Family Birthday Day!

Today was a day to celebrate birthdays! We started with a combined birthday party for Jackson and Erin at Nana and Papa Chatwin's. Erin, Karlee, Jackson, Bryn and I were late! We were running behind schedule anyway and then we had to stop at Walmart so I could get a battery charger for my camera. I also picked up a last minute gift for Erin and Jackson. Poor Erin was out in the car waiting for me with a screaming baby. Little Bryn has had more 'car seating' in the last 3 days than she wants to. So she's started protesting anytime she gets stuck in her car seat! Anyway, we arrived for the 11 a.m. party around noon! Russ mentioned afterward that his Mom was planning on having us eat around noon anyway, so it made us feel a little better. The get together was a lot of fun. So awesome to have all the little cousins together. They range in age from 5 months to 2 years 7 months and there are 6 little ones and Karlee who'll be 13 in June. From our family Erin, Russ, Karlee, Jackson and Bryn, Ashley and Justin, Briana, Ivan, Alex and Emmett and me. From Russ's family, Joni & Lynn, Rob, Rashahn and Rylie, Chris, Brandt and their little foster son. So it was quite a house full. Joni made yummy lasagna with garlic bread and salad and delicious chocolate mousse pie.
Erin made a super cute train cake for Jackson.

After lunch Erin and Jackson opened presents. Wow! What a haul! Jackson loved opening his presents.
Alex had a bit of a hard time watching his cousin open his presents without getting 'involved' in the fun! But I was really proud of him because he tried very hard to control himself. Finally Joni took him upstairs to the play room so he could have some toys to play with and he was a happy camper. Jackson currently enjoys trains and monster trucks and his Pops and Poppa both picked out winner presents as Jackson's two favorite presents were his Vintage Grave Digger from Pops and Thomas the Train from Poppa!
Emmett enjoyed getting to know 'Uncle Rob', or was he just totally intrigued by Rob's facial hair?

After cleaning up, some of us got a little nap, then headed to Erin's home to get ready for the 'other side of the family' get together. I made potato burritos for Erin and Ashley and a giant heart shaped sugar cookie for Grandma Larkin to celebrate her birthday.
She and Vicki came over as well as Bethany, Ashley and Justin and Briana, Ivan, Alex and Emmett. Everyone was somewhat tired, but Jackson was hilarious with his dancing antics.

I'm pretty sure he kept moving because he was afraid if he held still he'd fall asleep! Margaret was going to come over with some of her family, but I didn't see a message from her until after the night was over saying that she was having car problems. I texted her around 11 p.m. and apparently they were just finally getting home! Poor Margaret.


After Vicki, Grandma and the Pascual's left we played a game Erin received for her birthday called "The Game of Things"

It Was a Beautiful Day at the Dallas Zoo Today and Travel Log

It was a perfect day to go to the zoo in Dallas today. Thanks to Ashley for inviting us! Ashley, Erin and I took Bryn, Jackson, Emmett & Alex. The weather was perfect, a little cooler than the day before which was nice since we were pushing double strollers up and down hills! We got to see penguins and elephants and gorillas and chimpanzees and exotic birds and all kinds of fun animals. Alex and Jackson enjoyed the petting zoo.Actually Alex enjoyed kicking up dirt and straw at the petting zoo more than the joy of petting the animals (pure boy for sure!).A highlight of the trip was when we were at the giraffe enclosure. You can buy lettuce for $5 and then feed it to the giraffes. They're training the giraffes to come over to the 'feeding station' to eat. So one of the zookeepers was at the feeding station calling the giraffes by name trying to get them over to the station. I was holding Alex up where he could be on eye level with the giraffes and we were standing right by the zookeeper as he was feeding the giraffes and when he had one last piece of lettuce he handed it to Alex to feed the giraffe that was about ready to mosey away. Imagine Alex's delight when that giraffe stuck out his long tongue and wrapped it around the lettuce that Alex was holding! I just wish I could have done a 'freeze frame' so that we could have gotten a picture. When we were done with our visit and loading the kids up in the car, Alex's response when asked about his favorite part of the zoo, "Giraffe!"

I drove home with Erin, Jackson and Bryn. Poor little Bryn was starving to death on the way home! Erin pumps and then bottle feeds her because Bryn was swallowing too much air when she was breast-feeding which would give her miserable gas. For some reason she doesn't have the same issue when she drinks from a bottle. So Erin took her breast pump with us to the zoo. Unfortunately, this was the first time she'd tried using the pump utilizing battery power and the darn thing wouldn't work!! So baby Bryn was certain that she was going to waste away to nothing! We stopped and Erin breastfed her for a while on the way home, which bought us a little time but then BAM the hungry tummy came back. And sweet little Jackson had missed his nap because we were at the zoo during his normal nap time, so he had a bit of a breakdown himself! Poor little people!

I must NOT forget to mention that Emmett is no longer a two tooth little munchkin! He graduated to four, count them 1-2-3-FOUR teeth today!! Poor little guy has been miserably trying to pop those teeth through for WEEKS! I don't know how his little swollen gums survived for so long! I'm pretty certain that he has two more that will be popping through quite soon.

Alex has been on antibiotics for an ear infection for about a week. Briana checked his ear today and it looks like it is getting worse rather than better, he also seems to have bronchitis or croup!

A few comments for the 'travel log'! Briana, Alex, Emmett and I were supposed to catch a flight out of Seattle this past Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. The plan was for us to load the car the night before and then depart from Yakima as soon as I was done teaching Seminary (7:15 a.m.) giving us about 3 1/2 hours to travel to the airport. Tuesday night I checked the Snoqualmie Pass weather and there was a winter storm alert. GREAT, I thought! I was pretty concerned about whether or not we'd arrive in time...When I got up the next morning I got online right away and the first facebook post was one of the Seminary students from our building telling us that we could celebrate a happy leap year day by having a 2 hour snow delay. At our building when the school has a late start then Seminary is cancelled. Which was very nice because there was STILL the winter storm alert! So I got Briana up to get ready and we were able to load the car and head out of town by 6:30 a.m. As we drove it became apparent that the weather wasn't as bad as reported thankfully!! So we arrived in plenty of time to stop at Target to pick up some things for the trip. We had a park n fly at one of the hotels near the airport, so arrived there and made it to the airport about 2 hours before our plane was scheduled to depart. This was nice since we had 2 checked bags, 5 carry-on bags, 2 car seats, 2 kidlets and 2 adults! Briana rented 2 of the baggage carts and I still wasn't absolutely certain that we'd get it all in the airport intact! ;^) Here's a picture of JUST the kids and our carry-on bags:The boys were absolute troopers on the trip. They had a difficult time with take offs and landings. Emmett especially had a hard time on the flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, the sucker didn't help! When they finally turned off the fasten seatbelt sign and Briana was able to get up with him he settled down with her as she held him in the back of the plane. Alex's ears were really bothering him so he was quite fussy at take off and landing. Fortunately about 10 minutes before we landed in Los Angeles he fell asleep, so he had a little bit of relief. While we were waiting for our connecting flight in Los Angeles an older gentleman befriended Alex showing an interest in his monster trucks and giving Alex a tool 'catalog' to read. He was on our flight to Dallas and made it a point to find Alex on the flight to tease him a little bit! Mommy and the boys getting ready to fly.

Ending of the Pascual 'dynasty' at the Clement's!

Each day Pops and I mourn a little more as it gets closer to the time that our little Pascual brothers move to Texas. After all, little Emmett has lived more of his life WITH us than without us! And Alex has melted his Pops' heart. Case in point: It was NOT all right for Abby to dig in the dirt in the backyard where Pops was trying to grow grass, but it WAS all right for Alex to dig in the dirt to make monster truck ramps and tracks in the exact same location where Pops was trying to grow grass! ;^) There are nothing like grandkids to soften our hearts! I remember seeing that in my own Dad. Things that we would have NEVER gotten away with when we were growing up were perfectly FINE if done by his grandchildren!

Some of the Alex-isms that we never want to forget: Pops' "Monster Truck"-the red ford ranger pickup truck, and Nana's "Race Car"-the baby blue Subaru Legacy. Alex's version of mashed potato, "mash-a tomato". Alex telling his Pops: "Open the tongue...more open the tongue" as he opens his mouth so that Pops can spray whipped cream from the can directly into his mouth. Another one: Us: "Alex, what's your name?" Alex: "Alex Pawc-lows" (unfortunately now he actually says Pascual!). And then there's his good friend Enur (better know to the rest of the world as Ernie on Sesame Street). This kid can be obstinate, but fortunately reverse psychology works very well. When you want a hug and a kiss from him sometimes he'll say, "No tank you". But if you REALLY want a hug and kiss when he does that then you have to play the "I DON'T want a hug and a kiss from Alex oh no, nO, No, NO, NO Nana does NOT want a hug and kiss from Alex". Invariably this will make him feel sad until you give him a great big hug and kiss! Crazy boy!! And just so you know that he really is a very good and sweet boy, when I ask him before we eat if we need to say a prayer, he always responds by telling WHO he wants to offer the prayer at that meal. I especially like it when HE wants to give the prayer. He starts off himself and without intervention we get something like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, name of Jesus Christ, AHHH-MEN!" But when we provide assistance he's very willing to bless the food AND his family AND thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings in his life.

Alex has become best friends forever with his good friend Mason Middleton. He and Mason were MEANT to be buddies. These two little guys are two peas in a pod, they both LOVE playing with monster trucks and rough housing and playing in the dirt and sand, etc. I worry how they will both do once they're separated. I worry about Alex, but he'll be blessed to live within about 30 minutes of his cousin Jackson. When we were all together for Pops' surprise birthday party Alex and Jackson had a DANDY time together, so I think Alex will have his cousin as a new buddy. But poor little Mason doesn't have any such replacement. Hopefully we can help him find a new buddy too. And hopefully Alex and Mason can enjoy Skype 'play dates'...

And then there's sweet little Emmett. It's interesting how God blesses us with children with different personalities. I'm absolutely SURE it's so that we'll be willing to have more! Where Alex is full of CRAZY, all boy energy, Emmett is the serious,calm, smiley, laid back little man. He has these huge blue eyes that just light up when he smiles his great big, two tooth smile! He's the one that loves to lay on the love seat snuggling with his Pops. He's happy to enjoy the company of anyone and everyone. Funny how Alex and Mason are buddies, and their little brothers Emmett and Evan are also buddies. It amazes me that babies under a year old can bond with each other and become friends, but there's no doubt in my mind that these two ARE friends. They'll hold hands and eat each other's faces and look at each other, etc. Sweet, sweet little boys...







The following pictures represent some of our fun times with the boys!Nothing like watching youtube Monster Truck races on Pops' Ipod!








He was actually playing some kind of monster truck game in the dog kennel! And no, he's not locked in, he just got mad because I was taking pictures!!














Story time with Nana!














Playing in the snow behind Grandpa Clement's house.

Our Carhart boys!










This kid is without a doubt HILARIOUS!!

What Happened to February?

Wow, what happened to February? I turn around and it's more than 1/2 over! So many things have already happened this year. Darvin's Uncle Heber (his Dad's brother) passed away, then his Mom passed away, and last week his Aunt Nione (his Dad's little sister) passed away. Around the beginning of the year Ivan got a new job here in Yakima as a car salesman at Bob Hall's Auto Dealership and then proceeded to get a new job as a salesman in Dallas, TX with ADP Software Company. We're very happy for him as it will be a great opportunity for Ivan, but very sad as their family (who've lived with us for the past 7 months) will be moving to Texas. We've had a daily 'fix' of sweet, rambunctious little boys and it's hard not to mourn their loss even before they've left, which incidentally begins this next Thursday. Ivan will pick up the moving truck on Wednesday. Family, friends and Elder's Quorum will help load Wednesday night and then he'll start driving down to Texas pulling their car behind the moving truck on Thursday. Briana was set to fly down to Texas with the boys the following week on the 29th. Pops and I thought it was pretty crazy for her to attempt to fly by herself with two little boys on a trip which included a connecting flight, so Nana volunteered to travel with them. And I figured if I was going down to Texas, I might as well take advantage and stay for a week to visit our other family down there!

Darvin and I just returned from a weekend trip to the Seattle area. For our anniversary in August I'd purchased a couples massage workshop in the Seattle area. We had finally scheduled to go in January and then the weather was so bad in Seattle that they weren't sure whether or not they would have to cancel it, so we rescheduled for yesterday. We headed over on Friday, had lunch at Willie's Taste of Soul BBQ with Mike. The food was OK, but nothing spectacular. The company was great. It was so nice to see Mike again and be able to chat with him for a while. As an added bonus he had Molly out in the car waiting to visit with us. We stayed at the La Quinta in Kirkland. Friday evening we did some window shopping and found a Bed, Bath and Beyond and exchanged the 7 opening frame that I'd bought broken in Yakima for one that wasn't broken (HOORAY!). I'm super excited to order the family picture prints for it and get it hung on the wall. We went to a french bakery and bought some desserts and then went back to the hotel and enjoyed our evening together. We got up relatively late yesterday morning. Got dressed, went to the movies (Ghost Rider 2-very dark movie) then out to lunch at the Kauai Family Restaurant. They have authentic hawaiian food. It's a little hole in the wall restaurant. Apparently they were short staffed that day and it took forever for the service. Fortunately the company was good and we weren't in a rush. The food was pretty good. We went back to the hotel for a little while and then got ready for our massage workshop. It was a GREAT experience. I would highly recommend it for any couple near Seattle. It's run by the Northwest School of Massage and Joe Lavin a massage therapist and his wife Wendy Lavin a physical therapist run the workshop. It's a great way to learn some massage techniques to use on your spouse. Darvin and I both felt that it was well worth our time and money and I'm currently looking for a deal on a massage table! It was great timing as we've had so much stress in our lives lately.

We had another 'sleep in' this morning, although we got up early enough to enjoy the breakfast buffet at the hotel, then we got ready and headed to Mike's to pick up the rest of Ashley's stuff that was still there. We loaded it in Darvin's pickup truck and headed for home. We stopped at Darvin's Dad's once we arrived back in Yakima and chatted with him for a while and I copied some documents to start working on for him. Then we headed for home. We were sorely disappointed when we arrived at home and the two little boys weren't waiting for us! When they finally did get home we had fun feeding them dinner, playing with them and getting them back up after their parents put them to bed!

Wendy Middleton and I are hosting a baby shower for Lindsey towards the end of March and so I've been busily looking for ideas for party themes, invitations, etc. I think I'm getting some ideas in my mind. Hopefully they'll all come together and it'll look good, food will taste good and we'll have a good party!

A Good Day!

Today was a good day. Yesterday was a hard one as I took Grandpa around to the local banks in town to take care of some of the financial business that comes with death. Actually, I should give myself a little credit for Friday (yesterday). I started the day by making the rest of the financial phone calls that I'd been postponing. Now we're just waiting for forms to be mailed to us and return phone calls. It was emotionally grueling to take Grandpa to the banks, he just seemed lost. As we were waiting at one of the banks and talking about the process he was so sweet, he said he wanted to figure out what he could do so we wouldn't have to go through the same thing when he passed away. It makes me feel so sad to see him so lonely. We make sure that each day at least one of us goes to visit him and bring him a meal, but a visit for an hour or two can't take the place of the loneliness for the other 22 or 23 hours of the day. Grandpa's neighbors have been tremendous! They shovel his driveway, bring him soups and chat with him, etc. I really appreciate their love for him and their support of him.

Today my 'to do' list was much more relaxed. Got Grandpa's medisets filled, picked up a cd at Karen Blair's for Seminary, went with the family for lunch at Costco, took a Costco dog and rootbeer float to Grandpa's for his lunch. Had a fun time at Grandpa's chit chatting and then Alex decided he needed to play outside. So he and Nana went outside. We quickly formulated the 'downhill race game'. "Gentlemen, start your engines". It started with the 2 wheel vehicle and quickly progressed to the little red wagon and sock monkey. When it was time to go home, Pops, Mommy and Grandpa came outside and when Pops saw our game he quickly decided that King Krunch monster truck was the correct vehicle for the race. Alex was at the top of the driveway and he'd start King Krunch down the 'track' and Pops was at the bottom of the 'track' to catch King Krunch and then race him back up the 'track' where Alex was waiting to catch him.



Then this evening we got a sneak peak at our own personal 'Evil Knievel'. I predict many future trips to the Emergency Room in the Pascual family future!!


Time with family helps us heal.