Saturday, January 7, 2012

Winter Photos

Since my kids have had the misfortune of growing up in a house in a constant state of remodeling, they have developed an unusual interest in tools.  Lately, we have been taking them to the monthly kids building classes at Home Depot.

Happy Fourth Birthday!

Here are my boys dancing at a library Nutcracker workshop.  At least, one of them is dancing.

And my daughter.  Same Nutcracker workshop.

My kids with Santa.  My youngest wasn't interested in meeting him until he noticed that Santa was handing out candy canes.  Then he changed his mind and tried to join in at the last minute, but another little kid was running the opposite direction and they collided.  He had better experiences with Santa at other Christmas events, but I failed to get a photo.

Temple Square, obviously.

Here we are on the train during the Salt Lake City New Years Eve celebration.  You'll notice that my daughter has a black eye and is holding an ice pack.  We had a little incident this year during the festivities.  Every year, they fill the Salt Palace Ballroom with beach balls--as many as the new year.  For some reason my daughter fell down in there and someone immediately stepped on her.  It was a step-and-run incident.  Whoever it was didn't stop to see if she was okay or anything.  My husband turned around and found her lying on the floor by herself, screaming.  Her eye was even more colorful the next morning, and still looks ugly.

I love him anyway, but my toddler is quite a wimp.  He was afraid of the bouncing houses, the lazor light show and the ball room. (Maybe that last fear was rational, I realize now.)  The first activity I found at the New Years celebration that he actually liked were these drums made from trash cans.

Mars.  Actually, Hansen Planetarium Mars Exhibit

The Moon Exhibit at Hansen Planetarium
Today, Utah finally remembered that it is supposed to be winter and it snowed all day. It has been weirdly dry until now. My daughter was thrilled and wanted me to build a snow fort with her.  I tried to help, but I have a nasty cold and I was just too miserable.  Fortunately, Daddy came to the rescue and they made this fabulous creation.

Article about Insemination

I wrote an article about our family's experience with insemination that was published in this Mormon women's magazine: http://www.exponentii.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/winter-2011-corrected-12-13-01.pdf. It starts on page 22 of the Winter 2011 edition and is available free as an online pdf until their next issue comes out, if anyone is interested.