The Grubers: May 2018 - Hamilton, Minivans, Mothers Day, Baby Prep, Just SO Many Things!

The boys and I went with my mom, my cousin, Ashley, Kim and Camry to the Tulip Festival. It was a little chilly and it was near the end of the festival. Many of the tulips were not at their peak, but overall it was still beautiful. We all ate at the booth there. I’m always happy if I’m able to make it there each year.

Charlie caught a bug from Gruber cousin fun and had a day of throwing up. Poor guy!

It was my birthday! The family made me a muffin breakfast. The boys had a playdate with Roman. Amy brought me In N Out for lunch, as well as her four week old baby, Tess. Nancy stopped by and brought a dish of brownies and played with the boys for a bit while I relaxed. That night, Jason took me on a very special date! We went to the new Eccles Theater and saw the production of Hamilton! Wow, I was surprised and so excited! Kim and Kyle tended the boys so we could go! Jason had hoped to make dinner reservations at the Roof before the show, but there just wasn’t time, so we grabbed a quick bite at Kneaders instead. The evening was surreal! We both knew all of the music very well. The stage and theater were an awesome sight to see. The talent was amazing! We really felt like we were part of something special as the whole audience was buzzing and electric as everyone made their way to their seats. We were so happy we were able to go. An unforgettable night!

The next day, Jason left bright and early for a Boulders fishing trip with T and Parker.

While Jason was away this is what we were up to. On Friday afternoon, I took the boys to Canyon Glen Park and we picked up Little Caesars Pizza. On Saturday the boys had soccer games. Both sets of grandparents came to both games that were, luckily, back to back. After the games, my parents came back to the house to see the boys new bunk beds and George and Nancy came over to bring me State Fair zinnias, short zinnias, marigolds, and coleus plants! They had picked them up from the nursery in Riverton and came to plant them for me for my birthday! They wanted to do this special service for me since I was eight months pregnant, unable to do it myself, but loved having summer flowers. It was seriously so thoughtful and fantastic of them! I fed them BLTs and they continued on with their service by edging and mowing the grass as well! It was seriously so touching! In the evening, I took the boys to Farm Country. The outing wasn’t without incident as Charlie hit his head on the cement floor while waiting for the pony ride. It was a nasty hit, but only resulted in a giant goose egg on the back of his head. We had dinner at the Thanksgiving Point Deli afterwards and got a free kiddie cone! That was a fun surprise. That night I watched Wonder after the boys had gone to bed.

Canyon Glen Park

Charlie said upon arrival, "I remember this park. I've been here. I came on October (something) for a school field trip!" It's amazing how Charlie can remember exact dates of when things happened, even up to a year ago!

Farm Country:

Hopefully, I will get Jason to write a little about his fishing trip.

To help out my friend, Ashley, we had the Watts kids over to play. They were excited to come to our house.

We celebrated my birthday with the Arbons on Sunday.

Charlie’s school had a Mom Day! I thoroughly enjoyed going to Charlie’s school where they had a musical program in the gym, we looked at Charlie’s poetry binder, and ate cafeteria lunch together. The lunch part was a good way to prepare them for full day first grade next year. Then the moms wrote notes to their students. The day was all very sweet!

Jason and I had a date night. We had dinner at Asado and went to the theater to see A Quiet Place. We generally do not like to see scary movies, but we had heard so many good things about this movie. Even Max and April said they loved it, and that piqued our interest. So we went and saw it, and we, too, loved it!

We had a rainy day of Saturday soccer games. Jason had a service project with the YM. That same day we test drove a mini van in Cedar Hills and dropped off Mother’s Day flowers in Alpine. Nancy was in Colorado helping Amy who had been very sick. Later we found out that Amy had parvovirus, or Fifth Disease! She was horribly sick and was in desperate need of help. So Nancy answered the call. When we went to drop off the hanging basket, we knew Nancy was gone, but were surprised when George would not open the door. He had fallen asleep and the house was locked, so we left the flowers at the door.

The next day was Mother’s Day. Wow, May is always such a special and jam packed month for me! We had a Belgian waffle breakfast. I was given a dress and a white noise speaker for the coming baby as gifts! At church I taught Sharing Time, and after church we headed to Arbons. We enjoyed a bike ride and we made a vanilla pudding cake for dessert.

Remember that minivan we test drove in Cedar Hills earlier this month? Well, we ended up buying that 2016 Honda Odyssey. We are now minivan drivers!! Jason dreaded this day since we had Charlie. It’s just an ego hit! His biggest dread was driving the minivan to the gym. We bought it from a very nice family and it was just what we had been looking for. It was a dark grey (we weren’t too set on the color, we just wanted something neutral and slightly “cool”) and it had a video system. They had taken good care of the van. We were very excited and the boys were very excited! Especially Colson! He loved it and the weeks that followed he would excitedly ask if we could ride in the “van car”.

Bryton and Jaleah treated me to a birthday dinner at Malawis.

Jason always cuts the boys hair, but they were in need of a cut and Jason was constantly swamped with work and church things. It was a very busy time for him and I just couldn’t ask him to do one more thing. So I took the boys to get cuts at Fantastic Sams. The boys did surprisingly well and actually enjoyed it! Of course they would perform better there than they do for Dad at home when he cuts it.

Jason took the boys to Father and Sons. EVERYONE (including myself) is excited when this weekend arrives. While they were gone, I hung out at home and then met up with my friend, Amy, for a combined birthday dinner at Cubbys. Then we went to see I Feel Pretty at the movie theater. It was so fun! The next morning I went to a baby shower for Amy in Sandy. Since Amy delivered Tess three weeks early, her baby shower had to be moved to after Tess was born and recovered a bit. The boys and I made it back home in time for Colson’s soccer game. He killed it! He made four goals and really played hard. We spent the rest of the day deep cleaning the Explorer to list and sell.

I am so in love with this picture!!

I ended up having to go get tested for Parvovirus. Since Amy Tuttle had it and I had been exposed to her at Girls Days, she recommended I get tested for the sake of the pregnancy. Luckily I came back negative!

We had Sunday dinner with George while Nancy was still gone in Colorado helping Amy. The kids had a ball and we had hot dogs and brats.

Charlie’s school year was near its end so he had a week of fun activities! They had a reading marathon, dance festival, a teddy bear picnic (his favorite day yet!), and a writing letters day. He only had two weeks left of school! It’s amazing how quickly the school years fly by!

School Outdoor Dance Festival: I'm Going on a Bear Hunt

I had my 37 week appointment. They ended up telling me there was no need to strip my membranes just yet as I previously thought (that is a downside to seeing a group of doctors at Valley OBGYN...different things are said each time). I was a tight two centimeters and 60% effaced. I was feeling pretty good, but my feet were starting to swell. There was more pressure in my back and pelvis. I started getting the baby room ready, washing things, and getting things that had been stored in the garage.

a new diaper bag for the new baby

People came to test drive the Explorer, and those same people ended up buying it two days later for $15K. We were stoked! I did not think we would get that much, but Jason thought we might as well start high and we’re glad we did. For memory sake, here are some of the pics we took for selling;

The icing on the cake was using some pictures we took two years ago up the canyon. We totally foreshadowed this moment!

goodbye forever! you will be missed!

I took the boys for their very first dentist appointment at Save Dental! I don’t like going to the dentist and so it just wasn’t on my radar until I saw one of April’s notebooks that had all of her scheduled dentist and doctor visits for the year for the entire family and realized I needed to “get on it”. I was inspired. So we made it happen. The boys were actually excited and did really well! I was shocked they found no cavities!

It was time for us to get a new stroller and car seat. Our car seat was now too old to meet current standards. We lucked out by hitting the Babies R Us "going out of business" sale and got 40% off! I then posted our old stroller and car seat on KSL and was able to sell them for pretty cheap.

the new

the old (selling picture)

Jason signed a lease for some shop space in Vineyard. It’s actually a really nice and big place. They took it over from Crumbl Cookie (a very popular and trendy cookie shop).

love the view from his shop

On another Saturday we enjoyed more soccer games. Grandma and Grandpa Gruber and Arbon came, as well as Karl. Later we went up the canyon and made stops along the way: Aspen Grove, Salamander Flatts, Tibble Fork, then we had dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe (a Charlie favorite).

Soccer Pics Galore:

Aspen Grove:

Tibble Fork:

The next day we had a Sunday birthday celebration with the Grubers for me and George (the May birthdays).

Monday was Memorial Day. We rode our bikes to Timpanogos Cemetery to see the flags, then we met up with George, Nancy, and the Riverton Grubers for a picnic at Swinging Bridge. Then we all headed to Tibble Fork. Suddenly, very dark clouds began to loom overhead and there was loud thunder and distant flashes of lightening as we began walking out of the car. We decided to chance it and started to take the mountain trail by the lake, but then the hail started! These were dime-sized hail balls. After a bit of deliberation of which was more safe, staying in the trees or running back for cover in our cars, we dashed back to the cars in the midst of the hail. The kids were bawling, getting hit by hail and screaming at the thunder. It was quite dramatic and unforgettable! We huddled under bathroom eaves for protection while the men brought the cars around. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the fire at George and Nancy’s, making cinnamon bread pudding and ordering pizza. Not a bad Plan B.

I bet Elsa is starring at the incoming dark clouds

just moments before the drama

hiding out by the bathrooms after braving the hail

I had my 38 week appointment. I was still at a two. The game plan was to check me at my next appointment and then to schedule to have my water broken before 40 weeks. We did a little membrane stripping at this point. The next day, my mucus plug came out.

On May 29th, we signed the closing documents for our Georgia rental property through Roofstock.

May 30th was Charlie’s last day of Kindergarten. I was relieved to make it past this point before having a baby. That was my goal. Charlie had a great last day with a read-a-thon. He loved it! We got Swig cookies that night with Dad to celebrate.

The next day was the first official day of Summer break for Charlie. The Markles (Roman's mom) invited us over, as well as their neighbors and friends, for a water bouncy slide party. We took a side to share and Erin provided hot dogs for everyone. It was lots of fun; a great way to start the break. That evening I was feeling lots of contractions and suddenly felt an urge to make sure everything was ready in my hospital overnight bag. I got that all packed up. The urge was surprising since I was still a week early and for my past two babies I had gone at least a week overdue. But I was certainly glad I did, because that night was the night! I’ll go into all of the details in an upcoming post!