Spring Break Vacation Day 3

Woke up early again to go to free breakfast. This Hotel's is way better than the last. Scrambled eggs, sausages, cereal, fruit, muffins, pastries, yogurt and awesome waffles that you make in the waffle maker with 1 cup of mix. Love it. Have to get a waffle maker and the same mix for it.

It was raining while we went to breakfast but cleared up by the time we went to Sea World at 10am. Clouds dispersed and the sun came out so it was nice. We went on the Manta roller coaster ride first. That was fun.

Went to the One Ocean show with Shamu after that at 11:30am. Candi and I sat further up than the kids because they were in the splash zone and I didn't want to get wet. The kids were just barely out of range when the killer whales started splashing. We walked around the place and enjoyed the exhibits.
We tried recreating a photo with the killer whales we did in 2007.

Went on the Atlantis log ride, the sky tower, the bay chair lift and the kids did the water raft. Also watched the dolphin show and a seal show that was funny. In each store we went in Erana had a new favorite toy she wanted to buy. Before we left we went to get her one and she chose a furry stuffed toy shark. She and the kids had a good time.

We left about 6 or 7 pm. Stopped in at the Panda Express near our hotel to get dinner and brought it back to our room. Then they all, except Tyrell and I, went swimming in the pool. They relaxed after watching tv.

A re-enactment photo

Spring Break Vacation Day 2

We got up at 6:30am to eat the Fortune Hotel's free breakfast and leave early. The breakfast was scabby as but good enough. Hash browns, frozen pancakes and waffles that you could toast yourself. Bananas, cold boiled eggs, juice, milk, bread, and cereal I think. The drive was another 5 or 6 hours from Las Vegas. The kids behaved really good, slept a lot and occupied themselves with the Nabi, ipod (Mina), books and stuff. We stopped in San Bernadino to fill up and get drinks and snacks at a Food 4 Less. Had to use the restroom in the Ross next door. 

We stopped at the San Diego Temple for some photos. It's a beautiful temple. Then we went to La Jolla Cove not too far from the temple. There were seals and pelicans on the rocks. The kids had heaps of fun exploring the rocks finding sea creatures. Erana started a sea shell collection. She's funny now, she always wants to have collections. There was a sandy beach area but they didn't swim. We got really close to 2 seal pups on the rocks. Took a lot of pictures. Stopped in at a gift store to get a pin.

We then drove down La Jolla and Mission blvds to Mission beach. We looked a little but it was getting too cold with the wind so we decided to go to our hotel. We stayed at Comfort Inn & Suites in Mission Valley. It had 2 queens and a sofa bed so we all had a bed. The sofa room also had it's own tv so the kids watched that one. It was nice. Candi and I ate at a Jack-in-the-Box near our hotel and stopped at Panda Express to get some dinner for the kids.

Spring Break Vacation Day 1

We left on our trip around 9:30am. We had done a lot of packing and getting ready on Saturday. It was fast Sunday so I still fasted for a safe trip and for the van to not break down. We filled up in Cedar City. There was a lot of wind and rain through Utah but got nicer in Nevada. We stopped in Mesquite for lunch around 2:30pm at the Pioneer park. We had sandwiches and stuff.

We got to out hotel in LV around 4:30, 5ish. It was the Fortune Hotel just past Tuscany Inn on Flamingo Rd. It was nice enough. There were only 2 queens so Jaxon and Leila slept on floor. We all got in the hot pool except Tyrell. The main pool's water was too cold for the kids. Went to bed about 10pm so we can get an early start.

March Stuff

Mina played Volleyball for Bennion Jr High on the B team in Feb and first week of March. I went to a few of her games. She did really well most of the time and looked like she had fun. She is still working on her over-hand serves. She tends to not hit it hard enough. They won a few and lost a few games.

Tyrell started rugby this month. They have had 2 games so far, one was a scrimmage against East where they lost and the other was against Alta who they thrashed. Tyrell played on the wing for a half in both. He made some tackles and a few runs returning kicks. One ball bounced off his chest but corrected himself the next time and caught it perfectly.

Utah public schools are doing these computer adaptive assessment tests called SAGE. Candi and I didn't like the what we heard about those so we opted our kids out of them. Utah is part of this Common Core thing that basically takes school curriculum say away from local districts and parents and into hands of a central body that the Feds are pushing on all the states. Common Core math assignments that Leila is bringing home just don't make a lot of sense. They are changing the whole way of learning math, getting away from memorization and simple ways to learn things.

We went to Auntie Dolly and Uncle Geoff's homecoming Sunday 3/23. They gave good talks and sounded like they had great experiences at the visitors center as well as other places in NZ. We ate at Craig's home after and visited relatives. Candi and I keep getting compliments that we still look so young or asked when we are going to age. But sometimes we don't feel young with the aches and pains we are already starting to experience. I get back aches and Candi has her jaw and sometimes her neck gets serious pains. I think I can contribute some of my youthfulness to keeping weight off, word of wisdom, staying out of too much sun, getting enough sleep and having a low stress job. If this is done through your 20's and 30's I think you should be ok in the 40's.

ERANA SAYS:

3/8/14

• Jaxon brought me my hot bean bag & I put it on my jaw.  Erana comes into my room & says to me, "mum you got a sore face?" and I said "yes", Erana sigh's 'awe', but I said it's ok.  Then Erana starts caressing my arm and says to me "mum I'm sorry I was crying at target", because she was a little terror at target crying for nothing blimmin naughty.  But she was so sweet saying sorry.

3/11/14

• On daniel tiger today they were talking about fustration & had a little song with it, well just now Erana comes to me & says "mum I'm fustrated"!
• Baby says to me, "mum i need poop rabbit? i said i don't know what that is, Mum I need poop rabbit? huh what is that" ? then i click ! Oh you want cocoa pops! Rabbit poop.

3/13/14

• Baby loves 'Daniel the Tiger', she gets so involved with the show. The mother tiger is sick,  so she comes up to me & says mum " i can't sneeze because I sneeze" , me huh? then i realize she's involved in the show & i watch it a little & then she comes up & says, "I sick because I sneeze too much, & I got a huge sneeze".

3/27/14

• At Arctic Circle baby roared at this boy who looked the same age or older, on the playground & he bursted out crying, & she quickly says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry'!  I had to go over to the grandma & explain that she didn't hit him she roared at him?
• Erana took off all the hair clips off the hair clip holder in the bathroom & organized them on the bathroom counter.  Daddy discovered it & we went over & said 'what you doing? your making a mess, put it all back!'  Then I went to the toilet came out & Erana points to the last flower on the clip holder it was up high, she says to me, "Mum can you get me that flower" I say in an upset voice, "NO! your making a mess" she says, "Mum don't be mad at me, you say Erana that's amazing!" lol I cracked up laughing and told Jay & then recorded her on video, she also explained her hair clip organization, in color & what they were like flowers, hearts, cheetahs...

Candi's a CNA

On February 10th I started a CNA (Certified Nursing Assitant) course.  It last's for about 3wks.  I had classes everynight Monday to Friday except for Feb.14th Valentines day.
I found out about these classes online, while looking for a job, their were many jobs for CNA's so I investigated how to be a CNA.  I came across Colehollands website, they were cheap and seemed the best so I enrolled.  I then was allowed to view their website 'Moodle', and watched many videos about skills a CNA had to know. I watched nearly all of them before I started classes.
I ended up sitting next to an 18yr old girl who was in her last year of High School (AIMS) at Cottonwood.  Her name was Sadie, she was very independent, knowledgeable and friendly.  She also brought her lots of healthy snacks to eat during class, it was her dinner.
Our instructors name was Carol B.  and she was very nice, happy & friendly.  Their were stand in teacher's Bernie & Sharon - all I have to say is 'thank goodness my instructor was Carol'!
We had to read a chapter from our work books fill out our handbooks & then take a test on it, there were 10 chapters.  I would study it at home & fill out my handbook before I went to class.  Carol had us act out the 26 skills we had to learn like, 'perineal care', range of motion, transferring resident from bed to w/chair etc.
At the end of our course, we had to do two days of Clinicals.  That is working at a facility with an experienced CNA and putting our learn't skills to use.  We had to choose if we wanted 5:45am to 2:15pm or 2:15pm to 10pm.  The sign up sheet looked like half & half for both shifts.
We did our clinicals at 'Deseret Rehab. Crosslands' or we called it 'Crosslands'.  Reanna (another lady in my class) her & I were put with this CNA named Paulette, she was from Africa, had lived in Germany & Paris and her oldest son went to Mina's school and was in the same grade.  Anyway Saturday Morning shift just Sucked totally!! I don't know how many pukana's I made at Reanna but it was a ton.  I never in my life have washed, sanitized & worn sooo many plastic gloves in my whole life!
Paulette was very nice and she seemed to be respectful to all the residents, a part from using some residents ponds lotion for her hands, other than that she was Great!   We did have an awkward incident with a very rude resident who swore & called us names, & he chased me down in his wheelchair, I was told to ignore him, his name was Leo.
We first changed 'Clifford' who I woke up around 6:20amish,  I thought it was way too early, but I nudged him a little & said 'good morning' he woke up & seemed pleasant though, even gave me a smile. He was soaked in pee all the way up his back - drenched!  we took his clothes off, changed his sheets without wiping the mattress & then she dressed him but he smelt really bad.  She decided to shower him after breakfast, because she had to get other people up and ready for Breakfast which started at 8am?  BUT in the shower she fully undressed Clifford & then shaved his face, & he sat their naked & kept on saying he was cold!!! where the heck was his bath blanket?  almost all the residents were old, beside's maybe two polynesian guys. Some of the names of the residents that I came to know & love were,  Clifford, Frankie, Teddy, Carol, Barta.    The times that those residents showed appreciation and love far out weighed the poos & wees of the day! And our day could end fast enough! phew - trauma!!
Sunday was an answer to my prayers, it was laid back no showers on Sunday.  And very little to do, I sat in on sacrament with the residents, that was fun.  And spent more time sitting and being with the residents during mealtimes.  At the end of our shift I was laughed at by some of my class buddies cause I booked it out of the building & ran to my van.
Monday night was last night of class, I was upset that Carol wasn't there to see us off, we had our class test of 100 multiple choice words, I got 95% & was a little bummed at one of my wrong questions because it was quite obvious answer - duh. Then we had our potluck, & it was sooo good. We watched Patch Adams movie till the end of class.  And said our goodbyes, even hugged a couple of people, Nazaan & Reanna. Will probably see Sadie again when we do CPR together & take the state test.  Names of people in my class were,  Bryce, Joshua, Chloe, Trishelle, Sadie, Reanna, Britney, Shelley, Cherran, Kayla, ?, Skylar, Rowan, Annette, Nazaan, Jordan.
Overall the experience was very memorable!

Jason's New Car!

We had been looking at new cars online & on ksl, because Jay's car is old, twenty years!!!  and we just recently got it fixed because it kept on stalling.  And since Tyrell drives it now I didn't want him shunting when it stalls at an intersection.  Jason found 3-5 vehicles he & I liked and then we narrowed it down to two & then we chose out of those two.

We chose a 2012 Dodge Journey, seats 7, dark gray exterior & black interior, full wheel drive and it had about 41,000 miles on it, it was $16,600. Owned by a private owner who lived it Morgan. We had gotten pre-approved for an auto-loan over the phone, our amount was $15,000.

We drove to Morgan, it was a very long drive, they lived out in the wops, there was a lot of snow on the ground. We met with Doug Anderson and his wife Traci, the owners of the Dodge, and he told us & showed us stuff about the car. They seemed like very nice people and trustworthy.  Then Jay took it for a drive up the road.  We liked it very much and decided to buy it.  But we had to wait till they received the title in the mail from their bank.

While we were waiting, and it took longer than usual like a week and a few days.  Jay was having second thoughts of buying the same vehicle almost, it was white and had 3,000 less miles, cost $17,500. but was being sold by a dealer.  But we stuck with the Anderson's.

We finally met at an MACU in Layton and did the final paperwork.  We finalized the loan at $13,000, and gave out of pocket $3,450.  We also bought some insurance for the Dodge that cost $300. Jay drove the Dodge home & I followed in the Van.  We surprised the littlies when we got home, by driving down to the park and Jaxon saw Jay in the Dodge & was all excited saying hey that's Dad, is that a new car?  Then Jaxon, Leila & Erana got in the car & Jay drove up & parked in the garage.  Jaxon's remarks is that it, "I thought we were going on a longer drive" lol.

MUM'S 39TH BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated my birthday the weekend after my birthday because I had CNA classes and I had to go on my birthday, but I never told anyone at class that it was my birthday.

Mum had brought me my birthday gift that day, she got me a church book, purse, chocolates & Money.   And before I went to classes  Jay & the kids sang happy birthday to me & I opened their gifts.  Jay got me, chocolates, sparkly, jalapeno chips and night lotion.  Jaxon made me some coupons that had acts of service on them for me to redeem from him like:  wash the dishes, heat mums bean bag,  dress Erana - he was sooo thoughtful.

On friday Jay & I also went out to eat lunch at 'fortune buffet' I love that place, especially their sushi.  On Sunday Heather & Scott also gave me a gift it was, Tim Tams, curry, $10 gift card to world market.  And we showed them Jays new car, while also picking up some whipping cream for my birthday Pavalova I made.  

ERANA SAYS:

2/18/14

• Erana just came up to me & she drew me on her magnet pad & said mummy this is you I drew you because I love you!
• She wears 2 tutus and  a sparkly vest and says "I'm ballerina Katerina."