Visit to Utah via Mal's Photos

Yes, I did take pictures and video of our trip to Utah last month. Sorry I'm just getting them up now--but I'm sure Mike's pictures sufficed for a while. This is in the order the pictures uploaded--I grouped them kind of but they're not in anyway chronological.

Mum got us all tickets to go to the Salt Lake ComiCon. I was expecting mostly just some famous people I wouldn't be able to see and a lot of cosplay. But it turns out I am a ComiCon fan. There were, of course, those things, but the whole thing was lots of fun--and surprisingly kid friendly! (Didn't expect that--not that it stops me from doing most things.)

Eden and Jen with R2D2. He spun all around and posed with people. There was a little girl dressed up like him. It was adorable.

Madie wouldn't get in any character pics with us. There was a Spider Man I thought would win her over for sure, but he was with a creepy Jaba the Hut, so she cowered behind me. Then we saw Snow White and again I thought this would be the one. Alas, Finn, Jen, and I were the only ones into it.

 Madie did get her arm painted with "Elsa Magic." This lady--all of the makeup artists really--were amazing. I could have stood and watched for at least an hour. They had one woman (at least I think it was a woman--the makeup was really that good) near the end of getting fully-bodied as an alien. They said in total it would take about 5 hours.

It took Madie a little persuading to go in--all the artists were kind of like this one (note the little horns on her face). And Madie told her, "I don't want to look like the green lady." (The alien woman was green.) I promised her I didn't have the money to make her look like the green lady even if she did want to, and then we saw her: a little girl about Madie's age just leaving the booth with glitter, snowflakes, and blue and white swirls all over her face. Her mother told us it was "Elsa Magic." Done.

We also took a visit to the Hogle Zoo. It is so fun to watch my kids at zoos. They love them. I wish Maine had one.

Finn especially loved the monkeys. 

Madie liked them all, but she seemed most taken with the rhinos, sea lions (here), and giraffes (as usual). 

They took a ride on the carousel at the end. This was Finn's first time actually sitting on an animal rather than on a bench with me. He is on one that goes up and down, Madie's is bigger but stationary. 

In totally unrelated events: I got an ice keki. I hated the Otter Pops that were so popular in Idaho--they just tasted like watered down juice with too much sugar added. I much preferred just a good popsicle, but the Otter Pops were such hits with the guys, and I was too cheap to buy any popsicles myself, so I just didn't have them. But Jen's mum had sent her ice keki's a while ago and they were in the freezer (for a limited time, *ahemEDENahem*) when we got there. They are delicious.

My cocky I-have-an-ice-keki-and-you-don't face.

I did manage to threaten Eden enough to save exactly one ice keki for each of the kids. Madie loved it!

Aunts Alexa and Eden and I took the kids to Liberty Park for a luncheon picnic early-on in our trip. It was fun, and wore the kids out.

Downing their pb&j sandwiches.

A little boy at the park had a ball that Finn picked up and had a very hard time giving back to see no more. The mom pulled this one out of her bag and said, "You know, we just found this one here a few weeks ago. He can have it." I'm 99% sure it was a Kong ball, but like I've said before, there's really not much difference between babies/toddlers and dogs anyway, so it didn't bother me much--and it obviously didn't bother Finn.

I was upset when Kaitlyn and Connor got married before we got out there because I had planned such a long trip and now the main event I was going out there for had already happened--of course I understood it all; it was mostly just a combination self-pitying and anger that I couldn't change my tickets for less than $200 a pop. It turned out for the best in the end, but one of the things I was torn on was Easter. I wanted to spend it with my husband, but I was glad I had a chance to spend it with my family too.

Madie helped me make her first bunny cake. I haven't ever bothered to make one because we're a small family and I don't like it lying around. It was fun to do though, and Madie really enjoyed it.

We had an egg hunt, but I guess I only took video of it, not pictures. I'll upload them to YouTube soon. It was Finn's first, and I must say, he picked up on it much faster than Madie did at that age. Thanks, Jen and Aunt Eden for hiding the eggs!

One weekend, my mother-in-law came up, picked me and the kids up, and we drove up to visit Mike's sister's family. It was a lot of fun, except for almost everyone getting violently ill while we were there. Sorry guys!

We watched one of E's baseball games. 

And we were able to celebrate Em's 1st birthday. Here's Madie helping her unwrap her present.