First Day of School

Katie started pre-school today. She is in the 3's class. I know she is a little young, but they needed a teacher in the morning, and offered to enroll Katie in the class too. She loves it. She is already taller than all but maybe 2 of the children in the class. It makes her talk to the shorter children as if they are babies. I don't know where she got that from. She is at a 3 year old level, except in play. She is still mostly doing parallel play, which means she plays next to the children but not with them. Sometimes though she plays with others. She likes being a teacher, and I often find her mimicking me, in a loving way, to the children. She will tell them how to wash their hands, and she stands with me when it is time to tell the children goodbye. It is too funny.

After school she got to go to her new friends house. She had a great time!!! The lady who watches her gave lots of fun activities, playing in their playhouse outside, a tent castle in the basement, a fun lunch of chicken nuggets, fruit, and chips, or fries I'm not sure as Katie said both, and then she gave the girls mani's and pedi's. Katie had nothing but good things to say. Rick and I are relieved.

But tonight I had one sleepy girl. She passed out early, and hopefully she will sleep in tomorrow. Here's some pictures of Katie on her first day. These are just home pictures, as I can't take pictures for the web of other children in the class.

Isn't the bag adorable. Aunt Carrie made Katie this one. It is the same kind of bag I made for the blog. Katie uses it for her school things.

Thank goodness she's so cute. If she would just let me do her hair in the morning...of course I would have to be able to do hair. I tried two braids, she hated it, plus they fell out, I tried a barrette, she threw it. This headband lasted until the first 1/2 hour of class. Then it was wild child hair for the rest of the day. But she sure looked cute anyway!

Last Day on the Lake

Sunday we spent one last day out on the Flaming Gorge. It was a beautiful fall day. Cool, not cold, and perfect skies for looking at the rock wall that gives the Flaming Gorge it's name.

What a ham. She was pretty excited to be getting out on the boat.
A family photo. The gorge is behind us. At least the part that gave the lake it's name. It is narrow here. We are in Utah in this picture. Wyoming is about 5 miles north of here. The Wyoming side is large, like we all think of a large lake. But the Utah side is full of turns, amazing coves, and it is smaller, often causing boats to slow down to get through the skinny channels.
See the rainbow. We thought it was pretty cool.
This is in Aunt Carrie's favorite cove. It is usually full of people as it is truly one of a kind. The end of the cove is a creek, which looked really cool to do a nature walk along. Although being afraid of bears, I declined to go. But these rocks looked so cool. You must come and let us take you to see them!
Katie really liked fishing. She didn't catch anything, but hey, practice makes perfect.
She is getting really into photography, and Aunt Carrie helped her take this picture, I think she did pretty good!!!

There were about 5 deer, all does, drinking from the lake. It was really cool. We were enjoying watching them, and then Katie woke up from her nap. If you have ever seen a two year old wake up too early from a nap, and not in her own bed, it is ugly. She cried so hard and loud for some fruit snacks, the deer all walked away. You would think they would have run. I would have, if only I was willing to brave the freezing cold water. But they just mosied up the hill, and we were able to get this good shot of two of them.
I am so ready for the snow. I have all our gear ready to be ordered. Everyone says it happened this time last year, but this year it is holding out. It must just know I want to play in it. I am ready to hunker down in the house too. To many sewing projects. Katie is going to be a penguin for Halloween, and I am making the costume. But with nice weather like this, who would want to hole up inside. Bring on the SNOW!!!

Rodeo Queen

Well, we have started to love the rodeo. During a boring inside day at home, Daddy helped Katie set up a barrel racing course to stick horse around. Katie is a natural!!! If I could get video on this blog then you could see her go in action. But here's some pictures to prove we have a future Rodeo Queen on our hands.
At the starting line. She's nervous. What if a barrel falls over? What if my time isn't good enough?

Around the first barrel. Look at her form. She goes gently around the barrel, she knows that the last one is where she can make up time!

To barrel #2. She is good. Doesn't even need shoes to ride this horse!

The last barrel, the crowd is screaming "Go Katie Go. Go, Go, Go."

She's running at full tilt. No one can stop her. The winner!!! YEAH, Woo Hoo!!!!
She can't wait to ride a real horse now. She tells me that she will ride one soon, "when I'm a girl."

Hogle Zoo

Rick and I took Katie to Hogle Zoo, in Salt Lake City, today. It is a great little zoo. I don't think I have been to a zoo before where we could get so close to the animals. Here we are looking at the elephants. One of them in pregnant, she got pregnant in May or June of '07 and will be delivering next summer. YIKES is right. I would hate to be an elephant, although any pregnant woman could attest to feeling like one during pregnancy. So what does a pregnant elephant feel like? Email me if you think you know the answer.

"Hello Mr. Gorilla."

Sally the Camel has two humps. Did you want to sing that when you saw the picture too?
This Orangutan reminds me of Katie during the day. Climbing, making silly faces. My little monkey!
This reminds me of me. The mommy orangutan is under the sheet, just trying to get away from it all for awhile. Katie would eventually come and pull the blanket off my head, ask me a million questions, and then want to play hide and seek with the blanket, my blanket mind you, where I was trying to relax, and meditate under. Little monkeys!!! What can you do?

Katie found her favorite, rides. We went on the carousel, her and I, but I was told, by her, to not sit near her. She is a big girl after all.
The baby Giraffe was so cute. It followed the children, who came to see it around the pen.
Ride #2 on the carousel. Daddy's turn.
As a dad does, he is looking at how it works.
Last picture, have you ever seen an albino alligator? Now you have.

Sew Crazy

I have been bitten. It doesn't hurt, but it does sting. Especially in the bank book!! I have returned to sewing, and I am finding that I like it, and am pretty ok at it. I have started with bags such as these. They are super easy, and I learned that you only need 2 fat quarters to make them. I didn't embarrass myself by saying "huh? a fat quarter?" Instead I looked around the store and found a box of them ready for my perusal. I could have had some cut, but I found all I wanted in a box, pre-cut. I am learning the lingo, but sometimes I have to quietly ask the ladies at the amazingly cool fabric store to explain. If any of you love to sew, and I won't name names but there are a lot of you reading this who are, then you must come see me and I will take you to this great shop. Be forewarned, you won't leave without something. Mostly something expensive.
This is the 2nd bag I made, I made both bags in a total of about 2 hours. But I'm getting faster.
This one is for the oh so cute Isadora, who just had a baby brother. Don't tell her, she'll get it in the mail this week. I had to mention it because it has her name on it already.

These are the baby blankets I made. They too are super easy. For you non-sewers you think, I know, I know, easy you say. If you sew you are a super sewer you are thinking, easy doesn't even begin to say it. But I was intimidated when I made the blanket below, but this one above only took me like an hour or two. This is for Isadora's little brother. He is adorable, and I bet he will be warm and cozy in the flannel.
This was my very first sewing project since I moved here. I can't believe it took me so long to get back into sewing. It is so fun to make these, and I love the fabric (which is from the adorable shop). This one is for Kaitlyn, who is growing too fast. I have been wanting to make her a blanket since before she was born. Sorry!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to brag about my new found hobby. This hobby is just in time for the snow. Bring it on. I am prepared with, fabric, a machine, patterns, and lots and lots of time.

Fishing Mixed with a Little History

We took Katie fishing on Sunday to Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. It is an area where the pioneers crossed the Green River. It totally made me wonder if this was the crossing where I lost my family members on the Oregon Trail game. Remember that ?!?!? It is a great fishing spot, and really pretty. I am going to be giving historical information as well as fun fishing pictures, so bear with me. To the right at the trees is where the pioneers landed after they crossed the river with all their wagons, etc. BTW, did you know that some of the Mormon pioneers didn't have wagons pulled by horses. They had handcarts, which are heavy, worse when loaded ( I tried to pull an empty one) and they pulled them all the way from the east. I just can't imagine the muscles these people had upon arrival in Salt Lake City!
To the left, the cottonwood trees you see are where they camped for the night before crossing the river.
Katie just got her new fishing pole that day. She had to have the Disney Princess one. She really likes fishing. Now Daddy has a new fishing partner.

The fishermen...er...fisherpeople. I am a little fuzzy on my political correctness. Katie fished for about 10 minutes, but found jumping in the water and getting wet much more fun.
Daddy is getting no bites. Imagine that. Katie is jumping the fish are not.
Can you see Rick? He has moved to quieter water. It didn't last long though. Katie wanted to be with Daddy!
This is a replica of the barge used to cross the Green River. The real one was used from about 1840 to the early 1900's.

From the other side of the barge looking into the Green River. This would be a very hairy crossing for many, as the river is pretty rough, and depending on what time of year the pioneers
crossed the river could wash them, their wagons, and livestock away. A Wyoming road sign. Cows are everywhere. They are truly home on the range. Cowboys have roundup's, and cattle drives. Oh to be in the west. We have been stopped by a lone cow crossing the highway, as well as seeing signs of cattle drives ahead.
Seriously. These suckers are fast. And guaranteed, if one crosses,
more are coming. They follow the leader.
This is the wagon road for the Oregon, California, and Mormon trail. With so many wagons using this road, the indentations are permanent in many places. I am sure cars drive over it now, but it is kind of neat to see the road they used. This isn't very close to highway 80, it's about 30 plus miles north. These signs are all over the state. The Boy Scouts replace them regularly. They mark the spots of the Pony Express, as well as the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.

The California Trail side of the marker. To the right are the wagon ruts.
Rick is walking on the trail. The pioneers traveled about 8-10 miles per day. It took them months to get to their destination. For the Mormons, Salt Lake City was a few weeks away. For the California, and Oregon travellers, they were about at the halfway point. The months ahead were to be the worst part of the trip, as they had to cross not only deserts and mountains, but even worse, the Sierra Nevadas. Just ask the Donner party. If you look off into the distance, to the right of Rick's head, you can see Pilot Butte. We live on the east side of the Butte, but here we are on the North side.
This is a mock grave. The pioneers lost a lot of lives in their journey. It was common for them to see graves such as these as they walked along the trail. They would have nothing to bury their loved one's in, as they were in a hurry, and lumber in Wyoming, was and still is, in short supply along the trail route. They would plan on coming back to do a proper burial, but often wouldn't be able to find the site due to it being disturbed by, animals, or weather. Wyoming's, wind and winters destroyed the sites. Today there are none to be found. Although occasionally a well made headstone can be found. According to Gregory M Franzwa in his book The Oregon Trail Revisited (a book we're reading for more places to see) "there is an average of one dead person every few dozen yards." The pioneers lost more loved ones to weather, disease, and other hardships, then to any other cause. The interpretive signs say that the Indians were not originally aggressive to the travellers, but in fact they were often very helpful, giving directions, helping with river crossings, and trading. The aggression we often hear about didn't come about until people began coming to California for gold. At that point there were so many people coming, they were depleting herds of wildlife, and their livestock ravaging the range, and bringing diseases, the Indians had no defense for, that they began to defend the land, and life, they knew. I am re-reading this and am so sorry if you are asleep now. If you're not and you are intrigued, and you think I should come lecture your group, I charge an outrageous fee. Seriously though if you're intrigued come and see for yourself. I get this information from not only the book Rick's reading but the picture above is taken at an interpretive walking trail on the side of the highway. They are everywhere. This state is literally dripping with historical information. We should soon have a place to put you up, and we're WAY cheaper than the Holiday Inn.

**Sob, Cry, Sob** That's Rick crying cause he can't hunt this year. We are still non-residents, and we're trying to buy a house, so there will be no Elk, Deer, or Antelope in our freezer (unless some kind soul drops some off at our doorstep). Or we hit one with our truck, in the middle of the night so we can sneak it in our truck. If you're a game warden, we would never EVER do that of course. But for you Californians, I bet if you've never hunted in another state, then you've never seen this sign. Bow season was last week, and rifle season began this week. We are seeing hunters everywhere. Some were lucky, other's were just getting started. Many of the children in my class are going to be out this week due to the season opening. It is so weird to hear everyone talking about hunting, as it is such a faux pas in California. Even the grocery stores have signs out front saying "Welcome Hunters." Being the wife of a hunter, I think it is pretty neat.
We always have fun on our road trips, and even though we went to fish, we are always game for stopping on the side of the highway to see the factoids they mark for us. Katie loves to fish, and can't wait to go back. She has been practicing in the front yard all evening.
Thanks for reading. I will try to keep the historical facts to a minimum next time, but I can't promise.

Fishing and Fasion

Rick is working swing this week, and he has Monday and Tuesday's off. He has taken advantage of his time off and gone fishing each day. He caught a couple of fish, but didn't keep them. He did take a picture though. I thought you might all like to see it. He is fishing at a crossing of the Oregon, Mormon, and California trails. I haven't been there, but there is a barge set up for all to see what the early settlers used to cross the river on. He likes this spot, not only for the magnificent fishing, but also because his ancestors crossed there on their way to their new home. Mostly, though, it's a great place to fish. Lucky for Rick there were some visual perks too...

It's not dead, Rick let it go.

The visual perks. The area is beautiful!!!

Katie got some new boots for fall. She is very fashion forward!

We have been here three months, and she is still loving
the cat to death. I think the cat has resigned to loving her back.