November 2014

November, well the whole of fall actually, was unseasonably warm. We got a chance to play out on the playground a bit and Maddy showed me her new found skill on the monkey bars. She spends so much time on them that she actually has come home with callouses forming on her palms. It's a far cry from the scared little girl of only early the spring. Peer pressure at kindergarten and preschool is making her a brave kid and I'm so pleased. I want for her to try new things and to be confident in her abilities and to be happy to try things that are new. And when she falls, because she will, I want her to remember that she can pick herself up and try again and be successful with some practice.

Trying on dad's gear. She's growing up but when I see this it reminds me she's still my little girl.

 It snowed a brief bit but any snow means a trip out to the lawn and a treat to eat.

Scott installed gutters so we wouldn't have an ice rink on the driveway this year.

Maddy loves when my co-teacher teaches because she always gets a treat or a flower or something to take home. Not so when I teach.

Toby get's ready for Christmas

 At kindergarten they had a Thanksgiving feast.

Maddy came to work with me on a day when there was no school and we worked a little then went to lunch at Johny Rockets and saw the giant Christmas tree. We did a little Christmas shopping and had a fun girl day.

Maddy is quite the artist. My white board after she visited me

For Thanksgiving it was a Dalton year. But, Katie and family were in San Diego for a soccer tournament. Sarah and family were on a cruise. Mary and family were in Idaho with Ryan's family and Rachel was still in Tennessee. So, we had dinner at Uncle Win and Aunt Tricia's house with some of the extended family. Cousins Janet and Tracy and their families were there as well as Aunt Dawn and Uncle Dick and our family. It was fun for Maddy and Adele to play together and Janet's husband Joe and Scott had a great time finding things in common as well.

Janet brought a pinata which makes every party an instant success no matter what else is going on.

And because it is worthy of being documented, Maddy and I had a spa night. Actually, she wanted to play and I was really tired so I laid on her floor and told her that she could put make up on me. It was so beautiful (said with much kindness and a bit of sarcasm) so then we decided that we needed to have a spa day. We washed our faces and did a face mask. Maddy asked if we could put "those things on our eyes" and since we didn't have any cucumbers, we decided that apple slices would probably do in a pinch. This girl of mine! Boy are we going to have fun when she's a bit older. Wait, we are having all those fun girly moments now, what am I saying :)

Happy November.

July in review

As you might have already noticed, I'm trying to catch up on my blogging. The summer has been busy and filled with things to do and I've been derelict in my duty as a blogger. I remember Linda telling me that as a blogger, all I had to commit to was one day a week. Well, how about one month per season?

Whatever the case, these are a few happenings throughout the summer.

In May we laid sod in the backyard. I have huge plans for the backyard but so far none have truly materialized - well, except for the grass. We've yet to get the sprinklers right and I have to admit there is a bit of a brown spot we need to address, but for the most part it has filled in nicely. Maybe a bit more fertilizer and a bit more love.

I need to plant in the raised flower beds. I might wait until the spring to do that however. Also, Scott is currently working on covering over the patio that is poured just to the right of the house in the picture below. He has joists in and oh how wonderful this extra covered space will by. I'm giddy at the thought of decorating it and having an extra outdoor room!

Maddy and I went to see Mary Poppins at Hale Centre Theatre in July. This was her first play since turning 5, the golden age of includabilty at Hale (yeah, that's a made up word, I know). We dressed up nice and did our hair and wore a little make-up for the special occasion.

Wow does Hale Centre Theatre put on a good show! The big company numbers in the show especially Supercalifragilisticexpialedocious (or however that's spelled) and Step In Time were marvelous!

 On the Fourth of July we joined our neighbors for the traditional breakfast. Maddy rode her scooter this year, first time off the tricycle - a very big day.

We went to Park City for dinner . . .

. . . and then decided that it was so much fun we should make a weekend of it - but the weekend ended up being at Snowbird. We stayed at the Cliffs Lodge Resort, swam in the pool Friday night then spent the day Saturday riding the Mountain Coaster and the zip Line and all the other fun rides. Maddy is one brave girl.

We caught a relaxing (but ridiculously expensive) late afternoon lunch and then headed back home. A fun little stay-cation with my cute family.

Maddy's favorite "rides" are ironically the closest to every-day play activities - albeit a bit beefed-up.

Taylorsville Dayzz

Taylorsville has THE BEST FIREWORKS SHOW!

 

I'm not kidding.

 

Friday evening we went and parked behind the fire station across from the park and ate our Leatherby's Ice Cream (Oh, love me some Bart's Black and Tan). We waited until 10pm only to find the one tree in our horizon was perfectly situated to block our view. So we jumped out quick as can be and ran to sit on the lawn.

 

waiting for the show, my camera made this street light look like some weird noodle

 

Friday night's show ran for about 19 minutes, which I'll admit, does not make for the BEST FIREWORK SHOW ever.

 

However, Saturday night . . .

 

(As an aside, Maddy and I had a sleepover on the trampoline Friday night - it was HOT!)

 

 

Saturday we jumped into the car and headed back towards the fire station with about 10 minutes to go before the show was to start. The place was packed. We drove to a parallel street thinking that we could look over the empty field with no trees to obstruct the view - so did about 20 other cars. We drove to the canal road thinking it might work but, trees had grown too much since we last watched from there and there just was no view this year. We finally ended up by the junior high school just up the street from us. It sits on a bit of a hill and we discovered a perfect view!

 

We watched the show - this time about 30 minutes long talking about how great we remembered the finale to be. It came and it was grand! We started the car and pulled out into the road to head home (thinking, how great is this, a good view and also no traffic to our house, this spot is a winner) only to discover that that wasn't the finale and the show kept going!

 

After another 5 or 7 minutes we watched the real finale from the tailgate of the truck in the driveway, we could see from out house but were lower and had a bit of an obstructed view but still, it was a GRAND finale. Next year, I'm thinking the overpass to the jr. high might be the way to go! Hopefully nobody discovers that is a great spot at least for a few years.

 

a working farm

 

After working on the yard for most of the morning, Maddy and I spent the evening of Memorial day at Wheeler Farm. I've wanted to take her there for quite some time and Scott was up the street with his buddy talking dirt bikes in anticipation of their planned trip to Moab. So, we headed out.

 

You see, my memories of Wheeler farm come from being a little girl. In fact, I don't think I've been there since I was small. I remember my mom coming up with such great ideas to help us do chores around the house. There were chore charts, allowances, and the thing I remember most - outings!

 

In what seems to be all one summer (though maybe this memory is a culmination of several) we were presented with outings as rewards for doing chores. We were given points or some kind of tally for doing various chores and we could redeem outings. Many of these outings were for all of us girls - trips to the pool, a new game, a visit to Wheeler Farm . . . A few were one-on-ones with mom.

 

I remember catching the bus at the top of the street (or perhaps down the way by the Conoco or the 7-11) and riding it downtown - just me and mommy. We'd get off the bus on Main street just in front of Sam Weller's book store. We go inside and then down to the basement where the used books were kept. It was like a maze with bookshelf after bookshelf filled with musty, yellowed paperback books. You had to wander around teetering piles of books stacked up on the floor and I remember the wonder I felt when mom found a book - like she had just found buried treasure. I don't wonder why I like to read so much too!

 

After looking for treasures in the bookstore, we'd wander to the food court in the ZCMI mall for something to-go, then to meet Aunt Jana where she worked at the LDS genealogy building to the west of temple square. We'd take our lunches to the lunch room and eat together and I felt like one of the girls included in such grown up discussions between my mom and her sister. After lunch we'd ride the bus back home and be dropped just a quick (thrilling) jaywalk across to Quailstone Drive.

 

Tied in with these memories were rainbow bracelets that sat - five of them - stacked on the knife sharpener in the kitchen, only to be worn after the daily chores had been completed.

 

What wonderful memories.

 

I want Maddy to have those memories too. Perhaps I should have saved this outing as a reward for some great accomplishment or for helping around the house - maybe this was actually a reward for me for finally planting the front flower beds. In any case, we set off for the Farm at about 4pm on Memorial Day. I was worried that it would be closed. I was a little worried about the cost.  

 

Well, to my surprise, there is no entrance fee, no entrance gate, you just walk in. I knew that this was a working farm and that you could pet the animals and learn to milk cows, but I didn't realize it was part of the City Parks and Recreation system. People were walking their dogs on the trails, playing baseball and frisbee in the open lawn areas, riding bikes on the dirt trails.

The farm itself was closed for Memorial day so no wagon rides or cow milking or crafts, but Maddy and I had a great time wandering around, petting the animals, naming horses (Patch, Shooting Star, Baby) and looking at all the farm equipment. I tried to get a great photo of Maddy that I could use for the wall as her 4 year old picture, but she kept giving me either goofy faces or little half smiles.

Maddy's favorite animals were the piglets

I asked for a smile and she told me that she was going to be a zombie instead

I showed her the above picture and asked for a real smile, she said "that is a real smile". She is so like her father when it comes to sitting for photography it's ridiculous.

 



The best part (and the part I saved till the end as incentive to keep her moving along and happy) was the big playground we spotted when we drove into the parking lot.

 

 

 

When we go back, we'll go on a day when it's open so we can try some of the farming activities and see the blacksmith. We'll pack a lunch to eat by the lake. And we'll bring a friend so I don't have to chase Maddy up and down and around the playground. Katie - you up for it?