While Vacationing in Sun Valley this Week

Down Doggie at the DG***

So we are alive. Sometimes I tweet about it; sometimes I update my fb status about it; but mostly I just blog telepathically in my mind, and then don't realize until the 23rd an entire month has passed with out documenting our comings and goings on the web+log.

In a nutshell, life is good. Both of the boys have bdays next month, and I somehow convinced Danny that (even though we have a balance on our AMEX) the universe wants us to take a Disney cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate their birthdays, Valentines Day AND Mother's Day this Spring (this really took the pressure off me stalking **Dan Patrick for the next two weeks trying to get an autographed copy of his mug).

There were just so many signs pointing in that direction (of the cruise, not so much DP's mug). First, I haven't been tan in what feels like ages (except that fake spray-on for the Snooki-bit). B, Danny and I definitely need some alone time, and our room comes with a sheet-like curtain of sorts in our cabin to pull across for privacy. Thirdly, we had Skymiles for two plane tickets...so its like the universe would not take NO for an answer (or maybe that was just me. I can be kind of persuasive if I need to be.)

Any-who... on the docket for next month? More yoga! But with a shift in focus to Holden -- which only makes sense. He will be two!

Here's the little guy showing off Balasana (child's pose)***

We've been loving our Mommy & Me Yoga class at Shiva Center with Brandi Allen. It's been a great way to kick-off our week and get Holden started on his own yogic path of discovery. Actually, his favorite parts involving nose-honking the studio's Arjuna statue and trying to feed the Ganesh figurine almonds from the alter, but it's a safe-place for me. And now I get a chance to pay it forward.

I will be guest instructing two days (four classes) at Discovery Gateway -- SLC's Children's Museum- - next month leading the 18 month - 3 yr old "Music in Motion" class focusing on YOGA! My segments will be Monday the 7th and (President's Day) the 21st at 11:00 am and 12:00 pm. From my understanding, classes are FREE for members, and for single-day visitors the ($8.00?) cost of admission into the museum covers the class as well. Classes cap at 12 students, so it's first-come first-serve basis.

It also looks like I'll also be making another appearance on FOX's weekend morning show next month -- most likely Saturday the 19th . The focus will be on the benefits of Kids Yoga and easy ways to get your little ones involved in body movement and creative exploration yoga-style. I'll let you know more details as they firm up.

In the meantime, if you're wondering about the bajillion benefits that can come from kids practicing yoga, check out this awesome article that ran last spring in the Columbia Tribune. And then join us for a class!

Namaste friends.

*Whit and Bridge and any other DG's - do you get nostalgic and think I'm talking about your college stomping ground when you read that?

**Danny's Man-Crush. My husband was once asked who he would most like to go to lunch with if space and time were of no consequence and he responded, "I know I should say like Ghandi or Jesus, but I think Id have to go with Dan Patrick."

**It would be more truthful to say he was protesting Down-dog. If I remember correctly, I was anxious to get a photo of his yoga skills and he was anxious to prove he wasn't interested in showing off for the camera. But you get the idea.

Before there was snow, there was SUN

Here's a little piece of airline trivia: The three letter airport code for Sun Valley, ID is S-U-N, that's right "SUN."

You know Sun Valley. The US's first destination winter resort? Where Hemingway completed "For Whom the Bell Tolls"? Playground for the Kennedy's back in the day? Ring any bells? Or shall we say "Toll any bells?" Ha! See what I did there? Genius.

So before Salt Lake got waylaid with snow this week, but just a weekend after I had run 26.2 miles (yep, still talking about it, ha!), the Mangums took a little trip North, past Napoleon Dynamite territory to this fabulous resort town.

Danny's family has been going to Sun Valley since before he was born. His Grandmother "G.G" as we call her (Grandma Great since she's Holden's great grandma), tells the story of the family being up on Sunday morning and telling the kids: "Well we have a choice. We can either get ready and go to church or pack up in the car and drive to Sun Valley for prime rib at Warm Springs Lodge." I'm sure you can guess the outcome.

My love affair with the resort town started a little differently. I used to nanny for the daughter of Sun Valley Resort's owner (Earl Holding). The family would take summer vacations and spend Christmas up there. Years later, when I worked for SkyWest, I found myself revisiting for Christmas parties with our dear friends that wrote and published SkyWest Magazine (Go! Publications out of Boise, ID).

Sun Valley has a special place in both Danny's and my heart(s).

So off we went. Holden's first trip to one playground of the rich and famous.

But what to do? We'll we've got our regular haunts, but it's always nice to check in with the locals when you're wondering where to eat and what to do.

So we did.

With 2665 of them.

The Sun Valley Guide published the results of the local's favorites -- from best breakfast to bike shop tune up. Our weekend also happened to coincide with the Annual "Trailing of the Sheep Festival," which among the many festivities ended with a parade on Sunday where 2000 sheep were brought down from highland to low land through Main Street in Ketchum. Classic. Holden loved it, and kept signing "More" while saying "Baaaa."

The boys waiting for the sheep

And here they are!

being blessed by a priest

Big cheers from the Little Guy

Sun in the eyes

This was before the parade; Holden was playing with his little skateboard (about the size of my thumb)

and then found a local skater and decided to try out the real thing

Here are some of the things we did (in no particular order):

1. Danny and I took a 30 mile bike ride (15 out to Hailey and 15 back to Elkhorn). I'm not a cyclist. Prior to that ride, I the furthest I had ever gone was the nine miles I did for the Bountiful sprint triathalon in 1999. (My sit bones were kind of numb.)
2. Coconut Steamers & breakfasts at Java (the blueberry muffins were Holden's fave)


3. We ordered Holden a cup of whipped cream (among other things) at Christina's. He had been eyeing everyone's warm drinks and wanted something to call his own
4. Romantic date night at the Ketchum Grille with Danny. His parents had Little Bits and we were treated to live Jazz music table-side
5. Hashbrown skillet and blueberry pancakes at The Kneadery (and whipped cream in Holden milk since we were all indulging in hot cocoa)


6. Four mile run and the serious realization why one should take a few weeks off of running apres your first marathon.
   SV Duck Pond & Dad's Shoulders
   


7. Sun Valley Resort for the duck pond (trying to feed them, but Holden just kept eating the bread we got for the ducks); Bald Mountain Pizza and a new *Vera Bradley from the gift shop I am now declaring the swankiest diaper bag I will ever own. (It's called "the weekender." How fitting right? And the color scheme is Baroque.)
8. Sandwhiches from Perrys (hailed as Sun Valley's best bakery)
9. Pedicure at "In N' Out Salon" (not the burger joint) where I was mistaken for a local (did I mention I LOVE the off season?) And Danny and the grandparents took Holden to see horses
   
10. Despos ('Best Mexican') for dinner and Holden's first real come apart when I suggested he share a toy. Usually the kid is so game...not so much om this particular night.
11. Some Signing Time, a French 'cartoon' and a lot of Beverly Hills Chihuahua for the roadtrip

And not a Walmart or McDonalds for miles....ahhh, heaven.

*So what is it with Old Lady Bags, you ask? Well, a decade ago, when I was a flight attendant, there were certain 'routes' I would fly where these bags kept popping up. Sun Valley in the summer time was definitely one of them; but any place that was famous for it's vineyards, wine, etc. It seemed that these 'weekenders' on my flight had a certain air about them. Not necessarily hoity-toity; but they always seemed so put together... they'd wear designer slacks or crisp pressed linen pants (how does one keep linen 'crisp?', designer sun glasses and toowhite sweaters tied around their shoulders... and more often than not they'd be sporting a Vera Bradley. That's when the love affair began. They're not ridiculously pricey like a Burberry or Prada bag; AND YOU CAN WASH THEM! So naturally, I now have three in various shapes, sizes and colors.

Obligatory Time Square Tourist Photo-Op

So we got home from NYC last night. It was a quick -- but friggin' delightful -- holiday trip. More updates, photos, etc later. But for now I will say that Holden was (is?) beloved in that city: not a lot of blond-haired-blue-eyed babies out there.

This is just to wet your whistle ... or whet your appetite. Or if you're into mixing metaphors like me, wet your appetite.

California Dreamin'

If you've seen these on Facebook, forgive the repetition; but for the rest of you --and the Mangum online family Journal-- a little recap of our trip last month to The OC (no Adam Brody sightings though.)

MICKEY'S PLACE
I love Disneyworld (though I prefer it when I'm not pregnant).
I love Disneyland.
I love how attentive the "cast members" are and the blissful level of customer service they provide...I love their roller coasters, and free falls, and pineapple freezes from next door Tiki Lounge. I love the parades and how much my husband loves churros. (I tweeted about him giving one to Holden saying it was 'organic.'

Where's Jasmin?
Holden could not figure out who this Genie character is...
whole new world for the little guy I guess, eh?

The boys in front of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

"There can be only one..." Oh wait, wrong show.

Life's a Beach...

Holden gets in deep with the cousins

Just for the record, I love this next picture:

Little Bits soaking up the sun...burn.
(Just kidding, he was not shirtless for long.)
Also, please note his awesome SWIM DIAPER!
It's from Little For Now, the online store we buy our cloth diapers & training pants from.
This little Summer accoutrement is better for the environment AND your wallet!

Lego Land...
(yawn) crossed of the list (yawn again).

So I know people love this place, but I will stick with Disney. There were only four rides Holden could actually go on, their parent "ride-share/swap" system is far inferior to The Happiest Place on Earth's, and the rides seemed geared to the 4 - 7 yr old crowd (which may be what some are looking for?), I found the roller coasters a step above 'Puff' at Lagoon and really not much for the adults. But we still had a great time, I'm just glad to have checked it out when Holden was FREE and we weren't wasting two adults admission (Danny had already headed back to Salt Lake for work). The high point of this place is Miniland: entire cities built out of legos, and the decor throughout the place is naturally exhibits of... well Legos, of course.

Some of the highlights:

Grandpa TOM (The Old Man) having a very important conference call

Like I mentioned, Little Bits wasn't big enough for most of the rides...
so he settled for this stationary lego car.

Holden and Mama Suite

Posing with Bob the Builder

Giant Dino, Me & Little Bits (we survived his wrath)

There was this small 'hill' of concrete that Holden liked
to play on outside our favorite ride...
but then he decided he just wanted to lay on it.

The cousins

Plastic strollers make the best beds...
just like Ergo Baby Carriers make the best blankets, apparently.

You can check out the full photo collection HERE.

Missions Accomplished

So here we are... in semi-sunny SoCal (aka THE OC). The weather yesterday was perfect for soaking up the sun with M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E. It was coolish in the moring but bright in the day, so jeans and a t-shirt were perfect. Light sweater in the evening...

But enough about the weather. I've compiled a little list of things we've accomplished - mostly at Disneyland yesterday, but also of our escapaeds since we arrived (some pictures to follow).

• Three-dollar-and-twenty-five-cent cupcakes from Sprinkles, of Beverly Hills Fame (though we went to the Newport locale). Delish, but I still think the original Peanut Butter Chocolate variety at 25 Main in St. George is better.
• Running shorts from Lucy.
• Swimming, swimming, hot tubbing & swimming.
• Putting greens, playground time & walks around the Marriott property.
• Made it to Magic Kingdom:
• It's a Small World - twice!?!?! By far Mr. Holden's favorite ride. He was dancing and pointing...and we rode during 'parade time,' so for our second round we had an entire boat to ourselves.
• 30 minute-wait for Peter Pan (I think the Dole Pineapple Freeze line was the only thing that took longer)...Fast Passes for Indiana Jones, in case you were wondering.
• My nephew Max gets chosen for Jedi training and 'freestyles' against Lord Vader. The force is strong in this young Padawan.
• Photo-ops with Aladdin & the Genie.
• Charmed the parade crowd with Jedi mind tricks (or just being his delightful self).
• Churros...
• Lunch at the Blue Bayou (that restaurant you see at the beginning of Pirates). Holden and I had the couscous and lots of white bread!
• Star Tours, Space & Big Thunder Mountains, a run in with a Yetti at the Matterhorn, a turn through Alice's Wonderland and a wild ride with Mr. Toad (Holden did the steering on that one).

12 hours later we had checked off our Disney to-do lists and then some. Little Bits had been such a trooper. We changed his pants, put on pajamas and he was asleep in the minivan before we hit the 5.

9 months and Counting

I have mentioned to a few of you that I've been going a little 'martha' lately. Here is a sample of the spoils from my canning escapades (pickled beets, chili sauce and a variety of apple sauces.)

But this post isn't about me trying to hone into my domestic diva-ness. I've been putting other things into canning jars. I've been keeping track of some of the things Holden does at this point in his life, or some of the milestones he's passed through October. He hits the nine month mark today, so I thought I'd jot a few of them down.



Holden's a big traveler (California, Seattle, St. George and we just returned from Boston)...he always travels 'first class' (ok, this is actually a coach seat-- my seat -- but his legs are so short it's like 1st class to him.) His car seat is next to mine, but we hit some clear air and decided to give the guy a little breathing room. He was much happier out of his seat. I was scrunched on the floor next to the bulkhead. We cashed in SkyMiles for three REAL tickets and I can't tell you how much I love NOT traveling stand-by.

Holden likes Monsters - well, the Green Monster at least. Here he is in the famous seats at Fenway park, and a money shot(?) of our family at the stadium.

Holden likes to drink from a straw... he prefers straws and cups (real cups, not 'sippy' cups mind you) for drinking (water mostly, sometimes milk.) Here he is at an Italian restaurant in Boston's historic North End. We would return to Little Italy the next day where he flirted with a table of 50-something ladies with thick New England accents who wanted to eat him up like matza balls.

Holden loves his Daddy. He lights up when he hears the door open at half-past-five on the weekdays signaling that "Daddy's Home!" Here the two boys are our first night in Boston. We were getting ready to leave the Marriott and take a stroll on the waterfront.
Avocado - Holden shows his ethnic roots (yes, I am one-quarter Hispanic) with his love of guacamole (or organic avocado - same thing when you're a baby, right?) The kid loves it - I put it in applesauce, with pure pumpkin...he's a green fruit lovin' machine!

And as I mentioned, with his avocado he loves pumpkin. But truthfully he just loves pumpkin (period). The Nelson's (of the apple picking fame!) gave us a few cooking gourds from their farm, so I've been serving it naked to Holden (the pumpkin that is, I wear clothes when I feed him, obviously). Here's my favorite 'punkin.'
Big Boy Bed: I've been trying to figure out if I should just lay this out, but you may as well know... Holden's been trying out a "big boy bed" because he doesn't like his crib, and I have weird issues with them (personal choice for our family, but it's not helping the situation)... Plus, we used a cot for nap time for him in Boston and he seemed to do great in it. So we took apart the crib, gave it back to my sister and laid a twin mattress on the floor in his nursery. He can climb in and out of it - we had pretty much baby proofed his room anyway, but it makes nap time super easy and has been a great natural extension and transitional 'tool' for our cosleeping journey ("Don't you judge me Earl.")


Holden likes peace rallies for a greener planet earth... he 'tolerates' his *stroller.

Other things Holden's into:

Late July crackers... they look like Ritz, and taste like Ritz, but they're (drum roll please...) You guess it! Organic! He can feed them to himself which is nice because they are a lot less messy than avocado-applesauce puree.

Cruising - not on State necessarily. But apparently 'cruising' is the official pediatric developmental word for holding onto stuff while standing up and moving from thing to thing...

He's doing great with his 'potty training'. My grandmother-in-law remarked that in her day they called it 'training the mommy' which I think I have mentioned before; but I am fine with him training me. We are getting better at reading his signals and he is getting better about understanding what the toilet is for... he even crawls to his Baby Bjorn sometimes to let us know 'it's time.' We're not ditching his diapers any time soon, but it is awesome to use the same one for multiple cycles... he's so green.

At the Zoo, he dug the zebras, muskrats and some odd looking chipmunk...

Oh, and he LOVES brooms and the vacuum. He is crawling so fast, I used to be able to vacuum around him. It's getting more difficult to dodge his little piggies.

The rest of the Boston pictures can be found on Facebook... you don't have to be a member to check them out. I have loaded the pictures, but will be editing the captions etc over the next little bit.

In other news, I feel like I am FINALLY finding a 'flow' in motherhood and staying at home. I love it, but I am not the best at it... though I feel like I try really hard. Danny is patient with me, and Holden is VERY forgiving.

Love you both!


*This was out last evening in Boston, and we had been wearing him the whole trip in the Ergo Baby. His diaper leaked on the pack so we thought 'a little time in the stroller would be fine'... but of course it was 90% cobblestone and outside of our jogging stroller he really doesn't spend much time in his stroller. Plus Boston is 'the walking city' not the 'stroller city' so we laughed about our weak attempt to use a pram (did I mention Danny ran into a couple of things?). Holden was a good sport though.

On the same token, I've shared our Zoo pictures...we carried him in the pack for most of that experience too. My mother-in-love, like many a mother- is a lover of strollers...so she asked he'd like to sit in it as we were nearing the end of the excursion (I like to bring a stroller to carry purses, coats, the diaper bag --great at airports-- etc.) At that point I thought that his diaper was wet, so I figured I'd just hurry and change in pants in the stroller (it's one of those Graco ones where the seat can lay flat - so it's nice for a quick pants-change.) So we decided to change his pants and then we could try out the stroller (though, I was still a little apprehensive. It's not like we're practicing tribal continuum parenting, but still )... So we go to change his pants, which turned out not to be wet - and as soon as his diaper came off he pee'd -- all over the stroller, partially on me and on the sidewalk of the zoo (I tried to direct his aim away from my clothes but was a little too late.) So we decided he could do with out the stroller ride for a bit...

Check out our Boston Adventures Here!

What We've Been Up To...

Holden digs the Children's Museum -- Discovery Gateway
(more pics here).

He learns to crawl through 'tunnel' and then tries to take the camera.




We went to Saint George and cheered on Marissa, Becca, Cami
and the other runners.
Here we are with Mizz (3 hour 16 minute marathoner) Marizzle.


And as you recall, prior to Holden's arrival we took our kitchen from looking like this:

And this... (love the linoleum)
Oh, and this:
To a paint upgrade (where'd the floor go?!?!)


To this (Lisanne - I am finally posting the cabinet pics!)...
And this...

The produce on the counter is the killing we made from our first excursion trying out the food Co-op... It is the BEST! So here's my green saving tip for the day -- join a food co-op!
You will save so much money (reducing your carbon footprint by buying local),
and if it's anything like ours -- the produce is AMAZING!!!

Speaking of 'buying local.' What's better than FREE? Our friends (Q & Christie -- they totally love Glen Beck but we still get along) invited us up to Q's parents plantation to pick apples...we took home produce galore AND his mom taught me to make apple pie!!!My boys-- I heart Holden in these overalls...
and Danny is the sweetest Daddy.

Like Simon and Garfunkle sang in the titillating tale of the original Cougar Town- "Something tells me it's all happening at the Zoo (our zoo pics can be found HERE on FB)." Ours was a much less scandalous adventure as Danny had Columbus Day off; and Dustin Hoffman was no where to be found.