Michelle in Utah - Day 6 [Stolen From Cindy]

Today Michelle spent the day with Katie (again). They had a picnic on the lawn and Michelle played in water. We went to McDonald's for dinner since I knew she would eat chicken nuggets. Michelle had a great time in play area although she apparently didn't really get the idea of which part of the area she was to play in...



We did video conferencing with Mark & Rachel (and Jason and Debra).

Here are the pictures Michelle drew a few days ago. Notice that my hair is pretty flat (as it really is) and I have no fingers.

Michelle's hair is pretty curly (as it really is) and she has fingers (as she really does).

And Katie's fingers (see far right side of picture) are not attached to her non-existent hand (nor to her arm)...not exactly how it really is. But she DID get the fingers on the paper (I don't have fingers).

At least Michelle remembered what my colleague suggested about drawing fingers on people!
Becca came to Cedar this evening for her graduation on Saturday. Michelle chose to sleep in Becca's room (lucky Becca!).

P.S. Although it looks like Michelle is pulling a Nathan, this was her second outfit of the day and it was washed last night.

Michelle in Utah - Day 5 [Stolen From Cindy]

Today Michelle spent part of the day with me, part with Katie. While with me she went to visit a student (at her home) and got to play with a little girl about Jason's age and eat the girl's pretzels (being the biggest and most verbal has its advantages!).
While with Katie, they went to the cool park again (and yes, Katie DOES have a nice sunburn).
At 5 p.m. we all went out to the SUU farm and picked out two garden plots (so we can have a garden this summer). On the way home we stopped at my office for me to shut things down, then took a walking tour of SUU.

Michelle had fun playing in water,

running on big grassy fields, climbing on rocks (and anything else available) and running with some dogs.

A good time was had by all.

Michelle tried to call Rachel to tell her happy birthday...but Rachel and Mark had gone out to dinner. Michelle had quite a nice talk (I can only assume, since no one really knows what Jason is saying) with Jason.
Tonight Michelle is sleeping in an IKEA kids tent in the family room.

Michelle in Utah - Day 4 [Stolen From Cindy]

Katie and Michelle went to a really cool park today (Katie will pay for it with a sun burn).

This evening, Michelle and I made bread (and she ate a lot of dough).

Michelle in Utah - Day 3 [Stolen From Cindy]

Michelle went to work (school) with me this morning. She was quite content playing in my office (watching a video, drawing, etc.) until I realized that I was supposed to be in a meeting 30 minutes earlier! I called Katie in a panic; Katie came and saved the day...and I spend the rest of the day in meetings.
Michelle figured out that although she can't pedal my exercise bike while sitting on the seat, she can ride it backwards (ish).

This evening Michelle went to FHE with Katie. It was dinner in a park. There were a couple of other kids there with whom Michelle played.
Oh yes, she drew a picture of herself and one of me (basically heads with arms and legs protruding from them...not bad for a 3 year old; they are now taped up in my office). A colleague was kind enough to ask Michelle about the pictures and Michelle explained who they were - and the colleague asked about fingers and hair, then encouraged Michelle to add both features. (This plays into something later - stay tuned, as if you could pull yourself away!)

Michelle in Utah - Day 2 [Stolen from Cindy]

Michelle went to church with me (because my ward has a primary and Katie's doesn't). She was well-behaved in Sacrament meeting and walked right into Primary and sat down without any prompting! During the last hour of the block, she appeared (with an adult escort) and stayed with me the rest of the time. I don't really know if she was "kicked out" or just had had enough and wanted to leave...either way, she was fine with me for the duration.
After church we (I use the term loosely) made play dough and got out the bucket of toys. Michelle had a good time cutting (with a dull knife and/or cookie cutters, for those interested) and squeezing the dough.

Michelle's Visit to Utah - Day 1 (really night 1) [Stolen From Cindy]

We left Irvine around 9 or 9:30 p.m. Michelle stayed awake for 30 minutes, then slept for 3 hours. She woke up 30 minutes outside of Las Vegas - not bad since I needed to stop for gas anyway and that would probably wake her up anyway. We got gas, got back on the road and drove about 3 miles before we found ourselves prisoners on I-15. There had been an accident; we spent the next approximately 2 hours sitting (really, in PARK) on the freeway. Michelle was awake the WHOLE time...and talked non-stop the whole time! Fortunately she did not seem distressed by the fact that it was 2 in the morning and we were sitting in a car in the middle of a freeway surrounded by other cars and many semi-trailers (THAT was lucky!). After a stop at a Las Vegas McDonalds (at about 3 a.m.) for some fries, the rest of the trip was quite uneventful. When I pulled into my driveway, Michelle woke up and said, "Did we make it?"
Michelle had a LONG nap on the couch in her farm boots.

When she woke up, we went to the SUU farm to see the lambs. Michelle wasn't really interested in the lambs so we went and said hello to the horses.

Since "Saturday is a special day, it is the day we get ready for Sunday," Michelle had a bath and washed her own hair (with a bit of help).

I think it has been well-established that Michelle doesn't typically sleep in her bed... and she was true to her colors here in Utah. Please note that she is sleeping on the floor (next to the foam pad) under a bath towel (rather than under any of the numerous blankets at her disposal.

Fire at church (in Irvine) - [Stolen From Cindy's Blog]

[I stole this and a few others from Cindy's Blog - The others will make more sense as to why I stole them... This one was exciting though!]
So at the end of Sacrament Meeting the fellow who was conducting said the bishop was going to say a few words. He did. He said that there had been (while we were in Sacrament Meeting) a fire in the church! He said that was why we would see firemen and policemen in the building. He said that if the smoke was too bad in some places, they would move people around.

I left after the meeting, ran home, got my camera and returned to take pictures (yep, I AM Debra's sister). When I left there was a policeman in the parking lot taking a video of the license plates on all the cars. He was done when I got back.


Here you will see a police car and a crime scene investigation van! Nice!!!

Here are the fire engines. What excitement.

[Update: Apparently there was a fire in the trash can in the men's room. It burned the trash can and also the wall (the whole building is basically brick so we got lucky). The bathroom is planning on being closed for weeks - well, the bathroom technically isn't doing the planning, but you get the idea...]