Zion

There is nothing more refreshing to my soul than a trip to Zion Canyon to see it's majesty and beauty and breath it all in. Everyone else around the world had the same idea. It was a Wednesday and the park was completely packed. People from all over the place. My Uncle Bruce who drives the shuttles said it was a record breaking day as far as visitors. It was still March and we half expected to be able to drive in ourselves thinking the shuttles wouldn't be running yet. They were running alright and packed. But Zion is not Disneyland. It doesn't matter how many people are visiting that day, you can see everything and do exactly what you came to do. We did wait a little too long to leave the canyon so we were stuck waiting our turn for a seat (or space) on a bus so we could get out of the park.

Molly got soaked at weeping rock. She didn't mind at all. 

Lucy loved riding the bus. She mostly loved not being strapped in. 

This was our first trip back since the honey moon for James and I. It was fun to bring the girls too. We stayed a little too long and they were pretty hashed by the time we got back to the car, but this is one place I want them to know and know well. It is so dear to my heart in every way and I can't wait to scale it's paths with my children. A girl I worked with told me she has lived in Utah all her life and not been. I hounded her constantly and let her know the crime she had committed and hopefully she has changed her ways... (Michelle!) I do think it is a crime to be so close to something so beautiful and not at least step foot on it's sacred ground. James and I hope to return in just a month and a half for our anniversary. Hopefully that will all work out as we have planned. Oh I love Zion!

Springs Preserve

I have been wanting to visit Springs Preserve since we moved here. Actually, I didn't know much about it but people kept telling me about it and how cool it was, so I knew we needed to check it out. James had 10 days off for the Passover (we love Jewish Holidays), so we spent it doing a few things we have wanted to do for a long time.  We left in the early afternoon, and packed a lunch. We ended up buying a family pass. And we were glad we did. We did not even get to check out half of it in the few hours that we were there. We saw the State Museum of Nevada and a few of the desert exhibits. Lucy loved it. It really is a little above her level but the few toddler things that they have were enough to keep her attention as we checked out the rest. We can't wait to go back. James and I both thought it would be a fun place to go out on a date. They have a cafe there that looks really fun and nice. So if anyone wants to babysit two cute girls on a Saturday morning/early afternoon.... ?
Anyway, we also visited the new Lied Children's Discovery Museum. We bought a family annual pass for the old one when we moved here, and couldn't wait for the new one to be finished and open. (The old one, was REALLY out of date). The new one is AMAZING!! I've seen a few children's museums and they are all kind of alike or at least have similar qualities and are really targeted for a little bit of an older audience (than Lucy)

. This one was really different and amazing for all ages. We didn't even see all of it. And Lucy was very mad when it was closing time and we had to leave. We tried to explain that we would go back, but she's 2 and she didn't get it. All she knows is we interrupted her fun FOREVER! I didn't take any pictures there, because we planned on returning just a couple of days later, but we went and it was Clark County School District's spring break. The line to get in lead back to the end of the parking lot. FORGET IT! I turned the car around immediately. We'll be back now that Spring Break is over.

Pi Theta Epsilon

James was invited into this club. Neither of us really get it because they don't really do anything, but you have to pay a initial 75$ fee. The only people that are invited are the top 35 percent of his class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. They had to write an essay too. He did all of that and got pinned! He got a few of his classmates that weren't invited to babysit so that I could attend the ceremony with him. I was so happy to be somewhere with out the kids. That is a very rare occasion. So congratulations, my PI THETA EPSILON MAN! You are my hero. Let me know if you figure out who that money goes to. Maybe Pi Theta himself!???

This one is for his mother.

March 12, 1985

This was a good day. My mom and dad gave me a sister on this day. I am grateful for her everyday of my life. She is my best friend and the one person that always understands me. (James is all those things too, but this is not his post). We have not always gotten along but I think for the majority of our lives we have understood one another. It is so nice to have someone like that in my life. I am so glad Lucy has Molly for this very reason. I can't wait for the day when they make each other giggle and play together for hours. They are going to love it.
Traci actually had a pretty crappy birthday this year and I felt bad that I was so far away and couldn't brighten it up a little bit. She did have one request, that I eat a red velvet cupcake for her on her birthday. I'm not really a fan, but I found a red velvet cupcake and ate it all. It was delicious. So Happy Birthday Traci! About 3 weeks too late.

Clean Baby! Messy Kid!

 Lucy's art project: Marker on table and face.

 I love love love that we can play with play dough now. Mind you I made it myself and it is edible so I don't have to worry about her eating chemicals. (It tastes nasty so it only took a couple of tries for her to be done with that experiment and just play with it.)

It is very very hard to not eat this one up after she has had a bath. She is so incredibly yummy!

Las Vegas Muscle Walk 2013

James signed us all up for the Las Vegas Muscle Walk. It is a fund raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He has to complete so many community events and other stuff to put in his portfolio for graduation. He decided to invite the family along on this one. It was a lot of fun. A lot of his classmates were there and we got to walk with them. We really didn't know what to expect, it was the first time we'd ever done "a walk" before. So we had our tennis shoes on and lots of water. The girls had plenty of snacks and warm water for a bottle. "The walk" itself was about a half a mile around the Las Vegas Townsquare. So we were a little over prepared, but we had fun and laughed about it for the day. We were happy to be apart of a good cause. Happier to be together as a family.

Lucy: 2 years 1 month; Molly: 6 months and chunky

I have a whole lot of catching up to do and I am going to try and split it up a little bit so it is not so overwhelming.
Molly is getting bigger and more adorable everyday. She started sitting up on her own a couple of weeks ago, with a few falls but now she is firmly planted and rarely tips over. It's crazy she is already to that point in her life. Still no teeth. I'm nervous about teething. I don't remember it being a pleasant experience for Lucy. We have started to try and feed her some solid food but she does not like it. I'm not sure if it is the food she doesn't like or vehicle for the food getting into her mouth. her last weigh in was 17 lbs 8 oz. She's a squishy chubby baby and we can't stop kissing her all day long. She is so happy and loves to talk and giggle for anyone that holds or pays any attention to her. She loves loves loves watching her big sister play. Although her big sister pretty much ignores her existence most of the time. She's sleeping better too. She sleeps best when we spend lots of time outside and really stimulate her during the day. She will sleep the entire night on those occasions. Otherwise we still have a feeding sometime around 3:00 am. But she is napping better and has gotten on more of a schedule and I think she just likes sleeping more than she used to. We are so happy to have her around. We could not love her more.

We started sleeping Lucy on a pillow about 6
months ago. She likes to sleep completely on
the pillow. 

Lucy is so much fun right now. She talks all the time. She has started putting two words together for a few simple sentences, otherwise she is a little parrot. She will mimic anything and everything you say. It is funniest while we are reading. She has memorized several of her books because she is constantly repeating what we read, and she loves to quote them while sitting in her high chair or on long car rides. Her favorite books right now are Piggie and Elephant. These are the ones that she quotes most frequently. She will also request to read any of them by name. Language and communication is so much fun. It's so much more fun to know what's going on inside their little heads. Lucy is very good at saying "NO!" It's actually almost to cute too even reprimand her for it. It is mostly functional use of the word anyway, because she will use "YES" too if she wants it. She loves nursery! We were visiting a ward in St. George and only stayed for sacrament meeting. She threw the BIGGEST tantrum as we walked out the building doors, because she did not get to go to nursery. I'm glad she loves it so much, and I think it helps her a little bit during Sacrament meeting to know the prize for sitting through it, is Nursery. She is so good at pretend play. She loves to make her stuffed animals kiss, hug, jump, dance, play tea party, talk on the phone, and much more. It is so much fun to watch her play. I guess we finally got her the right toys because she will just play and play for hours. She's so cool. I love her smile. I feel like as she has gotten older, her smile is more sincere and angelic. She gives the best hugs and kisses and often does it without request. Just randomly she will come up to you with a big squeeze. It is the biggest pay off a mom or dad can receive.
We all love the warmer weather. Yes, we live in Vegas and it's rarely very cold, but it is so nice to leave the jackets and blankets behind and travel much lighter wherever we go. I love the hot sun beating down on my face and skin. There is nothing more refreshing. We are excited for swimming season and we will be regulars at the Remington pool once more.

Last summer it was the hat this summer...
"Sunglasses, sunglasses, sunny-sun glasses!"