I'm so glad it's Earth Day!

On Tuesday, Jenna told me, "Mom, I'm so glad it's Earth Day." OK... In honor of Earth Day, we went to look at dead animals. Ü

We went with Kat & her kids, the Bentleys, and two VanAmens to Cabela's in Lehi.

We saw the giant fish tank/aquarium. Feeding time isn't until 6 pm, but they are fun to watch swimming around. The fish are HUGE! We even saw a white catfish- kind of creepy!

We also went through the display of animals that are native to our mountains, the African animals, and the Arctic display. We had to stop at the waterfall and feed the fish.

I think the favorite activity for all of the kids was the target shooting. Tanner V. was especially good at it! We all had a great time! Definitely worth the price of admission. There were lots of other young moms with strollers there enjoying a free activity! Thanks everyone for coming with us!

Other off-track action

On Monday, April 14th The Salt Lake Bees had a home game at noon. Since it was a gorgeous day, we decided to go for an outing. We went with Papa Gary, Aunt Kat, Zach and Makaya. We sat out on the grass sunning ourselves and puting sunscreen on the kids. It was so fun! They won, too.

I'm glad we took advantage of that beautiful day! It was 80 when we got back to the car and I let the girls play in the sprinklers when we got home. 24 hours later it was snowing!

Murphy's Law Thursday

Some of my friends do great blog entries they call "Flashback Fridays" where they post stories from their childhood or college days. I am going to start having "Murphy's Law Thursdays." They always seem to be my craziest days. Perhaps it is because Tim works late every other Thursday so we are looking for more adventures to fill the day, but the craziest things seem to happen.

Last Thursday, Tim and his brother went fishing in the Uintas, so I took the girls to Springville to play with the cousins while the dads were gone. We were having a great time with Janika and her kids, outside picnicking in the sun. Aubrey was running around shoeless as is her nature and came running towards us screaming bloody murder. If you know Aubrey, you know she she is very tough. Her usual respone to injury is to jump and say "I'm okay" through stifled tears or groans. With her screams, I knew something was terribly wrong with her!

She had run her foot over a brick and peeled of a good portion of her skin. It was very messy! Hamburger comes to mind. We cleaned it up as best we could with her kicking and screaming. Janika was very prepared with Bandaids in her car, so we bandaged her up. She wanted to be held, so I had her on my lap for a few minutes and checked the bandaids, which were soaked. I was worried that she might need stitches, so we called the insurance company and found the closest doctor on our insurance was in Provo, so we went on a little journey while Janika watched the other two. Bless her heart, Janika had my 5 year old, her 3 year old, her one year old with chicken pox and my year-old mama's girl! I should have sent her to the doctor's- it would have been a break for her!

So that was the Murphy's Law event for that day.

Rewind three weeks ago:

Driving home from my parents' house on a Thursday afternoon, I ran over a crow bar on 6200 South that left me with a very flat tire. (Thank goodness for Discount Tire road hazard insurance) Tim got me all fixed up, no sweat.

Back to today:

We went to meet Tim for lunch, since he has Planning Commission tonight and gets home a little late. On our way out of Bajio, he noticed my back tire was going flat. There was a huge industrial staple (about two inches long) stuck in the side wall of my tire, ironically the same tire as the crowbar. I guess my magnetic personality has rubbed off on my tires. Ü Once again, we were blessed to be a few blocks away from another Discount Tire, so Tim dropped us off on his way back to work. They were very fast and we were back on the road in no time. The girls had fun watching them change the tire and balance the new one on the machine.

Hopefully next week will be less eventful!

Summer's coming!

We can hardly wait for the sun!!!

Soccer!

Jenna and Aubrey started soccer last Saturday and LOVE it! We had to talk Jenna out of wearing her uniform to bed that night and both girls keep putting their uniforms on randomly over their clothes.
Aubrey's team is called the Dragons. She is the only girl on her team and is by far the shortest! It was hilarious to watch them all chase the ball around the field in a swarm. Too cute!

If you want to come see a game, let me know.















Jenna's team is called Lightning Dragons. She is one of three girls and is one of the tallest kids on her team. Both girls love running and are very good at kicking the ball on the run. We are still working on aiming towards the goal, but we'll get there. We are so proud of them and their hard work. They were very tough and listened to their coaches very well. What great kids!




This is Jenna with her teammate, Maddie.

I know why the caged girl sings

Jenna watched Lydia for me so I could shower. I put the chair out as a boundary for their play, but Jenna had other ideas. It made a nice cage for Little Sis, who thought it was hilarious. She was louder and sillier before I turned on the camera.

(Please ignore the mess in the background)

Our detour...

On our way to the aquarium we were listening to the Movie Show on KSL when we heard that they were broadcasting live from a new credit union near the aquarium. I love to listen to Doug Wright, so I wanted to show the girls who belongs to the voice they hear on the radio.





We also found out they were serving hamburgers from Iceberg so, hey, free lunch.



The girls got to meet Swoop. He gave Jenna and Aubrey each a red football.



There was a great magician (The Magic Cowboy) in the lobby who did fun tricks and let the girls hold these beautiful birds.


That was a fun little side trip on a fun little outing! Things went much better today than they did on Monday!

Next week: Cabella's, Tracy Aviary, and maybe the Water Conservancy District Garden or International Peace Gardens. Let me know if you want to come!

The Living Planet Aquarium

In our quest to not be bored or have the girls kill each other while Jenna is off track, we headed out for the aquarium today. The girls have a great time there. (I am always a bit disappointed because the first aquarium I went to was the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. This doesn't even compare!)


Lovely ladies with the rainbow trout




Their favorite part is driving the boat in the Great Salt Lake display. The video makes it look like they are backing out of a boat slip and heading into open water. They LOVE it!
Jenna and the "Giant" octopus

Lydia was losing it in the stroller after an hour.



I love when the girls have fun together and are sweet to each other!

Traditiooon, Tradition!

Tim's family has a tradition of decorating a gazillion Easter eggs and then throwing them, usually down one of the hills at their farm. It is really fun and a bit theraputic to throw things, hoping they break!

Tim took Jenna and Aubrey to throw our eggs a few weeks ago while Lydia and I were at a baby shower. Here's what we missed.

Welcome, new baby!

Congratulations to Molly and Brett on their darling little Madison. She was born Tuesday night at 9:35 pm, 6 lbs 7 oz, 20 inches long and had beautiful golden hair.

We got to see her last night and she is precious! Welcome to the world, little dolly!

The best laid plans of mice and men...

We had kind of a crazy day yesterday, so I thought I'd help you feel a little better about YOUR day!

7:30 Leisurely wake up because Jenna is off track. Since we have all this extra time, I decide to make a t-shirt dress to show at our Enrichment activity in a few hours.

8:55 Since we were lazy this morning, make a mad dash to get Aubrey to preschool on time, promising Jenna we can get her some breakfast at McDonald's after we drop Aubrey off, but before we go set up the activity at the church.

9:05 Pull into McDonald's parking lot, only to realize my wallet is in my purse at home, rather than in the diaper bag. Assure freaking-out Jenna that we can go get said wallet and return before going to the church.

9:10 Get home, leave Jenna and Lydia in the car with the engine off, but the battery on so they can listen to Sarah, Plain and Tall on CD while I get the paint, dress, and keys for the Enrichment activity and my wallet and cell phone out of my purse.

9:25 Back to McDonald's for the promised hash brown and sausage. (And Diet Coke for me.)

9:40 Pull up to church to set up, but there is a big white kidnapper-style utility van parked there, so we park where we can see it and listen to more of our book on CD. (engine off, battery only to save gas, right?)

9:50 Nice old man come out of the church to sweep the walks, it's his van and I could totally take him out with the stroller if needed, so we head into the church to set up.

10:00 Have a great start to our humanitarian service enrichment group. We painted blocks for the Humanitarian center and made plans to make t-shirt dresses for Mothers Without Borders to take to Zambia. Had a wonderful sister volunteer to take on that project!

10:50 Leave my kids with the other ladies at the church while I go pick up Aubrey from preschool. Listen to more of our book while I wait.

11:04 Back to the church, finish the activity. Kids make numerous trip to the bathroom for entertainment purposes, I'm sure.

12:15 On our way home from the church I decide that today would be a good day to try out free day at the Natural History Museum at the U. Leave the kids in the car listening to the book while I be a good mom and make lunch instead of buying something along the way. (My nobility always gets me in trouble!)

I call Molly to see if she wants to meet us there. Also called Kat to see if she wants to come. Called Tim to let him know our plans.

12:30 Back to the car to head out. Wondering why the kids turned off the CD. (Can you see where this is going?) Battery is DEAD! Luckily Tim rode to work with a co-worker today, so I dig the jumper cables out of his car and jump start the van. OK. Off we go!

Once we are most of the way down 6200 South, past all gas stations, Aubrey starts frantically telling me she needs to go potty. Since Lydia is sleeping and I don't dare turn my van off for fear of a dead battery, I call Kat to meet us in a Wendy's parking lot so I can run inside with Aubrey.
Problem solved, right.
Two minutes later I hear, "Oh no, I'm sitting in pee."
Another call to Kat to meet me at Target instead and I will go buy some dry pants and undies.

I head inside with Jenna, who now needs to go potty (remember they spent half of the time at the church IN THE BATHROOM).

As we are in line with pants and undies in hand, my phone rings. It's Kat. Aubrey's shirt is also soaked. Back to the clothing section for a shirt. My free day at the museum cost me about $30 by this point. As I was getting Aubrey changed I realized I just bought an outfit almost identical to one I gave her for her bday- khaki capris and a coral t-shirt (no wonder I liked it so much).

1:30 After one more trip into the bathroom with Aubrey, we are finally on our way to the museum.

The museum was great, especially the free part. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I have to wait for Kat to post about it so I can steal her pictures, but it was definitely a memorable day!

PS Here are some pics, courtesy of Kat.

Here are the kids inside a replica of an indian shelter.

Now that's scary! Tyranochildren!

Lydia is actually TRYING to touch Makalya this time.

These pictures are both part of a replica of a mine typical at Brighton, Alta, or Park City. There was a soundtrack playing mining noises in the background, which was a little creepy because it was so dark. (Jenna is covering her ears and being brave.)