Kennecott Copper Mine

My grandpa was in town for Jordan's wedding, so we decided to take a trip out to his old stomping grounds, Kennecott Copper Mine. He worked in the refinery plant of Kennecott for 33 years before retiring. Mitch had never been there before (neither had Layla), and though I'd been many times, we were all amazed at the vast size of the pit and the amount of material they pull out of there every day. It's quite the process! If you've never been there before, I recommend it. It's only $5 per car (or free if you go with a retired worker!) and doesn't take too long to look at everything; they even have a very informative video that managed to keep Layla's attention, so it must be good!

Dean's List

I know Mitch would never tell anyone this, because that's just how he is, but he made the Dean's List for Spring 2012. I would say I can't believe it, but to be honest, I'm not surprised. He works so hard, and is very smart and dedicated.

He received a letter in the mail stating that the requirements for making the Dean's List for the School of Graduate Studies are to "have completed at least 12 hours of graduate coursework" and "to have maintained a GPA on graduate-level coursework of 3.85 overall and 4.0 for the past 12 credit hours."

Yep, he's maintained a 4.0 grade point average the entire time he's been studying to earn his Ph.D., and not to mention while working full-time, traveling for work, oh, and being the best dad and husband I could ever ask for. I am so proud of him, and most of all, grateful for his hard work and determination to do his best for himself and for his family.

And, here's a pic to show Layla's latest educational achievements ... while she did not get the alphabet puzzle in alphabetical order, I do love how she arranged them in a pattern according to color (yellows, then green, red, green, red, etc.). Also, she made sure all the letters on the blocks were facing the same way. Some days I think she has Mitch's engineering brain, and other days I think she has my family's artistic gene. Only time will tell I guess. Either way I'm sure she'll be successful.

I also wanted to write down some funny things she's done lately that also show her imagination at work: while playing with sidewalk chalk this week, Layla asked me to draw her "a little pink snake." I said, "You want me to draw you a little pink snake?" thinking it was quite random. She replied, "Ya, with a boy riding on it!" What??? I laughed out loud it was so random.

Last night while Mitch was putting her to bed she told him, "There's a alligator under my bed!" Mitch thought she was scared and so he started telling her things like, "It's okay, there's no alligator. He can't get you." etc. until she finally said, "I say hi to him. I wave hi to him with my hand!" Then Mitch said, "Oh, I thought you were scared of the alligator," which of course put the idea of being scared into her head, so then she was. "Oh! Alligator scared me!" she kept saying. Oh.my.goodness. Never a dull moment with Layla around! She makes me laugh out loud several times a day. I love her little imagination.

Can't wait to see if she'll follow the engineer path like her daddy, be artistic like other relatives, or somewhere in between ...

Family Reunion

On Tuesday we spent the day at a campground up in Heber Valley for a family reunion. The reunion was for the posterity of my paternal grandparents; they have five children of which my dad is the youngest. It has been a very long time since so many of us were together! Many of my cousins live outside of the state, one of them even lives in China currently, so it was nice that many of them traveled so far to attend. I wish we could have stayed overnight with everyone, but with Mitch out of town for work, and my parents both having to work, it just didn't pan out. Next time we will though for sure!

My dad and his mom.

There was lots to do and see at the campground. Layla was excited to see lots of chipmunks and butterflies.
 
When she wasn't chasing the wildlife, she was playing with my cousin's youngest daughter, Sarah, who is 8 months older than her. They had loads of fun together.


After she played so hard all day, I was relieved when Layla took about an hour long nap in her stroller. Another reason why the BOB stroller is awesome - it will recline all the way.

But of course she had to play in the stroller and peek her head out of the back before she'd actually fall asleep ...

We played lots of games, ate WAY too much junk food, and even turned our own homemade butter, which was delicious on the corn we had for dinner. We had dutch oven pineapple upside down cake for dessert and it was sooooo good. It only rained on us for a few minutes, during which we all headed inside the cabins (the campground was one of the nicest I've ever been to, with cabins and nice bathroom facilities, a fridge, and a little pavilion to eat under).

Heber Valley is beautiful and we had great views of it from our campsite, which was up high on the mountain. I thoroughly enjoyed taking way too many pictures of the scenery.

We saw lots of deer - it was crazy. I got as close as 15 feet away from this deer.

I remember being younger and having so much fun hanging out with all of my cousins. I LOVED, and dearly miss, our Lake Powell trips with this side of the fam and wish we would all start that up again. I especially enjoyed seeing Layla have fun with all of my cousins' kids, knowing that it was just as much fun for her as it was for me when I was younger.

Also, when I was younger I honestly believed that my Uncle Dale, whom Layla really took a liking to at the reunion and whom is pictured below, was bit by a shark on the leg, because that's what he always told us when we asked why a part of his calf muscle is missing. Later I learned it was a motorcycle accident ... but not until after I told all my friends that "my uncle got part of his leg bit off by a shark!"

I have great relatives to look up to and I am very thankful for that. I enjoyed learning about my great grandparents and the memories that my aunts and uncles have of them. A big thanks to my Aunt Ginger for putting it all together. I hope it is a tradition that will continue.

This Just Happened ...

It was 4:30 so I went to wake Layla up from her nap (if she sleeps later than that she has a hard time going to bed at night). We had the following converation:
Lacey, walks into Layla's room and says: "Hi, Layla Buggy!"
Layla, in a very serious voice: "I have more."
Lacey, very confused: "More what?"
Layla, in a sad tone: "More sleep."

Oh, poor buggy. She is so tired. I left her bedroom door open and walked out of the room, telling her she can sleep more if she wants, but of course she came wandering out in no time. The best part? She wanted to cuddle. I guess someone had too much fun at the family reunion yesterday ... more to come on that later.

Weekend

I feel like we did a lot this last weekend:

• Went hiking with some good friends. Our goal was to hike to "The Living Room," but we took a wrong turn. We will be going back again soon though; pretty sure we know where we need to go next time... and I promise not to scream as loud when we see the GIANT beetles or a tarantula.
• Attended the beautiful wedding and reception of Mitch's cousin, Kelsey, and her new husband, Spencer. I love weddings. So much happiness and love.
• Layla had a BLAST swimming with her grandparents while we were at the temple sealing. She was really upset when we made her get out of the pool.
  
  
  
• Layla also went to the Living Planet Aquarium with my parents. They bought her a giant stuffed seahorse, which she LOVES, and she even does an awesome seahorse sound (I have no idea what, if any, sound a seahorse makes, but apparently Layla knows). 
• While Layla was at the aquarium, Mitch and I saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. To say we loved it would be an understatement ... it was so, so, so good. While the Batman trilogy is quite dark and disturbing, I love every single one of the movies. Surprising, considering I can't even watch the news at night without having nightmares. I guess it's the whole idea that good always triumphs over evil that attracts me to the Batman series. Anyways, I highly recommend it, and don't be too scared, that Colorado freak-shooting was an isolated incident. Sad and creepy, but not likely to happen again (hopefully!).
• Layla also loves to swing in the swing my parents have hanging from a tree in their backyard. She always wants to go higher, so high in fact that I had to tell Mitch not to let her go any higher— they were making me nervous! And of course we get plenty of use out of the sidewalk chalk.
  
  

• I've been practicing a lot with our camera, reading all sorts of books, and trying to teach myself to eventually shoot entirely in manual mode. I would love to have a wedding photography business someday ... shooting family portraits, babies, etc. doesn't interest me much, but I love weddings and would love to capture the happiness that surrounds them in art form. But let's just say that I need A LOT more practice before I reach that point ...
• Mitch's school is going very well and he is keeping ridiculously busy at work. I am really proud of him and I know he will go really far in his career.
• Still no progress on the potty training ... this little "break" is lasting longer than I thought, but whatevs. We'll get there someday.

• We finished Insanity! Yay! I hated it by the end, but Mitch still loves it and is going to continue to do it. I will say that while I can see results, it really made me almost go insane just doing the same moves over and over and over again. It is a great workout, definitely challenging, but too repetitive for my liking. I have started running again and it feels so good. Running is like my therapy; it clears my mind.
• We're all doing great, no complaints, just trying to have fun every day and soak in the sun!

The Zoo

First, let me say that I FINALLY figured out how to post pics on here without having them appear blurry! It was driving me nuts! My pics were perfectly clear, but as soon as I'd post them on Blogger they would show up blurry. Turns out if I upload them from another source first, they will appear normal.

Hmmm, I'm trying to be better about recaping our happenings on the blog. Last week must have been pretty low-key because nothing major comes to mind. Just the usual mommy jobs of grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, oh, and chasing an energetic two year old around the house.

But life is great and I can't complain.

We did go to the Discovery Museum on day last week. That's always a fun time. My uncle came in town over the weekend and we had a nice time visiting with him.

We spent some time at the zoo on Saturday with our Massachusetts friends. I think Layla and Ryleigh had the most fun of all.


Layla was in heaven when she got to see the birds— especially the owl— during the bird show. It was really neat to have the birds fly right over our heads.

As we were leaving the zoo, we asked Layla what her favorite part was. She said the hippos, which is funny because we didn't see any ...

We ate lunch at Ruth's Diner, up the canyon, afterwards. I ordered their famous mac 'n cheese and ate WAY too much of it, but boy was it worth it! It started raining just as we were leaving; Sue and I ran the girls out to our cars while our hubbys paid for our meals. Thankfully we didn't get too wet.

I wanted to include a few of the funny things Layla has said lately before I forget them all. She makes me laugh every single day:

Layla, while holding her Dora doll: "Ah-choo!"
Me: "Oh, is Baby Dora sneezing?"
Layla: "No, she's ah-chooing!"

Layla: "I want some more candy rope!" (licorice)

Layla, while pointing at each letter on her bib and pretending to read it: "C-O-O-L-C-H-I-C, Layla's bib!"

At church, Layla busts out in a loud version of the ABCs.
Me: "Layla, we have to whisper at church."
Layla: "No! Louder!"

She's been calling me "Little Mamma" all day.


Last Saturday night, after a day at the lake, I was putting her to bed and asked: "Layla, do you want to go to church tomorrow and play with the other kids in nursery?"
Layla: "No, I go to see my lake!"
Apparently the lake is more fun than church. Oh, and she owns the lake.


The other day Layla was outside with my dad and I. She picked up the basketball and my dad said:
"Oh, the ball is flat."
Layla: "No, grandpa, it's orange!"

Today she farted really loud and then said, "I have gas." Made me laugh outloud ... where in the world did she learn that??? I usually just tell her to say "excuse me."

The 4th

Considering we have all had our fair share of summer colds around here, we still managed to have a fun time celebrating our country's day of independence. Mitch only worked Monday and Tuesday and it's been so nice having him home with us for the rest of the week!

These red, white, and blue hair bows only lasted about 32 seconds.

On the 4th we took it easy ... Layla really wasn't feeling well. But, after she went to bed Mitch and I decided to go see a movie, which was perfect because the rest of the population was watching fireworks so the theater was virtually empty! Just us and one other couple. Sweet. We saw "The Avengers" and we both loved it (we're probably the only ones who haven't seen it by now, ha, ha.)! 

aannnnddd.....

.... there it goes.

On Thursday we took it easy again, for Layla's sake. Mitch painted the closet and hallway in my parents' basement, I did some deep cleaning in our apartment, and Layla watched way too much tv. We were able to visit with Jordan and Tenley, who had a layover on their way to Jamaica to get married (today!). It was so great to see them again; I've really missed my kid brother.


On Friday we decided it was time to get out of the house and headed over to the farm at Thanksgiving Point.  


What a fun place! Layla especially enjoyed riding the pony. (She was scared at first, but she got over her fear pretty quickly [after I forced her to stay on]  and then she really enjoyed herself!)
 
and I was as proud as this peacock we saw on the farm when she said she wanted to ride the horse again!

I had no idea the peacock's body was such a brilliant blue color!

On Saturday morning we went boating with mi padres. We had SO much fun! Definitely the highlight of the holiday weekend.

They had free paddleboard demos so Mitch and I tried those out for about an hour.

We decided to paddle out to a little island. I was standing up and Mitch was still kneeling, so I told him he needed to stop being a pansy and stand up. He said, "No, not until I get the hang of it. I'm going to beat you to the island and I'll be dry!" (we're just a little competitive) to which I immediately responded with, "I'll be dry too!" and within ten seconds I fell in. Guess I was trying too hard to beat him there!

It was hilarious, really. When I finally got over the shock of the cold water, we both got a good laugh out of it. I ended up falling in three times, Mitch ... zero. And he even stood up for most of the time we were paddling. Yeah, he's better than me at the paddle board, apparently. But hey, at least once you've got in the water once, it's not cold the rest of the day.

We really want to buy some paddleboards ... too bad they're twelve hundred dollars! Doesn't that seem like a lot? You can buy a wave runner for that much, and I'd way rather have some wave runners. Anyways, I'm glad we got to try them and they are really fun.

Of course Layla wanted to ride on it too. For some reason she thought we were fishing whenever she got on? I have no idea ... she kept saying, "Mamma! I fishing with Daddy!!!" It was funny.


Then she got tired and almost fell asleep on there. The waves must have been soothing.


My dad tried it too. He didn't think it was as fun as we did.

After that we got on the boat to do a little of this:

and a little of this:

and a little of this (riding on the bow, which scared me just a little, but was really fun):

Layla is not scared of the boat anymore, which is great! In fact, I think the sound of the motor even lulled her to sleep, just a little.

She LOVED sitting on the deck of the boat to dip her feet in the water. She kept doing it over and over and over again.

She also LOVED riding in this little tube (it has a bottom in it)



and digging in the dirt.

I am just pleased as pie to see that Layla is a little boater— she must get that from my side of the family. :) She loves it just as much as I do. Someday we're going to talk Mitch into buying a boat, or at least some waverunners. He said he would like some waverunners. Maybe once our kids are older ....

But I digress. We had a blast over the long weekend. Thanks so much to my parents for taking us boating!

I love how Layla and my dad are walking exactly the same way in this pic.

 Thanks to my Hubby for taking time off work to hang out!

Most of all, thanks to our Founding Fathers and all of the soldiers who pay/paid the price for our freedom. Where would we be without them? I am proud, and humbled, to be an American.

Today in church we sang "The Star Spangled Banner." The final verse is so beautiful to me; I wish God/religion were still a big part of what this country stands for:
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
(Wikipedia)
Happy 4th of July!