My Beautiful Little People

My father-in-law took some great photos of the kids our last day visiting them and I wanted to share :)

Thank you, Dad, for all of the beautiful photos!

 My beautiful little people.

The Mall Experience

What do you love about the mall? 

I planned a Family Night all around enjoying the mall experience. In Salt Lake City, there are a ton of mall choices. Here is a list of the malls around the area that I have been to and what I love about them, just for my fancies...

Gateway Mall:

- It's outdoors... which can be a negative or a positive.

- They have the Z Gallery... an interior decorative store that I love dearly.

- An awesome movie theater.

- The Gateway Discovery Museum for kids (or some title like that) that is oh so fun for kids (our second experience was much better than our first).

- The fountains! Fun and free for kids to play in.

City Creek Mall:

- Also outside, but does have covering over most of it in case it rains, I'm guessing?

- Also has some beautiful fountains!
- Some high end stores like Tiffany's that make me feel really uncomfortable going in to, like everyone who works there knows I'm not going to buy anything and that I don't belong there.
- Fun, cute, man-made creeks that run through it. Very hard for children to resist staying away from.

- And lots more for us to discover there.- Right next to temple square! Which we love! Especially, during the holidays when you can go see the temple lights and spend some time at City Creek too. You can see the temple right from one of the over-head crossing things (not sure how to say what I'm trying to describe clearer. sorry!)

Trolly Square:

Is it a mall? I don't know. It used to be a train station. A long time ago, I also bought my wedding dress there, but the store is no longer there.

- They have a Pottery Barn there... enough said.

- We seem to always find our way there around Christmas time and they had a fantastic Santa there last year and some other fun activities the year before.

Fashion Place Mall:

- They have an H&M. Pretty much the only reason I like to go there.

- Lots of good food and restaurants around, including a Cheesecake Factory and a Macaroni Grill and also some pizza place that my mom and I tried out recently and was very good!

- They have a Crate and Barrel! I would also one day like to decorate my house in their things.

- Down side... lots of... what do you call them? The people who set up little spots and bother you to try or buy their product...? It's kind of ridiculous how many there are. I try so hard to not make any eye contact (I become very interesting in window displays elsewhere) and stay as far away from them as possible while in passing and let out a big sigh of relief if they don't say anything to me. 

- Also, I don't like the layout. It's shaped funny and doesn't flow well with the shopping experience. There is like a deserted wing that stops you abruptly, messing with the shopping flow.

South Town Mall (not sure if it's one word or two):

This one is my favorite.

- There is a Merry-go-round :) which can be hard with kids sometimes because THEY WILL ALWAYS WANT TO RIDE IT.

- A train! SO Fun! Also, it too can be hard with kids because THEY WILL ALWAYS WANT TO RIDE IT.

- A nice Forever 21... my favorite store to shop. A big reason I love it there.

- A decent play area that contains kids a bit easier than some that I have experienced.

This is where I picked to have our family night. 

We tried to have fun and enjoy the mall experience...

We tasted the yummy chicken samples passing through the food court. The man was determined to give a sample to Tali and I was sending her mental thoughts, "TALI, JUST TAKE IT!"

 We rode the train (Tali was given the choice to ride either that or the Merry-go-round). 

I bought some $6 sandals at Forever 21. Yes.

 The kids played in the play area. I even let Grey loose to crawl around since there were only two other kids. He L O V E D it! Lots of happy squeals of joy came from him. 

James bought himself a t-shirt.

We made wishes with pennies in the fountain. Actually, Tali made wishes FOR each of us in the fountain. She wished for each person to be a train. Hope that doesn't come true.

We each picked out a little candy from the candy store.

It was a happy mall experience.

What do you love about the mall? I'd love to hear it!

A Year???

I'm BaaAAck!

 (said in a creepy voice)

(for a reason I do not know)

I was trying to think back to my last post and I could look it up, but I'm feeling way too lazy... off to a great start... and I think it was last summer, which means, it's been about a year! What?!

Ever put something off for so long that you don't feel like you can do it anymore? Like too much time has passed? Anyway, that happens to me a lot and that was what happened to my Blogging. I want that to change though. I loved it so much and I feel like I kinda need it. 

So, a year huh? Lots has happened, but I think I'm past trying to catch up. I'll try to quickly do it in a nutshell though...

- I had a baby. His name is Grey. He is 8 months old. He needs his own post to just talk about all of his cuteness! He melts my heart over and over again.

- We moved! Not far, but we've been enjoying our new place.

- Atalia has been growing up! She is an amazing big sister. She went through her first season of dance. Started Primary at church. And starts Preschool in September!

- James started a new job. and we are very proud of him!

...and that's it in a nutshell. You are now all caught up!