Thanksgiving Point

 On Saturday morning, I ran in a 5K race at Thanksgiving Point with my friend, Rachel. I was really excited about this race because they advertised that the course went through the gardens at Thanksgiving Point during the peak of the Tulip Festival. I thought it would be a beautiful run. I was wrong. First of all, the temperature at race time was in the high 30's. Really disappointing after the summer like days we had earlier in the week. Second, there was probably only a quarter of a mile of the race that actually went through the gardens. The rest of the race was on the streets surrounding Thanksgiving Point. Third, part of the course was a long stretch of road RIGHT NEXT TO THE INTERSTATE!!! I hate running next to busy roads. Now that I got all of the negatives out, there were a few positives. I finished the race at 31:10. I was pretty pleased with my time. It was better than I thought it would be. In our goody bag, they gave us passes to everything at Thanksgiving Point that day. I had originally planned to take the girls and just pay for the extra person. However, Rachel had blisters on her feet and didn't feel up to walking around Thanksgiving Point that day, so she offered her passes to me. I then offered to take her 4 year old son with us. We had a lot of fun. We started in Farm Country. The kids got to ride on a pony...

 pet some baby and grown up animals...

 take a tractor hayride...

 play in the playhouses(this one was a jail, if you couldn't tell)...

 ride on sheep and bulls...

 and take a ride on the cow train.

After Farm Country we headed up to the Museum of Ancient life. As I was checking in at the front desk, we discovered that Ashley was no longer wearing her wristband and therefore couldn't get into anything else without us having to pay for her. I was pretty bugged that the lady wouldn't let her in when she was obviously with us and there were only 4 of us (the wristbands came in twos). Plus, she could tell from my face and my reaction that Ashley had one, it just wasn't on her wrist anymore. I stormed out of there as best I could and we got in the car and went home. The kids were pretty tired anyways. I didn't realize that Thanksgiving Point had so much to offer. I only wish that I had started in the Dinosaur museum and then went to farm country because the kids were all so excited about seeing the Dinosaurs and therefore, really dissappointed when they didn't get to go inside.

Lehi City Expo

Last Thursday, the City of Lehi had an expo where you could get informatoin about the city and see the different city vehicles. Alyssa already had dance in the same place around the same time, so I took them over a little bit earlier to check it out. We had free hot dogs and popcorn for dinner, took a ride in the bucket truck....(they really are in there, even though you cannot see them)

(proof that they were on it. They had to wear a harness so they didn't try to jump out, or so they couldn't fall out)

 we tried on a Firefighter hat...

 and the SWAT Team outfit, including gun...

 They pet a big 'ol bird...

 and explored the yellow firetruck.

They also came home with a bag full of candy and goodies that they picked up from the different departments from the city. It would have been a little more fun if Alyssa was dressed warmer and if it hadn't started raining on us. I was glad that I took them and we will probably do it again next year.

Play Date and Trafalga Fun Center

 Last week I finally arranged a much requested play date with one of Alyssa's classmates. She has been asking to have a play date with a friend from school since September. I have been waiting until I've had the chance to get to know the parents a little better. The little girl that she played with is named Taylor. I have seen her mom quite a bit at the school and we have had many opportunitites to talk. I finally decided that I was okay sending Alyssa over to their house to play and hoped that Taylor's mom felt the same about Taylor coming to our house. She went over there on Friday, right after school. Since I didn't have to pick Alyssa up until 3 and since Danny is feeling stressed out at work, I arranged for Ashley to go over to her favorite friends house too and I spent the morning helping Danny organize his office. Here is Alyssa with her friend.

After I picked Alyssa up from Taylor's house, I took the girls over to the family fun center that we have passes too. The girls were really excited that they had finally opened the bumper boats for the summer. Even better since Alyssa is tall enough to drive a boat herself and take Ashley on them. The only downside was that it was only about 50 degrees out that day and I forgot all of our coats/sweatshirts. You can get pretty soaked on these boats because they have water guns that shoot out from the front of the boat so you can squirt other people with them.

It was a really busy day, but the girls had a lot of fun and it helped fill the day while Danny was working so late.

California

 Alyssa had spring break last week and since Danny is getting pretty busy at work with it being so close to the Grand Opening of the Convention Center, we decided to head off to California on our own. We stopped in Henderson, Nevada, on the way down to see my sister and her family. The girls had fun playing with their cousins and I enjoyed hanging out with Christy.

On the way into LA on Tuesday, we stopped and visited Maryn, Robbie, and Lydia. Alyssa and Ashley enjoyed playing with their cousins most of the afternoon and I had a chance to catch up a bit with Maryn. We fortunately had good weather so that the kids could burn off some of their energy at the park. We headed for my parents house in the early evening and ended up hitting some pretty heavy traffic due to an accident on the way. We were glad to finally get there around 7:30.

Wednesday fore casted rain, so we thought we would go see "The Lorax." I was a little worried about Ashley sitting through the movie, but she actually did really well. She had a large sprite and some popcorn and she was happy. The movie was cute and I learned that I really didn't know the story at all. I must have missed reading that story as a kid and as an adult(reading to my own kids).

Thursday promised cooler weather, but no rain so we headed off to Kidspace(a children's museum). Unfortunately, there were a lot of school classes that thought that would be a good idea too. It was super busy most of the time we were there. This was the only time that I thought to pull out the camera, so here are some of the pictures from the morning.

The Anthill

 The top of a climbing tower. They made me climb all the way up there with them to take a picture.

 Interactive play

 Climbing web

 Rock wall

 Another climbing structure

 Tricycle track

 Giant grasshopper. I thought Ashley would love this, but she didn't seem all that excited about it. She was nice enough to at least pose for a picture.

When we got tired of the crowds and we had done everything, we headed out and hit McDonald's on the way home. The girls made some friends in the play place and ended up playing for a long time. We bribed them out of there with ice cream and cookies.

Friday had thunderstorms, so we threw out our list of activities including the zoo, beach, aquarium, parks, etc, and headed out to another movie instead. We saw "Mirror, Mirror." I really didn't think Ashley would make it through this one, but Grandma and Grandpa got her a snack pack with popcorn, whoppers, and a drink and she was happy for most of the movie. She pretty much talked all the way through, but I'm used to the nonstop talking so it didn't bother me. We were also fortunate to only have 3 other people in the theater with us. Alyssa really liked the movie. We went out to dinner after the movie.

Our plan was to take off really early on Saturday and drive all the way back. After the warning call about the weather from Danny, I looked at the forecast and decided that I didn't want to drive through the snowstorm promised to Southern Utah that day. After checking with Christy, we decided to make a stop in Henderson on the way home too and ended up leaving Grandma and Grandpa's house after lunchtime instead. It was nice to be able to break up the driving, avoid driving in snow, and to see Christy's family again.

It was a nice vacation and I was glad that we were able to go. The girls have a tainted view of California weather, but it was nice to just spend time with my parents.

Easter

 I know, I'm like a week and a half late on this, but I have a good reason. We left for California the day after Easter and I never had a chance to sit down and do a blog post. Here is what we did for Easter this year. On the Monday before Easter, I finally got to use an Easter lesson that I made at a RS activity like 6 years ago. It had 12 plastic eggs, each filled with something representing an event from the last few days of the Saviors life. There was also a scripture reference for each object. By the time we had opened all of the eggs, we had read the scriptural account of the betrayal, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. It went over really well and I was happy to finally be able to use it.
On Saturday we dyed Easter eggs. The girls had fun dyeing them, but not so much fun eating them this year. I don't know why, because they usually like boiled eggs.

 On Easter morning, the Easter Bunny left baskets for the girls to explore and hid some eggs throughout the downstairs area of our house. We had toast and eggs for breakfast and then headed off to Stake Conference in their pretty new dresses.

 We invited Gawbie, Grandpa, Aunt Shannon, and the Roe Family over for an Easter dinner of ham, sweet potato casserole, salads, and rolls. We had cheesecake for dessert and celebrated Gawbie's birthday after we were done with dinner. The kids also discovered that the Easter Bunny had hidden some eggs outside too, so they hunted for them.

After our guests left that evening, we quickly cleaned up and packed our bags for our trip. It was a nice Easter and we were glad to be able to spend it with friends and family.

Cousins

We enjoyed getting to spend some time with family last week. Becky came through town with her three kids and stayed with us for a couple of days. The kids played so well together and I enjoyed some quality time with my sister. I was glad that she went out of her way on the trip down to California in order to come and see us. Here are the three older girls together.

 All of the kids together. And in case you are wondering, the baby did not go for a ride like that in the truck, just the older kids.

 The four older kids together. They enjoyed playing outside, going to the park, playing the Wii together, and playing with toys.

 That Sunday, we finally had a much overdue get together with the college neices/nephew and Steve's family. We had dinner, played games(Dr. Mario, 1 High, and Mariokart), and compared Ipad/Iphone apps. It was fun to see them. Alyssa was really sad to see her cousin Zach leave. Who knew that those two would hit it off so well when there weren't other cousins, their age, around.

We enjoyed Confernce this past weekend with Danny's family. I love the way I feel right after watching conference and hope that I can take some of the counsel to heart in order to improve my life. Next week we are looking forward to Easter and then a trip to California for me and the girls.

Wheeler Family Update

No pictures again this week, but this is what happened:

Danny- He is super stressed about all that needs to get done in the next six weeks as they prepare for the Grand opening of the Utah Valley Convention Center. That thought dawned on him in the temple on Friday night(not the best night to go to the temple here because it is so very busy. We had a lot of time to sit and think as we waited for our session to begin and then waited again for each other at the end of the session. We did appreciate the free babysitting offered by our bishopric though.) Here is a picture of what the convention center looks like. The website is found on our website list to the side if you want to learn and see more about it.


Laura- I applied for a physics teaching position a couple of weeks ago. I applied because I was told that the position was only for one class and that it only met a couple of times a week. I thought it sounded good because I could teach while Ashley was at preschool and then get experience for the day when I want to start teaching full time. They called me the following day to set up an interview. The interview went well, but during the interview I found out that they actually wanted me to have more hours than I thought. Long story short, I had a really tough week of deciding whether or not I could handle more hours and finally decided that the job wasn't right at this time in my life. I will have plenty of time in the future to pursue it when I do not have young kids at home.

Alyssa- She had a Thanksgiving feast at school this week. I don't know why they did it in March instead of close to Thanksgiving, but she learned all about the Pilgrims and the Indians and what the first feast was like. She has also started taking dance again and is really looking forward to her dance recital in May. She enjoyed lots of time playing with friends this week too, which she loves.

Ashley- She finished up her third round of swim lessons this week. She learned a lot in her second round so I had high hopes for the third round and for her coming out of it being able to swim short distances. I was wrong because I don't think she showed any improvement at all during the third round. I wasn't that impressed with her teacher and I totally blame it on her. However, it could have also been Ashley's inability to listen while she is in the water that caused the lack of improvement. Who knows. We will just have to work with her on our own this summer now that the beginning skills are there.

Happy Birthday to Me

We celebrated my birthday this week. On Friday, Danny worked a half day and then we met up for lunch with some friends of ours at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Lehi(We had BWW in the Midwest, but it is new here and everyone is so excited about it). Because it is new, it is always really busy. We got there around 12:15 and after waiting for 10 minutes we decided to take the two booths that were available rather than waiting for a table that seats eight. After lunch we went to the Home and Garden Show up in Sandy (Danny was technically working still by going to this show, but we got to go and walk the show with him). Ashley had swimming lessons that evening so Danny took her to them. Gawbie and Grandpa came over after that and watched the girls for us so that we could go out on a date. It was a really nice day, so we attempted to go and play tennis. We got about 30 minutes in before we declared it too dark to see the ball. Then we tried a new BBQ place right up the street from us and finished off the night at one of those frozen yogurt serve yourself bars(I get so sick of cake by the time it gets to my birthday that I always try and do something different). Danny and the girls surprised me with one of these.....

I love having an IPad. I just want to sit and play with it all day long. Of course, that is not possible because Alyssa and Ashley also want to sit and play with it all day long. I also need to get stuff done around the house so I have to have a little bit of self control.
Yesterday we continued celebrating my birthday with a mexican fiesta, cheesecake, and presents at Gawbie and Grandpa's house. Thank you everyone for the phone calls, cards, and birthday gifts. It was a great birthday.