Independence Day 2015

We had another small Hinton reunion that took place over the Fourth of July weekend. On Friday, everyone meet in Kaysville and spent a few hours at Boondocks. We had fun mini golfing, riding bumper boats and go-carts, playing arcade games, bowling, and playing in the jungle gym.

Will and Adele playing Air Hockey.

After we were done playing, we got some lunch and headed back up to Logan to relax for a little bit before the big firework show.

We spent most of the day Saturday outside as we had rented some fun blow-up toys to play on. The kids couldn't get enough. Will was going down fine for a bit, but then he decided he was scared and wouldn't go down unless someone was holding him. 

His favorite person to take him down was Stephanie.

The kids (and adults) had a great time and played on it for most of the day.

 The adults who played in the water enjoyed having contests such as biggest splash, most style, etc. Those who were content to sit on the sidelines and watch were the judges. No surprise, Lance wont the biggest splash. Usually he would go down when the pool at the bottom was starting to get a little too full. By the time he was done, the water was about half the level before.

 

 

In the afternoon, most of us headed up to Bear Lake to go to the Pickleville Playhouse. The grandparents were nice to stay home and watch the younger kids so the rest of us could enjoy a night out. We saw "Juanito Bandito in the One With the Monkey". It was totally my type of show and I loved every second of it. I can't rave enough about how much I enjoyed it. It definitely makes me want to go back and see another one. 

We got shakes for the ride home then went and got some dinner. While we were gone, the grandparents did some fireworks in the driveway with the kids.

On Sunday, everyone started to slowly pack up and head out as needed. We hadn't seen everyone in quite a while and it was good to catch up. We hadn't told any of Lance's siblings that we were expecting, so it was fun to surprise them with that news. Julie was the only one not able to make it, but we will get to see her shortly when she makes a trip out here.

Yay for awesome holidays and yay for family gatherings!

Have We Lost our Minds?

Anyone who knows me well knows that being a mother isn't something that comes super easy to me. Having two kids has been incredibly difficult for me and the thought of another kid made me nauseous. But at the same time, I had this feeling that our family wasn't quite complete yet. It was beyond frustrating. When I thought about my kids in high school, I could always picture three of them. The problem was figuring out how to survive and make it through the younger years with three kids.

And for stupid and selfish reasons that I wont go into, I didn't want there to be a large gap if we ever decided to have a third. I had told myself that if Blake ever turned three years old and we were not pregnant, than I was done. Well, it looks like we don't have to worry about that. Baby Hinton #3 is on the way.

I am 26 weeks along and my due date is October 27th.

The first trimester was pretty rough this time around. Probably the worst I've had so far. And though I still didn't throw up, there were many times I wished I would, hoping it would make me feel better. My symptons and food cravings have been nearly identical to my pregnancy with Will. I started to suspect it was a boy and felt about 95% confindent about it. I was so confident, in fact, that I packed all of my girl things up and started to get my boy things down to sort and go through.

We were both more than a little stunned at our ultrasound when we were told it was a girl. We asked like 2-3 times if they could double check, and how sure they were. But even I could tell pretty clearly that it was indeed a girl. It took a couple of days for it to fully register and sink in.

I am approaching the end of the second trimester and am ready to be in the third and final stretch. I can't decide if the weeks are going slow or quickly, but we are chugging along, anxious for October to get here.

26 Weeks

Summer has officially begun

June is in full swing and man did the temperature rise fast. It has been HOT. The kind of hot that leaves you wondering what to do. I hate being trapped inside all day, but it's too hot to be outside unless it involves water.

So that is pretty much what we have been up to. We play in the sprinklers. We go to the splash pad. And last week, I even took the kids on a little day trip to the lake. Willard Bay is only 20-30 minutes from our house, and they have a little beach area to hang out at and play in the water.

We packed a lunch, lots of snacks, and lots of toys to play at the beach. When we first got there, we were the only ones there. But within an hour or so, quite a few other groups of people had joined us. (Not sure why the pictures are so hazy...maybe my phone was too hot...or I dunno.)

 The kids had a blast filling their buckets up, digging holes, and splashing around.

Then a few hours after we got home from the lake, our power went out due to a semi-truck running into a power pole. Not having a ton of options for dinner without a microwave or stove, we headed to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.

It was Will's idea because he wanted to go to the place with the oreo pizza. He has good taste.

 

Even though it is summer, the kids recently found our box of winter hats and gloves and they have been playing "Christmas". And they really wanted to wear their Christmas things when we went grocery shopping.

They sure know how to make a fashion statement.

Meanwhile, Lance has started a new job within the last week or so. Instead of being in the car rental side of Enterprise, he has switched departments and is now in truck rentals and is working down in West Valley. We are hoping it will be a good move.

And while Lance is away working, I've been trying to stay somewhat busy and not let myself go too crazy. I built some shelves in our shed and totally reorganized. I even got detailed enough that I vacuumed the shed out. It was good because I was able to haul of bunch of stuff outside and clear up some storage space in the house.  I've been trying to de-junk a little bit and get rid of the things we really don't need or use, but I'm apparently not very good at throwing things away.

I wish I could say that we have some super sweet things planned for summer, but as of right now we are just trying to survive. Lance doesn't really get any time off so we are pretty limited in what we can do. Hopefully we can still manage to have a good summer.

Fun Questions for Will

A friend on mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it would be kind of fun to try with Will.

Without any prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say.


1. What is something mom always says to you?  Clean up your room.

2. What makes mom happy? Tickles and when I give her hugs.

3. What makes mom sad? Hitting. And when you don't clean your room.

4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tickles

5. How old is your mom? 14
 
6. How tall is your mom? 1-2-3-4-5

7. What is her favorite thing to do? Play games

8. What does your mom do when you're not around? Cry

9. What is your mom really good at? When I'm so excited to go get on the train, she gets on really nice. And she's really good at taking me on trains.

10. What is your mom not very good at? She locks us out of her room. At fixing my bike.

11. What does your mom do for a job? She takes us to Kim's.

12. What is your mom's favorite food? She loves vegetables and sandwiches.

13. What makes you proud of your mom? When she plays with me.

14. If your mom were a character, who would she be? A dinosaur.

15. What do you and your mom do together? Have some time spending with our family. Play hockey. Build train tracks.

16. How are you and your mom the same? We both like playing outside and eating food and playing games and going to the park and going to friends house.

17. How are you and your mom different? Sometimes the bad guys make us die.

18. How do you know your mom loves you? When Jesus is here then you love me. I know you love me, so I like you.

19. What does your mom like most about your dad? Because he's a funny animal then you love him. And it makes you laugh. Then you knock down daddy and he dies. But Heavenly Father makes you alive again. And you like laying by daddy.

20. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? You like going to a mommy store to get some books.

21. How old was your Mom when you were born? 1
Well there you have it. From the mouth of 4 year old Will.

Spring Creek Canyon

There is a group in my family that really loves hiking, especially down in Southern Utah. While we were all gathered down there for my Grandpa's funeral, we decided to do a short hike.

My cousin Seth has a little boy named Will who is about 6 months younger than my Will. When I found out Seth was bringing his Will, I decided to take mine as well. So this was Will's first official hike. And it was quite a decent one, for being his first.

The trail was called Spring Creek Trail. I found this description on a website: This is an easy hike into a beautiful slot canyon located just outside the Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park. It provides a taste of canyoneering in a relatively easy slot, in an area that is accessible. The canyon is little known, overlooked by most hikers, and so you can often find solitude here.

Total Length: About 5.5 miles round trip (Not sure if we went the entire way, but I think it was close)


Every time we would pass a "cool rock" Will wanted to pick it up and carry it with him. He would carry it for a while until he found one he liked better. Then he would drop that one, pick up the next one and proceed on.

And some of these rocks were pretty big!

The trail was fairly easy, steady uphill but not very steep. There was a small river we had to cross several times. Will stopped at every crossing to dip his hand in the water and see it if was really warm at that spot.

There were a couple of tumbles, but the kids bounced right back and no one seemed too affected or hurt by it.

 Parts of the trail were in wide open spaces.

 Other parts we were walking through some thick foilage.

Then a couple of miles into the hike, we reached the slot canyon.

 These two had become great friends during the funeral and they had a ball walking together in the mountains. The two Wills.

 They really enjoyed chilling in this small cave. Will asked if they could take a nap there.

 They were even strong enough to help hold the mountain up and keep it from falling on us all.

 By the last mile or two, these boys were tired. Heck, I was super tired. But they were such good troopers! At one point they were even walking down hand in hand. Will tripped at one point and scrapped his knee and was dragging from that point on. I carried him a little ways but he's just too big and he ended up walking most of the way.

And check out some of these views! 

I really enjoyed the hike. It was fun to spend a little bit more time with some family that we don't get to see often. We got to be outside doing something I enjoy. I got to watch Will experience something for the first time, and I got to see him enjoying something that I love. Guess that means there will be a lot more hiking in our future. Yes!

Great job, Will! I was so impressed and proud of how well you did!

 

Broken Glasses

Do you remember this picture?

This was the first time Blake broke her glasses. It took about a week for her to get them back. Since she didn't have a second pair yet, she just went a week without glasses. We got them back just in time to go to Cedar City. Two days later on our way home, Blake handed me her glasses...in pieces.

Fortunately, the following day I received a call saying that her second pair had come in. I was super excited about this pair because they seemed to be the ones she really liked when we were trying them on. Plus the ends curl around the ears, so I thought they would stay on better. Turns out they don't. They were a little big and would constantly fall down and sit on the edge of her nose. And she really didn't seem to like them.

I was debating if I should take them in and ask if we could exchange for a different pair, since she seemed to dislike them so much and they weren't fitting quite right. Then Blake brought her glasses to me like this.

Oi! At least this looked like something that could hopefully be fixed and not have to be shipped away. So for the fourth time within a week, I hauled the kids to the glasses store. I received several looks of sympathy.

I thought maybe if I had the right tools I could have fixed this one on my own. But after waiting for them to return them, I'm glad I didn't even try. The screw was somehow wedged in there some way, and it took them over 30 minutes just to figure a way to get it out. Meanwhile, I decided to ask if there was any way that I could trade this pair for a different pair. I ended up getting the same pair as her first ones, but in purple. The only downside was that they were about half the price of the metal pairs and I ended up just eating the cost. Wish I would have known at the beginning.

Getting a bit tired of such frequent trips to this eye place, I decided to go check out Walmart and see what they had to offer. I got Blake a 3rd pair of glasses for about a third of what the other store cost. Another face palm. Why didn't I go there first?!

Anyways, they were extremely helpful and very accommodating. They even told me they would order a few extra frames so if Blake broke them, they could exchange them out that same day. Talk about service!

A week or two later, all 3 pairs of glasses decided to come in within about a day of one another. So she now has a pink and purple pair, and this black pair. And of course, since we finally have a backup pair, Blake hasn't broken a pair of glasses since.

 But I guess if that's what it takes, then that's what you do.


Blake also had a follow-up eye appointment on Monday. He wanted to see her 6 weeks after she started wearing her glasses. He said that she is looking really well. When she is wearing her glasses, her eyes are straightening out. When you take them off, however, they really turn inwards. But that is normal at this point. I was told she looked great, that she needs to continue wearing them full time, and that we would re-evaluate her eyes in 4-6 months.