Ernie Obsession

I let Layla watch one episode of Sesame Street most mornings while I get ready.

Watching Sesame Street

We finally learned who her favorite character is; last Saturday, for three hours, we heard nothing but, "Ernie!" (in a whiny voice) from our almost-18-month-old. Seriously, for three hours straight, it was nothing but "Ernie, Ernie, Ernie!" and it started to drive us nuts.

We couldn't figure out what she wanted, we only knew that she wanted "Ernie!" We tried having her watch Sesame Street and then Ernie videos on YouTube, but it wasn't enough.

So we did what any good parent would do ... we put her in the car, drove to ToysRUs, and let her pick out her very own Ernie doll. I know, I know, that's spoiling her, but it was the only thing we could think of to make her stop whining. And it worked!

When we got to the store, Layla wanted not only the Ernie doll, but the Elmo doll too. The spoiled little girl has her daddy wrapped around her finger, so when I asked her to pick between the two, Mitch said he couldn't make her pick and that he wanted to buy her both. He won. Actually, Layla won.

It was the ToysRUs giraffe's birthday,

so she even got a birthday crown.

Layla was SO happy. Now she sleeps with Ernie, carries him everywhere, and freaks out if she thinks we're going to forget him when we go somewhere. It's pretty hilarious, actually. She loves her Elmo too, but Ernie is definitely the favorite.

With her new buddies.

Sorry, about her lack of shirt.

This is just after a lunch of

yummy, but messy, peaches.

Of all the Sesame Street characters, she loves Ernie most. At least she picked one who speaks proper English. Does it drive anyone else nuts that Elmo speaks in third person??? I seriously can't stand it.Anyways, I guess we better figure out a better solution for the next time she becomes obsessed with something, besides spoiling her rotten. But for now it's okay because she won't remember and we're so smitten by her adorableness we can't help it.

Too Funny

We watched the BYU vs UofU game the other night with some friends. I honestly don't care who wins, I just think the whole rivalry thing is hilarious. Mitch is a Ute fan and this year, not only did the U win, they totally laid the smackdown! And not to mention the fact that BYU kept practically giving the ball away.

So when I saw this on KSL today, it made me giggle.

Happenings

We've been so busy lately and due to work, Mitch's school, and life in general, I don't have much time to blog about it. But it's good to be busy and we're enjoying life. Here's a quick run down, in no particular order, for memory's sake:

• We took Layla to the fair yesterday. She loved the animals and wanted so badly to touch them all. We tried to watch the sea lion show, but she wasn't interested, which completely surprised us. Who doesn't love sea lions?
  
  
  
• Layla and I went to California with my mom. The purpose of the trip was to attend the wedding reception of a close family friend, but we managed to spend time with my uncle and his wife as well. Layla loved dancing at the reception and playing with all the other kids all weekend long (the little boys all fought over who got to hold/feed/carry her). We went to a HUGE flea market in Pasadena with my uncle; I bought a sun hat and Kent bought all sorts of stuff. The only downer to the trip, besides not having Mitch/Daddy with us, was that we all had head colds, so some nights it was hard to get Layla to bed. But overall she did great and we had a fun time! While we were there, Layla learned to call my mom, "Grammie," only she says, "Mammie" and it's ridiculously cute! I really wanted to go to the beach while we were there, but it rained and even hailed the days we could go. Strange, huh?
  
  
• Layla got some new shoes. She absolutely loves them! She'll bring them to us and ask us to put them on, or try to put them on herself, which she can't manage to do yet, but we get a laugh out of watching her try! Oh, and I get a kick out of these jeggings (stretchy pants) she has, they're hilarious on her! So cute she has two pairs.
  
• Today I ran four miles with no knee pain. That's the farthest I've been able to run, pain-free, since my half-marathon two months ago. Wahoo!
• Mitch has his first test for school next week. I already know he'll ace it.
• On a side note, my mom recently told me something I never knew about my dad; he would trade all the horses, hunting, fishing, camping, etc. to live by the ocean. Well I must be more like my dad than I thought because that is my dream too! I think I was supposed to be a beach bum/surfer chic and live on the island of Maui or somewhere like that. But since I can't do that right now, boating at Jordanelle is the next best thing. We went with my parents and Katie over Labor Day and it was a blast ... until the boat broke! Ahhh! Mitch learned how to get up on the wakeboard, and was going for another spin when the boat stopped working. We had to be towed in. Total bummer. I was able to wakeboard before it broke and I learned how to move back and forth across the water. Katie got out of us making her try to wakeboard, at least. We still managed to have fun for the rest of the day though, eating lunch, and playing in the water. Layla LOVES the lake as do I. Can't wait for next year!
  
  
• Last but not least, Layla is adding to her vocabulary daily. My favorite word to hear her say is "waffle" because she says it so darn cute. She also yells, "Daddeeee!" when she is scared or wants to know where Mitch is. She said "apple" for the first time yesterday. I can't believe how fast she learns. She can recognize and/or say a dozen letters of the alphabet. She loves to read and learn and it makes me one proud mama!

Education

I love what the teachers did at this school to teach kids the importance of earning a college degree. I think this should be required in every elementary school, every year.

ksl.com - Teachers helping kindergarteners get ready for college

SANDY -- Some Kindergarten teachers took a step back in time Friday and donned attire from their college graduation day.

But this wasn't just a day to dress up; It's an important first step to get their very young and impressionable students excited about college.

They may be more than a decade away from picking a school, but these kids are learning young that the choice will be an important one in their lives.

"It's such an interesting and novel idea when they first realize that it's not Halloween, that we are really proud of our education," said Debbie Shumard, principal of Crescent Elementary School in Sandy. "They go home and they talk to their parents, talk to people around them."

That talk led to everyone in the future class of 2024 at Crescent Elementary school making a pledge to be college-ready.

They'll have plenty of help to get there.

We want them to think about what they are going to be when they graduate," Shumard said. "We are initially putting that in their mind that the picture of them, themselves, is what they want to be and picture themselves in that role later."

But the ultimate goal requires baby steps -- starting in kindergarten.

After finding little progress in test scores from the beginning to the end of the year, the Canyons School District launched an intensive teacher training program to bring those scores up.

The nearly 2,000 hours of coaching paid off: 86 percent of Canyons kindergartners knew what they needed to know before moving on to first grade -- a significant jump from the 65 percent who met the benchmark the year before.

Educators hope the year-to-year progress can carry kids through to college, and eventually their careers.

"Most kids don't realize that learning math, learning writing skills and reading skills really affect the quality of their life when they graduate," Shumard said. "We want them to know that they've got choices out there."

Keeping Summer Alive

Despite the fact that Mitch has started school and that it's nearly the end of August, we are hanging on to summer as long as possible. Last weekend we went boating at Jordanelle with my fam and our some of our "Cali fam." I was so glad Mitch could come this time and see Layla having the time of her life throwing "roooocks" and playing in the water. She sure loves the lake! That's my girl!!!

I didn't take enough pictures that day, but it's a good thing I snapped a pic of one of the sweetest things I've ever seen: Layla napping with Uncle Dudin.

The best part of the day? I learned to wakeboard! Boo ya! Pretty sure I won't be water skiing anymore; wakeboarding is just too much fun. I finally figured out that it's easier if I turn the boot on my forward foot at more of an angle, which made my second round much more fun. I'm still not as good at wakeboarding as I am at water skiing, which isn't saying much, but I'm sure I'll get better with more practice. Check out my face in this pic, there must be a huge wave up ahead. What a dork.

We also celebrated my mom's birthday. My grandpa gave her a new bike and it's a hybrid, a cross between a mountain and road bike. It's awesome and I'm jealous. I'm sure she'll love it! Most of all, I hope my mom had a happy birthday and knows how much we love her!

Since fall is approaching faster than I'd like to think, I have been buying some winter clothes for Layla. My mom gave me my old coat from when I was three, and I've been saving it for Layla to wear. We decided to try it on her the other day. It's a little big, but she loved it. She would wear it around the house until she was practically sweating and then ask me to take it "off," only to bring it back to me a few minutes later so I could help her put it back on.

Now, I was three in the 1980s, which explains why this coat is so awesome-looking, don't you think?

Ha, ha, I love that cheesy grin!

Swimming

A couple of weeks ago, Mitch and I took Layla to this water park near our house. It was a total rip off, but we had a blast! Layla LOVED this huge water slide and laughed the whole way down.

Oh, and good thing for swim diapers, because Layla made a nice present for us while we were there. Picture this: we decide it's time to go home and head for the family bathrooms, at which point Layla starts screaming her head off because she doesn't want to leave the pool. We rinse off in the showers and all three of us go in one of the family bathroom stalls. I pulled off the swim diaper cover and said, "That's weird, there's a booger on it," and proceed to wash it out, when Mitch tells me that Layla had pooped in her swim diaper. Explains the booger. We decide to hold her over the toilet to pull the diaper off so that the poo will go in the crapper. Layla is still screaming, mind you, she wants back in the swimming pool! Well, the poo was pretty much just veggies from the night before, sorry if that disgusts you, so little veggies came flying out and went all.over.the.bathroom. Mitch was super stressed, Layla was still screaming, and all I could do was laugh my head off. It was hilarious, really. Long story short, we eventually made it out of there, Layla finally stopped crying when we told her she could take a bath when we got home (the kid LOVES water), and I'm sure the pool boy had fun cleaning up our mess.

Speaking of baths, Layla loves them so much that if we even mention it at all, she immediately yells, "Baaaaath!" and runs to the bathroom. The other night I was putting her to bed and we were reading a story about a dog that got dirty playing in the mud. I decided to add my own lines to the story and nonchalantly said that the dog needed to take a bath. Oops. Layla caught it and said "Baaaath!" and started crying because I wouldn't put her down or take her to the bathroom. Bed time took longer than normal that night.

One more thing about Layla: she loves letters. We have alphabet flashcards and bath letters that we practice with. She knows the letters A, I, O, and Y. I guess she likes vowels. Even if she doesn't know a letter, she acts like she does and makes some random noise when you ask her which letter it is. Pretty funny.

Okay, one more thing. She is so particular! If something is out of place, she says, "uh oh!" and puts it in the right spot, or if it's garbage, she throws it away. The doors have to be shut all the way. Things go in a certain order and a certain place. It surprises me, but then she does have two very particular people for parents.

Bucket List

When Mitch and I were engaged, we wrote a bucket list of things we want to do in the near future. Surprisingly, we've been able to do the more expensive/difficult things first, like go to Europe and Cambodia and remodel our kitchen. Some things we still need to do are swim with dolphins, go on a cruise, and go to Hawaii (all of which could be accomplished in one trip).

Last weekend we crossed one more thing off our list: hiking the Narrows in Zion Canyon. This one has been on my personal bucket list since high school, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was awesome!

We were able to spend the weekend in St. George with my grandpa and he joined us on our grand adventure. (We dumped Layla off with my in-laws. She had a fun weekend too.) Hiking the Narrows was not nearly as difficult as we though it would be. If you've never ever hiked before, I don't recommend it, but if you are a fairly decent hiker, then it is doable. And it is SO much fun!

There is a path you follow for one mile before the canyon narrows. At this point you spend much of the time hiking through the river bed and the water was usually up to my knees or the middle of my thighs. At one point though, the water was up past my chest and let me tell you what, it was FREEZING cold!!! You could hear everyone gasping while crossing that section of the river; it was actually pretty funny. Besides that one deep spot, the water temperature actually felt nice and refreshing.

Here is Mitch in one of the many little coves.

This picture gives you an idea of how little it makes you feel to be in such a grand place. That's me, forging the river. The pictures don't do it justice though. It's breathtaking.

So before we left I was really worried about my grandpa hiking with us. He's 72 years old and had bypass surgery only seven months ago. Now, the man was always an excellent hiker, but I was expecting him to be slow or to even sit and wait for us. Wrong. I had to actually try my best to keep up with him! At one point, Mitch and I decided to go further and told him we'd come back and find him. He said, "Okay, I'm just going to take this short cut." We thought, "Short cut? Ya, whatever," and went on our merry way. About 30 minutes later, Mitch looks up and says, "Is that your grandpa?" Sure enough, the crazy mountain-goat-of-a-man had beat us! Not only does he know the shortcuts, but he's fast too. I was so impressed with him and glad that he is in AMAZING shape considering his surgery and his age. He might just outlive me. Ha, ha.

You can't tell in this picture, but my grandpa had actually climbed up onto this huge rock that people were diving off of. I had a feeling when we came around the bend that I would find him up there. Sure enough, I was right. At least he didn't dive off, though he did pretend like he was going to, just to scare me.

Here he is with his new kayak. We didn't have time to see him paddle around on a lake, so I asked if I could take a picture of him in his kayak in his living room. He said, "Sure! And I should wear my life jacket and hold the oar too!" So this is what we ended up with. He cracks me up.

We saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever laid eyes on. We both love the looks and feel of Southern Utah. In fact, every time we go to St. George, we spend most of the car ride home talking about where Mitch could work so we can move there. Obviously, there aren't any options in his field, or we'd be there by now! Perhaps we will retire there.

It was really crowded, which was kind of a disappointment, but it was neat to hear foreign languages from people all over the world. I told Mitch it was kind of sad that it took us so long to see the Narrows, when so many people travel half way around the world to experience the canyon. It really is worth seeing, especially when we live so close. I would love to go again!