Random Superlatives of 2011

Okay, before I start I have to say that 2011 has not been my favorite year and I am more than happy to bid it farewell. However, I also believe that all of life's experiences are important--even if we can't see why at the time. So with that, here are some of my favorite (maybe not-so-significant) things from the year...

Coolest experience of the year: heading to the outdoor roof swimming pool/hot tub with S up at Snowbird just as a huge rainstorm was coming in.

Second coolest experience of the year: catching a shark. Yes I'm putting this picture up again because it's Awesome.

Biggest milestone achieved: turning 30. Obviously.

Best movie (which I didn't expect to like so much): Moneyball

Worst movie: Transformers Dark of the Moon. (I fell asleep! During a battle scene!) Not even worth linking up to...

Most starstruck moment: Meeting a Blue Man after seeing their AMAZING concert with S.





Favorite new (I hope) tradition: Doing dessert only at The Melting Pot with S. Also, their Hot Chocolate is Terrific.

Best (and first) clambake I've ever had: The Black Pelican



Favorite "Laugh till I cry moment": A tie between "Spontaneous Cleavage" and "Faxing Things Up."

Best baked goodie: Golden Graham S'mores

Worst cooking disaster: Messing up Jello 2 hours before a party. Seriously. Who screws up Jello?!

Biggest blessing in disguise: My hours changing at work.

Favorite gift: the handmade quilt S made for me for Christmas.



Best photo editing website I can use for free (and is user-friendly as well)(and is how I add text to all of my photos, in case you are wondering...): Picnik.com

Favorite book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Inspirational!

Proudest parenting moment: Teaching Bean how to do a rimshot! Okay, I'm proud that she knows her colors and shapes, too... ;)

Favorite song that I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I like as much as I do: Blow by Kesha and only because Bean busts a move every time we hear it.

Favorite song that I sing at the top of my lungs in the car: Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5/Aguilera

Biggest accomplishment: Finally running my first race (even if it was just a 5k.)

Favorite new hobby I can't wait to break out again in 2012: Mixed Media via Donna Downey. Also, I was starstruck when I met her too.

I think that measuring time has become easier since Bean was born. I also think that time has gone faster. Just in the last few months we've hit some pretty big milestones.

First Haircut

I really wanted to just grow Bean's hair out so we could skip the Bangs Phase altogether. I held out a long time, in fact. But one morning while she was having breakfast, her hair was starting to really aggravate her. I realized that I was being a little silly (and selfish) so I decided to trim her bangs. I don't cut hair. Ever. I butchered S's hair trying once.

I apologized to Bean as I pulled her hair out to be trimmed, saying that she was, in fact, my guinea pig and that I would probably get better but to not expect much for the first little while.

Before.



After.



I didn't trim that much, just enough so that she could see. A month later she needed them trimmed again. This time, I felt more confident and ended up trimming off a lot!

Big Girl Bed

I really wasn't looking forward to this transition. I liked knowing that she could safely play in her crib so that I could get a few extra minutes of sleep if I needed too. I was also concerned that, since she doesn't like to stray far from her routines, she would throw a huge fit when it came to switching beds.

She proved me wrong on all accounts.

S made it a lot of fun to say goodbye to her crib and hello to her Big Girl Bed. She "helped" move around the beds and picked out a new bedding set at the store. She slept like a champ the first night and, although she rolled out of bed a few times (Seriously. I found her asleep in the middle of the floor one night. A bed railing followed shortly after...) she hasn't had any problems. The only difference is that this is what I walk in to see in the mornings:



Initially her mattress was on the floor. As of last night, she is officially sleeping in a twin bed, box springs, headboard and all.

Preschool (Kind of.)

S and I were originally planning on enrolling Bean into preschool next fall but lately she has been so antsy (and kind of acting bored.) Preschools don't normally enroll mid-semester. So I decided to look into doing a sort of homeschool version. Our first unit was 4 weeks ago and I think it has been a HUGE success! After breakfast I ask Bean, "Are you ready to go to school?" And she exclaims "School!", runs to the couch, and waits for a book (we start with a story.)

I told S awhile ago that I thought I had missed the mark and that I should have taught elementary school. He gave me a strange look. Maybe because I complain about having 17 kids in nursery. Anyway, this has really helped fill that kindergarten-teacher-urge I had. Plus I really think Bean is learning and having fun and that's what matters, right?

So for now we're doing the homeschool thing. We'll see what preschool plans await her in the future.

30 Candles

The thought of turning 30 had me filled with dread, well, the day I turned 29 last year. I don't know what it was about that age that made me feel like my life was a ticking time bomb with the numbers ever getting closer to zero. Admittedly, I sort of turned into a narcissistic drama-queen about the whole thing.

Thankfully (during one of my "I can't believe I'm turning 30 rants") a wise person, whom I look up to very much, told me that she felt that the 30s were the best years of her life. Thankfully she told me this several weeks before my 30th birthday. Something about this comment completely changed my outlook on this milestone birthday in a matter of minutes. I started asking those who had already lived through their 30s if they felt the same way and the general consensus was YES! (Except for my mom--she said her best years were her 40s. Bonus! Something else to look forward to!)

So now, rather than feeling dread, I feel grateful. 30 isn't an age in which you suddenly aren't allowed to live a fulfilled life anymore, or an age by which you must accomplish an insane amount of goals or they don't count (although, I do feel like I accomplished a lot in my twenties.) It is a jumping off point to live the rest of my life, set by the bounderies that I decide. I think by this age, too, I am less concerned what others think of me. I feel like I am finally figuring out who I am and who I want to become (though I don't think this process ever stops entirely.) And maybe my brother is right afterall: Age is only a number.

So my 30th birthday has come and gone. Although I had to work, it was a very special day and I am so very thankful for everyone who contributed in making it such. Especially to Bean who, as S told me, went to a lot of effort to make my birthday cake all by herself (she's a prodigy, I tell ya'.)

Happy Hallow-Bean!

This Halloween was full of...

Parades

Our local library had a special toddler-time where we learned all things Halloween and had a small parade around the library. I dressed her up in her cowgirl costume for the occasion. It was the first of several outings in her costume. I swear by the time Halloween actually got here, she must have thought it was her uniform or something. We definately maximized it's use!



They gave the kids little egg shakers to shake and played fun Halloween music as we marched around the library. Bean was hesitant to let go of my hand, and the patrons seemed a little confused as to what was happening, but overall I think the kids had a lot of fun.



A few months ago when S told his mom (an elementary school teacher) that Bean would be a cowgirl this Halloween, she suggested that she dress up as a cowboy as well and that they could march in her school parade. Bean was super excited to see all of the kids walking past her in their costumes. Little did she know that soon she would be a part of the parade as well. I made a quick handoff to Gma before Bean could protest and went and staked out a few spots so I could get pictures.



She held up the parade a little bit. After all, that's a long way for a toddler to walk.



Mom H said that couple of rooms had Halloween music playing and she stopped and started to boogie.



I'm pretty sure her Gma had as much fun as she did.



I hope Mom H doesn't mind coordinating costumes for the next several years to come. This was a lot of fun!



Pumpkins

Well over a month ago, my dad picked a special pumpkin for Bean while she was over there for the day. She carried around calling it "Bean's" pumpkin. I kept it inside the whole month so she could watch over it. The day before Halloween we decided it was time to carve our pumpkins. She watched with strict fascination.



S helped her gut her pumpkin while I gutted mine. And took pictures.



We let Bean draw the faces on both of the pumpkins. It looks like S is helping her but really he is just stabilizing it. Bean is drawing those circles all on her own.



Naturally S did all of the carving. This is how "Bean's" pumpkin looked once it was all carved.



She was pretty happy with how it turned out (although she's almost dropping it in this picture.) PS-in case you are wondering: in nursery, music lady put pumpkin stickers on all of the kiddos' heads.



Then she helped us put them on the front porch. She was done with pictures at this point.



The Main Event

The week before Halloween we started training Bean how to trick-or-treat. She would knock on the pantry door, saying "Trick-or-Treat" and then we would put goldfish crackers in her pumpkin bucket. When it was time to go trick-or-treating I told her I was going to take her picture.



Then I told her she was going to go trick-or-treating so she ran...



...over to the pantry door and went trick-or-treating.



(For a funny story about the socks on the floor see * at the bottom.)

When I was growing up my dad always took me out while my mom stayed back and handed out her famous cookies. I LOVED it! In fact, to this day I feel a little wistful as I wonder how he must have felt the year I told him that I wanted to go with my friends instead.

So I asked S if he wanted to take Bean trick-or-treating. He seemed a little confused that I didn't want to until I told him my past tradition. I hope this becomes a special tradition for the two of them.

I made Italian Pasta and Bean Soup and homemade rolls for dinner and then it was time for them to go.



She wasted no time.



It was very sweet watching the two of them together.



I thoroughly enjoyed staying home and boogying to the Halloween mix on Pandora. I may have sung into a wooden spoon as I was doing the dishes :) Plus we actually had a decent turnout this year. Bean came back loaded with goodies. Then S suggested I take her over to Aunt A's (who is practically my neighbor) so she could trick-or-treat at their house. Bean came home one exhausted, but extremely happy little kid.




After bath that night she tried to go trick-or-treating again and threw the tantrum of tantrums when I told her we were done. But I kind of get why. Once you teach them that if they knock on a door and they get candy, why wouldn't they want to make it a career? In fact just this morning I woke up to Bean knocking from the inside of her door. As I got closer I could hear her saying, "Trick-or-Treat!" repeatedly.

I think Halloween just became my favorite holiday.

(*--we made some of those Pillsbury pop-them-in-the-oven Halloween cookies before her nap that day. I asked if she wanted to see them baking in the oven--meaning for a few seconds. She plopped herself down on the floor in front of the oven, took her socks off, and watched them bake for the entire 10 minutes. She is such a funny kid...)

Remember me saying that we built a deck this summer? Well, come next spring not only will we have a deck to enjoy, but a lawn as well! Here's how it went down.

When we went to N. Carolina this past summer, we loved the deck there so much that we decided to forego our original plans for a cement patio. I am so glad we did because our deck turned out so beautifully.

Here's another picture of the deck in progress. To this day I look at it in amazement that S built the whole thing with his two hands. (Pictures of the finished thing are further down in the post.)

After the deck was finished, we figured we had enough outdoor livable space to hold us for awhile, but then we realized that it was possible (financially and time-wise) to get the lawn in this fall. S went to work clearing out all of the debris.



He didn't discover just how many rocks were in our backyard until he started to trench. In fact, the difficulty of trenching actually broke the first trencher and he had to go get a second one. We joked later that there was no need for us to buy the rock for our retaining walls--we should have just dug them all out of our yard.

Here's a view after all of the pipe was laid.

Then he had three dumptrucks of topsoil delivered. That's a lot of dirt!



And then it was all spread out. This was actually my favorite part. I thought it looked so pretty!



Here's another view (as well as a picture of S placing the heads. As well as a good look at our deck.)



And here's a view from our lower patio.



A good close-up of our deck:



This is the morning the hydroseed was to be spread. S spent several hours raking the topsoil to perfection. The hydroseed guy said it looked like a putting green, then proceeded to tromp right through it...



The hydroseed guy going to work. It took him 20 minutes. It made me feel bad for those who spend hours laying sod.



Here's the hydroseed right after it was spread. We opted for hydroseed after several of our neighbors went that route. It takes a long time to fill in, but their lawns ended up greener than those who had sod. And it costs a tenth what sod would. We had to tell Bean (who had been out playing in the dirt over the last several weeks) that she could no longer play in the dirt because there was baby grass and it needed to grow. She accepted that.



Eight days later it started to sprout. This was the most exciting part!



20 days later.



The constant watering and some recent rainstorms turned the south end of our backyard into a swamp for awhile.

And finally 30 days later. It is still a little sparse in areas but I think it looks awesome!!





I could say it was a lot of work, but really all I did was refill S's drink and bring him snacks throughout the day. I'm sure if you asked him, though, he would say that it was a lot of work. It is amazing to compare where we are now with where we were last January.

Choc-o-late Cake

S was on his way home from working on a sprinkler project with a friend. He said he would stop and get milk. I was upstairs stripping the Bean-O down for her bath when the doorbell rang. There on our porch, conveniently, was a gallon of milk and giant portion of Costco chocolate cake.

I was questioning S of this (who had absolutely no idea who would have left this on our porch) and in the meantime Bean came down the stairs to see what was going on.

"Choc-o-late?" she asked. How in the world she knew what was wrapped underneath the foil is beyond me. This girl must have radar.

She was down to her diaper and about to get in the bath, so we obliged.



Photo-editing courtesy pixlr.com.

Perfecting the staycation: the rest of our summer

This post should really be seven separate posts. That's what happens when I don't upload my photos for a month and a half. But it has been fun looking back on our last months of summer.

Daybreak Lake

My friend and her family are building a home over in the Daybreak community, which is fairly close to where we live. She suggested that we meet her and her son, E, at the park for a few hours. It's the first time I've really spent time over there and I was surprised at how nice it was. Bean and E had fun playing on the slide for awhile and then my friend suggested that we go to the beach close by. I certainly didn't expect anything so nice. There in the middle of nowhere was this lake with an awesome beach (as in, decent sandcastle sand.) Bean and E had fun playing in the water.



I felt bad because (1) I'd forgotten to put sunscreen on Bean and (2) she was not dressed to go in the water and you moms know what happens when a regular diaper gets wet...So we cut our morning a little short. But I was so happy to see something fun to do that is close to us.

Birthday Trip to the Zoo

Since we were rained out at our trip to the zoo for Bean's first birthday, we thought we would give it a try again this year. I am so glad we did. Bean had a blast!

The first thing we did (and, honestly, the whole reason I wanted to take her) was go on the train. (Remember: this girl loves trains!) I love this picture because it is an action shot of her saying "choo-choo."



She had fun seeing the animals and climbing on them too.



And she loved the famous lion fountain.



We decided to brave it and walk around 'sans stroller.' We weren't sure how Bean would do walking so far, but she did great! There were times, though, that it was easier for S to just put her on his shoulders. S and I were distractedly talking and I just happened to look down at Bean and see her giving Mickey a ride on her "shoulders." She has such a cute personality!



If you want to see more on her birthday, visit my other blog.

More Time at the Farm

We've continued going to Wheeler Farm almost every single week. Bean knows exactly where we are when we drive by it on our way to "Papa's" (aka Grandpa's) house. She excitedly starts saying, "Farm? Farm? Farm?" And then I tell her, "yes--we are going to go to the farm for a picnic tonight." And then she'll say, "Picnic. Farm. Horses! Neiiggghh..."

I don't know how we missed the treehouse for the first several weeks this year. This particular trip was her first time inside it and she was so excited!



She got to the top and looked out the window and motioned for me to take her picture (that's what she means when she holds her hands up to her eyes)



and then she said "Cheese!"



Going to a Football Game in Enemy Territory

Okay, so the truth is, I will probably always root for Utah when they are playing anyone but BYU because I am a Utah native and I feel like it would be blasphemous to not root for the home team. S's dad had bought tickets for he, S, and his sister B to go to the season opener, but realized later that there was a conflict and that he would not be able to go. So S asked if I wanted to go instead. And I said yes.



It really wasn't so bad. It was unfortunate that the tickets were in a section with alot of MSU fans. Without a television narrative, I don't know that much about football. So I just cheered when the surrounding crowd cheered. Yeah...I ended up having to just focus on when S and B would cheer so I didn't get dirty looks.

It felt very awkward being there at first, but I had fun and I'm glad I went. And I'm glad they won.



Bear Lake

We found out we had been invited to go to Bear Lake over Labor Day with S's extended family 2 days before we went. It was very spur of the moment.

I've never vacationed at Bear Lake before. And I've only been there a few times--and each time we were just driving through. I didn't really know what to expect.



We packed up after church and drove up with S's parents and sister via Evanston. Once we had set up our trailer and had dinner the day was pretty much over. We were on the east side of the lake so we were able to see the sun set over the lake. Beautiful.



Bean and I headed down to the lake shore and had fun throwing rocks into the lake. Pretty soon this girl will be able to skip stones.



We had a bonfire and Bean roasted her first marshmallow. I think she was more interested in the process than the result, so I got to eat lots of toasted marshmallows.



We headed back to camp early after she tripped and scraped up her poor little hands. I took the time to unwind and read while she colored. Then it was time to go to bed. Trying to get this girl to go to bed in the same bed as me is a challenge because all she wants to do is play. I had just gotten her settled down when everyone else came back to camp. She saw this as the perfect opportunity to jump up and start bouncing on the bed. *sigh* We had finally calmed down again when someone in the trailer got a case of the giggles... :) Actually, once she finally passed out we all slept fairly well (for 5 adults and 1 toddler in 1 trailer.)

The next morning we took turns heading out on the boat. This was Bean's first ride on a boat and she loved it. It's also the first time I've gotten out on a wakeboard since having Bean. I did not do so well. In fact, I plain stunk. I finally got up, let out a whoop, annnd immediately face planted in the water. Awesome battle wounds, though!



Bean was able to get some beach time in with her daddy.



And she went swimming in the lake. I was actually surprised at how clear and warm the water was.



The highlight of the day was watching my father-in-law get tossed around on the tube.



We packed up shortly after and went home. We were pretty exhausted (and sore.) But we certainly crammed everything we could into 24 hours! And I definitely want to go again when we can spend more time there. What a perfect way to say "adios" to summer...



Snowbird

Since S and I weren't really able to celebrate our anniversary on our anniversary, we decided to make a weekend out of it mid-September. Snowbird has some great things to do and I've always wanted to stay at the Cliff lodge up there.

One of the things we wanted to do was go hiking. Then we thought maybe we'd give mountain biking a try. Then we found these things called mountain scooters (basically mountain biking for beginners.)

We rode the tram to the summit



and rode the scooters down one of the maintanence roads (which was still awful steep and bumpy in places.)



It was so beautiful and peaceful. There were mountain streams, waterfalls and wildflowers everywhere.



Another thing we wanted to do was go to the spa. There is a pool and a giant hot tub on the roof of the lodge. By the time we made it out there it was pouring rain (and it was freezing cold.) We watched the storm come in as we relaxed in the hot tub. It was awesome. I can only imagine what it's like up there during the wintertime.

The thing I probably looked forward to most was the couples massage, which we had scheduled the next morning. It was only my second massage ever and S's first one. Ahhhh...I've never had 50 minutes go by so quickly in my life.

Totally uplifted and rejuvenated, we returned home feeling as if we had been a million miles away. I loved being able to get away from everything with my best friend. I think anniversaries are becoming my new favorite celebrations.

Copper Mine

Bean likes trains, tractors AND big trucks. So we decided to take her over to the Copper Mine to see the big trucks. Even though we live right next to it (literally,) I haven't actually been to the open pit in maybe 10 years. It is substantially bigger than I remember it being before.



Plus they have opened up a visitor center with some pretty neat displays. Plus I feel like I should start panning for gold in my backyard.



I remember standing in front of this enormous tire (or one like it) when I was a kid. Except they have covered the hole with plexiglass.