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!

Swim Lessons

Two years ago Andrea and I took Mommy and Me swim lessons, but last year she was not interesting in taking lessons without me.  I feel learning to swim is such an important skill, so her and I just went to the pool occasionally and I tried to work with her. 

This year she was very excited about swim lessons, without or without me.  Since they closed Tooele's outdoor pool this year we signed up at the indoor pool, which is very close to our house. Rumor has it that the classes all filled up fast, understandably, so I'm glad we got her in. 

She loved it, and couldn't wait to go each day.  She made a new friend, Taylor, and I enjoyed visiting with Taylor's mom.  I was very impressed with her teachers, so they were so patient with that age group, and got Andrea to try more things than I ever could.

 

 

 

All together she took nine classes, five the first week, four the next.  The last ten minutes of class were play time, and they gave the kids toys in the kiddie pool.  Fridays during the last ten minutes they would turn on the water fountains and the big slide and her teachers would go down the slide with each child.

 

I wasn't sure if she was going to pass since she wasn't going to jump in the pool on the last day, but the teachers talked her into it.  Here is the before and after shot.

She passed level 1, which means next year she will get to move up.  I guess Ryan and I will have to take her swimming more often to get her used to being under water before then. 

A Wonderful Gift

Since I use this blog as my only journal, I wanted to blog about an amazing experience we had this weekend, so I can look back and always appreciate it. 

We have been bombarded with dental expenses this year.  Ryan had two root canals in January that will take us a while to pay off.  I figured once we did we would make sure to stay on top of all of our dental appointments, Andrea would go for a check up next, then Ryan, then me.  Granted, this all couldn't happen 'til next year, but I didn't want any more unexpected issues that could have been prevented. 

Well, no such luck, Andrea started complaining about a tooth last month, so when I took her to the dentist it was also a root canal that needed a silver cap, as well as two other cavities.  More bills added to the total and I lost progress on dental debt. 

While I was venting on Facebook about our unfortunate luck a friend that graduated High School with Ryan and I, and who is now a dentist in Texas, told us to fly down next time because even with the flight cost it would have been cheaper.  I thought it my mind, yeah, right, wouldn't that be nice?!

Shortly after he messaged me and told me he would be coming to Tooele soon and would love to get Ryan and I caught up on our dental issues, free of charge.  I was blown away, who does this?  He soon called me to prove he was serious and we talked for quite a while about the real cost of dental work versus what is being charged.  I found out he works for an office in Texas that makes dental costs much more affordable to those in need. 

So sure enough on Saturday he made it happen.  He found a location here locally, even got a assistant to come in and work to take care of Ryan, and me, and others that he knew needed it.  Ryan had four fillings, and a cleaning.  I also had four fillings, but they were minor enough I didn't even have to get numb, pretty good for not seeing a dentist in over 8 years. 

I hope Dr. Bateman knows how much this meant to me. I am blown away by his generosity and his willingness to give of his time and talents to help others.  It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how much Ryan and I are always trying to help others, yet this great guy who we've never done anything for, helped us so tremendously!

I'm sure Ryan won't appreciate me posting a picture, but I wanted to remember what a wonderful gift we were given!

4th of July

This year was the first year that my childhood home was owned by someone else, and we weren't sure where to sit for the parade.  Luckily the new owners, the Coopers, were nice enough to allow us to join their family to watch the parade in the same spot we always have. 
I'm putting a before pic of Andrea, you see that her hair is done, her shirt fits, she is wearing her hat, by the end of the parade she was a hot mess!

 Brigitta and Roland were pretty particular about what candy they would actually pick up.  The white salt water taffy was never one of the favored few.  Andrea was not prejudice when it came to candy, so she had quite the full bag by the end.

Thank goodness for umbrellas!

Told ya.... a hot mess! Her and I made her shirt weeks ago and she's been dying to wear it. That night we joined Ryan's parents for some store bought fireworks.  Now that Utah has legalized bottle rockets their neighbors had some that were a little more exciting than ours. 

 

Ryan wanted to drive up Smelter Road to get some photos of the fireworks throughout the town, this one is my favorite.

The city fireworks were the next night after a concert, so we planned to lay in a park nearby but the rain starting pouring down about 20 minutes before the fireworks started and it never fully let up.  Luckily they still launched them and it was a good show, but Ryan couldn't take pictures and we had to watch from inside the car.

 

Hatch Patch 2013

This year we were invited to Hatch Patch for Brigitta's 8th birthday.  It happened to be on a weekend that Peyton and Meryn were here visiting while Matt and Sara were in Boston.  Amy was so nice to let us bring them along with us.

Amy had planned such cute activities, first it was making a mini smores necklace out of clay. 

Then the kids went on a scavenger hunt, which went all over the property.  Roland wanted me to go with him and by the end of it I was beat. It seemed to go from one end of the property back and forth, I think Eric had a lot to do with the planning.

One of the clues was out on a beach ball in the water, so Brigitta and Peyton got that one.

The treasure was Gatorade and compass bracelets.  All the kids were pretty excited to have a cold drink after their adventure.

 The next game was to shoot a bow through tissue paper for a prize.

Most kids after a few tries got to just go punch through one of the hole and get a prize.

Ryan enjoyed walking the property and taking photos, it really is a beautiful place up there and I'm always so happy when we get invited to go.

Lagoon

So, as promised in my previous post, here is a more elaborate experience of our day at Lagoon, pictures are worth a thousand words, and much easier than writing, so prepare yourself....

Here are a few photos of Andrea having the rides all to herself before the crowds arrived:

After enjoying the small crowds in the morning Ryan and I wanted to head to Pioneer Village's photography studio before the rush.  I wanted to get an "old timey" photo not just for me, but I knew it would be a good birthday gift for Linda since she had one taken with her sons about every year of their childhood.  Andrea just wanted to get back to the rides, understandable for a four-year-old,  so her unenthusiastic expression made for the perfect photo. 

Next we met up with Eric and Amy for lunch and offered to take the kids while they rode some adult rides.  Ryan is not one for any amusement rides, kiddie, or not, so he was in charge of photo taking while I rode with the kids.  Brigitta and Andrea were much more daring than Roland, so more than once I had to give him a little "physical encouragement" by carrying him onto the rides, but he was a good sport once they started. 

Ryan and I were laughing at how cute Roland looked in his driving hat driving his old fashioned car.



Eric and Amy joined us again for a couple more rides and offered to watch Andrea for a while but, honestly, and that point we were beat.

Amy and I chose not to spin our tea cup, but Roland wanted to try.

 

 

I was busing trying to find Ryan, but didn't realize he was taking our picture.  Andrea made me so nervous on the sky ride, she wanted to sit so close to the edge, I didn't take my hands off her hips the whole time.

We left by 4 o'clock, but we had been there for almost 8 hours and had to wake Andrea up early.  She was asleep before we even left the parking lot, which was expected.

 We stopped at Chuck-A-Rama on the way home for dinner.  We decided next year for her Lagoon Dance Day we'll try to bring the camping trailer up and stay at the RV Park there.  That way we won't have to get up so early, and we can go take a break mid-day if we need.