Gateway Surprise

Annie surprised me this morning with an invite to Salt Lake. We took the kids to The Gateway and got some ice cream. The kids had such a good time and we were so glad that we got the chance to go.

Once Upon a Wednesday.....

Once there was a woman.

A beautiful woman, who is a wonderful baker.

She lives in a house, where the front door really isn't the front door so everyone comes to the back.

And everyone is always welcome at the house,

and welcomed by the woman.

And the house is always warmed with love,

even if the furnace isn't working quite right.

And no one ever leaves hungry.

...

And in the woman's yard there are two trees.And on those trees are big giant leaves and in the spring they are covered with more blooms than you can count.

And the blooms are so beautiful, and they only last a little while.

It makes the yard feel quite special and they make the woman inside the house feel quite special too.

...

So the woman decided to have a party to

celebrate the blooming of the tree.

Many neighbors came and the fairies, who help make the

yard such a wonderful place, were also invited. On the designated day, however, it was raining.

Oh what were we to do?

The yummy food (and there was lots of it!) was moved under an awning. We scrunched in and devoured it!

First the kids ate...

but then they caught roly-poly bugs,

locked each other in the secret shed,

and pretended to be super heroes.

When it was time to leave, we all snagged one last bite

We are grateful for really old trees with really pretty flowers and kids with big imaginations that can make a rainy Wednesday a little more magical and a little less ordinary.

THANKS ANNIE!!!

In the Meadow We Can Build a Snowman

We went out today in the fridgid freezingness that is winter and built snowmen with the Edwards clan. The snow was so heavy, but it wasn't packing very good, so as a result we have some very lumpy, bumpy snowmen. When we'd add body parts, other parts would crumble and fall to the ground. Oh well, they had fun. I had to bring Natalee home before she was ready. We were both soaking wet and very cold. She's now in a hot bath and I think I need some cocoa.

Sweet Sam

His snowman kept breaking, so he started eating the carrot nose.

Natalee's head kept falling off so she had kind of a fat, squatty guy.

Miriam is the only one with a mostly in tact snowman.

However, she wanted to put a hat on his head by packing snow in a bucket and putting it on his head. This is why he looks like a conehead.

ARIZONA!!!

Nathan was kind enough to let Natalee and I go to Arizona for UEA weekend to visit a few of our favorite people. We had the best time! Here are some highlights!
THURSDAY:

We got in late Wednesday night and Thursday morning we got up and headed to a bounce place called Jump and Shout. It was pretty cool and the kids loved it. Natalee decided to disobey the rules and went down a slide head first, thus skinning up her chin, but other than that it was a fun place.

Then we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese's. Natalee's been wanting to go there for months, and I do mean MONTHS! I used to use the excuse that Chuck E Cheese's was very far away (since the closest one to us used to be over 30 miles away). However, they heard her cries and we now have one very close to our house. So this was a real treat for her. She hates pizza, so Hayden had the pizza and she had nuggets from the Wendy's next door. She loved playing and this little merry go round thing was her favorite ride. There was also a big wheel where you could pull a lever (like a slot machine) and get tickets or prizes. She won a cotton candy and was thrilled to death!

The kids were so cute. Sunny gave them 5 tokens at a time and instead of putting them in for themselves, they put them in for each other. Hayden would get in Bob the Builder and Natalee would put in the token. Then they'd go over to the other thing and Natalee would get in and Hayden would put in the token. They were too cute!
We also went to the Mills mall to let the kids ride the carousel and we got a little shopping done. I found Natalee a cute church dress, which is great since she's down to just one dress at the moment.
FRIDAY:
One of the highlights of my trip was Friday morning when I drove to Avondale and had lunch at Chick-Fil-A. I so love that place. Oh, and Julie was there. That was nice too. And she brought some friends. We had a great time visiting and catching up. It was a shame our kids didn't cooperate a little bit better, but the time we had was very fun.
Then we headed over to Brett and Kae's to visit with Becca, Annie, Josh and David. The kids HAD to get in the pool and Kae and I were shocked that the actually stayed in more than 5 minutes.


Kae treated us to a yummy dinner and the kids played with Webkinz and watched some TV. They just had fun being together. Natalee loves all her Arizona cousins.
Friday night we finally got over to Aunt Sharon's where Natalee got to FINALLY see Abby and Crew. Oh she just loves those little dogs. She wanted Abby to sleep with her on the bed, which Abby did until sometime in the night. On Saturday morning Natalee was able to take the dogs for a walk with Aunt Sharon and look at all the Halloween decorations people have up in her neighborhood. She loved doing that.
SATURDAY:
We headed to the Arizona Museum for Youth

The kids had a nice time, but the moms got slightly bored. There were little play areas where they could do lots of things. I think Natalee liked the diner the best and Hayden loved the playdough. We also made some little mexican flowers, which Hayden wore like a coursage the whole day...even napped in it.



We ate some lunch and went back to Brett and Kae's for a few hours. Sharon hosted a dinner that night for her kids and grandkids. It was so much fun for Natalee to play with Sara and Jessica. They carried Abby around like a doll and made a bed for her in the bedroom. That little dog can take a lot of what these kids dish out.
Sunday we just hung out and visited. We went to church and had Sharon and Darrell over to Sunny's house for dinner. The kids were exhausted and we were all a little ready to come home.
The kids were so cute sleeping in the same room. They enjoyed their sleepover party, eventhough Natalee really would have liked to have slept in the Winnie the Pooh bed. (she didn't quite fit.)
We woke up at 4:30 this morning and headed to the airport. Flying by yourself with a child has to be easier than I made it. Maybe I'll try again another time. We were really glad to be back home. Glad that it's not 40 degrees outside and really looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight!