At The Zoo

Back in March, Logan's preschool went on a field trip to the zoo. Lexi and I tagged along. It was a chilly, slightly rainy day, but it turned out to be good, because most of the animals were out. Here are some of the highlights:

Two of Logan's favorites are ones they don't have in AZ - the penguins and the kimodo dragon. This penguin is getting ready to take off. The dragon is usually outside, but chose to stay inside this day.

Here are Logan and Lexi on the carousel. It was hard to get a picture of Lexi because I was holding her at the same time.

The snow leopard eating it's meal...apparently it was still hungry. Here it is later trying to eat the kids' fingers.

Here are some of the other animals we saw. Some monkeys, birds, zebra, a sloth bear (I think) and a red panda.

A Shameless Plug

I have this friend who taught piano lessons at the same place I did several years ago. While we never 'hung out' outside of work, I do consider him a friend and am so proud of him. His name is William Joseph and he just released his second album this week. The first album is called 'Within' and a couple of the songs off that album are currently on my playlist. He wrote two of the songs - obviously not 'Ave Maria'. His second album is called 'Beyond' and I've only heard a couple of the songs so far, but they are outstanding. His first album is available at Deseret Book, so I would assume his second one is, as well. He plays the piano, but the songs also have a full orchestra, and in some cases, voices, as well. He's supposed to be on 'Dr. Phil' today, so check it out if you have time. He's been on tour with Josh Groban, Clay Aiken and Il Divo. He's done all kinds of things that I could only dream about.

Anyway - I think William is amazing and I justed wanted everyone to know.

Bathroom Makeover

So - here are some pictures of the powder room makeover my Mom and I did when she was here last month. It was tough getting pictures of the whole room, since it is so small. But, here are two angles of the before:

It started off as a simple project - paint, wallpaper and maybe some thing for the walls. We ended up replacing almost everything (except for the toilet, sink, cabinet and tile floor). I didn't get before pictures of the light fixture or the tile backsplash, but here's a before and after of the sink faucet:

We swicthed the faucet, towel rack, toilet paper holder, mirror and light fixture. Then we added some wall hangings. Here are some more after pictures.

To get the full effect of how cool this room really is, you'll just have to come visit! My mom and I had a good time and she taught me a bunch of new things... like how to change a sink faucet and light fixture and grout tile. I can't wait for my mom's next visit so we can do another room. Someday I'll take pictures of what we did to Lexi's room last summer.

Lexi's new favorite

Lexi learned a new word while David and Laura were here: Papa. She also learned that when she said this new word, one or more of the following would happen:

She would get picked up.

She would get a cookie, or some other treat.

She would get a sip of... that's right... Mountain Dew.

The tradition of getting the babies hooked on soda/caffiene lives on...

In all fairness, she loved being with both her Papa and her Grammie. Being the great picture taker that I am (sarcasm here) these were the only pics I got of her with Papa and I didn't get any of her with Grammie. Big surprise.

He said what?

We were having a lazy morning today. We were all laying in bed together when Logan procedes to put his foot right up in Jon's face and says: "Smell it. Smell it. Now take it." Jon and I couldn't help but laugh. Some of you may get it - some may not. I'll just say that this kid picks up on everything! I guess it doesn't help that the TV is constantly on in our house...

Logan and Lexi

The kids got their picture taken together last week. Lexi so did not want to cooperate, but they managed to get a few good shots of the kids. Here they are...

Change in Music

Jon wanted me to take his playlist off because he discovered some not-so-nice words in at least one of the songs. So - I copied Brian and Kim and made my own America Idol favorites, which does include David Cook. Everything else is almost the exact same as theirs. Enjoy now - I'm sure it won't be long until Jon updates his list.

Global Warming and its impact on our nation and the world.

Well, that's not actually what my post is about. I just thought it would be fun to get your attention since this is my first every blog attempt. Since I finally joined in and Jamie was gracious enough to allow me to add my music to the blog, I thought I would blog about my favorite bands. If you are like me your favorite band probably has changed a few times over the years. My first memory of having a favorite band was Depeche Mode when I was around 11. This was definitely influenced greatly by my idolization of my brother Kevin. My dad never let me dye the hair black and grow it out like Robert Smith of The Cure like Kevin had. That was also the first concert I ever attended. Not a bad choice to start with. Soon after that I switched briefly for a year or so to constantly listening to Book of Love (also one of the many tapes, yes, not yet cd's, available through Kevin) and would fall asleep to their music most nights. That was followed up with yet more 80's music by Oingo Boingo, which I still consider one of the best ever and don't think that that is even debatable. In my teenage years I was obsessed with Nirvana for some reason and owned about 20 of their Cd's along w/ many of their posters on my wall. With help from my cousins Darrel and Aaron and one of my best friends Cody Birch I got into Ska and punk in my late teens and along with it the always exciting and constant change in hair color. I think ska/punk music is a lot of fun and had a blast going to concerts and stage diving. Since then I've sort of stuck to MXPX and they still reign supreme today. Who knows what taste changes are in store for the future. Thanks for reading my boring attempt at blogging.