First Day of Preschool

One benefit of living in a "not so wealthy" part of town is we have a Title 1 school nearby.  Which gets enough extra funding that they offer a free preschool.  The pre-screenings were in the spring and Andrea was lucky enough to get in.  It's four days a week, two hours a day, completely free, we are going to love it!

Andrea's cousin Roland also got in, he was put in the 11:15-1:15 class while Andrea was put in the 9:00-11:00 class.  Since Amy was already taking Brigitta to school there at 9:00, she thought switching would work better for her.  I was all for the later time since it meant letting Andrea sleep as late as she wanted, and also breaking up the day a little more for her.  Luckily the teachers were fine with the switch and they both started school today. 

I wasn't going to get Andrea a bunch of new school clothes because I know she'll need winter ones.  But we did pick out one outfit online and then she spotted a shirt with a doggie, and a flower, and a bike that said "Let's go to class", talk about the perfect storm, it was a must have in her mind. So I had to give in and buy the shirt as well.

 

Her backpack she picked out over a month ago, we looked online and she was very excited about this one.  It's not what I would have picked, but she is very proud of it, and since it's not princess, or Dora, or Tinker Bell, I won't complain!

Her and I chose to walk to school the first day, and I'm hoping we can do that most days, we were a little early, but at least we know now how long it takes.

 

She was very excited to find her name on the wall.

 And found her name tag, there were quite a few A names though, so it took her a second.

 

There are quite a few kids in her class from church, Emyli, Ada, and Addy, so I think she'll do okay.  She first sat next to Jaxson, who is the son of some our friends but she doesn't know Jaxson yet. 

She was only a little hesitant to let me leave, she tried giving me clay heart she made to remember her while she's gone.  And I told her that was so sweet, but I probably shouldn't take the teacher's clay home.  Well, turns out the teachers let them take the clay home, so she told next time I can take the heart with me. 

After school she was so excited to tell me about her day.  Listening to her on the way home was so cute I could hardly stand it.  She even went into detail about how they told them to put their napkin inside their milk carton before they threw it away.  And how she went down the twisty slide on her tummy.  And that they got to play instruments to music, she got the maracas and the tambourine.  And how they got stuff to take home so they can play "school" at home.  Actually it was a packet of school supplies put together by the PTA, but that works. 

I'm so happy she loves preschool.  What an exciting step in her little world!

Adults Only

Last weekend Ryan and I took a trip to Cedar City, this time was a little different.  Peyton and Meryn were staying with their grandparents in California, so we decided this would be a good chance for just us adults to hang out, and left Andrea with Gary and Linda. 

Friday night when we arrived we ate at the Little Brick House.  It's not really a little brick house, in fact it's now moved it's location to a strip mall.  But they have yummy sandwiches, and I wanted to look for some more vintage décor for my kitchen in their antique section.  Lots of ideas for antique stuff, but nothing that was a must have.  After we walked next door to Sub Zero for some ice cream, which Ryan and I have never tried, but it was pretty darn yummy!

That night Matt and Ryan planned their photo adventure for the next day.  I was hoping to go to Bryce Canyon but the warnings for flash floods literally rained on my parade.  So instead we drove to...

Parowan...

Paragonah...

Beaver...

Big Rock Candy Mountain...

Marysvale...

 Junction...

And even saw Butch Cassidy's childhood home.

I'm sure there's a lot of other towns I forgot, but they were starting to blur together.  The closer to Cedar we got we started seeing red rock again and stopped at Red Canyon. I noticed we all color coordinated that day, so it was a great reason for a group shot.

Then we stopped at Cedar Breaks and by that time a storm was rolling in and the temperature dropped quite a bit. I was freezing, so I quickly got out to check out the view, grab a photo, and then hopped back in the car. 

On our way back down Cedar Canyon the rain was really coming down and I was actually a little scared.  Boulders were rolling off the mountain, and the red sand was starting to cover the roads.  When we got into town we realized how bad it was, a building had collapsed from the weight of the water, vehicles were submerged in certain parts of the city.  Even Main Street had random rocks all over from, I'm guessing, from decorative planters and such.  Luckily Matt and Sara's house was fine, but many homes flooded. 

Sunday I worked a little since I wasn't able to get time off, and Matt and Sara got ready for church.  While they were gone Ryan and I went and visited with Sandy and Fernlee, and the dogs.  Then after church we went to see the movie Red2, sinners, I know, blah, blah, blah.  After the movie the storm was starting up again and Matt and Ryan got all excited about taking some lightning shots.  Here are some of the masterpieces. 

Monday morning we headed home, but also stopped in a few more towns for photos.  You would think I would be pretty familiar with this state by now, but honestly, I'm just really confused about what towns I've seen and where they are located.

Big thanks to Matt and Sara for letting us crash their weekend without kids, you are always so nice to feed us, board us, and entertain us, and I love our trips together!