Okay, I haven't blogged for awhile. I'm going to try to get caught up (if I can ever find the time), starting with this post full of random pictures from both my and Mike's phones. There is no rhyme or reason to this post. The pictures aren't even in order since they came from two different phones and were saved in multiple folders on the computer, and I didn't feel like taking the time of trying to figure out exactly when each picture was taken. So, here's a look back at some pretty random moments from the past nine or so months.
Vivienne and Ella are best buds. They love to be with each other. One of their favorite things to do is dress up and perform little skits or dances (that are usually made up on the fly) for us...
At the beginning of the year, Mike decided he was going to grow a beard. I have no idea why. He just stopped shaving one day. I wasn't a fan of the beard, so I shot below the belt one night, in an attempt to get him to shave. I said, "There's a lot of gray in that beard." He responded with, "And a whole lot of sexy!" Here he is showing me how "sexy" it is. Luckily, the beard only lasted about three weeks and then he got sick of it and shaved it off.(Thank goodness!)...
Cohen had to get a cavity filled earlier in the year. Let's just say he gets really talkative and loud (the opposite of how he usually is) when he's on laughing gas...
Selfies with Aiden...
He got a monstrous ice cream on one of our dates. I never thought it would be able to finish it, but he did. Here's the proof...
Way back in October, we went to Lagoon during Frightmares. I did a post on it last year, but Mike had some cute pictures on his phone that didn't make the original post...
Cohen is an organizer. He loves to make sure things are in their right place. One night, on his own, he decided he was going to organize Vivvie's closet and princess castle. He didn't do a half bad job either...
Sorry about the naked Ariel in the bathtub...
Taking a little snooze with Poppy...
Decorating one of Nana and Poppy's many Christmas trees...
The latest style in shoe wear--Wii remote covers...
Viv swinging after her Preschool Christmas program. Yep, I said Christmas program. Hard to believe when you don't see any snow on the ground. It was such a mild winter...
Aiden meeting a reindeer...
A few Christmas program pictures from Mike's camera...
Double date...
Gansta ballerina...
Aiden's two greatest loves--ice cream and french fries...
Connor's 6th Grade Valentines Dance. These are just a few more pictures of it that I found on Mike's phone...
Cohen's class did an "ice festival". Each child had to make their own creation out of ice. Cohen wanted to make a robot. This is what we came up with...
Some of the other creations...
Then we went inside and made "ice skates" from tin foil and all the kids "skated" around the room...
I crafted--and I didn't die...
Cohen was chosen to be Student of the Month back in February for always being kind and respectful. Here he is during the assembly where he was recognized...
Vivvie selling me vegetables at the Museum of Natural Curiosity...
A slide just her size...
Rolling balls down a hill never gets boring...
Performing on stage...
Eating her pink ice cream...
Gas got really cheap this past winter. As in, down to levels I haven't paid since 2001. I couldn't believe I was able to fill my Tahoe up for less than $25...
Connor picking out a little present for his "Valentine"...
Shakes at JCW's...
And selfies too...
Another selfie...and a photobomb too...
We measured Vivvie on her one month anniversary of starting growth hormone...
She had already grown 1/2" just in the first month...
Glow-in-the-dark miniature golf with Cohen...
And ice cream too...
Oh, and walking around the grocery store pretending to be a zombie. Everyone's doing it...
A new McDonald's opened up by our house a few months ago. They offered free McDonalds for a year to the first 101 people in line. Mike and some of his buddies decided to do it. They camped out in bitterly cold temperatures all night to save their place in line. Now, they can all get one free combo meal per week for 52 weeks. I'm seriously questioning their sanity...
I found a new hair curling technique on Youtube that works great! You roll your hair around two fingers and then wrap it in tin foil. Then, you heat up the hair by pinching the tin foil in your straightening iron, and let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool down...
When you pull out the foils, you get beautiful ringlets like this...
Then you just run your fingers or a pick through the curls and you end up with this...
And, with a little hairspray, they actually stay all day long...
We bought a picture of the Salt Lake Temple from my sister and Mike refinished the frame. I love how it turned out...
Just channeling my inner Pink Lady while at work one day...
A traveling Lego exhibit came to a nearby mall a few months ago. The kids happened to have a random day off school (I think it was a snow make-up day) while it was here, so we went and saw it. It was pretty cool. Like Legoland, but without all the dumb rides...
Oh, Cohen lost his first tooth too. Nice hair dude, nice hair...
I was going through some old files of my time in Louisiana, and found all sorts of little gems from that time in my life...
This is the best book ever! I use it when I go to schools to teach about weather...
One weekend, Mike and the kids came to visit me at work. They had a grand time playing on the set...
And with the stuff in the prop box...
I worked on St. Patrick's Day. It's always a tricky day for us Meteorologists because we work on a green screen. So, if we were to wear green, our clothing would be invisible. This teal dress is about as close as I could come to green. Dave Fox was apparently also thinking the same thing. Not sure what his excuse was since he does sports. We were the only ones on air not wearing true green, and our other co-workers tormented us about it. So, here we are sporting our teal on St. Patrick's Day...
Cohen had a run-in with a stick, and the stick won...
He needed two stitches...
And a happy meal after it was all over...
My mom and sisters took the little girls to see the new Cinderella. We all loved it...
My job is pretty hard. I sometimes have to eat goodies brought in by Grand America. Rough life I lead...
"I'm singing in the hail, just singing in the hail!" We got some small hail at our house and Connor decided he wanted to try to catch some in his mouth...
I spend a lot of time at McDonalds, thanks to my kids. Having one so close to my house will be the death of me...
Laundry follows me everywhere--even when I'm on a date with Vivvie at the Museum of Natural Curiosity...
Playing with a green screen at the museum...
Cohen's class did a Kite Day at school. Here he is with his creation...
It didn't fly so well...
Spinning one of those helicopter things. I'm not sure what the real name for them is. You know what I'm talking about though...
Aiden participated in the school's Egg Drop with the rest of the 3rd Graders. He decided to keep it simple this year and just put his egg in the middle of a big box full of packing peanuts. The teachers and administrators then threw each one off the top of the school...
Aiden's survived! Packing peanuts really do work...
Our family (minus Connor who was at a scout camp out) took a trip to the petting zoo one Saturday morning with Kristin, Dan, Landon, Nana, Poppy, Gavin, Ty and Ella (Nana and Poppy were babysitting Gavin, Ty and Ella)...
Vivvie actually rode a horse without screaming her guts out...
Cohen riding with no hands...
Cowboy Aiden...
Bad boys. I need one of these at home for Time Out...
On the tractor ride...
Cohen found a friend...
I volunteered to go on a field trip with Aiden's class to the Thanksgiving Point gardens and museum. Here was our group. They were a little wild, but we had a good time...
More milkshakes with Connor...
Getting measured is serious business for this girl. This picture was taken at the beginning of April (2 1/2 months into growth hormone treatments). She measured in at 35 1/2" (1 3/4" inches taller than when she started)...
Two meteorologists walk into a wedding. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it happened a few months ago when I ran into Kent Norton at a wedding we were attending. It was fun to meet him, since I grew up watching him. He was so nice and complimentary of my performance...
Aiden and Mike working on Aiden's pinewood derby car...
Filling in on "The Refresh"...
Amy and I making our bucket lists for a funny weekend morning show segment...
Pinewood Derby time! Aiden's car didn't do so hot. I think it got 5th place out of 6 cars. Oh well. There's always next year...
Another picture of Cohen's 1st lost tooth--this time from Mike's camera...
One day, I started doing dinner dishes and began to fill the sink with soapy water so I could wipe everything down. But, then something happened (I can't remember what now) and I suddenly had to leave. I ran out in such a hurry that I left the water running. By the time Mike and the kids realized, the sink was overflowing with bubbles...
First Real Salt Lake game of the season...
Mike back on the bike training for LOTOJA...
More pictures of the trip to the petting zoo from Mike's phone. See, I told you these things weren't in order...
Some pictures from our community neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt (previously blogged about) that Mike took...
A few pictures of our trip to the State Capitol/Temple Square/City Creek (also previously blogged about) that Mike took...
Vivvie and I having a tea party...
More Pinewood Derby pics from Mike's phone...
Yep, we take pictures using our princess app while in church, don't you?
Introducing Princess BatRaph. After this picture was taken, she ran off yelling, "I'm going to go kill people!" Curse your brothers for teaching you stuff like this...
Vivvie dancing at Aiden's 3rd Grade program...
Aiden (top row, 2nd from the right) performing in the program...
Connor received both his 2nd Class and 1st Class Rank Advancements, plus a couple merit badges, at his troop's last Court of Honor...
I found this note in Cohen's backpack one day after school. I'm slightly confused after reading it. Does she love him or not?
One of the Real games last month was delayed for an hour due to a thunderstorm producing small hail and lots of lightning...
Here's everyone hiding under the concourses...
Selfie while waiting for the storm to pass...
Once the game started, it still rained steadily on us the rest of the game...
Vivvie at her Mother's Day program...
Look how much smaller she is than the other kids in her class...
She still sang her heart out though...
Cohen and Vivvie playing with a train set in one of the toy shoppes at Gardner Village...
Ella and Vivvie walking hand-in-hand at Gardner Village...
We saw "Avengers: Age of Ultron." It was pretty good...
The kids love to have sleepovers with each other in the family room. This is how I found Vivvie and Cohen one night. Poor Cohen...
On Mother's Day, Mike and the kids surprised me at work with flowers and a candy bouquet while I was doing my morning show. Best present ever...
I also got some Mother's Day presents from my co-workers. Brian Mullahy brought me a doughnut and hot chocolate, and Nate Dowdle--our Sports Director--brought me a Dirty Diet Coke. In other news, anyone know how much liquid the human bladder can hold? I tested it that night...
A lovely note that Connor made for me on Mother's Day at church. Thanks "Child I Gave Birth To"...
I volunteered to go on one of Cohen's field trips as well. We went to the Hogle Zoo. I had a group of six kids I was in charge of. Easy, right? Wrong!! It was like herding cats. Some kids wanted to look at each animal for 5 seconds while others wanted to look for 5 minutes. Trying to keep them together was impossible. I lost several of them throughout the day. At one point, after searching for several minutes and not finding one of them, I had to call the teacher. Yep, that was fun. Luckily, the little girl was found shortly after. Kristin and Landon met us up there. She's probably scarred for life and will never have any more children or volunteer on any field trips. It was ridiculous! But, here's some pictures that make it look like we had a great time...
They were doing "Zoorassic Park" while we were there, so they had these dinosaurs up all over the zoo...
My crazy group I was in charge of watching. I feel like a failure every time I think about it...
Eating lunch. Pretty much the only time they were all together the entire day...
Three Queen Elsas. Anyone else feel a sudden chill in the air?
One day, Vivvie said she wanted to do my hair. We play this game often. If I'm working on the computer, she'll come stand on a chair behind me and "do my hair." Usually this involves brushing it with an eraser we keep next to our chalkboard. Well, on this day, Vivvie said to me, "Mom, don't move your head while I do your hair, or it will hurt really bad...cause you'll die." I looked back to find her using a sword to comb my hair...
Cohen showing off his Animal Habitat before his Kindergarten End-of-Year Program...
Singing in the program...
This little girl is so tough! She has to have blood drawn several times a year, and she never makes a peep about it. The phlebotomists are always so impressed when she just sits and smiles at them as they stick her with the needle. She's also so brave about getting her daily injections and never complains about them. In fact, she reminds Mike and I if we haven't given her shot yet at bedtime. This is such a blessing! I know this experience would be much harder if she wasn't such a good sport about everything she has to go through...
Aiden loves maraschino cherries. He must be related to Mike. I've never met anyone who loves maraschino cherries as much as Mike...
We went to the Payson Temple Open House last month with Nana and Poppy. It is a beautiful temple, inside and out. It is decorated in a very vintage way. There are lots of ornate little details, wood work, etc. It reminds me a lot of the temples that were built in pioneer days, like Salt Lake, Logan and Manti. It's beautiful and I was so glad we were able to take our family through it...
May was a very wet month. In fact, it tied as the 6th wettest May on record in Salt Lake City. It felt like it was always raining. This meant that I got to look like the Unabomber at my kids' soccer games all month long...
My mom gave all of us a pedicure for Mother's Day. It was so fun to all go together and be pampered...
Look how cute all our toes look...
Amy and I at the Armed Forces Day Concert in the rain. I told you it was always raining...
If you've ever wondered what fireworks look like from 26 stories high, wonder no more! Some of my co-workers and I went up to the roof of the Wells Fargo Building to watch the Armed Forces Day fireworks--which are lit off right next to the building. I'm not going to lie--it was pretty scary at times. I've never had fireworks explode at eye level before...
Aiden was chosen as Student of the Month for May for "Being Interested instead of Interesting." I'm so proud of Aiden for receiving this award. See, Aiden wants to have fun every second of every day. So, if he gets bored, he finds ways to amuse himself. As you can imagine, this doesn't always go over so well in school. So, we worked a lot this year on trying to be INTERESTED in what his teacher was saying (even if he already understands what she's teaching) instead of being INTERESTING by amusing himself and those around him. His teacher wrote that she had seen so much improvement in his behavior and nominated him for the award...
The same day, Aiden also received his Bear badge in Cub Scouts...
He had to go into the "Bear Cave" and face off against the "bear" to prove he was worthy of the award...
Then we got to hang him upside down to pin his award on his shirt...
The 6th Graders in our district go through the N.O.V.A. program. It's basically the new D.A.R.E. program that I went through as a kid. A local police officer comes to the school and teaches them the importance of not doing drugs, treating others with respect, etc. Toward the end of the program, they had to write their own constitution for their life--basically saying what goals they wanted to accomplish and how they wanted to get there. Connor won the award for writing the best one. Here he is with his award. Can you tell how thrilled he was that I made him take a picture in front of all his friends and classmates?
And here he is with his N.O.V.A. officer...
Aiden played little league this spring. More on that in a later post. But, I wanted to post this picture of Aiden holding the "game ball." Aiden's coach would give out a game ball at the end of each game to a player that did something that really helped the team. He gave it to Aiden this game for a great play he made. He was playing 3rd base when a line drive was hit right to him. He stopped it, and threw it to 2nd really quickly for an out...
Our school held it's annual 5K. Each of the boys participated. Here are Connor and the 6th Graders taking off...
And Aiden and the 3rd Graders...
Connor came into the finish line even before all the grades had left. He was 6th in the school with a time of 26:40, a new personal record for him...
Connor and some of the 6th graders...
Aiden running into the finish line...
He also set a personal record with a time of 31:39...
Finally, at that point, Cohen and the Kindergarteners took off. They didn't run the full 5K. They only ran half of it, so I guess that makes it a 2.5K?
Cohen ran it in 20:46! Way to go, boys...
And, finally, here are a few pictures that never made it into other posts because they needed to be scanned and I kept forgetting about them. First of all, here's Vivvie with her cute preschool class...
Cohen's basketball team picture...
And, Aiden's basketball team picture...
If you're still reading, bravo! You just looked through almost 200 random moments from my life over the past nine months. Yes, 200. If that ain't picture overload, I don't know what is! --Lindsay
