Thank You, Library Pass, February 2012

This demonstation at the Leonardo museum let the boys see how algae can be used as a thickening agent in food products. The Leonardo is in the old Salt Lake City Library Building. It's new interior has become spectacular with floor to ceiling scuptures, like the algae-inspired sculpture you see behind the boys that climbs 30 feet upwards and is anchored in dirt beds on the floor.

Green Screen Fun

Trace is making his own film strip to go in the movie wheel at the right.

Talmage is learning what it is like to relearn to walk with an artificial limb.

Woah, boy! That looks tricky!

This movie was created by Cole at the stop-motion studio in the Leonardo. Now the boys are working on stop-motion movies at home.

Here, the boys are at the new Natural History Museum. The outside of the building is the real spectacle. Rio Tinto donated enough copper to cover the entire exterior. It is stunning. And the interior is designed to make you feel like you are inside Utah's canyons with towering ceilings and rugged winding passageways.

These outings were courtesy of our City Libary Community Exploration Pass, which gets your family one visit each to the Gateway Children's Discovery Museum, the new Leonardo Museum, the new Natural History Musuem and Red Butte Gardens. Salt Lake City can't be beat for cheap things to do with the kids!

Valentines 2012

Photo proof that Clint and I went out on a nice date. We had a week of Valentine's Celebrations this year. The week before I planned a date and we went out for Thai food. It was a yummy place called Chanon Thai, very fresh. Then we drove up to Park City and heard the Utah Symphony perform Beethoven's Fifth and a Mendelssohn violin concerto. Just loved it.
Clint had planned to make me a yummy dinner and 1,000 calorie a bite chocolate cake, but I begged off. I have goals. So instead, he brought me a gorgeous bouquet of white and pink roses. We got the boys to bed early and watched Breaking Dawn on blue-ray. Very entertaining. We can suspend our highbrow prejudices and enjoy those movies very well, thank you. Love to all you valentines out there!

Red Butte Gardens

Last week it was 50 degrees on Monday afternoon. We thought it was a perfect time to use our free pass to Red Butte Garden, which expires at the end of February. What a gorgeous place! The boys loved it. It has lots of water features, so it would be a great place to hang out in the summer.

Accolades

     Color me amazed. Talmage and Isabella got 4th place in the Science Fair! We are so proud of them. It was a month-long project between our two families. Isabella came up with the question: What has more acid a grapefruit or a lemon? Then we beefed it up by organizing a taste panel to compare taste buds to PH test strips. Isabella came up with all the artistic touches on the poster. Talmage came up with the conclusion. Isabella's parents crafted the methods for the taste testing and took the photos and I did all the typing. Pretty awesome for two kids in resource!
     In other news, Trace's Sunbeam's teacher told us how impressed she was with Trace. They were talking about the pre-existence and Trace told them all about the war in heaven--of course, it was a war! My boys are highly interested in wars! :) He also said, "You know that when someone dies, it is not the last time you see them." I guess this means I can't kick Trace out of Family Home Evening anymore, because apparently he does understand.

Shoveling in a Snowstorm

It's not wasted effort. For Jack, its a challenge! Jack vs. snowstorm!

Rise and Shout

The Saturday after Christmas the Cresaps headed to Utah county and we had the greatest day. Here are the highlights.
1) Buying turning tools for Clint's late Christmas present at a cool turning store in South Provo.
2) Buying the boys BYU T-shirts at the BYU Bookstore. We are starting the brain washing early--kids this is what an affordable education looks like.
3) Hearing Trace say, as we walked into the Wilkinson Center, "There sure are a lot of Jesuses at Mom's school!"
4) Visiting cousin Jani Radebaugh in the Eyering Science Center. The boys had fun running around the empty building and playing with the hands-on science displays. Then Jani showed them a power point presentation called "The Fellowship of the Rock" about her expedition to Antarctica to hunt for meteorites.She assigned a Tolkein character to each member of the team as she told the story. The boys are still talking about it. Jani rocks. :)
5) Eating at the food court at the University Mall. Each of the boys got to eat what they wanted. They were ecstatic, especially Talmage and Jack who finally got to answer their sushi and taco cravings.
6) Dropping in on the Merrills in American Fork. All the kids had fun running the electric scooters around the Merrill's round-the-house sidewalk track.
7) Finally we headed to Saratoga Springs and spent the evening with Scott and Cara Lafferty. We always have a good time with them and the boys love it because inevitably they get to play half-life with Uncle Scott and Clint. I can't tell you how much Cole loves this. I'm not thrilled about it, but you may notice I'm surrounded by boys, so I'm out-voted. And I don't dislike it as much as they love it. The joys of boys.

A Good Christmas

We didn't get to join the Hales for the Christmas Eve program, because Clint was sick and barely able to stand for a minute at a time. We had our quiet, traditional Eve here. We watched Luke II, then read it and sang a very tiny bit. Then the boys got to open their new PJs and books. This year I got all the books and videos at the library sale. The boys loved them! Tal got a graphic novel adaptation of The Hobbit. Cole got the Gnome Book, Jack a hidden dragon book and Trace got Make Way for Ducklings. Much higher quality books that I could get on sale at a store, and the boys didn't even comment on the fact that they were used.

Aunt Jenny was kind enough to give us some of the fried ice cream that she'd prepared for the Huntsville Mexican feast. I'm pretty sure you could die from that stuff. It is that good. That will have to be a tradition! Cole and Tal could not get past their reservations about the brown stuff, but Jack, Trace, Clint and I devoured ours.

Here is our Christmas morning feast. Birthday cake for Jesus, jerky, and OJ.

The Cub Scouts go Live on TV!

When we lived in Memphis one of the members of our ward was a weather woman on TV, Jill Margetts. When we got here to Salt Lake I saw her picture on a billboard and realized that she had transferred to a Salt Lake City station. I talked to her on Face Book and she invited the boys to the station. They were so good. They were on the edge of the set during a broadcast and were completely silent. Then Jill brought them to the green wall and she did a live shot with them. She said, "Are you boys excited for Christmas?" They yelled Yeah!!! Then she said, "The question is will it be a white one? I'll tell you after this break." It was a very fun experience for the boys.

Temple Square Lights

We went to Temple Square to see the lights for family night. By Jack's request, we took Trax from the downtown library. "In my whole life I've never got to ride the trolley!" Since I rode the Trax with the cub scouts last year, they changed the lines, so we had to transfer at the courthouse. I think that made it more fun. I love public transportation. Clint was not excited about the extra hassle it provided, (it did add an hour on a school night), but he did seemed to enjoy figuring it all out. At the end of the ride Jack said, "I hate trains they make me fall down!" I had to laugh, and said, "Jack, you are the reason we are on this train!" Temple Square itself was as lovely as usual. It wasn't too, too cold. And we got to see the nativity and all the lights on the main square. We dropped into the Tabernacle for a bit too. We went up to see the Christus with 300 other people. It's a good thing we live so close. We'll have to come back for our own private viewing.

Elementary Christmas Concert

The fourth through sixth grades had their Christmas Concert. I'm always impressed when my boys sing all those words! It's a blessing to be in a school with choir, band and art instructors!

Jack's First Grade Carols at the Care Center

I drove over to the West Valley to watch Jack's grade sing at a nursing home.

He was surprised to see me. That night at dinner he recited one of the poems.

I made a little snow ball,

As perfect as can be.

I thought I'd keep it as a pet, 

And let it sleep with me. 

I made it some pajamas, 

And a pillow for his head. 

Last night it ran away, 

But first it wet the bed!

Cole's Birthday

Cole woke up early the morning of his birthday. Just in time to see this lunar eclipse! The boys were so jazzed. It was their first time seeing an eclipse.

When you are speedy like Cole you can open all your presents in under 30 seconds.

Family cake ceremony. Can you believe Cole is 9?

A week later he had his party at Laserquest. 

The traditional Laser Quest mummification by TP.

Suiting up.

Noah, Jack, Sage, Cole and Bridger. (Talmage was home sick)

Back at home, opening his friends presents. All the boys got LEGO mystery minifigures.

Cake ceremony with friends. We love our Cole.