Download

Sometimes I feel like I have to download my brain onto my blog. I feel that there are things in my head that I know I'll forget unless I write them down so I can read them later ...

We went to the Dew Tour last weekend. Neither of us had been to anything like that, even though we live so close to several ski resorts. I'm glad our friends, Jeremy and Sue, invited us so that we could experience it. I've seen this type of thing on tv, but that does not do justice to how much air those crazy snowboarders actually get. They are insane! I cannot even imagine how it must feel to be upside down, so high up in the air. Talk about an adrenaline rush! The only downer to the day was that Mitch said if we had to walk over any snow, it would be "hardly any." Now, Mitch is rarely wrong about things, but he was wrong about this and it irked me. I wore shoes with practically no traction and fell right on my butt! I should have know better. But other than that, it was fun.

Excuse the photo quality. Phone camera. 

Layla and I also went with Sue and Ryleigh to the Gateway Discovery Museum, a.k.a. "Layla's Version of Heaven" this week. I didn't plan on buying a pass, but Layla had SO much fun I decided we'd better. We're excited to use it some more!

I thought Layla and this little boy could pass for brother and sister.

This is the ONLY pic I got of her smiling. She was WAY too busy to stop for a picture. We tried to get one of her and Ryleigh together, but that never worked out either. Next time. Also, I would like to note that Layla originally had two purple bows in her hair, but ripped them out in the car and I didn't find them until the next day. She's still adorable though.

After seeing Layla with the water table, I suggested to my parents that they buy her a smaller version for her birthday. (We're getting her a tricycle, or something like it. She'll have lots of toys to play with outside this summer.)

This is the expression she had in most of the pics. So serious! She was so busy, running around from thing to thing. 

Layla had so much fun there, we decided to take Daddy with us and went again today. We went to dinner at Jason's Deli afterwards. It was a fun family date. Layla cracks us up and we love hanging out with her.

Potty training was going so well, and then I don't know what happened, but it seemed like we were going backwards for several days. Like she lost interest or something. Now she's going one to two times a day on the potty, but she doesn't always tell me when she needs to go, so we're still working on it. I'm not sure what step to take next, or if she just needs more time or what. Suggestions, anyone?

So, if I eat sugar too close to bed time, I have really random dreams. Not necessarily dark or scary, though some are, but most are just random and weird. Last night was no exception. I dreamed that we were going on vacation with my family to somewhere cool, like Lake Powell or Hawaii, but my mom wanted to stop in Missoula, Montana on the way to see the monkey farm. (The monkey farm doesn't really exist.) So Mitch and I were the first ones to get to the monkey farm and there were all different kinds of monkeys everywhere! I felt claustrophobic and like I couldn't get out of the monkey cage we were in. One monkey peed on Mitch's head and I got so mad I punched the monkey right in the gut! But in real life ... I punched our headboard. It hurt so bad! It woke me up and I realized what had happened. I couldn't even laugh about it at the time because I was upset that my hand hurt so bad. This morning Mitch asked me if I hit my hand on the bed during the night. Apparently it was so loud I had woke him up! He laughed his head off when I told him about my dream. So random.

I'm sure I'll sleep better tonight because ... we got a new mattress! It's a memory foam mattress, which we've recently discovered make all the difference in the world. It did cost us a pretty tax-return penny, but it was a penny well spent! I did some research on memory foam mattresses last week, and so we knew approximately how much we'd be spending — it wasn't a total splurge/impulsive decision. We've been talking about getting a new mattress for months now, ours is really old, and thought we'd find some good deals for President's Day. We decided to check out Furniture Warehouse on "Road Redwood" first since they're going out of business. We had fun trying out all the mattresses, but when we first laid on the one we ended up buying, I totally got the giggles. Seriously, I was crying from laughing so hard, and one salesman told us to "behave ourselves." I don't know what was so funny ... it was more like I was so happy and the mattress felt like I was laying on a cloud — made of marshmallows — that all I could do was laugh. Of course Mitch started laughing too and agreed that it was the BEST MATTRESS EVER!!! So, we took about 20 minutes to think it over and price check it, and then we bought it. We ended up getting about 40% off the regular sale price and it has a 20 year warranty. It was extra convenient because we had just dropped Layla off at my parents' to sleep over while we went to the Jazz game, so my dad was able to pick up the mattress in his truck and bring it and Layla back to us this afternoon. And now I can't wait to go to bed! Oh, and the Jazz won last night. Wahoo!

What else is on my mind? I recently found this online:

This is the exact same rule we try to follow for Christmas gifts to Layla. (Well, minus the "1" part. We probably buy more than "1" of each category, but it still helps us rein in our spending and spoiling habits.) I first heard of this from a friend, but for some reason seeing this in writing makes me feel validated. We decided together that we don't want to completely spoil our kids for Christmas, but instead try to focus more on the true meaning of the holiday. Of course, we will buy them presents and do the whole Santa thing, but we'll try to keep it under control. Anyways, I was just happy to see that someone had a made a little sign thing stating the rule we are trying to follow.

Coldplay still has not released a tour date for Salt Lake City. I'm a little bummed. Keeping my fingers crossed ...

Our sit up challenge is going okay. We're on 400 now. We skipped the 350 week. Just seemed like it wasn't a big enough jump from 300 to 350. Also, we don't do straight crunches. We mix it up a little, just as long as it's 400 reps of some sort of ab exercise. I still stink at push ups. Seriously, it's sad. At least my arms are more toned though.

I was followed by a random dog, a blue healer, today during my morning run. I finally called the number on her tag, which was the vet office, and was told that she was a "frequent." So then I was annoyed at the obviously irresponsible owner ... if this happens frequently, why doesn't the owner put her number on the tag, not the vet's?  The vet did give me said owner's number and I had to leave two voicemails before she called me back. Meanwhile, the dog had been following me for 1.5 miles! I finally stopped at Maverik, deciding what to do, when the owner called me back and asked if I could call her mom because she wasn't home. What?! You call your mom! I was so annoyed. But, being the nice person that I am, I called her mom and waited until she came and picked the dog up. My run ended up taking a good 20 minutes longer than planned. But at least the dog didn't get kicked or taken to the pound. I was highly tempted to do both. Don't worry, I didn't. The worst I did was yell, "Go home, Dog!" really loudly.

Yesterday I pushed Layla in her stroller while I went running. It was the first time I could convince her to be okay being in the stroller with the weather guard on it. Looks like this:

She hated it when I tried before. It's clear, so she can see out. I'm not sure why she hated it so bad, but she had a lot of fun today! She talked nonstop the entire run. Before our run, she wanted Mitch to sit on her dinosaur and Mitch said, "No, Daddy is too big." So for the rest of the morning, she called him, "Big Daddy." Totally hilarious. At one point during our run she said, "Mamma, dog," and I said, "Yes, that's a big dog," and she said, "Big dog, big Daddy." Oh man, I'm loving the things she's coming up with lately.

The biggest thing that's always on my mind lately has to do with Mitch's work and school. We still haven't heard anything on the other jobs. One starts mid-April. I do not want to find out in March that we have to move across the country in April. What I want to hear is that his work found some other funding to pay for his school. I hate not knowing what will happen. It's driving me nuts!

Well, those are all of my thoughts for now. Gotta go get ready to sleep in our divinely comfortable bed!