This week we enjoyed having some of the Bishopric over for a visit and Kas and the kids had a few more playdates with folks in the ward. Everyone has been incredibly warm and welcoming and we feel really grateful. On Friday we went on our first date out of the house and the kids did great with the babysitter. For our date we went to The Zookeeper's Wife which was super intense (too much so?), about a family in Warsaw Poland during WW2. The movie theater nearby somehow stays in business . . . there was hardly a soul there and it was Friday night! We went to get a treat afterwards but everything other than a bar was closed! I guess we don't live in a college town anymore.
Yesterday we had a full day of going to a stake service activity, and later went on a nature hike at Sabino Canyon (right near Saguaro National Park) and enjoyed looking at all the different types of cacti and plants (including Mormon Tea). We got a double stroller and I took it for a run yesterday morning. It was below 60 so we all needed jackets :)
Double Joy Stroller
This week at work I had an intensive workshop all about Criterion Referenced Instruction. It was great to have so much to do and to learn the framework I will be using here at Intuit. We still loving everything here and we are having a good time.
May 7, 2017
We hit over 100 degrees this week but are happy that it is cooling off this weekend and next.
Hinckley and Addie are doing great, and I think everyone is feeling fully settled here at home now. Kas and the kids took a few visits into "town". They had a field trip with a group of preschool kids to Krispy Kreme to see donuts being made (and eat some too of course). They went to a library in Tucson and Hinckley got another book on caves. He was “delighted” that there was more about erosion. That guy is hilarious. They also tried out a splash pad in Tucson and had a great time.
Putting on gardening gloves
Addie loves vegetables and the other night she didn’t want to eat the unhealthy garlic bread I had brought from the store, nor the yummy pasta noodles, or her milk, only the small peas Kassie added to the noodles as an after thought. She points at what she wants and makes herself known! That reminds me of when we had a yummy rice dinner and all she wanted was the asparagus that we cut up for her. She had multiple helpings. She loves to do as Hinckley does, and is always saying “Hinkeee!” in the morning when she can’t see him (since he wakes up much later than her usually). I enjoy the time I usually have with her in the morning as I make breakfast and get things ready for the day. She usually cuddles her bunnies, explores things in the living room, or begs for “gulk” (milk).
Inside the bowels of Colossal Caverns
Yesterday afternoon was momentous as we went on Hinckley’s (and Addie’s) first ever cave visit. We went to Colossal Caverns and it was great! Hinckley chatted the whole time earning several smiles from the other cave visitors with us on the tour. He was begging from the start to see the stalactites which was really cute. Half way through the tour he turned to Kassie and said, “Mom, this is really amazing!” Our little 3 year old is quite amazing I’d say. Addie seemed to enjoy it too, and they both pointed at the dark shadows and the shapes with lots of energy. We also visited Mission Xavier which Hinckley and Addie seemed to think it was pretty neat.
Cave entrance excitement
Getting ready to hike the cave
San Xavier Mission
May 14, 2017 This week Kas and the kids came to visit me at work so Kassie could get her biometric screening which they were doing at work. It was fun to see those cheery faces in a different setting! Friday was schedule the Father's and Son's campout, and after lots of deliberating I decided to cut it back to just a camp out in our backyard. H and I walked to a nearby park to "stargaze" which was really fun, and then I read him some books and told some stories . . . and then spent the next hour naming every shadow, shape, and sound in the tent till I thought there was nothing left to describe. Hinckley was quite scared and we finally ended up going inside and he went right to sleep in his bed, and I quite happily got into mine. Maybe next year! ha ha.
Getting ready to not sleep in the backyard
Mommy and Hinckley Playing Trains
Yesterday I was trying to get Hinckley to begin getting ready to go to the pool, and in an effort to not be nagging and also fun (something I need to exert more energy to doing) I spoke as if I was his flip flops, trying to hide from him. Not only did that work to get him to find them and put them on, but he wanted to “talk” to his flip flops for the next 2 hours. As we drove to the pool he was “showing” them everything out the window, and when we returned from swimming he introduced them to Jack and “Mighty Mac” (the two diggers who currently work his mini construction site he has established out in the rocks and dirt of our backyard). As you can tell, he is in full blown imagination mode. He is also quite anti to eating anything other than milk - I got that book Lucy recommended and began reading last night and hoping there will be some insights we can work on.
Addie follows H around all over the house, giggling and messing with anything he touches. She has even started asking to "Pee! Pee!" and wants to just sit on the toilet. She loves dancing around and showing off during scripture study time and it is hard to get upset that she wont' listen . . . we'll keep working on that. I am proud of myself for learning how to make a pig tail in her hair in a regular basis, and am getting a little better every time I try. She is a patient model for me!
Hangin' with Grandpa Great
May 28, 2017 This was a different week as I was in Mountain View CA for most of the week for work while Kassie stayed home with the kids while getting over sickness. It was fun to see Ryan for a few minutes during my layover in San Diego! Intuit treated me very nice during my week there, and I got a more full orientation which helps be better understand how I can build a career here and so forth.
I can't believe it has only been two months since Hinckley joined our family! It feels like a lot longer than that and he is growing so big way too fast! At his two month check-up today, he weighed 13 lb 12 oz and was 26 1/4 inches long. Apparently he is so tall that he is off the medical charts for his age. Hinckley is such a happy, easy-going baby. He smiles, laughs, and coos a lot. Having him in our family is so fun because he helps us realize the joy of everything once again. He smiles at bright colors or new sounds, enjoys kisses and cuddling, and squeals in delight at seeing nature when we take walks. Yesterday at church it was like he had a rubber neck; for about five minutes he just kept turning back and forth to take it all in--the sights, sounds, and smells. Today he had to get three shots at the doctor's office and even that didn't phase him for long. Oh he screamed and his face got redder than I have ever seen it. I held him and fed him afterwards and then ...
The final product of "make me a match" that I labored over exceedingly. I was actually sort of unhappy with it all not because of the performances of anyone but mainly just the story. We had to write all so quickly and the re-write it time after time and then storyboard it and really break it down. In all this rush I didn't realize till I was actually shooting it that I really didn't care much for the story as a whole and thus my motivation suffered greatly. I don't think I need to tell epic dramatic tales to care about them but I do want to have a strong point and also a specific conflict or issue that is approached and resolved. I am starting a screen writing class tomorrow and possibly I will gain some insights as to how to develop good stories. Ones that I care about. I don't know why I feel so interested in telling stories - particularly in that I haven't felt very confident with the stories I have come up with. It is extremely hard for me to come up ...
It is that time of day when the house is quiet, the table is half covered in pots, pans, and tuber ware with food scattered across. The car isn’t in the garage and the dog lies sleeping on the blue blanket. The sun lies somewhere back there, behind the cloud over those mountains. It makes some nice gold colors on the rocky face of the mountains outside of the window. I guess it is so nice because at this time of year there is a lot of plants and flowers in the back yard so the gold makes it seem sort of dreamlike. Yeah, I’ll do em I guess. Call it being nice or being bored. Does it matter? Approaching the sink I am nipped by the denting smell. The eggshells, scraps of mango, carrot peel, and chunks of tofu drip in my fingers. Oh yes, the trash is under the sink these days. Drip once, drip twice on the floor. The water in the frying pan trembles, shaking the crusty flakes of burnt egg. Yogurt and peanu...
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