Boys and Bikes

I admit this is one Christmas present I was hoping would not happen. I avoided the subject as much as possible with hopes that Ryan wouldn't find time to buy it, and I'd be left to buy Trenton something totally tame for his Christmas present. :) But bikes of all kinds are in my husband's blood, so I should have known he'd pull it off! He had the motorcycle shipped directly to Provo, and we managed to pack our suitcases and other gifts around it in the trunk to get it back home with us to California. 

Since then, we've ridden it a couple of times, but only as practice runs in empty parking lots. Today was our first day taking it to our beloved "Shells," a beautiful, hidden spot with sculpted biking hills, right next to the bay. 

Today we also bought T a dirt biking helmet. Our 4 1/ 2-year-old wears an adult small, and even that is a little snug! (I love how it compresses his cheeks!) I think he loves the helmet almost as much as the motorcycle. It hasn't left his side all day, and he's sleeping with it right now as I type! 

He did SO well on the hills today! He was the perfect amount of cautious, starting out slow and only choosing hills that he thought were manageable. He was much more confident after a couple of hours of practice. 

Even Chase got some practice in today! Ryan would hold onto the handle bars, like you see below, and run/push from behind. But it was Chase using the throttle! So funny! He was giggling the whole way. (And it gave his dad a pretty good workout!) 

The funniest was when we let them try it together, with Ryan holding on/staying really close. 

Even though this bike is electric and small enough to fit in our trunk, it's still a leap for me to let our kids get into motorcycling this young. But watching Trenton today, I could see how it challenges him mentally and physically—teaches him to know his limits but also to push them gradually. I'm curious to see how this whole hobby plays out over the years. 

And who knows? Maybe someday we'll live in place where it's a little more feasible for Dad to have one of his own! 

Christmas with the Nielsens

We started our drive to Utah at 2pm (mountain time) and enjoyed chasing this gorgeous, full rainbow across the East Bay. It turns out it was not, however, a good omen, because the drive ended up taking us sixteen hours rather than twelve! Christmas traffic at Donner's Pass and overregulation due to a bit of snow delayed us a few hours, and we ended up driving until 6am! But after that, our remaining seven days of vacation were smooth sailing! 

We enjoyed visiting my Grandma Williams in her new retirement community in Orem. The boys loved the "grandma with the balloons!" 

The boys enjoyed so much play time with uncles Kyle and Javier, from wrestling to reading to plain ol' cuddling. 

The traditional Christmas Eve reading. Chase wandered, but T was in rapt attention to the end. 

Christmas morning lovin' with one of my favorite people in the world! 

A post-Christmas BYU basketball game! Both boys followed the game SO well, with Chase telling me authoritatively to "clap your hands" after every basket. 

Other highlights: 

• A belated anniversary date with Ryan to Pizza 712 in Orem. Delicious! 
• Seeing my darling sister-in-law Sarah, who is due about 7 weeks before me, and sharing pregnancy complaints! 
• The boys helping Julia make cranberry sauce and fudge. 
• The boys playing in our room downstairs until surprisingly late several nights in a row. I'd tuck them in and then go down later to find them still playing. One night, I walked in at 10:30 to find them both under the bed chattering away, with Chase stripped down to only his pullup. Crazy boys! But I love that they're such great friends. 
• Seeing Lincoln and Les Mis at a real live movie theater! It's been ages! 
• Great Grandpa Nielsen (whose name Chase bears as his middle name) pulling many, many "vitamins" out of the boys' ears! 
• Ryan's ski trip to Alta and my lack of desire to leave the house due to the 18 inches of snow! 
• Getting to see my sister's cute baby right before we left town! 
• An impromptu Cafe Rio lunch date with Sarah & Javier, Kyle, and Rachel & Chad on our way out. 

This trip was just the rejuvenation we needed. We so appreciate the Nielsens for their amazing hospitality and the sweet gifts they gave all of us for Christmas. 

Thanksgiving and Halloween posts are below! I'm all caught up! 

Thanksgiving in Arizona

We are so, so glad we drove down to Arizona for Thanksgiving! It was a highlight of my year.

We loved having Bell de Mar (the Tempe house my grandparents have owned since I was little) to stay at, on our own. The boys went down amazingly well every night in the teddy bear room, and my sister Mary had the kitchen stocked with Cinnamon Toast Crunch (a family favorite!) and plenty of other food! Plus, we took home oranges and grapefruit from the trees in the backyard!

On Thanksgiving, we spent the entire day at Mary and Tom's, just riding bikes, playing with toys, and cook-cook-cooking. Mary and I loved being head chefs together, and I'd say we pulled off a delicious meal! Even if it was a couple hours late because we semi-forgot about starting the rolls. :) The beauty of it was that we were in no hurry!

Bikes in front of Mary & Tom's. Not sure I would have signed off on this little stunt had I known about it at the time! haha 

On Black Friday we visited Tia Rosa's, a Mexican restaurant that holds a lot of memories for us, from family meals with G&G to Corey and Sally's rehearsal dinner to my dear friend Kimber's wedding luncheon. Both the decor and the food are always amazing. Equally amazing was how much green salsa Chase put away while we were there. He was literally drinking the last drops of each bowl, before his refill. (Raising 'em right!)

We visited our childhood home, which has changed a lot since my parents sold it while I was a sophomore at BYU. The new owner noticed us snooping around and came out for a friendly visit. She sweetly filled us in on their changes to the house and all the latest with the neighbors. (I was holding back tears when we introduced ourselves!)

I've always loved Hold in the Rock (who wouldn't?), near the Phoenix Zoo, but it brought some added jitters now that I have children old enough to climb around!

From this trip, I'd like to always remember Chase gripping Mary's hand on the hike back out, telling her all about the different fruits he likes; Tom taking Chase's socks off after dinner one night and Chase laughing like crazy; and Trenton stroking Kizzie the Dog through an entire episode of Busytown.

I didn't get many pictures with Corey and Sally's family, but this blurry one is proof that we did party at their house and, obviously, we had a lot of fun doing it! 

We can't thank you enough for such an incredible trip, Babb and Williams families!

Halloween (Finally!)

Our photo skills were seriously lacking at Halloween this year, but here are the few decent ones we got!

Pumpkin carving was a big hit, until I carved the "spooky faces" and continually got told they were not scary enough. Haha, oh well! Someday you can do it yourself, boys!

Trenton the Pirate and his very best buddy, Colton the Astronaut, in front of preschool. Love this shot. 

The pirate and the fireman (for a second year in a row) in front of the church, right before our church party, which the boys were SO excited for! 

At his insistence, the fireman turned into a cowboy on the night of Halloween, and we trick-or-treated our building with the three other families that have young kids here. It makes the old ladies around here so happy, and the kids are in heaven because the ladies dole out all their candy, knowing no one else will be coming by. Win win! 

Santa by Helicopter - Take 2

This was our second year watching Santa arrive by helicopter! Such a great family tradition! The scheduled day was smack in the middle of a week of heavy rain, but it barely even sprinkled during the hour we were on the runway! 

The boys were not interested in sitting on Santa's lap after he landed, but they were all over test riding the helicopter!

On another note, I'm sure it's the pregnancy talking, but I am about to crack! My nerves are frazzled and my patience thin. I seem to crave quiet and space this pregnancy, but I cannot even sit in a chair without the boys climbing all over it...or me...while yelling! And Ryan is as busy at work as ever. But these boys deserve a more loving mother! I will just be happy if I make it to Christmas—and hopefully until this baby comes in March! So please pray for me!

The Adventure Summer

Ryan deserves his own adventure post, after the summer he had. It started with a lot of laps at the 24 Hour Fitness pool, which led to his "escape from Alcatraz" swim. We are so proud of him!

This was from his open-water practice swim the week before, at the aquatic park right in front of Ghiradeli Square:

The day of the race, only a week later, felt almost like a different season. It was gray and chilly. The boys and I huddled under our beach towels almost the whole time he swam. (So glad I didn't have to get even a toe wet!)

I need to teach these people to look at the camera! :)

Plenty of paddling arms! No idea which set would be Ryan!

He did it! 

Next up, it was another century ride (100 miles) in late September: Waves to Wine. This is his second year doing this event with E&Y, and his fifth century ride altogether. (For my post on the 2010 Waves to Wine, click here.) For this race, they start in San Francisco, ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, and up the north bay to Rohnert Park. 

The E&Y team. I think they're supposed to be posing crazy here. I guess that's as crazy as a bunch of accountants get!

Sometime during the summer, his mountain biking also picked up. He has always loved mountain biking, but this was the first time since we've lived in the Bay area that he has really gotten into it and explored the trails near our house. (I like it, too, because a little adrenaline rush at the start of a Saturday seems to put him in a good mood for the rest of the day!) 

Ryan, his dad, and his brother planned a biking trip to Moab in October, so he flew to Salt Lake one weekend and drove down with his dad and a friend (Charney) from our ward here who also decided to go. They had a great time and even squeezed in a BYU football game on the tail end of the trip. 

I'm amazing that he squeezed in that much adventure/exercise considering the type of hours he works. It would be hard to top that summer! Love you, babe! 

It's a Girl!

I've already posted it on my other blog and instagram, but I can't keep a family scrapbook without including some of the happiest news I've ever received—another pregnancy! And a GIRL, no less!

Even though a lot of people were asking, I didn't tell any of my local friends exactly when the ultrasound was (Thursday, October 25), because I knew I would need a little time to process afterward. My heart has, of course, always longed for a girl. On the other hand, the longer I get to know my boys, the more I adore them. BUT, I also knew I was going to have to gear up for a third boy, if that were the case. Toddler boys are buuuusy...and loud!

The point is—I was praying for peace no matter the gender, and by the time the ultrasound finally came around (seriously, it felt like forever), I really did feel at peace with either.

Then, during the ultrasound, the tech initially said the baby looked "girl-ish"; she wasn't quite sure yet. Ryan said later he was thinking, "That will not do for Erica!" But even in that moment—with the possibility that we wouldn't know for certain—I still felt peace. As the appointment progressed, the tech became more and more confident that it was a girl, and the radiologist confirmed that it was "definitely a girl!"

It literally took a few days to sink in. I guess it still is! Pulling out the little set of girl clothes that I have helped it feel more real. With Trenton, we chose not to find out the gender, because we had absolutely no preference either way. I still treasure getting to hear Ryan say "It's a boy!" in the delivery room.

But the strange thing about not finding out the gender is that for 40 weeks, you imagine your baby as either a boy or girl. In a way, you imagine it as both. After I had Trenton, it took me a couple of months to put away the small set of girl clothes I had accumulated—not because I was disappointed in the slightest with having a boy first, but simply because I still wanted the little girl I had imagined as being a part of our family. (Reading this, I realize it may not make sense to anyone but me. Heavens, I doubt it makes sense to Ryan! But it's a part of my motherhood journey, so I'm including it all anyway!)

But now it's time for our girl! And I'm so grateful we'll have her to wear those clothes and to round out our home.

On another note, the boys are adorable about the baby! Trenton is so excited for when he can feel the baby kick. They regularly talk about where the baby's carseat will go in the backseat of the Carolla. They both are more than willing to give the baby pats and tell her they love her, and they've taken a greater interest in other babies, especially newborns, we see. The other day Chase found a pacifier and said, "This for our baby!" He also likes to say he's excited for when the baby "pops out!" (Hoping it's not nearly as dramatic as that!) At 2 1/ 2, I'm surprised at how well he seems to get it. It's going to be such a different experience this time around, having kids who are actually old enough to know what's going on when we bring our newborn home!

Last random note - It was our first ultrasound where the tech didn't say, "Wow, you have a very active baby in there!" And I even ate a candybar beforehand!