The Joy of Water

Alex had a short meeting in Salt Lake today, so we went with him and I took the kids to the fountain at The Gateway to play. Ally always hated it, until she was about 6 or so... Devin LOVED it. Here are just a few of the pictures of Devin loving the water.





Ally was being a drama queen and didn't really want her picture taken. (I listened the whole drive up about how much we love Devin more than her... oy!) But here are a few pics I snapped of her:



Then they changed and sat on the steps to have a snack while waiting for Alex to come pick us up.

Penguins and Pirahna's

Our Aquarium yearly passes expire next week, so I decided to take the kids one more time while Alex was at work.


Devin loved the fish tank with "Nemo" and "Dori" in it... not because he has ever watched Finding Nemo, but because all the other kids were excited to see them. He kept calling out, "Nemo!" to every fish that swam by.

He was in awe.




The kids favorite part was touching the rays. I would have gotten some great pictures, but Devin wouldn't let me put him down to take any. He LOVED touching them! Every time one would come up for him to touch, he would touch it and laugh his head off hysterically... he was so funny that everyone else couldn't help but laugh at him. The kids got soaked, but they loved it.

Then we were off to see the Pirahna's...

And the turtles...

And finally, the penguins.

I had so much fun with my kids!!!

Toddlers and Tiaras

Have you ever seen that show on TLC? It's a reality show that shows what little girls go through to prepare and compete in pageants and the actual pageants. Ally and I like to watch it together.
Personally, I think pageants are retarded. I did the Homecoming Pageant Sophmore year and it was just too stupid, I vowed never again. Anyway, when I see these little girls I want to cry. How can fake hair, fake teeth, fake tans and massive amounts of make-up be beautiful? Especially for a child!!!
Anyway, no more soap box. Ally wanted to look "pageant ready". I remember what it was like to be a little girl and the mystery of make-up was still enchanting, so I agreed. I put just enough make-up on her so she felt done up. I even put some fake curly hair on top of her head... it stopped at that, though. There was no way she was going to go through the torture of letting me curl her actual hair. Then it was time for the photo shoot...









You know what is an absolute tragedy? That this gorgeous girl doesn't think she is beautiful.

If anyone has any great ideas to fix her self image, let me know! We always talk about how beautiful she is, but more importantly we talk about what "real" beauty is. She thinks she is too skinny and tall... I compared her body shape to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus (both whome she thinks are beautiful) and that helped. I wish I had a miracle fix, but sadly, I remember what it was like to just not feel as beautiful as all the other girls in your class. How tragic... here I go off on another tangent.
Anyway, Devin wanted to dress up too and here are a couple of pics of him:

Playing with the New Camera

Today, my new camera arrived in the mail. I got the Nikon D3000. So, it was immediately time to experiment.

(gotta love those eyes!!!)
Instead of just playing with it around the house we decided to head up to Bridal Veil Falls. I used a bunch of different setting and here are my photos:












So, that's it... out of the 50+ photos I took, that is what I have. This camera is going to take a lot of experimenting and playing... but since I LOVE to do it, it is a good thing... I may be begging my friends to let me take picture of there kids soon, because I think my kids are getting too sick of it.... hmmmm, maybe it it time for another play date.
Anyway, the kids had a blast in the FREEZING snow run-off and I had a blast taking pictures of them!

My kids got sick of being models so I turned my attention to Zippers... but he wasn't very happy to be disturbed from his nap...

Time for a funeral

for my camera that is. It has decided to stop working on me, and I will miss it... I think it must have been taking it to the beach in California that killed it. So, now I will be getting a bigger, expensive camera... something I have been wanting for a while now. I just don't have it yet.

But, because of this, I really don't have pictures.

I guess it is just time for a little catch up. Alex will be starting a new job next week... not the job he really wants, but a temporary one until he finds the "right" one.

We also bought season passes to Seven Peaks Water Park and have spent a couple hours there everyday these past two weeks. The kids are LOVING it! I saw the sweetest thing there today. All four of us were in the wave pool, Alex and I were closely watching wild Devin from a few feet away... did I mention my almost-two-year-old is a pretty dang good swimmer? But he was determined to be with Ally during the waves... He would sit, facing her, between her legs and they would look at each other and laugh the entire time. It is sweet that Devin wants her so much... but it is SO sweet that she stays in the shallow end to play with her brother when she would much rather be in the deeper part. She makes me so proud of her!
Another sweet thing happened today, and it made me want to laugh and cry so much I have to share it. Ally went in to take a shower and I went to the door to hand her a towel when I heard her talking, this is what I heard:
"Dear Heavenly Father, (she then went on to thank Him for a bunch of things and then said) Please help me to find the remote. (the remote for our bedroom tv has been missing for a couple of days). It is little and it is black and we can't find it. I really, really want to watch Wizards of Waverly Place, so please, please, please help me find it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
How sweet, how simple... and so much faith. I told Alex, and we had a good laugh at our sweet Mustard Seed... but he was so touched he had to go and find the remote for her... and he did, even though we had looked for a long time before, he found it.
So, there are a few brief highlights... hopefully soon I will be posting some new amazing pictures from a new camera. But for now, farewell my other camera... may you rest in peace.