We're off to the Big Apple...

My sister Denise has been in Phoenix for 2 years working at the Arizona Broadway Theatre. But, she has finally returned to her proper home in NYC. (proper meaning- the place we like her to be so we can visit)
Well everyone, I am excited to announce...we are going back and this time with a new addition, Natalie!!! Although I shouldn't be excited about that part, since a 5 hour direct plane ride with her is going to be hell. I can only imagine that since she has our genes she will be in heaven once we arrive. And to top it off we are going for Thanksgiving. We leave the Saturday before. Denise and her friend/roomate Michael supposedly are some serious chefs at Thanksgiving, so we are expecting great things.



It will be our first time seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...and we know Natalie is going to love the floats!

Hogle Zoo

It has been so cool this week in SLC. The high is barely 80 and it is feeling so nice outside. Zack and I decided it was time we took Natalie to the Zoo (since we wouldn't sweat our butt's off). I invited my mom to come with us since she loves to hang out with Natalie. We met at 9:00 with high expectations of lots of fun. However, it did not quite turn out that way. The zoo is pretty small, the cages are a bit too small as well, and you can't help but feel bad for the predator cats that were pacing back and forth looking a bit insane. I don't mean to be negative but, as an animal lover I couldn't help but think of Dr. Seuss' book "If I ran the Zoo" and how much bigger I would make them.



My mom showed Natalie that she could walk behind the wagon and push. Not sure if that was good or bad because after that looking at animals was so much more boring...all she wanted to do was push. We tried to get Natalies attention by asking her where the elephants were and thats when she put her hand up like "I don't know" since they were behind her.




Here she is looking at Rhino's with dad.







I have to say the carousel was the best part. It was beautiful, seriously. One of the best I have seen. Natalie loved it! Here she is with Grandma and I before it started. During the ride she had the biggest grin and would pat the elephant she was riding when she would see her daddy to show him what she was riding. (We switched animals after the below picture was taken.)




Zack and I felt better about our day once we went and played Rockstar with my brother. Nothing like some good jamming out to take away the blues.

A trip to Mile High City & Tiny Town

We have not visited Zack's family in Denver for quite some time so we decided to fly there over Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun for Natalie. As most of you know she is obsessed with flowers and spent a lot of time sniffing flower pots on their deck. Not to mention she got to hang out with her two girl cousins.




Zack's sister Megan suggested we take the kids on Labor Day to Tiny Town which is about 15 minutes up the mountains. Below are some of the cutest pictures of Natalie cruising around these little houses and city buildings. (There is probably at least 25) I wish we had one of these towns in SLC.




She always shows such enthusiasm when it comes to taking pics with mom...the love just pours out.



Of course when dad is in the picture its all smiles




Some of the houses you could go inside of...her expression is just perfect for when we made her go to jail. (double click on the pic to see it enlarged)




And our trip to Tiny Town ended with a scenic train ride just in case you missed anything...fortunately for us there was real deer along the way. I guess they figure they can take down anyone in Tiny Town. (Below this post is mini posts of all the activities while we were in Denver)

Anyone for some Fruit Pizza?

Okay so, since I met Zack he has always talked about how his mom use to make these "Fruit Pizza's" for birthdays when they were kids. It sounded yummy the way he described it and since we were in Denver for mine...she asked me what dessert I wanted and I said "Fruit Pizza". Now the concept of the pizza is misleading because it's no pizza...its the most scrumptous COOKIE enlarged to pizza size, that I have ever eaten. The bottom is a big sugar cookie, and then a cream cheeese & whip cream frosting with fruit on top. Lets just say Natalie was right to try to sneak some while we were taking the above picture. The more you get the merrier you are!!! (And worth the 5 pounds added to your hips when you finish.)




Compliments to the Chef pictured below

To Sleep or Not To Sleep

While in Denver we had opted to watch our nieces (Carly 4 & Lydia 3) while their parents played in a Volleyball tournament in Aspen. We thought it would be fun to test our parenting skills since 3 kids is what we have stated we wanted in the long run. While it was tons of fun as you can see from this blog and photos, we lacked more sleep this past weekend then when Natalie was a newborn. The first night we stayed with them (Friday) we had Carly sleeping on the floor by our bed in a sleeping bag because she was having scary dreams, and Lydia was in bed between Zack and I. Natalie thankfully was asleep in another room but during the course of the night, she had woken up crying once too! At 6 AM I woke up to Lydia furiously scratching a bug bite next to my head (the sound of nails grating skin was not pleasant that close to my ear) and told her to go play puzzles in her room till we got up. All in all....three kids is not in our imminent future. We like some sleep just a little to much.






The girls were so cute with Natalie. We had them take a bath together and play outside together. Natalie was in heaven. There was so much for her to see and do there. Zack and I think she was meant to be a second or third child because she can just stare at the two girls playing and be totally entertained. She definitely didn't think three was a crowd and was okay sharing her parents for a weekend.

Just a little bit of Pixie Dust...

We dressed up Natalie as Tinker Bell and her cousins and her danced around with me to childrens songs "Like Skip to my Lou". It was so funny. Natalie was trying not to get knocked over as we skipped all around her. I was pouring sweat by the end. Carly asked me why I was so hot, and I thought if only I could be 4 again and have an everlasting supply of energy. Instead dancing around a basement with toddlers is like a workout.



Here she is wondering what she has gotten herself into...

An airplane ride

So it's not like this is Natalie's first time on an airplane. Just the first time she was excited and her parents were anxious
about how she would do...since lets face it, she is a wiggle worm now!

But as soon as we got on, and thank god it was not a full flight, she thought looking out the window was the coolest thing. She also loved to peek around the sides of the seat to see who was back there. All in all we made it there and Zack and I were still speaking to each other. (Which means it went well.)

And did I mention that she loves to show you what she is eating literally!!!