Brand New Lindon Pool

Last weekend we drove the 2 miles down the hill and arrived at the new Lindon city pool that opened on Memorial Day. We were pretty impressed with how nice it turned out. There was a baby pool that had a shore and a couple of fountains, a lazy river that circled around, a slide or two, a lap pool, a snack bar, and the Flow Rider - an infinite wave deck. The flow rider was the first thing Andrew noticed and needless to say, it was the only thing he talked about the entire time we were at the pool. I knew we weren't leaving until he tried it, so I got the most out of it and he agreed to make himself lunch for the entire week instead of eating out...

Here are a few pics of our time at the pool:






And now for the videos... For your viewing (AND BLACKMAIL) pleasure:



Here are the good ones :)




These were the kids that were laughing at him. So funny!


I tried it a few times and I'll admit... It's harder than it looks.

10 reason's why Memphis is great

This is Memphis,
1. Where you can't find Trezevant St. because it has two names Trezevant and North Parkway and depending on which way you are driving you got one or the other.
2. Where you discover a new genre of rap called GHETTO Rap.
3. Where the sign as you drive in says, "Welcome to Memphis. The VOLUNTEER state." I just found out why, I guess that's not funny.
4. Where a man on the street pulls you aside to draw a frightening picture of your daughter and asks for $5.
5. Where somehow it is a big city, yet so small at the same time when you are looking for somewhere to eat.
6. Where there the Auto Shop parking lot is packed full of cars at 1 a.m. pimping each other's ride.
7. Where you witness a car skid into a nearby parking lot, throw a guy out of the car and start wrestling him, and you pray that in the #1 most dangerous city in the U.S. he doesn't have a gun.
8. Where there are 3 security guards at every Wallgreens at midnight.
9. Where a woman tells you how she lost a tooth taking the tag off of a rose bush that she was trying to hide from her husband because it cost $50.
10. Where you can find a pitcher of sweet tea anywhere you go.

Our first real trip - Part 1

Salt Lake City, UT -> St. Louis, Ohio

I knew I needed to be at this wedding in Memphis for one of my Davidson friends for quite some time. Originally, it was just going to be me and Kaili, but I started to think that I should probably try and talk Andrew into coming with me. It just so happened that we had Southwest vouchers from a canceled flight and that we needed to use them by July. It also just so happened that Southwest doesn't fly into Memphis, so it would be either Nashville or St. Louis. Then it clicked - Andrew has been wanting to visit his uncle Scott for quite some time and he lives in St. Louis!

Long story short, we were flying into St. Louis on the 27th, staying there two nights, driving 4 hours to Memphis on Friday, staying there two nights and then driving back up to St. Louis and flying out on Sunday the 31st.

I have been excited and nervous for this trip for a while mainly because I wasn't sure how Kaili would handle it all (I bet those of you with 5 kids are laughing right now). Luckily she was an angel ALL WEEKEND LONG, and we had plenty of fun to go around. Here are some pictures of her on her first flight and a few with Scott & Stephanie and their two kids Saida and Harmon.

1st hour of flight - asleep

Middle of flight - baby einstein on dvd

Bush's Farm, St. Louis

Kaili with Saida

Bandana Barbeque

The boys (Andrew and Uncle Scott)

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

The Skeen clan

The Famous St. Louis Arch

Touching the Mississippi

Our first real trip - Part 2

St. Louis, Ohio -> Memphis, TN

Part 2 of our "First Real Trip" was also very fun. We left St. Louis at 5 am to make the 4.5 hr. trip to Memphis in time for me to get picked up for a "bridesmaid's luncheon." We switched off driving and we arrived into Emily's neighborhood at exactly 10:00.

Here is my group of close Davidson girlfriends reunited at the luncheon

The most generous, warm family welcomed us into their guest house where we stayed the next few days. They had 2 boys (ages 4 and 6) that ADORED Kaili. While I was at the luncheon I called Andrew to see how he was doing and he told me that he was on the computer in the main house where he met the family and Kaili was in the other room with the boys and the mom had just made him a couple of hot dogs :). Gotta love it. By the end of the trip, the boys were asking their mom if they could have a baby sister for Christmas... oops.

There was a what was supposed to be a drop-in between events, but ended up being a "Garden Party" thanks to generous neighbors. Kaili got some good face time there with the guests. I went to sit with her on the tree swing and within 1 minute there was someone sitting on each side of me introducing them self.

We had dinner in the city at the only place we could find before my feet fell off. A Chinese restaurant where the waitresses soon became Kaili's (and our) best friend.

Then off to the lingerie shower for me. Andrew has Kaili for the night!

The next day was pool time for anyone who wanted to meet up. Unfortunately the water was too cold so I couldn't get Kaili much more than ankle deep. She was sure cute though.


Next up: Emily Rodda & Zack Zweber Wedding. To be continued....

The wedding we were all waiting for...

It's 5:00 and Andrew, Kaili and I are waking up from naps. The wedding starts at 6:30, so we start to get ready. Andrew and Kaili shower and I do my make-up/hair thing. Andrew was in a nice collared shirt and slacks, I was wearing the brand new dress I finally found in my size on Overstock.com that arrived 30 minutes before we left for the airport in Salt Lake, and Kaili was in a cute tank dress I found on the sale rack at Macy's. We leave the house at 6:10 and it take 10 minutes to get there.

From the get-go, we know we just were not supposed to be at the wedding. Here's how it went:
5:30pm: Andrew realizes he forgot his brown shoes, so he can't wear the nicer of the 3 shirts he brought.
6:20pm: We arrive at the church and everyone is dressed in suits and ties. Andrew neither has a suit nor a tie. We drive back to the house to grab his tie.
6:35pm: On the car ride back to the church, I look to my right and notice that my dress ripped open down the right side. I almost cry.
6:40pm: Deciding what to do, we end up in the women's bathroom at Walgreen's - the three of us in the handicap stall together (Kaili in her carrier). Using the sewing kit we just bought we frantically try to sew up my dress - safety pins wouldn't do. Just as Andrew helps zips my dress, a lady walks in and he sneaks out.
7:05pm: We pull up to the church again and see people getting in their cars and realize we missed the whole ceremony :(.

Here I was worried about Kaili and how she'd be during the wedding, but in reality she was the only thing we could count on for the night!

We were sad that we missed the one event we flew out there to see, but we really had a nice time at the reception that followed.

I need a blog-manager, any volunteers?

So at work right now I am researching a lot about social media (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and one of the main points I am discovering is that taking a step into the social media department isn't as free as people might think. It actually requires continual maintenance and upkeep if you want it to be productive. In fact, failure to "keep up" can be detrimental to some brands. So what do we learn from this lesson? Nothing, except that either I need a life manager or a blog manager, or else my reputation as an organized, on-top-of-it-all mother/wife/daughter is down the drain :). I hope you all still love me regardless of my lack of commitment to the blogging sphere.