Bad Week

What a horrible week this has been. It started out with me having to work 40 hours, yes 40 hours. I have not had to work 40 hours since before Maddy was born. Then Trever finds out his grandmother is going back East to visit some family and is unlikely to come home, as her health is failing. He takes the girls down to Elmo to spend some time with her before she takes off. So, I'm left home alone with no family. I was actually thinking I was going to get some good sleep, nope the opposite. I could not sleep, and to make it worse the dogs were freaking out that the girls were gone. Brody kept running from room to room, finally about 3 am I had to go sit in each of their rooms with him and explain they would be home in a few days and they were fine. STEVE at his finest. Trever and the girls made it home after a nice visit with Grandma Betty, Grandma Vi, and Grandma Elmo. I started to feel a little better when I had my family home. But I was back to work before I knew it (remember the 40 hour thing), and wanting nothing more then to be home with my family. Then I find out my grandfather passed away. He was in alot of pain, so it was time. But it still hurts, my heart is sad. He was a wonderful man, that lived the most amazing life. He wrote an autobiography and I cant wait to read it. Its going to be a hard couple of days, it seems like I'm living 10 months ago all over again. Keep strong, that's what we have to do.
On a lighter note, the Treehouse museum was amazing. We are going back soon to do the normal admission, what we did last week was a special thing they do for Halloween. It was really cute, they do it every Friday during October. The kids start out trying to help find 5 dragons and along the way they run into characters such has Little Miss Muffet, Cinderella, Alice and the rabbit, Knights etc. eventually they find the main dragon and have to learn the magic word to make him a nice dragon. Very cute program, and the kids had to walk from place to place so they didn't get antsy and stayed interested. Before all this, Maddy went to the Dentist, I had debated on going to regular vs. petatric dentist. Im happy I decided to go with the petatric, they made it a great experience. She has no cavities and everything looks great. However her adult teeth do have the crown edges like mine do, it was pretty neat seeing her adult teeth from the X-rays. And Maddy thought it was cool that she got to put "stickers" in her mouth and bite down on them and hold really still while the lady took a picute. She still says "that was so silly, putting stickers in my mouth"
Today we went up to the park by Mountain Dell golf course up East Canyon. So pretty, not everything is changing colors yet but it was still gorgeous. Maddy was excited to get to hang with her old daycare friends from Vicky's. Kennedy thinks she needs to eat again, how else is she going to make it to 18 pounds :)

Pancreatic Pirates

Friday night Maddy danced at half time at the Granger High football game. It was a very cute dance; she did a great job for a 3 year old! Most importantly she had fun doing it. Saturday morning, we were off to an early start. We were at the “This is the Place” monument by 8:30 am for the Diabetes walk. Our team, lead by my friend Angela were the Pancreatic Pirates. We all wore patches, including Kennedy. It was very crowded, so other then being herded like cattle it was a nice walk for a good cause. Then it was off to the Zoo, first stop the train of course. After an exhausting trip around the zoo, we were off to the Utes game. As you can see in the picture, Maddy is a die hard Ute fan! It was a very long eventful day.

This Friday we are going to the Tree house in Ogden, they are doing a Halloween party. Maddy is very excited, and I have wanted to get up there to check it out. I have good things about it.

Jumble O Thoughts

Lately it seems my life is just flying by. My mind seems like an ocean of half thoughts, unfinished projects, and well at the end of the day feeling like I accomplished nothing. Several months ago I decided I needed to change; I needed to add some sort of order to my life. Around the same time, I was thinking of putting together a chore chart for Maddy. So I was searching “3 year old chore chart” and came across a great blog. simplemom.net, she is an American mom living overseas, and her blog is about making life simple. She really has some great ideas. So back to my ocean of half thoughts, this week her blog entry “Get stuff done at home, by getting stuff off the brain” is just what I needed. So Im taking her suggestion and Im writing everything down in a notepad. I mean everything. I have only been doing it 2 days, but so far so good. My mind already seems clearer. She has several other ideas, which I have also implemented.

By far the best home tip that I have started is “15 minutes”. I still do a deep clean once a week. But every day, no matter how tired, busy, or lazy we are, Trever and I do whatever we can get done in 15 minutes. Really it’s surprising what can get done in 15 minutes. The house is always at minimum tidy, which I need. Clutter and messes drive me nuts. Maddy has a chore chart, and putting her toys away twice a day is part of her chores. Works for me because her doll laying on the floor doesn’t drive me nuts, knowing in 2 short hours it will be toy clean up time.

So we will see how the writing everything down goes in the next couple weeks. My goal is for a clear mind to think about the things that want to think about

Cruise

My family had been planning to go on a cruise for a couple years, when my father got sick it was delayed. Then I got pregnant, so the cruise was delayed even further. I would not leave until Kennedy was at least 3 months old, which was still way to young to be leaving her.
So back in March the plan was set, My mother, brother Paul, sister-in-law Jana, Trever and I would be traveling on the Liberty of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean Aug 30-Sept 6, only 5 days after my 29th birthday. It was a very hard decision to leave my girls, specially with Kennedy being so young, but it was a once in a life time opportunity, so off to the Carribean is where I would be going. Luckily I have wonderful people in life that I could trust with my children for 8 days. So here is a break down of the days.

Friday-
Very long day of traveling, finally made it into Ft. Lauderdale around midnight.

Saturday-
Back to the airport to catch our bus that would take us to the Miami Port. Around 2pm we are finally on the boat. What an amazing feeling, after months of planning. Now I had heard the boat was huge, but wow it really is like a city. So we spent a few hours touring the boat. Then we were off to our first dinner at our assigned table. We met, who would become our waiter for the remaining 6 nights, Arun. His sole job was to make sure we we ate in luxury, that is exactally how we were treated all 6 nights.
Our itenary was changed due to the many hurricanes going on around us. At this point in the trip our biggest concern was Gustavo. Due to the change, Sunday was a full day of cruising.

Sunday-
Very relaxing day. Alot of laying around, swimming, and eating. This was the first day we tried the flow rider. Harder then it looks! Trever contuined doing it daily until the end of the cruise, Im not real sure he ever got better. Sunday night was the first "formal" dinner. Again, it was a very nice dinner. We went to a show afterwards, Everafter. It was basically a modern version of all the fairytales, pretty good for an hour of entertainment. We did some gambling after, I stayed about even, Trever won, Paul and my mom lost. This gambling trend would remain through the end of the trip.

Monday-
Today we would port into Labadee, Haiti. We didnt have any excursions scheduled so we were excited to get some snorkeling in. A hurricane had hit the island only days before, so the weather was still stormy. They closed all the water activites. We tried to snorkel, we saw a few fish but nothing too exciting. We ate a mass produced lunch on the island, by far the worst food of the week. Then it was off to the flea markets, that is an experience all in itself. Defiantly a test of self control. Due to the weather, we decided to head back to the boat. After dinner, we went to the Promenade (the shopping area) for the 70's style "Dancin' in the Street". We all had a blast, it was fun to just let loose and giggle with the family. It was very windy night, after the party we went on deck 11 where the pools are, to see just how windy it was. According to our boat information channel, 50 mph winds. I was sure we were all going to fly away.

Tuesday-
Today we ported San Juan, Puerto Rico. We did the Tiki Hut zip lines. We were taken about 40 minutes up a very windy long road. We then zip lined to 8 platforms. It was alot of fun, during the 10 seconds we were on the zip lines, but waiting 20 minutes to get unhooked and hooked on to the next zip line was a long process. Overall, a fun excursion. We then ate at a Puerto Rican restaurant. Not food I would want to eat all the time, but it seemed appropriate. Trever, Paul and I did some shopping afterwards, but then headed back to the boat. It was a very dirty place, and it smelled rotten. When we got back to the boat, and cleaned up. We went to the Ice Skating show, Encore. Very well done show, I was impressed. There was a special appearance from a lady that skated around while hula hooping 20 hoops. Pretty amazing. I wonder if my brother got a picure of that????

Wednesday-
Bright and Early we port in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Even though our snorkeling excursion was canceled, this was the best port by far. We took a cab to a beach, and did our own snorkeling. We saw quite a few tropical fish, it was just what I wanted. Snorkeling is one of my favorite things to do. I even got my mom to give it a try, it only lasted a few minutes but she did great for those few minutes. The weather turned rainy after a few hours, so after enjoying a tasty crab sandwich and beer on the beach we headed to downtown for some shopping.
Later that night, after an interesting dinner (Lamb has a very odd texture) , I watched the show "In the Air". This was a very cool show, alot of acrobats. Amazing.
I think around this time we were dodging, Hurricane Hannah. The top decks were closed for the night, as the winds were too high.

Thursday-
By morning, the weather was perfect. We sat around the pool all day. The belly flop competition was a nice entertainment piece. No, Trever did not enter he just wasn't feeling up to it. Later that night was our last formal dinner. It was very tasty Lobster. By this time Arun had a full on man crush on Trever aka The Captain. He also had begun singing "We are family" to us nightly. He was a funny man, when you could understand him. However, he did feed us well. There were several nights Trev and Paul ate 3 plates each. Another gambling night followed dinner, as I mentioned before I stayed even, Trever won, Paul and Mom lost. By this time Paul was convinced blackjack is fixed on boats, and had even researched it to back up his theory. But for some reason, he just kept playing.. and losing. That ended quickly, so Trever and I headed to one of the bars for a game of beyond balderdash. The 3 characters were hilarious. I laughed for one straight hour.
So without looking it up, what is Vagitus?

By this point in the trip, I'm sick to my stomach every time I think of my girls, so I am trying to just not think about them. I miss them more then words can describe. But I'm also enjoying one of the best trips of my life!

Friday-
Another full day around the pool. I got a minor sunburn, nothing to complain about it quickly turned into a tan. After our last dinner, we headed to the Farwell variey show. It was good, I wrapped up the week long experience well. Trever and I wondered around the boat for another hour or so, then we were off to bed.

Saturday-
So bitter sweet. This cruise was an amazing experience. But I was so excited to get home, I missed my girls and dogs desperately. We were off the boat by 8am, and to the airport by 9 am. Our flight did not leave until 3pm, and the airline did not show up until after noon to take our luggage. So we sat, and sat, and sat, and sat at the airport for 6 hours!!! Followed by a 5 hour flight to Denver, and another hour flight into SLC. We arrived at 7:30pm. And we missed the first home Utah game! At least they won! One very long day of traveling. I couldn't understand why Trever was not running red lights on the way home from my moms, I needed to see the girls right then. After we had our reunion with the girls, and every settled I had my first bitter-sweet moment. My experience was over and I had spent the last days wanting nothing more then to get home. Again, this was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful I got the opportunity to go. Thanks mom!! Even though we were all a little on edge by the end, it was a awesome experience and Im happy I got to spend it with my family.

I started the book, Breaking Dawn on the first day of the trip. I finished all 700+ pages throughout the trip. Good book, but it could have been condensed down to about 500 pages and still gotten the story told effectively. Well, maybe not, I guess that is why I'm not a writer.

While I was gone Maddy started Preschool and Dance. She loves them both. She goes to "pretend" preschool every day that is not a real preschool day, and we officially got the shuffle ball chang down. I think she likes the noise the tap shoes make more then the actual dancing :)
Kennedy is not rolling over yet, but she is so close. It will happen at any moment. I started her on cereal, she likes it. We will start some bananas and other fruits soon. She can pull her self up to a sitting position. She has always been a strong little girl. Still not sitting all that well once she gets herself sitting though.

Things are going to get crazy in the next few weeks. Saturday I have a fund raiser for my mom at the union hall, Tuesday another at Oyster bar, Friday at the Hunter game they are doing the official naming of the Hunter High football stadium after my father, Ute games. So life is going to be crazy for a little while. Ill try and keep updated.
See photos of the trip at Flickr, link is on the left side. Also see my brothers Flickr, he has some different pictures posted.

Wow, I just wrote a novel. I'm impressed with anybody who read the whole post

BASEMENT COMPLETE

Even as I type these words, I cant believe the basement is finally done. It seems like a lifetime ago, we started it. We had our first party on Saturday using the new found space in our house for my birthday, it held alot of people very comfortably. There was room for the poker table, people playing foos ball, people chillin on the couches, and those who choose to stand and chat in the kitchen area, and everybody had own personal space. It was a very trying 9 months (specially with me being pregnant for 6 of those months), but I'm so happy we kept going forward and got it done! We had been swimming the day I took the pictures and didn't realize until after there were water spots on the lens. Ill post a better picture later.

VOTE KAREN MAYNE

Another step along the campaign trail, we were in the Kearns parade on Saturday. I have been going to this parade for as long as I can remember my grandmother use to live on 5400 s, so as a little kid I can remember getting to her house because we always had a prime seat for the parade. My aunt Shauna drove my mother in her 1980 Corvette. While Paul and I walked along side throwing candy, my in laws Tyler and Sara passed out literature along the way. My mother has so much support in this community, the whole way through the parade there was non stop yelling “Go Karen” “We love you Karen”, and even all the kids she has taught at South Kearns Elementary through the years yelling in excitement. My brave sister in law Jana, had all the kids watching the parade. I let Maddy get on my shoulders and throw some candy; she thought that was pretty cool. We then went to the Fire, Water and Ice at the Kearns Recreation center with my neighbors. Swimming was fun, but there were so many people. But Trever got to join us for swimming, so that was nice to get to spend some time with him before he was back to work. Later that night, I was invited to play poker. I took first, that’s always a nice ending to a long eventful day J

Lagoon!

This past weekend we took our second trip to Lagoon of the season. The first time was in June, we went with my brother and his family. Saturday, we traded Kennedy for my neighbor Kylie who is 8. Of course Maddy was fearless, wanting to ride all the rides. She was pretty bummed she couldn’t ride the “big kid” rides, but she sure loved the ones she could ride. We rode Tidal Wave 4 times. The girls got their picture taken in Pioneer Village, I told Maddy to give a “mad” look. Im think we need to get her into acting, what a look J. Ice cream followed the pictures, and then it was back to the rides. It was a hot 102 degrees, but I think it actually kept people home as the lines were pretty short. The kid rides had no lines, I walked right on the roller coaster, and we only waited about 15 minutes for Rattlesnake rapids. All in all, it was a very fun day.

Trever’s Grandpa Jennings died last week, so we headed down to Price on Tuesday for the funeral. It was a very nice memorial. We left at 5am to get down there in time, what a long day. But I was glad we made it down there for his grandma.