This is the Place Heritage Park

On Memorial day Michelle, Mom, and I headed up to the This is the Place Heritage Park. It was so much fun! I didn't really know what to expect but we ended up saying 5+ hours and had a ball. They were having Baby Animal Days so we got to hold the animals and play with them.

Grace always loves a good pony ride!

The lambs were so adorable, and so tiny! One of them got bucked by a big goat and was hobbling around for a little while. Poor lamby.
Grace wasn't so sure about this goat but insisted it sit on her lap.

The baby chicks were really cute....except when they poop in your hand! Grace was good to be so careful with this little guy.

The Bunny's were our favorite! This is my Mom.

While we're talking about bunnies I'll share a little personal history. Once upon a time, long ago my Dad promised me we could get a bunny. I really wanted a dog, but after like 5 years of asking for one I settle for a rabbit. Well, I never got one. So a year after I got married Ben's parent's Bunnies had babies so I got one and named him Caramel. He was a cute little bunny who scratched all the time and liked to pee on our kitchen floor when we brought him in to play. Ben built him a sturdy little cage that he never could escape from. One day right before Halloween I came home from work and my bunny was gone! Yep, that's right he was bunnynapped. That's the only explanation. Since then I have decided that bunnies are really cute but not really ideal pets so I forgive my Dad for not getting me one and will probably never have one again. Though I still like to hold them and pet them because they're so soft!

I love this picture of Grace!

Throwing wood chips in the stream was almost as exciting as...

chasing around the duck!

After we played with the animals for a while we wandered the park. They have tons of old pioneer home. This is in front of the Dinwoodey Cabinet & Chair Shop where I helped shape a spoke of a wheel.

Then we headed to the Deseret Telegraph Office and had our picture taken. I have always wanted to do this and besides Michelle looking twice her size it turned out great! (If you're wondering where Ben and Garett are, Ben had a huge test to study for and graciously kept Garett at home so he could nap and so I could have a "date" with Grace. It was sooo much fun to just focus on her and having fun!)

Michelle had to leave at this point but there was still so much more to see! Grandma decided to ride the train with Grace, and then we walked down a little hill to the Mary Fielding Smith Home. Mary Fielding is my Great great great great great Grandma and I couldn't be prouder to call her Grandma.

Then we wandered through the new Native American Village they have set up and had our picnic lunch. After lunch we took the train down to the Brigham Young home and had a chance to talk to him.

We went to several other homes and did some arts and crafts and then ended at the School House. Grace loved this and could have stayed a lot longer. She enjoyed doing her work on the chalk board and then holding it up for the teacher to see.

I on the other hand didn't have as good of an experience....

She made me sit up there in front of the whole class! :(

This was such a great place and it was a wonderful memorable day!

Memorial Day

My sister Michelle came into town for 3 &1/2 weeks in May. It was so much fun to have her here and we did so many fun things!!! Over Memorial Day weekend we went up to my Dad's for Dinner and then went to visit my Granmda's Grave at the SL Cemetary. It was nice to visit with family and reminisce about how wonderful she was!

This is Grace and Alaina being silly.

Here is the whole family. Grandma is well loved, especially by Grandpa who brought her those beautiful red roses in the middle!

Spring!

I just LOVE my yard this year! I missed most of my tulips and daffodils last year because we got home from Singapore too late, but this year I reveled in each and every new bloom. Grace was equally excited and we would walk down the driveway together crouching down to inspect new flowers as they came up. It was so much fun! Now they're all gone :( and I have just leaves and stems left behind. Not to worry though I have planted petunias and hope they fill in soon with lots of color! I go crazy over buying plants and could spend a lot of money if I didn't know Ben was at home reminding me that there are other things to spend money on.

Here is the house in the midst of tulip season.

Gorgeous!

The newest edition to the yard.....my Garden box!!!! It took a little convincing to get Ben to build it for me. He used the leftover wood from the playhouse and did it so quickly. I loaded it up with Mel's Mix (you know what that is if you're a true square foot gardener), and we're giving it a go. This is my first attempt at planting any type of vegetable, (Well I guess I tried herbs 2 summers ago in pot. They died, eeek!) I hope this works!

I have peas, onions, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cilantro, and peppers growing here, and along the back of the yard I'm growing cantaloupe, zucchini, and squash. I can't wait to enjoy the harvest!

Toes

I realized the other day I haven't been a very good picture taker with Garett, so I pulled out the camera and tried to get some of his toes. He LOVES his toes, especially when they're clean. On this particular day however, he was more interested in the camera than his toes.

"I can still see you mom"

At least I got a good smile!

Logan

April 21st we were able to head up to Logan for the night. Ben's parents watched the kids for us again (they are the best!) and we spent the night with Ben's brother Bryan. We had a lot of fun playing with Bryan and Alyssa and watching movies. The next day we went to the temple to see my stepsister and her husband get endowed and sealed. It was wonderful to go to the temple together and have some time away from the kids! The ceremony was also very beautiful.

Here we are in front of the Logan Temple. We lived there for a year and never got a picture in front of it, so here it is.

Jessica, Avery and Tommy, it was so great to see them all together in the Temple! Congrats.

Out to Eat

Last month we had had a busy Saturday and wanted to go do something fun, so Ben suggested the Olive Garden! I was excited. He usually doesn't choose Italian, but he knew I would like it. So we headed out for dinner. We got there before it was too busy. We had a great time and yummy food. Grace asks for Spaghetti at least 3 times a week, so she was in 7th Heaven.

Garett has developed an extreme fascination with drinking glasses. Everytime I'm drinking something and holding him he starts trembling, clenching his fists and rocks up and down. He loves it! Don't worry it's only rootbeer and He didn't get any of it.

Easter 2009

We had such a great Easter this year. The week leading up to it Grace had so many questions about the Easter Bunny. "But where does he live?" "But why does he hide our baskets?" "But why does he put treats in them?" The questions went on and on.

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on Friday night so Saturday morning we went a hunting. Grace was so excited to find our baskets! She found Garett's first which was hiding in the bathtub, she thought that was really silly. Then I found mine in the Entertainment Center and Ben found his behind the couch. Grace found hers last behind the treadmill.

After we found them all Grace had to empty each one out and organize it, then she had to empty every single egg!
After breakfast we colored eggs. Grace was really into it this year and we had a lot of fun decorating them with our Princess Egg kit that included stickers and glitter!

We had these same ears with Grace and decided to take an Easter Bunny Garett photo. This is right after he learned to sit so he was pretty unstable still.

Easter morning we got up and got ready for church. Here are the kiddos in their Easter Outfits. This is the only picture I took, but they looked pretty adorable!

That afternoon we headed to Grandma Hardy's for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt. We were going to do one for Grace on Saturday, but I'm glad we waited to have some cousins participate.

I think they found all the eggs in less than a minute. Boy was it fun!

Garett also had a good time with his Daddy.

See? He's such a happy boy!