New Van & Pictures

Seth is growing so fast. He is about 3 months and 16lbs!

You can't tell by the look on her face, but Anika loves Barney. So do I. Because she says things like,

"I'm exercising (as she does some silly move). It is good for me!" after she watches it.

Yes that is a pull-up on her head.

Our new van!! 2006 Toyota Sienna.

I can get the kids in and out more easily. I don't bonk Anika's head so much.

Automatic locks. What more can you ask for? (We do have a few more features than that...)

Good-bye 1998 Chevy Prism. "Little Red." It's been fun. We officially bought and picked up our van just shortly before we sold our car. Despite being tired of our old car and excited for our van, I was a little more sad than happy for awhile. I would have had the Prism 9 years next month. I bought it just before I graduated high school, had it through college and it has been our only car since we've been married.

Some of "Little Red's" eccentricities:

The key doesn't work in the driver's side door so you have to unlock the car from the passenger side (and unlock all of the doors manually).

But the passenger door's handle is broken off. It is still possible to open it,

although we didn't think so when it first broke off.

We have to put 1 quart+ of oil in every time we fill up the gas tank.

The two car seats don't actually fit in it appropriately.

Even with the front seats scooted forward more than we would like.

I sure do like driving my new van around! (And Anika can't reach Seth!)

City Creek

For the past 4-5 years my dad has been working on the finance team for the downtown SLC City Creek project. It is amazing! I took Anika and Seth to meet him, Ben and Emily there for a tour.

I forgot my camera so I don't have any cool pictures :(

Some of the highlights:

Anika loved the dinosaur play area. The dinosaurs look hard but they are not, and they are

especially made for fun climbing. The floor in that area is also very padded.

We ate dinner at Kneaders.

The fountains were very cool. I hope I can see a fire show on the main one sometime.

Anika was afraid of the non-existent troll under the skywalk.

We got 2 free Hogle Zoo tickets.

Anika and Grandpa looked for the trout in the city creek.

We saw Nathaniel's mission president who now serves as the area president in Chile (Lawrence Corbridge).

Anika played in the castle tower, colored a picture and watched Lion King on the huge TV in the Disney Store.

There is a Mother's Room.

We saw the fish in Nordstroms (but while we were in there we missed seeing the roof close!)

We got to visit my dad's office in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We colored on the big white board and got to see the incredible view from his office window. The temple is right there out his window!

Here are a few of the fun facts he shared with us:

The roof was recently featured on an engineering magazine.

There are over 200 trout in the city creek.

There are heaters under the ground to melt snow.

There are thin lines of drains all around the ground level that are narrow enough that a

stiletto heel won't get stuck in them.

There are more fancy drains on the upper level, but they don't pass the stiletto-heel

test and are off to the side of the main walkway.

As you cross the skywalk, there is a perfect view of Ensign Peak. The skywalk has

windows as sides intentionally for that purpose.

There are 90+ stores.

There are statues/monuments with Olympic figures, seagulls, and I forget what else.

The large water fountain is pressure-sensitive. If a kid climbs up on it during

a fire show it will automatically turn off.

The garbage cans are cool but expensive.

Photo credits: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS404US404&ix=sea&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=city+creek&fb=1&gl=us&hq=city+creek&cid=1429749320349744761&ei=ueB_T5GyO-TfiAKZtoH0Ag&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CE4Q4gkwAA