We're Moving! (At least digitally)

Our blog has reached it's capacity over here on  blogger, so we're moving on over to wordpress. Here's the new site https://markaelawheeler.wordpress.com/. See ya'll over there!

Trust Your Gut

So...yesterday Bennett and I stopped by Costco to get gas and gelato ($1.50 for gelato in the foodcourt!). One of the flavors of gelato is pistachio, so obviously we have to be careful about cross contamination. In the past we just asked the gelato guy to get a clean scoop from the back (not one in the communal pistachio tainted water) and scoop from a fresh tub of ice cream. Well, this time they didn't have any fresh tubs and the guy, who was already acting like it was a huge inconvenience to go get a fresh scoop, asked if he could just scrape off the top layer and get the fresh stuff. I said fine, but then another woman came to also scoop ice cream. They were obviously making fun of me and my requests behind the glass (it's sound proof, not opaque, you turds) and then she goes and uses a dirty scoop to get ice cream exactly where he was scooping our ice cream. Sigh. I had a little naggy feeling to tell him to throw it away and get us a soft serve or something instead, but I was feeling embarrassed and holding up a line so I just took the cone and did my best to not give Bennett the last scoop that had been touched by her dirty scoop.

Let this entry be a reminder to me, trust your gut at all times! Poor Bennett has had diarrhea all day and a bright red, painful bum thanks to me. No more Costco gelato for us I guess :( I can't believe how sensitive he is. This nut allergy thing suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

I also really want a button that says, "My son is allergic to nuts. REALLY allergic. Not nut sensitive, nut hating or avoiding nuts because Dr. Oz said to. Allergic." I feel like a lot of people roll their eyes at me when I say he's allergic to nuts. I should carry around a picture of my poor little puffy, blotchy boy from his first reaction...Sigh.

After the Rain..

So my last post was a little cranky and I feel the need for balance. The hard days are worth recording too, I think because aside from there being able to look back and laugh (really, bright pink Pepto all over the floor and child? Pretty funny), it's good to remember the lows in life to appreciate the highs. Bennett is a blast 9 days out of 10 and without that 1 stinky day, I might forget what a wonderful little life I have going :)

With that, here's an incredibly transparent allegory. It's been storming a lot here lately in the afternoons. Yesterday morning Bennett was begging to play in the dirt with his big truck and I told him, after his nap. Well, after his nap it was raining and thundering a little off in the distance, but Bennett with his elephant memory kept begging me for "big! truck!" So we raincoated up and went out to play in the mud. Bennett loved every, messy moment.

I posted the above picture of Bennett on Facebook with this caption (I don't have enough creative juices to be witty twice, so copy, paste.) "Midway Log - Day 10: Though natives have all taken to shelter to ride out the storm, the Captain has decided excavation will continue to press forward, regardless of inclement weather or cold, damp mothers."

We were just about to head inside as it stopped raining and began to clear up. It was too gorgeous to not photograph. I grabbed the camera and ran down the hill to capture it (and Bennett running gleefully after me).

You have to be a photography junky to get really excited over good lighting, but gloomy skies as a backdrop, golden evening sun to light your subject and a cute little boy with long dark eyelashes in a bright yellow coat. Come on, what's not to get excited about?!

There it is, the reason I keep this kid around

A big, bold, beautiful rainbow... 

...And a sunshiny little boy to share it with.

Indeed, only after the rain do you get the rainbow. Worth it.

Blogging as Therapy

Someday I'm going to look back at pictures of my goofy 2 year old boy and miss this little face terribly.

Well someday self, let me tell you, today, this sweet-faced little boy:

1. Scratched the dining room table with a sharp implement (not too badly though)
2. Dumped Pepto Bismol all over the floor and himself while I was trying to get ready for a wedding (At least it wasn't on the carpet and he didn't ingest any of it)
3.  Turned on the faucet and threw my favorite leather heels in the bathtub (They survived)
4. Kicked me in the ear and bent my favorite earrings (I've got no upside to this one. I'm still mad)
5. Threw my car keys in the toilet while I was using the restroom at the reception - I'll let you ponder the grossitude of that scenario (Atleast they still work)

...And did everything he could to work my last nerve in between those moments. You'll miss so many things about this little love bug, but today won't be one of them!

*P.s. I still love you very much Bennett, I'm just so so so so so so glad you're finally asleep for the day!

Costco Keira!

Ohhhhhh so many blog entries to finish and post! It's mid August, but I'm going to back up to the beginning of June to start catching up! After we left LA we headed 70 miles down the freeway to Irvine, CA. David was already moved into his new townhouse for after the wedding and he still had his old apartment until the middle of July so Mark and I decided to put most of our stuff in the garage there and hang out in Orange County for 6 weeks before heading to Utah. Mark studied for the bar (which he's done with now, yay!) all day, every day and I got to watch my soon to be niece, Keira during the week. Bennett and Keira loooooove each other. Since they first met, Keira was excited to have a squishy little toddler to coddle and play with and Bennett was enamored with this little girl that gave him her undivided attention.

 You can thank Bennett for the title of this post. One of Bennett's favorite jokes is to respond to almost any question with, "Costco!" Hey Bennett, where's your milk? "Costco!" Bennett, did you poop your diaper? "Costco!" Always funny. Since Keira came into his life, she's quickly risen to the top of Bennett's favorite things list (It goes something like, Mommy, Daddy, Costco, Keira, Eggs, etc., not necessarily in that order). Now the joke often goes, Bennett what do you want to do today? "Costco Keira!"

This is how we spent most of our summer, hanging at the pool (or beach)

Bennett is indeed picking his nose, it's one of his favorite activities. "Picky picky," he usually informs me as he does it.

Bennett really became a fish this summer. Don't worry, Keira's not actually drowning behind me while I ignore her to catch the cannonball. She's an excellent swimmer :)

 

Before we started going to David's ward in Irvine, we just went to the 9 am ward near the temple. The first (and only) time we went we recognized a couple from our married student ward back in Provo (Which feels like such a lifetime ago!). Rebecca Moore and her husband just moved to Irvine for his residency so Rebe didn't know the area or anyone yet, so her and her daughter got to spend lots of time with us. We had a blast (especially Keira who was over the moon at having an even tinier munchkin to play with). I wish we were still there so we could hang out...I never regret making good friends, but it's so hard to leave them, which seems like all I've been doing lately. Enjoy the sunshine for me, Rebe!

When we weren't playing outside the kids did a pretty good job of entertaining themselves. I believe that laundry basket is a race car?

I was going to do a separate birthday post, but with Keira, Bennett and Caleb having birthdays so close together it was way too long! Keira kicked off the birthday spree with her 6th birthday party. She informed me the day before that she would be wearing turquoise and she would like Bennett to wear pink (Bennett was happy to oblige). Caleb and Trey are showing off their many angry bird tattoos. They're so hardcore.

Keira's cousin Clare also loves Bennett

Bennett, ever the lady's man...he's going to be trouble someday!

We sure do miss our Costco Keira!

Good Day, LA

The day we never thought would come finally arrived. Mark graduated from law school and it was time to leave our sunny, smoggy little slice of heaven. Here's Mark heading out to his last day of class (I didn't mean to make it black and white, Bennett messed with my phone settings and I didn't realize it).

Since Mark was busy with finals, I packed 95% of the apartment by myself - No small feat with a toddler underfoot. Parenting at its finest: Bennett strapped into his high chair, having a Blue's Clues marathon.

Our moving crew - the missionaries, plus the Brother Young and his sons.  

These guys were seriously an answer to our prayers and I wish I could have adequately thanked them. Mark and I had been working for days (he mostly studying, I packing and us moving almost every single thing out of the apartment and into the garage to pack while Bennett ran around). We were exhausted and I honestly wasn't quite sure how we were going finish without falling apart. Our moving day fell on the same day as church cleaning and all of the Cannon guys were in Idaho (considering they make up about 75% of the able bodied men in the ward...yeah, we were worried). Katy took Bennett to her house to play for the day and Suzy made sure that enough guys were diverted from the church to our apartment.

Our truck was only 16 feet long and even with my amazing packing skills, I just kept looking at the giant pile of stuff that still had to fit in the truck and I was 100% convinced it was not going to fit. I'm still not sure how we did it, but we did. It took so much longer than I thought it was going to and we were bruised and battered (I even had burns on my shoulders from touching the hot roof of the truck whilst cramming stuff in the top), but we made it through. Thank you everyone that helped us, we can't repay you but we'll be sure to remember you when we pay it forward (LDS people are great at helping one another move :))

 

I thought I'd really quickly blog about some of the most important people from our lives in LA. Apologies if I didn't get to everyone, I'm trying to be brief!

Bennett and Connor hanging at the beach. Two of the cutest (and whitest - notice the giant sunhats) babies you could ever hope to meet!

 

Bennett's besty, Jack. Jack is such a sweet, sweet little boy. I wish more of that sweetness had rubbed off on Bennett. He's several months older than Bennett, but they're the same size and with that fluffy blonde hair and blue eyes, people often asked me if they were twins. I'll miss watching those high energy little boys bounce around my apartment together!

This is Bennett with his nursery leaders, Sisters Urrico and Landaverde . They are the most amazing nursery leaders I have ever seen. Mark and I were joking about wanting to pack them along with us! They were so loving and patient and kind. When Bennett started nursery he cried the entire time. The whole time - and not just little sobs either, loud, gut wrenching, panicked crying. They not only let me leave for the entire two hours, but encouraged me to abandon them to his screaming. After about 5-6 Sundays a switched flipped and Bennett realized that nursery was awesome and I think these sisters were a big reason for that. 

I have almost zero pictures of Mark with his friends (guys aren't big on snapping photos...why is that?), but here's Mark with a couple of his favorite basketball buddies, Chad and James.

Justin and Mark having way too much fun at Halloween a couple years ago. (Unplanned) Coordinating mustaches. Two peas in a pod.

 Lori East - is not actually that short, I'm just wearing really tall shoes. Lori was the secretary in our RS presidency and yikes, was she the most organized woman I've ever met. She organizes people for a living, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but Lori has a way of constantly surprising me. She's one of the most spiritual women I've ever met. You know that saying, "Be the kind of woman who, when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, 'oh no, she's up!''? If every woman in the church were as hard working as Lori, there'd be nothing left to do at the end of a week.

Janet Johnson - I didn't know Janet at all until about a year and a half ago when she asked me to be her second councilor in the Relief Society presidency. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I figured since this woman and I had never even had a conversation together, it must be coming from the Lord, not her. Janet taught me a lot about what it means to really be a disciple of Christ. She reminds me a lot of President Monson in the way she looked after our sisters just by making sure they knew she cared about them. She visited so many women every week, on top of working and other obligations, I have no idea how she did it! It was a lesson I hope sticks with me for a long time: how can you minister to the needs of His children, if you don't take the time to get to know them?

Loretta Au - I dragged her up a mountain side and she convinced me to raise a butterfly. I think that sums things up, in a weird way. Loretta is always up for anything and if she has a comfort zone, I'm not aware of it when she leaves it. She's smart and motivated and unique and spends most of her time helping her three genius children become even more genius. I'm constantly in awe of the cool things she dreams up to do with them! I'm glad I have Facebook so I can continue to stalk her adventures for inspiration. :)

Heather Lawrence - Heather and I were two of the only moms in the ward with only one baby, which made for easy bonding. Everyone else was busy with work, or older kids so Heather and I spent lots of time together walking and talking or beaching it up with the baby boys. Heather is brazen and blunt and about as chill as a girl can be. I'm going to miss her!

 

Oh Suzy Jeffords - I wish more people were like Suzy! I'm never the worst over-sharer in the room if Suzy's there and I love it. She is funny and never boring AND a spiritual giant. That's a tough combination to find. I think the best thing I can say about her is that she has four kids and they are all fun, sweet, genuinely good, spiritually minded and hard working. She didn't just luck into four kids like that, she taught them how to be awesome and I think that speaks volumes about who Suzy is.

Katy Cannon - I hate this picture of Katy and I (she looks good, I look a little...bedraggled). I was looking through my pictures of Katy and I and none of them are that great because we never remember to take a picture with each other until the very end of whatever event it is we're working on. Katy and I always seem to find ourselves in charge of activities and parties and so by the end we're both looking a little worse for the wear. Oh well, at least we had fun, right? :) I don't want to get all mushy about another married woman, but seriously, Katy was a godsend. Her husband Justin was a year ahead of Mark at Pepperdine Law so we were instant friends as fellow "law school widows". Since leaving home at 18 I've moved a lot and made lots of friends out of convenience, but Katy is one of the first friends I've made since then that I would consider a life long friend. She's intelligent and fun and the first person to step up and offer you a helping hand. I'm going to stop before this gets way too cheese ball, but I really hope fate puts Katy in my path again someday because 1) I'm really going to miss her and 2) I'd really like to pay her back for everything she's done for me and my family over the last few years!

I know I missed so many people (Taryn, Amy, Charne, Alicia...too many to list), but this entry is turning into such a behemoth and it's time to quit before I cry. Goodbye LA, we'll miss you (except for the traffic, I'll never miss that famous LA traffic)!

Father's Day

 

Good dads are easy to spot. Happy Father's Day everyone!