Quotable Quotes by the King Kids in 2009

Travis: Eliza is so cute!
Jenna: Do you even know what cute means?
Travis: Uh-huh.
Jenna: What?
Travis: Eliza!


(after Caleb walked all the way to the car from the store backwards)
Caleb: I did it!
Jenna: You're so awesome!
Caleb: No, you're so awesome!
Jenna: No, you're so awesome!
Caleb: I am awesome!


Westley: I want to sit by Felicity and Nana.
Caleb: You'll be girl-trapped!
Westley: That's true! But I'll be girl-trapped by girls that I love to be next to.


Caleb: These are my grandpa shoes (about his sandals that are falling apart).
Jenna: Why are they your grandpa shoes?
Caleb: Because they are so OLD!


Westley: My low for the day was when Big Caleb beat me in basketball. I got like 10 points and he got, like, 30,000 or maybe 11.

King Family 2009

The King family started the year by moving back to our home in Queen Creek. During the spring, we learned that In-N-Out would be opening stores in Salt Lake and Utah Counties, and Corey decided to take that opportunity to help them expand. We put our home on the market in June and sold it within 3 weeks. The new buyers were willing to let us stay in the home until we needed to move and rent it back from them for 6 weeks after closing. We moved to Riverton, Utah in October, where we are currently renting.

In June, Jenna took the kids and went to Southern California for a family visit. While there, news came that her grandfather had passed away with a funeral to be held in Salt Lake City, so she caravanned with her brother to Utah, meeting Corey up there. While in Utah, Corey's grandmother passed away, so Corey took Westley and Travis back to California just after the Utah trip for that funeral. Despite these sad occasions, we took the opportunity to visit the Wild Animal Park and the beach and enjoy the 4th of July festivities in Utah. Hopefully 2010's family trips won't involve funerals.

Corey: Corey started the year in his last semester at ASU and graduated in May with his bachelor's degree. Shortly before graduation, he was promoted to a 2nd manager with In-N-Out. He is currently the 2nd manager for the American Fork store, which opened mid-December.

Jenna: Jenna keeps busy just doing the mom thing. In the fall, she started teaching preschool at home to Caleb three days a week. Managing the household is a full-time job and that's all she has time to do right now. In the spare time she has, she manages several blogs and reads any books that she can.

Westley (6): Westley started first grade in July after finishing kindergarten in June with flying colors. He continues to excel in academics and is currently undergoing evaluation for the district's gifted program. He has lost 3 teeth in only a few weeks and will be asking for his two front teeth for Christmas this year. He still loves drawing and creating projects.

Caleb (5): Caleb does preschool 3 times a week with Mom. He is learning his letter sounds and excels in math. Caleb loves tools and building. He could spend every waking hour playing computer games or watching TV, but he is also good at creative play.

Travis (3): Travis successfully potty trained in only a few weeks just after moving to Utah. He loves to play in the snow in the winter and swim in the summer, play with cars, and play with his siblings. He is excited about everything that comes his way.

Eliza (2): Eliza is our little handful. If there is a mess anywhere in the house, it is usually because of her. She keeps up with her brothers in play, but also loves to play with her babies, wear her tutu, play with her tea set and loves everything pink.

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope you find joy in this holiday season.

Christmas and End of the Year

Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas. It was just us here in Utah. On Christmas Eve, Corey came home from work, we had a light dinner of ham and scalloped potatoes. We baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa. We did a little Christmas Eve program where the kids acted out the nativity and we sang some Christmas carols--Away in a Manger, Silent Night, and Oh Come All Ye Faithful. We opened presents--ornaments--our traditional Christmas Eve gift. Then we had hot chocolate/egg nog. Then the kids went off to bed and Corey and I finished all the wrapping and setting out of presents.

On Christmas morning, the kids got up and we all got ready for the day. Then we did stockings and the kids found little boxes of cereal in them which they had for breakfast. Then we unwrapped presents. Corey fixed a big breakfast of French toast later in the morning, which was really close enough to lunch time for the kids that it acted as lunch. The younger ones took naps while the older ones watched new movies. Aunt Jamie came over and in the late afternoon, we had a bigger meal of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls.

A few pictures:

Eliza as Mary, Caleb was Joseph, West and Trav were shepherds. Jenna was the angel and we skipped the wise men part because it wasn't in that part of Luke and the kids were getting antsy. In fact, we had to get them dressed back up in order to take the picture.

Snoopy enjoying his Christmas present--a rawhide chew.

Opening the stockings

The American Fork Store Opens

Corey's store, the American Fork In-N-Out where he works as a second manager, opened on December 17th. We went to the pre-opening party, which is a private party for associates and their families, and enjoyed some free burgers, fries, and shakes for dinner. His store is quite busy, as are all the Utah stores, and we are happy about that.

Being Crafty

I am not the craftiest person. Well, I do like to do crafts, and when I do them, I'm usually pretty good at it, but I just don't thrive on being crafty. I also don't usually come up with my own ideas, I just copy other people's. I was pretty proud of myself when I bought this plain wreath, some bows and other trinkets to put on it and put it together myself.

Travis' Injury

On December 22nd, just as we were about to walk out of the house to drop Westley off at his bus stop and then drive around some goodies to a few people, Travis fell down and hit his head, which warranted a trip to the ER for stitches. The cut was clear to the bone, and I freaked out a little and called 911. Partly because it was so scary-looking but also because if it was more serious, I had all the other kids with me and I needed time to get Corey home or Jamie here to help out. The call and the paramedics coming bought enough time that Corey was able to take Travis and then I met him there after dropping Westley off at school (late) and Jamie stayed with the other two. He got six stitches.


Westley's Teeth

Westley lost both his two front teeth about a week before Christmas, so he really could ask for them for Christmas. Pretty cool.

Bowling

On December 8th, Corey's sister Jamie took us bowling as a family, and it was a blast. We only played one game and we didn't even have Travis or Eliza get shoes and get a game, we just let them take some of our turns in their socks. The kids loved it, Travis was especially excited about it. Caleb won the game out of the kids, getting over 90! It was a lot of fun.

December Birthdays

December 6--Eliza turns TWO!!

Can't believe that my baby girl is a two-year-old! Do you see me weeping that she's no longer a baby? I can't believe that she is already starting to talk and how much she does.

Eliza on her birthday with her cake and ice cream. We didn't know then that on my brother's camera that we're using, we had to use the flash every time, so all the pictures came out blurry.

Eliza at In-N-Out a couple weeks later.

The butterfly cake I made for her birthday--this is how you decorate a cake that is chocolate with chocolate frosting--you use sprinkles! I just don't like chocolate cake with white frosting, so I had to work around that a little bit. Can't do lots of colors with chocolate frosting, just doesn't turn out quite right.

For her birthday, she got a ride-on horse that would work better if we had hardwood floors, a pretty dress, a tea set, a cowgirl outfit, and Grandpa and Grandma got her a tutu with a matching headband that she LOVES! There was a picture from that day but it came out all blurry, so we will have to try again when she is wearing it.

Two great things about Eliza:
1. She absolutely loves to dance and does so anytime she hears music (whether it is her brothers singing silly songs in the background or a song on the radio).
2. She gives the best kisses and hugs and lots of them too.

December 9th--Corey's birthday

Corey just doing what he loves, chilling with the kids!

Corey's graduation in May

For Corey's birthday, he worked all day. We had a lasagna with homemade French bread for dinner. For dessert, I made him a banana cream pie from scratch, my first time. In past years, we've either gotten one from Marie Callendar's or Village Inn or somewhere. Or I've made one using the Jell-O banana pudding mix and a store bought graham cracker crust. But this one I made entirely from scratch. It was really good. That was about all we did for his birthday. He got a personalized travel mug to drink hot chocolate in on his way to work in these cold Utah mornings and a subscription to a magazine for a year.

December 21--Jenna's Birthday

On my birthday, we went to Village Baker for lunch for sandwiches and got a couple take-n-bake pizzas while we were there for dinner. I love Village Baker pizza and sandwiches. As many of you know, that is where I worked in high school. So that was a special treat. I was also able to say hello to my old boss who still owns and runs the place. I love how the pizza topping charts that my brother made on our computer are still hanging there and I also loved that when I ordered a Baker's Choice, I remembered the number for that was 15 but the lady taking my order had to check the chart. Corey baked me a cake. We had a pretty typical day, didn't do anything special. I got an In-N-Out travel cup that can be used for hot or cold beverages and an In-N-Out blue tooth, which I'm sure I'll never figure out how to use.


Since I'm the only one who takes the pictures, when there are pictures of me, they're usually strangely posed or very horrible. I apologize.

Feeling "Pooped" Out

I am feeling completely pooped, and I mean literally. We came home from my cousin's house today to find that our lovely dog had a very runny bowel movement all over the kitchen while we were gone. Corey quickly cleaned it up (thanks, Corey, you're awesome!) while I kept the kids away and acted as his assistant, handing him paper towels, moving chairs, and whatever else he needed. It was great of him to help with since he had to get ready for work. He gave up a shower in order to do it, but I'm grateful he did because he has a stronger stomach. I had to fight the urge to puke several times and I wasn't even the one cleaning it up!

Well, that was fun and dandy, but after he finished that and was upstairs getting ready, our little Eliza started to scream because she was constipated, so I had to hurry her out of her diaper and sit her on the toilet. After that, things were calm for a bit. Corey left for work and we all went on our merry little way.

When I was on the computer checking Facebook, I saw Caleb dancing and acting weird at the top of the stairs. I asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing, but with a tone of voice that suggested something was wrong. He was standing with his hand behind him, so I asked if he'd pooped in his underwear again (he did last Monday because he didn't want to stop playing computer and was thus grounded from the computer for a week). He wouldn't answer me. I knew he had--he didn't want to tell me and invoke my wrath nor did he want to lie, so he remained silent.

So, I had him get undressed, threw the offending underwear away in the outside trash (a consequence of pooping in the underwear after full potty training is to lose that pair of underwear), and he went on the toilet to finish the job. He must have sat there for 45 minutes while I picked up his Legos, which he is now grounded from until Monday. When he was done, he left a clogged toilet, a new roll of toilet paper that was sopping wet having been dropped into the toilet, and a very dirty toilet seat. When I shooed him out of the way to clean up that mess, he accidentally sat on the floor in the hall, still not clean, and smeared the carpet. So then I clean up that mess, and tell him to get in the tub to wash off his mess. He did, but left a huge mess of it in the tub. He had let the water run and stopped the drain, though, so it was just all floating around in the tub with him. I had to empty and clean the tub, then make him clean himself with the water running and NOT filling up. When I finally had him situated in the tub and the floor and bathroom cleaned, I went to get his towel and clothes and found that Eliza and Travis had gotten into his Legos and thrown them all over the toy room. About 1,000 Lego pieces all over the whole room.

Now he is out of the bath, the kitchen floor is all clean (after the THIRD mopping for the smell), Eliza is happy and the Legos are finally picked up.

I am all. pooped. out...

Travis and the Birthday Suit

Travis came downstairs naked yesterday when the kids were getting dressed for the day. I said to him, "Travis, why are you wearing your birthday suit?" and then sent him back upstairs to get dressed. About five minutes later, he came down to me, still naked, and crying.

"Travis, what's wrong?"

"I can't find my birthday suit!"

Apparently, he thought I'd told him to go put his birthday suit on. I had to try to explain to a 3-year-old the meaning behind the phrase "wearing your birthday suit". He still doesn't get it.

In Your Face, Santa!

We were telling the kids that they had to be good or Santa wouldn't bring them anything but coal for Christmas. Westley's response?

"If Santa brings me coal, I'll just play with it!"

So there you go, Santa, that's making lemonade out of lemons for you!

Keeping Up

Okay, I just posted about an hour ago how I had to clean up after Travis' mishap in the bathroom. It seems that while I was doing that, Eliza was making a little mischief of her own. I discovered later that while I was busy scrubbing the upstairs carpet and cleaning Travis, she was making a beautiful picture on the downstairs carpet with markers. And the drawing table. And the wood blinds.

Fortunately, most of the markers she used were washable. It came out, but not without a LOT of scrubbing and a little rubbing alcohol for some of it. BUT the dry erase marker she used did NOT come out of the blinds or the carpet, just got bigger and worse. And regular marker and crayon do NOT come off a wood surface either. At least, I don't know how to get it out. At least MOST of the carpet came clean except for a few tiny spots of dry erase marker (one that got a little bigger that I tried to get out). The wood blinds have a LOT of dry erase marker. Not sure if that will come off, but maybe I can try something else besides water. Any ideas? The wood blinds are painted white. Actually, on second look, I think they may be vinyl blinds, not wood.

Have you ever had a day where your kids are one step ahead of you all day? I feel like I'm running to catch up!

Bathroom Blunders

So I go upstairs this morning to find my 3-year-old standing by the toilet, naked from the waist-down, crying. I peek in to see what's going on and he's stuffed the ENTIRE ROLL of toilet paper in the toilet and is trying to get it to flush, which it won't. Thankfully, it wasn't clogged yet because it wouldn't flush BECAUSE the float in the tank was in the way of the little flap closing and it hadn't filled back up from the previous flush.

So, I grab a couple plastic bags and use one to lift the huge sopping mess of TP out of the toilet into the other plastic bag. Then I fix the problem in the tank and have the plunger on hand just in case. It flushes fine, so then I instruct him to sit in the hall and put on his clothes, ASS-U-Ming that he had wiped thoroughly based on the amount of TP in the toilet.

Not so. He starts to wail that he hasn't wiped and when he stands up, lo and behold, there is a HUGE mess of #2 ALL OVER THE CARPET! So I pull him back into the bathroom and grab a new roll of TP and proceed to help him in his endeavor, but apparently he'd been up there a while because it was dried on. I hastily pull his shirt off and start filling the tub, he starts to scream and sits down on the bathroom rug, which then got the same spot as the hall carpet. I stand him up and instruct him to stand there until the tub is ready.

Then I go to work, pouring water on the spot in the hallway and scrubbing with a cloth until the stain is gone, then spraying on pet stain remover for such pet accidents (very useful stuff if you have potty training kids!) and covering it with a towel to dry. Then he gets in the tub and I whisk the bathroom rug to the washing machine.

Last week my 6-year-old flooded the downstairs bathroom due to too much TP! I swear, I might start rationing--making them come to me for a small-ish amount before they use the toilet...

December, December

There is lots to blog about and lately I'm just not in the mood for blogging. But, I will share what we've been up to recently.

Eliza turned 2 on December 6th, which I will devote a post to later, but right now let's just say that she had a nice birthday. Best part? That Grandpa and Grandma just happened to be up from Arizona for it. That wasn't the plan and the real reason they were up isn't happy (a death in the family), but it was sure nice to see them.

Today is Corey's birthday, and I will also devote a post to that later as well. Corey has been off the past four days and that has been nice. On Saturday, I took Westley to some gifted program testing with the school district. He had one test from 9 to 11:30 am and then another test from 1 to 3 pm. Parents were required to stay and wait, so I waited all day while I read a book. On Sunday, my parents came over and went to church with us and then we celebrated Eliza's birthday.

On Monday, I went to my uncle's funeral with my parents. It was my dad's older brother who passed away. The funeral was in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, where my dad grew up, and the drive from Riverton is about 1-1/2 - 2 hours in good weather. But the weather was horrible--it snowed ALL day, and the roads were practically impassible. Not sure how we made it there and back, but we did (thank goodness my dad was driving, I wouldn't have made it if I'd had to drive!). The funeral was nice and it was good to see family on my dad's side that I never see (and some of whom I haven't really ever known).

Yesterday we spent the day getting a few things done and later in the day, Corey's sister Jamie came for dinner and then took us bowling. Caleb did really well, scoring a 90! Westley had been bowling once before, and he enjoyed it, but we need to teach that kid some technique! He would run down to the lane and then just kind of chuck the ball with all his might, which would cause him to fall over. We tried showing him how to hold it and roll it down, but he just wouldn't do it. Caleb, on the other hand, tried really hard to do it right. Travis and Eliza took turns with each of the grown-ups. Everybody had fun and the kids were really excited about it the whole time we were there.

It has been snowing like crazy here since Saturday. We have about 5-6 inches on the ground and the temperatures are only in the teens. I have no desire, nor intention, to leave the house unless absolutely necessary!

I Must Be Cold-Blooded

I must be cold-blooded because I am always cold. Okay, I know that cold-blooded animals aren't always cold, it just means their body temperature changes with the outside temperature, which is why they mostly live in temperate zones...BUT now that winter has really hit (and for me it has, despite all the native Utahns who say, "This isn't even COLD yet!!!"), I am beginning to realize that I will not thaw until June probably, maybe even July or August.

I may have complained once or twice about the heat in Phoenix, mostly mentioning that it was hot and more comfortable, therefore, to stay inside or in the pool, but I am NOT a person who enjoys cold. I once heard someone say that being cold was easier than being hot because you can always throw on another layer, but with hot, you can only strip down so far...

I prefer to not have to "throw on layers" for warmth. What is the point of having a great long-sleeve turtleneck if you have to wear your old college sweatshirt over it all day long because you're still so very freezing? Socks do not keep my feet warm enough, not even when I have slippers over them. And my hands are ALWAYS cold, no matter if I have gloves on or not. I often have to wear a hat in the house (not a baseball cap, a winter hat) to keep warm IN THE HOUSE. Even if I have the heat on higher than 70. Since it is never warm enough, I don't usually have it up that high to save money on the bill, but sometimes I wish I could crank it to 84 and leave it there.

Did I mention I don't like cold?

What I wouldn't give to be sitting outside in the warm sunny Arizona sun right now, what is it, in the 60s (which is still a bit cold for me)? It was 18 degrees here this morning. 18 DEGREES!!! I had on my layers shirt, my long-sleeve shirt, my ASU sweatshirt, my heavy coat (which is actually made up of two coats that come apart), my gloves, my hat with my hood over my hat, and I was still so very cold! It was cold enough to cancel recess today. I'm very glad for that.

I would trade the 115 degree heat for 3 months in the summer ANY DAY to be out of this freezing cold.

I'd better go buy myself a Snuggie now...and a whole lot of hot chocolate!

A BYU Fan

Today we were having lunch at the new West Jordan In-N-Out. The people sitting at the table next to us were sporting University of Utah attire, namely, a baseball hat. As many of you know, last weekend was the BYU vs Utah football game, which we watched on TV. It was a close game and I got really into it at the end, cheering and yelling. The boys have been saying that they don't like Utah, meaning the team (not the state), all week long.

So anyway, Caleb saw the man with the Utah hat and pointed him out quite loudly, "Mom, that guy is wearing a Utah hat!" The man heard and he and his wife chimed in, "Go Utes!" to which Westley promptly responded, "We like BYU." At this exact moment, Caleb turned back around in his seat, so he was facing away from the people, and started to chant in a low voice, "BYU, Cougars on you" (a chant that the boys made up).

I guess we've indoctrinated our kids already on the BYU-Utah rivalry.