My Big Fat Thanksgiving Vacation

Here are some of the highlights from our trip to Utah for the Uda family reunion/Thanksgiving blow out.

1) Honoring my Grandma and Grandpa Uda with a memorial at their gravesite to place a headstone on their grave (Thanks to Uncle Kelton who did a beautiful job making it!)

2) listening to everyone share funny memories about Grandma and Grandpa and seeing my Aunties and Uncles and cousins who we don't get to see very often because they live in Hawaii.

3) Stuffing ourselves with all the traditional Thankgsgiving food plus lomi salmon, lau lau, gyoza and poi.

4) Watching the Uda talent show and seeing how funny and talented all my relatives are.

5) Going out on a couples date with my sisters and their hubbys to a Tepanyaki grill (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting!)

6) Catching up with our old friends, Dave and Jodi and their ADORABLE three week old twin boys, Kai and Cameron. I got to give Kai his bottle and it was the sweetest thing! I seriously could have held the tiny little 5 pounder all day!

7) Hanging out with my beautiful, hilarious, wonderful sisters! It was so fun having all 5 of us together. They are my bestest girlfriends and I seriously don't know what I'd do without them!

8) Girls date with my sisters, mom, auntie and cousins. We went to eat at Los Hermanos and then to see Twlight (Swoon!!) It was so much fun!

9) Playing Pounce, Scum, and Settlers of Catan every night after we got the kiddies to bed.

10) Seeing Teya and Brinley with their cousins. They all got along so well, it really made it hard knowing that we don't live close by. Thank goodness for airplanes : )

Other highlights: Dad and his Russian hat, Mom's lemon pepper chicken linguine, Rachel actually dancing hip hop, Ro putting Brinley's pants on Teya because he thought they were capris, Josh building a bomb, singing a duet with Erin, Naomi's mad pounce skills, Kevin's homemade apple cider, seeing Sarah as a Mom!, Tau coaching us on our dance and then joining in our performance, Jake's Margaret Thatcher joke, Liz and the birthday spanking machine, and playing truth or dare with the whole family.

Uda Girls Shakin' It!

So I need to do a big post about our Thanksgiving break, but here's a video for your viewing enjoyment until I have more time to post. A little background, over Thanksgiving we had a talent show as part of our family reunion. Me and my sister Liz convinced our cousin and our other sisters to do a little hip hop with us. None of us are really hip hop dancers so enjoy our ghetto moves. Still, we had a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and the big guy in the back is my sister's husband Tau. He watched us rehearse so many times that he learned the dance. With a little bribery we suckered him into doing it with us! Good times!

Turkey Trot!

Knowing that today would be a day of face stuffing and gluttony, my wise little sister decided it would be a good idea to sign up for a little race this morning to help us "earn our turkey." I've never run in any kind of race before so this was kind of big for me. It wasn't anything crazy, just a little two mile course. Still, it was AWESOME to get up and get my heart going! Taber jogged beside me and helped me keep a good pace. All you marathon runners will probably giggle at this but I was proud of myself for finishing in just under 20 minutes.  We were in the walk/jog division and Taber took 2nd, Kevin was 3rd, and I came in 5th. Naomi and Sarah also did great placing 7th and 12th respectively. It was the perfect way to start our day and I definitely feel that I earned my Thanksgiving feast this morning!

All ready to go before the race

So the people who ran were me and Taber, my sister Naomi, her hubby Kevin, their daughter Brooklyn, and my little sister Sarah and her baby Noah. Kevin was nice enough to run around taking action shots of us all while he pushed the baby (He actually runs marathons so this was more of a little warm up for him)

Posing after the race in our sweet "Earn your Turkey" shirts.

Taber, Kevin and me with our ribbons. (Kind of funny they had a ribbon for 5th place! Haha! I felt cool!)

Cousins!

One of the best parts of being in Utah for Thanksgiving is seeing Teya and Brinley with their cousins. I have never seen her so happy or play so well with other kids. It's going to break my heart when we have to leave, but in the mean time I'm loving the cousin bonding going on here!

Teya making Turkey cupcakes with cousins Joseph, David, Maile and Mason

We've been staying at my sister's house who lives next door to my mom. She has two kids and Teya is smitten with them. Maile is only a year older than her and the two of them are little BFFs!

Brinley is also having fun with the 2nd batch of cousins. These three were all born in 2008 and will all be in the same grade together. What a bunch of CUTIES!!

Happy Flight, Happy Arrival!

At the airport with my awesome Sit and Stand stroller. Couldn't have done made it through this experience without it! 

Today I tackled a 2 1/2 hour flight by myself with a baby and a toddler so I could get in a few extra days with my family for Thanksgiving. (Taber is joining us Wed night but I couldn't wait till then!) Going into the flight I had a few concerns:

1) Would Brinley be game for nursing on the plane? Teya usually wasn't and ended up screaming on many flights during her baby days.

2) Would my decision to put Teya in a pull-up for the flight confuse her and undermine her potty training success?

3) Would Teya make it through the flight without any meltdowns? And if not, would I be able to handle the meltdown while holding Brinley?

I was pretty nervous going into it but my worries were for nothing. The flight went beautifully, even with Teya's DVD player dying 2 minutes into it (thought I charged it, guess not) Teya kept herself entertained with her drink, the peanuts, the straws, the seatbelts, that kind of thing. Brinley nursed like a champ and then passed out no problem. Best of all, Teya totally went potty in the toilet on the airplane even though she had a pull-up on! There were no tantrums or meltdowns, no crying babies, no diaper blow-outs or potty accidents, I would definitely have to say it was a huge success!

Teya entertaining herself on the plane

After such a happy flight we enjoyed an equally happy arrival. It was so fun seeing all my family and especially for everyone to see Brinley.  (For quite a few of them this is their first time meeting her) She was all smiles and giggles and definitely made a great first impression.

Brinley with Granmda Uda and cousin Maile

Meeting Auntie Rachel for the first time

Teya is also happy as a pig in a pumpkin patch to be her with her cousins. Maile is a year older and is teaching Teya all about the many merits of princesses. I'm hoping Teya will come home with a greater desire to wear girly things : )

So yeah, got her safe, glad to be here, and totally excited for an awesome week of Thanksgiving festivities with the Uda clan!

28 and feeling Great!

There are three words that sum up my 28th birthday. "Yummy. Delicious. Food." : ) I love birthdays because I always eat really really scrumptious food! This year I enjoyed a tasty carrot cake, (my favorite) caramel apple cupcakes made by my friend Kimberly (who is a culinary genius!) Jumbo Buffalo Shrimp from my new favorite restaurant Redstone, and my very first ever homemade cake by Taber! We spread out the cakes and goodies over the week and my taste buds were dancing in jubilation. : ) So thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special (and tasty!) And a special thanks to Taber for going out of your comfort zone and into the kitchen to make me such a great cake!

Food, Friends, and Birthday fun!

Chef Taber's masterpiece
(seriously, it's kind of embarrassing because his first cake ever turned out way better than any cake I've ever made! I'm so jealous!)

Brinley at 4 months old

I took Brinley to her 4 month appointment yesterday and here are her stats:
Height: 25 inches, 76th percentile
Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz, 60th percentile

As you can see by the rolls on her arms in the above picture, she is growing like a champ! Teya always hung around in the 25th percentile for height and weight, so Brinley is our "big baby" : ) The Dr. said she looks great and was pretty blown away by her gross motor development. She said she's never seen a baby her age sit up so well. Wish I could somehow take credit for that phenomena but that's all her. : )

Brinley is starting to get pretty good with her hands. She can actually hold onto toys now and even stick her binky back in her mouth with a lot of effort. (Most of the time she just smacks it to her forehead or pokes it in her eye, but every now and then she gets it where it needs to go)

She is a great sleeper and I have to credit that partially to this snazzy invention, the kiddopotamus. It's a little baby swaddler that my sister gave me and it's amazing! The minute she's all secured in that thing she passes out. It's going on my list of must haves for a new baby! (notice she is actually smiling in her sleep, could there be anything cuter? Seriously people!)

Brinley loves interacting with the family and is starting to giggle out loud. She mostly laughs at Teya (which Teya LOVES) but Mommy and Daddy have gottten a few giggles too. I'll try to find a good video of her laughing and post it later. She really is the sweetest baby. Every time we hang out with other people they are amazed at how smiley and mellow she is. I'm constantly asked, "is she always this easy going?" "Is she always so happy?" "Does she ever cry?" We are very blessed to have such a sweetheart in the family and really could not imagine our lives without her!

And now for your viewing pleasure, Brinley showing off her sitting unassisted skills Enjoy!

Potty Training Success!

We are very lucky that Teya has been trained to go number 2 in the potty for months. Number 1 was a little trickier. We've been putting off teaching her but finally decided it was time to bite the bullet. Here's how it went down:
Day 1:
I printed up a sticker chart and bought a shiny new toy that I put above the toilet so she could see it and hopefully be motivated to potty. Terrified of having to clean up any accidents, I left her in her pull-up. She went potty once but when she realized that she only got one sticker and she still had 34 to go she wasn't happy. She wanted the toy NOW! After a big fat melt down she simply refused to pee in the potty the rest of the day

Day 2:
I got brave and put her in big girl underwear. I asked her every 30 minutes is she had to pee. She always said no. Then I hear her scream "Oh no! my pull up has a hole!" I run into the living room to find her sitting in a puddle. Her first accident. It wasn't that bad. I can do this I think. We try again, she wets again. By nap time she is back in a pull-up.

Day 3:
She wakes up and I say "Time for big girl underwear!" She melts down and just wants her pull-up. I tell Taber that I'm giving up and will try again after Christmas. He says, "Have you tried having her go commando?" I decide to give it a try as a final effort before giving up. The morning goes perfectly! Every time she has to pee she runs to the potty. I put her pull-up on for her nap and she stays dry. When she wakes up I tell her it's time to go commando again but she wants her big girl undies. I was nervous about accidents, but put them on. She goes the rest of the day with no accidents!

Day 4: Big girl underwear all day, pull up during nap, no accidents!

Day 5: big girl underwear all day, including nap! No accidents! I think we're getting there!

Day 6: We go to church and to friends' houses and are away from the house all day. I was super nervous but kept her in big girl underwear and she did not dissapoint! No accidents!

Day 7: Teya earns her last two stickers and gets her Rescue pack! I was so scared that once she earned her toy she would stop going in the potty. Not the case! Even with no more stickers to earn she keeps going in the potty! HOORAY!!!

Sticker chart completed!

Her awesome Diego Rescue pack (After earning it she literally played with it for 2 hours straight non-stop! She was soooo happy!)

Victory dance on the potty

Playing with the prize

A great night for democracy!

On November 4, 2008 I voted for the first time in my life. For years I took for granted how blessed I am to live in a nation that gives us the right to have our voices heard. To have not participated in the voting process before is embarrassing and shows how ignorant and ungrateful I was. I'm glad that has changed. I'm glad that I felt compelled to research and participate in the election this year. I'm glad that I understood what was on my ballot, beyond just the choices for president. I'm glad that I live in America.

Last night was a beautiful night for democracy. America voted in record breaking numbers and her voice was heard. We have a new president elect, and whether I voted for him or not doesn't matter. I will stand behind him and look forward with hope to the changes he will bring to our country. I felt joy and pride for our country as I watched how gracefully John McCain conceded the race. He was classy, he was strong, and to the end he put our country first, asking us now to get behind the president and help our country to heal. I was also impressed and inspired by President Obama's speech. There is a goodness and a sincerity to him that cannot be denied. I have great hopes for him and believe that his potential to do good is astounding.

How awesome to live in a country where the government can change hands in peace and where opponents can look across the table and speak of each other with sincere respect. Like so many others today, I am proud to be an American and will never take that blessing for granted again.

Here are some pics of us going out with our friends to remind people to vote and to distribute some campaign literature on some of our local races. It really was awesome getting involved this year and I hope that by being a better example to Teya she will grow up to appreciate her right to vote too.