3,4,5

Almost two years ago Jarom and Alixa promised Jenna that she could get a kitty when they moved to Dallas. Well Jenna was not your average 2-year old, and she refused to forget. It would go away for a little while here and there, but without fail she would bring the subject back up just when you thought it had vanished. So last Sunday the family climbed into Carlotta and made the 30 minute drive to Grapevine to retrieve the last kitten of a litter of Siamese cats from the family of an old college friend. And Sonic weaseled his way into the family right from the start. He is very social and loves to follow people around the house. He is a great cuddle buddy for TV watching. He is far too aggressive (according to Lix) when it comes to pouncing on toes. And he is a little bit fearful of Bo, who is still working on being soft to the kitty. The biggest issue is that Bo likes to honk Sonic's nose and get his tail, which the cat isn’t thrilled about. But he doesn’t mean to be rough and does love the kitten. He regularly points out what he is doing and will sit down on his bum and ask to hold him and give him kisses. Alixa is learning how to be a cat owner and generally loves it. She still worries more than she needs to about silly things, but she’ll figure it out. Mario can’t seem to figure out the cat’s name or sex and doesn’t seem particularly thrilled that he has to share his space with a sometimes loud creature. But he’s moving out next month so he won’t have to share that space for much longer.

For Valentine’s Day this year Jarom decided to get Nate the present he’s been wanting for years, and then he decided to bring Alixa along as well. The present was a trip to watch the Mavericks play the Sacramento Kings. For those unfortunate souls who aren’t aware, Sacramento has a pretty mediocre team with the world’s greatest benchwarmer, Jimmer Fredette. Jimmer is the object of Nate’s most intense romantic feelings, and this game had the added bonus of a special “Meet Jimmer” thing after the game sponsored by the BYU alumni association. So Jarom found some tickets on stubhub and recruited a few other friends and made a special occasion out of the evening. Jimmer must have heard that Nate was in the audience, because he played 19 minutes, which is well over his season average. Sadly, it was not the greatest 19 minutes of his career. Nate had to suffer through several airballs and blocked shots before finally getting a layup late in the game, at which point Nate went crazy, as though he had just made a game winning 3-pointer. All the Mavs fans that were sitting near us seemed to enjoy us, and the game was fun to watch and it was good to get away from the kids and hang out with friends for the night.

Jarom has started coaching 12-year olds in lacrosse on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The practices are at a nice park with a playground, so Lix and the kids come and play most nights. As an added bonus on of the kids on the team is an Ogden, so Rob is usually there to play with Bo. The first time they went Bo had a breakdown when Jarom took his lacrosse stick away from him, so they had to go out and get some mini sticks for Jenna and Bo. They have been a huge hit. They both love them and Jenna is getting pretty good at scooping the ball and throwing it.

Groundhogs get their own day?

Some of you may have been wondering if I had done something that made Jarom take away my computer privileges, like bite Alixa again. I assure you that is not the case. I have been having some pretty heavy and mixed emotions as the Winns get ready to bring another pet into the home, but we’ll address that later. First off, a recap of the Winn pilgrimage to Utah. Due to the overwhelming length of their stay, I will keep it brief. There was lots and lots of snow, which the kids loved and Lix did not. There was lots and lots of cold, which nobody liked, least of all Bo, who would shiver and repeat “freezy, freezy, freezy” every time he stepped outside. There was lots and lots of Grandma and Grandpa, which everybody liked, most of all Grandma. She did a wonderful job of spoiling the kids. Bo got to run around with a pacifier and blanket at any time of day, Jenna got to go to the salon for a pedicure, entire new winter wardrobes were purchased (Alixa came very unprepared for the frigidity they faced) and both of the kids got about a million new toys to play with. Lix got to see a lot of Zak, Sam, and Eva, and a little of lots of other family and old friends. She met up with her college roomies to have a pregnancy party, since none of them can figure out how birth control works. There were fun trips to aquariums and museums and Jungle Jim’s, which is a little indoor carnival with chair swings and roller coasters and bumper cars.

 The shark is the same size as last time, but everyone in the picture has gotten bigger

 Happy siblings

 Sister snowman, created by Grandma and Jenna

 

No mittens around? Socks will do just fine.

Towards the end of the trip Alixa’s grandmother passed away. This wasn’t a sad thing because she had lived a long and happy life and was ready to move on. So Jarom and Alixa decided to attend the funeral, which would be held in Carson City (they use the term “city” pretty loosely in Nevada). That meant leaving the kids with Grandma for a few extra days and hopping on a plane. Jarom got to meet some of Alixa’s family that he hadn’t previously, and Lix got to see some of her cousins that she only sees every third blue moon. The funeral was a nice event with a talk by Mario and singing (while crying) from Alixa and all her cousins. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and playing games with family. The next morning most of the Hegewald crew departed via automobile back to Utah, but Lix and Jarom didn’t leave via aeromobile until the next morning, so they took a drive up to beautiful Lake Tahoe. The original plan was to drive up there, jump in the lake, and then die of hypothermia a few minutes later. Upon arrival at the lake, Jarom put his hand, well really just the tips of his fingers, into the water and promptly made the wise decision to stay dry. Tahoe is cold enough in the summer. They did see a scuba diver in a full wet suit who mentioned that swimming in there was “the worst experience of his life.” But from the shore the lake and the mountains that surround it are gorgeous. Definitely one of the prettiest places you can go. And the water is crystal clear. You can see down about 70 feet in the lake, which is amazing. They walked around, drove around, got some lunch, bought a new scarf for Lix and a new purse for Jenna, and then headed back towards Reno for dinner and a movie. It was a fun weekend to spend without kids.

 He weighed too much to qualify as a carry-on

 What's the best looking thing in this picture?

 

On Monday they flew together back to SLC, where Jarom was supposed to continue on to Dallas. But he missed his connecting flight and wasn’t able to get on another one until the next day, so he went home with Lix to hang out with his kids and see his parents. It worked out pretty well, especially because he was able to get some Entenmanns and Lays Salt and Vinegar chips. The kids were happy to see him, and he was happy to see the kids, and Alixa was happy to have another adult on the plane with her. They got a friend to pick them up at the airport, which they thought was very nice of her. But then she explained that it was just a convenient excuse to swing by Costa Vida to get some lunch, and they felt less bad about making her come and get them.

 He knows he shouldn't do this, so he cried

 Then he did it again at Kenna's house

 Such a big boy

 Such a big snot bubble!

He can only climb so high

Since she got home Alixa has been enjoying the warm weather, catching up on 3 weeks of TV shows from the DVR, teaching her preschool class and organizing park days again. She is also getting ready to pick up our new pet, a Siamese kitten that doesn’t have a name yet. They can’t pick him up until next weekend, but she has been getting pics of him as he grows. Jenna and Bo are very excited about it. Alixa has never owned a cat, and hasn’t always had positive experiences with them. There was that time Jarom risked his life to get her one, only to have her promptly lose it because she was afraid it would scratch her. She is very curious though, and is always asking Jarom insightful questions about its care.

Bo seems like he learned how to talk while he was out west. He will repeat just about anything you say, strings together words to make phrases and is generally understanding a lot more verbal communication. Yesterday there was a great moment at dinner when Alixa asked him what his name was and he said Blake. Jarom has been calling him Blake occasionally since he was born, because he wants him to know what his name is. Despite Alixa’s staunch ridicule, he has insisted for a long time that Bo does know his name is Blake and will acknowledge it. So it was nice for Jarom to be proven right for once. It doesn’t happen often, but he’ll take what he can get.

At 29 weeks

Celebrating her 30th birthday

Jarom got volunteered to help coach lacrosse again this spring, so he will be doing that a couple days a week for the next few months. At least that is the hope. He recently replaced his car’s brakes on his own (with guidance from Nate and Brigham) so there’s no guarantee he’ll make it that long.