Halloween

My goodness! It's almost Christmas and I am just getting to Halloween. I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. Lucy seemed to change her mind about what she wanted to be for Halloween on a daily basis although the most oft requested costume was to be Princess Nausicaa. Due to my limited (read: non-existent) sewing skills, that just wasn't going to happen. Maybe if I had asked my mother way in advance, she could have come up with something but with her being in Japan and shipping costs, borrowing her sewing skills wasn't really an option either. My brother-in-law, Damian, even found a lady who would make a Nausicaa costume on Ebay but I was just going to take the path of least resistance - that is, using one of the many costumes that we already had. In this case, it was Lucy's cousin, Maya's old butterfly costume. I mostly just wanted something that would be warm.

Even though I didn't spend a cent on Lucy's Halloween costume, I still wanted to get some good mileage out of it. The way Halloween is set up these days, kids definitely rake the candy in. In mid-October, our church ward had its Trunk-or-Treat activity in the church parking lot. I was actually glad that they didn't do it on Halloween because I feel like Halloween is a community thing and it's so much better to go out to your neighbors' homes. But Lucy definitely didn't mind having the opportunity to pick up some candy earlier. We invited Emily, Jared, and Olive to join in on the fun (and free dinner afterward). We were late but the kids ended up getting more than enough candy in the limited time they had to run from vehicle to vehicle to get candy.

My mom did make Olive's super cute Totoro costume. 

Lucy chose a different costume to wear to preschool (pretty much a fancy dress she had so we will just say she was a princess) then did some indoor trick-or treating there during the day (her preschool is connected to the high school so I think that the students hand out candy?). On the actual Halloween evening, we were blessed with incredibly mild weather. This was our first Halloween in our own neighborhood (last year we were renovating the house and living with Brandon's brother, Damian so we just did trick-or-treating at Brandon's work & church and in 2010, I can't even remember what we did but Lucy was only a year and a half so we might not have done anything at all). Lucy got to go trick-or-treating with some of her neighborhood friends but knows her own limitations and after a small radius, told her daddy she was tired and called it quits.

We still have a bag with a substantial amount of candy in it on top of our fridge but it does include all the treats she gets all throughout the year (Pioneer Day treats from July as well) and we aren't always consistent in distributing them to her unless she asks directly. And sometimes Mommy sneaks a treat for herself here and there. It's never too early for Lucy to learn to share with her younger brother.

St. George Marathon - October 6, 2012

Are you wondering if I trained for and ran a marathon this year? Hell no! But we did make the drive down to St. George on the weekend of October 6th to support my brother-in-law, Adrian as he ran his first marathon. Even though Adrian and his family (Natalie and Taylor) live in Buffalo, we are lucky that we get so see them quite frequently throughout the year with all the traveling they do. We didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see them again even if we had to make the drive down to southern Utah. And fortunately, my sister-in-law Natalie's  parents own a gorgeous vacation home in St. George so we had lovely accommodations for our weekend stay. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of leaving Salt Lake later than we planned on a Friday night and hit lots of rush hour traffic as well as BYU football game traffic while heading south so we didn't get in until really late on Friday night. But at least we had beautiful weather to greet us on Saturday morning. And we didn't even have to get up early because we were planning on cheering on Adrian at the mile 23 marker.

Here we are waiting:

Brandon had done the St. George marathon back in 2003 when we first began dating so I think he was just as nervous for Adrian because he could relate to what he was going through.

Natalie's parents, brother, and his wife came down for the weekend as well.

We were glad that we brought Lucy's scooter while we were waiting so she could be entertained.

But her and her cousin, Taylor get along amazingly well considering the age difference (he's a year and a half older) so they kept each other entertained as well. I just can't believe how small she looks next to him!

I have so much respect for all the marathoners out there. A marathon is one of those things that I have absolutely no interest in doing but just watching one, you get really pumped up for the runners. Adrian blogged about his experience on his personal blog HERE.

Post marathon was a little crazy as we all tried to find and meet each other as we all drove different vehicles and the roads were packed with runners and supporters. Having two pregnant mamas with their two young children was also exhausting and we weren't really prepared with adequate snacks and strollers for our little ones (it was my first time attending a marathon so I had no idea what to expect). Eventually, we all reconnected and got the kids some shaved ice to appease them.

Resting after the race...

The rest of the weekend was just spent relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous weather. On the way back to Salt Lake, we stopped by Brandon's aunt & uncle's house (Liz & Lyman) to visit.

Lucy had so much fun playing with her cousin and visiting with family. Sometimes the little get-togethers where you get to spend more one-on-one time with family is just as fun, if not better than the giant gatherings. Spectacular weather certainly doesn't hurt either.

Marlo's Birthday Party

Looking back on September and October, it seemed like it was crazy busy but all I can really remember is feeling sick. At least I wasn't so sick that Lucy still didn't get to enjoy some activities every once in a while. Thank goodness for birthday parties where all you have to do is show up and someone else has done all the work to keep your kid entertained.

We were lucky to be invited to Marlo's birthday party at Imagination Place. They have Music Together and Anti-Gravity yoga and lots of other programs there and I've always been curious what it was like. So we got to experience first hand some of their classes. The kids started off painting and decorating flower pots. Then we moved into the classroom where they had a movement/story/dancing class.

Following the class, the kids headed back outside to plant flowers in their little flower pots.

After finishing with the planting, we headed back inside for lunch and cake. Marlo's mom, Kim put so much work into the decorations and food and it all was so cute. Marlo had a unicorn themed party.

Lucy loved spending time celebrating Marlo's birthday!

Just Peachy!

So even though my pregnancy sickness my first trimester was much more intense than with Lucy, I still managed to get a few things done. Since I felt crappy whether I was lying in bed or actually doing work, I did manage to clean up my house every once in a while.

One big project I accomplished with the help of Brandon was freezing some peaches. Emily had a neighbor who had boxes of local Utah peaches so we each bought one. And as much as I love Utah peaches, you can only eat so much at once (and I think I might have thrown them up a couple of times). So we went to work freezing them so we could use them throughout the winter. I really, really want to jar peaches sometime but that takes a little bit more time, work, and resources so we went the easy route (jars, syrup, steaming or sterilizing or whatever you do). But zippered freezer bags, I had. Next year though. I will buy two or three times the amount of peaches, jar them, and eat peaches straight from the jar and in my Cream of Wheat and oatmeal year round. Yum!

Brandon was in charge of boiling the peaches enough to slip the skin off while I cut and arranged them on the cookie sheet to freeze.

I think we ended up with three cookie sheets full which filled up two bulging gallon sized bags. They have been great in smoothies but I went right to work on one of my favorites with some of the fresh peaches....

Peach Custard Pie! Obviously, I haven't filled it with custard yet and completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product. But needless to say, that pie made with those peaches is just one of the reasons that the end of summer is so wonderful in Utah.

Lucy's First Day of Pre-school

Lucy started her first day of preschool on Tuesday, September 4th. I hadn't done a whole lot of research into local preschools and ended up signing her up last minute based on the recommendation of my neighbor across the street whose son attended Lucy's preschool last year. It was close, reasonably priced, and one of Lucy's friends who lives a few doors down from us also goes so we can carpool together. It's only 2 days a week for about 2 1/2 hours but I'll take what I can get! There aren't as many preschool programs for 3 year old children to choose from because most parents do only one year of preschool when their children are 4. But I feel like she was ready and wanted more social interaction and I certainly had no problem getting a break. I also feel like it will be good preparation for preschool next year which will be 4 days a week (hallelujah!!).

Here is what Lucy decided to wear her first day of school. I just love this pose!

 And this face kills me. We did manage to get shoes on her which has always been a challenge. But I think that preschool has actually been really good for getting her to wear shoes more often because she understands that she can't go unless she is wearing shoes and her teacher probably tells her that she has to keep them on. I'm so grateful for other adults disciplining my child because I swear, Lucy has selective hearing with me.

I thought that this pose was hilarious but wish I didn't get so many shadows in it. This girl is such a ham. When I was checking out facebook, I noticed that most other parents were posting about getting a bit teary when they dropped their kids off at their first day of preschool. Brandon and I laughed because we were practically doing the happy dance after we dropped her off because we were so excited to have a break!

It still amazes me how fast she is growing up and changing but I look forward to it. She is in such a fun, sassy stage right now and full of surprises and charm. I cherish these moments but look forward to the future just as much!

Raspberry Picking

I have to admit - I got blog envy sometimes. Well, maybe not envying blogs but the content of blogs.  Some people just look like they are always doing stuff. Or maybe they are just really good at documenting the stuff they do. My sisters are some of those people. They're really consistent about updating their blogs and also really good at planning stuff to do. One is pretty lucky to live in Washington DC where there is lots of stuff to do. But Utah has lots of stuff to do too.

One of the things I have been wanting to do for forever is to go berry picking. And Utah just happens to have great raspberry picking (blackberries - not so much). So Emily and I planned our excursion with the kids (Emily documented on her blog HERE already - I'm so jealous of her camera and the pictures it takes. ). We went to McBride Briar Patch down in Mapleton, UT after reading about it on another local blog how the owners were super nice and we were not disappointed. What a charming place!!

I can't remember exactly when we did this - some time in September? But I do remember that it was still super hot but we just happened to go on perfect day when it was overcast and a lovely temperature.

These girls didn't do a whole lot of raspberry picking. But they did enjoy the fruits of their moms' labor. We were provided with buckets (and the girls got little ones) as well as rope to tie the buckets around our waists for easier picking, boxes to put the berries in when we were done, and cups for the girls to start eating right away.

The raspberries weren't organic or anything but at only $3/lb, it was such a bargain! We each picked just over 3 lbs so only spent about $10 for all that (and I'm sure we and the girls ate our fair share of berries as we were picking). Emily picked up some local honey as well.

The owner of the raspberry patch had the cutest dog who was so gentle and the girls just loved him.

I was glad to have remembered to wear pants so the prickly bushes didn't bother my legs. I was especially grateful because I spent a lot of time just kneeling on the ground and my pants got all stained! A long sleeve shirt would have been a good idea because I had lots of little scratches on my arms.

I wish I could say that I did something fun with my raspberries but I just ended up eating them everyday plain. I even threw some away (but not much) after several days because they were getting kinda slimy and gross. Next time, I'll make some raspberry jam or fancy desserts with raspberries.

There was free flower picking on the way out which the girls loved as well - I think the flowers were zinnias. And getting home was an adventure as we were stuck in stand-still traffic for one hour. Fortunately, we had plenty of raspberries to snack on in the car. But it wasn't long before the girls had to go to the bathroom so we did a little nature potty on the side of the freeway. Always an adventure being a mom!

Dayton Family California Vacation

Because my dad's visit to Utah overlapped with Brandon's family's vacation in California by a few days (and we only get to see my Dad about once a year), Lucy and I flew out to California on Tuesday, July 31st while everyone else in Brandon's family arrived in California on Saturday, July 28th. Brandon drove down with his dad and two brothers so I was actually pretty happy to have an excuse to take the much shorter flight instead of driving.

The family ended up renting the Golden Fantasy Mansion in Carlsbad which just by the name alone, sounded pretty...interesting. I wish I took more pictures of the place because it was definitely quirky. I guess it was owned by some Hollywood props guy so there were all these random things around the house used as decorations.

I hadn't done any traveling to southern California prior to this trip but I have to say, you can't really beat the weather. It's pretty amazing. However, I don't care for the traffic. Fortunately, we were just a few miles from the beach and we spent most of our time there.

 Lucy loved the beach. And we loved how many people there were to play with and entertain her.

The best part of the trip for Lucy was probably playing with her cousins. All the Dayton cousins live outside of Utah so she doesn't get to see them much. Lucy gets along especially well with her cousin, Taylor who lives in New York and is closest in age to her. But the older girls took good care of her too.

I forget that kids can just play in sand FOREVER!

But cuddling and relaxing also made it on to the agenda.

The adults (excluding myself because I felt so crappy) did a lot of body surfing. I tried to make myself useful by taking pictures.

This guy lost his wedding ring in the ocean. I was actually pretty impressed that he held on to it for almost 8 years!

What a hunk I married! My pasty white hunk!!

And this girl had so much sand in her swimsuit, I was sure we must have been doing something awful to the drains when we got home.

Nap times were definitely more intense with all the energy being expended.

The family talent show took place as usual. Brandon and I always talk about putting something together and then we never do and end up winging it.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) there was a karaoke machine for us procrastinators.

Cameron and Erin serenaded us with "I Wish They All Could Be California Girls".

I think Erin's girls were wondering why their mom was wearing that hideous dress (one of the gems found in the garage). She at least put in some effort in the costume department which was more than the rest of us could say.

Damian helped the kids sing along to "Alphabet of Nations" by They Might Be Giants.

Damian was one of the few who actually prepared a little number. He sang and played "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" by Magnetic Fields.

And all the kids starting dancing. It was really sweet.

This is one of Lucy's favorite songs to dance along with her daddy.

Ethan shared a short story that he wrote.

Giant sandcastles were built...

...good food was consumed (I wish I took some pictures of our yummy meals), and many Olympics were watched. Everyone in the family except me, Brandon, and Lucy went to Legoland. Lucy was in dire need of a nap and we heard it was kinda disappointing (and really expensive!).

Driving home from California was pretty rough for me, even though we stopped overnight in St. George. But despite the travel time, I think I would take California over Lake Powell any day.