How We Survived Indiana's Winter

"How We Survived Indiana's Winter" sounds slightly better than, "All the Fun Things We've Done for the Last Three Months Because I'm too Lazy to Blog Regularly". Regardless of the title, it's all one and the same.

Conner Prairie on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Matt had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off work so we headed up north to check out Conner Prairie, a free attraction on this one holiday. Due to the winter season the outdoor activities were closed, but the indoor games, art projects, songs, and puppets entertained our kids for hours.

Sky milking a cow

Kids all day long painted a "color by number" canvas of MLK

Too  funny

This isn't Conner Prairie related, but it was in the mix on my camera. There's something about food all over a toddler that's simply delightful (in pictures--not in the moment when those chubby fingers reach for you and cover you with goo).

We loved Conner Prairie and will definitely be back again!

Indiana State Museum: February

One of my survival tactics for when Matt's working late or is on call is to get out and about. I'm not much of a homebody, and I guess I've passed it on to my kids. Every morning Sky asks, "Where are we going today?" Our Children's Museum pass expired in December, so I've used that as incentive to check out some other hots spots in Indy.

One Saturday in February while Matt handled call I took the kids to the Indiana State Museum.

Entertainment and vendors abounded in commemoration of Black History Month. The museum also hosted a birthday party for Abraham Lincoln. No pictures of Honest Abe and the birthday cake, though. He frightened Skylie for some reason.

Playgroup at the Children's Museum

Sky with her best bud at the Children's Museum. A few times a week Skylie insists, "I just want to play with 'Peach'!" These two are quite the pair and can reek havoc in their Sunbeam class at church! (I can't remember for sure who got us in with their plus two pass, but thank you.)

Birthdays at Chick-Fil-A

Taking my kids friends' on a playdate to Chick-Fil-A for their birthday gift is a semi-tradition. Here's Skylie and Lillian playing in the play area. The outing may have scarred the older girls, though. Kaitlyn threw up while we were eating, and now every time we pass a Chick-Fil-A Skylie brings up how "Kaitlyn got sick". The experience did cause me disappointment with courtesy in the Hoosier state. When Kaitlyn had her incident loads of families were seated at nearby tables and not a single person offered to help me--the solo adults with three kids--one covered in puke. Come on, Indiana.

Valentine's Day at Garfield Park Conservatory

One of Skylie and Kaitlyn's favorite places to visit is a conservatory nearby. They scamper about looking at the fish, snakes, bugs, and the flowers and plants. For a whopping $1 total, my kids are entertained for hours. On Valentine's Day some friends joined us then the girls  and I visited an older friend nearby.

 

Birthday Bowling

One of Skylie's friends had a birthday recently, and they invited us to join them for bowling. Thank goodness for bumpers or Skylie and Kaitlyn's first time bowling may have been disastrous!

Utah Trip ~ March 2013

In March our family made the 23 hour trek to Utah. Ninety minutes into the trip Skylie said, "I'm having a hard time. Maybe we should just go home." Not long after that I popped in a movie on the portable DVD player and she was set!

The primary reason for the trip was to celebrate and surprise my Dad for his seventy-fifth birthday.

Saturday morning Matt, Skylie, Kaitlyn, and I "conveniently happened across" my parents at City Creek Mall. My mom knew the scoop, but my dad had no clue we'd be in town. My sister and her family arrived shortly, and then we met up with two of my brothers at Tucanos.

Pictured below are Tucanos servers serenading the birthday boys and girls.

But the surprises weren't over, yet. That night we blindfolded my dad and took him to his birthday party. Friends from Heber, Salt Lake, and Ogden came to celebrate my dad's birthday and my parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary. Dozens of family members and friends had also sent letters and pictures which we'd compiled into a book for my parents.

I won't post them all, but here's a few of the pictures I nabbed at the party.

Blowing out 75 candles

My parents

Alec, Amber, and Devin

Matt and Erin

Skylie and Kaitlyn playing

Family friends with me, Mom, Skylie, and Savannah

My mom and me

More friends with my parents. Skylie thought she needed to be in every picture.

Sunday we crammed in an egg hunt, dying eggs, breaking a pinata for Ethan's birthday, and having birthday cake for Devin.

This may be the picture that includes the majority of my family members who were able to make it. My parents, me, my brother Matt, and my nephew Devin aren't pictured, but the rest of the gang is.

Kaitlyn and her loot after Ethan broke the pinata. Skylie endearingly calls Kaitlyn "Boogie Face". So do I.

Ethan and Skylie before church

Monday and Tuesday my parents took us swimming at the Rec Center in Kamas, to the duck pond in Midway, and to Dairy Keen for ice-cream.

Skylie and I spent an afternoon drawing her immediate family and both sets of grandparents. All look pretty accurate, except Nana's purple hair!

We spent the remainder of our stay in North Salt Lake with Matt's parents.

Nana took us to the aquarium Wednesday.

Nana also watched the kids on Matt's birthday (Thursday) so Matt and I could attend the temple.

Later, Matt went to four NCAA Tournament games with his dad and brother-in-law, Brad. I think it was the best birthday of Matt's entire life!

Friday we swam at the Davis County Rec Center and later celebrated Matt's birthday dinner with both my parents and Matt's family.

Skylie loves her cousin, Braylie.

Matt's birthday dinner. I love that 31-year-old.

Our drive back to Indiana wasn't completely smooth sailing. Snow and rain followed us the entire way. Kansas City (where Matt's brother lives) became our stopping point both to and from Utah. Kansas City received a few inches of snow overnight and it took us an entire hour to travel thirty miles as we left Kansas City Sunday morning. Despite the long drive, we loved our time in Utah and can't wait to go back again!

Easter 2013

I'm grateful for Easter, for all that it signifies and for the hope brought about by the Savior's prison-bursting resurrection. In all of human history no event has been so eternally significant. Here's a touching clip I found on lds.org about Easter.

 

I tried to remember the significance of this holiday, but our family sure had our share of fun and games, too! On Saturday we hit up a nearby church's egg hunt and festivities. We celebrated on Easter by attending church, dying eggs, and having a spur-of-the-moment egg hunt with neighbors.

Indoor Egg Hunt

Just a random picture, but I love those pig tails and skinny jeans.

(I know I just posted three similar pictures of me and Sky. I loved them all too much to post only one.)

Pony Rides

We waited in line for over half-an-hour for a one minute ride. It was worth it, though. At days end Skylie decided, without hesitation, that riding the pony was the best part of her day.

I didn't notice it at the time, but the person taking care of the pony must have attended my Alma mater. I love BYU-Idaho.

Pictures with the Easter Bunny

Skylie gave him a great big hug before leaving. Ahh.

Easter Dresses

I've finally bought the girls matching dresses. These ones I found on sale at Burlington for $10. Trying to get Sky and Kaitlyn in the same picture was an epic failure. Skylie seemed mad, and Kaitlyn only wanted to run. Good thing they're cute candid!

The Easter Bunny came during church and filled the girls' Easter baskets with markers, crayons, stickers, a swimsuit, and candy. Later the girls found candy-filled eggs he'd hid.

Happy Easter!