Tuesday 28 July 2015

A Week in Review (July 26-August 1)

A Week in Review (July 26-August 1)

Watched:  All sorts of different screens while picking out a new TV for our home. We were really debating between getting a curved or not, and decided against it. There didn't seem to be a big enough advantage to justify the price difference.  We ended up getting a 55" 4K LG.  It's clarity is almost too much for me. I am sure that I will adjust. 

Read: Nothing this week either. There is just too much bouncing around in my head for a book to get in there. 

Listened: To Jack ask if we were ever going to leave American Furniture Outlet. It is similar to a Nebraska Furniture Mart experience with less electronics. We sat on so many sofas trying to figure out what we liked. On one couch we all kind of snuggled up together, Jack said we should take a silly selfie. I loved the way it turned out. We didn't buy anything, but went home with some measurements to figure out which one would fit the space best. 

Made: The drive across Utah into our new home state of Colorado. I really hope that we all make good friends and settle into a rhythm quickly. The Point did not wrap up when we were hoping so we know that we will lose Nick back to Utah soon.  Hopefully Jack and I can use that time to explore our new area.  

Felt: Letdown. I was expecting our house to feel very fancy because of the pictures online. It turns out it has been a rental for 10 years and people don't take care of them as well as home owners do. Every thing is very dated and shows signs of wear. I am hoping once we get our stuff into it won't be as obvious. I need to remember that it's just short term and isn't a safety hazard so it will be just fine.  

Planned: On getting curtains up right away in the new place, but it turns out that I need mostly new ones to fit the windows. I did find a great deal on some to fit the 9' foot window at a garage sale. Now it's just buying the $40 rod to hang them! 

Loved: Enjoying the Melting Pot after getting our truck all loaded.  Jack had some coupons and so we just had to take advantage. As always, our experience was excellent. It was just what we needed after all the packing and cleaning. 

Here are our pictures for the week:





A Week in Review (July 19-25)

A Week in Review (July 19-25)

Watched: Jack love the ocean.  He had so much fun crashing in the waves and riding them down the coast line. The water was soooo cold though.  We would go from life guard post to life guard post before I would make him walk back and warm up for a bit. We also spent time building domes close to the shorline to see if we could make it survive the waves.  As we were walking down the Oceanside Pier, Jack said he could see himself working in a hotel and then surfing the rest of the day. I am so excited to see which of his childhood dreams comes true. 

Read: Nothing. My time that I would normally spend reading was spent catching up on Facebook or Pinterest because the rest of my days were jammed pack. 

Listened: To Jack and I laugh uproarsly as we played a round of mini golf in the warm California rain. Nick was not a fan, which honestly, made it all that much funnier.  We took a selfie before it really started to come down and Nick had to go inside.  At the same venue, Jack and I  also did two round of bumper boats.  We also played some games inside at the arcade. Jack won the jackpot on one of his favorite games. I tried to get a picture, but he was just too jumpy for it to turn out well. Because the rain wouldn't let up, the gave us some passes to come back and play later. We went back another day and played the other mini golf course and a round of laser tag.  We had a good time. 

Made: The end of our 700 mile trek home from San Diego on a spare tire. We were about 100 miles outside of Draper when suddenly Nick's tire pressure light came on. I commented and he asked him if it had gotten windy because it was pulling a bit to the right. I said I didn't think too much, so he started to slow down and get over. Before he could make it all the way, the tire blew.  It was interesting getting all our stuff into the back seat and figuring out how to lower the tire at 11:30 at night!  Luckily there was no damage outside the tire and we made it home just a bit later than planned. 

Felt: Grateful that my in-laws were able to keep Jack so that we could come back and hit packing hard. Even though I feel like we purged a lot of stuff moving to Salt Lake City and didn't aquire much new stuff there, we still have way too much stuff!

Planned: On getting the majority of our stuff packed this week. And we did it!  What I didn't count on was the very different ways that Nick and I would want to pack. It will be interesting to see how the boxes look when we unpack them!

Loved: Our day at Legoland, which was also our 14th wedding anniversary. We arrived about 9:30am. We spent sometime looking around the Big Shop where Jack saw some Lego sets that weren't yet available for sale elsewhere. We didn't buy them because I wanted to make sure he didn't want anything else along the way.  Our first ride was on a boat through Story Book Island. It was a nice ride full of lots of fairy tales crafted out of Lego. My personal favorite was Jack and the Beanstalk. I even got a picture of my Jack with it. The amazing thing about Legoland is all the structures that are created from Lego. It was mind blowing to see so many awesome things created. We took a quick tour through the set of the basement from the Legoland movie. We even were able to meet a huge size Wyldstyle outside.  We made our way back to the water park. Jack was really looking forward to the lazy river rafts where you were supposed to be able to build with Lego while you rode around. That experience was a huge letdown. The rafts were broken and you couldn't really get the rubber blocks to stick to them. We did venture to the wave pool next. It was close to both the build a boat to race exhibit and the giant splash ride.  He really enjoyed all three.  After about 90 minutes, we headed back into the park. Even on Tuesday, the lines were long. There is a handy app from Legoland that gives you the current estimated wait time.  The rides were a bit lack luster for Jack since he is used to the thrill rides of Worlds of Fun. We did make it a session of MindStorm. We fudged and said Jack was going into third grade so that they could get in. While the boys were there, I went back to get our stuff out of locker in the water park and thought I would double check that there was plenty of his desired set left in the gift shop. When I looked at the shelf and saw none, my heart sank. I was going to have a sad little man on my hands.  I decided to ask the sales associate if they had any in the back and thank heavens, they did!  I got one held for me so that they didn't sell out again.  After they finished their session which sounded like a blast, we headed over to the biggest thrill ride in the park the Technic coaster.  The line was long but it was a good ride for last. We finished up at the gift shop and were in our car by 9pm. We missed one entire section of the park too. I think Jack was pretty much the oldest I would want him to be to spend the kind of money they ask for tickets.  It was a wonderful day overall.

Here are our pictures for the week:
The boys at the Pacific Ocean 

Our selfie before the downpour started. 



His happy dance post jackpot

The boy and I on the beach 

Legoland California Pics















Tuesday 14 July 2015

A Week in Review (July 12-18)

A Week in Review (July 12-18)

Watched: Jack monkey around on the hike up to Donut Falls. It was one of the most popular family hikes in the area and so I felt like we needed to make the time to do it before we left. Nick was even able to get off to go with us. I think it was because I had such a build up in my mind that it was sort of a let down for me. I heard other people talking about how the rocks had collapsed and so you didn't get to see as much of the original donut as you used too. Jack enjoyed it because it had a lot more of an interesting trail than just the standard path. He didn't really enjoying getting his feet wet at the end in an attempt to get a better view. I'm glad we went but it wasn't my favorite hike. 

Read: I finished up The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.  While I enjoyed the fun little journey this book took me on, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. It was just so abrupt.  There were so many more details that needed to be known!  Next I started the girl who stopped swimming, but I haven't gotten too far into it. 

Listened: To Jack map our journey around the Thanksgiving Point gardens. They had 15 different themes gardens that you could look at. I had a good time taking all sorts of pictures of the flowers. It should also be noted that they have the largest man made waterfall in the Western Hemisphere.  We spent about 2 hours there. If you are looking to go with kids, I would suggest getting the combination pass that also allows you into the children's museum too. We didn't go, but Jack wanted to since he remembered all the fun things he had done with his Aunt and Uncle there. 

Made: The long trek to San Diego. We broke it up with an overnight stay in Las Vegas. Nick and I even went on a short date down to the casino and came out $28 after tipping our dealer and waitresses. Not a lot, but anytime you don't lose in Vegas is awesome. It was very nice to just be out alone.  We were very thankful to Google because it saved us from a huge traffic jam although it did take us on some pretty crazy curvy roads.  I took a screen shot of it because I was amazed that going that far out of the way could possibly save you time!

Felt: Glad that it didn't take very many showings for our landlord to find someone new to rent his home.  After being particularly accomodating one time, I came home to an Olive Garden gift card from him. I thought that was very thoughtful of him.  I hope we get as lucky with our next landlord. 

Planned: On returning Stella to her mom ourselves, but our schedule didn't work because we were down showing Banbury Donuts and Liberty Park to our friends. How I managed getting a picture of that is beyond me!  Jane got one that I will need to have her send. But back to Stella, we really had a great time having her around. I love the picture I got of these two sharing the love seat while Jack slept. 

Loved: The very thoughtful gift that our friends put together for Jack. It is a long photo book that chronicles our time that we spent with them while here. I know that Jack will really treasure it. She also made us some delicious banana muffins and cute homemade card too.  We will miss seeing them on a regular basis. We are just hoping to meet the newest one before we leave. 

Here are the pics for the week:


Trying to decide how to cross the steam at Donut Falls. 

Thanksgiving Point gardens





A miniature golf course later in the day. This was in the middle of a hole. Very fun!

Really we saved 40 minutes going all the way out of our way. 



A Week in Review (July 5-11)

A Week in Review (July 5-11)

Watched: Our neighbors dog for a couple of days. We really enjoyed having her over. She turned 3 on Saturday and still is like a big puppy.  She loves to play and her and Jack got along so well. It will be so fun to watch his relationship develop with his own dog. 


Read:  I finished up The Ship of Brides.  Definitely not my favorite JoJo Moyes book. It started off very slowly and was disjointed feeling. The characters all lacked strong voices and so it took a while to know whose point of view you were reading from. It took me a long time to get 3/4 of the way through it, but the last 100 pages went by rather quickly.  I would recommend skipping this one unless you are really interested in the topic.  Next, I started reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.  It is set in the post World War II time frame so it flowed with after finishing The Ship of Brides.  It is told in letters.  I am enjoying it, but I don't see it drawing me in for a quick read.

Listened: To Jack and Nick discuss how the were going to pull his tooth out with some floss.  Apparently, Nick tied to his tooth and to the door handle and then they slammed the door shut.  He is the first kiddo that I know to lose four bottom teeth and no top ones.  We are going to visit the dentist shortly after we get to the Springs to see what a new dentist will think.  They have been thinking they should be coming out anytime for the last 1.5 years!  He does look really cute with the two symmetrical holes in his mouth though.


Made:  A homemade slushie with Root Beer.  While it tasted good, it made a great mess!  The carbonation caused the lid to explode off and then leak out the sides.  Despite the mess it was making, we kept shaking for the necessary 5 minutes to get a good slushie consistency.  We had a good laugh, but I think that next time we will try something without carbonation for a less messy good time.

Felt: Disappointed with the weather for this week's swim lessons.  We had to miss twice because of rainy days.  At least on the positive side, Jack still passed the back stroke and moved onto learning the butterfly.  He has really enjoyed the quick progression that he has had through the lessons here.  I have enjoyed the reasonable price and watching him having fun.  He is thinking about looking into what a summer swim team might be like next year.  Who knows what a year will bring though?

Planned: On avoiding the crowds by eating at the new pancake place in town on a Sunday.  I had heard lots of good things about them and they had a Groupon so I took advantage.  I wanted to make sure we got it used, so we went on Sunday.  There was an hour wait at 1:30.  It was crazy to me.  Nothing is busy around here on Sunday afternoon.  We did end up getting sat in about half the time.  The food was good, but it wouldn't routinely be worth a crazy wait time.  Jack liked some of the decor and snapped some pictures.  I posted them below for you.

Loved: Exploring the Trax system and downtown with Jack.  We decided that it would be fun to ride the light rail into downtown Salt Lake.  Jack thought that it was great that he got to monkey around instead of sitting in a booster seat.  I thought it was nice not having to navigate the downtown traffic.  We had lunch at the Lion House Pantry.  We had a great carrot cake for dessert.  Jack said it was the best he has ever had.  Then we walked to The Leonardo, an interactive art and science attraction.  I typed the wrong address into Google Maps so we walked about a mile out of our way, but we eventually found it and enjoyed ourselves there.  Our favorite thing was the magnetic marble wall.  I didn't get any pictures, just a video.  It isn't very exciting to watch without knowing what was going on.  If you want to see it, just let me know and I will make sure you can.    


Here are the pics for the week:

Pictures from inside the Original Pancake House in Sandy


Enjoying the fruits of his labor

Doesn't she look right at home?

4 kids finished with the sprinkler and not exactly photo ready.

Being silly riding the Trax to downtown

Messing around on the green screen at The Leonardo

The fountain outside the downtown Salt Lake City libary

Stella with her birthday yogurt

How cute is that face?

Monday 6 July 2015

A Week in Review (June 28-July 4)

A Week in Review (June 28-July 4)

Watched: An amazing 4th of July show in Sandy, UT.  It was full of grand finale type action.  In fact, I was sure I was seeing the grand finale three times before I was really seeing it.  We arrived at the festivities around 7pm and enjoyed the booths that were set up along the area for people to participate in.  There was free cotton candy (from a dentist, haha) and free board breaking lessons from a karate school.  Jack also did a few inflatables and bought a glowing sword from a vendor.  There were lots of people there, but it didn't feel all that crowded.  About a half hour before the show began, we laid out our blanket on the grass (the super nice thing about no chiggers!) and waited for the show to begin.  I tried to get a cute family selfie and it turned out awful.  I did put it below just so you can get a laugh too.


Read: I am still working The Ship of Brides.  It is starting to become a little more interesting, but the "twist", I read didn't really shock me all that much.  I am now late in returning it to the library so I really should dedicate more time to finishing it up next week.

Listened: To an interesting talk from the State Trooper that pulled me over on Wednesday.  It is apparently a primary offense to not wear your seat belt in Utah.  While I am sure that it may be safer to wear it, I don't feel that the government has the right to legislate my personal safety and force me to wear it.  That was the exact answer I gave the officer when he asked me about it.  I also got grilled for not having a Utah driver's license to go with my Utah registration.  I was informed that although I was told that it was okay by the registrar, they did not know what they were talking about.  I had to answer questions about my temporary living in Utah.  It was sure a good thing I was able to say that I had movers coming at the end of the month!  In the end, I got only a warning.  But now, that warning is on file in Utah so I will have to buckle up for the rest of the month to avoid getting the actual ticket.  


Made: A trip into downtown to use more of our Connect Salt Lake passes.  Jack chose to go back to the Planetarium.  We were able to watch two movies, get concessions, and play all afternoon for $6.  I thought that was quite the steal.  Jack's favorite thing was the thermal imagining camera and the hot/cold plates that go along with it.  It wasn't busy, so we got plenty of action with it.  I tried to take a picture for him, it didn't turn out the greatest, but it captures the overall idea.  It will be a good memory sparker when it scrolls through the pictures on the computer slideshow.

Felt: That every year, I need to walk through my house and ask myself if I would box this up if I were moving.  It really helps you keep your clutter to a minimum.  While I felt I have been pretty good about keeping the "stuff" out of here, I have probably had about three trips to Saver's and a couple trips to friends.  A lot is stuff that I moved from KC and it didn't get used like I thought it would, so it isn't making the trip to the Springs with us.  I am not sure I will be able to keep up with it, but it does feel good.  The less that I have to load into a box, the happier I am going be.

Planned:  Some more details of our move.  We are going with ABF to drive our stuff from Point A to Point B.  We will do all the packing.  We have hired a group of four men to help us load the truck on the 29th of July.  After the truck is picked up, it was have 3 to 5 business days in transit.  They will drop it off at out new place and we will get three days to unload everything.  I haven't secured people to help us unload it, but I am sure we will be paying for that as well.  Paying for help really reduces the stress of moving.  

Loved: The extra day at home with Nick!  It is so nice that the holiday fell on Saturday so Nick was able to get a three day weekend.  We had a good time just being together, grilling, lighting off fireworks, and being able to do a bunch of nothing.  Busy times are ahead for our family, so I am glad that we had this time to just kick back.

Here are the pics for the week:



He seriously loves to have his picture taken on these.


Nick didn't believe my story about getting pulled over, so I sent him this picture while I was waiting for the officer to finish running my life story.


Fireworks Pics