Mountain Living

So it turns out that it's hard to blog when all I have is my iPad, so this entry will be pretty brief.  We've been in Utah for a little over two weeks and have had lots of fun, even though I'm convinced the heat is following me!  

We've spent a lot of time with my sister-in-law Amie, my nephew Kai and niece Aria.  They invited us to the 4th of July Celebration in their neighborhood (Highland Park) which was fun because we got to be in a parade.  They decorated a scooter for Noah to ride.  Amelia was going to ride in the wagon with Aria but wanted only to be held by Amie -- she's seriously obsessed with Amie!

We've done a lot of hiking in the surrounding canyons!  I had no idea what an amazing place I grew up in and how much I took it for granted! 

And I have to mention that I have been so happy to be able to go to all my favorite restaurants!  I think I've been to Cafe Rio four times already!  I'm excited for Mike to get into town tonight, as I've been saving my favorite place for a date with him since it's his favorite too...the Red Iguana.

Last but not least, we've had a fun time with my mom!  I literally have calluses on my fingers from playing and shuffling cards (so far I'm in the lead).    *Ü*

Happy Anniversary!

This Saturday Mike and I will be celebrating our 5^th wedding anniversary; I can truly say each year is better than the last.  I feel so lucky to have married not only to the man of my dreams, but also my best friend!  It is because of our love and understanding for one another that I really do believe in “soulmates”!  Funny enough, our last three anniversaries we’ve been at friends’ weddings and not always together … and this June 23^rd finds us at my cousin’s wedding, but at least we’ll be together!  

We celebrated our anniversary early this past Saturday, and we had an AMAZING night out in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth.  We planned it at the last minute, since my trip to Utah got moved up and realized that we wouldn’t be able to celebrate for a few weeks unless we did it that night.  When we drove to Fort Worth, we didn’t even know where we were going to eat.  However, the stars aligned and we saw this restaurant on a rooftop, about six floors up … I doubted we would get in since it was eight o’clock on Saturday night – but 25 minutes later, we were on the roof at a table overlooking the sun setting on the square.  The meal and atmosphere were wonderful, and I don’t think we could have planned a better evening!

Noah LOVED dance camp this past week.  He came home every day very eager to tell me all about what they did.  I was eagerly looking forward to Friday, when Amelia and I got to attend the “Red Carpet Premier” of his music video.  Amelia was quite ecstatic when she saw “Oah” and ran up to him on the red carpet and didn’t let go of him until the video finished playing on the screen.  I loved seeing the video and can only imagine the kind of hold it will have over him when he’s in high school . . . or I can imagine watching it be shown at his wedding reception!  I could only figure out how to post the video as a separate blog post, so the video is the previous post.

Going from one extreme to the other, Noah started Boy Scout camp yesterday and came home saying he might like it even more than dance camp!  He got to shoot BB guns and a bow and arrow.  His “buddy” at camp is his good friend Jonathan (who was also on his baseball team), which makes camp even more fun.

We took Amelia to her first movie, "Mirror, Mirror" at the dollar theater.  She sat perfectly still for about two-thirds of the movie; the last third was a different story.  Luckily, the theater was basically empty except for us and an older couple.  At one point, Amelia crawled to the aisle . . . the next thing I knew, she was running down the aisle and quickly turned into another row, went to the older couple and hugged the lady’s knee!  I think she thought it was us, because she had quite a look of shock on her face when she realized they were strangers.

"Boyfriend" - Noah Thompson Starring as Justin Bieber

Summer and the livin's easy.

I can’t believe summer is here!  Noah finished 1^st grade, and we’re so proud of how hard he worked all year (he got straight A’s on all six report cards).  His favorite subjects are math and science;  it’s been great to see how he’s thrived since moving to Texas.  

After school ended, for the first week we just relaxed, went to the pool almost every day, went to concerts in the park, watched fireworks at the lake, stayed up late watching movies, had family dance parties and ate a lot of popsicles!  It’s pretty hot here… around 95°F most every day, so I will definitely be ready to head to Utah soon.

Mike and I had a fun Saturday – his work rented a Catamaran, and we got to sail around Lake Lewisville for about 4-1/2 hours.  There was roughly 40 people from his work there, and I truly enjoy being around his work friends… we all had such a great time on the boat.  I will definitely look forward to going again next year.

Noah started dance camp this week, and he came home today pumped about it!  They are making a music video and will have a “red carpet premier” this Friday.  I explained before I signed him up that he might be the only boy, and his response was, “Oh yeah, me and all the ladies!”  It turns out he is the ONLY boy along with 25 girls, so he’ll being starring as Justin Bieber in the music video and have back-up dancers … ay ay ay.  

 Noah has gotten into building Lego "movie" sets and then making mini movies, the one above is his latest.

Party Time!

We decided to have Amelia’s 2^nd birthday party a month early, before it got too hot.  We were also able to time it for when Mike’s mom, Nancy, was in town; at the last minute, it worked out that my mom, Julie, and my two nephews, Parker and Preston, could come as well.

Thanks to my obsession with Pinterest, I spent weeks planning her party.  Once I decided on a barnyard theme, I went to town “pinning” every idea I saw that was something I could make to add to her party.  It was fun, and I had a really hard time not going overboard.  

I think in total we had around 60 people attend, and it was a zoo… literally, a petting zoo with a pony ride!  Amelia was in HEAVEN!  When she wasn’t riding the pony, she was following it around saying “ride, please!”  The petting zoo had about 15 animals, including small rabbits, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens and miniature potbelly pigs.  Thank goodness we have a lot of shade in our backyard . . . the animals were able to stay cool, as well as all the kids and adults who were doing the petting.

I could have never pulled off the party without my mother-in-law, Mike or my mom.  It was a great success and Amelia loved every minute of it, especially when she got to eat her “cow cake cake,” as she called it.

It was so great to have all the friends we’ve made since moving here come to her party – Texas people are the best!  

She was one tired little girl by the end!

My mom and nephews stayed until Wednesday, so on one of the days we went to the Fort Worth Zoo.  It was a lot of fun, but after a few hours of pushing 150 pounds’ worth of children around, I was exhausted!  Supervising three kids, ages 3 and under, is no easy task, even for an experienced grandma and mom, so thank goodness we had Noah to help!

Wild Encounters

Our neighbor, Rayna, was in charge of putting on a family event for the company for which she works, and she chose to do this event at the Fort Worth zoo.  She had some extra tickets and was gracious enough to offer them to us, and I’m so happy she did; it was such a cool experience.  We got to be up close and personal with a number of animals, including an owl, an opossum, an alligator, a 10-foot snake (eek!), and a penguin.  They also had face painting, airbrush tattoos, and free tickets to ride the train and carousel.

The picture below is of Noah right as he was looking in the mirror for the first time to see his tiger face.  I’m not sure what he expected to see, but he was so surprised.  He absolutely loved it and had it touched up right before we left the zoo so that he could still have it for his baseball game that we were headed to.  He played pitcher that game, so we joked that it was a good way to intimidate the other team!  He also got a tattoo of race car on his forearm that we’re not sure is ever going to come off… it hasn’t really faded after several baths.  Amelia got a butterfly painted on her face and did such a good job of holding absolutely still.  When we tried to show her the butterfly in the mirror, she kept turning her head to try and see her cheek better; I ended up just taking a picture to show her! 

It was the first time Amelia rode a small train, and she kept saying, “Choo Choo!”  The carousel was definitely her favorite.  She calls horses “cows,” and kept yelling “Cow! Wheeee!”  Rayna was busy with the event, so we had a fun time hanging out with her husband, Jerry, and their son, Mitch.  I’m pretty sure Amelia is in love with Mitch.  She was constantly calling his name to make sure he was close by and wanting to sit in his lap.

Every time Noah would pass the camera, he would strike a different pose.

She feel asleep about a minute after we got in the car!