Year in Review 2015

Just a few notes because, yes, its been over 2 years since I updated this last. Life has become a real dance and mostly I feel like I'm tripping over my feet instead of doing really cool moves that inspire people.

Sammi celebrated her 3rd birthday. We played over the summer; family reunion, fishing, and swim lessons. One of the reasons I fall behind is trying to transfer photos from cell phone to hard drive and the organizing them from there. It takes too much time.

Easter 

Preschool graduation

Watterson Family Reunion

Sammi, Ellie, Hayley painting at family reunion

Oakley Parade 4th of July

Me and the girls at the Wind Caves

The Wind Caves

Panorama from the Wind Caves

Playing on the beach at Rockport

Ben at Rockport

Tubing with Grandma Wendy and Grandpa DeVon

Driving with Uncle Jeff

Sammi driving the boat with Uncle Jeff

Ellie and Sammi

Family Photos

After shakes at Raspberry Days, we stopped at the Bear Lake Lookout

1st day of Kindergarten

After 1st day of kindergarten

Swimming at Neil and Shawna's pool

Crazy kids with crazy socks

Tough Mudder Vegas (Me, Jake, Marc, Rob, Kris, and some friends)

Happy Halloween and birth announcement (My shirt says bun in the oven with May 2016 and Jake's apron says I put the bun in the oven.)

Christmas lists (Ellie wrote them)

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa Gledhills

I hope this give an idea of what 2015 was like for us.

True Confessions of this Worn Out Mom

I shouldn't be worn out. It's not like I spend much time doing super important things. And truly, deep down hidden someone right now, I know that none of these things matter in the grand scheme of things, but right now I am feeling like a lousy mother.

I haven't updated this blog in months. Guess what the last post was supposed to be? An update on Sammi for her 3rd birthday. I have pictures, videos, charts, and stories of the things we have done since then but whenever I have a desire to write, something else of a more immediate nature comes up. (Yes, I could totally be posting about that instead right now but I need just a minute to bare my soul.)

This is not the only reason I feel like a lousy mother. I want my kids to be able to go and play with friends, but that's the thing, I want them to go and do it. I don't want to have to set up play dates. I want my kids to be able to celebrate the day they were born (I know I do) but I don't want to plan and pay for the kids of birthday parties that are shown all over the internet; professional cakes, extra cool/crafty favors for everyone, crafts, and entertaining kids for 4-5 hours. Heck, I don't even really want other kids to bring presents for my kids. On that same thought train, I want my kids to feel like they have friends so you need to start inviting to birthday parties to be invited to one but I don't want to end up spending $15-$50 a month buying presents for some other kid that they probably don't need and chances are their parents don't want either.

I think what triggered all this is the "Back to school" photos on all the social media sites. Growing up, I have pictures of the first day of school. Some are in front of our house, some are at the school. Sometime around the 6th grade, they stopped. Now, instead of just a picture standing at home or at the school, the pictures have signs showing what grade, and then signs with the grade and the teacher. Then the signs with the grade, teacher, what they want to be when they grow up. Then signs with the grade, teacher, what they want to be, their favorite color, the date, who their friends are, their blood types, etc. I mean, you get the picture, right? And with how feasible and popular photography is, I can't tell if the parent is a photographer or if they really had a professional photo shoot.

So right now, in my time of weakness, I am questioning my mentality of being of mother and whether my kids will hate growing up in my household. Eventually, I will fight this off and know that my kids will hopefully remember all the other things we do and learn together. That pictures, birthday parties, blog posts, and anything else we as mothers sometimes guilt ourselves into doing won't really be the memories the cherish. These are just ways to recall what happened on that particular day. The real memories will be that our family loves each other, that I taught them to be good people, and that they can overcome and do hard things but they don't have to do them alone.

P.S. this was published almost a year and a half after I wrote it.

St. George, Sand Hollow and Toquerville Falls

Jake and his brothers (and awesome sister-in-law) were running another Tough Mudder. This time in Phoenix, AZ. They were struggling with travel plans and accommodations. Eventually they settled with stop in St. George for a night, continue traveling to Phoenix for a night, run the event and head back to St. George for the night. We haven't had a vacation for a while so we decided to head down early and have some fun. 

Ellie had been asking about cinnamon rolls for a while and then I remembered about my great grandmother Millie's recipe. So I looked up some conversions (scalded milk and yeast cakes) and tried making a batch. They turned out great so we made some for our trip to St George.

Here's Sammi helping measure flour. 

Fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls

They turned out so good.

We took off for St. George on a Tuesday night. My brother Jeff hasn't been to see the house we stay in so we took him along. Also, it would give me an extra adult to hang out with while Jake and his family were in Phoenix. Stef and JT drove out and stopped in Sand Hollow so they could hang out with us as well.

Wednesday we played around the house for a bit and then headed in to Cedar City to have dinner and talk with some friends. Aaron and Julie showed us this great BBQ joint. We went back to their place for dessert and hair cuts. Thanks Julie.

On Thursday we had other friends come play at the house with us. Darci and the boys came swimming in the pool and played in the tree houses. Later, once Dan was off work, we went out for dinner with them. It had been too long since we had seen them last; probably close to 4 years. We were on our way out to Denver and they were on their way to Las Vegas. I really love getting together with friends.

(Sorry I sucked at taking any pictures though.)

Jake's family had shown up the night before and on Friday they were off to Phoenix. So what do we do? Go have as much fun as possible.

We drove over to Sand Hollow, where Stef and JT were staying. Once there we jumped in the Jeep, 4 Runner, and Razor to head over to the beach. I don't know who had the most fun at the beach; Zoey, Ellie, Sammi, or JT.

Zoey, the great dane, ran everywhere except where the water was too deep because she is a chicken and can't swim yet. However, she doesn't want water to touch her belly either.

What would you do if it was warm outside, the sand was warm but the water a little chilly (53 degrees according to the entrance station)? Ellie would run into the water and splash around then run out and lay in the sand becoming a sand monster and then return to the water.

Gotta warm up

Wash off the sand. 

She didn't want to stay out of the water but when she was shivering uncontrollably, I thought it was best and made her stay out.

Sammi splashed a little in the water or walked in to fill up her cups but she would rather dig and make sand castles. Then either she or Zoey would stomp them. Zoey was always trying to run as close to people as possible. Zoey helped dig a big hole so the girls could sit and be buried. Neither girl sat too long in the hole. Sammi didn't want to be covered and the shape of the hole hurt Ellie's back once the sand was piled on her legs.

We dried them off and dressed them so they could go for a ride in the Razor. Even though we had brought their bike helmets down with us, I left them at the St. George house. They just wore Stef's helmet. ha ha ha

Ellie and JT

Sammi's turn

JT said that both girls just laughed and giggled the whole time. Of course, Ellie kept asking to go faster and even squealed when JT took her to do some donuts. That is definitely something we will need to do again.

We went back to the motor home and trailer for lunch and so Sammi could nap. While she was napping, JT took me on a ride. I have been on 4 wheelers before but never through sand dunes. The razor was a blast. The ride was beautiful. I didn't take my phone or a camera because I didn't want sand everywhere in them but that is such a gorgeous area. 

On Sand Hollow, there is this great cliff jumping place near the boat ramp. We went and hiked around there to splash and throw rocks. The water lever was a little low and the water temp a little cold for us to want to jump in. 

Ellie wanted to do so much of the hiking by herself. She was so excited to explore and learn things. I think Ellie and Sammi definitely threw more rocks but Jeff and JT may have created more splash because they kept skipping rocks and throwing in big rocks to try and splash us. It was time to head back when Sammi stepped on a thorn. It bled quite a bit. Sadly the ranger who had just pulled up to the ramp as we walked out hadn't kept the first aid kit up to date. His cleansing wipes were dried up but Stef and JT made great doctors to clean and bandage Sammi's foot.

Just after lunch on Saturday, we packed up again and went out to adventure. My uncle Jon had traveled down so along with him and Stef and JT, we drove up to Toquerville Falls.  It had been close to 7-8 years since I had been there last. The first time I went to the falls was with a friend of mine who lives down in the area about 13-14 years ago. Its a great place to have fun.

Just up stream from the falls we had a great place way from others where the girls and the dogs could splash around and play. Besides Zoey, we had Duncan (my uncle's lab) and Buoy (belongs to friends of Stef and JT). Ellie did great seeing her first golden lab since she was bit. She has really learned that each animal, no matter how much they look alike, is different and an individual.

Anyway, the dogs loved trying to fetch rocks and dirt clumps the girls threw. They also ran and splashed in between anyone standing too close to the water.

Girls at the falls.

This is a little better picture of the falls. Ellie and Sammi were on the middle ledge on the right side. Bert the Jeep is Stef and JT's jeep that travels to Jeep and off road shows all over the country for Nemesis Industries (the company they work for). Honk if you ever see Bert around. He's hard to miss.

Bert the Jeep

Falls in June of 2006

We headed back into St. George for dinner and to wait for the Tough Mudder goers to return. We had such a fun time. I wish I was already back there and had been able to spend more time with various friends. But you do what you can. It was so nice to go and have such a good time and do so many fun things.

Friends, food, fun and gymnastics

Do you know when you have good friends? When you haven't really seen or spoken in a few years but they still call when they are headed in your direction just so you can hang out. Tracey did just that thing a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen her or her family for almost 2 years but they were coming up to go to a gymnastics meet and gave us a call. 

We started with dinner at a local joint, where the locals eat, and then headed to The Spectrum. I had looked up the info online and found that entrance was free if you were wearing pink. We had to buy Jake a ticket. 

Don't be fooled by the look on Ellie's face. She loved watching the gymnastics and playing with friends. 

Ellie put your hands down. Sammi look at the camera.

Apparently USU's gymnastics isn't as popular as the Utes' Red Rocks. We showed up late but where still only 5 rows up from the floor.

We has such a good time. We got out of the house, the kids were able to play and enjoy something new, and Jake and I could take with friends and have adult conversations.

Thanks Tracey and Adrian. We had such a great time.

Where do they come up with these things?

Both girls have recently said things that I just don't even know how to react or how to respond to. Of course being a toddler, Sammi always says things that are funny, don't quite make sense, or whatever simply because she is learning to grasp the language. I can understand that. I try to re-phrase what she said making the proper corrections or ask for clarification so I can understand what she is trying to say. However most of the time, I just end up laughing because its just too funny.

Lately Sammi has been telling people, "You're not the most. Jesus is the most." Or similar variations along those lines. Every time it ends with Jesus is the most. I have no idea where she picked this up or learned it but with her goofy toddler accent (which you just have to hear). She sounds like an extreme bible thumping church goer. This makes me laugh almost every time, except when she yells this at someone in the grocery story trying to walk down the same aisle as us.

The other thing she says a bunch is "You're not a mean guy. You're a good guy." Then she proceeds to name everyone she knows as a good guy. "Jeff's not a mean guy. He's a good guy. Frampa's (who she says grandpa) not a mean guy. He's a good guy." She even includes her uncles who she shies away from in person. Again, poor strangers at the grocery store have been told they are bad or mean guys because they want to walk down the aisle. (Do you get the feeling she doesn't like strangers at grocery stores and I that I spend a lot of time apologizing to people because my child is extremely rude?)

As funny as these have been, it's something that Ellie said to me the other day that has me questioning where kids pick up these ideas or phrases. About a week ago, I was making a meal. Ellie was standing there talking with me and out of nowhere she says, "Mom, you won't be there when I get married. You'll be dead." I tried to ask why she thought that or what gave her that idea. Once she answered because I'll be older than grandmas. So I explained that both my grandma's were still alive when I was married and one of them is still alive. However, again she insisted that I wouldn't be at her wedding cause I would be dead. She said it a few more times. Not quite sure what to do or say to that.

What happened for thinking for ourselves?

Can someone explain this to me because my logic is getting into the way?

We signed up for a service and agreed to a 12 month contract with 12 months of a promotional price. This month the bill went up (and we've lived in our place for a year) so contract and promotional price over right? Wrong!

After chatting with 2 people and having 2 different phone conversations with people from 2 different departments, this is what I learned. According to the company, the promo pricing ended with the bill that started at the end of Jan. This makes sense because they bill a month in advance (so the end of January bill covered the month of February). This bill is for the 13th month, however the contract and the promo pricing are still on the account until next week. Because of this, they can't cancel the contract or give new promo pricing until next week when that information "falls off the system" so I will need to call back next week to change the contract, try for new promo pricing, and try for a credit for the bill they are going to auto-deduct from my account even though I cancelled auto-pay (because they won't guarantee the auto-pay won't pull the money if you already received your bill).

What bothers me:

1. Not a single person, of the three I spoke with about my questions, seemed to understand (or if they did, they no longer cared) that if the pricing was for 12 months and the contract were for 12 months why did the pricing end last month but the contract is in force until next week? Why if the promo pricing was still on the account (it won't "fall off" until next week), why wasn't in affect for the price of the services? If the contract was over, why couldn't changes be made simply because there was information just sitting and doing nothing on my account?
2. How is it that people who work there haven't ever questioned this so they can best deal with customer who are going through this issue? I was always trying understand and learn how or why things worked the way they did. I felt it helped me to know how to explain things to customers or work out solutions that worked best for both sides. 
3. This company built they're system this way and the underlings don't have codes or control to do or change anything. It seems as though it were built in such a way that would cause extra work for both the employees and the customers just so that when people aren't paying attention to their account, they can make some extra bucks. 

Is my logic wrong here? Am I the one who doesn't understand? 

My Public, Health Service Announcement

If you have a vacuum with any kind of filter, wash or change it regularly (depending on your filter). If your brush slows down on a regular basis or the belt appears a little over-stretched, buy a new belt and replace it.

I have 2 filters on my vacuum; one is washable foam and the other is a hepa filter. I wash the foam one regularly because I can see when it is dirty. I tend to forget about the other one. I change the belt out when it breaks and the brush stops spinning. So why did I start this post like I did? I am about to tell you and completely embarrass myself in the process.

First I noticed I had to lower the brush on my vacuum in order to make sure it was really brushing the carpet. I could run it over areas and look like the brush was only touching 2-3 spots. Small amounts of hair wrapping around the brush would cause it to slow down and I was cutting hair off about every other use. Finally the brush just stopped spinning altogether however the belt was still intact. So I decided it was probably a good time to buy a new one and while I was at it buy the hepa filter.

Because I am totally cheap and sometimes still think things should cost less than they usually do, I almost didn't buy the filter.  I was buying 2 belts for $4 but 1 filter was going to cost $9. It's just a stupid filter, right? Not a big deal. But I decided I should just spend the money for it. Especially cause our family has been getting cold after cold lately.

I got home and switched out the belt and noticed the old one was really stretched out. Then I switched out the filter which was really dirty. Then I started vacuuming the 2 rooms I hadn't been able to vacuum the other day when the brush stopped.

The slots in the filter should be white and that's the new belt inside the old one.

Before I explain what happened next, I promise, I vacuum on a regular basis. Usually once a week, sometimes more, however a few times it is less frequent but never longer than 2 weeks between vacuuming (unless we aren't home).

As I started vacuuming, I noticed that I could change the brush setting back and the carpet looked great. When I moved items to vacuum under them, the brush straightened out the carpet that has been lain flat under the pressure. At this point I realized I probably needed to change the belt a little more often than when it breaks or when the brush stops. Then slowly I became more and more disgusted with what I saw and heard. It truly sounded like I hadn't vacuumed in weeks. The dirt and dust catching bucket was filled with dirt and dust bunnies.

The amount of dirt and dust after vacuuming the house twice.

 I ended up vacuuming to whole house at least twice and then borrowing our neighbors carpet cleaner. I was beyond shocked at how dirty things were. Each time I vacuumed before, I had  to empty the bucket because of dirt and just assumed that things were ok. I had no clue that my vacuum was sucking at sucking up dirt.

I apologize to those who have visited my house recently (if the grossness of the garbage can picture bothers you). I learned a valuable lesson. I now know that no matter the cost of the filter, buy it and change it out every few months. Regardless of the cost, there are some things we just have to do on a regular basis to have healthy, safe, and clean lives. Hopefully this will help the runny noses and coughs go away.