Family reunion?

So weddings and funerals are a way for my extended family to get together for a reunion. On a similar note, my grandmother died last Thursday after she was brought to the hospital. My uncle took her in because she stopped taking care of herself. There they found a mass in her heart, but since she was so frail, they decided not to run further tests. Later, on Thursday, things got worse really fast, and was suddenly she was gone. To me, this would be a relief for her. Now she gets to be with my grandfather, her mother, and sister. She will have her healthy body and mind again. So by Sunday night many on my Utah cousins were in town. So the older people, our parents, met at our grandma's house to discuss the funeral arrangements, while we young people met at my parent's house to talk and have fun. So we talked and had fun and ate "free" pancakes. Ok, so the story behind that is we were talking about where to eat on Monday, and Kathy said that we could go to IHOP and get $5 pancakes. I said that we could eat free pancakes here because there was a big bag of pancake mix sitting on Mom's counter. So as the night wore on we got hungry so we had pancakes. We also discovered that night how much alike we all were.



On monday we went to the Jelly Belly factory in order to entertain Michelle and Lua's children. Later that afternoon, I went with the Utah cousins to Old Sac and we wondered around and bought candy. Then we all went out to Golden Corral for dinner, and took up about a quarter of the restaurant. There we met up with Doug and Echael, and Michael, and Ben and Kim, who had come into town by then. Then we went to back to The House, and Julene had come into town. We discussed the funeral schedule for the next day, then went home.

The next morning (Tuesday) Nolan had to take Iliana to the doctor's to get her RSV shot (which they only offer on certain Tuesdays of each month, and require an appointment), while I took Oliver with me to the funeral. We got there a bit late, but in time for family prayer. At least I got there before the cousins who got lost using a GPS (Pam, and Kathy!). The funeral was very nice. AFter the funeral director locked the coffin he handed the key to Uncle Dave which I thought was very strange. Later I found out that Kathy had presented her dad when they were on their way to the funeral home, and so that was basically the only thing that worked. Uncle David gave the eulogy, but he had found Grandma's journal, and inside was an entry where she basically gave her life story; so he just read that. I thought that was cool, because then we got to hear about Grandma in her own words. Then we drove to the cemetery and Uncle Larry gave the dedicatory prayer. Then back to the church for lunch. It was nice to chat with everyone there (some had finally arrived that morning) and see a new baby that no one had known about! Then we went back to the House to have a small birthday for Kieran since it was her birthday that day.

The next few days were spent cleaning out Grandma's house. And man did it need cleaning! Grandma seemed to have spent the last few years just buying stuff from DI, and that's where most of it went back to.

kid updates

Iliana had her 4 month appointment today!
here are her stats:
13lbs. 14.2 oz (55%)
25 inches (76%)
head: 16.5 inches (75%)

Here is a little about her:
-she loves to laugh and smile at anyone who will pay attention to her.
-she hates tummy time
-I got her a bumbo to sit in, but she doesn't really like that either, but she does like it more than tummy time.
-she loves it when Oliver plays with her. Even when he squishes her face.
-has more clothes than she could ever use.
-rolled over a week ago but hasn't since.
-does not eat nearly as much as Oliver did.
-drools, a lot. (her clothes are always wet.)

Oliver is 20 months. Here is a little about him.
-loves his little sister. he gives her kisses all the time.
-can say: I don't want to, ice, eyes, nose, hair, up please, juice, water, mama, dada, Spongebob, watch, caca (his word for bird. I think he's really saying cockatiel), Peter, car, shoe, poo, book, baby, outside.
-was able to jump with both feet off the ground recently
-is brave enough to go down big slides
-can climb a ladder
-still has trouble going down stairs
-makes growling and monkey noises
-gives hugs and blows kisses
-makes us laugh everyday

Turning and nodding

Iliana turned over for the first time yesterday. Nolan helped her the first time, then I flipped her back over and then she did it by herself. She turned from her stomach to her back. Scream at the floor time (which is what Nolan calls tummy time) should get more interesting now.

Oliver is getting to be such a big boy. This week he has started to nod his head. I noticed him today just putting raisins into a trash bag. I asked him if he was putting raisins in the bag and he nodded! woohoo! Maybe it will be easier to know what he wants now. Poor thing has also been sick this week. But I got to have a cuddly boy for a while.

Cars and skates

Last Saturday, we finally had time to go car shopping. We had been down to one car since the Mustang was stolen the Sunday before Iliana was born. Luckily we've been able to borrow my father-in-law's truck once Nolan went back to work. We dropped the kids off at my in-laws, and went for it. We stopped at one place and didn't find any we liked in our price range, but I did find a nice convertible that I liked. The second place we went to didn't have anything we could agree on. So we went to a place that we drive past all the time. We found a lot of cars in our price range, that we liked. But we saw a black Ford Taurus that drew us in. It only had 63,000 miles on it, and looked nice, and it was within our budget. So we looked around some more since we weren't entirely sure yet. I found a minivan for $20 thousand that had a sunroof, built-in navigation system, and DVD player. That was really not in our budget. Nolan found a truck that he fell in love with, but it was even more expensive than the minivan. So we fantasized a bit, and said that we would just get both cars. Then we came back to reality and looked at the Ford again. So we talked to the guy there, and found out the gas mileage was decent, so we went for a test drive. We would up going over to Beth and Mike's so Mike could check it out for us. He said it was a good car even with how old it was (it's a 1999). So we drove it back, and with some help from Mike talked down the total price from $8 (post taxes and fees) to $5700. We had most of the money in the bank, so we wrote a check, and then discussed how to pay the rest. Nolan's parents had offered to help us back when Iliana was in the hospital, so I told Nolan that we should take them up on the offer, and then we could pay them back instead of taking out a loan. So we called them up and they transferred the money into our account. So we wrote out a second check with a contract saying that they wouldn't cash it until a week later. So we drove away with our new car, got to my in-laws to pick up the kids, and then realized that we left my car at the dealership! oops... So we drove back and grabbed our car with very red faces.

So we picked up the kids, and drove over to my parents house. I was trying to keep from Nolan what the plans for the rest of our night were, but Dad pretty much told him right when we walked in the door. We had been trying to go ice skating for a while. We wanted to go to the outdoor rink which is seasonal, and so we were quickly running out of time. We had tried in December, but it was raining. We tried again last Wednesday, but it closed earlier than I thought, and by the time Nolan got home from work it was too late. We finally got to go Saturday night. We got there, laced up our skates, and got on the ice. I had only been once, and Nolan had never been at all, but he had experience on roller blades. So of course Nolan was good right away and started off. I clung to the wall a lot until I came to other people on the wall who wouldn't move. He really just would lap me over and over again, but Nolan pretty much is good at whatever he tries. Every once in a while he would slow down and do a lap with me. I only fell once, but my calf still hurts from it. I did manage to do one lap without touching the wall or relying on Nolan so I was pretty proud of myself.

I love my husband so much!

Christmas

This year we got to have 3 Christmases (sp?) We spent Christmas Eve with Nolan's Dad's side of the family in the early evening. We ate dinner, and visited and opened presents from his grandmother. His uncle gives a blank card to each of the guys, and each has a certain amount of money. 1 has $50 and the rest have $30. Whoever gets the $50 wins! This year, we won, and I chose the card. Oliver got books, and a train from Great Grandma Rosalee. Iliana got clothes. This Christmas was special since Iliana is the first girl born on my Father-in-law's side since Grandma Rosalee. After that we went to Nolan's parents house to spend the rest of the evening with my mother-in-law's side of the family. I love how close I've grown to all of Nolan's family. Grandma Rosalee treats me like a granddaughter. I joke and play around with his cousins. His grandma Wong is still a bit scary and intimidating. So at Nolan's parents we ate more snack type food, and then after 11pm we began to open presents. We do a name exchange with this side, but everyone gives gifts to the kids. Oliver got a big Mr. Potato Head with a whole potato family inside, a puzzle, coloring book, markers, and a Wiggles video. Iliana got a gloworm, clothes (of course), and a teddy bear. We finally got home around 1am, totally exhausted.

The next day (Christmas) we stayed home and had our own little Christmas with just us. I videoed most of the morning while trying to get over a migraine. But Oliver seemed to understand how to open presents, and had fun. Iliana of course had no idea what was going on. Santa got them both pajamas and hats and mittens. Iliana got her first holiday barbie, and Oliver got blocks and a play, musical table. After breakfast, we let Oliver eat anything he wanted. So we just relaxed and enjoyed each other all day. I decided to make a fancy dinner so we had roast beef, crab stuffed mushrooms, cheesy potatoes, and rolls. We didn't like the mushrooms very much, and the cheesy potatoes just would not turn out, and the roast didn't cook during the time the cookbook said it would. So the roast beef turned out to be pretty rare, so we cut off the ends, and continued cooking it while we began eating. The rolls were tasty. So dinner wasn't exactly a disaster, but it wasn't what I envisioned.

The next Saturday we had Christmas with my family. Since it was New Years Day we didn't start until 10am. We started with a visit from Santa Claus, who talked to each child and gave them each gift. Then we exchanged gifts among the siblings (we draw names) and gave our gifts to the children. Then we took a break (you need a break after this because there are so many of us). Then we opened gifts from Dad, who went out of control with spending this year. Mom, I think, was pretty uncomfortable with how much he spent, but he was happy with it. The whole day we spent eating since the table is just full of food. The men and children all got marshmallow guns, and so the spent part of the afternoon having a marshmallow fight outside. Afterward, the ground was covered with marshmallows. We also got to skype Rachel and Rich since they couldn't make it to California this year.

I love this time of year. It's a time to spend with family, give gifts and practice baking and cooking skills. I'm so glad that some of the out-of-towners were able to come, and sad for those who couldn't. We also got to see Jason blessed that Sunday in Kim's mom's ward, where another friend of ours also happened to be blessing their baby. So it was a 2 for 1 kind of deal.

Top 10 in 2010

Ok, so I'll admit it. I'm not the most original person in the world. So I'm copying this idea.
These are not in any order or rank. Some are not really "events" just some of my favorite things from this year.

- Iliana was born on Sept. 16 after only 3 1/2 hours of labor
-Bringing Iliana home after her surgery.
-Iliana's laughs and smiles. Seriously, she has the best smile.
-Oliver's hugs. He's just started this, and they are so nice.
-So many babies born. I got 4 new nephews this year alone. There were about 16 babies born in our ward this year alone. It's hard to keep track since so many move in and out.
-Going to the Oakland temple for the first time for our 2 year anniversary.
-Oliver walking
-Oliver talking
-Finding out how much everyone loves and supports us while in the hospital with Iliana.
-A good friend of ours got to go through the temple and leave on a mission. We'll miss him.