Just Journaling...

So every now and then, I am going to add posts that just tell about what's gone on lately - nothing very exciting, clever or ponderous (not that I write that way anyway) but just so I get things written down. I think I'm kinda like my faithful little camera, sometimes needing to just download everything in my head onto the computer..store it away in cyberspace and know that it is there whenever I want to see it again. Okay, so maybe not EVERYTHING..that could get pretty scary...my head ain't the sanest of places. That said, for all of my 2 faithful readers, feel free to tune out until next time.

February has been a pretty fun month so far. It started with a get together/playgroup with some of my friends from high school. I think I was very lucky in high school to have had a large, yet close-knit group of friends that I adore to this day. Even though we are all over the country now, whenever we are able to get together, it seems like time has never passed. One of those friends has been with me since kindergarten. Did I mention I'm lucky? I feel truly blessed to have them in my life. I am blessed for all the friends I have gained since then as well. I would be so lost, lonely and completely uninteresting without them. My friends are cool. Thanks guys.....

So for this playgroup, we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Most of the kids were too little to truly grasp the idea that the huge things towering above them were skeletons of dinosaurs...at least Jane didn't. To her, T-Rex was but a humble "tower of blyocks." When I told her they were bones, and explained bones were under the skin, she assumed the dinosaur had an "owie" and asked if we should get him a bandaid. Yup, Jane, that will definitely help Mr. T-Rex - maybe if we kiss it too, then he will feel better and start playing again with his Mesozoic buddies. There was a room that recreated the world of the dinosaurs complete with a stream for the kids to play in and that, of course, was a big hit. As was the room full of sand you could dig for dinosaur bones, where there was as much sand throwing as there was digging. It was good times. It was mostly fun for me to catch up with my old friends.


We also went tubing up at Soldier Hollow with my family. If you have never done it, I highly recommend it. It is a giant tubing hill with at least five groomed sledding runs and a rope tow so you don't have to climb it each time. I was amazed at how fast you go, and even more amazed that it didn't completely freak Jane out. She went down 3 times before wanting to go in. Allison even got in on the action. She liked just hanging out in the tube and being pulled in circles.

On Valentines Day, we ventured down to Provo to decorate Valentines cookies with my friend (my wonderful and enduring friend from kindergarten) and her little girl and boy. Jane and Eliza look like they could be sisters - and Jane drove her crazy like a little sister. So here is a "Good Idea, Bad Idea" moment. Good idea: decorating valentine cookies. Bad idea: decorating valentine cookies with anyone under 4 (or probably 18 for that matter) when lots and lots of sprinkles, frosting, crushed candy canes..and did I mention bottles of sprinkles? were involved. My dear friend was the model of patience as we made a complete mess of her house. We lost many bottles of sprinkles over the side of the table and Allison had an especially good time eating everything that came her way and then crawling in it. It was a lot of fun though, and the girls fell into a blissful sleep on the way home, faces still covered in pink frosting.

That night we went to a movie (in a real theater! we never seem to go to movies anymore) with some friends in our ward. Bucket List was pretty funny and made me think of what I would put on my list to do before I die. I would like to meet Richard Simmons, just to see if he and his hair are really as obnoxious in person. Jevan was darling and sent me not one but TWO sets of flowers on Valentines and the day before. All I had for him was a freaky looking stuffed bug that had a box of candy hearts for a bum. Jane picked it out. All in all, a memorable day.

We have had many visitors this month too. My brother's kids came one weekend to stay with us, and Jevan's little brother, Thomas, came the next weekend. Jane was in heaven having other kids around 24/7 to play with. On a rare, warm sunday, she popped bubbles with her cousin, Mia, on the deck outside. Allison loved having Thomas around because he would let her pull all the hair out of his head.

Mia and Jane

Thomas and Allison

Finally, our friends from Canada came down with their 3 kids for the week and we were able to spend some time with them as well. We braved Discovery Gateway on a Friday and only lost a couple kids a few times. My friend was amazed that we didn't have more places like Discovery Gateway when there are so many kids in Utah. She said that in Canada they have lots of indoor playgrounds (with real playground equipment, not just big blowup bouncy stuff) and I realized there is a real market for that here. Anyone need a new business idea? 'Cause let's face it, our only other real options in the winter are McDonalds Playplaces and we all know what those are like. You're lucky if you kid doesn't climb through pee in the tunnel or find a syringe in all the colored balls at the bottom of the slide.

As you can see, it was really hard to get these guys to sit anywhere for very long.

Here is Jane, Brayden and Damon.