Emily’s Musings

It is “two dollar Tuesday” at Thanksgiving Point (per person, per venue) through the month of August.  We decided to take advantage of this great deal (normally, the venues are $15 per person) and left the house early on Tuesday to have some fun.

Let me clarify the term “early” when it comes to my family with two small kids.  Leaving the house before 1:00 in the afternoon is considered early.  I’m not kidding.  You would think that our early alarm clocks (well, Dallin is an alarm clock that goes off religiously throughout the night and especially the early morning) would get our butts out of bed and moving, but let’s face it, we’re slow moving parents.

So, now you can imagine the turbo speed our lives were thrown into when we decided to be at Thanksgiving Point when it opened at 10:00 A.M.  Hannah was COMPLETELY WOUND UP and WIRED yelling “THE POINT! LET’S GO TO THE POINT!”  As if she even knew what “The Point” was . . .

I rushed around the house, packing everything we needed, or might need, for a toddler and a newborn for several hours.  You know, thinks like the washer, dryer and kitchen sink to name a few.  By the time we got into the car, WE WERE ALL WIRED.

Dallin was screaming his guts out, and Hannah was yelling “THE POINT!”  I was rolling around in the front seat while I tried to shave my legs (with an electric razor of course) in the six inches of allotted space between my knees and the dashboard, while David took a deep breath and turned up the classical music in the car to drown out the crying.

Why do we go anywhere?

As we pulled out of the driveway, Hannah stopped yelling “THE POINT!” and started sympathy crying because Dallin was crying so hard.  WE ALL WANTED TO CRY.  David reached his hand into the backseat and stuck his finger in Dallin’s mouth (the binkie was lost in the car seat, and Hannah couldn’t reach it) and asked me to shift.

Remember how I was shaving my legs?  Since I am the MASTER OF MULTI-TASKING . . . I shifted with my left hand (not awkward or anything) and shaved with my right hand.  In between “shift commands” from David (Second gear now!  No!  That’s fourth!  I need SECOND GEAR!  Whatever.  Do I look like a left handed shifter?) all I could think about was getting the two day nasty leg hair growth off my legs in the 20 minute car ride.  What if someone saw me with HAIRY LEGS?  I could possibly be confused as a tree hugger, and honestly, that’s not exactly the image I shoot for.

David’s patience was completely taxed (maybe it was because he only had three hours of sleep the night before because HE HAD TO STAY UP ALL NIGHT AND READ THE LAST TWILIGHT BOOK.  Maybe that’s why.  I mean, I’m not trying to point fingers here and say, Hey, you chose to be tired and ornery.  I’m just not one to to point out the obvious to my spouse.) and he looked at me and said, “WHY ARE WE GOING ANYWHERE WITH SCREAMING KIDS?”

Obviously, because I said so.  And everyone knows that moms call the shots. 

Thank heavens, 20 minutes was enough time to shave and I arrived with silky soft legs.  (Not that anyone besides me noticed)  And Dallin FINALLY stopped crying.  Which meant that Hannah stopped her sympathy crying.  Really, I think we should have a moment of silence to recognize the moment of silence.

We decided to attend the gardens (we’ll do the museum and the petting zoo anther week, if I can convince David the kids won’t cry all the way there) and they were beautiful.  It was totally worth the crazy crying, rushing around, and frustration to get there.

I took entirely too many photos, but I couldn’t stop. It was like Saba, everywhere I looked, there was something else to take a picture of!  This post is a little heavy on the pictures, but the gardens were so beautiful.  Check them out:

Hannah, the little follower.  Always one step behind.

The Roman gardens

Our cute little Hannah Bear, checking out the fish below in the water.

The lily pond.  It reminded me of the park on Saba.

Hannah ran, and ran.  She covered three times as much ground as we did.

Emily, Hannah, Dallin (yes, he actually was there although this picture is the only evidence) and David

Hannah and Grandma Gloria

Hannah and Grandpa Dennis

Hannah in the secret garden . . .

The entrance to the secret garden

Hannah acting as gate keeper at the entrance

The Italian gardens

For such a crazy start to our day, it ended up being so calm and serene.  Dallin slept the entire day (yeah, I knew he and I were going to have a party staying up all night after all that sleep) and Hannah loved exploring as much as we enjoyed walking and looking.  We will certainly go back.

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The last time David and I went to a parade we took our dogs. We didn’t realize that dogs don’t really like parades until after it started. For some reason, the firing guns, loud cars and motorcycles, and all the people that come out in droves to see the parade, scared the crap out of them. We should have seen it coming, and left our dogs at home. But, before we had Hannah, our dogs were our kids, and they had no choice but to go to fun family activities with us. Because it was their job as our dog children.

Having a real-human-child-that-belonged-to-us was a TRILLION TIMES funner to have at the parade than our dogs. I now understand why parents camp out the night before the parade to secure great seats. NOT THAT I WOULD EVER DO THAT . . . but I get it now.

Parades are everything Hannah loves: airplanes overhead, candy, kids, horses, people singing, people dancing, cars, motorcycles . . . she absolutely enjoyed the parade. And get this, she talked her grandma and grandpa Lesher into attending the event, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS PRACTICALLY THE LAST THING ON THE PLANET THEY WANTED TO DO THAT DAY. Way to go Hannah!

This was Hannah’s face for over two hours . . . she also danced her little heart away when bands came by.

We all had a great time . . . even I did with my huge belly which you can’t see in the empty chair. (Well, someone has to take photos!)

It was one hot day, and I wished we were on the other side of the street where there was more shade, but we were lucky enough to get such good seats.

We have just finished our marathon week of fun activities, (the zoo, water park, hot air balloon race, grandpa Probst’s birthday party, the parade, visiting family and friends . . . phew!) and in 24 hours, our new baby will have joined our family. We are all excited for the arrival of this little baby. Tonight is the last night of quiet, peaceful, sleep!

Stats and pictures will be posted as soon as we can get them up tomorrow. Check back to see our new little guy, (and what we named him)!

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On Saturday, we drove up to David’s sister’s house (Janine) in Pleasant View (which I always refer to as “Pleasantville” because what is the difference? They sound the same to me . . .) to watch fireworks for the city’s celebration of “Founder’s Day.” Hannah got to see a few cousins, and of course spent time with “FADANNA!” (Savannah), her favorite cousin.

The fireworks were fantastic. They were launched at a field right by Janine’s house. We were able to enjoy them right overhead as we sat on the driveway. As you all may know, David and I are the nap/bedtime Nazis, so Hannah went to bed at 7:00, while the rest of of the family enjoyed playing games and eating great food. To our surprise, Hannah slept right through the fireworks. Sitting so close to the fireworks got this little guy in my belly all worked up into a knot and he was a little out of control squirming around in his womb.

Moving on to the the next fun event . . . We took Hannah to 7-Peaks Water Park on Monday. She seems to have a way with words and is very good at persuading people to do exactly as she says . . . so Grandma and Grandpa Lesher not only came to the water park, but they also got into their swimming suits. Grandpa had a great time once he was there . . . riding on crazy tube slides with David n’ stuff. The funny thing is, people over the age of 65 are free, (yes, I am divulging my in-laws ages here) so both Dennis and Gloria were free to enter the water park. They must figure that most people over 65 are merely there as spectators. I’m sure that is usually the case, but they haven’t met the “young at heart” father that belongs to David.

Hannah and Dennis (in the white shirt) in the kid pool. Check out Hannah’s grin.

Hannah and Dave, wading in kid the pool water which mostly consists of baby pee . . .

I would like to mention how these pictures came about. BECAUSE I WAS THE DESIGNATED PHOTOGRAPHER. Projects like this get handed off to the person who is least mobile, and THAT PERSON WAS ME. You see, I would like Hannah to know that I was in fact there, having fun with her . . . but I just didn’t want to document my large, swollen, very pregnant belly, IN A BATHING SUIT.

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There are a lot of pictures in this post. If pictures of my darling child aren’t your thing, then STOP LOOKING and save yourself some time. If they are your thing, then you just hit the jackpot.

This weekend (which was Memorial Day) we went to the Gateway Mall in SLC, along with EVERY OTHER FAMILY IN UTAH.

This is the jumping fountain. Hannah was not sure about it at all. And truthfully, sometimes it startled me.

We took Hannah to the Discovery Museum. Hannah was overwhelmed with the thousands of toys to play with, and the 10,000 kids that decided to attend the museum ON THE SAME DAY. One of the rooms had a bunch of balls to throw down pipes, and when Hannah saw all the out of control squealing kids, SHE FROZE. What do you do when you see so many kids? How do you play with so many balls? How do you fight your way into the crowd and play?

You don’t.

Hannah did what any other overstimulated, clean, organized child would do. SHE PICKED UP ALL THE BALLS AND PUT THEM BACK IN THE BOX. JUST LIKE THE EMPLOYEES. EXCEPT SHE WASN’T PAID.

Good girl Hannah. You know how much I LOVE and ADMIRE your very clean, organized side.

On the roof of the building was a helicopter.

Hannah LOVES helicopters. In fact, she talks about them almost daily, when she talks about airplanes.

She couldn’t stop pointing. When you look at these photos, keep in mind the ONLY attraction around her is the helicopter.

Yeah, IT WAS THAT COOL.

She is pointing here too . . .

and she is still pointing . . .

Have you seen how cool that thing is?

Hannah made a new friend, and she very thoughtfully pointed out the helicopter to this lady. BECAUSE SHE MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED THE VERY LARGE AIRCRAFT WITH HER OWN EYES.

Next time, we’ll save the money and not go the museum, but take her down to a municipal airport where she can see all the planes and helicopters she wants. FOR FREE.

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I am in LOVE with photoshop. I never did anything with Photoshop Elements when we got it because I HAD TO READ A MANUAL. AND THERE WERE TOO MANY WORDS. David found some tutorials online, (which kept me interested long enough to pay attention) and we have been transforming our photographs a little at a time now. Sadly, I just started utilizing Photoshop Elements and CS3 a few months ago, so I have a LONG WAY to go to get all the photos I care about looking decent. I must admit, I AM ADDICTED TO PHOTOSHOP. It’s like getting your eyebrows tweezed for the the first time, and suddenly, you wondered how you showed your face in public for all those years with such unruly brows.

I love this photography blog. I have downloaded all of her actions, and now, I am just LAZY when it comes to being creative on my own. Why do something from scratch when someone has already done it for you, and is GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE?

This is a photo of Hannah right after she was born. Poor little thing came out with such long nails, she really did a number on her face before we got her wrapped her up like a burrito.

This is what the photo looks like after running it through CS3. No more scratches, and of course, transferred to black and white.

Hannah has crazy long lashes. I wanted to show more contrast with the lighting and the lashes, so I used an action from this site to create this:

I love the lighting now. It really shows the contour of her face, and her perfect delicate skin. And of course, you can’t miss those lashes!

This photo was okay, but I really wanted to make it more dramatic, showcasing Hannah.

This is what it looks like after using the PW B&W Beauty from this site.

David and I STILL want at Nikon D80, but since he is a med student, (no income, just a lot of out go) and I’m a stay at home mom, (a very hard job, but the pay is terrible) we only dream about the day when we can buy a professional grade camera. AND NOT FEEL GUILTY. Hopefully this camera will do for the next 30 years.

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