1 year follow up post surgery, Morgan

Morgan, Malia and I spent most the beautiful day going from hospital to hospital for check ups and lab work at the U.  I still think primary children's is one of the kindest, most caring environments outside the temple.  Every nurse, doctor is so friendly and helpful.  When Morgan started crying because he found out he had to do some blood work(shots) nurses came and just surrounded him, some with baskets of toys and goodies to pick from.  Malia thought she'd help out by picking some toys out for him.  Even the lady who made our sandwiches when we took a break before getting shots came and sat by Morgan to tell him about her sister, who also had one kidney.  Morgan said she really made him feel better, and not just because she gave him a free ice cream cone.  Her name was MichaelAnn.    Then, as we were eating, in came a choir singing christmas carols.  It was all so nice to get our minds off the problems that bring us in there in the first place.  But we are always glad to leave.  It's one place where I have no guilt eating cookies to make me feel better.  I ate four.  And missed my workout on top of that.
On a darker note, I went to back up my phone tonight to update it and it completely crashed.  I lost all my contacts and photos. So frustrating.  I had planned to blog all about malia tomorrow since it's her first dance recital.  I lost it all.

Some days just really suck.

Temple square

One of our favorite things to do is visit temple square, see the lights, eat yummy food in the the lion house cafe, and visit gramma Ruth at her art show in the joseph smith memorial building.
We met Sara and her kids there, and walked through the art show. The kids got to meet some awesome artists, eric dowdle, christopher creek, etc. Then we ordered turkey pot pies, hot chocolate and cookies at the cafe in the jsb. After a good sugar high, we walked it off through temple square. The highlight for the kids is too go seethe christus statue up 'in space.'
It was a beautiful night, I almost want to go do it again, or at least go to the cafe again for pot pies and cookies!

Reflections 2012

The boys' hard work paid off. They both placed first in their categories and move on to regionals. Yes, Art can be lots of fun.

Leonardo exhibit

Wes and I took the boys to see this exhibit while malia was busy attending the nutcracker. It really fascinated Morgan and Carson more than I though it would... There were recreations of many of Leonardo's inventions as well as a lot of his artwork. The critic in me was a little disappointed to not see a single original piece of work, but the reproductions were convincing and sufficient to the curious eye. Carson was most impressed with the helicopter while Morgan's favorite piece was the military tank. (neither of which I took pictures of, oops).
I liked the sketches and I think it would be fun to decorate a room around some. We got a listening device for the kids which helped keep their interest. They love Leonardo da Vinci now, which is great, he's definitely one of my favorite people of all time.
Afterwards we wandered through the rest of the museum, I was so pleased to see one of my favorite paintings of my childhood still hanging on the wall from when the building was the old salt lake library. It's a gigantic abstract, and I'm not a big fan of abstracts but this one is beautiful- its by Doug snow I think, and there's a swan at the top-- love it.
There was a lot of fun things do do at the museum, animate short movies, be in a green screen, and build contraptions in the tinker garage. Carson built a tractor that got lots of compliments. We must have spent 5-6 hours there, worth the money.

Pictures: they think Leonardo invented the first same wheel size bicycle, but aren't so sure. I don't think this drawing is done by Leonardo, it's just not good enough. Although, someone else could have drawn his idea for him.

Thanksgiving

We spent some time with family and created some treats with cousins.
I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life, it is such a priceless gift. I'm also grateful for a loving family, and a beautiful earth.