Our Zoo Trip

(This is the 3rd and final installment of my posts today that cover this weekend's events!)

We made our annual trip to the zoo yesterday with my Brother-In-Law's family. Mike had to work, so just Eryn and I went. She was much better behaved (for the most part) than I thought she would be. The weather was nice and cool which made the walking much easier on me. We had a good time and I was able to get some interesting pictures.

We packed lunches and ate at the zoo.

The penguins had an evil plan. While 2 or 3 of them posed for pictures and were really cute the others were busy. The had 1 digging a hole while there were 3 standing around that one trying to hide him. It was seriously funny and made me think that in the movie "Madagascar" they really did have a special insight into the penguin world!

Eryn was really looking forward to seeing these guys!

Pushing her own stroller is still more fun than riding in it.

The meerkats put on a show for Eryn and her cousin.

They danced and ran along the windows to really get the kids excited about seeing them. What hams!

It worked! They were glued to them for a few minutes and Eryn's still talking about them being funny. (She does like Meerkat Manor also so she's seen them more, but it was so exciting to see them in real life!)

When she thinks no one is watching...

Uncle Sam bought a ticket for Eryn to ride on the animal carousel that they have there at the zoo. (He bought one for him to ride with Allie and then realized that if your child is so little that you get to ride for free as a parent.) It worked out though. Eryn and I both got to ride on it thanks to Uncle Sam! Well, she rode on a big bear and Mommy held onto the side of it and her while she squealed and laughed the whole time. Getting off of it ensued yet another one of those massive tantrums that makes me want to step aside and point at her and say, "Who's kid is that?"

Memorial Day BBQ

We had a family BBQ with Mike's family for Memorial Day. Eryn had fun playing with the horses in her Aunt Sarah's backyard.
Later we went to a park near their house and while leaving she started apologizing a million times. "I sorry! I sorry!" It was just time to go. Yet, she thought she did something wrong that made us have to leave. Sweet little girl was covering all of her bases to make sure she could still play.

Then Eryn and Mike went swimming at the hotel with Uncle Sam and cousin Allie. Our little daredevil had fun jumping into the pool and Mike had to work really hard to keep her under control. She loved it so much! Yet again, leaving was a big issue. It makes it hard to do fun things when the tantrum after is so terrible. Any suggestions on how to avoid that part?

Adventures at Instacare

After being sick for a few days and then finally waking up in the middle of the night on Friday with a massive fever it was officially time to seek professional medical attention. On a Saturday of a holiday weekend... Yep, that's when Eryn needs to see someone.

I called a few places and none were open because of the holiday or just wouldn't answer the phone. I finally gave up and we decided that we'd just go to the hospital and wait around in the ER for some help. We were going to meet my Brother-In-Law up there and he found an open Instacare on the other side of the hospital! We went there.

What a blessing that turned out to be! It was a lot faster and undoubtedly cheaper. It turns out that our little sicky (who never really acted sick very much) had a very very severe ear infection in her left ear and a pretty bad one in her right ear. She never complained about it! No ear pulling, no crying for no reason, and no walking around off balance... How was I supposed to know? We were both totally shocked!

Her runny nose and allergy problems could have caused the ear infections or the ear infections caused the runny nose and vomiting. The chicken or the egg? Either way, she's on medicine and has been improving all weekend.

Administering medicine is a whole different story! I guess that when I was a kid I had a slight addiction to medicines because I sure loved them and had no problem taking them! Eryn, on the other hand, hates it with a passion that I have never seen before!

PhotoShop Rocks!

I took my Brother-In-Law Ryan's engagement pictures this weekend. PhotoShop works wonders for sure! There are more pictures on my photography blog and will be even more to come later. For now, I'm just amazed at the difference a little color enhancing makes on our glorious Utah red rock!

Idol Suckers

Eryn's life has been so rough lately...

Mike's branch manager Justin went on vacation to California and they brought Eryn back a HUGE sucker and a Tinkerbell shirt from Disneyland. In her own words they are, "Da nummy! Da cute!" At a few licks here and there she should finish her sucker just before she starts kindergarten!

Then American Idol ended! Eryn's fun dancing around, running in circles, doing flips, and singing while listening to the music will be drastically reduced. She's a had a good time forcing Mike to get up and dance with her to EVERY song that they sang on the show.

On that topic... I was very shocked that Kris won. He was just so boring to me all season. Not that I worshipped at the feet of Adam (ya, right), but his flare for the theatrical was way more entertaining to me and fun to watch. I also appreciated how he actually sang occasionally between screams. Oh well. I didn't vote a single time so I can't really complain.

I did think that it was especially funny when Adam came out in that strange costume with the odd shoulder decorations and I said to Mike, "Who designed that outfit... Kiss?" Then he says, "Ladies and Gentleman- KISS!"

(I wasn't there for the finale so I stole some pictures from newsday.com!)

More Doctor Visits

Today was yet another doctor visit for me. My baby is transverse (horizontal) now and the doctor is hopeful that she's going to turn over on her own at this point. I go back in another 2 weeks and if at that point she hasn't turned over the doctor will decide what to do with her then. (Strangely about what he told me at my last visit...)

I officially scheduled my c-section with the hospital for June 23rd! Unless something crazy happens and I go into labor before then that's when my baby will be born!

Eryn went and spent most of the day with her friend Daniel and his Mommy today while I was having fun going to doctor appointments. He tried to put mud on her and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Ewwwwwwy!" What a girl! It never stops with her and her girly tendencies.

This morning I decided to paint my toenails and wear sandals. Eryn had to paint hers to be like Mommy. I caught her with a crayon coloring on her toes in the bathroom and knew what I had to do. So, I let her pick what color she wanted (Yes, pink!) and I painted hers too.

Come and Gone

Another week has come and gone. I'm constantly getting kicked, punched, and head butted over and over from a little one who's now run out of room in my belly. Tomorrow I go in for my doctor's appointment to hopefully figure out what I can do to get some relief! Not only that, but also to see the light at the end of what has seemed to be a long pregnancy. I should be able to set my c-section date!

Eryn had her 2 year check up this week. No shots! I was so looking forward to her being even more moody and cranky than normal too! She's still very tall, somewhat thin, and now (finally) has an almost average head! The doctor was impressed with her energy level. She spent most of our visit running laps on the 4 foot table and NEVER stopped talking the entire time.

We spent a little time at Mike's parents' house yesterday. Eryn had fun going to the park twice and playing basketball. She got her first sports related injury! While running around trying to be like everyone else she collided with her 11 yr old uncle and they both hit the ground. She scraped her elbow, but was more concerned with making sure that he was ok.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year I just wanted Mike to take some nice pictures of Eryn and me. It started out ok, but went down hill fast. Eryn doesn't like structure in picture taking. Especially outside where she'd much rather be playing and running around. We were able to get a few that were pretty good though!

I'm so thankful for the many mothers that I've had throughout my life help push me along. My Mom and my own Grandmothers are pretty obvious, but there were others. It takes a village to raise a village idiot! He he. My teachers, friends parents, my Mother-In-Law, and Grandmother-In-Laws have shared in the task of raising me. Now, as I am all grown up (right) I find myself looking to mothers who are just there to guide me. Like Sue who made me use a sewing machine and Laura who teaches me that patience is good to have, but there are limits...

While growing up I knew that I would be a mother some day. I never knew that being a mother would be such an important part of my life. It's why I get out of bed in the morning and in the middle of the night from time to time too. The love that comes from my little Eryn never seems to end. Even just getting a hug randomly from her nearly makes me cry. Being a mom makes even me (with my rough and tough exterior) suffer from warm fuzzies!

To boldy go...

About a year ago when I worked at the Spanish Fork office, we received a call from Paramount Pictures because they needed a couple large SUVs brought down to Green River for filming that they were doing down there. We were a little hesitant at first because of the logistics but were told we could pretty much name our price, so we did it. They also told us it was for the new Star Trek movie but not to advertise (by penalty of death...ok, not really) that they would be there. They even rented under a "ghost name" so that there was no paper trail.

When I was down there, I picked up the production manager from the Best Western and drove him out to the little Green River airport where we had the vehicles ready for them. I asked him about the movie and he was a little paranoid that we knew the true nature of their visit. He soon lightened up and talked about it. It was a pretty cool experience.

Valerie helped in the transport of the vehicles as well. She remembers thinking, "Yeah, this could be some barren waste land on another planet easy."

There was an article on KSL.com about their filming and what parts of the movie were shot here in Utah.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=6410730

-Mike

Sometimes You Just Have to...

While out running errands, dealing with an upset and overly demanding 2 year old, and trying to figure out how to waste just enough time to make the schedule fit I realized that sometimes you just have to stop and smell the flowers.

We stopped in to visit the temple grounds in Provo today. Eryn enjoyed smelling all the different flowers and playing in the fountains. There were a lot of flowers and she wanted to smell each of them. That took a long time! I was just glad to have a little peace myself while she was busy learning that if a flower looks like the other one that they smell the same. Although, she's convinced that the pink tulips smell better than the other ones.

Blah

(This is a complaining post... Consider yourself warned! There is a cute picture of Eryn though.)

The Jazz and Pistons are both out of the playoffs. Basketball season is officially over. So... when does football start up? I'm surprised that Mike doesn't have the BYU football season countdown going yet.

My baby is still breach and causing a lot of mayhem on my body. Constantly feeling like you have cramps, never being able to leave the sight of the restroom, and frequent migraines are just a few of my joys of pregnancy this time around. Honestly, I think that throwing up everyday was better. At least I knew it was going to happen and then be over.

Eryn keeps telling me she's having a brother. I seriously hope that she's wrong! She's been cranky and overly sensitive to everything lately. Yesterday she spent most of the day crying being she saw a bug in the house on her bike. It was the smallest little beetle looking bug that I've ever seen. We both stepped on it and flushed it. Still, for the rest of the day she cried about bugs in the house and wouldn't go near her bike. Girls!

I did her hair differently today and she gave me a lot of attitude with how cute it was. I couldn't resist a picture of it!