Today we had our first real blizzard of the season. To think that last week at this time I was sitting in a restaurant overlooking the ocean in San Diego dining with my brother and sister in law. Today's weather made me long to be back in sunny SoCal. The roads really were quite dangerous and I had to drive all over Utah County...and I mean all over. My schedule was as follows:
9:00 headshot photo shoot in Springville
10-1: put Patch down for nap, work on conditions for loans, bake pie as peace offering for client whose deadline was pushed
1:40: Fotofly picture session with Patrick and Santa in Lehi at Thanksgiving point (the pics turned out SO FREAKING CUTE!)
3:00: meeting with client in Linden to drop of pie and drop the news about his delayed closing
4:00: appear in court in Murray city for my "moving violation"...a gentle reminder that I totaled my car last week
5:00: clear out my totaled car so that Geico could come and tow it away from the repair shop downtown
5:20: dinner with Scott's parents in Cottonwood Heights
8:00: Scott's concert downtown
I can't complain. It wasn't the kind of day where the number of tasks to accomplish were insurmountable but, it was indeed a fairly packed day.
Too bad I had to leave dinner early because Patch got sick. I don't know quite why but he did. I also did not appear in court today nor did I clear out my car. Good thing I can do the car tomorrow morning and I can appear in court any time next week.
Also good thing...the pie worked! After my visit with the client (that I had to bring Patch to) the wife said "you really didn't have to do that" to which I responded, "I know but I didn't want Billy Bob Joe* to be mad at me for the delay". She said that he's quick to anger but also quick to calm down. I said that I had noticed that. hehe. I also said that I realized I had to talk him off the ledge 2 times already and that I didn't want there to be a third time so, I thought I'd better come with a peace offering. We both laughed and headed away in the blizzard while Billy Bob Joe continued digging trenches to remove the large puddles/ small ponds of rain/ melting snow from around the warehouse.
During that 10-1 time frame Patch decided to skip his nap. *shocker* On a day where he really really needs it, he skips it. Typical. If you're a mom, you can relate to this. He was, however, being such a sweetie while we hung out at my parent's house. I made us some food and he played on Thomas the Train, a ride on toy my parents got him. They've nicknamed it Tommy and Patch calls it "Choo Choo". At one point, he found a book of ours that we left there. It's a book of "Baby's first 100 Words" or something like that. His favorite page is "Things that Go" where there are images of planes, trains, and large vehicles. We talk about the sound that each one makes and he just loves it. Today we spent a bit of time on the "activities" page where there are images of babies sitting and toddlers walking and playing etc. While we were reading the "Things that Go" page, he said "Poop". So I asked him if he was going poop or if he had poop in his diaper and he said "nope". I sniffed him anyway and sure enough, no poop. He quickly turned back to the "activities" page and pointed to the child that was walking. In the image, the child is wearing only a diaper and he pointed to it saying "poop". Pretty smart eh? It's the little things people. What can I say? I'm a proud mama.
Now I'm having a quiet Friday night at home blogging, tidying, doing laundry, you know...house wife-ing it up.
*name changed to protect the identity of the client
Friday, December 16, 2016
Thursday, December 1, 2016
It's the holiday season!
Whoopdeeedooooo!
We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Provo. It was a pretty quiet day with just Grandma and my parents and us. We decided to show up quite early in the day after rushing out with pie and rolls in hand. We have a few traditions we've adopted from each side of our families. My family always has pecan pie and gravy the special way my grandma makes it. Scott's family does cranberry relish with orange, Grandma Bastian's rolls, and Christmas tree hunting in the wilderwoods. This year, I did them all. Scott helped with the tree hunting but everything else, I super woman-ed myself. My rolls were a decent first attempt but everything else was pretty dang stellar.
I got to take a two hour nap by the fire in the afternoon which was an absolute slice of heaven. I was fighting the urge to nap but Grandma was the one who encouraged me so, I took her advice. :D I woke up just after Patrick and pretty soon after that we had Thanksgiving dinner. We had a nice time talking about family memories...and current family drama. We played with Patrick outside and it was just the kind of day one could wish for.
On Saturday, we drove to Preston to hang out with Doug and Heather and the kids and to go hunt for a Christmas tree. This year, we had Patrick's freaking amazing Prince of Persia hiking carrier. A-maz-ing. It was much easier than last year...oh and the fact that we were not being snowed on. We managed to find the perfect tree this year and by we I mean me. :D I found it. Scott cut it. Patrick played in the snow by it. It was a team effort. When we were cutting down the tree we let Patch walk around and play in the snow and when I had to put him back in the pack to head back to the car he absolutely LOST IT. I mean lost his mind. He was wailing so loud that I think the sound echoed through the mountains and into the valley of Preston. He was lifting himself up out of the pack and writhed around and sat back in it. Oh my heavens. I'm convinced we are in the throws of "terrible twos" already. Tell me it doesn't get worse than this. One minute he's amazing and happy and adorable and the next he's losing his mind over being taken out of the snow or his magnetic trains not sticking together in the right way or his legos not sticking like he wants them to. Luckily, I just find it funny most of the time.
When we got back to Doug and Heather's house we had "egg tacos"- what the kids call them. I teased and reminded everyone that their egg tacos are actually breakfast burritos. Patrick was too distracted playing with the "sit on" toys and his cousins to enjoy dinner. Shortly after that we headed out to watch the Preston fireworks and light parade. SO AWESOME.
I'll put up pics when we've decorated our tree.
And, by the way, I'm killing it at work.
We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Provo. It was a pretty quiet day with just Grandma and my parents and us. We decided to show up quite early in the day after rushing out with pie and rolls in hand. We have a few traditions we've adopted from each side of our families. My family always has pecan pie and gravy the special way my grandma makes it. Scott's family does cranberry relish with orange, Grandma Bastian's rolls, and Christmas tree hunting in the wilderwoods. This year, I did them all. Scott helped with the tree hunting but everything else, I super woman-ed myself. My rolls were a decent first attempt but everything else was pretty dang stellar.
I got to take a two hour nap by the fire in the afternoon which was an absolute slice of heaven. I was fighting the urge to nap but Grandma was the one who encouraged me so, I took her advice. :D I woke up just after Patrick and pretty soon after that we had Thanksgiving dinner. We had a nice time talking about family memories...and current family drama. We played with Patrick outside and it was just the kind of day one could wish for.
On Saturday, we drove to Preston to hang out with Doug and Heather and the kids and to go hunt for a Christmas tree. This year, we had Patrick's freaking amazing Prince of Persia hiking carrier. A-maz-ing. It was much easier than last year...oh and the fact that we were not being snowed on. We managed to find the perfect tree this year and by we I mean me. :D I found it. Scott cut it. Patrick played in the snow by it. It was a team effort. When we were cutting down the tree we let Patch walk around and play in the snow and when I had to put him back in the pack to head back to the car he absolutely LOST IT. I mean lost his mind. He was wailing so loud that I think the sound echoed through the mountains and into the valley of Preston. He was lifting himself up out of the pack and writhed around and sat back in it. Oh my heavens. I'm convinced we are in the throws of "terrible twos" already. Tell me it doesn't get worse than this. One minute he's amazing and happy and adorable and the next he's losing his mind over being taken out of the snow or his magnetic trains not sticking together in the right way or his legos not sticking like he wants them to. Luckily, I just find it funny most of the time.
When we got back to Doug and Heather's house we had "egg tacos"- what the kids call them. I teased and reminded everyone that their egg tacos are actually breakfast burritos. Patrick was too distracted playing with the "sit on" toys and his cousins to enjoy dinner. Shortly after that we headed out to watch the Preston fireworks and light parade. SO AWESOME.
I'll put up pics when we've decorated our tree.
And, by the way, I'm killing it at work.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Funny Stories
Family and friends who know me well are aware that I LOVE to tell stories but I'm only sort of good at it. I often give way too many details that in my mind are totally important and most everyone else could probably do without. Marty Rudd likes details. My mama likes details. So far, these are the only two people who have validated my method of telling stories. Anyway, here's some fun stories...mostly about Patrick.
At the end of October, we celebrated McKenna's 18th birthday at the Brunson home. When Kenna was finished opening presents from the family, she showed us the gifts she got from friends at her party the night before. Patrick was wandering about on the floor and was very interested in the tissue paper and most especially in Kenna's candy. He helped himself to an open bag and took off with it. Katie ran after him and once they were both out of sight, we hear Kaite bust up laughing. I ran over to find Patrick hiding himself in the floor length curtains in the dining room with that bag of candy. Luckily, he hadn't figured out how to open the bag. How is it that a 20 month old knows what candy is and knows that it's worth running away and hiding with?
Also within the first week of November, as I mentioned in my last post, Patrick's vocabulary has really picked up. I mentioned a few words that he's started to say but I think I neglected to mention that he says poop now. The first time Scott and I heard him say it was at the dinner table one night. Sure enough, he was actively pooping when he said it. With any luck, this kid may be ready to potty train at age 2. *oh please oh please*
At dinner on Thursday night, Patrick touched our server on the boob. I said, before even thinking about it of course, "Patrick, you've got to at least buy her dinner first". My parents, Scott and the waitress all started laughing, luckily. Then I said, "I'm so sorry. That was a little inappropriate. I apologize. Why did I say that. It's ok, we'll make sure to tip you well" and then paused for a moment, realizing what I'd said...yeah, that didn't make it any better. Of course everyone continued laughing for a moment.
At church yesterday there was a lady who was working with us in the Primary (where the children go to learn about Jesus and sing songs) and she was "released from her calling" which is the Mormon way of saying that the leadership of our "ward" (our congregation) felt that she might benefit and everyone else might benefit by her doing something different. I asked her what her new calling was and she said "I guess I get to work with dead people" to which I asked "so, you're taking care of funerals in the ward and stuff?" She said "no, even more dead than those people, I'm doing family history". I laughed and said "I felt like we were playing hot and cold there for a minute". Hot and cold is where you keep guessing and as you get closer to the right answer the person says "warmer warmer" and she said, "well, I suppose in this case I would say 'colder....colder'". I hope that is as funny in writing as it was in person...maybe you had to be there.
Now for something cliche "live. laugh. love"
Until next time...
At the end of October, we celebrated McKenna's 18th birthday at the Brunson home. When Kenna was finished opening presents from the family, she showed us the gifts she got from friends at her party the night before. Patrick was wandering about on the floor and was very interested in the tissue paper and most especially in Kenna's candy. He helped himself to an open bag and took off with it. Katie ran after him and once they were both out of sight, we hear Kaite bust up laughing. I ran over to find Patrick hiding himself in the floor length curtains in the dining room with that bag of candy. Luckily, he hadn't figured out how to open the bag. How is it that a 20 month old knows what candy is and knows that it's worth running away and hiding with?
Also within the first week of November, as I mentioned in my last post, Patrick's vocabulary has really picked up. I mentioned a few words that he's started to say but I think I neglected to mention that he says poop now. The first time Scott and I heard him say it was at the dinner table one night. Sure enough, he was actively pooping when he said it. With any luck, this kid may be ready to potty train at age 2. *oh please oh please*
At dinner on Thursday night, Patrick touched our server on the boob. I said, before even thinking about it of course, "Patrick, you've got to at least buy her dinner first". My parents, Scott and the waitress all started laughing, luckily. Then I said, "I'm so sorry. That was a little inappropriate. I apologize. Why did I say that. It's ok, we'll make sure to tip you well" and then paused for a moment, realizing what I'd said...yeah, that didn't make it any better. Of course everyone continued laughing for a moment.
At church yesterday there was a lady who was working with us in the Primary (where the children go to learn about Jesus and sing songs) and she was "released from her calling" which is the Mormon way of saying that the leadership of our "ward" (our congregation) felt that she might benefit and everyone else might benefit by her doing something different. I asked her what her new calling was and she said "I guess I get to work with dead people" to which I asked "so, you're taking care of funerals in the ward and stuff?" She said "no, even more dead than those people, I'm doing family history". I laughed and said "I felt like we were playing hot and cold there for a minute". Hot and cold is where you keep guessing and as you get closer to the right answer the person says "warmer warmer" and she said, "well, I suppose in this case I would say 'colder....colder'". I hope that is as funny in writing as it was in person...maybe you had to be there.
Now for something cliche "live. laugh. love"
Until next time...
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Don Patricio, Luchador!
Last August we took a trip to Mexico to celebrate my brother Brent marrying his soul mate Ana. It was an amazing week in Tulum staying in a home right on the beach with my family. We were bummed that the resort, Dreams, where most of the wedding party was staying was VERY outside of our price range and the cost to visit as a guest on the resort/ day was $75. That made things challenging for us considering we wanted to be there to celebrate and meet Ana's family who came from Argentina but we also wanted to enjoy the amenities we were already paying for in the beach house we rented. Anyway, I digress...we wound up having a great time in spite of feeling such torn feelings....wow...way too many unnecessary and unrelated details there...oh well. It's who I am.
So, I bring up Mexico because, during that trip Patrick started becoming very socially vocal. What I mean is, he would respond to people looking at him and talking to him with excited screams/ yells. Scott started apologizing to our taxi drivers for our loud child and said things like "he's just training to become a luchador". A new nickname was born: Don Patricio, Luchador!!! We had a fun time calling him that and he had a fun time yelling.
As of late, his language abilities have been EXPLODING. It's so exciting. I've heard people say that you spend the first 2 years of your child's life trying to convince them to talk and the next 18 trying to get them to shut up. This is all said jokingly, of course, but, there is some truth to that. Once they start...they don't stop. Buuuuut, I'll admit, I've been trying to help Patrick develop language skills, sure, I can't help it. We sing songs and read books. I talk to him in the car on my drive back from Kathie's house. When he gestures for something with little grunts I ask him to say "please".
Here's a list of words I've heard him say in the last month or so:
Please (pronounced pleeece)
Keys
Yes
No
Wow
Thank You
Dinah (pronounced Ninah)
Eat
Candy
Trick or Treat
Ball
Shoe
Nose
Eyes
Today
that's all I can think of at the moment. My favorite is when he walks around the house holding Dinah's treat bag and says "Niiiinah" in the same kinds of calling tones that he hears us use to call for her. It's just so. freaking. cute.
Last night, during his bath, he decided to lower himself into the tub laying on his back. I think he liked the way the water felt as it filled his ears because he laughed and laughed and as he came up he was pointing to his ears as he got ready to do the whole thing over again. Just. So. Freaking. Cute.
Tonight, he was pointing up to the hooks where we hang the car keys and Dinah's leash. He obviously wanted something that was up there. He started getting fussy about it because Scott was having a hard time figuring out what it was that he wanted. He then came to me and grabbed me by the leg and pulled me over to the key hooks, obviously thinking that I might be able to help him out. Guys, he's 21 months old. Is it just me or is that pretty smart? I feel like that's pretty smart.
I think we'll keep him.
So, I bring up Mexico because, during that trip Patrick started becoming very socially vocal. What I mean is, he would respond to people looking at him and talking to him with excited screams/ yells. Scott started apologizing to our taxi drivers for our loud child and said things like "he's just training to become a luchador". A new nickname was born: Don Patricio, Luchador!!! We had a fun time calling him that and he had a fun time yelling.
As of late, his language abilities have been EXPLODING. It's so exciting. I've heard people say that you spend the first 2 years of your child's life trying to convince them to talk and the next 18 trying to get them to shut up. This is all said jokingly, of course, but, there is some truth to that. Once they start...they don't stop. Buuuuut, I'll admit, I've been trying to help Patrick develop language skills, sure, I can't help it. We sing songs and read books. I talk to him in the car on my drive back from Kathie's house. When he gestures for something with little grunts I ask him to say "please".
Here's a list of words I've heard him say in the last month or so:
Please (pronounced pleeece)
Keys
Yes
No
Wow
Thank You
Dinah (pronounced Ninah)
Eat
Candy
Trick or Treat
Ball
Shoe
Nose
Eyes
Today
that's all I can think of at the moment. My favorite is when he walks around the house holding Dinah's treat bag and says "Niiiinah" in the same kinds of calling tones that he hears us use to call for her. It's just so. freaking. cute.
Last night, during his bath, he decided to lower himself into the tub laying on his back. I think he liked the way the water felt as it filled his ears because he laughed and laughed and as he came up he was pointing to his ears as he got ready to do the whole thing over again. Just. So. Freaking. Cute.
Tonight, he was pointing up to the hooks where we hang the car keys and Dinah's leash. He obviously wanted something that was up there. He started getting fussy about it because Scott was having a hard time figuring out what it was that he wanted. He then came to me and grabbed me by the leg and pulled me over to the key hooks, obviously thinking that I might be able to help him out. Guys, he's 21 months old. Is it just me or is that pretty smart? I feel like that's pretty smart.
I think we'll keep him.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Inspiration and Ideas
I once heard that small minds talk about people, average minds talk about things, and great minds talk about ideas. I catch myself thinking about this saying regularly and asking myself, am I talking about ideas enough? Further, am I giving myself enough quiet time to even come up with new ideas?
With the start of my new job I've gotten a new phone plan and DRASTICALLY cut down on my data usage. This means less email checking on the go. Fewer checks into social media. More time to just think. In the car, on the toilet, in the shower, in line at the store, sitting at the park, etc. We have 2 gigs of data between my hubby and me and, so far so good. I'm liking how this has forced me to use my time to think and brainstorm... and sing songs.
Some of my best ideas come while in the shower. A few posts ago I explained how I typically use the shower as a time to check into my bank accounts and pay bills etc. I still feel that is a viable use of time but, I'm now avoiding using data annnnd I don't want to get my new iPhone wet. So, I have been trying to use that time for ideation. For example, I typically plan what I'm going to do with my primary singing time when I'm showering. It seems last minute, I know, but, church is at 11 so, it's not too bad. Often, good ideas come as a spark first thing in the morning as I lay in bed and check my schedule for the day. If that spark of an idea comes first thing, then the shower is the time to flesh out the idea and explore the details.
I also try to take notes in my phone when I get a new blog post idea or business idea. Often, business ideas come from running into a problem that I wish there was a solution for. Many times, I share my idea with Scott and explain how I've come up with this genius idea to solve a certain problem and Scott tries to sweetly (or not so sweetly) tell me that a solution already exists. Sometimes, though, I do come up with an original idea...or at least one that we think is original...and I'll write it down so that, if it's worth exploring, I don't forget it.
I wonder how many people get a good idea and then, in an effort to check weather or not that product or service exists, they search Google. I then wonder how many people have access to Google searches of original content and can then jump on all of the most worth while ideas that others have had....
These are the things I've found myself thinking as of late.
Here's my latest, and greatest, idea. A Valet Parking App. It would look something like this: let's say I'm hanging out downtown with Scott and we're having a casual dinner. Someone nearby is heading to a performance of some kind and they're short on time SCRAMBLING to get parking so that they can run to the venue and be there in time. I get an alert on my app that someone needs me to snag their car and park it for them. I'm familiar with downtown, I have time on my hands, and I want to earn a few extra bucks. Not only that, I do someone a favor and ensure that they get to the show on time. They are able to park right in front of the venue where I'm waiting to pick up their vehicle. I have not fleshed out the details yet. I can see a couple of immediate concerns, the biggest of which is having a stranger drive someone else's car and trusting them. Car insurance could also be an issue. Then there is the question of what to do with the keys. Are there restrictions on how far away the car can be? Is it a true valet service where I then go back and deliver the vehicle to the couple seeing the show? I don't know. All I know is that I was in Park City on Saturday having a heck of a time finding parking and I thought....how sweet would it be if someone could just take this thing and park it for me?!
Then I search the app store...THIS EXISTS!!! This makes me super bummed but also, super happy. Down side: I don't get to make money off of this idea. Up side: my problem is solved!
Where do you come up with your best ideas?
With the start of my new job I've gotten a new phone plan and DRASTICALLY cut down on my data usage. This means less email checking on the go. Fewer checks into social media. More time to just think. In the car, on the toilet, in the shower, in line at the store, sitting at the park, etc. We have 2 gigs of data between my hubby and me and, so far so good. I'm liking how this has forced me to use my time to think and brainstorm... and sing songs.
Some of my best ideas come while in the shower. A few posts ago I explained how I typically use the shower as a time to check into my bank accounts and pay bills etc. I still feel that is a viable use of time but, I'm now avoiding using data annnnd I don't want to get my new iPhone wet. So, I have been trying to use that time for ideation. For example, I typically plan what I'm going to do with my primary singing time when I'm showering. It seems last minute, I know, but, church is at 11 so, it's not too bad. Often, good ideas come as a spark first thing in the morning as I lay in bed and check my schedule for the day. If that spark of an idea comes first thing, then the shower is the time to flesh out the idea and explore the details.
I also try to take notes in my phone when I get a new blog post idea or business idea. Often, business ideas come from running into a problem that I wish there was a solution for. Many times, I share my idea with Scott and explain how I've come up with this genius idea to solve a certain problem and Scott tries to sweetly (or not so sweetly) tell me that a solution already exists. Sometimes, though, I do come up with an original idea...or at least one that we think is original...and I'll write it down so that, if it's worth exploring, I don't forget it.
I wonder how many people get a good idea and then, in an effort to check weather or not that product or service exists, they search Google. I then wonder how many people have access to Google searches of original content and can then jump on all of the most worth while ideas that others have had....
These are the things I've found myself thinking as of late.
Here's my latest, and greatest, idea. A Valet Parking App. It would look something like this: let's say I'm hanging out downtown with Scott and we're having a casual dinner. Someone nearby is heading to a performance of some kind and they're short on time SCRAMBLING to get parking so that they can run to the venue and be there in time. I get an alert on my app that someone needs me to snag their car and park it for them. I'm familiar with downtown, I have time on my hands, and I want to earn a few extra bucks. Not only that, I do someone a favor and ensure that they get to the show on time. They are able to park right in front of the venue where I'm waiting to pick up their vehicle. I have not fleshed out the details yet. I can see a couple of immediate concerns, the biggest of which is having a stranger drive someone else's car and trusting them. Car insurance could also be an issue. Then there is the question of what to do with the keys. Are there restrictions on how far away the car can be? Is it a true valet service where I then go back and deliver the vehicle to the couple seeing the show? I don't know. All I know is that I was in Park City on Saturday having a heck of a time finding parking and I thought....how sweet would it be if someone could just take this thing and park it for me?!
Then I search the app store...THIS EXISTS!!! This makes me super bummed but also, super happy. Down side: I don't get to make money off of this idea. Up side: my problem is solved!
Where do you come up with your best ideas?
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
70/30
There are some days where I've got it together. I wake up feeling good. I make Patch a good breakfast...sometimes I even make myself and Scott a good breakfast. I pack everyone healthy lunches. I get ready and look amazing. I get to work at 7 AM, on the nose, and I'm focused and awesome the whole day. I pick Patrick up at 3 on the nose. We play in the yard and have fun. He giggles and smiles. I get to work washing dishes or folding laundry and he finds a cute little way to participate. I start dinner and Patrick finds a way to participate in that too. Scott gets home just before 5 and we sit down to dinner together. We head up the canyon and enjoy a hike with Dinah the dog. We get home just in time to put Patrick to bed by 7:30. Scott and I relax for a minute together on the couch and I wrap up a few more house projects before heading to bed. When I'm REALLY on it, I even make time to read for a few minutes.
Those days, even on the most perfect of days, some tiny things go wrong...the battery on my car key dies and makes it hard to open the door. We run out of milk. A deal gets declined at work. An appointment cancels. Patrick cries during the drive home from Kathie's house. He pulls the tops of the sprinklers out and I have to chase him down and put them back. Patrick closes the dryer door on his fingers and becomes very very sad. Scott comes home late from work. Rain prevents ups from heading up the canyon. The internet breaks down making it hard to watch a show. I try to work on one of my projects and just become overwhelmed with the fact that the house will never be in perfect order.
Most of the time, these things wind up being a mixture. Sometimes 50% good and easy and 50% lousy and annoying. The ratio frequently seems to be 70/30. Today, it was 80/20 and it was delightful.
Scott's alarm went off late and we slept in. Good news is, we slept in and so did Patrick. Bad news is, our morning was chaos and Scott left for work late. I started working from home and then the internet crashed. I had to bring my phone into the Apple store to replace the screen. Patrick, however, was in an awesome mood when we first got home. I launched into making both of us some food and that quelled his hanger. When I was doing some dishes, I decided to listen to some music. The first song that came on was "Uptown Funk"...one of our favorites to dance to. Patrick bolted out of the bedroom where he was playing with Legos and started to dance on the landing almost immediately. It melted my little heart to see him having so much fun. Then, just as Scott was arriving at home (before 5!!!) I went and hid behind the curtains on the windows by the front door. Patrick saw me and ran across the room to join me behind the curtain. Scott walked in the door and played along right away. Patrick could hardly bear to stay behind the curtain for more than 2 seconds after Scott walked in. SUPER cute. Coincidentally, Scott brought the mail in with him and placed it on the floor when crouching down to hug Patch and whoops, Patch slipped on the papers and had a quick cry about it.
We went up the canyon to capture some more pictures with a friend and to enjoy the fall colors. On our way down, the babies were getting fussy (hungry and close to bed time). Scott and I decided to sing "Old McDonald" and Patch showed off his animal noises and some singing. Gosh I love this kid. He's so freaking cute. It's challenging to be a mom to a toddler. All you experienced mamas out there laugh because I only have one and he's only 20 months. Yeah, I know. This is my jam though. This is totally my kind of crazy.
I do need to just hire a maid service though ;)
Those days, even on the most perfect of days, some tiny things go wrong...the battery on my car key dies and makes it hard to open the door. We run out of milk. A deal gets declined at work. An appointment cancels. Patrick cries during the drive home from Kathie's house. He pulls the tops of the sprinklers out and I have to chase him down and put them back. Patrick closes the dryer door on his fingers and becomes very very sad. Scott comes home late from work. Rain prevents ups from heading up the canyon. The internet breaks down making it hard to watch a show. I try to work on one of my projects and just become overwhelmed with the fact that the house will never be in perfect order.
Most of the time, these things wind up being a mixture. Sometimes 50% good and easy and 50% lousy and annoying. The ratio frequently seems to be 70/30. Today, it was 80/20 and it was delightful.
Scott's alarm went off late and we slept in. Good news is, we slept in and so did Patrick. Bad news is, our morning was chaos and Scott left for work late. I started working from home and then the internet crashed. I had to bring my phone into the Apple store to replace the screen. Patrick, however, was in an awesome mood when we first got home. I launched into making both of us some food and that quelled his hanger. When I was doing some dishes, I decided to listen to some music. The first song that came on was "Uptown Funk"...one of our favorites to dance to. Patrick bolted out of the bedroom where he was playing with Legos and started to dance on the landing almost immediately. It melted my little heart to see him having so much fun. Then, just as Scott was arriving at home (before 5!!!) I went and hid behind the curtains on the windows by the front door. Patrick saw me and ran across the room to join me behind the curtain. Scott walked in the door and played along right away. Patrick could hardly bear to stay behind the curtain for more than 2 seconds after Scott walked in. SUPER cute. Coincidentally, Scott brought the mail in with him and placed it on the floor when crouching down to hug Patch and whoops, Patch slipped on the papers and had a quick cry about it.
We went up the canyon to capture some more pictures with a friend and to enjoy the fall colors. On our way down, the babies were getting fussy (hungry and close to bed time). Scott and I decided to sing "Old McDonald" and Patch showed off his animal noises and some singing. Gosh I love this kid. He's so freaking cute. It's challenging to be a mom to a toddler. All you experienced mamas out there laugh because I only have one and he's only 20 months. Yeah, I know. This is my jam though. This is totally my kind of crazy.
I do need to just hire a maid service though ;)
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Pumpkin Spice is in the Air
Fall is just around the corner. We're heading into that time of year that zooms by. School is back in session. The evenings have cooled down. The leaves are starting to change. September really is the best month. We're 8 days away from my birthday. This time of year is just awesome.
Patrick seems to be growing and changing so quickly that time is blurred. As I type this, I've just put him down for his nap and after 30 minutes, he's still just up there in his crib hanging out. I can tell he's trying to fall asleep and he's not crying but the poor little guy is so tired. He just goes and goes and goes from about 6 AM until his nap at 11. Sometimes that nap is 1 hour. Sometimes it's 3 hours. On Friday, it was FOUR HOURS. Bless my soul that was a productive day for me. Working from home on Fridays has it's challenges but when the child sleeps for 4 hours I'm like BAM! This works! Maybe if I keep him up past 10 PM every Thursday he'll take a nice long nap...I'll consider this strategy. Patch is so loving lately. He runs up to complete stranger's kids, mostly ones his size, and hugs them. He gets this grin on his face as he's hugging and everyone goes "oh how sweet" and, my little performer, he just keeps hugging and milking it. Sometimes he ends the hug with a little push sooooo we're working on that.
Scott and I have really been working hard on house projects lately. Last weekend, we cancelled our annual Labor Day trip to Tahoe. It was closing weekend for Shrek and all of our friends we were going to meet up with bailed on us. Lame-o. We decided it wasn't worth it and stayed at home. We did some serious weeding and pruning of the yard. I caved and we purchased a gas powered lawn mower (we'd been using a push mow and neither of us really made it a priority to cut the lawn since it was so dang difficult to do with the push mow.) I re-caulked the downstairs shower so now our guests can use it. It seemed like we had a leak in the shower and there were little mold flowers growing in the carpet just outside the bathroom (SO FOUL!!!) and I figured I'd re-caulk it to see if that was the problem. It appears to have worked! We welcomed a new Airbnb guest and therefore had to move Taylor upstairs into Patrick's room and therefore had to move Patrick into our room...it's a long story but, it's working out! Two weekends ago we started building our deck. We didn't get very far but, we started!
The following weekend we celebrated my birthday with a bike ride down Provo Canyon. The fall colors were just starting to pop and it's STUNNING! It was mostly family there but, about half way down our ride our friends Evan and Annette joined up with us. We all got to the bottom and my dad rode ahead to start the trip-tip bbq. When we arrived at the house Aunt Carol joined up with us and brought her son Adam with her. Adam is a cousin I've never met so, it was cool to have him there. Taylor joined up with us later and we all ate and laughed. Patrick was loving the new jungle gym. This reminds me, the weekend before my closing of Shrek, Scott and I drove down to Provo to snatch the old swings from Shadowbrook and took the whole thing down just the two of us. Luckily, Patrick napped through almost the whole process. Any who, that was to make way for the new jungle gym. It was a fun birthday. Mark got me a favorite gift: the Shower Wow....LED lights for your shower. SCORE. On the box it reads "fun for the whole family" and in Mark's card he said "We're looking forward to coming over to enjoy it". Now I'm determined to get the toilet bowl light, the squatty potty, a shower speaker, and Poopourri. Maybe we could get a seat heater too.... pure luxury. Annnnywaaaaaay....
So my birthday...On Sunday, I continued the birthday celebrations by wearing one of Taylor's tiaras to primary and dubbing myself the Queen of the Primary. The kids competed to sit in my "throne"....a chair with a really fluffy blanket on it. SUCH fun.
Monday was lovely. Scott made me Swedish pancakes and I got to FaceTime with Ted. The second half of the day was a little rocky because I got a rather harsh email about work BUT, I had free Firehouse subs for lunch and joined up with some family at Gardner Village in the afternoon. We did Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was fun, as always. I especially love to sit on the saddle...I planned poorly and wore a pencil skirt to work that day so, I had to ride the saddle side saddle. It's ok though...I made it look good.
On Tuesday we drove up Millcreek canyon to take some pictures of our little family and the setting was GORGEOUS!!! Patrick was such a delight too. All smiles most of the time and we captured some winners.
Last night, I got to float down the Provo River with some members of the team from work. It was perfect weather and we had a bbq by the river's edge at dusk. Lots of laughs. I work with some good men and women and it's always nice to spend quality time outside of the office with those folks. It was also a chance to enjoy the fall colors again. I cannot get enough of Utah's canyon's in the fall.
The following weekend we celebrated my birthday with a bike ride down Provo Canyon. The fall colors were just starting to pop and it's STUNNING! It was mostly family there but, about half way down our ride our friends Evan and Annette joined up with us. We all got to the bottom and my dad rode ahead to start the trip-tip bbq. When we arrived at the house Aunt Carol joined up with us and brought her son Adam with her. Adam is a cousin I've never met so, it was cool to have him there. Taylor joined up with us later and we all ate and laughed. Patrick was loving the new jungle gym. This reminds me, the weekend before my closing of Shrek, Scott and I drove down to Provo to snatch the old swings from Shadowbrook and took the whole thing down just the two of us. Luckily, Patrick napped through almost the whole process. Any who, that was to make way for the new jungle gym. It was a fun birthday. Mark got me a favorite gift: the Shower Wow....LED lights for your shower. SCORE. On the box it reads "fun for the whole family" and in Mark's card he said "We're looking forward to coming over to enjoy it". Now I'm determined to get the toilet bowl light, the squatty potty, a shower speaker, and Poopourri. Maybe we could get a seat heater too.... pure luxury. Annnnywaaaaaay....
So my birthday...On Sunday, I continued the birthday celebrations by wearing one of Taylor's tiaras to primary and dubbing myself the Queen of the Primary. The kids competed to sit in my "throne"....a chair with a really fluffy blanket on it. SUCH fun.
Monday was lovely. Scott made me Swedish pancakes and I got to FaceTime with Ted. The second half of the day was a little rocky because I got a rather harsh email about work BUT, I had free Firehouse subs for lunch and joined up with some family at Gardner Village in the afternoon. We did Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was fun, as always. I especially love to sit on the saddle...I planned poorly and wore a pencil skirt to work that day so, I had to ride the saddle side saddle. It's ok though...I made it look good.
On Tuesday we drove up Millcreek canyon to take some pictures of our little family and the setting was GORGEOUS!!! Patrick was such a delight too. All smiles most of the time and we captured some winners.
Last night, I got to float down the Provo River with some members of the team from work. It was perfect weather and we had a bbq by the river's edge at dusk. Lots of laughs. I work with some good men and women and it's always nice to spend quality time outside of the office with those folks. It was also a chance to enjoy the fall colors again. I cannot get enough of Utah's canyon's in the fall.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Dreams Come True
I saw Shrek the Musical in 2013 and loved every second. I decided that if given the opportunity, I would audition for the show. I could not help but see myself in Fiona. She's quirky and loud. She's a morning person (or so one of her songs says). She's sassy and silly and I love her. It has been such a dream to step into this character and, if I'm being honest, it's not that difficult to do as I basically am Fiona in real life.
We have had some fun times on the stage. Notably, when something goes wrong and we have to cover each others mistakes. On opening night someone took a prop of mine that I had placed and ready to go. This left me improving some sweet dance moves in Fiona's tower...not a problem at all. Another time, Shrek dropped a couple of lines in our scene comparing how crappy our childhoods were. I fed him a quick line and we were back on track. The moments when I can save a scene like that are gold and make me feel like a half way decent actress. It's thanks to these last 2 years doing lots of dinner theater and handling all the improve there. One more show to go and then I'll probably take a small break from performing life.
Here are some pics from the show:
We have had some fun times on the stage. Notably, when something goes wrong and we have to cover each others mistakes. On opening night someone took a prop of mine that I had placed and ready to go. This left me improving some sweet dance moves in Fiona's tower...not a problem at all. Another time, Shrek dropped a couple of lines in our scene comparing how crappy our childhoods were. I fed him a quick line and we were back on track. The moments when I can save a scene like that are gold and make me feel like a half way decent actress. It's thanks to these last 2 years doing lots of dinner theater and handling all the improve there. One more show to go and then I'll probably take a small break from performing life.
Here are some pics from the show:
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Memories Dipped in Sunshine
I LOVE the summer time. No matter who you are or what you do, Summer time represents something. I think for most people it means sunshine, relaxation, family vacations, outdoor adventure, water sports, etc. Summer always brings me back to the care free days of childhood when school was out and we spent endless time playing red rover on the lawn between my house and my friend Lindsey's house. When the neighborhood kids would all come over and jump on the trampoline and eat Otter Pops. When my brothers would convince me to put on roller blades and hold a sheet as a sail and try to roll down the street or put me in a box on the trampoline and jump me as high as I could go or strap a milk crate to their skateboard and put me in that crate for a ride down the street. Summers were spent outside being free and slightly reckless. It feels as though those memories were dipped in sunshine.
This is my 5th summer since finishing my school days. Summer doesn't mean freedom from work anymore (dang it!) but it still represents adventure and memories.
In mid June we discovered a leak in our basement. Just before heading out on a weekend road trip (more on that below). We decided that the problem was bad enough that we should go ahead and tear down the dry wall ourselves. That night we had Airbnb guests staying in the room just down the hall but lucky for us, those guests were two young guys that were just in between houses and locals to Salt Lake so they were comfortable with our late night demolition. We had to wait until Patrick was asleep to take care of the demo as we didn't want him to come into the room and chance inhaling anything dangerous. It was actually rather fun to hammer away at the soggy drywall and yank large pieces of wood away from the studs and into pieces. Scott and I were a little overwhelmed to uncover more problems than we began with (of course) and our house seems to be falling apart slowly. Weekend projects and home improvement...I guess this is what we signed up for. We knew it was coming and here we are. We now have big renovation plans for the basement and plan to make it into a more comfortable living space. It will be expensive but SO worth it to have a play room (YES YES YES) and some extra space to entertain/ host Airbnb people.
In spite of that fiasco, we have had such an excellent summer thus far. Just after tearing our basement apart, Scott and I travelled to Montana for a Salty Dinner Theater charity event. This year, they put us up in a hotel rather than the college dorms. We travelled out with Ricky and had quite the eventful journey. We headed out around 5:00. I drove a leg and then Ricky drove the next leg. We stopped for gas and dinner between the two diving shifts and Ricky used the gas card provided to us by the charity to fill up the tank. Too bad he didn't realize how much fuel he put in the tank because as we were driving down the highway, Ricky was stopped for speeding. It was then that he realized we were almost on an empty tank and we were a good distance from the closest fuel station. We mentioned our problem to the highway patrol guy and he basically said, "good luck" and sent us on our way. Well, shortly after that, the car did indeed die. Luckily, Patrick was asleep by this point. We were sitting there for about 2 hours trying to come up with a plan. Scott hitch hiked to the next stop with a truck driver and brought my credit card to purchase fuel in the hopes of hitch hiking back to us. We called our Salty friends who were already there in Helena to see if they had any way to send a rescue party out to us (we were about an hour and a half away from Helena by that point). We called Geico (our insurance provider) to see if we could get coverage for a tow truck to come out. I did not come prepared to sit in the car in the middle of the night and was rather chilly. Patrick was all snuggled up under a blanket and I just hoped that he would stay asleep during this whole fiasco and he pretty much did. Well, $160 and 2 hours later the tow truck came, filled up the tank with the most expensive gas I've ever seen, and we were on our way. We spent two days in Helena and had a blast performing a "revival" of "Altos", our mafia murder mystery show. There were a handful of things that were better this time around. 1: my finger waves were WAY better 2: my dress was way more comfortable 3: Scott was involved in the show by helping drum up funds through the raffle and such. As compared to the last time we performed in Montana, there were improvements too...namely the venue. We performed in this gorgeous church that had a fun little playground that Patrick played on before sound check on the first night. This church was so amazing. They had the most awesome nursery room I've ever seen. Books and toys and plush carpet. That's where I hung out during the last act as I was the one "killed" in the show so, I just hung out there. I wish LDS churches still built cry rooms into their chapels. Why did they stop doing that???
While in Montana, I was able to hit the town one night and do some karaoke at a bar in Helena with some friends from the show. It was such a fun night. We ordered sodas and played pool and of course we sang. I brought the house down with "Don't Stop Believin" and then of course Tony closed out our group's performances with "Somebody to Love" and really blew everyone away. He definitely vocally outshined most of the other performers. We had a blast watching the other performers. Some were really...special. Since we went to this place right after our performance on Friday night, I was still in my costume makeup and hair. I forgot to put my wedding rings back on (seriously....forgot...honest mistake) and there was this young guy who was a pretty decent singer who got friendly with our group. Joseph teased me that he was coming on to me but, I think he was just being nice and making friends. We headed out at about 1:30 AM...or at least it seemed like it was 1:30. It was totally worth the lack of sleep.
The day we returned to Salt Lake I started feeling symptoms of a cold and came down with the worst cold I've ever had in my life. It lasted for 15 days and I felt like crap. It was horrible. I always felt better when I would pick Patrick up and then we'd spend some time outside in the yard. I let him play with the hose while I pulled weeds. Or I would fill up his little baby pool with water and we would splash around together for a few minutes and have some apricots for a snack from the tree whose branches hang into our yard. Patrick has made a habit of walking over to that tree, pointing up, and grunting at it as if to say "I want some Mom. Get me one". My boy knows what's good in life.
At the end of June we were able to make it to Taylorsville days. Neither of us had rehearsal and conditions were perfect. It wasn't too hot and they had the Abba tribute band again which I LOVED. Patrick has recently started pointing to things in the sky like the moon, planes, birds, etc. He was very excited to point out the skydivers at Tville Dayz. It was just such fun, the whole night.
When my parents are in town we always enjoy doing "try-tip Sundays" where we get together with extended family and have a meal outside in the common area at my parent's home in Shadowbrook (in Provo). It's been so fun to revive that tradition. A few weeks ago, we were at that event and Patrick and Mason decided to play with Patch's Thomas the Train toy. It's one of those little scooter things for babies/ toddlers and they were having a ball. Mason was riding and Patrick was pushing him and they were both LOVING it. Then my mom brought out this awesome bubble making set and we made gigantic bubbles for the kids.
For two years in a row now, we've spent the 4th of July at Bear Lake. We rented a skidoo this year and it was so much fun. I'm glad we sprung for it. Split 3 ways, it wasn't that bad of a price. The beach was windy on the 4th but that made for the best sailing I've ever done on Sweet Bananas, my father in law's Hobie catamaran. There was a moment when we were sailing Steve, Kait, and myself and we nearly flipped over. What a thrill.
That Friday, Scott's opening night of Little Mermaid, we went to see the new movie "The Secret Life of Pets" at the drive in theater. We got some of the Warren cousins to join us and it was SO MUCH FUN. The movie was ok but the company was superb. We loaded the truck up with blankets and pillows and snacks. Kathie was there with her family and some friends too and she had goodie bags made up for the kids. She's the world's best nanny and we're so lucky to have her. She's always organizing fun events like that.
On Saturday night we saw Scott perform as Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid and he did SUCH an excellent job. I'm lucky enough to hear him sing around the house all the time so, I know he has a beautiful solo voice. Many of our family and friends who went to see the show didn't realize what a good solo singing voice he has so, I know that made Scott proud to hear all the compliments he was getting. The show was a delight and Patrick was glued to the stage almost the whole time. He loved pointing to his daddy on stage and was nice and quiet in the audience.
My show opened on Monday and it was lucky that my parents were in town for the week we had performances that overlapped. Scott had a show every night and I had either a show or a rehearsal every night except Tuesday. That day was fun. We went to Bruges for dinner and then took Patrick to Fairview park right next door. He loved climbing up the stairs and sliding down the slide all by himself like a big boy. He kept landing at the end of the slide on his bum but didn't seem to mind. What a cutie.
During the first week of Tarzan performances I left parts of my costumes at Joe Morleys on Friday night and didn't realize it until Saturday night when I needed them at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Orem. Lucky, I was able to find a dress in the mall VERY quickly and it worked perfectly. $60 later and I'm hoping I can actually return it. I thought I would love it on me and it turns out that I don't. It has an empire waist and I just don't love that design on my frame.
On July 22, I didn't have a performance or rehearsal so Scott and I were able to see the Pioneer Day concert presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and guest artists, The King's Singers. It was lovely with the exception of these new special lighting effects that they're using at the conference center. They've placed these LED lights all along the banisters that surround the choir space and they were blinking all these bright colors in time with the music. Not on every song but certainly on the real flashy numbers...pun intended. I hated it. It seemed too contrived. Outside of that, the concert was lovely.
We celebrated Pioneer Day with a BBQ in our back yard. Taylor, our Airbnb roommate, invited her brother and his girlfriend over and we had a truly lovely time.
This past week has been full of rehearsal and performances for me. We've gone back to the schedule where I start working at 7:30 and Scott takes Patrick to Kathie. I feel that if we must get Patch at 3, this schedule really is best. This means that I have a few hours with him at home at the end of my work day where we can play outside together, have a snack, tidy up the house, prepare dinner, play on the piano, take a walk with Dinah, play with blocks, read stories, etc. One day this week, to escape the heat but also to avoid having to lather up sunblock and fill up the kiddie pool, Patrick and I just took a bath together. It was actually really fun and I could tell that he was all jazzed about being able to play with Mommy in the bath.
For Tarzan's second weekend of performances, we were at the Pizza Factory in Orem. It's a brand new venue for us and we got to try out brand new mics too. It was fun to perform in a new place that seemed to bring in new crowds. Since I have a few costume changes, it was also pretty exciting to try and find a place to make those costume changes happen quickly and discreetly. I also had a good idea for the "mingling" time where we go out, in character, before the show starts and greet all the tables. I wanted to get some real good laughter from this one large party. I decided to have them play along with me and fake laugh on the count of three to make all the other actors and other tables jealous. It worked perfectly and everyone did get a hearty laugh out of that.
The following Monday, our show manager didn't show up until late and Mary, in a panic, asked Scott to show manage. It was chaos and Scott didn't really get to see the show but, nevertheless, it was nice to have him there. The remainder of the shows went well. No major costume mishaps. Lots of good laughs. It was probably one of my better performances with Salty. I think I got to play my most comical character thus far and really enjoyed it.
We are also now in full swing with Shrek rehearsals. Surprisingly, I didn't have to miss too many even with the Tarzan performances conflicting with Wednesday rehearsals. It worked out rather swimmingly.
On Friday, Scott headed out for the Saints to Sinners race with the cycling team of England Logistics. I made him some food for the journey and sent him on his way knowing that I was going to fly solo for the closing weekend of Tarzan. Luckily, I had some help from family and friends. Lauren watched Patrick for me on Friday night during my performance. Afterwords, I drove down to Lehi and stayed the night at their house. The next morning, Patch slept in past 8 AM!!! It was a miracle. Finally, at about 8:30, I had to go wake him up so we could head to rehearsal in Draper. I packed a bunch of snacks at Lauren's and got to chat with Dave about being a business owner as we munched on cold cereal. My rehearsal with Patch was really fun. It was a full day at the theater but, again, I had lots of cast mates and my friend Karin from BYU to help me keep him happy. Most of the time, when I went on stage, Patch was a trooper. He made friends with all the kids rather easily and during lunch break he charmed his way into mooching from several people's plates. He got pretty cranky around his nap time and luckily, I was able to take him for a drive where he was able to fall asleep. I got back into the theater and put him in the green room. I sat right outside the door and memorized lines. Making. It. Work.
Rehearsal was done at 3:30 and I headed home to get some costume pieces ready and then drop Patch off at Dan and Mary's for Dan to look after him. Dan sent me pics of him playing with Scarlett and Lucy and their new bounce house. ADORABLE. I'm so glad that he gets along with other kids. Our final performance was a good one. Here's to hoping I don't have to strip down to my bra and undies in restaurants for a while. ;)
I found out during that performance that Scott's truck was having transmission problems and that he was going to have to stay in Cedar City. Major bummer. His cell phone was also running low on battery and he didn't have his charger so, he didn't want to talk too much. He called me in the morning and we formulated a plan to have his Mom, who was already in Southern Utah, bring him back home until the truck could be looked at. He had a rehearsal in Lehi for Consortium and I decided, after dinner with Logan and Aubri, to rehearse with Karin for our broadway review number for the Shrek fundraiser. We were both sleeping in the same bed by Sunday at about midnight. It was a crazy weekend.
Lucky for us, we've had last night and tonight home together. No rehearsals, no performances, no plans. Just chilling, getting stuff done around the house, harvesting veggies from the garden, and enjoying time together at home before August picks up again.
We will be taking a break from shows for the rest of the year. We have to get a lot of projects done at the house and it's time to take it easy for a bit, once again. As tough as it is to say no, Scott and I are holding strong so that we can really make some dramatic changes to our home and yard. Stay tuned.
This is my 5th summer since finishing my school days. Summer doesn't mean freedom from work anymore (dang it!) but it still represents adventure and memories.
In mid June we discovered a leak in our basement. Just before heading out on a weekend road trip (more on that below). We decided that the problem was bad enough that we should go ahead and tear down the dry wall ourselves. That night we had Airbnb guests staying in the room just down the hall but lucky for us, those guests were two young guys that were just in between houses and locals to Salt Lake so they were comfortable with our late night demolition. We had to wait until Patrick was asleep to take care of the demo as we didn't want him to come into the room and chance inhaling anything dangerous. It was actually rather fun to hammer away at the soggy drywall and yank large pieces of wood away from the studs and into pieces. Scott and I were a little overwhelmed to uncover more problems than we began with (of course) and our house seems to be falling apart slowly. Weekend projects and home improvement...I guess this is what we signed up for. We knew it was coming and here we are. We now have big renovation plans for the basement and plan to make it into a more comfortable living space. It will be expensive but SO worth it to have a play room (YES YES YES) and some extra space to entertain/ host Airbnb people.
In spite of that fiasco, we have had such an excellent summer thus far. Just after tearing our basement apart, Scott and I travelled to Montana for a Salty Dinner Theater charity event. This year, they put us up in a hotel rather than the college dorms. We travelled out with Ricky and had quite the eventful journey. We headed out around 5:00. I drove a leg and then Ricky drove the next leg. We stopped for gas and dinner between the two diving shifts and Ricky used the gas card provided to us by the charity to fill up the tank. Too bad he didn't realize how much fuel he put in the tank because as we were driving down the highway, Ricky was stopped for speeding. It was then that he realized we were almost on an empty tank and we were a good distance from the closest fuel station. We mentioned our problem to the highway patrol guy and he basically said, "good luck" and sent us on our way. Well, shortly after that, the car did indeed die. Luckily, Patrick was asleep by this point. We were sitting there for about 2 hours trying to come up with a plan. Scott hitch hiked to the next stop with a truck driver and brought my credit card to purchase fuel in the hopes of hitch hiking back to us. We called our Salty friends who were already there in Helena to see if they had any way to send a rescue party out to us (we were about an hour and a half away from Helena by that point). We called Geico (our insurance provider) to see if we could get coverage for a tow truck to come out. I did not come prepared to sit in the car in the middle of the night and was rather chilly. Patrick was all snuggled up under a blanket and I just hoped that he would stay asleep during this whole fiasco and he pretty much did. Well, $160 and 2 hours later the tow truck came, filled up the tank with the most expensive gas I've ever seen, and we were on our way. We spent two days in Helena and had a blast performing a "revival" of "Altos", our mafia murder mystery show. There were a handful of things that were better this time around. 1: my finger waves were WAY better 2: my dress was way more comfortable 3: Scott was involved in the show by helping drum up funds through the raffle and such. As compared to the last time we performed in Montana, there were improvements too...namely the venue. We performed in this gorgeous church that had a fun little playground that Patrick played on before sound check on the first night. This church was so amazing. They had the most awesome nursery room I've ever seen. Books and toys and plush carpet. That's where I hung out during the last act as I was the one "killed" in the show so, I just hung out there. I wish LDS churches still built cry rooms into their chapels. Why did they stop doing that???
While in Montana, I was able to hit the town one night and do some karaoke at a bar in Helena with some friends from the show. It was such a fun night. We ordered sodas and played pool and of course we sang. I brought the house down with "Don't Stop Believin" and then of course Tony closed out our group's performances with "Somebody to Love" and really blew everyone away. He definitely vocally outshined most of the other performers. We had a blast watching the other performers. Some were really...special. Since we went to this place right after our performance on Friday night, I was still in my costume makeup and hair. I forgot to put my wedding rings back on (seriously....forgot...honest mistake) and there was this young guy who was a pretty decent singer who got friendly with our group. Joseph teased me that he was coming on to me but, I think he was just being nice and making friends. We headed out at about 1:30 AM...or at least it seemed like it was 1:30. It was totally worth the lack of sleep.
The day we returned to Salt Lake I started feeling symptoms of a cold and came down with the worst cold I've ever had in my life. It lasted for 15 days and I felt like crap. It was horrible. I always felt better when I would pick Patrick up and then we'd spend some time outside in the yard. I let him play with the hose while I pulled weeds. Or I would fill up his little baby pool with water and we would splash around together for a few minutes and have some apricots for a snack from the tree whose branches hang into our yard. Patrick has made a habit of walking over to that tree, pointing up, and grunting at it as if to say "I want some Mom. Get me one". My boy knows what's good in life.
At the end of June we were able to make it to Taylorsville days. Neither of us had rehearsal and conditions were perfect. It wasn't too hot and they had the Abba tribute band again which I LOVED. Patrick has recently started pointing to things in the sky like the moon, planes, birds, etc. He was very excited to point out the skydivers at Tville Dayz. It was just such fun, the whole night.
When my parents are in town we always enjoy doing "try-tip Sundays" where we get together with extended family and have a meal outside in the common area at my parent's home in Shadowbrook (in Provo). It's been so fun to revive that tradition. A few weeks ago, we were at that event and Patrick and Mason decided to play with Patch's Thomas the Train toy. It's one of those little scooter things for babies/ toddlers and they were having a ball. Mason was riding and Patrick was pushing him and they were both LOVING it. Then my mom brought out this awesome bubble making set and we made gigantic bubbles for the kids.
For two years in a row now, we've spent the 4th of July at Bear Lake. We rented a skidoo this year and it was so much fun. I'm glad we sprung for it. Split 3 ways, it wasn't that bad of a price. The beach was windy on the 4th but that made for the best sailing I've ever done on Sweet Bananas, my father in law's Hobie catamaran. There was a moment when we were sailing Steve, Kait, and myself and we nearly flipped over. What a thrill.
That Friday, Scott's opening night of Little Mermaid, we went to see the new movie "The Secret Life of Pets" at the drive in theater. We got some of the Warren cousins to join us and it was SO MUCH FUN. The movie was ok but the company was superb. We loaded the truck up with blankets and pillows and snacks. Kathie was there with her family and some friends too and she had goodie bags made up for the kids. She's the world's best nanny and we're so lucky to have her. She's always organizing fun events like that.
On Saturday night we saw Scott perform as Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid and he did SUCH an excellent job. I'm lucky enough to hear him sing around the house all the time so, I know he has a beautiful solo voice. Many of our family and friends who went to see the show didn't realize what a good solo singing voice he has so, I know that made Scott proud to hear all the compliments he was getting. The show was a delight and Patrick was glued to the stage almost the whole time. He loved pointing to his daddy on stage and was nice and quiet in the audience.
My show opened on Monday and it was lucky that my parents were in town for the week we had performances that overlapped. Scott had a show every night and I had either a show or a rehearsal every night except Tuesday. That day was fun. We went to Bruges for dinner and then took Patrick to Fairview park right next door. He loved climbing up the stairs and sliding down the slide all by himself like a big boy. He kept landing at the end of the slide on his bum but didn't seem to mind. What a cutie.
During the first week of Tarzan performances I left parts of my costumes at Joe Morleys on Friday night and didn't realize it until Saturday night when I needed them at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Orem. Lucky, I was able to find a dress in the mall VERY quickly and it worked perfectly. $60 later and I'm hoping I can actually return it. I thought I would love it on me and it turns out that I don't. It has an empire waist and I just don't love that design on my frame.
On July 22, I didn't have a performance or rehearsal so Scott and I were able to see the Pioneer Day concert presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and guest artists, The King's Singers. It was lovely with the exception of these new special lighting effects that they're using at the conference center. They've placed these LED lights all along the banisters that surround the choir space and they were blinking all these bright colors in time with the music. Not on every song but certainly on the real flashy numbers...pun intended. I hated it. It seemed too contrived. Outside of that, the concert was lovely.
We celebrated Pioneer Day with a BBQ in our back yard. Taylor, our Airbnb roommate, invited her brother and his girlfriend over and we had a truly lovely time.
This past week has been full of rehearsal and performances for me. We've gone back to the schedule where I start working at 7:30 and Scott takes Patrick to Kathie. I feel that if we must get Patch at 3, this schedule really is best. This means that I have a few hours with him at home at the end of my work day where we can play outside together, have a snack, tidy up the house, prepare dinner, play on the piano, take a walk with Dinah, play with blocks, read stories, etc. One day this week, to escape the heat but also to avoid having to lather up sunblock and fill up the kiddie pool, Patrick and I just took a bath together. It was actually really fun and I could tell that he was all jazzed about being able to play with Mommy in the bath.
For Tarzan's second weekend of performances, we were at the Pizza Factory in Orem. It's a brand new venue for us and we got to try out brand new mics too. It was fun to perform in a new place that seemed to bring in new crowds. Since I have a few costume changes, it was also pretty exciting to try and find a place to make those costume changes happen quickly and discreetly. I also had a good idea for the "mingling" time where we go out, in character, before the show starts and greet all the tables. I wanted to get some real good laughter from this one large party. I decided to have them play along with me and fake laugh on the count of three to make all the other actors and other tables jealous. It worked perfectly and everyone did get a hearty laugh out of that.
The following Monday, our show manager didn't show up until late and Mary, in a panic, asked Scott to show manage. It was chaos and Scott didn't really get to see the show but, nevertheless, it was nice to have him there. The remainder of the shows went well. No major costume mishaps. Lots of good laughs. It was probably one of my better performances with Salty. I think I got to play my most comical character thus far and really enjoyed it.
We are also now in full swing with Shrek rehearsals. Surprisingly, I didn't have to miss too many even with the Tarzan performances conflicting with Wednesday rehearsals. It worked out rather swimmingly.
On Friday, Scott headed out for the Saints to Sinners race with the cycling team of England Logistics. I made him some food for the journey and sent him on his way knowing that I was going to fly solo for the closing weekend of Tarzan. Luckily, I had some help from family and friends. Lauren watched Patrick for me on Friday night during my performance. Afterwords, I drove down to Lehi and stayed the night at their house. The next morning, Patch slept in past 8 AM!!! It was a miracle. Finally, at about 8:30, I had to go wake him up so we could head to rehearsal in Draper. I packed a bunch of snacks at Lauren's and got to chat with Dave about being a business owner as we munched on cold cereal. My rehearsal with Patch was really fun. It was a full day at the theater but, again, I had lots of cast mates and my friend Karin from BYU to help me keep him happy. Most of the time, when I went on stage, Patch was a trooper. He made friends with all the kids rather easily and during lunch break he charmed his way into mooching from several people's plates. He got pretty cranky around his nap time and luckily, I was able to take him for a drive where he was able to fall asleep. I got back into the theater and put him in the green room. I sat right outside the door and memorized lines. Making. It. Work.
Rehearsal was done at 3:30 and I headed home to get some costume pieces ready and then drop Patch off at Dan and Mary's for Dan to look after him. Dan sent me pics of him playing with Scarlett and Lucy and their new bounce house. ADORABLE. I'm so glad that he gets along with other kids. Our final performance was a good one. Here's to hoping I don't have to strip down to my bra and undies in restaurants for a while. ;)
I found out during that performance that Scott's truck was having transmission problems and that he was going to have to stay in Cedar City. Major bummer. His cell phone was also running low on battery and he didn't have his charger so, he didn't want to talk too much. He called me in the morning and we formulated a plan to have his Mom, who was already in Southern Utah, bring him back home until the truck could be looked at. He had a rehearsal in Lehi for Consortium and I decided, after dinner with Logan and Aubri, to rehearse with Karin for our broadway review number for the Shrek fundraiser. We were both sleeping in the same bed by Sunday at about midnight. It was a crazy weekend.
Lucky for us, we've had last night and tonight home together. No rehearsals, no performances, no plans. Just chilling, getting stuff done around the house, harvesting veggies from the garden, and enjoying time together at home before August picks up again.
We will be taking a break from shows for the rest of the year. We have to get a lot of projects done at the house and it's time to take it easy for a bit, once again. As tough as it is to say no, Scott and I are holding strong so that we can really make some dramatic changes to our home and yard. Stay tuned.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
One Day at a Time
I've been thinking about how it is I'm managing to juggle everything in my life right now. All my goals at home and at work, doing the whole Airbnb hosting thing, being in two shows (and JUST added a third-I'll be playing Fiona in Shrek the Musical in August), and keeping my little family happy, healthy, and sane. Well, sanity is actually thrown out the window. We're a little crazy and that's ok. So, I'm feeling pretty good about things in general and while I'm behind on my reading goal this year...the other things are in place. How am I managing it? One day at a freaking time.
I wish I could say that I'm so super organized that Tuesdays are countertop/ surfaces days and Wednesdays I do floors, and Thursdays I do shopping errands. I'm not super organized but I have found myself doing some things on the regular that have helped me:
I dedicate time every day to just play with Patch. No distractions. Just toys/games/ a book/ exploring outside together. When I've gotten in that concentrated play time, I feel more at ease to pursue other tasks.
I do my makeup in the car most days and I've started timing myself. Not while I'm driving people. I just do it real quick in the parking lot or maybe at some red lights. I don't allow myself to take any longer than 10 minutes.
I take my phone in the shower with me to check in on our finances and bills while my shower warms up/ while I wake up. Patrick has come to accept the time I'm away from him in the shower and I try to not be on the phone in front of him so, these 3-5 minutes allow me to send off a quick bill or two/ check into my bank account.
I shop for groceries once a week. I'm toying around with using the Walmart app to have my groceries picked up for me so that I can just drive by and get on my way. Patrick does seem to enjoy sitting in the cart and people watching though. He especially loves Costco because we often get extra samples. Since we shop at about the same time every Friday, some of the sample ladies are starting to recognize him.
If I use the restroom at work, I look up recipes for dinner on my phone and don't allow myself to piddle around on Facebook. This forces me to spend some time planning for meals and thinking about what groceries to buy later in the week/ what foods to make with what we have on hand.
I get out in the garden with Patch at least 3 times a week to pull weeds. We're trying to stay on top of that as much as possible.
I put EVERYTHING in my calendar on my iPhone as soon as the appointment is set. I look at my calendar twice a day to make sure I'm not forgetting things. While I'm not perfect at this either, I'm improving and doing a much better job of not over scheduling myself.
I never leave a room empty handed. This is critical to keeping the house picked up for our Airbnb guests. Patrick has even started to learn about cleaning up messes. We've got a long way to go with him. hehe.
The fact of the matter is that I also got me an awesome husband. He works so hard to help balance our life and is the perfect man for the job. He's an amazing and involved dad. He's super handy around the house. He is an excellent chef. He's always engaging me in current events and conversations about politics. He's just absolutely wonderful.
I guess these are my tricks/ tips. We're making it happen and this is the life I've always imagined. It's every bit as crazy and fun as I'd hoped it would be.
I wish I could say that I'm so super organized that Tuesdays are countertop/ surfaces days and Wednesdays I do floors, and Thursdays I do shopping errands. I'm not super organized but I have found myself doing some things on the regular that have helped me:
I dedicate time every day to just play with Patch. No distractions. Just toys/games/ a book/ exploring outside together. When I've gotten in that concentrated play time, I feel more at ease to pursue other tasks.
I do my makeup in the car most days and I've started timing myself. Not while I'm driving people. I just do it real quick in the parking lot or maybe at some red lights. I don't allow myself to take any longer than 10 minutes.
I take my phone in the shower with me to check in on our finances and bills while my shower warms up/ while I wake up. Patrick has come to accept the time I'm away from him in the shower and I try to not be on the phone in front of him so, these 3-5 minutes allow me to send off a quick bill or two/ check into my bank account.
I shop for groceries once a week. I'm toying around with using the Walmart app to have my groceries picked up for me so that I can just drive by and get on my way. Patrick does seem to enjoy sitting in the cart and people watching though. He especially loves Costco because we often get extra samples. Since we shop at about the same time every Friday, some of the sample ladies are starting to recognize him.
If I use the restroom at work, I look up recipes for dinner on my phone and don't allow myself to piddle around on Facebook. This forces me to spend some time planning for meals and thinking about what groceries to buy later in the week/ what foods to make with what we have on hand.
I get out in the garden with Patch at least 3 times a week to pull weeds. We're trying to stay on top of that as much as possible.
I put EVERYTHING in my calendar on my iPhone as soon as the appointment is set. I look at my calendar twice a day to make sure I'm not forgetting things. While I'm not perfect at this either, I'm improving and doing a much better job of not over scheduling myself.
I never leave a room empty handed. This is critical to keeping the house picked up for our Airbnb guests. Patrick has even started to learn about cleaning up messes. We've got a long way to go with him. hehe.
The fact of the matter is that I also got me an awesome husband. He works so hard to help balance our life and is the perfect man for the job. He's an amazing and involved dad. He's super handy around the house. He is an excellent chef. He's always engaging me in current events and conversations about politics. He's just absolutely wonderful.
I guess these are my tricks/ tips. We're making it happen and this is the life I've always imagined. It's every bit as crazy and fun as I'd hoped it would be.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Lately
If this were a travel blog I would talk about our trip to Miami.
If this were a beauty blog I would talk about how for the last two months I've done my makeup in the car Monday-Thursday.
If this were a gardening blog I would tell you about how I've enlisted the help of my parents and Scott's parents to weed the garden and finally get some starts planted.
If this were a family finance blog I would announce that we've reached a huge savings milestone and now have over 3 months of funds sitting in an account ready for a rainy day.
If I even knew what "kind" of blog this is, that would be cool.
Sometimes I post long lists of "we did this and then we did this and then we did this" which is a way for me to quickly document what my family is up to. Sometimes I write about something specific from one day or one afternoon.
Tonight I put Patch to sleep and then I got to tidying the house. We have another Airbnb guest coming in tomorrow and that is always motivation to keep the house clean. It's amazing how quickly we destroy cleanliness. I was busy with cleaning and dishes etc for about an hour before sneaking into Patrick's room to put some things away. Usually I just leave things at the top of the stairs but tonight, I walked in. He was resting along the front side of his crib; sleeping on his side. He's started to insist on having fuzzy blankets with him in bed. When I put him down, he pulls the corners of the blanket under his chest and usually breathes a deep sigh as he sinks into sleep. He's a sweet little thing.
Work is going well for me. I've got to stay focused so that I can hit my goal this quarter. I'm dangerously close and there is a chance that it will slip between my fingers. Eye. On. The. Prize. Say some prayers. Burn some sage. Hug a tree. Whatever it is you do, do that for me will ya?
Scott and I are both in rehearsals for more shows right now. He's playing Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid this summer. I'm doing a benefit show in Montana and I'll be playing Jane in Tarzan. It's a busy busy time but so far, things have worked out perfectly. I've only had to bring Patch to one rehearsal. We've had a surprising amount of time to be together in the evenings and on the weekends. So much so that our yard looks half way decent this year. We will be laying more sod though and arranging it so that maintenance is even easier :D
In March, we started welcoming guests into our home from Airbnb. My cousin was living with us temporarily and we got Patrick sleep trained in that time so we figured, having someone stay in the basement wasn't bad at all and now Patrick won't wake them, lets try it. We'd toyed around with the idea of Airbnb for a while and just never pulled the trigger but after having a little extra rent come through from my cousin living with us, we liked the idea!!! I believe that humanity is generally good and decided to give "strangers" a chance to prove me right (and try to make some extra money). We started off pretty slow. We had a guest who was in town for ComicCon with her mom and she gave us free passes for the event (SCORE). We got a few more requests and a few more reviews and now, we're booked pretty solidly through September. It has been AWESOME. One girl stayed with us for 5 days and we even went country dancing one night. I'd HIGHLY recommend it. Unless of course you live down the street from me and will compete for my business. :)
If this were a beauty blog I would talk about how for the last two months I've done my makeup in the car Monday-Thursday.
If this were a gardening blog I would tell you about how I've enlisted the help of my parents and Scott's parents to weed the garden and finally get some starts planted.
If this were a family finance blog I would announce that we've reached a huge savings milestone and now have over 3 months of funds sitting in an account ready for a rainy day.
If I even knew what "kind" of blog this is, that would be cool.
Sometimes I post long lists of "we did this and then we did this and then we did this" which is a way for me to quickly document what my family is up to. Sometimes I write about something specific from one day or one afternoon.
Tonight I put Patch to sleep and then I got to tidying the house. We have another Airbnb guest coming in tomorrow and that is always motivation to keep the house clean. It's amazing how quickly we destroy cleanliness. I was busy with cleaning and dishes etc for about an hour before sneaking into Patrick's room to put some things away. Usually I just leave things at the top of the stairs but tonight, I walked in. He was resting along the front side of his crib; sleeping on his side. He's started to insist on having fuzzy blankets with him in bed. When I put him down, he pulls the corners of the blanket under his chest and usually breathes a deep sigh as he sinks into sleep. He's a sweet little thing.
Work is going well for me. I've got to stay focused so that I can hit my goal this quarter. I'm dangerously close and there is a chance that it will slip between my fingers. Eye. On. The. Prize. Say some prayers. Burn some sage. Hug a tree. Whatever it is you do, do that for me will ya?
Scott and I are both in rehearsals for more shows right now. He's playing Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid this summer. I'm doing a benefit show in Montana and I'll be playing Jane in Tarzan. It's a busy busy time but so far, things have worked out perfectly. I've only had to bring Patch to one rehearsal. We've had a surprising amount of time to be together in the evenings and on the weekends. So much so that our yard looks half way decent this year. We will be laying more sod though and arranging it so that maintenance is even easier :D
In March, we started welcoming guests into our home from Airbnb. My cousin was living with us temporarily and we got Patrick sleep trained in that time so we figured, having someone stay in the basement wasn't bad at all and now Patrick won't wake them, lets try it. We'd toyed around with the idea of Airbnb for a while and just never pulled the trigger but after having a little extra rent come through from my cousin living with us, we liked the idea!!! I believe that humanity is generally good and decided to give "strangers" a chance to prove me right (and try to make some extra money). We started off pretty slow. We had a guest who was in town for ComicCon with her mom and she gave us free passes for the event (SCORE). We got a few more requests and a few more reviews and now, we're booked pretty solidly through September. It has been AWESOME. One girl stayed with us for 5 days and we even went country dancing one night. I'd HIGHLY recommend it. Unless of course you live down the street from me and will compete for my business. :)
Sunday, May 8, 2016
On Motherhood
Today we celebrated mothers. We got to church and Patch was dressed all dapper in suspenders and a bow tie. I wore a dress that I haven't worn since before Patrick was born (yay for almost having my body back) and Scott was in all blue (my favorite). We sat in the back section where there is room for Patch to play on the floor and such. That boy was practically running up and down the aisles at church; coming back to me only momentarily to grab handful after handful of dried blueberries. He would take a handful, stuff them in his mouth, and walk off to explore again. He was smiling the biggest smiles and greeting everyone. Meanwhile, talks were being given...whoops!
I finally felt it. That thing where my heart is so full that it felt like it would burst. Don't get me wrong; I've had joy and love in my life beyond measure since welcoming Patch to our family but, I hadn't felt that overwhelming joy just yet. The kind that you hear mothers talking about all the time. Today it happened. Tears started to well in my eyes. I looked at my sweet boy who is just so full of life and already such a reflection of me and his amazing father. I can't wait to have that feeling wash over me again and again as he grows and I get the pleasure of being his mother.
I finally felt it. That thing where my heart is so full that it felt like it would burst. Don't get me wrong; I've had joy and love in my life beyond measure since welcoming Patch to our family but, I hadn't felt that overwhelming joy just yet. The kind that you hear mothers talking about all the time. Today it happened. Tears started to well in my eyes. I looked at my sweet boy who is just so full of life and already such a reflection of me and his amazing father. I can't wait to have that feeling wash over me again and again as he grows and I get the pleasure of being his mother.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Spring 2016
I've been spending a little bit of time in the garden almost every day. Patrick practically begs us to go outside so, I'm happy to encourage that behavior and take a few minutes to catch up on the weeds/ pruning and make way for all our pretty perennial flowers to bloom. Someone planned our garden very well because everything seems to bloom in stages so that all spring, summer, and even into fall we have something new and beautiful popping up. First we have the tulips, then the mulberry tree, then the big purple round flowers, then the clematis, then the peonies and finally the roses. It's lovely.
This afternoon, Patrick and I went outside mostly because he was being grumpy and he seemed a little cold. I just finished making a berry (and chocolate) smoothie for the two of us to snack on and he got the shivers. Initially I took him upstairs and we sat in the rocker with a blanket on him. That took the chill away and he was LOVING my stories with silly noises. He hardly ever sits still but, for the stories and the noises...he didn't move a muscle. He just looked up at me and giggled. When I brought him downstairs he got a chill again and was acting rather upset about it so, that's when I decided we should go outside. We started sitting on the bench with a blanket and the book Skippy John Jones. He was a little distracted by all the people walking by etc. So, he popped down onto the grass and was just catching some rays. I sat still for a moment soaking in the sun myself. I watched the wind blow through his fuzzy baby hair. I admired my overgrown grass, the small patches I've gotten weeded, my over pruning, and my boy.
This afternoon, Patrick and I went outside mostly because he was being grumpy and he seemed a little cold. I just finished making a berry (and chocolate) smoothie for the two of us to snack on and he got the shivers. Initially I took him upstairs and we sat in the rocker with a blanket on him. That took the chill away and he was LOVING my stories with silly noises. He hardly ever sits still but, for the stories and the noises...he didn't move a muscle. He just looked up at me and giggled. When I brought him downstairs he got a chill again and was acting rather upset about it so, that's when I decided we should go outside. We started sitting on the bench with a blanket and the book Skippy John Jones. He was a little distracted by all the people walking by etc. So, he popped down onto the grass and was just catching some rays. I sat still for a moment soaking in the sun myself. I watched the wind blow through his fuzzy baby hair. I admired my overgrown grass, the small patches I've gotten weeded, my over pruning, and my boy.
This is Patch getting into things...everything. I'm ok with it. I mean, how can I not enjoy that Mr. Sweet Face?
Also, Patrick is officially walking as of this week. Like, very regularly. Heaven help me.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Squeaky Clean
When Patrick turned about 10 months old, we determined that we should probably start bathing him more than once a week. I'm not sure what's normal but, before then, he didn't really get too smelly.
He loves bath time. Splashing in the water. Playing with toys. We have these foam letters and numbers and I've been playing with them with him in a variety of ways. We'll collect all the yellow ones and then all the blue ones etc. I'll put them up on the wall of the tub and announce "Red B" "Purple X" etc. My boy is so smart and I hope that he's actually learning when we do this. 90% of the time in the tub he is just splashing around and making a mess or drinking the water but, these shine moments give me hope:
A couple of weeks ago I was gathering the letters and numbers by color. I said to Patch "can you grab a yellow one" as they were all floating together on the surface of the water and by gum...he did it!
Tonight, I was putting all the blue letters and numbers in the blue bowl and Patch started repeating the word "blue" after me!!! Very exciting stuff for a new mama.
After Patch got out of the bath and dressed in jam jams, he crawled over to Scott who was memorizing lines for his upcoming show while sitting on the couch. Patch climbed up and Scott reached out and rubbed his finger on Patrick's back saying "EEEE eeee EEEE eeee" like the sound of squeaking on glass and said "Patch, you're squeaky clean". Adorable.
Golly I love these boys.
He loves bath time. Splashing in the water. Playing with toys. We have these foam letters and numbers and I've been playing with them with him in a variety of ways. We'll collect all the yellow ones and then all the blue ones etc. I'll put them up on the wall of the tub and announce "Red B" "Purple X" etc. My boy is so smart and I hope that he's actually learning when we do this. 90% of the time in the tub he is just splashing around and making a mess or drinking the water but, these shine moments give me hope:
A couple of weeks ago I was gathering the letters and numbers by color. I said to Patch "can you grab a yellow one" as they were all floating together on the surface of the water and by gum...he did it!
Tonight, I was putting all the blue letters and numbers in the blue bowl and Patch started repeating the word "blue" after me!!! Very exciting stuff for a new mama.
After Patch got out of the bath and dressed in jam jams, he crawled over to Scott who was memorizing lines for his upcoming show while sitting on the couch. Patch climbed up and Scott reached out and rubbed his finger on Patrick's back saying "EEEE eeee EEEE eeee" like the sound of squeaking on glass and said "Patch, you're squeaky clean". Adorable.
Golly I love these boys.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Having it all
I keep looking for a blog of someone who can provide me with inspiration to "have it all". All the same things I currently have coupled with all the things that I want. I don't really mean "things" in the literal sense. What I mean is that I'm looking for another woman in this world that is everything I want to be. That woman who manages to juggle a full time job and family while still making time to keep a beautiful home, host regular social gatherings (formal and informal), provide service to those around her, volunteers in the community with an organization that means something to her, enjoys hobbies, makes home cooked meals, and takes care of herself. This woman is not me but I REALLY want to be her and there are times that I feel close to making it all happen. In those moments I feel like this:
Don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling depressed about it or anything. I'm not after "perfection" because that's a dangerous chase. I'm after being amazing. I'm after feeling on top of a handful of things that matter to me. Am I destined to feel behind constantly? Am I destined to feel like I'm falling short of my goals? I'm trying to master an even smaller handful of things than that "have it all" woman I mentioned earlier and I'm doing ok:
*focusing on healthy meals for my family
*regular exercise (3+ days/ week)
*keeping a close eye on the budget
I've been doing a decent job with these things but I want to make those my *****. I want to not only do the laundry but I want to have it folded and put away. I want to keep the house picked up and the floors clean. I'd like to be able to get to dusting (that one gets put to the side quite a bit). I want to have a collection of affordable family favorite meals that I constantly keep the ingredients stocked in the fridge. I want to have efficient and effective work out sessions that last no longer than an hour (including travel time to the gym/ exercise location). I want to have better systems in place for managing the budget. In short, I want to focus on those 4 areas and improve upon the work I've already done. On top of that, if I can squeeze in reading a book/ month this year, I would be thrilled. So far, I'm a little over half way through one book. Yikes. It's March. Looks like I'll be reading a couple of plays/ short stories to catch up.
I'll mark my progress on the blog and hopefully, I can become that "everything woman"; the one who "has it all" and can teach others how to make it happen for themselves.
I'll mark my progress on the blog and hopefully, I can become that "everything woman"; the one who "has it all" and can teach others how to make it happen for themselves.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Our Hawaiian Vacation
Scott and I just returned from a family vacation to Hawaii with the Moores and it was an absolute blast. Heres a quick travel log and then PICTURES :D
Saturday: Arrived at about 6 AM. Went to Starbucks in the airport as we waited for our Turo rental car to be ready. Patrick fed himself yogurt. Made arrangements to meet up with Ted and Melissa. Drove to their house. Had a second breakfast. Headed to Koa Lina beach area (right by the Disney resort) and splashed around in the waves. Maddie and Eva loved playing with Patrick. We made an aquatic dance together. Scott fell asleep. Drove to Costco and picked up lunch stuff for the week. Headed to the North Shore to meet up with the Moore family. Ate at Kahuku Grill.
Sunday: BBQ with Ted and marine friends at Bellows Beach. Brought a big rack of ribs from Costco to contribute. Yummy snacks and LOTS of meat. The waves were perfect and Patrick crawled right to them. Sunny sunny day. We mostly sat in the shade so as to not get burned. Maddie brought a fruit bar to share with Patch. Ted's friends made fun of his titles. Went back to Turtle Bay and met the family at the beach there. Sat in the spa and had dinner at North Shore Taco.
Monday: Spent all day with just Scott on his favorite beach Waimea. The waves were huge and the life guards were saying lots of warnings. I got in the waves and bobbed for a minute. Patrick played in a large hole Scott dug in the sand. Went back to the place for lunch and to let Patrick nap before heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the luau and night show. Food was great. Entertainment was even better. The show was AWESOME and Patch clapped and smiled and sang and loved every second.
Tuesday: Sharks cove snorkeling. I asked some man who had a bird tied to his wrist if that was "his bird" with the objective to really find out if he was charging people to take pictures with it or if it was just a pet that he took out everywhere. I asked if it was a "working bird" and everyone thought that was pretty funny...including me. Snorkeling was pretty good and Doug was in heaven. Got to read on the beach for a while as Patrick stayed asleep in his carseat for some time. Snorkeled with Doug and Gary. Scott and I packed lunches that day so when the rain came and everyone headed off the beach for home/ lunch, we headed down the east side of the island to see if we could find sun/ check out the sights. Showed Doug and Heather Crouching Dragon. They hiked for about 30 minutes while I stayed with Patch in the car and snacked on Cheerios and nursed and such. Had dinner at Teds Bakery with Doug and Heather.
Wednesday: Pearl Harbor/ Waikiki day for everyone. Chill with Mel and Ted day for me. Melissa was home sick from work so, I convinced everyone to head to Waikiki and do all the "stuff" out that way. We started the day at the Pono Ukulele factory. Scott was a good boy and didn't even ask for one. Headed to the swap meet. I walked around for a bit and then Mel came to pick me and Patch up. We grabbed sushi with Ted. Patch was a nuisance at the restaurant. Me and Mel went for a hike. Met up with Moores in Waikiki right along the beach. Ate packed lunch. Splashed in the waves for a couple of hours. Walked through the Royal Hawaiian. Drove to Nikos for dinner where Ted, Melissa, and the girls joined us. Yummy seafood and live music.
Thursday: Scuba dive. Packed lunches again and enjoyed two dives. Saw sharks, turtles, and an eel. Drove back home in the convertible. Tried to eat at Kahuku Grill again. No macadamia shrimp so we tried Papa Oles. Yummy food similar to Ted's.
Friday: Hunama Bay. Drove Ted to take off for his overseas adventure. Met up with family at Kailua beach. Everyone LOVED watching Patch splash in the waves. He was a brave little adventurer.
Saturday: Hike in Kahana Valley until a little after 2:00. Met up with everyone at Kahuku Grill again but we packed lunches and ate them so, we grabbed Patch some food and headed to my favorite beach to squeeze in some time there before heading home. Melissa met us there with the girls. Splashed in the waves for a few hours and packed it up as the rain got really heavy and Patrick got cold. We had our bags packed and ready to head straight to Melissa's at that point. Showered there and chilled with her and the girlies that evening.
Sunday: Aloha Hawaii...Salt Lake bound bright and early. A quick but memorable stay.
Saturday: Arrived at about 6 AM. Went to Starbucks in the airport as we waited for our Turo rental car to be ready. Patrick fed himself yogurt. Made arrangements to meet up with Ted and Melissa. Drove to their house. Had a second breakfast. Headed to Koa Lina beach area (right by the Disney resort) and splashed around in the waves. Maddie and Eva loved playing with Patrick. We made an aquatic dance together. Scott fell asleep. Drove to Costco and picked up lunch stuff for the week. Headed to the North Shore to meet up with the Moore family. Ate at Kahuku Grill.
Sunday: BBQ with Ted and marine friends at Bellows Beach. Brought a big rack of ribs from Costco to contribute. Yummy snacks and LOTS of meat. The waves were perfect and Patrick crawled right to them. Sunny sunny day. We mostly sat in the shade so as to not get burned. Maddie brought a fruit bar to share with Patch. Ted's friends made fun of his titles. Went back to Turtle Bay and met the family at the beach there. Sat in the spa and had dinner at North Shore Taco.
Monday: Spent all day with just Scott on his favorite beach Waimea. The waves were huge and the life guards were saying lots of warnings. I got in the waves and bobbed for a minute. Patrick played in a large hole Scott dug in the sand. Went back to the place for lunch and to let Patrick nap before heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the luau and night show. Food was great. Entertainment was even better. The show was AWESOME and Patch clapped and smiled and sang and loved every second.
Tuesday: Sharks cove snorkeling. I asked some man who had a bird tied to his wrist if that was "his bird" with the objective to really find out if he was charging people to take pictures with it or if it was just a pet that he took out everywhere. I asked if it was a "working bird" and everyone thought that was pretty funny...including me. Snorkeling was pretty good and Doug was in heaven. Got to read on the beach for a while as Patrick stayed asleep in his carseat for some time. Snorkeled with Doug and Gary. Scott and I packed lunches that day so when the rain came and everyone headed off the beach for home/ lunch, we headed down the east side of the island to see if we could find sun/ check out the sights. Showed Doug and Heather Crouching Dragon. They hiked for about 30 minutes while I stayed with Patch in the car and snacked on Cheerios and nursed and such. Had dinner at Teds Bakery with Doug and Heather.
Wednesday: Pearl Harbor/ Waikiki day for everyone. Chill with Mel and Ted day for me. Melissa was home sick from work so, I convinced everyone to head to Waikiki and do all the "stuff" out that way. We started the day at the Pono Ukulele factory. Scott was a good boy and didn't even ask for one. Headed to the swap meet. I walked around for a bit and then Mel came to pick me and Patch up. We grabbed sushi with Ted. Patch was a nuisance at the restaurant. Me and Mel went for a hike. Met up with Moores in Waikiki right along the beach. Ate packed lunch. Splashed in the waves for a couple of hours. Walked through the Royal Hawaiian. Drove to Nikos for dinner where Ted, Melissa, and the girls joined us. Yummy seafood and live music.
Thursday: Scuba dive. Packed lunches again and enjoyed two dives. Saw sharks, turtles, and an eel. Drove back home in the convertible. Tried to eat at Kahuku Grill again. No macadamia shrimp so we tried Papa Oles. Yummy food similar to Ted's.
Friday: Hunama Bay. Drove Ted to take off for his overseas adventure. Met up with family at Kailua beach. Everyone LOVED watching Patch splash in the waves. He was a brave little adventurer.
Saturday: Hike in Kahana Valley until a little after 2:00. Met up with everyone at Kahuku Grill again but we packed lunches and ate them so, we grabbed Patch some food and headed to my favorite beach to squeeze in some time there before heading home. Melissa met us there with the girls. Splashed in the waves for a few hours and packed it up as the rain got really heavy and Patrick got cold. We had our bags packed and ready to head straight to Melissa's at that point. Showered there and chilled with her and the girlies that evening.
Sunday: Aloha Hawaii...Salt Lake bound bright and early. A quick but memorable stay.
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