Celebrity Sightings

I’ve never been particularly popular, but every time we go to UT, I feel like a celebrity.  We have more things to do and people to see than time to do it.  Every spare minute was filled with summer activities and excitement. Even a last minute sick cancellation got filled up pretty fast. Without nap time, we wouldn’t have had any down time at all.

We were lucky enough to be booted from a stay in the condo on the drive up and had to make alternative arrangements----this meant an overnight stay with the Reynolds in Vegas! I love how months can go by and we’re still friends like it’s been no time at all.

Our first few hours in Utah were filled with Kemp family fun. We had a Pioneer day potluck and firework show.

Every single member of my immediate family was there (and also a few cousins, too), with the exception of Elder John in Costa Rica.  With 25 of us, this was no small feat.

 Unfortunately, none of the pictures from that evening turned out well, but trust me, we had a blast.

But it may have been too much fun.  Liam had a hard time sleeping that night and seemed like he had a fever.  He would cry unless I was holding him.  Since this was the middle of the night and we were both tired, he ended up in our bed (something that hadn’t happened since our trip last summer). I was finally able to sneak away around 7 or 8 am and took this gem of my two boys:

Gotta love the belly on that little guy. I LOVE how cuddly and sweet my toddler is. Even still, he likes to cuddle after he wakes, sometimes we’ll just sit in the rocking chair for an hour.

Between the BAR and other activities, the next few days were totally packed.

My little brother Peter and I ran the Deseret 10K together. The last time we raced together, it was a mile fun run at his elementary school when he was in Kindergarten and I was 14. We won (it was around an 8-9 minute mile from what I remember).

Peter stayed with me for all but the last mile, and finished only a minute behind me.  He beat out his cross-country team members he was supposed to run with (guess it’s good we ran together, then). We were able to visit my old cross-country coach as well---apparently, Peter and I do the same head tilt when we get tired.

My brother Arthur and I took Liam to the park while Steven was busy studying. Liam headed straight for some other kid’s bike. Surprise, surprise.  It’s no wonder it’s his favorite word.  We have to go on a bike ride nearly every day.

No trip to UT is complete without a Man Basket activity.  We took the babies swimming in the morning, and met for an evening frozen yogurt and Jordan Landing exploration.

 

While Steven was taking the BAR, we used our time in Utah to visit friends and family. One of my good friends from middle/high school, Laura, took the opportunity to take our children to Wheeler Farm.  It was a big hit. Our next item of business will to be to take Liam to the LA Zoo with our new season pass. Gotta love Groupon---it cost us less than $30.

Liam was particularly fond of being able to celebrate Traci and Abby’s birthday. Normally, he’s an awesome eater, but for some reason, he really only ate junk food on this trip.

We saw almost everyone we wanted to, and to those we missed (i.e. Betsy, Angie, Anna, etc.), we are deeply sorry. One day, we hope to move back here and can see you all the time.

The way home from the cabin (post coming soon) had to be a 3-day trip. Oh joy.  I had run out of blood thinners and wasn’t allowed to be in the car for more than 4-5 hours. It was especially hard since Steven had sprained his ankle so Liam and I had to switch off driving so I could prop up my legs.

This lucky break gave us extra time in SLC to see my family, and an impromptu morning with Donovan, Cortney, Elanor, and Stella. We almost convinced them to come back to CA with us, but Donovan figured that he had better go to work instead. Bummer.

My brother Philip and his family stayed at our place in CA while we were at the cabin. Steve had borrowed a watch from my mom and we met up for lunch in Vegas to get it back to her. We had to miss Abby’s baptism that weekend since Steve was taking the MPRE in LA the next day. Liam ate his entire Happy Meal and spent the rest of the time pointing out all the “bikes”.

I probably say this every time, but visiting makes me want to move back to Utah. It would be nice to get to see you guys up there anytime we want instead of cramming it all in a few days of craziness. And being able to afford a house and having family to watch William once and awhile would be a nice perk, too. There are lots of things I love about SoCal, but it’s never really felt like home.  Hopefully one day, we’ll be there.

Last Minute Getaway

Since 4/5 appointments cancelled on me last weekend, we threw all the necessities into the car and drove up Saturday morning to St. George to spend the long weekend with the entire Garff family.

Though it was crowded (8 adults, and two 1-year-olds in a three-bedroom), we did have lots of fun. Except for the part where William decided not to sleep much (he wasn’t a fan of sleeping in the hallway) and a few traffic issues, there were numerous fun activities to enjoy.

Like Café Rio. Yum.

And the new park near the condo:

It was so fun, we went back again the next day. They had tons of spinning equipment that made us all VERY dizzy. William got off and could hardly stand up after. But he LOVED it.

Dizzy Billy

Walking to church---note how handsome my little boy is in his suit!

Hanging with Grandpa Bill:

We also went to Brigham Young’s winter home in St. George. This picture includes the entire Garff immediate family. We haven’t all been together since Christmas, so this was a treat.

We were going to go rock climbing, but it didn’t work out. Luckily, Silly Billy got in some climbing of his own before bed one day.

Our Silly Billy never fails to amuse us. Remember those Cars jammies? He insisted on wearing them when I put on his swim suit. So they ended up as a hat. Every time he sees them, he has to wear them. Usually the shorts go on his arms since he hasn’t quite figured out how to dress himself yet.

No Memorial Day trip is complete without a little swimming. Of course, we couldn’t resist.

These two cute cousins couldn’t get enough of each other last time they were together. This trip, however, was almost too much togetherness. We got them to share the spotlight for this camera, but we had a hard time getting them to share ANYTHING ELSE.Silly Billy decided he wanted to be just like dad. My boys are too cool for this pool!

Catch-Up from Christmas

Between Rita, the accident, buying a new car, a wedding, birthdays (Liam's, mine, my dad's, and Mary Jane's and Steven's within the next few weeks), our 4th anniversary, a trip to Utah, and Christmas, we’ve had a busy month.

As promised, here’s a bit of our Christmas catch-up.

Our complex had a “Dinner with Santa”. Basically free OSF dinner and Santa happened to be there. We went for the free dinner. If you know me well at all, you’ll know I’m not a huge Santa fan. Then again, neither was little Liam:

Once he got a candy cane, things were MUCH better.

Rita, the rat we bought when we lost our first baby, passed away on December 15th after a possible stroke. We knew she was getting older, and it was a blessing to have her passing before our trip, instead of during. We will miss her.

Steve’s youngest brother, Kevin got married on December 18th in SLC. Since Steven couldn’t really take much time off work, and finding a dog-sitter over the holidays is practically impossible, we drove to St. George on the 17th after a half day of work/errands. Luckily, Kevin and Mary Jane picked a 1:00 sealing time, so we didn’t even have to wake up particularly early before heading up, stopping at my parents’ house to drop off the dogs and get a quick haircut, and meet Kristi and the temple at 12:30 so she could watch the baby.

It was really nice to go to the temple again, and the reception was tons of fun. Liam especially liked the lights:

And of course, his favorite person in the whole world (after Mom), Daniel.

He also spent about 20 minutes pushing chairs around and eating dinner (he ate a large adult portion of food and lemonade), but we were having too much fun watching that we couldn’t get any pictures.

And we all really like our new sister/aunt, Mary Jane.

Steven had to fly back to work the day after the wedding and wouldn’t be back until Christmas Eve, so Liam and I spent some fun times meeting our new friend Jared Horrocks.

And spending lots of time with his Kemp cousins.

We mustn’t forget the Man Basket Society Annual Christmas Party. As always, a big hit. The theme this year was Fondue, and inadvertently “Domestic Goddess” as evidenced by the apron, soaps, Christmas towels, fancy dish gloves, and cookbook I received.

Not pictured, but we also went to Cafe Rio with Mike, Catherine, and Daniel. Liam ate his own meal (a quesadilla). Luckily for us, a Cafe Rio opens about 30 minutes away next week.

Christmas Eve morning, after a late night flight for Steven, we went out to breakfast with Mike Cook, and Cortney, Donovan, and Stella Wright. Unfortunately, we went too late for Eggs in the City, so settled for our old haunt, Blue Plate. Liam loved it (it was a toss up between the eggs and the tricycle).

Christmas Eve night was spent at the Annual Kemp Family Christmas Party at my brother Philip’s house. As always, a big hit.

Liam especially loved spending time with his “big-boy” cousins:

And playing Christmas carols with Abby.

My brothers Dan and Arthur put on a Christmas puppet show. It was pretty funny. Wish I videotaped it.

Liam thought it was pretty interesting, too.

And so did all the grandkids, who then set out to do their own puppet show.

But they didn’t quite get the idea of hiding behind the stage.

Baby’s 2nd Christmas was a hit. And contrary to popular belief, he did enjoy his presents more than the wrapping paper. But that's only because we are really good gift givers.

But he enjoyed the candy quite a bit more.

After presents, we dropped the baby off at my parents’ house while they kindly watched him while we went skiing with the Garffs.

My parents gave Liam some toys, but his favorite that day were the dinosaurs (seen here featured with his dinosaur suit from Angie, my friend from middle school).

The Garff Family party was on Boxing day, since Kevin and Mary Jane didn’t get back from their honeymoon in time to celebrate earlier. This too, was lots of fun.

It also included lots of sugar. Liam liked to chase the cookies.

After the party, we watched Kevin and Mary Jane open their wedding gifts. Liam couldn’t get enough of the tissue paper.

Liam also decided it was funny to smell my feet. I promise I had recently showered and have on clean socks. Not sure where this came from, but it was pretty funny.

Unfortunately, Steven had to get back to work. After a few hours of work and play, and quick stop at the Ryberg Family Christmas party on the 27th, we drove to St. George. We then spent the first half of my birthday driving home. Better than spending it with Steven at work all day, I guess. Luckily, we made it home without incident (unless you count leaving my wallet at my parents’ house).

Steven got me a pair of Nike Frees for my birthday. I am super excited to use them.

After work that day, my cute boys took me out for a steak dinner at Flemings.

Liam probably ate $10 of my $45 steak and quite a bit of Steve’s mac and cheese and his own truffle (and a good chunk of mine).. This kid has expensive taste.

All in all, it was a good holiday season. I’ll be glad to see it go to have life slow down a bit though. Until next year.