Torrey

We decided we needed a little end of summer vacation. We were so lucky that my Aunt and Uncle let us use their beautiful vacation home in Torrey, which is in the most beautiful place on Earth. We only had three days, but we enjoyed every second of it! We got down to Torrey on Thursday afternoon and immediately made ourselves at home. Chase was delighted to find a chess board (he's recently gotten into chess) and we played a LOT of chess while we were there!

 Friday morning we left bright and early for the park. It was nice to get there before the heat and crowds! We hiked up Hickman Bridge, which is one of my favorite hikes there. It's just about 2 miles round trip and you get to see a beautiful land bridge! The boys wanted to play in every little rock formation and hole they could find. Hudson climbed into one and declared it was a rare "tugalug's house" (A tugalug is an elephant/peacock cross breed, straight from Hudson's imagination). And Ben and I just breathed in the beauty of the red rock, blue skies and amazing views everywhere we went!

 My kids love adventure, but they especially love staying in Torrey. The house there is beautiful and spacious. The room the boys stay in has some toys that they love. There is a sandbox they spent hours in. Ben and I love being comfortable and being able to cook all our own food. It's just such a great set-up for our family. Ben and I kept Davis in with us and I snapped this picture early one morning when Hudson came in. These two just adore each other! It's the sweetest. Unfortunately for me, vacationing with a baby doesn't actually mean resting or sleeping in (or sleeping much at night for that matter) but it was still so great to get away as a family!

 On Saturday we went exploring in the Fishlake National forest. The boys found this little stream and loved playing in it. Ben and I talked and watched them and loved on Davis. It was such a sweet, fun morning!

 

Then we packed up and headed home! Davis was having a ROUGH time on the way home. After almost running out of gas and barely making it to Scipio, Davis screaming for a big portion of the drive, we were mostly just feeling done by Provo. So Ben decided to pull off and show the boys our old stomping grounds! We stopped at the creamery first- man we forgot how great that ice cream is! The boys agreed. Graham Canyon for the win!

 Then we walked them around the campus. They were even more excited than we expected, which was darling. I showed Chase the SWKT where he went to class with me (in utero) for a whole semester right before I had him. Then we showed them the Benson building where we met- they were obviously super excited about that. Mostly, they loved the Eyring Science Center and seeing the fun hands-on exhibits there. Since it was a late Saturday afternoon, campus was pretty much deserted. Ben and I reminisced and relived all the happiness and memories we had there!

Out of the Mouth of Hudson

Hudson was telling one of his traditional "tall tales" one night at my parents house. Chase leaned over and whisper to my mom, "FICTION" and Hudson immediately leaned over to her other ear and whispered "SPANISH".

The first time Hudson saw me nursing Davis he was super intrigued. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Hudson, can you give mom some privacy while she nurses Davis?
Hudson: Nursing?! I want to see! (Runs over and plops himself on the bed next to me)
Hudson: Huh? Where's the bottle?
Me: I'm not using a bottle. He's getting special milk from mommy.
Hudson: Oh yeah. It's celebration milk.
(and ever since then he's called nursing "celebration milk" which has helped my attitude towards these hard first weeks of nursing immensely)

When my mom told him that Davis's middle name was Jack he responded with "NO! It's supposed to be Davis Michael Jack-went-to-monkeys Hugo! Quick, someone FIX THIS before he gets any bigger!"

While burping Davis, he told me that Davis "needs to pop his bubble." and then went on to explain "Davis has sharp bones in his body that pop his bubbles."

Chase: Mom do you cook for fun?
Me: I don't mind cooking for my family, but I don't really cook for fun.
Hudson: So you just cook for boring?

Hudson: Dad can we go get donuts now?
Ben: No buddy, it's too close to dinner.
Hudson: But dad! I promised you yesterday that we could get donuts today after naps.

Heidi gave him this cute little log for Christmas that had five little woodland animals in it. He loves it and plays and imagines with his animals all the time. One morning right after Davis was born he brought his little bear, fox, raccoon and chipmunk in to me and said "Mom, these guys kept me up all night they were so fussy!"

And then later Heidi asked him if the animals slept in their log at night, and he replied "No, that's how they get neck injuries!' (Neck injuries?!?! We laughed so hard at that one)

He said one day, "Mom, I couldn't figure out what to get Monkey for her birthday. Then I figured she could use a new nursing cover!" (And then he showed me how he turned his Paw Patrol pillow case into a very functional nursing cover for Monkey, under which both Seamore and Chipmunk nurse. A few days later I asked him to go play in his room and he replied "I can't, Monkey is nursing in there and she needs peace and quiet." Sure enough, he had Monkey all set up, laying against a pillow, with her nursing cover on and Seamore nursing underneath.

One night he said, "Mom, we are having a meeting and you and Davis are invited."
I came upstairs to find the meeting on the landing area in our hallway, on top of his carefully spread paw patrol blanket, with all his animals lined up on one side. We were instructed to sit by the animals. Then he called us up, one at a time, to "take the stand." Once on the stand we were to share our favorite food, then he "recorded" it in his little book. It was hilarious. (For future reference, Bear's favorite food is blueberries, Chipmunks is "chipmunk nip", Seamore's is peaches and celebration milk (just like Davis), Monkey's is peaches (just like me)- I can't remember the rest.)

One day I overheard him telling Davis "Don't believe mommy Davis! Don't believe her!"

Ben: Hudson please go clean your room.
Hudson: Oh figgle-bars! (throws up hands in exasperation and then falls face forward in the hallway and lays there for awhile to really make a dramatic point)

Hudson started telling me all about a friend he met at the gym day care. "I call him Max" he kept telling me. So I questioned what his real name was, "Holden? Eden? Something like that mom. But I just call him Max."
So the next day at the gym "Max" greeted Hudson right by the door and they ran off to play together. I asked the workers there if that little boy was named Max. They answered, "No, that's Eldon" "Does anyone else call him Max?" "Nope, just Hudson."
So then I asked Hudson afterwards why he calls him Max-
Hudson: He's just fine with it Mom!
Me: Why don't you call him Eldon?
Hudson: Eldon is just a funny name. I like Max better. And he's fine with it.

All the Other July Stuff

July was an emotional roller coaster, full of fun activities, lots of family time, and some major disappointment. It's all part of our life journey, so I'm recording it all here.

7/11 was free day at Chick Fil-A if you dressed up like a cow. Ben usually hates stuff like that (dressing up, plus crowds) so when I off-handedly mentioned it to him around 5:30 pm he said, "sure! let's do it!" I was surprised! I hurried and made cow spots that would go on our shirts and we went! True to my boys natural personalities, Chase was super hesitant to wear the shirt, afraid of looking silly. Hudson, on the other hand, asked if next year I would please make him cow pants and cow ears to go with it. We had free dinner and it wasn't even too terribly crowded. 

We had a fun adventure to the Treehouse Museum with Nana and all the grandbabies. The kids had a great time. They were so cute playing in the diner (for a long time) cooking up a storm and serving us all food. They all love that place and it was such a fun morning, complete with a delicious lunch at Blue Lemon (which we did last year and the boys still remember it and talk about it). 

 When I got home from the Treehouse that afternoon, Ben had some bad news for us- he lost his job. It came as a surprise and such a sucker punch. We both just felt sick and so sad and frustrated. He has loved this job, and put so much into it. A few weeks prior they let Ben's boss go- and the guy who took his place was a real dirtbag. Ben told me right when it happened that he was worried- he did not trust this new guy. And for good reason. Ben realized quickly that everything this guy had ever told Ben was a lie. As we processed and talked about what happened we came to the conclusion that a company that acts this way (let's people go with no notice, no reason, no warning) isn't a company he should be working for. But it didn't really soften the blow by much. My mom watched the kids so we could go to the temple that night, which was probably the most emotional we have ever been attending the temple. We found it interesting that while we were there we were able to feel a little peace, although it didn't take away the feelings of hurt and betrayal.

I can say a little time has helped heal this wound. For the first few days we both struggled with eating and sleeping and I cried a lot. As time has passed it's gotten much easier to swallow. One thing that really helped was that just  two days later we had a camping trip planned with our good friends from BYU. Ben and I really didn't want to go, but our boys were looking forward to it so much that we packed up anyway and went. It was the best thing for us. We camped up Hobble Creek Canyon and it was beautiful. We had so much fun with our friends and the boys had the best time playing, getting dirty and sleeping in the tent.

 Bennetts couldn't spend the night this year, but Virgins did. We put all the kids to bed and stayed up until 1:30 am talking with Russell and Ashley by the fire. It was probably the most therapeutic thing we could have done (although we were all so tired the next morning). Russell and Ashley are kind and wise and encouraging and not at all judgmental. We talked all about life, the crazy job thing and all kinds of other stuff. It was honestly the best, and something I'll remember as a bright spot in an otherwise dark time. I know this all sounds a little dramatic, but for a little while it felt that way. We quickly realized that we have so much to be grateful for, our healthy boys, each other, supportive family and friends, living in America, the list goes on and on. But this night I was so thankful for these wonderful friends!

Our big boys have really bonded this summer in a really great way. They spend hours playing and pretending together. Every night all summer they've slept together on the bottom bunk of their bunk bed. They usually have some blankets and sheets hanging from the top bunk, making it a "fort" or "ship" depending on the night. They giggle and play and read and pretend in there until late into the night, but Ben and I don't really even care because we love the bond they are forming. When summer ends we will probably make Chase start sleeping up in his bed and make them both go to sleep at a better time. But for now, this is darling and so sweet. 

Chase really wanted to do a lemonade stand this summer. I just never got on the ball to do one with him. Luckily his sweet friend Paisley invited him over for one! He was so excited. Paisley's mom does everything up really cute, hence the matching aprons and cutesy sign. He loved it. It was a pretty hot day so they only last about an hour, but he made $4.50 and was thrilled about it! He was even more excited that Nana stopped to buy some lemonade from them (not even realizing at first that Chase was there). Chase loves Paisley and plans on marrying her someday.

 The great thing about Utah is that after the 4th of July, we get to do it all over again for the 24th! The boys really wanted to go to the Bowman's pancake breakfast, so we did. We met Nana and Papa there and all enjoyed our pancakes. Later in the day I took the boys back for the kids activities there, including bounce houses, cotton candy, hot dogs, face painting and balloon animals. I had to laugh at the face paint they chose (totally unprompted by me) because Ben and I joke that Chase's spirit animal is a puppy and Hudson's is a bear.

Our last fun outing in July was another Nana adventure to the Museum of Natural Curiosity! We hadn't been there in three years and the boys LOVED it. In fact, Chase says it was his #1 favorite thing he did all summer. This place has a whole mini city, a jungle to climb in, a whole room of water play (Chase's favorite), a science room, a bear cave, playground and so much more! We stayed for several hours and the boys loved every minute of it! 

I'll say, this new baby in our lives has made this summer really different than the last several. I'm desperately trying to do lots of fun activities for my big kids and trying to preserve a good nap schedule for the baby- which has turned out to be really tricky at times. Somedays the big kids have a more boring day so the baby can nap, some days we go out and do fun stuff and tote around a slightly fussy, tired baby. Mostly it's worked. I actually like looking back on these pictures because they remind me that we did get out and have fun- but it has been a lot more work than the last few summers. Either way, I'm so glad we had these experiences. I love doing activities with my kids and seeing their little world expand.

Kid Updates

Chase at 6.5 years old:

• He's such a reader. We will get 5 chapter books from the library and he's done with them in 5 days. The funny thing is, it's not like his nose is in a book all day long. He plays and plays all day, and then sits down for quiet time or bedtime and just devours books. I love it.
• I stressed a lot about what to do with him and school next year. He was tested, and then accepted into the PALS program in our school district. This is an accelerated program for the top students in each grade level. His scores came back very high (which we knew they would) and he was accepted into the program, but it would mean changing schools (only three schools in the district offer the program) and from the research we'd done we didn't LOVE the program. We knew Chase would be fine either way, but it was hard to let an opportunity pass by. Ultimately, we talked to his school teacher and my mom, who had similar advice- he's thriving where he is. He'd thrive in PALS too. But he's so smart, he gets along with the kids his age, and he's motivated to keep learning. Chase has loved Creekside this last year (and we have too) and so we decided to just keep him there- and we actually feel really good about it. I'm hoping he'll be blessed with another teacher who will help push him and keep him engaged, and we will continue to do enriching activities at home and I think he will be just fine.
• Has a serious mind for numbers. One day, out of the blue he asked me, "Mom, did the Titanic sink 99 years before I was born?" I had to have him remind me exactly when the Titanic sunk (1912) and then told him he was right. He responded with "Yeah, that makes sense because the Titanic sunk 105 years ago and I'm 6." He's good at math because the way numbers works makes sense to him. Also, we may be measuring all time from "how many years since the titanic sunk."
• Has learned the importance of being inclusive. He is naturally this way, always wants to have anyone join in the fun. But a few experiences with other kids leaving him or others out has cemented in his mind that it's important to be inclusive. I love this about him.
• Finally lost his first tooth! He chipped his front teeth as a toddler, and one of them started turning grey in June. Then it started hurting him. So the dentist pulled it! He said that the permanent tooth isn't anywhere close to coming in, so he'll likely have a hole there for a year (or longer). But Chase didn't care. He was so excited to finally lose a tooth and have the tooth fairy come!

Hudson at 4.5 years old:

• Has the most creative imagination. He has these little stuffed animals that he plays with all the time. We have birthday parties for them frequently and they all have assigned genders, ages, and personalities and he stays very consistent with it. (Bear is a boy, is 2 and sleeps in a hammock Hudson makes on their bunkbed. Raccoon is 4 and he cheats, fox is also 4, a girl and she lies. Monkey is a girl, she's 29 and she's the one who makes all the birthday cakes for the parties. Seamore is a little seal, she's a girl and if you ask him when she was born he says "I switched out her birthday so now it's March 1.)
• Still naps 5-6 days a week, for a good 2-3 hours in the afternoon. But he'll tell you "I do okay without a nap now" because we have 1:00 church so he skips his nap on Sundays. Sometimes that means we have a really, really ornery Hudson on Sunday evenings though. When we are out and about and don't have time for a nap he does just fine though.
• Hudson has blown me away with his love, attitude and helpfulness for Davis. He will do anything I ask if it's for Davis. He loves to hold him and is so sweet to him. Becoming a big brother has really brought out the best in Hudson in the best way.
• He got some little airline wings when we flew home from Washington DC in May and he wears them every single day! It's just part of getting dressed for him to add his airline pin.

Davis at 4 months:

• Smiling is his favorite. And ours.
• He gets distracted while nursing and just has to smile at me. It's really the best.  He also does really well with bottles and I've been able to pump pretty well this time around- so I can actually leave for short amounts of time and he does just fine! We try to do a few bottles a week just to keep him used to them. 
• Loves sitting up in the bumbo. We put him in the middle of the table during meals and I think he loves to be part of things. He's a very social baby.
• Mostly down to three solid naps a day, a morning nap, early afternoon and evening. He can stay awake for about 2 hours in between naps. He's doing much better with this nap schedule.
• At his 4 month doctor appointment (which we did a week late) he weighed 11 pounds 12 oz and was 23 inches. This puts him in the 1 percentile for height, and not even on the growth chart for weight. He's super tiny. The doctor was concerned about it and I've been drinking this gross "mothers milk tea" to help boost my milk supply. He's generally a happy, thriving baby, except that his growth is so slow. Chase was the exact same way at this age, we makes me not worry too much about it. 
• At 4.5 months we started him on solids. He just seemed hungry and ready. I agonized over starting him that early, but it ended up being the best decision for him. We started with peaches (which he loved!) then added rice cereal, then avocado, then butternut squash. Peaches are clearly his favorite.
• We went back after two weeks to check his weight, hoping he'd have gained 8 oz, and he'd gained 12 oz!

Davis's Blessing Day

Ben gave Davis a name and a blessing on July 9th, 2017 at our home. It was a sweet day to celebrate this darling baby. He was so happy all day (and happy during his blessing). I think he knew it was a special day. 

My mom bought him this darling outfit to wear before he was even born. I love it. I think he looks like a little prince in it. 

We were happy to have some of our family there (and missed those who live far away and weren't able to come). In the circle we had both Papas, Uncle Will and Bishop Lowder. 

My grandma and aunt Dennette came, along with my parents, Will, Katie, Nora and Anna, and Brandon, Angel, Jeremiah, Jaylah and Jordyn. We were happy Ray flew out for his blessing- something he's done for all our boys. We facetimed Diane and Heidi in so they got to be part of it too.

Four Generations

Davis is one loved baby. He's been such a light in our home and has brought so much love with him. We are so thankful for this healthy, sweet, darling little boy!

And Ben did just name him "Davis Jack Hugo" and not Hudson's preferred name of "Davis Jack went to Monkeys Hugo" which he still insists is Davis's true name. 

The 4th of July

Oh how we love this holiday! We love America and are so happy to celebrate our awesome country! The night before the 4th we had a little family home evening all about America and how we are so thankful for our wonderful country. We started the 4th off with our traditional red, white and blue breakfast. This is seriously my favorite breakfast ever and we actually have it a lot, not just specifically on the 4th. But it still seems extra special on the holiday! (It's waffles with fresh whipped cream, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries).

I asked my neighbor Lindsay to come snap a picture of us outside the house. Ben may have grumbled about it, but I think the photos on this blog are good evidence that it's hard to get a really good family photo, so we just have to try at all holidays and special occasions and hopefully we'll get a good one by the end of the year. On a semi-related noted, the Boy Scouts sell these flags as their fundraiser for scout camp. It's like $40 and they come around on all the national holidays and put one in your yard. Our neighborhood looks so great all decked out in American flags! So when the scouts came by last spring, we didn't have any cash and I had just used our last check and forgot to order more. So we told them we'd get them the money later (which Ben ended up venmo'ing to another adult in charge, apparently we live in a completely digital age at the Hugo home). A few days later Hudson came running up to my room to inform me "Mom! I found Chex! (the cereal, which he found in the cupboard) We can buy a flag now!!!!" 

My mom found these darling outfits for the boys- and having all three of them match brings my heart more joy than it probably should. They love matching too- and they looked so dang cute. We had to do versions of this picture because they both wanted to hold Davis. 

Also of note, the 4th of July marks Chase's half birthday, so he was 6 1/2 that day. And also it marked 4 months old for Davis. Chase loved this fact and told everyone we saw all day.

After a fairly chill day at home, we headed up to my parents house for the main event. This is a big reason why this is my favorite holiday. It's such an easy celebration with our kids and the return of happiness and enjoyment far outweighs the work involved. We swam and swam and then had a delicious BBQ. The Newbolds and Pam joined us as well. At one point the boys and I relaxed in the hammock and just enjoyed the perfectly warm night. 

Chase insisted we needed homemade ice cream for the 4th, so of course Nana obliged him, even if it did mean she had to buy a new ice cream maker. All the adults ended up around one table for this- except Papa who joined his favorite little people. He loves these kiddos.

As it turned into dusk we did our own fireworks. Ben and the boys bought sparklers (so dangerous, but so beautiful and fun we always do them) and they bought some "parachute guys" fireworks- along with the ones my mom dug out of storage from New Years in Y2K. The boys thought it was great fun to light off some of their own fireworks!

We ended the evening with my favorite part- watching the fireworks all over the valley from my parents deck. It's the best view ever and we love it every year. My mom bought glow sticks for the kiddos which made them so happy and they created all kinds of things with them while we watched fireworks. I love doing this every year- it's really the best. I'm so glad we live in this beautiful country and so glad we could celebrate the holiday!