Spring Break Comes to an End

 Our final activity of spring break was the Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park.  I lived in Salt Lake after college for 6 months and we went to the park a lot, but we never stopped at the aviary.  I think it was Kim's favorite thing to do.  We went to a bird show and any time they brought out a new bird, they would ask the audience what kind of bird it was and Kim would yell "chicken!"  So apparently, every bird at the aviary was a chicken...

 Looking at some "chickens:"

 The birds they were looking at:

 "There it is!  I found it!"

 Some CREEPY looking owls:

 Pretty Scarlett Idris:

 These peacocks were roaming free.  Kim chased this one yelling "here chicken!"

 Flamingos:

 Golden Eagle:

  After the aviary, we spent about three hours just letting the kiddos play at the park.  We ended the evening by meeting some my mother's college roommates for dinner. 

Spring Break Part 3

 After our crazy day at the Children's Museum, we decided to go visit one of my childhood best friends.  It was perfect timing since she lived about an hour from Salt Lake and none of the kids had napped.  They slept all the way there.  It was a rare treat to get to see my friend (I didn't ask to blog this so I am not going to name her).  Our mom's were pregnant together and are good friends as well. It was an extra special treat this time since she just gave birth to twins in December.  (My mom keeps telling me that I need to have twin girls next time...'cause I need five little girls in this house.  Right.)

Taylor was mesmerized and had fun holding babies!  She always tells me she wishes she was twins!  (Kadie had a bit of a cough so we would not let her near the babies.  She sat in the corner and played games instead.) 

  Kim had to see what all the fuss was about and even gave the babies hugs:

 My best friend and her twins.  She is one talented mama:

Spring Break Part 2

Taylor had been begging to go back to this children's museum since we went last year, so on our spring break trip, this was our number one destination.  Unfortunately, it was spring break in SLC too so there were wall to wall kids.  There was a coupon in our hotel lobby for the museum and we got in super cheap!  It was a challenge to keep an eye on the kiddos with so many people!  We put our trust in Taylor since she was the oldest that she would stay in the same general area as us and follow good rules to stay safe.  She enjoyed her limited freedom of not being watched every second like we were watching her younger sisters.

Kim and Kadie had a lot of fun together.  They were entertained by the water table for quite some time:

 Taylor and Kadie attempting the rock climbing wall:

 Kim did a really good job being patient for a turn in one of the little cars that were riding around.  They had fire trucks and more and even had a pretend gas station next to the pretend store:

 

 Taylor picked all the flowers from the house area:

 Kadie and Kim checking out the garden/farming section:

 Making music:

 LOTS of selection on building toys upstairs:

 They are all taking off together:

 And finally, my favorite picture of the museum.  I LOVE the look on Kim's face.  

She is definitely having fun!

First Stop on Spring Break Vacation

Liz's family left bright and early Monday morning after Easter to head back home.  Mom and I made a quick decision and by 1:00 we were on the road for a mini-vacation to SLC (Lee had to work).  The weather was great until we got to Parley's Canyon, in which the heavens decided to unleash enough rain that we were barely able to see the white lines.  That didn't slow the crazy Utah drivers however, they zoomed by like the rain was nothing!  The kids woke up early as usual so to kill time while things we wanted to do opened at around 10, we visited Temple Square.

My awesome shot of the Temple:

 Sisters:

  The girls enjoyed visiting the sites of Temple Square, but they probably enjoyed all the fountains even more!

 Temple Doors:

 Touching the Temple:

 We visited the City Creek shopping area to look for some gifts for Taylor's and Chase's upcoming baptisms this summer.  The girls got restless so I took them outside where they found more fountains.  The water in these ones jumped up and down and they had a blast.  (Kadie pretended she could control the water and moved her hands up and down in time to the water.  So cute!!!)

 There was a chocolate shop right beside this fountain.  I went in and bought two Carmel apples and mother and I snuck them later in the night after the kids had all fallen asleep.  They were super yummy, probably even more so since we ate them in secret!

Easter Dresses

 Everyone else dyed eggs while we were on a walk with Kim and Taylor.  Kim walked off and wasn't interested so Taylor and Kadie finished up for her.

 It was hard to get all six kids in the previous Easter picture to smile, but it isn't always easy with one either:

Kim letting everyone know she is the boss:

Just like the coloring on this one.  Love how the pink in her cheeks matches her dress:

 Trying to show us two:

Her sisters were standing behind me trying to make her smile and she copied their hands waving in the air:

...And FINALLY a smile:

My cute Kadie!  Looking at it now, her dress kind of reminds me of a 50's sock hop:

Love her attitude in this one with one foot on the wall.  We are going to be in trouble when she is old enough to date!!!

 My pretty Taylor.  The only one I didn't have to coax a smile out of:

 The Trio of Trouble:

 Kim's favorite part of Easter you ask?  The chocolate eggs:

A Family Visit

 My sister Liz and her family came up for a visit to spend Easter with us.  Kim occasionally likes to get makeup on too when I do it, but Liz got hit double time with Kim and Emma both wanting some!

 My awesome sister is a french braid whiz.  I have never mastered the art.  She finally got her little girl to practice on, but I am always happy to share my girls too!  Kim looked so adorable with her hair braided.  So grown up.  She likes to stroke her little pig tails that she usually has in her hair as a soothing mechanism and she was missing her standard hair style by later in the day when she got tired.

 Kim in her grown-up braids talking to her grandpa on the phone:

 Seven kids can be quite the crowd.  Liz wanted to do a science experiment with them.  She put some dry ice in a bowl and slid a wet towel that had been soaked in bubbles over the top.  In theory, it makes a big bubble over the bowl and pops when it gets too full (looking somewhat like a mushroom cloud.)  She tried it on two bigger bowls with no luck, but got it on the smaller one.  The bubbles the dry ice made were fun to pop since they would smoke.  That is what the kids are doing here:

 Mid pop:

 And as always, my mother likes to get a couch picture of all the kids together.  And as always, they aren't usually too happy about it:

 You can see the same enthusiasm in the Easter Sunday shot, 

but at least we get to show off their Easter finery: