September 2020

I cannot believe it!!

I am growing tremendously in regards to my mental blocks where traveling is concerned. 

I agreed to go on another vacation.  During a pandemic none the less.

I don't even know who I am right now.

I didn't even bat an eye as I was packing.  I didn't ponder scary "what if" scenarios like I usually do (I am THE BEST at creating "what if" scenarios by the way).

I wasn't even a bit nervous.  I didn't have any anxiety.

I just packed up the car like a normal person and went on vacation like a normal person.

And the entire time we were on the vacation, I was a normal person. 

I slept well.

I enjoyed myself (for the most part) which I will get into later.

It was nice.

We stayed at the Mountainside Resort like we always do when we go to Park City

We have 8 photos by this bear during 8 different visits

Thursday morning Papa and Raleigh went golfing.  It was the first time either of them had golfed in two years.  They were happy to go together and with no one else in case they played horribly.  That would have been embarrassing.  Much to their surprise, they did really well and they came home very happy with themselves.

The girls went to the store and bought food and took our time getting ready.

When the golfers came back, we made our way to The Alpine Slide.

We have been promising the kids that we would take them on the slide for 3 years.

We felt they were all finally old enough to maneuver them.

Raleigh, Ryker, KK, Allie and Papa were the only brave souls.  We watched them take the slow ride on the ski lift.  I was proud that my little kids weren't afraid of heights and handled that part well.  We were worried about Kaleigh being able to maneuver the slide and worried about her being able to get down by herself.   We always mistakenly misjudge her abilities.  We treat her like a baby.  I especially baby her.  I protect her way more than the other kids and I worry about her more than the others as well.  I think it's because she had a seizure and I thought I was going to lose her and so I am overprotective and hovering when it comes to her.  But she is brave and she surprises us every single time.  

This little miss opted out.  It's always surprising to me, that as relentless as she is when it comes to sports  and being competitive, she is afraid to try new things.  It took her 11 months to get up her courage to ride her mountain bike.  That's okay.  We enjoyed sitting and talking with her.

Four of them came down in their sleds very fast...  

One of the did not.

KK came down at her own pace...Sa-LOW.

It was the cutest thing.  She just cruised along (and by cruise, I mean she was rolling along at a snail's pace) taking in the scenery, while she was loving life.

She didn't apologize for going so slow.  She didn't feel bad about it at all.  She didn't even realize that literally everyone passed her going at least 1000 times her speed.  She did it her way and she loved every minute of it.  

We went down to the Outlet Mall and did some shopping and went to lunch.

It was a nice day and we had fun.  I bought some super darling Vans and a cute pair of joggers.  I was happy with my purchases.

Friday morning we woke up early and headed down the mountain to 

This is the Place Heritage Park.

None of us had ever been there and we didn't know what to expect.

We were pleasantly surprised.  

The little homes were so cute and the kids really caught the vision of what they were.

They imagined living in this little one room cabin with 10 brothers and sisters

These little handcarts made it possible to make the journey west for many of our ancestors.

I imagined what I would put on one of these if I was going to walk across the country.

Scrapbooks? A good toilet, lots of soap, a nice pillow, a solar shower, a generator!!  

My favorite part was the Children's Memorial.

It's a series of monuments dedicated to the little children who passed away on the journey.

On this particular list was a little child with the last name, Little followed directly by a child with the last name Lund.

We stopped for about 30 minutes so the kids could "pan for gold"

It was wonderful to sit on a bench under a tree and watch them.

They thought that they had found real gold and that they were going to be rich

Right after we left the monument, I started getting calls from work.

This person called to say one of my people didn't show up for her shift.  

That person called to say that a homeowner checked in to their home and they were missing some blankets and literally it was the biggest first world tragedy that has happened in the history of the world so far.

Another person called to tell me this problem or that one.  I don't know what the purpose was in calling me.  I was 300 miles away and couldn't do a dang thing.  I don't know why the people I work with are literally incapable of handling things on their own, but they are unable.  

They literally ignore BIG, REAL problems, but make the most gigantic deal out of the tiniest, most unimportant, non-issues.  And everyone turns to me to answer all the questions and solve all the problems.

They all knew that I was hundreds of miles away, yet they opted instead to RUIN my vacation.

I had a meltdown in the middle of the food court at City Creek.  I cried out of extreme frustration all the way back up the mountain to PC and had a raging migraine.... and I planned out solutions and come backs and sent emails (that I was in NO condition to be sending) but nevertheless...  I had stuff to say and staff that needed to hear harsh things from me.  

I felt SO much better especially after talking to Taylor and Sam.  

New job....  same problems

clueless people...

who don't like to do physical work.... heaven forbid, someone would actually have to physically stand up from their desk and do something active, hell no, not when Kaci is already there running around like a freaking chicken with her head cut off...  just ask her to do it.... oh and then by all means take credit for it when it gets done correctly. 

I decided right there at the City Creek Chick fil A that until I have taught our co-workers how the vacation rental industry works and how to adequately handle problems and take care of things that need to be done by physically doing the work by themselves, I can no longer go on vacation or take a day off.

I don't have the first clue how this place was running before we arrived. 

It's a daily question that we ask.

I successfully pissed off nearly my entire staff and so everyone left me alone for the rest of the weekend.

I've digressed......

Saturday morning, we drove up Emigration Canyon and ate breakfast at Ruby's Diner

We waited for a table for almost 2 hours and when we finally were seated, we were so starving, we could have eaten our own hands.  The waitress brought us a plate of Homemade biscuits that were at least 6 inches high with homemade raspberry jam.  You would have thought we had never eaten before.  They were the most delicious biscuits I have ever eaten.  I ate several of them.

 After breakfast, we made a cross town journey to Hobby Lobby for Harvest Decor. 

Papa and Nana drove back to St George after that and we met up with Allie and Quincey.

They went shopping and we took naps and watched college football and then we put our names on a list at Baja Cantina and waited another TWO hours to eat just "Okay" food.

After dinner, we did my very most favorite thing to do at Mountainside...

Rock in the rocking chairs with sweatshirts on.

Literally the best time 

We had a bit of a rough ride home.

Ryker got really car sick coming down Provo Canyon.

He threw up several times on the way home. 

He was so sweet.  He took care of himself and tried very hard not to make a mess and apologized mid-barf every time.

It was very sad.

We had to stop in nearly every city along the way to drink Sprite and 

hose things off.

We made it through the Labor Day Holiday and we will reprieve and regroup for a month to catch up on and fix all of the messes that were made while we were gone.

SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT

Peyton goes over to our neighbor's house every night to help with her new baby.  She has 4 boys under the age of 6 and she is overwhelmed.  So Peyton rocks her baby for hours, so she can get her older boys bathed and fed.  She LOVES going over there and Jenn is SO grateful.  

It's good for her to learn to do service early in her life. 

Allie started yet another job... at a car wash in Provo.

She is a natural saleswoman and averages $200 a day in upselling.

There it was...  The first college game for BYU, right before several members of the team got Covid and cancelled the next couple of games.  Way to go, guys.  

It was SO fun (while it lasted) watching football while putting up Harvest Decor is pure heaven in my opinion.  I was a 10/10 this night.

Tyler is one of my most favorite work friends...

I worked with him at the other company and just as I did with all the other employees, I brought him over to the new company with me.  He is a man that is just like a girlfriend.  He gossips, he talks about menopause and periods, he is complete drama.  He is an off-site employee from Boise.  He flew in for a few days to get our marketing under control.  We had TWO solid days of giggling and whining and ripping people (who completely deserved it) to shreds.  So. Much. Fun!!

He pumps me up and makes me feel good about my abilities.  He can totally keep up with my humor and manages to tick me off every other sentence.  Just like any woman would.

We decided to try and start a little project in the backyard.

Not our smartest idea ever.  The sun was beating down on us.  It was 90 degrees outside, but next to the dark stucco of our house, it felt like 190.  Raleigh almost passed out twice.  We drank 3 gallons of water between the two of us.  We took two showers each because we smelled so bad and were SO dirty and sweaty.

This contraption here is a half pallet with tie downs screwed into it which Raleigh rigged so that he can pull it across the dirt to level it.  He is the master of life hacks.  He has so many gadgets and gismos, made from ordinary household items, designed to get certain jobs done without having to purchase expensive equipment.  He puts the straps over his head and around his chest and pulls it over the dirt like a strong muscular ox.

And when all was said and done, we were two pavers short because both of us, putting our two brains together, still can't manage to do the math correctly enough to do the job right.  We were too tired to even care.  We'll finish it next month when it's only in the 80s.  What a freaking stupid year 2020 is.  It can't even manage to get the weather right.  We can't even get relief from the the elements.  

This cute girl turned 24 on the 20th.

We made it through another month unscathed.

Such a wonderful thought.

Raleigh continues to do well at work.  He is starting back up with Young Men activities weekly again.  I think he is happy about that.  They went boating at Sand Hollow and had dinner and dutch oven dessert in Pine Valley this month.  He really wants to get going on the yard, but it continues to be too hot.  

Peyton is starting football again.  She switched leagues this year.  They love her on their team.  They use her as a decoy.  The boys on the other team make comments about "a girl on their team" and then half way through the game they begin to realize "the girl" is better than all of them.  It's pretty fun.  She loves her teacher.  She has good friends (all of them, boys) and she is getting better at math.

KK continues to be a quiet homebody.  Her teacher says she is quite shy at school.  She set goals with her teacher the first week of school.  One goal was to try and overcome shyness.  She was encouraged to stand up in front of the class and read a story that she wrote about herself.  The class was nice to her and they told her they liked learning about her.  Confidence little by little.  KK loves Jaxon.  Jaxon loves KK.  Benson also loves KK.  Benson tries to sabotage "Kaxon".  He creates drama and tries to bust them up.  But, KK just loves Jaxon.  He is a quiet, kind boy who is so good to his younger brother and is obedient and shy in class.  He is her person.  Benson will never sway her.  WE ARE IN TROUBLE!!!!!

Ryker cannot wait to get home from school so that he can jump on the dirt bike and ride to meet any one of his 200 friends at the park.   We never know where he is for sure.  He is the most active, social and happy little boy.  He hates speech.  He loves PE and math and recess.  

Quincey is still with us for a couple more weeks.  We have enjoyed having her live with us.  I have enjoyed helping her through some personal things.  It's been so good for our relationship.  We have had some really good talks and I truly think she likes our home.  I hope once she moves out, she will still come over and visit with us.  I'll be sad when she goes.  

On the last day of the month, Raleigh picked up 400 trillion pounds of "river rocks"  in our front yard and dumped them in various places in the town and replaced them with black lava rock which next to his spectacularly amazing green grass is a 10/10.  Such a great way to finish the month strong.

September was good.