Nightside Project

If you have ever had occasion to listen to KSL in the evenings, you may have heard of a little show called "The Nightside Project." Although Coleman has only heard Alex and Ethan a handful of times, he loves them. He was so excited that they brought their show on the road to a Cafe in our town on July 12th. We made a family event of it... it didn't hurt at all that the specialty at the Cafe is dessert crepes. Yum!

The hosts were so kind to Coleman... they were impressed to have such a young fan and they even mentioned him on the air... you can listen to their blurb about Coleman here. (They said he listens every night, but he doesn't, lest you think we don't have more to fill our weekday evenings. The part about Coleman being brilliant, yeah, that was all true :). )

They had all kinds of KSL swag to choose from... and the hosts liked Coleman so much they told him and Olivia they could choose anything they wanted... so they didn't just pick one, they walked away with frisbees, fans, keychains, and anything else that looked remotely interesting. Fun times!

Spring Break Day 3

Day three of spring break took us to a park near our home with my sister Lindsey and her kiddos who are here visiting.

Soph loved sliding with Liv...

...and all of the kids loved to race on this three-slide thingy... Jonah and Coleman took a turn.

Jaxton is such a cutie!

Liv and Linds tried to use the zip-line, but it kept getting stuck.

We blew bubbles and ate cookies and narrowly escaped the rain and wind.

(Said wind blew lots of shingles off of our house and uprooted a big tree in our neighbor's yard while we were inside eating hawaiian haystacks... the kids all agreed that it was the most exciting event of the day.)

Family Birthday 2010

Some of our friends have always used their wedding anniversary as a day to celebrate their family birthday... which I think is a wonderful idea! This year we celebrated 11 years!


Cute family, eh?

Night of Culture

We try to have Harper Family Fun Night on a pretty regular basis... which usually consists of getting a Redbox movie, making some pizzas, and eating treats while we hang out together. Tonight we decided to take our Family Fun Night on the road for a night of culture... not the kind of culture you'd find in New York City or San Francisco or Chicago, because let's face it, it's pretty hard to come by in our neck of the woods... but we had a great time together and got out of the house...

Our first stop was for dinner... we experienced the southern cultural cuisine and consumed tasty fried chicken--sandwiches for the grown-ups, nuggets for the kiddos, and lots of lemonade and fries for us all (hooray for free sandwich coupons).

Then we got to the heart of our evening and saw the BYU Cougarettes in concert... it was so great to watch 20 young women with creative dances, great music, fun costumes, and very interesting uses for props. I loved that we didn't have to worry about immodest costumes and suggestive dance moves... it was great!

Our last stop embraced the culture of obese America as we stopped at Krispy Kreme for the kids to redeem their report cards... did you know that Krispy Kreme gives kids a half-dozen donuts for a good report card? It was so funny to see Coleman... he was excited when he thought he'd be getting a free donut just for showing his grades... and the sheer delight on his face (jaw-dropping happiness) made me smile inside and out. The donuts were warm and sticky, just how we like them.

Our Night of Culture was a great success... we might have to take our show on the road more often!

**As a side note, I probably should go easy on the fried foods... several people have kindly told me that I look "too small" to be this far along in my pregnancy... one even went as far as to say I was "tiny" which has never been a word that applies to me... but Coleman brought it all back into perspective this morning as I was going through some clothes my friend gave me... I held up a cute jacket and told Olivia how much I liked it... Coleman didn't skip a beat and said,

"You're going to have to get MUCH smaller to fit into that, Mom."

(Somehow I don't think Chik-Fil-A and Krispy Kreme are going to help me with that!)

A Little Bit of Sunshine

I have spring fever.

A couple of weeks ago I told Ryan I wanted to go somewhere warm.

While dreamy locations would have included Hawaii, Mexico, Southern California, or anywhere else with an ocean, those places were all out of our reach for various reasons... but I still wanted to go somewhere warm.

I didn't even care if it was MUCH warmer than here, just that it was warmer.

We lucked out and Ryan's parents helped us get a condo in St. George for a couple of days (despite it being Valentine's Day, Presidents Day weekend, the Home Show, and about 43 Girls Soccer tournaments).

It was clear and sunny and 65!!!! We relaxed and ate good food and I was thrilled.

The kids thought it was warm enough to go in the outdoor (heated) swimming pool.

I was content to sit in the beach chair and watch them, soaking in the rays (with several towels piled on top of me to keep me warm). I'm pretty sure that if I looked hard enough I had a tan line on my upper half, but it disappeared within hours :(.

We went to Pirate Island for dinner one night (pretty fun atmosphere, over-priced and under-tasty food and service, but the kids loved it).

Ryan secretly wants to be a pirate, I know it.

Look at those blue skies and darling kiddos on Valentine's Day (in front of the St. George Temple).

They have a cute dad, too.

I ended up in the shadows, but I was there too.

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to see my Grandma and Grandpa Cole who have been there for several weeks. We had lunch together... and the cute baby in Olivia's lap? That's my newest nephew, Jaxton, who belongs to Lindsey and Chad and lives in Arizona but was also in St. George for the weekend.

Grandpa, Lisa, Jaxton, Linds, and Grandma...

The kids had a great time playing with Jaxton's brother Jonah. He didn't want his picture taken too often, so we were glad to get this one.

...and this was just too funny not to post... not to worry, Jonah jumped right up, brushed himself off, and went back for more.

Coleman was so excited to zip off the bottom of his pants to make shorts... and he was a little bit obsessed with palm trees (let's admit it, I was too).

We loved being with Chad and Lindsey and their cute boys!

We also fit in a quick trip to the outlet stores (have I ever mentioned how I LOVE outlet stores?), a maternity photo shoot (will post photos later), had lots of fun family time in the condo playing games, finished the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and watched the movie projected onto the wall (the truth: Ryan and I slept through most of it, but the kids loved it), watched the Olympics, worked on cards and crafty projects, read, and relaxed.

I miss the sun already!

**Do you have spring fever too?

A Day with the Dinos

A week or so ago we had a fun outing with my friend Heidi and her kids... we met at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point and all of the kids loved it.

Our kids hadn't ever met before, so both of us were a little anxious (and hopeful) that our kids would get along. They acted like they've known each other their whole lives... it was great to spend the day with them!

They loved the dino that looks like the T-Rex from Night at the Museum.

David and Coleman had a great time playing in the sand...

...and Audrey and Olivia enjoyed it too.

Liv just really likes to pose.

They all had fun on the interactive computer games... and I should have grabbed a picture of David who was enchanted with the scale that tells you what kind of dinosaur weighs the same as you (or your group).

Of course they loved the shark. Sweet David said, "He's not real, right? So he won't come back in the resurrection?" (I love that he understands such deep gospel principles!)

Yet another skeleton to pose in front of (I think they were trying to look like they were holding spears?).

...and finally the dig at the end.

We had a great day with fun friends that we can't wait to see again.

(I regret not getting a picture with Heidi this time around... we had so much fun visiting and taking photos of the kids that I forgot about posing for one with her... next time!)

By the way, Tuesdays in August are $2 days at Thanksgiving Point for any of their venues... might be worth a last summer outing before school starts!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Today we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was a beautiful temple and I loved seeing the view of the Salt Lake Valley from the hill the temple sits on.

I was particularly touched today at the realization of the importance of the work that goes on inside the walls of the Holy Temple. As I sat with my family waiting to enter, we watched a short video that talked about temples and their purpose. I was overcome with love and appreciation for my children and the fact that we are sealed together.

We had a couple hours of beautiful sunlight (and some wind) in between some big rainstorms today and it worked out perfectly that our reservation was right during the lull.

You can tell by Liv's closed eyes that the sun was very bright.

In addition to the marvel of the temple, Ryan ran into some high school friends (three or four siblings who did drama and singing with Ry in Tooele) who had gathered from all parts of the country for a reunion and just happened to be at the temple the same day we were.... and I ran into a dear friend from my days at Meier's Prime Deli and Catering. My favorite thing she told my kids: "You're mom is AMAAAAAAZING!" (And I won't let them forget it.)

I love running into people that were so important in our lives, even if only for brief periods... although we may have lost touch over the years, the impact they had on us is not lessened in any way. It was wonderful to see them in such a special place and reconnect after all this time.

If you haven't been to see this temple and want to go, click here to make reservations. The Open House continues through August 1st and is well worth your time.

**Have you been to this open house yet or do you plan to go?
**Where do you usually run into people from your past? Do you always talk to people you know or do you ever slink away and pretend you don't see them?