Build A Bear Birthday

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Birthday Sombrero

Today is Blain's birthday.  Last night we ate out at a Mexican restaurant and we surprised him with a chocolate cake dessert at the end of the meal.  The waiters came out and plunked a sombrero on his head and clapped and shouted "Happy Birthday!"  Blain was a good sport about it, the kids loved it and everyone else had a good laugh.

Me! When I'm 100

This is one of Lindsey's school art masterpieces that she brought home.  I laughed so hard when I first saw it.  I guess as you age your neck gets longer.  I'm feeling pretty long-necked these days.

Patriotic School Night

At a school art night and for President's Day, Lindsey's class sang several patriotic songs including Yankee Doodle Dandy.  The grand finale was with the kids using plastic plates like cymbals.

We also went into Lindsey's classroom and admired several pictures the students had drawn and put on the walls, including several masterpieces by Lindsey.  Plus there was a great story about Abraham Lincoln she had written.  The cutest was a story about her father which said, "Daddy gets up in the morning, drinks coffee, watches TV and then gets us breakfast and ready for school and makes my lunch."   She's got a pretty special Daddy.

Happy Leap Day (Night)

I had to get a quick blog post in today because it will be another four years before I'll get my next chance for a February 29th post.   The kids are already asleep and I'm about to be...zzzzzzzzzzz

Stars on Ice and the Olympic Spirit

Ten years ago the Winter Olympic games were held in Salt Lake City.  It was such a wonderful experience where the world came to Utah.  I loved being a spectator to several events and a volunteer for the Paralympics at the Soldier Hollow venue.  It seems like just a short time ago yet none of my children were even born.

On Saturday Lindsey and I went to see Stars on Ice.  It was a figure skating show featuring several Olympiads including some of the medalists from the 2002 games.  The show was a tribute to the 2002 Olympics featuring several video clips on the jumbotron.  The evening was hosted by Scott Hamilton and there were speeches by Kristi Yamaguchi, Derek Parra and Mitt Romney.  The whole evening was fun and brought back such amazing memories.

Funny side note about the ticket, the Utah Jazz were not playing that night but apparently they used their ticket template to print out our tickets.

Nordic Skiing and the Dew Tour

I've signed up to take Nordic ski lessons with Cindy and Brian for 4 Saturdays in February.  Yesterday was our second lesson and we happen to be at the same ski resort that the extreme winter sports Dew tour was in Utah this past weekend, Snowbasin.  After our 2 hour lesson and lunch we headed up the mountain and watched some of the men's snowboard half pipe competition.  They were amazing!  I don't think we looked half bad either.

What We Girls Go Through

I spent three and a half hours with a three year old at the hair salon on Wednesday.  It felt more like three and a half days.  Carley cried, I felt like crying, but in the end Carley and I both thought it was worth it.

Chinese New Year Dinner 2012

This is the second year we've met up with friends at a local Chinese restaurant that has a Lion Dance in celebration of Chinese New Year. Good friends, good food and good times. Happy year of the dragon!

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Carley's First Dance Class

Carley started a dance class this week. She took it very seriously. I've never seen her so focused before, you would have thought she was trying out for the Bolshoi Ballet.  There's not too many things cuter than a dance class for three year olds.

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Girls' Day Out

Since Martin Luther King Day is a holiday and there's no school and I didn't have to go to work, it was the perfect day for a girls' day out.  Lindsey, Carley and I took the train into the city and met up with Cindy for lunch and a movie.  We saw Beauty and the Beast 3D.  We had a totally terrific day.  It's so fun going out with my girls.

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In Honor of Martin Luther King

On a gray and rainy day last October I had the privilege to see the newly unveiled Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC.  May we keep the dream alive.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. -Martin Luther King, Jr

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

I've been delinquent in blogging lately. We've done a lot of living since Thanksgiving - Sammy turned 6, Carley turned 3, we celebrated the sixth anniversary of Lindsey becoming our daughter and then Christmas and New Year's.

We spend New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.  We took our trailer down and stayed at the KOA at Circus Circus.  It was the most affordable place to stay on the Strip and it turned out to be a whole lot of fun to "camp" in Vegas. 

The Strip closes down to all but pedestrians on New Year's Eve night and we pushed the kids around in strollers down the middle of the Strip and had a blast!  We then went back to our trailer and had our own private party. 

At midnight they shot off fireworks from the top of several casinos including the Stratosphere which we had a great view of from our trailer.  Unfortunately Lindsey was the only child we could get to wake up at midnight but Blain, Lindsey and I thought it was great!  It was a wonderful way to ring in the new year.

Thanksgiving 2011

We spend Thanksgiving Weekend in Reno.  Cindy, Brian and their son Rhys joined us.  We went to Lake Tahoe on Thanksgiving Day and had a great dinner at Harrah's in South Lake Tahoe.  We also toured the capitol building of Nevada in Carson City, spent a day in Virginia City and met up with my uncle and other relatives who live in Reno.  Another year to be so thankful for wonderful family and friends.

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Rollercoaster Revisited

In mid November we took another family trip to Las Vegas.  It's full of family fun and I love the weather there, especially this time of year.  We went to one of our favorite places for the kids, the Circus Circus Adventuredome.  Lindsey and Sammy rode a roller coaster that Lindsey had ridden as a toddler.  She had just been tall enough for the minimum height requirement and had really wanted to ride.  The reality of the coaster, though, had turned out a lot more scary than it looked and she cried the whole way through and SCREAMED for us to get her off.  I felt so guilty!  But it doesn't look like that experience permanently scarred her.

Great School Reports

We met with both Lindsey's and Sammy's teachers today for parent-teacher conferences and we got great reports on both kids. Both teachers said how smart and well behaved our kids were. Wow, that was nice to hear.

It was a little surprising that both teachers (and this was in separate meetings) said how well they listened in class. They don't always listen at home but we're so proud how well they're both doing in school and that they listen to their teachers.  I guess all that reminding them to "listen" to us has paid off!

Trick or Treating 2011

We had a great Halloween.  The weather was warm and the candy plentiful.  And this is the first Halloween where Carley really understands.  You say, "trick or treat" and strangers give you candy and it's okay. 

All the kids really enjoyed getting dressed up this year.  Lindsey as Scooby Doo (of course), Sammy as Spiderman (of course) and Carley started out as Tinkerbell with a Princess Tiana crown.  I had to come up with a quick impromptu costume change for Carley, though, when we made the cardinal parental sin of taking a two year old trick or treating without making sure she had used the bathroom first.  To Carley's credit, we were several houses down the street when she called the potty alarm and she made it just inside the bathroom door but not unfortunately to the potty.  

As I was changing her, she saw the dog's Dracula costume and wanted to wear that and I threw the rest together in about 2 minutes.  Tada - a toddler girl Dracula with a Jedi lighted wand she had gotten from one of the neighbors who always gives away light toys instead of candy (great idea but must be expensive).

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween

There's a house down the street from us that gets all decked out every Halloween.  They must have spent thousands on Halloween decorations over the years and every year it gets more and more spooky.

The Red Lions Rock

Sammy is on a new soccer team this year.  Their uniform colors are white, black and red and the boys picked the team name of the Red Lions.  Today was their last game of the fall season.  They rock!

Lazy Friday

Today  at different times both Carley and Sammy fell asleep on our bed.  I guess playing is hard work.