Spent the morning at school wearing my Mentor hat, then came home to snag Maiya from a sleepover from across the street so we could head to the Kearns Oval where we would volunteer the afternoon for the Tour of Utah!
This is a 7-stage race where the cyclists bike between 78-114 miles per day spanning Utah - yikes! My former neighbor, Laurie, is a board member and I'm super glad we got to do this. We got some awesome volunteer swag (shirt, bag of goodies, Subway lunch) and were assigned to the Hospitality - VIP tent, and Maiya was on a later shift of the "Green Team" aka trash-pick-up. We walked the rounds through all the vendors since we had a couple of hours before the cyclists actually finished. We won some cool prizes and thanks to Maiya biking power to a blender, we both enjoyed a yummy shake! We also won some fun prizes. My most exciting was another free Wasatch Savings Book for this year that came with a coupon for a free 2017 booklet! Be still my heart! The Franz bakery had full-sized samples and then offered you a whole box of donuts in my case, or, in Maiya's case a whole bag of frosted animal cookies. Her eyes got so big when she was first asked if she wanted it! I told them their products reminded me of my dad and how he'd buy their super-moist oatmeal raisin cookies -- and the cute gal offered me a whole package of those too! In talking to the sales director he said they have a large market share in Washington, so no wonder. Those little yummies have a great place in my memory bank!
Maiya was so excited to tear up tickets and insisted to putting on the bracelets. She loves doing something, so I stepped back and let her. She did a wonderful job.
Laurie gifted us tickets to gain access to the VIP tent. All we wanted was some fruit. They also had some small tacos - which Maiya loved - and the caterers were sweet to give her a plain meat and cheese-only taco. Happy girl, happy life! She was pleased as punch with that VIP lanyard around her neck all day. As the cyclists made their required number of rounds through the venue before finishing we watched the large tv. Since we'd lived in this area I knew they were passing the middle school where we used to live, then coming down the hill by Harmons grocery, and excitement grew. Maiya rang her little cowbell (free from vendor) and we cheered with the rest of the crowd. Upon their final approach I put her on my shoulders so she could get a better view. The excitement of watching one cyclist gain the lead, then another, and watch strategy enter up until the very last stretch was amazing!
Maiya had friends waiting for her when we got home. I told her 15 minutes. My point: she always has friends!
Then we dressed and were off to Syracuse High School where we arrived to the opening night performance of The Little Mermaid just in time. Ariel was played by a girl in our former ward, Sierra Reid. She was absolutely flawless! Her voice was pitch-perfect and she matched the part exactly. What a gift! The chef had Maiya in stitches! At intermission we went down to look at the pit orchestra. Sierra's dad approached Maiya from behind and waited patiently while she looked down at the orchestra,"Hey girlfriend!" That was always his 'thing' with her! Then he hugged and kissed her. He has the hugest heart. We got caught up a bit and he reminded Maiya to tell Ethan,"Whaddup dawg?!" Those two one-liners was 'his thing' with my two children. It was so special and still is. It was an amazing play of my favorite Disney movie!
As soon as the curtain went down, Maiya turned to me,"Mom, what's for dinner?" I thought I'd escaped that tonight, but no. We made it close to home and settled on Wendy's by our house. The boys working there were a hoot, I almost want to go back. Something about dancing the YMCA and doing the Electric Slide to keep things going at such a late hour. Crazy!
I'm so grateful I get to spend these memorable times with my baby...who's not such a baby anymore.
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