Spring break landed on my birthday week this year. We wanted one last time of playing before BJ has to be a big boy and start working again. We had lots planned for our week.
I figured the only time I would have to potty train consistenly was during spring break. We started during finals week because I finished super early. Candy was no incentive to go on the potty. So I tried the sticker method. It was a huge success. She just wanted to put the stickers up. She understands the whole thing but still needs some time. If we stay home we only have one or two accidents and that is when we are playing and I forget to remind her. Out and about she wouldn't tell me for the first few days. Now she tells me sometimes but we wear pull ups just in case. Chonies don't really work out. She usually starts to pee and feels the wet and stops and says "I peed mommy." then we run to the potty and she continues. When she wears chonies she doesn't feel the wet until she is going to much to stop it. At home she just wears a shirt and socks. I figured the longer we do this the better she will understand before she has to pee and tell me.
After about 3-4 days she was over the stickers. She went and didn't care to put them up anymore. I was ok with it. It got the ball rolling. I'm not too stressed about her being in chonies full time. We went from using diapers all day and night to 3 total for the day. That works for now!
BJ planned on catching up on some sleep. I laughed when I came home and they were asleep like this. It reminded me of the pictures everyone takes of daddy with his newborn sleeping together. What about when they are almost 2 and don't really fit on top of you any more?! This pictures just makes me laugh.
For my birthday all I wanted was a pair of slip on shoes. Then one day I was doing my hair when I noticed some lighter hair in my bangs. At first I thought it was just my highlights growing out until I realized they were long gone. As I leaned in closer all the light hair was GREY! My bangs were full of them! I knew I had a few in the back but in my BANGS?! I then said I wanted to go get highlights!
The next day we were at Sam's Club and I saw this bad boy. For some reason I have always wanted a water dispenser. Lately we have been buying water bottles, 35 pack, every 3 days. It was getting really bad. I hate luke warm water and the tap just isn't cold enough. I don't want Ice taking up space in my freezer. I don't want a jug taking up space in my fridge. When I saw the water cooler that you slide the 5 gallon jug in that keeps it cold and hot I was sold! These babies retail for $170 easy. This one was in the clearance section because it was the floor model and it was all scuffed up on the door. We got it for a fourth of the price so I could handle the scuffs. Now I have nice cold water whenever I want it and I can fill up my water bottle right when I leave and don't have to think about filling it 2 hours before I leave. So I just have to deal with grey hairs until baby comes and I can dye my hair again.
My sister in law sent up a bunch of her maternity clothes and it just happened to get here around my birthday. My sisters and sister in laws have spoiled me with clothes. With both pregnancies I have only bought about 6 items. I am pretty spoiled!
Nothing happens in Idaho until May. Thankfully our little zoo opened up. We got a season pass because Rylee LOVES animals and it is just small enough to do in an hour or two but large enough that Rylee can walk the whole thing and be ready for a nap after. They have a petting zoo which was the highlight, well other then the ducks. It had snowed a few days before and was 35 and cloudy but not so windy. We were able to handle it outside which was nice.
We spent the mornings organizing and getting rid of things we didn't need. In the afternoon we would go play. The wind was perfect to fly kites so we ran to the store and bought some. Rylee picked Whinnie the Pooh. She even held on to her kite and flew it all by herself. She thought it was so cool to see Pooh flying. When he finally fell we spent the rest of the time playing at the park. We do the park several times a day these days.
On my birthday I figured we could drive down to Pocettelo and do their zoo. It's suppose to more of a wildlife zoo and we have BJ's cousins that we could see. The night before we looked it up and found out it wasn't open yet! BUMMER! BJ then suggested the Hogle Zoo in Utah. I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars in gas just for a zoo. He then informed me that I wasn't driving my F350 anymore and our little car got 35 miles to the gallon. We looked up a trip calculator and it said roughly $50 round trip! We could so do that!! I wish I would have realized it sooner cuz we could have spent our week in AZ. Oh well now I know!
My sister in law Liz lives in Spanish fork so we called her up to see if she wanted to meet us at the zoo. Her oldest gets out of school around 11 and we got there about 1. We stopped at Chipotle for lunch which was worth the trip in and of it's self! Rylee had fun showing her cousins the animals and running around with them. They didn't have tons of animals but each animal has a ton of space so it took awhile to walk the whole zoo. This time Rylee was into the Tiger.
Rylee and Livvy are a month apart. It is so fun to watch them together. Rylee is way more talkative (every single person points out how much she talks and how big her vocabulary is) but Livvy plays more. Rylee is taller by about a forehead and they still aren't good at playing together and would rather play with the older kids but maybe someday they will have fun together.
Liz had a babysitter for the night because she had a seminar to go to so we piggybacked on her sitter and left Rylee with her cousins. They got to have dinner and a movie. We ended up being late to the seminar so I got to pick a resurant to eat at. We went to the Old Spagetti Factory which was excatly what I was wanting. It was fun to sit and chat with Liz and Jon and eat yummy food. Matt and Camille ended up getting to Utah that night from Cali so we were able to put the kids to sleep and have fun sitting and chatting. The next morning we all had breakfast and just hung out until they had to leave.
We went up to Salt Lake and took BJ's grandma out to lunch at Sizzlers. It was fun talking with her and visiting. Rylee wanted to go see the Temple and since I now HATE traffic and feel like I am going to die anytime I drive in Salt Lake we thought we would hang out until after rush hour. We walked temple square hitting all the fountains and making wishes. We did both the visiting centers. Then we headed up to Bountiful to return some shoes BJ had bought and eat dinner.
We ended up leaving around 8 and it started to rain. I don't mind driving in the rain so we kept going. As it got darker the rain came down harder and our headlights were foggy so they weren't super bright. After a truck passed me and I couldn't even see the reflective signs on the side of the road I pulled off. My stomach was so tight from not sleeping well and being stressed with traffic that I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Thankfully BJ has a million family members all through out Utah. Less then 3 miles from where I pulled of lived BJ's aunt. We made our way to her place and asked if we could spend the night.
His cousin left her kids with grandma so we got to spend the morning playing with the twins and riding the four wheelers out to see the cows. I love the Balls side of the family. They are so much fun to be around and have the weirdest stuff. Rylee had fun with the babies and seeing more animals.
We made our way back home and we had planned on doing Bear world this weekend. It was 1/2 off admission, Cub palooza, free rides, and an Easter egg hunt. I've driven by Bear World so many times in the 2 years we have been here that I figured we needed to try it out. I must say it is NOT WORTH the $16 per person regularly. We got in right as the Easter egg hunt was starting so Rylee and I ran out there super fast so she could get some candy. Then we headed over to the rides that were free today and found out that Rylee is more like me and wanted to ride every single ride. Even the ones for big kids. BJ hates waiting in line for rides because he doesn't think it is worth the 1 minute of fun. I will stand in line forever because it IS worth the 1 minute of fun. Rylee proved that our family will go to amusement parks! BJ kept trying to get her leave but she would just say, "nope I waiting to ride..." I let her wait and do whichever she wanted. BJ was bored.
Then we headed to the petting area. Rylee thinks it is so cool to pet the animals. The deer gave her head some kisses even. We had to hurry home because BJ was meeting someone to sell them his tires so we hurried over to the drive through portion. It was very lame. If Rylee hadn't had been there I would have been so mad we spent $15 to do it. Rylee of course loves sitting in the front seat and even the regular birds that we see every day was exiciting to her. We got to see a rare all white Elk but we have seen him from the rode driving by. The bear portion was cool because some even came up to the car and Rylee thought they were so funny. She makes everything 10 times more fun.
After that I was ready to go home, shower, and just relax. We had such a fun filled week! School starts on Monday so it's back to regular life for us. It is always nice to take a break from life and just enjoy!
