Trip to SLC

Well, we went to Salt Lake for spring break again this year. We had a wonderful time visiting with family, but the weather sure didn't cooperate. It was snowy and cold until the last day we were there! Even though it was the day we were leaving, we wanted to get the kids on an outside adventure before we left. So we called in the troops and went to Hogle Zoo. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone in Salt Lake had the same idea- the place was packed! But we still had a wonderful time.

This is in front of the "wishing water" at the entrance of the zoo. Josh and Lauren both asked for coins to make their wishes. Josh was quick to announce that he had wished that Pokemon were real :-)


This is a fun picture because 3 of the characters in this shot have the same birthday! Josh, cousin Andrew and ..... the baby giraffe were all born on November 28th!




This sweet little boy is our cousin Henry- the kids adore him!


Don't you love this? This cute little guy trying to keep his precious ice cream safe from his big dad and uncle!


We had such a nice stay with Grandma Pam. She made her famous cookies with the kids at least twice, had a fun easter egg hunt, and watched the kids for 2 days while Paul and I went to Park City! Thanks Mom!


This is my beautiful nephew Andrew- isn't he adorable?! He is the first cousin on my side of the family and we are all so excited that he is here! I am a very proud aunt if you couldn't tell :-)



This is a special picture to me. We went to Grantsville (the little town I lived in until 6th grade) to visit a friend of mine and ended up going to my old elementary school. She is a teacher there now and had a key to get us in. It was at night so no one else was there and we had a blast! I got to see all my old classrooms- her room was actually my second grade room! When we went to the cafeteria, she told me how she remembered our first day of kindergarten. Our moms were there with us having lunch and when it was time to take our trays back, I came back in tears. I guess I didn't know exactly where to put it and it kind of freaked me out!! It really hit me at that moment how special it was to be standing there with a dear friend who has been a part of my life for so long. Then we went into the gym and that is where the history really hit me. It is the exact same! Not just from when I was there, but my dad and grandparents! The gym floor is the original floor from when the school was the high school (with the cowboy still in the middle)- WOW! This picture is amazing to me. My kids and Lisa's kids on the same floor that we played on when we were kids. Cool!

New Pictures!

Fun Things for Lauren

So Lauren has had a few fun things happen the last week or so. First of all- She had her first sleepover!! It was with her bestest bud Brooke. We weren't planning on letting the girls have their first sleepover quite yet, but Brooke's poor Mom had an emergency root canal AND her Dad is out of town for almost two weeks! So, my friend and I made a last minute determination (at about 7:00 PM) that Brooke would just spend the night instead of going home. This became a monumentous occasion all of a sudden so I hurried and popped some popcorn, let them watch a little show, and took a few pictures :-) They had a blast!

Then, we decided to make the playroom Lauren's room so that she could have her own space and fill it with all her little girl things (she had been sharing a room with Josh since we moved Olivia into her room). So, she had a fun sleepover at Auntie Tracy's place while we scrambled to do it as a surprise. The green paint I chose turned out too dark, I think, but she was really excited. She especially likes the chandelier and describes it to people as a "light with necklaces on it". I still have some stuff to do in there- but here are a few pics....



A really fun thing for me to watch was her "decorating" her room all evening. Bit by bit, she would go get a basket filled with toys and carefully put each one in the perfect place. Towards the end, she was running out of room on her dresser, bed and table, so she started putting things on her play kitchen and on the floor. It actually looked like a tornado had hit when she was "done" but it was so fun to see her so excited. She wanted to take some pictures of her fine decorating skills, and the pictures below are some of them. I got a kick out of how she placed things....



In the end, Josh and Lauren asked if they could sleep TOGETHER in her new room :-)