From such great heights

Holladay Preschool hosted their spring carnival recently.  In a sea of colorful and inviting booths like face painting, cotton candy, and a cake walk, it was this vinyl monstrosity - a 25ft inflatable slide - that caught and kept Amelia's heart.  So, we bought our tickets and she slid again and again (ALL BY HERSELF).  This kid knows no fear.

Good Day Sunshine

Oh how we love the warm weather and all it brings - sugary snow cones with too much syrup, dinners in the backyard, and blow-up pools.  Thanks Amanda and Caroline for providing Amelia with non-stop entertainment and her mother a reason to buy Oxy Clean in Costco quantities.

Tell Me a Story

Old Hanford, CA friends Randall McGee and Groark were in Utah, performing at the Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden and there was no way that the little girl inside Teishi was going to miss the opportunity to introduce her daughter to the dragon Groark!  Amelia loved the singing and story telling and is still singing, "Tell me a story...", their signature song.  When grown-up Teishi got a shout out from the stage, she felt just like a kid again.  (The best part of the show was always when Groark would call you by name in front of everyone.  Hello superstar!)

As a footnote, if you have kids, live in Utah, and haven't visited the Treehouse Children's Museum - what are you waiting for?  It's totally amazing and hands-on!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

This kid sure knows how to accessorize.  (Mother very proud.)

Thanks, Easter Bunny! (bawk, bawk)

Amelia has discovered that she loves Easter.  We, as parents, would hope that it is because of Christ and his miraculous resurrection, but somehow, secretly know that (at least as a toddler) it's because of the jelly bean-filled baskets and packages that have made an appearance at our house.  Thanks to one Utah and two California bunnies, Amelia is well stocked with "beans" (jelly beans) and "glubs" (fancy gloves).

Footnote:  When Amelia pulled Tosha and Uniqua (two of the five Backyardigans) out of the box from her Grandma Lora, she immediately reached back in screaming, "Pablo!  Pablo!"  Sad to say, there was no Pablo in the box.  (You had no way of knowing, nor did we, that Pablo was her favorite, mom.)  But the situation has since been remedied.  We found the remaining three dolls at Barnes & Noble this afternoon and Amelia is happy as a clam.  The Backyardigans are a close second to Disneyland in her life right now.

Defying Gravity

Yesterday, we caught a performance of Wicked.  Like so many things, I fought tooth and nail to get excited about this play because everyone seemed to be so ga-ga for it.  Really, these things are just a matter of time before I get sucked in, too.  I'm just stubborn and, come on guys, the book was so terrible!  But what a fabulous stage show it turned out to be!  And our performance's Elphaba left us breathless.  But really, the WICKED Witch of the West?  She's just trying to save a few animals, is that so bad?  (hee hee)

"Worth your while..."

Because we attended the TwilightMoms' premiere of Twilight the movie last November (and thanks to my cousin Rebekah, I might add) I recently received an email from them about a midnight release party for the Twilight DVD that they were hosting at a local Wal-Mart.  Here's the rundown: Wal-Mart (NO!) at midnight (NO!) with swarms of screaming teens (NO!) in Twilight costumes (NO!) and for a movie of which I preferred the book (NO!).  Pretty clear, huh?  Not interested, folks.  I'll be tucked, snug as a bug, in my bed at midnight - thank you.

Well... because I was a bit curious about what crazy Twilight fans were planning for the movie release, I visited a Twilight blog where I found an article alerting Twilight fans that five New Moon actors would be making surprise appearances at five locations across the U.S.  Then came the second email from the TwilightMoms saying that the location had been changed to a second Wal-Mart and that the party would be, and I quote, "worth your while".  The squirrels in my brain started to run around.

Are TwilightMoms a big enough force to pull a movie star here?  Did Stephenie Meyer have any say in where the stars would make their appearances?  She is Mormon and Utah has a lot of Mormons and the Twilight fan base here in Utah is off the charts.  And why the last minute location change to a newer, larger Wal-Mart?  "Worth your while..." what does that mean?!?!
So, at a family game night I talked to my Twilight-crazy cousins, Bekah and Emma.  (They've been to Forks.)  "Hey.  You guys have any Twilight DVD release plans?"  "No."  WHAT?  They were my only hope at adding myself as a third wheel and they weren't doing anything?  So, I started blabbing about my suspicions and in no time, they were on board!
So off to the Riverton Wal-Mart, 25 minutes from my home, at midnight, with 4,000-plus of my new best friends, all on the hope that a New Moon star would appear.  And Twilight didn't disappoint!  Flame-haired Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre) was on hand signing autographs and we saw the top of her head!  Wow.  Sadly, the line to meet her and to purchase any Twilight merchandise stretched around the store (literally) leaving the shelves bare.  And I bought my BluRay the next morning at Target.  

Thanks Bekah and Emma!  It was fun.  If for nothing else but to see that weird-o who dressed up as James and hear about him grabbing women's derrières as they stood to take photos with him.  Ick.