Jemily and the little people: October 2007

Allison is an incredibly light sleeper for a baby. Honestly, if she is sleeping and you sneeze in the backyard she will wake up. It's crazy annoying. When I put her down for her morning nap, Jane and I have to sequester ourselves downstairs for fear of waking the monster.

SO, we have been doing improvements to our backyard all summer and recently decided to put in a patio (stamped concrete) and pave the RV parking area at the side of our house that had become a mini amazon jungle. Today the cement came...in the form of 2 big cement trucks (Jane was in heaven). Of course, the trucks came right after I put Allison down for her morning nap. Great, I thought, there is no way Allison will ever sleep through THAT! Her bedroom is right next to RV parking pad. In come the trucks and drive right into the RV pad, their big cement bellies rolling and roaring. It was so loud. One truck went right up against the house and all that was separating Allison in her crib from the big monster was literally a few inches of wood and insulation.

Did Allison wake up? NO! Not at all. Not for almost the entire 2 hours they were there. I was completely dumbfounded. How is that possible? Kids. I just don't get them.

Going on vacation for a week with my hubby. Hooray to be just the two of us but also having a bit of "what was I thinking?" about leaving my kids. Tune in next time to see if we all survive.

So many nights I have thought to myself, I should put a post on my blog. Not that I fool myself into

thinking that anyone really thinks my life is that exciting and is waiting for me to post, but I like to keep my little family journal current. But something, or someone, has been stopping me. His name is Dwight Schrute, and he faster than 90% of all snakes. He came to us via the US mail, in the form of Season 3 of The Office, and he has taken over our lives. Okay, so Jevan and I LOVE this show. We watched all of Season 1 and 2 in probably 2 weekends, 3-4 episodes a night, and had to force ourselves to go to bed. We are pretty busy during the week and never find time to watch TV, so we have just been waiting to watch all of Season 3 on DVD. I'm not sure why I love it so much when I just sit and squirm uncomfortably on the couch, "Did he really just say that out loud?" " Can anyone really SAY that?"

So, it has been an Office fest around here. Needless to say, I haven't kept up on my blogging.

Last week we took a much needed family vacation down to sunny St. George. I would like to say that it was nice to get away from the cold weather that has been passing through northern Utah lately, but to tell the truth, I am really excited for winter. Most people I know, especially my husband, think I am completely nuts but I LOVE snow. Anyway, beside the point. We went down south.

Here's the trip in a nutshell:
DAY 1: Driving. Lots of driving. The girls actually did great except for one small incident. About an hour outside of our destination, Jevan and I were commenting on how well the girls had handled the drive thus far. Why did we jynx ourselves? Not 30 seconds later, Jane starts to cry and says she has an "owie" in her "mouff." I figured maybe we had hit a good bump and..she bit her tongue? Not so much. Jane then lost her lunch. I will never be able to buy those colored goldfish ever again. Ever. So gross. We pull off at a gas station and frantically try to get her cleaned up..and the carseat....right. The whole scene actually paints a pretty funny picture as I strip Jane down to her b-day suit, run her through a VERY busy truck stop gas station, some eyes glaring and some eyes laughing, only to stop dead at the end of a lONG bathroom line. Grrr...why do women bathrooms ALWAYS have lines? How hard is it, people? Sure boys get to stand up, but I swear it takes maybe an extra 10 seconds to sit down..I dunno...needless to say I was bugged. Then I realized I really only needed the sink so I slinked past some more glaring eyes into the bathroom. Once I got through the door, I found one small sink and 2 bathroom stalls in a space smaller than my hall closet at home. I plopped Jane in the sink and frantically tried to clean her up as bathroom patrons surrounded me. It was kind of a funny game - wash Jane's arm, pull her out for someone to use the sink, turn sideways so they could get at the paper towels, turn the other way as someone tried to open the door to the bathroom, slide back over to the sink, wash the other arm..and the game began again.

Finally, an hour and a half later, we were back on the road. The rest of the ride went smoothly and we have now found out that we can't let Jane read any books in car, especially after she has eaten.

DAY 2: It's not so sunny today in St. George, so we decide to head for Zions National Park (one of my most favorite places on the planet, mind you). It turned out to be one of those picture perfect days where you think to yourself on more than one occasion "man, life is good...and I love my little family." Although it rained on us a couple times (it poured on us while we were finishing up our little picnic lunch), Zions was BEAUTIFUL. Trees were changing colors, the air smelled so good because of the fresh rain, and we even took a little hike to a waterfall. It was about a mile round trip and Jane hiked the whole way! I was quite amazed. She was pretty exhausted by the end. We even saw a tarantula on the trail. Those suckers are so big! Jane was fascinated by the "spideh" and Jevan got a kick out of the fact that it seemed intent on chasing me...seriously..it kept going for my feet. Jane also loved riding on the shuttle bus and made friends with a cute couple sitting next to us.

DAY 3: Swimming! We hadn't been swimming in a long time and it was really fun, especially because the pool has a little mini waterfall. That afternoon, we indulged Jevan and went minature golfing (Jevan LOVES minature golfing and it makes me laugh...I feel like we are back in highschool on a date whenever we go (it brings back all those awkward feelings of highschool dating...and dating in general for me). I think it is his only way of getting me to acknowledge that golfing could actually be fun - he loves to golf and I say it is for sissies..:)Dinner was the Pizza Factory! Remember back in the early 90s when it was SO COOL to have a T-shirt from the Pizza Factory? Poor Utah..we try so hard...we wanted to be cool like In-And-Out Burger.

Day 4: Drive home. And no one loses their lunch this time.

So there you have it.

My last little comment for the day is: although I said I love winter, I also love fall. I love Utah right now. On Sunday, we took a drive up Millcreek Canyon and it was so incredible. The leaves were so vibrant - red, yellow and orange. The mountains were patchwork quilts of color. We listened to George Winston (a pianist that I really like) as we drove. It sounds so cheesy but it did wonders for my spirit, filling an ever present void or longing that I have...I have no idea how to explain it. Anyway, I love fall for the crisp air, the smell of logs burning in someone's fireplace, the need to wear soft hoodie sweatshirts all the time.

Here are some pics from our adventures: