2014: page two hundred sixty-four

Anniversary Trip Day 2!

Up and at 'em bright and early to head to the Redwoods. Along the way, we stopped in Saratoga, which had a fun little Main Street, for some yummy (and healthy) breakfast.

The Redwoods were amazing! The trees were so tall and grand. We were able to drive through both Big Basin Redwoods State Park and Henry Cowell State Park.

Of course, we had to make sure to make it somewhere to watch the Broncos game by kick-off. Santa Cruz was the city and KC's Bar was the place. I'm not used to being the only Broncos' fans in a place. Unfortunately, the outcome wasn't what we wanted, but it ended up being a fun place to watch the game.

After the game, we walked down the wharf enjoying the sites and sounds. Turned out that a large amount of sea lions were hanging out, sleeping underneath the wharf.

Since it was getting dark, we drove south along the bay to our hotel in Seaside. This hotel was great because it reminded me of the hotels in movies where all the floors open up to the interior of the hotel and, you know, that's where fight scenes occur and then bodies get thrown over the rails to the floor below. Ha ha ha! Yes, I watch too many action/crime shows. Anyway, that makes it sound like a creepy place, but it was actually quite nice. Since I didn't take a pic, this is the best I could find online even though it only shows the main floor and the lower couple floors (it goes up 12 floors).

 

2014: page two hundred sixty-three

Anniversary Trip!

Ryan and I headed to California early this morning for a quick getaway for our 5th anniversary! I cherish time away with my hubby, where it's just the two of us for a time! B stayed with my dad and mom and they had some fun of their own.

With Grandma and Jack at Jensen's soccer game.

We flew into San Jose and the original plan was to go to Great America, but after a long week we opted for something else. Stopping at Denny's for breakfast, we threw around a few ideas. We started heading towards Yosemite on a whim, however, we decided to drive up around the bay and stop at the Golden Gate Bridge. On our way to the GG Bridge, we came upon a fun little Farmers' Market at the Marin Country Mart. Oh man, how I wish we had a farmers' market like that around here, chock full of organic produce and other goodies.

Then on to the Golden Gate Bridge, Ryan's first visit and my second. It's such a grand site.

Driving across the bridge.

An "ussie" :)

After spending some time at the bridge, we started making our way down to our hotel in Santa Clara. Turns out it was right next to the new 49ers football stadium, which was pretty cool.

View of the 49ers stadium from our hotel room.

Finished off our day with some In n Out Burger and, of course, a quick stop at Walmart for bottled water and snacks for the rest of our trip.

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ZOO DAY!

Finally, we made it to the zoo. B has been asking to go for months and we finally had time while we were in Salt Lake. She loved it! The first animals she wanted to see were the elephants, which ended up being her favorite animals. The bear was sleeping right by the glass and woke up while she was standing right there, which scared her to tears when he stood up. The lions were pretty active near the glass, which was cool and a bit scary for her, as well.

All in all, we had a wonderful day!

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A morning date with my baby girl to Old Navy followed by lunch at Five Guys. That girl loves her burgers. :)

How fun that we were in town to watch one of Jensen's soccer games. Watching 4-5 year olds run around in herd chasing a ball is too funny. Ha! My brother makes a great coach, too!

Yeah, Ryan flew back to town this evening! Picking him up is so much more fun than dropping him off!

Stacey fixed a yummy roast for all of us for dinner after the soccer game.

B wanted to hold baby Jack, so Ryan helped her.

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{More bullet points}

• B woke up with a fever, so we stayed home. Thankfully, it was gone by around noon. 
• Texas Roadhouse takeout for dinner. Yum! 
• John, Stacey, Jensen and Jack came over again. :)

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More shopping, this time to JoAnn's. I guess that's what I do when we go to the city. :)

For dinner, John, Stacey, Jensen and Jack came over for some fun family time.

With baby Jack :)

2014: page two hundred fifty-eight

A morning spent with my momma and baby girl doing a little hanging out, shopping and eating. At our stop at Family Dollar we ran into cousin Joann and Vanessa, which was fun. B and Vanessa were wearing the same dress...too funny!

Then while B napped, Grandma watched her and I spent some time wandering around Target. :) I may have bought a thing or two.

No, I didn't buy any, but I wanted to. I just love overalls and was happy to see them in the store. :)

Then it was playtime outside and Jensen came over to play with B.

 

Fun with Grandpa

2014: page two hundred fifty-seven

{Since I'm so far behind, this will be another (and probably not last) bullet point day}

• Church
• B went with auntie Crystal after church, which worked out well so that Ryan and I could finish packing and load the truck
• Picked B up from Crystal
• Drove to Salt Lake
• Took Ryan to the airport
• Back to Dad and Mom's to stay for the week

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!

My sweet hubby turned 39 today! (Yes, 39, for real...ha ha!) B had fun making a card, helping me put his presents in bags and giving them to him. :)

We celebrated with lunch at Marions and then had his family over for dinner.

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After puking last night, I did feel better but still not great which means I didn't sleep very well and woke up still feeling a bit icky. :( Needless to say, we had a lazy, low key morning. Thankfully, Ryan came home for the day around 11:30, took B to lunch and then up to the mountains for the rest of the day, which meant rest and recoup time for me.

B brought me flowers from the mountains. :)

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My day in bullet points:

• Jenna came over to play with B.
• B seems to be a little naughty when Jenna comes over to play and I'm not sure why.
• B made a huge watery mess in the bathroom by squirting the water coming out of the faucet with her finger. I am talking water ALL OVER the bathroom... puddles on the counter dripping down each side onto the floor, on the mirror, on the pictures on the wall... ugh.
• A nap at nap time was not happening today. I even resorted to bribery with an offer to watch "Frozen" after nap. Nope, still not happening.
• After giving up on nap time, she played but then kept asking if she could watch "Frozen" to which I told her no because she didn't nap. So, she would go lay down for a minute and come back asking the same question. Ha ha ha. Finally, the last time she went to lay down, she actually fell asleep. Silly girl.
• We watched Frozen.
• I'm not sure if it's something I ate, but while Ryan was putting B to bed I puked. 6 times. Ugh. I did learn out of desperation that club soda works just as well as Alka Seltzer did when I was a kid.

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I guess I was in a baking mood today. :)

The morning started with homemade grain free pancakes from my new cookbook. Then B and I made some blueberry muffins together. For dinner, I made a homemade whole grain pizza crust. The flavor was delicious, however, I didn't roll the dough thin enough which made it a little thick. Now I know for next time to roll it thin and I think it will be perfect.

Ryan took B to play at the park while I fixed dinner and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. :)

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Anna, the bookseller, stopped by our house today.

I bought books.

Of course.

Well, it's really not my fault, you see, for two reasons.

1. I (usually) can't say no when someone comes to our door selling something.
2. They were books. How can I say no to books? Especially when they are fun, well-designed, educational books for B. 

Considering we aren't sending her to preschool and thus aren't spending the money for her class, I don't feel so bad about purchasing them. Although, I think it's time for a "No Soliciting" sign on our door. :)

In any case, Anna was a sweet college aged girl from Latvia selling these amazing books. Sitting with her and chatting was so much fun. Unfortunately, we were on our way out the door not long after she got there, so it was a mad rush at the end. I would have so enjoyed hanging out with her a bit more. But, now I have a new friend from Latvia.

As we were rushing out the door, we paused for a picture with Anna.

Rushing out the door, we met Randi at Gandolfo's for some lunch, then headed back home for B's nap.

Ryan's short day trip to Orangeville went longer than he expected, so he had to meet me at church a few minutes after worship practice was scheduled. So, I dropped B off at April's and drove over to church to open the door before everyone else got there.

Unfortunately, he wasn't done working for the day at that point either. Once worship practice was over, he met me at April's for a few minutes to hang out for a minute and so he could see B. Then back to work at the Roosevelt office until after midnight. :/

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First day of (at home) "preschool"!

Since we opted against the preschool B was going to go to, I asked her if she wanted to have preschool at home with momma and she agreed. :)

I was going for the cute "this is my first day of school" picture and this is what I got. Ha ha ha! She had no interest in being cute and posing for a picture. Oh well.

We won't be doing anything too hard core, but I'm looking forward to it. Our "preschool" will look something like this:

• focus on a new letter of the alphabet each week following this Letters to Serve curriculum I purchased last year. I'm very excited about this because it combines learning, Jesus, and service and I love that! This includes songs, crafts, activities, books, coloring pages, Bible verses, Bible characters, praying for friends and family, and then an act of service.
• focus on a character trait or a fruit of the Spirit or an emotion. I think we'll start with the fruit of the spirit.

I've already pulled out my laminator, printed coloring pages, checked books out from the library that begin with the letters A and B, etc. The nerdy/geeky side of me is really enjoying this. :)

2014: page two hundred fifty

Football is back! :)

Our usual Sunday routine of church followed by lunch at Pelican with Ryan's family.

Then, it was time for Broncos football! Ryan cooked dinner for everyone and we headed over to watch the first half of the game at Ryan's parents' house. For the second half of the game we headed home so we could get B to bed and then watch the rest of the game.

Yeah for return of football on Sundays!

2014: page two hundred forty-nine

For the morning and early afternoon it was just B and me hanging out while Ryan went up to the mountains to do a little hunting.

After nap time it was time for Jennalee's birthday party! The weather was mostly perfect for her party at the park. B had fun playing with all the kids and giving Jenna her present. Oh, and the cake. She really enjoyed the cake...

Yes, that is a piece of cake she is holding in her hands. Who needs utensils anyway? :)

2014: page two hundred forty-eight

B wanted to do her morning chart right away this morning. :) Miracle of miracles, just by following the chart, there was no arguing over any of the activities on her chart (namely doing her hair, eating breakfast and sitting on the toilet first thing in the morning)! To top it off, she asked me for another chart, a potty chart. This might be getting out of hand. Ha ha ha!

Our special outing for the day was a trip to the library!

This was her first time at the library and to say that she was excited would be an understatement.

I definitely should have brought her before.

All morning I kept telling her we were going to go somewhere but it was a surprise. So, on the way to the library, she was trying to figure it out. As we drove past aunties and then Grandma and Grandpa's houses, she guessed we were going to one of their houses. I told her "nope, it's a place with a lot of books." Without hesitation, she exclaimed, "the library!" I had no idea that she would know just by that clue, so I was a bit surprised.

Of course, we needed a treat on this Friday after the library, so we headed to the coffee shop for a smoothie for her and a blended coffee for me. Yummy!

Once Ryan got home from work, the three of us headed to Marions for dinner. They have the best cheeseburgers and homemade broccoli cheese soup! Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's to give Grandpa his birthday present.

What a wonderful Friday!

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The first thing B asked for this morning when she woke up was, "to do my chart again." :) I guess she did actually really like it. :) I told her that one was just for bedtime but I would make more charts for her if she wanted. She said yes, so I spent some time today putting together a morning routine chart and a responsibilities (chore) chart. We'll see if these ones are as popular as the bedtime one. She was pretty excited tonight when she got to do the bedtime chart again.

I'm thankful that I talked for a wonderfully long time on the phone today with one of my dearest friends! We haven't talked for a while, so it was great chatting and catching up! Her son and B did a little FaceTime at the end of our call and they both thought that was great, except for then they wanted to play. Hopefully soon sweet kiddos.

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While I am sad and frustrated with the whole preschool ordeal, I am also thankful for a few things. I am thankful that:

• my mind is starting to clear and I have a much better mindset and outlook
• my medication seems to be kicking in (based on the above)
• with a clearer mind I can see other options such as doing some "preschool" at home, which means I get this fun time with my girl
• I can truly see the good in this

Like I said above, my funk/fog/whatever-it-is is slowly going away and I can't say enough how wonderful that is! Starting to feel more like myself, enjoying life more, etc. makes me realize just how bad it was. Thank you, God, for being with me through this and for some relief through modern science!

On a completely unrelated note, tonight we started a new chart for B with her bedtime routine on it. And she loved it! I wasn't sure if she would like it or how she'd react, but I wanted to give it a try to see if it helped with bedtime. It's nothing fancy, but she likes putting stickers in the squares when she's finished a task and then seeing what's next. I'm pretty stoked that she was so in to it and hope that it continues that way!

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Ryan worked from home today, which I always enjoy. :) Even though he was locked up in the guest room for most of the day, it's just nice to have him here. And when he needed a break, we got to hang out for a bit.

B and I played outside for a while, enjoying the sunshine.

She filled this with water and got in it to "swim" :)

In the early evening, the three of us went to B's preschool open house. I was so, so excited about this, to see the new place (the preschool moved into a new house since I registered her), get to know her teacher a little bit more. In all honesty, during the summer I was reconsidering sending her to preschool, but the past few weeks all she has talked about is going to school (even though we hadn't ever talked to her about it). I figured that since she was so interested that I would stick to the original plan and send her.

Once we got there, we noticed that the house sits on the corner of a residential street and a busy, high speed street. And it didn't have a fence. "That's ok," I thought, "they probably just don't play outside." After all, it's just a 2 hour/day preschool and so playing outside isn't really necessary for that short of a time. I was wrong. They play outside the last 15 minutes of the class.

Expressing our concerns to the teacher about how B is only 2, likes to run and actually thinks it's a game, she kind of just blew off the dangers. Stating that the first time it happens she will get put in time out and will hate having to sit there watching the other kids play, which will lead to it not happening again. I'm not really comfortable with that answer considering there will be sixteen 2 year olds supervised by 2-3 adults. Somehow, being on that busy road I'm not comfortable with there being even a chance at running away even once. Not to mention that a fence is also a good way to keep other dangers out, such as creepers and mean dogs. I'm still in shock that there was not a fence and it wasn't a big deal.

Ryan and I brainstormed to see how we could make it work, but never came to a point where we felt comfortable sending her there.

I am so bummed! So, SO bummed! What bums me out more is that B will be bummed, too. :(

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Since today was Labor Day, Ryan had the day off. So went up to the mountains to play a bit and ride around on the 4 wheeler. Fun, fun!

It turns out, however, that a helmet is required for children under the age of 18. The $100 ticket that we got proved that to be true. :( Now, we had a helmet for B with us and she wore it most of the time, but we took it off when she was tired and fell asleep with me holding her. Ryan was driving very slowly on a mountain dirt road. Nonetheless, he got ticketed for it.

We were hoping that since we didn't know that it was a law that she would just give us a warning, but nope. No such luck. Apparently this lady officer has a reputation and it's not a good one. Like Ryan told her, no one cares more about B's safety than we do. Ugh. Pretty frustrating.

We made it home in time for B's nap and Ryan went over to help his dad with something for a while. Then we took his mom and dad out to celebrate his dad's (60th) birthday.

Other than the encounter with the mean lady, we had a wonderful holiday day. :)

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After church today was the 5th Sunday potluck. Actually talked to some people that I don't know very well or talk to very often, so that's good. :)

Followed that up with a 3 hour nap. Didn't mean to take a 3 hour nap or even realize that it had been 3 hours. But it felt good and I guess I needed it. I'm pretty sure I could have just kept sleeping if I hadn't forced myself to get up when I did.

In the evening we ended up over at Jeremy and Crystal's new house to help them with painting (well, Ryan helped anyway).

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2 Corinthians 12:9
"My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." (NLT)

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (NIV)

Praying for God's power to rest on me.

A pretty low key day at home. Really at the time of writing this, I can't remember if we did anything on this Saturday other than chill at home.

Thankful for God and His grace.

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An outing to Sam's Club for some essentials and I stumbled across this...in August... I like Christmas and all, but seriously it's not even Labor Day. Pretty soon Christmas stuff will be up year round. :)

A whole huge aisle of Christmas decorations...

Then I had the chance to get away by myself for an hour or so in the afternoon for some "me" time at Beans N Brews. Actually, I spent most of the time looking at the upcoming few months and trying to get back into a routine. Hopefully, that will help me get back in my groove, be a better mom and that it will be great for B, too.

Although, the weirdest thing happened while I was there. I was thinking back over the past few days and I simply could not remember what I did yesterday afternoon. I remembered I went somewhere by myself, but that's about all. After approximately 5 minutes trying to remember, I finally remembered I had gone to Kmart to find a Utes t-shirt. That was the strangest feeling and I didn't like it.

John, Stacey, Jensen, and Jack came over again in the afternoon, so we got to hang out with them for a couple of hours before B and I headed to the airport to pick up Ryan and then drive home.

She adores baby Jack.

A similar thing happened with my memory on our drive home when Ryan asked me about the past few days. I couldn't remember what we had done on Wednesday. Again, it took a good 5 minutes to remember our Savers excursion. I sure hope this doesn't last. I've got to get out of this funk/fog/whatever-it-is soon. Please.

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Game Day!

My first Utes game in five years! And I got to go with my dadda!

What a fun daddy-daughter date! Thanks mom for letting me use your ticket! Oh and they won! :)

He looks so grumpy here. Ha ha ha! But he wasn't really. :)

There's a smile.

Dadda and me

Our game faces

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A trip with my mom and dad to the "big" Savers was how we started our day today. And, bonus, Wednesdays are "seniors day" at Savers and customers over 55 get a 20% discount. Thanks for being old, mom and dad. ;) Then, after Savers, we hit up the Arctic Circle that's in the same parking lot for lunch. Score again with the senior discount. Ha ha ha! Oh and the yummy food.

Enjoying her courtesy cone at Arctic Circle

In the evening, John, Stacey, Jensen, and Jack came over. B couldn't get enough of baby Jack at first. She loves babies! But then she was off to play with Jensen. Although, she checked in on Jack regularly. :)

Jack :)

Cousins!

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Once again we headed out to Salt Lake today, so Ryan could fly out on business. At least this time he went somewhere that he wanted - Alaska. :) B and I will be at my mom and dad's house while he is gone.

Every Tuesday evening, Jensen comes over to my mom and dad's so John and Stacey can have a date. Today was no different, but this time he had B to play with. :) I so enjoy watching them play together.

Running around in the back yard.

Cooking with Grandpa and Grandma. They each had to have an apron on. :)