Sadie's award

On December 10th Sadie recieved an award at her school for excellence in vocabulary and reading. The kids in her class are supposed to have 16 vocabulary words memorized and passed off by January - Sadie has passed off 40! She seems to soak things up like a sponge. She is also reading on a first grade level and she is doing advanced math. She actually likes doing homework (let's see how long we can keep that up...maybe until college?). We are so proud of her! For more pictures visit our gallery.

Thanksgiving '08

Thanksgiving weekend began with a feast and performance in Sadie's kindergarten class. All of the kids brought something from home (crackers, cheese, etc.) and had a cooporative feast. Then the kids sang a native american song for the parents and showed off their headbands and necklaces that they had made. Later that evening we ventured up the canyon to the cabin that we were staying in for the weekend with friends. Sadie quickly called dibs on the little loft that had a twin bed in it. I really didn't think that she would stay up there all by herself but she did and she loved having her own little space. The weekend was spent eating, playing games, and taking a walk around the frozen lake. There was snow but not enough to go skiing or sledding. We did drive down the canyon on Thursday to have Thanksgiving with my family at Cindy's house. We picked up Ginger on the way and she had a good time with Einstein, Dante, & Kansas (other family dogs). On Saturday we got to visit with Jim & Sandy Moy who came up to visit and show off their little boy Peter. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. For pictures visit our gallery.

We made it to Austin!

You may remember my blog about Frontier Airlines ruining our trip to Austin. Well, we finally got to take that trip. Luckily Frontier Airlines did wave the re-booking fee (I'm still very anti-Frontier) and we were able to re-book everything. We got into Austin on a Thursday and after checking into Marriott Springhill Suites we went to dinner at Magnolia Cafe. It was a very good 24 hour diner - the grilled vegtables are wonderful. After dinner we walked down South Congress Avenue, or SoCo as the locals call it, and checked out the fun, zany shops that they have there. On Friday we spent most of the day driving around neighborhoods (for those who don't know, we are re-locating to Austin this summer). We found a neighborhood that both Jim and I fell in love with. A nice, walkable community with lots of trees and beautiful houses and only 15 minutes from downtown. After lunch at a cafe we drove up to Travis lake and took a little walk. We finished the day with dinner at El Sol and La Luna mexican restaurant, which was very good. Saturday found us driving around neighborhoods again for most of the morning, eating good BBQ at Stubs, and walking around Zilker Botanical Gardens for most of the afternoon. It was so nice to be walking around a beautiful garden in short sleeves and shorts in November. We finished the night with dinner at Brick Oven pizza. Sunday we flew home. We didn't take many pictures because we did more driving around than anything but visit our gallery for the ones we did take. All in all we have a very favorable view of Austin and look forward to getting to know the city better.

Halloween '08

Sadie was Belle for Halloween this year. It was nice that I could convince her to be Belle so we could use her ballet costume again and not have to come up with something new. Sadie didn't have school on Halloween so she had her school parade on Thursday. On Friday she went to school with me (I was dressed as Snow White) and we had a good time visiting classes. We then went downtown and took Jim out to lunch. That night Kate, Bruce, and Ian (as Mr. Incredible) came over and went trick or treating with us. We had a good time. For pictures visit our gallery.

Frontier Airlines Ruined Our Trip!

Warning: this blog contains one BIG rant.
Jim and I are supposed to be in Austin, Texas this weekend but thanks to the horrible customer service at Frontier Airlines we had to cancel our trip. FRONTIER AIRLINES RUINED OUR TRIP! Here is what happened:

Jim and I arrived at the Frontier Airlines ticket counter a few minutes after our friends Bruce and Kate did (who were going with us on the trip) and a good 40+ minutes before our flight left. At the counter we were informed that Frontier Airlines has a policy that you have to check in at least 45 minutes before a flight. We thought that maybe since we were only a few minutes late and had no luggage to check in AND there was no one else in line that maybe they would help us out. NOPE. They said we would be put on stand-by for the next flight. Jim and I thought this was ridiculous but accepted that we would just get into Austin later than planned. We went through security and went up to the gate where they were still loading people onto the flight we were supposed to be on. We asked if we could still get onto our original flight and we were told that we couldn’t. So we waited….the 10:30 flight was full….we waited….the 2:30 flight was full. We soon found out that the soonest we could get on a flight to Denver was at 7:00 at night and there were no flights to Austin after that. Oh and the next day (Friday) all flights to Austin from Denver were booked and so the chances of us even making it to Austin on Friday were slim to none. The soonest we would get to Austin was Saturday afternoon (our return flight was Sunday morning). At that point we realized that our best case scenario would be to cancel our trip and try to take it at some other time. The absolute WORST thing about it is that no one from Frontier would help us. They treated us as if we were non-entities and kept reminding us that it was OUR fault because we were late (according to them). It was so upsetting and frustrating at the airport – at one time I had to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could break down crying (I really did not want to make a scene). I couldn’t believe how horribly we were treated. One of the women at the boarding counter told me that there were HUGE signs up in the check-in area telling us of the 45 minute rule (not that it would have helped us BEFORE we got to the airport) but when we finally left the secured area and went back down to check-in I looked around for the signs. All I could find were the small round check-in signs which said (in small print) that you must check-in 45 minutes prior to your flight. We finally found one Frontier Airlines employee, Vanessa, who was concerned for us and tried to help but it was too late at that point and there was nothing that she could do. We managed to get flight stock to use again (with a re-booking fee that supposedly Frontier will wave) and had expedia cancel our hotel and car (expedia was wonderful and very helpful). We had to pay the first night for the hotel and a small fee for the car. Suffice it to say that after we use our flight stock (I refuse to lose the $800 in tickets) that WE WILL NEVER FLY FRONTIER AIRLINES AGAIN! Thank you for listening.

*Bruce & Kate made it to Austin but what happened to us put a damper on their vacation as well.

September '08

September was a busy month for us, especially for Sadah. It started out with Sadah's birthday on which she recieved her own Nintendo DS to play her games on (now she doesn't have to borrow mine!) Then she had her first day of kindergarten. Sadah was not at all nervous and didn't even want me to walk her into her classroom. She knew where it was and had me just drop her off in the front of the school. On the 6th we had a birthday party for her at the Kid Barn where all her friends came and bounced, ate pizza and cake, and had a great time. I started back to work at North Star Elementary doing what I did last year. I only work Monday through Thursday so I vounteer at Sadah's school every other Friday. Sadah does really well when I am there - she isn't distracted at all. In the middle of the month Jen, Hailey, Drew, and Boppa all came out and spent a few nights with us. We all went up to Oktoberfest at Snowbird and rode the alpine slide. We also did some dancing and plenty of eating. We ended the month with a trip to the circus which was a fun as it always is. For pictures of Sadah's birthday and first day of school click here. For pictures of Oktoberfest and the circus click here.

San Francisco '08

Jim and I visited San Francisco over Labor Day weekend this year. We went to attend the wedding of our good friends Pat and Colette. Sadah stayed behind with Grandma and Grandpa Mangelson but before you start to feel sorry for her just know that they took her to Build-a-Bear workshop and bought her a bear for her birthday. She also got to go to a family party (my great-niece Kyra was blessed) so she had plenty of fun. The wedding was beautiful and it was wonderful to see Pat and Colette again. We also saw our friend Rich who recently moved back to San Francisco from New York. Rich gave us a tour of Pixar Animation Studios (famous for such films as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, & Monster’s Inc.) where he now works. It was really cool to go behind the scenes and see what goes into making an animated feature. We also got to visit with our friends Mohammed and Romina in their nice apartment overlooking the bay. Along with visiting friends we also got in some shopping at the pier and in Chinatown. It was a fun little trip. For pictures click here.

Summer Fun '08

Wow! Summer went by fast. Since I really dropped the ball this summer as far as the blog goes I will try to quickly re-cap all the events that happened:

Nebraska trip:

In the middle of July Sadie and I traveled to Nebraska to visit Jim’s family. Jen drove down from Idaho with her two kids (Hailey and Drew) and picked up Sadie and me. Then we drove to Lincoln with them (with a stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming). In Lincoln we got to catch fireflies, pick wildflowers, and of course ride around in the golf cart. We also got to experience a wonderful Young party (for Jerry’s work) with plenty of great food and fireworks! After spending almost a week there we traveled down to Kansas to visit Boppa and Grandma Young. Our visits with them were brief but fun and then Sadie and I flew out of Kansas City for home. It was a very enjoyable visit.
Click here for pictures.

Matt’s wedding:

In August Matt & Emily got married. It was great to have all the family out here for the wedding. We got to spend some time with Kristie and her kids. Stephanie got to stay with us for a few days and we got in a lot of shopping and a trip to Lagoon. She’s always fun to do stuff with. The weekend before the wedding Jim and I hosted my whole family at our house. Jim smoked a couple of chickens in the smoker and grilled some corn. Everything was very tasty. The wedding itself was very beautiful and emotional. The wedding was held at a little chapel at This is the Place Heritage Park and the reception was in a beautiful back yard. Everything was very nice, especially the flowers! (I did the flowers for them : )
Click here for pictures


Grand Canyon:

In the middle of August the Mangelson family went down to the Grand Canyon to remember my brother Mckay who died ten years ago. Jim was planning on going but at the last minute some problems came up at work and he was not able to go. So Sadie and I hitched a ride with my parents. We all stayed in cabins at Kaibab Lodge. The first night we were there it rained…& rained….& rained. The next day people had to be evacuated from down in the canyon due to flooding. The whole time we were down there it was cool and wet but it was awesome to see the storms move over the canyon. It was an emotional trip – we stopped at the spot where we had spread Mckay’s ashes and Kevin (Cindy’s boyfriend) read a poem that my mom had written. Later we watched a video collage that Alicia had made of Mckay’s life. We did manage a few hikes and ate some amazing food at the main lodge and Sadie learned how to pee in the woods.
Click here for pictures.

Zion National Park '08

This past weekend Jim, Sadie and I took a short road trip with Bruce, Kate, and Ian. We went down to Zion National Park. Our trip started on Friday morning after dropping Ginger off at the kennel. Kate and I drove with the kids so that they could entertain each other while Jim and Bruce drove down together. We stopped at Fillmore Park (a favorite of ours) for some lunch and some playtime at the playground and then headed on our way. We separated the kids for this stretch so that Ian could take a nap without Sadie distracting him. We got into Springdale, Utah at about 3:30 or so and checked into our hotel The Majestic View. Our rooms were nice – clean and comfortable. Each room has a balcony with chairs on it and an incredible view. After getting situated it was off to the pool for some swimming and sunning. After the fun in the pool we got cleaned up and took the shuttle into town for some window shopping and some dinner. We all had some good Mexican food at the Bit & Spur and then wandered back to our hotel. We all hung out for a bit in our room and then called it a night.

The next morning we all met at around 9:00 and went to the main lodge for breakfast. The breakfast was good but the service was so slow – it seemed to take forever. Finally we took the Springdale shuttle into the park and then got on the park shuttle. We got off at the visitor’s center and hiked up to the lower and middle Emerald Pools. The hike was a good one and the kids did fairly well. We got to see lizards, squirrels, and tadpoles along the way. After the 2 mile hike we went back to the visitor’s center and had some ice cream. We then headed back to our hotel for lunch and a rest. Jim and Sadie took a little nap while I got to sit on our balcony and read. After Jim and Sadie woke up we decided to check out the wildlife museum that was at our hotel. After that we hooked up with Bruce, Kate, and Ian again and headed back into the park. Our first stop was at Weeping Rock where the water literally seeps out of the rocks and all sorts of plants grow on them. After that little hike we went up to The Temple of Sinawava and began the hike there. Ian was having a tough time (he had fallen and wasn’t very happy about it) so Jim, Sadie, and I went on ahead. While we were walking we came across a deer not too far from us. Sadie thought that was pretty exciting. We hiked all the way up the trail and on the way back Sadie began to wear out so she and I started to pretend that we were Indiana Jones trying to fight our way out. That seemed to wake her up a bit. After this hike we realized that it was 8:30 at night and we hadn’t had dinner yet so we jumped on the shuttle and went to a pizza and pasta restaurant and got some pizza. Then it was back to the room for the night.

The next day we all met at around 9:00 again and started to pack things up. Once we were all packed up and checked out of the hotel we took the shuttle into town and ate breakfast at Oscars cafe. After breakfast we started to head home. This time the kids rode with Jim and Bruce. We stopped in Fillmore once again for lunch and then we said goodbye to Bruce, Kate, and Ian and headed home to pick up Ginger. It was a great little trip and we all had a great time. As always for pictures visit our picasa gallery.

Ballet recital '08

On Wednesday, June 4th Sadie had her third ballet recital. This year was even more exciting because Sadie had a bit of a “solo”. When the dance was finished it was Sadie’s job to run out and blow a kiss to the audience. She did her dance and her solo beautifully. This year was exciting for another reason as well. Uncle Alvin and Aunt Thelma just happened to be driving through on their way to California that night and managed to make it to the ballet. Sadie was very happy that they could make it. For pictures visit our picasa gallery.

Last month the Youngs (Jerry & Susan) and the Heitmeyers (Paul, Jen, Hailey, and Drew) came for a visit. One of the highlights of their visit was that Sadah and Hailey got to learn how to ski! They both did a two hour lesson in the morning and then went on a couple of runs in the afternoon. I have to admit I was worried that Sadah would be timid (like I am) or would'nt like it but I was wrong (flat out wrong). She loved it! She loved the lift, she loved getting off the lift (which is the scariest part for me), and she loved doing "pizza slice" down the hill. By the end of the day she was going down the hill by herself without stopping or falling! So it looks like we will have to take her skiing next year. The other highlight of the visit was that we got to celebrate Drew's 2nd birthday. We had a pinata, cake & ice cream, & goodie bags for the kids. Everyone had a great time. For more pictures visit our picassa gallery.

Winter Fun '08!

A few weeks ago we went up Big Cottonwood canyon with Bruce, kate, Ian, Solomon, and Jacquee for Brunch and some sledding. We had a nice hot brunch at the Silverfork lodge and then headed to a nearby hill that is popular for sledding. We had a great time carving trails in the fresh deep snow. Sadie was not only going down the hill by herself but she was going down head first. She didn't seem to mind too much when she got a face full of snow. She also wanted to go down a run that had a jump (one that I wouldn't go down) so Sol took her down and she had a great time. After sledding we all met up at our house for some hot chocolate and later for some KFC. It was a great time. For pictures visit our gallery.

Christmas '07

This year for Christmas we celebrated with my family here in Utah and then drove up to Idaho to celebrate with Jim's family. For pictures visit our gallery

Sadie lost her 1st tooth!

Just before Thanksgiving Sadie came home from school and said "look at this mom!" as she wiggled one of her front teeth back and forth. I couldn't believe that she was at that milestone already. About a week later the tooth came out while Sadie was at preschool. They saved the tooth in a baggie and Sadie brought it home with a proud (and gap toothed) grin. She already has a second tooth that is very wiggly and should be coming out in the next few days.

Hawaii Day 4 & 5

Day 4:

This was our last full day in Hawaii and we took full advantage of it. Once again the day started early with breakfast on the beach and a swim. The rest of the morning was spent shopping. We walked down the street to the International Market and perused all the goods on display. We found plenty of souvenirs for family and friends as well as ourselves. We ate lunch at the food court in the middle of the marketplace and then headed back to the hotel to change back into our swimsuits and hit the beach for the rest of the afternoon. We swam, built sandcastles, and searched for seashells. Jim rented a boogie board and hit the waves. Sadie and I got to try out the boogie board as well. After several hours of fun, we were pretty worn out. We changed our clothes at the hotel and went to a little pub around the corner for dinner. We watched the sun set over the water for the last time from the balcony of the pub. When we got our food Sadie took two bites and then laid her head on the table and went to sleep. I guess all that sun and surf finally caught up with her. Jim and I were pretty tired and not so hungry ourselves. We hit one more souvenir shop on our way out and stopped by a Starbucks for a muffin for the morning and then called it a night.

Day 5:

Our very last day started too early – we had to leave at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight home. We all said a very sad Farwell to Hawaii and boarded the plane. We flew to San Francisco and had a three hour lay over so we ate some good soup in sourdough bowls and walked around the airport until our final flight home. Finally after traveling all day long we got home at about 10:00 p.m. We were all tired and happy to be home. It was a wonderful trip and we all had an amazing time. Once again, pictures are at our gallery.

Hawaii Day 3

Day 3:

Day 3 started out the same way as day 2: we got up early and had breakfast on the beach. But this time we actually went for a swim. Then (after cleaning up) we were off to Pearl Harbor. I wasn’t sure how Sadie would do on this day, I wasn’t sure if Pearl Harbor would be interesting for her but she was great. She understood that it was a place where people had died and she was very respectful. She sat quietly through the 25 minute documentary and enjoyed the boat ride over to the Arizona Memorial. After Pearl Harbor we went to the USS Missouri, the battleship that was the site for the official surrender of Japan in WWII. We had a quick lunch of cheeseburgers before we got to board the ship and get a tour. Sadie got a little bit claustrophobic inside (I was surprised by how low the ceiling was) but she did okay. By the time we left she was going up and down the ladders and in and out of the ship like a pro. After the Missouri we went back to our hotel and rested for a minute before we walked down the street a bit and looked at all the shops. We ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then walked along the beach to our hotel to get some sleep.