April 2017 Utah Trip, part 1.

I had been wanting to plan a trip to Utah to see the grandparents as soon as we left Florida, but it turned out I just needed a good excuse to pull the trigger. When we found out Jared was getting married mid-April, it was perfect! It only would have been more perfect if he had gotten married the week before, so we could have flown there before Cora's birthday so I wouldn't have to pay for a seat. But being so big and pregnant it worked out.

We left the morning of Brandon's birthday. Sorry Brandon, happy birthday we're ditching you!

 It was my first time in the Fresno airport. I was pretty surprised at the giant fake Sequoias right in the entryway.

 We landed just in time for the pre-wedding dinner. Luckily I had packed other foods because she wasn't interested in the nice dinner they had.

 We went to BYU campus to get some fingerprinting done for my teaching license, and showed Cora the sights along the way.

 Thank goodness we had Bubba there to watch Cora! That was my biggest issue with flying out there, I needed someone to watch her. (Also, poor Austin with his crutches.)

 The Payson temple was STUNNING. I was blown away by the intricate stained glass and artwork. I want to go back with Brandon.

  It was fun to hang out with Dallin, Krystel, Bethany, and Austin for a bit too. 

 

 I'm so glad we got to meet Lauren and Lincoln's little kids too! Linc and Cora are only 3 months apart.

 Just as they were starting to take family pictures, it started to rain. Then it started to rain harder and harder until we just HAD to run out of there. I didn't even know where the other people went, but Bethany grabbed Cora and she and Krystel ran with us back to our car. Thank goodness for Bethany, because otherwise we would have gotten so much more wet because heels+belly+2 year old does not equal being fast.

It was freezing cold and whipping rain at us, and Cora got scared and cried for a minute. But then we got in the car to warm up and she was fine.

 Poor girl got tuckered out.

 Don't mind her with her shoes!

 The reception was at a country club and it was beautiful! Plus they had a hot dog bar and a dessert bar so Cora was in heaven.

 We were about to leave when the music started and Cora was in heaven. So we ended up staying the whole rest of the time... she danced the night away!

 What a good sport.

And that was just ONE day of our trip!

Easter 2017 Weekend

Easter weekend was a big weekend for us. It was not only Easter, but Cora's birthday and my parents' 30th anniversary. And we got to celebrate Brandon and Luis' birthdays too!

 We started off by going to the park Easter celebration. Cora loved the bounce houses...

 ... and even loved the Easter Bunny. She got a kick out of them both wearing ears.

As you can see, it was a huge improvement from last year.

 The Giullians came into town, and we went out to dinner for Cora's birthday. 10 adults for 1 2 year old.

 She was a little overwhelmed by the volume of presents. But loved it!

 Two birthday cupcakes and a birthday flan (which apparently Luis hates... our bad).

 Sorry Luis, your eyes are closed but Cora looks so cute!

 I was so sad putting Cora down to bed, knowing her birthday was the next day and that it was her last birthday before she had a sibling to share it with.

After Cora went to bed, we told Brandon we needed something from Target. But really, we wanted to get him out of the house to set up for his surprise birthday party. He loves watching Bob Ross, so we did a paint party.

The funniest part of this whole thing was when Brandon saw the paints the week before. He looked so exasperated, like "why are you setting up for another expensive hobby?" I didn't even say anything to defend myself, because I knew he'd get it soon enough. 

 It was a huge success! By the end I was rushing people a little bit, because we couldn't keep pausing after every direction. But we will definitely need to try it again!

Isn't it amazing how different every painting looks?

Big birthday girl.

 Cora and I got coordinating flower Old Navy dresses. Note how big my belly looks at this point.

Easter is always a big point of reflection for me. Especially after losing a grandpa in the previous year, I was thinking a lot about the point of Easter and the resurrection. I had the chance to play a musical medley in church, which had 3 different songs. The last song was "How Great Thou Art", and as we played that I sang the chorus in my mind. "Then sings my soul!" It was a beautiful song, and I was so glad that someone asked me to play it with her. I'm grateful for Easter, and to know that death isn't the end and that families can be together forever.

It was a great weekend!

Easter Activities 2017

Just some adorable photos from Cora's Music Makers Easter egg hunt.

 

 Once one of her eggs opened and she realized what was inside, she stopped looking and sat down to eat them.

We love our Music Makers group!

"Children are Great Imitators"

We had the chance to watch General Conference this past weekend. It was amazing, as per usual. Not only did they announce FIVE new temples to be built, including Pocatello Idaho (reminds me of my Rexburg days), but they had some amazing talks about the Atonement and Christ's love. There is something about April General Conference that makes my heart happy, because it is usually revolved around Easter. We have had some sad things happen with friends and family lately, so it always makes me feel better to hear these talks.

One of my favorite talks talked about setting a good example for our children. It really resonated with me because Cora is at the age where she sees, hears and copies EVERYTHING. I yawn, she yawns. I tap my shoe on the ground to put it on, she does the same thing. She talks on the "phone" all the time and I hear her say things that she picked up from us. She even says prayers by herself at the table.

But the cutest thing I saw was the intermediate hymn right after this talk. It was "Teach Me to Walk in the Light". This is the song that Cora and I sing before bed. I know she knows the words, because she has filled them in for me before. But when she heard the song start, she actually stopped and looked at the screen. Then sure enough, we hear "yight... teeme... walk... yearn..." as she heard the words being sung. She sat there and said some of the words the whole song. As soon as it was over, she got up and ran away.

Cora is such a sweet toddler. She is a normal almost 2 year old (turning 2 in 11 days... don't remind me), and has her moments. But I hate when people hear that she's almost 2 and they say "Oh man, those terrible two's!" Or call her silly names like a diva, drama queen, etc. I am not a person who wants to be totally gender neutral with my kids, but they don't have names like that for boys. I don't want her thinking something is wrong with her because she's a normal 2 year old. She is so sweet and picking up on all of the things I do. It makes me be a nicer person, because when she wakes up in the morning I love to hear her say "Baby brudder (her doll) so nice" instead of saying "Baby brudder drama queen". I am trying to give her something great to imitate.

Random March 2017 Happenings.

A photo dump from March.

 Cora loved her bunny ears.

 Cora loves hanging out with us in the morning before work.

 We got a DVD player, and had a party with "baby brother" (the name of her doll).

 Steve and Karen came down one weekend and we got to visit some of the Blossom Trail. It is so amazing and SMELLS SO GOOD! This is an apple orchard.

 

 See? She loves hanging out with us in the mornings.

 25 weeks with baby brother! Still running a few times a week, but barely.

 FINALLY, we could do pigtails. How cute is that?

 We got a pass to the zoo. $75 for the family? Why not! Cora loves animals so it is perfect for her.

 Komodo dragons are creepy, but Cora just stared it down.

 Cutest pigtail crew!

 

 Cora wanted to see the elephants, then immediately ran away to play with her friends. But it was pretty cool!

 One of the best parts of the zoo is that for $3 you can feed the giraffe 3 pieces of lettuce. I thought Cora was going to be afraid of it, but she jumped right in! She was much less nervous than I was.

We're so excited for Bethany to go on a mission!! Puerto Rico is so lucky.

 I ran a 5k one Saturday morning. I was excited because I still broke 45 minutes, which isn't bad when I have a belly bouncing along. 

 Poor sick baby. This climate has rocked her.

 Cora slept in until 10 one day. It was amazing, except she had to be touching me ALL THE TIME so I couldn't do anything.

 I got to take a test for my master's degree early one morning. Luckily I passed!

 We painted nails for St. Patrick's Day, which is Cora's favorite thing.

 Kisses for the nice baby. 

 The library had toddler yoga. It was adorable.

 We got to do the 25 cent trolley one day.

 Music Makers one week was at Bravo Farms, which had a tree house and an alpaca to feed. What else could Cora want?