Zoo

This year we didn't have too much money to go somewhere for our Anniversary, so we decided to spend the day at the zoo with Andrea and then go out to a nice dinner.

They recently opened a new section of the zoo that has been under construction for years. I was so glad that it didn't dissapoint! There is an entire under water section where you can watch the seals, sea lions, and polor bear in action.  The polar bear was hilarious and obviously has a little OCD, he just did his little backstrock swim routine over and over and over.

The sea lions were also very neat and would come right up to the glass.

Andrea of course also loved the carousel, and this was the first year she could understand when the ride was over, and time to get off, and there was no crying at all!

We, of course, road the train, which has always been a little dissapointing when it comes to the exhibits, but the ride has been enough for Andrea.  We were informed that the train will be closing for two years to remodel that entire area into an African Safari.  Alrhough I'm sad the train will be closed, it's long overdue!

First Day of Dance

It's been pretty evident that Andea would love to take dance lessons, and this year she is old enough.  So we signed her up with Dance Attitude here in town. After asking a lot of the other moms, I got the best feedback about this group.  It does make me feel a little old, however, since the company's owner also taught me dance when I was Andrea's age, but I'm sure I'm not the first alumni she's had bring their daugther to dance there. 

 When I called to sign up I was told that I am welcome to stay the first class to watch, and get more information about the schedule and pricing, but after that they don't like the moms to stay.  I was a little taken aback, this will be the first outside activity that I just drop Andrea off to, and I don't know if I'm ready. 

After the first class it was easy to see why they don't like the parents to stay.  Andrea was good for the most part about staying with the class and doing what she was told, but occationally she would come over to say "Mom, did you see that" or "Am I doing good?". 

I was so surprised at how well she listened and tried every move they told her, it was definately a Mommy Paycheck moment when even one of the other moms told me they were impressed with how well Andrea listens. 

The teachers were so cute with the girls, and I can tell she is going to love dance class.  We'll see how next week goes for me when I have to let my baby go for the first time.  Hopefully this will make preschool and kindergarten a little easier!

Down South

I know I already did a Cedar City post this year, and there will probably be another for Peyton's baptism in October, but oh, well... we just like to go to Cedar City.  It's really not fair for Matt and Sara when we decided to make a trip because they are always really good about feeding us and entertaining us, and it's more work for them when we decide we want to come visit. 

This time they had planned for us to take a small road trip through some small towns like Pine Valley and end up in St. George.  The poor kids are always so bored when Matt and Ryan go on their photography drives, but they are good sports and hang in there.  Meryn and Andrea were in the far back seat while Peyton was stuck between Sara and I in the middle seat.  At one point the two girls were both singing along to the movie Tangled and it was so cute!

Later they both decided it was nap time.

We made a quick stop to Mountain Meadows Masacre, which is really hard to explain to kids, so we didn't try, but they had fun sitting on each of the benches going up the hill. 

Next we headed to Pine Valley where Sara had packed a nice picnic for us all, so we ate on the lawn of the visitors center.  The kids had a lot of fun playing freeze tag and playing in the unique drinking fountain. 

Next we stopped at the Pine Valley church, which Ryan and Matt's great-great grandpa (I believe) helped build.  It's a really cool church, especially since it's the oldest LDS church still in use today.  It was three floors, but the top floor had just one classroom-sized sitting room.  Some of the old benches still had the last names painted in them from back in the day.  Even the tithing house, which is a seperate building, is still used for the Primary's sharing/singing time. 

After Pine Valley we headed to St. George where Sara and I talked the boys into letting us stop at the outlets, and I was able to get some fall clothes for Andrea, all pink of course!

Then we headed back to Cedar to decide where to eat for dinner.  We tried a small little restaurant called the Little Brick House and it had some delicious sandwiches! I'd eat there again in a heartbeat.  It also had an attached antique store which was fun to look through and you would have thought Ryan had won the lottery when he found Prince Albert in a can, so of course he had to buy it! I still don't know where he put it, at least it's not displayed in our living room, and that's all I care about.

The next day, Sunday, was pretty relaxing, I got some work done while their family went to church.  Then we went over to Grandpa Ray's for a visit while Ryan and Matt re-arranged some furniture and rumaged through Grandpa's old tools. 

That night Ryan, Andrea, and I went for a walk over to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Fernlee's to play with the dogs.  The timing was perfect, it rained the whole time we were inside visiting, but stopped in time for us to walk back. 

Monday we headed back home.  Andrea loves going to Cedar City, so I didn't even tell her we were going until the day before. Now I've made the mistake of telling her dance class starts next week and I get to be asked all day long how many more days she has to wait. 

Hatch Patch 2012

This month my sister-in-law invited us to her family's cabin, Hatch Patch, up Hobble Creek Canyon.  Ryan and I had been before, but we were excited to take Andrea.  The best part of Hatch Patch is the ponds, there are three ponds on the property perfect for swimming or kayaking.  We didn't do any swimming, but we had a lot of fun kayaking. 

Andrea's first kayak ride she told me, "this is the best trip ever".  So, sorry Matt and Sara, Cedar City has been demoted, apparently. 

Amy had to leave for a family sealing at the Bountiful temple, so that left Eric to entertain us all.  The kids pretty much entertain themselves, but Brigitta and Amy had made a fun nature game with egg cartons.  Each kid was supposed to find things in nature for each color, blue and purple proved to be pretty difficult.  Eric ended up murdering a dragonfly for Brigitta's blue hole.

The kids also enjoyed the sandbox and swings, and Ryan enjoyed taking photos of the river. 

Eric and Amy made a yummy dutch oven dinner and Ryan and I got to break in our dutch oven and made some cherry-peach cobbler, which I was real happy with for our first try.  Andrea was really sad to leave, but was passed out in the car pretty much before we got out of the canyon. 

Princess Festival

One day while driving down the highway I saw a billboard about a "Princess Festival" at Thanksgiving Point, I knew Andrea would love something like that. Even though I've never been into the Princess thing, not even as a little girl, and have never encouraged the princess mentality with Andrea, she's figured it out all by herself. 

The few days before the Princess Festival my work had been so overwhelming that I was a little worried about making my deadline and still letting Andrea have her day of fun.  I was so happy when I got an email the night before letting me know that we all had our deadlines extended because of the high work volume we'd been given.  I was so relieved and it made me feel even better that this new job was going to be as flexible and forgiving as I had hoped.

The morning of the festival Andrea kept threatening to throw up, while getting her dressed and then in the car on the way there.  When we stopped at a gas station to get her some crackers and juice we said a little prayer that Andrea would feel better and enjoy her day. 

When we arrived Andrea was welcomed by some "wuzzle dust" or something like that in her hair.  I told the prince who sprinkled it that Andrea's Daddy will not be happy with him!  Ryan has a solid rule about no glitter in the house, but oh well, what's done is done.  Next we purchased tickets for nail painting, craft, and a carriage ride.  I asked her if she wanted her face painted too, but I knew her answer would be no, and it was a big "NO!", I love it when I'm right.

(I also realized on the way there that I forgot my camera, luckily cell phone cameras are pretty good quality these days!)
First she got her nails done.

Then it was time for the princess parade and all the activites shut down.

We sat and watched for a little while, but once Andrea's popsicle was done she was ready for lunch, so we shared a hamburger. 

Then she splashed in the wadding pool until the parade was over.  During our lunch break she realized "Hey, Jesus did make me feel better".  And I was so proud when she said, "we better thank him for making me feel better" (Mommy Paycheck). So we said another prayer thanking Jesus for making Andrea feel better so she could have a fun day.

Once she was done cooling off we went to the craft station where she could either make a crown, or a wand.  She picked a pink crown and only wanted to decorate with pink stickers, I was surprised when she actually threw on some other colors now and then.  I realized while I watched her how far I have come as a mother, it would have bothered me before if all the jewels weren't in a symmetrical pattern, or straight, but this time I didn't even think about it.  I just let her do her thing and she sure was proud of that crown!

All over the festival there were the classic princesses there to sign autographs and take pictures with, but Rapunzel was the only one we really caught. 

Next we headed to the carriage ride, and it really was your classic carriage, it only fit about six people at a time, so we had to wait a couple of rounds.  I tried to get a good picture of us both in it, but this was the best I could do. 

 

By that time we were both spent and headed out, her last surprise of the day was a puzzle, granted it was a 500 piece one that we are still working on, but she was very excited that she got the Park City one.  On the way home it took all of about 5 minutes for her to fall asleep, being a princess is hard work!

It was an okay day for me, just too hot and too girly, but I knew she loved it and I'm guessing we'll probably have to go again next year.

Andrea's Dreams of a Dream Light

This is post number 101, can you believe it?  I'm so proud of myself for keeping at least this much of a record of our lives.  All though it's not a typical journal, it's the only one I've got, so that's what keeps me posting. 

I'm sure any parent who has a child between the ages of two and, oh, ten, knows what a Dream Light is.  Andrea has been begging for one ever since she saw the commerical.  For those of you who don't know, the Dream Light is from the makers of Pillow Pets and projects stars on the ceiling in changing colors.  It also has a 20 minute timer for once your child falls asleep.  I'm a sucker when it comes to Andrea and of course, I wanted to give in.  I knew Ryan wouldn't be so eager when he saw the price, so we made her earn it. 

She's been in a major bout of the Terrible Threes lately and we were hoping to improve her obsession with the word "no".  She could earn her Dream Light but saying "Okay Mom" or "Okay Dad".  "Andrea, it's time for bed"... "Andrea, will you put those toys back in your room?"... "Andrea can you be quiet while Mom is on the phone?".  You get the idea, everytime she said "Okay" (and followed through) she got to color a square on her Dream Light chart. By the second week Ryan and I both commented what a difference we had seen in her.  It may be only temporary, but it was worth it!

Today she got her Dream Light and she was thrilled, she kept hugging me all day thanking me and once I even got "Thanks for making my Dream Light chart Mom".  Once Daddy came home from work he got all the same thanks, she really is a grateful girl and always has been. It was so fun to see the joy from her hard work paying off.

New Job, New Office

It's been too long since I've posted, but ever since I've started my new job the thought of typing even more than I have too isn't very appealing.  But I'm biting the bullet, even late at night, and hopefully the future me, years from now will thank me for the sacrifice.  .

The transition to my new job has been a little more difficult than I expected. I was thrilled when I passed my 5-week training period and was allowed to recieve my full workload, but I was a little overwhelmed.  I went from receiving one, 5-10 minute, file each day to receiving 40-60 minutes of audio each day.  Right now that works out to be 4-5 hours of work, but that should decrease as I improve my speed and get comfortable with all the rules. 

You may notice now I leave two spaces after each period, or always put a coma before now, but, or, so, yet, etc.  This is all thanks to my transcription work, and there are many other particulars I'm getting used to. 
One benefit of my new job is that we remodeled the office in our house. We've been meaning to for years and once I got this job we found a killer deal on a desk, so without really planning it, we spent one weekend about a month ago repainting and organizing.  Our office went from this...

 To this...

Yes, that's looking from the same doorway in both pictures, and granted, the first picture was a little messier than usual, but you get the idea.  It really has been so nice to come into a clean, professional looking area to get my work done. 
For those of you who have been ignored, or neglected, as I have started my new job, I do apologize.  I can see the longterm rewards of this job and know this is just a transitional period that I need to push through. Luckily, Ryan has been so supportive and never gives me any grief as he watches Andrea every night after work.  He's taken her to run errands with him, to work in the yard, I think it will be a great bonding experience for the two of them and once Andrea is in school this job will be perfect!