Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Moments

Brookfield Zoo

2012-01-20T11:53:00.006-07:00

On the final day of nice weather before our "real Chicago winter" kicked in, we went to the Zoo with the Lloyds. Sophie and Mya with....something!

It really was such a pretty day. Plus there are a lot of buildings with animals. AND this zoo is totally flat! No big hills or anything. I thought I was in heaven. (If you have been to the Hogle or Nashville Zoos, you know what I am talking about). We went at about 2:30 or 3 and there weren't very many people at all. It started to get cold about closing time (5), so it worked out nicely.

The girls in the photo booth.

Libby was jealous she had to ride a lot of the time. I would have been too. She is probably telling me, "I out! I out!" right here.

My favorite building that we went in was the one with the dolphins. I even let Livi out for that one. The girls ran around and had a blast. Every time a dolphin would swim by, the would get so excited.

Livi, watching a dolphin swim by.

Soph and Mya on a giant gorilla.

Livi got her turn too. Poor thing, it really is hard being the little sister.

We went to another building next. I think this is the one with the penguins, but they aren't in this spot.

I wanted Livi to look at the waterfall. She refused. Anyway, there is a waterfall there.

Sophie, just checking things out. I really should have taken better notes on the animals we saw.

On our way out, we passed by this sled. You can tell Livi is trying to get out.

It's being pulled by some polar bears. Thanks Jessye and girls for inviting us to the zoo!

Jump, jump!

2012-01-16T15:32:00.008-07:00

Jacob took Sophie to a bounce place near us the day after New Year's. We haven't been to one of those since we left Nashville. Of course, she had the best time. Happy to be there.

Right away, she went up the very biggest slide. Sadly, she wouldn't go down any other slides the rest of her time there (until the very end). Apparently, she is only ultra-brave sometimes. :)

Luckily, there are lots of fun toys there to play on.

Jacob convinced her to try a smaller slide just before they left. Here she is...oh so nervous.

Hey, look! This IS fun! We will be sure to go back. Happy bouncing!

Sunbeam!

2012-01-16T15:24:00.003-07:00

January 1st, 2012, Sophie became a Sunbeam. That is her new class at church (ages 3-4). Instead of going to Nursery where they eat snacks and play with toys, she graduated to a real class. Plus she gets to go to Sharing Time and Singing Time too, which she totally loves. She was a little nervous leading up to going to her class, but all of our assurances that her friends were going too really helped. The day went very well and then she was assigned the opening prayer for the following week (which she rocked) and has already mastered the new song for the month. Needless to say, Primary agrees with her and she loves it.
I felt like she looked more grown up that morning, for some reason.

Two grown up girls. Livi still struggles with Nursery. She is never happy to go and completely goes bonkers if I even think about leaving. Needless to say, we are both in Nursery for the time being. I hope Livi comes to love Nursery just like Sophie did. I can't believe how big my girls are!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-05T11:49:00.005-07:00

All day New Year's eve I kept thinking we should do something fun. And then it was suddenly 4pm! Well, if we were going to celebrate Paris new years (at 5pm our time), then we needed to get in gear! So, I took the girls to the kitchen to make party hats. And Jacob prepared a version of pin the tail on the donkey.

It was tape the crowns on the daughter and mommy! Here is Livi doing a good job of placing her crowns on us.

We tried to make it harder for Soph by adding the blindfold. She wasn't having any of that. She is such a peeker! So Jacob had to step in.

Livi with her successful picture.

Ahh, NOW she wears the blindfold!

Happy New Year, y'all! 2011 threw us some curve balls. We look forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for us. We hope we get to see all of you this year!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-04T10:58:00.008-07:00

Well, after much anticipation, Christmas arrived! Santa had to wait until morning to put the presents under (and around) the tree because Sophie always migrates to the couch in the middle of the night and everyone wanted to be sure she would go back to sleep. But about 6:30 or so, Santa and and an elf did this. Can anyone say, "SPOILED"?!

And placed the stockings in the chair.

Soon after Santa and the elf finished, this little cherub woke up. The first thing she mumbled was, "It's Christmas!" But it sounded more slurred and whispery. It was pretty cute.

Daddy-O went to wake up Olivia. From a dead sleep. Good times.

You can still see the sleep on her face even as she examines her stocking. We opened stockings and Livi could have been done there, she was so excited. But the fun continued!

Sophie was all about opening presents this year. We did something between a "taking turns" and a "free-for-all" Christmas. Mostly we let the girls open a present or two at the same time and then we would open something.

Livi really was happy after the stocking. But then we pulled out the presents and thought she would be even more excited. And she was...for about a minute. She lasted through about three presents and then was ready to be done. We powered through, but she got increasingly madder and madder.

Sophie, on the other hand, couldn't open enough. Everything was greatly appreciated. This pretty dress up dress came from Granny Tex.

Opening a present one tiny piece of paper at a time. This ended up being a heavy winter coat, which is so warm and cute. The very cute hats and gloves Elise made for the girls (and Jacob and me too!) completed the warm-up effort.

They combined forces to open the Fisher Price doll house. They both have loved all the new toys and clothes they received. They now play tea party, dress up, pillow pets, trains, trucks, doll house, play kitchen/food, cash register, and lots of games. We have especially loved Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders.

Jacob appreciated his new blu-ray player (along with some nice clothes, socks, handkerchiefs, sunglasses, treats and other fun things).

I love my new cookware set (thanks to the moms for contributing to the fund!), slippers, cd, skirt, sweatshirt and bath set.

The aftermath looked like we had a tornado rip through. Don't worry my semi-ocd kicked in and we had it cleaned up in no time.

After present-palooza we ate these butterscotch pull-aparts (a recipe I got from a Utah friend). They were very yummy! Then we got ready for church and headed out.

After church we had a little ham and scalloped potato dinner. This was the smallest ham I found the day I went looking...18 lbs. What?! Needless to say, we still have a bunch of ham in the freezer. It was very tasty though. I am glad there is extra.

After we ate and rested, we busted out the new Wii family game...Just Dance Kids. We have played it almost every day since. Both girls love it. And to be honest, it is pretty fun. Who wants to come dance with us?!

Even I got into it. I like to pretend it is working out...

Livi, shaking her groove thing. Holy bananas, what a cutie! We also video chatted with both sets of grandparents. Then our friends the Lloyds came over for dessert. They have a daughter Sophie's age and a little baby. All the girls had the best time. Christmas totally rocked at our house. Who wants to come celebrate with us next year???

Christmas Eve

2012-01-04T09:59:00.007-07:00

Our Christmas Eve started with a party with a lot of people in our ward. They throw this party every year. I am glad we went. The white elephant gift exchange was pretty good. We ended up with some little girl dress up accessories and some fireworks. Jacob gave the fireworks away on our way out-we wouldn't use them anyway. We ALMOST ended up with a huge punching bag and glove set. Someone opened it. Jacob stole it and the next to last person stole it from Jacob. He was pretty bummed. But all in all the party was fun. We got home about 6:15 and started our little traditions. Jacob read (summarized) Luke 2. Our girls were so ready for bed. Maybe next year we will have the traditional reading.

Then we opened Christmas Eve jammies. Sophie was very into opening presents this year. She even helped Livi.

Then she happily opened her own. They each got two new pairs of jammies and a new pair of slippers. Sadly, the slippers have not been worn as much as I anticipated.

Then we had baths and put on our new jams. Sophie's have cows on them and Livi's have owls. They are so dang cute!

Sophie took a picture of us. Not too bad.

After the girls were in bed, the real fun began...Jacob (and me a little) had to build the play kitchen Granny Tater sent. He had to bust out the drill to make holes for the screws.

After what seemed like a long time, we finished up by adding the decals and voila! Here is the play kitchen. The burner makes a sizzling sound. The microwave buzzes and the phone rings. It has been as popular as you would have guessed! The girls love it.

Pre-Christmas Family Pictures

2011-12-27T20:30:00.008-07:00

I knew Christmas morning would be too crazy to do family pictures, so we did them a week early. The girls wore their fancy Christmas dresses and everyone cooperated for photos. Les Petites in front of the tree. Aren't they adorable holding hands? What cuties.

In the chair being silly, of course. When dad is taking the pictures, there always has to be a silly one or two...

Our best attempt at using the timer and getting the camera in a good position.

They never can be serious when they take pictures with mom. But I sure do love these ladies.

My new favorite picture of Miss Sophia. What a grown-up little lady.

All smiles with Daddy-O.

What a cheeseball. I told her if she gave me a good smile she could take a photo next. Clearly the motivation worked. What a cutie!

I couldn't get enough of the girls. Here is just one more of Sophie. I am so lucky to get to be a mommy to these girls.

December Arts and Crafts

2011-12-26T16:22:00.009-07:00

December does lend itself to some good crafting. So, we did our best to make good use of the time and season. We colored pictures from a little Nativity coloring book.

Please note the two purple crayons. Those are the only colors Libs wanted to use. Apparently my love of purple has rubbed off on her.

We decorated some mini trees. This was the best craft because all the ornaments and the star were like stickers and we didn't have to get out the glue.

Libs made some too. I am always impressed at what she can do even though she is still just a wee one.

After the mini trees, we graduated to the big trees. I tried really hard to just let them put the tree decorations on the tree anywhere.

What a tree! I think she did a pretty good job.

Sophie didn't want any help, so I just let her go.

Good work, Beeps! These trees got to hang on our fridge all month.

We did stickers. I would never have thought to just give the girls stickers and a sheet of paper, but they really love it. Libby still needs me to bend a corner of each sticker down so she can get it off the page. But Sophie just goes to town. It was so cute when the started putting stickers on each other's papers.

Sophie and I did this craft one day during nap time. She started out with a white plastic dome and then she had to place all these little brown nubbies all over it. The goal was to make a reindeer.

It took way too long for a three year old, but it turned out pretty cute, I think.

Then we did a "plate" activity (I found a kit at Michael's that included a Santa, a snowman and a reindeer). Libs made a Santa.

Look at that cheeseball! Good work on Santa, Libs!

Soph made a snowman. We did have to bust out the glue for this one. She did such a great job.

The little poof ball on the hat is just the cutest! I am so glad I bought that kit! We still have two reindeer and one each of the Santa and snowman to do next year!

Oh, Aunt Bree sent back some little presents for the girls. They were wrapped up very tightly. Here is Libs pulling out her scented pencil.

Soph got hers out too.

Then Soph used it to write her name. Her "S"'s are coming along pretty nicely. We had a pretty artsy December. What should we do in January?!

She's a Dancin' Machine

2011-12-22T12:29:00.005-07:00

Sophie's last dance class was a week ago. The little girls preformed two actual dances and then also did their usual dancing and tumbling." Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer..."

"... They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games."

"... You'll go down in history!!!"

Then she danced to Jingle Bells, which I only took a video of and could not get the video to load.

After her two dance numbers, they all lined up to wait for their turns tumbling.

They got to pick their own move and she wanted to do a head-stand. She loved the tumbling most, so I signed her up for a gymnastics class starting in January!

Goodie-Plate/Marshmallow Gun-a-Palooza 2011

2011-12-19T15:14:00.006-07:00

Last Saturday Jacob took the lead and decided it was time to do goodie plates for some of our ward friends. I didn't think I wanted to do it this year, but I am glad he pushed for it. We had the best day making treats and playing. Snitching a pretzel before we even started dipping them!

The ladies helped me make chocolate dipped pretzels. Someone in our ward gave us some chocolate pretzel rods a couple of weeks ago I fell in love. We had to do something with chocolate and pretzels. YUM!

After they were dipped, I drizzled caramel syrup over them...just for kicks. Extra yum.

Then we made the ever-popular raspberry bars (although they were strawberry this year). Sophie was a good helper, stirring the oats and cake mix.

While we did the bars, Libs and Dad went to Home Depot to get all the materials for a marshmallow gun. When he got home, Soph helped him make it.

Then he tested it out by shooting it at me. That white blob in the photo is the mini marshmallow flying at me. We have all taken our turns shooting the marshmallows.

Here is Soph giving it a try. We are trying to convince her not to put her mouth over the whole mouth piece. It's slow going.

Then Dad and Soph made some s'mores cookies. You gotta grind up the graham crackers for the base!

They are a no-bake cookie made with peanut butter and maple syrup (plus some other things). The white is marshmallow fluff. Then a little chocolate syrup. Very tasty.

Daddy-O also made some molasses cookies and snickerdoodles. He was quite the baker! Here is a full plate. We hope people liked them.

We took out 7 plates. We should have done more, but we ran out of treats. Even on the way home we kept saying, "Oh man! We forgot...." There may be a second round. We hope your Christmas is full of sweet treats!

Bree-n-Me

2011-12-19T14:57:00.002-07:00

Last week my dearest of dear friends, Bree, came to Milwaukee for a wedding. Originally I thought I might get to tag along for the whole weekend, but then the reality of my uber-clingy littlest daughter hit me and I decided I could probably only be away one night. Luckily, Bree and her family accommodated. So, I drove up to her parent's house (about 90 miles away) last Sunday night. We stayed up way too late talking and laughing. Then we went to bed and I got to wake up when my body was ready to...not when Sophie was ready to. :) We started our Monday with a delicious breakfast and the pedicures. The pedicure people were very concerned that we had worn real shoes and made us stay extra long to make sure our toes dried all the way. We figured we could chat anywhere, so we might as well just stay a while.

Then her mom, sister, brother and a couple nieces met us for a pizza lunch. Once again, the highlight was being able to eat and NOT worry about how much food my kids were throwing on the floor. After lunch we went to a learning things store. We found all sorts of fun/educational things for our kids. We restrained ourselves though and just bought a couple of things. Then I had to head home. I promised I would be home no later than bedtime, and I easily made it. Thank you so much, Bree for the best day I have had in a very long time. Please come this direction more often!

Snow Girl

2011-12-19T14:45:00.003-07:00

We have had two pretty small snowfalls here in suburban Chicago. Of course, Sophie thought she was in heaven. The first snow came on the 9th. She made a snow angel.

We needed more snow, for sure. She was pretty disappointed she couldn't make a snowman that day too.

Then just this past weekend was the second fall. We got a bit more snow, but still not enough for a snowman. Luckily there was enough to eat "snow cones" (aka snow off of her gloves).

I let her play outside for about a half an hour. I watched her through the big bay window in our kitchen. Even when it was time to come in and her hands were nearly blue, she still put up a fight. I keep trying to tell her that there will be lots more snow. (After we played outside today in nearly 50 degrees, she is even more skeptical...)

Libby was waiting for Jacob to go run an errand with him. So she just watched and laughed at Sophie playing in the snow outside. I have a feeling I am going to have to get more in touch with my winter side...sounds cold.

St. Nicholas Day

2011-12-16T17:34:00.005-07:00

For the first time, we celebrated St. Nicholas Day. I have always wanted to (mostly because the French do, and you know how I feel about the Frenchies!), but thought we should wait until we had kids who would think it was fun. St. Nicholas only brought things for the kids and they had the best time. Nick left most of the presents unwrapped, but wrapped one for each of the girls.

The littles came out to their surprises. They were sort of confused, but really excited. We told them to find their shoe and the stuff under it was for them.

Daddy-O even went into work a little late so he could take part. Each girl got a mini book of Christmas stickers, a little 10 or 12 piece puzzle, a coloring book and a chocolate/marshmallow Santa.

Plus they each got a book to unwrap. Livi's was a musical Mickey Mouse book that came with a little guitar. All the characters in the book have their own song, so on their page you push their button on the guitar. It continues to be popular...and noisy. What was Nick thinking?!

Sophie wanted to unwrap hers herself-very independent, that one.

Hers was a Tinkerbell activity book. There is a white board marker to use on all the pages and a bunch of cling stickers to put anywhere. St. Nick did a pretty good job all around. Hopefully he finds us again next year.

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T15:26:00.002-07:00

This year we upgraded from our 2 ft tree to a 4 ft tree. It is smaller than I was envisioning, but still good for us. Some day I would like a big tree, but that will have to come after little hands stop pulling it over and taking ornaments off. For now, this works. Daddy-O was put in charge of the manual labor. You can see Sophie in the background claiming the bubble wrap.

She did share with Libs and the stomp, stomp, stomped.

Here is our little tree. I have purchased a red tree skirt and Jacob helped the girls make a star topper since this photo. I really like our tree.

J also hung up a string of lights across our big window. We are so festive!

Awh, cute, right?! If only they would stay that way. They keep falling down.

And after a busy day of Christmas decorating, you just gotta rest on the couch.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-12-10T13:07:00.009-07:00

Our Thanksgiving began on Wednesday because Daddy-O took the day off! Woohoo! In honor of that, we sent him out to get us some donuts. Livi licked off all the pink frosting w/sprinkles, then she ate the donut part. Clearly, she has her system down.

Sophie bit off the sprinkled frosting and then ate the donut part. We love frosting at our house!

Thanksgiving morning we started with a carpet picnic for breakfast. Then we settled into our seats to watch the Macy's parade. I wish they would have skipped the lame interviews with weird celebrities (some random model? who cares!?) and just stuck with showing us the huge balloons and marching bands. The girls loved the balloons best.

For the big feast, we went over to the Chandler's house. They are some friends in our ward (who are both also from Twin Falls!) Nan and I divided the dishes. I did the potatoes, stuffing, two pies, a veggie tray and some cheese and crackers. She did the bird, a pie, the gravy, the rolls and a fruit salad. I am sure she did way more work than me.

While the mommies and daddies were in the kitchen, Livi and Wesley got cozy. So cute!

Nan and her 20+ lb bird. She did a great job. It was delicious and moist.

Jacob was put in charge of cutting it and he did a great job. Also in attendance at dinner were a couple of other people from the ward as well as the missionaries. After everyone was fed, there was still so much food left, so we divided up the left overs, so everyone got some of everything. Thanks again the Natalie and Aaron for having us over!

On Saturday our town had the Gingerbread Festival. Sadly, it was really rainy, so a few of the activities weren't going on. But we did find the boy and girl gingerbread people (indoors!) and had some photos taken. Libby was less than enthused.

Yet, Sophie's lack of enthusiasm made Livi look excited! I don't know if it was the weather or what, but both girls were in a funk for all of this. We had hoped to find Santa, but he wasn't going to be around for another hour and we didn't want to hang out in the rain...maybe another time? Happy (late) Thanksgiving! We are grateful for our many blessings.

"Camping"

2011-11-26T08:36:00.004-07:00

All last weekend Jacob wanted to build a little campfire for the girls. But the wind was so blustery that we just couldn't. Well, Monday things calmed down enough and it wasn't too cold, so we did that for FHE. The ladies-ready for camping. That is what Jacob called it and since we don't actually camp, they didn't know any better! I let Sophie wear a jacket of mine because I didn't want hers smokey and Livi wore an old jacket of hers that doesn't really fit well anymore. Don't they look excited?!

Our fire was pretty good! Daddy-O built it with is bare hands and kept it going.

Plus he was chief in charge of marshmallows. He also gave the lesson on the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving. We sang some primary songs too, I am sure the neighbors thought we were weird. In fact, a group of high school kids walked by and gave us some funny looks.

Here is the peanut gallery that let Dad do all the work. I did manage to keep the littles out of the fire though, so I am counting that as my contribution. And I decided that if sitting outside for 30 minutes roasting marshmallows and then going into my house to sleep in my bed is camping, then maybe I DO like camping!

What We Made

2011-11-26T08:21:00.005-07:00

In the last couple of weeks we have made a few things... We made a trip to the Cosley Petting Zoo. We met some people from our ward there and while we were waiting for them to arrive, we took a few pictures in front of the sign. That day it was almost 60 degrees. The rest of that week it stayed in the mid-40's. We definitely picked a great day to go!

For FHE we made a Gratitude Tree (an idea I stole from my Utah friend Rachael). Everyone got 4 little tags to fill out. I had to make some assumptions about what Libby was grateful for, but Soph did hers with Dad and then we tied them on. Also, Sophie got to help get the twigs, branches and leaves to fill the vase. I think it turned out pretty cute.

We made a Turkey craft. Sophie made this (with a little help from Mom) and then took the photo of me with it! Go Sophie! (Please note how she included the inside piece of the buckle...as a belly button)

Then we made another Turkey craft. This one looks kind of like a lollipop. Soph did a great job with this one too. We hung all of our crafts on the walls. For the first time, we were festive for Thanksgiving.

Sunday Best

2011-11-23T19:27:00.003-07:00

Two Sundays ago we did an impromptu photo shoot... Two cute girls in two cute skirts.

Libs-rocking the model walk.

Sitting in their chairs.

The "choking your sister" hug...a must in any photo shoot.

She escaped unscathed and took Sophie's chair.

I knew we were done after this. Pretty cute girls, I think.

Cherry pie cupcakes

2011-11-23T18:56:00.003-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we made some awesome treats... First, we split the batter because I didn't want to make all cupcakes. Also, I used silicone (reusable) liners-how "green" of me! They made the cupcakes look like cute little flowers, which I loved. Although, they were tricky to clean.

Anyway, we decorated the cake with our pie colored frosting and chocolate mixed together and Sixlets candies.

And we used that frosting to place the Sixlets on the cupcakes (our "cherries") and then swished the frosting back and forth so they looked like a pie. Cute, right?! I am sure we will do these again. They were do fun to make, look at and eat.

(PS I got the idea from the family fun magazine)

Grandma and Sophie Gettin' Crafty

2011-11-12T20:16:00.005-07:00

I did not take nearly as many photos of grandma and the girls as I would have liked to. Here are a few, though. Just hanging out. Sophie, what is going on? :)

Doing some reading.

We made a trip to Michael's Craft Store...I love that place! I found these guys for cheap. So cute!

We also picked up a few crafts. Working on an owl. All the pieces were like stickers, so it was extra easy.

Ta da! One finished owl.

Then they worked on a turkey. This one required glue. Fancy!

One finished turkey. We all miss grandma. She is the one who is always game for a craft or a story or just a squeeze. The day she left (at 5am), Sophie woke up (about 7am) and asked where grandma was. I told her she had to go home. She started wailing, "But why?! I really like her!" Agreed. We love you, grandma. Come back soon!

Family Pictures...Attempt

2011-11-12T20:01:00.005-07:00

Well, it is that time of year again...family pictures for the Christmas card. Oy vay! Ever since we moved away from our fabulous photographer friend Bree, we have been in a bind. I knew we were too cheap to pay for pictures (we've gotten so spoiled!), so we waited until my mom was here and had her do them. We took about 20. I deleted about 12 of those. I am only posting a few here. One of these will be on the card, you'll just have to wait to see which one! Come on, Libs! Cute smiles AT grandma, please! This year we opted for purple (mine and Sophie's favorite color).

Tickle, tickle! They even leaned the same. Cute! Before this one we had a string where Sophie looked so strange and made a very strange smile. A friend of mine (who has a 6 yr old, a 3 yr old and a 6 month old) said that her 3 yr old was the problem smiler for her too.

After a few shots in our house, we took our act on the road...well, outside anyway. I had intended to do all the pictures outside, but thanks to the Chicago wind (gusts up to 20 mph) we didn't get many outside.

Sophie actually took this one of mom and me. She barely got mom in. I cropped off all the space next to me. But for a 3 yr old, I'd say pretty good. Anyway, I chose a photo and then a couple of photos of the girls to put on the card and had the card printed up. If you'd like one and have moved or whatnot let me know your new address. If you need/want ours, let me know too.

Happy (Late) Halloween

2011-11-11T20:02:00.004-07:00

We had two Halloweens this year, sort of. The ward trunk or treat was on the 28th (Jacob's birthday), so we only went for the games and photos portion. We skipped the actual treating part. No one seemed to mind, since that part didn't start until almost 8:15-way too late for our kids. Anyway, we went and it was fun. Little Red and Little Pumpkin. Pretty cute, if I do say so.

There were a ton of fun games for the kids. Here is Sophie pumpkin bowling. She did this after she jumped in the bounce house-she never wanted to leave that one.

She ate a donut on a string. She told me later that she cheated and used her hands. Of course!

The aftermath. Powder face.

We had a family photo taken. I wore a Happy Halloween shirt and Jacob went as "dressed down professor."

Finally we made it to Monday and Sophie got to go trick or treating. She was dying to all weekend. Here t or t goes from about 3-6 ish. I didn't know that until kids started showing up about 3:30. So our plan to go after dinner quickly became "Jacob, you take the kids the minute you get home." And he did. Little Red can't wait.

Somebody did NOT want to be a cute pumpkin again. So, a fairy princess she was. Very cute. She walked the whole time too. J took them up one side of our street and down the other.

They got back and we had dinner...mummy pizza and mummy juice boxes. Festive, no? (I got the idea from Family Fun Magazine). We hope your Halloween was a little spooky and a lot fun!

Dupage Children's Museum

2011-11-11T19:26:00.007-07:00

Last Friday-the 4th-we picked up Granny Tater from O'Hare and came home for just a couple of hours so Libs could nap and then we hit the Children's Museum. There were some new activities and stations to visit as well as some classic faves. Grandma and Soph practiced their weaving skills.

Libs did some puzzles and blocks.

There is a pattern at the foot of this mirror and Sophie built another level of the pattern. It is so uncommon that she is still for very long, so I had to just watch her.

We went up to all the trains and Sophie climbed up into this look out.

The girls rocking the seesaw. After just a couple seconds Sophie decided to get off. I am glad I was there to catch Libby! (Also, please note how Sophie chose her own clothes...).

We found a whole station of magnetic shapes (like the ones we have), which Libs loved.

Sophie really got into the microscopes. She thought it was so cool to look at the fibers on the slides. Maybe a science girl?

Holy moly! This is a favorite room...for the kids. All drums, all over. This other little girl adopted us and actually wandered with us even after we left this room. She checked in periodically with her dad.

Finally! The water table. Sophie was begging for this all day long. She was as soaked as she could possibly be by the time we left, even with the bib on.

Libs also loved the water station. She carried these "gucks" around until we left. We are loving this place and our pass is going to get a lot of use this winter, I can already tell!

Somebody had a birthday...

2011-11-03T15:06:00.003-06:00

Sadly no one told Livi that people should get to sleep in a teensy bit on their birthdays. She was up all night and I finally made Jacob take a shift. Poor guy. Anyway, we made Dad some cards.

We made a rockin' cake (chocolate with white frosting, as per his request) and organized his loot.

We put up a birthday sign, a couple of streamers and balloons.

Finally, he made it home! And Sophie demanded we open presents right now! Do you like how she is right there ready to see what he gets!? I think he was really happy with all of his gifts. A frisbee, thermal long johns, a book, dress pants, umbrella, gift card for new earbuds, wallet, socks.

I was manning the banshees, so he had to light his own candles. But we sang a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday!"

And he made a wish. Because his birthday fell on the Friday before Halloween, he had to give up part of his night for the ward trunk-or-treat (but we only did the games and skipped the treating part, and that's another post). So, all in all, I think Daddy-O had a pretty good birthday. And I think he has done a lot in his 29 years...mission, Bachelors, PhD, Post-doc, real job, wife, two kids. We're all glad he's here anyway! :) Happy Birthday Bean! We love you!

TIme Out, Dance, Numbers

2011-10-31T20:15:00.005-06:00

I am feeling so behind, so I thought I would document a few things into one. Sorry they don't flow very well. Livi has been asserting her naughty side lately. When she gets in trouble, she (like Sophie) gets sent to time out. Sometimes she even sends herself. She has nicely assumed the Time Out Position-nose in the corner and hands behind the back.

I signed Sophie up for a Creative Movement class. It's a 7 week course and the first class was last week. Here she is, ready to go in.

Doing some warm ups with the other little girls and Miss Michelle. Talk about crazy...a room full of three year old girls. Agh! Sophie's teacher really is so perfect for this work and Sophie already loves her. She even got a shout out in her prayer at bedtime.

Just doing some stretches. About half of the girls have taken the class before, so they know what they are supposed to do. That frees up Miss Michelle to wrangle the four other girls who like to roam (including Sophie).

Here is one of the main reasons I signed Sophie up for a class. The teacher is going to help them do somersaults, but they are supposed to sit against the wall and wait their turn. This little girl in the black pants (Grace) had the hardest time. Sophie did a pretty good job of waiting her turn.

I guess the somersault photo didn't load, but the pencil roll photo did! Sophie caught on quickly to the gymnastics aspects of the class. The ballet moves were much more challenging. She really liked the mime part (including making silly faces). I think we are going to love this class.

Later that day, she asked to do School Time and so she practiced writing/tracing her numbers. I loved seeing her concentrate so hard on one thing!

Such a proud little girl! She is sort of a perfectionist, which motivates her to work on the things that give her trouble. She is doing so well with letters and numbers. She also likes to find rhyming words and the newest favorite activity is playing Curious George games on pbskids.org. What a smartie!

This little girl...

2011-10-24T13:13:00.004-06:00

turned 18 months old! (2 weeks ago) Isn't she just the cutest?! A few things about our Livi girl. She is smiley and laughy and giggly. She likes to hide and then to giggle when you find her. She likes to do whatever Sophie is doing (except watch tv/movies...she gets bored after about 5 minutes), but anything else Sophie does is a favorite. She likes to climb. She likes to knock over lego and block towers. She likes to dress up. She likes crafts. She likes snack food (not so much with the real food...). She likes her blanket and her bink. She likes to climb up on the bathroom counter and sit in the sink. She likes to help clean. She likes dance parties. She likes big kid toys at the park. She likes to put herself in time out when Sophie is in time out (solidarity, I guess). She likes her mom and dad, almost as much as she likes her sister. She (sort of) likes Nursery. She likes FHE games-especially when we blow a bubble. She likes apples (usually) and yogurt (usually), but never meats. She likes her vitamin drink and juice, but not water. She doesn't like going to bed, but likes to wake up early.

I cannot believe how fast she has grown. I fall more in love with her every day. She is such a happy kid and gives the cutest smiles. Thanks for coming to our family, Miss Libs. We don't know what we would do without you.

Halloween Crafts

2011-10-21T17:17:00.005-06:00

Some of you may (or may not) know that I don't actually groove on the Halloween. I mean, I just don't get it...you dress your kids up to go beg for food from strangers? What?! Anyway, I have a history of not doing much for the holiday. But since Sophie is old enough (and begs) to do crafts all the time, I figured it was time to just dive into it all. We started with a sign for our front door. The words are puffy stickers and then we drew a spider and pumpkin with glitter glue.

Libby wanted in on the action too, so another day we painted pictures.

I loved these ones because the paint strip just tears away when you are done. Easy cheesy!

Another day Sophie decorated pumpkins-this one with glitter glue.

This one with puff balls. If you look at it straight on, you can see that the yellow ones make the face. We ran out of the oranges.

This was my favorite activity that we did. I took baby food jars and taped off a jack-o-lantern face, then let the girls go to town painting the inside!

Sophie got very into the activity.

Voila! The finished projects! I am planning to have them make more.

Another day we made monster eyes. I found the patterns on familyfun.com.

A nice cheeseball grin while she glues.

There were three patterns. We made one of each and turned our family room mirrors into our spooky friends.

And then one night I made a few bats. Patterns also from familyfun.com. All in all, I think things turned out pretty good. I did not want to do creepy and scary things (that is why I usually don't like Halloween), but the cute things, I can get behind. Plus, it's kind of fun having a decorated house. Happy Halloween Everyone!

Deep Dish is Delish

2011-10-20T12:59:00.002-06:00

So, about a week ago, we ordered our first Chicago Deep Dish pizza. We ordered a small and only finished 2/3 of it.
It reminds me of an actual pie. The crust isn't thick like I thought it would be (I am a thin crust fan), so I liked it. And then the toppings fill up the crust to the top!

The sauce is on top, then the cheese, then the meat, then the crust. It seemed like it was backwards, but it still tasted pretty good. Next up? Chicago Thin Crust. Yum!

Goooooooo Mustangs?

2011-10-15T20:16:00.007-06:00

That's right. We are Mustang fans here in Downers Grove. The mascot of the high school by our house is the Mustang. Last weekend it was unseasonably warm and we took advantage of it to go cheer on our new team (unbeaten this season and State Champs in 2001!) The girls are ready to go! Sophie insisted on wearing her hood even though it was hardly jacket weather, let alone hood weather.

We sat on the Visitor's side because we needed the space for our crazies. The first few minutes were right near us, so we got to really see the action.

All the girls enjoying the game. We didn't cheer too loudly since we were on the wrong side. A dad sitting behind us was loud enough for the whole section though. And sadly, the visiting team had some tough times, so he had a lot to say.

Libby could not stay still. She just wandered all over the place. Luckily, we had lots of room.

Sophie is the cheeseball of the night. Her favorite part was the band.

Libs loved her snacks. Never mind that we had just eaten dinner before we came.

Ok, so like I said, Sophie loved the band music. She danced everytime they played. It was so funny! She totally got her groove on. I hope you can see her whole performance in the video.

As you can see in this video, she's got some skills.

The game started at 7 (our kids' bedtime), so we only made it until halftime. But it was well worth it. We left as the band was doing their thing. We had to sneak out during a slow portion of their performance so Sophie would come with us. We probably won't make it to another football game this season (it's gotten chilly this week!), so I am glad we went last week. Go Mustangs!

Welcome to the Windy City!

2011-10-11T16:23:00.013-06:00

Last week we used one of Jacob's three remaining free parking passes to investigate downtown Chi-Town. I drove into the city with the girls about 3:15 and met up with Jacob about 4. Yay for leaving work early! Everyone in front of one of dad's two offices. This is where the lab is and his office is in the basement with the lab.

I wanted a photo in front of this very old fire station. Isn't it so pretty?

Here is a shot of the old water works building. I love the old buildings downtown. So elegant looking.

And now on to the new stuff! We went into the American Doll store. We don't have any of these dolls (way too expensive!), but the store was so fun. And they just released two new dolls that are French girls. So I wanted a picture in front of that display...or to the side. :)

Jacob brought the girls up the escalator while I took the stroller in the elevator. This is just the store elevator. It is 3 levels. The whole mall is 9 levels.

Sophie in front of another American Doll display. Seriously that store is huge! Plus we picked up a free catalog that Sophie "reads" everytime we get in the car. Best souvenir ever!

Next door to the AD store is the Lego Store. Dad and kids in front of a Lego version of Chicago. Wow! Everything in this store amazed me.

In front of Lego Indiana Jones. Livi didn't want to pose with mom. All Lego, people, all Lego!

Playing at the Lego station in the store. We could have stayed there for hours! We only got the girls to leave with promises of the Hershey's store. Chocolate trumps Legos at our house.

Just looking up at the sky scrapers. They are really, really high! (Just ask Sophie).

Us after we came out of the Hershey's store , just before we dove into our cookies. Yum!

We stood and watched this street performer for a couple of minutes. I snapped a photo as we were leaving (just in case he wanted money for it).

The Chicago Tribune building. We get the Trib. I felt cool. Apparently there are stones from all sorts of amazing places embedded into the walls of the lower levels (Great Wall, Parthenon, Notre dame, Alamo, etc). We didn't cross the street to check it out this time.

We thought of eating at MJ's restaurant...wait, no we didn't. That's a lie. We probably couldn't afford a beverage in that place.

Marilyn Monroe statue. Jacob said that one day it was really rainy and a ton of people were all jostling to fit under her skirt to stay dry. Tee hee hee.

We walked to the double-decker bridge that goes over the Chicago River. We kept telling Sophie we were going to see the water. She was unhappy that we were not getting in the water and thew a fit when we turned to leave the bridge. (Maybe next time? Umm, no.)

We ate dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe. It sounds swankier than it is, lucky for us. It was still very yummy. Especially the beignets...seriously, incredible! Even leaving at 7:00pm, it still took over an hour to get home. That is why trips downtown will not be so frequent. All in all, it was a very fun afternoon for us. I wish we were the high-rise-living kind of people. It would be really fun to live right downtown. But, alas, we are suburbanites. But visiting the city is pretty fun.

Play group?

2011-10-11T16:06:00.003-06:00

We went to our ward's play group a couple of weeks ago. We were the only ones who showed up, but the girls still had fun on the toys. Livi is so fearless with the climbing. But she is also careful, so I don't worry about her as much as I did Sophie (who was very reckless).

Speak of the reckless! She loved this giant rope ladder/web thing. You have to climb it to get to the slide.

Which, of course, she needed to then go down! All of the parks here have two sets of toys...one for 2-5 year olds and one for 5-10 year olds. Sophie only likes the big kid toys and Libby just wants to be where Sophie is. Welcome to the danger zone!

She even wanted to try out the big kid swings. She did a really good job!

Sophie also rocked the big kid swing. I'm glad they had fun because to be honest I was pretty ticked that no one showed up. It was good to see my kids all smiles and happy.

Water color

2011-10-08T11:48:00.003-06:00

One of Sophie's favorite activities is water coloring. I like that there is no actual paint involved. The main point of this post, though, is the fact that we waited to do this until Libby was awake. We usually do arts and crafts while she sleeps, but I am getting the feeling she would like to do them too. Sophie, doing some painting.

Livi doing some painting too. She had the best time and was much more meticulous than Sophie. Soph is all about the big, crazy strokes. Libs was more focused and controlled. It was pretty interesting to watch.

Look! No fighting. Even though I made them share the water dish.

Trying to get both of them looking at me, standing still, with their pictures facing me...very tricky. (Please note their dress up skirts. This is also new for us. I think it is Sophie's Nashville friend Kylie's influence). Lookin' good, girls! Lookin' good.

Doin' Some Learnin'

2011-10-08T11:33:00.004-06:00

Since I am a loser and decided not to put Sophie in a multiple hundreds (or thousands) of dollars preschool, I figured I had better get going on teaching her school things. My mom gave her this School Kit for Christmas and we just barely broke it out.
It has books and flash cards that focus on rhyming words (among other things) and also includes this white board with 1-10 on it. Sophie likes to trace the numbers. Some are easier than others. But, she is doing really well. (Lower case letters a-z are on the other side. We are still focusing on upper case letters though.)

Voila! All done! Looks pretty good, no? Believe me when I tell you she loves our daily School Time. She wants to go longer than the 30 minutes I want to go. I love that she loves learning and I hope this is enough for her for now. Maybe we'll find a preschool next year.

Dupage Children's Museum

2011-10-01T20:01:00.010-06:00

A couple Saturdays ago we ventured out to our first big thing since the move. Jacob found the DCM online and we loaded up the car to try it out. It's about 20 minutes away, in Naperville, so not too bad. It's pretty pricey, but the year pass will make it worth it. Plus it is incredible! Right away we found the music area. Livi rocked this drum.

Not to be outdone, Sophie joined in. This whole room had different types of drums to try out. It was noisy, but very fun.

Rockin' the xylophone.

Then we found this whole area about light and shadows. Here is Jacob with the girls doing the giant light bright. Also in this area you could freeze your shadow and see what a black light does. The photos mostly didn't turn out, but it was pretty cool.

We can never pass up a chance to do some crafts! The big theme this month is trains, so we made some trains. Sophie has placed her wheels thus far. Mostly, the minute the lady in charge got out the glue sticks, both girls were pretty happy.

Livi even likes the top! Dad helped her make her picture.

The pictures turned out pretty nice, I think. And both girls had fun. It was also nice for me because we divided and conquered. Craft time at home has become trickier now that Livi wants to craft too.

After we crafted, we found a wind tunnel. I am bummed you can't really see how windy it was inside! Both girls came out less than thrilled.

This was a favorite. You put a little puff ball into this air cannon and then whack the bottom. The ball flies out and hits the ship. Jacob and Sophie spent lots of time here. Sophie squealed every time the ball shot out. Sadly, after Jacob left to take Libs to a different station, this grown-up man came over and took all the balls out that Sophie had put in to launch. What a loser! He then held them and walked around with his kid. (?!?!) We left.

The sadness didn't last long because the whole upstairs is devoted to trains! Soph took a break on the big train. There are lots of toy trains circling the room too.

Part of the upstairs is toys more suitable for littler kids (like Libs). But Soph liked this activity where you put ping pong balls in the tubes. Then you pound on the tubes and it makes different pitches.

Agh! 4 Olivias! She thought it was funny to play peek-a-boo with herself.

She loved this giant bead toy. We have a very small one at home that is a hit too.

Once we had exhausted the upstairs, I finally agreed to the water station on the main level. Holy smokes. Jacob encircled them in this giant bubble. Pretty cool.

Everyone loved the water table. Mostly, they used the scoops to put water into other dishes.

Sophie never wanted to leave.

But she agreed to leave the water station to make more bubbles!

Daddy-O made the biggest bubble (which is in mid-pop right now). Once Livi was soaked and covered in soap, we decided to call it a day. But, it was really incredible, and now that we have a pass, we will for sure be heading back a lot. What else is there to do in the winter in Chicago?!

What We've Been Doin'

2011-09-28T20:19:00.003-06:00

Here are some things that have been going on in our lives recently... One of our last days before leaving Nashville, the girls did some drumming on these books. You can see them each holding a magnetic triangle...equals the best drum sticks ever.

On our move, we stayed at a Garden Inn by Marriott (I figured if NW was paying the bill, we could live a little. We even ordered room service for dinner!) I lugged in all the toys from the car and the girls only wanted to play telephone. Luckily they unplugged easily and there were two phones.

Livi getting her chat on. She loves the phone more than anyone I know.

Jacob started his new job. Doesn't he look snazzy in his new duds. It has been a week and a half and so far so good. The biggest headache has been transportation. But he seems to have it down now.

I discovered that the girls have matching shirts, so I dressed them up for our first story time adventure at the library. Here they are, ready to go!

Upon our return from story time, we found a delivery on our door step. It included dry ice, which started out as something scary (just ask Sophie).

But later became a hit! Livi was always ready to dive into the dry ice, but it took Sophie a few minutes to come around. Once they were both on board, this was the best activity ever!

We took a walk to one of the many parks within three blocks of us. Holding hands...cute! We really do live in the cutest neighborhood. Across the street from an elementary school, a block from the high school and surrounded by parks. Plus we are about a mile from the Target. :)

Upon arrival, the weather turned very cold (15-20 degrees colder than normal for this time of year-yuck) and I freaked out because the girls had no long sleeves or long pants. So we made an emergency shopping trip and got a care package from Granny Tater and we are all doing much better. Not that she needs it now, but Sophie got a new winter coat because word on the street is that winter here is rough. The coat is too big. I got her a size 5 because all of the size 4 shirts I have gotten her have been too small. Seriously, I can't win!

We also visited the Dupage Children's Museum (and got a pass!) which was incredible and deserves its own post (to come later). And, that is us, so far.

Cupcake Collection

2011-09-27T12:23:00.003-06:00

Just a few days before we left Nashville, we discovered this little gem. It's a small bakery that makes incredible cupcakes. The Cupcake Collection is it's name. I am so sad we didn't find out about this place earlier! Nashville friends, Go there! Some cute girls just waiting for our friends to arrive. Sophie could not contain herself once she found out we were going downtown for cupcakes.

The bakery is just the front part of a big house downtown. There are some cute decorations outside.

Once Cathy and her girls arrived, Sophie and Kylie were inseparable. We could only get photos with one girl looking and smiling. Kylie sure is cute!

We took our cupcakes to Centennial Park. These girls could only eat on the run. Too much fun! (Side note: every flavor was delicious-they sell only 9 a day, 6 standards and 3 rotating ones and we got 6 flavors, but the sweet potato cupcake was the very best. Seriously, get one. You're welcome).

Livi totally rocked hers. She got the sweet potato one because I didn't think I would like it! Agh!
I kept sneaking bites of hers because it was so good.

All three girls (Kylie's sister Emmy chilled in her car seat) really liked this swing. We spent a long time at this park and then hit the McD's at the park entrance. It was such a great day. Thanks Busby friends!

Alright, Nashville, You Win

2011-09-19T12:28:00.003-06:00

When we moved to Nashville 11 months ago, Jacob had to drag me kicking and screaming. He assured me it wasn't forever and that we'd probably only be there a couple of years. I assured him that I wasn't going to like it and I surely wasn't going to miss it when we finally got to leave. From the minute we got there, all I wanted to do was go "home" and be close to "family."

And then Nashville turned on the charm. It really started with the weather. I mean, we were out at the park in jeans and tee-shirts the week of Thanksgiving, for Pete's sake! When winter hit, it got pretty chilly, but the snow was so little that it wasn't a big deal. I started warming up to the city.

Then the cool things grabbed me. The Frist (seriously, GO NOW if you haven't been...this week), all the country music places (Ryman, Hall of Fame, downtown, etc). I seriously had the best time getting to know the city.

But really, it was the people, who sealed the deal. I have never been so accepted and loved so quickly anywhere. The girls in my ward befriended me right away. We immediately had a play group to do things with weekly or more often. I got to serve with amazing people in Primary and every week I knew I would be rejuvenated just by going to church and being around those ward members. My visiting teacher came and I knew she actually cared about me. People genuinely lived the Gospel and it made me want to be better.

And Southern Hospitality isn't just a slogan. It's a way of life. Like the Kroger worker who went out in the rain and then dried off a cart with a car on the front because Sophie was throwing a fit about not getting a car cart. Or every Publix employee (at the Nippers Corner store) who ran to get me items from the back when the shelf was empty or who let me have three penny items because someone else "donated" them (what?!).

It didn't take long for Nashville to become "home" and strangers to become "family." I feel so lucky to have been able to live there for even just a short time. I cried the whole way to Chicago and sometimes I still cry (like now). But, I have high hopes for our new city. I guess I have to because if not, then this won't work. Chicago (Downers Grove, actually) has to become our new home and the strangers here have to become our new family.

So, thank you Nashville. Thank you for taking my negative attitude and giving it your best. You made me better and stronger. I could never have moved to Chicago for this job without coming to you first. You made me appreciate my blessings, especially the Gospel. And I love you for it. I miss you. All I can say now is, "Well played, Nashville, well played. You win."

The Hermitage

2011-09-05T12:09:00.006-06:00

Last weekend we paid a visit to another cool Nashville attraction-the home of President Andrew Jackson. Luckily, we had a Buy 1 Get 1 admission free coupon because it's pricey! But, very cool. J and girls in front of Andrew and wife Rachel and their carriage. (Turns out she was married to another guy first, but he was abusive, so she left him, but never got a divorce! Keep that tidbit in your back pocket for the next trivia game you play).

The cute lady who told us about the house. She also thought our crazy girls were pretty cute. We offered to let her watch them while we toured the house. (No pictures allowed inside the house, but we would have been too busy chasing girls around to take them anyway. They did not love the tour, needless to say, but I did).

There is a traditional English garden in the back. It is lovely. Veggies were grown in the corners and flowers in the middle.

J-enjoying the flowers. They were really fragrant and he is mildly allergic to flowers, so this was not his favorite spot.

S & L in front of the tomb Andrew had built for Rachel.

Sophie in front of the original house the Jacksons lived in. They didn't have the mansion built until he was elected president because they knew they would have to do more entertaining.

These houses were original to the property and the Jacksons had one put on top of the other to create the house they lived in for many years. After the mansion was built, they had them separated and converted into slave quarters.

You can pay extra to take a tour of the grounds in a horse-drawn wagon. We didn't, but the horses looked nice.

Don't worry, we left our mark on the property too. Sophie spilled all of her treats (dried fruit, gold fish and cheerios) all over the sidewalk. We hope the birds enjoyed the snacks!

Livi in front of the herb garden. I could not get that girl to smile to save my life. She did pretty well, though, for not getting out of the stroller much.

I was there too! Thanks to Andrew Jackson for building a cool mansion and having great grounds to see!

We've Got Us...

2011-09-05T12:01:00.002-06:00

a couple of Sillies! Yes, I let her go out like that. Some days, I just let her win in the fashion department. At least it all matched!

And this little miss likes nothing more than hiding. She will run into a bedroom and hide behind the door or squeeze in between the chair and couch. She will sit very still until someone finds her and then she will erupt into laughter. She's pretty cute. Oh, and she has gotten three new teeth in the last 2 weeks (6 in the last 2 months), so she is always chewing on something.

Discovery Center

2011-08-29T19:47:00.008-06:00

Last Thursday we made another visit to the Discovery Center down in Murfreesboro. It is about a 30 minute drive, but so worth it. A bunch of friends came too, which made it even better! Sophie ran to the big fire truck right away. Those hats are pretty heavy!

Livi ran around all over the place. She found this station right away. It's about bugs and animals.

This trip we made it into the craft area. It was a first for us. It was fun to paint with Luke, Emmy and Natalie. Can you see Livi on the table in the way background? Yep, she's quite the climber.

Kylie made her way to the painting fun also.

Here is Little Miss Mountaineer, herself. I only let her use the water to "paint", which she got everywhere. But, water is better than actual paint, I think.

Kylie and Sophie loved the water station. This part is where you create bubbles in that tubey thing and the little toys inside float up. Sophie kept saying the seahorses wanted to come out. Probably they did.

Livi, also liked the water station. Seriously, she wants to climb on everything.

Kylie and Sophie taking a canoe trip. This is just after Sophie threw a huge tantrum when she got in trouble for throwing rocks. Don't worry, that was one of two major fits. How embarrassing!

Livi climbed these stairs three times. Only once with permission. That means I had to climb them that many times too. I seriously needed a nap by the time we got home. Plus I didn't feel guilty about never exercising.

She loved the blocks table on the second floor.

Sophie loved the train table. Shhh, don't tell her, but she is getting a much smaller version of this for Christmas! I am glad to know she will like it.

Logan and Sophie filling the wheelbarrow with coal for the train.

Kylie and Sophie working the backhoe. (Also, a huge thank you to Kylie's mom, Cathy, for keeping her eye on Sophie while I chased Livi all over creation.)

Speak of the little devil. Here we are in a sort of replica of the catacombs in Paris. There is an exhibit about the Bubonic Plague. I thought it was pretty cool. And much less creepy than the real catacombs. But still, real, or, fake, walls of bones are gross.

Livi just doing some heavy lifting. She would spend 2.5 seconds at everything. It always looks like I waited until she was getting down to take a photo, but in the time it took me to turn the camera on, she was off to something else!

Livi and Holland in the train room. These two girls only run everywhere.

Our last area was the Tiny Town. I love this place because it is a sort of small area that is gated, so you really don't have to worry about the kiddos escaping. I finally got to sit down! Livi, practicing her balance beam skills.

And finally, a photo of Sophie, Emmy, Kylie (hidden) and two random girls in the big tree! Thanks friends for coming. We had the best time!

Miss Livi Jane 15/16 months

2011-08-28T08:02:00.004-06:00

Livi managed to turn 15 months (in July) without me realizing it. So, she didn't make it to her 15 month check up until she was nearly 16 months. Even with the extra weeks, she was/is still pretty tiny. She weighed 19 lbs (2nd %ile), was 29 inches (13th %ile), and has a head in the 50th %ile. She was also a smidge behind in her verbal skills. So Dr. Schofield told us to start giving her Pedia Sure kind of drinks daily and to start making her say the words for things she knows instead of giving in (like we do because she is stubborn and just wants to point). It has been a struggle because she doesn't want to speak. (Unlike Sophie who was so advanced in her verbal skills). In the month since our appt, Livi is doing much better at speaking. She still won't just come up and say "Cup" or "Blanket" or whatever, but once I figure out what she wants, I make her say it a few times. Cup is "Bup" etc. Most of her words start with a "B" sound, which is good because her two favorite things are her Blanket and Bink, but it's pretty funny. She can say No, Mama and Dada easily. (I am wishing No was not on that list! Slow and steady, right?
Here is Libby loving on Sophie (who is asleep). Even though Soph is so mean to her so much of the time, Libby still adores her sister. She is constantly getting things for her and trying to be near her.

Just giving her sister a back rub. She would not leave Sophie alone. We finally had to put Soph in her bed to rest.

Getting that yogurt on the spoon! Where Soph was advanced in verbal skills, Libs is advanced in manual skills. She can climb anything. She has dance parties with Sophie. She is already rocking the spoon and does a pretty good job at feeding herself. She refuses to eat any meal without a utensil and even if I am feeding her something, she has to have her own spoon to take her own bite here and there. I am so proud of her. She mastered the sippy cup and straw very early and utensils are on their way.

And, in the mouth! I am completely in love with this little one. She is a busy kid and wants to be involved in the action. I am impressed with what she has picked up in the past month. She has 6 teeth on the top and almost 3 on the bottom. Even teething, she is a pretty good sleeper. I love her to the moon and back.

Country Music Hall of Fame

2011-08-27T13:10:00.008-06:00

Last weekend we finally made it to the Hall of Fame. I have been wanting to go, but it's pricey and I never made it a priority. But once we knew we were moving, I told Jacob we had to go.
All us girls ready to go in.

Sophie was running ahead. I think she thought it would be more hands-on.

Note: Please excuse the poor photo quality. No flash allowed inside. Here are J and the girls in front of some old time guitars.

We found this jukebox to be pretty cool. It was loaded with old school country by people I had not even heard of.

In front of Elvis' Cadillac.

There were a number of enclosed listening stations where Sophie got her groove on. In fact, one time she wouldn't leave and some other people wanted to come in. So I told her it was their turn to dance. Then she agreed to leave. The high school aged boy and his parents all thought she was pretty funny.

There are walls and walls of gold and platinum records all over the place. Some of them you can push and hear the song; others are just there.

This was the favorite, by far. You get to design outfits based on songs. Sophie went through all the songs more than once.

I think this was some Academy of Country Music memorabilia.

There is a huge area devoted to the Hank Williams family. Here is HW Jr's Monday Night Football jacket (right behind us), among other things.

Carrie Underwood's dress from when she hosted the ACM's. You can see he wearing it in the poster off to the side.

The dress in the middle is Taylor Swift's. To the right of that are some Brad Paisley guitars. To the left and back of the dress is a Keith Urban guitar. The black dress may be Carrie Underwood's?

Reba was inducted into the Hall of Fame maybe two years ago or something. Here is her plaque.

Libby did pretty well considering she had to ride most of the time. Doesn't she look so tired?

Right inside the hall of fame. It is a round room with the inductees plaques on the walls. All around the top it says, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". I loved it. This was definitely one of my favorite places we have been here in Nashville.

Family Zoo Day

2011-08-18T14:21:00.004-06:00

We have had our zoo pass nearly a year now and Jacob had not ever been to the zoo with us! So on Monday we remedied that. He went into work late and we wrangled our kids around the Nashville Zoo. Good times all around. First, I should mention that Sophie asked for snacks from the moment we got there until we left. Also, the photo-taking did not turn out well. Exhibit A: We stopped in the petting zoo area (a first for all of us) and mostly Sophie was afraid of all the animals. That poor turkey in the background-just trying to be friendly. Libby was too busy running all over (she rarely gets to get out of her stroller at the zoo) just enjoying her sweet freedom.

For the next couple shots, we decided not to even attempt to photograph our kids-too hard. These wild animals cooperated though. I have no idea what this is. A rat? A kangaroo? A kangarat?!

More petting zoo wildlife.

There is some sort of bird in that tree. One out of three looking at the camera. Not bad, right?

This was my favorite part of the day. Libby squatted down and was yelling at this goat. This was as close as she would get, but I think she wanted to make friends.

Proof that Jacob was there. Sophie kept saying that the camels smelled bad. It's true, they did.

My other favorite picture...this alpaca never moved from this position. Jacob kept asking if maybe s/he was dead. Is this a common position for alpacas?! Plus his/her teeth were so crazy-the bottom jaw poked out farther than the top one. I laughed about this poor animal all day. Seriously, so funny.

The flamingos were quite the hit. I wish I could blame the blank stares on the heat, but it was really quite pleasant. I promise, we all had a good time.

Just Us

2011-08-15T15:04:00.008-06:00

I have been slacking on the blogging! For the three of you out there who keep up with us, here are some of the things we have been up to... I wanted a red velvet cake, so I made one. But I didn't want to open a new can of frosting and I only had a half a can of the white with sprinkles. So, we used some brownie icing we had for the other half of the cake! Jacob said it looked like we made a segregation cake.

I wanted the sprinkles frosting and he wanted the chocolate.

Last week for one of our crafts, I let Sophie used those glitter glue pens and then a toothpick to swirl the gel around. She had a pretty fun time.

Very serious about her art.

We have been getting the blocks out a lot. Sophie likes to build castles. After the towers are built, she places one block in front (to be the door, of course!)

We have been having a lot of dance parties here. I thought this was a funny photo. Drinkin' and dancin'!

So, we kind of have boxes all over. This is our fireplace (blocked off by book shelves with boxes in them). Libby likes to squeeze in between the book cases.

Seriously, why is this the most popular place to play?!

Libs has kicked her climbing skills into high gear since we have moved into this apartment. She climbs from the couch to the chair all the time these days.

Don't worry, Vandy, we still love you! The other night, both girls were rocking their Vandy jammie clothes. Go 'Dores!

Another Visit to the Frist? Yes, Please!

2011-08-07T20:10:00.004-06:00

During "Moving Week" we made some time to go to the Frist with our friends Jeni, Logan and Coy. Logan and Sophie are the same age and Libs and Coy are the same age, so it works out pretty well. Although, I now realize that we didn't get any pictures of Jeni or Coy! Next time. Libby had her chance to be out of the stroller, but blew it by running out of the ArtQuest Gallery three times in two minutes. Busted! I tried to make it fun for her though, even if she had to be strapped down. Here she is doing some puzzles.

Sophie is quite the builder. She loved this station. And it was just the first one!

After the puzzles and blocks station, we hit the painting station. Even Libby got in on the action. She thought it was so cool to paint the paper, her pants, her hands, etc.

Little Miss Sophie showing her darker side. No matter what colors she starts with, she always ends up at the black. But it's fun anyway, I guess.

Logan and Soph making pictures with the magnetic shapes. These two are just two crazy peas in a crazy pod. They like to play together so much.

Next we hit one of the many drawing stations. I love this picture because Sophie looks so focused and calm. It's unusual for her!

Logan and Soph. They both drew quite the pictures. Notice Libs in the background doing her own picture.

There she is! I let her draw a picture and it went well until she decided she wanted to chew on the pencil.

Last but not least, the kaleidoscope station. They could have stayed here forever. They went through all of the options and colors. They even took turns (sort of). Don't they just look so cute?!

I am so glad that our friends could go with us. Now that we know we are leaving Nashville, I am more committed to going back as much as we can. We all love this place and I think everyone should get a pass. Or just pay the $10 for adults (kids under 18 are free). It is totally worth it.

Good-bye and Hello

2011-07-31T15:53:00.006-06:00

This week we said some good-byes and some hellos. All week we have been in the process of saying good-bye to our house. We didn't want to sign a year lease and have had a lot of issues with the management company (and owner). So, we decided it was time to get out. Yesterday was the big day when we moved the furniture and big stuff. Of course, it rained and we were issued the wrong U Haul (a smaller one with no dolly). Luckily, some amazing people in our ward braved both and moved our stuff in the rain and in multiple loads. We seriously could not have done it without them (especially Dan Swinton and Chris Neely). Thanks to all who helped. I am happy to report that it was not a sad good-bye at all. I always hated that house.

That leads us to our first hello! Hello to our new apartment. It's about the same square footage, but there are lots more cabinets and things are newer. I will miss having a dining room and bigger bathrooms. But, so far, so good. The closets here are bigger too. It's a happy hello.

We found out on recently that we will be saying good-bye to Nashville in about 5 weeks. We have really grown to love Music City. I am sad to be leaving the heart of country music. I am also sad that we had to sign a year lease and move into an apartment for only a month. But mostly we are sad to be leaving our friends, our callings and our ward family. We have felt needed, welcomed and involved from Day One. I am afraid no other ward will make us feel at home so quickly.

But a Hello to Chicago has been a few months in the making. Early May, Jacob applied for a job in Chicago at Siemens. That didn't work out, but that guy (Sven) emailed Jacob a couple of weeks later about a job at Northwestern and asked if he could pass Jacob's name along. (Umm, yes!) Jacob and that guy (Michael) emailed a few times clarifying the job and things. Well, a few weeks after that Jacob had a phone interview, but it took over a month after before he got invited to come to Chicago for an interview. We thought early on that things were looking good. But then it took so long between the phone interview and the invite that we got discouraged. So we didn't tell anyone.

But we got hopeful again when he was invited up for two days of interviews. He came home with word that he should be expecting an offer within a week. We investigated Chicago and knew that the salary would need to be pretty high to make the cost of living adjustment. We had an amount in our minds and the offer came in just above that, but not as high as we would like. Jacob emailed with kind of a counter offer and they split the difference, so we accepted. He will be an Assistant Professor of Radiology and the Manager of the cardiovascular MRI lab at the NW School of Medicine. It's a newly created position, so he gets to define the job as he goes, I guess. Jacob will most likely drive up to Chicago to find us a place the beginning of September and then we will all head up the next week. We have never wanted to live in Chicago. Our goal to avoid nasty winters is clearly a failure. But we know that this is an answer to many, many prayers and much fasting. The fact that this job just sort of fell into our laps when we have been praying for a better job in an effort to pay student loans and save more, has been a huge testimony-builder for us. We are thankful that the Lord hears and answers prayers and that the Gospel is the same everywhere. We look forward to making Chicago's acquaintance, even though it means saying good-bye to Nashville.

Purity Plant

2011-07-22T14:22:00.004-06:00

My friend Heather organized a tour of the Purity plant here in Nashville. (Purity is a local brand of milk/ice cream/etc). Since the tours can be up to 50 people she suggested I invite some of my friends and she'd do the same. I think about 30 of us came. Outside the plant in front of the big, fake, ice cream guitar. This is what you get when you add Nashville and ice cream. Sophie with Ellie, Thomas and Libs.

Logan came a few minutes later (with his mom and brother). These two are two crazy peas in a crazy pod. They have the best time together.

Our "tour" was actually all of us sitting in a room watching a video from the 80's about where they get their milk and the products they make. I took this photo of the butter making machines through the glass.

Some of the kids in our group in front of the Purity cow.

After our video tour, we all got ice cream samples. Soph rocked the vanilla.

So did Libs. She loved that ice cream! Thanks to Heather for coordinating and so many friends for coming!

Dancing and Crafting

2011-07-22T14:11:00.002-06:00

Sunday evening we had a little dance party at home. Livi, rocking the sassy pose (and one of my favorite dresses ever).

Dad and Libs busting some moves.

Mom and Soph gettin' their groove on.

Soph dancing on dad's feet. She had a hard time with the coordination this takes.

The next day we got crafty while Libs napped. We made a magic wand! Our supplies consisted of popsicle sticks, construction paper, pipe cleaners and stickers.

Voila! A wand! I realized shortly after we made it (and she started using it) that the pipe cleaners are kind of scratchy and painful. Next time, we will use something else. We've been having fun at our house, have you?

Zoo Trip

2011-07-22T13:59:00.002-06:00

My mom was here visiting for two weeks. She spent most days working at a local vet clinic as part of her schooling. But she stayed a few days after her internship ended. So, the day before mom left, we went to the zoo. It was close to 100 degrees and so so so humid. We thought we might just melt right there, but we had a fun time anyway! Grandma and girls in front of something. They were really far back there.

We spent a few minutes watching the alligators. There was a huge fan in this little shack that we all enjoyed. We also thought the gator skull was cool.

We caught the flamingos on our way out. Even though it was so hot, I am glad we got to make a zoo trip.

Tour

2011-07-22T12:16:00.005-06:00

Before my mom left we took a tour of the stars' homes. Our driver knew a lot about the stars and the city. It was really cool. Many of the homes on the tour are on the road we take to the pediatrician! I kept saying, "I drive this road all the time and never knew." Most of the homes are hidden by all the dang trees here. But here are some the I liked a lot.

Martina McBride is one of my favorite singers. She lives just a few miles from me! I told Jacob that and he said we should take cookies or something. :)

This used to be Alan Jackson's home. Nice lawn.

Taylor Swift lives at the top of this building downtown. Hi, Taylor!

My mama-bear and me on the bus. We had the best time.

Festive Fourth

2011-07-15T14:03:00.006-06:00

Our Fourth of July started off with a little craft. Sophie and I made some bowling pins (tp rolls and some patriotic pictures from the Internet). Sophie started out bowling from far away and her aim was a smidge off.

Livi had a turn with some help from mom.

A close up of the pins we made. Cute, right?!

Yay! She got all the pins!

Libby liked playing with them too. But, Sophie soon got protective and then they started fighting over them...it was fun while it lasted.

I tried and tried to get pictures of them together. At least they are both facing the right direction! Let's pretend they are waving. Please notice how Libs has the bowling pins on her arms. Funny!

That evening we went to a bbq. Our friends, the Alcantars, threw a big bbq and invited the entire ward. They are the nicest! Livi liked the slide.

So did Sophie. It was pretty popular among the younger crowd.

Libby found this football and carried it around for a while. I love this pose. It looks like she is ready to hike it to the QB! (On a side note...Go Cougars!)

Sophie found this car to ride in and a nice deacon in the ward pushed her around for a while. She was his third or fourth passenger. I am sure he was tired, but he was so nice to take care of her. (Thanks to Josh!) He kept telling her to steer, but she didn't and kept running them into things. It was so funny!

The food was great and we loved visiting with some ward friends. We didn't stay for fireworks because the petites were getting tired, so we headed home around 8. We watched some fireworks on tv. Next year I would like to either buy some fireworks or go watch them somewhere. The 4th somehow seems unfulfilled without fireworks. All in all, though, a great day. Happy Birthday, America!

Grandma Bubbles

2011-07-15T07:20:00.002-06:00

My mom came for a 2 week visit. And it was amazing. She came at just the right time when I needed her most. Just a week before she came, we decided we would be moving and she was a life saver watching the girls while we apartment/house hunted, packed up about 20 boxes and just generally felt the weight of the world. One of her first jobs was Chief Bubble Blower. Look at all those bubbles!
Livi...in awe of the bubbles.

Granny Tater and her favorite girls.

Upgrade

2011-07-01T13:12:00.003-06:00

We've graduated to two big car seats in the Murano now. We upgraded Libs the blue one Soph has been using (that poor girl just can't ever get something new, can she?). And Soph got upgraded to a new booster seat (mostly because the boosters are cheaper-and we are cheap-skates. It is much easier now that everyone faces the front. They pass toys back and forth to each other, which makes it easier for me. Side view. Libby wasn't quite 20 lbs when we made the big move a month ago. And she still looks so small in the big blue seat. But she is happier facing forward, although she looks quite uncomfortable hunched over when she falls asleep in her chair.

Front view. Sophie loves her new chair because when we are ready to get out of the car, she can undo her seat belt all by herself. I am glad that even little successes are important to her. I have not been on the ball enough to get a photo of the seats with the children in them.

Not Like Me

2011-06-27T13:11:00.003-06:00

I don't like to use this blog to vent or scream or be negative. I like to use it to talk about my kids and the fun things we do. So, please forgive and indulge me just this once to get some things off my chest. You are welcome to skip it, if you want. I won't be offended. Just hang on 'til the next post-it will most likely be full of cute pictures of the petites.This is what I feel like right now. And before I continue, let me say that I truly do recognize that my trials could be bigger and that there are others in this world who are having a much worse time than I am. That said, last week was hard. We found out that the part of our lease (and our lease renewal form) that indicated we could stay on a month-to-month contract was not accurate. When we told the management company we wanted to do that, they guy there (we'll call him Tom Buida...because that's his jerk-face name) told us no. We had to sign to stay another year or get out. We thought we might just sign and then break the lease (we really don't know if we will be here another year), but if you do that, you lose your $900 deposit and you have to pay the monthly rent until it is rented again or your lease is up, which knowing this house, might be a long time. We just didn't think we could swing that. So, Tuesday last week it was determined that we would move out by the end of July. Awesome. (Please note that had we not said anything we could have stayed another month, but since we were honest, decent people, we are getting shafted. Thank you, jerk-face Tom Buida).

In the meantime, Jacob has been dutifully looking for jobs (I mean, being post-doc is fun and all...) and we thought we had a couple of promising options. Of course, neither has panned out. So, it looks like we are moving to somewhere else in Nashville. Don't get me wrong. I like Nashville. We have made amazing friends here and we love our ward. But it is frustrating because we took this house intending to stay here until J got his "career" job and we made another huge move. It has been less than a year and here we are getting ready to pack up all our junk again to move it to another place for probably not a very long time. Double awesome.

Once again, my life is amazing. My family is amazing. We are blessed and I know that the Lord is mindful of us. But right now I am tired and stressed and very uncertain about our future. Basically, I am being a terrible mother because I can't go an hour without crying or feeling too overwhelmed. I just feel like a 75 pound weight has taken up residence on my shoulders and it takes all my energy to carry it around, leaving me little for my kids--who are incredible and deserve better.

That's all. Enough whining from me. Next time, I promise, back to business as usual on this here blog. Thanks for listening. xoxo

Fluckiger Family Father's Day

2011-06-24T14:06:00.006-06:00

Father's day began very early last Sunday when both girls were up by 6:30. In an attempt to keep them quiet so Dad could sleep longer, we made Father's Day cards. I love how they are both intently doing their pictures. Even Libs, standing in that chair. Too cute! I love these kids.

Jacob came out while we were still "decorating," so we sent him back to his room. Sophie has his one gift and Libs has his card and other gift (in the card). And they are standing under their pictures...lightly drawn.

Jacob had lots of help getting his gifts opened. Some cookies from David's Cookies and a card with a gift card to Subway in it.

Some post-present popping of the bubble wrap that came around the cookies.

After presents and breakfast (Krispy Kreme donuts-that we purchased on Saturday) and bath it was some serious reading time. Both girls love books. Just like their Dad (and Mom).

And a holiday is never complete at hour house without an attempt to do family pictures. Here is our latest effort. We've got the Mom and Pops.

We've got the two crazies. Seriously, this was Livi's face most of the time. Sophie has seemed to figure out the whole smile-at-the-camera thing. Finally!

All the girls. At least ONE of us was looking at the camera...

Oh sure, be all cute and calm with Dad. I really do love this picture.

And finally, our latest try at a picture with all four of us. Well, 75% smiling isn't bad, right? After we endured this, I remembered that my mom is coming to town and could easily help do family pictures in a week or two. So, we may give it another shot here pretty soon. No holiday needed!

A Couple of Sillies

2011-06-23T10:54:00.007-06:00

Here are some pictures of the last week or so from just around our house. I don't want you to get the impression we go and do things every day. A lot of days we just hang at home inside or outside. Last Thursday morning I saw/heard Livi on the little table in our living room just squealing and chattering. After a couple of minutes I took a peek. She was watching this squirrel eat! And she loved it!

"Oh, hey, mom. Just watching this squirrel eat. " She got very angry when Mr. Squirrel left her sight line.

And then another day there was some wrestling. Sophie likes to lay on top of Livi. Libs is usually not a fan of this, oddly enough.

Libby loves these rings. She spends a lot of time trying to get them on her feet and then she walks around like that! What?! It makes me think of foot binding or something.

Ta da! Now, doesn't that look comfy? (Yesterday, she actually got two on her feet and walked around that way. Ouch!)

Sophie apparently has her dad's genes for drumming. She was using two plastic baby spoons as drum sticks and this poor piano as her drum. Future rocker?

Dairy Days

2011-06-21T09:12:00.009-06:00

Last week we ventured down to Murfreesboro for Dairy Days! I had to wake Libs up when we got there. Hence her cheery disposition. Sophie was very excited about the whole business.

It took a lot of tries for Sophie to even attempt to pet any of the cattle. Even the baby (so cute) made her too nervous to look.

We saw this lady just resting on this cow. The lady was talking to people as they walked past like this was not weird. Too funny!

This little goat was all up in Libby's business. I kept pulling the stroller away and s/he kept coming! The goat didn't bite her and Libs didn't cry, so I guess we'll call it a success.

Still happy to be there! This was one of the largest cows I have ever seen and she had all sorts of slime coming out her her nose and mouth. But Sophie liked her.

After we saw the animals, we went into the building to do crafts and games. Here, we made a cow puppet and then colored her.

Ta da! One cow puppet, please.

We also got us some samples. Mmm, chocolate milk! Sadly, they ran out of ice cream bars before we made it to that station. Boo. (On a side note, we tried to get ice cream at McDonald's afterward and were told they also had no ice cream-after we had waited in line for 15 minutes. If you want ice cream, Murfreesboro may not be the place to get it).

There were a bunch of kiddie games. Here is Sophie rocking the ring toss. She comes by her throwing ability honestly...

That is why for this game she just walked up to the cow and put the bean bags through the holes. Good work, kid!

There was a farm/garden area set up where kids could harvest the foods. She picked some apples and then dug up some carrots (which she later sold at the market and then bought a coloring book with her profits).

At this station, the nice lady put all sorts of foods on the plate and then the kids had to put them back into the basket they belonged in (all chicken products in the chicken basket, all bread products in the wheat basket, etc). Luke, Natalie and Sophie did a great job.

Toss the ball into the pot went as well as the others. But you got 12 balls to try and throw in. Soph lost interest after the first 3, so we let the kid behind us go.

All the kids by the cow display. The lady running this display had pants on that matched this cow. All in all, a great time at the Dairy Days!

We love...

2011-06-19T08:52:00.004-06:00

this guy because he makes us smile and laugh, feel loved and special, gives lovies and squeezes and raspberries, works hard to make sure we have everything we need and lots of things we want, and honors his Priesthood and covenants. Thanks to our favorite Daddy-O for taking such good care of our family. Happy Father's Day.

Dragon Park

2011-06-18T07:31:00.009-06:00

Last week we went to the park downtown with a huge group of our friends. I think it is called the Fannie Mae Park or something, but we call it the Dragon Park...you'll see why later. Sophie braved the wobbly bridge...on her knees. Libs took two steps out and turned right around. She is fearless, but not that fearless, I guess.

Instead she spent a lot of time climbing up on these little stools and then the table.

That yellow dragon sprays water out in a mist. It was nice for cooling down. Libby, one again, tried it once and never got close enough again. I had to drag Sophie away so she wouldn't get soaking wet.

This is a fun toy. Kind of like an oversized teeter-totter that doesn't actually go to the ground. The kids sat on one end and I bounced the other end.

And here it is...the huge dragon at the Dragon Park! It circles around and you can climb all over it. I guess I didn't get a good picture of it...next time.

I said, "Libs, Have a seat!" And she backed right up to this spot, staring at the ground the whole time. Cute girl.

Two smiley girls kickin' it on the dragon. Good times. We went to McDougal's (a fried chicken place) afterwards. There were 7 moms and 14 kids ( I think) at the park and then the restaurant. We got to McDougal's right as it opened and they were sure surprised to see all of us! The kids took turns having meltdowns, but the free ice cream seemed to help. Thanks girls for the fun morning!

Downtown Fest

2011-06-17T11:41:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday the CMA Music Fest was still in full swing. In addition to the nightly concerts there were all sorts of things going on during the daytime. We started our Saturday at Centennial Park where they were making the world's largest tee-shirt. They set a Guinness World Record! J and the girls in front of the big t-shirt. It was over 90 degrees and so humid. I felt so bad for these people. But they looked like they were having a good time.

We moved along, went and played on the toys and then came back. In that time they had gotten the shirt where they needed it and were putting the logo on. Here we are in front of the nearly finished product.

We hit Wendy's for lunch. Libby was happy with the straw.

Then we went to the Bridgestone area where there were all sorts of booths and things for kids. Sophie only went down this slide once. She kept saying that it wasn't like the ones at the bounce place we go to. Hmmm.

In the craft tent, Sophie did a puzzle. We were just glad to get to sit down for a minute.

Both girls did these block puzzles. Libs thought it was more fun to just bang the cubes on the table.

We meandered down Broadway and found all these cut outs of artists. Here we are in front of Darius Rucker (aka Hootie of Hootie and the Blowfish. He is now a country singer). We also found the Blue Bell ice cream truck where we all got free samples. Delicious! That was the high point for sure. I was surprised that our kids lasted two hours out in the heat and busy crowd. But they did and it was a fun thing to do. Of course, Nashville has been having record heat for this time of the year, so really, it should not have been that bad. I am glad we braved the heat to experience the madness that is the Music Fest weekend. It is one of those things that makes Nashville, well, Nashville!

CMA Music Fest Concert

2011-06-11T08:42:00.005-06:00

Living here has its perks. I mean, as a country music fan, it really is great. Last night was the creme de la creme (sorry this computer doesn't do accents!). I got to go to one of the biggest shows of the year. The CMA Music Fest is going on here this week here in Nashvegas. There is all sorts of live music downtown, lots of stuff going on. And each night there is a huge show with 6 or so big acts. I got to see some of my faves. Sorry for the poor picture quality. We were in the rafters and I couldn't figure out which setting to use. Oh well. When you pay for the cheap seats at a football stadium, you aren't expecting to get great photos, right? You are just happy to be there. And I was. Dierks Bentley. We missed Ashton Shepard, so Dierks was our first act. He sings a lot of party songs, so he was a good one to see early to get the energy going.

Next up, Lady Antebellum! This was probably my main reason for going. I love them. And their new song, Just a Kiss is just amazing.

Hillary from Lady A. Her voice is so pretty.

After Lady A, we had Sugarland. Probably the most exciting act of the show. They were introduced by Shania Twain and had the Music City Mystique (a drum line) in their set. Jennifer Nettles has some lungs on her. I didn't stop be bopping.

More Sugarland. Seriously, we were so far away.

Hello Keith Urban! Ok, for some reason my pictures of Keith turned out okay. He was crazy too. He went up into the crowd on the east side of the stadium. I like it when the artists acknowledge those of us up high. We actually paid for our seats instead of getting them for free from a drawing or contest or an insider.

Reba closed the night. By the time she came on, it was nearly midnight. So we didn't stay in our seats for all of her show. We started making our way down to the ground during her set, so we could still hear her, but could hopefully get back to our car easily. I have seen Reba live before, so I was not too sad to not see her. But I loved hearing her voice as we were heading out.

The whole show was just cool. I am glad Lacey could go with me and that our husbands were willing to chill at home with the kiddos. I don't imagine I will get the chance to go to a concert like this again. I mean, I paid less than the price of one ticket to a regular show and got to see a whole slew of talent. It really was so cool. And like I said, I wasn't looking to take great photos, I was just glad to be there. I am a pretty lucky girl.

Historic Franklin, TN

2011-06-10T06:05:00.006-06:00

For our big Memorial Day activity we headed to Franklin (about 10 miles away). The original town area is full of old buildings and homes, plus a lot about the Civil War.

Here is the Confederate Civil War Monument in the middle of Old Town. A round-about circles around it and we parked here. Some Tennessee trivia...It never seceded, but a lot of people were obviously pro Confederacy, so it had a Union and a Confederate Army of Tennessee. There are Confederate cemeteries and monuments all over.

We picked up a self-guided walking tour map at the info station and hit the pavement. I forgot our camera, so we used our phones. (Seriously, those cameras are terrible.) The girls and me in front of the one of the oldest houses in Franklin. Build in the late 1700's.

J and the girls in front of the old ice house. Now it is a gift shop, but the ice house sign stands as a reminder.

Sophie in front of a beautiful magnolia tree. I guess I had never seen one up close. The flowers are incredible!

We ate at an Irish Pub place called McCreary's. I thought the food was good and except for the spilled lemonade all over my lap (thank you Sophie for rolling your sippy cup and Jacob for trying to catch it), the meal was great. Well, our girls were poorly behaved, but that is so common, I don't use that as a measuring stick anymore...

After lunch, we picked up our walking tour where we left off. Two huge tractors just rolling down the street. I thought this was such a funny sight!

Sophie in front of the Eaton House. Also very old. Built in the early 1800's. We spent a couple of hours in Old Franklin. I love all things history and this was a cool place to see. The heat got to us or we might have made it longer. Happy Memorial Day!

Adventure Science Center

2011-06-09T13:37:00.005-06:00

We have been wanting to try out the Adventure Science Center since we moved here, but were worried it would not be worth the price because it's geared for older kids. So when our friend, Nada, invited us to come with them (and use a guest pass) we were very excited. That place is amazing! Of course my camera battery was dead when we got there, so I had to use my phone. Hence the terrible quality of the pictures. But, there are pictures, nonetheless. Learning about some dinos.

Taking a ride in an ambulance.

Doing some dancing. This was her favorite station by far. She wanted to go back over and over. This was in the area all about muscles.

In this area you learn all about what happens to your food when you eat it. Here is the slide coming out of the stomach. It is really detailed and intricate. I thought it was so cool and even though Soph didn't get the details, she thought the activities were cool.

Here is a water table where you make paths that simulate veins and then there are floating shapes that represent different types of blood cells. So cool!

Here, you are supposed to hit the foods that pop up. She eventually caught on.

I loved this station. Little areas of the tooth turn red and you are supposed to brush there to get rid of the decay or whatever.

Libs did well being in the stroller most of the time. I was really proud of her. I mean, she wanted to get out, but she didn't throw big fits about it. Here are the girls in front of the dinosaurs.

When we walked into the area with the solar system she immediately pointed out Saturn by name. What?! When did she learn about Saturn? No idea. But she liked the planets for sure. She almost had enough courage to go into the dark area where you walk along and it is like you are out in space. But she chickened out at the last minute. I don't blame her, it's a little unnerving not knowing exactly where you are.

In addition to the winsg about the body, the dinos and the solar system (and the other areas we didn't even get to) there is an area that is geared for kids under 5. Lots of blocks, legos and things. Here are Sophie, Natalie and Luke doing some building.

Playing with the magnetic shapes.

Ahh! Sweet freedom! Libs finally got to get out of her stroller. She loved all the shapes. I love how she is squatting on the chair! How comfortable could that actually be?

There is a train that kids can play on. Here are the girls being conductors. "All aboard!"

We seriously had the best time. Everything in this place is hands on and fun. Even though it is a great place for elementary school aged kids, all our little ones had a blast. I am so excited to go back. Thanks Nada!

Splish splash

2011-06-04T10:02:00.007-06:00

Due to the cicada invasion, we don't want to spend much time on the lawn or in places that have a lot of trees. We had hoped to go to a splash park on Tuesday, but got word that the cicadas were all over it. Instead, we pulled out our blow up pool, put it on our patio and filled it from the hose. I like how Soph is just chillin' here. She never does that...ever. Meanwhile, Libby is capturing that escapee ring.
Libs is happy to share the toys.

Splashing is so fun!

Big cheesy grins. Fun times all around!

Family Fun and Good-bye-Idaho Part 3

2011-06-03T14:09:00.016-06:00

The day after the Heaton's left Granny Tater magically got to come home around noon! We thought we were going to be on our own, but she got to hang out with us. Even when they are crabby, Grandma still likes them!

We headed to the park since the weather is pretty nice. Both girls liked the swings. I have no idea why Sophie wanted to use a baby swing.

Grandma and Soph taking on the slide. This is the slide where Sophie conquered her fear of the twisty slide. Now she is a maniac on them.

We tried to send the girls down together. Clearly it did not go well.

Sophie testing out some different ways to come down the slide.

I even got in on the fun. Jacob convinced me to jump out of the swing like I used to do when I was a kid. Way to go Jacob for getting me in the act! Also, I am seriously too old to do this. It hurt my ankles!

Jacob thought it would be funny to go down the slide head first. He's a pretty funny guy, that Jacob.

I always try to get a family photo whenever there is someone else around to take the picture. Of course, it rarely works out.

Grandma and all the girls. That night Grandma pulled double duty and watched the girls so Jacob and I could go out to dinner with the Creeks. La Casita...yum!

The next day Grandma didn't have to work at all! (It's like her boss knew that she would rather be with her granddaughters!) So, we went to the Twin Falls County Museum. It's a mile from my house and I have never been there!! Mostly I thought this outfit was awesome.

A little school set up. Sophie got some learnin' in.

There is a bunch of old time farm equipment outside the museum. The girls are sitting on the manure spreader. I really loved this museum. It is free and just so cool.

Grandma was awesome at making time for the girls whenever they wanted her. Bouncing on the horse.

Jacob mowed the lawn. No small feat since the yard is enormous!

Playing in the pool. It was not nearly warm enough to swim in, but that did not deter these girls. Pools are just as fun without water as with!

I mean, you can tip out of them. And that is way fun! That night I got to go play with Claudia (even though I got to have dinner with her last night!). We had the best time just visiting and eating.

The next day we headed out with just our little family of 4. Everyone had to work. Boo. We went to Rock Creek Park.

Libs found ways to entertain herself.

When Grandpa got home Sophie conned him into reading some (ok a million) stories to her.

The stories continued the next morning with Grandma. Do you like how the girls have their own books?

Libby found these leather coasters that my dad made when he was in high school (I think). She loved them and had the best time throwing them into the air and then letting them fall around her. It was pretty funny.

Uncle Brandon did some tickling.

Libs spent a lot of time tormenting the dogs. Here she is yelling at Titus. Clearly Titus cares.

All tuckered out on the way to the airport. I felt like the time just flew by. We got to see some of our dearest friends and do some pretty fun things. I loved everything about our trip except that it was only 10 days.

Heaton visit-Idaho Pt. 2

2011-05-31T15:12:00.005-06:00

After all the graduation festivities died down and we still had a week in Twin Falls, I invited my friend Bree and her kids (who all live in Utah) to come up and stay a couple of days. Bree has been so good at staying in touch even though we moved so far away. She got a hotel room for 2 days and just made it an adventure. They arrived Sunday night. As you can see, Sophie was way too excited to see her little friend Priya and her Auntie Bree.

The Heatons brought a stamp set for Sophie, so we busted it out right away for the girls. Priya is just a week older than Soph. They have been best friends from the start.

Priya and Sophie showing off their art skills.

Libby was happy to have someone her own size to play with (ie pick on). Brayden was quite the trooper though. They played together so well most of the time. He is just 3 weeks older than her.

The next day we went to see the Shoshone Falls. There is a record amount of water going over them this year. These Falls are bigger than Niagara height-wise. Incredible!

We saw this beautiful rainbow there too. Seriously, these Falls are quite a sight. It was a little chilly and we were getting "rained" on by the mist from the water going over the rocks. Sophie was not sure how she felt about the "rain." Priya just wanted to be a good friend.

Libs was asleep in the car while we were at the Falls. But we got a shot of the moms and most of the kids.

The girls, taking a break to blow some bubbles.

We drove up the road a bit to get a better look and to take some fun pictures. Well, Jacob walked with the girls and the moms drove with the babies.

We drove farther up the road to Dierkes Lake to play on the toys and we saw these guys. A cute little family. We didn't stay long because it was chilly and it was time to eat!

We headed back to my mom's house for lunch and playing. She has a swing set in her back yard that provided hours of fun. P and S rocked the swings.

B and L liked this toy tractor. Poor B could not escape Libs. I keep telling her she needs to play harder to get!

Oh dear! We love the trampoline! It is just a little guy, so it was safe for everyone to try.

The whole crew gettin' their jump on.

This rocking horse was mine when I was just a wee lass. The girls loved riding it. Although, I think they preferred doing it separately.

Auntie Bree was chief in charge of bubbles. She did a great job. That night we got to get Cafe Rio for dinner. I have been looking forward to it for weeks. It was everything I remembered. I really miss that place!

The next day we went to the Herrett Center. I told Livi to give Brayden lovies and squeezes. This is what she did. Don't you just love his face?! "Umm, I don't think so, lady." Too cute!

The girls practiced their fire making skills. Neither were successful this time. The HC is a small science and learning center with a few hands-on activities and also a lot of displays of animals and plant-life indigenous to Idaho. There is also a planetarium there that we skipped this time.

Bree and me in front of the giant mammoth at the HC. We have been friends for nearly 13 years. (Thank you BYU Freshman Academy!) Thanks Bree, Priya and Brayden for coming to visit. It really was amazing of you.

Guest Blog

2011-05-27T07:21:00.000-06:00

I guest wrote on another blog.

http://www.hey-nonny.com/2011/05/27/anything-for-a-penny-almost/

Arrival and Graduation-Idaho Pt. 1

2011-05-26T12:51:00.007-06:00

We had an amazing trip to Idaho. Our sweet friend Lacey picked us up at our house at 8:30am on the 12th to take us to the airport. We flew to Phoenix and then to Boise. The girls did pretty well on the flights. Libs slept most of the leg to Phoenix, which helped. We landed in Boise and my dad met us to drive us to Twin Falls. But before we headed out, we got to have dinner with my best friend growing up Rachel, her new baby Sven, her brother and his family. Rachel lives in California and it was pure luck that we were in Boise at the same time. I couldn't believe it. It was so good to see good friends. After dinner we headed to Twin.
The next day we got settled in and played. Libs was being cute. I think both girls were so happy to see grandma and grandpa. That night was my mom's college graduation.

Libs took a short nap while we waited for mom to cross the stage. The ceremony was really nice and only lasted an hour and a half.

Soph couldn't make it very long without her drink. I don't blame her. It was really hot and so crowded in that gym. And grandma was near the end of all the graduates.

I videoed Mom walking across the stage. Sorry for the loud screaming. We were all just so proud of her. I don't know why I didn't record longer!
There she is...the graduate! Heading back to her seat.
Mom wanted Sophie to come sit with her, so my dad took her down. She was much better behaved down there than she was up in her seat with us.

It was getting dark and the girls were super whiny, but we did some pictures anyway. All of us plus my dad, mom, brother and Grandma Ottley.

Mom threw a BBQ for everyone who came to support her graduation. We volunteered to be in charge of the desserts. I ordered these cupcake toppers. They are little sugar discs that sit on top of your cupcake. I designed these. They say, "Congratulations!" and have a little black graduation cap with a gold tassel.

We also made a pan of brownies. Sophie just had to be in charge of the sprinkles. She did a good job, I'd say! Our desserts were a hit at the BBQ, needless to say.

After the BBQ (which I have zero pictures of because it rained too hard to even try) my Grandma Ostler stopped by the house and we got to take a photo with her. We have not seen her since I was newly pregnant with Livi, so it was for sure time!

We had some family tickle time that evening.

And Grandma and Soph did some stencils. We only have some small stencils at our house and these were much bigger, so she was pretty excited.

A Graduation Guest Post

2011-05-24T17:51:00.003-06:00

Unlike many of my previous forays into guest-blogging here, this one was actually specifically requested by Wendy. I consented, provided I got to pick the picture that accompanied the post.

The request by Wendy was two-fold. First, she wanted me to write about my graduation, and second, she wanted me to tell everybody what it is that I do for a living (apparently waving my hands and saying "breast cancer stuff" is not a sufficient answer).

So - the graduation - I successfully defended my dissertation back in October, and from that point on all I had left to do was jump through a few hoops and get my degree. I did not anticipate at the time that jumping through those hoops would take the next five months. I went back and forth with the dissertation office editors about once a week through that whole time. I had several forms that needed to be signed by my committee of five professors (one of whom moved twice in that five months - to Montana and then to Oregon). Those took three times to get approved, the first was not type-written, the second did not have the names in alphabetical order, and each one needed to be fed-exed around the country. My dissertation itself had to go through a few rounds of editing - which also had to be done by fed-exing the 150 page manuscript back and forth each time. I like to think I personally kept the shipping industry afloat during those months. Eventually the U of U plans to move over to a "paperless" process - I guess they need a little more time to figure out that "e-mail" thing.

Everything was finalized and approved by early March - at which point I was finally cleared to graduate. As many of you know, this past week we were on the run from the law in Idaho. We got home late (10:15 pm) saturday night, and there was a nice little envelope waiting for us on our back porch. I hummed a little pomp and circumstance to myself, said a few words, and opened up my diploma.

Lest anyone feel bad that that was one sorry excuse for a graduation ceremony, let me say for the record that that was exactly what I wanted. I've been giving people the excuse that we live too far away for me to go to graduation. Honestly though, I'd use the same excuse if we live inside the actual Huntsman Center (it'd be less believable though). I also conveniently excused myself from my BYU graduation. I slept through over 50% of my high school graduation. I don't remember any other graduations, but its highly likely I didn't take those very seriously either. I think I inherited my dad's temperament for that sort of thing (that, and those caps and gowns make me look fat).

Now for part two - what I do/did for a living. Anyone who's made it this far is free to fall asleep now. Or check out espn.com for the latest scores.

First some background - I study diseases where the blood flow in and around the tissue is a major indicator of the health of the tissue. This has included (thus far): coronary artery disease, triple vessel disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and soft-tissue sarcomas (plus some brain cancers). One way to measure this blood flow is using contrast-enhanced MRI. Basically this is an MRI where you are injected with a magnetically sensitive dye which is tracked with the MRI. By using a nice little mathematical formula, you can measure the number and quality of the micro blood vessels, as well as the bulk blood flow through the tissue. In order to do that, you need to know the exact amount of contrast dye in the blood stream at all times. In some cases, for various reasons, the contrast in the blood is difficult (or even impossible) to measure. My dissertation work was to develop a method that modifies the math to not need this blood flow measurement any more. Since graduating, I've expanded my work to improve other aspects of this type of imaging.

So there you go.

Strawberry Picking

2011-05-11T15:30:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, we went strawberry picking with some friends. It was hot and sticky and so much fun. Circle S Farms. You pick your own. Then you dump your pick into containers to eyeball how much you have. Then you put your money into a drop box. It is on the honor system and I loved it.

Livi, Holland and Thomas chillin'.

The crew of pickers did a good job. After every berry she picked, Sophie would tell whoever was closest, "It's a red strawberry!" She never got tired of announcing her good fortune of finding some berries. We had to keep reminding Sophie (and most of the other kids) to only pick the really red ones and to pick them gently.

Sophie, showing off her produce.

Libby got some picking in too. Once she realized she was supposed to eat them, she liked the whole experience.

But, if you get too tired to pick your own, feel free to steal your friend's bucket.

Yummy and delicious! Her clothes were such a mess. As were her hands, face and hat.

After we picked all we wanted, we saw what else the Circle S had to offer. Some chickens. These girls needed constant reminding not to put their fingers in.

Livi stared at them for a while and the yelled so loud in their faces. It was hilarious!

An old-fashioned pump. We never got any water to come out, but we sure tried!

This little toy area. Quite a hit.

Oh, and a real tractor. Sophie is driving it, of course.

Our berries. Aren't they gorgeous! We got about 2/3 of a bucket full. I would have liked more, but we are leaving town, so we will just have to go back!

Candy Necklace

2011-05-08T20:23:00.003-06:00

After Family Home Evening last Monday, Sophie and I made a candy necklace for her treat. I found a kit (with 8 necklace packages in it) at the grocery store and thought it looked like a fun activity to do. (8 times, apparently). Sophie did a good job of holding the little candy ring still so I could thread the string through.

Rocking her new candy necklace (which she happily ate that night and the next day). What a fun and easy crafty thing to do!

Squatters

2011-05-07T07:55:00.003-06:00

We've got us some squatters, but they're pretty cute, so we will let them stay. Brand new baby birds. You can see one egg still needs to hatch. They're living in a nest in a corner at the front of our house.

Jacob found this on the ground while he was mowing. That's how he knew to look around.

Zoo Trip

2011-05-07T07:40:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we hit the zoo with some of our friends. We certainly are a crew with our strollers and gear and kids. We like to start at the toys and then wander the zoo. We also each brought a picnic lunch and ate together on the grass. The giraffes are always a favorite. The zoo is way too big for us to do it in one trip, so we decided which animals the kids wanted to see the most. Elephants and giraffes topped the list.

Then we went to the Farm. There, you can see: cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, etc. It's been a while (probably October) since Sophie had been there, and she loved it. Here are most of the kiddies checking things out.

Everyone is intently looking.

Sophie and Thomas liked checking out the monkeys together. They shared the little bench seat on our stroller for a while. Thomas wanted to ride and Sophie demanded that he ride with her. They are cute little friends. Thanks for the fun zoo trip, everyone!

Just Playin' Around

2011-05-06T18:08:00.006-06:00

Whenever I ask Sophie what she is doing, she always tells me, "Just playing around." Well, that is what we did outside one day in between bouts of rain. I love this picture because of Sophie;s outfit. I mean, please, stripes and polka dots? Awesome. She always wants to wear these boots. Luckily we live in a very rainy place.

We got some new digging toys, which no one was happy to share. Luckily, mom was there to referee. Ah, sisters.

Cinderelly, Cinderelly...We get 'em started young. She loves pushing this broom around.

Happy to be outside! We appreciate the dry days much more now that we have had so many rainy ones.

Easter Crafty

2011-05-06T17:54:00.003-06:00

We did a couple of Easter crafts that turned out so cute. Here is Beeps making a bunny. Of course she loved it...she loves to glue! She glued all the cotton balls on this paper plate. I cut out the rest of the pieces and she glued them on too.

So proud of her cute bunny!

Since we don't color eggs (yet?) I cut one out of card stock and let her decorate it. She loves these glitter glue sticks that I found. She used each color once (because she doesn't like to leave any out!)

Showing off her Happy Easter Egg (complete with a Valentine's Day heart...her words).

We hung them on the wall in our kitchen. Look at us being festive!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-28T13:02:00.005-06:00

I love Easter. I love the religious significance of it. I love that it is in the Spring. I love that you get to give presents. I just love everything about it. The Easter Bunnies (aka "Grandmas") were so nice to provide dresses and clothes and treats. We got the girls Tangled and shoes.

Libs loved the basket. She could not have cared less about the dresses, clothes, treats, etc. But that orange egg and that basket...she was in love.

Sophie, on the other hand, was all about the stuff INSIDE the basket. Backyardigans dvd-always a big hit.

I got them dressed and sent Jacob outside to hide some eggs. I put chocolate covered raisins in Sophie's (and labeled them "S"). Libs got Gerber yogurt melts in hers (also labeled). J and I got regular candy (also labeled). J hid most of them around our yard for S to find. She did a great job and was so excited to find them.

Keeping track of the eggs in her green bucket.

J "hid" some eggs for L to find on our little patio. Just a little farther, Libs!

And helped her with the high ones. What a good dad.

Once all the eggs were found, S doled them out based on the label! I know, look at me sneaking in some letters practice. This is about half the eggs. There were 24 in all. You know, 6 for each person. (It really is a curse being so particular).

S telling us what the letter on the egg is and what sound it makes. Then she had to figure out who to give it to. She did not catch on as quickly as I thought she would, but it was a fun exercise anyway.

Libs in her special Easter dress. Even hours later, she still loved that egg! You might notice that they had different dresses on earlier...well, they got those ones dirty being outside, so we changed them into these matching ones for church.

Miss Sophie Boph showing off her cute dress and curls.

I could not get them to look at me to save my life, so this is the closest we came. At least they are smiling!

We had a really lovely day. Church was amazing. (It helps when the ward choir sounds like they are all recording artists). On Easter, I always think "Without Easter, Christmas wouldn't matter." And it is true. The reason we celebrate the birth of Christ is because of the life He lived and the mission He performed. I know that He lived and that He lives even today. Happy Easter, everyone!