Amy Thayer
Hi All! My name is Amy Thayer. I opened Mom’s Day Out in 2017. I’m a BYU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. I have three young boys, ages 13, 11, and 8. Beginning in 2010 and then for the next 8 years I wrote a parenting lifestyle blog called Oh So Savvy Mom. Previous to that I worked as a therapist and tutor for children with Autism and cognitive delays. I’ve taught at Learning Dynamics Preschool–as a teacher at the Orem location and a substitute at the location here in Lehi–the top parent-rated preschool in Utah County. I absolutely love working with and teaching children! Our family has had some great, character building adventures together! We’ve been a grad student family while my husband got his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at BYU. We’ve been a military family as my husband served as a Psychologist in the U.S. Air Force. Together we’ve lived in Utah, Texas, Louisiana, and back in Utah again. We realize how blessed we are to have each other.
Dallas Finnell
Hello! I’m Dallas Finnell. I graduated from BYU-I in 2019 with a BS in Public Health. As the mother of three kids ages 6, 4, and 6 months, I have a lot of experience teaching and playing with young children! My older daughter was recently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, through research and experience I’ve learned a lot on how to work with children on the spectrum. My family and I moved back to Utah from Texas in December of 2019 after my husband finished his second graduate degree at UT Southwestern. He currently works at a biotech company in Salt Lake City. We missed Utah and the great outdoors and are so excited to be back and to raise our young family here.
How Mom’s Day Out came to be…
When Amy’s family was in the Air Force, they were stationed in Texas and then in Louisiana. In both places, and indeed, all over the South and Midwest and the East there are Mom’s Day Out programs (generally run by churches). Moms can enroll their children to attend once or multiple days a week so that they, the moms, can have a bit of time to run errands, work, study, or do whatever without children underfoot. When Amy moved back to Utah in 2015, she searched high and low for a Mom’s Day Out program for her youngest only to be disappointed to find that none existed.
She decided, if she couldn’t have that time once a week, then she’d make sure other moms weren’t left without that option. Amy started Mom’s Day Out in September of 2017.