Tuesday, June 17, 2014

May- Week 4 Part 2- More 30th BD, Memorial Day, and Chocolate Exhibit!

Saturday Dan's parents took us out for a dinner for my birthday at a fun restaurant just a little ways up Ogden Canyon called Timbermine.  It's definitely the place to go if you want a cool ambience.  It's very dark inside, just like a real mine.  

Just testing to see if it's real gold.

Here comes the "EPIC" part of my birthday.  I'm WAY too chicken to go skydiving for real...but there is an alternative.  iFly- Indoor skydiving! 
Getting all suited up after watching a brief training. 
Watching the first people go.  This was the only time I got kind of nervous. 
The wind is blowing so hard on you (about 100mph) that it really just kind of felt like you're in a harness.  I didn't know the instructor had let go of me until I turned around and saw him.  You can't hear anything in the wind tunnel, so they use hand signals to tell you how to get your body in the right flying position.  


Dan's turn!  They tell you to just lean forward and "fall" into the tunnel, then open up your body to the proper position.  



My second turn.  

The instructor told us beforehand that if we were doing a good job and had some extra time, he would take us for a ride.  So much screaming and so much fun! 

Dan's second turn.  


We each got two minutes in the the tunnel, and it was a blast!  Thanks SO SO much to Dan's parents for the "EPIC" birthday celebration!! 

Sunday, before church, the kids were doing some reading while I nursed Anna.  
After church, we headed up to Mantua to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday with some of Dan's family.  We had a lovely dinner and the family sang to me for my birthday.  Dessert was peach cobbler, not the best for putting candles in.  So I blew out this one.  Nice photobomb, Adam!  
After dinner, we walked up to the cemetery to visit Dan's Webster grandparents.    

The next morning, Grandma and Brynn took all the boys for a ranger ride and a stop at the park while they were waiting for the General Store to open.  


Aunt Lara is always so sweet to paint so many cute toesies! 
She also led the kids a little pre-swimming stretching. 
Later that afternoon, more cemeteries were visited.  
The Whites are Dan's Grandmother's family.  


We had a delicious BBQ that evening with banana split funnel cakes for dessert!  A-Mazing! 
Dan and I slept over one more night and enjoyed the place to ourselves the day after Memorial Day.  
At breakfast, I left Anna unattended with the yogurt too close to her reach.  She had a great time playing in it while I was away!  I, however, did not enjoy the clean up! 
May 28th, we got to attend the Natural History Museum for free, thanks to Dan's perks of being a faculty member at the U (he supervises interns from the Bachelor's of Social Work program). 
The main exhibit we wanted to see was all about chocolate!!
McKenna got to try grinding some cocoa beans.  

I thought it was a pretty interesting exhibit all about the history of chocolate and how it's made.  They had a tasting but it was too late for us to stick around for.  
We got to explore a little more throughout the rest of the museum too.  The kids definitely liked the dinosaur bones! 




I tell you what, this little girl adores her daddy!  
This picture was taken less than five minutes after Dan got home from work.  They kinda miss him when he's gone!  :) 
I can't remember when this was taken, but he's still falling asleep at random times during the day if he sits still long enough.  Pretty cute! 
And a quick little photo shoot with Anna- 11 months old! 



AND- She's officially crawling! 

Saturday, June 14, 2014

May- Week 4 Part 1- PS Grad and 30th BD!

 McKenna had her preschool graduation on May 22nd.  
 We loved having Ms. Brandie teach her this year!  She lives in the neighborhood and has taught for 10+ years!  
Sitting next to her good friend Brooke.
 Keeping ourselves entertained with selfies. :)

 The teacher read a little spotlight about each child.  
Favorites:
Color- blue, red, pink, purple
Snack- fishy crackers, marshmallows, rice crispy treats
Book- Halloween Princess and Snow White
Arts and Crafts Project- color math and popcorn tree
Field Trip- fire station and pumpkin patch

 Watching their Preschool slideshow video.  
 So proud of this girl! 
 Thank you to Grandma for coming too!  
 With some more friends.  
 The next day was my 30th birthday!  About two days before I started feeling like I needed to do something "epic" to say good-bye to my 20s.  So keep reading to find out what I did. ;) 
I started the day by opening some lovely gifts and cards from my family.  
Then, I was treated to Kneaders french toast for breakfast with my sister and brother!  So delicious!  Then my brother was nice enough to take the younger two kids home while my sister treated me to a pedicure!  McKenna came to watch.  I chose the color Pretty Petunia.  

 Later that evening, we went to a park in Salt Lake and had a lovely pizza picnic then played a little.  


We planned to go to Ugurt after for a treat.  As we parked, I noticed Dan's sister's car right next to us, and my brother standing inside Ugurt.  All I thought was, "That's nice.  Some of my family knew it's my birthday and knew we were coming here so they came too.  Cool!"  Then, as we were walking up to the shop, McKenna said, "Oh yeah mom!  There's lots of people in there that we know!"  I was confused at first and then, SURPRISE!!  Dan had totally planned a surprise party for me with some of my family and friends from our neighborhood!  Thanks honey!! 


Lewises, Novaks, Grandpa
Holdstocks, Asays
Mortensens, Clouds
Family

The Wests, Koldewyns, and Mudrows also came later

Such a wonderful evening and birthday spent with the ones I love!  
More birthday celebrating to be continued...