Science Center

While in California, we went to this really cool Science Center in LA.  The kids loved it.  We spent a few hours there and didn't even see everything.

Here are the girls waiting in line to go into the earthquake simulator.  I opted to stay outside for that one, but they really liked it!

 The transportation section was really cool too.

 In the hands-on section, by little nephew found his favorite part!  He is an expert at stacking things and could have stayed there all day.  He made the tower three times as tall as when I took this picture!

 They also enjoyed fishing

 and building a house.

We also got to play virtual soccer, see some live animals, go through a section about the human body, and do lots of experiments with sound and light.

Fun stuff!

March's Ten Things

Time to link up with Emmy Mom for my Ten Things to Smile About in March:

1.  We got to play in the snow.  Finally!  And I'm also smiling that is was only once.  :)

 2.  Ethan got accepted into the Advanced Learning Program in the district and will be starting at his new school for first grade.  And his best friend made it in too!

3.  I was able to attend a good friend's temple wedding.  This was by far a highlight this month.  It was one of the best sealings I have been too.  It was incredible and powerful and sure made me love Todd even more.

4.  Going on VACATION to California!!!  And having cute cousins with matching hair (you probably saw a similar picture on Emmy's blog!)

 5.  Cousin love, at a cool dino park.

 6.  The beach!

 7.  Lots of good play groups and hanging out with friends!

8.  Not needing naps every day anymore.

9.  My tulips blooming.

10.  Welcoming in my second trimester!

The Beach

We didn't go to the beach on our first day of the vacation, it was actually closer to the end.  But they were the funnest pictures to edit.  And in the end, I'm pretty sure the beach was the highlight of the trip for my kids.  Madeline was so enamored with the beach.  She could have stayed all day . . . if it hadn't been so cold!

 Who would have guessed that it would only be 69 on the beach that day.  And with FREEZING water.  That didn't stop Madeline from going in though, but Ethan preferred staying farther in where the sun warmed the dry sand and kept your feet warm.  They both LOVED every minute though.  Ethan loved watching the birds dive into the water.

 I wrote a message for my hubby back in Utah.

 And Madeline spent 90% of the time holding onto my Dad while the waves crashed into them.  My Dad was awfully nice to stay in the cold water so long.  Madeline was covered in goosebumps and chattering her purple lips.  But kept saying, "I don't want to get out!"  She was grinning the entire time!

 She had a ton of fun with her cousin too, who loved the cold water as much as her.  They were beach buddies.

 Ethan's other favorite part was flying his new kite.  The wind was perfect for such an activity and they had a blast.  I like this picture because you can see Ethan and my Dad flying the kite, my Mom taking a video of it, and my brother with his daughter and Madeline in the background.

 Unfortunately, my sister-in-law and my nephews stayed home.  The boys were a little under the weather and not quite up for the beach.  Them coming would have made it perfect.  That and about 10 more degrees!

Other than my sunburn though, I think we all agree that we would happily go back anytime . . . if only it wasn't so far away.

Today

Today I enjoyed singing "Where Can I Turn for Peace" in Relief Society more than ever before.  And I've decided it's my new favorite hymn.  I also decided I'm going to sing it in sacrament meeting.  I'm the one who finds all the people to do the musical numbers anyway, so I can do that.  Besides, I haven't sung in sacrament meeting, except with choir, for a year.

Such an incredible hymn.  He answers privately and reaches my reaching.  I feel peace inside today.

...

My kids told each other jokes while eating lunch this afternoon.

Madeline:  Knock knock
Ethan:  Who's there?
Madeline:  Balloon
Ethan:  Balloon who?
Madeline:  I'm not a balloon, I'm a sheep you silly!
Ethan:  That doesn't make any sense.
Madeline:  Well, lots of jokes don't make sense, Ethan.

He agreed.  And I guess as a four year old, it's probably true.  Lots don't make sense.

...

Our trip was so wonderful.  So much fun.  So much laughter.  It was a wonderful break from normal and it made me appreciate normal too.  I have a lot of pictures to go through.  It should be fun since I haven't really done much with pictures for months!  I hope to post some soon.  Especially for my sister, who we all wished could have been there too.

Happy Sabbath!

We Had Fun

And now we're back.  And tired.  And happy.

With lots of laundry to do and pictures to go through.

 Oh baby, that beach was nice.

Spring Happiness

Even before my daffodils, a tulip was the first to bloom in my yard this year!  We planted a huge bag of new tulip bulbs last fall and at least one was an early bloomer.  

I can't wait until my whole front yard is blooming with these.  I just LOVE tulips!

The Princess of the World

Madeline is no longer with us.  She seems to have gotten sick and, from what I've heard, won't be back "for at least ten days".  In her place, I have a very fancy visitor.  The Princess of the World.  Her name is Princess Annika.  And don't even THINK about calling her Madeline.  She is Annika.  She said she is happy to use Madeline's things and wear Madeline's clothes and pretend I'm her mom, though I am not.  Princess Annika is from a magic world and no one has ever met her before.  I am privileged to be the first.  My, what a fancy visitor we have.  I do enjoy Annika, but I have to say, it might be a long ten days.  :)

Peach Pie

See this pretty peach pie:

I made it last Sunday.  I had been craving peach pie for awhile and then I remembered I had frozen peach pie filling I had made last fall in my downstairs freezer!  So the pie was really easy to make.  Just some buttery crust and plop the filling in.  SOOO GOOD.  So why am I talking about it a week later?

I'm still suffering the effects of making the pie.  Not eating it, mind you, but MAKING it.  See, I highly recommend not putting a fruit pie in the oven and then going off the take a nap.  Especially when your kids are downstairs and your husband gone to meetings.  As you might imagine, the filling started bubbling over.  Buttery peach juice covering the bottom of my oven and filling it with smoke.  (never mind that twice I had impressions to put it on a cookie sheet . . . I was too busy wanting my nap).

But the time I woke up and noticed the smell, the whole main living area of my house was filled with smoke.  I'm still amazed that the smoke alarms didn't go off.  But soon every window was open and every fan on.  I moved the pie onto a cookie sheet and down to my downstairs oven to finish baking.  I wasn't sure if that would work, but it turned out great.  My oven, on the other hand . . . I haven't had the stomach (or the oven cleaner) to clean it yet.  The self-cleaning on my oven seems to send my whole oven/stove into shock so I can't use that. 

So now, I use my downstairs oven a lot and every time I tromp up and down the stairs with dinner, I think about how yummy that peach pie was.

Madeline's Hair

Madeline has spent most of her hair life with one small side ponytail.  I always let her pick how I do her hair and I could very rarely convince her of anything else.  But recently, she has a new favorite.  It's been a couple weeks in the making, evolving a little each couple days, and now it's just really fun!  I love her new favorite hair!  What first started out as two piggy tails (which she hasn't worn in over a year) turned to two braids:

 And then a couple of days ago, she decided she wanted the braids to be looped up.  I know I wouldn't have thought of it, but I think it suits her nicely:

 She also insisted on getting her fingernails painted before preschool this morning.  Hot pink with sparkles, of course.  And when I started painting, she gasped and said, "Oh my!  It's so pretty I will just have to kiss them!"  Aaaah, my darling girly girl.  You make life fun for your girly girl mom!

Cookie College

The other day, I found these pictures on my point and shoot camera.  I guess I had forgotten.  We went to Cookie College in the middle of February.  I'm slightly behind on posting these, but we such a great time, I wanted to share them anyway.  Cookie College is a fun little afternoon spent at a Bakery at Gardner Village.  The kids were able to first go on a tour of the bakery followed by making their own cookies!

Rolling out the dough:

 Cutting out the cookies:

 While they baked, they fed the kids dinner.  Then came Madeline's favorite part:

 And here are some of the finished cookies!

Both kids were able to do over a dozen.  The bakery then packed their cookies up for them in boxes and we took them home.  Yum!  It was so much fun.

ps-HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY VERY FAVORITE BROTHER!  ;)

My Very Healthy Diet

Oh man.  I've reached an all-time low in my eating habits.  Today, the only thing that tasted good to me was a raspberry filled powered sugar donut and cheese wiz on club crackers.  I bought both walking through the store looking for something that looked edible.  Sad day!

But in my defense, two nights ago I dreamed about peaches in oatmeal (yes, I dream about food!) and woke up the next morning hardly being able to even wait to cook the oatmeal.  And it was. so. good.  See, that's healthy right?  And I still like my fresh blueberries.  Always will.

Hmmm, you can bet that as soon as the word salad doesn't sound repulsive anymore, I'll be eating it for lunch.  With fat-free cottage cheese and lots of carrots!

The Snow Princess and The Snowman

Yesterday, we went out for some good family fun in the snow.  It was the first snow worth playing in all year!  After the initial snow angels, we set out to build a snowman.  But Madeline wanted a snow princess, so the girls decided to make the princess while the boys went the traditional route.

 Madeline was very thrilled with her princess:

 She has "fancy" dried blossoms for hair and flower pods to decorate her snow crown.

 Meanwhile, look what the boys made!  This is my favorite picture, look how cute my boys are!  And the snowman is super cute too.

 He smiled at me this morning, when I pulled up the blind in my kitchen.  Good morning snowman.  Thanks for the smile.

Spring on my Blog

I'm going to pretend for a minute that it's springtime.  Never mind the fact that last night it snowed more than it has in a year.  But here on my blog, I'm going ahead with the spring thing.  And I'm liking it.  Although, I think we might embrace the snow this afternoon and build a snowman . . . how could we pass up the chance when we haven't made even one this year yet?  But then I can come back inside and still have spring here.  Which is nice.  Because I like spring.

I'm in the mood for flowers to peak out of the ground.

And jacket weather.

I'm in the mood to plant a few things.  And hear little birds chirp.  And watch them eat from our bird feeder.

And make flower shaped sugar cookies with pastel frosting.

And maybe feel good again.

Yes, spring sounds nice.

side note:  I just reread this post and realized that it might seem that I'm not content or happy when really I am both.  In fact, I feel very happy indeed.  My kids are giggling in the kitchen right now as they share a GIANT pixy stick Ethan got a school.  How could it get better than that?