skip to main |
skip to sidebar
June 26, 2009
One of my friends invited Pearl and I to go with her and some other friends to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house today followed by a picnic at her house. Minus the hour drive, I was really excited for a fun girl's outing that would hopefully give me some brownie points in terms of motherhood duties to teach my child about Jesus and Heavenly Father. Hmmm... the problem was I wasn't sure if Pearl knew what a temple was or how to explain what this special building was to her. Thank heavens she does know who Jesus is, well at least in pictures, so I must have done at least one thing right. I told her it was Jesus' house and that seemed to be a good enough explanation for her - that and the fact that I promised her there would be cookies at the end of the tour. I think it's the only reason she made it up and down all the stairs, past the "swimming pool with the cows" (baptismal font), through the "nursery room" (waiting room for children who are being sealed to their parents) and absolutely gorgeous hallways, up and down the elevators (we had two other kids in strollers), and by all the pictures of Jesus. Come cookie time, Pearl could hardly wait! She was so mad when I took it away in an ill-fated attempt to have our picture taken. We didn't get a single picture of the two of us both looking at the camera, eyes open, and smiling. Oh well, this one of Pearl eating her cookie is much cuter anyway!
June 25, 2009
We had our summer staff retreat today at someone's cabin in Heber. It was a LONG drive and we got lost trying to find our way up the mountain. It wasn't all my fault though... my boss had forgotten to put what street to turn on and then had said to turn the opposite direction than what we should have gone. By the time we got to the retreat, Pearl had just about had it with sitting in the car. Luckily her friends Bella and Gabe (yes, they are siblings even if they look nothing alike) were there to play with. Gabe is in Pearl's class at daycare and Bella is cool because she is a "big kid" as Pearl calls her. A long day of hanging out with mom's co-workers, playing in the sand volleyball pit, and not eating very well totally wiped us both out. This two day work week, ok so really one day work week since I was in the office all but 6 hours yesterday, is really rough!
June 24, 2009
After seeing all the bikini bods in Florida and realizing how frumpy I have become, I have made myself go on walks the past few nights in a futile attempt to battle the flab. Pearl likes to join me and while most days she is fairly good about staying in her stroller, lately she has decided it's more fun if she is actually walking. The problem is, our 20 minute power walk turned into a 45 minute exploration of pine cones (or as Pearl was pretending ice cream cones), rocks, grass, and other invisible wonders to the adult eye. I burned more calories yelling at Pearl to hurry up, stay out of the road, not to stop in the middle of driveways, and to stay by mom than I did actually walking. I thought if I gave her the running strap to hold on to that it would keep her out of danger. While it did make it easier to keep her out of harms way, it sure made for a LONG walk! She found it funny to pull back on it and try to pull the stroller the opposite way that I was pushing it. Finally I gave up and just took the leisurely stroll Pearl wanted. We talked about pine cones, dogs, flowers, rocks, and cement and despite my impatience had a nice walk home. Too bad I won't be toning up anything but my vocal cords at this pace!
June 23, 2009
If you're really good, you just might take the crappy car to the shop to finally get its oil changed, after almost 3,000 miles more than what you should have put on it between visits.
If you're really good, your two-year-old will only scream for a minute or two that some strange man is driving off with her car, even after explaining to her that he is going to fix it.
If you're really good, your mom might scrounge up a quarter to buy you some Reese's pieces (too bad being really good only gets you five of them) from the vending machine.
If you're really good, the mechanic won't tell you anything else is wrong with your car you hope doesn't die on you at any moment or explode from going six months without getting the oil changed.
If you're really good, your mom will take you to the DI for a toy for being so good.
If you're really good, your "used" toy will actually be a brand new bowling ball set that cost only $1.50.
If you're really good, your mom will let you play in the pool all afternoon and eat Popsicles (chocolate ones at that).
If you're really good, you get to keep your swimming suit on all evening, including during dinner, a nap on mom's chest while she finishes her book, and while you pretend play with your grocery cart, blankets, and baby doll.
If you're really good, you just might get the one day off that you have to go to work the entire week... guess I wasn't really good today as it's back to reality tomorrow!
June 22, 2009
Today was a "sweet" day! I was happy all day, finished the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, played with Pearl, assisted Jeff in finishing a yard project, and just had a great time being home. Pearl and I started our day off with a tour of the Sweet's Candy Factory. Did you know it takes 7 days to make a jelly bean and the guys who make them have to train for a year? Who knew? Pearl was really excited to wear the "hat" and have mom in matching attire but it balked in comparison to shopping in the store at the end of the tour. That kid would have walked away with 20 lbs. of cinnamon bears, jelly beans, gummy bears, and more! It didn't matter if she liked the candy or not, it was a candy store and the sugar rush was kickin'! After our "sweet" beginning to the day, we headed to Jeff's office to take him some cinnamon bears. We ended up going to lunch and Pearl screamed bloody murder when she realized Daddy wasn't coming home with us. As much as Jeff kept saying sorry to me for leaving me with a screaming kid strapped in the back seat, I knew he was loving every minute of it. Guess five days with just Dad means he is the favorite now. A two hour nap, vacuuming out the car (you know it's really gross if I actually take the initiative to do the vacuumming instead of wating for Jeff to do it), and squeals of delight when Daddy came home proceeded.
The "sweetness" continued with actually finishing the "curb appeal" project, well minus the new compost and plants, but the planters are done and look awesome (with a quick run to Lowe's by mommy and Pearl to get the last four blocks)! While Jeff worked away, Pearl and I made grilled tuna fish sandwiches and set up a picnic on the front lawn. We even broke out the "breakfast in bed" serving trays that we've never once used since the day we got them for a wedding gift. They are actually the perfect table for picnics, not to mention I can get everything out the door in one trip. Jeff worked really hard and was covered (along with the flowers, sidewalk, and house) in concrete dust by the end of the night.
Right before calling it quits for the day, I turned around to see Jeff freak out at Pearl for what appeared to me to be a gigantic spider on her blanket! The next thing I know is Pearl is crying and Jeff is trying to catch a tiny baby quail. What? Apparently Pearl is a "quail whisperer." How on earth did that tiny thing get on top of Pearl's blanket, which was right in the middle of our mess with the flower beds? Poor little thing! It was scared to death, as was Pearl by this time, so I scooped him up (and Pearl) and tried to find his mamma in the backyard. I told Pearl I took him back to his mommy and that he would be ok, which seemed to calm her down. After a bath, stories, prayer, and XOXO, I'm now blogging late into the night (on two blogs at once, pathetic!) and loving every second of it! Sometimes there are days so "sweet" that you just don't want them to end!
June 21, 2009
I guess Pearl was quite upset that I took the toenail polish with me to Florida. Jeff even called me at the airport to ask where it was, all while Pearl was screaming "lost" in the background. So as a welcome home present, she decided to paint my toenails. You should have seen the proud look on her face when she was done making my toes look like I put them through a paper shredder. It's a good thing I love and missed that little pipsqueak because I'm not sure I'll ever be this good of a sport again, especially considering we don't have any nail polish remover!
June 20, 2009
Do I really have to leave this? I mean, I miss Jeff and Pearl but come on! Going home to a messy house, a kid who you love more than anything but will undoubtedly be attached to your leg for the next month, and soggy rain just doesn't sound nearly as relaxing as seeing this every night!
June 19, 2009
We went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium today and met Winter. She was rescued at just three months of age when she got trapped in a crab trap line and lost her tail and two vertebrae. Winter was taken to the CMA, which is mostly a rehabilitation aquarium and not the big fancy ones you're probably thinking of, where they fitted her with a prosthetic flipper and are teaching her how to swim like an actual dolphin! Amazing!!! Winter wasn't the only amazing creature there either. The CMA is also home to several turtles who have been injured too seriously to be returned to the wild. Some are blind, others are missing their flippers from injuries with boaters, and another turtle was dropped on her shell by a fisherman and paralyzed. It was sad to see them trying to swim because they either ran into everything, couldn't submerge, or would simply float to the top because of their injuries. It really made me stop and think how we sometimes do a fantastic job of trashing our beautiful planet and its creatures. The CMA was a a great break from the heat, crowds, and it sure got you a lot closer to dolphins than the $25 dolphin encounter tour we took.
June 18, 2009
Nothing beats kicking up your feet and watching the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico after a long day of dolphin watching, shopping (boy did Kimmy and my mom go nuts), eating your first world famous original Frenchy's grouper sandwich, riding the Jolley Trolley up and down Clearwater beach, and giggling with your mom and sister, oh and a few hours of meetings.
June 17, 2009
My mom and sister made it to Florida tonight so we hit the beach for night stroll. It started to rain - silly Utahns bringing the crappy rain with them - so we stuck close to the hotel to play in the sand and watch the lightening over the ocean. Kimmy was so excited to be in the soft sand that she immediately "borrowed" some kids' shovel and bucket and built a sandcastle. It was perfect weather at night but the day, well that was another story! With 95-100+ degree weather and high humidity it was HOT! But who cares? We are in paradise!!!
June 16, 2009
I'm on my way to what will be the BEST ever work conference I've ever been sent to! And not because the speakers are great, I'll undoubtedly learn a lot, and come back with more ideas than I know what to do with but because I am being sent to the glorious white sand beaches in Clearwater, Florida! Yes, the #1 rated beach in America folks. My hotel was right on the beach and I was able to talk my mom and sister into coming with me for five days of fun in the sun. I had the hardest time actually working and not skipping all my meetings to work on my tan (sadly my paranoia to get fried beyond belief and the fact that I was stuck in meetings during peak tanning hours didn't even give me the slightest brown color). Even the plane ride in to Tampa was beautiful. I always miss Jeff and Pearl but this time, it's going to be a little easier to keep from worrying about home.
June 26, 2009
