Happy Birthday Kiddo!!!

The night before the Kiddo's birthday, while he was spending the evening with his dad, I set about decorating our apartment. Nothing big, just having fun with crepe paper streamers and bows. Following each of my siblings and my births (home births) my mother would tie blue or pink bows on our front porch to announce to the world our arrival. Since I didn't get the chance following the Kiddo's birth, I took the opportunity to do so now even though my bow tying skills simply cannot compare to my mother's.

Streamers in the doorway always seemed to be rather magical as a child and I hoped it would provide a bit of fun for the Kiddo.

I REALLY thought I blew up more balloons than that!

And of course, I had a small cluster of gifts waiting for him,

with the BIG surprise being his new bike.

I picked the Kiddo up in the morning and we headed off to the aquarium.

He thought the fish were kinda cool.

Although, they didn't captivate his attention for very long -

-especially once he discovered the interactive displays!

The Amazon.... get it? Wah wah wahhhhhhhh. Yeah, lame, I know.

We made it over to the very popular penguin exhibit-

-only to find that the buttons that produced frog sounds next to the penguin exhibit was MUCH more interesting

We were only half way through the day but he was exhausted!

I tried my best to carry him into the house and put him to bed, but when he saw the presents and decorations, nap time was OVER!

I had stashed the bike in my room in hopes that I could set up a photo op when he came out of his room, but when I tried to get him to stay in it while I brought the bike out, he thought I was punishing him and started bawling and saying, "I'm sorry Mama!" Heartbreaking! THAT one didn't go as planned! If you can see the little bit of red in his eyes, that's why.

The trauma was soon forgotten as he took his bike for it's maiden voyage around our parking lot.

After getting his fill, we came inside and made his birthday cupcakes. Kiddo took the opportunity to man the camera.

He did a VERY good job of carefully helping!

We learned a few things this year:

1.) Kiddo couldn't care less about fish and penguins when there are buttons to be pushed.

2.) Mama should just go with the flow instead of trying to set up photo ops.

3.) It's really hard to blow out a candle when you're laughing really hard.

4.) The great thing about a 2-person birthday party is that you can keep relighting the candle as many times as you want (providing the candle still has wax left)!

It's so hard to believe that it was 4 years ago today that this little man entered my life. He's the sweetest, most loving little soul and I'm so blessed to be given the opportunity to mother him. I've never been worried about the years slipping by. I've known since day one that I was raising an adult rather than a child, but I will forever cherish the moments I spend with him while he's my darling little boy. Oh how I love this little one! He fills me with more happiness than I can contain.

Mom Jar = Overflowing

I love you Kiddo!

August Brought Major Changes

I don't know what prompted me to, but in early August, I found myself filling out an online application to go back to school. Within a week, after prayer and a lengthy conversation with my mother, I had put in my two week notice at my job. My last day was exciting, but sad as I said goodbye to my darling friend/coworker Lindsey. Just one of the amazing people who I feel are in my life by no accident.

Just days after my last day of work, the Kiddo and I headed to California to see my family. For the first time in his life, we took the Airport Bus from SFO up to Sonoma County. He was GLUED to the window for about an hour, watching Golden Gate park and the Bridge fly by before falling asleep in my lap.

The reason for our trip? My baby sister's baby!

Little Addison arrived August 14th and is just as precious as could be!

Along with other fun, the Kiddo went with Pop Pop, Uncle Clay and his cousin Cash to the Sonoma County Air Show. He came home with a toy airplane that you'll rarely find him without.

I was able to have a wonderful reunion with my friend Emily. We met on the school bus in Junior High and spent many class periods, days, hand written notes and Friday night sleepovers as teenagers being a little more than crazy.

It's been 15 years, but nothing has changed.

Through a series of random events, we found ourselves hopping on Bart and heading to a Giant's game. Em is a much bigger fan than I, but it was SO much fun! Did you know that the seagulls come out EVERY game in the 7th inning? Neither did I, but it's true. What a wonderful trip!

We headed home and jumped into a completely different life back in Utah. Well, not much has changed for the Kiddo I suppose, but it sure has for me! I'm going to school for half the day, working part time at a massage school (perks? OH YEAH!), playing volleyball twice a week, an institute class once a week, homework nightly, as well as something that resembles a social life occasionally.

Honor's Jar = Busy, but Full!

Wheeler Farm with Corbin and Christina

The kiddo and I joined my childhood friend Christina and her son at Wheeler Farm today. I recently reconnected with Christina after 10 years (hard to believe) and it was the first time we had met each other's kiddos.

We fed the ducks,

saw/smelled the animals,

had some made out of balloons,

and even rode on a couple.

It took a little while for the Kiddo to warm up to the idea of getting on the horse, but he ended up loving it.

It was surreal to think about the two of us now as single mom's when the last time we were around each other we were 17 and serving in our Laurel Class Presidency together,

But it was a lot of fun to watch our sons together, knowing that we never imagined this day.

Jars filled!

Boys will be boys...

The kiddo had his first trip to the doctors office for an injury today. He jumped/fell off a chair while with his dad this weekend and hurt his ankle. He wasn't really phased by it, and kept trying to walk on it, but would then realize that it hurt when he put pressure on it. It didn't stop him from trying to limp around though. While I'm not the type to rush to the doctor's office unless it's really an obvious emergency, after talking it through with his dad, we decided that it'd be best to take him into an children's care clinic and get it checked out just to be safe. They took some x-rays and wrapped it up for the time being, but couldn't find anything major (we'll hear back tomorrow with the x-ray results).

The humor to be found here is in the shirt he was wearing:

I'm not sure it'll be easy to keep him off of it for the next few days, although, the upside of it is that he's a little more content to just curl up on my lap and relax, and THAT is a jar filler!

How we turned the day around...

The past few Sundays that I've had the kiddo with me, we haven't been able to make it to church for one reason or another. We've each taken our turns being sick (twice), the kiddo hurt his ankle and I was trying to keep him off it, etc...

Two weeks ago, while we both had the stomach flu, the Primary presidency stopped by to say hello and to ask me if I had given up on the kiddo adjusting to his Sunbeam class. I know my reply sounded like an excuse, but it was the truth and the whole experience left me feeling a little upset.

Today, I planned things perfectly - got the kiddo down for a nap before church, showered, shaved, got all dolled up, got the kiddo in his adorable little suit and tie and headed out the door in perfect time to make it to church, only to find the parking lot empty. I called our home teachers and asked if it was Stake Conference week. They informed me that it had been a Regional Conference - broadcast to our building earlier that morning. Call me a girl, but I cried! It felt like things just couldn't go my way. I couldn't bring myself to head directly home so I drove around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. I thought about finding another ward to attend, but then realized that since it was a Regional Conference, I'd have to drive quite a ways to have any hope of finding another ward meeting, and it was already after 1 pm by then. I tried calling my mother to have someone to blubber to, but she was in the middle of her own ward. I then called my best Utah friend, who like any great best friend would, let me whine and assured me that my tears weren't totally unjustified. She invited us to come spend time with her family later in the afternoon (which turned out to be a wonderful way to spend our Sunday evening).

After hanging up with her, I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING churchy with the kiddo, especially since we were all dressed for it, so we headed toward Temple Square. Though it was overcast, the grounds were beautiful. The tulips have bloomed and the colors were amazing!

(some of these pictures were taken with my phone so please excuse the quality)

We walked around the North West Visitor Center for a while, looking at the paintings by Harry Anderson (one of my favorite spots), seeing the Book of Mormon display with the giant rotating globe...

...as well as heading to the upper level and seeing the Christus. Grant has started to understand a little bit about what it means to be reverent. While sitting in front of the statue, he folded his arms and whispered with a nod in it's direction, "That's Jesus."

We headed back outside and I took him over to one of my favorite spots on the temple grounds to sit. When I was single and living in downtown SLC, I'd often come to Temple Square with my journal and sit in my tucked away little spot, feel the warm breeze, smell the cool aroma of the flowers, lay back on a little patch of grass and look at the stars, with the temple spires reaching up to them. I remember thinking then of what it would be like to bring my children to that spot. My initial thoughts of that scene were much more calm than reality. Grant wanted to see and touch EVERYTHING. No laying on the grass for us!

He'd walk along the stone ledges, touching the tree branches above him that hung down...

...and smelling as many of the flowers as he could.

I DID manage to get him to sit still for ONE brief moment as I snapped a picture, but I assure you, he was up and running again the moment it was captured.

While it wasn't exactly the day I'd planned to have, the experience turned out to be something I needed. So often I need the reminder that while I can't control some things in life, I can control my reaction and what I make of it. It turned out to be a beautiful day!

A potentially disappointing day turned beautiful = a full jar!

Christus Photo / CC BY-NC 2.0

Prepared for takeoff!

Every morning on the way to daycare, we cross over some railroad tracks that have a fair sized hill leading up to them - the kind that you might possibly get air off of if you were going fast enough. The kiddo pretends that we're an airplane taking off when we go over them so he gets his arms ready to fly (after putting his hands over his mouth and saying, "we're cleared for takeoff... CHHH" like he's talking on a radio). This morning, he had a rice cake in his hands, but didn't want to let it hinder the initiation sequence, so he left it in his mouth as he stretched out his wings and held it for a half a block until we had reached "LIFTOFF". I scrambled to grab my camera phone in time. Excuse the blur.

"I love the name of honor, more than I fear death." - Julius Caesar

I'm rethinking why I decided not to use my real name on this blog. I guess it was for security reasons. I cringe whenever I see someone posting information that would make them easy to stalk, but I'm pretty sure that most people who take a minute to look at this page already know at least my first name. I've wondered if it threw you for a loop when they see "Honski" if you don't know it's a nickname mostly used by my family members. I think I've concluded that if someone didn't already know my name they probably don't care enough to require such level of anonymity. I don't mean to have an invincibility complex, but even if someone knows my last name, I'm pretty much unGoogleable. It'd turn up a bunch of references to scouting events and court cases.

My name is Honor.

I've never met anybody else with the name. I think the most well known Honor I've heard of was the Bond girl named Honor Blackman. I've enjoyed having a unique name. It's a little more simple than some attempts I've seen parents make in hopes that their child's name will stand out. It's a relatively straightforward spelling unless your CanadiUn or EuroUpeUn and then you expect to throw U's in anywhere just for fun. I've wished that I could hear it with fresh ears to know other people's first impression.

I've never felt made fun of for my name. People try to joke about it, but it's never felt condescending. The most common response is probably, "It's an honor to meet you Honor! Hahahaha!"

Followed up by these other popular groan-worthy lines:

"Were you on the honor roll?"

"Do you honor thy father and mother?"

"Are your sisters named Faith, Hope and Charity?"

"You should be a judge, Your Honor."

I laugh. It's not really annoying. People are hearing it for the first time and I can't hold that against them, but my levels of genuine laughter vary. It's an ice breaker really, and I think most everyone I've met has meant it as a compliment. I really do enjoy people who are creative with it and I have had my dorky moments when I laughed to myself at jokes, phrases or quotes I've run into, which include:

The chorus of Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love"

"What is left when honor is lost?" - Publilius Syrus

Song from Disney's Mulan "Bring Honor to us all"

"Ici l'honneur m'oblige, et j'y veux satisfaire.(Here honor binds me, and I wish to satisfy it.)" - Pierre Corneille

"Honor does not have to be defended." - Robert J. Sawyer

There was one missionary that served in my singles ward in California. When he heard my name he said, "Hey, I've got your name on my arm!" as he proceeded to pull up his sleeve and revealed a Return With Honor tattoo. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or smack him upside the head first.

I know it sounds immature, but when Jessica Alba had a baby girl and named her Honor Marie, I had a moment that I'm sure most of you experienced and got past the first day of kindergarten, when you realized that you weren't the only Katie, John, Elizabeth or Mike in the world. I was thinking, "That's SO not fair! My parents picked it first, and now SHE is going to get the credit for it just because she's famous!" Thankfully, it only lasted a minute, but I'm sure I'll have to relive something similar if I ever meet another Honor. I'm just used to being THE Honor and never having to refer to someone else as such. Does that make me a name snob? In a way it makes me feel very naive. Did you ever think that if you have a more common name, you'd be more well adjusted at an earlier age?

I'm often asked how my parents came up with my name. Honestly, they each claim the credit. When my mother was pregnant with my older sister, she came across it while doing some work in the temple. She says that she suggested it to my dad but he kinda shrugged it off and didn't think much of it so she let it go. Then 5 years later when they were expecting me, he came home and said he'd thought up THE BEST NAME EVER! I can imagine the exact look on my mother's face. He had no recollection that she had suggested it before and to this day denies that she did. By then, my mother was campaigning for the name Claire. For the first 3 days following my birth, I was referred to as Honor, Claire or The Baby. Eventually, my mother relented, but I will forever give the credit to each of them. My younger sister ended up Cambria Claire, which I think is an adorable combination. I think it works better for her than it would have for me.

For being so uniquely named, I sure have accumulated a lager collection of nicknames than my parents might have guessed:

Hon ("On")

Honorski

Honski

Honker, which then became Honky, which then became Cracka

Honor Mitch (soon thereafter shortened to Mitch)

H

Honow (started by my younger sister who couldn't pronounce her R's and carried on by 4 year olds to this day)

Nonner

Ogre (ok THAT one was meant to ridicule, but it was from one of the shortest kids in my graduating class and I chalk it up to his own insecurities since I hit 6' my sophomore year and well.... he didn't)

What are your likes/gripes about your own name and what are some of your nicknames not everyone knows about?