Singin' and Dancin' in the Rain

Something my children have taught me is to love whatever the day brings. If it is snowing in April, they love it. If it is in the 80's Lydia insists on getting the pool out. Yesterday was one of those days. We had a blast outside. This morning Lydia woke up and saw the clouds. She was overjoyed. "Mom, is it going to rain today?" Yes honey. "Wahoo! Can I play outside with my umbrella?" At least someone was excited by the day’s prospects.

When it did rain, Lydia went outside in her dress ups with her new Ariel umbrella exclaiming, "Come on everybody, it's time to CELEBRATE!" Then she ran outside and sang her "celebrate" song.

Ali is happy to follow along behind such rejoicings. Ali loves her Dora umbrella. She sang the Dora theme song while she danced. It was fun to sit under my cover and smell and listen to the rain while my girls joyfully played in the rain. Then we came in and had hot chocolate. It did end up being a pretty fun day. I'm glad my girls help me see the silver linings in the clouds.

She may be a monster...but man can she dance

During a recent family home evening, we were discussing things that make Lydia happy. Dancing was one of them. Daddy was the other :) Enjoy!

A Menagerie

For Lydia's school yesterday we took a little field trip to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. It was VERY cold and windy, but the girls didn't seem to mind. They saw many farm animals, fed and pet them, and even got to ride a pony. Ye Haw! Grandma met us there and then we went to McD's for lunch. What a good day it was. It is funny that when everything is going Lydia's way, she is the sweetest most loving girl ever! She kept hugging my leg and telling me I "was the best!" For some reason I'm not the best when there are chores or punishment to be handed out.

SeaWorld brought their touring animals yesterday to the Family First Credit Union in Orem. We saw a cuscus, kukaburra, aligator, penguin, lemur, and turtle. We had a lot of fun. This is Ali and I with the penguine. Of course the penguine was a big hit.

Lydia liked the aligator. This one is about 3 years old. They were giving away a family four pack trip to SeaWorld. Each adult got a slip of paper with a number on it. My number was 94. The number they picked was 93! I guess the thoughts I was sending into the universe was 1 off. Oh well.

Ali's 2nd birthday

We kept Ali's birthday simple. I figured she wouldn't really remember a party anyway. We went to the pet store (she LOVES all animals) and let her look and hold and pick out a betta fish. That's all I ready for right now. Then we went to the Mayan, which is her favorite restaurant. We opened presents, had cake and ice cream then she got to sleep over at Grandma Marsha's. It was a great day for her.

Ali got an Ariel chair. She loves it, but I also just thought this was a cute picture of her.

This is her beautiful cake. Okay, so I can't make cakes like Jessica, but is was all chocolate, so Ali sure loved it. Happy birthday my baby girl!

Easter

Our first egg hunt this year was the ward Easter party. Here is cheesy Lydia finding some eggs. We had a great Easter, we hope you all did too!

Here are the girls discovering what the Easter Bunny left for them. He came while we were at church, so they are in their Easter dresses. They both got kites, sunglasses, and lots of candy. Lydia got a fishing rod so she and Daddy can go fishing. Ali got a Barbie dvd. I got a fun new game, and Tim got a new atlas.

This is our little family hunt we had after the girls found their baskets. You also get a glimpse at our new swing set.

We ate Easter dinner at a neighbor's house, the Arnold's. They have 2 boys just older than our girls. They are great friends and we had a wonderful day there. This is Kyle Arnold and Lydia during the egg hunt. Thanks Amber for including us in your festivities!

We had an Easter egg hunt in the Arnold's backyard. It was the most fun of all of our hunts this year because it was small and not rushed and Ali had finally figured out to pick up an egg and move on instead of sitting down and eating the contents of the first one she found.

Costa Rica

On our first day in Costa Rica, we went to Volcan Poas (a volcano near San Jose). IT was cloudy though and so we couldn't see inside the crater, which is directly behind me. Oh well, the rest of the trip cooperated with us.

We went to a place called La Paz waterfall gardens. It was set up kind of like a zoo with only native animals. This was in the aviary and the birds were all free as you walked through. They also had hummingbirds, poison dart frogs, monkeys, lizards, and so many of the amazing wildlife you can find in Costa Rica.

On a hike at La Paz we saw a series of four waterfalls through gorgeous rain forest. This one is called Temple. They were all beautiful, of course.

Tim is zooming in on a zip line during a tour we took through the rain forest in an area called Monte Verde. It was a very exhilarating way to see this breathtaking part of the country.

Yes, this is February, and it is 90 degrees! Playa Tamarindo was very Americanized and beautiful. It was paradise.

This is the cute little bungalow we stayed in while at Playa Negra.

This is the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean at Playa Negra. It was a black sand beach as the name states. We were at this beach on our anniversary.

This is the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Most of the people there have Caribbean roots, so they speak a Jamaican sounding Spanish. It's very fun to listen to. The food is very influenced by the Caribbean as well. It was raining while we were here, but we went for a hike through the rain forest anyway. We saw 2 and 3 toed sloths, howler and white faced monkeys, poisonous snakes and spiders, iguanas, colorful butterflies, and many beautiful birds. At the end of the hike we went out snorkeling in a coral reef. Because of the storm the water wasn't as clear as usual, but we still could see many fish. It was a nice ending to our trip.

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