The past few weeks have gone by quickly. Stewart surprised us and came home from Denver on the 11^th and 12^th to spend some time with us… or was it so I could do his laundry? We had a good (and rather quick) reunion before he went back to Denver to work again. It is always hard to re-adjust back to life with just Sophie and me after he leaves. It is kind of lonely for a few days while we get back into the swing of things.

On Friday the 13^th, I went over to a friends home and helped he make a slip cover for her glider chair. She is expecting baby number two and needed some help from someone who could sew better than herself. We are still not done but so far so good, I should also mention that while it does not look like a pro did it, it does look better than the one that we are covering up. 

On Wednesday the 18^th Stewart came back to Cheyenne this time to do a training course at the Veterans Hospital (VA) so that he can work in their ER during the month of March. He also had to go and visit his nursing home patients for the month. It stinks that he had to do all this on one of his days off from working at the Denver Pediatric ER, but on the plus side we got to see him again. Before we knew he was going to be coming back to Cheyenne for training stuff, Stewart thought it would be a fun idea for Sophie and me to go to Denver on his days off so that we can explore the sights in the area. It just so happened that our planned trip to Denver was the same day he had to come back.

Since I work on Wednesdays tending three extra kids we had to wait until their parents got home around 5:30pm before we could leave. I followed Stewart back to Denver until we got to Thornton, CO. a town just on the Northern side of Downtown Denver. We planned for Stewart to park his car in a parking lot there so he could take over driving the rest of the way to his hotel which was on the Southern side of Denver. Driving in all that Denver traffic is way too scary for me, our plan allowed me to be able to drive in the heavy traffic for a short while but not the ugly stop and go traffic we encountered when Stewart was driving.

Anyway, when we got to Stewarts hotel we got some dinner and then took Sophie swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub. She LOVED swimming, and the best part was that since it was the middle of the week we were the only people in the pool the whole time we were there.

The next day we again took Sophie swimming after breakfast for an hour and then we all came back to the room and got ready for the day. We then drove to the Denver, Aquarium and spent the next several hours looking at all the fish and enjoying the sights. We got to the aquarium about 10 minutes before they had a Mermaid show scheduled. So we booked it to the area and took a seat just in time to watch the show. They had three ladies dressed up as mermaids swimming around in a big tank filled with large fish and a giant sea turtle. They basically dove down into the water and waved at all this kids several times but it was fun to watch. I was impressed with how well they could hold their breath under the water so long.

 After the Mermaids we back tracked to the beginning and enjoyed all the fish we saw. Stewart and Sophie were able to hold a cricket over a tank full of Archer Fish and the fish would shot water up at the cricket to knock it out of their hands. I guess in the wild these fish spit a stream of water up at the crickets they see sitting on the bushes that line the waters edge, they knock them into the water and eat them.

My favorite was probably the desert flash flood exhibit. The walk way that winds around the whole aquarium takes leads into a dark room where they have flashes of lighting and the sound of thunder then all of a sudden a large amount of water comes gushing through the rocks and splashes up against a large plexus screen. I liked it and would have stayed to see it happen again but I think Sophie got a little frightened so we moved on.   

I think Sophie loved the shark tank the best. She stayed there for 30 mins watching those sharks swim around and around. The museum had three large clear cutouts in the floor so you see some of the sharks below your feet swimming. We hung around there for a while to see the workers feed the sharks, it sounded like something we would like to see. It was very anti-climatic, the workers put a fish at the end of a poll and the sharks would grab it off the poll. That was it! And the sharks were not very hungry so it was really kind of boring, not at all what we thought they were would do.

More picture for enjoyment

After the Aquarium we drove back to where we parked Stewart’s car and found a place to eat lunch. We tried a new sub shop we had never eaten at called, Firehouse Subs. Our food was SOOO Good! It is probably a good thing that there is not a franchise here otherwise we would be broke. I also made that statement about Whole Foods Market found in Denver as well; guess it is a good thing we don’t live in Denver. Anyway, after lunch we parted ways, Stewart drove South back to his hotel and I drove North with Sophie back to Cheyenne. We got home about 4, ahead of the rush hour traffic and with plenty of time for us to unpack and settle back into life as we know it in Cheyenne. We left earlier than we had first planned one because Stewart needed time to just do nothing before he went back to work the next day and two because we were all tired from all the other things we had done already so it made since not to pack anymore into our day and where ourselves out.

This was suppose to be a family selfie...

I think that sums up the exciting part of the last two weeks. Stewart moves home again in a week. We are looking forward to that as this is his last Denver rotation, YIPPY! Sophie and I are doing well. I should mention Sophie is still making great progress with her goal to learn to read, I am proud of her and her accomplishments so far. Now if only I could motivate her to love writing as much as she loves reading things would be awesome. 

Where to begin, first off the end of January went by rather fast for me, Stewart finished up his easy rotation in the Pediatric Clinic her in Cheyenne and then on February first drove to Denver to start his next rotation in the Pediatric ER at the Parker Hospital in Denver. We spent the last week of January prepping and organizing stuff so that he would be comfortable while he was in Denver. I made him some meals he could keep in the freezer or refrigerator to have if he ever got tired of hospital food. I also made sure to get all his clothes washed so he would not have to worry about that for the first week. It was a busy week, but a good one as well.

On Friday the 30^th, Stewart and I went on a date which will probably be the last one for a good while. For the next three months or more Stewart will have limited time off (if that) for such outings, so we took advantage of this last chance and arranged to have someone tend Sophie so we could enjoy an evening out together. We went to a restaurant called Poor Richards, we have heard good things about the place so we wanted to check it out ourselves. The food was outstanding but the bill was ugly! Guess that’s why they call it Poor Richards, you come with money and leave with none. We decided that since we were not going to be able to go on any dates for a while we could use up our date allowance for three months all at once otherwise I don’t think we would have gone dinned there. Stewart and I spent the evening catching each other up on what was going on in our lives, and speculating about the future. It was fun to hear what each other had to say about where we thought we would end up once Stewart finishes up his residency in another year. It will be interesting to see where life will take us, as our next move will be the place we will sink roots for longer than three years.

Since Stewarts been in Denver, Sophie and I have kept busy here. Last week was CRAZY! I mentioned before that I started a Nanny Job a few weeks ago. I watch three kids for two to three days a week. I mostly watch the youngest boy who is four during the day and then go and pick up his two older siblings when school gets out at three. I spend a couple of hours with them and then head home shortly after five when their parents get home from work. The job is perfect, it is only two or three days a week and I get to keep Sophie with me, plus she and the little guy seem to play well together for the most part. Anyway about the CRAZY part of last week, that happened on Tuesday, when I ended up tending 4, four year olds all at the same time! I don’t know what I was thinking when I said yes I would watch all 4 of them but I will never do that again. There was way too much drama and I was never happier to send them back to their parents than last Tuesday. My house was such a mess, never again… enough said.

On Wednesday, we got 6 inches of snow! I shoveled the driveway two times, which was probably unnecessary since the snow was almost all melted by Thursday afternoon. Oh well got my workout in for the day. Because it had snowed on Wednesday and Thursday was a beautiful day with not wind, which is rare in Wyoming, and lots of sun I took Sophie and the little guy I nanny sledding at CaHill Park. We invited my friend Kathryn to bring her kids and join us. We had a load of fun, mostly because there were no other people around; in fact we spend over two hours out there!

When I was not watching someone else’s kids I tried to work on my primary sharing time lesson I had to do today. I ended up borrowing my idea from my amazing sister in-law Camille. It was helpful to just use her outline and handouts since I did not have a lot of time to come up with my own sharing time this week… next week though I have a great idea. While I may not love my calling I do enjoy learning and teaching about our Savior Jesus Christ and the many things he did for me/us so that we can return to live with Him and be with our families forever.

Yesterday, Sophie and I went to her friend Garrett Ditson’s birthday 4 year old birthday party. It was a pirate ducky themed party. I helped his mom, Kathryn, make his cake as her first plan fell through. We just make a round cake and put Kit Kat candy bars around it and then added two pirate rubber ducks on top with several chocolate gold coins around them. The idea was to make the ducks look like they were swimming in a pile of gold. The cake turned out ok but not my favorite cake I have ever decorated. I spent many late nights making a knight suit of armor for him out of felt, it turned out cute, but sadly I failed to take a picture of my work. Sophie had a lot of fun and was sad to leave.

Stewart seems to be doing well in Denver so far. He always has a hard time with his health at the beginning of new rotations; it takes his body a week or so to find a groove. I am sure it does not help that he is working a wonky schedule for the month either. He starts at 12 noon and finishes up at 12 midnight. So not only is he trying to adjust to his new surroundings he has to adjust his sleeping habits as well as eating habits. Sometimes the only thing that keeps him alive is the many prayers we send up in his behalf throughout the day, pretty sure of it. He is having great experiences and is learning a lot.

Well it is late and I am tired, tomorrow is laundry day for us and I have a slew of things to do before I go back to work on Tuesday watching more than one kiddo (which can be easier than watching just one kid…occasionally), this week I am tending kids Tuesday through Thursday. Hope it is a good week. Cheers!  

Occasionally Sophie will tell me not to come in her room while she is dressing herself for the day because she wants her clothes to be a surprise. Sometimes her shirts and pants actually match and sometimes they do not. And then there are those days where I just shake my head and go along with her choice of outfits. Today was one of those days, unique all the way. Here is a picture of her to prove it. She wanted to wear the black bow and asked me to fix her hair so she could. She is such a ham and adds so much to our family. We Love you Sophie!

And just because, here are a few pictures of Sophie and myself...