American Heritage Family Field Day

 Alyssa's school had a Family Field Day on Friday. It started off with a 5K, followed by a 1 mile fun run. Alyssa really wanted to do the 5K, but we had to veto that since Danny couldn't get off of work that early and I probably couldn't even walk a 5K right now. So we opted for the 1 Mile fun run instead. I pushed Ashley in the stroller because I didn't think she would be able to walk the whole mile. Here is Alyssa all lined up and ready to start. Ashley is just behind her in the green stroller.

Alyssa did really well on the 1 miler and even bragged about finishing 6 minutes before me. I tried to keep up with her and managed to stay within sight of her for the first half of the race, but then she took off and I never saw her again until we finished. My pregnant body wasn't too happy with me the night and the next day. I don't know how some women can run throughout their pregnancies because my body definitely doesn't like it.
After the race, there were all kinds of different activities for the kids. There was this bounce house...

mini quad racing(Ashley is on the pink quad in the distance)...

(Alyssa is on the blue quad)

 and a rock wall. Ashley was so determined to get to the top of this wall because there was a "Bucky Bell" at the top that she could ring. Unfortunately, this picture was taken right before she fell off of the wall and the line was way to long to wait in to try again. She was so close!

There was also a pulled pork picnic, some carnival-type games, a bake sale, and and obstacle course. We had a good laugh when Danny was timing the girls on the obstacle course and suddenly there was a line of kids behind them waiting to be timed too. He was a good sport about it and continued to time the kids until they had all disappeared again. It gave me a chance to sit down and relax a little which my body was very grateful for.

Baby Shower

 I meant to get this posted a week ago, but last Monday was kind of crazy and it never happened. I had my baby shower last Saturday and it was so much fun. For lunch we had chicken salad croissant sandwiches with fruit.

After eating, we played a memory game. I forgot to get a picture of the whole game, but you can see it in the background behind Rachel(one of the hostesses of the party). The pictures included things like umbilical cord, big belly, epidural, 9 months, crying baby, etc. Each thing had a corresponding candy. It was pretty funny how some of the candies matched up with the pictures(like the picture for "Nurses" came with the candy "Lifesavers" when matched).

After the game, we cut the cake (the date says May 31st, but we are now officially scheduled for a c-section on June 1st- the actual due date being June 6).

The table was decorated very cute with lots of blue and brown. I should have gotten the banner in the picture too, but anyone that visits us after baby gets here will be able to see it. The cake was delicious and I am still enjoying the leftovers.

 Here are the two hostesses together. Danny's Mom, Shari, was the other one. They did a great job and I can't thank them enough for all the time and effort they put into it.

 Here are the guests. Most of them came from my neighborhood/ward. My sister in law, Pam, also showed up which was a nice surprise.

 More guests and the gifts. It was so fun to open up all of those cute little boy clothes. I was very happy with everything that I got.

Alyssa loved helping out with the shower. She helped prepare the food, decorate, set up the game, hand out the candy during the game, and handed me all of the presents. Both girls are so excited for the new baby brother. Ashley wasn't at the shower because she had a Kindergarten Assessment that morning, so she got to spend time with Daddy and Grandpa.

We are so excited for the baby to get here. I am getting more and more uncomfortable and don't know how I'm going to make it another month, but I guess I don't have much of a choice in the matter.

Southern Utah Getaway

 We enjoyed our little three day getaway to Southern Utah this past weekend. We rented a Cabin near a little town called Duck Creek Village(and when I say little, I mean little. The population was like 50). Our cabin was nice and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We got down there on Thursday afternoon. My sister's family happened to be on their way back to Colorado from a two week trip to California and were staying in Cedar City that night, so we made the 1 hour drive down the canyon to see them. Alyssa and Ashley loved seeing their cousins and being able to play at a park for a couple of hours. We got back to the cabin, had a late dinner and then welcomed Gawbie and Grandpa before heading to bed.
On Friday morning, we headed off to Bryce Canyon. We decided it probably wasn't a good idea to do much hiking since I'm 31 weeks pregnant, Danny is recovering from a knee injury that he got playing Ultimate Frisbee with his Deacons on Wednesday night, and Ashley isn't much of a hiker and tires really quickly. So we opted for the self-navigated driving tour of the different lookout points. We stopped at maybe 8 different spots and enjoyed the views. We did hike down a little on one of the trails in order to get to this little archway. Once the girls saw how hard it was to climb the short distance we had gone down, they were glad that we didn't hike any further into the canyon.

 

 

 The girls loved the "cannon"(that's what they kept calling it-a word learned from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"). The first lookout was a little scary as there were no railings next to the very steep and large drop off, but the rest of them had railings up.
On Saturday, we opted to stay close to the cabin rather than making another hour drive to see Zion National Park. We tried going into Duck Creek Village to do some fishing and rent an ATV, but it was a bad time of year for both. The lake was too icy for fishing and we weren't dressed properly for the ATV ride. So we headed back to the cabin, enjoyed conference and did a hike that started right off of the cabin lot. Here is a picture of our cabin from up the mountain a little.

 A closer shot of the back of our cabin.

 Our cabin had a few perks, one of which was this very nice fire pit. On Friday and Saturday night, we lit a fire, enjoyed roasting marshmallows, and telling campfire stories(or at least we listened to Danny tell stories). The Cabin also had a horseshoe pit and a pool table which we enjoyed quite a bit.

 We had originally considered going camping this weekend, but decided that the cabin was a much more comfortable way of enjoying the outdoors, especially with me being pregnant. I was also sick most of the weekend, so I'm glad I didn't spend those days living out of a tent. We were also glad to have Gawbie and Grandpa there with us to enjoy the weekend.

Spring Break

We are enjoying spring break this week. We started the week off with a trip to our community, indoor pool. As we were walking in, Miss Utah County handed us a flyer for a princess night at Chik-Fil-A. Of course, when she mentioned Chik-Fil-A, Ashley's eyes lit up. And with the mention of Princess, Alyssa's eyes lit up too. So after we got done swimming, we prettied the girls up and headed over to the princess night(actually afternoon because we went from about 4 until 5:15). The girls got their picture taken with the "princess." Then they got to play a couple of games that they had set up there. There was also a DJ from Munchkin Radio playing music.

They had advertised the Chik-Fil-A Cow being dressed up like a princess, but that wasn't the case while we were there. The cow did come out and walk around the restaurant for a little while. Ashley and Alyssa mostly just followed him around. He even sat himself down at out table and took a few sips from Ashley's drink.

At one point, the DJ called the cow and all of the kids up to his table to do a couple of dances together. The first was "Gangam Style" and the second was "The Chicken Dance." Alyssa earned herself a demo CD from the DJ for her excellent dancing. It was hard to get the girls to leave and it wasn't nearly as crowded as I feared it would be. It was a nice start to our spring break. On Thursday we are heading down to a Cabin we rented in Southern Utah to enjoy a couple of the national parks down there. We are all excited for the little weekend getaway.

Easter Weekend Fun

 We had a busy and fun weekend, packed with a lot of fun things for all of us. On Friday night, Danny and I got to go to a fancy dinner/ceremony at the Convention Center in which Utah Valley honored Lavell and Patti Edwards and Steven R. Covey. The dinner was delicious(Bacon-wrapped Fillet and Lobster Tail) and it was nice to get dressed up and have a night out. The MC of the night was Steve Young, so that was kind of neat also.
On Saturday, we took the girls to see "Peter Pan" (a ballet). I don't know that I have ever been to a live ballet. The girls thought it was a lot of fun, especially when the performers would fly around the stage. They also loved the ones dressed up like animals(tic toc croc, and nana-the dog).  

 After the ballet, Danny had to work, so I brought the girls home and let them dye some Easter eggs. 

 On Ashley's last day of preschool before Easter, her teacher let them have an Easter egg hunt(which wasn't much of a hunt since the eggs were all just sitting in the grass on the front lawn. Here she is with her class after they got done gathering all of the eggs.

 Here she is with her loot. She was pretty excited about picking a treasure out of the treasure chest after she had found all of her eggs.

On Easter morning, the girls were excited to come downstairs and find their Easter baskets full of prizes and goodies. Then we enjoyed a boiled egg breakfast.

 After breakfast, the girls got to go out in our backyard and hunt for Easter eggs. Here they are with their finds(102 eggs total- I think that I need to throw away some of those eggs before next year's hunt). Then we got ready for church. I even tried to doll up their hair a little with new hairstyles. I soon discovered that a waterfall braid may look pretty cool, but it does not hold in a little girls hair for very long. Ashley wouldn't stand in the picture with Alyssa, so here they are in separate pictures.

 Now I know that most of this sounds like the commercial side of Easter, but we did spend a lot of time teaching them this year about the reason we really celebrate Easter. They both got to do/hear the 12 plastic eggs Easter lesson three different times(the one that has a different symbol and scripture relating to the events leading up to Christs' death and resurrection). Alyssa even took that lesson in to share with her class for show and tell on Friday. We also reminded them many times throughout the week and they totally understand. We ended our Easter weekend with dinner at Gawbie and Grandpa's. The girls got to do one more Easter egg hunt there, and we all enjoyed being with each other on this very special day.