Girls night, gliders and school pics

For those of you who are still following this blog, I finally posted... but it's on our new blog www.schaiblefamily.blogspot.com

First Day of School

Hey, for anyone still following this blog (are there any of you out there??) I posted about Kaylee's first day of school on our new family blog: http://schaiblefamily.blogspot.com/

Seriously Addicting!

I just started digital scrapbooking over the weekend. It is seriously addicting! I made these two pages tonight...

Wedding Pics & New blog

For those of you who follow this blog (I think there are at least two lol) I started a new blog now that we have a new addition to our family. Our new blog is www.schaiblefamily.blogspot.com

I posted our wedding pics on there!

The Unparty

Every year my aunt and uncle have an un-party on the 24th of July. Everyone is invited, come if you want, if you don't come, that's okay too. If you go, you bring something to bbq and a side item. It always turns out to be a lot of fun with good food. Kaylee and I have been going every year since we moved here, so this year was #5. Last year Kaylee REALLY wanted to help with the fireworks, but she was too little. My uncle told her that if she came back this year, she could help him set up the fireworks. Well, Kaylee has a very good memory, and we've been talking about it for a year now. Yesterday, she finally got to help and she was thrilled! Thanks Darrell!!

Carl bbq'd some delicious steaks and we all had a great time! It's always fun to see who comes to the party... and nice to catch up with the extended family. I love that we have so many family members living in Utah now, I enjoy spending time with my family.

Kaylee absolutely cracks me up when it comes to taking pictures. She LOVES looking back at pictures of her when she was younger.... but hates having her picture taken. This doesn't work very well with me, because I'm one of those people who almost always has a camera with me, I love taking pictures and capturing memories! Here's a picture of her when I asked if I could take a picture:

And here she is with her cheesy smile when I asked very nicely for her to smile for at least ONE picture:

And now we're down to SIX DAYS until I get to marry the man of my dreams (who is the sexy man pictured below).....

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Last night Carl, Kaylee and I had the chance to go to the open house of the newest temple here in the Salt Lake Valley, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

A girl in my ward has relatives who worked on the building of the temple, and she gave us 4 pages of details of things to look for and stories about different things in and around the temple. It made our visit there more interesting to know the history of different parts of it.

Growing up in Washington, there was one temple and it was just off the freeway that we drove on frequently. So, I've never lived somewhere that the temple was far away. But, as you drive on the freeway here, there is a spot where you can look around and see all three temples in the south part of the valley, the Jordan Valley, Draper and now Oquirrh Mountain temples. That is just amazing to me. I'm sure Kaylee is probably tired of it, but whenever we're on I-15 I make her look around and see all three temples.

In Kaylee's life she's seen the Seattle, Hawaii, Bountiful, Ogden, Salt Lake, Timpanogos, Provo, St. George, Draper, Jordan River and now Oquirrh Mountain temples. And she's been to two open houses (Draper and Oquirrh). She was only 3 weeks old at the Hawaii temple, but I have pictures to show her that she really was there!

Going into the temple before it's dedicated is a special experience. I love showing Kaylee the rooms and teaching her what happens in the temple. Seeing the baptismal font was very interesting to her, and she wanted to know how old she had to be to be able to do baptisms for the dead there. I'm glad she's growing up with an appreciation for temples and for the gospel.

I'm engaged!

Yes, if you've heard it through the rumor mill, it's true - I'm engaged!

Carl and I met on an LDS dating website in May and have been inseperable since. Our stories are a lot alike, we even both have daughters named Kaylee (well, his is Kayli, I can't help it if he spells it wrong). We've been calling them K1 and K2, but not sure how long that will last. Besides, his Kayli is older, but my Kaylee thinks she should be K1. So... we might have to come up with new nicknames to keep them straight.

Third time is a charm! We both have been married twice before. Our first marriages ended from circumstances out of our control, and our second marriages were both huge mistakes. This time we feel it's right. We've both taken the time on our own to get over our pasts and can move forward together with a clean slate.

When we met, neither of us were looking for anything serious. We were just dating around and having fun, but not looking to settle down. That lasted until maybe the second date... if even then. We just click. We joke about being the male and female version of each other because we're so alike. I didn't think I'd ever find someone who was so compatible with me. I thought that if I wanted to get married again, I'd have to settle. I can honestly say that I don't feel like I'm settling at all, I love everything about Carl.

So... to the proposal because I've been asked so many times....

Yesterday Carl and I took the afternoon off work and went up into the Farmington Canyon. It's beautiful up there!

We drove up Farmington Canyon and onto Skyline Drive. Carl had a place all picked out to propose, but there were people there. So we kept driving and found an even better spot. As we were driving we talked about how neither of us was born in Utah or grew up here, but how this is our home and we want to raise a family together here in Utah.

We got to a cool spot on the trail where we could pull over and get out of the jeep. We had a beautiful view of the valley and the canyon and it was there that Carl told me how before he met me he thought he'd never want to get married again, how much he loves me and how he can't imagine anyone else he'd rather spend eternity with. Then he got down on his knee and asked me if I'd marry him. I immediately said yes! When I saw the ring, I was amazed. It was more beautiful than I'd imagined it when we were designing it!

Yes I love the ring he gave me, but even more so I love the man that gave it to me.

We realize our courtship has been fast, but when it's right, it's right. We're not planning a big wedding, just something small with my parents and Kaylee.

Our pool adventure

Last night Kaylee wanted to swim.... so out to the pool we went. I agreed to let her swim for 30 minutes, then it was inside for a shower and bed. All was going well, there was another family there that has a daughter Kaylee's age and they were having a great time swimming and playing.

Then... a couple tried to leave the pool. In our pool, you have to have your key to get in AND out of the pool gate. We're not exactly sure what happened, but somehow the deadbolt that only the managers have keys to got locked.

As we were heading to the pool, I saw my phone by the front door, but said to myself "I don't need to bring my phone, Carl is with us and he's usually the only one that calls me at night."

I soon regretted that decision! Luckily the other mom had her phone and was able to reach a neighbor who called the management. Half an hour later someone arrived with a managers key to let us all out.

Kaylee got to swim for almost an hour and I don't even know that she was aware of what was going on really, just that she got to keep swimming. Note to self - always take your phone to the pool, you never know when you'll get locked in LOL!

There IS hope!

Tonight Kaylee went upstairs to put her pj's on and was taking a while, so I went to check on her. I found her in her room "organizing" her things. She had all her jewelry nicely hung up, all her papers together in one place. Then she wanted to make her bed and put herself to sleep. And she asked me if next time we're home for the evening she can clean her whole room all by herself.

Um... who is this child and where is my messy, clingy, "I need you Mommy" all-the-time-Kaylee?

Vacation Part 2 - Yellowstone

We left for our vacation on Saturday... stopped by Bear World on our way to the timeshare. On Sunday we had a special trip planned, we went to Bozeman, Montana to visit some friends we've had since we lived in California. On Monday we finally made it into Yellowstone National Park.

A quick side note, Sunday was my dads 40th anniversary of his baptism. I'm so grateful for those who taught him the gospel, and to him for the wonderful example he's been to me in my life.

Okay back to vacation. The last time we went to Yellowstone was a long time ago (we can't remember if it was the trip when I was 11 or 14). Either way, it's been a long time since we'd been there. Last time we went it was during the summer and it was pretty busy.

If you want to see the wildlife in Yellowstone, now is the time of year to go! Yes, parts of the park are still closed due to snow, but all of the animals are down low where the snow has already melted.

The first wildlife we saw once we entered the park was a herd of buffalo, Kaylee was quite excited!






We headed down to see Old Faithful first, because they let me choose where to go first, and this was what I wanted to see the most. Somehow, in my memory it was a whole lot bigger and more exciting! I think that has to do with the fact that as a teenager it was hot and we waited for a long time to see it erupt. This time, the weather was nice and we only had to wait about ten minutes for the eruption. Its still a beautiful thing to watch, and seeing Kaylee experience it for the first time was pretty fun too!

(Special thanks to the guy sitting next to us, I actually got to be in a picture!)




After seeing Old Faithful, we decided to drive around as much of the park as we could. This funny picture was taken near Cooking Hillside (created in 1978, the year I was born). Before that it had been dense forest, but a few earthquakes opened up the ground and now there is a strong smell of sulpher coming up :)





Next on the trip was the waterfalls... Upper Falls and Lower Falls. After going to Lower Falls, Dad and I wondered why mom made us stop at Upper Falls too - we thought it was just a different view of the same waterfall. Turns out it's a completely different waterfall. The first two pics are at Lower Falls, the really green one is Upper Falls.




Our next stop was one we were all looking forward to - The Mammoth Hot Springs! Little did we know that since we were there last, they should have changed the name to Mammoth DRY Springs! We were quite disappointed when we got there and there were no hot springs anymore, they're all dried up. It's still beautiful to see what nature has created, but just not the same when you're expecting to see the bubbling hot springs.






After leaving the hotsprings (aka dry springs) we stopped to use the facilities and to get drinks. Below are some pics of what greeted us as we pulled in. There was much discussion over whether these were deer or elk. I won't say who thought they were what, but a local pulled in soon after and set us all straight that they were elk. (I still can't see the difference, but he promised us they were elk)





On our way back to the timeshare we saw a huge group of cars pulled over. As we passed, all we saw was a bunch of ducks (its not uncommon to see cars pulled over taking pictures of who knows what!) but as we drove past, we saw a grizzly bear! Before the car was even stopped, I was jumping out with both cameras and wanted to get some pictures before the bear decided to move away.




Funny story here, as we were watching the bear, I mentioned that the bear should turn a little because I didnt' want butt shots. A cute old lady next to us said "oh but it's such a cute butt, it's nice and round." It was hilarious, everyone who heard her was laughing. The bear did decide to cooperate and let me get some better shots of it.

Here's some pics of each of us standing on the side of the road with the bear behind us. (I'm still getting used to using the SLR camera, so the bear is in focus, but not the people - sorry!) The one of Kaylee is by far one of my favorite pictures, which of us looks excited to be standing within 30 yards of a wild grizzly bear?




That's as scared as she got, and it still was nothing CLOSE to how scared she was when she saw the pig in the petting zoo! Upon seeing the pig, tears began to fall. With the grizzly, she just wasn't sure she wanted to be between me and the bear, she liked it better when I was right next to her.

As we headed out of the park, the buffalo decided they didn't want to be outdone by the grizzly. We were so excited about seeing a grizzly bear so close, that the buffalo had to do a lot to get us excited again. But.. they succeeded. Being in the middle of a herd of buffalo as you're driving down the road is quite the experience! The baby calves are only a day or two old, it was so amazing to see them walking along and keeping up with the herd!




I did mention that we were right in the middle of a herd, right?



This is how close to the car they were, the window doesn't go all the way down so that's the best pic I could get. Later on I did stick the top half of my body out the window to get better pictures, but with the mama buffalo right there, I wasn't getting any part of my body out the window!


We were the last car that the buffalo decided to let out. This is a picture of the road behind us. You can't really see them, but there's a whole line of cars behind the buffalo!



Kaylee finally got brave enough to stick her head out the window a bit to see the buffalo. They were far away, but it was a big thing for her to do and she was quite excited about all the buffalo we were able to see!


We lost count, but we saw hundreds of buffalo and at least 12 calves. It was an experience that I'm sure none of us will forget. For my parents and I, having Kaylee along made it even better. She kept saying "That was AMAZING!" and other things that made us realize how truly exciting seeing all of these animals was for a child. Seeing her excitement over each thing was priceless.

Tuesday morning we got up, packed our stuff back up and headed out. We stayed in West Yellowstone, but were going back through the park and exiting through the south entrance to go visit some friends of my parents. About five minutes inside the park, we were stopped and told by a park ranger that they were herding the buffalo back into the park and it could be a couple of hours. Luckily they herded them into a field and let a lot of cars through. Below is a pic of the line of cars waiting, with one stubborn buffalo off to the side. The other pic is of the park rangers on horseback that were doing the herding.




At first when we got stopped, we thought about turning around and just going home from there. But, we decided that watching them herd the buffalo would be fun too. The rest of the day, well we won't go there. It was a long, exhausting day... we left the timeshare at 9:30am and it was 9:30pm by the time I got home.

Thanks Dad and Mom for taking Kaylee and I along on your trip! It was a vacation we'll always remember.

Vacation - Part 1 - Bear World

Last weekend Kaylee and I went with my parents to Yellowstone. In all honesty, I have to admit I wasn't very excited about the prospect of vacationing with my parents. Not with them personally, just the idea of being 31 and going on vacation with my parents. But... since I rarely go on vacation, we decided it would be fun. And it turned out to be a great vacation!

We went on a lot of driving trips growing up, so my dad was excited to get Kaylee started in our family traditions. I think she was a lot better traveler than any of us kids ever were. She was quite the trooper, even after hours in the car she rarely complained.

We thought Yellowstone would be the highlight of the trip, but before we got there we stopped at a place called Bear World outside of Rexburg, Idaho. If you're ever in the area, you HAVE to go to this place, it was well worth the money!

There's a gift shop, a petting zoo, kids rides and a part where you get to drive through and see all sorts of different animals, mostly bears (Hence the name Bear Park lol)




This is what greeted us at the gate to the part where you drive through:

Those grizzly bear cubs were about two years old, and across the path we saw the daddy bear:

This was by far my favorite part, these bear cubs are four months old and have been hand fed and raised in the caretakers homes. The day we were there was the first day they were in their new home. It was so cute to watch them exploring, climbing over the logs and seeing the water for the first time! And of course petting them was pretty cool too. Not sure we'll ever get the chance again to pet baby bears!

In the playground part Kaylee and Grandma had fun trying to make me dizzy and sick inside this spinning bear!

This gives you an idea of how close the bears come to you as you're driving through. They're quite used to cars and will walk right up to the car! The pic on the right I took out the back window, the bottom part is the back of the car.








Okay, this next part is pretty funny. I have to preface it by telling you that a few weeks before our vacation Kaylee woke up in the middle of the night frantic because the pigs were eating her. It was the worst nightmare she's had so far, it took a long time to calm her down and get her back to sleep. Fast forward to Bear World and the petting zoo. This pig might look pretty harmless to the rest of us, but when Kaylee saw it, she freaked out! The workers, mom and I thought it was pretty funny, of all the animals we'd seen that day, the first one to scare her is a sleeping pig!







Okay that's all for Bear World. I'll do another post of Yellowstone.