Lovin' fall in Utah!!

Fall in Utah is just the greatest!! I have really been trying to soak it all in before our new little addition to the fam comes and I am sort-of house ridden for awhile. Having a baby during flu season is CRAZINESS!! But, you know how the Dick's love to live on the edge so bring on the stress....yikes!!

Just the other week I attempted to bring Jane up the canyon, on a day that she looked especially cute, to have a photo shoot in the leaves. These never quite go as well as I expect, due to Jane's complete unwillingness to smile...oh well. These were the best of the bunch...
This is a typical Jane expression...I promise she is a happy child :)
A smile, conspicuously caught...
She's still adorable even without the smile! We were going for a vogue shot, anyway!
To further enjoy Fall, Ryan and I went to the an adorable little pumpkin patch to have a little fun and pick out some pumpkins. I'd say Jane makes a pretty cute scarecrow...
Jane had so much fun running through the corn maze trying to catch daddy...mommy wandered behind slowly...I'm so huge!!
Of course Jane had to feed the goat :)And explore a little...
We had such a fun Fall day with many more to come!!

The big 2 for Jane!!

On this past Sunday, Jane turned two years old...I cannot believe I have a two year old!! Jane is such a wonderful little ball of energy. I'm not going to lie and say that she doesn't totally wear me out sometimes, but we just love her outgoing, adventurous, funny personality! Jane was lucky enough to have two birthday parties. First, here are just a few family pics we took on Jane's birthday when we drove up the canyon to see the fall leaves...so beautiful!!
Ryan and I threw a party for Jane with my family on Friday.
She loved her presents. Jane loves to cook with mama- so Jane got her very own apron (so cute) and her very own cooking set with food! Her favorite thing to do was cut her toy fruits and veggies. We were impressed at how well she caught on!!
The theme of her party was balloons...because she is absolutely obsessed with them :) When she woke up from her nap there were balloons all over out house and she had her very own balloon cake!! She was thrilled!
Of coarse, she got to eat it, too!! YUM
Then, on Sunday we had a cute little party with Ryan's family at his sweet parents' house!! Here she is opening her presents...way too carefully for her boy cousins who were watching very intently :)
She got a baby doll (whom she loved) and a baby blanket! The boys weren't that excited about Jane's gifts but Jane wrapped and unwrapped her baby over and over again.
Then, she got cake number two...lucky girl!Jane enjoyed eating cake number two as well!!
Well, Jane had a great birthday and we just love her to pieces and can't believe how fast she is growing up. Here are some of Jane's accomplishments up to now:

*She is so imaginative- she loves to cook and be a mama to her dolls and really just has no problem figuring out how to do anything she puts her mind to.
*She knows all her colors and shapes!
*She can say just about anything you ask her to and says 4-5 word sentences!
*She knows her age and counts to two quite well (we just can't seem to get her to to move on to three :))
*She knows the alphabet to G-(That is a work in progress)
*She sleeps in a big girl bed with no problem at all!!
*She pees in the potty every night (Also a work in progress)
*She is an excellent sprinter (I have learned this the hard way as she runs away as quick as lightning in grocery stores)
*She is very independent and loves playing with other kids!!
* She loves to laugh and make jokes!!
* She is such a girly-girl. She loves to have bows in her hair and to wear new clothes and mama's shoes :)

Overall, Jane is just a great kid and so much fun- she brings joy to anyone she is around- especially her mom and dad!! We love you Jane so much and are so proud of you!!

So Long Sweet Summer...

Summer is officially over :( We had so much fun over the summer- but now it is back to reality...school, work, long days etc. The plus side, however, is that I love fall and all the fun that comes with it. So, I am sure the adventures will not end here. Here is a run down of some other fun things we were able to do this past summer!

My sister and her husband opened a massage and oxygen bar over the summer called Solace- it has been doing so great and is such a unique and fun place. They were able to get lots of supporters to help promote Solace during the Orem parade. It was alot of fun to go a watch them all in the parade! PS the oxygen bar is so cool- you should go try it!!
Ryan, Jane and I were able to have a fun day when we took Jane to the Children's Discovery Museum in Salt Lake. She loved it and had so much fun! Here she is playing with balls- her favorite!!They could be sent down long tubes, put in holes, sucked up tubes, collected and done all over again! Jane was in heaven :)There was also a whole little city, just Jane's size that she loved to explore! Here are Jane and Ryan in the house where they found a mouse hole with a mouse family livivng inside...Here they are in the kitchen...
Jane loved finally having the fridge at her own level. It was just too bad that all the food was fake- she would have had a hay day :)
Jane loved the little duck pond!
And playing in the water was especially fun for both Jane and Ryan!
After the museum and lunch, we went to the fountain to let Jane run around in the water! Of course we had to show up on the day where bus loads of school groups and summer camps had to show up as well. Jane was way overwhelmed by the thousands of kids and pretty much hated it...oh well, it was worth a shot!
On another outing, we were able to go to Park City to enjoy the Alpine Slides!! Jane yelled, "weee" the whole way down and loved her first big ride!! I had to sit on the sidelines the whole day and watch...ahh pregnancy, it sort of puts a damper on summer. But, there is always next year:)
Jane also loved to ride on the merry-go-round!! Any time we see one Jane has to help herself to a ride...she loves horses!!
We got a little pool this summer and Jane just has a blast in it!
On yet another adventure, we went to the Thanksgiving Point petting zoo on a day that was entirely too hot. But we had fun anyways. This goat actually bit Jane's finger and she was traumatized for a while, she will still talk about that goat that bit her finger to this day!!
She got over the trauma quickly once she was able to ride a real horse!!
She loved those horses so much! She watched them intently for a good long while before we pried her away from them :)

One last picture of Jane, Ryan loves to do stuff like this :) What a great summer we had! I'll start planning the summer fun for next year when I will no longer be huge and we will have another fun little addition to our family!! Life is so great!!

I am the worst mother in the world...

On Monday of this week, yet another dramatic episode unfolded at the Dick household. I had been grocery shopping with Jane, which I am ashamed to admit...I loathe completely. Shopping is unavoidably traumatic with Jane. She feels she is too independent to sit in the cart for longer than five minutes, however, when I let her out to walk and instruct her to follow me she can't seem to keep up with my speedy pace resulting in her being a constant 10 yards behind me. This stresses me out, what with all the kid-napper psychos running around and all. So this process of me putting Jane back in the cart and Jane screaming and crying to be let out rolls forth for the hour and a half I am shopping...not fun!

Naturally, by the time I get home I am tired and rushed to get in the house, put the groceries away and just sit for a few moments. Once I pull into home, with a huge sigh of relief, I get Jane out first and run her into the house, wash her hands and set her up with some books or toys to keep her occupied. Then, I run back out to the car, carefully making sure the door is unlocked behind me, to grab several loads of groceries...always consisting of one bag too many. This inevitably makes me curse my decision to attempt to load as many bags as possible onto my arms as I am running into my house, my arms unconsciously lowering with each step on the verge of an involuntary unload all over our porch...

This particular day, however, as I got to the door of my house I noticed that the door was locked. "No, I am positive I unlocked this door." I thought to myself. So I tried again, sure the first attempt was a fluke. To my slight panic, the door was locked- Jane being inside ALL BY HERSELF, and me outside with my rapidly decaying groceries in the hot sun. "Stay calm, Mary..."I chanted to myself. I dropped the heavy load onto our deck and ran to my car to get my extra set of keys from my purse. My panic increased as I noticed that I had already brought my purse inside and it was now locked, uselessly, inside my house.

After several moments of dumb founded shock, full blown panic set in and the inevitable freak out commenced. Insta-tears flowed from my eyes as I imagined Jane getting electrified some how, or diving head first into an open toilet bowl. I knocked on the door frantically, trying to get Jane to come over by the door, in an attempt to keep her from exploring her new found freedom. Sweet little Jane came and knocked back, I could hear her inside laughing. Several moments were spent trying to get Jane to unlock the door from the inside, which she has recently taught herself to do. That feeble attempt was folly...

Frantically, I called 911 not sure if this would count as an emergency. "What's the address of your emergency?" the lady asked. Weakly, I attempted to explain the situation to the operator, hoping she wouldn't laugh and turn me away. I was not surprised, however, when she said she would send a cop right over. I'm positive all this lady heard was the frantic sobs and sniffles that I was unable to hold back as I talked and simply had to assume several lives were in immediate danger.

I sat draped in front of my door, pathetically sobbing and talking to Jane through the door to keep her calm as we waited for the cops to come. I can only imagine what my neighers were thinking as they watched this rather ungraceful and terribly unheroic scene play on as I cursed my own name outloud... After awhile Jane started to get scared and started to cry as she begged sweetly "mama hug, mama hug." This brought me to the absolute max panic mode and my sobs could no longer be demurely concealed. I felt like the most horrible mother in the world...

The cop eventually came and was absolutely zero help. However, luckily, but to my complete horror, one of my bosses, who owns the park I manage, happened to be at the park and was drawn to my house by the cop car and the sobbing that certainly must have been heard around the park at this point. He whipped out some McGiver tricks and pulled the whole window out and saved the day. Jane and I were reunited. The decaying groceries were put away in enough time to salvage them. And as luck would have it, we still have a job!! Even after I was seen at peak freak-out mode by my boss.

Just another day at the Dick house...(sigh) the drama never ceases!! PS. Jane has forgiven me :)

Ouray!!

This past weekend, Ryan, Jane and I got away for one last weekend getaway before school starts this week for Ryan. We went to the beautiful little town of Ouray, Colorado. It is such a sweet little town that is surrounded by mountains, historical buildings and cute little shops. We had so much fun!! Here is our adorable, Victorian style hotel.
Our room was so unique and just really cute and perfect!! Jane even had her own little room.
Jane turned the shower into her own cool little hide out- she makes any place fun.
After our long drive, we went swimming in this amazing pool. It is completely fed by spring water and stays near 99 degrees year round. It was so relaxing :) Not to mention, it was beautiful to swim in a pool that was completely engulfed by the beautiful, huge Rockies!!
This picture is for my mom! Here is the Main Street Theater where she worked for a summer after she graduated from high school!! It's still there mom...at least I think this is it :)
Our cute little hotel was absolutely perfect and gorgeous, however the only thing it didn't have was a bath. So, Jane was forced to take her first shower... this is her right before the ordeal.
I know this is side ways but too good to pass up! Here she is in the midst of the ordeal...

Here she is right after...poor girl!
We went on a beautiful hike to an amazing water fall hidden inside a mountain. The waterfall was called "Box Canyon Falls".
Here are Ryan and Jane in closer to it!
Here is the view of Ouray as we were hiking down. It doesn't look like its there but it is.
We hiked up another way to the same water fall and this time we got to look down at it from a bridge 200 ft above it! Here are Ryan and Jane hiking through a cave/tunnel to get to it!

Here it is...it's higher than it looks!!!

And here is cute little Jane enjoying some freedom from her "hiking back pack".
We had such a great trip!! What a great way to end our summer :)

Jane's Big Girl Bed!!!

Jane officially turns two next month- she is getting so big way too fast!! And we have another little guy coming shortly after that. So, we decided that it was time to get Jane used to a "Big Girl" bed so we could get the other room ready for the baby!!
Here is Jane in her new adorable bed!! (This is Jane's way of smiling for the camera :))We are proud to say that Jane loves it and warmed up to the change so quickly and smoothly!!!


She stays in her bed so well at night and even during her naps!! She never gets out! Even when she wakes up in the morning, she won't get out until we come and get her. She just sits and talks to herself and plays with her bunny!!
Here is Jane after one of her first nights in her bed...the hair-do suggests that it was definitely a new experience for her- perhaps some exploration of the new found space in her bed occurred. However, she slept all night and stayed in her bed!!
We are so proud of our little Jane- she's the best little girl in the whole world!! We love you Jane!!

POOP ATTACK!!

Well, two days ago we had another first at the Dick house! Every night right before Jane's bath, she goes pee on the potty. This particular night was like any other. Jane peed, we made a big scene of excitement and praise, and Jane got to eat some yogo bites and flush the toilet- a special treat for Jane :)!! Her bath was still filling up so I decided to let her run around naked for a few minutes. She had just gone pee so I figured it would be safe to allow this. Plus, it is just so cute to see Jane run around naked. It is as if she does not notice that she is naked and she goes about her usual activities accordingly. Naturally, it is hilarious.

I was getting Jane's "big girl" bed ready when I heard the one noise I truly dread that comes from Jane...what I like to call, the "poo push." I gasped, dropped the pillow I was holding and ran toward the sound which led me into the kitchen. To my horror I saw Jane in the ready position, a bent over squat, in the middle of a red faced "poo push."

"Nooooo!" I yelled as I ran to Jane, getting to her just in time to see a perfectly formed log, fall to the floor. I picked her up, careful to avoid her little tooshie, and ran her to the toilet. Of coarse, by then she had completed the deed and had left it on our kitchen floor. Sitting on the potty was folly at this point. I showed Ryan, who managed to be in the other room when this all occured and we had a pretty good laugh. Jane, the poop machine herself, joined in our jocularity, though we tried to emphasize that the kitchen is not a good place to go poo.

Though this was pretty nasty, it was actually quite hilarious and will be a story we fully plan on telling future boyfriends that we aren't so keen on. And no worries, Ryan gave Jane an extra thorough bath while I sanitized and mopped the kitchen floor. So, don't let this story stop you from coming to visit the Dick's any time soon !!:)