Battle Creek Falls

Last week we had a 1-day break in our heat wave(the high that day was like 91 instead of 98), so we headed off for a last minute decision hike. I had looked online to find the easier hikes in the area for kids. This one was perfect for us. The hike was up to Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove. We brought Ashley's bug net and bug jar along so that the girls could catch some bugs. The first bug they caught was a white moth that was sitting on this big rock. Here they are showing off their catch.

 The moth got away a little while later, but I was able to snag a little white butterfly for the girls as a replacement. That butterfly went home with us and eventually got smashed under the piece of banana that we put in the jar with it. The hike was pretty hot and boring until we got up to the first little falls. This bridge was kind of fun to walk across.

 We almost turned around and went back after we got up to the first waterfall, but after dipping their toes in the water and sitting to eat our lunch, the girls were re-energized. We continued on up the trail and were pleased when we got to the real waterfall.

 I love how dirty the girls got. Can you tell we haven't have rain in like a month? It was so dusty on the trail and nearly impossible to not get covered in dirt.

 This next picture is at the top of a little hill to the right of the falls, almost visible in the picture above. They were so proud to have climbed all the way up there.

We could have continued on the trail up to the top of the falls, but the little legs were tired by this point and ready to head back to our car. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but my niece, Brigitte, is staying with us for a few weeks and it was very nice to have her along on this hike. I don't know if I would have attempted it without her or Danny along.

Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park

 Last Monday, after the girls had finished with their morning routine, we headed off too Salt Lake City. There is this huge park close to the down town area and part of the park is an aviary. We went to check it out. The weather was perfect that day and the girls had a lot of fun exploring the aviary. They got to feed some ducks...

chase a peacock(I really felt bad for the peacocks that got chased around by every kid that saw them)...

and they posed in this bird picture for every combination possible("this time I will be the little bird and you be the owl" -Alyssa).

 After we had seen all there was to see in the Aviary, we enjoyed some of the activities of the park. They had these carnival-type rides right outside the entrance to the aviary. I bought 8 ride tickets and let them choose which ones they wanted to do. There was a carousel, a Ferris wheel, a couple of baby rides, and these swings. When I first saw the swings going, I thought "there is no way Ashley will be tall enough to go on those." They just seemed so high and fast and unsafe. However, when we measured her, she just barely touched the line. They loved the ride so much that they chose to ride it 3 times. The other ride they went on was the carousel. They probably would have gone on the Ferris wheel, but they needed me to go with them and we didn't have enough ride tickets for that.

 After the rides, we passed this big, grassy hill. They saw some other kids rolling down it so they had to give it a try.

The park also had a pond with paddle boats on it that you could rent for 20 minutes. We didn't have time to try that out, but we may try it next time we go. It was a fun afternoon and I'm glad that we went.

Seven Peaks Waterpark

We enjoyed our first day of the Seven Peaks summer season on Thursday. Since we have season passes, I hadn't planned on staying all day. It was a little bit cold at the beginning of the day(out of the heated water), which made it so the girls wanted to stay in the lazy river or wavepool rather than try the bigger slides. We packed a lunch which we enjoyed in our car around 1pm, and then went back into the park. Since we were dry and it was warmer, we were all willing to wait in line for the slides. After the first time down, the girls both wanted to go again. So we waited in the line again, shivering as we waited in the shade. We stayed and enjoyed the park until about 5:30, which I realized later that night was probably way too long. All three of us were exhausted and sunburned. Next time I will not let us stay that long. That's the whole point of having the season pass - so we don't have to do it all in one day.

I snapped this picture of the girls as we were heading out the door that morning. They were so excited about those swimming goggles, but then didn't really use them once we got to the water. After I ended up wearing both pairs for awhile, I finally tucked them away in our backpack.

We are looking forward to a fun summer at the waterpark and will hopefully be more prepared next time to make the day even more fun(like wearing aqua shoes to prevent our feet from getting torn and bloody and reapplying sunscreen multiple times throughout the day).

A Soccer Game

One of the perks of our Seven Peaks Season Pass is that we get to go to 4 of the Real Salt Lake Soccer games. We missed the first two because they were on school nights, but made it to the 3rd one this past week. We got there a little late because there was a ton of traffic, but once we got in our seats, we had a lot of fun. Our team wasn't so good that night, but the experience was new and fun for us all.

We love free tickets to events because we are willing to spend more on the treats. The girls loved their cotton candy. 

 And we all enjoyed the huge bag of kettle corn.

The only downside to the game was the tribal-sounding drums that continued on throughout the entire game. We were hearing drums in our heads for days. We are looking forward to the next game.

The Grand Opening

Somehow I let a really important time in our lives slip by undocumented. Sadly, I don't even have pictures to show how it went. I was able to find one online and I took one of the girls, but that is it. So the Grand Opening of the Utah Valley Convention Center was on May 11th and 12th. Everything went really well. It was fun being able to attend the VIP Gala on Friday night with Danny. He even got to sit back and enjoy most of the evening. Upon arrival, we got a ride from the parking lot to the front door in a limo. That was a lot of fun. There were appetizers and drinks, a short(which turned long due to an MC that talked a little too much) program, dinner, entertainment, and then dessert up on the outdoor terrace. I had fun dressing up and getting to spend more time with Danny than I had in the previous three weeks.

On Saturday, they had the Grand Opening that was open to the public. We got there close to ten when the doors were supposed to open and I was impressed with the number of people that were there already. I showed my parents(who happened to be in town for the weekend) around the building while Danny was out in front doing the ribbon cutting ceremony(that is the picture below).

After my parents left(they had another commitment that they needed to get to), I walked around with the girls and collected all of the free stuff they were giving away. We also watched some Irish dancers, a chorus group, and a martial arts demo. Alyssa and Ashley loved the bounce house(pictured below). They also loved being able to spend a little bit of time with their daddy.

Fortunately the Convention Center is up and running and we get to have Danny around more often now. He has even been home for dinner this past week which hadn't been the case for most of the previous month. We enjoyed a nice three day weekend together, got some much needed yard work done, and made some plans for the summer. Tomorrow is Alyssa's last day of Kindergarten which I think we are all ready for(the last few weeks have been torture getting her to go to bed early). We are excited for the summer and some more relaxed mornings.

Dance Recital

Back in March, I made the mistake of forgetting to sign Alyssa up for Gymnastics. The only other thing avaliable for her to do was dance. She was really excited about dance and has been doing that for the months of March and April. On Thursday night, they had a dance recital for all of the different dance classes. Her class danced to the song "We Go Together" from Grease. Alyssa knew her routine really well and loved being able to dance in front of all of those people. She also loved the time back stage when she got to play games and color with the other dancers. The recital would have probably lasted for 2 hours if we hadn't left early. She was the 7th performance out of 16. We stayed through 8 and called it good. I asked her to strike a pose and this is the one that she wanted for the picture.

She was pretty excited about being able to keep the costume for her dress up collection.

Toothless

So Alyssa has had the trend of having lose teeth for a really long time and then having them fall out as the grown up teeth are growing in, so that her smile never really appears to have missing teeth(the trend holding up for two teeth and the next two seemed to be following the same pattern). Well she had a little mishap this week which broke the trend. On Monday, as I was eating lunch and the girls were playing on the other side of the couch, something happened that caused Alyssa to start crying. When she came over to me, her mouth was covered in blood and one of her top front teeth was missing. My first reaction was a startled intake of breath, which I quickly replaced with a calm reassurance that she would be fine. I grabbed a paper towel and calmly told her that there was a little bit of blood and that one of her teeth was missing. We went over to where they were playing and found it and I showed it to Alyssa. I then got her excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit. She was happy to have the tooth gone as they had been loose for so long and she was tired of wiggly teeth. After she had calmed down, she admitted to me that the tooth came out because she was trying to pick Ashley up with her teeth. I laughed out loud and told her that was a sure way of pulling the loose teeth out. Here is her dangly tooth smile. (the looser tooth wasn't even the one that came out).

She hated having that dangly tooth. It looked really funny too. She wished that it had just come out with the other one. On Wednesday morning, before she went to school, I pointed out the fact that she would be taking pictures with her dance class that night for their dance recital and that it would be really nice if the tooth were gone before that. She wanted Danny to be the one to pull it out, so he did it after they had gotten to her school that morning. It bled some and then he walked her into school so they could get something to put the tooth in. By the time I got there to pick her up, she had lost her tooth. The little tooth carrier that they gave her somehow came open during PE. Her teacher told her that she could write a letter to the tooth fairy and still get her money. So she did, and the tooth fairy left a little note for her in return. Here is her toothless smile.

We figure it will probably stay this way for quite awhile since she pulled the teeth out before they were really ready to leave her mouth.

We went inside

 Danny and his staff FINALLY got the Convention Center handed over to them from the Construction Company. It was a frustrating few days for them as day after day went by with the inspection failing. They invited the families of employees down to take a tour of the inside of the building on Monday night, so we went. The pictures don't show much as I mostly took them to show that we were inside. It is a beautiful building and we are all looking forward to the Grand Opening on Friday and Saturday (although, they have already had 5 events in the building).

I'm not complaining, but let it be known that we haven't seen much of Danny since the building was handed over. He has been going in earlier and earlier in the morning and staying later and later each night. The worst was the night before their first event when he was there until almost midnight and then left the house around 5am, probably not sleeping much in between due to stress. We were warned and I tried to prepare myself as much as possible for these couple of months, but it's still hard on us girls when he isn't around. On the other hand we are so excited for him and his staff and for their hard work and all that they've done to prepare for the opening of the building.