Best 7 Years

Nathan and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary today with a day all together.

Nathan took the day off, and we started with a brunch at GriDeli's (I just got that the name is trying to say Grill and Deli, and Nathan just figured that out too).

Then we headed to our favorite spa in Salt Lake, the Kura Door, a Holistic Japanese Spa.  I had an ofuro bath, and then we enjoyed a couples massage.  Afterwards we had dinner at Chili's, then ended the evening by seeing Iron Man 3.  It was so much fun, and after seven years, I am more in love than the day we were married.  I am so very blessed.

 May 6th, 2006

 May 6th, 2007

 May 6th, 2008

 May 6th, 2009

 May 6th, 2010

 May 6th, 2011

 May 6th, 2012

May 6th, 2013

I love you so much Nathan, I don't know how I got so lucky that you are mine!

Birthday's in the House

With Grandma Kathy living here right now, we celebrated her birthday on April 28th.  James wanted to make her a cake, so that we did :)

Mommy and James making Grandma's "rainbow" cake with chocolate frosting

Happy Birthday to Grandma Kathy!

Then we opened presents

We ended the evening with a walk around the neighborhood

 Happy Birthday Grandma!  

We loved being able to celebrate with you!

A little bit of life

A little bit of what we've been up to the rest of April:

We went with some friends to feed the ducks a pond that we didn't know existed!  The ducks were very fun to watch, and so were the kids, though there was this one goose that it took both Holly and I to get him to back down.  He was a mean bugger, but we finally got him to go so we could enjoy the ducks.

Aunt Kirstin has stayed with us last weekend and this weekend as she is getting ready to go to

Alaska for the summer.  We love having her here, and I know the kids will miss her tons, as will I:)


Lady has been patient, and these boys are as cute as ever.
Jack loves to give Lady an "X" bone everyday. And she likes getting them.


They both still love bathtime each night


And we love having Grandma Kathy here too!
I don't have a lot of pictures yet, I need to get on that.
They have been busy figuring out the whole buying a house thing,
but when that is done, we can't wait to do more fun adventures with her :)
Jack has now starting calling Grandma just "Kathy", but it sounds more like "Kaphe".
She'll say "No, say Grandma", and he'll say right back "No!"  Funny little guy :)

Ogden Dinosaur Park

 Also in April, James' preschool at the Mountain Green Kids Club, had a fieldtrip to the Odgen Dinosaur Park.  I had never been, and it is pretty impressive.  The kids loved the dinos, and there was a cute instruction portion first.  After making a paper puppet dinosaur, we explored the different areas. 

 Some of the dinosaurs would make sounds, too.

There were some animatronic dinos inside the museum part, which Jack got quickly afraid of.

It was cute because Reese, James, and Oaklee would run in, see them, run out, then peek their heads around the corners to see the moving dinosaurs. 

 Watching a real scientist gluing together fossilized dinosaur bones

 At a dino dig!

Snack time with all the kids!

I'm glad that I was able to go to help out, and Jack got to come along as well.

We'll definitely got back again this summer!

A Cousin Visit!!!

So the same day as Baby Animal Days, we got to have a fantastic visitor too!  I don't have a lot of first cousins on my side of the family (six to be exact from my mom's side, and there are zero from my dad's side, Nathan on the other hand has 36 on his mom's side alone!).  My cousin Annie, my age, who is living in Korea right now with her husband, messaged me that she'd be in Salt Lake for an audition for the Utah Symphony and would I like to get together for lunch?  OF COURSE!!  We haven't seen each other in almost seven years, and it was the best visit we have had as adults.  I picked her up from the airport, we got a tasty lunch, then drove around Salt Lake a little bit (with rain, there really isn't a lot to see).  She was just going to hang out for four hours until she could check into her hotel.  I suggested that she could come to our house, and because she had to practice that day, we could visit a little, then we'd all be off and she could use our home to practice. It worked out perfectly, and she even played for us a little on her viola, and let James try it out too! Jack just watched mesmerized.  I can't believe that it worked out that well, and though she didn't get the position, we loved having her here for just a little bit.  Love you Annie!

Baby Animal Days

At the American Heritage Center outside of Logan they have Baby Animal Days on Saturday's during the month of April.  We missed it the first week by half an hour :(  I thought that it went until 5, Nathan thought 6, and in actuality, it went until 4 and we arrived at 4:30 (this was the same day as the last ski day...)...Anyway, we finally made it the next weekend, and it was absolutely awesome!

First up the calves.  James went right in to pet them.  Jack said he wanted to, but if we even brought him near, he would cling to us.  So he just waved and I took pictures while holding him :)

Next were piglets, James' favorite was the black one, and these were still too big for Jack.

 Kids, but these two were born that week, and we could only look at them.

They were so cute!

A train ride that went through a tunnel and around a pond with peacocks (including a white one like in Kung Fu Panda 2!!) was a big hit!

Daddy and Jack-Jack on the train

 Horseback riding was the next thing we did.

James was so excited to ride, and when we asked Jack if he wanted to,

he replied "No thank you".  Worked out because he was still too young!

James as smiles and giddy the whole time. 

 Then came the animals that Jack was okay with :) 

Very small ones!

Here is a duckling, very small, and he's asking the duckling to "kiss it" meaning his finger.

More "kiss it!"

 Bunnies were small enough too!

Both boys got to hold one and they were so soft they both said.

 Giving the bunny a kiss on the ear

 This cow in a holder for milking in one of the barns.

There was no one around, but there was a bucket with some milk in it 

and a small stool to sit on.

"I'm going to milk it" I announced.

"Right" Nathan said

I sat down, and as I reached for her udder, she sideways kicked at me, I scrambled backwards, and I still ended up getting some poop on pants :(

So this was my epic fail for the day.

 Back to the goat pen after that barn

 And then one last train ride (I think we rode it three times)

It was an overcast day, and would sprinkle a little bit at times, but that kept the crowds away, and it was just perfect. A great day.

Sunday Best

These are some of Jack at church...

He fell asleep at sacrament

Then he liked sitting next to Papa so reverently while he played the organ

What a little cheeser :)

After church we took a beautiful walk by the lake.

I love that we have the opportunity to live with Papa and Grandma right now and get to grow closer to them.