Vegas trip

Getting ready for the long car ride

Encountering a little bit of crazy weather

Playing out this cool neighborhood park- it was cold (really cold!) but not nearly as cold as SLC.
And it was such a great break to have clean air and to see the sun!

Freezing selfie

It was windy, check out Cat's "mustache" 

This was the coolest balancing contraption

Charlie loved playing with Elizabeth and Mark's duplos

Cute cousins in the tubby

Cozy time- we were exhausted, our kids didn't sleep very well. 

The main reason we went to Vegas was to see Imagine Dragons in concert

We got to meet the lead singer, Dan Reynolds,  and we all totally geeked out. (Dan is LDS, went to BYU, served a mission in Omaha with another mutual friend. His brother lives in Catherine and Richard's ward and hooked us up.)
This pic was taken with a flash in the pitch dark, so we all look a little freaky. 

It was such a good show! The show in SLC was sold out so we went to Vegas. It was so fun because Dan Reynolds is from Las Vegas and they shot one of their music videos that night. 

We were starving so during the opening band, we walked over to Johnny Rockets. It was a little cheesy but we had fun. 

3 out of 4 kids in the tub

Charlie and Uncle Richard in the backyard- it's so hot so hardly anyone has grass. They have an astroturf putting green instead. 

George finally succumbed and fell asleep on the way home, bottle in hand

Baby Jude turns One!

Kate and Jeff threw the cutest birthday party for Jude in February based on his favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I've seen this birthday party theme done before by others online, but never as sweet and adorable as this one! Well done, Kate!

All the foods that the caterpillar eats were on the menu, plus with yummy cheese fondue

paper lanterns made a perfect caterpillar

Jude even got a few on-theme gifts which made for lovely decorations

Grandma Sue's bulletin board got in on the theme, too!

I loved this simple centerpiece- balls of colored tissue paper to make another caterpillar

Kate had photocopies of the pages as additional decorations

Jude and some of his big Lasson cousins

the darling cake (which I frustratingly cannot rotate)

fondue masters- Sue, Stu, and Sheila

another classic Charlie pose

So many cameras!

the family paparazzi

Master planner and mom of the hour!

The birthday boy thoroughly enjoying his cake! 

February 2013

 More survival mode in February. We just struggle during the winter. This year we even considered moving somewhere either warmer or at least out of the valley to escape the inversion. It doesn't seem like it's going to happen for a while, but we dream about it!

Playing Geotrax with Grandpa T

This was a rare moment of playing nicely together that had to be documented! I can't believe how grown up George is starting to look! 

Playing with Grandpa Mark- Charlie and George were enthralled with this chess set

George trying out a roller bottle with some essential oil in it- does it go in the ear? No.

Not in the mouth, either. 

We played a lot of Rokenbok

I loved this cuddly totem pole that was going on at Grandma and Grandpa Spencer's one day

Still nursing this little guy and loving those cuddly moments

Seeing Life of Pi for Grandma Bev's birthday. Breathtaking movie, but a little intense for poor Lily. 

Another couch fort, this one was pretty epic

George almost got it right- holding the phone in one hand and his other hand up to his ear. 

Trying to keep this little one out of the way and entertained while waiting for family dinner at the Spencers

He loved those salad dressings, I guess!

One day while Charlie was at preschool, George and I made a DI run and found a lot of fun treasures! They barely fit in the cart!

Some of the books I thought I had time to read this month. I read some of each but didn't finish any of them! :(

A funny meme I saw on Valentine's Day on Instagram that made me laugh and laugh!

Love these little Valentines of mine... and the new iPhone photo apps I was playing around with!

Visit up to the Capitol during session to have lunch with my pal, Emily Bergeson. It's always so fun to remember my days working there!

George showing us his "muscles"

Cute cousins and friends, Charlie and Sam, squeezed into one chair together watching a show

Grandma Barb and Grandma Bev, twins

A great insight I wanted to remember from How Will You Measure Your Life?
(a book I did eventually finish and dog-eared just about every page!)

Trying on Dad's glasses

A delicious and fancy book group at the Beehive Tea Room downtown

With this fun group of ladies that I have just started to spend time with
(L-R Melissa, Katie, Summer, Andrea, me, Jamilyn
front row: Starr, Liz, Jessica)

Playing on the fun snow fort that Grandpa Mark and Daddy built with cousins

There are three crazy kids climbing all over this thing- Charlie on the left in red, Lily in the middle in orange, and Sam in the little blue car!

Then we had a painting party

The finished product (we actually kept painting and painting it in several sessions)

Charlie's handiwork

Which got more colorful!

Playing around in the new semi finished basement

A rare double car nap! And miraculously they both transferred inside and stayed asleep!

Trying out new hairdos

Building giant block towers that Charlie was so proud of!

This kid comes up with the best poses

A great insight from Brain Rules (a book I'm dying to finish, still)

We had a our second trip to the new Natural History museum with our friends the Jacobsens.
Charlie's sitting in a giant footprint fossil.

It was George's first time there and he loved it. This glass floor freaked him out a lot at first but then he wouldn't leave!

checking out the view

Charlotte and George

I decided not to bring the stroller and that was an adventure. Luckily Courtney helped me wrangle my kids when they ran in opposite directions. We stayed all together until the end when I was getting on the elevator with Charlie and George. George walked out just as the doors were closing and I darted out to get him and turned around just in time to see the doors close with Charlie inside. ACK! I scooped up George and ran through the cafeteria, down the stairs like a madwoman and thankfully got to Charlie shortly after the doors opened and he had walked safely out of the elevator one floor down. If it hadn't been time to go already, we would have left anyway! Whew!

 

Trying out a new haircolor trend- the 'melt' or ombre color. It was a little darker at first than I wanted, but now that the dark dye at the roots has faded, I love the touch of blond at my ends and in the front. It's a perfect mom hairstyle because I don't have to keep up with dying my roots. 

One more basement action shot- we had it unfurnished and with minimal toys for so long, but they still loved it! This is a little ball/car ramp that John built for them.