Saturday, September 27, 2008

Can you tell I'm back to school?

Is September already almost over? Time seems to go by slowly each day and yet the weeks just fly by. Just thought I'd give a little update. Not much new has been going on. School has gone better than I expected this year. I started out the year with at one point 31 students. I was stressing about it, but determined to have a good year. They were good kids and we were doing well. A couple of weeks into the year we found out we had qualified for another teacher in 4th grade. So I now have a lovely class of 20 students- is that even possible in Utah? It has been so great! There will always be challenges but there are many benefits to having a small class size.
Even with school going well it is hard to leave Zac. We are so lucky to have amazing babysitters. The grandmas both take a day, and Jon is taking night classes so when Jon isn't working Zac gets to play with daddy. We also have a neghbor that watches him while Jon is at work.
Zac is getting so big and learning to do new things. He rolls like a champ, but isn't crawling (he hates being on his tummy, so I'm guessing it will still be a while with that one). He recognizes Jon and I and it is so fun to walk in after work and see him get so excited to see us. It also makes it hard because he cries a bit when we leave now. He is getting good at eating solids and shares mom's dinner all the time. His favorite is still bananas. I have been trying to be creative and puree up our baby food every once in a while and it works out pretty well. Anyone else do this? I'd love some new ideas.
Here's a few pictures that I hadn't added. These are Zac's 6 and 7 month pictures with his bear. I can't believe it's already almost time for his 8 month ones.


I love these shoes!
I don't know why, but when I use a flash, Zac's hair line looks really funny. His hair is shorter on the front, but it is there. With the flash it looks like a middle aged male pattern baldness going on. In person you can see his hair.
This is my favorite look of Zac's right now. It's good I like it because it is what he is always doing. He tips his head back and makes an "O" with his mouth and makes a cooing sound. Everyone comes up with a different thing it sounds like. His babysitter calls it his owl sound. I think it sounds like a pigeon noise. It's cute whatever it is.
What a kid!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Our Trip to the Bahamas... or, er, Bear Lake, Utah, a triatholon, and other August adventures!



August was quite a month! I was going to update sooner and if you look at blogs like I do you are probably frustrated that it has been a month since my last update. Our cord that connects the camera to the computer was lost for a bit and then school started so things are busy again around our house. I did want to recap the crazy month we had. On Aug. 10 Jon and I and his family (sisters, brother, and parents) were supposed to leave on a cruise to the Bahamas. We have been counting down for months and preparing to go. I had a hard time leaving Zac, but with a few tears I left him with my parents and we were ready to go. We left a day early to avoid any problems of getting to the ship late. We had a layover in Denver and then were supposed to go on to Orlando, spend the night and get on the ship the next day. Well, it's funny how a single little rain cloud can change a whole lot of plans. There was a storm over Denver when we were supposed to leave Salt Lake so we didn't take off till 2 hours after we were supposed to. By the time we got to Denver our flight to Orlando had already left. We then waited in a 2 hour line just to talk to the airline people about finding another flight. We were put on standby for a flight at midnight but didn't make it on that one (thanks to our good buddy Charles Karn a not so nice gate attendent). We tried everything we could think of to get there but flights were full and even just trying to get anywhere back east and then to Florida there was nothing that had 7 open seats. We were put on standby for another flight the next morning and at 2:00 am we finally went to a hotel and got 3 hours of sleep before coming back to the airport. When we got there we found tickets on Southwest and were so excited we were going to get there. We made a quick call to Royal Carribean and they informed us that we would never make it to the ship in time. We would get to the airport at 3:30 and they close the doors and turn in the manifest to customs at 4:00 and it was 50 minutes away from the airport. Needless to say it was a 24 hour period of time full of emotions. We decided to make our way back to Salt Lake. We all still had work off so we decided to take the boat up to Bear Lake and spend some time at a cabin instead. It wasn't quite the Bahamas, but we did have a great time. Zac got to come with us and we really got to bond as a family.
Zac spent lots of time running in the sand.
Jon celebrated his 27th birthday while we were there. I decorated the cabin for him. We went for a fun bike ride in a 4 person bike, spent some awesome time on the lake which was like glass, and got shakes at LaBeau's and had cake.
After we got home from Bear Lake we had a busy week. I spent the week at school getting my room set up and ready for students, and Jon spent it finishing with his preparations to participate in a triathalon. This was his first and it was a great experience. We were however a little dumb in what we brought. I thought that the shuttle would take us from where we parked to where we would sit and watch in a nice park like area. Jon warned us to bring something to do becuase there would be some sitting involved- so I brought a chair for me to sit in, Zac's little chair so I could feed him in it, a blanket for him to lay on and play, his diaper bag, my purse, and my laptop bag filled with books and the laptop, and of course I was holding Zac as well. I was so prepared! Well, the shuttle dropped us off about a mile away from where we needed to be to watch. I'm sure I was quite a sight hiking in with all that stuff and Zac getting lower and lower on my hip. When we did finally get there, it was a rocky little area that had no shade. I was grateful to put things down and that Jon's parents and sister came becuase it was a really hard day for Zac and everyone pitched in to help. The triathalon was so much fun to watch! It is crazy how into it some people are. Jon did great and it was fun to see him achieve his goals. We all were happier after we found some shade, and got some food and water and got rid of Zac's heat rash.

All their little head swimming in Jordanelle resevoir.

I'm so proud of Jon and so grateful to his mom for coming all the way up to watch her son and instead took care of her screaming grandson so I could watch Jon as he did each of his transitions and came in to the finish. Next time Zac can stay with a babysitter and we all can be happier.

We are all back in school now. I have a cute class but it sure is hard to leave Zac everyday. He is so much fun lately. He is sitting up and is so social, talking and screaming all the time. He loves playing with toys and playing peek a boo. It was quite a month. We will eventually make it on a cruise- this time it will be a 7 day and there will be no lay overs in Denver. Cross your fingers for us!