we are always so excited to have liz and her kids visit each summer, my kids know that when they come it means time for some fun activities together. the church history museum was a great place to start, there was so much interesting stuff to see there, i wish we could've stayed longer, we especially loved all of the incredible art work.
the kids loved the primary exhibit, there were some really great hands-on activities.
my older boys liked the wall of prophets and were interested in seeing who they were named after, i don't know why i never thought to teach them about these great men before!
the life size moroni was shockingly large, i guess i knew it was big, but wow, it was really fun to see it up close.
i was so taken back by this gorgeous stain glass of the first vision taken from an old church building - why can't we have stuff like this in our church buildings now?
so beautiful, i want to learn how to do this, who knows how who could teach me? we also spent some time at the olympic fountains at the gateway, a big favorite with the kids. ethan was so nervous about the water popping out of the ground, that after the first time it popped in his face, he would only enter the area if holding someone's hand.
drew is such a good buddy to ethan, one time at the playground last year, a bully kid pushed ethan and really scared him. drew jumped right in and shoved the bully back! not that we promote violence, but it was pretty awesome! he is always trying to protect the littler guys.
eventually, ethan was tired enough that only mom would do, so i spent some time out in the fountains myself trying to help ethan "catch" the water when it jumped.
he thought it was pretty hysterical and gave me some of those great, unhibited belly laughs that bring me so much joy! i was so glad jenny had charge of the camera because she got some great shots - thanks jenny. we're grateful to be part of such a big family with so many cousins that everyone has someone to hang with.
kristy, lauri and i hauled all our kids to sweets candy factory in salt lake for a tour. i loved all the good smells and super soft taffy right off the assembly line. what i didn't love was not being able to take my camera inside! there were so many would-be great photos, like huge pallets of candy, giant bin of taffy, cinnamon bears and giant bags of sugar. i'll have to take mental photos (rich's phrase) i guess, but at least we got a group shot of all the hair-net lovers. we look like a bunch of lunch ladies! pretty sexy.
it wasn't too hot to eat outside which is good because everyone was in attendance and my mom and dad's dining room seems to be getting smaller by the baby. it was too hot though for the cutie cherry cupcakes i made for her birthday, they started to slide almost as soon as i had them piped but luckily the heat did not affect the taste, they were yummy despite the sliding.
leah's birthday is wednesday so it was a double celebration, luckily she was able to stop in during a dinner break from work. brandon was there sporting something we haven't seen for a long time...a GIRL...
yes, that's right, i said 
it doesn't hurt that she is a virginia girl either, that just adds to her overall score which was definitely a high 9.8 or so - 
the food was as good as the company and we stayed for two hours chatting and trying to get a self portrait without anyone's head cut-off - we were obviously not successful but it will have to do!
april and allie and i stopped at macy's on our way home and ended up getting make-overs at the clinique counter joking and giggling the whole time with our funny "lab technician", ya it actually said that on her name tag. whatever, she's a make-up chick, not a scientist!
and besides leaving the store feeling a little "cakey" (as in caked-on make-up), it turned out to be a super fun girl day! happy birthday mommy dearest - i AM your biggest FAN! :)
2. she instilled in me my love for .JPG)
...yes, we all love our mimi. 
5. she is so much fun, and 
6. she taught me to never do anything half way, either give it your all or don't do it, 
8. she makes the .JPG)
9. she taught me to .jpg)
for instance - whenever someone comments about how she doesn't look old enough to have ten grand-kids or whatever, she tells them it's the extra fat in her face - it plumps up all the wrinkles better than collagen injections! :)
ok, so that was 11 things but i was having a hard time narrowing it down! she's one great lady eh?
so i scooped them up and into my cart to bring the that good feeling home with me. and it's worked, every time i've looked at them in the last few days i feel a little surge of happy and that is definitely worth a mere $10.
my favorite part were the boxes that made so many cool patterns and the symbol for harmony so many times. - i was disappointed that i couldn't find a better photo for it online. i couldn't believe it at the end when the people popped out of the boxes, it was so perfect i thought for sure it had to be some sort of computer done something. incredible.
and the green suits with the light bulbs that made the bird fly - how do they do that?!? so cool.
i also loved that during the parade of nations the athletes walked across the stamp pads to leave their foot prints on the big white paper as they walked across. so clever, i wonder where they'll hang that when it's done? everything was incredible, we're so excited for the games to begin, especially swimming, i love the swimming.
0f course, in my sales pitch to get him to come, i left out the part about how we would have to wear sexy lunch-lady hats, this may have been a deal breaker but he didn't complain about it, he's so easy going. we had a lot of fun together and with the other ward members, we packed a lot of this: (wheat if you can't tell by the photo)
two cases of it were ours, i love to eat this stuff for breakfast but haven't since i was a little girl. i'll be calling my mom tomorrow to remember how to make it. i should've taken a photo of all the cases of food that we ended up with at the end, i'm so grateful for the dry pack! next time though, we're bringing along the other two big kids to help, it'll be a sexy hat party.
those who know me well, know that i am a germ-o-phobe, especially public restrooms - although it doesn't end there. it's nothing that a few years of therapy wouldn't cure of course, but sometimes it's inconvenient at least. it's definitely gotten better, i mean i've gotten better, it's not as difficult for me to enter a public restroom as it used to be. but every so often the anxiety builds up and it's all i can do to avoid a full-blown panic attack. i know it's kind of funny, i mean, it is, in a ridiculous sort of way - i mean i'm afraid of invsibile germs of all the stupid things - and when i'm not in the panic moment i can laugh about it, but when i am in the moment, there's nothing funny about it.