The Qualters Visit Utah - June 7-12, 2013

Oh dear - I am still so far behind in posting. My sisters have already posted about Elaine's family's trip out to Utah months ago. I can only use the excuse of having a new baby for so long (and that obviously doesn't stop my sisters).

Anyway, here is my version of events. Since I use this blog mostly as an on-line journal and for my parents to see what is going on in our lives while they are living in Japan I'll do a quick recap of events from my perspective before I forget it all:

Friday, June 7th - Elaine and her family arrived in Salt Lake City and I picked them up from the airport. We were all able to fit into Brandon's dad's Expedition - I drove, Elaine sat in the front seat, Mike and the twins sat in the second row, and Lucy, Grey, and Maya sat in the third row. I bought an extra booster seat for Maya that Lucy is now using (she's been dying to upgrade from her car seat for months) and borrowed two extra car seats that Emily had. It was a tight squeeze but better than having Elaine and Mike have to pay for a shuttle or taxi, plus, I needed to get the car seats to them anyway.

Entertaining for large groups of people is not a great strength of mine but I offered to make dinner in order to take some of the work off of Emily who would be hosting them in her home and figured that Elaine, Mike, and the kids would be famished after all their travel. I knew Elaine and Mike would be okay with something laid back (like eating from their laps on the couch since I don't have enough table space) but I tried to prepare everything in advance so they wouldn't have to wait long. I had the garlic mustard chicken marinating (which I would quickly broil once we got home - I have to get a grill some day!), green salad and orzo pasta salad pre-made and in the fridge, and I just happened to have some mini-cheesecakes for dessert. It was slightly crazy in our tiny house with so many bodies but in a fun sort of way that makes it so exciting when family from far away comes to visit.

Once we finished eating, we moved the extra car seats to our Hyundai Sonata (which happened to be same car that Elaine and Mike had before they upgraded to their minivan) so that Elaine and Mike could have a vehicle for their family and some freedom to do whatever they wanted instead of renting a car or having me or Emily have to chauffeur them around. I wish I captured some pictures of our first evening but I was so busy running around preparing food and taking care of little Grey that it just didn't happen. You will just have to take my word that I cooked a yummy dinner.

Saturday, June 8th - We headed down to Provo for a Haleck Father's Day get-together at Timpanogos Park with Emily & Jared's family, Adam & Kim's family, Elaine & Mike's family, Heidi, and Vince & Peg (Vince & Peg would be out of town the next week for real Father's Day). It was so fun to have all of our little families together and especially with all the girls being so close in age. The Dayton family arrived exceedingly late but there was still plenty of food to be had - huevos rancheros and Jared's panni popo (Samoan coconut rolls) being the highlights. And Peg did not disappoint with all her crafts - there were paper ties to be colored, cute wooden frames to be decorated, hula hoops, and whipped cream shavings!

After all the eating and activities, you would think the girls would be exhausted but when we all got back to Emily's house, the dads took all the girls swimming while the moms took care of the babies. Elaine & Mike must have been doubly exhausted because they left the picnic early to hang out with a friend for a few hours and then drove back. After swimming, the girls all took a bath together and got in their jammies. I captured a few pictures from the day but not nearly as many as Emily posted on her blog HERE and Elaine posted on her blog HERE.

Elaine giving Corrigan some potty time.

Cousin bath time!

It kills me how much Maya looks like Elaine and Olive looks like Emily. We eventually separated the girls and made our way home to sleep in our own beds, looking forward to being reunited the next day.

Sunday, June 9th: We skipped out on our church (which starts at 11am - Emily's starts at 9am) to make it to lunch at Emily's house. But we still missed out on the photo shoot with all the other grandkids. We were all starving by lunch and destroyed Emily's tacos. Then we headed out to meet our cousin Megumi and her family for an outdoor walk at Bridal Veil Falls. Unfortunately, it was terribly hot outside (of course, Elaine and her family came out during a crazy heat wave) so it wasn't super enjoyable for us and the poor babies. How spoiled we are by air conditioning! Elaine and Emily got more than enough pictures of the day on their blogs HERE and HERE. I just got a few pictures of the girls after their bath time

Monday, June 10th: On Monday, Elaine and Emily drove up to Salt Lake City so we could all go to Discovery Gateway. Even though Maya had already been there a couple of years earlier on her last visit, she had been looking forward to going again. There just happened to be a sale on memberships there so Emily and I both got new 3-person memberships and were able to get Elaine and Maya in for free (babies under one are already free).

Grey was still in newborn sleepy stage and slept in his car seat.

The more mobile babies played around in the baby area.

The girls enjoyed a music class together.

Of course, they all wanted PINK scarves.

After the children's museum, we met up with Kim & Marlo at Liberty Park to have lunch and hang out. It was still hot so nap time was challenging with the babies. But the girls had fun playing in the splash pad there. Emily and Elaine again, posted many more pictures of the day HERE and HERE. Even though Megumi invited us all to dinner on Monday night at her new home in Orem, just Elaine and Emily went and we (the Daytons) opted out to avoid the drive and the late night away from home since we would be going down to Pleasant Grove the very next day.

Tuesday, June 11th: This was the Qualter's last day in Utah so we opted out of excursions for a more relaxing day. Well, most excursions...we did take a little trip to Discovery Park but that is close to Emily's house. The weather was still pretty warm but I don't think quite as warm as the other days. And we finally got a picture of all the grandchildren! This was the only picture that I got from the whole day but Elaine got quite a few more on her blog HERE.

It was so nice having Elaine and her family out to visit. I know that she loves DC so much and it is improbable that she would ever move to Utah but it would be so fun if the whole family lived close together. Who knows, maybe Emily and I can move back to the east coast someday so we wouldn't be so far apart. Here is hoping that our next Sturgis family get-together won't be separated by so many years and maybe we can get the entire family next time.

Tummy Time - June 1, 2013

Getting in some tummy time! Lucy used to hate tummy time so much but Grey has been okay about it. Maybe because he sees his older cousin doing it.

Rowe may be a lot bigger than his little cousin but Grey is catching up! Can't wait until these two are playing with each other.

Fire Safety Fair - May 31, 2013

We're always trying to stay busy around here, to keep little Miss Lucy happy. She gets bored if we hang around the house too much and is always wanting to play with friends, especially over at their houses. Since preschool and dance were all done, we always have our eyes open for things to do, especially free community events. Grey is happy to just tag along - I think he actually does better when we are out and about because there is so much to look at and he can just fall asleep in the carrier.

Besides Olive, Lucy's closest friend is Aeli. She lives just a few houses away from us and they play together so well! Aeli's mom, Marnie and I have become closer friends as well (it's always nice to have another mom to talk to/complain/whine) so both of our families (minus the dads) headed over to a Fire Safety Fair sponsored by the local fire station. It was free, close, convenient, and there was even free dinner! The girls are usually content to just play together at each other's houses and outside, but sometimes, you just need to get the kids (and yourself) out of the house.

There were some great photo ops at the event. We waited in line to catch this one but it didn't take too long. Fortunately, the event wasn't crowded at all and the weather was nice. Lucy was a little afraid to try it on at first, but after seeing the other kids do it, she gathered up her courage.

My little fire fighter! Of course, the gear was so heavy, she couldn't move at all.

A helicopter flew down and landed in the parking lot and all the kids were able to take a turn sitting inside. There is a real helicopter at Discovery Gateway as well but it doesn't work anymore and it was so much more exciting for the kids to see it come in for the landing and hear how loud it was.

Even though Aeli is just a year older than Lucy (almost to the day), she is so much taller than her! Lucy is quite small for her age and Aeli is really tall so they make quite the duo. Aeli's older brother, Willem is in several of these pictures with them and he probably feels like he has another sister with how much Lucy is over at their house. Lucy has told me on many occasions that she is going to marry Willem when she is older. Marnie and I joke about which kids in our neighborhood will date each other and since neither of us have any plans to move, it's a very real possibility that Lucy and Willem could date each other - he is just four years older!

The kids got the chance to check out an ambulance as well. It was funny that just a few months earlier, Grey and I were transported by ambulance to the hospital. Hopefully, that will be my first and last trip in an ambulance and no one else I know will ever have to be in one.

We got our free dinner (teriyaki chicken & rice bowls), watched fire dog demonstrations, got a free carbon monoxide detector, enjoyed beautiful weather, got out of the house, and the kids even got to spray a fire hose and knock down a fake wooden fire (while watering the lawn)!

Mission accomplished!!

Brother and Sister - May 29, 2013

This little girl loves her baby brother. She is very gentle with him so I don't have to worry about him with her (except the few times she has screamed in excitement into his car seat when he would sometimes be sleeping). There might be a little jealousy over the attention he receives from Mom and Dad (especially from Mom) but she never takes it out on him - she usually takes it out on Mom and Dad but I would prefer that instead of any negativity toward him.

It's been quite a transition for us with Lucy. I expected that things would be different but I didn't really anticipate how it would all exactly change. I always thought that I didn't like babies and just wanted them to quickly grow up, but I have found that I am really enjoying Grey and how simple he is. Just feed him, burp him, put him to sleep, and change his diapers and this guy is the smiley-est boy. He smiles at everyone. I think that I remember Lucy being like that as baby but there were so many other things I was stressed out with her as a new mother, I don't think I was able to enjoy it as much.

Lucy continues to be my challenge, maybe because the experiences I am going through with her are brand new and I'm not sure what to expect. I always thought that it would get easier as the kids got older and would laugh when other parents said it got harder. But they were right in a way. It's easier that I don't have to change her diapers or feed her but her needs are much more complex and at this time, she needs an incredible amount of both independence and attention.

Initially, my first instincts on dealing with Lucy when she acted up once her brother was born was to be really tough with her because she needs to learn to deal with it - our world does not revolve around her anymore and my attention is now shared. So sometimes, I just completely ignored her when she was acting up. But then I started to try to put myself in her shoes and be really compassionate and give her as much attention as I could. When I nursed Grey, instead of wasting time on the laptop like I usually did, I would read a book to Lucy. I would try to be super affectionate with Lucy as well and just really try to be patient with her. That has been my greatest challenge since Grey has been born, learning how to be more patient. When I get upset and start yelling and screaming or even just use an irritated voice with Lucy, it makes the situation worse.

So the challenge for me continues. I'm waiting for it to get better with her. But learning to be more patient myself. Some days are good and some are more difficult but at least my two babies love each other (so far).

Lucy's Preschool Graduation - May 22, 2013

Get ready for picture overload! I'm sure we have video of this but we also have a ton of pictures and I can't seem to whittle them down. Brandon and I both were able to attend Lucy's preschool graduation from West High Community Preschool with baby, Grey.

Here she is, walking in.

Sitting so thoughtfully! Glad she was in the front row. I think it is so funny that the girl sitting behind her is wearing a Merida dress from Brave. Hurray for parents who let their children dress themselves!

Maybe getting a little bored/tired.

We were so proud when she got up to count the numbers on the calendar. Because of the size of the class, not all students were able to participate by themselves in the graduation program but Lucy had a sizable part for herself and she did great. She is not shy and knew her days of the week.

We may have forgot to tie the back of her dress. She hates having it tied in her car seat while we are driving because the bow digs into her back but I guess we forgot to tie it back up when we arrived.

Our little fire girl!

Receiving her diploma and candy necklace. That is her teacher, Miss Celeste. Lucy loved her super pointy fingernails.

And yes, Lucy chose her outfit by herself.

I splurged on some flowers, mostly because it is nice to have an excuse to buy some and brighten up the house. So she felt special and I also got to benefit.

Walking into the after-party for some refreshments.

Proud girl!

Yummy snacks!

What a great experience preschool was for Lucy. She loved going and even though the schedule was a little annoying (it was twice a week but alternated from Monday/Wednesday to Tuesday/Thursday each week except sometimes, when it didn't). I was amazed at what she learned (her ABC's, counting, writing her name) and how she improved in her skills like coloring and cutting. Mostly, it may have been a nice break for me, especially so I could go food shopping in peace and go to my doctor appointments. Next week, Lucy starts preschool again and this year, it will be three hours a day, four days a week!