Merry Christmas from the Altman Family

Happy Fourth of July

This past weekend, we went on vacation, but only traveled 20 minutes to get there. So, I guess that is what you call a "staycation."

We were planning on going to the symphony at Deer Valley on Saturday night with some neighbors, and then decided it would be fun to also go up for the parade on Sunday morning, so why not stay the night in Park City? When I found such a good deal at the new Waldorf Astoria ($99/night), we decided to stay for two nights.

Oh, I am pretty sure the rate we got on the room was a mistake because when another family tried to book at the same rate, the website had been changed with the correct promotional rate of $199/night. Oh well. Their mistake. Our gain. We lived like the elite for a few days...champagne tastes on a beer budget.

Here are some pics of our "vacation house" as Carolyn called it.

We started our weekend with a night at the symphony with our neighbors Brian & Katie, who have two girls, Abby (almost 4)and Emily (18 months). It was at the Deer Valley amphitheater and they played all patriotic tunes. My favorite part of the evening was when Carolyn started singing along to the "Ants Go Marching" song. As for the picture of her in the tall grass, she thought she was playing hide-n-seek with a group of older kids. She was sad when they ran right past her, instead of saying "I found you." Poor girl. She tried to fit in with the big kids, but they hardly even noticed her.

We went to the parade on Sunday morning, but Carolyn was not all that interested. Who could blame her, we did not have the best of view. Instead, she insisted on going back to the playground that she spotted when we were walking to the parade route. It was perfect timing because she had the whole place to herself since all of the other kids were busy watching the parade. We then meandered around the street festival, listened to some music, and ate lunch on Main Street. For lunch, Carolyn told me that she wanted to eat tofu, green beans, brown rice, and kiwi. We had to settle for a slice of watermelon and a crepe with roasted veggies and chicken.

Next, Steve played golf with some friends, while Carolyn and I relaxed back at the hotel. I think her favorite part of vacation might have been jumping on the bed in our room.

When Steve got back from golf, we made ourselves a picnic dinner (well, more accurately, we bought it from Whole Foods) and took the shuttle to the golf course where we had a great view of evening's fireworks. For this meal, Carolyn did get her tofu! She was even more pleased with her special treat, a piece of berry streusel. As the sun began to set we realized how very cold it was going to be and how unprepared we were for the extreme drop in temperature. We dug through our bags for anything that might keep us warm. We used socks as mittens, sunhats on our heads, and all three of us bundled together in the blanket. I am not exaggerating; we were in survival mode.... it was 43 degrees! The thermometer on the shuttle confirmed it and so did the evening's news.

On Monday morning, we slept in, spent some time in the pool, and enjoyed a final brunch before we went back home, where we all took a 3 hour nap. Now, that is how holiday weekends should be spent!

Happy Father's Day

... to Steve, a caring and compassionate father. I love to see you in action with Carolyn. She adores you.

....to our dad's. Thanks for setting such good examples, so that we know how to be the best parents we can be.

Birthdays

Here is what 35 looks like .....

And here is what 4 looks like .....

Thank you Emerson for sharing your birthday party with me.

It was fun to be around for all of the family fun.

Some more holiday photos

One of Carolyn's favorite gifts this year was the "baby" she received. My grandma made Raggedy Ann for me when I was young, and it was gifted to Carolyn this year from my parents.

She also really likes her "Bugs in a Jug" toy. She picked this out at the toy store, and it was the one toy that she has played with consistently since getting it. She pulls them out, puts them back in, pulls them out, puts them back in .... Yesterday, she had taken the jug into her room, pulled out all of the bugs, lined them up on the floor, covered them in a blanket and was patting them saying "Night Night".

She quickly learned how to unwrap gifts. Here, dad is helping her open up a picture of her and her cousins. As soon as she saw it, she smiled and said "Addie".

And, for whatever reason, her obsession right now is with bags. Every gift that she opened had to be put into a bag. She then had to put all of her loaded bags onto her push cart. God forbid she ever is homeless, but I am relieved to see that she might do OK given her ability to load up her cart with all of her cherished belongings.

Merry Christmas

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas. A tradition in our household is to wear matching PJs on Christmas Eve (well, this year, they were coordinating). Check back later for more photos.

HO HO HO - I hate him

Not so much a fan of Santa Claus this year .... she will say HO HO HO anytime she sees a Santa. She pulls out her "Twas The Night Before Christmas" book every night and kisses santa good night, but she certainly did not appreciate meeting him in person.

A Long Awaited Post (November)

See some pictures of our holiday in Dayton.... thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and I am fortunate to be able to spend it with my family. This year, the Altmans came down too, so we were able to spend the holiday with both sides of our family.

A tradition in the Utz household is to make homemade noodles, which are served on top of mashed potatoes. Yum! Carolyn helped this year .... and so did Sadie, who ate almost the entire batch of drying noodles while we were out to dinner.

Another thanksgiving tradition includes a craft that everyone has to do. We receive it in our invitation and must bring it to the feast. This year, everyone had to make a napkin, saying what they are thankful for. Here is a photo of the boys displaying their napkins. And, note that Jason is wearing the turkey hat, meaning that he won the "over-eaters award" this year.

In the Utz household, we play a lot of games, too. Scrabble was the crowd favorite this year. Grandpops Harry certainly made up a lot of words, and somehow ended up winning too!

Carolyn enjoyed playing with her cousins, Addie & Emerson. She especially liked all the attention she got from Addie. Addie taught her a lot of new words, including "What does a snake say?" Since we have been home, Carolyn says "Addie" a lot. I think she misses her.

The grandparents also provided a whole of entertainment for Carolyn. She loved every minute of it, and so did they! Grandpops Harry gave her as many blueberries as she wanted. Great Granny loved to hold her. And Grandpa Mike had a cool chair that she learned how to climb up, so she could curl up and nap with him. Grandma Carol gave Carolyn a new stuffed giraffe, which may end up replacing Kitty as her favorite. And, Grandma Lynn made her laugh and laugh!

All of this fun made for one tired little girl.

The little duck

Here are a few pictures of the Halloween costume I made for Carolyn:

Pumpkin Carving

The other night, several friends came over with their pumpkins and knives. Together, we ate donuts and cider, and baked pumpkin seeds. And, oh yeah, check out the pumpkins we carved. I carved the one with the cat and pumpkin in the window. Cool, eh?

My First Mother's Day

I have always enjoyed recognizing my mom on Mother's Day, but I did not fully realize how special the day is until this year, my first time to experience the day as a mother. First, I got the card with Carolyn's foot prints which made me cry. Then, I had a fabulous weekend-- thanks to Steve, who made a real effort to recognize and appreciate me as a mother. On Saturday night, we got dressed up and went out to dinner... a nice, long dinner with multiple courses and cocktails. It was so nice to have adult conversation and not worry about keeping Carolyn quiet and entertained. Carolyn was home with a babysitter. And, we were fortunate to spend the evening with Nikki and Joshua, who decided to blow off an event they were supposed to go to. On Sunday morning, Steve took us to brunch. Here, we had to take turns juggling Carolyn and making sure that we did not leave a mess of food on the floor around her, but it was fun to be out as a family. Carolyn's new thing is to give kisses. Again, my heart melted.