlines did. I handed the lady at the check in counter both of my bags, she took both of them and put them on the conveyer belt... but apparently she didn't bother to tag the one that had Davie's things in it. This really wouldn't have been THAT sad except for the part where I had ALL of Davie's brand new clothes in that suitcase! UGH! Seriously, I had just spent about $50 at Old Navy on some of the CUTEST stuff ever (I know lots of caps in this paragraph just stick with me), but the tricky part was all of his new clothes were on like SUPER clearance (like $1 for pants etc). Also he had finally started to fit into some of the really cool clothes I had been slowly picking up at our local second hand store. I was also completely convinced that Davie's brand coat, Toledo Rockets hat and gloves, and monster hat were all in his suitcase as well.  

Dino pajamas- gone

cute monster hat- gone

I can barely move my arms!

He is pouty in this picture because he did NOT like wearing his coat :(

The super cute Ralph Lauren puff vest was like $3 or something there was no way I could replace it for that!

So when I got to sit down and write out the report for his luggage I wrote out what his clothes were worth I wrote down the cost of his clothes originally because I knew there was no way I would replace them for what I had paid. When I initially started searching for my bag the lady who worked for SouthWest told me that technically it wasn't their fault that my bag was lost because it wasn't tagged... WHAT!? I laughed but only because I was ready to strangle her, which would have been unfortunate because she was being helpful and was pretty nice. It was just frustrating to be told that the airlines may not have been "technically responsible" when their employee was the reason for my bag not being tagged. 

no more polar bear outfit 

This candy cane stripped outfit was one I was more upset about! It was soooo cute and I figured there was no reason why I couldn't put a girl in it as well because it was so adorable. I liked the hoodie outfits at Old Navy as you can see below and they just happened to ALL be on sale. 

David's mom and I spent the evening picking up clothes for Davie in the likely event that Davie's bag was not found. Initially they said that both of my bags were gone, but VERY thankfully I got mine within the same day and from that moment on I decided to accept the fact that I would never see Davie's bag again. That way if it came it would be a pleasant surprise and if not I wouldn't be anymore disappointed than I already was. When I got my suitcase lo and behold there was Davie's coat! This is the second time that I randomly packed something important in a suitcase that was not left or lost somewhere else. The first time Davie's blessing outfit was packed in David's suitcase, so the outfit had not gotten left behind in Detroit with the rest of Davie's stuff. This is where my spastic packing skills comes in handy ;)

Grandmas sent these fuzzy jammies and he wore them like twice before we packed them for the trip. The Long story short is about a week and a half ago I got a letter in the mail from Southwest that said they had received my claim and were (get this) actually planning on sending me money to reimburse me!!! I got the actual check this week, so even though I was irritated at Southwest they took care of my problem pretty quickly for it being the holiday season and all that jazz.

 I was soooooo happy! So even though we had already basically replaced Davie's entire suitcase it was ok because this meant I was getting paid for the stuff we had to buy... again. And Davie lived clothed happily ever after :)