zoolights

we headed up to the oakland zoo the week before christmas to visit the zoolights exhibit. i saw some 2 for 1 tickets on one of those groupon type sites, so i thought we would give it a whirl... we are terrible at getting out and doing fun stuff as a family around the holidays, so i thought if i purchased the tickets, it would actually happen. success!!

there's a train ride that goes around the whole park to look at all the lights, although i was a little annoyed to find out that the tickets to ride the train were NOT included in the tickets to get in the park to see the lights. it was still worth it, though, because the train was a HUGE hit with all 3 boys. so even though we ended up spending more than we anticipated on this activity, i would recommend it, especially if you have crazy train-loving children like mine.

sadly, i didn't take a picture of us on the train, but here's a couple of shots of joel and kadin on the car ride.

look what i did!

for some reason, when any project i do involves wood and paint, i get really proud of myself when it's actually completed. here's a cheap DIY that i just finished today... just in time to put away with all the rest of my christmas decorations. sad. but i will be so excited to pull it out next year! isn't it cute?! (no i didn't come up with the idea myself... i'm a shameless copier)

my christmas gift to you

i'm surprised at how many people i've talked to who haven't heard about the christmas special disney released last year called "prep and landing." totally delightful for kids and adults alike! you can watch it on hulu here. its about 20 minutes long.

and here's a little stocking stuffer.... the prep and landing sequel that came out this year: "operation secret santa." complete with betty white as mrs. claus (i love her)! this is about 7 minutes long.

these shows are the perfect mix of witty hilarity and tender sweetness. ya, they both totally make me cry, but that's nothing new these days. :)

enjoy!!

sad.

the provo tabernacle burned down this morning. i totally started crying when i heard about it. i know its just a building, but its a special building in provo. i attended a lot of events in that building during my time at BYU.... stake conferences, firesides, musical productions. they're not sure if they'll have to demolish it, but i hope they can rebuild it. it wouldn't be provo without it.
















you can tell in the photo below that the whole roof is gone.

here's some fun news....

"...i can't believe we're gonna finally have a sister!"

on kadin's plate at lunch today...

sliced apples, applesauce, and apple juice. sometimes there's no reasoning with this kid... and i love him for it. what a character.

joel's 1st movie

joel and kadin are in the habit of snatching our powershot and taking all sorts of pictures and videos with it. it stresses me out a bit having them tote the camera around all the time, even though i've given them rules about how they need to treat it, but it's been really fun to look at the pictures they capture. some of them get deleted, but lots of them turn out to be great pictures that i never would have thought to take. a child's perspective. i love it.

last week ben found some videos and pictures joel had taken during an afternoon of imagination. so ben edited them into a little movie and joel picked the music. it cracks me up that kadin is sleeping in the background at the beginning.

ollie is talkin' up a storm....

need some happiness?

listen to this...
sigh. i miss singing.

Amazing radness in a balloon

This is Ben.

So, I've been fascinated recently by all of the amazing graphic designing going on these days, especially with stuff having to do with colors (see www.signalnoise.com for examples). I just saw a post about this new outdoor luminarium (totally made up word I think) exhibit on one of my favorite websites (kitsunenoir.com) and I was blown away.

Here is the link to the people who designed and implemented this unique "experience" for the public:

http://www.architects-of-air.com/the-experience.html

Take a look at the video. I seriously want to see this in person.