Three new bowls

So, as you scanned this post, you may have noticed that there are only pictures of two bowls, despite the title clearly saying that there are three. This is because I forgot to take a picture of Lauren's bowl before I gave it to her. As you may know, dear reader, I have decided to make a gift for each of my darling nieces and nephews. I made Sidney and Wyatt cups, for which I received a great phone call this morning. (Sidney and I talked for ten minutes before I realized that I was going to be late for church. She is so funny and smart.) Anyway, back to the whole three bowl vs two bowl situation. Yesterday morning Lauren called me. She was staying with her Nana and Poppy while her parents went on a date. Due to the weather, and her extreme love of me (the aunt said humbly,) they had decided to come down to Orem to visit. After they arrived we went straight to the library, which is the hottest place in town for my nieces and nephews. It turns out they were having a Cinco de Mayo celebration with dancers, so we stayed to watch. Afterwards we wandered around while Mom called Aunt Diane and Uncle Larry to see if they wanted to join us for lunch. We ended up at Mama Chu's, a mexican restaurant. Lauren ate the chips and salsa, which were actually pretty spicy. She said that she liked it, despite her runny nose and eyes. She then ate a good amount of rice and beans.
After lunch we stopped by Jeff and Heathers to see the home improvements. Heather is such an amazing designer. I then thought it would be nice to stop by Color Me Mine to see if my newest creations were done, which they were. One was a bowl for Tanner and the other was a bowl for Lauren. A picture of Tanner's is in this post but I was not able to get a picture of Lauren's yellow and orange bowl before it was sent home with her. The third bowl, pictured below, is from a Family Home Evening activity we had last week. Our singles ward invaded Color Me Mine and we all painted on the ward's dime.
After picking up the bowls with Lauren and my parents, we strolled through the Riverwoods were Mom proceeded to have a pretty bad allergic reaction to the Juniper Trees. I had no idea she was so allergic to them. We made it down the the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where Poppy bought us all some chocolate. We returned to my house and I received some good gardening advice from my parents and Lauren got her diaper changed. All in all, it was a great way to spend a Saturday.

(As a postscript to this blog entry, it is important to note that the order of my creation does not in any way show a preference towards one niece or nephew in comparrison to another. Also, it's important that all my siblings know that these dishes are microwave and dishwasher safe.)

Babysitting Lauren

On Thursday I went up to babysit Lauren. We had a great time. Lauren helped me take a picture of her mommy and I managed to get a pretty good picture of John, Lauren, and Dad. After wonderful meal made by Jennifer, all the other grown-ups left for the theater. Lauren and I took a walk around the block. We saw a dog, at which Lauren barked, and stopped to look at some rocks. Even though it was kind of cold, she wouldn't keep her mittens and hat on. Every time she ran, she said "fast." It started to get really cold so we went back home. Lauren and I then ate some bread, sang, played the piano, read books, and I chased her around. After a very messy diaper, I got her ready for bed. She now brushes her teeth (sort of.) She helped me read Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, and The Going to Bed Book. She was pretty tired so it only took her about five minutes to fall asleep. I then had a hard time staying away. It was another wonderful night.

Father's Day and two birthdays

This Sunday was Father's Day. The entire family, including cousin Wade and his family, met at my parents home to celebrate. We celebrated Father's Day for my own father, Jeremy, John, Josh, Jordan, and Wade, along with the birthdays of Lauren and Isaac. What a wonderful time we had. We had a great meal that included garlic mashed potatoes, grilled turkey, salad, and rolls. The chocolate birthday cake was excellent. I managed to get pictures of both Lauren and Isaac enjoying the books that I gave them. Wade, Amy, Abagail, and Liam were a delight to see. It has been a couple of years since they have ventured to Utah and we were all happy to see them. I have included just a few of the pictures that I took that day on this blog entry.

On a more personal note, I would like to wish my father a very happy Father's Day. I couldn't ask for a better dad (even my friends think so.) Some of the aspect I love the best about my father are his sense of humor, artisit eye, willingness to help others, and his love of his family. (Also, before anyone says anything, I realize that I don't have a picture of Dad on this blog entry.)