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.

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:

*staying organized/ on top of the house

*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. 

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.

The Window Sill

A quick story tonight because I'm not feeling too good today. Nauseous and such. I think it's from food that I ate that was not so good. Who knows.

Anyway, here's a funny story about Patrick.

A few weeks ago I was changing him into a new diaper. We have a dresser right by his window where we have a changing pad and as of late, Patrick likes to stand on the changing pad and look outside. When people walk by, when cars go by, everything. He places both of his hands up high above his head on the window and looks out.

The other day, he managed to stand up in the nude. I thought, ok, whatever. I'll get some fresh clothes ready and let him stand there for a minute. Well, you guessed it...seconds later he peed in the window sill. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. I suppose he has not learned any sense of modesty just yet.

Winter in Full Swing

We've hit the part of the year where there is either bitter cold and dirty snow or a lovely fresh dusting of white everywhere. I love it and hate it at the same time.

Our most recent storm was on Sunday. Scott and I decided it would be fun to go sledding at Sugarhouse Park where there are plenty of hills to choose from. We took turns holding Patch and riding down with him. One of us would ride to the bottom and call up to Patch while the other was riding down with him in their lap. He enjoyed having someone to look at during the ride. Eventually I could tell that he was over all of that and really wanted to crawl. Scott and I tried to occupy him in other ways as his snow suit is not water proof. We put him on a sledding disk and pushed him back and forth on a tiny tiny little slope. He liked that for a few minutes and soon enough he was crawling off of the disk and playing in the snow. He LOVED it. Giggling and grinning behind his binkie and just having a blast pressing into the snow with his hands and crawling through it. Such fun.

Scott's sister Stephanie told me a while ago that she always saves all her soup making for this time of year. They have soup almost every night for dinner and she says it's something their family looks forward to every year. I've made two different kinds of soup myself so far this year: tomato and black bean. The tomato soup was ok but the black bean soup was AMAZING annnnnd bonus, I found avocados for sale at Rancho Markets 5 for $1...and they were good ones! Killer deal.

This part of the winter season brings other interesting things like really dirty cars covered in salt and grime and icy sidewalks. One evening, two young boys knocked on our door. They had shovels in hand and asked if they could shovel our walks. I'm thinking "wow, what nice boys". Scott informed me that we should pay them and that they were likely trying to make some money. When they finished, I gave them a $5 (we have a small house people and a very small amount of shoveling was done...and the job was not super through). The second kid said "Oh, I thought you were going to give us two 5s". I told him that one was all I have and thanked them for shoveling. Kids these days. ;)

We're hosting Patrick's first birthday party at our home on Saturday. That's another rough thing about the winter...it's obviously far too cold to celebrate his birthday in our yard or at the park. Our home will be cozy and fun though. I'm already decorating and trying to get things ready so that I'm not trying to do everything all on Saturday. I'm proud of myself because I plan to come in $200 less than last month in our grocery bill and that includes supplies and food for the party!!! Go me!

Thoughts: working outside the home

I have a wonderfully fulfilling life in so many ways.
I have a family that gets along and enjoys time together.
I have friends that support each other and who constantly open my eyes to new ideas and ways of thinking.
I have a husband that supports me in all of my crazy ideas (namely doing theater while working full time and raising our little man).
I have a (almost one!) little man that motivates me to be better and teaches me about Christ-like love.
I have a job where I get to constantly meet new people and it excites me every day.

More on the job. In the last 11 months I feel as though I've done a pretty bang up job balancing being a mama, wife, and business banker. Sometimes I get to sprinkle that balance with some theater. I've been a pretty great daughter, sister, and friend too. Though, there are times when I feel guilty about working a full time job. The other day, I read a friend's Instagram post about how blessed she felt to be able to have her little one with her constantly and how she will always put her daughter first; being with her all day every day. Maybe I read it wrong but I thought...am I not putting Patrick first? Is there truly something wrong with working outside the home? Will my choice to work a full time job negatively impact Patrick in any way? I worry about this constantly.

Powder Mountain

The day after Christmas Scott and I went skiing with my brother and his BIL and SIL at Powder Mountain in Tahoe. It was an interesting and VERY fun day. Here's what happened:

We all got up and had a lazy morning (very a-typical for a group of people who plan to hit the slopes for a day. As a kid it seemed like we were all up and ready to go to the resort by like 7 or 8 AM) and headed off at about 10 AM. When we got there we waited in line for tickets and to purchase a rental for Scott. I borrowed my moms old skis. I wish I had a picture of them but they were definitely old school...like early 80's I'm thinking. LOVED THEM! I'm secretly hoping she gives them to me and buys herself some nice new ones. Anyway, after we redeemed our tickets and purchased Scott's rental we started waiting in line for fittings in the rental gear and I had to get poles. Some lady snagged us in line (an employee of the resort) and told us that she could easily take us some back way to get some poles. I told her that my husband had to pick out rentals and she agreed to help us get those a back way too (LUCKY US!!!).

Here's where our luck turned.

Scott brought his new GoPro camera to take some sweet action shots coming down the slopes. We borrowed my dad's selfie stick and once we were on the slopes thought...wow...we suck at skiing and won't likely have the skill to even use the camera...let's get a locker. Scott then found out that all the lockers were full (or so he thought) so, we decided I would carry the camera and Scott would carry the goggles he brought. That didn't seem too troublesome and we didn't want to hike everything back to the car. So, the decision was made and we hit the bunny hill.

It was a lovely little slope. Not even really worthy of being called a bunny hill but, it was a good run to just experience being on skis after a few year hiatus. Once at the bottom I realized DUN DUN DUN part of the selfie stick's telescoping had come loose and I dropped the camera somewhere on that run!!!

My heart sank. Scott was SO excited about that camera and I lost it. I was sure that I dropped it on the bunny slope so I popped off my skis and started walking up it looking for the camera. Nothing. We popped our skis back on and went down the hill still scanning everywhere. As we were getting on the lift to head back up and check the lost and found I was asking all the employees if someone had turned in a camera. Nothing. Once we sat down on the lift Scott lost his ski. We were already stuck on the lift and headed up so, at the top we had to wait for his ski to come back. Our hearts were heavy. This awesome gift Scott got from his work as a Christmas bonus was likely picked up by a stranger and we would likely not see it again. I told Scott that while he was waiting for his ski, I would go and check the lost and found. There was a line when I arrived. Only a few people and a couple of them were families picking up their season passes for 2016. A dad and small child posed for pictures in their snow gear; all smiles. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up. Yes, being late to the resort put us at basically a half day worth of skiing when we paid full day prices. Yes, we had to wait in a couple of lines but that one lady snuck us through so that was nice. Yes, I lost the GoPro and that sucked but maybe we just made a $500 charitable contribution to someone who took it. Scott arrived just as I was getting to the front of the line. We watched a resort employee walk in with it in that very moment. My spirits were instantly lifted.

Scott decided he'd make the trek back to the car to drop off the GoPro and I would wait for him just outside of the food court area and we would grab some food. I got a message from Nacho that they were eating too and I told them I would have to wait for Scott to get back before meeting them because he didn't have a phone on him. Right as Scott arrived I went to the top of the stairs to holler down to him. As I got there this lady stopped me and asked me to help her son get off the snow in his ski boots and walk up the stairs. She said he was nervous to step off the snow in his ski boots and she doesn't have experience with that and asked if I could grab him and help. I'm thinking oooooOOOooook. I head down the stairs to grab her son who is no small child. He's like 12 or 13 I'd guess and already kind of making his way to the stairs. When I arrive at the bottom she hollers down to me and asks if I can grab their skis. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I'm wondering what's keeping her from doing this herself but, I feel like I need to pay into the good karma bucket seeing as how our $500 GoPro was just returned to us. I grab the skis and head up the stairs. As I'm walking, this older gentleman trips and falls into me. In all the history of sucky days I've never had such a series of sucky things happen in such a sequence. At that point it was laughable.

Scott and I laughed as we headed up the stairs to meet up with Brent, Nacho, and Ceci for lunch. The rest of the day was  perfectly fun.