Happy Birthday Zach!

My Dear Zachary,

Happy birthday (yesterday)! Pardon the cliches, but I can't believe you're 1 already. It seems like just yesterday Ryan was talking to the "baby Fritz" in my tummy. Even though you've only been here for 1 year, it seems like you've been a part of our family forever. I have had so much fun being your mommy.

We have all enjoyed watching you grow from a small, helpless baby to an independent little boy. We were excited to celebrate when you changed from sleeping all day to sleeping all night (especially mommy). Dad and I are so glad that you chilled out quite a bit and love to hear you giggle and see you smile more often.

As you've grown and have become more independent, it is sometimes a struggle when you won't hold still on my lap. That is why I still like to hold you after you have fallen asleep. Even though you are technically not an infant anymore, you will always be my little baby boy.

Thank you for smiling and growling back at me when I often growl at you in frustration. As you empty out the cabinets and drawers, I do find it silly when I tell you "no no" and you shake you head no and do it anyway, giggling. Although I will never understand your fascination with the vacuum or putting shoes in your mouth, I love to sit back and watch you play with "toys."

It has been fun to see little glimpses of your personality, like when you cried when opening your presents, because you didn't like to see the wrapping paper rip. I love your hugs and your slobbery kisses - you have such a tender heart. Thank you for being such a good baby! Please be a good toddler!

Love,

Mommy

Days 2&5: Sea World

As part of the trip, we went to Sea World. First stop: the Arctic exhibit. Have you ever seen a walrus eat? Very strange. It would put the fish in its mouth, chew it up a bit (I'm guessing), then it spit it out against the glass for us all too see, then sucked it back in. Yum. Zach was a little scared of the walrus. Every time it came to swim next to the glass, he cried. So cute!




After the walrus, I put my camera away and sort of forgot to take it out again as we walked around the park and saw everything. We saw all the shows - except for the dolphin one, it was closed - and I didn't take any pictures of them. That's right - no pictures of Shamu OR the sea lions. Sorry. Guess we'll have to go back. But here's a nice picture of the flamingos and my 2 little animals.


Sea World does have a few rides now and a fun play area for the kiddies. So when they were playing/riding, I did get the camera out.

Zach got a little tired of riding in his stroller and this was his preferred method of traveling. Cute, until he fell out. Not fun, guess we have to strap him in now. So if he only crawls in circles or has slurred speech, we'll blame it on the stroller.

It was nice to let him out and play. He really liked these blocks, and I couldn't get enough of him playing with them. So when I sorted through our pictures of the trip, I realized most of them were of Zach playing with the blocks. Again, sorry Shamu.





Once again, Dave and I succeeded in doing something that is rarely accomplished: completely wearing Ryan out.

San Diego, Day 1

Last week we took a trip to San Diego. Ryan was so excited to be in Calnifornia that he couldn't sleep. That's right. He woke up at 3:00 am that first night and wouldn't go back to sleep. And he wouldn't let us sleep. So finally at 6:30 we got up and got ready for the beach. Dave and I were ready to change our airline tickets and go home that day since we don't do that well with limited sleep. Luckily for all of us, Ryan changed his ways and slept well that next night. I think we wore him out.

With it being a Sunday, we didn't want to do too much. So we started out at the beach. And let me tell you, the beach is pretty empty (and cold) at 8:00 in the morning. We did all the beach stuff, complete with building a castle, finding shells, and burying Ryan.

Zach wanted to get out and play, but he didn't like to sit in the sand. He did like to eat it, though.

After the beach we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool for the afternoon. The pool was much warmer than the beach, so I joined the boys swimming. Zach loved his whale and I was grateful for Ryan's life vest, as there weren't any spots shallow enough for him to touch the bottom. While at the pool, Ryan came running to us. "Mom, someone threw something at me." After looking at him, right away we knew that Ryan got pooped on. "I don't like it when birds throw poo at me." Me neither, Ry. Me neither.

What happens if you pull too hard with wet hands?

You fall!

After the pool we went for a drive up to see the temple. It was very beautiful. Such a distinct-looking temple. And we forgot to have someone take our picture as a family. So here is our forever family, minus Dave.

It was difficult to find a place to eat right off I-5. We didn't want to venture too far from the freeway in fear that we might get lost (no, we don't have GPS). So we stopped in at Whole Foods to see if they had sandwiches. Now I'm not an organic person. I don't mind if my veggies were grown using fertilizers and insecticides. But let's just say I didn't recognize a lot of the foods in there. It was as if I was shopping in a different country. Do people really eat this stuff?? Anyway, we got some tasty pizza from the deli and found a new treat - two-bite blueberry scones. Even little Zach loved them. Too bad there's no Whole Foods store here, or we might have a scone problem. Well, that's all for day 1. Next up: Sea World.

Football Star-in-training, or not

Thursday was the day Dave has been waiting for for 3 & 1/2+ years: Ryan's first day of "organized" sports. A football minicamp. Yes, football is a little too advanced for a 3-year old, but this was more of an introduction to the sport. And it was an opportunity for our unathletic, uncoordinated, and -most frustrating- uninterested boy to "play" a sport. It has been rather frustrating for us that Ryan just isn't in to sports. We have both been excited to go to our boys' games and play ball with them. However, when we ask Ryan if he wants to play basketball with us, he tells us he would rather play with his cars or trains. It's difficult to remember that he is just 3 and maybe he'll take an interest later. And maybe there's still hope with Zach. But for the time being, we'll just try to make sports seem as exciting as they can be and give lots of positive encouragement. And sign him up for minicamps and league play, cuz we're just mean like that.

Ryan did have fun at the camp. He learned how to stand when waiting for the play to start. Then he got to run the ball in for a touchdown. It was fun (and funny) to watch.

Ready!

Down!

Set!

Hike!

See - he really does look like he loves the football, doesn't he?

The Marble Jar Revisited

So we've been having discipline issues with Ryan. He is loud, disobedient, and he is constantly pushing his limits. It is exhausting and it makes us all grumpy. A few weeks ago, my friend Janae shared an idea - using a marble jar. If he's good, put a marble in. If he's bad, take a marble out. When the jar is full, he gets a new toy. That worked for about a day. I think Ryan wasn't motivated by a toy and it took too long to get a reward. He needs to see results a little faster. So we abandoned the marble jar. We've tried other things like time-out and taking away toys, but he doesn't seem to be learning and I want something to reinforce good behavior instead of just punishing for bad behavior. So we will try the marble jar again, but with different rules. His everyday "rights" will now become privileges. His current reward: watching his favorite show, The Dinosaur Train. And I won't wait until the jar is full, he only needs to get 10 in the jar. We'll see if it works - I'll keep you updated. Anyone else have any other discipline ideas that work in case this one doesn't?

Not abandoned

Okay, this blog has not been completely abandoned. I still think about it every now and again and I have no reason not to update it. It guess maybe since Zach was born, we haven't quite settled into a routine. Ten months later, I think we're almost settled, so I'll try a little harder to keep it updated. I also figured Dave's parents (recently returned to the mission field) would like to see what's going on with 2 of their grandsons. So here you go!

The Basement

After a few short months full of noise and extra dust, the basement is finally finished. Well, not completely finished, but in livable condition. It is still a work in progress - there are still many things left to be added, cords needing to be hidden, and walls to be covered. But if that's the definition of finished, then the rest of the house still needs finishing (anyone who's been inside my house knows how bare the walls are - I don't do decorating). I can't decide what I love most about having it done, but here are some of the candidates:

-Sending Ryan downstairs and closing the door. Ahhh, peace and quiet.

-Having a place for Ryan's sports stuff (and the big box to play in)

-Lots more closet space

-Lots of extra carpet to vacuum

-The nice tile work in the bathroom

-Having a TV with HD

-Letting Ryan play in the empty closets, thinking they are trains

-The computer will be out of Ryan's room

I think I definitely know what Dave's favorite thing about having the basement done:

The 55-inch Samsung LED TV. Beautiful. Of course, it will be more beautiful when the cords are hidden behind the wall and there is a cabinet below the TV to put all the techy stuff in.

So here's to 50% more livable space in our house!

California Adventure

Has it really been 4 months since I've posted anything? No, I didn't abandon the blog. Wow, time flies! Well, it's been a fun summer and we've done a lot. Maybe I haven't posted anything because I'm overwhelmed at all the catching up, so I'll just start with our most recent adventure and tell you about the rest of the summer as I get the chance. So an alternate title to this post: What I learned while traveling to the Bay Area with the 2 kids.

- Rent car seats instead of bringing your own. Lots to carry at the airport.

- My boys are good at flying on planes. Zach slept the entire time, both ways.

- Marriotts have very comfortable mattresses.

- There is a train that goes under the bay between Oakland and San Francisco. Its name is BART. Using the automatic ticketing machines for BART involves lots of steps and can be a little complex for the first-time user. All I want is a ticket to ride the train. How tough can that be? A lot more difficult than you would think. Anyway, Ryan liked to ride on BART. He also got to ride on a plane, a bus, a boat, and in a rental car. Lots of vehicles on this trip.

- Because we only had 1 day in the city, it was nice to take a bus tour and see it all. If we would have had more time, I think we would have taken the hop-on-hop-off tour so we would be able to get out and do more. Ryan's favorite stop: The Golden Fence Bridge. He is very fascinated with bridges and always asks now if we can take our car on the Golden Fence Bridge.

- There is still a lot of "segregation" in San Fran, as it is divided into lots of districts, and lots of people live/work in these districts based up their places of origin. There is a lot happening in the Chinese District, lots of pizza and pasta restaurants in the Italian District, and lots of rainbow flags in the Castro District. If the Salt Lake Valley was divided into districts, I think mine would be called the White District. Which district do you live in?

- Take advantage of restrooms when they are around. Otherwise, you'll be walking from one end of the wharf to the other (yes, from pier 44 & 1/2 down to pier 1) when Ryan starts his ever-popular yelling at inanimate objects - "no poo, don't come out yet!" So, after 10 more minutes of walking, we finally found a high-quality (not) restaurant/bar and took care of business.

- Humidity takes quites the toll on our junk food. I opened a bag of animal crackers and it was soggy within 1 hour. We also left Ryan's big round lollipop out overnight and awoke to a sticky, melted-lollipop mess.

- Seafood on Fisherman's Wharf was good, as was the Ghiradelli chocolate.

- The Pacific Ocean is very cold. It has been over 7 years since I have visited California and have since been to much warmer beaches. But it was a fun afternoon in Santa Cruz and Ryan had a great time burying Dave and he didn't seem to mind the sand in his pants until we were walking to the game and he would stop and scream "mom! My thing itches" and proceed to scratch himself (but his th's sound like f's and he has a slight southern drawl, so it sounded like "mom, ma fing itches!") The guys behind us got a real kick out of it. How could you not laugh?

- Google maps are not always right, especially when you have the wrong zip code in your search field.

- Nobody (including Ryan here) cares about San Jose State football. It reminded me of Utah football in the 1990's, before the stadium was rebuilt. It seated about 30,000-ish, and about 1/2 of the seats were empty and 1/4 of the seats were filled with fans from the visiting team. We didn't get strip-searched at the gates to confiscate every last little bit of outside food or drink (just a pat-down of the backpack to check for alcohol) and the line for the women's bathroom was a mile long. There were no face-painters or tailgaters and if we wanted, we could have parked right next to the stadium. It was a fun game with a few frustrating moments when the Utes just couldn't get into the endzone or kick a field goal. We miss Sakoda!

- Ryan loves to walk and run and can do it for miles at a time.

- Most important thing learned: we are good at vacationing and should do it more often.

Update

So, it's been almost 2 months since we've posted anything. A lot has happened in the last 2 months. Here's some highlights, as pictured in the slide show:
-we welcomed a new baby into our home. Zachary Karl Pulsipher was born April 21 and was 8 lbs, 1 oz 18 & 1/2 inches
-we celebrated Easter
-went to the Utes' Red & White game
-celebrated Mother's Day and Memorial Day
-went to the aquarium and Wheeler Farm
-officially kicked off swimming season at the splash pool
-planted our garden

Busy, right? Hopefully now that we're almost adjusted to the new baby, I can stay up to date here! More pictures to come later...slide.com is really slow at loading and sorry, I don't know how to get rid of the song. Suggestions, anyone?