My WICKED Cool Weekend!

Halloween was nearly 6 months ago! That's the day we got our Wicked tickets and it seemed like it would never get here! But it finally did and it was a terrific day!!

When I heard Wicked was coming to Salt Lake City I knew I wanted to try to go! I had seen it in New York with Tyler in September of 2006. At that time I had barely listened to the music and didn't know much about it but loved it sooo much! Once we got home I listened to the music - alot - and therefore my kids did too and they began to love it also! So during UEA of 2007 I took Morgan to L.A., with a good friend and her daughter, and we saw it again! This time we had amazing seats and I knew every single word to every single song! I Love Loved it! And now the chance was here to see it again and I couldn't think of anything more fun than going with all of the girls in my family! Once I called and invited everyone we ended up getting 24 tickets! A lot of the seats weren't together but we were so excited that we actually got all 24. So we had sisters, sister-in-laws, nieces, cousins, and somehow a brother, brother-in-law, nephew, and cousin-in-law! (We really missed my mom, who was sick and didn't feel like traveling, and Ang, who got a Big No from her Dr./Dad cuz she's in danger of early labor, and Amy who decided not to drive alone from Idaho!)

We left St. George at 7 a.m. and picked up a few girls in Cedar! The car ride was up so much fun! I laughed harder than I'd laughed in a while...I was crying at points and my face was actually sore the next day!

Me with my 2 beautiful nieces Bree and Jennica!

My Sister Shauna and Sister-in-law Beverly

Lunch at CPK

Jennica and Sheryl - we enjoyed a post lunch treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen at Gateway and then walked to Capitol Theater from there for the 2:00 matinee! It was AMAZING! I don't know what else to say, I could see this play 100 times and enjoy it every time! Its so hard for me not to sing along!! The two lead girls were amazing and I got so emotional about 3 times! Other times I was laughing so hard because they were just so funny and full of personality! I was the only one in my group who had seen it and many of them were like me my first time and didn't know much about it! But everyone seemed to LOVE it.

A Group of us right before the show!

Brent and Rhonda being "Funny?"

Bree and I...so excited!!!

It's Showtime!!

We drove straight home after it was over. I love my family and had such a good time spending time with my "Sisters."



And another Awesome part of my Wicked Cool weekend was getting Tyler's parents home from their mission! We got to go to their house on Sunday night and be there when they drove home! We all had dinner with them at their house and that was so much fun! Our kids, especially, are so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa home!

Easter Weekend!

We started out the weekend with our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. My friends and I had done a lot of shopping and preparing to have this hunt ready for 150 kids! When we met on Saturday morning to set it up it was raining pretty hard. We decided noone would melt and we'd just have to make it work! We used our brand new neighborhood park this year and it was awesome!

After setting up I ran home to grab my kids with ten minutes to spare before the hunt started. We made it back just in time! Morgan and Lainee did great on their own! Cam had gone to Kami's earlier that morning and walked down to the park from her house and honestly I didn't see him the whole time - He said he had fun! I stayed with Linc during the hunt and he just walked around and picked up suckers. Once he had 4, 2 for each hand, he was happy!

Notice his wet little bumm! He fell a few times, he's not used to wearing shoes! It looks like his little girlfriend Maddi was happy with a sucker too!

Lainee is happy with her loot! Even on the car ride home Linc's still having the best day ever with is 4 suckers! (No! I don't usually let him sit on Morgan's lap, the park is just around the corner from home)

Easter Morning!


The Easter Bunny didn't forget our house! Phew! As you can see Lincoln found the hidden chocolate before he started opening his presents! Each kid got a new church outfit and a new swimming suit or 2!

We couldn't get Lincoln to cooperate in a picture with all of the kids so we took a cute one of just the girls! Our attempts at cute boy picture were no good! As you can see Linc didn't want anything to do with it. We finally gave him his binky and a ball! Don't the boys look cute in their matching shirts!

Boys Like Girls!

So I've had kindof a lucky week! A band called Boys Like Girls was coming in concert to Tuacahn! I have 2 of their songs on my ipod, and I'm really picky about what I put on my ipod. They're even in my running mix that is only long enough to get me through a half marathon which means this is really my kind of music. But the tickets were a little overpriced so we weren't going to go.

On Wednesday morning, after my 6 am run, I was in the car and they were talking about it on the radio and then played their song, "the Great Escape." I started to get really sad again that we weren't going to go. I ran into Harmon's to grab a few things for Lincoln's birthday party and when I got back in the car I heard on the radio..."and also qualify to win backstage passes for Boys Like girls, call ###-###" So I picked up my phone and started dialing. It was busy about 3 times and then it was ringing. And I just had a feeling....

"Hello, the planet, whose this?" (Natalie) "Natalie, your'e caller # 9!" And I say, is that what you were looking for! Turns out it was! So I won 2 tickets and also 2 tickets to the movie, but it had to be that day, and I was qualified for a drawing to win backstage passes. I never try to win things on the radio - but this was something I really wanted! I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home and tell Tyler. A few minutes later they replayed my phone call on the air, and I sounded really dumb cuz I didn't know if I was the right caller but oh well - I love a good concert, especially when I know and love the music.

So Wednesday night after Linc's birthday party - see below- I ran to book club for an hour and then Ty and I went to redeem our free movies at a 9:45 showing! How can you not go to the movie if its free? Super fun! And On Friday morning on my way to Yoga my phone rings! "Hi this is Larae from the planet, do you have any idea why I might be calling you?" (Did I win backstage passes?) "You did!" So funny! Not sure if they replayed that phone call or not, I had to get to Yoga!

So last night I was super ready for a fun night out with Ty. I did a 67 mile bike ride, the tour de st. george, yesterday morning. It was a blast but I was definitely starving for a good dinner! We went to Bajio and then headed out to Tuacahn! They let everyone with backstage passes into the dance room and it was just a quick moment with the band to snap a photo and we asked them to sign our backstage passes! We felt really old in a room full of teenagers but it was still pretty fun!

When we were walking into the concert we saw Aaron and Darbe (Aaron works Ty and we've been to lots of concerts with them at the shoe show and others in Vegas. Aaron's been the lead singer for a few bands and they are both VERY into music) Darbe's brother was working the spotlights and they were sitting up in the booth and invited us up there with them. It was a little chilly so we took them up on it. After the two opening bands we moved some folding chairs outside onto the catwalk in front of the booth to watch the main show. They were great seats! An unobstructed view from up high! We couldn't see detail but it was really fun! I tried to take a pic of us with my phone in the dark...Aaron got cut out! Oh well!

Boys Like Girls put on a great show! They have a new album coming out and I hope its as good as the first! They had lots of personality on stage and were totally clean and I can say I like every song on their first album, usually I just like 1 maybe 2. Here are a couple of quick videos of "Thunder" and "Great Escape" If you know the songs you can probably understand the lyrics. We were too far away and I was videoing with my phone so sorry you can't see anything!

Lincoln's first birthday!

So our baby is one! Does that mean he's not a baby anymore? I say no, even though he's starting to look like a big boy!! His first birthday was Wednesday, March 25th. We invited over My mom and dad, Bree's family, Kami's family, Eric's family, the Edwards and our neighbors the Frasier's. We had pizza, let Linc try to open some presents and of course let Lincoln have his very own chocolate cake!!! Linc on his new four wheeler from Grandma and Grandpa Christensen who we will be home from their mission soon and we can't wait! Thanks - we love you!
Just starting to dig in and looking pretty happy about it!

Getting his little feet involved!

MMMMM!

He totally loved every minute of it! It was hilarious!

And then Grandma swooped him up and threw him in the bathtub! If anyone has problems with dry skin, try chocolate frosting, Linc didn't need any lotion after this bath!

Happy Birthday Baby - We Love You!!

Spring Break!

Our Spring Break was full of nonstop action! We were so lucky to have a week full of amazing weather and lots of fun friends to spend the warm days with! It seems like Spring Break is usually windy and everyone is gone! This year couldn't have been better!

Monday: We went the sand dunes in snow canyon in the afternoon! We went with Kami and her kids, Eric and his girls, and Bree and her girls! It was the first day I'd worn shorts in a long time and it felt so nice. The sand was perfect and the kids stayed happy. Even the babies loved it - Lucy (Eric's, 14 months) was hilarious rolling around in it and throwing it in her own hair!

Tuesday: Kami and I each took our two oldest and spent the day in Brianhead. It was such a warm day and fun to see all the festive people in green for St. Pattie's Day! Morgan and Cameron are getting to be great skiiers but I still couldn't get in front of them in case one of them needed help! And one of them always did! It turned out to be a fun, but very eventful day! Christian, Cameron, Morgan, Abby, Kami, & Nat

Wednesday: The first pool day of the year! We had lots of fun with Kami and Bree's families plus some of our fun neighborhood friends. We love the pool at Summit for the kids! I was in heaven, all winter I've been thinking about pool days and actually feeling heat - I know I'm a wimpy St. George girl but this winter just dragged on way to long for me!

Thursday: We took the kids to Zion for a picnic and hiking! We packed up lunches and ate them on the grass in front of the lodge. Then we hiked up Emerald pools with a few moms and many children, what an adventure!! There was Kami's family, Bree's family, the Lewis's, the Stewarts, the Bairds and the Taylors.

Lainee is too much! I'm not sure whether to be proud of her or keep her in the house for the rest of her life because she scares me so bad! On the way up she got away from me - she's very independent and has no fear! When Bree and I caught up with Staci and Trisha, they said that her and Ellie were racing! So we sent one of the big boys after them and reminded them to stay with us! On the way back down from the upper pool she got away from me again. A nice man at the fork was kind enough to tell me which way she had gone - the right way thank goodness- and I caught up to her at the middle pool. I reminded her again to stay with me. Then I stopped to fix Lincoln's backpack because he was down to low and when I was done Lainee and Ellie were gone again. They had gone with Morgan but I knew they would get away from her so I quickly started heading down the trail trying to find them. I was also trying my hardest not to look at the cliffs on my left side and think what could happen to a 4 year old running down the trail. After not too long I found Morgan sitting on the side waiting for me. At the point I started running down the trail with Lincoln on my back trying to find the girls. Pretty soon Ellie came walking back so I took her by the hand and walked as quickly as I could until I found Lainee who had caught up with the big boys! The icing on the cake is that in the car on the way home Lainee said, "I thought we were going to go on a hike!" Apparently that wasn't a hike because we were on a trail the whole time! I wonder who her dad is???

Lincoln enjoying a treat at the upper pool!
Lincoln and one of his girlfriends Madi Lewis, Look, they're holding hands!!

Natalie, Linc, Madi, & Heather

Oakley & Staci Taylor, Nat & Linc

A group of the super hikers!!

Friday: And Friday we were back to swimming at Summit! So much Fun!

Heads or Tails??

I got Kami's camera from her to get pics from Spring Break. On her memory card I found these pics of Linc on Christmas Eve!! Fun, I'd forgotten about these pictures! I'm so in love with those big blue eyes! But how about those cute pincheable bum cheeks?? - he must have gotten away from me in the middle of a diaper change! Can a mother choose which end she likes best? So I ask you - Head or Tails?

Lovin' Springtime!

Last Friday Bree was over with her girls after their little dance class. Her and I were chillin' inside and we looked out the window and saw Lainee pushing Ashtyn in the swing. Then a few minutes later we noticed that Lainee had taken a rope and tied their swings together so that she could swing and push her at the same time! SMART GIRL! We decided to go out and take a picture and ended up staying outside with the kids for about 3 hours! I am so happy spring is here!

Lainee lovin' the monkey bars! We also spent a little time teaching her how to ride her 2 wheeler. She's almost got it but the bike is a little big for her, which makes starting and stopping really hard!

It felt so nice outside, Bree and I laid on the tramp and let Lincoln crawl all over us while the older kids enjoyed the swings, bikes, and cars!

Linc is excited Spring is here too! He's so happy outside!

Gonna make it short! Gotta take the kids swimming to enjoy a little more of this weather!!!

Happy us!