Girls Trip 2016

Our girls trip this year was epic! We flew into Tampa Florida and went to Treasure Island, a little island right off the coast. It was beautiful! We stayed right on the beach and really loved all our time together! It was Nora's first girls trip and she did awesome! It was a long day of flying and she was a champ!

 The weather wasn't super warm, but warm enough for us to be on the beach and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful scenery! The water was such a beautiful color. One day we all took a little ferry out to Shell Key- a tiny island that is a nature preserve and it was literally COVERED in seashells! Nora especially loved collecting shells- every time she saw one she liked she did a little dance, picked it up and said "yike it!" (like it!) I loved just walking on the beach and chatting with my cousins.

 It was so fun to be able to spend time with my cousins! I love them all dearly! One night we got together in one hotel room and watched "It Takes Two"- an Olsen twins movie that we LOVED when we were little. We laughed and laughed at how ridiculous it was and paused and rewatched the scene that we were SURE had El in it back in the day (spoiler alert- it's not really her- but we sure thought so 20 years ago). We also had a surprise bridal shower for Halie one night where everyone brought their favorite thing to gift to her and Nate.

 The whole gang- 28 of us in all now! Every female that is a descendant of Bob and Georgia White was there! (Including all the girls who have married in to the family)

 Traditional "Hot Babes Quartet" picture. I love these girls so much and loved spending a few days totally uninterrupted with them!

 Our crew is getting so big now! It used to just be the three of us on this trip, suddenly there are six Smith girls going!

The flights home were very eventful and stressful- but we all made it home! A big storm made for late flights and missed connections- but we luckily made it home only two hours later than planned (after a lot of stress, maybe a few tears, and a super nice man letting us go in front of him in the forever long customer service line while trying to rebook!) Heidi takes the cake for an unexpected 30 hour layover in a city she wasn't even supposed to make a stop in and several cancelled flights later she finally just bought a one-way ticket with a different airline! Totally worth it though- I absolutely loved this time with my mom, sisters, aunts and cousins!

And my boys did just fine without me while I was gone. Hudson was a little sad initially that he didn't get to go on the trip, but Chase was all excitement that mom was going away. He even told me before I left, "You know what is great about when you go on the girls trip? Dad doesn't even make us use placemats at dinner!" Ben did a bunch of fun activities with them, including the trampoline park, dinner out at Pizza Pie Cafe, a steak dinner at my parents with my dad and Will, and bike riding. I even came home to a completely clean house and all the laundry done! 

First half of Feburary

I used to just try to "get through" the winter months. Now I feel like I've been finding ways to help us enjoy and celebrate even small things- and now these winter months are fun! Parenting is so much easier March-October when we spend hours outside and playing in the dirt and at the park. I've realized it takes just a little extra effort, and we don't mind this time of year at all! Our life lately has felt kind of weirdly busy- in a good way- so here are just a few things I've documented this month!

First of all, this is just Hudson with his elephant, whom he finally named, Ellie. Ellie mostly lives in Hudson's bed, but occasionally joins us for breakfast.  

 This is Chase one morning before preschool. His teacher warned me that further into the year the novelty of preschool would wear off and he wouldn't be nearly as excited to go. This is not the case. He is still totally psyched to go every single time!

 We had an early Valentine's day celebration! Since I'm going out of town over the actual Valentines Day we moved our date up a week. My mom sweetly agreed to take the boys overnight and we decided to just have a quiet night at home. We made a fancy dinner together and just enjoyed being home together and had a very relaxing evening. We loved it- and we missed our boys. One night away from them is just perfect for us right now. The boys loved their sleepover with Nana. She took them to play at McDonalds (and for dinner- Hudson loved the dinner, Chase loved the play structure) and then back to her house for a movie and sleepover. The boys were already asking two nights later when they could sleepover at Nana's again.

 We did Valentine's sugar cookies. Chase's little friend Freddy was over playing so he decorated with us. The boys had a great time and only made a small mess and ate spoonfuls of frosting and sprinkles. Chase informed me with the first cookie he frosted that he really wanted to decorate it special for Aunt Heidi. I explained that we probably couldn't mail it to her- and he responded with "Well mom, you could put it in a baggie in the freezer and then take it on the airplane with you on Friday to give to Aunt Heidi!" (I was leaving a week later for our girls trip). Good thinking Chase! That's exactly what I did.

 We spent a fun Friday morning at the Hill Airforce Base Museum with Drew and Ryder Bennett. Chase and Ryder always have a great time together and they ran around the whole place and admired every aircraft. I think they are really impressive too, and every time we go I remind myself that we need to go more often. It's so cool, close and FREE!

We continued with our around the world tour with a night learning about France. To our surprise, Chase already knew where France was on the map, I showed the boys the famous landmarks in France, learned a few French words and then ate crepes. The boys loved crepes. Chase even remarked that he liked crepes a lot better than German food.

Then we celebrated Chinese New Year the next week! It was fun prepping for this night! We made little flags (hanging from the Valentine's garland in the picture below) and I made Chinese food for dinner (Americanized Chinese food). I made lemon chicken and ham fried rice and we had fortune cookies. My mom joined us for dinner and brought some picture books about China for the boys. We all wore red and we gave the boys each a red envelope with a little money in it (I think it was like 38 cents). I looked up some words in Chinese to show the boys what the Chinese characters looked like. And then the next night (after eating the leftovers) we watched Mulan.  It was all super fun! I know there is SO much more the boys could be learning about these places and cultures- but with them being so little I'm just trying to give them a taste of what is out there. I love seeing Chase's view of the world broaden as he's starting to understand that there is so much beyond Layton, Utah.

 And then Valentines Day! I was gone for the actual day, so we celebrated a little early.

The night before I realized I had totally forgotten to get them Valentines- so I quickly ran out and found these cute books for them. They were really happy when they came down for breakfast and found them.

 Chase made this Valentine for us at preschool and I love it so much, it will be on the fridge for awhile! They had a class Valentine's party and were instructed to bring Valentines to hand out to their classmates. They've really been working on writing their own names so his teacher reminded us that this was a good opportunity to practice that and to start early since it takes awhile for little ones. Well, we forgot. So the night before (while I was out doing the boys Valentine's shopping) Ben sat down with Chase to sign his Valentines. Apparently after just a few Chase got really antsy and unfocused, and when Ben reminded him to keep going he responded with "This is just SO STRESSFUL!" I love the way Chase signs his name these days with his cute backwards S.

 That night we pulled out the chocolate fountain! The boys thought it was the best thing in the whole world! We had marshmallows, graham crackers, strawberries and bananas to dip and the boys really went to town! It was messy, and we quickly stripped Hudson down to just his underwear so his jammies wouldn't become a casualty. It was a really fun way to celebrate and will probably become a tradition!

The Rest of January

I used to think January was the worst, more boring month of the year. Not anymore! The past two years we've had a mid-January trip somewhere, plus both boys birthdays- and it is a suddenly full month! I love it. It's a great way to spend this time of year!

Here are a few of the things we have been up to in the few days we weren't a. Traveling or b. celebrating a little boy's birthday.

I feel like we've spent a lot of time with Nora this month- partly due to Will and Katie moving to Layton so they are much closer to us! The boys adore their little cousin, and they kind of light up her world too. And all the adults involved sit back and smile at their delightful little relationship (until someone is bugging/hurting/stealing from another child). One day I took Nora with me to Sams Club and was pleasantly surprised at what a good influence she is on Hudson! Bringing Chase= Hudson demanding to run around out of the cart and throw tantrums when I don't buy cookies. Bringing Nora= Hudson sitting pleasantly in the cart and talking sweetly to cute Nora the whole time. 

We spent a good amount of time at the museum, I think we went 4 times in January! The boys love it there, we are so happy that Nana renewed their pass again for another year! It's such a great place for the kids to explore and play and be creative. 

Puzzles! We've done so many puzzles this month (or rather- we've done our four puzzles so many times this month!) This was the first time I just sat back and let the boys do this entire 50 piece jigsaw puzzle all on their own- they've since done it many times. Now doing these puzzles is almost a daily ritual. 

Ben was gone for a week to Nashville Tennessee for work. The last time he was gone was for about 10 days in October and it was...hard. I was fairly anxious for this time- and I was pleasantly surprised. The boys were so good while Ben was gone! They definitely earned their Disneyland surprise coming that next week!

 Chase is very interested in geography, so for his birthday we got him a map of the world to hang in the basement. Once a week we've been picking a country and doing an "international night". It's fairly simple. Earlier in the afternoon we make that country's flag and we locate it on the map. I make traditional food from that country for dinner. And then we do a little lesson on that country. Hudson usually listens to none of the lesson, but Chase does and seems to really enjoy it. So far we've done South Korea (where Ben served his mission), Mexico (where my dad served his mission) and Germany (where my mom lived in high school). It's been really fun, and fun for Chase to be able to easily locate these countries on the map and have a little frame of reference about other places. This is our German night.

And then our washing machine died. It was given to us for free (along with our dryer) a few years ago and it's been a trusty old washing machine. Since it's probably 30 years old, fixing it didn't seem worth it. We are now the proud owners of a new washing machine! Let the laundry resume!

Hudson's Third Birthday

Hudson turned three on January 24th, which was just a few days after we got home from our trip. It was a snowy, cold Sunday and we had a very chill, easy going day. Ben ran out the night before to get some balloons (which is a little tradition of ours). Hudson woke up in a terrible mood Sunday morning, which quickly turned happy when I told him it was his birthday! And then he was instantly mad again that I had made waffles, he wanted baked oatmeal (we rectified this by making it for lunch). And then was happy again when he saw the balloons and presents from the top of the stairs. (Yes, all these emotions happened in the first 3 minutes he was awake before he even made it to the kitchen!) 

 He sweetened up and decided that he did like waffles again. He FaceTimed with his Hugo grandparents and got to open his presents- finally! It was a long wait for him after watching Chase open presents a few weeks ago! He loved the gifts from us and Chase and played with them most of the day.

That night we had a birthday dinner for him up at my parents house. He was anxious to get done with dinner so that he could open the rest of his presents. I love these little faces Ben captured while he was unwrapping his gifts- he was so excited!

 Then we had cake and ice cream. I just made a funfetti cake for him and he thought it was the greatest thing in the world! It was a really simple birthday, but I think Hudson loved it. We sure love this little guy! The last three years have been kind of an emotional roller coaster (Hudson is full of INTENSE emotions) but all the tantrums and craziness are totally worth it. Hudson has been such a joy in our family and I'm thankful every single day that he's here!

Update on the Boys

Chase at 5 years old:

• Preschool is the highlight of his life! He looks forward to it and when I told him he had to skip it (he had strep throat) he burst into tears. (His preschool teacher told me he almost burst into tears when she informed him that fall break was coming and there wouldn't be preschool that day either). 
• Is still the most social child you'll ever meet. It doesn't matter the age- from adults to babies he makes friends wherever he goes. I love this- and I love that it's rubbing off on Hudson. A group of kids at any given place (chick-fila, the park, the museum) is called "friends".
• I let him have time to watch Netflix on the iPad in the afternoon while Hudson is napping, but he has to watch something educational (He often checks in- "Does this show teach me something mom?") Then I get little bits of wisdom from him that he learned from Magic School Bus/Space Racers/Wild Kratts etc.
• Had his first bought of strep throat in November. It was so sad, he was so so miserable! I almost didn't take him in to see the doctor, but decided to call anyway (he was fevering and feeling terrible, but no white spots on his throat). I was relieved I did when I found out it was strep. After a few doses of antibiotic he was right back to his normal self! Chase is generally such a healthy kid- at almost five and this was only his second antibiotic ever! (He had an ear infection when he was three months old) He unfortunately had another round of strep in December.
• I think he has an adventurous heart. He talks about various vacations we've been on all the time, and is always asking when we can go again. 
• By last fall, (4.5 years old) he memorized all 13 Articles of Faith. We practice them whenever we are driving in the car. He has a great memory!

Hudson at 3 years old:

• Refers to random things as his "friend". His "blanky friend" "puzzle friend" or "my friend toothbrush"
• Bites Chase. Sometimes out of anger, sometimes because he's being a dinosaur/lion/alligator. We've tried a myriad of punishments/consequences and nothing seemed to be getting the message across that this isn't okay. Finally Ben bit him (which I was against), but it actually worked. Hudson hasn't bitten anyone since! Then he got bitten in nursery by a girl in the ward, which hopefully cemented in his little mind that it isn't okay!
• Whenever he does something naughty and I get after him, he gives me this bored/apathetic/sly sounding "Sorry mom."
• Takes care of himself- if mom says no candy, he'll just wait until I go to another room and then scale the pantry shelves to get to it. He does this with various snacks all the time. (Chase would just whine, but generally obey.)
• Is still such a sleeper- he is still napping a solid three hours every afternoon and still does really well at night. He has always struggled with nightmares (at least that's what we think it is) where he yells out in the middle of the night- although it usually lasts about 10 seconds and he's back to sleep before we can even get to his room. If it lasts longer than that I go in to comfort him and he usually calms down very quickly when I pick him up. I wonder what he's having nightmares about and feel sad for him that he's scared. A few weeks ago he was screaming so I went in to comfort him- he was still mostly asleep and started screaming out "Chase pushed the button and it was my turn! I'm so mad! Chase! It was my turn!" then he went back to sleep. Now I know the subject matter of these nightmares- apparently elevator button injustice. Another night it was "Chaser spilled my smoothie!"
• After months of work, finally has his alphabet down! We have both loved doing our little alphabet lessons and crafts while Chase is at preschool. If we go to pick up Chase and haven't done it yet, he will remind me, "Mom! We didn't do a letter and a craft!"

California Trip

We surprised the boys and took them to Disneyland! This trip has been in the works for a long, long time, but back in December things got stressful with Ben's job (The team he worked on at MarketStar (Polycom) ended up terminating their contract with MarketStar, and Polycom ended up just bringing Ben on directly to do the same thing he was already doing for them- but the whole process was about 3 weeks of intense unknowns until the official offer finally came.) Once we had a secure job, still a little uneasy from the stressful month right before we were unsure if we really wanted to go. Things ended up falling into place perfectly with Ben's new job starting immediately when the old one stopped. A friend offered to let us stay with her parents in beautiful Laguna Niguel- so with a free place to stay, a job in place, and rewards money from our credit card to pay for park tickets we ended up deciding we had to go. Our kids are growing up too fast and we felt like we needed to seize the opportunity that we had and create family memories. Family vacations were a huge part of my life growing up- and my fondest memories- and Ben and I had always said we wanted the same experience for our kids. Now that real life has really kicked in, we are realizing they don't just easily happen. We will probably never feel like we have plenty of time and money, and we just need to do it and enjoy this beautiful time we have with our boys!

We didn't tell the boys until the morning we left, and Chase's reaction was priceless. After asking about 4 clarifying questions he jumped into my arms in excitement and gave me the biggest hug. Hudson didn't really know what was coming, but he thought the idea of seeing Mickey's house sounded fun, so he was in as well! We pulled out around 8:30 Saturday morning and set off for sunny California!

Our trip down went incredibly smoothly. We had several places to stop along the way to visit with friends, eat at a favorite restaurant in Cedar City, and then spent that night with the Jensen's in Las Vegas. We lived in the same neighborhood as Jesse and Marissa a few years ago and have kept in touch with them and it was so fun to catch up and see their beautiful home! Our boys loved playing there with their boys and it broke up the drive wonderfully! 

Sunday morning we stopped in a random ward in Vegas to go to Sacrament meeting (during which Hudson loudly called out Ben several times for not wearing his "church clothes"- Ben didn't have a tie on and wasn't wearing his normal white shirt). Then we drove uneventfully the rest of the way to beautiful Laguna Niguel. We have stayed in California several times, but never in this area and we thoroughly enjoyed how beautiful, green and manicured everything was! Having a free place to stay was not only wonderful- it really made the trip possible and we are so grateful to the Myers for opening their home to us! 

We needed to get some fresh air so we headed right for the beach! We didn't wear our swim suits, which was fine, it wasn't that warm. The boys loved playing in the sand and got completely sandy and a little wet. This was Hudson's first time to the ocean! 

Since Monday was a holiday (MLK day) we didn't want to be in the park, we decided to have a quieter day and show the boys a little more of what California had to offer. We decided to head to Balboa island, a place we had heard about but never been before. On our drive there we passed right by the Newport Beach Temple, so we stopped for a few minutes and let the boys walk around the grounds and touch the walls of the temple. Then headed the rest of the way to Balboa!

 Balboa was so charming and I'm so glad we stopped there! The boys loved seeing the boats (although they were both just itching to get into the sand and play some more). We stopped for the famous balboa bars (which we all heartily gave two thumbs up) and a frozen banana. And then we headed off to find another beach.

We had plans to head back to the same beach as the night before, but on our drive up the highway running directly parallel to the ocean we passed by a beautiful, sandy, completely uncrowded beach right there and decided to stop and enjoy it! We stayed for a few hours, the boys dug and made sand castles, we had a picnic and then Ben took them out to experience the ocean a little. The waves were huge, and it wasn't a super warm day, so they mostly just got their feet wet. It was darling to hear them running around and laughing like crazy! It was an understatement to say they loved it! 

 The next day we started out at California Adventure. Our main reason in choosing a whole day for this park is Cars Land! They have built a whole Radiator Springs there, and since our boys are obsessed with all things Cars, we just had to go! It did not disappoint! The boys got the meet the characters first thing, and they were completely star struck! They met Mater, Big Red and Lightning McQueen. I loved when Chase first saw Lightning and his first reaction was to show him his shoes! (Chase has ONLY worn light-up Lightning McQueen shoes for the last three years!) The boys loved every single ride they went on, but a clear favorite were the Radiator Springs Racers- such a darling ride. It's super fast at the end, and I was a little worried Hudson would be freaked out, but he was all smiles! We got fast passes and went on the ride twice- and would have kept going on it all day if there wasn't such a huge line! The day was hardly crowded at all- we walked on almost every single ride- except this one always had at least an hour line! (We never waited in it, thanks to fast passes!)

There is a darling Toy Story ride there, which we also went on twice. Then the boys went over to meet Buzz Lightyear and Jessie. Hudson, just in the last week, has been obsessed with Toy Story and he was completely in awe of Buzz! We also went to Disney Jr Live- a darling interactive show that was perfect for my boys! When the Mickey Mouse puppet popped up Chase yelled out, "Mickey! I've seen you on TV!" I was surprised that Chase still totally believed he was seeing and meeting the real characters!

After watching the Pixar Parade (which they loved) we went on our favorite rides again. We were glad we picked this week to go- with hardly any time spent waiting in lines we were able to do everything in the park easily! Our last stop was one of our favorites- Turtle Talk with Crush (the sea turtle from Finding Nemo). Crush appears on a huge screen in front of the audience and Ben and I couldn't believe the way they manipulate the turtle- it's like he's really there, moving and talking and interacting with the kids! There were only a few kids in the audience and Chase got to ask Crush questions, their darling and hilarious conversation went like this:
Crush: Little dude! What's your name?
Chase: Chase.
Crush: Hi Chase! Do you have a question for me?
Chase: Actually, my name is Chase Anderson Hugo. How is coral made? (all the other kids asked questions like "What is your favorite color?" "Who is your best friend?")
Crush: Dude! It's actually a really long process and it grows really slowly... (And then crush proceeded to go get a little Buzz doll and said he found under the ocean and talked to Chase all about it! Chase was giggling like crazy-the adults were too, Crush was hilarious- and they had a good long talk) The whole experience was incredible!

We left the park about 30 minutes before it closed, pretty tired, but so happy from a day well spent! And even more excited for the next day- we saved the best for last- Disneyland!

We got to Disneyland right as it opened and walked in as they were playing the magical music. I kind of had a moment of disbelief that we were really there- it was all so magical and fun to see stars in my kid's eyes. We were all so happy and having so much fun together, and I was just so glad that this trip actually happened! The crowds were really low the first few hours of the day, so we were able to ride Peter Pan, meet Mickey Mouse, ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, meet the Pooh characters, and Pirates of the Caribbean all in the first hour of the day! It was incredible! Our boys continued to amaze me- especially Hudson- they had NO FEAR whatsoever. I kept thinking they would freak out about something- especially the big drop on Splash Mountain- but the faster the ride the better for these boys! They were all smiles! The only thing Hudson was a little scared of was meeting the characters- he insisted that I hold him, and then he would talk to them. I think he was surprised they were so big!

We quickly made our way through the whole park- we rode pretty much everything! We spent some time up in Toon Town (they boys LOVED it and I wished we had longer to stay there). By the time our fast pass was ready for HyperSpace Mountain, Hudson had fallen asleep in the stroller, so I stayed off and let him sleep and Ben took Chase on the ride. Ben and I laughed at Chase's face in the picture, but Chase assured us he had fun and even said it was one of his favorite rides!

Chase was just barely too short for Indiana Jones, which is one of my favorite rides. I really wanted him to go on it with me, so we stuffed his shoes with napkins to give him the little lift he needed and he was able to get on it! I prepped him ahead of time that he didn't need to be scared, everything is pretend and nothing can hurt him. As we got on I reminded him, "Chase, remember you don't need to be scared..." and he replied with "Yeah mom, because you'll be holding my hand!" So sweet, I love this little boy! He was so excited to be there, he just oozes enthusiasm and made the day so much more magical. He randomly kept giving me hugs and held my hand all day long!

We stayed until the park closed, finishing off the day with the incredible "Paint the Night" parade- which is electric and just amazing. And then we watched fireworks (except for Hudson who insisted on sitting in the stroller with his sun shade down the whole time). I put Chase on my back and could hear his cute little commentary and excitement all the way through their incredible firework show, which just made my heart swell with joy! We truly had a magical day and had an amazing time at the happiest place on earth!

The next day we drove home. It was an 11 hour drive (plus a little longer with stops) and we were all pretty much DONE by the time we rolled into the driveway. It was worth it though- the trip was a huge success and we had a great time together. Hudson's comment one night perfectly describes our trip, "I LOVE VACATIONS!"