Monday, March 31, 2008

City By The Sea!

So Bill was telling me that he has to go to Oakland for a business trip and he hadn't had a chance to tell me the details. So during a conversation with JJ and Shalantie they asked him how long he would be gone for and that's when he gave me "the look. You know the look that say's "honey I am sorry that I haven't told you but I am going to be gone for a week and can you hold the fort down and I'll make it up to you later" look. Then I shot the "dream on don't you dare leave me alone with the kids for a week" look. ( I Know, I shouldn't complain, because there are a lot of other women who have it a lot worse than I do, but when you aren't used to it it doesn't make for a very pleasant surprise). A few days later Bill called me from work and said, "You have to come with me" I said, "What! there's no way I can come with you... Who will watch the kids? blah blah blah...but being a big proponent of investing in marriage I decided to bite the big one and go with him. After all his company was paying for most of it and there would be no way we could go for this price again and I was definitely getting "burned out" w/ the monotony of the same thing day in & day out.
I left on Thursday and I wouldn't bore you with the details of this day except that It was just hellish and if you have ever been a mom you can probably relate to this! Emma has had a terrible rash for the last few days and I just thought that it was eczema but I'd rather be safe than sorry so I had our home teacher come over early in the morning to give her a blessing. He told me the signs of eczema and said that that didn't look like eczema. So I got her an emergency Dr's. appt. You know how that is. That took a good 3 hrs. I ran out of the house w/no makeup on & practically in my pj's. At Walmart I even joked with this older guy (while waiting for my prescription for her terrible rash and unexpected ear infection.) "would you believe that I have a plane to catch in 3 hrs." He just laughed. ( This is the point where I probably should have been driving to the airport). But I still had to wait for Branson to come home from school, pack and get ready myself. So I am getting a shower and decide to confirm somethings and ended up having to rearrange my babysitter for one day. No I'm not a little stressed at this point. I just have to not only pack myself but pack for my kids now. So by the time I am actually hit the road it is like 4:00. My plane leaves at 5:20 and I am still 45 min away!
I get to the airport and there is a nice old man that offers me his luggage cart (that was a blessing the Lord knew I needed) so I accepted it and I am so glad I did. I finally get through the awful line to get my boarding pass and the and the guy slaps on a big ol' LATE sticker on my bags & informs me that because I am so late he wouldn't even guarantee that they would be there on my plane when I got to Oakland followed by the news that he wouldn't give me my boarding pass because he said "according to this you aren't going to catch your plane". Ya think? Maybe if you would give me my boarding pass I would have a better chance at catching my plane! So of course I am frantically trying to get through security, dumping out my BABY"S WATER from her bottle and juggling unzipping my boots and explaining that "really, It's just baby food in my bag". Fortunately, a few people in line let me go ahead and that is the extra minute that I needed to catch my plane. At this point I had 10 min to get to my terminal and BONUS pick up my boarding pass. Could my terminal be at the front of the airport? No that would be too easy! It was at the very End of the airport- B-13! So I am bookin' it-my sick little Emma in one arm and my carry-on on my back, pant legs tucked into my unzipped boots- and I found out how out of shape I really am cuz when I got to B-5 I started hyperventilating and crying because my legs couldn't carry me any faster and I was so out of breath! I finally reached the escalator and I still had another 4 -5 terminals to go, but I knew I was going out! My eyes started going blurry and everything started to spin. I am still running but It felt like I was in slow motion. I'm crying and saying over and over again in between breaths, "I'm going to miss my plane, I'm going to miss my plane." I just about fainted when a guy came over to me and asked me if he could help. He offered to take my bag but I think that's when Emma started slipping out of my arms and he grabbed her instead. I just kept saying I gotta get to B-13. That's when another guy grabbed my back pack and I finally got there and slapped my cards down on the counter and said here, what do you need? "Well, Ma'm you need a boarding pass you are going to have to get one over there"...see I told you my boarding pass would have come in handy! I stumble over to the other counter and I hear the man ask them if they can take one more. I thought that he was just meaning ...Can you take one more before you go on break or something. It wasn't till I was on the plane that I realized he meant can you take one more PASSENGER to GET ON THE PLANE. I just stood there thinking that I could board the plane after all these other people get on cuz they were here 1st. (I wondered why no one was moving and looking at me weird.) I didn't realize that I was the reason they hadn't taken off yet. That is how out of it I was. Needless to say I tried to recover for the duration of the flight and to be honest I am still dizzy. Maybe a good week's worth of sleep will help. Ha ha dream on!
Well, I finally made it to

Bill and I had such a great time. When we 1st got in Bill met us at the airport and then we went to a great place called "Scotts" for dinner. We had a beautiful room but the BEST part was the View! This was a picture from our balcony.
The next day Emma and I went on her 1st ferry ride to Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco. I had Emma in the baby bjorn and we walked around all day! 1st we went to of course Pier 39. That was fun! There is just a ton to see! We went to Ghiradelli Square, walked up and down street after street. There are so many art studios and little clothing boutiques not to mention all the vendors selling everything to sunglasses to ivory statues. It's amazing how much stuff is crammed onto one sidewalk!



So as you can see from the slide shows our highlights were the cities with in the city- China Town & the Italian district. We tried Dim sum. That was interesting. We still don't know what we ate. (some kind of meat, veggies & even peanuts in rice wontons). Bill clearly loved it! Then Bill made me try on a dress at a Chinese shop. The lady was so nice and really wanted me to buy it. I tried to let her down easy. We tried some pastries and had an Italian soda just like Bill used to do in Italy. Then Bill just wanted to try some pizza so we found a "hole in the wall" with people lined outside to get in. It was clearly San Francisco's best kept secret because that was the Absolute BEST pizza I have ever tasted!

We had a great time window shopping and going into stores that I have never been to. Like Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton. I tried on a leather jacket that was oh, $2,100 just for fun. Bill said, "No matter what they say just say you don't really like it!" They were very willing to alter anything. I know because I was looking at a white shirt and they didn't have my size but they offered to alter it for free. For a $500.00 shirt I would hope they would alter it for free! Boy after that Old Navy isn't looking so bad!

After that we happened upon "Castro Street" which is the gay capital of the US. Bill goes, "Well, you don't see that in Utah."


Then we went to Alamo Square that is where the famous Victorian houses are that you see in pictures. I think it suits us! There is a beautiful park in Alamo square so we pushed Emma in the swing over looking the city.

Thanks to my gracious brother and neighbor for taking care of our children, we had such a woooonderful time enjoying the sights and sounds of this eclectic city by the sea!
I have to laugh because Bill has to go back for another week. He said, "well, if we were made of money I would have you come back with me." That is one city that will break the bank in a hurry! Oh well. We were very blessed to go!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Easter Sunday

Easter was great at our house. The kids found their Easter baskets in the morning and among all the eggs in their baskets they had some numbered eggs. The kids thought it was a game, but it
was actually 12 eggs that had scriptures and symbols of the events leading up to the crucification and the resurrection of Christ. The number 12 egg had nothing in it-representing the empty tomb. I think our kids really understood what Easter really means. We also had our home teachers over and they shared a beautiful message. After church we had Uncle Dustin over for dinner and that's when we opened our 12 eggs and had a spiritual feast. It really was a special day to feel gratitude for the life, ministry, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. It was so special the next night when we were saying family prayer with dad over the phone when Branson said, " And we are thankful for Jesus because with out him none of us would be here." I think these lessons are sticking!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

It's Party Time

So yeah, It's that time of year when all the holidays are over and just when we think we have a moment to breathe...Wham! Bam! Bang! Smack! we get hit with all 4 kids Birthdays one after another so I am taking a deep breath and before I know it April will be here...
But to kick off the festivities this year I had to announce to everyone that our little Emma turned ONE. I so can't believe that year has already gone by! Most moms spend hours making cakes and whatever but I got an idea in my head for her announcement (while I was in the shower...which is where most of my inspiration comes...probably because it's when I get the most solace=) and I couldn't let it go until I had it the way I wanted. Which led me to open a whole new can of worms (trying to figure out a bunch of things on Illustrator)until 2 am. All in all I learned a lot, got some "me time" and was quite pleased with the result. I had so much fun taking pictures of Emma the day before and "photoshopping" things in. She is such a delight and a joy in our home! I just can't get enough of her! And she can't get enough of me either. As anyone who visits will agree she is a mommas girl and don't you dare take her out of at least ear shot from me.

So, it's a tradition in our home to let the babies on their 1st birthday to do what ever they want with their cake...just sit it right in front of them and let them go to town. I was reminiscing with Maegan telling her that I remembered when she turned one-she just poked her little index finger in and would just so delicately lick the cake off her finger and then she would do it again and again. Maegan just laughed when I told her that so we were curious to see what Emma would do. So 1st we sat her cake in front of her and LO and BEHOLD she sat there! I know.... I know.... whats the big deal about that? The big deal is that is the 1st time she has EVER sat up on her own. I commented to Bill, "Geeze that's all we needed to do was stick a cake in front of her and she would have sat up a long time ago." We were starting to get concerned because we didn't know if she just was being stubborn and didn't want to or if she couldn't. Turns out she was just being stubborn. Anyway, so after that great surprise we let her try and blow out her candle and she almost grabbed it so that was the end of the candle for her. But she did try and blow it out! It was so cute! Then she grabbed a little piece of the frosting and before even tasting it her self she fed it to Maegan, and then Britton and then Branson. It was too cute. She discovered that she didn't really like cake so she just kept feeding it to all the kids until they got their own.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Gumball blessings

On Saturday a short time ago Bill decided to take the kids to Kmart and pass some time while I was away at a baby shower. After spending time in the toy department, the Bundrock clan grew tired of just looking and decided to leave and come pick me up. However, on their way out Branson and Maegan discovered a row of gumball machines and of course wanted to spend their hard earned money to enjoy the goodness contained within. After a reluctant approval from Bill, due to the knowledge that two gumalls and three children don't go well together, the salivating children put their money into the machine of their choice and turned the handle. Branson was duely rewarded; however, Maegan did not receive anything for her quarter. Not wanting to hear Maegan's moans and groans all the way home, Bill waited in line for 15 minutes to get a refund and try again. The second attempt would prove to be very successful because Maegan received two morsels of goodness instead of one. Bill was glad because he knew that meant all three children would have something to eat instead of just two. Branson, after seeing the extra piece fall out of the slot, turned to Bill and said; "Dad you know who did that?" Bill grinned and said what do you mean Branson? Branson with a smile of his own simply replied, "That was Jesus". From the mouth of babes. It is great to know that our children are coming to understand that all we are blessed with in life comes from our Saviour and our Heavenly Father. Branson's faith was strengthened and we are grateful that our Heavenly Father watches and blesses us even if we are only dealing with gumballs.