Lessons Learned

It is definitely a winter wonderland outside today. Which is absolutely perfect when you're inside, sipping hot cocoa and reading a good book with a blankie on your lap.

Not such a good thing when you have to drive in it without 4 wheel drive. Now, I know that it has been done before, and that there are probably millions of people who drive in the snow without 4wd, but, well, I'm a whiner.

Anyway, I had a bit of a difficult time getting my car into the garage after dropping Adi off this morning, so I decided to shovel the driveway. Now, please keep in mind that I can't even remember the last time I had shoveled snow, and apparently there is some mysterious technique to it (or else I'm just not that bright).

I got Porter and Piper all bundled up so they could play in the beautiful snow while I shoveled the annoying white stuff off the driveway. Porter immediately headed for the street, all the while yelling , "NO!" Which is Porter-talk for "snow".

Piper, after being warned not to lay down in the snow since she didn't have snow pants on, laid down in the snow and got some in her pants.

During this, I was trying to clear the driveway without slipping onto my behind (so maybe I did once).

I'm sure we put on quite the show for the neighbors :)



Oh, and I only got half of the driveway cleared before I threw in the towel.

Melts My Heart

Today, it began to snow. The first snow of Christmas. The flakes, as you can see, were georgous- the soft, fluffy kind that you see on movies and think "that is so fake". But they were real.

Then I blinked, and they were gone. They only fell for maybe ten minutes, but while they did, Porter and I were entranced.

On another note, I went this morning to Parents and Pastries at Adi's school (this is an evil scheme the PTA came up with to get all of our parental-booties out of bed early to get to the elementary before the sun was up in order to get a doughnut-and pay extra if you want something to drink it down with so you can read with your child. I read every night with my child, must I do it in their loud lunchroom before my brain is fully functioning?).

Anywho, I met one of Adi's little friend's mom. We were trying to arrange a playdate, and the mom asked me if I worked. I told her no. Adi then said, "Uh-huh, she works inside our home."

Who needs more of a lift than that?

They're Animals!

Unfortunately, none of my Trick-or-Treating pictures turned out :( But I did get this video of Porter-Pot trying to figure out why he had to put his first candy into a dumb old bag:

For the rest of the night, Porter would get upset whenever we tried to get him to put his candy in there...

We visited the Hogle Zoo on Saturday- and let me tell you, it was the perfect day. It was overcast (but no rain) so the sun wasn't beating down on us, and the temperature was just perfect! So, there are some benefits to living in Utah.


(That's Pip's ticket sticking out of her pocket)

Porter didn't much care for this pose...

And this one is my favorite pic of the day.

Now, you might be asking why I always have pictures of the back of my family. I'll tell you: my children are animals and I am extremely lucky to get a picture of even their backside! Porter automatically turns away from the camera when he sees it, Adi puts on a cheesy grin and Piper strikes her sae ole pose of tilting her head to the right side and smiling. So, to get one good picture I usually have to snap at least 20. No joke.

Let's just say that my kiddos are little celebrities with their own personal papparazzi stalking them...

My Lil' Pioneer Children

***WARNING: This is a long post. Lots of pictures, a few stories, this and that. I am trying to make amends for the lack of posting lately***

Since yesterday was Pioneer day, I wanted to plan something really fun for us to do (especially since we are in the SL Valley). Unfortunately, I just couldn't think of anything.

Ok, Ok, I was so wrapped up in re-reading the Twilight books that I kind of forgot that the holiday was so close.

Well, in a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, my Mom looked up This Is The Place Heritage Park online. Sounded perfect, so we left as early as possible so we could beat the crowds.

It was the perfect place to go on Pioneer Day! There were so many things to do and see- the girls even got to try out pulling a handcart...

They got to wash some rags the old-fashioned way,

Churn some butter,
and they got to make some fun crafts, including lamb masks to wear in the parade (which we didn't end up staying for),

coloring some wooden fish and snakes in the Shoshone (spelling?) house while we listened to the lady, who was dressed-up as an Indian character, tell us about the rattlesnake that likes to come into the house (that didn't scare me at all),

and even did a little leather working with Dad.

And what was Mr. Porter doing while the girls were doing this, you may ask? Running amuck of course!

He played in the little wooden houses,

and played with his new wooden pop-gun.

Piper and Porter's favorite part of the park, however, were the animals. We got to walk inside the baby-animal pen and pet some goats, calves, sheep and a big ole cow.

Here's a lil' clip of Porter meeting the goat- and if you listen closely, you can hear Orrin's impression of a goat :

Adi was less than enthusiastic about the animals (there was an incident when the calf snuck-up behind her and she nearly fell into a little creek- it had more than a few people giggling). She did, however, enjoy the pony ride.

And Adi was our little navigator through the village...

Porter kept pointing at the news chopper that was flying over the park (can you see the little dot up in the blue sky?).

Here's one of Porter being tortured by his sisters:
What was my favorite moment of the day? Porter and I were walking down the boardwalk, holding hands. Piper walked up next to P.G., and he reached over and grabbed her hand. My heart melted right then and there. For those who don't know my Lil' Man's personality, he isn't one for much affection toward his sisters. He prefers to bite, hit and head-butt them. He held her hand for five minutes!

Orrin and I met Eli and Vanessa for lunch at Cafe Rio after (yep, we were out of there by noon). The kids spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool playing with the hose and water balloons while OP reread one of his Louis L'amour books and I longed for a new book to read .



And, since I put shockingly little preparation into the planning for the day, OP went and got pizza for dinner- you rock Merrill! We ended the night by telling some pioneer stories and lighting up a few sparklers. Orrin and I even got to relax together and watch a movie in the comfort of our own family room. WAHOO!!!

We Love To See The Temple

Now here's something cool that you don't get to see everyday:

From this,

To this,

And, finally, this.

The girls have been so excited about the Angel Moroni being placed on the steeple. Every time they see the temple (which is quite often since we can see it from our street), they spontaneously break into "I Love To See The Temple". They don't know all of the words yet, but they still sing it beautifully!

Newest Discovery

I have recently discovered that Adi is part monkey. Yup. She is usually thought of as the softer one, the more scaredy-cat kind. Apparently not when it comes to heights. Actually, she really isn't afraid of much beyond fires and bears (she was watching the news with me one morning and they were talking about the dangers of bears while camping in the mountains. She is now afraid one will find her in her room).



Today we visited a park up in Daybreak. I need to now take a minute and explain this awesomely-cool neighborhood that I do not live in, but I really wish that I did. Here is a pic of a typical street in there:

Oh yeah. They have a giant lake where you can rent a canoe to paddle on it, several parks (we haven't hit all of 'em yet, but we're trying), a splash pad for kids, swimming pools, a gym, their own elementary school... EVERYTHING!!

Back to my kid, we get to the park that has this HUGE climbing-thingy (anyone know what they are called?) and Adi takes off running for it and has climbed up it, back down, and then back up it before I even get there.

She loves it. Not to be outdone by her big sis, Piper also starts climbing. She gets to where she is in the picture above and decides that she is too scared to continue up or to climb back down. Now, I have a belief that kids need to learn how to work through their fears, so I tell her that if she wants to get down she is going to have to do it by herself. That was before I stood underneath of her in the dome and realizedjust how high and just how posible it was for her to fall. Memories of her previously broken leg come to me. I figured that just this once I could go get her. I started climbing (which is no small feat for me- I am a little afraid of heights myself) and soon realized that there was a flaw in my plan: how was I actually supposed to get her down? I couldn't carry her down.

By the time I got back down and was ready to catch her from beneath, she suddenly decided that she was no longer afraid and had started working her way back down by herself. Figures.

Porter didn't much care for the climbing, he loves running in the grass and waiting for the opportunity to run into the street and catch one of the cool construction trucks that kept speeding by.

Oh, and his shirt says it all. If you can't quite read it, it says, "Trouble. Since Day One."

Happy, Happy 4th!

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love BBQ's, fireworks, and spending some quality time with family outside.

This year, we decided to do breakfast up in the canyon (complete with homemade cinnamon rolls), have a BBQ (steak, homemade fries, and patriotic jello), and make homemade ice cream and an apple pie (see a pattern?) and do some fireworks at home.

Here's the kiddies with everything they need for a rockin' day (and I once again apologize for Porter's lack of a shirt, but I didn't want him to goop-up his holiday shirt before we even left the house):

We tried to cook pancakes and eggs on a little camp stove from Walmart, but when it takes 10 minutes to cook one hotcake, you gotta find ways to entertain all the kids...

Finally eating a little breakfast:

Piper decided that she needed to go the bathrom, but she took one look down into the pit-potty and wanted to wait. Unfortunately, after about an hour, she just had to go. I hadn't brought the girls a change of clothes, so she put on Porter's:

The kids got pop-its, and Porter was facsinated

The neigbors brought over their new puppies and the girls loved them.

Some "fireworks"

How do you keep a one-year-old who loves to run into the street by you? OP figured out a way: