Utah County Mom

Monday, September 24, 2012

On a personal note...

Some of my readers may have noticed I have rarely been posting anything lately. Unfortunately this has been a result of lack of time, not lack of ideas. Let me give you a glimpse into what I have been up to lately.

Let me start at the beginning. 2 years ago my husband got a new job. I decided to quit my job at a local software company and leave my steady income and great health insurance to stay home with my little girl. Best decision ever - but also a decision that made things very hard. We went from 2 pretty stable incomes to 1 income (the type of income people start out in hopes of getting something better, not the type of income you use to support a family of 3, a cat, and a mortgage.)

I was torn. I wanted to help support my family in a way that made a difference, but it was very important to me to be able to stay home with Lily.

I looked into a few options, including making crafts and selling them, which I ultimately decided would be too time consuming with not enough payoff. I wasn't willing to do anything to make money that involved selling things to my friends or family, or "take a gamble" on a paycheck each month based off of how much of something I had sold.

As I was thinking about this one day I remembered someone I used to know who supported her family doing Medical Transcripting from home. I won't go into the details of how it all happened, but I will tell you I was definitely prompted and guided to eventually choose to go back to school to become a medical transcriptionist.

I chose Career Step because I had heard that they were one of the best schools out there, so often times a company that needed to hire would go directly to Career Step and ask for recommendations from their recent graduates, making it much easier to find a job after graduation. It felt right, so I went for it. I am so glad I did.

School was completely self-paced and online, so I ended up putting it off for a while due to some other priorities in my life and picked up again seriously just this summer when I finally finished.

I found out I had graduated with honors, and then just 10 days later I had an offer for a job. I had applied and tested for a lot of companies on my own, but Career Step was actually the one who found me the job I took doing just what I had heard about, recommending me to a company who had come straight to Career Step looking to hire.

I got my dream job - the one I worked so hard through school to get. The job I got lets me choose my own hours - and even how many hours I want to work which can vary week to week. They just pay me for what I do. It is the perfect home-based job for a stay-at-home mom looking to earn some extra money.

So that is why I haven't been on much lately. I really do have intentions of posting how-to's for the list of projects I still have to post about . I am still planning on making that happen. Posts just may be inconsistent.

**After graduating and getting a job I have had many friends ask me how to get into this. I really do totally recommend it. Please email me at jessica@utahcountymom.com for more details - I have a lot of useful information to share if you are interested!! I know it may sound "too good to be true" but I promise you it is not.**

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Live Butterfly Kits

This summer was a busy one, but one of our favorite things we did was getting a Live Butterfly Kit in the mail.

Our butterfly kit came with a habitat, food, and live caterpillars.

The kids loved holding the caterpillers and watching them eat and grow.

I couldn't believe how big these things got so quickly!

Eventually they crawled to the top of their container and hung upside down to form chrysalides. Once they start hanging you aren't supposed to touch the container for 24-48 hours while they change.

Once hardened you take off the lid and put it in the butterfly habitat to wait for them to emerge.

Just a few weeks after they arrived they were already butterflies! The kids loved watching them change and learned a lot. They would sit and watch them every day and talk about it all of the time.

Once we had them for a day or two as butterflies we decided to let them go. They were very friendly and sat with us a while before flying off.

For the next few weeks we would see them around our yard from time to time. This was a great educational activity for kids (and adults) of all ages, and took very little effort on my part to make it happen. I definitely recommend getting your own butterfly kit to try.

Butterfly kits are sold many places, but I got mine here.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

BYU Game Day Outfit

Are you ready for the big BYU game this weekend? Lily is!

It's not too late to make an outfit for your little one. Remember this outfit I made last year?

The shirt honestly only took me 5 minutes so you still have plenty of time if you have the supplies.

For a complete how-to on how to make this outfit as well as a link to the Fresh Living TV show on it, see my post from last year here.

Fall Bucket List

I saw this cute bucket list and decided to create a similar one for us. I do well with lists, and am excited to enjoy my favorite season with my favorite tiny girl.

Feel free to use my FREE Microsoft Publisher Template to personalize a list for yourself!

I will try to be more diligent at blogging as we do these fun activities!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Provo Library Summer Reading Program

We signed up for the Provo Library Summer Reading Program! Did you?

Rules (Borrowed from their website)

Each child will be given one Summer Reading Log. If you lose your log, you must start over. Please don't lose your log!

Make your own goal of how many minutes you will read each session and write the goal on the reading chart.

Read books checked out from the Provo City Library. The number of books checked out helps us to monitor the success of our Summer Reading Program.

Read six days a week. You may read ahead or catch up if you get behind. You may read more than your reading goal, but you can only collect one set of prizes.

Bring your half-completed Reading Log (up to the blue star) to the library the week of June 25 - June 30 to receive a halfway prize.

Bring your completed Reading Log to the library July 23 - July 26 to pick up your prizes! The library will be closed on July 24, 2012.

Collect a Dream Passport from the Children's Desk. Attend a Canopy Capers, Toddler Time, Spanish Story Time, or a Make and Take Crafts program and receive a sticker on your passport per session attended. Collect at least eight stickers. From July 23 - 26, turn in your sticker-filled passport to receive a ticket to the Trick or Treat in July Party on July 28, any time between 10 am and 12 noon in the Provo City Library Ballroom. Children are invited to wear Halloween costumes!

Prizes:
Prizes for Summer Reading 2012 are a free book and a ticket to the End of Summer Reading Party!

End of Summer Reading Party:

Thursday, July 26, 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Exclusive pool party and treats at the Veterens Memorial Pool, 450 West 500 North, Provo, for children who complete the Summer Reading Program.

Provo City Library stresses the importance of a relaxed but consistent daily reading. The goal is to establish a regular daily habit of reading. There are no rules as to number of pages, numbers of books, or specific genres of books. Simply read each day, six days a week at your own speed. Parents and older siblings can read to children as well.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Baseball Game

Going to a baseball game was on our summer bucket list, so the first Saturday of summer we took the kids to a BYU baseball game. It was the last game of the season, but if you are interested in going to a summer game the Orem Owlz are about to start their season.

I don't especially love baseball - in fact I can't make myself pay attention long enough to even see more than one play. Still there is something exciting about sitting at the field with family or friends so I try to go once a year.

The day we went it was raining really hard.

Tips for outdoor activities with kids when it's raining:

Bring ponchos. They sell crap ones that are good enough to use once at Walmart for 88 cents.

Bring hand warmers. You should be able to find hand warmers for around $1. Totally worth it. Keeps those little hands warm and out of trouble.

Dress warm. Cold kids are not happy kids.

We brought blankets too (that we didn't care about getting dirty or wet) for extra warmth. Smart move on my part. I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as being over prepared.

Even though it wasn't ideal weather we still had a great time. What's on your summer bucket list?

Nickel City - Orem

On day 4 of having my two nephews live with me everyone was especially well behaved, so I let them choose the activity for the day. They chose Nickel City in Orem!

I had never been there, but it was a great place to take kids and wasn't very expensive. They had games for people of all ages, so the 2 year old, 6 year old, and 10 year old all had enough to keep them busy for a long time.

Lily's favorite were the little rides.

If you haven't been to Nickel City - You just pay $2.25 per person to get in, and then everything costs a nickel to play. Before we went I stopped at the bank and got everyone a roll of nickels ($2 for 40 nickels.) Each kid had enough nickels to last them about an hour and a half.