Trip to Utah, Sara Turns 4 and Halloween

So this is my lame attempt at cramming 3 blog posts in to one.  But it has been a crazy month. I feel like as soon as October hits we are non-stop until after the first of the year.  Maybe it's because of all the holidays, but I feel like it has more to do with the fact that it isn't a bazillion degrees outside, so when we're not sleeping or running errands - we are OUTSIDE!  This is my favorite time of year in AZ, which is why we've decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  I am so excited to be able to really enjoy this whole fall/winter thing.  Anyone that wants to come visit is welcome.

Early in October, Sara and I took a trip out to visit my parents in Utah for a couple of weeks.  Cam joined us for a few days and we had a blast.  Here are a few pictures of the trip:

 This is Sara and her cousins, Alison and Eve playing dress-up.  They are such beautiful princesses.

 Sara and her cousin, Eve, had a great time together all weekend keeping themselves busy during General Conference.  It was so fun to spend the weekend with Aaron, Annika and the 3 girls!

 One of Sara's favorite things in the whole world is the carousel and she was so excited she could ride it all by herself.  Why she chose the rooster?  I have no idea.  Cock-a-doodle-doo!

While my parents were at a wedding in downtown SLC, I took Sara to the Church History Center.  They had a really fun play area for kids.  Sara loved playing in Nephi's boat!

We celebrated Sara's 4th birthday just a few weeks after we got home from Utah.  She was so excited to turn 4 and was talking about it for months.  She shares the same birthday as one of her best friends, Chloe.  We did a low-key family thing and then a little get together at Peter Piper Pizza for her and her friends.  Can't believe my little girl is already 4!  She is such a joy and a treasure heart.  I love being her Momma.

 I made Sara an Alphabet Photobook for her birthday and she loved it.  She couldn't believe her picture was on the cover of a book!

 She got her own digital camera from Grandma and Grandpa and dance class from Nana and Papa.  She is one happy little girl.

 Sara and her friends Savannah and Nixin riding the teacup at Peter Piper's.  I was getting nauseous trying to keep up with it spinning to take a picture.

 By special request, Sara had purple cake, pink frosting and pearl sprinkles for her treats. 

Halloween is exactly 1 week after Sara's birthday and she went as a ballerina this year.  She loves her dance class and was very excited to wear her ballerina costume to the ward Trunk or Treat and trick-or-treating.  Here are a few pictures of her at the Ward Trunk or Treat:

 I absolutely love this picture and can't wait to see it in their wedding video someday. :) This is Sara and her friend, Weston dressed up as Woody.  They are so cute and such cute little friends.

 My little dancing girl

It's crazy to think this little treasure heart of mine has been ours for 4 years.  She is an absolute joy (99% of the time) and I couldn't imagine our lives without her.  We are the greatest of buddies and she goes with my everywhere.  She is fun, creative, silly silly silly, and full of witty remarks and amazing negotiation skills.  I have no idea where she gets it.  ;)  So excited about whatever this year will bring.  Never a dull moment with this busy body around.

and PS: Here is our attempt at getting rid of the nap... Guess that means I have to stop getting clothes out of the dryer for more than 30 seconds.

A few of my favorite things...

I remember last year (when I was still blogging) making a list of my favorite things after going to a 'favorite things' party, with the intent of turning it in to a blog post.  Apparently, that never happened.  The party was really fun and I learned so much about other people and their favorite things, I thought it would be fun to share.

On a recent trip to California, Sara was watching Sound of Music (one of my favorite movies) and I was reminded of this list.  I tracked it down and have decided to do what I planned to do last year and that is... a list of my favorite things.  I'm sure you have some of your own favorites, but here are a few of mine: 

1.  Let me introduce to you, one of my dearest and treasured friends... Acne.org treatment gel.  I've been using it for about 3 years and I could go on forever about how amazing it is and how much I love it.  But the truth is, you just have to try it to believe me.  It's been life changing.  No, really, it has.

2. The show Parenthood.  I absolutely love the characters in this show.  Someone recently told me they thought this show was totally unrealistic having that many problems in one family, but I disagree.  that's what makes it so likeable and relate-able.  I haven't personally experienced a battle with cancer or my daughter going off to college, adoption or being a single parent but lots of people do or will in their lifetime.  The family is endearing and easy to love.

3.  Sara's preschool.  I cannot say enough good things about her preschool, Busy Bee Preschool, by Ms. Nicole.  It was recommended to me by a few friends and it has been absolutely perfect for Sara.  She is in her second year and loves it!  I am amazed at the crafts, activities, work sheets, and field trips her teacher provides - not to mention her love and patience with each child.  I have referred several others to her as well and they have all been super happy with it.

4.  These should be called chocolate covered 'sin'ammon bears because they are so delicious.  Every time I go to Utah, I have to go visit the BYU Bookstore to buy a pound of these babies.  I limit myself to one pound and try to make it last a few days.  They are absolutely heavenly.

5.  I have traveled all over the US to several major cities.  I have been to 40 of the 50 states and lived in 8 of them.  Of all the places I've traveled to and lived in, Chicago is my favorite.  There is so much to see and do, the downtown is full of character and history, as well as art and shopping.  It's just a really, really cool place and I'd love to live there.

6. TJ Maxx is one of my favorite stores.  I love finding really cute stuff for a really great price.  I get more compliments on my clothes from TJ Maxx than just about anywhere.  Of course, I know the quality isn't great and my clothes don't last forever.  But until I can afford to spend more money on clothing, I'm always happy and suprised with the cute stuff I find there.  And their home store is really great too!

7. PicMonkey is my favorite web-site for editing photos.  You can do some really fun things with them like adding backgrounds, text, or crazy colors.  It's a really fun and mostly free way to make your pictures look great and fun too.

I have LOTS of favorite things, but these are the ones I can think of at this very moment.  I'll post more another day.  What are some of your favorite things?

Californ-I-A

We spent last week in Southern Cal and had a great time.  Of course the trip all started with a little mishap in the resort pars lking lot.  Our car was nicely parked outside while we waited inside for our room assignment.  Cameron ran out to get a drink in the car and was gone for several minutes.  He came back in saying someone hit our car.  I was totally confused, but he went on to tell me there was a witness to the collision who told him what happened. 

Apparently, an older gentleman underestimated the space he needed to park his car next to ours and hit the front driver side door.  He then backed out to try again and... hit.  Once more he made the attempt and was able to safely secure his car about 2 inches from ours making it impossible for anyone to get in or out.  In addition, their side mirror was directly behind ours, so there was no way we could move our car.  He then decided it was time for him to get settled in his room and left the car unattended.  The witness went inside and told the manager.  She went outside around the same time Cameron had gone out and they tried to assess the situation and figure out what to do.  They called the police and considered it a 'hit and run'. 

Well the guy who hit us came back to his car to unload his luggage and as Cameron asked him about the situation he denied any contact between the 2 vehicles, although there was clearly damage.  The older gentleman then proceeded to ask Cameron if he wanted to fight while his wife tried to calm him down.  The police arrived at the scene, we exchanged information and it was made clear this gentleman was no longer safe behind the wheel.  The police officer kindly told his wife they were lucky it was just an empty car in the parking lot and not someone else.  I feel bad for the gentleman, who was clearly not in his right mind to know that A) he did in fact hit our car, B) he was threatening to fight my husband to fight, and C) when the officer asked him to move his car, he stood directly behind it gazing at the sky.  Let's just say the roads in California were safer after that day.

For the next week, we enjoyed time at the beach, seeing our great friends from law school, shopping, Legoland, and my first try at skim-boarding.  We went on a whale watching tour and saw hundreds of dolphins and several blue whales.  It was really cool!  I spent part of the ride laying in the back of the boat with major sea sickness, but it was a fun experience and neat to see the animals up close.  All in all, we had a great time and loved our condo in San Clemente.  It was the perfect location for a little getaway.  Here are a few pictures from our trip:

What to do, what to do??

Sara and I really like to stay busy and get involved in different things.  This requires me to be creative in coming up with new things to do.  I've had several people ask me about what things you can do around town, so I've compiled a list of places we like to go or things we like to do. 

• Target - who doesn't love walking around the aisles of Target, especially if I let Sara push a little shopping cart from the toy department.  We could spend hours in there.
• Library - we like the library on Guadalupe and Greenfield (Southeast Regional).  They have story times during the week and you can see the schedule here.
• Mall - Superstition Springs has Kids Club on Thursdays at 10am with a little show and kids can ride the carousel for free between 11-1.  But we like to go in the late afternoon sometimes too when we're bored just to play at the play place.  We also LOVE the Fiesta Mall play area.  It's huge and there are a lot of fun things to do.  I was told once that mall is in the 'ghetto' and I shouldn't go there, but I like it and everyone there has always been pleasant.  If you feel like a drive, the mall in Scottsdale has an amazing play area just outside of Nordstrom;s.  It has 4 little houses with different themes and Sara loves it there.  They also have a really big fountain and lots of great places for lunch.  The mall at San Tan does have an outdoor play area, but it can get really crowded.
• Parks: Tumbleweed Park is our favorite off of McQueen and the 202.  It takes about 20 minutes to get there, but it's a blast and huge!  Sara loves it, but it does have wood chips, so we wear shoes with socks.  There's a ton of sidewalk for kids to ride bikes or scooters and the play structure is really fun.  It also has nice bathrooms.  Freestone Park is a little closer and fun, but the last couple of times we've gone, there's been a bunch of bees.  The Train Park is Scottsdale is also really fun if you want to make the drive.  It costs 10 dollars for 10 tickets and the kids can ride a train or carousel.  There is also a really fun park there.  There are several other smaller parks around, which are nice and convenient.
• Zoo: An annual zoo pass to the Phoenix Zoo is actually really affordable if you enjoy going.  It is about 25 minutes from where I live, but we always have a great time.  As a member, you can get in an hour earlier than other visitors, but sometimes the animals aren't out yet.  We usually go around 9 and walk around for a while, then go have a picnic in the kids area.  There is also a really fun splash pad if you're there and it's on.
• Toys 'R Us: I don't generally buy toys here, but it's sure fun to look and most of them have toys out they can play with or bikes they can ride around on.  Sara loves to just go and look at all the fun toys and show me what she likes.
• Barnes and Noble: I know they do story time, although we've never been.  The Barnes and Noble on Val Vista has a train table that Sara loves and tons of books she can look at.  There is also a little stage where she likes to sit and read to me.
• Ikea: Ikea has free lunch on Tuesdays and it's yummy!  The kids get free lunch and then we can walk around and look at fun stuff or just have lunch and then go to Pump it Up or Arizona Mills.

Those area the things I can think of for now, but I know we're always trying to think up other fun things to do, so let me know if you have anything you like to do with your kiddos.  And if you'd like more information on things to do, check out Active Moms Magazine (it's free at the library and online) or the iheartmesa blog here. 

Back to School 2012

Since my last post was back to school in 2011, I figure there's not better time to get back on the blogging bandwagon than with a "back to school" post for 2012.  The last year has been a wild one full of adventure, traveling, trying to stay cool in the Arizona heat, 2 trips to Disneyland, dancing, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  I will fill you in later, but for now.... Miss Sara is back in preschool for her second year at Ms. Nicole's Busy Bee Preschool.  It took her 2 months to go without crying last year and so far, no tears.  She loves Ms. Nicole.  She went 2 days a week last year and is now going for 3 days a week .  We are so excited and I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging and a few other hobbies I missed over the summer.  So visit us often, I'll try to keep things up to date!  Here is Miss Sara on her first day of school: