Good Bye 2018!

December 30

We left Tucson around 10:30 on the 25th and enjoyed some time at Dan and Sam’s in PHX with Kassie’s parents and some extended family. Hinckley worked out in the back on some of his treasure digging kits and got all filthy, and Addie basically wanted me to hold her the whole time that she wasn’t out there with him. We stayed the night in a hotel which was very difficult, Greyson didn’t sleep much. But the hot breakfast in the morning pretty much made up for it, and we left in good spirits to Provo via Las Vegas. There was snow waiting for us in Provo, but the roads were clear. The next day it snowed lightly all day and was ideal for the kids who were elated beyond description. We went out 4 different times to play and enjoyed sledding down the front hill and doing snow angels and all those good snow things we've missed.

Loving Christmas

First Christmas

A family portrait to remember (or forget) 

Ghastly and Applejack

Portrait of a Squeezable

Baby joy at Museum of Curiosity 

Front yard sledding

Snow snow snow 

Skiing with Mom and Dad

Cookie baking with Nana

With Grandpa H

Happy new year! 

Skiing with Hinckley and Nana

Scary Dino Mouth

Hinckley's first ski run

BYU Dino Museum

Awesome Provo Rec

Pumpkee in his winter gear

Sledding break

We’ve had fun in Provo, playing in the snow, going to the Museum of Natural Curiosity, Bean museum, baking cookies, swimming at the rec center, skiing, and more. The kids did a really good job at church, and having Nana and Grandpa sitting with made things so much nicer. It was fun to see a few OH1 stalwarts and it seemed like a fitting place for our final 3 hour church experience. Nothing as constant as change! I had a wonderful time with Mom and Dad at India Palace and later skiing at Sundance. I'm grateful for their examples and leadership of our family.

December 23

This week brought an exciting event. Hinckley was chewing on something late in the day and pop! one of his middle bottom teeth came out, and boy he was excited about it. He even came to our room in the middle of the night to say he was too excited to sleep. I guess anticipating Santa AND the tooth fairy was too much. Usually he sleeps solid through the night and can’t be roused very easily come day time. Addie was pretty jealous of Hinckley’s missing tooth, but was able to overcome it and also was excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit their room.

United in Christmas Eve Excitement

Missing tooth photo op

Princess house at Festival of lights

We went to “Cocoa and Cookies” at the clubhouse and enjoyed a few minutes of The Grinch while burning our mouths on hot chocolate and stuffing sugary morsels buttered in frosting down our throats. It cost 5 dollars which felt like a rip off…but the kids had fun. They are really excited about Christmas this year, and Hinckley announced to me that he would catch Santa on Christmas.

December 9
This week the icy arm of sickness struck our home. First with Hinckley, then to Addie, and on to myself, Kassie, and Greyson. Nothing like sickness infesting the whole house to make one grateful for good health! (and good sleep). Despite this, I was able to go to the pancake breakfast at our community clubhouse to see Santa. Addie asked for My Little Ponies and Hinckley asked to be surprised.

I was able to meet my new boss who came into town. She lives in the bay area and seems to have lots of energy and ideas, so that is encouraging. Kassie and I had a really fun time Saturday night at the Intuit Christmas party eating fancy tasty food and taking goofy photo booth pictures. We were grateful for a brave and capable babysitter who agreed to put to bed 3 sick kids.

Backporch fun

We watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with the kids and Hinckley declared it to be one of his new favorites. Addie tapped us and said, "Parents, this is a funny movie!" During church Sunday Hinckley had to draw a picture of a spaghetti tornado with people flying everywhere. Greyson has made some serious moves to looking like he may want to do more than sit the rest of his days, but he still isn't crawling or anything. That said I've had 2 battles with the new baby gate we bought to guard the stairs and with wincing dread have made enough holes in the drywall to guarantee we will never see a penny of our deposit back.

Riding the Sahuarita Turtle with Nana

Grandparent reading

December 1
The kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement for Christmas. I set up a little Christmas snowflake projector (a big thing here in Arizona...holiday projectors) to shine on the front of the house and the kids went berserk with joy. It is funny how excited they get about everything. The joys of a child. They also seem to still be recovering from Thanksgiving vacation and are super grumpy every morning and night. I hope that settles down soon? Probably in time for us to go to Utah for Christmas. Hinckley’s excitement is illustrated in a quote I pulled:

H: “I just have this thought in my head I can not get out! It won’t get out Dad!

Me: “What is it?”

H: "I just can’t wait for Christmas!”

Christmas baby

Addie wants "my little ponies" and Hinckley wants "to be surprised"

November 25
We had a great week in Colorado for Thanksgiving. The kids did a remarkable job on the drive to and from, and everything turned out great. We enjoyed going to some parks, Garden of the Gods, library story time, many crafts with Grandma Burnside, Family movie (Ralph Breaks the Internet), archery shooting with GrandDad Burnside, Twister (among other games), hunting virtual Pokemon with Aunt Liana, and more. Greyson has developed a new habit of crying uncontrollably for 2 hours most nights and so that was a lowlight...hopefully that habit doesn't continue much longer. We are grateful for family and friends and so much more. 

Gobblers

November 18
Writing from Colorado today. We arrived Saturday night in the nick of time as an ice storm had moved in and we had lots of fog for the last 1.5 hours of driving. Glad we made it safe and sound, and in one day of driving! This week went by quickly due to it being a 4 day week with Veteran's day. It was a high tempered veteran’s day, and we had to cancel our trip to Madera canyon which caused even more tears and fits. That said, we were still able to go to Peter Piper’s and play the arcade games and Hinckley got lots of tickets and was willing to share some of his candy and spoils with Addie. There was time to make pumpkin cookies when we got home and we had a good FHE from Kassie.

Bundled up in Co Springs

Relaxing, Daddy and Baby G

Garden of the Gods with Grandma and Grandad

The rest of the week was a blur of tithing settlement, a temple trip for me, packing the bags and pre-trip shopping, and Greyson teething. Despite the sub 50s mornings we are staying warm. We've started the heater a couple of times and we've broken out the winter clothes from under the stairs so going to the bus stop in the morning is just bearable now. Have a happy Thanksgiving!


November 11
Friday night Kassie and I enjoyed Tartuff, a play put on by Chris Will (guy in the ward) at the Pima Community College. We both really enjoyed it, and it was fun to go out and do something different.

A kitty and a monster at Pecan Festival

Saturday we went out to the Pecan Festival here in Sahuarita which was really crowded and busy, but the kids had lots of fun (till it was time to go). Prayers were answered at a wheel-spinner station where they both won obnoxious clappers they really wanted. We waited in line for quite some time to get faces painted, but they loved it. Unfortunately it appears 1 day later that Hinckley has some kind of allergy related to whatever was in that face paint…needless to say though that giving your kid Benadryl before Stake Conference is actually a great idea regardless of whether they have allergic reactions on their face or not! Good learnings for the future - haha. We were able to stay in Stake Conference, and hear most of the talks. I often wonder if this particular meeting of the church is like fasting, a specific opportunity to help our spirits gain mastery over our physical bodies/minds. It is a true test for me.

Yesterday Addie and I were able to go on our “date” and as usual she requested frozen yoghurt. After that we went to the library and read some books together. After she said, “Thanks Daddy, that was fun!” and it really was. Another event this week was flu shots for the kids.

Kassie told me all about the big event. Greyson didn’t even notice his toe being pricked, and when they stabbed his thigh he had a brief moment of sadness but that passed. Hinckley was terrified and fled to a corner in the room like a wounded animal trapped in a cage. When asked if she would be brave and go next Addie chirped “Uh huh!” and stepped up. After the shot however she hollered with pain and moaned in agony, the result of which was not likely lost on Hinckley who - if possible - became even more terrified. The nurse spoke firmly to him to come over and be still so she wouldn’t hurt him, but it took her and Kassie (who was also holding Greyson) significant effort to grab him and hold him down. He screamed bloody murder and after he had been given the shot he continued to deliver extremely high volumes of grief and noise which were only very nearly matched by Addie’s increasing sorrow and now Greyson’s cries. As Greyson shrieked he had one of his breathing spells and passed out for a couple seconds. The reboot left him limp and exhausted…but happy again! Kassie led the ragged party from the room through the office and to the car their was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I can only wonder what people thought happened in that room. Amputation? Open heart surgery on live children? Kassie reflected that the reaction was so extreme that it was comical, which helped her handle the whole thing without going nuts. I’m wondering if it would be better for them to get the flu than go through that experience…


November 4
Despite some sickness we had a great Halloween evening. Hinckley was so cute in that he wanted to “trick” some of the homes we went to. He’d hide around the corner and then jump out saying “Raarrr!” Meanwhile Addie would go up to the door and in her small voice chirp “Trick or Treat!” She was dressed in a princess costume with a crown, and the infection on her face gave her a slight “zombie princess” look. Hinckley was a ghost-ghoul of sorts and wore his special skeleton gloves and Dracula teeth. Greyson was "Boss Baby" and helped Kassie pass out treats to folks here at home while we were out. Addie and Hinckley both sacrificed to the great pumpkin this year, and were overjoyed the next morning with the consequences.

Family Halloween (Pirate, princess, boss baby, Alice, Ghost)

Ready to Trick-or-Treat

Everyone (except myself) has gone through some round of sickness and is now on a treatment plan with some form of antibiotic. Addie’s face is close to being healed I think, both her and Hinckley’s impetigo infection has cleared up drastically once we got the right drugs. Addie's and Kassie's strep seem to be fully under control and I think we’ll all make it to church today which is an accomplishment. Greyson still wakes up crying uncontrollably a few times each night, but I think it is getting better despite his nose which runs forth like the great Mississippi.

October 29
We had a full week. My trip to the Philippines came to an end on Sunday evening and it was wonderful to join the family again after over a week of absence. Both Greyson and Addie came down with sickness a few days ago but they managed to give me a smile or two. Hinckley had a fall festival at school and he had a wonderful time at the ward trunk or treat on Friday. I had a great trip and accomplished all the goals I had set before leaving, so that feels really good. I'm grateful for the opportunity to go and meet the people that I've only met on video chat, and it was neat to see the energy and joy they bring to their work.

With friends in the Philippines 

Cool big statue in Cebu

Korean temple

October 20

The week zoomed by for us. Hinckley was one of the "Owls of the Month" at his school, a big honor! We had his first parent-teacher conference and his teacher showed us some of his work which was very impressive. Her favorite thing was a picture he had drawn and then he sounded out his own sentence which read "I like to order pizza from a monster." He is doing so well! One area we are trying to think about how to best help him with is how to be ok with mistakes and imperfections. Already even at this age, he seems to be very sensitive to any negative criticism and/or teasing, even when given in a supportive way.

Outstanding Owl Boy

Addie was happy to go back to school this week too, despite some fears and worries. She always leaves so happy and excited about school! She is so loving with Greyson and continues to show her developing opinion at random moments. Greyson is a jolly giant and cute as ever. His top two teeth have pretty much come in and we are giving him firmer things to try them out on at meal time. He loves laughing with his siblings!

I'm in Cebu Philippines now after a long and successful flight. I got to go to church this morning where I enjoyed the talks and reflected on the blessings we have been given. I'm excited to meet some of the agents who support Intuit calls, and see how I can help the team better prepare learning experiences for folks to be ready to help our customers. I'm amazed at their ability to learn English, and then Payroll too!

We had a wonderful final day before I left, going to Hinckley's recognition assembly in the morning and then up to the Marana Pumpkin Patch in the later afternoon. LIFE LESSON: go to the pumpkin patch on a weekday. I'll never go back to Saturday Pumpkin Match mayhem if I can help it! It was glorious and the kids had so much fun. Saturday, Sam (my sister in law) came down with her toddler to hang out with Kassie and the kids and they had a fun trip to the Children's Museum and stop by the bakery afterward.

Gathering Pumpkins at the Patch 

Rulers of the Hay Stack

October 14

We had a wonderful time in Flagstaff for the Kids' fall break. We hiked in some rain and a bit of hail, saw the remarkable Meteor Crater, drove up to some snow brushed quivering colored aspen trees, enjoyed treats and good food, and got lots of fresh mountain air. There were some difficult moments, but all in all the kids had a great time and it was wonderful to spend that time together as a family and enjoy some of God’s beautiful creations. We also enjoyed a visit with Granny and Grandpa on our way home!

A "Scary" tree in Flagstaff AZ

Joy in a Swing

Flagstaff Snow! 

There has been a lot of rain here which is highly unusual for this season - I believe it is the tropical storms that keep hitting the west coast. Our plan on Saturday initially was to go to the Marana Pumpkin Patch but we adjusted and went to Micheal’s to do a kids craft instead. The kids enjoyed that, and it went really well. We also cleaned the church. Kassie and I went and did Sealings before eating out at the Pita Jungle. More than any other time I’ve done that at the temple I was struck with the magnitude of the blessings offered in that ordinance. It truly does pass all understanding.

Fall break came and went super fast! Hinckley seems eager to return to school. He continues trying to read everything he sees and gets really excited about it. With Halloween coming up, his love of all things ghosts and monsters is reaching a new pinnacle and now includes mass amounts of art work, writing, and discourse. Addie is not far behind and exhibits extreme passion in motivating any and all who will listen to go to the halloween sections of the store etc. to view all the stuff. She has really started dancing more often, frequently to a song only she seems to hear. Greyson claps mightily for himself and anyone who will watch, rewarding the world with his happy smile. Two teeth have peeked through the top of his mouth so he now has two sides of the mouth to grind up his large quantities of food.

Meteor Crater

October 8

Greyson has figured out how to clap and he loves it! When we clap he gets his huge toothy grin on and begins wiggling everywhere. He has also started waving occasionally, often melting the hearts of the Arizona retirement community at the store and in most excursions outside of the home. Addie and Hinckley are obsessed with all he does and especially Addie fawns over him to an alarming degree - often requiring restraint on our part. 

Home Depot Creations

I captured some of Hinckley’s funny comments this week.

Hinckley: Look! They dressed their car like a ghost!

Kassie: That’s just a car cover.

Hinckley: I know that!


Hinckley: For lunch I ate my pizza crust

Greg: Most kids eat everything but that!

Hinckley: I'm not a normal human

Overall it was a successful conference weekend, and we were able to watch all the sessions with minimal chaos. Bribing for silence with candy during each talk may have had something to do with it… We went for a walk in the breezy morning on Saturday and enjoyed some rain later in the day and on Sunday. Addie got a bad fever and knocked out a couple times during Conference and Hinckley went out in the rain and danced and puddle-jumped which was quite cute. As always the sessions were uplifting and we were grateful to participate.

Sweater weather

Addie's Preschool Poster

One of the last swimming trips of the year

PJ Mask pile

 
September 30

We had a great time going to the TSO just for kids event yesterday. The premise of the story was set in “Brass Town” and the members of the quartet heard a space alien was among them, one who didn’t have valves. The Trombone traveled from the planet Slide then came and surprised them but then they realized that he could join them despite his slide. It was hilarious and very clever. I had to take Addie out at one point because she kept yelling “I hate this!” and “It is too loud!” Eventually she calmed down and seemed to have a good time. It is fun to see how much Hinckley is getting into it as he is finally old enough to hold his attention on a thing for longer than 1 minute. Greyson wiggled quite a bit when the music played, but especially when people clapped. 

Hinckley is really getting into writing and reading now. Yesterday when I came home he had started making “notes” for everyone. Writing out small messages and ripping them out of his notebook to deliver. For example, Addie confessed “I peed on the stairs” regarding an earlier experience in the day. Hinckley immediately went to his prolific pen and documented the event with a note or “certificate” for Addie which said something like “Pee pee pee pee, you pee.” Yesterday he was drawing pictures, and then writing out labels before then taping them up in random places throughout the house. He loves sounding out words he sees on signs and other objects. His teacher gave him special accolades yesterday for sounding out words in his journal and writing them out the best he could. It is really incredible and I’m proud of how hard he is working and he seems to enjoy it as well!

Our neighbor, Monika, got home again from another trip and as she often does - came over and delivered loads of goodies for the kids. Kassie waters her plants while she is out. It is amazing how giving this lady is. This time around it was a bunch of My Little Pony stuff and Addie went bonkers with glee. Hinckley was quite jealous despite the fact it is for him too. Addie has developed quite the 3 year old temper tantrums. She throws herself into violent fits at the mere thought of wrong-doing, and it takes lots of breathing exercises and reminding myself that she is 3 for me to handle it. Always learning!

Greyson has been struggling to go down for naps and sleep in general as he has still be overcoming some teething and likely some sickness (everyone accept myself was sick last Sunday). That said he is still quite the jolly elf and has developed quite the cute giggle. He loves sitting up and handling various objects, preferably non-traditional toy items. He continues to increase in girth and magnitude and it is adorable. 

Cuteness Feeding Time

September 22

Greyson is teething again, it looks like three new ones are coming in on the bottom poor guy. The big news for him is he can now sit up by himself. He is loving the new view of the world. We all attended Hinckley’s school open house this week and he was so excited to show us his room and introduce us to some of his friends that he saw. It was really cute how eager he was. Addie enjoyed seeing things too, though it was a lot to take in with all the noises and people so she wanted me to hold her for much of the time. For dinner they got happy meals from Micky Ds, and both were elated when they got “My Little Pony” toys in their sacks. They sure know how to get to the heart a child at that place. 

Chubby Time

This weekend I took Hinckley and Addie to PHX and we stayed at Granny and Grandpa’s house. I always feel so comfortable and peaceful there. I love that we can visit them enough that both the kids are starting to recognize it and will remember it in years to come. We had a great time visiting Granny and Grandpa, and going to the Children’s Museum in PHX yesterday. There was face painting, a giant tree house, a foam noodle forest, puppets and dress-ups, a craft area with a gigantic robot kids could take turns painting, and more. Hinckley and Addie had a blast, despite them both being tired and slightly sick. We met Austin Halvorsen (he goes back to BYUI on Wed now that his internship is winding down) in downtown Tempe for lunch and it was great to catch up with him and see that part of the valley too. I think the last time I was there was for one of Ryan's solo performance concerts. Hinckley declared later, “Lets move to Tempe!” When asked why he said, “Because it has that restaurant.” He must have liked the experience as well. Kassie contracted some sickness earlier this week and it has only gotten worse. Then yesterday she got some sort of stomach bug that appears to be food poisoning or something of the sort. It is quite dreadful. 

Zooming in the pencil car

September 16

Hinckley is in the midst of an explosion of creativity with art, letters, and numbers and it is a marvel to see what he comes up with on a daily basis. He produces drawing after drawing, and yesterday also created a few original robot creatures with his legos and today he created his own paper "gingerbread man" after seeing Addie's President Nelson paper gingerbread paper man she got in nursery (of which she treats like one of or favorite dolls/stuffed animals). 

Scientist Hinckley experimenting with colors

President Nelson Gingerbread man and more

Addie insisting on being called “Princess Adelaide” the other day. She had her date with Kassie yesterday, they went and got lipstick and nail polish from the story and after stopping for frozen yoghurt they came home and applied the things to their lips and nails. Kassie said Addie was going bonkers with excitement at the store when she learned she could pick the lipstick. It is pretty cute. 

Mommy Addie date and fingernails

Greyson continues to wow onlookers with his exorbitant level of cuteness. His two bottom teeth stick out but there are no other teeth at the moment so it is quite adorable when he graces you with a grin. I got to spend some time with him a couple mornings this week as Kassie had a doctor appointment and went to the temple, and he seems more comfortable with me feeding him after that extended exposure.

We had a fun trip to the zoo despite it being 102 degrees. The Rhino rolled in the mud for us and we saw lots of other animals. Every time we came upon and animal and Addie spotted it she would yell at the top of her lungs, “I see the (animal)! I see the (animal)!” and she would sometimes jump up and down while pointing. She really loves the creatures of the earth to be sure. While we enjoyed seeing the animals, we were all pretty grateful to get into the AC-flowing van and drive home when the visit was over. I had fun playing pickle ball with some fellows from the ward.
September 9

Our labor day was wonderful as we enjoyed amazing weather up in Madera canyon for some walking and exploring, and then I took Hinckley and Addie to the pool for the last day of the water slides for this year. They had a lot of fun jumping and swimming and sliding.

Hinckley has developed a love of “My Little Pony” almost equal to “Pokemon” which is quite hilarious. Both he and Addie love it if I play any songs from the movie on my phone, and Addie will dance a bit to it as well which is super cute. Fun to have our own little Bronie here.

On Saturday, Hinckley chose swimming and McDonald’s ice cream for his Daddy/Hinckley date. I brought my goggles and we had a blast jumping into the pool, swimming underwater, and doing lots of other things. It is really fun to have that time for just him, and I know he really soaked it up having all that attention. I’m hopeful that we can continue these dates with each kid while we have them at home, it will likely get more difficult in the coming years but I think it can be so important. 

Addie and Greyson continue to develop in their own ways. Greyson had two more "breathing spells" (randomly stops breathing and turns blue), but now that we know to expect it it wasn't as alarming as the first time. Kassie just blew on his face multiple times and moved him around and he came to just fine. It is a very strange, but apparently common? thing.

Kassie and I went (and instigated!) with some friends from work and the ward to an escape room in Tucson. If you have never done one before we recommend it! It was fun and different, and I’m glad we set up and made it happen. Contrary to what we used to think, they aren't built to be scary, but more like puzzles and riddles to be solved. Kassie had some women and kids over for a playgroup on Friday as well. We are feeling quite good about or attempts to be social. Being without facebook has been really refreshing/interesting/different for both of us in different ways, and I am enjoying the added time/attention to things that I may have been missing before.

September 2

Addie is loving her preschool, and there she has developed an opinion about her name. Today in nursery the leaders informed me that Addie stopped the class with this comment: “Can I say something? I want to be called by my full name, it is Adelaide, not Addie.” She has been learning nursery rhymes and it is extremely cute to hear her recite "Jack and Jill" and others.

Hinckley and Greyson continue to develop in their own fun ways. Hinckley had his first "sick" day from school, it turns out he really wan't that sick. So we are learning how too evaluate the veracity sick claims, it is much harder than I thought. We went camping up on Mount Lemmon on Friday night, Greyson's first foray into the wild! We had a great time up on the mountain. It was about 30 degrees cooler, and the clouds rolled in during the evening and gave us a small sprinkling. It was beautiful and the kids loved that it was like we were in a real cloud. 

Camping Time

Lil' Camper's First Adventure

August 26

I’m amazed at Hinckley's development now that school has started, it just seems to have exploded to a new level of speech, art, skill, and more. After reading "Oh the Places You'll Go" he frequently draws large and colorful pictures from scenes of that book and affectionately calls them "Dr. Suess pictures". I'm really excited with how eager he is to draw and spend time putting his imagination on paper.

Boy in his element

Yesterday Addie and I went bowling for our scheduled date. With wonderful luck, it happened to be free bowling day for families, along with free pizza and a drink. Score! Addie and I had a lot of fun, and it was very cute to see her having such a good time. As we arrived she said, “Bowling is the best thing ever!” Which if funny because I don’t recall her loving it that much. We had fun bowling, and then she wanted to play on the arcade machines and had tons of fun hitting buttons and so forth. Last week Hinckley had a date with Kassie where they went and saw the latest Hotel Transylvania movie. It is really fun to go out with these kidlings.

Bowling Queen