Thursday, March 26, 2009

Back from Michigan!

I have not been ignoring my duties as a blogger just for fun, we've been on vacation! (Yes, again. March has been a special month!) This time it was a quick visit to Michigan to see my family and a jump over to Canada to see Toronto and Niagara Falls. There are many pictures to see so be prepared for your finger to go numb scrolling!



Eryn had fun spending time with Grandma!


They had a screaming contest...


You'll never guess who won!

My Mom enjoys feeding the birds in their back yard.


Sometimes it's a little like Alfred Hitchock's "The Birds" back there though!





Michigan's State Capitol building in Lansing.

Eryn tried to ride this scooter because it was pink. This is right outside the football stadium where MSU plays. The 4 Big Ten Trophies! (I touched them!)



While Tom's away and the door just happened to be open... Hehe!


Tom Izzo's Office (MSU Men's Basketball Head Coach).



This part is a little backwards (and I'm sick of trying to fix this excessively long post!) This was the tantrum that came when it was time to leave feeding the ducks.

Mike's so patient and puts up with so much!

Black squirrels from China are around Potter's Park and the Lansing area.

Eryn didn't want to let the ducks and geese eat it all!

She did try to share with them.

She had fun chasing these little guys around too.



I took Eryn to go feed the ducks and geese at Potter's Park where we used to go as a family when I was a kid. A bag of popcorn and a little wildlife is fun and cheap entertainment!
We also went to the Michigan State Library and Museum. I spent many Saturdays there as a child "helping" my Dad with family history and learning about Michigan History. Eryn tried riding on the decoy deer.

Learning about Motown.

Oh my baby! The '53 Corvette they have on display is so pretty!
Eryn really wanted a closer look! (my friend Kathleen)
She got one! Yes, my daughter crawled under the fence around it and jumped right into the display!
She was really content to push her stroller through the museum more than look at anything.

This is how Mommy and Daddy felt after awhile at the museum with an almost 2 year old!



My friend Kathleen let me take a few nice pictures of her!

Then we went and visited our old high school. They remodeled it a ton and we could hardly find our way around. It was a good thing that one of my former teachers is now a principal there. She gave us the tour and made sure that no one tried to make us go back to class. With me being pregnant and Kat's nose ring we fit in around there better now than we did back in the day! (Sad, but true...)
Some of the Detroit Temple pictures that Mike took. He submitted some to the LDSchurchtemples site, so we're just waiting to see if (and when) they are used on there.






She's giving Dad kisses!



We went to visit our neighbor's to the North (East from Michigan) for a couple of days. Mike and I left Eryn with Grandma and Grandpa and left the country! We took my cousin Brian and his wife Eva with us so they could get away for a little while too.


The Toronto Temple.






Niagara Falls was another stop on our vacation!




They have lights on the falls at night that change colors.

The view of the American Falls from our hotel room!

The Horseshoe Falls from our room!

Then, a zoom shot from the room.



It was super cold there and I forgot to pack my winter coat for this trip. I stole a hoodie from my brother Sam's stuff in the basement. He doesn't need it at Fort Bragg anyways!

Our hotel. We had a room with a jetted bath tub and a fire place. It was so peaceful and perfect! We were both so glad that Eryn was with Grandma and Grandpa so we could really enjoy it!





"The Journey Behind the Falls" tour was interesting. The river at the bottom freezes up, so there was no rides on the Maid of the Mist for us this time. (Which is probably a good thing because we would have froze to death and been coated in ice before the ride was over!)

Buffalo, New York where the Niagara River comes out of Lake Erie Look! A picture of the 2 of us on a vacation. This doesn't happen often. I NEVER give my camera to strangers. It was good to have someone I knew to take a picture of us.

Where the Tornoto Blue Jays play baseball.

The CN Tower. Standing at 1,815 ft, it is the tallest free standing man-made structure in the world. (The Sears tower is 1,450 ft)

When you take a tour up it you get crazy pictures like these!

You can really see the retractable roof on the Rogers Center.

In the skypod (1,465 ft!)



Downtown Toronto

We went inside the Rogers Center for a peek!





We also stopped into the Air Canada Arena where the Maple Leafs and the Raptors play.

Downtown Toronto from out near the lake.



When we came back from Canada Eryn was still in one peice! She'd had a lot of fun playing soccer in the backyard and running around free (it's fenced in). I'm still hearing about Grandpa and Grandma and the birds that she saw. I'm really glad that we went, even for such a short visit. We all needed it.

Me and my crazy loving parents!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Happy and Healthy

After a lot of craziness this last couple of weeks... I am proud to announce that I am healthy! The antibiotics are gone and they took all of the sickness with them! My little unnamed baby girl is going to be an Olympic swimmer! She's constantly going back and forth in there to the point that I can't sit still. Being pregnant is better this time around, even though this little one seems even more active than Eryn was! I'm going to be in trouble in a couple of weeks when the extra room runs out.

I almost got things done around the house today, but the Mountain West Tournament was on and that distracted me just enough to keep me from completing my cleaning. I watched most of the BYU vs Air Force game today. Throughout the duration of the game I did manage to chew off my fingernails, but it was worth it in the end with a Cougar victory!

Monday, March 9, 2009

The Monday After VEGAS

The long and the short of our Vegas Vacation... don't take almost a 2 year old to Vegas no matter how cute she is! Now, the pictures...

The evil smile says it all!

The Carnival Wold Buffet is inside the Rio. Eryn slept most of the time that we were in line to get in. She woke up and was cute for the guest services people. They gave us $10 off our meal and a coupon to get out of line and into the food faster!
Mike celebrating his *cough* 25th Birthday (he turned 30, but is in denial) with some coconut gelato! On the way down, he turned 30 for a couple minutes before we drove into Nevada and then he was 29 again. Funny how time zones work...
Eryn really liked the ice cream!
The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay was interesting.
Sharks, HUGE Amazon fish, jelly fish sea turtles, and all kinds of sea creatures to look at!
Some you could even touch. (Slimy!)
All that wasn't enough for Eryn she threw a tantrum most of the time since she wanted to get out and run around.
In the gift shop she tried being cute and happy to get a toy. It DIDN'T work!
The Paris wouldn't let strollers up the tower, so we enjoyed the view from outside.

Daddy and Pooh Bear watching the water fountains outside the Belagio.
Hey, I look pregnant in this picture!
After a long day in Vegas...
We saw the lions at the MGM Grand, I lost $20 there (so much for my investment plan!), and then we went outside.
This picture really sums up what our trip was like. Mike chasing Eryn.

I think they also built a statue that looks just like this one in New York City
Eryn was picking her nose for this one.
We realized that even though In-N-Out Burger is hours from our home we've been there twice so far this year! Toasted buns and amazing fries make this place a must stop whenever you can!
On the way home we stopped a million times to go potty, change diapers, deal with a car sick little girl, to get food, Rolaids, and to see a corner of Zion's National Park.
This is at Kolob Canyon which is right off of I-15 on the northwest corner of Zion's. This peaceful beautiful place was really a nice way to end our trip that was more stressful than it should have been.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I'm Alive

After checking myself into the hospital this morning... I am pleased to announce that I am still alive, still pregnant, and still stuffed up beyond all belief! They did decide that they knew what was wrong with me. I have a massive chart topping sinus infection. So, after spending most of the day being scanned, monitored, and x-rayed I am home taking the largest pills that I have ever seen and I will survive.

While waiting for my horse pill antibiotics I read an interesting article in the Daily Herald about Pizza Hut. It made me chuckle so I figured that I'd share it!

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/301626/149/