It pays to Discover

My sister Ronda had 6 passes to the Discovery Museum at the Gateway. But she only needed 4. So she asked if we'd like to join her. Obviously I said, "YES!"

I still needed to buy one more pass since anyone between the ages of 1 and 65 cost $8.50. But as I was about to buy my pass, a nice lady asked me if I would like her extra pass. I smiled and said, "YES!" So with only having to pay $2 for parking... it turned out to be a pretty cheap day. (Other than my brief visit to the gift shop on behalf of the Easter Bunny. But Jason doesn't need to know that.)

We were there from 10 am until almost 5 pm. Let's just say Sam and Livia had a blast! It is such a cool place! I was tempted to play too! But I didn't want to look like the 5 year old I felt inside....

This place is basically a glorified playroom. A very large one. Very cute too.

I took about 130 pictures and videos, so even though this post is long and has lots of photos, it actually IS the edited version! For some reason I'm having trouble with some of the videos, so there's only two. I will probably put some more on the kids' blogs later.

In the meanwhile, feel free to take a lookie at my kiddos loving life as a child.




















This is my niece Brynja. As you can see, she loves the water area!!




Livia pulled her pig tails out. But at least she waited until we got to the car.

Sam showing off his new train toy.

And this would be Sam tickling Livia's head. Don't ask me why. But she thought he was funny so it works!


Here is a video of Livia in the ball area.




Sam never has been much for grocery shopping.

happy second day of spring

I just wanted to show you Livia's new spring dress. I think it's cute.
And I think it's cute that Sam thinks he should carry Livia around.



For the record, this was right before nap time, hence Livia's awesome grumpiness.

I think the chocolate was talking....

Last night we had our annual Cook Ladies Chocolate Night. As always, we had a blast... lots of chocolate and lots of talking... sometimes the combo creates some pretty crazy results.
(Jenny and Ashlee... your secrets are safe with me.)

We started off the night with an awesome Oriental Chicken Salad... and then moved onto the chocolate dipping.




What's a ladies night without a few embarrassing pictures?

Sorry mom... just had to post this gem!
(But you'd appreciate this one more than the others!)


Mom inspired us all to get a less-than-glamorous shot of ourselves.




I just realized now as I was uploading the pictures that Allyson tricked me out of not getting a picture of her! I was about to when she insisted that I had to have one as well... distracting me from my original goal. So sorry Allyson... your pride is still intact.

Mine... clearly is not.



Though Jenny's picture does not include chocolate or caramel on her face... we still got a fun picture of her.... right after she allowed her chocolate to do the talking....

But you should have seen the rest of our faces!

After we were chocolate stuffed we started working on a Humanitarian quilt. But before we got going on it, Jason came and swept me away.... (some odd excuse about the kids needing to go home and go to bed.... whatever.)

Thanks for a great night ladies!! Can't wait til next year! (Seriously I can't, so let's do it more than once a year....)

nursery magic

My big girl is going to Nursery!! Even though Livia is only 17 1/2 months, the Nursery leaders said she was more than welcome to join them a few weeks early.

She was so ready to go! I was a little worried that she would cry... but Jason dropped her off. She got distracted by the toys. And she had a blast playing with all the big kids and coloring a page.


Here is her page that she colored.



Her first time putting something on the fridge. (I'm so proud!)



And I don't really care that they think her name is Olivia.



And it's off. Well, it was fun while it lasted!



She's such a sweetie!


And may I say... I got so much more out of church! Hooray for the Nursery!!

Relief Society Movie Madness

Last Tuesday for our Ward's Relief Society Birthday party we did a 'Movie Madness' theme. We divided into tables and picked a movie and decorated, ate and dressed according to that theme. Our table had Beauty and the Beast: Be our Guest. We basically had a little tea party and dressed up... ya know, like any 5 year old princess would do....

And what is a tea party without a chocolate fountain?

Janean and Krisan

Laura and Jennifer


Lisa, myself, and Livia


It was delicious!! (We also had chicken salad sandwiches, thanks to Laura for helping me make it in time!)

questionable tent

Why is the world ok with the fact that Elmo is old enough to talk and walk, yet he is naked?

happy birthday little brother

It's Spaghetti Day!

It's just a little reminder I get each year to honor my brother's birthday. I look forward to it every year... even though spaghetti is not my favorite meal... it was definitely Andrew's favorite! I had the opportunity to go to the temple with Jason last night, which is something I always try to do the week of February 26. The temple reminds me that even though he passed away almost 16 years ago, he will always be my brother and death did not change that.

I am so grateful for temples and the opportunity we have to perform ordinances there that seal families. I love my family so much and I am so grateful they will always be mine to keep!

I'm sure he would be thrilled with me for posting this picture! (Can't believe I am... don't my glasses make me look amazing!) Happy Birthday Andrew!

Even though we lost last night.....

We still had a blast!

Jason got some amazing tickets from work. We were in the 4th row. (You can actually see the back of Gail Miller's head in the picture.) They were VIP tickets, so we had sweet parking and they provided dinner for us before the game and snacks at half time. (Just to give you an idea of how sweet they were... the price was over $550... per ticket!!)

A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!

I really am shocked we lost. Atlanta has a great team, but we have a really good home record. And Atlanta hasn't won in Salt Lake City since February 1993! Why they had to ruin that awesome streak on the night we were there is a mystery!! But considering we had 2 of our best players out... I guess I can see why we lost.

But we still had lots of fun!
Thanks Jason for a great date! And thanks Omniture for having awesome tickets! And then giving them to us! And thanks Megan for watching our kids!!

we made a match

I guess it's pretty obvious these two are related.

or mini him?

As was requested, here is a 1 year old picture of Jason.
Also Sam's 1 year picture on the left.

Who looks like who?

mini me?

Do you think she's mine?


Vote yes or no. Or mostly, or not that much. Or whatever.

what child is this?

Livia likes to take things at her own pace. She is very stubborn and attitudinal when she wants to be. She has never shown much interest in standing up by herself, and definitely hasn't been too responsive to walking.
Last night as I was getting Livia ready for bed, she stood up really good, so I put her on the floor to see if she would be interested in taking a few steps. Well, let's just say she surprised the heck out of us.
This video was about 20 minutes after I got curious:



(Please ignore the nudity issue... we took Sam's shirt off to put on some temporary tattoos earlier and Livia was getting ready for bed.)




I think that's pretty good for a first time!