Fun in the Yard

As the weather has been pretty consistently nice, we have spent time in the yard almost every night. The kids love it (so does Steve) and Cole cries to have to come back inside. We are looking forward to warmer weather, but enjoy it even when it is brisk at night. The view of the mountains, the running creek, walks, swinging, jumping on the trampapeen (as Reagan calls it) and seeing the deer that come to visit each night makes this a bit of paradise for our little family. Have a look:

Wicked

Wicked is my one of my favorite shows (second only to the Lion King)! Well, it finally came to Salt Lake and we went last night. What a great show!! I'll admit that the NY stage is bigger and more elaborate than the Capitol Theatre stage here, but it was still a great show. (For those of you who aren't familiar, the tag line for Wicked is "A lot happened before Dorothy came along" and it is basically about how Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the East were roomies in school) Love this show!!!! If you are local and can score tickets, great, if not, they have a drawing each day for that night's show - you have to wait in line to put your name in for the drawing, but the tickets end up being only $25. We bought our ticks back in October (what a long wait!!!) and had great seats (middle - 13 rows back) with 2 kids sitting in front of us - PERFECT!!! We went with the Zimmermans - some great friends who are in our ward, work out at our gym, hang with us, and have taken great care of us. They introduced us to Dodo - a restaurant in Sugarhouse (delicious) and then we headed downtown for the show. A fabulous evening - amazing show, delicious food and wonderful company!!!!  

As an aside (and because this blog is our family's own journal/scrapbook/etc.), I was trying to think of all of the shows that Steve and I have seen together. A fair amount, not crazy, but still....decent. We loved some (Lion King) and hated some (Cats), but all were a great experience. Here's what I can remember: Cats (NY), Grease (NY), Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular (NY), Les Miserables (San Francisco), The Producers (NY), 42nd Street (NY), The Beauty and the Beast (NY), The Phantom of the Opera (Salt Lake), The Lion King (San Francisco), Mama Mia (Salt Lake), Wicked (NY), All Shook Up (NY), Chicago (NY), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (NY), and Wicked (Salt Lake). Then, if you include Las Vegas, we add Celine Dion, Elton John, "O", The Blue Man Group, Le Reve, Love, and 1964 The Tribute. As you can see, most of these were seen out of town for us and we have had crazy trips getting to these shows. For example, to see 1964 The Tribute, we changed a Hawaii trip to fly to Vegas, see the show, stay a night, fly to LAX and catch up with the plane we were already scheduled to be on. Others, we have flown in and out the same day while still others were just a fluke and we happened to get tickets (3rd row to Les Miserables in San Francisco because we met a lady who's husband and son were sick and she sold us her other 2 tics). Through all the craziness, we have loved the time spent seeing these shows, enjoying the music, taking in the scenery, and becoming lost in the story of the show. Rumor has it that Lion King is coming here next year. Until then, Hakuna Matata!!!!!

Finally - A Weekend of Nice Weather

We have had only glimpses of nice weather to date. One day of good weather and then - BAM - a few more inches of snow. Well, this weekend brought nice weather for almost the whole weekend. Yes the evenings were chilly, but it was sunny during the day and no snow or rain. Friday night we played in the yard and took a walk (we were pleasantly surprised to have the creek start running), Saturday we went to my parents' house to play and Sunday, after church, we went for another walk and hung out in the yard. Even better, this week is supposed to have the highest temps of the year (even though they are predicting rain for the weekend). Oh well - we'll take what we can get and love it!!!!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter!!!! The only sad part is that we didn't have all of Steve's girls with us to celebrate. Lucky Rachel and her family traveled to Arizona - we are jealous of the sunshine they were able to enjoy. So, with a smaller group, we celebrated on our own. For once, I liked that our church starts a bit later in the day. The Easter Bunny left our baskets in the formal living room, so, Reagan searched around and thought that he didn't leave anything - she even looked outside. After Steve pointed her in the right direction, she was lovin' it. Candy, toys clothes and... bubbles!!!! - maybe she was good after all. (That's how it works in our family - you have to be good for Santa or the Easter Bunny to leave you anything.) After church, we had Shannon and Matt and Matt's parents over. We had a nice dinner and then headed outside to enjoy the weather and the day. With only a little notice, I ended up being in charge of Sharing Time for Primary (no pressure ... it's just Easter), but it went well and I was glad to be able to help the Primary kids understand a little more about the last week of our Savior's life. Eggs and bunnies and baskets are great, but the reason for the season (as they say) is Jesus. How blessed we are to be able to celebrate His life, His death and His resurrection. I was especially grateful of the time that I was able to spend in preparing to teach the Primary kids because it helped me appreciate this holiday even more.

Grandma's Egg Hunt

What a blast!!! Each year, Steve's Mom and Dad put on an egg hunt for the grandkids. There are a whole lot of kids (grandchildren and great grandchildren) and a whole lot of eggs. Plus, there is always a ton of food and lots of fun!!! Reagan and Cole were among the first to hit the yard for eggs and boy did they score. It took Cole a few minutes to get the idea of egg hunt, but once he got it... look out because he was picking up everything he could find. We found candy, eggs, and money. Reagan had a blast too, but didn't want to get too dirty finding the eggs. There were a few eggs tucked under the side of a rock and she didn't want to get dirt on her hands, so she kept asking for help (sorry Reag - if you want it, you have to get it). We so enjoyed catching up with everyone and hunting for those eggs. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa - we had a great time!!!

Farm Country

We took the kids to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. (We've been there before, but I didn't realize it was called Farm Country until I saw pics of my nieces and nephews there.) We had lots of fun. The interesting part for me was that my brave kid, Cole, was terrified. He clung to my leg or Steve's leg and wouldn't venture out at all. Steve pointed out that some of the animals are like 10 times bigger than Cole and they move differently and make strange sounds, so, why wouldn't he be afraid? Whatever the reason, Reagan was lovin' it and Cole took some time to get comfortable there.

They both rode ponies, but needed one of us right there the entire time. We had great weather (finally) and knew we had to make the most of it. Thanksgiving Point is having their Tulip Festival starting in 2 weeks, so, we'll have to go back. For now, we're happy to have visited the farm.

Cabin Fever

We all have Cabin Fever at our house; we are soooo ready for Spring. (I know, I know, we should just book a weekend trip to Phoenix or something, but with me in the Primary Presidency and Steve in the Bishopric, well, Sunday is usually our busiest day.) Each day, Reagan wants to wear a sundress and flip flops. (Sorry babe, boots again.) Plus, as you'll recall from a previous post, she always wants to "do bubbles" which means being outside. Well, last week, both kids were begging to go outside and finally Steve relented - "Ok - get your boots on". It was a sprint to see how fast they could gather their gear. (With Reagan this meant a long sleeve shirt under the sundress, leggings on beneath the sundress, boots, gloves, hat and coat.... oh yeah - and don't forget the bubbles.) So, they trekked outside with their bubbles. Then, Steve got the great idea to let them jump on the trampoline..... fabulous! He picked up Cole and a shovel and headed down the backyard hill. Reagan went running after him and was soon caught in knee deep snow. Steve picked her up as well and they made their way to the trampoline. After Steve shoveled the snow off of the trampoline, they jumped until their noses were as pink as Reagan's parka. Good thing Steve is such a good sport and good thing there is better weather in the forecast. Maybe we'll soon be cured of our Cabin Fever.

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

With Easter less than a week away, I wanted to color eggs with Reagan and Cole, but I was fearful. I thought of my sister in law, with four kids five and under, and could just picture her laying out the cups of dye, putting a big bowl of eggs in the middle and saying "have at it kids". Let's just say she is braver than I am. I kept thinking: boiling water, permanent dye, eggs, two little ones.... it all spelled "trouble" to me. So, what did I do? I called in reinforcements. Shannon and Matt agreed to help with the egg coloring. I thought "four adults to wrangle two little ones.... no problem". Well, apparently when you are converting to "toddler years", the formula doesn't quite translate. We had a fun, but messy, time. Reagan did pretty well, but we didn't count on Cole picking up the eggs and lobbing them into the dye - splashing the dye everywhere. Then, after the eggs were colored and were drying, both kids wanted to pick them up and hold them, play with them and show them to Steve. Note to self - maybe rubber gloves next time because baby wipes don't get the dye off of their hands - we were able to keep the dye off of the clothes though - I'm calling that a big success. All in all, we had a fun time and are so looking forward to Easter.