go fly a kite

a couple of months ago, amber and i put together a small list of all the potential fun summer activities we wanted to do. whenever we have a free day this summer, our hope is to try to check one off the list. it's kind of like the 25 days of Christmas thing we did back in december. we have recently blogged about some of the activities we've already done this summer, including our trip to the aquarium, miniature golf, and our annual trip to the tulip festival. some of our smaller fun activities that we've had a chance already to do include sidewalk chalk, feeding the ducks, and hitting up the spanish fork splash pad. our most recent checkmark was kite flying, which is a first for us as a family.

we first went over to walmart to get a kite. the choices were pretty slim, but we eventually found a cute pink cinderella kite. we then headed over to rock canyon park, had a picnic, played at the park for a moment, then went out to the big field so claire could fly her very first kite. :)

it wasn't quite as windy as we were hoping for, but claire got her kite up and soaring. she seemed to have a good time flying the kite, but she seemed to have a lot more fun just playing with the little pink kite tail. well, we definitely had a lot of fun watching her run around. it was quite the enjoyable day. we hope the rest of the summer will be nearly as fun with lots more checkmarks to come.

Tulip Festival

Still trying to catch up on blog posts...

A few weeks ago, we made a trip to Thanksgiving Point to see the Tulip Festival. We took Claire last year and even though Scott and I really enjoyed it, I don't think she appreciated it as much as we did. This time was a lot more fun. Claire enjoyed walking around and she would point out the butterflies and birds to us. At the beginning of our trip she would reply "pitty" in response to us pointing out the pretty flowers.

She really liked the Secret Garden. There was a fountain inside, and Claire loved touching the water and splashing. :)

Lunch time! :)

I'm sure the best part for Claire was the Children's Discovery Garden. It had music areas with toys to bang around on and an area specifically for playing in the water. We were a little disappointed that the splash pad part wasn't on, but Claire didn't seem to mind. :)

This year was so much fun and I'm sure the next times we go it will just keep getting better and better. :)

Heidi's Farewell

Our April family get together was extra fun with more family visiting for Heidi's farewell. We had family come earlier in the week, but on Saturday we had Mom and Dad, Lindy, Lia, Heather, April and their families, and also Heidi and Daniel. It was a big group. We went to the park nearby for lunch and then we fed the ducks and played a game of tag. It was a lot of fun.

The next day at church, Heidi gave her talk, we all sang a musical number "Dare To Do Right", an arrangement that Lindy wrote, and we then had a nice lunch all together after church. On Tuesday Heidi was set apart as a missionary for the church and we then had to say goodbye to Heidi on Wednesday when she was dropped off at the MTC. I'm so excited for Heidi and I know she'll make a great missionary! :)

Family Outings

We have had a few events that have kept us pretty busy lately, so this is just the first blog post out of many soon to come...

A few weeks ago, the Betts decided to go miniature golfing during their spring break. They invited us to come with them. Claire enjoyed hitting the ball a little with the putter, but after a couple strokes would just end up picking up the golf ball and dropping it into the hole herself. After dropping the ball she would throw up both arms and yell something that sounded a whole lot like "I did it!. 

Claire loved spending the time with her cousins. :) 

 A week later we went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. We had heard a lot about this place and it didn't disappoint. We saw otters, penguins, sharks, turtles, fish, and numerous other animals.

  I don't know if Claire realized the otter was right there, but she was excited to see me. :)

Claire seemed really interested at the beginning and was excited to see all the fish, but she let us know when she was done. :)

we can't give it away in the title...

i had some fun ideas for a cute and clever title for this blog but that would have ruined the build up. it's not going to be much of a build up since i'm going to keep this short, but it's still fun to dangle the string in front of your faces and make you all wait just a second longer. :) a couple weeks ago we headed to the ob/gyn for our 20 week ultrasound appointment. this meant, of course, we were finding out whether we would be having a boy or a girl for baby number two. we were pretty excited. well these are a couple pictures of the baby - i think i see the family resemblance. 

and now for the moment you've all been waiting for. claire would like to announce that she will be the proud big sister to a baby brother! it's a boy! we all can't wait to meet the manly stud of a boy that we are sure to have. nfl, here we come.

easter

i would love to write a beautiful and lovely, nice and long detailed description of our wonderful easter holiday, but i must admit that it's finals time and they have me a bit busy, so you get a photo blog today. don't weep too loudly. :)

claire woke up easter sunday to find the easter bunny had left something on her doorstep. this egg began her on a trail of easter eggs throughout the house that eventually led her to her hidden easter basket!

in her basket she got candy, some play-doh, and a monkey with bunny ears. monkeys are kind of her thing at the moment. you have to hear her monkey sound. it's so cute. :)

after church we headed to the park because we wanted to get some pictures of claire in her easter dress. she is so beautiful. when did she grow up and become such a little woman?

the next day, claire got the chance to play with her play-doh. i think we made the mistake of doing this at the table because she seemed to think it was something she could eat. she learned pretty quickly it didn't taste as good as it looked. :)

she got the hang of it though with some help from mommy and soon found herself having a great time.

that evening, for family home evening, we got to color some easter eggs.

claire was pretty unsure why we were coloring eggs, but she found it pretty interesting. i know i often forget why were coloring eggs too. i'm glad i have such a wonderful family that helps remind me of the symbolism behind it all. an egg represents new life, and thanks to our savior Jesus Christ, we will all be blessed with a new life of our own. i am so thankful that my family can be together forever. happy easter everyone!

Pigtails and a New Bed

Remember how I was just saying Claire never lets me do her hair? Well lately she's actually been doing quite well with me trying a couple new things. :) She'll definitely not stay still long enough for me to try any braids or anything, but I can now attempt pigtails! And her hair is getting so much longer, I think they are so cute! They make her look so much older. :)

Speaking of her getting older... we found a cute little twin sized bed on ksl. We bought it for Claire, got her a new mattress and sheets and a pillow, put it all together and Claire absolutely loved it! She immediately wanted up in it, laid down and just stayed there smiling to herself for twenty minutes. :)

She's not sleeping in the bed quite yet, but I wanted to get her used to it before we'd need the crib for the next one. We'll probably start putting her down for naps in it occasionally, but I don't think it will be too difficult to transfer her since she loves it so much. :)