Update

Okay a few of you who actually read my blog have been pestering me to update it, so here it is! Life has been pretty calm and uneventful, which I'm thankful for, but makes it boring to blog about.

Kaylee is on her shortest trip ever, only 9 days. Somehow because it's so short, I expect her to be back already and am missing her just as much as I do when she's gone for a few weeks. "Patience Mommy, you just need to have patience" is a favorite saying of Kaylees. My favorite for times like this is the one up in my living room "Don't count the days, make the days count."

So that's what I'm doing. After work today I went to Hobby Lobby to get an organizer for my beading supplies that was half off. I felt weird not rushing to pick Kaylee up from daycare. I came home to an empty house and nobody to cook dinner for. Okay, COOK is a stretch, but nobody to at least throw a sandwhich and some fruit together for.

Then I painted my toenails, watched Wheel of Fortune, emptied the dishwasher, swept the floors, straightened things up... and now I'm blogging to fill the time until the Jazz game starts. Yes, they're going to lose, but I'm winning a bet tonight because I bet they'd only win game 3.

Oh! At the airport we were in line to check her in and saw someone from my old ward in Issaquah. Turns out he was flying back to WA on the same flight as Kaylee. Then later when we were waiting at the gate we noticed another little girl with the lanyard on (unaccompanied minors have to wear them, they hold all their boarding passes and such). We walked over to say hi and I asked the girl if she'd sit with Kaylee. Her name was Linzi and she was very scared to be flying alone. She was there with her Grandma and wasn't crying at the time, but her eyes were red. She was flying to WA to visit her cousins for a few days. When Linzi's Granmda mentioned that she was scared to fly Kaylee piped up "Don't be scared, I fly all the time, its fun!" Now, to set the scene... Linzi is a very TALL 11 year old and Kaylee is pretty small for her age at five. So it was just precious to see this tiny thing comforting a big girl and telling her not to be scared. Linzi asked if she could have the window and Kaylee said "sure you can, I'll just sit at the window next time because I fly all the time." After the girls got on the plane Linzi's Grandma called about 3 relatives telling them about "this little 5 year old girl who is so brave." I was a proud mommy! I'm glad she's so cool about flying, hopefully some day soon her dad and I will calm down about her flying alone.

I walked out of the airport with Linzi's Grandma, so I didn't cry the whole time! But... once I was alone in my car the tears came. I know she's fine and that she needs time with her dad and enjoys it... but that doesn't keep me from missing my little buddy!

Here are some pics from the past few weeks:

Kaylee's hair for the Monday after Easter. Her cousin Ally showed up to our family party with eggs in her hair and Kaylee wanted hers the same for Easter. I didn't want to do it like that for church, so we compromised on Monday.

We are SO glad that the weather is warming up... got out last years summer clothes and when Kaylee saw this outfit, she HAD to wear it that day. She even wanted to sleep in it that night, and asked if she could wear it again the next day. It's hard to see in the pic, but it says "Girls Rule" on the front.

These last two pictures I found on my camera when I went to download pics to blog about. Kaylee borrowed my camera and it's funny to see what she deems "picture-worthy." She bought the toy with her Easter money and I guess decided that we needed more pictures of her. Actually, I love that one. Not the cutest pic of her ever, but cute that she took it of herself to surprise me :)

Picture from Kaylee

Kaylee left last Thursday to go visit her dad in Washington. When I picked her up from daycare that day she had a surprise for me. She'd drawn this picture for me and written a note on it all by herself. I'm so proud of her! She's getting better at spelling words on her own and I love how she made the little lines between the words to separate them! She also made a pattern of "XOXO" but warned me it's only a pattern "up and down and side to side, not diagonally." Oh and the things around the XOXO are Batmans that I can color if I want to LOL!

I know nine days isn't that long, but I'm anxious to have her back already!

Our Latest

For Christmas I gave Kaylee rollerskates... but I've only let her use them inside. The weather finally warmed up and we ventured outside on them and I have to say - she did really well! I was proud of how well she could skate on the sidewalks. She's been practicing in our house from the bay window all the way through the kitchen and into the laundry room. Needless to say, she was quite happy to be outside and rollerskating around friends!

Gotta love the tongue, I do the same thing when I'm concentrating :)
Then yesterday she was wearing her Winnie the Pooh costume and thought it'd be fun to rollerskate in.

So Kaylee learned how to rollerskate... and I finished my moms birthday present. Yes it's early, but I wanted to post a pic of it on my jewelry blog and didn't want her to find out that way, so I gave it to her early. My friend and I started this egg project together. We tried many different eggs before I finally found the right size! Thank goodness for the internet and google.

I'm in the newspaper!

Last week a reporter from the Salt Lake Tribune came to our bead night and interviewed us for a story. Kaylee was upset that she was in Seattle when it happened because as she said, "I'm part of bead night too Mommy!"

Anyone who knows me knows my love of beading, and it's really exciting to see it in the newspaper! The third picture that says it's examples of completed beading projects - those are all mine :)

http://www.sltrib.com/midvalley/ci_11654102

The reporter did a great job of capturing why I love going to bead night, it really is about the friendships I've made there. At the end she mentions Lydia's husband, Rex, going back to Iraq next month, Kaylee being in Seattle with her dad and Jackies search for a new job after leaving Delta. We're planning a girls night out for after Rex leaves to help distract Lydia. I run into ladies other places now that I recognize from the bead store and they always stop me and want to talk about different techniques. It's a lot of fun.

And anyone reading this, one of my favorite parts of beading is sharing my love with others, so I'd love to teach you how to make something!

Matching Rings

In the hours we had between flights yesterday, Kaylee and I were both restless and the cuddling didn't last long. I decided to bead a ring, and then Kaylee wanted one to match. She designed hers a little different though, and I think it turned out really cute!

Here's a pic of the necklace I made for her right before she left. I just learned how to make the puffy heart, and of course Kaylee thinks she needs one of everything I make, so the first one was for her. I told her I put all my love for her in it and now she can wear it around her neck while she's with her dad.

Draper Temple

Last week Kaylee and I got to tour the new temple in Draper. It's absolutely beautiful! Kaylee has always wanted to go inside a temple, so she was really excited that she'd be able to. She loves to name the temples as we drive past them on the freeway and always talks about going inside one day. Taking her through and showing everything to her was an amazing experience. At the end of the tour I found a nice lady who quickly snapped a pic of us before we had to get on the bus to go back to our car. I'm always behind the camera, so it's nice to get a pic of Kaylee and I together every once in a while.

I'm back! And Kaylee's gone

I just got my computer back tonight!! It's been pretty much out of service since right after Christmas. My brothers friend worked on it for me, I think the final count was 16 viruses. Oops! I now have McAfee installed, so hopefully I won't get any more viruses.

Yesterday was quite the day for us. Kaylee was scheduled to leave for Seattle on a 9:30 am flight. We got to the airport around 7:30 and when I tried to check her in, I was told Seattle was under a weather advisory and Kaylee wouldn't be allowed to board the plane. The closest flight to when the advisory lifted was at 2:50. Poor Kaylee, she was SO bummed that she couldn't get on the plane. We'd gotten up early and she was really excited to go see her brothers. One of her brothers turned 3 yesterday and it was a surprise that she was coming to visit for his birthday. I tried to convince Kaylee to go to work with me in the time before we had to be back at the airport, but she was sad and just wanted to go home and cuddle and watch tv.

Fast forward and it's now 1:00 and we're back at the airport. This time I'm told we're allowed to go down to the gate, but that I'll have to get a supervisor to get approval from the pilot before Kaylee can board the plane. Her flight was scheduled to leave 10 minutes before the "advisory" lifted. We jumped through all the hoops and Kaylee was given the okay to be on that flight. Not that I was anxious for her to leave, but I knew how much it meant to her and to her dad for her to be there for Xanders birthday.

All the red tape distracted me from what I was doing, putting my barely 5-year old child on a plane alone. Yes she flew home by herself last time, but Daniel put her on the plane, not me. This was a whole new experience. My head knew she'd be fine, but it just broke my heart to put her on a plane alone. I always cry when she leaves, but usually I'm passing her right off to her dad, so I know he'll take care of her. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck for the next two hours, until Kaylee called and let me know she'd arrived safely. She doesn't understand why her dad and I get so nervous, she thinks she's really grown up now that she can fly without us!