Sarah Surprise

Sarah turned 40 this month! And because he is awesome (and because she told him to step it up this year:) Taylor flew me and Kristina down for a surprise weekend. It was seriously hard to keep that secret all month from Sarah but worth the look on her face. 

We left Friday morning for Pasco to fly out. The highlight of that trip was Kristina picking up a call from the birthday girl herself in the airport and then the announcer coming on "Psst flight 234 now boarding to Salt Lake City Utah at gate 3) all while I am jumping up and down pantomining "hang up the phone!!!". Sarah is seriously less suspicious than me because she didn't hear it at all so thankfully we didn't ruin the surprise. 

Mom picked us up and, after a nice lunch, we got Kristina new jeans at H&M and the toured Dad's new office and snatched a few (cough - all!) the snacks from kitchen. Then it was off to the surprise! Taylor told Sarah they had to go to a UVU dinner but when she arrived 50 of her friends and family were waiting to ambush her:) 

We slept at Mom and Dad's new apartment and woke early for The Trials of Grindenwald with the Woodbury Corp. Then, because my family is braver than me, we said forget you rainy freezing weather, we are going hiking! Once my fingers thawed out it was actually a great hike up Spanish Fork canyon to these AMAZING hot springs. Some of the water was like bath temperature and some was scald your face off hot.

The cherry on top of this incredible weekend was a BYU football game...in the box! Yes, while everyone below us froze their tooshies off, we were in a 70 degree both, snacking on 'Y' donuts, nachos, and cougar tails. To top it off, BYU crushed NM. I am now spoiled for football forever.

The fun had to end eventually, so Sarah dropped us off after church and we made it back safe and sound, although I might not talk for another week just to even things out:) Thank you Taylor for that amazing experience. Dana and Fred...the bar has been set, gentlemen!

Birthday, Blech, and Blah la la la la

November is always a crazy busy month for the Gailans and this one was no exception. We started off being silly...

Clark taught Charlotte to do this weird baby bird squat thing, complete with grunting noise. Sometimes she farts when she does it so....yeah...my baby is super elegant and ladylike. 

Clark loves to get the mail. One day he slapped a credit card offer on his chest and declared "I'm a missionary!"

Charlotte fell in a basket. I'm mean enough that I grabbed my phone instead of helping her out.

And....this guy turned 36!!! Yes, I know, impossible you say! Seriously, if you flip back through the last decade of photos he looks pretty much the same. Almost exactly since he's wearing the same sweatshirt for most of those:) Clark said he earned his pie by having a birthday. Word bro.

We celebrated early at El Porton and aside from Charlotte throwing up directly into my hand, it was a super success. We came home to pie and an early bed time.

Grandma Tina was also up that weekend so we visited the Woodburys. Clark threw up in the car right off the Thrall exit (yay?) but being the awesome parents we are we managed to strip him down, wipe out the carseat, freshen up at Kristina's and still make it in time for the sacrament and the primary program. Boom! (and no, he wasn't really sick, just didn't sleep enough the night before...relax other mothers).

We had yummy lunch made in Kristina's Instant Pot, talked about yogurt, and watched cute Charlotte drive this little truck around the kitchen.

That night, we set up the Christmas tree!! It was November 11th after all. High time for some festive cheer. Charlotte didn't really get into it but she hasn't given the tree the time of day since which I'm fine with.

Clark was uber helpful, placing ornaments, turning the tree on and off, all while serenading us with his tiny air guitar to Bohemian Rhapsody. (Yes this is a side story. Dana has introduced Clark to the wonderful world of Queen, Michael Jackson and so many others. He requests "Mama Mia!" loudly each morning and also loves being "Freddie" on the Under Pressure song"

Just some random stuff

Sometimes pics don't fit in a post. Like these: (you're welcome)

Char and I go on walks with Trish 2 mornings a week and it got really cold last week so Char ended up in Clark's sweater and snow pants. Yeah...she hated it.

 She gets weird when Clark isn't around. Like this day...when she refused to nap and then watched part of Coco like a cat sunning itself.

 Clark went to his first friend birthday for Gabe and Hyrum. It was a little cold but they made up for it with a pinata, bubble machine, candy, cupcakes, and park time. Charlotte broke in her new pink coat by rolling in the mud. Yippie.

 Oh and this. Yes this. They got super hero masks too. And Clark's was a ninja turtle. And it made his nose look squishy. And Dana couldn't stop laughing.

And then Char wanted in on the action:

One day Dana turned them both into burritos. Clark now requests this nightly. 

 And Char has systematically over the last two weeks "lost" all of her socks. All of them. Seriously. So she went to church in Clark's red socks. And the no pants is just a staple.

 These are just cute. Sometimes they play nicely without me even having to ask.

Spooky-ween

Another Halloween come and gone...but the candy lingers on...and on...and on...:) 2018 was a blast. We decided to just get on the Brown Sugar bandwagon already and to a Moana Theme. 

Clark was the skinniest Maui to ever exist but he had a cool glittery sword so who cares! He didn't really get the point of the games at our ward's Harvest festival but he did finally grasp the concept of "I knock on your door and sweetly say Trick or Treat and you hand me luscious candy" so Halloween night was a blast! The donuts for dinner helped, I'm sure. The best part, however, was when we got hom and he got to HAND out candy. Oh man. That was a new and way too exciting experience. We went through 450 pieces of candy in about 20 minutes thanks to our "generous" preschooler and he sure made some kids nights. Even after the lights went out, he still hung out at the window trying to coax more trick or treaters in. Even when he was nude after the bath, he STILL wanted to hand out candy to the McCrackens who came a knocking. Oh boy. Yup, Clark loves Halloween. 

Miss Char represented as the cutest Moana ever. Even if she hated the bow in her hair. Absolutely. Hated. It. She roamed the halls during the Harvest festival and occassionally played with other kids costumes but mostly made me hold her. She didn't want any of the Halloween donuts (weirdo) but did have some Halloween popcorn, I guess. Seriously, our baby is weird. Then she was a stroller baby for trick or treating and did an early bed. Didn't even make a peep. Good girl!

And Dana and I brought up the supporting cast as Tamatoa the crab....and a random villager:) Yes, Dana was supposed to be Hei Hei the Chicken but my felt glueing skills just aren't what they used to be and, well, it went South. But Dana seemed happy enough with just his lai. No one got my costume unless I turned around to show them my "shiny" shell but whatever. Halloween is about looking goofy.