W-I-C-K-E-D

We have been planning July's date night since last December when we bought our Wicked tickets. Cory and I have had the Soundtrack to wicked since before we were married and even listened to it for several hours as we were driving on our honeymoon, so when the opportunity came for us to finally see it we were trilled! We wanted to make it a supper special night so we ate at one of Salt Lake's nicest restaurants, The Roof, overlooking Temple Square. It is normally pretty expensive but they over a free meal in the month of your birthday so Cory ate for free! The restaurant made it an extra special night for Cory by putting a Happy Birthday sign on our table and they even had the piano player play happy birthday for him as they brought him chocolate puddling and a candle to blow out.

 After a delicious dinner we had extra time so we walked all around the new City Creek Mall and enjoyed ourselves and then meandered over to the theater were we met up with the rest of the family to enjoy Wicked.

We LOVED this show and would definitely go again!  I only wish I didn't have to fight for a view of the stage behind the larger haired lady in front of me. We even had a wonderful summer's night walk back to the car where discovered all the doors down to the parking garage were we were parked were locked so we had to walk down to the tunnel you drive into to get to our car, but on the plus side we owed $11 for our parking time and when we went to leave there was no one there so it said it was all free, YEAH! Moral of he story always wait until after 11pm to get your car and you will get to park for free.

Fancy dinner and show dates are always my favorites...too bad we they are to expensive to do more than once a year! Thanks daddy for another AWESOME date night!

Cory's Totally Awesome 32nd B-day/Pioneer's Day

For Cory's birthday this year I chose have our traditional doughnut cake for breakfast instead of dessert, which was a HUGE hit. This was also Sophie's first jelly doughnut and I think she was an instant fan of them.

After breakfast we opened gifts, which Cory had a good bundle, lucky guy. One of his favorite gifts was from my mom, UofO grilling gear. After the gifts were opened we went over to Grandma/pa Fergy's to celebrate Dave's & Cory's birthday and the pioneer holiday with the rest of the family. We also enjoyed another yumm-o breakfast.

Mid morning the clouds finally broke down and started to DUMP buckets of rain on us. The kids enjoyed walking around in the rain with giant umbrellas and also playing a wet muddy version of ultimate frisbee with the othter adults. Phoebe and Cami eventually got so wet they thought their swimsuits would be a bit more appropriated attire.

After coming home for a nap and Cory's choice dinner of brauts & potato salad we chose for the first time ever to do some fireworks with the kids. Unfortunately, it was windy so we had a hard time getting anything to light. We chose the cheapest least harmful fireworks to do for the first time so we started with smoke bombs, which they all thought were really fun & then some sparklers with cups as hand guards, an idea I saw on Pinterest that worked perfectly! Cami liked doing them the most as you can see by her face, but overall I  will have to splurge on 2 pks of smoke bombs they were such a hit.

After our slightly scary pyrotechnics act we came in to enjoy Cory' Reese's cupcakes. I was thrilled with how cute and delicious they turned out. Right after we all ate one I made the executive decision to take the rest to our neighbors because they tasted like heaven which makes them pure evil. You may note I didn't have a #2 candle so I just used two #1s It is meant to be 32 not 311 like the band.

This was a pretty fun year for Cory's birthday and one of the most relaxing I have had in years. Happy 32nd Daddy!

Oregon My Oregon 2012- PART 2

NOTE: MAKE SURE TO HIT OLDER POTS AT THE BOTTOM FOR PART ONE OF OUR TRIP!

While in Oregon this year we finally got over to the Gilbert House, a huge children's museum, which has been on our to-do list for years. the museum is made up of several old houses and each room has a different them. The kiddos LOVED playing in the china room with the tea sets, the virtual room where they danced and could see their images in the screen and the awesome grocery store and that was just all in the first of MANY houses. In the second and subsequent houses there were farm rooms, veterinary offices, jungle rooms & bubble rooms. Phoebe dressed up in every room and I didn't think we were going to get to leave the bubble room, talk about a kids dream spot

Outside there was a HUGE-O sand pit and life size erector set the kids could and did get lost in. The last house we went in before we decided we were spent was the train house which might have been their favorite room yet. Cami had so much fun watching the electric train set and running after it, while Josh and Sophie loved playing with the wooden train set. This museum is a a bit expensive but if you are in the area well worth a visit, but plan in lots of time to spend there.

On Tuesday we went to Daddy's favorite part of Oregon the Casino Buffet for breakfast and out to the beach. We had to stop at the outlet stores on the way, however, and buy little coats because it was windy and a bit cool. We also had to buy sand buckets because we forgot to bring our own :( The Beach wan't full due to the cool weather, but in spite of the cool foggy day the kiddos still managed to have a BLAST!!!

Cami had a TON of fun running through the water even though it was only 40 some degrees it hurt my feet to touch the water but that didn't stop Cami from getting SOAKED. After about 45 minuets Cami finally realized that it was in fact cold and she bundled up in her blanket never to reemerge out back on the beach. Finally we took purple toe, sand covered Sophie and Freezing Cami to the car to sit and warm up while Daddy, grandpa, Josh and Phoebe stayed out to play for another 45 mins or so.

When we got home and warmed back up we had fun just playin' the night away, well Phoebe really had fun anyway locking Sophie in he dog kennel.

We spent almost everyday in Grandma/pa's "pool" (aka hotub). This is one pf Phoebe's VERY favorite part of our visit.

On one of the last days Cory and I went on a date down town at a paint your own ceramics place, we however house to make a glass creation instead of painting. We REALLY liked doing this and can't wait to see what it looks after it got fired, my parents are bringing it to us next month when we see them. After our date we went to Uncle Roberts house where the kids were excited to pet Uncle Roberts snake and bunny. Cami also had a time of fun stealing Rob's shoes and dancing around in them which only enhanced her already awesome rainbow outfit, which has since this day become one of her favorite shirt skirt combos.

On the last day we did our traditional blueberry haul. This year I was feeling lazy and just wanted to buy some from he farm down he street bu Phoebe insisted one has to pick blueberries and not just buy them so a 2 pm we went out to the blueberry farm, which Phoebe was super exited for. When we got there she picked about a  dozen berried and then notified us all that she was too ho and tired so she spent the rest of the time siting under a neighboring blueberry bush criticing our blueberry picking skills. After about 1 1/2 hrs Grandpa  Cory & I had filled all our buckets and we had collected 45 lbs worth a berries, a pretty good haul this year. We had to compare Phoebs to the blueberry haul because she is 27 lbs and the berries were 45 lbs worth, 1 1/2 Pehoebs worth. One he way home Phoebe was so worn out after picking her dozen berries and NON-STOP talking she passed right out!

For dinner that night we got to go to my FAVORITE pizza parlor in the whole earth Walery's Pizza. Uncle Rob & Aunt Lucy brought a roll of quarters which the kiddo loved spending on he video driving games and riding the mechanical toys. The kiddos I believe  share my opinion the the worlds best pizza because Josh ate 5 adult size pieces of pizza while his baby sister Sophie downed 3 herself. Well worth the pound I gained that week!

On the way back to Utah we made it a point to stop in Boise for enjoy one of the Man vs Food specials at Big Judd's, the 2 lb burger!  It was AWESOME and not badly priced either may I add.  I highly recommend it if you are ever by the Boise state Campus.

This trip to Oregon was another great one and even though it means 28+hrs of driving for Cory both of us are sad it only happens once every year. Thanks for all the fun family!!!