Salt Lake City: Part One

Last week I tagged along with Gabe to Utah for his annual Spillman user's conference (which is the computer system the jail uses.)  It was amazing :-)  I read FOUR books, took TWO naps, and had lots of fun with him on his downtime.  He also did very well on his certification tests.  It was a great vacation! 

The weird part for me was traveling alone. Because we used air miles to book my flight, I had to fly down the day before him, and home 6 hours later. While waiting for him to arrive, I took in the Hogle Zoo there in Salt Lake City, and hit a movie (The Help) which finished right as he was landing. Perfect!

We spent that evening with his co-worker and a gal from the Wenatchee PD, and another fellow from the west side playing pool and eating some delicious food at a small sports bar.  I must say, I am not a pool fan.  I'll watch, but please don't make me play! 

Monday Gabe had a review and testing (and I read and read and read...).  After his test we drove south a bit to take in a Brazilian steakhouse called Braza.  I've heard about this type of restaurant, and have been wanting to take Gabe to one for a while, so this seemed the ideal opportunity!  What we didn't know, and had it explained to us later in the week, was that the elevation can affect more than just your breathing... Apparently, it also can change how much you can consume... which makes it not the ideal opportunity to catch an "all-you-can-eat-meat" deal!  However, most of the meat was fabulous, and the salad bar was pretty good, plus the price was right.  We wished we could have eaten more, but this was just setting the tone for the rest of the week!  I went on to not be hungry at all until I arrived back home- it was crazy!   Especially when I am trying to enjoy having my plate to myself and not sharing with three little piggies!  Oh well!  Live and learn!  I also really noticed going up the stairs in the conference center- I felt like I was so out of shape, but then got laughed at because of the altitude thing... and I didn't feel so bad :-)

The next day was the corporate "event," in which they took us all out to Miller Motorsports in Tooele.  Here Gabe rode along in a racing mustang, which he said didn't go fast enough!  This is him exiting the car... he looks like he had fun, doesn't he?  :-)

Can you read the price tag? $80K- polished aluminum... brand new it'd run ya $140K.

Miller Motorsports has the largest private collection of Shelby Cobras, plus Shelby Mustangs and Ford GT40s.  There were some really high prices in this museum... all the way up to 14 million.  I can't believe they let me stand so close...

We also experienced riding in Jeep Rubicons on a rock crawling course and drove *real* go-carts!  You know, the 40 mph kind!  Gabe only passed me 3 times... But I did some passing too :-)  He was just the fastest driver out there by far- so I didn't stand a chance!  The rock crawling ranked high on my "how do they do that" bucket list... though I never would have admitted it.  I only went because these are "experienced" drivers... but they had a tendency to make mistakes here and there too!  Those pics are on Gabe's phone, so I'll have to post those later...

The next day included more conferencing, during which I drove down to Lehi to pick up some essential oils directly from the Young Living office (kinda cool!), plus visited the local Costco where I bought another book (which put my checked bag at 1 pound over the limit!) on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  The conference's closing banquet ended the day, but Keys on Main topped off the night!  Keys on Main is a bar which hosts dueling pianos two days a week- and it was the number one thing on Gabe's to-do-again list from last year!  I can't begin to describe how much fun it was- phenomenally talented pianists- funny drunk people- great songs.  What a blast!

Gabe had a few classes to do the next morning, and then we scooted out to do some sightseeing together.  First I wanted to check out the Temple Square- mainly to see the Beehive House and Lion House because I'd recently (in the last year) read about their history and Brigham's countless wives :-)  However, once we entered the square and started rounding the temple itself, we decided to leave due to "feeling weird."  We did drive by the houses the next morning, but after leaving we found the yummiest little bakery/sandwich shop ever!  Hagermann's Bakehouse:  if ever you find yourself in Salt Lake City, visit here.  They had scrumptious samples, tasty sandwiches, and we went up afterwards to pick out dessert (because we couldn't refuse!) and they gave it to us free! 

My apricot-jalapeno jelly was sliming me!  (By then we'd learned to split whatever we ordered!)

To be continued.... because it's late and blogger is not cooperating in the photo upload process... :-)

Woodland Park Zoo, Part Three

 This bear picture is kinda weird, but you can see the blond hair in front of the glass- the bear was right on the other side!  On our side it was absolute chaos with people pushing and shoving to see the bear up close.  Poor Isaac even got stepped on!  Insanity!

 This made the girls' day because we missed the carousel at Silverwood, thinking it would still be open when we were on our way out (like we had seen it do before,) but it wasn't :-(

Woodland Park Zoo, part Two

Sharing the Homeschool Love

I loved the gold nuggets found in this blog post at the Pioneer Woman the other day... Not in the article itself, but reading through the comments was SO encouraging and uplifting!

So I thought for myself and my homeschool friends, I will post things here that I find encouraging so I can reference them on days that somehow aren't going as planned... :-)

Woodland Park Zoo, Part One

Melia Without Training Wheels, Isaac Rides His Bike

Monday night, the girls wanted to ride.  Isaac amazingly also wanted to ride.  I say amazingly because before now, he's ridden a little bit in the yard, but didn't really care about it.  Oh, but now!  Bike riding has become VERY SERIOUS.  He stoicly rides along.  The smiles in these pictures are only because he was being photographed- they are not due to his "having fun."

 Esther and Kerzon getting in on the fun :-)

 What??  Off-roading already?

We decided it was time... Time to take off the training wheels.  Monday night with Daddy was full of lots of frustration, lack of balance, and heavy huffing and puffing. 

But Tuesday and Wednesday, she got the hang of it and was cruising around like she'd been doing it for weeks!  (The hardest part is getting started!)

Even after a crash, she's all smiles!

(Note:  There's no pictures of Kiera because she wasn't on her bike at this time.  She was in time out because she rode on the road before Mommy got outside, even after being reminded by Sissy... Lots of tears, but an important lesson!)

Things are clicking,.. when she's on tune?

Yesterday Melia really started picking up on the reading without getting herself all worked up!  She was reading words out and about, signs on the road, labels in the store... It was VERY exciting for me to see things clicking for her, especially because that's what I've been counting on instead of pushing her too hard. 

So last night, on the way home from Bible study, I asked her if she'd read any words to Gma Nae.  Her response had me scratching my head...

"No momma.  I wasn't in my reading tune.  It was playing tune time.  You know, I have lots of tunes:  shopping tune, reading tune, dancing tune, playing tune, math tune, singing tune.  My singing tune is on right now!..." (and she breaks into song..)  OK babe- as long as you've found the ON button for that reading tune!!!

Third Year's the Charm...

Finally, I successfully grew peppers.  I am happy.  :-)

All Lined Up in a Row

Issac's Funny Faces

I had the camera one day last week and Isaac came up to me and wanted me to take his picture.  Then he wanted to see the picture.  Then he made another face, and so on and so forth.  We were both giggling uncontrollably by the time he ran out of faces, and I just had to share :-)  I wish he didn't have food on his face, but during the season of fresh fruit and veggies, this kid just doesn't stop eating!  Enjoy!