Mindy's Roadtrip

Catch-up blogpost from October 2018.  Solo roadtrip to Idaho and Utah.

Day 1, Wednesday:  To quote Sandra Boynton, "She just doesn't know, should she stay? Should she go?  But yes! the hippopotamus."  Heavily debated on whether or not I actually got to go on this roadtrip because of snow. I took a chance and went anyway.  Getting out of Alberta wasn't great, but after that it was no problem.  One audiobook and 10 hours of driving later I was in Idaho with Tawnia!  I got to meet her fiance Brian.

Day 2, Thursday:  Drove with Tawnia to her work and waited around until she was done.  Did a little fabric shopping, played on the iPad, even took a nap.  It was great.  When she was finished we grabbed some tacos and headed south.  5 hours of driving and LOTS of laughing.  So many inside jokes and memories were made.  We stayed the night with our friend Vanessa in Boise.

Day 3, Friday:  More driving, this time to Provo, Utah.  Met up with Mom and Dad.  Surprised the pants off of Trina - she had no idea I was coming!  Tawnia got to try on wedding dresses, and I helped Jenna pick out THE dress.  We would definitely recommend Sweetheart Bridal to anyone in search of a dress!  Afterwards we stopped by the Provo City Center temple and then the mall where I found the dress that I would wear to the wedding (love a good sale).  Already a busy day, but we ended it with Tawnia's bridal shower -- so many wonderful people and the yummiest food.

There was a no, a definitely not, a not bad, a this could be it, and then a YES!

After Tawnia picked her dress we ALL tried stuff on.

Let's celebrate how awesome Tawnia is!

I hear you love tacos...

Day 4, Saturday: We stayed at Aunt Debbie's house, and for once I wasn't jumping into the car first thing in the morning.  We watched General Conference.  And between sessions Trina and I went fabric shopping - TOGETHER!  In the evening we went to the Women's Session (which is why Trina was there with Jenna).  Very spiritually uplifting and so nice to be there with my sisters, mom, niece and aunt.

Fabric shopping!  So many fat quarters!  We bought matching flannel for the back of the twin quilts we've been working on all year. It sounds silly, but it was one of my favorite parts of the weekend.  We are constantly messaging back and forth about sewing projects, so it was a lot of fun to actually talk about ideas in person and pick out fabric together!

Day 5, Sunday: Back in the car for another 11 hours back to Idaho.  We were able to listen to part of Conference before we were out of range.  We had dinner with Nathan and Emily and then read the script for Henry Potter and  the Sorcerer's Phone.  

Day 6, Monday:  Happy Thanksgiving!  While I am very grateful for my little family, it was so nice to spend some time not being mom.  I may have spent another 10 hours in the car, but I got to listen to what I wanted, stop (or not stop) when I wanted, and eat without sharing anything.  I immediately stepped back into the role of Mom when I arrived home, as I was greeted with a horribly messy house and freshly baked cookies.

6 days, 4000 kilometers, and over 40 hours in the car.  Totally worth it.

BONUS:  Movie Wedding Game

I made a little game - how many movies and TV shows can you identify?  It wasn't used for the bridal shower in Utah, but was used later at the one in Idaho.  It was fun to put together so figured I would show it off somewhere.

Book Birthday

Better late than never - Cupcake turned 6!  Last July!

She requested a book party so we held it at the public library (for free!).

Our invitations were basically mini books, 

and we suggested everyone wear a shirt you could read.

For decor I made a garland out of a book that had been left outside in the rain.

And the rest of the decor was .. the library. So books. And balloons.

book one: Moira's Birthday by Robert Munsch

The children sat in a circle with a wrapped gift.

Every time I read a number the package was passed to the next person.

Whoever held it at the end of the story got to open it.

(It was gel pens which they got to use in the next activity.)

book two: Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton

We made origami bookmarks shaped like monsters!

There ended up being 17 children there (lots of siblings),

and lots of them struggled with even basic paper folding.  

For next time: older children or more adults to help.

book three: I'm Invited to a Party by Mo Willems 

Cupcake read Piggie and I was Gerald.  And we dressed up for a party.

book four: I Can Read with my Eyes Shut by Dr. Seuss

So we all got blindfolded and pinned the book to the shelf.

The goal was to get our rectangles into white space, 

but books ended up all over the place, of course.

book five: Snappy Birthday by Mark Sperring

and then (gummy) bookworm cupcakes.

Other food was juice boxes, apples, yogurt and the cutest

tortilla books filled with meat and cheese.

Impossible to get a picture, but they were awesome.

Cut out strips of tortilla to be the cover and 

fold in half around the meat and cheese to be the pages.

book we ran out of time for: If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff

I made my own Mad Libs, themed after the book, so we could write our own story.

It was too loud and the kids just wanted to play, so it didn't happen.

But if you want, here's a blank set for you!

And lastly, I sent the kids home with favor bags filled with:

gummy worms, Alphabits cereal, a balloon, (fake) reading glasses, and a bookmark to color.

MaryAnn gets bigger.

The last we really heard about our sweet little Snowflake was her first birthday.

Over half a year has gone by and she has grown a lot!

She climbs on everything - especially the table to get to food or crayons.

She makes lots and lots of messes, with a twinkle in her eye.

I am guilty of not taking as many pictures now that there are two,

but I always seem to get lots of pictures at Daddy's ball games.

She doesn't have one special toy like Aria did, but she does have favorites.

She liked the panda for a while, but now there's a puppy.  Violet is always good.

PEEK-A-BOO!

Working out can be a challenge for me.  I'm climbed on and sat on a lot.

MaryAnn loves to grab her own weight though (2lb) and exercise with me.

As you can see, this girl is NOT afraid to get messy.

The girl loves shoes and accessories - hats, scarves, etc. 

She steals everyone's clothes (socks, underwear, my bras) to wear too.

Bonus: I had no idea she could stack blocks so high!

Somebody loves her Dada!

And running me all over the ball diamonds.

We are at such a fun stage - she's starting to communicate and learn new things every day.

MaryAnn regularly signs "please" and recently learned "drink."

Her favorite words are Aria, Dada and Mommy.

She loves "woofs" and all birds say quack.  Meow is coming along too. 

She is dancing to.. the printer.

And just last week, she saw Grandpa and Grandpa!

Build-A-Bear

I saw online that Build-A-Bear was doing a promotion - for one day only you could pay your age to buy any stuffed toy in the store.  I was already planning on hanging out with my friend Leilynn, so we decided to do it together.  SEVEN hours after we arrived at the mall we walked out with five teddy bears for a total of $13.  We waited.  We wandered. We found friends and made friends.  I wouldn't have lasted alone.

Aria was a trooper and was so excited to finally pick out her bear.  

MaryAnn lasted the entire time just to crash out moments after picking her bear too.  

Was it worth the seven hours?  Probably not, because any money we saved we ended up spending on food.  I was NOT prepared with enough snacks, or a folding chair for myself.  But I got to spend time visiting with my friend, the girls got to play, and in the end we got some pretty awesome bears with a great story.

Kindergarten is Fun!

Just a few highlights from Kindergarten.

There was lots of learning, growing, playing, field-trips, writing, reading and fun!

The school value that Aria embodies is CONFIDENCE.

Every week they did a "sound muncher" where a monster would eat certain sounds.

The weather was especially bad one day so I kept her home (although the school was open).

She was so sad to miss it that day so we made our own.

They made it to 100 days of school!   For Aria's 100 things she drew 100 pictures.

And she got to dress up as if she were 100 years old. 

We made a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's Day.

Quest Theatre came to the school and at the end of the week the kids performed.

They each presented a different school value. Aria's class talked about Curiosity.

(Overall it was more entertaining than the Christmas concert!)

And right at the end of the year Grandpa came in to sing a few songs.

It was fun for him to visit the school he taught at 20+ years ago!