City Creek Center

I love the new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City! Luke and I took the girls last night to the grand opening and we had so much fun! Although I've been feeling pretty lousy all week with a sinus cold, I medicated up and the fresh air did me some good. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful outside. I felt like I was on vacation!

There was so much fun stuff to do there. They had face painting and a free photo booth. The girls got balloon animals too. (Ava got a blue and yellow butterfly and Tess got a blue dog.) There were live performances everywhere and we even got to see The Cello Guy.

Ava the Missionary

Ava always says how much she wants to serve a mission when she's older, and she really wants to serve in China. Last week at dance class she was practicing some of her missionary skills on the girls in her class. When dance class was nearly over one of the girls was talking about how her step-dad was picking her up and she didn't want to go with him. Then Ava told the class about how we all have two Fathers, an earthly Father, who hugs us and plays with us, and a Heavenly Father who loves us too. The girl looked at Ava and said, "what?!" Obviously she wasn't LDS and didn't know what Ava was talking about. Then Ava's dance teacher, Miss Jolene said, "maybe we should change the subject." Ava responded, "Ok. We don't have to talk about Heavenly Father, we can talk about the Holy Ghost instead."

Ava isn't shy to share what she knows. I hope she never loses that quality!

My New Sister-in-Law!

I got a new sister-in-law yesterday! Yay! Caitlin and Scott were married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on 3.17.12.
Luke will be posting all their wedding pictures on his blog sometime this week, but this is just a quick preview of the happy couple!
The girls and I waiting outside the temple. The weather was interesting. It was kind of warm, but then it rained a bit and it was very windy.
The reception was beautiful, and it's hard to explain how beautiful it was in words, because it was something you had to see and experience. Even the pictures don't do it justice. The lighting was gorgeous and the food was delicious and plentiful. Such a great day yesterday! I'm so happy for Scott and Caitlin and excited to have another wonderful and special women in my life and in my family.

Finally a Snowman!

It's March, but this is the first time this winter we've had enough snow to build a snowman. After school today we finally got the chance to build a snowman and the girls were so excited. He kind of looks like a snowman bear. Our neighbor Owen helped us too. I guess I'm glad to finally have snow, although I would have rather had it for Christmas than in March!

Raindrops on Roses

The girls sang this at a relief society brunch my mom's ward hosted in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was fun to give them a chance to perform. I honestly had no idea how it would turn out, or if the girls would sing at all, but they did great! Ava was a little bit nervous and she said a prayer before she sang. I didn't even tell her to, she's just a spiritual little girl with a lot of faith.

Girls in the Studio

Rolleiflex Camera

We visited our friend Linnea and she took a quick family picture of us with her Rolleiflex camera. See below. It's an old film camera. The girls loved Linnea's house because she has dolls that they can play with. They also love Linnea. When we left, Ava asked me if Linnea was her aunt.