BYU Easter Egg Hunt 2013

A few days before Easter, BYU held a free egg hunt. Tom got us tickets and we made our way over as a family. They had giant bouncy slides, crafts, giant animals (mascots) and three separate egg hunts for three age groups. It was quite an event!

E loved the giant bouncy slides. There is a huge obstacle course portion behind this part. As I dropped her off at the start she would tell whichever kid was next to her that they were racing and just go for it. Whether they lapped her or she beat them by a mile, she would turn to whatever kid was next to her at the end and claim, "I won!"

Always ready to pose.

My boys.

Tom and Allie!

Allie's cousins Anna and Ellie came too.

The egg hunt ended up being a disaster. Some kid jumped the gun about 15 minutes early and everyone just mobbed the hunt. If you were even two minutes behind, too bad. Allie got some and E got a few, but tons of kids got diddly squat. Winston walked around collecting broken eggs. Eh, he doesn't know what he is missing. The 3 and under hunt was still preserved so we tried for him to do that one, but he got antsy waiting for the gun to sound, so I gave up our spot at the front to let him play at the back. When the gun sounded, we walked behind the giant throng onto the field and we may as well have been following a vacuum cleaner. The grass was spotless! Some poor man next to me was in a wheel chair with his one year old on his lap. There was no way on earth he could have gotten a single jelly bean. We just shrugged our shoulders and headed back to the car.

 Look at what adorable cousin shared her eggs. She ended up sharing her eggs with several other kids on her way out. What a doll!

 

 Which made E happy.

Our attempt at a family shot. Ugh. E's not looking and Win was done and done.

We went down one more slide on our way out.

And I took Win down one. I think he liked it.

Miscellaneous Winter 2012

 A few that slipped through the cracks.

Creeeeeeeppyyyy eyyyyyeeess.

 We curled Allie's hair, that's a big day for us.

 

Sweet cousins!

  Winston visiting with Grandma Marguerite.

 

 Oh goody, look who got into mom's makeup!

 She did a great job blending, dipping my mascara wand into my liquid eyeshadow. (Which was a champagne color and is now a murky gray. Yay.)

Luckily I gave her a good talking-to and she learned her lesson. Oh wait, that's right! She totally didn't, she only ramped up her application. Funny girl.

Allie's Birthday and the ZOO!

 For Allie's 6th birthday, we made her a doll that looks like her. Sort of. You can get basic doll forms at Hobby Lobby and I learned how to make doll wigs that you then sew onto the form. We painted on shoes and a swimsuit that look like ones she already owns and made her an outfit. I was going to make her a matching skirt, but like all my projects, 90% = done to me. She liked it. It got Eleanor wishing for Christmas for a doll that "looks just like me". (She got a knock-off American Girl doll that looks like her instead.)

 

 Every girl got a cute little Lego figurine set and they all went to Pizza Pie Cafe after. As my first time going there, all I can say is, "What have I been doing with my life?" So good for a crazy buffet place!

Later in September we went to Hogle Zoo. I hadn't been in years, and my kids had only been to the zoo in Michigan.

Giraffes!

 Eleanor spent most of the time telling me about how "that one is the daddy, that one is the baby..."

 Posing on the cute bronze statues around the zoo. They are nice and warm.

Did I mention that Winston outgrows all his clothes, like, overnight? His pants were hilarious floods, when I swear they fit him fine the day before.

 Eleanor seeing her favorite thing in the whole zoo, the crocodiles. She's liked them since she was teeny tiny and loved Peter Pan. Remember? For months after this outing she would talk about the crocodile who lived in "his jar". (His glass enclosure, jar... close enough.)

Doing the crocodile jaws.

 Tigers, bronze and in real life. Hogle zoo really is impressive.

 Winston's frowny face. He doesn't do it as much now, but I think it was a communication thing for him. He couldn't say what was wrong so he'd just frown, now he can talk more, less frowns.

 Eleanor and random kids enjoying the polar bear, "Rocky". He would float back and then swim up really fast right up to the glass then push off and do it all over again. Probably 20 times in a row, it was really fun to watch.

 Eleanor and Rocky!

The zoo is one of my favorite places, we miss our Potter Park Zoo back in Lansing. Now that the weather is nicer again in Utah I think we will be saving our pennies to go again.

More Misc Summer 2012

Just a few more from the summer that don't really fit in anywhere. 

Eleanor and Allie looking so tan, smiley and adorable!

 Bunners! Sorry I'm so inappropriate.

 

 Allie and Eleanor got invited to Allie's cousin's birthday party. It was a combined party for Sophie and Millie! Such adorable girls, and their mom, Allison (a different one, we have quite a few) threw an incredible party. Um, they had a pony there for pony rides. I mean, come on! What a dream come true for a little girl. One day when we are employed I hope to totally copy her. Here is Eleanor in the saddle.

 And being "brave" and petting her. Yeah, cause man can little tame ponies be ferocious!

 Allie, complete with adorable hat.

 And another day Eleanor puts on an assortment of clothes and informs me that she is Wonder Woman! Arrrrr!

 And another day Clayton got a one word score of 161 points on Words With Friends for reequip against my brilliant friend, Heidi. I'm so proud. I'm pretty sure this was post-bar. I told you this was miscellaneous.

Allie's Special House

Tom and Jenni have a sweet timeshare in Park City that they normally trade for something even sweeter in Hawaii and stuff, but with cute Megan getting married this summer they held onto the Park City week to stay closer to home. I took the kids up to enjoy their awesome hotel and pool for two days and we had a blast. Eleanor doesn't quite understand the idea of hotels just yet and so she kept referring to it as Allie's special house. Special, indeed it was. The kids and I got our free money's worth with quite a few outings to the pool, as seen here.

Allie and Winston!

He loved it!

Megan and her then fiance, Shane (or Shagan, as we call them) with Winston by the hot tub.

 Of course, we remember how much he loves Megan.
 
 And with Eleanor.

Allie would hold Eleanor and drag her around the pool/hot tub forever. Eleanor loooooved it.

Tom helped Allie do her best high-flying stunts. Look at those splits!

And let Eleanor try as well!

 Woo hoo! Look at that air!

 

Cutie.

The girls relaxing up in the room in their "matching" outfits. E always feels so special to match Allie.

Happy girl, down by the pool.

Tom, lugging Winston down the very long hallway. Later in the summer we stayed in a hotel and Eleanor thought it was once again Allie's special house.

Winston in his little safety-suit. Mainly for insurance while he crawled at mach-speed around the pool areas over and over. Man he can crawl fast.

And for extra snuggling with mom.

Cute E, all wrapped up to return to the room, didn't realize the whole point of the towel. She's always been our little fish and hates to leave the water.