This year, Walmart has created a facebook competition. The community who has the most votes will receive $1 million for their food bank. The next 5 communities will each receive $100,000. Right now, Salt Lake City is in #2! December 31 is the last day to vote and SLC is about 70,000 people behind Fresno, CA who has roughly 180,000 votes while Salt Lake has 110,000 votes (which is about 20,000 more votes than this morning when I checked!) – so come on Utah, let’s get $1 million dollars for our food bank! Vote!
EVE – Salt Lake’s First Night Party
For those who want to venture out of Utah County for the First Night, I would suggest checking out EVE. Many activities take place in the Salt Palace and on West Temple between 100 and 200 South. It all starts on Wednesday, December 29. The cost is $10/person but one child gets in free with every adult ticket purchase. Tickets are available at Fresh Markets and Maveriks. You may also buy tickets at box offices at various events. With your EVE pass, you are also able to ride TRAX free!
Events include improv, karaoke, live music, fireworks, and so much more!
For 50% off EVE tickets, go to Screaming Daily Deals – this is only valid for the rest of the day, December 28.
First Night in Utah County
There are a few activities going on in Utah County on December 31 for New Year’s Eve.
UVU is holding their NYE Newphoria 2011 – located at 800 W. University Parkway in Orem. There will be 2 dance floors, a VIP Room, DJ Marcus Wing, bands: Allred, Ryan Innes, Truman & Preston Pugmire, a wing and juice bar, and bounce houses. Doors open at 9:30 pm and tickets can be bought that night at the door.
First night at Provo Towne Centre (1200 South Towne Centre Blvd, Provo) will include lots of entertainment, food, inflatable games, and fireworks. The party starts at 6 pm and costs $3-4.
For all the singles 31+, there will be a dinner/dance starting at 7:30 pm at LDS Stake Center 800 N 100 W in Pleasant Grove. LDS standards and dress apply. Dresses must be knee length or longer. The cost is $10 and Sunday Dress is encouraged.
Know of another big event happening in Utah County? Let us know!
Holiday and Christmas Lights in Utah County
Update: Holiday and Christmas Lights, Activities, and Events 2013
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I recently posted about the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, however, there are a few places to look at lights in Utah County as well if you are looking for some last-minute light-seeing.
One place to see some lights is at Thanksgiving Point. It is a more expensive option but I’ve heard it is a good place to go. Unfortunately, these lights will end on Monday and they will not be open on Saturday or Sunday. They run from 6-10 pm except for Christmas Eve in which they will be on from 6-8 pm. Here’s the pricing:
$8/car (1/2 price for Thanksgiving Point Members)
$2/trolley (per person, 25 person maximum) – $50/reserved trolley
$3/wagon (per person, 35 person maximum)- $90/reserved wagon
$30/carriage (up to 4 adults)
$25/bus
Another option is the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights. I have never been to this one either but I’ve heard it’s well worth the money. This one is at Canyon View Park in Spanish Fork (3300 E. Powerhouse Rd.) and is $5/car or $25/large bus. These lights carry on until New Year’s Day and are on from 6-10 pm.
Clas Ropes Course in Provo offers a riverboat ride along the Provo River. There are only a couple of days left to take advantage of this one – it ends on Monday, December 27. This ride lasts 25 minutes and leaves every half hour. This ride is filled with music, beautiful scenery of sparkling lights along the river, and even a special visit from Santa Clause. This is $7/person or $28/family – kids under 2 get in free!
Sunday is the last day you can visit the Holdman House. If you want to see a spectacular house, this is the place. Located in Pleasant Grove, it provides an animated light display. Since this is a gated community, the HOA has only allowed visitors during certain days and Sunday is the last allowed day – any other day, you will be sorely disappointed. It is located at 3183 Millcreek Road in Pleasant Grove, Utah and is free!
China’s Lost Girls
My husband and I are going to end our Netflix account soon and so we’ve been trying to watch as many shows as possible before we give it up. Because of the snow and the holiday season, we decided to take most of the day off from work yesterday. He had found this television episode called “National Geographic: China’s Lost Girls.” Thinking it sounded innocent enough, we enjoyed our lunch while watching it.
Little did we know, it is a heart wrenching show. Not only is it about how Chinese baby girls are unwanted, but it shows some American families going to China to pick up their new adopted daughter. If you are looking for a touching show to watch, I would highly recommend it. But make sure you keep the tissues close by!
Locks of Love
As a child, I had long hair up until I was about 10 years old. It was really long. The stylist who cut my hair let us know that I could donate my long hair to other children who have lost their hair – that my hair could be made into a wig for them. My mom thought it was a great idea so we did it.
My hair grows about an inch a month so if I don’t get my hair trimmed too often, I can grow out my hair pretty fast. I have only donated my hair a few times to Locks of Love but it’s so worth it. In fact, I’m sitting next to the envelope that is going to send my 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love right now and I am so excited to get it sent.
Apparently, a lot of children donate their hair to other children so if your child has long hair and is getting at least 10 inches cut off, I would recommend encouraging them to donate it to Locks of Love!
Many salons will donate the hair for you or you can donate it yourself if they don’t. I went to a neighbor who cut my hair and she made sure my 10 inches of hair was together with rubber bands. I put it into a plastic bag, put it into a mailing envelope, and sent it off. It’s so simple!
The Period of Purple Crying
My baby went through a period of time where she cried everyday around the same time. Luckily I was able to soothe her by holding her and she wouldn’t cry as much but it was definitely hard to hear her crying.
I was warned several times about “The Period of Purple Crying” which is the time when babies cry a lot for no reason. With the jobs I have done, I have worked with many moms who have not been able to deal well with crying babies and it worries me. I don’t think that many moms know that it’s okay to put the baby in a safe place and walk away for a while.
I think mothers are inherently given this emotion/thing that causes them to move and react to the sound of a baby crying. But this is a huge problem when a mother has a baby who cries for no apparent reason for extended periods of time.
If you don’t know much about how to handle a baby’s cry, I would strongly recommend learning more about The Period of Purple Crying.
It’s so important to keep the baby safe from any harm that you may want to cause after listening to a baby cry for so long and it’s important to keep your sanity. When our baby cries too much for my husband to handle, he takes her into her room, swaddles her, and lays her in her crib to let her cry it out. Sometimes she just feels upset and there is nothing we can do to help her so letting her cry helps her get all of her energy and sadness out. When she has calmed down, my husband will go back in, give her a pacifier, rub her head to soothe her (she has this amazing, thick hair), and tell her he loves her. She was able to stay safe in her crib while he is able to get some things done and get away from her screaming.
I also am a strong believer in the 5 “S”s of soothing a baby. It rarely works if my baby is crying for no reason but to cry, but it helped calm her down a lot the first few weeks of life. They are:
- swaddle: wrap the baby so the baby can’t wiggle its arms and legs – it helps keep baby safe from flailing arms and legs
- side/stomach: holding the baby on its side or stomach helps calm the baby
- shushing sounds: any sort of white noise may help the baby feel calm. We normally just say “shh” but vacuums, fans, hair dryers, running water, and other similar noises can imitate the whooshing noises the baby used to hear in the womb which is soothing
- swinging: while in the womb, the baby spent a lot of time swaying in all the fluids. Babies seem to love the calming effect of being swung
- sucking: this triggers a calming reflex. We gave our baby a pacifier after a week or so of a lot of crying. She absolutely loves it when she feels really upset and needs to feel calm again
Temple Square Lights
If you haven’t been to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square, I would definitely recommend it.
When I was young, my parents would always take me on Christmas Eve. It was so fun to see all of the lights, listen to the Christmas Story, and feel the Christmas excitement in the air.
As my husband and I have tried to start our own Christmas traditions, this has not been included but we may have to start going now that we have a little one who loves bright lights and people – it’s the perfect environment for her. It’s just too bad her bedtime is 7 pm!
The Temple Square lights will run until January 2, 2011. I believe the lights stay on until about 10 pm and the visitor’s centers stay open until 9 pm. This event is free and very worth the drive!
The Season Pass of All Passes
April 2012 UPDATE: Looking for the Pass of All Passes? Must Have Giveaways will be giving away FOUR Pass of All Passes away on 4/19. The giveaway will run between 4/9 until 4/19. And currently they are giving away gift cards to Cafe Zupas!
August 2011: $29.95 for a Pass of All Passes until Labor Day, September 5. Look at the FAQ to find out how to get this deal!
Update: As this screamindailydeals.com pass is no longer available, see this post about the current pass offer.
This is one of the most amazing passes. It has a value of $300 and only costs $40+tax. Here’s the benefits:
Seven Peaks Waterpark
•Unlimited admission on days of normal operation
•A 3% discount on food in the park
Trafalga Fun Center, Orem
•Unlimited Mini Golf
•Unlimited Slick Track
•Unlimited XD Theater
•Unlimited Batting Cages
•Does not include arcade tokens
Trafalga Fun Center, Lehi (Formerly Liberty Land)
•Unlimited Mini Golf
•Unlimited Laser Tag
•Unlimited Slick Track
•Unlimited Bumper Boats
•Unlimited Rush Coaster
•Unlimited Rock Climbing
•Unlimited Carousel
•Unlimited Frog Hopper
•Unlimited Kiddie Area
•Unlimited Pirate Ship
•Unlimited Train & Airplane
•Unlimited Mini Track
•Unlimited Drop Tower
•Does not include arcade tokens
Orem Owlz Games (at Brent Brown Ballpark)
•Unlimited General Admission Tickets
•One ticket per home game per pass
Utah Flash Games (at McKay Events Center)
•Unlimited General Admission Tickets
•One ticket per home game per pass
The catch? It’s only available today, December 16, 2010 but you can use it for the next 12 months! Buy it for a gift or to keep your kids entertained this upcoming year!
Driving with Cell Phones
Today I was leaving a voice mail while I was driving. I realized I wasn’t paying attention at all to what I was doing and what was going on around me.
Although texting is really bad and you can get a ticket for texting and driving, what about talking on the phone and driving? For some reason, once you bring that cell phone to your ear, it becomes harder to concentrate on driving and talking. After yesterday, I feel like talking on the phone should be illegal too. It’s just too hard to drive and talk.
What do you think?
A Baby’s Sleep
It always amazes me – no matter what time we put the baby to bed, she always wakes up around the same time each morning. At first I would try to keep her up later so she’d stay asleep longer but I finally realized that doing so doesn’t lead to later mornings. If anything, it led to the exact opposite because she was extra tired.
I also learned it was the same with naps – if she takes fewer naps during the day than usual, she’ll sleep less at night. However, the days that my baby gets her 3 full-length naps in, she will sleep about 11 hours each night. It’s amazing how that works.
I read a few months ago to put a baby down for a nap or for the night 20 minutes before you usually do if the baby cries before sleeping. I tried it but it didn’t seem to work. We kept her at that time but she’d still complain quite a bit.
A friend reminded me a couple weeks later about the same thing so I moved her nap/sleep time up by 20 more minutes and it’s been an amazing change. She goes to sleep without any problems … usually!
Bloch Exhibit
I took a Humanities class a few years ago and absolutely loved it. After taking a second one from a different professor, however, I learned that it was all about the professor and had very little to do with how I felt about the Humanities. One thing I learned from my first professor was how amazing artists are. I learned to try to take everything in from a painting and I learned to try to imagine how the artist was thinking and feeling at the time that he/she painted the masterpiece.
When Brigham Young University announced it’s Carl Bloch exhibit, I couldn’t wait to attend. I looked forward to being able to see some of his pieces in real life without having to travel to Norway to see them. I reserved my free tickets and patiently waited for the second night of its opening which was when our tickets were for.
It was better than I could have ever imagined. This guy was one amazing artist and I would not have wanted to miss this for the world!
Preparing for Motherhood
A couple of weeks ago, a friend who just had a baby had a baby shower (her baby arrived 5 weeks early). I was sitting next to her at this event and she leaned over to me and said, “Does it get easier?”
I just read a forum post that asked if anyone was really fully prepared for motherhood which got me thinking about 13 months ago when I found out I was going to be a mom for the first time.
My husband and I had decided when we first got married that we were going to wait a couple of years and then talk about having kids. He had a degree to finish and I wanted to get a good, full-time job so we could save some good money for a home. However, 5 months into marriage, we got pregnant. Sometimes we claim that we didn’t plan the pregnancy or that we didn’t know it was coming, but we actually did … we were just in strong denial and didn’t want to admit our plans had changed.
Lots of people gave me advice for pregnancy, labor and delivery, and for sleepless nights after the arrival of the baby. I read some books and read articles and forums online. I thought I had a pretty good idea of how tough it would be to be a mom. Little did I know, motherhood is nothing like I expected it to be. For some reason, there is no real, good way of explaining what it’s like to be a mother.
Like many people in the forum that I was reading mentioned, nursing the baby is a lot harder than I expected. I spent many hours crying from it because not only was I not producing enough milk , but it hurt more than I could have ever imagined. I felt like all I was doing was trying to sleep, feeding the baby, and changing diapers. In fact, the first couple of weeks, I’m pretty sure that’s all I did do. There just wasn’t much time for anything else after a one-hour feeding. I felt like I had a productive day if I actually ate three meals and prepared one of them myself – even if it was just pouring my own bowl of cereal. It was a tough few weeks.
At 5 weeks, my baby began sleeping 6-8 hours each night. I had never valued sleep as much as I did at that time. This was also when I started realizing how great motherhood is and realizing that I could make it through this. Looking back on the first 5 weeks, I have realized that sleep is really important to functioning normally. I don’t remember much of the first 5 weeks because of sheer exhaustion. At 5 weeks, when people asked me how I was doing, I could honestly reply, “Each day gets better and I love it.”
Now 5 months later, I am still loving being a mom. Some days I wish I didn’t have to clean up any messy diapers or have to deal with a grumpy baby, but I really can’t imagine my life being any different. This is the most rewarding experience I could have ever imagined for myself.
But at the same time, to all of my friends who have recently become new mothers, I cannot even begin to describe what being a mother is going to be like for the first couple of months. There’s no way to put into words the extreme lows and the extreme highs and everything in between. But to answer the question, “Does it get easier,” my reply is, “Yes! It gets easier and so much better!”
Tail Riding
I’ve only been a mom for about 5 months but in those months I’ve become very aware of all those people who ride my tail while driving. And it bothers me, especially when they’re big trucks.
I just don’t know if they understand that I have very precious cargo in my back seat. She is so sweet and innocent and small … if she was taken from me because someone was riding my tail, I’d be pretty upset.
So if you’re ever tempted to ride someone’s tail, think about it first. If you hit that car, was it worth it?
Kellog’s Cinnabon & Pringles
My husband and I decided to stop by the store real fast tonight to grab some cheese and eggs. Not only did we get those two things, but we came out with 10 cans of Pringles and 10 boxes of this wonderful Kellog’s cereal, Cinnabon. The cereal has a great cinnamon flavor and is perfect to eat first thing in the morning.
By the way, I got some amazing deals at Smith’s – the Pringles were $1 each and the cereal was $1.34 each. Both are pretty great deals if you ask me!
-K
