I am her slave

I was already considered her slave, I think the word mommy, mom, mama, etc, is defined as slave for life. We are forced to eat, sleep, and breathe, our children. I never could appreciate my mom more than when I became one. Katie makes me happy, crazy, full, mad, awestruck, sad, and joyous. She can make me want to scream one minute, and then laugh and hug and kiss her the next. I think about her all day, I worry all night. This is parenthood.

But now, ugh, she will know I am her slave for life when she looks at the pictures below. I wore her favorite leather boots to work today, I have to dress up a little for work, and I wore high heels, which made my feet ache by 3:00. Katie is my hero. When she heard that my feet hurt she was immediately concerned and said she would help me. I asked if she would rub my feet, and I gave her her favorite, a large tub of cream. Thick, greasy, stick to the sheets, cream. I didn't care if she rubbed it all over my bed. My feet hurt that bad. So I sat back to a TV show and let her go to town. Let me tell you, she has skill. My feet feel great. The mom in you will shudder at the pictures below, but look anyway. If you have small children, try this. Put the thought of mess out of your head, and let them go. Your feet will thank you!

This is her favorite tub of cream. She loves to take out
a big scoop, and smear it all over her hands and arms.
Today, however it's my turn!!!

Katie, I know you can do better than this!

That's my girl!! She is REALLY good at this!

This is where a lot of you would cringe. You know
The cream being this thick, won't ever rub in. I don't
care. It felt that good. Katie took full advantage of this
and made the biggest mess possible! You go girl!

This is one happy mommy. Look at me, I even let her
hold the big expensive camera all by herself. Now that
is relaxed!!! I am her slave for life!

Big Picture Day

Well today was the day for adventure. We started out doing one thing and instead did something completely different. We called Uncle Rich and Aunt Joanne and to see if we could come hang out with them for awhile. They said sure so off we went. They vacation on the other end of the Flaming Gorge, about 79 miles from where we usually go. They are near the dam, which I think I blogged on for Father's Day. It was a great visit, and Katie's first. She was shy, but warmed up pretty quickly. After visiting with them we were off to the Red Canyon Lodge for lunch. It is a serene place where you can fish, rest, relax, and see some wildlife. We are hoping to go vacation there next year. Look at the pictures, and you may want to join us!

The pictures below tell a better story then I can so sit back, scroll, and enjoy!

The Flaming Gorge from the Utah Side.
We got to sit in front. New rules, the one holding the kid

gets the good seat! Lucky Me!

Katie is still a little shy, she has to go potty, and her options
are limited; hold her over the lake, or go in a coffee can.
She isn't happy about either. We are heading to a campsite
where the bathrooms are normal.
The triangle right in the middle of the picture is the lookout at
Red Canyon Lodge. We took pictures from the top on Father's
Day. (See Father's Day blog) El Capitan, Uncle Rich.
Dam. 'Nough said.
The Marina, where they keep they eat, sleep, and entertain.
She got over the shyness pretty quick and was able to sit
now with Aunt Joanne, and Annie.
Katie is learning how to fish. They had some tiny fish
following them, it was pretty neat. Katie was very excited.
So excited, she gave Aunt Joanne and I some mild heart
issues as she leaned over to look in the water. Getting ready to go home.
What an adorable dog. Annie had to show Katie that if your
someone's baby you have to wear a life vest.
She loves the boat. It has a bathroom, and TV. Katie is
all set. She didn't even get boat sick!!
Red Canyon Lodge. Daddy and Katie are having a moment.
What the... Mommy come sit with us?!?! That's it. I'm getting up...
Come on Daddy she won't stop. Let's go somewhere else!
Daddy and Katie are enjoying this lake!
Katie wanted to keep touching the water, but she was a little
too short...
Daddy helped. The water, though, is really cold!! Look at those toes.
Daddy and Katie are really enjoying themselves.
Ok, time to go back to the cabin. What?! We didn't get one.
Darn, don't those look inviting. We must return next year
so that we can stay longer and relax.
Quack, Quack, I'm a duck.
Would you be impressed if I told you Katie took this picture?
Well be impressed she did. All by herself!!! How much more alike can they get. They are leading with
the same foot and they don't even know it. Time to go home
though.
Come on Mommy. Hurry up.
Too cute not to include.
Rick's favorite picture of the day. I am getting better and
better at this camera stuff. No lessons or anything.
Maybe I'm a natural.

Thank you Aunt Joanne, and Uncle Rich, for a fun visit on the lake. Katie talked about you all the way home. She saw these pictures tonight and described each, and what she was doing. We love all the new memories we are making with her, and we're glad you are part of them too!!

MOOOOMMMMYYYYY!!!

To you parents out there with potty trained, or training, children have you ever woken up to a child screaming "MOOOOMMMMMYYYY, I need a wipe!!!!!!!" And if you did, did you ever want to yell back, "just put back on your underwear, I'll wipe you later!!!" I didn't do that of course, I got up, wiped her, and went upstairs to get miracle juice, I mean coffee. Katie is doing great with the potty training. She hasn't had any accidents at night, but I'm not going to start letting her sleep in underwear quite yet. I have a hard enough time getting up just to help her wipe, could you imagine having to change sheets in the middle of the night. What am I thinking most of you have done it. I don't necessarily want to do that.

If your child is not potty training yet, don't get me wrong. This is a wonderful event, and no more diapers is a plus. A $75 per month plus. I would gladly wipe her anytime over changing diapers, but I sure do miss my sleep. Not that I've seen many full nights of those since before she was born.

Katie is sure growing up. Besides potty training, Katie has a lot of new friends. Ever since going to Lizzie's house she seems to have decided that she can talk to other children. The girls next door being her new buddies. There are four sisters next door age 11-3 and last week they came over to play. They seem to like her back and the night they came over to play they asked if she could come for dinner. So my little baby went with their entire family to dinner, while Rick, Aunt Carrie, and I, went somewhere else. I have never been so excited, nervous, and sad all at once. My little girl is growing up and I just can't stop her. But I know she is still a daddy's girl at heart. As I type this she is eating ice cream with him and asking him if he wants to go play in her room or his. I asked her if she likes playing with Daddy, and she said "yes, mommy, Daddy's my friend." Daddy is exceptionally good at tea parties. All daddies should be.

Katie posed last night for us showing off her Cabelas purchases. Here are some pictures:

She's going to be a snow bunny, she even has the ear
protection to prove it!

This is a cool snow hat because...

...She can play Stick, em up. Yup I can tell too that she
can't make a gun with her hand. This is as good as it gets.

Mecca

****EDITOR'S NOTE****
I am sorry to say that our computer had contracted a nasty Trojan. This said the computer was blown apart (tears, tears) and put back together. It is now out of ICU (Intensive Computer Unit) and I am able to type. Unfortunately the computer lost some of it's memory (amnesia) that won't come back. Thankfully though Rick took some of the memory out, a painless surgery I promise, and stored it away on an external hard drive. But I can't put any pictures on yet for two reasons: one, the computer is being babied and not forced to download anything, and two, I did a bad thing and forgot to take pictures this weekend.

This weekend Rick took us on a road trip from our house to Logan, Utah and down to Mecca, or as lay people call it, Cabelas. We went to lunch in Logan at the Bluebird Cafe, which I HIGHLY recommend, and shopped a little. Would you believe the crowd of people and traffic had me stressed out?!?!? Take a city girl out of the city...then put her back. It wasn't pretty, there was a shaky stomach (which didn't stop me from enjoying the lunch) and sweaty hands. But I made it through. We stayed in Layton for the night which is about 1.5 hours or so south. I liked it there. It is next to the base and Rick would enjoy living there very much. We stayed at a nice hotel, and shopped a little at three of our favorite stores, Old Navy, Toy R Us, and Barnes and Nobles. Katie did a great job at all the stores, except that she didn't tell us she needed to go potty and proceeded to pee on the floor at Barnes and Nobles. I always felt bad for those moms. Did any employee help me, nope. Did parents give me dirty looks, sure. One employee told me where to find paper towels, and so Katie and I did a brisk walk to the bathroom where I took all the paper towels and cleaned the floor by myself. I wanted to rush out of the store, but Katie wasn't done playing trains so I had to wait until she was done. Every mom has the pee on the floor story and now I have mine. I feel soooo lucky!
Saturday we went to Cabelas in Lehi. I have never seen a larger bunch of giddy men. I must admit the store is cool. If I had my own home I would be shopping in the home furnishings department, with giddiness myself. I thought we would be out of there with a couple of things, but about $200 later I was shopped out. At least Rick should have some good work clothes that will last oh say 6 months. His job is a little hard on clothes.
After Cabela's Rick showed us where he got his Elk last September. It is gorgeous down in Price, but not somewhere I would want to live. We took the long way home and enjoyed the beauty of the landscape which changes often through Utah and Wyoming. We saw a moose drinking in a pond, and the Flaming Gorge at the dam. We didn't get to see Uncle Rich catch a big one as we crossed, but we looked for him.
It was great to have a little vacation just the three of us. We haven't been on one in awhile. We'll have to do it more often. Next time instead of Cabelas though I think we should try Macy's. What do you think?

The Graveyard

Well Rick is on his way home from his first grave shift at the mine. He is exhausted when he gets home, but he says the shift itself goes really fast. He goes to bed around 2pm, and hard as we try, we usually wake him up by being too loud sometime around 7pm. Yesterday we stayed out as long as we could, and we were playing out in the front yard, when Katie, bold as day, walked over to the 4 girls next door, aged 3-11, and asked to play. I was giddy with the fact that she was playing with children and not being shy, that when they asked to go see her room I said yes. To my credit I told them to be quiet as Rick was asleep. Alas, I didn't think about 5 girls together makes for a loud situation. We had the girls go back outside but not before they woke the big tired Dad up. Thank goodness he too saw the merit of Katie making new friends. Today is his last day though. He is home for a few days. Thank goodness, with only one vehicle I am forced to stay up until the ungodly hour of 11pm to get him to the bus stop. Unfortunately we don't know what is going on still as someone outbid him on the crew he was on, and now he is crewless. Sometimes it feels like they are jerking him around just to make sure he wants to stay!!
In other news, Katie will be finishing up her first week of daycare today. I know, I know, it's only Wednesday. But I didn't want to burn the poor lady out on us. I am easing her into the Copsey madness. Katie LOVES going to Lizzy's house. That is the little girl. She never cried when I left her the first day, and yesterday she told me to leave. She has yet to say one word to Lizzie's mom, but that will come with time. I am relieved that she is happy, and safe. The first day I thought I was going to throw up from anxiety, and guilt, after I left, but when I returned to find a happy child I was on the brink of tears. I could have thrown myself at Nessi's (the mom) feet, but I thought that would make her think I'm weird.
Little by little Katie is growing up. At this moment I am here in the office typing on this blog, and my little baby came in and asked me if she could go in the backyard. So she is out there and I am not. Oh the Independence.
I think I may go cry, my baby is growing up...

The Mine

Rick had this picture blown up and framed for me for my birthday. It is gorgeous in a frame and I think I may have him enter it in the fair next year. I love how Katie is so naturally happy, which is true most of the time, except, well, when she isn't. She is having a great time in this picture plucking grass from the trail we were on. The wind was intense, but hello we live in Wyoming. He was going to put Katie centered for the picture, but there is something unique and pretty about her being off center.
On another note, and I am still mad at myself for not taking pictures, I went to FMC today and got a mine tour. They had safety day at the mine and we were able to go and down and see what it's like. I, of course, embarrassed Rick with all my questions, some of which were true blond moments. I got to see the tool, a roof bolter, that Rick uses. It is bigger than a truck and he has to stand in front of it and put in the roof bolts. The guy told us that it is the most intense of jobs in the mine as it is the most physical, and wet. Wet and Trona don't go well together and dermatitis is a common malady. I never thought I would ever use the word malady and look at me. The things I do on this blog!!!!
Anyway to get into the mine you have to go down the shaft, 1500 feet underground. YIKES is right. If any one comes to visit then a tour is in order. I want to go all the way to the long wall and see where Rick is working. That is a good jeep ride underground away from where I was. About 30-40 minutes. So I will wait for someone to go with me. I also got to put out a simulated kitchen fire. Very good to practice. I didn't know how to do it and when a real one happens it isn't a good time to learn. I am sooooo sorry I didn't take pictures, I am kicking myself, promise. I know you all wanted to see me put out the fire. But it wasn't that interesting. I didn't catch my hair on fire or anything. Rick's work though is interesting, and anyone who wants to see the mine should make a trip out. It sure isn't something anyone sees everyday, unless you work at a mine, then you may skip that trip.
We looked at houses today and are pretty excited about what we saw. Keep your fingers crossed we may have our very own place sooner than later.
Rick starts graveyards tomorrow night. He is on a rotating shift. I will be starting work Monday and Katie will be starting daycare. Wish us luck, this is going to be a hell of a transition.
Love
Amy

Birthdays, Sickies, and More Random Stuff

I got some cute pictures of Katie today, and when I loaded them on the computer I found a couple of others that don't go with anything in particular. So I guess I needed a random post.

My birthday was last week and as you know Katie loves birthday's. Aunt Carrie made my dinner, stuffed shells, sausages, salad, and homemade pineapple upside down cake for dessert. Katie helped me blow out the candles, and she even got her own party hat.

If you are up there in years, Katie is great help with the candles!!!

Yesterday Daddy was sick. He had a 24 hr bug, and had to be in bed all day. Katie was my helper getting him drinks, crackers, and soup for lunch. She really liked that he got to eat soup in bed. She liked the noodles at dinner. And poor thing tonight she was sick too (not). She gave us a very sad face and said her tummy hurt and she needed noodles in bed. She needed Daddy to put a show on for her, and me to make soup. So after dinner, which she ate, she came downstairs, put on her jammies, and ate her soup while watching a show. Man, sick people have the life!!!

I found these pictures in the archives, and I wanted to show them to you. She really likes swimming, and I am trying to get in shape. I bought myself this swim cap and goggles, and Katie has used them more to play with then I have to work out with.

What a Goob!!!

Have a great Friday!
Amy