Mmm...

Charles just threw one of these at me. It's a pretty good night, I'd say.

Friday Fill-in

1. My favorite food seasoning is garlic.
2. Sydney playing in her crib is music to my ears.
3. Lucky is what we were at the football game last week.
4. Playing with Sydney is something I take very seriously.
5. Many people thought our baby was cute in her ballerina costume tonight.
6. Tulle was the last thing I bought at the store.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to taking Sydney trick-or-treating, tomorrow my plans include another BYU away game and Sunday, I want to hang out with Brooke!

Eating with a Spoon

Sadly, after this video, she decided that the best way to eat her oatmeal was like this:




So ladylike, huh?

At the Park

Pumpkins

We went out to Jaker's again to pick out pumpkins.



Sydney with her pumpkin.



There was a small maze made out of hay that Sydney enjoyed going through.



We went to the Phair's to carve pumpkins with the Griffins.



Our unconventional approach.



Apparently, carving is a man's job.



Sydney tried to help remove the guts.



The Griffin's pumpkin (can you read their four (well, soon to be four) kid's names?)



Our pumpkins are on the left, with Karen's likeness of Jaime on the right.



Jaime's pumpkin.

Temple Square

We went up to Temple Square last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, especially since all the sister missionaries LOVED Sydney. If you notice, in the picture she is holding a pass along card that she was given. She carried that thing ALL over while we were there.

We then went to the Museum of Church History and Art. They have a children's display centered around the song I am a Child of God and Sydney just loved seeing all the things they had there.



Tree of Life



Nativity Display with costumes to try on.



A "hospital" with babies to feed...



...and kiss.



And large scriptures with pictures of the stories and doctrines they teach.

Cool Things Seen Last Week

Driving around last Friday, we came across the Oquirrh Mountain Temple (points to anyone who knows how to pronounce that!). It was pretty exciting to see it. It looks a lot like the St. Louis Temple, in my opinion.



Just as exciting was realizing that across the Bangerter Highway was a Hobby Lobby! I have missed these SO much since I have lived in Utah!

Playing with Beans

This is one of Sydney's new favorite things to do. Thankfully, she hasn't tried to eat the beans like this...just feed them to me or throw them on the floor.





*And as always, ignore my messy floors. I fully prescribe to the theory that she's only one once and I need to enjoy her to the fullest.*

Painting

I decided to let Sydney paint the other morning.



It was going really well...until she tried to drink the water for her paintbrush.



And then got mad at me when I went to put it away.

Friday Fill-in

1. Right now, I'm feeling warm and cozy.
2. Home, but in a warm place, is where I want to be.
3. How does one get anything done with more than one child?
4. Charles keeps me on track.
5. Please don't let it still be cold this weekend.
6. Charles and Sydney fill me with joy.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to ward temple night (if we can find a sitter), tomorrow my plans include BYU football game and preparedness fair and Sunday, I want to spend time with my family!

New Downtown SLC

Here is an animated 3-D presentation of the churches proposed downtown SLC development. I especially like the retractable glass ceilings for stores with outside access, the fountain at the center, and the City Creek running through the complex.

Friday Fill-in

1. One of the best movies I ever saw that I really didn't think I'd like was Get Smart.
2. Lion House cinnamon rolls is a recipe I recently made that was delicious!
3. It's time for Homecoming.
4. Apple juice mixed with Sprite is quite refreshing.
5. If I never hear the word {insert ANYTHING political here} again, it'll be too soon.
6. To one side of the curving road was a mountain, and on the other was a river. (must be Provo Canyon)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Dinner at my aunts, tomorrow my plans include BYU Football and Sunday, I want to eat chocolate ravioli!

Weekend

It's Friday, Sydney is dressed and watching a Baby Einstein DVD while Charles is showering. We are all finally feeling better, after a rough week of allergy and tummy problems. Not only that, but it's General Conference weekend, which means that we can just relax at home all weekend listening to uplifting music and inspiring talks. I think it could be a pretty good weekend.

Friday Fill-in

1. October means football to Charles and colder weather to me.
2. Unusual things scare me!
3. Leaves are falling all around, it's autumn time, Hurray!
4. My favorite horror movie is...I don't have one, because I don't like horror movies.
5. Marching Band = good memories.
6. It was a dark and stormy night, and I hid in my bed.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hanging out at home watching BYU football, tomorrow my plans include General Conference and breakfast and Sunday, I want to watch more conference!

Las Vegas--Image heavy

September 14

Charles' sister Ashley is trying to get into BYU and needed to take the ACT in September. When she went to sign up, she found out that it is only offered in select locations in September and Utah is not one of those locations. So, we offered to take her to Las Vegas so she could take the test, since we have been talking about going for a weekend since Charles started his new job.

So, Thursday, we set out on our road trip. We left about 3:00 and got to Las Vegas at 8:15ish, thanks to the fact that Las Vegas is in the Pacific time zone. I checked us into our hotel (which I had found an awesome deal for) and we brought our luggage in and then went and caught the shuttle to the Strip, so we could see the Fountains at the Bellagio at night and check out where we might want to go in the morning. Holy cow, can I just say that we were all a little amazed by the lights and the sheer amount of people there. It was slightly overwhelming. But we made our way down to the Bellagio and took in the last half of the show there. Sydney loved it, she kept saying "wow" and clapping her hands for every large burst of water that happened. Then, we made our way back to the shuttle and returned to our hotel for the night.

Friday, we got up early and ate at the hotel and then took the shuttle back to the strip. We checked out the Luxor and Excalibur quickly before heading to M&M world. Four floors of melt in your mouth, not in your hand paraphenalia and the smell of candy coated chocolate. Wow, it was quite impressive. Next to that was the World of Coca Cola store, which made me think of Brooke with the aluminum bottles, the old bottles and the pop can tab purse they had. After this, we ran and grabbed some fast food and then headed over to the Miracle Mile shops where they had an indoor rainstorm and some really cool stores that I have never been in before. (while we were here, Ashley started to feel a little sick and we ended up spending over an hour getting her back to the shuttle so she could lay down at the hotel and then coming back) Here, we were stopped by a guy who asked us if we wanted to review a tv show that may go on the air for free tickets to Madame Tussauds. We said yes and, while we were glad we did, we both have to say that the show Whale Wars was NOT worth sitting through for anything but $25 dollar tickets to something that we would have only gone to if it was free.

Anyway, after all of that, we stopped at the Bellagio to check out Tiffany's, since I have always wanted to go in one and this is probably the closest we will get to one for a long time. We also spent some time checking out the fountains again, including one inside that "hops" from bush to bush. When we were done here, we caught the shuttle (Sydney woke up when on our way back to the shuttle and was not happy for the ride back) and got Ashley and went to In-N-Out for dinner. This was everyone's first time, but mine, so it was quite an exciting trip. They were as delicious as I remembered them and everyone else was quite impressed. We went back to the hotel after that and Charles, Sydney and Ashley swam in the pool, then we went to bed.

On Saturday, Charles took Ashley over to UNLV to take the ACT (since that was the reason we had come) and then the rest of us went back to the strip. This time we went to the other side and went over to the Venetian so we could visit the wax museum. It was pretty neat to see how lifelike the figures are and it was really fun to be able to pose with them Sydney didn't like it as much...the figures scared her pretty badly, especially Abraham Lincoln (we tried to get a picture of her sitting on his lap and she FREAKED OUT and ended up overfilling her diaper...it was pretty funny after the fact).

After that, it was time to go get Ashley and head back, so we grabbed lunch and left. Charles was frantic to get the BYU vs UNLV game score, so we spent the first hour with him calling people trying to find out the score. He was thrilled when we finally got close enough to get it on AM radio and even more thrilled with the outcome of the game (59 to 0; Go Cougars!) We made pretty good time coming home and decided that we should stop at Cove Fort on our way home and check out that historic site. which gave us a nice break from driving.

It was a nice weekend, although we wished that we could have stayed longer.