It's Madness in March!!!

Every year, Jake manages to talk me into hanging this giant size March Madness bracket in my livingroom and as tacky as it may be, it makes Jake very happy. So I let basketball take over my livingroom for a few weeks. This is the one time of year that I actually become a sports fan, so Jake takes full advantage of it! He makes one of these lifesize brackets every year and he keeps all of them. So I store these huge posterboards from all the way back to 2003. Why is he keeping these? I have no idea. He's a guy; there's no explaining it!

It's been fun so far hanging out with Jake, watching the games, ordering pizza and having friends over. I love watching it with Lydia because every time a new game comes on she says, "Go Utes" not knowing that Utah sports isn't the only thing around; there actually are other teams in this country. She's been brainwashed at a very young age and there was no stopping it with Jake as the father :)

Well, to show my roots I thought I'd post some pics of Lyd's that I took last October. It also shows who we're rooting for!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

MWC tournament in Las Vegas!

Jake and I decided that we both needed a vacation and since the Mountain West Conference Tournament was coming up, we decided to go there. It's in Las Vegas so we thought it would be fun to drive down and stay at the South Point Hotel for a few days. We met Bones and Darcie down there and while the boys were at the games, Darcie and I went shopping and went to one of the Vegas shows.

The first couple hours of our trip (the drive to St. George) were great and this was Lydia's face for those two hours...

Well, we never saw that face again. The rest of the trip, she was pretty much the naughtiest she's ever been. I know that's hard for some of you to believe but it's true. She threw some of the biggest fits I've ever seen from her. At first she was so happy and proud of herself that she made up the game "Where's Bunny?" which consisted of her hiding her bunny behind her head every time and saying "Where's Bunny?" while laughing and thinking that she's tricked us once again (hence the pic above). I mean, Lydia had her good moments, don't get me wrong, but man she tried my patience this trip.

Lydia's favorite part of the trip was the swimming. The second she woke up in the morning she'd go the window and say, "Go swimming Daddy!" So we went swimming every full day we were there.

I just love that the round belly is still there...adorable in a two piece!

Here's Bones and Darcie with Lyd's (Jake's bro and sis-in-law).

Well, the whole point of going to Las Vegas was to see the Utes become the MWC champs and that's what we saw! Needless to say, Jake and Bones were very happy campers. Here we all are at the game.

Lydia sat on my lap the WHOLE time and laid her head on my chest. Oh, didn't I mention that aside from her being naughty, she also never left my side and wanted me to hold her ALL the time. Good times! Although, I have to say, I do love those big blue eyes! What a doll.

Of course Jake and Bones had to rush down on the court as soon as the Utes won. Many people called Jake to let him know they saw him and Bones on tv! I'm so glad they won. My husband is ecstatic that the Utes are a 5 seed in the NCAA tourney because of it! GO UTES!

The night before we left, Darcie and I had a girls' night out and went to the 10:30pm showing of

"O" by Cirque de Soleil.

It was pretty good. I was a tad disappointed because it was basically just like their other show "Mystere" except you just add water to this one. They had some pretty cool water scenes and diving but overall I felt like I had already seen it. We had pretty good seats though, so that was nice.

Overall, it was a pretty good trip. We were supposed to be home Sunday evening around 5pm but due to another one fo Lydia's major meltdowns we decided to hang out in St. George for a while to let her run around (Jake's parents have a condo down there). The reason for her crankiness...lack of sleep. She didn't take one nap the whole trip and she also went to bed late and woke up early every day. Hopefully now that we're home, she'll get back to her usual, sweet self.

It was fun to get away but honestly, it's good to be home!

Dinosaur Museum!

For Joy school this week, we went on our very first field trip as a class. Last Wednesday (3/11), the letter of the week was "D" so we thought we'd take the kids to the "D"inosaur museum after a short lesson by Aimee. Let me tell you, I loved that place. It was amazing. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids did.

Here they are standing by a dino leg.

They got to play in the water and build dams.

They had these huge, life size dinosaurs all over the place. It was actually quite intimidating. I couldn't believe how big they were. This pic just doesn't do justice.
Here's Lyd's standing next to one (you can't see her that well). She was about as tall as the foot of this dino.

To get an idea of how big this guy was below, you can see Jules and Izzy in between the two back legs of this monster. HUMONGOUS!

They also got to dig in the sand for dinosaur bones. It was hilarious because Lydia has never put her feet in sand before so when she got in, she didn't move from this spot for about 10 minutes, literally. It was so funny to watch her spread her toes and feel the sand going between them. And she would not take her hand off of the rock. It was like she thought she'd fall if she let go because of the uneven ground beneath her. After a while she got used to it though. It sure was cute to watch.

We had a good time so that makes field trip #1 a success!!!

Surprise Sprinkle! Lydia Sings!

For the past few weeks Margo, Kristin and I have been planning a surprise "Sprinkle" for Lynette. What's a sprinkle you ask? Well, the invite read,

"A baby shower for the first,

a sprinkling for the second.

Come join us to sprinkle Lynette and Izabel...

A sprinkling-not as large as a shower

but just as much fun."

And fun we had. Lynette was totally surprised. She had no idea what was going on. I was sure that the secret would slip out but it didn't. Luckily it never came up in conversation because some of you how I can't lie to people's faces. I definitely do not have that poker face. If any of you watch "The Office", you should understand the sign I made for Lynette. That Dwight; what a character.

Anyway, we talked, ate, played a really fun game and opened presents. We invited Lynette's adorable mom Bonnie and can I just say she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Love her. I guess that's where Lynette gets it. Some of us chipped in together and got her a double stroller. She loved it!
Lynette is such a great person. I am so happy that we're friends and I'm glad she had a good time at the shower. The best part...she called me a few days before the party and asked if I wanted to go and get pedi's with her on Saturday (the day of the party). Does that work out any more perfectly? Nope! So I didn't have to make up a lie to get her to my house that morning.
Then a bit after the party we still went and got pedicure's together. And that night we went out to dinner with the husbands and kids. It was a fun day of the Watts family! Love you guys! On another note, I've been trying to get Lydia singing songs on camera FOREVER! For three reasons: 1) I LOVE her little girl voice and want to remember it always. 2) Everyone always asks me, "So, does Lydia talk much?" Uh, YES, that's all she does. She won't shut up actually. She's just so shy, she doesn't say much. And 3) My mom (and entire family) live in Kansas so my mom doesn't get the perks most other G-ma's get of hearing the voice of their sweet grandchildren every day. So I knew my mom would love to see these videos. So mom, these are for you. These are 3 of her favorite songs to sing (if you watch these, be sure to pause the music on the right).
1st song: I love to see the Temple.
I thought she'd be shy so I hid the camera from her at first (that's why the lighting stinks). But this time she was willing!

2nd song: I am a child of God


3rd song: ABC's


Ahh, I love this girl.

C is for Circus...

Today was my first day teaching Joy School and I can't believe how much I loved preparing for this day. Our curriculum is the alphabet so this week I had the letter C. So what better way to learn about the letter C than have a big Circus in my living room! Here is the Circus tent.We had a lesson about the letter C, sang songs, had dance time with songs that start with C, made 2 "C" crafts, baked Chocolate Chip Cookies shaped as C's, had Cotton candy and played musical instruments (Cymbals, Clapping toy and a Colorful maraca...hey, I know it's a stretch but it works ok)!

They each got to Choose the Character they wanted to be, so here is the little

Cowboy, Clown and Cheerleader. Adorable!
The last 10 minutes we played Circus games. The most popular was throwing the balls through the clowns mouth. It was so cute because every time the girls' threw their balls through, Brock would run after them to bring back to the girls' and the girls' would say, "Thank you Brock". It was adorable. They played so well together and that makes me so happy.

We tried to see how many kids we could fit in our Clown Car...Lydia didn't fit, hence the facial expression you see below!

I found this cute craft online and I just had to do it. We made little Caterpillars and taped them to our leaves. This has nothing to do with the Circus but I just had to make them.

What surprised me was that the kids were happiest when they were doing craft time. They loved it. They also got to tape Circles on the letter C. That was Brock's absolute fav. I think Lydia and I are going to have to start doing a daily craft. They were a hit. Yeah for Joy School!

Happy Birthday Levi

Today (the 27th) is my adorable nephew's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how fast time flies...especially when you live 1000 miles away (literally)!

Anyway, I just wanted to take a second to say happy birthday Levi! We love you and can't wait to see you next month.

A few weeks ago Levi and his little brother Cabot had their pictures taken. As an aunt, I must brag and say they turned out so adorably! My absolute favorite is this first one. He just looks like such a little man. I love it!

On another note, our stake had a blood drive and I went and donated a pint. I haven't donated in over two years so it felt good to finally do it again. Did you know that when you donate blood you save/help up to three lives? But only 5% of eligible Americans donate? Sad huh? I used to go with my friend Michelle all the time and got to the point where I could watch them insert the needle. But not this time...I was actually a little nervous. And what do you know, it took the girl 3 tries to find my vein. Ouch! That stung a little :) So when you see a huge bruise on my left arm, you know why!

Movies, Flips and Swimming!

The past few days have been pretty crazy for us. We're not used to all this running around. Helping Lydia to be more social is very tiring! On Thursday Lydia and I took Lizzy to the Clark Planetarium to look around. We also went and saw the new 3D "Under the Sea" movie. It was so cute and the girls actually sat the whole time to watch it. There was one point though, that I thought to myself, "Why the crap did I bring two two year olds to a movie?" because they got a little crazy. For about ten minutes I wanted to pull my hair out due to my daughter acting like a wild child. All she wanted to do was run up and down the stairs. When I made her sit down, she had a melt down and started screaming right in the middle of the theater. When I finally calmed her down, she had already upset Lizzy to point where she started crying and wanted her mommy. I leaned over to take care of her and Lydia lost her balance off my lap and hit her head on a hard, metal bar. Of course she started screaming again. I calmed her down and back to the stairs she wanted to go. So what did I do? I threatened to throw her beloved bunny in the trash if she didn't stay on my lap and be quiet. Oh yeah, I'm a bad mom. I had just had it and I would've done anything to keep her still. So anyway, besides that ten minutes of chaos, we had a great time :)

They we so cute with their glasses. During the movie they kept trying to reach out and grab the fish that were swimming by their heads!

Since the weather has been so nice lately I've let Lydia go outside and play and I watch from inside while cleaning my kitchen. I looked outside and saw this. 99% of the time Lydia is either teasing or hurting Larry so it was nice to see her just enjoying his company with no fighting or crying (Larry is the one that cries by the way...she's so mean to him). I went outside to take the pictures and I said, "You love Larry huh?" and Lydia's response, "Yeah, we're best friends huh?" I love it!
On Friday Jules invited Aimee, Brock, Lyd's and I to Flips to experience what Izee does each week. It was AMAZING. I love that place. They have the cutest mommy and me class. I can't get over how cute, friendly and fun everyone was. Lydia got to swing on bars, jump on different tramps, walk across the high beams and play with the big parachute. She had a great time. We'll have to go back there for sure. I think I was more impressed than Lydia was!
Tonight we were invited to Madelyn's 4th birthday party. Lynette and Joey rented out the rec center pool and had friends and family come swim to celebrate Maddie's b-day. We had so much fun. Lydia was doing fine until Daddy made her go down the BIG slide and she went under the water. She was glued to my side after that. She's sensitive just like her mommy, what can I say?!
We've loved getting to know Madds the past year. She's become quite a big part of Lydia's life. She talks about her all the time and is always wanting to know what she's doing. Thanks Madelyn for inviting us. You are hilarious and we love you tons.

Social Skillz

Lydia is definitely getting to the age where she needs to socialize more. She gets so bored at home with me that I can just see her eyes telling me to get her out of the house. So this is my goal, to get Lydia into as many activities as possible this year so she doesn't become the social outcast (although, how could that be possible with a daddy like Jake)!

On Tuesday I took Lydia to her very first dance class and her friends Izee, Millie and Grace were happy to come along. We went to the new Dancin' It Up studio on Redwood Rd that I've heard so much about. They let you do one free trial class to see if it's something your child would be interested in and to see what that class is all about. Well, let me tell you, Lydia had the BEST time. She loved it. She participated, danced, jumped around and sang. It was great. Her favorite part was staring at herself in the wall of mirrors as she ran back and forth, back and forth. She didn't take her eyes off of herself as she ran, it was so cute. I was very impressed with Lydia. She definitely exceeded my expectations. She's usually the VERY shy one.

Earlier this year I got together with my friends' Jules and Aimee to discuss starting a Joy School for our kids. Us moms finally got our act together and had our first class today! Our curriculum is the alphabet and each week, for those of you that don't know what it is, a mom will take a turn teaching the children a letter of the alphabet, have song time, do a craft, basically have a mini school in our home. The biggest positive for me is the chance Lydia gets to be around other kids, hence the developing of the social skills. Aimee taught the first class today and said it went perfectly. They played perfectly together, listened and were overall good kids so I am so excited. Let the socializing begin :)

P.S. An even better plus to this is that the past 2 days Lydia has taken great naps. She just had too much energy to take naps before and now all of this socializing about is taking the energy right out of her!

Valentine's Weekend!

I finally did it...

40+ hours of hard work

1 1/2 years of journaling (158 posts)

867 pictures and

23 days later, I finally finished my 262 page journal that I made from my blog and

I LOVE IT! I'm so proud of it and oddly enough, very protective of it. I think it turned out way cute. I went to blurb.com and they take your blog and convert it to a book for you. So now we have our family journal for the past year and a half.

President Spencer W. Kimball said:
"I urge all of the people of this church to give serious attention to their family histories, to encourage their parents and grandparents to write their journals, and let no family go into eternity without having left their memoirs for their children, their grandchildren, and their posterity. This is a duty and a responsibility, and I urge every person to start the children out writing a personal history and journal."

So now I know that all of those hours spent blogging weren't done in vein!

Now onto our weekend. I've decided a new tradition that Lyd's and I are going to continue is making homemade Valentine's cards. My mom was out here last year and we made little puppy dog valentine's for everyone. This year we made flowers. I learned how to make them in like 6th grade and I've remembered all these years later. But by the time you cut, color, make your design and create the flower, each one took about 10-15 minutes. Needless to say we only made a few this year.

So I decided that we'd make 6 to give to all the kids that were at Lynette and Joey's Valentine's party that they invited us to on Friday night. Lynette had it set up so cute for all the girls. I think they had a really good time. Thanks Lynette for the invite. Too bad I didn't get any pictures.

On the actual V-Day, we went as a family and ate sushi at Happy Sumo. The wait was 1 1/2 hours so we went to the Discovery Center to pass the time. Because I didn't want to spend 30 bucks to get in, we just played in the DC store for free. I know, I'm cheap! Lydia didn't mind...she had a great time anyway. Here she is in the V-day dress G-ma Frandsen got her!

Man, let me tell you...the sushi was SOOO good this time at HS. One of the specials was the Scarlet Lady and it was one of the best rolls I've ever had. It had this yummy spicy crab on top of it. Jake always orders the rolls because I'm too much of a wuss to try anything different but every time I eat what he orders, I always love them. We got four rolls and they were all fabulous! So we had a great V-day. Love you honey! Glad you're my valentine!