A first for everything

including the ice cream man! A few weeks ago we all of a sudden heard some music playing outside (funny that it was "rudolph the red nosed reindeer") when Kimball asked what that was. I told him to hurry and get ready to run as I grabbed my camera and some $. Kimball Nantou and I ran out the front door to chase him down but he'd already headed down the neighborhood. We just kept walking and walking hoping he wasn't far and Kimball was so excited when I told him we were going after the "ice cream man." Sure enough, we heard the music getting closer and there he was, heading down our way, Kimball gave him a good taxi wave and there you have it. His first transaction with the good ole ice cream man.

Who Petty?

I used to just sing whatever songs to Kimball at night before bed and he would gladly listen to anything. Lately I have been the singing subject of his requests as he now loves to sing along with me. Last night he cut me off in the middle of "twinkle star" and said "no mommy, sun sun sun." I thought he meant "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" so I started singing that and he got very irritated. "No Mommy, sun sun sun song!" Clueless at this point, I broke into "Here Comes the Sun" by Tom Petty. He intently listened and then excitedly asked,
"What's that Mommy?"
"Tom Petty," I replied.
"More sun petty, more sun petty!"
-okay I had this song in my head again this morning and not sure why I said Tom Petty? Beatles, Tom Petty, you know, just a couple eras off, wow, that's something my mom would have said. Well now I wonder if Kimball is in fact a Beatles fan, I better brush up on their music!

Pregnancy comments from strangers

It was only fair for me to accompany a dear friend in her baby registry this morning as it can be such a daunting task to a new mother. Not to mention she accompanied me for mine since Erik knew that it would be a nightmare and I would most likely not consider his opinion of products anyway. Although that day nearly 3 years ago was more like the blind leading the blind, not to mention we kept thinking we must have looked like a lesbian couple registering, just glad the bump proved that I at least played the girl ;) just kidding. Anyhow, Sarah is also not finding out what she is having just like we did with Kimball, the good ole "surprise" method. As we were considering product "A" over product "B" taking into account the unisex aspect, I was reminded of the #1 comment people gave me ALL through my last pregnancy and it got so dang old. And though I found out this time about our little girl, I will always have sympathy for those "surprise" parents who have to deal with the stupid comments. Here goes:

Stranger: "When are you due?"..... "Wow, so what are you having?"

Me: "Actually we didn't find out"

Stranger: "OH MY GOSH YOU ARE CRAZY, I COULD NEVER DO THAT, I AM SUCH THE TYPE OF PERSON THAT HAS TO BE SO PREPARED I JUST COULDN'T HANDLE IT.

Me: "Well yeah, we're excited, and actually it doesn't really eliminate much prep work ;)"

What the person meant to say was, I have to have a whole closet full of gender specific baby clothes and very girl or very boy bedding that co-coordinates with the curtains and rug.

Newsflash: your newborn lives in onesies and layettes for the first couple weeks of it's life unless you seriously want to undo full blown (no pun intended) outfits every hour to change the diaper. Heaven forbid you have white onesies (which babies are cutest in anyway no matter the sex). 2 weeks after Kimball was born I went out and in one afternoon got his entire summer wardrobe and it was a lot better being able to choose what he wore than receiving random whinnie the pooh outfits (if someone would so dare). And say you are a first time mom having a girl, it's not like you buy a pink stroller, a pink pack and play and a pink carseat and if you do, well, I just hope that when you do have a boy he turns out alright.

So listen stupid comment makers, next time re-think what you are saying, I promise the surprise parents have prepared just as much as you have, they just have a few less outfits in the closet and a few more dollars in their pockets. So cheers to all you "surprise" parents, it is so much fun!

And my #1 stranger comment this time around?

"Oh my, I don't know how you do it in the summer! Aren't you just so miserable?"

Honestly, I appreciate their sympathy and realize that there just probably isn't a whole lot more to say so this becomes the default comment to pregnant women in the summer but I haven't been bothered any moreso by the heat than I would be if I weren't pregnant. I guess I can't speak for all and I'm sure there are those that do get miserable when it's hot but I actually prefer pregnancy in the summer over the winter and here's why:

I slip on my flip flops in the morning and go. Enough said. There was nothing more annoying and dreadful to me in the winter of 2006 than bending over every morning to put on socks and then tie shoes or pull boots on and off when you can't even see over your belly much less trying to reach all the way down to your feet and get something accomplished. Not to mention the several layers of clothing you have to pack and shed each day. Such a nuisance. There's my 2 cents.

Happy pregnancy to all you others out there along with me and just remember to not pay any attention to any other stupid stranger comments you may receive but if they make a good story, feel free to share...

Should man eat corn?

I haven't been able to get enough corn on the cob recently. It just seems to go with every dinner. I just wish the prices weren't so shifty. What's up with 5 ears for $1.00 one day and then 60 cents an ear the next? Anyhow, my friend Reelika has her brother visiting from Estonia right now. They came over for dinner tonight and he didn't grab an ear of corn for his plate. I told him to help himself and he just smiled and said, "No I do not eat that." Reelika and her bro exchanged this understood smile with a quick mumble in Estonian and then I had to inquire. She laughed and said, "In Estonia cows eat corn, not people." Who knew?All done! I knew Kimball was catching on to this sharing thing, he just wanted to save a snack for the cows ;)

Catching Up

Last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of visiting here with the Winter family. Dad and Connie were up in Park City last week for their grand daughter Calista's softball tournament and my mom was in town staying with us this week. She brought my nieces Kaitlyn and Mikelle with her who stayed with their friends in Midway but luckily we got a tad bit of quality time with them, Kimball adores all his cousins. It was good for Kimo and Grandma to have quality time alone together without the distraction of other cousins though, this was the first time in over a year! Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of Grandma and Kimo cause the first night Mom was here I left my camera in the grass (after running to pick up Kimball from a bad collision with another kid) and didn't find it until 2 days later, after the sprinklers had run of course. Luckily my memory card did save what I already had taken but my camera is no longer alive, it was on it's last leg anyway as you can see my picture quality has been slowly digressing.Papa and Kimo bug hunting. Notice Kimball's very important tool tightly clutched; behold, the magnifying glass. You carry lip gloss and a compact in your purse? I carry plastic dinosaurs, cars, magnifying glasses, you know, the usual.Papa teaching Kimo a little sum'n about baseball...
We went up to the Olympic Park to watch the U.S. ski team practice their freestyle aerials, this was very impressive and looked way too fun. Kimball's little buddy is Connie's daughter Heather's little boy who is also named Kimball. Yes, I know, we are both apparently proud of this family name though Heather and I come from separate Kimball lines.


This is crazy cool. Too bad that the only thing that could come out of my mouth in a moment of awe was "oh wow, holy cow" - I just sound so stupidI always thought that Kimo's first chairlift ride would be with mommy over beautiful snow covered ground with a pair of some sweet little toddler rossi's slapped on his feet but heading up with Papa to cruise down the mountain on the alpine slide is still pretty cool I suppose...Dad said Kimball had a great time flying down. And as much as life has no good room for lies, pretending Kimball was 3 years of age was so worth it, if only I could have pretended that was just a pillow under my shirt too.

A stroll down Main St. after a dip in the pool. Kimo wore floaties for his first time (since the public pools don't allow them) and he was so cute trying to swim with them all by himself, I wish we could practice with them more often. I think Connie got pics of it.
Treats from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. And whoever said women were the ones so crazy for chocolate, they all look pretty concentrated on that bite if you ask me.Who better to share your chocolate with than Papa?
First night Grandma was in town, wish we could have captured more on camera but so it goes...

Kimo's T*ball debut

While browsing Walmart's toy section for lake/water toys over the weekend, we came across a toy that would supersede all else. T-ball baby.

Setting up his home plate and all about business

Ball mounted, checkin out left field, yep, looking pretty promising...

mid swing, a successful contact...(even though the plate AND his grip are backwards:)

A base hit indeed...
off to the bases in my onesie and muddy sweats!!!

And a 4 sec. clip of my son's studliness

How cute is that? I think he nailed it every time but once, I'd like to attribute his mad skills to his mother but Erik's sis informed me that baseball was Erik's first love so I guess I can't take all the credit. Either way, I wish he'd hurry and grow up, I can't wait to see him in a little uniform up to bat for the first time, I'm sure I will cry.

Happy 4th!

A fun mellow 4th of July spent with friends and our little family. It's always a good time hangin with the Woods and the Parrys, after a little BBQ at Sarah & Trev's we walked down to Sugar House Park for the firework show. Kimball was cracking up everybody around us with his creative and LOUD commentary after every firework. Examples: "Ohhhh, kitty!" "Ewwww tiger!" "Ahhhhhh pink stingray!" and so on and so forth, it was hilarious.
We also enjoyed a nice day boating with the Tim & Krista out at Yuba Lake which is south of Nephi, the drive was a little long but definitely worth it. Next time we want to camp on the beaches there.

Enjoying the show.
Tim & KristaSarah & Trev
Us girlies


I think Kimball must have been stumped right here, he wasn't sure if he should announce these fireworks looked more like worms or snakes.


Kimball and daddy spent ages excavating these huge rocks from beneath the shoreand then off on a joy ride of tubing, though Kimball looked pretty concerned and this was before we had a wake so you can imagine how the face got more and more terrified as the moments passed...I think he was actually less scared last summer!
and those darn life vests are just so unforgiving on the cheeks!D and K-roAnd....Kimo passed out and callin' it a day

Aloha Pres. & Sis. Kim!

So President and Sister Kim (who I served under) in Taiwan, were out from Hawaii this past week so we had a mini mission reunion/mtg Sunday night to get together with those who are in the area and start spreading the word and building a committee for our big 10 year reunion that will take place in April of 2010. At Christmas time of 2000 our whole mission had a 2 day retreat in an amazingly beautiful tropic area of Taiwan called Xitou. President Kim had then asked us to all contribute our personal goals and future goals for the mission itself and bury them in a time capsule where we would then open it 10 years later. I think we put a bunch of other stuff with it too but I don't remember what. So anyhow, he will open our cute little time capsule at that reunion and wants to have as many missionaries as possible there so for those of you I served with who read the blog, start planning on attending and spread the word. Above is a picture we took of some of the group on Sunday night: Amy, Dallas and Jeannelle: maybe you will recognize some of these people, a lot of them served in Pres. Kim's early days so I wasn't as familiar with those who showed. Not to mention it seemed like everyone had like 3 kids which was totally crazy to me, my basement was a total war zone!!!

So this was my first time meeting one of President Kim's daughters, Lorinda. She and her husband live here in Utah so they came along to be with the fam. She is a Korean/Hawaiian/Chinese mix and her husband is a whitey like me. Her 3 year old Kai was just an older version of Kimball in every sense of the word and it was totally freaking us out. They were instantly best friends and Kimball was even sharing all of his toys with him so he must have REALLY liked him!!!


So this was hilarious. Sister Kim was trying to get a family picture of her daughter and everyone agreed their family just wasn't complete without Kimball. They even joked about sending it out as a Christmas card this year to see what people would say. So sad that my little boy looks like he fits in another family all too well!!

We thought we didn't look too bad with 2 boys ourselves, we may have to double check that ultrasound! (I think their little guy had already squirmed away by this point).
Anyhow, good times, looking forward to reuniting with more elders and sisters in 2010!

A visit from Halmoni & Hadaboji

Erik's parents came to town this weekend and first things first, we drove right to Myung-Ga, our favorite Korean joint in the greater Salt Lake Area. The food is a little more authentic than others we've tried and absolutely delicious, located in West Salt Lake. Spicy pork & bulgolgi are my favorites dishes there.
Alas, Halmoni and Hadaboji thrilled to be with their little man once again, Kimball was equally delighted as he'd been waiting all week for their arrival.

Okay so I know it looks very un-appetizing but I took the pic after we'd finished. Man, did we devour enough or what??
These are 2 of the darling family members that own the restaurant. They also live in our neighborhood in Draper and happen to be Kimball's nursery leaders, he LOVES them!!!

Kimo and Hadaboji love to read books together. We often found them in the family room reading, jumping, playing with toys, watching cartoons together, and last but not least, Kimball showing off his "kung fu panda" moves as seen below.
Saturday night we went to get boba drinks, my favorite! I lived off these things in the summers in Taiwan. The only problem was, we usually get them at joints in Salt Lake that are actually owned and operated by Asians. The Yogurt Stop in Sandy was a little bit of a let down as everything was made from a powder and not fresh, blah.

Showered with love to no end! So cute!
Kimball didn't seem to think this drink was all too shabby!