field trip

Nothing says headache like a second grade field trip.

Did I say headache? I meant FUN.

On my way back to the school after dropping Liam off at daycare I thought about stopping and getting a diet coke. I thought I was late so that didn't happen but in the end I wasn't late so I could have stopped but all is great now because I am sipping on one as we speak. Ahhhhh.

We headed to the Museum of Natural History up at the University of Utah and then after lunch to the Hale Center Theater for a tour. Like one of the girls in my group said: "It's two field trips in one!" Yep, it was a bargain.

Here are Luke and his best buddy Jack on the bus and okay, do you ever remember your school bus being souped up like this? I don't either. We watched Brother Bear on the way to the museum and Monster's Inc. on the way back to the school. I don't know if anyone heard anything, but it was there to stare at and make up your own dialog if you wanted to.




My cute group I was in charge of for the day...Luke, Jack, Aimee, and Shaylie



Here we are at the museum. We had a scavenger hunt to find different minerals (there were even ones that glowed in the dark), the mine, and parts of the life cycle. The highlights were the huge T-rex skull, the mine, and the display of spiders and creepy crawlies. After exploring for a while we ate lunch outside and let the kids run around.







Then off to the Hale Center Theater.



This was our tour guide. She was very purply.



The kids got to act out different things...a circus performer, an old man/woman, and the girls were supermodels and the boys were muscle men. All the pictures I got of the performances were either too dark or too blurry but I got a kick out of watching these little people. Then we got a backstage tour. Luke says he wants to go back to see the moveable stage actually move. I think this can definately be arranged.

cinni-yum

I have until recently been a little intimidated by yeast.

Baking yeast, not the other kind that I tend to see on a regular basis at work.

Not only does the word sound a bit creepy and gross but I never knew what kind to use, my dough never seemed to raise the way I wanted to, and people would talk about it like it was sacred. Wait until the yeast is alive, let it activate...these terms confused me and made me nervous.

Well, I think I have started to become a bit more confident with this eluisve ingredient. I have made a homemade pizza crust from a recipe that my sister gave me that involves yeast and these delicious and super easy and delicious cinnamon rolls.

I got this from a friend at work I think over 2 years ago. I have lost it several times and had to ask her to make me another copy each time. Finally she just emailed it to me. I finally made these for the first time on Easter Sunday.

CINNAMON ROLLS

1 yellow cake mix
2 1/2 cups water
2 TBS yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
Margarine, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon

Soften yeast in warm water. Mix in cake and flour. Knead dough until smooth (it was extremely sticky!). Let dough rise for 1 hour then roll flat on floured surface. cover with layer of softened margarine, then sprinkle with sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Roll into log and cut into rolls. Place rolls on cookie sheet and let rise for an additional 1/2 hour to an hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and frost immediately.

So if you don't want to wake up at 4 am to bake your family delicious rolls because I sure don't--there are two options. I put mine in the fridge overnight and took them out an hour before baking and my friend lets hers raise first for an hour and then puts them in the fridge overnight and takes them out a half hour before baking.

FROSTING:

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 TBS milk

Soften cream cheese and butter in microwave. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Enjoy!

happy easter 2010

I can't believe it is April already. Time seems to be going so much faster than I ever remember--is it possible that the Earth is spinning faster than it did when I was little?

We had a great Easter weekend.

Here are some photos that I haven't posted yet of the fun annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt that I organize. My friend initiated this in my old neighborhood and I loved it so I have carried on the tradition here in my neighborhood since moving in three years ago. I remember going to huge Easter egg hunts when I was little and not getting a ton of loot and being grumpy about it. Because of this, I have never taken my kids to a huge hunt at a park and this hunt is a wonderful alternative. If anyone wants any info on how to do this, it is super easy and so much fun. It is divided into 3 different age groups and I can't believe that my baby has moved up into the big leagues. It was the weekend before Easter so and the weather was actually nice instead of the snowy mess that arrived the weekend of Easter!





Two of the cute girls in the neighborhood, Kate and Nyah, with the boys.


On Friday, April 2 to continue with the Spring Break activities, we hung out at Discovery Gateway for the day. This super freaky Easter Bunny was there handing out eggs full of Silly Putty to all the kids.






On Saturday, Justin and Andrew went on a Daddy-Son date to see Clash of the Titans. It received a very enthusiastic thumbs up from Drewbie and Justin liked it but says he liked the old one better. After the morning session of General Conference (wasn't Julie Beck's talk awesome?) Luke, Liam, and I went up to see my parents and ended up just running errands. It was actually a lot of fun--we stopped in a pet store, went to lunch at McDonalds, and then to get candy for the hunt the next day.


Easter itself was super fun and super busy. Poor Nicholas didn't arrive home from his tournament until 4 am on Sunday morning and since Justin and I stayed up to wait for him, we had a pretty lazy start to the morning. Luckily the night before I made cinnamon rolls to pop in the oven for breakfast and the younger three were so very considerate to let us sleep in a little and they didn't even try to find their baskets or snitch any of the candy the Easter Bunny left them! It was nice to eat chocolate and cinnamon rolls while watching conference in our jammies rather than having to get up to go to church.

At Grandma and Grandpa Scotts (I totally stole this picture from my sisterinlaw's blog but it is so cute of all the cousins!):

The Easter Bunny dropped off some goods for all the kids--a towel for the pool, money, a whistle, a pinwheel, and of course, chocolate.

Then the boys were spoiled even more with another hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Winegars but the hit of the hunt were the bubble wands:



My cute cousin Dave playing with the boys:


Justin taught Nicholas everything he knows about Whopper egg lipstick and how to channel his inner Zoolander:



And some random photos captured by our intern photographer--none of these photos are very flattering to many of the subjects pictured but holy cow, he was laughing the entire time he was taking them.
A self portrait:

Erika:

Gigi:

Dad:

Erika and Laura:

Kate and Clark:


Just a little sidenote about conference, I loved it. I always do but this one was an answer to many, many prayers. So many inspiring talks about family and what we as parents need to do for our sweet children. I feel a bit overwhelmed at all I still need to improve on but excited for the challenge. Can't wait for the next issue of the Ensign!

april fools and the aquarium

Our outing today was to our local aquarium. We haven't been for a while and we heard there were a couple new exhibits that we had to see. I don't know if it was because it was spring break, or because of the new exhibits or what but it was the most crowded I have ever seen this place.

I love watching the jellyfish. I seriously think the next time I need to relax or am having a bad day, I just may come and watch these guys do their thing. Liam liked them too.




They have seahorses now which were super cute...




...and a tank with some crazy sealife in it.




Of course one of the main attractions of the day was touching the stingrays. All the boys were able to touch one, the stingrays were being exceptionally friendly. One even came up out of the water and waved at Andrew. He was done for a while after that.

Then we went to see the penguins. No, this was not a typo. They have penguins, indoors. I don't know how they feel about this indoor stint but they were making the most of it. Much more exciting than watching the ones at the zoo. They were swimming and having a grand old time. It was pretty cool to see them up close and personal.





Then off to the South American exhibit. This had poisonous tree frogs of many different varieties, piranha, an anaconda, and some sweet spiders. Then Liam and I went to play in the kiddie place since he was getting a little claustrophobic and the other two went to play again with the stingrays for a while.







And no, I have not disowned Nicholas. He was at his coach's house waiting to go down to a baseball tournament in Mesquite. Don't even get me started.

And, it wouldn't have been an April Fool's day without some cupcakes for dinner and fake Kool-aid (water with food coloring in it). I usually do a pizza for dessert but this year I followed a friend's idea and had kitty litter.

this time, my kids were the animals

On Tuesday, my friend and I took our kids to Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake. It seriously rocks the casbah. It is a ginormous place that is full of bounce houses...the boys jumped and ran and actually wore themselves out.



When I first told Nick about it, he didn't seem too excited. You see, he is getting way to cool for things like this. Don't tell him I told you that he enjoyed himself.
Immensely.






They went nonstop for over an hour. They told me they were tired at about the hour mark and then their second wind kicked in for another go round. My favorite thing is that they were having so much fun together. They walked around in a little clump of cuteness. I wish I would have taken a picture of one particular moment when they were in their little clan and Nick was holding Liam's hand and all of them were talking and laughing. So cute. It will have to be stored away in the sometimes forgetful memory bank of mine.


I must have caught Andrew at a bad time. He looks a little mad. Or like he is going to puke. But he really did have fun.



They also have minature golf there but we will have to go back for that. It looks super cool...it is a dark course with glow in the dark stuff.

Here is the crew (minus one of my friend's boys and my friend's friend's daughter (did you get that?)):
Cute girl, Wyatt, Luke, Nick, Liam, Andrew