Friday, June 28, 2013

Annual Leadership Conference

The Savage Annual Leadership Conference was held in Salt Lake City this year--not quite as fun as going out of state but we still had a great time.  Kiki watched the girls the first day (Wed.), then Grandma came that night and stayed with them until we got home Fri. night (she spent the night here that night, too, since we got home at after 1am).

Wed., June 19--We checked into the hotel and went through all the company booths, racking up goodies and gifts (candy, anti-bacterial gels, water bottles, USB thumb drives, a car usb charger, etc.) along the way and ate the lunch that was provided.  That evening, we boarded a bus and were taken to This Is The Place Heritage Park, which Savage rented out just for our company.  We got to tour all of the old houses and buildings there, were fed tons of food, and were treated to a really fun live band.

Jared playing one of the old pioneer games

Getting an old-fashioned shave
The This Is The Place Monument
We stayed at the Grand American Hotel, which is Salt Lake City's only AAA Five Diamond Hotel.  It was really nice!  They even did a bed turn-down service where they left bath robes out for us, along with some chocolates.
 
 
 
Thursday, June 20--We had meetings in the morning until lunch, then were bussed over to Tooele to Miller Motorsports Park. We had such a blast watching a V8 truck race on the dirt track, riding in a Raptor (an off-road experience), riding in a Mustang Boss going 110 on the track, racing fast go-karts and riding on the zipline. Jared's co. is awesome for giving us these cool experiences with their leadersip conferences!
The truck race
The Raptor
Jared's Raptor ride about to start
Before my ride in the Mustang
The end of my ride in the Mustang
The original Savage truck (restored)

The zipline (not us on it)
I took this with my phone from the top of the zipline
Friday, 6/21--After breakfast, we loaded on school buses and were taken to various elementary schools in Midvale; I think the co. went to 8 different schools.  I'm not sure what all the other groups did at their schools, but our group swept and re-painted the hopscotch, kickball, 4-square, etc. lines on the playground pavement, cleaned the playground equipment, and built garden boxes:

Jared and I weeded

After we got back to the hotel, the employees had meetings for the next few hours while the spouses had free time.  I went with Aunt Cindy to pick up the tux Jim rented for the dinner that night, then we went to Walmart for a couple of things, after which we went back to her hotel room to just hang out and wait for the guys.  There was a really nice Black & White Dinner and Awards Ceremony that night.  We first had hors d'oeuvres in the hotel courtyard, where we were also able to have couples portraits taken by a professional photogapher (we were given prints after the dinner); we then had a really nice dinner in the hotel ballroom.  There were ~700 people in attendance between employees and guests, BTW.  Savage is growing so big!! 
Our friends (Jared's boss in Louisiana), Dave and Darlene

Jim and Cindy
It was a really nice conference but I'm already excited for next year.  They gave us clues during the dinner as to where it will be held next year--suckers on the table in the shape of a baseball, lobster, rubber duck, George Washington, etc. and dessert was Boston Cream Pie!  :D  Woohooooo!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

After Jason's good-bye

June 12 (cont.)--Jared ended up staying at his mom's the rest of the day (took a nap and played with nieces and nephews) and got home really late that night while I stayed at home with the girls.  FB posts that day:

10 til 10 and both girls are still sleeping!

I think Makenna might have pink eye--2 weeks after Avery had it! Or maybe it's just part of her cold or something? She doesn't have anywhere near the amount of discharge that Avery's eye had. Hope I don't get it! Especially since I'm still dealing with a cough.

I think this is the largest pile of laundry I've had to fold since I lived with my parents. This is what happens when you're gone every day for over a week except for the 2 days you were really sick. Dreading this task!
[***NOTE: I'm wondering if the pictures I paste from Facebook are viewable by everyone here on the blog.  If you have problems seeing them, please let me know and I will post them a different way.  Thanks!]

Some typical Avery sweetness from the last two days:
I was painting my toenails yesterday morning and Avery comes in and says, "Beautiful, Mommy! So pretty!"
During breakfast today, our cat came into the kitchen and I asked, "Isn't she cute?", to which Avery replied, "Yes, she IS!" (with the cutest smile on her face). Then, she was pointing out a painting in the living room and I told her I painted it. She said, "Good job, Mommy!" several times. She melts my heart!

Yay for cool air! Our a\c was finally fixed this evening and it's feeling good in here! So grateful for modern comforts.

Thursday, June 13--FB post:  Makenna was freaking out, screaming and crying, last night when I administered her eye drops; sweet little Avery started crying such a sad, concerned cry for her sister. It was a little heart-breaking and I wasn't sure who needed to be consoled more.

I drove up to Grandma's that day with the girls to spend the night, where 3 of my SIL's were also spending the night with their 6 kids.  As soon as I got there, I was cleaning some stuff out of the car and pushed the button to unlock all the doors, then shut the door to go get Makenna out and realized I must have actually locked the car.  Yes, I had put my keys in the diaper bag, which I left on the front seat.  This is very unusual for me, as I normally make sure I have my keys with me when I get out of the car.  I wrote this about it the next day: I ruined my chances for Mother of the Year Award by locking my keys and my kids in the car as soon as we got to Grandma's yesterday. I'm thankful that: (1) It wasn't that hot here (2) We were parked in the shade (3) We were in a small town and the guy who opened it came quickly and only charged $20 because he knows my FIL. Avery cried a bit while locked in but Makenna just kept yelling, "Open the door!" at me, ha ha. I still can't believe I did that!

My sweet MIL called a local mechanic, who came out and was able to get it unlocked after trying for several minutes.  It was very embarrassing and stressful but I bet I won't be doing that again!!!

Once we got them out of the car, the girls happily played with cousins outside:
 
Makenna was yelling "Yeehaw!" and, when I asked if she was a cowgirl, she said, "No, a cowBOY!"  Ha ha!
Friday, June 14--I brought the girls home from Grandma's around lunchtime and I think we just vegged the rest of the day.

Saturday, June 15--We drove back up to Grandma's, then Grandma and Carrie and her two kids came with us up to Jared's grandpa's house, where we ate hot dogs, cooked some s'mores, and went on 4-wheeler rides.  Grandpa took the girls and Jared took our nephew on a ride just around the house, then Grandpa took our nephew on one 4-wheeler and Jared took me on the other for a ride up the mountain on Grandpa's property.  It was so fun and the views were amazing!
Makenna just chillin', all cute in pigtails
Avery picking "flowers" in the field
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 We then went over to Jared's other grandpa's house to visit with him and his wife for a bit.  The girls had fun jumping on the trampoline with Daddy and swinging on Grandpa's cool tree swing.
 
 
Sunday, June 16--Father's Day!  I painted some t-shirts for the girls that say "Daddy's girl" on them as a surprise for Jared.  The girls wore them to church and I took pictures of Jared and the girls after church.  He also got a new internet camera so he can see and hear the girls in their bedroom when he is out of town.  It also has a speaker so he can speak to them through it.  He can either view it on his laptop or on his iPhone and can even move the camera around so he can see around the room.  It's pretty cool!
 
 

June 17: Cleo got a summer cut. It's never been this short before. Cute, huh? I do kind of miss her long fur, though.
 
 
 
June 17--How big of a domestic nerd am I that I am SO excited that this arrived today and that Jared is downstairs using it right now? What a great husband he is, btw, right? 

June 18--LSU had the 2nd loss in the College World Series, which put them out of the tournament.  They just didn't play to their full potential in either of the 2 games they played in the CWS.  :(

This was recorded on 6/12: This is how Makenna finds the perfect spot on her lovey, folds it over twice using only one hand (since two fingers on her other hand are in her mouth), then proceeds to rub her lip, while still sucking her fingers. It's so adorable, right?

Family Reunion, Jason's Farewell and Good-bye

Thursday, June 6--The day after the hayride, our family reunion officially started.  Jared and I had our individual interviews with our adoption counselor (one of the last steps before we do our home study in less than 2 weeks), so we got there later in the day and the girls joined in some of the water fun (not much of it, though--they don't like be sprayed with cold water, ha ha).

They sure did look cute in their swimsuits!
Makenna not enjoying being splashed or sprayed by someone
I think Cleo got a little more walking and loving by all of the kids than she would prefer; we had to go and "hide" her several times, ha ha.

I think the swings were the girls' favorite part, of course



She wouldn't be smiling like that if it actually popped on her.  :P

Avery looking a bit nervous to be carrying that water balloon!

Fun throwing the soccer ball to each other for a bit

Then a walk across the field to see the neighboring sheep

Some throwing around by Daddy

Mommy joining in on the swinging fun...

Then Daddy
S'mores that night after dinner
Friday, June 7--

Jason had slept in a hammock under the playset with some of the kids under him

We did pictures of all the grandkids with their birthorder # on their shirts.  The twins, especially Avery, did NOT cooperate!

Drawing pictures with sidewalk chalk


And riding on "bikes"/trikes

Avery thought it was fun to just pile all of the chalk in her lap


Jared had not been feeling well all week and I started to feel pretty crappy that day, so we napped when the girls napped, then everyone took the big family photo together that evening (I don't have a copy of any of them and don't know if it would be OK for me to post it, anyway).  After dinner, there was a video presentation for Jason with tons of photos from his life then he was presented with a gift from the family to take on his mission.
Watching the picture slideshow in honor of Jason

Jason getting a photo book from the family to take on his mission
All of the adults were supposed to go do a session together in the Mt. Timp temple but, since Jared and I were sick (and getting very little sleep for several nights in a row didn't help), we stayed home.  We were very sad to miss it but we just couldn't do it.  And there was no way I was gonna go and cough my lungs up through an entire temple session.  To make matters worse, our a/c wasn't working so it was getting quite warm in our house.  The day of rest did us well, though (plus I got to watch LSU win the baseball game that got them into the College World Series (not that they got very far in it but that's another story...), and we were, thankfully, feeling well enough to go to Jason's farewell the next day...

June 9-- Jason and Grandma spoke in church in their ward, after which tons of family and some of Jason's friends went to the local middle school for a luncheon, which was really nice.
Jason and his parents and siblings
Daddy's girls!
Avery was getting grumpy and tired by this point
She didn't even make it until we left--she konked out in Jared's teenage cousin's arms
A kiss for Uncle Jason
Monday, June 10--we stayed home to have our a/c checked out but the guy (the co. owner's son) wasn't able to fix it that day; he came back the next day and still wasn't able to fix it, so his dad came out to fix it on Wed.  FB post that day:

86 degrees in the house right now. A/C guy came today and said it's the motor. He'll come first thing in the morning to fix it. Trying to stay cool in the meantime while still dealing with a bad cough. Will be happy when it's fixed!
Tuesday, June 11--We left the house after the a/c guy left, then went and ran some errands and bought some stuff for Jason that he needed for his mission.  It was lunchtime and we were still in our town, so we decided to stop and eat at the new Popeye's!











FB post: Popeyes! In Utah! In my town! Great to have a taste of home.
Once we got to Grandma's house, the girls had fun playing with cousins, except that I had to keep Makenna away from everyone and sanitize everything she touched because I thought she maybe had pink eye.  I gave her drops that night and it was better by the next day.  Who knows if it was really pink eye or not.
The girls giving Jason some tie tacks we bought for him
A goodbye hug from Makenna
And one from Avery
Our last photo as a group with Jason for 2 years
And, of course, we had to do a silly photo!
After my goodbye hug
I posted this on FB later that night:
I can't believe this kid, who was the most adorable, flirtatious 5-year-old I've ever known when I met him and the cutest 6yo best man there ever was, will be 20 in 2 1/2 weeks and is leaving in the morning for his mission in Scotland/Ireland. I'll miss you, Jason Norman Crittenden! — with Jared Crittenden.

I brought the girls home and Jared stayed the night to go to Jason's setting apart and to stay up late with him and their sisters.
 
June 12--Jared went with his parents to the airport to see Jason off:


Goodbye for 2 years, Elder Crittenden!  We love you and will miss you so much but we are so proud of you and know you will do great things!