Chicago!

Last weekend Tate and I got to cash in one of my Christmas present and go to Chicago to visit my sister Krissi and her little girl Emery. We played tourist and had so much fun! A big thank you to the friends and family that watched Ruthie while Ryan was working. You are the best! Here are some of the highlights.

"The bean" in Millennium park with a view of the city.
More of "the bean"

A great fountain in Millennium park that Tate played in. That face in the background shoots water out of it's mouth every few minutes.

The Art Institute of Chicago was amazing!

Tate was not quite as enthralled with the painting "American Gothic" as I was. Did you know that it is supposed to be the farmer and his daughter? I always assumed it was his wife.

Krissi called this her paparazzi shot. "Celebrities are just like us. They take their kids to the park too." Classic Chicago sign

This is my add for Krissi's Phil and Ted's stroller. It was awesome for both of the kids.Posing mamas

We had to get pictures with the tulips that were all over the city.

My favorite picture! What a cutie!

Tate figured out how to turn on the vibrations on the baby's bouncer. He would chill in there a lot!

My Bro-in-law gets a gold star for driving us down town Saturday night and keeping the sleeping kids in the car for an hour while we checked out the Signature Lounge at the top of the Hancock building.

We thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate mousse cake and smoothie, almost as much as the time out with just us!

The best view in the whole place is from the women's bathroom. No joke! This is the shot of the city from 96 stories up!

And looking down from the ladies room!

A windy Sunday drive by the lake.

Tate loved to hug and kiss and hold Emmy! He would get a little crazy sometimes, but he could make her laugh better than anyone! He had to keep track of where "baby" was at all times.

I had to get a picture when I saw this little 'Tates' shop next to Krissi's house.

We went on a stroll in the forest preserve right by her house.

I did not even have to zoom in to get this picture. The deer are used to people walking and biking through there.

Saturday morning we met up with Ryan's aunt and she took the kids so we could go to the Chicago temple. It was so nice to be able to go. We enjoyed lunch at her house and seeing their family. Sorry we didn't get pictures with you Claire! We loved every minute of it but are glad to be home with 'Daddy' and 'Roo'!

Warning: Full Moon at Church!

I just have to share what happened during church yesterday for anyone who didn't see or hear.

Tate likes to wander out into the aisle during sacrament meeting. He stays close to our row and sometimes it is not worth the battle to keep him right with us. Well Tate made his way into the aisle yesterday and we were not paying much attention to him. Ryan looks over at our little boy when he hears some giggling start behind us. Tate has his pants and diaper down to his ankles and he is standing on his head apparently trying to do a naked somersault!!! Ryan grabbed him as fast as he could and threw him at me on our bench. I hurried and got his pants back up. We were laughing so hard we were crying. Sorry to disrupt the spirit for all who saw the show. Probably wasn't exactly what you were expecting to see when you came to church was it! Kids definitely keep you hopping and humble!

Tip Toe Through the Tulips

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with some neighborhood friends this week. I've lived here 5 years and have never seen the amazing gardens there! It was well worth the trip. The slightly traumatic part was that my cars keys fell out of my purse somewhere during our 3 hours there. Luckily I had a spare key I had miraculously put in my purse months ago. And luckily someone turned them in a few hours later. Whew!

This is me pretending I am a photographer. Imagine what a real photographer could do here!

lunch break

The one shot of us together was during a mini meltdown by Roo.

The Secret Garden

Waterfalls? I had no idea this part even existed.

What It's All About

Tate was crying his little eyes out in the car a few days ago. I asked Ruthie to try to make him happy. A minute later she said, "Mom, look at us. I made Tate happy!" I turned around and saw this.

I was at a stop light so I had to take a picture. It is very worth having 2 kids when they take care of each other! Happy mom moment.

My Grandma Tenney (my mom's mom) had a wall hanging that had all 60+ grand kids footprints on it. My brilliant sister thought it would be a good idea to start one for our mom.
Here is Ruthie showing off her painted foot.

The "Tiny Tutts" so far. Except Ruthie, Tate and my niece Sophie are not as tiny as cousin Emmy's. The rest should be!

Tate's of course had to have his favorite things in the world. Balls! He was very confused with the whole painting his foot thing. I am lucky it turned out at all!

Ruthie's is a bit more girly!

It was so fun to do and my mom is excited to display them.

Tate working on his skills

Tate insists on feeding himself. It's good for him to learn a little self sufficiency, right?

He did have a bib on to begin with. Fairly pointless to even try.

More monkey moves

He is also obsessed with playing in the toilet lately. No pictures because it is too disgusting for me to not stop him asap!

Lucky for him he's pretty cute.

Our Easter Week

This is the best picture I have of the 2 kids together!

Posing

GQ in the sweater vest

We had Easter dinner with our good friends in Heber. Evalyn and Ruthie had the same dress!

The cute kids

We got to ski again. Lucky us!

This time Ryan got a picture of my mad action!

Tate had to take off his gloves every time he threw a snowball. Then he would be sad his hands were frozen. But he just couldn't keep his hands off of the snow. Tough choice for a 1 year old.

Ruthie hit some hills on the sled. No fear this time.

Conference weekend Ryan's family came up for a day and a half. Just barely long enough to sing Happy Birthday to Papa!

And help blow out the candles.

I finally took my kids to Discovery Gateway. They loved it!

A music class

A real helicopter!