New York City

Lance had to go to New York for work and so I tagged along! Thanks to my mom who watched the kids so I could go:) It was fun to get away and we had a few more days than last year when we went so we tried to see as many new things as we could!! It was very humid, cloudy and rainy most of the time but we were still able to have fun!! These are just a few of the things we did.......

Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery

The best cupcakes EVER!!!

Central Park is our favorite place in New York City!!

We discovered something new, Central Park has a zoo!! The park is so big that we didn't notice that last time.

Central Park "security"!!

We rode the train over to Hoboken, New Jersey. It was a little crazy since we didn't know it was the one day they were having a street fair!!

Had to try some "street" food (which I don't normally do)!!

We had to go to Carlo's Bakery again which was worth the wait!!

Doesn't everything look amazing!!

The goods!! A little melty by the time we made it back to our hotel in New York but just as amazing as always!!

Ignore our stalker in the background!! We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

We went to Wicked!! I was so excited since we didn't go last time and I had really wanted to!! I wish they would make a movie (I am still a little confused) but it was so good!!! :)

Went to Serendipidy and had frozen hot chocolate...AMAZING!!! I am addicted, good thing you can't buy it here!! $9.00 for 1 was completely worth it!!

We got up at 4:00 in the morning (SLC) time to go watch the Today Show in the Pouring Rain!!! It ended up mostly just me since Lance had to go to his meetings:) 

There were not very many people as crazy as us so we were lucky and got a front row spot!!

They only came out for about a total of 5 minutes the entire show

Most of the time this is what we got to see:)

What you see is what you get!! Ann is just as nice, sweet and beautiful as she is on T.V. During the commercial break while Matt ran back inside, Ann went around and talked to as many people as she could.

She even shook my hand and I was lucky enough to get this picture in the 2 seconds she had left!! She was talking to the camera guys (the reason for the funny face) because they were saying she was going back on the air in 2 seconds!!  I had to stand in the pouring rain for 2 hours, and I look horrible, but how many people have a picture with Ann Curry?? She immediately went back on the air after this picture for just a minute (right in front of me), and then went back inside.

Sat on the banks of the Hudson River

 We went to the World Trade Center Memorial. It is fenced off so you cannot see the memorial unless you get tickets (they are free), then you have to return at your assigned time, wait in a long line, go through major security and then you finally can see the memorial!! It is really beautiful and worth the effort to go see!!

 There are waterfalls now where the two towers stood. Around the huge pools of water are the many names of all those who died. There are lots of people surrounding the waterfalls so we looked for an open spot to go stand at. When we got to our open spot we looked down and there was someone with the last name Gillis!! What are the odds??!

This is the only tree that survived the terrorist attacks on September 11th

This is what the grounds look like today

The Apple store is underground, you take the glass elevator to get their!!

We ate at Lombardi's Pizza (claims to be the first pizzeria in the United States).

Happy Mother's Day

 The beautiful Mother's Day flowers Cayden insisted on getting me even though Lance tried very hard to convince him that the "cheaper" ones were better!! Cayden's future wife is going to be very lucky someday:)

Red Sox

Cayden played baseball with his friend Brody for the first time. It was only twice a week (7 games total) so it was really short but he loved it and can't wait to play again next year!! He loved getting his own bat and ball so now he can practice:)

Dance Competition 2012

Carlie had her dance competition this year at 

Juan Diego High School

Her dance team took 3rd place!!!

Daddy Daughter Date

 Carlie loves the Utes just like her dad so she was excited to go to the Utah Red/White Scrimmage

 We have had 2 season tickets the last few years and she is always trying to find reasons why she should go instead of me!! Maybe this year I will have to share:)

A little sample....

Recently we got a little sample of what Spring might be like if it ever stays!! It was so nice being able to wear summer clothes and not have to wear coats anymore. Sadly it didn't last and right after this trip to the park we have had cold, snow and lots of rain!! We can't wait for Spring to be here for good!

Easter 2012

Our neighborhood has an Easter egg hunt every year, the week before easter! The kids were excited even though it was pretty cold.

Cayden filled his basket in about 10 seconds

No matter how hard I try we always end up decorating easter eggs at 10:00 P.M. the night before Easter (because my kids don't let me forget)!!

I think the Easter bunny likes candy a little too much:)

more Easter egg hunts

Pay it forward

Recently we were going on a late night ice cream run! We went through the drive thru at Arctic Circle. When we got up to the window Lance handed them his debit card. They said that we didn't owe anything that the person in front of us had paid for us!! Our first reaction was WHAT? Did we know the person? Why would someone do that? Then we felt dumb, afterall our bill was less than $6.00 (did we look like we couldn't afford that)?? :) Then we realized what a wonderful experience this was for our kids to see firsthand that there are nice people in the world! This person did not even know us and they were just doing something nice for complete strangers! We will never know who this person was or be able to thank them but we were able to teach our kids a valuable lesson. We can do nice things for people whether we know them or not. We may not all be able to pay someone else's bill while dining out or grocery shopping but we can always find ways to do nice things for others even if it is just taking a neighbor cookies! The only way we can "thank" this person is by doing the same thing and finding some way or many ways to PAY IT FORWARD!

Cayden lost his 1st tooth!!

Cayden was playing ball waiting for time to go to Kindergarten and his tooth just fell out! That simple, he was very proud:) He is so excited that it is finally his turn for the Toothfairy to come!

The dump and a movie....

Carlie's Spring field trip was to the dump!! I was thinking what could they possibly do at the dump (while imagining us all standing in the middle of the smelly dump)?! Surprisingly it was very interesting, and no we didn't have to stand outside!! We were inside the office building where they talked about recycling and what you can and cannot recycle. A few of the things we learned:

- just the Salt Lake Valley has over 8,000 pounds of garbage delivered to the dump EVERY day

-every 4.5 years they have to dig a new hole to start putting the garbage (we are a few months away from using the new one)

-the average garbage man picks up garbage from around 1200 houses a day

-if someone dumps GLASS in their recycling container it contaminates the entire garbage truck, so none of the contents can be recycled

-just because something says it is recyclable doesn't mean it is, some states recycle certain things and others don't (when in doubt just recycle it and someone will remove it)

-McDonalds cups or any paper cups that have that glossy coating on them cannot be recycled (I would have and probably have recycled those)

It ended up being very interesting and I learned a few new things:)

It of course was regular field trip weather (very windy, raining and COLD)!! Last year it was snowing so I guess we at least didn't have that! We were supposed to go to the park for lunch but I knew none of us were going to be getting out of the car so we just headed to the next stop which was the movie theater! I was wondering how they were going to justify going to a movie on a field trip!! We went to one of the few theaters left that still shows the movies the old fashioned way (with the reels). They got to go in the back room and see how everything works. Afterwards they got to watch The Muppets. It was good that most everything was already planned for inside since the weather turned out the way it did!

It's time!!!!

Over 3 years ago we decided to try and sell our home so we could be settled before Carlie started Kindergarten. When that didn't happen and Carlie got into the Charter school, we decided we still wanted to move so we could be closer to the school since both her and Cayden would now be going there for the next 10 years! This started the vicious cycle of constant showings, sometimes 1 a day if not more than 1 some days!! I had to keep everything in perfect "showing" condition (or at least be able to look that way in 10 min. or less) 24/7! This becomes very waring on a person especially when you have kids. It didn't matter what was going on in our life, if someone wanted to see our house we let them and always made it look like I had spent hours cleaning and made everything look "perfect" (even when I had just had my tonsils out or just spent 3 horrible days in the hospital after hernia surgery). That is what you do when you want to sell your home, you never know when that one person who wants your home is going to come!! Well 7 months and 7 days ago (August 2nd 2011) we got the offer that ultimately, after much drama and falling through 3 times was the one!! We lived out of boxes and slept on the floor for over 2 months waiting to see if things were going to work out! Then we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment for the rest of the time while our new home has been built. It is finally time!!!! We moved in this past weekend and finally can feel "settled" and live our life again!! It has felt for a very long time now that our life has been "on hold". Waiting for our home to sell, then waiting for the sale to go through, then waiting for our new home to be built!! We had one more abstacle before we could move in!! Friday, before our house could record and fund the county server caught on fire!!! Nothing would be able to record until everything was fixed! It was looking like we wouldn't be able to move over the weekend after all. After it was determined that it wouldn't be able to record Friday, the builder was very kind and gave us the keys anyway!! You NEVER, EVER get the keys to your home until everything has funded and recorded!! Our agent said she has never seen that happen where Richmond has given the keys without that happening! We were so grateful:)

A new chapter.....

It all started in January when I applied for an instructor position (teacher's assistant) at the kids school for Fall (I am a planner)! Both kids will be in school all day in the Fall and it only makes sense for me to work at the school. I will still be home when the kids are home and I won't have to worry about what I will do with the kids in the summer! They said that I should do the substitute training because that is where they choose from first when hiring. So that is what I did. It was a week of training alongside another teacher learning how to teach reading groups. When substituting I would have to teach a reading, math and spelling group (that is what every teacher and instructor does). After that you just help the main teacher with whatever they want you to do. At the end of the training I had to teach the reading group all by myself in front of 2 administrators!! It was a little stressful and overwhelming trying to learn so much in one week! I already was feeling overwhelmed after not working for the past 6 years (wondering if I was crazy and underqualified trying to do this, it's not like I have a teaching background or degree in this subject and have never had any jobs related to teaching)!!! Everything went well and I have been an official substitute now for over a month!! The hard part is never knowing from day to day if I am going to get called in or not. I am too organized and like to have a schedule:) I have learned though how to get ready in 30 minutes or less and not worry about leaving everything a "disaster" until later!! It is also a little more difficult right now with Cayden having afternoon Kindergarten since that means he has to go somewhere in the morning until time for school. Thankfully our parents have been wonderful to help (the few times I have been called in) and my mom then brings him to school. Hopefully in the fall I will get hired on as a full time Instructor and this substituting will have all been worth it:) If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would be doing this I would have thought you were crazy!! I have never considered myelf a "teacher" and would have never thought I would be working at a school. It is amazing though how when you put your mind to something and if you work hard enough, anything is possible!! You never know the path your life is going to take you. I have loved it though and feel like this is where I should be (so hopefully that means everything will work out)!! :) It wasn't very long ago that I was a stay at home mom, going to the gym everyday, having play dates at the park with Cayden's little friends! Now I have both kids in school, there is rarely time to have social time with friends, if at all and I am working again. It is just crazy to think how quickly your life changes! It doesn't seem that long ago that Cayden joined our family and now we are starting a new chapter in our lives.........once again!