Grown-up Week (almost) Away

Ok, I realize by blogging habits leave much to be desired lately. I never even finished the Hawaii posts I had planned in my head. I blame this all on my new photography endeavors. I've had a lot of interest, which I'm SO grateful for. But all that time spent editing the pictures (which is by far the most labor-intensive part of the process), takes up a huge chunk of my time. I know it'll get easier once I have more practice and know what looks good on which pictures and how to quickly move through large batches. Until then, I'm going at somewhat of a snail's pace, or to borrow one of Scott's crazy phrases "slower than molasses on a Tuesday morning in January." Which I guess moves even slower on Tuesdays and when it's cold? Who knows where he comes up with these sayings. :) So anyway..... between all the editing and my mommy duties, church duties, workout time, etc, blogging has just been left by the wayside.

So now onto my reason for this post. Scott and I got to go away for a long weekend/short week together, just the two of us at the beginning of the month. Other than a night or two here or there for an anniversary or something, we'd never been away from our kids for that long since we went to Mexico when Mister was 2. We'd never left Pumpkin for that long, or Baby Bear ever. Scott is a State Farm agent and they had a big conference in Las Vegas from October 2-5th. It just so happened that our church's twice-yearly General Conference (you can learn more about our church here) was being held that Sat/Sun in Salt Lake City. So we were able to leave on Friday morning, go to Salt Lake to see Conference (where we got to attend 2 of the 4 general sessions!), then jetted on down to Las Vegas from Sunday to Wednesday.

I must say, this was a much needed break. I'd been feeling very run-down and needed more time off from motherhood than just one date night out. I needed to sleep in, take naps and hang out with my husband just as Marissa, without having to do double-duty as "mom" too. I was giddy with excitement when we left. It was such a stark contrast from getting through security at the airport with just the two of us (as opposed to 3 kids, diaper bags, entertainment bags (for the boys), a stroller and an infant carrier like we had when we went to Hawaii. Walking around the airport and not having to keep track of kids who want to run all over the place was a treat in and of itself. :) We had a wonderful time going to the Salt Lake temple, walking around Temple Square, recharging our spiritual batteries and re-connecting with some of my childhood friends who now live in the area. It was amazing.

BUT.

I missed my boys. I missed them so much it hurt. I must've called them 5 times that first day, just to make sure everything was ok (we left Pumpkin home with a double ear infection and my parents had to take him to the doctor). I felt terrible about it. Fortunately he is really good about taking medicine so the extra task wasn't a painful one for my parents or my mother-in-law to keep up on. Not like they had to pin him down or anything, unlike a certain 6 year old I had to do that on a couple of times. :)

Vegas was cool, but I don't think we did it the right way. We don't drink and we don't gamble, so those are two major Vegas draws that are out the window. We also don't have much money (State Farm reimbursed us for the tix and paid for the hotel - nice!), so we couldn't afford to go to any of the many wonderful, awesome shows we would've loved to see. And with that lack of funds, we also couldn't afford to do much shopping. Um, does the Strip really need 3 Gucci AND Louis Vuitton (each!) within a couple miles of each other? Soooooo, while it was cool to walk around and see the different hotels and window shop a bit, there weren't a whole lot of other options for us during this trip. I think I'd like to wait until we can afford to see some shows before I go back. The best part of Vegas was the fountain show at the Bellagio hotel. We stayed at Caesar's Palace (whose check-in lobby could've easily fit 7 or 8 of our houses inside of it) and had a direct view of the Bellagio fountains from our room. We stopped in front and watched it many times and we didn't see the same one once. They choreograph them to music. We never heard the same song or saw the same show. I can't imagine how many versions they must have!

I couldn't WAIT to get home to our boys. It was so hard to be gone from them for so long, even while I was enjoying my adults-only time. I think Baby Bear was mad at me when I got home. When we came home, I hugged Pumpkin and Scott took Baby Bear. When I tried to take him from Scott he started crying and squirmed to go back to Scott. It broke my heart. I'm usually the favorite with him. He's the only child this has happened with (where I'm the favorite - the others were total Daddy's boys) and he didn't want anything to do with me! I tried again a little while later and he did the same thing again. It took about 30 minutes for him to warm back up to me and would let me hold him. I've decided that the best way to vacation from now on will be to take a nanny with us. :) That way we can see them every day but still go out on dates without them at night.

And last but not least, I can't thank my parents and my mother-in-law enough for taking over for us so Scott and I could go away together. I know it must've been daunting to take care of 3 boys all day every day, especially such a young one like Baby Bear. We are so blessed to have family close-by who is willing to help out so we could enjoy some time together.

Sorry for the novel, it's just been such a long time, I felt like I had a lot to update.

Things I Love About Pumpkin

Pumpkin is such a fun little boy. I've especially enjoyed all the one-on-one time I get to spend with him now that Mister is in school all day and Baby Bear still takes long naps. Here are just a few quick things I love about him:

How he talks: He has the funniest names for things. Cheeseburgers are "Cheese hamburgers" to him. Our pantry is a "food closet". Our dining room table is "the family eating table", and Hawaii is pronounced "Hawadii" according to him.

How accident prone he is: I don't know if I love this trait or hate it, but it's definitely one of his hallmarks. He can't go more than a day without ending up in tears over some new injury. Sometimes he's lucky and the injury leaves no mark. Usually not.

How long his attention span can be: One of his favorite things to do is puzzles. He'll sit there either at the table or on the iPad and do some difficult puzzles. And he doesn't get discouraged when he can't find a spot for a piece - he just keeps plugging away until he gets it. And we're not talking little 6 piece puzzles here. This kid likes my grown-up puzzle app on the iPad that has puzzles that are of famous paintings and that plays classical music while you try to put it together. He's gotten some 64 piece Renoirs and Monets down pat! :)

Just a few things I'm noticing and loving about my sweet little 3 year old. I love him to pieces! :)

Introducing Marissa Gifford Photography

Marissa Gifford Photography is here! I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally be launching my photography business. It’s something I’ve been dreaming about and planning for a long time now. In order to build my portfolio I’m offering a kick-off special of 50% off regular session rates. With discounted sessions starting at $50, this is the perfect opportunity to get your senior portraits or your family’s portraits done in time for your Christmas cards. This offer will be good through the end of the year.

Please take the time to look through my work and call or email me to set up your photo session. I look forward to getting to know you better.

http://marissagiffordphotography.com

Visit me at my website or on Facebook!

Hawaii - Part 1 - The Beach

Our family took an amazing trip to Hawaii last month to celebrate my brother-in-law's wedding. He's a student at BYU-Hawaii and it was so awesome to get to travel there for his big day. We decided to take the whole family and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS for our Alaska Airlines credit card that gives us all the miles and that $99 companion ticket! Yes, we completely wiped out years of saving up those miles, but it was completely worth it! 

There's so much to tell about this trip I'm going to break it up into a few different posts. The first place we went when we got settled into the vacation house was the BEACH! Not the "coast" as we call it up here in the northwest. "The coast" is cold, windy and almost always requires a sweatshirt and a blanket. The water at "the coast" is frigid, makes you unable to feel your extremities within seconds, and requires a wetsuit and a hardy disposition to play in. "The beach" on the other hand requires nothing more than sunscreen and swimsuits. And maybe a cover up or sarong for when you start getting burned from the strong sun....

The house we stayed in was on the north shore of Oahu, near Laie, where Tyler lives. It was right on the beach. I couldn't believe how beautiful and private it was. Most days we were the only ones there and had the entire place all to ourselves. Occasionally we'd see a local jogging, but only a couple times in the 6 days we were there. It was like our own little piece of paradise. The boys couldn't get over how warm the water in the ocean was. After a few minutes of playing in the waves Mister gleefully blurted out this understatement: "Mommy, being in Hawaii is so much better than being at home!" Why yes, yes it is Sweetie. :)

One of the best things about this beach was how shallow it was. You could go out super far and still have it only come up to your thighs. Mister had the time of his life riding those perfect boogie boarding waves. And once boogie boarding got to be too tame for him, he had his daddy give him some surfing lessons. And guess what? He surfed and actually STOOD UP! I was quite the proud mamma and was so happy to catch it on my camera. I was starting to think he might grow gills from how much time he spent out there. Pumpkin has always been more cautious around the water and it took him a little longer to warm up to it, but once he did, he was just like Mister. I had to practically bribe them to get them to come inside. Pumpkin liked sitting at the edge of the water and having the little waves splash up over his lap. Or he'd get on his tummy and prop himself up on his hands and let the waves wash over his back. It was so fun to see them enjoying themselves so thoroughly.

Baby Bear was NOT a fan of the water. We tried multiple times and he never liked it. Oh well. That just meant that one of us stayed on the beach with him while the other went out to play with the kids. Or sometimes one of my sisters-in-law or my mother-in-law would hold him for a while so we could be out there together.

And, I'm extremely proud of the fact that none of us got sunburned the entire week we were there. Mister came home brown as a nut and equally as tan as me, if you can believe that! :) Here are some beach pictures.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

So many things have happened this summer and I'm already noticing that I'm forgetting them since I haven't blogged about them or written them in my journal. With bedtime fast approaching (for the boys) and a soon-to-be-hungry baby, I'm going to just post this in pictures. Here are a few things that I don't want to forget as my children grow up:

Mister is a water lover. He would spend all day, every day in a pool, hot tub, or ocean (a warm Hawaiian one, anyway) if we let him. Running through freezing sprinklers is another favorite. :)

My poor, poor Pumpkin. This kid is more accident prone than any other I've ever met. He caught the rough end of a tree swing here.... He's always got something covered in a band-aid and neosporin.

Sweet, sweet Baby Bear. I love how his hair is coming in. Very light and fine and sticking straight up like a little mohawk.  I love his chunky legs, cheeks, neck and belly. He's just so squishy I can't stop kissing him!

I'm Back! _________ Well, almost.

Ok, I know I've been super MIA lately here in the blogosphere, but I'm trying to get back. I'm almost back. And when I get all the way back be prepared to be inundated with back-blogs from the past month. So much to share (Hawaii, Weddings, Back-to-School, etc) and so little time to get it all done this past month.

I also have some exciting news I want to share with everyone and I'm nearly bursting to spill the beans, but all in good time. And NO, I'm NOT preggo. But please bear with me a little while longer and then I'll be back, I swear!

Talk to you soon!

Whatever Works for You.....

Baby Bear is a funny boy. When it comes time to sleep, he doesn't need a blankie or a favorite toy. He doesn't need to be held or rocked. He doesn't need any special pajamas** or a bottle. This boy needs his hands. His way of self-soothing when he's tired is to rub his eyes, pull on his ears and scratch the heck out of his nose. No matter how short I keep his fingernails, he always manages to draw blood and leave trails of scabs in his wake up and down his nose, and in this picture, even a small one by his mouth. I usually use photoshop to edit them out of pictures, but I decided to take a "reality" shot the other day, so when he's older and I'm missing his baby days, I can pull this out and reminisce about his funny little quirk.

It's crazy that he's 7 months old already. I can't believe how incredibly fast his first year is going. I feel like pushing the slow-mo button because I'm not ready for him to grow up so quickly. This is my absolute favorite baby stage and I want to soak it all up. When else do you have a child who lights up with a huge smile the minute you look at him, every time you look at him? And it's not just a smile - his whole body radiates happiness. His nose scrunches up, he squeals, he kicks his legs and waves his arms with such enthusiasm you'd think it was the first time he'd seen you all day. But this happens all day long and I treasure these moments. Because pretty soon he'll be a mobile toddler with all the sassiness and stubbornness that come with that stage and I'll miss these sweet moments when he was never mad at me and I was never the bad guy. There's no sassing back yet, just the pure love of a baby for his mommy, and it melts my heart. Baby Bear is such a good natured little guy and we feel so incredibly blessed to have him in our family.

**This is true only in the last month and a half or so. He HAD to sleep in his little bunting for every single nap or bedtime. It was a 0-3 month size and he grew out of it before he was ready to give it up, so we continued to wedge him into it (with the shoulders of the bunting not even coming up over his shoulders) until we could take it no more. We tried weaning him off of it many times, and he'd vociferously announce his displeasure until we relented and put him in it. Within seconds he'd calm down and go to sleep, but not until we had that thing on him nice and snug. It was only with the advent of the warm weather (and broken air conditioning) that convinced him to let us just put him in regular footie pajamas instead of that enormous, thick, hot bunting instead. Once he got over that hump he was fine and will now sleep in anything, thank goodness! :)