Preschool Graduation May 25, 2010

So I can't believe I am saying this, but my little girl graduated!!!! Okay, only from preschool, but still, I was awfully proud:) She has loved and adored and worshipped etc. preschool this year, and was TERRIBLY distraught upon learning of such a horrid thing known as "summer break." Poor girl. She'll just have to learn to deal it the same way I did. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I distinctly remember leaving Granite Elementary on the last day of 6th grade crying (yes, tears, though hidden from my peers, were actually rolling down my cheeks) as I realized it would be 3 long months before I would be able to do math homework again. Pretty pathetic, but it seems my preschooler is going down the same path as her mom...

Anyway, Mariah's teacher did a little graduation party for her classes. They sung songs to Miss Lee's guitar and had a little ceremony, which unfortunately Mariah would take no part in. Being at Disneyland the week prior, Mariah had missed school when the other kids learned the songs, so she was really shy and grumpy and didn't even want to accept her certificate in front of the class OR wear her graduation cap. Oh well, there is always next year when she will graduate again from preschool!


Our feeble attempt at making Mariah at least look like she was wearing her cap and holding up her certificate. Pardon the belly, we were 16 weeks at that point! And YES, we know what we are having, and YES we have ITS name picked out, but NO I am not going to tell you right here! The new baby deserves ITS own blog just like the big sis! So stay tuned...

Mariah's Teacher, Miss (Katie) Lee with Daddy doing the choke-hold to force M to take at least one pic with her teacher!

Mariah's Favorite part of the party: THE FUDGESICLE!!!!

According to Mariah, this is her future husband, Jackson. She tells me almost daily that she is going to "marry Jackson in the temple because he is a funny boy. He makes me laugh." Ben truly doesn't like this kid already!!!

DISNEYLAND!!!!! Saturday 5/15- Friday 5/21 (Post 1:Sat-Mon)

We FINALLY did it. Ben and I, who are famous "talkers" but not necessarily "do-ers", actually planned AND CARRIED OUT a family trip to the happiest place on Earth! We spent our first night in Mesquite before heading into Vegas for a few hours the next morning. Our favorite part of walking along the strip had to be the Bellagio fountains. We had perfect timing, walking right up to the optimal spot right as the best "dancing water" show I have EVER witnessed was about to start. It was choreographed to the song "All That Jazz", and it was truly SPECTACULAR. Mariah LOVED her new sunglasses and wore them everywhere we went!

Aside from the water show, our favorite part was visiting the M&M Factory. Mariah was so excited to meet actual live M&Ms! Unfortunately, the M&M movie was temporarily not running due to it being upgraded. Oh well, we will have to catch it next time!
Maybe the BEST surprise EVER was that my Mom flew in to Vegas to hitch a ride to California and spend the rest of the trip with us! It made the car ride a breeze. Mariah was SO good that we didn't watch ANY DVDs the entire ride (there or home)! Pretty amazing. Thanks Ben for giving me the idea to get some "Where's Waldo?" books from the library for M to look at! They kept her entertained for a very long time:)
So after TERRIBLE traffic almost the whole way from Vegas to Anaheim, we finally arrived at our hotel, Holiday Inn. Ben and M were very anxious to take a dip even though the weather was only 60 degrees or so. Glad to have Daddy there to give me an out!

After my RIDICULOUS run the next morning (I was turned around the whole time and kept having to check my map), we all got ready to head on over to Disneyland! Weather: chilly 60-67 degrees and overcast. Actually pretty great for Dland! We made to walk (about 20 minutes or so to the actual entrance) and arrived at Disneyland we smiles on our faces:)
After we made our gameplan, we headed off into the park. We saw Pluto, Goofy, Aladdin, Mickey, Minnie, lots of others and did TONZ of rides! It was AMAZING! Even more so since my Mom was there to keep me company when Ben was burned out and headed back to the hotel, which happened daily:)







Minnie's house was definitely one of Mariah's favs, especially the cake that kept "deflating". She even told Minnie the next day when we saw her at lunch that if she kept working hard, someday she would be able to make a cake that wasn't broken!





Ben's shoulders were no doubt Mariah's favorite mode of transportation! She sure missed Daddy's shoulders when he went back to the hotel:)(Though she was AWESOME at walking the rest of the time, with no complaints. What a gal!)
Ben and I were even able to sneak away a couple of times and enjoy some of the more grown-up rides by ourselves! (Thanks SO MUCH Mom!) This was in line at Space Mountain. Ben never fully recovered from it:)
Leaving the park the first day at 5:30 in the afternoon. The second we put M in the stroller, she fell asleep and STAYED asleep until 7 the next morning! No dinner, nothin'! Just transfered her to her bed and took off her shoes. That girl was pooped!

Half Marathon in My Town

Last Saturday I woke up at 6 AM and realized I would not be able to fall back asleep, and since I new of a half marathon at Thanksgiving Point just down the road that started at 7 AM, I figured I might as well run it. So I headed over to Thanksgiving Point, figuring if I couldn't finish the 13.1, it would be no big deal since the route passed my house at mile 6.5 and then again at 10.5. So off I went, no stress, just the beauty of the morning and hundreds of other runners enjoying the same thing. What a beautiful run. Starting out weaving our way on to the golf-cart path at Thanksgiving Point gold course, running all through the Gardens at the height of the Tulip Festival, along the Jordan River Trail, past my neighborhood park where Ben and Mariah cheered, "Go Mommy Go! Go Mommy Go!", down to Willow Park, and back up through my ward and neighborhood (where my cheering section met me again:) ), past Mariah's elementary school, and weaving our way back to the Electric Park at Thanksgiving Point. Thankfully, due to my pregnancy-necessary slow pace, I was able to finish the whole run. What a great morning! I am so lucky to live where I do and participate in such fun things.

FINALLY

So here's the thing. Ben and I have been trying to get preggars for over 2 and 1/2 years. We tried all the infertility stuff short of in vitro with no success. When we found out in January that we weren't pregnant again, it was especially hard for both of us because we were almost certain I was. Needless to say, we gave up. No more medicine, no more tracking ovulation, nothing. And we got pregnant the very next time I ovulated!!!!! Hurray!!! So I know most of you already know this at this point, but I figure that now I am 3 months (13 weeks to be exact) along, it is safe to put it out there to the world. We have seen our baby twice by ultrasound so far, and everything looks great up to this point! Luckily I have never miscarried, just couldn't get to that point. So we think this one might be a boy since I have been pretty ridiculously exhausted and not feeling normal, which I didn't experience at all with Mariah. So I will keep ya all posted and in the meantime, hopefully I can rejoin the land of the living!