A Week in Review (June 21-27)

A Week in Review (June 21-27)

Watched: A lightbulb click for Jack. He was finally able to put together most of the necessary mechanics to get the basic swimming that didn't involving underwater swimming. He did so good in his lessons that he is able to move up to the higher levels. He is excited to be professing. This next swim lesson time comes with the big benefit of ending just 10 minutes before the pool opens. I am sure that we will be staying and swimming plenty next week. 

Read: About the first 1/4 of Ship of Brides by JoJo Moyes. I have really enjoyed her other books but so far this one has been very disjointed and really hasn't pulled me in. I did pick up Grey by EL James. I will be interested to see if I like the trilogy as much when told from Christian's perspective. 

Listened: To my car make an awful sound as I curb checked and my tire popped. Not exactly the best thing to have happen after a weekend of camping and a nice dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate Father's Day.  Nick got it the donut on with no problems and we got it all taken care of Monday when the shops opened up. 

Made: A trip to the doctor on Monday because I was sure that my pinky toe had an infection in it. It was so painful. She said that I didn't and it was just most likely broken from the originally injury (kicking a shopping cart wheel). It was still quite red and painful so I went to Facebook to ask if I should seek a second opinion.  One friend suggested an Epsom salt soak and another friend with a medical background gave me specific signs of what to look for in the morning. I soaked it that night and it did feel a little better. After the second soak the next morning the pain was reducing and the other signs were not showing up. While I am glad I first sought the opinion of a doctor, I am thankful for my awesome group of friends who had better suggestions than she did for putting my mind at ease. I know that an infection is nothing to mess around with. 

Felt: Glad that my son will grow up in a United States where gays aren't discriminated against by the government. I am so proud that they will be entitled to all the benefits that marriage grants you.  I can't imagine not being able to make end of life decisions for the person I loved. So many people are worried that we are headed in the wrong direction, but I think acceptance of others, even things that make us uncomfortable, can not be a bad thing. I loved the judges ruling and have included it below for my future reference. 

Planned: To get my hair all chopped off. I have been so sick of my hair lately.  It hasn't been laying right and has looked just awful most days. I looked into a pixie cut and thought maybe I should go that way. When I went to hairstylist she convinced me that I wouldn't be happy with the extreme change and just went with bob that has a pixie-ish back. I am very happy with it. I took a selfie, but I am not sure you can see a lot of difference from the front, but there really is. Jack isn't sure he likes it so short on me. I am thrilled with it. 

Loved: Celebrating Father's Day all weekend with my husband. I couldn't think of any awesome gifts to give him so I tried to give him to gift of relaxation. This project has taken so much out of him that it takes a lot more for him to unwind.  When we got home from camping, I sent him straight to the shower.  During that time, I got things put away enough that he could just enjoy being home.  We then went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and came home and watched some Mythbusters together.  I am so glad that we chose to take this journey together. 

Here are the pics for the week:

A Week in Review (June 14-20)

A Week in Review (June 14-20)

Watched: Jack be so excited to use his money to be able to buy things. It is so nice that he saves his money so that he can get the things he wants. I am so glad that he chose to look at a couple different stores trying to find the best price. If you are one of the awesome people who give him cash to spend please know that he gets full control over his wallet and the things he wants to buy. I do provide guidance, but the ultimate decision lies with him. 

Read:  I finally finished The Hypnotist's Love Story. I gave it 4 stars. This is an interesting story about how easily things can spin out of control. I really (scarily so) identified with Saskia. I didn't find Patrick to be a very redeeming character. I think this is most likely out of my identification with Saskia. If you are looking for an intriguing summer read, I'd say pick this one up.

Listened: To Jack tell me that our friend had put her "hand" in the water at a new splash pad we went to check out.  He kept saying it and I kept saying it was okay. Then he hit the ending sound super hard and I realized that all along he had been telling me that she put her "ham" in it.  Oops!  No wonder he had been so concerned.  The streams running through the park did make it fun to watch things float down them.

Made: A friend feel a bit happier by sending him a Monday evening selfie. It was a good reminder that we need to let others see our light shine so that they can shine too.

Felt: Happy to see my brother and his wife. They were kind enough to bring Jack back to Cheyenne. We met at Chipotle for a nice lunch and even played two rounds of neighbor before getting on our way.

Planned: To go to dinner with one of the engineers on Nick's project who had two girls who Nick thought were around Jack's age. They ended up being 15 month old twins, but we still had a nice time.  Jack got to taste a fresh from the garden raspberry, which he gave a sideways thumb too. The girls were very enamored with him. Whenever he talked, they would get totally quiet to listen to him.

Loved: Our camping trip for Father's Day.  Nick was able to take a half day on Friday and we got our camp set up nice and early in the day.  We went and looked around the campground and found an awesome little side trail that led to a stream and lots of down twigs which made good kindling.That night we roasted marshmallows and tried the Fudge Striped cookie version of a s'more--so yummy!  The next day we went to Lisa Falls, which is an unmarked waterfall in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It was great because it really allowed Jack to do more climbing as compared to hiking.  That evening we built boats and launched them down the river. Both Jack's and Nick's made it further than mine as far as we could tell. We are big fans of camping in Utah for the cool nights and the lack of bugs!

Here are the pics for the week:

A Week in Review (June 7-13)

A Week in Review (June 7-13)

Watched: Real Salt Lake take on the Colorado Alpines. Our neighbors gave us their tickets as they were unable to attend. It was a good time, but I don't think I quite get it like I do football. It was a long game without a ton of action.  Jack really enjoyed it again and was glad we went. 

Read: I didn't finish The Hypnotist Love Story yet, but I did make good progress. I am sure next week I will have completed it (finally!)

Listened: To Jack check on the sweet neighbor baby who was napping on my bed. His mom had an appointment so we watched him while Jack was at swim lessons. He conked out on the car ride home and I was able to transfer him easily. Jack gave him his lemur beside him so that in case he woke up and we weren't there, he wouldn't be frightened. 

Made: The long trek to Colorado Springs so that we could scope out the area and possibly find a house. We weren't able to sign a lease on a house, but we did get a very good idea of the neighborhoods that we would like.

Felt: Quite amazed that my legs are both naturally sun tanned and scab free. It has been so nice to live where there are fewer mosquitoes and I am going to embrace every second of it. I was told that CO Springs wasn't too buggy either and I hope they are right about that. 

Planned: For Jack to do a second week of swim lessons at same level he had taken this week. However, when I spoke with his instructor, he said that he felt he was ready to move up a level.  He loves being in the water.  We were there almost every free day this week. 

Loved: Seeing my mom, if only for a bit, while we exchanged Jack. I was so thankful to her for meeting us so that he didn't have to deal with the exploration of  CO Springs. I don't think he would have a good time with us at all. My sister-in-law texted me a couple of awesome pictures of them hanging out. 

Here are the pics for the week:

We try not to take ourselves too seriously here. I can't even remember what brought this about. 

First week of summer, first time cleaning the bathroom. Poor guy...

So there was a large animal in the field behind our house. While a deer seems to make the most sense, I swear it was a moose. The antlers were just to big for a deer. Sadly, the tall grass camouflaged it too much and I wasn't able to get a good shot. 

A Week in Review (May 31-June 6)

A Week in Review (May 31-June 6)

Watched: Jack have a blast at a splash pad. It was very hot after school on Tuesday when we were meeting our friends to play after school.  This inspirers us to call it quits and go check out the new splash pad that was built in town. When we got there, we found out it was under construction still. Luckily, there was one about another 10 minutes away. It was a neat place to play. There were fountains, squirt guns, sprinklers, and a dump bucket. The different features worked at different times to keep it lively. It was also button operated so that it didn't run if no one was around to keep it  flowing. It also had a great climbing structure behind that Jack enjoyed as well.

Read: Well, I still haven't gotten back on that wagon full force, but I have started reading about 10 pages a night again. I am really enjoying the story, The Hypnotist's Love Story, and keep trying to guess where it will take me. 

Listened: The final disc of Yes Please. I had been listening to the whole thing over the last 3 weeks and got it done just in time to return it and on the last day of school for Jack. I think that Amy has a lot of sound advice for people in her book. She is pretty honest about some of the truths she's learned along her life. While I feel that this book is more aimed at women, I recommended to a man who was going through some issues that Amy addresses in the beginning of her book. A little more deep than your average Hollywood memoir.

Made: A cute, and totally easy, classroom sign for Jack's teacher. She is a huge Diet Coke fan. When I saw my friend post a picture of one that her student had made for her love of Dr Pepper, I just knew that I had to make one too.  Jack also picked her out some dry erase makers in fun colors that he thought she would enjoy.

Felt: Amazement as a looked at the first day/last day picture from 1st grade. Where did my baby go?  He had a great year. He received a medal for going above and beyond his traditional work, called a Conquering Cub award. His teacher dubbed him, Mr Math Whiz. We really will miss her next year.  We celebrated the end of school with a trip to the pool. They heat it to 86, so the water felt amazing.  The pool has a

450 person capacity and there were only like 10 people there so it was pretty amazing. 

Planned: A field day (more like an hour) for 120 1st graders.  We had a Leaky Cup Relay, Pool Noodle Beach Ball Hockey, an Obstacle Course, a Hula Hoop Pass, and a game called Clean Up Your Yard, where you must roll the balls off your side of the yard to keep your yard clean.  All the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Jack wasn't sure of what to think about me using all the stuff from around the house, but I think he is over it now. 

Loved: Going exploring on Saturday. One of Nick's coworkers told him about a lake up by Park City and so we went to check it out. First we stopped and grabbed some lunch. We weren't sure where we were going to go, but when saw Main Street Pizza and Noodle, I knew we couldn't eat anywhere else. It was Jack's version of food heaven. It was pretty good food, but way overpriced.  We spent a few minutes walking around downtown. They have some strict zoning laws and everything has a mining town or ski lodge feel to it.  It is a good sense of history when you are walking along in the downtown area. When we arrived at Jordenelle State Park, Jack had to get in the water almost immediately. I put my foot in and it was freezing.  There was a long concrete ramp that continued into the water.  A couple boys had brought their bike and were riding down into it and splashing. It looked like a lot of fun. They ended up playing with Jack and all speeding way too much time in water that felt like it could give you a cold drink!  I was amazed at a water fowl we saw. It could dive under water for a least an entire minute and swim a great length in that time.  It was very cool to watch. 

Here are the pics for the week:

Finding out a cup of Diet Coke and Mentos don't work quite as well as the bottle. 

Jack in the leaky cup relay. His team won the fastest award. 

This cool piece of equipment was on the other side of the splash park. It doesn't look too high until you look at the adults in the bottom of the picture. 

Jack and his teacher after the Cub Credit Card ceremony. 

This just reminded me of one of his newborn photos and I laughed at his grown up he is becoming.