Aaaaa!!! & Aahhh's of August

"I'm gonna go get some milk, I'll see you later." No, I wasn't getting into the black box and taking a trip to the grocery store. Our refrigerator stopped getting as cold as it should and I was heading to the garage! We got a 'loaner fridge' from management and I guess I should be grateful for that. It's crazy trying to live without a fridge at your fingertips! Actually, we've been dealing with this since last month, I think. The first time it happened, Gramma Shelly and Aunt Diana just happen to be south of the valley when I called in desperation for someone to bring me bags of ice as my food was setting on the counters and the maintenance men were gone from sight! (I didn't have a car that day). I ended up dumping out plastic toy bins and making make-shift coolers. I think we've had that loaner twice now and visits from a tech to try and fix our freaky fridge. It seems to be repaired now, but I don't want to give up that garage fridge until I know for sure! And weird enough, you kinda of get used to and get in the habit of going to the garage! Yeesh! It's been an up and down (and an 'in and out') month, I tell ya! Maybe our new house will have the perfect running fridge.

We have our own little corner of the world in Davis County. They have the streets in and have trenches dug for power and phone. Looks like there will be a church in walking distance. It was fun to go visit 'our dirt'. We took lots of photos for posterity. It will be fun to look back and see the first phases of development and how young the girls were when this all started in years to come.

Cali was enjoying her swimming lessons, but infortunately we had to stop going to the Draper Pool. At the end of about the 3rd lesson, I was gathering up little sis and all our stuff and heading over to the edge of the pool only to not find Cali. I was scared beyond belief, yet finally found her among the sea of children. She was still in the shallow end but about two-thirds in from the edge. I finally got her out but couldn't believe what just had happened. I was livid. What kind of negligence is that??!!! Needless to say, I left a crazy mad mom message on the machine of the pool manager and also left a message for someone from the County. I received some understanding from the twenty-something' manager when I talked to him phone to phone at first, but it still didn't seem to me a very productive call. And when I finally talked to the 'right' person at the county office, apparently this isn't the first time a child has wondered back into the water. I cannot believe that the instructors of the swimming classes could be so careless. A young child of Cali's age should be made sure that she is in the custody of her parent(s) before any idiotic instructor swims away. Needless to say, we didn't take her back. Rick took her swimming a couple of times at our townhome community pool which she enjoyed, but it was sad she couldn't continue something she really ended up liking. She did have a super bright spot at the end of the month, however. Her optomitrist,Dr. Price, had a 'graduation party' for all the vision therapy patients. Cali and one other were the only ones who came, but it was such a thoughtful and well deserved moment of appreciation for all the diligence and hard work these children have done. She was showered with gifts: a yellow balloon, candy, a certificate, and the cutest stuffed khaki-colored bear holding a book bag and wearing a black graduation cap. There were light refreshments and even a gift cert for the moms (that's me!) for an HOUR MASSAGE! Yea!! You also may have noticed a little something different about Cali's appearance. SHE HAS SHORT HAIR! It was time and she was ready to say goodbye to Snarlville. I don't think she even had an moment of mourning. I on the other hand was the one who did the cutting and feared I botched her most important cut. But I guess it turned out okay and she is beautiful any way you slice her :) We will be donating her ponytail to Locks of Love. As I mentioned before she has been learning American Sign Language from the children's program Signing Time. Well, the host, Rachel Coleman did a show at the Hogle Zoo. Cali, Carice and their cousins enjoyed the show together. It was such fun to see Rachel in person! Like a regular concert :) And I know you won't know the tune, but Cali made up a little ditty of her own. No title that I know of. It goes like this: "Swinging on a swing and you never really know, there's summing (something) we ca-an do, and bless that we can have a day all around." (Ask me and I'll sing it for you someday...it's a catchy song!)
"Happy Birthday, dear Carice...." We made it! And she made it! One year old already. Being one also meant a new car seat for her. She gets to travel forward like a normal human, yea! :) She started walking just a little bit independantly 5 days after her birthday and then pretty much took off 4 days after that. :) We took her to McDonald's for a teeny tiny vanilla cone. We meant to have a little birthday party for her with family, but we didn't get invites done. So, we are planning on that for next month. She's only one, she won't know :) She loves playing outside and also in her true food fashion, we found she likes pickles. At her check up she was only 22lbs! How did I get such a skinny baby!? (hee hee) But she's healthy and actually weathered a mild bout of Roto-Virus well. Just say 'no' to diarrhea! Aaaaa! We thought maybe she had a milk allergy as we have been getting her used to whole milk from formula, but apparently she had a bug. Fortunately her vaccine kicked in somewhat making it a mild case. She loves books and loves lids/caps, especailly the cap on the Anywhere Sanitizing mini spray bottle! The little goose! She is a sweetie, though. We love our girls!


Rick celebrated a birthday also this month! Brooke, our niece, was visiting with us from California for a couple of days and so we ended up having a birthday dinner of sorts at Red Robin/slash/eat out with her, too! Rick is busier than at any other job he has had. He has about 5 different assignments he is working on. He really is happy about the job change. And as a sneak peak... he is getting ready to close up shop on most of his freelance work. (Can you see me dancing and hollering with glee as I write this? hee hee) He and Juna will still do their Cafe Press online store,detour designables, but bidding adiu to clients. *phew* I on the other hand, have hit the wall with sole.sak. I felt my pattern maker was making some 'excecutive decisions' without my consent and expecting payment for it and so I talked to her about it. In the course of our exchanges and her explanation of things, she ultimately opted out of being able help me further on the development of my product. I kind of put up the question nicely as to whether we can have a better working relationship, nevertheless, I was left with one useable prototype and another that isn't. Aaaa!! It's been a long road already and now I have to find someone else to help me. Yeeeaahhh..........

Finally, I leave you and this crazy month on a delicious note. Down the mountain and around the corner from our house we would stop and enjoy a little freezy treat, Hawaiin Shaved Ice. It was a fun family outing. I'm not sure how much money we spent overall and well, I admit we cifed $20 from Tilly's birthday cash (don't dispair we left a mini post-it note with an I.O.U-hee hee hee) for the last of the frozen sugary goodness that we ate :) Aaahh...we will remember the snowcone days of the dwindling summer.