A Day at BYU

Today my Mom and I decided we needed to take the kids on a fun outing before she left us for California. We decided on the BYU Art Museum because: 1. They were having a cool exhibit with art from the "I SPY" book creator Walter Wick and 2. It is free! We tried to get over there as early as possible, it opens at 10:00 am, so it wouldn't be too crowded.

We started off with looking at the main floor exhibit that was showcasing Southwestern art. There were some beautiful paintings, pottery, baskets and furniture being showcased. I loved all the warm colors and Michela really appreciated the paintings. She's actually becoming quite the little artist. On the other hand, Hunter and Chase were about to fall over from boredom, they kept asking when we were going to go see the cool stuff.

Downstairs we first checked out an exhibit from an artist named Dan Steinhilber. He uses everyday things to create art and sculptures. I was able to snap a couple of pictures before the guards told me photos were not allowed. Oops! This piece is made of balloons that had been blown up. The exhibit has been up for a while so a lot of them had popped. This one is a bunch of PVC pipe all hooked together. And this one is about a million little duck sauce packets that have been glued on to a board. I love the way this one turned out. It kind of has a wave pattern to it and I love the way the light shines on it. My favorite sculpture had to be the one hanging in the entry way to the museum. It is made of hangers from the dry cleaners.

Next we went to the Walter Wick exhibit. There were numerous blown up prints of the artwork in his books. There were also some of the props that were used to make the artwork. Hunter was in love with the robots. I could see him looking at one of them trying to figure out how he could make one himself. We had a lot of fun "spying" things in the pictures and checking out the models.

After that we walked across campus to the bookstore. It was fun telling the kids some of my BYU experiences and showing them some of the buildings where I had attended classes. The kids had just gotten their allowance so they made a beeline to the candy counter. Then we went for lunch in the Wilkinson Center. I was surprised to find a food court where the old cafeteria used to be. Let me just say that I really haven't been to campus since I graduated, so it's been a while.

We finished off lunch with some yummy ice cream from the creamery and then headed home.

It's amazing how much fun you can have without spending a lot of money. Thanks Mom for the fun day!

Yee-Haw!

Tonight we went to the Rodeo in Lehi with Mike's family. Peggy loves getting tickets for the whole family so we can all have a fun night out. Megan and Russ just got here from Oregon so we got to see them as well.

Here are a couple of pictures of the horses and cowboys in action. It's hard to get any decent pictures in there because it is getting dark and the action is too far away.

I always feel sorry for those little cows. They probably are thinking, why do these people keep tying me up?

A couple of cute cowboys and cowgirls.

They also have a little dance off where a few little kids come up and dance for the crowd. This year one little girl got scared, but the other two put on a great little show. I've got to figure out how to get Aria into the competition. :)

We all had lots of fun watching the bull riders, buckin' broncos, barrel riders and steer ropers.

But the best part was probably the motorcycle act about two hours in. It's these two guys and two ramps. They did some great aerial tricks and the kids were in heaven! I think Mike was too. This is how Aria described it on the way home. "The cycles raced on the carpet and went up the mountain. They fly high in the air!"

Thanks Larry and Peggy for a fun night at the Rodeo!

Going Down Memory Lane in Midway

This morning my Mom (she got here last night, Yeah!) suggested taking the kids for a little drive up the canyon to Midway. My Grandparents', her parents, lived up there since the 70s. I have so many fond memories of summer visits to Grandma and Grandpa's. Unfortunately my Grandpa died when Michela was just a baby and my Grandma moved to a care facility not too many years after that. This means that my kids did not get to experience the joy that I did on the farm.

When we got there the kids saw the tractor and immediately climbed on. I remember Grandpa taking us for rides in the bucket of the tractor and even letting me drive it a few times when we were baling hay.

We then took a walk down the road to the old barn.We had so much fun in that barn when we were kids.

I always remember it being piled high with bales of hay. We would climb the ladder to the top and then play games with our cousins. Hide and Seek was so much fun, jumping from bale to bale, running across the top of the bales and trying to do it without our legs falling into the holes. I loved sneaking past the cows and creeping into the barn. I loved the smell of the hay when it was first baled. I loved watching the cows down below in the yard.

I loved roaming the pastures of the farm. It is so beautiful up there. We had many adventures there every summer.

It was kind of sad to walk around the house, it felt so empty. The rooms looked so small and so much has been taken out of the house. I walked past the old freezer and opened it up, expecting to see gallons of ice cream, but of course there wasn't a single thing in there.

After checking out the farm we headed to Main St. and found this little restaurant to eat lunch at. It was called the Galleria Cafe, I think, and it had the best pizza. It totally reminded me of Italy. Nice and simple sauce, super thin crust, ... yum. The kids loved it as well and my Mom raved about her artichoke salad. We will definitely be going back there again.

We then heard from a fellow customer that Granny's is open again! I was so sad when they went out of business. Mike and I used to drive up there like once a week to get shakes when we were dating and newly married. These shakes are way better than any around. The ice cream isn't super sweet so you can eat the majority of it before you start to get too sick. :) What a fun day we had walking down memory lane.

Scout Camp

Hunter had the opportunity to go to Scout Camp for a day. The camp was up Hobble Creek Canyon. When he got home he was so excited to tell us all about his day. He made this cool teepee while he was there and an Indian game using popsicle sticks.

Then he showed me his new patch and all the beads he earned at the camp.

He started telling me that he got one for boating, archery, and shooting BB guns. That's when I stopped him. "BB guns?" "Yeah Mom, it was so cool." Well at least there was adult supervision the entire time. I guess that's better than my brothers who used to go out behind our house and shoot up whatever they could find. Or Mike and his brother who used to shoot each other to see how many air pumps they could handle. Boys are so crazy!

Bye, Bye Baby

So we finally decided it was time to put Aria in a "Big Girl" Bed.  I was so sad to see the crib go and with it what was left of the "baby" in Aria.  I have made the crib bedding for each of my kids.  When we had two boys in a row Mike was dumbfounded as to why I was making a new crib set for Chase.  I told him, "I spend so much time in that room for the first year that I need something new to look at!"  I also wanted each child to have their "own" room.  I went totally girlie with Aria's room.  With Michela it was all about purple, white and green.  With Aria it was pink, pink, pink!  I found some really cute fabrics that all coordinated and I had so much fun sewing for my little princess.  Here are a few pictures of her "baby" room. 

Her crib.  The bumper pad has seen better days!  The cute butterfly lantern was a present from my wonderful sister in law Mindy.  

The rocking corner.  I've had that rocking chair for eleven years.  Mike bought it for me when we first started thinking about starting a family.  I remember falling asleep in it for a few minutes one night when I was distraught about not being able to get pregnant and I woke up from a little dream patting my shoulder because I had been dreaming about rocking my baby.

A close up of the fabric and trim on her bedskirt.  It was so fancy, I loved it!

Her cute little valance.

A close up of the cute fabric and I loved the trim, it had little beads in it.

A cute little lamp I found.  And yes that is me in all my pregnant glory.

Aria was so excited for her new bed.  She promptly climbed right up and started jumping and bouncing around.  I had saved Michela's old quilt because I knew it would look perfect in Aria's pink room.

Climbing out of her own bed.  

She got out a few times that night, but nothing too bad and no tears.  That was a major difference from the other kids.  With all of them it had been this big dramatic struggle when they started sleeping in a bed.  I would have to lay down with them until they would fall asleep or else they would be screaming, crying and running out of the room after me.  With Michela I tried putting a gate up in her doorway one night to keep her from coming out, but she actually climbed over it in her desperate state.

Finally settling down to go to sleep.  She still has to have one of her blankets with her so she can snuggle up to it to go to sleep.  Good night Baby Girl!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang We Love You!

I love going to Broadway shows and I am so glad that Salt Lake City has a great Broadway program. Over the years I have gone to some really fun shows like Mamma Mia, Peter Pan, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, Throughly Modern Millie, ... the list goes on and on. On Saturday I had tickets to take Michela and Hunter to go see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I absolutely love the movie and I was hoping the musical would be a fun night out for me and the kids. My sister Tiffany and a friend of hers were coming as well.

Well about an hour before we were planning on leaving Hunter decided he was NOT going. He started throwing a fit and there was no way I was going to drag him along with us. I started calling everyone I could think of so that the ticket wouldn't go to waste. Luckily after many calls my friend Jenny called me back and said she would love to come.

We started off the night going to a pizza place in Draper called NYPD pizza. They have yummy thin crust New York style pizza. We split the Pesto Pizza and the Mariano Pizza. Both were very delicious and to top it all off we got a bag of these yummy little goodies that were kind of like doughnut holes covered in cinnamon and sugar. So Good!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ended up being such a darling show. The cast did a great job and all of my favorite songs were sung beautifully. The kids who played Jeremy and Jemmima were adorable and did such a good job. The musical was funny and sweet and we all had a great time. I love being able to take Michela to stuff like this so I can share my love of music, dance and the theater with her. The star of the show though, was the car itself! It must have been on some kind of platform hydraulic system because it was lifted up in the air and kind of flew around the stage. So much fun!

My Sweet Boy

I took Hunter in to the doctor on Thursday because he had a croupy cough.  I was hoping to get some medicine and be out of there as quick as can be so that we would be able to pack up to go to St. George the next day.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.  Hunter ended up testing positive for the flu.  Yuck!  He has now been quarantined to his room for the last three days.  Luckily he has the loft in his room where he can watch movies and play video games.  I gave him a new book to help with the boredom and of course he whipped through it as fast as can be.  When I brought him his dinner I asked him if he had liked the book and he said yes, but that it had two bad words in it.  What?!  This is a children's book and I was sweating over what could possibly be in there.  "Oh," I said, "what words were they?"  He replied, "Idiot and Stupid."  I just stood there for a moment and I was about to say that those weren't really bad words when I stopped myself.  We always tell the kids that these kind of words are mean and we shouldn't ever say them to anyone else so they were "bad" words to him.  Don't you just love the innocence of youth?  I was so relieved that they weren't any worse than that.  "I'm sorry those words were in the book buddy," I apologized.  "It's okay Mom... do you want to hear about this one really funny part?"  I love that kid.  :)

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I first learned about Shabby Apple on my cousin Kris Tina's blog.  I absolutely love their dresses.  I have two dresses from them and they are so cute and comfortable.  Now you have a chance to win a dress from Shabby Apple.  You can enter the contest at Grosgrain's  blog.  Go to their blog for the instructions and to see the darling dress you could win.

Backyard Campout

Mike pitched the little tent in the backyard last night so the kids could have a little camping trip.  About 20 minutes after they went in the wind started kicking up.  It was blowing that little tent all over the place.  I went out to say goodnight to them and I asked if they were sure they wanted to sleep out there.  Michela and Hunter said yes immediately but Chase kind of looked at me with a doubtful look on his face.  Chase admitted he was a little scared of the wind, but he decided he would tough it out.  It actually didn't take him long to fall asleep after I left.  That kid can fall asleep anywhere.  

I stayed up reading and I had my bedroom window open so I could hear them.  Whenever the wind would start blowing really hard I would call out the window to them and ask them if they were sure they wanted to sleep outside.  Every time I would hear, "Yes", so I finally gave up asking.  

I had the hardest time falling asleep because I couldn't take a peek at them before I went to sleep.  Every night before I go to bed I have to go and look at each of them to see if they are asleep.  I then rearrange blankets, make sure they don't have too many books or toys in their beds, usually rearrange Aria (she is a little sleeping tornado and often has her feet sticking out of her crib) and give them all a little kiss goodnight.  Hunter won't actually let me kiss him anymore, so I have to sneak it in when he's sleeping.  Not being able to do that last night made for a hard time falling asleep.  

But of course all my worrying was for nothing, they survived and had a great time.  Mike made them pancakes for breakfast and they are all out there now running and diving into the tent.  Of course they want to sleep out there again tonight.