Naps and Chalk Art

Ever since Libby gave up the binkie (or had it wrenched away, depending on how you view it) she hasn't taken a single nap (well maybe one or two). Until yesterday. I finally had had enough. My little angel had turned into a sleep deprived devil. Moving bed time up hadn't helped, and we were up to about 40 tantrums a day. (Mostly mini-tantrums). I just got in bed with her and told her a story just like we do at night and stayed with her until she went to sleep. She didn't have a perfect night of sleep last night, but I think she is going to get used to it. I was able to get her to wear clothes (instead of a costume or dress) to the gym. No tantrum. I wet down and combed her hair before the gym. No tantrum. She took another nap. She didn't ask for a movie ONCE today. She and Sarah played outside for over an hour. They laughed more than they fought. I honestly heard Libby come back out of her shell today. It was amazing what a little more sleep can do. I don't know what took me so long. But I think I am finally going to like parenting Libby again.

This is the chalk art piece "Sunset" I love it. Even though it is not on the surface where the chalk was intended to go, I am fine with it!

What a WEEK!

Here is how the week went.
Sarah barfing on Sunday night.
Libby barfing on Tuesday night.
Derek barfing on Wed. morning.
The washer barfing back up water on Wed. morning.
Trish pulling everything out of the pantry so the plumber could get in. Then deciding to paint the pantry because it looked gross inside. (Then feeling sick all evening, but thankfully not barfing.)
Plumber coming on Thursday to snake the washer drain.
Putting everything back in the pantry.
Libby getting a sniffle and being extremely grumpy the rest of the week.
Glad it is over.
Thankful it ended with a delightful women's broadcast.

Ugh!! Stomach Flu again!

So far only Sarah has been afflicted. I am crossing my fingers that it was caused by the piece of chalk she tried to eat at church, and it isn't really the flu.

Libby the Dancer

Libby loves to dance, have you noticed? So I decided it was time for her to start her formal training. She has had two classes now and is loving it! I am loving it even more, just walking into the dance studio makes me feel happy.

The students have to wear black leotards, pink tights, and bring tap and ballet shoes each week.

Here is Libby in full regalia, and NOT into having her picture taken. She looks like she is preparing for when the paparazzi will be chasing her for real.

We are so close...

That we suck each others' thumbs :)

Tubby Song

Here is Sarah singing almost the whole tubby song. So cute!

Utah Trip, the rest

The rest of the Utah trip was low key, thank goodness, after all the fun and excitement of the first few days. We had a little birthday party for Sarah (her birthday isn't until OCT. but it was a chance to party with the Randall of the family). We had dinner with Bryn, Brian, Auntie Ray Ray, Grandma Debbi and Grandpa Kelly.
Libby had a hard time letting Sarah open her presents. Luckily there was a present for Libby too.



We also got haircuts from Auntie Ray Ray. I got some color too :)


The drive home was much better. We started earlier, and that helped. Derek and I also got an audio book which made the trip more entertaining. Sarah went tinkle in every potty when we stopped. Libby only got unreasonable a time or two and we made it in 16 hours. Whew.

Utah Trip Day 4: The BIG GAME

Saturday I went to the gym with my mom in the morning and discovered Stella Athletics! http://www.stellaathletics.com/ I bought a bunch of clothes (but when I got home I realized that only some of the stuff made it in the bag. I was on a quest the rest of the weekend to get the other stuff. Silly stress.) But I love the clothes!

Then, off to the BYU-UW pre-game party at the Wood's house. Maryann was my favorite mission companinon and still one of my very best friends. We had a great time eating and chatting with them before heading off to the game.

Imagine my surprise when I sat down and heard, "Hi, Mrs. Norton." One of my students! We had a good time chatting during the game. The Huskies did not play up to their potential and they lost. It was rough. We went all that way to see them lose :( So sad!
We saw lots of friends at the game! Ellen McCall, the Fillmores, one of Derek's season ticket friends. It was certainly an experienc!

Utah Trip Day 3

We leisurely ate an amazing breakfast on Friday morning (pull aparts, bacon and eggs, YUM!), cleaned up camp, and made our way to Hyrum dam for a day of waverunning. It was perfect weather. Warm and sunny but not too hot. Sarah only tried to drown herself once and then stayed pretty clear of the water. She did ride the wave runner with me (but I couldn't get it stared with her on it) and grandpa (who did take her out for a spin). Libby refused to put a life jacket on, so she spent her time on the beach. I have no pictures of this day because there was too much sand around for me to want to pull out my camera. I think Brian got some good ones, so I will add some if he passes them on.

Utah Trip Day 2

On Thursday we drove up to Logan to see my grandparents. It was a great trip. We stopped at the cheese factory and my favorite pizza place, the Pizza Factoria. Yum! My grandma has dementia, so sometimes she has a hard time having conversation, but it was really good this trip. My grandpa is just delightful. He has always been quiet, but he is getting more chatty and fun to be around. I just love them! We took the girls for a walk up to the USU campus. Libby was NOT impressed with the true Aggie A. Sarah slept the whole walk. I loved being there again. It was such a fun time in my life!

After visiting with my grandparents some more we went up to Bridger campground, my family's favorite camping destination. It is perfect for us, because we are so NOT hardcore campers. It is the first campground up Logan canyon, making it close to civilization. It has flushy pottys and a water tap. It is a place you can reserve the day of. It has a river flowing next to the camp sites and is beautiful in spite of its proximity to the highway. Sarah loved throwing rocks in the river. My mom and dad cooked up some amazing food. We had a great time chatting with Myrna and Jerry. The girls actually slept well all night (even after Libby took a tumble off her bed in the tent trailer.

Roadtrip to Utah Day 1

We left on Wednesday Sept. 1 at about 6:30 am. A little later than we had hoped, but we were up late preparing the night before. On Tuesday I had about 4 or 5 visits from friends, visiting teachers, etc. So I got a little behind on my packing and cleaning.

My family once went on a legendary roadtrip...the "I...I...ohhhh." Roadtrip. I think we were going Salmon ID and one of my brothers had the runs. He would start to alert my parents that he needed to go, and then it would be too late. So we would stop, clean him up, and get back on the road.

Our trip wasn't quite that bad, but it wasn't good either. Sarah (who was wearing a diaper) was the first to cry that she needed to go potty. And she did! When I got her diaper off at the gas station she started going all over the floor. I got her on the potty to finish up and then cleaned up the gas station, myself, and put her in clean clothes. Then I went back to help Derek clean up the van because when I was jerking the diaper bag out I spilled an entire sippy of milk all over the place in the van. Not a great beginning. We were only about an hour from home.

Over the course of the day we stopped for Libby to go potty about 20 times. She kept freaking out and wanting to go on the side of the road. When we decided she was just faking, she ended up wetting her car seat a time or two. I think she was just tired of sitting and decided to let a little go at a time so that we would have to stop a bunch of times. We finally put her in a diaper, but it was a miserable few hours toward the end. This was her first potty trained road trip, and her first without the binkie. I really wanted to stop and buy a binkie. But I didn't give in. We made it!

It's Officially

The longest time without a blog post since I started the blog almost 3 years ago. Well, I have good excuses. I was on vacation, then when I got home I had purchased peaches and tomatoes that needed my immediate attention. But now I am back. And I will do a major update!