Yard Work

Yesterday, Jabon came home from work early because he wasn't feeling well. Soon after that, we decided to go to Home Depot and get some pavers to create a walkway in our backyard in between our grass and the garden we wanted to plant.

Cody took a picture of us. It was well over 90-something degrees outside. And I am sure you all want to know: I was sweating profusely! Pay no mind to the extremely white legs. They rarely see the sun.



We are working on our yard a little at a time. It's a big chore, but something I think both Jabon and I enjoy working on. It was nice to have Jabon home on a Saturday, even though he wasn't feeling well.

California Adventures

Sunday morning we packed up and left bright and early to go to Monterey, CA. Jabon and I had a few days off work and decided to take the kids to the beach. After we checked into our hotel, we drove south down the coastline and stopped at a ton of beaches. It was the first time the kids saw the ocean; I have rarely seen it myself.

Monday morning we went on the 17 Mile Drive. For those of you that don't know, it is a drive through an exclusive neighborhood along the California coast and features a well known icon, the Lone Cypress. Jabon got some pictures of it, but since he hasn't been able to get through his pictures yet, here is one I snagged off the internet:

After that, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was really awesome and was exciting to see. Cody's favorite thing was the sharks and Brett swears that was his as well (but I think that's because he wants to be like Cody). We ate dinner at a local joint and then drove out to Hollister, a small town Jabon grew up in. We had some trouble getting onto the right highway but we eventually made it up there. He had a great time down Memory Lane!

Tuesday we got up early and headed to Big Basin Redwood State Park to check out the big trees. I have always wanted to see them and I was not disappointed! They are incredible! We went on a small hike and saw the Mother and Father of the Forest, two of the largest trees there. I think the Mother was about 320 ft tall, she was the biggest. She was 70 ft in diameter, while the Father was 66 ft. I asked Cody why he thought the momma was bigger. He didn't know, so I gave him my conclusion: after the momma has all her babies, she's usually fat. I was feeling bloated and crappy since I hadn't exercised in a few days and I guess that came out in my comments! We also went on another hike to see a waterfall. It was pretty, but the short hike we took was a killer: Straight up the hillside at about a 70 degree angle!

After the redwoods, we drove to Santa Cruz and started hitting the northern beaches all the way back to our hotel (we were staying in Marina). It was such a beautiful day! Sunday and Monday were both pretty foggy, but we could see the ocean for many miles on Tuesday. For dinner, we decided to go eat on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We stopped at a small restaurant on the pier and Jabon finally got his seafood he has been craving since we decided to go to California! I actually tasted the lobster and was quite surprised by how good it tasted. That said, I would never order one for myself. I have too strong of a mental block about eating seafood. It was garnished with caviar, and Jabon and I both sampled it. It was really salty. Not too bad, but definitely not too good, either. After dinner, we walked the pier a bit and got cotton candy at a local candy shop.

This was Ashton's first trip, and overall he did pretty well. Of course he cried while we drove and I so badly wanted to just get him out of his car seat and set him on my lap! Normally, Ashton goes to sleep really easily at home: I just get him ready for bed, feed him a bottle, then lay him in his crib and turn on his music. Unfortunately, this did not happen at the hotel. I had to rock him to sleep the first 2 nights we were in CA. He got better the 3rd night, but I turned on the radio in the room to help him sleep. I read The Host, by Stephenie Meyer to Jabon during the drive. He enjoyed the story, but Ashton must not have. Anytime I started to speak, Ashton would talk back. If I stopped, so would he. When he got really grumpy and loud, we turned on a CD for him and he would fall asleep to Tom Petty.

Sadly, we had to return to reality and came home Wednesday so Jabon and I could get back to work on Thursday. Jabon's first day back to work he was going to be told if he would be affected by Intel's lay-offs. Thankfully, when he had his meeting with his boss today, he was told his job was safe and he would not be laid off. It's unfortunate that we had to go on vacation with the dread of possibly being laid off on our minds, but we are so grateful that he still has his job!

Below is a short slideshow of some of the pictures I took. Like I said, Jabon took some pictures (okay MANY pictures). When he's gone through them, he'll post them onto his blog, so check them out when you've got a chance. He does a great job!

Video Clips

Here's a few videos I've taken over the last few days. I decided to nix the video of the screaming baby as mentioned earlier and show you one of him rolling over. I finally witnessed it for myself the other day!




This is a video of Brett riding the used 'mini' quad Jabon just picked up the other day. He and Jabon rode it together and then Jabon decided to let him ride it by himself. Jabon is running behind him because he's got a string attached to the kill switch that he could pull out if he needed to stop Brett quickly. A note of interest: the quad did not currently have any safety features (aka brakes) on at the time.



Here's one of Cody right afterward. He's a natural on it and rode quite well. Still no brakes on the quad in this video. Jabon just got the brake pads in the mail today.

Ashton rolled over!!

I got a text from the sitter today letting me know that Ashton rolled over (from his belly to back) 3 times this afternoon! I was so excited to hear that, because he's been taking his sweet time learning new things.

When I got home from work, I put him back on his tummy, which he hates with a passion, in an attempt to see him roll. I was video taping it so I could post it on the blog, but all I got was a baby yelling at the top of his lungs. He rolled halfway. He twisted enough to get his shoulders to touch the floor, but his big butt stayed planted where it was. I might still decide to post it, because it is kinda funny to see.

Wean

Pray for me---I am attempting to wean Ashton and he's not appreciating it!

Garage Sale-ing

This morning my grandma came over and stayed with the three boys so I could go with my babysitter Lori and check out some garage sales. I was in the hunt for a bumbo seat for Ashton and a high chair. Unfortunately, we only saw 2 highchairs. They were both really dirty and the lady wanted $35 each. That's more than I wanted to pay, since they were both used. And I never saw a seat for him.

The whole trip was not a bust, though. Lori got a double stroller (she is pregnant with her 2nd and has a 14 mo old) for $15. I picked up a table saw and stand with a pack of new blades, a hand-cranked ice cream maker, and a smoker-grill for $27. I am so psyched about the ice cream maker! I bought an electric one a while back and it has never worked properly. Jabon and I have talked about getting a wooden barreled hand-cranked one, but they were selling for over $100 online. I can't wait to make ice cream now!!

New things with me

It's been a little over a week, so I guess I should let you all know what's going on.

Cody has been sick this whole week. He only went to school on Friday. He was suffering from a fever, up to 102, and a slightly sore throat. The nice thing was Jabon has every Monday and Tuesday off, so he was home with him then. I took of Wednesday so Jabon could get into work. I took Cody into the doctor that day and had him checked for strep. The in-office test came back negative, but the doctor sent another swab out for a more thorough test. By Friday, Cody was feeling better, but that evening the doctor called and said that the other strep test came back positive. I told him it seemed like that was a late April Fools, since Cody was feeling better. So even though he's feeling fine, he's taking antibiotics. I'm just glad his fever is gone!

While we were at the doctor's office for Cody, Jabon texted me and said he was at Intel's nurses office, because he was not feeling well. They diagnosed him with a bronchial virus. We guess Ashton passed it onto him. Jabon was stubborn and went back to work Wednesday, but his boss sent him home and told him not to return until at least Friday. Jabon was given the same treatments that Ashton had to have.

Speaking of Ashton, he was using the nebulizer every day from Friday until Tuesday. It made a vast improvement on his breathing and I think by Wednesday he had finally kicked that virus. He's doing much better. He's been growing very big and was last weighed in at 18 lbs and 8 ounces. He is getting so tall that his feet are starting to hang over the edge of his car seat. He is finally willing to spend some time on the floor, but hates being on his belly, so he's not very interested in rolling over yet. He is interested in sticking his tongue out frequently, though. It's pretty cute, because he's got a very skinny tongue.

Brett has been having a hard time this last week. He is so jealous of the fact that all the other boys in the family have been sick and have gotten to go to the doctor and get medicine. He kept telling me, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll get sick soon!" He's a crazy one, I tell ya. I was watching General Conference the last few days and at one point Brett was watching with me when President Monson was speaking. I told Brett that this man was the prophet of our church and his name is Thomas S. Monson. His eyes got very big and he said, "Like my Thomas train!!" Later on, when President Monson was back on the screen, I asked Brett if he remembered this man's name. He said, "It's Thomas!" It was incredibly cute!

Gotta go. I've got a grumpy baby I need to care for.