Family Trip to Michigan

I have been counting down the days all summer till my family came out to visit! They came last week and now that they are gone, I miss them more than before... We had so much fun together!!!

They came in late Thursday (July 9th) and went straight to Ohio. They were able to spend the day exploring Kirtland while Jason and I were stuck working. As soon as we could we headed to Ohio and met up with them at Cedar Point Amusement park. For anyone who ever comes out this direction Cedar Point is a must! It had more thrill rides than all the amusement parks I've ever been to combined! Who would have that that Ohio would have something so fun and exciting! jk The best was the Top Thrill Dragster. It shoots you off going 120 mph in under 6 seconds before rushing you straight up 420ft. Intense, and Wow, was all we had say after getting off that one.

We all spent the night in Sandusky, Ohio and took a fairy the next morning to Put-in-Bay. A very cute little island where everyone drives golf carts and scooters. We rented our six seater Golf Cart and spent the day exploring. We went through an underground cave and my brother and sister got to mine for gem stones. 

We also spent a lot of time on the rocky beach of Lake Erie. It was way to cold for my mom and I, but everyone else got in. My Dad and Jason spent most of there time jumping of the dock 

that specifically said "No Jumping".  I was pretty impressed watching my Dad dive in the first time. I was even more impressed when Jason taught him how to do a back flip! Yep my forty-something year old Dad did his first back flip! I was so impressed I screamed (both out of shock and excitement). I am always impressed by Jason so I won't even go into detail about all of his great tricks :) 

We headed back to Michigan that afternoon and went straight to Detroit for the Tigers game! It is a special tradition for my Dad, and whoever is with him, to go to a baseball game wherever we are visiting. I have so many great memories of going to different stadiums and watching different teams. It was really great for me to be able to share "my team" with my Dad and the rest of my family.  We had great seats (thanks again to the family I babysit for whose Dad is on the team) and even though we lost we still got to enjoy an awesome firework show and had a great time!

After church on Sunday we went back down to Detroit and walked along the River Walk and went the Renassaince Building (GM's Headquarters).  It was fun to be able to show my family some of my favorite things in the area. 

That night my Mom and Dad took of for their 25th anniversary getaway up north and Stephanie and Dallin were left to play with us for the next two days! It was so much fun having them stay with us. They were so great about sharing our one bedroom apartment and putting up with our work schedules. During they day they were able to hang out with Robbie and I and go swimming, to the Zoo, and my favorite park in Birmingham, Booth Park. 

Someone told me that it cost a million dollars to build it. I wouldn't be surprised it has everything! Including this hill made out of Astro Turf. The hill has a huge sign saying "No cardboard" but that is the thing to do. Everyone brings pieces of cardboard and then slides down it like a sled in the winter time. It is so fun.  I told Jason I wanted one for my backyard someday.  Tuseday night after my parents came back we went and saw UP, very cute movie. 

Wednesday we spent the day at Stony Creek Lake. We had so much fun! My family rented bikes and road around the lake then met up with Robbie and I and played on the beach and swam in the lake for a few hours before renting Kayaks and going exploring. I was pretty nervous about taking a 2 and a half year old out in a Kayak but he actually did a really great job and even paddled for us. Unfortunately my camera died half way through the day so I didn't get very many pictures. 

That night we all went out to dinner at Bucca Di Beppos (I had always wanted to eat there just because I like saying the name) and than went back to the hotel were they were staying for the night. They had a really early flight the next morning so after hard goodbyes Jason finally pulled me away from their hotel room. It was so hard saying goodbye, not knowing when I will get to see them next. But I am so grateful that they were able to come out. I miss Kayli, Eric, and Jayden and hope that I can see them soon too (Jayden not for another year since he is on his mission) but I sure do feel blessed to have such a great family! Thank you for all coming out and spending time with us and letting me share a little bit of our "Michigan Lives" with you all. Love and Miss You!

True Story

This really happened to me...

Well not the part about breaking up. But a bird really flew into my head. I was just walking along with Robbie (the little boy I nanny) when wham I was hit in the head by this big bird! I was at the Zoo so I don't even know what kind it was! I couldn't stop laughing. I felt like such an idiot because everyone just looked at me like "Well you don't see that every day!" I immediately thought of Elaine on Seinfeld and started developing a complex... Do I really have that big of a head that a bird couldn't have just flown AROUND it!?! Seriously? Has everyone just been protecting me from this fact my entire life? And I am just now realizing that I am a freak of nature!? "A walking candy apple"?! Needless to say I am now terrified of birds...

The Avett Brothers

I fell in love with the Avett Brothers this last week. I first came across them a couple years ago when I first heard "If It's The Beaches".  I loved that song but didn't really ever get much more involved.  Until I found out that they would be doing a free show in Detroit as part of Comerica's City Fest.  I was so excited to go! I haven't been able to get out to nearly as many shows as I use to in Salt Lake. That has been one major thing I've missed this summer... All of the free shows at the Gallivan Center. Last summer you could find us there pretty much every Wednesday and Thursday night. We got to see some great bands (Nada Surf, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) all for free!  Friends, music, summer nights, all some of my favorite things.  However, now we are in Michigan with no friends, little music, and cold summer nights.  Jason is so great to go along with whatever it is I want to do here in Michigan.   He hardly complained as  I made him listen to The Avett Brothers all week long and take me to Detroit to see them.  Two songs into the concert though he fell in love with them too (maybe not as much as I did, but still!)   Jase walked away saying how great the show was and woke up the next morning singing their songs. Jason likes to make fun of me and my "weird" music so I was excited to come home and find him looking up The Avett Brothers the next day on YouTube trying to find his favorite song (the one they "rap" in... go figure) from the night before. 

They put on an incredibly entertaining show.  They had enough energy to dance and jump to and enough emotion to just listen and feel.  I love their "family" band lyrics. My favorite line from the night was: "Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name."

For one night Detroit won me over, as I had my best friend, great music, and a rainy summer night. No complaining here!

Our First Visitor!

This last weekend Jason and I had our first visitor out here in Michigan. My friend Autumn made a pit stop to see us on her way out to the East Coast. Autumn and I met back when I was living in Park City. She has nannied a lot as well and we immediately bonded after sharing crazy nanny stories. :) It was so much fun to have someone to show around and to have a friend to hang out with!

We spent Saturday exploring Detroit.

We went to a farmers market, where I decided that in order to really benefit from that I needed to actually be able to cook. But I always enjoy walking around and the people watching in Detroit is great! We also went to the Detroit Institute of the Arts. This had been one of the places on my lists of things to do while we lived here so I was very excited to go. Plus we got in free via my family I nanny for! Yeah, nothing beats a free day at the art museum. It was a beautiful museum and we even got to do arts and crafts! If you can't tell by the picture, Jason was thrilled about this part of the day! He is such a great sport to put up with me and my friends all of the time. After the museum we headed across the border and into Canada for dinner. We ate at Caesars Palace again and decided that Canadian food really isn't that great. I still love the view from that side of the river though.

The weather was pretty stormy the rest of the time Autumn was in town so we really didn't get out and do to much. It was so great to have a visitor though and I am looking forward to July when some of my family comes out and stays with us!

Family Plan

Well it's official, Jason and I have decided that we are ready to take the next step in our relationship, and start our very own Family Plan. Everything else we've done before this seems so minimal now. Sending out announcements to all of our friends and family, getting married, having a reception, declaring our marital status on Facebook. All these things seemed like such a big deal at the time. But we are now truly officially in a serious relationship and have our very own Family Plan! Cell phone, Family Plan, that is. Yep, we are now on our own cute little, share your minutes, share the bill, Family Plan. In addition to that Jason has converted me over to AT&T. I feel like quite the traitor. I've been standing strong with Verizon for some years now. I loved Verizon! There once was a time that I wouldn't even consider dating anyone unless they were on Verizon and in my "network"so I didn't have to use any minutes on them. Not sure how Jason slipped through the cracks on that one! Jason has to have a Verizon line for work, so I was hoping I could pull him to my side of the phone divide, but No, he has the oh so amazingly precious iPhone that only AT&T provides so as of this last week I am no longer "in the

 network". Jason did surprise me with a fancy new phone though, to help ease the transition.  We were planning on just getting the free-b phone that comes with the new activation but when it got here it was one of those new fancy, do it all, smart phones. I've never had any sort of special phone before, I've always been too cheap, but I really do love this phone! Thanks Jason! And even though I have no one to talk to on it (all my family and friends are on Verizon) and still haven't quite figured it out yet, I sure do LOOK cool with it! :)

Date Night!

I guess when you are married, every night is date night... You + Date (spouse) + food + movie= Date. Right? At least that's how dating was back in college so I guess it still counts?? If that's the case than my "dating life" is awesome. Because that is what I have to look forward to pretty much every night. Now I'm not complaining, sitting on the couch, eating Nachos, and watching a movie with Jason is one of my favorite things! But on the rare occasion that we find something to actually go and do out here in Michigan, let alone people to go and do them with, I get just a little bit excited! This last weekend I brought Jason to his first REAL baseball game ever! (The Salt Lake Bee's just don't count.) I babysit for some of the players kids and they had some extra tickets for us. It was so much fun. We got to sit where the players families sit, right behind home plate, and watch the Tigers beat the Colorado Rockies 4-3. I grew up going to Seattle Mariner games and it is such a fun childhood memory. One I'm sure Jason was so sick of hearing about by the end of the night. "And one time, with my Dad...." I was excited to be able to share this with Jason and for him to experience a real major league game. I don't think he is a born-again baseball fan, it lacks the speed and adrenaline for him, but I like to think he enjoyed it as much as I did! I really loved Comerica Park. There is an awesome view of the city and after the game they even had fireworks.

To top the night off we went to P.F. Chang's and got my favorite food.... Chinese. While at the restaurant we noticed the booth next to us was two younger couples, both boys dressed in white shirt and tie. You don't see that too often out here, and my first thought was Missionaries? but than they had dates... After eaves dropping a little bit on their conversation we found out that they were all members. One couple was married and the other appeared to be an awkward set up. I got so excited to find another young LDS couple and figured we were destined to be best friends! After all, here we all were on a Friday night at P.F. Chang's... it was fate right?! Needless to say Jason and I spent the rest of the night coming up with different ways to become their friends. After many great plans that involved "accidentally" tossing a CTR ring onto their table and speaking the words "Prophet", "Temple", and "Book of Mormon" very loudly in their direction, we eventually left the restaurant friendless. I guess if it is fate we'll run into them again later. But just to be safe I still think it would be a good idea to eat at P.F. Chang's every night just in case they come back.

Nanny Diaries

I finally got a job out here in Michigan! I began Nannying for a family the first of this month and love it! I've nannied for years now and every time it's a new challenge and new adventure. I think it is truly such a rewarding job. While some people love going to the office and working in doors for 8 hours a day, I just can't do it. I need to be able to get out and go and do new things. I applied for all sorts of jobs when Jason and I first got to MI but with the high unemployment rate out here, everyone and their dog was also applying for the same jobs. It got pretty discouraging because I wanted to be doing something I enjoyed and not just hitting buttons on the keyboard all day. I'm still just a big kid at heart and there are so many fun parks and things to go and see around this area but I had no kids to use as an excuse to go and see them. So I decided I would just "borrow" someone else's kid and Nanny again!

I have nannied for kids of all ages and loved all of them! I've been babysitting since I was 11 and just love kids. Hence my college degree in Family and Human Development. Through nannying I have gotten to live and do and see so many amazing things that I would have never had the opportunity to do otherwise. I lived in New York with the Bertolotti family, where I spent a summer nannying a 9 and 11 year old. As big as the age difference was Raquel, the 9 year old, really became my best friend while I was out there. We had so much fun together! I recently was able to go and visit them again and even though she has grown up so much she is still the same goofy little girl that I love!
I nannied in Logan while going to school too. Than in Park City and California, with the Morrison Family. They quickly became my second family and Olivia and Sophia quickly became "my girls" and Mitchell and Myles put up tough competition for Jason. :) I got so attached to these kids that it is still hard every time I have to say goodbye to them.

When I started working with this new family I could feel myself starting to put up defenses so as not to get too attached. But it has been two weeks now and I am already falling for this little boy. I mean, come one, just look at him! How could you not?!

Robbie is full of energy and so much fun! I'm exhausted by the time I get home everyday but I still love it. I hear that being a Mom is the best job ever, but I beg to differ... I think Nannying is, because you get to play with them all day and than when they are tired and whiney you get to hand them back to their parents! jk I know Motherhood will be amazing, but for now I am more than content playing with other peoples kids, and Jason is in FULL support of that too!