Earrings

I forgot to add the pictures of Morgan getting her ears pierced for her birthday. She kept talking about getting earrings, so I decided it was time (I didn't want to get them pierced until she really wanted them). So off we went to Claires, actually it was The Icing...they looked more competent than the teenagers at Claires. Morgan was excited, but once she found out what was going on she freaked out a bit. Once they pierced her ears she started crying, which I expected would happen. She got over it pretty quickly though and now she LOVES her earrings. It's funny because she reminds me every night that we need to clean her ears, what a smart little 3 year old I have!

Pirate Island

Ever since it opened I have been curious about Pirate Island in Orem. So when we were trying to decide where to go for Morgan's birthday I thought it would be the perfect place to try out! It was perfect and we had so much fun...well the kids did anyway. It is basically like Chuck E Cheese, but pirate themed...and the food tastes better! They had a pirate ship play area and arcade games and the whole interior of the building was decked out in pirate stuff. Even the servers were dressed up in pirate costumes and had to talk in pirate accents (I would hate that job). Morgan enjoyed her birthday at Pirate Island and I think we will come back for Cameron's birthday! P.S. Sorry about the picture overload!

Build A Bear

For her 3rd Birthday, my friend Catherine decided to take Morgan to Build-A-Bear Workshop. She took lots of pictures so I could see how much Morgan loved it!

Morgan picked out the horse, which was no surprise to me. She loves horses and unicorns just like her mommy! This is the horse before they put the stuffing in.

It is so cute how they have the store set up. Kids are able to help create their stuffed animal. This is Morgan pushing the pedal to fill up her horse.



Morgan even got to pick out a heart, so her horse would be brought to life!



Now the horse was ready for its first bath and grooming!


Morgan really loves "Brownie". Thanks Catherine! And happy 3rd birthday to my sweet little girl! More birthday pictures to follow!

Swagbucks

I stumbled across a website the other day, because I saw my friends on facebook were "liking" it. It is called Swagbucks and basically you earn points for searching the internet, which you can redeem for prizes. I have been doing it for three days and already have enough for a $5 amazon gift card. It doesn't sound like much, but I literally didn't do anything, except browse the internet like I normally do anyway! I downloaded the toolbar and whenever I do a search I just search out of their search engine...which does suck, because it brings up a lot of ads mixed in with the real results...but what I am looking for is usually at the top of the list anyway. Obviously I wouldn't recommend using it for a research paper, but when you are just messing around on the internet it is not a problem.

So...if you like the idea of earning prizes for browsing the net, go ahead and sign up with this link. I will get points for you signing up and if you don't like it you can just stop doing it. Just use a junk e-mail account and you will never hear from Swagbucks again, lol.

Finally!

So yesterday I got back from a trip full of delays, which left me super tired and cranky. But I got home and found out I got awarded part-time! I am so incredibly happy, it was like Christmas! I have been waiting for this for 7 months. It has been so hard being away from my kids and Emery for so many days a month, but now I will be home so much more. I can still pick up trips if we need extra money. Honestly, I don't ever see myself leaving this job now that I am part-time. Now I can have that perfect work-home balance that I wanted so badly and I am so grateful.

Oh and I did have an overnight in Portland, so my parents took me out to dinner. It was so good to see them as it always is! I also had an overnight in Eugene and the weather was beautiful so I took a nice bike ride. Besides the many delays, it actually wasn't a bad trip I guess. I am on call Monday thru Friday, so who knows what the coming week has in store for me...but for now I will enjoy my two days off!

Omaha

Today I am in Omaha, Nebraska. I was not excited about it, but I actually had a great time! The other flight attendant, Beana, is brand new so she still wants to get out and explore...unlike most other flight crews I have had! So we decided to walk over to a big pedestrian bridge, I guess it is the longest pedestrian bridge to connect two states (Nebraska and Iowa). We got lost trying to get there, so we stopped and talked to a parking lot security guy. We asked him what we should do in Omaha and he said "just get out"...haha, apparently he is not a fan of where he currently lives and wants to go back to Texas. But he told us how to get to the bridge. Once we got to the start of the bridge we saw a bus and thought we would ask them how to get downtown to an area called "Old Market" where there are a bunch of shops and restaurants in neat old buildings. Beana convinced the bus driver, Carey, to let us ride for free, so off we went. We walked around downtown for a while and then found a bus stop so we could get on another bus before our free transfers expired. There were many crazy people at this bus stop, including a woman that thought Miley Cyrus was her daughter. The bus took us back to the pedestrian bridge and we went across into Iowa. (Not the best picture of me, but oh well).We walked really far and ended up at Harrah's Casino, where we enjoyed a delicious buffet. We were so tired from walking that we called the hotel and had the shuttle come pick us up. They were so nice to have done that! Beana and I had a fun time and hopefully I will get to fly with her again sometime!

Bored at the Airport

Today I am sitting ready reserve. This is the airline term for waiting around in the airport with you phone attached to your hand, praying you will not get called out by crew support. Or, I guess if you like to work a lot you are praying to get called out...I am not one of these people. So I guess since I am sitting here with nothing to do I will update my blog.

This trip I just got done with was not the best. I went to Toronto, New Orleans and Albuquerque. This may not sound like a bad trip, but the problem was there wasn't any time to go out and explore these cities. Except Albuquerque, but I had an essay due for my class last night, so I had to finish that up. The bed in ABQ was AMAZING though...I love when I get a hotel with a good bed.

Next week me and the fam are headed to San Antonio on my days off, to go visit a friend who lives there. We plan on going to the Riverwalk, Alamo, Zoo, and hopefully Six Flags...it should be super fun! We have not had a vacation in FOREVER and it is much needed. Next month, if I get the days off I am hoping to get, we will be going to Hawaii. That is why I put up with crazy passengers, bad schedules, and less than great pay...so I can do what I love to do...Travel!

Well, I still have another 2 hours of sitting here in complete boredom...maybe I will go take a nap.

Update: Before I submitted this I got sent to Chicago to sit reserve there. Yes, crappy days can get worse.

Dream Destination: Machu Picchu

I have decided I am going to start making a list of places I want to visit. Many of these places will be hard to do with kids, so I will have to wait until my parents retire or have time off to watch the kids.

First up on my list: Machu Picchu. These old Inca ruins are located in Peru and were built around 1450. I love historical places and I think it is so interesting to be walking around an ancient city and thinking about what life was like for them so many years ago. Tourists can hike up the mountain to get a really great view, which I would definitely want to do. Transportation might get tricky, because we would have to fly into Lima and take a smaller plane to Cuzco. From there we would have to take a 4-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, which is the town we would stay in. From there we could walk or take a bus up to Machu Picchu, but if we are going to be hiking we would probably want to take the bus so we didn't get worn out.

This will not be a cheap trip, but it would be worth every penny for this view!

Calgary

One of my more recent trips was to Calgary, Canada. I had 24 hours there, so I wanted to get out and explore a little bit. I have gotten used to going out and walking around cities by myself. I just had to have someone take this touristy picture of me with the beaver in a hockey uniform, haha.
This is the Calgary Tower. I considered going up to the top, but I didn't really want to spend that much money. Maybe next time.
I was there during this huge rodeo festival called the Calgary Stampede. I guess it is a really big deal and the biggest rodeo in North America. There were so many people everywhere. I kind of wish I had gone to the Stampede, but once again I didn't want to spend the money, especially since I was by myself. If Emery had been with me I would definitely have gone though.


This street, Stephen Avenue, was pretty neat because it is only for pedestrians and there are a lot of restaurants and shops.
Of course I had to take a picture of this bar cause I LOVE unicorns! I will have to go eat in there next time!
I didn't know burgers had families...I have never seen that on the A&W's in the U.S. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention.
This was the China town section of the city. Everyone was making a big deal about it and said it was worth visiting, but it was actually really small and not much to look at.
The lion was guarding the street I guess.
I thought these buildings were pretty. I love how reflective they are.
This is what it looked like about 30 seconds later. I was walking down the street and I saw something drop onto the ground in front of me, but I couldn't tell what it was. I looked up to see if someone had dropped something from their balcony, but there was no one anywhere. I soon found out it was ice! It started hailing like crazy. Seriously, the hail was as big as ice cubes! I have never seen anything like it in my life. Luckily I found shelter!
This picture does not do the hail justice. Car alarms were going off everywhere. There was lightning and thunder too.
I picked up a couple of pieces that came underneath the overhang I was standing under. This was a small piece! I was too scared to go out and grab one of the big ones...some were the size of golf balls!!! It wouldn't stop raining, so I had to walk five or so blocks back to the train and got soaking wet. But I am glad I went out and explored Calgary!

Waiting

Usually I enjoy sitting around, doing nothing, and getting paid. It's great when I am sitting reserve at home (that means I am on call, for those non-flight attendants out there). But when I am sitting in another city, in an airport with nothing to do for hours on end, I am not a fan.

Monday I had to get up at 3 am, get ready, drive to the airport (which takes me 40 minutes), take the parking shuttle (another 15 minutes), then take a plane to LAX, wait an hour, take a plane to Fresno and sit reserve at the airport. By this time it is about 9 am. I get a call advising me that I will be working a flight to Denver, so I head over to the gate. This flight was supposed to leave at 6 in the morning, but had mechanical issues. They were still working on it and kept saying it would be ready shortly. By around 1 pm we were told to go ahead and board, so we got all of the passengers on and...the mechanical problems was still there.

Keep in mind that these people have been waiting for this plane since 5 in the morning...so they are quite cranky. We then had to tell them to deplane and wait longer. We went down to sit in the crew lounge and wait...and wait...and wait. Lots of waiting. By about 3 pm they decide to cancel the flight. Those poor people! I was grateful that I was not customer service...I don't know how anyone can survive that job!

So they told us to go get our hotel room and we would take the plane to Denver the next day. Fresno was hot. There was nothing by the hotel, so I had to walk at least a mile in 100 degree weather to find some food. Ugh. I wish I would have packed my swimsuit, cause they had an outdoor pool. I will have to do that from now on.

The next day I get up at 4:30 am, cause we were supposed to get to the airport at 5:30. Then, as I am heading out the door, the pilot calls and says "I hope you haven't already gotten dressed and everything cause we aren't leaving till 9 now." Grrrrr...of course I got ready! I can't just wake up at 5:15 and throw on my clothes like a guy! So...I go back to bed for a bit and head to the airport at 9. Lets just say there was a lot more waiting. At almost 1 pm I get told that they will be sending me home to Salt Lake at 4:30. I asked them why they wouldn't put me on the flight that was getting ready to leave to Salt Lake...and they never gave me a good reason...they just told me I could try to get on myself, but they would not get me a seat. Hmmm...anyway...I went to the gate and by some miracle I was able to get the last available seat.

I don't want to come off as a complainer. I LOVE my job...there are just some things that annoy me.

Oh, and I went to my sister's graduation. It was a good time, but sooo hot outside. I got sunburned cause I forgot to put on sunscreen. Congratulations Shelly!

venting

So I am on a four day trip currently. I stayed in Long Beach last night, but didn't have time to do anything. Today I am in Medford and was too tired to do anything, so I took a 3 hour nap! Hey, I can't do it at home with two kids, so I will take advantage of it when I can. Tomorrow I will be in Palm Springs and I am so excited, because they have a really nice pool and it is supposed to be hot!

Ok, now it is time to vent. Today I had a passenger get on my plane and he had been drinking, which was apparent because of the nasty alcohol smell coming from his mouth. I was slightly concerned to I let the captain know. We decided that it wasn't a safety issue, so I closed the door, did my safety briefing and we took off.

I have heard that drunk people get worse once they get up in that 30,000 feet altitude level. Now I know. This guy was so annoying. He came up to me when I was getting everything prepared for the beverage service and asked for a beer. He handed me a debit card and I told him that we only take cash, which he didn't have. I was so glad he didn't have cash because I wasn't going to sell it to him anyway, so it made everything easier for me.

Then he goes on to tell me he is a Marine and wants a free drink. Now, I appreciate everything that Marine's do for our country, but I am not allowed to comp drinks. Then he asked me if I would pay for it...bahaha. First of all I will not provide people with alcohol, because I don't think it contributes anything good to society. Second, I certainly would not pay for the drink of some guy I don't know. So he gets upset and goes back to his seat.

I start my beverage service and when I get to him he asks me again if I can give him a drink. He tells me he will pull out his military ID. Once again I let him know I can't and he throws a tantrum...I have never met a Marine that was a crybaby like this...it was ridiculous. After that, he starts asking people around him for money! I couldn't believe it! I told a couple people to watch him and let me know if it started happening again. Luckily he fell asleep eventually.

This was at eleven in the morning mind you...people shouldn't even be drinking that early! Ugh, I just had to vent about this. If you are going to drink that is fine, but don't get intoxicated before going on a plane. I can't wait for Palm Springs tomorrow. The end.

Adventures

My favorite trip so far has been to the "Windy City", which I discovered can definitely get windy. I have a friend from Flight Attendant training, Vanessa, who is based in Chicago so we got together and explored the city.
Downtown was really cool and there are so many interesting buildings.


The deep dish pizza at Gino's East was very tasty and filling!

Now...on to another adventure. On one of my trips the windshield cracked right after we landed, so we had to cancel the next flight and fly back unpressurized to SLC. It was fun, cause I got to sit in the flight deck (this is the only time it is ok for flight attendants to sit up there).
Here is a picture of the crack.
Anyway, I am still loving my job. I will love it even more once I get part-time, cause it is really hard being away from my family. I should get part-time by September though! I really need to start taking more pictures of my trips, or at least writing about them. So my goal is to try to post an entry at least once a week...I didn't even think anyone read my blog, but I was recently informed that I need to update it more...so I will try!

First Birthday...warning:picture overload!

Cameron had his first birthday, I can't believe he is already one...I have a one year old and a 2 1/2 year old, I am getting old! His birthday was on a sunday this year, so we let him open presents and have his very own cake that night. He did not like the candle, as you can see from the picture.
Believe it or not he ate the whole cake.

He liked opening the presents!
Morgan even got a dress and matching dress for her baby doll from Grandma!
Two nights later we went to Chuck E. Cheese for a little party. Cameron and Morgan were bothscared of Chuck E. Cheese, but I don't blame them. They had fun on the little rides though and enjoyed the pizza.






Happy first birthday Cameron, we love you sooooo much!