Gameday

Catching up Part 3 End of June

Time flew by so quickly.  In no time, it was the end of the school year.  I don't have any photos of this, but I chaperoned my school's Prom.  I went to prom, again, but this time as an adult.  My friend Meghan, was my "date."  I must say, I had more fun at this prom than the three proms I went to when I was in high school.  I had a blast!  Meghan and I got the kids to dance, a lot.  We took over the music and I must say, we did a pretty good job at being DJ's.  There was an array of delicious desserts, including my churros, which were the first thing to be devoured at the dance.  Also, we even got our administrators to chill out and have fun for a night. Oh, we played all kinds of music, Russian man dances, Turkish ones, too I think...there was Spanish dancing, and even a piano performance.  I came home exhausted, but in a great mood.  The next day in class a lot of my students and I talked about the wonderful time we had at the dance.
About a week we went to our Stake activity where the kids played in a jumpy house.

It was so fun to watch the children have a great time.

After the Stake activity, we drove to Sugarhouse Park and attended my school's picnic. 

It was a brief visit.  Said hello and introduced Newel to some of my co-workers.  Here I am with Sumeye and Ayse. 

After, the picnic, I got ready for the arrival of the Carters.  Our house was still not quite ready, but we made it work.
Of course, we had a fabulous time with them...our only regret, not enough time. The trip was too short.

In the 2nd week of June, it finally got "warm" summer like weather.  So, on a Monday night we had FHE at the pool, followed by eating some yummy popsicles.

On June 25th, I turned 30.  A new decade!  It was a pretty uneventful birthday.  I wanted to celebrate it with my best friends in FL, so I didn't do much in UT.  Newel did get me a cake.  Looking back 10 years, they have been wonderful.  In 10 years, I met Newel, finished college, got married, moved 8 times, lived in 5 different cities, had 2 children, bought a house, lost a house, gained knowledge, and I've had the time of my life. Thirty is a good age. It'll be interesting to see what this decade brings.

Maya enjoying the summer weather

Maya got her first hair cut. Finally!  She was so good and calm while she had her hair cut. I had previously trimmed the front, but not touched the back. She looked a bit older.

Catching Up Part 2 April-beginning of June

 After Spring Break, I knew time would fly pretty fast.  A lot of my time I spent trying to make our house look more like a home.  We were without some furniture for a while, but it was fun.  I will post changes of our house, later.
This photo is of Maya who fell asleep and I think she fell asleep on the floor or fell off her bed, but didn't bother to wake up.  We thought it was pretty funny.  That's what happens when  you stop taking naps in January, you sleep like a log at night.

We've adopted a new tradition for Memorial Day weekend...camping. This time, Zions.  We met up with the Vegas cousins for one night and our friends Manuel and Caro joined us the rest of the time.  We had a blast!  Arden went on his first official repelling hike with his daddy, his cousins Peiter, Gretta, and Annie. They were very cold, but had a good safe time.

Our lovely campsite

What a bunch of adorable cousins

Annie, posing for a pic on our hike

Newel repelled from the top of that cliff back in July 2009. CRAZY

We had a really great time with the Vegas cousins.  One memorable experience is that Arden, Gretta, Pieter, Manuel, Phil, and Newel hiked and repelled keyhole canyon.  Even though they were a bit cold at the end of the hike, they all did well.
Another fun memory is experiencing "The Man Breakfast" prepared by Phil and Mary.  So yummy.  We were sad to see the Vegas off, but our adventure continued on.
Oh yeah, and another unforgettable moment was waking up around 11PM and Arden throwing up all over Maya's bedding.  He didn't get any of his bedding dirty, just Maya's pj, pillow, and blanket.  Thank goodness for a laundry mat in town.

I hiked Angel's Landing with Caro and Manuel

It was a bit scary, but I'm tough!

The view from the top was amazing and a bit scary.

The following day, it was time to head back home.  We packed our belongings and headed to the Kolob Canyon side of the park.  We took on a 5 mile hike (round trip) through a trail called Taylor Creek.  I think it was getting a bit hot, and the final destination was not as impressive as I thought it would be, so I didn't enjoy the hike that much.  Also, after hiking to the top of Angel's Landing, Taylor Creek was kind of a disappointment.

Nevertheless, there was a really neat narrow/waterfall. That was pretty cool. I have to constantly remind myself to enjoy the journey and not just to be focused on the destination.

This is a log house that has been there for about 100 years.  I couldn't live so far away from civilization, even in Zions. 

In order to keep the children distracted on the way back home...I took lots of pictures of them.  This is a funny one of Maya. 

In May, Arden participated in a Regata or something like that.  Basically, it is a competition of homemade miniature boats that people blow and see who wins.

Newel and Arden build their boat and went to the activity at church that day.  Arden was doing really well.  His boat was no match to the other people's boats...it helps to have your daddy be an engineer.

Arden was the winner in his bracket and then he moved onto the championship game.  Unfortunately, he lost, just by a bit, and placed 2nd.  That day, Arden learned a very important lesson about being a good sport...He learned this lesson after yelling in anger that he had lost and ran out of the building, into the parking lot.  Yes, after a talk with his daddy, a very important lesson was learned.  He went back inside and congratulated the winner.
Since that day, he has learned to lose graciously.  Although, he tends to beat his daddy a lot when they play Risk.

Catching Up Jan-March or April

While I was working, I didn't have time to do much more than the basic things that needed to get done in our life/family, so I didn't take many photos, nor did I blog, for over three months.  It also doesn't help that our camera is pretty crappy. Nevertheless, here are some photos of events and things we did from Jan-April of this year. In January we pretty much just tried to settle back in our routine after a fun Winter Break and fought off some colds.   It was pretty uneventful.  Around this time G-ma and Paka went on a road trip all the way to Florida to escape the cold weather.  Even though we missed them, it was also nice to relive what it is like to be a family of four. 

In no time, it was February.  For Valentine's Day, Arden wrote to us a Valentine's Day card.  That was pretty cool because he doesn't like to write. Also, Newel surprised me with a wonderful date. We got a babysitter overnight to watch the children.  Then, he took me to the Grand America Hotel where we stayed over night.  We had not left our children overnight since Arden was six weeks old.  Well, with the exception of when we drove to Mississippi to help out with Hurricane Katrina clean up efforts. Other than those two times, one of us had always stayed home with the children.  It was a wonderful date. One that I still smile when I think about our date.  We had so much fun being together.  I just love being with someone I don't get bored with, no matter how much time we spend together.
Around this time, Arden had some sort school thing where he dressed as a cowboy.  Not bad improvising. 
Also, a great job opportunity came up for Newel.  He was hired to work for a new company on a pretty neat project.  Utah County is rebuilding I-15 and Newel gets to work on that.  During this time we were deciding whether to accept the job or stay at his old company. The new job felt like the right path to take, so he signed on with them.  With this new job opportunity, we knew we would need to move.  So we started looking throughout the valley for a place to rent.  We didn't want a long commute for Newel and I still needed to live close enough to Arden's school and my job.  So after driving through the entire Wasatch Valley, we settled in the southern most point in Salt Lake County.  At first I didn't like the place because there are not big trees.  However, it was the best choice for us.  I know that sounds petty, no big trees and everything looking dry, but I'm from a tropical country and I've lived in FL most of my life, so green is the color I want to see around me.                                

Enjoying a cupcake masterpiece

So on March 20 we moved...again.  This being our 7th move in less 8 years.  We like our new place.  We didn't have much furniture since we had gotten rid of most of it when we lived in Cali and we didn't need furniture at G-ma's and Paka's.  Nevertheless, we still had a big truck full of stuff to move.  Something fun about moving is decorating, so may be one day I'll post pics of the changes I've made to our place.  The picture of Maya and Arden is when we went to the fabric store in search of fabric for our pillows.  I let them play with the camera so I could shop.  During this time, commuting was a bit challenging and rather tiresome, but I knew it was only for a few more weeks. So this is how it went. We got up, got dressed, packed breakfast, lunch, and left the house. Got on the HOV lane, fed the children breakfast while I drove for about 25 minutes to our old neighborhood and dropped Arden off at the bus stop.  Then, I would take Maya to the day care and finally I would arrive to work.  By the time I arrived to my school, I had been driving for almost an hour.  After I was done teaching, I had to do it all over again, but in reverse. 

Somewhere in there is Arden's masterpiece for Art Day at school

Even though it was a lot of work driving around, it was worth it. 
Time flew by quickly.  In April we drove to Vegas for Gretta's baptism.  It was great.  It was a cousin fest!

Gretta and Ruth-E

Phil taught the kids how to play marbles

After the baptism we had a family luncheon. The children played and had so much fun together. That night, the Walters and us walked around the Strip.  We walked and walked.  We visited different places and ate yummy treats.

Those crispy treats are about the size of their heads.

A delightful way to eat a doughnut!

Something I enjoyed doing while I was teaching was cooking for my students.  Whenever they had a test, the class with the highest average would get a dessert.  In the 2nd semester, during progress report cards and at the end of the quarter, I invited the top student and most improved student of each class to lunch.  I would cook an authentic Mexican meal.  Of course lots of teachers also joined, including my friend Meghan who in the picture.

Towards the end of the school year and during my spring break, I was able to attend Arden's Kindergarten performance.  That was kind of funny.  Of course Arden didn't want to participate and instead of signing and lifting up the signs as the classes practiced, he would bend down and pretend like he was sleeping.  I felt a bit embarrassed, but in a way, it was pretty much expected. Oh, and Maya was kind of naughty, too.

She's kind of naughty, but really cute

During my Spring Break, I also had the opportunity to volunteer at Arden's school for a day. That was such a treat for me. I think Arden also liked my being in his class.  I wanted to do something fun for my Spring Break, so I took the children to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  They had so much fun.  We went in the afternoon and there was hardly anyone there.  We pretty much had the museum to ourselves.

Playing at the museum

Sand and dinosaurs...what else could a girl ask for?

I think it was mid April when we attended the Utes Spring game.  It felt like spring...we had a long winter and that was a 'spring like' day we had.

Smell

Late this morning Maya was still wearing her pajamas.  As she stood next to me while I wiped her baby doll (the baby was dirty) I noticed she smelled kind of funky. like a dirty bum. 
So I asked her, "Maya, why do you smell like poop?"
"I don't smell like poop, I smell like pee-pee!"

Getting Served by Maya

So, yesterday morning was not a busy morning for me, so I decided to watch an episode on DVD of a series I like to watch.  The DVD is due next Monday and it's not a show Newel would enjoy watching with me, it's a chick video.  So, I watched an episode with Maya. As the show ended the credits came up, so she got up to turn the TV off.  I said to her, "Hey, don't turn it off.  I think I want to watch another one." 
She turns around to face me and says, "No, you can't watch TV all day!" 
I couldn't help it, I had to laugh and off the TV went and we started playing with play dough.
I guess I got a taste of my own medicine.  

The Carters Visit UT

What a treat we got after school was out for the summer.  Our dear friends, the Carters came to UT for a visit.  We were so excited to have them over.  We had so much fun, but our only complaint is that they were not here long enough. 
Our adventure began with just hanging out in SLC and the surrounding areas for a couple of days.  We went to Liberty Park with the children to play in the water features and go on the rides.   We had so much fun, we forgot to take pictures of our adventure.  Well, there is a photo of them enjoying their delicious snow cones.
It was a good thing the Carters came that week because just the previous week had been quite cooler.  While they were visiting, we had fabulous weather. 
Our adventure continued the following day with a trip to the mountains...Little Cottonwood Canyon. This was supposed to be a leisure hike through Silver Lake, where we could see snow and if we walked away from the trail we would even be able to play with the snow.   I thought we were also going to enjoy some beautiful fields of wild flowers blooming along the marsh. However, Spring had not arrived to the top of the mountain and there was a lot of snow.
This hike is normally a leisure hike and it would have been a leisure hike, if half of the trail was not covered in snow.    Nevertheless, the children had so much fun playing in the snow.  And this  hike which is normally a 30-45 minute hike turned into a 2 hour hike.  I brought my double stroller, which had to be carried in most of the snowy trail. By the end of our adventurous and unforgettable hike, Kevin was so tired he just laid on the ground...he was also a little bit sick.
That's one of the beauties of living in UT, on day (Wednesday) you can play in the water and enjoy a warm day.  But on the following day (Thursday) you can also be in the mountains playing in the snow.  On That Thursday night, Chris arrived to UT and on the following day, we drove to Southern UT to explore Arches National Park.  We are so glad the Carters enjoy the outdoors as much as we do.  As soon as we arrived to Arches we took a quick drive to a short trail in Arches.  We were glad the Carters liked the view. It was almost surreal to them. Then, we went to the Visitor Center, watched an educational video on hiking in Arches (we all had to watch the video, including the little ones), and after going through a rigorous verbal test, we obtained permits to hike the amazing Fiery Furnace.  After arriving to Moab we settled in our hotel room, and after a good night's rest, we got up early and headed back to Arches where our adventure continued with a hike through the Fiery Furnace.  We were glad another ranger led group had gone before us, so we could follow their trail and find all of the cool stuff we had hiked through the year before.  It was just amazing.  I love hiking through the Fiery Furnace.  We even found Surprise Arch. 

Not long after we had finished our hike, it rained.  And rained hard.  It also hailed. We waited for the rain/hail to stop and headed to the Devil's Garden. The children enjoyed picking up the dime size pieces of ice. We took the Carter's to see the different arches, including Landscape Arch, where Arden had a meltdown.  This was a funny meltdown because he was so sad that one day, Landscape arch was going to fall.  I know it sounds mean on my behalf, but it was just kind of funny.  The guys and the 4 older kids headed on to another trail to see other arches.  Abbey and I stayed behind and enjoyed some much needed time together without the children interrupting our conversations.
Abbey is such an amazing person and I just love her.  She is such a good mom and a good person that she inspires me to want to be a better mother to my children. We had such a great time catching up.
After an eventful day, we headed back to the hotel room, where I think we went for a swim.  The following morning we headed to Canyonlands National Park and drove to the Island In the Sky mesa.  We even had a chance to hear some of the ranger talks.  After Canyonlands, we headed back home, just in time for the Carters to unload their car, pack up the rest of their stuff and head to the airport to catch their plane back home.