Super heroes in my kitchen, conference goes great with cinnamon rolls, and Erica is 2 Months Old

Every now and again, my kids bust something out that haven't played with forever and they have a total blast. Last week it was their superhero capes.

Considering Superwhy and The Incredibles are the only things they've seen that have superheroes, they do quite well getting into it.

  Although Sarah mostly poses and Henry flies around like an airplane.

Erica is growing out of her newborn clothes so I try to take a picture of her in something before it goes into the "too small" pile.

I'm hoping it snowed for the last time on Wednesday. Sarah and Henry played in the snow right after breakfast. This is the first (and last) time Henry played in the snow all season.

This is Slushy, Sarah's snowman. We used a carrot for a nose and sidewalk chalk for the eyes.  He was gone by the afternoon.

Henry stomped around and ate snow and had me put his mittens back on fifty times.

After some hot chocolate, the kids watched the gopher dig a hole in the backyard. He's the closest thing we have to a pet.

Friday we went to Salem Pond for a picnic lunch and to do some fishing. I wish I would have remembered bread to feed the ducks. 

This girl loves to fish. She's got her own pole and fishing vest.

I don't like fishing but how cute are they??? Erica and I got tired of the wind so we sat in the car for the last 20 minutes or so.

That evening we made cinnamon rolls.  Henry is snitching some dough and Sarah is mad that I'm not reprimanding him nor letting her snitch some too. Okay, I'd be mad too.

Saturday morning cinnamon rolls! It's now a conference tradition because I made them once and now anytime General Conference is brought up, Sarah asks, "Is that when we eat cinnamon rolls?" Tradition decided.

I used this recipe specifically to be made the night before. I had tried other recipes and put them in the fridge overnight but they deflated and never rose right. This recipe turned out beautifully. I overcooked them a bit but that's nothing an obscene amount of cream cheese frosting can't solve.

I overbaked them because I was upstairs taking these pictures instead of watching the oven.

I just love her. She's quickly becoming my favorite baby. And by favorite, I mean easiest. I'm not going into specifics about her sleeping and eating and mood habits because I feel like every time I do on this blog, I jinx it and my babies change it all up the next day.

Let's just say I don't get tired of her.

And neither does Sarah.

"Hi Erica. It's me, your big brother."

I know for a certainty someday this photo will make me ache for my kids to be little again.

Especially Henry. He's changing so fast from toddler to big boy. Thank heavens he still lets me cuddle with him.

Best photo-bomb ever. Everyone I love most is happy and together. Totally worth over baking the rolls.

This photo captures their personalities so well. Sarah the little mom, Henry making noise with a vehicle of some sort, Erica being sweet as long as she's being talked to.

Love me some pirate smiles.

Quick! Where were you 8 years ago today?

I was shopping for wedding dresses.

And taking it very seriously.

We saw the zoo.

Last Friday we went to the zoo. I wanted to go before spring break so it wouldn't be too busy. Well it was spring break somewhere because there were tons of school-age kids everywhere. We got there at lunch time so we stopped to eat our lunch at the first table we saw.

If you're going to ruin photos by making that face, I'm making them public.

And then onto the animals. I was super disappointed the river otters weren't there and Sarah was bummed that the polar bear was nowhere to be seen. Plus 1/3 of the park is still under construction so no lions for Henry.  Next time kids, next time.

Sarah loves the elephants, even the big fake one. I didn't want to wait in line to get her picture taken by the trunk so we went around the other side.

The weather was calm and mostly sunny but it was still chilly.

Justin may be the best-looking Jazz fan.

Henry got most excited to see the bubbly water near the elephants.

 Sarah took this awesome picture of the rhinoceros (No spell check needed, thank you.)

 Watching for the sea lions.

The grizzly bears are back there somewhere. I know this sounds mean, but I wish the enclosures were a little smaller.

Sarah is chewing a Mamba. She ate 5 in 5 minutes. In her defense, she had never had them before and they are super good.

This tiger is by far the most entertaining animal at the zoo. Richard Parker paces around looking for a way to escape and then jumps in the water right next to the glass and paces some more.

 He will eat you given the chance.

 I really wanted to hear him chuff (not growl or roar as I learned from "We Bought a Zoo.")

 Off to pace and plan his escape some more.

 Erica slept through the Richard Parker excitement.

She woke up for the stinky house (small creature building). Henry liked this "rabbit." I don't remember what it really is.

 

That's the last picture I took so I guess after this we went home. We drove past Justin's current office on 1300 South since we had never seen it and then past his new office off Redwood Rd in Saratoga Springs since we hadn't seen that building either. One more month!

Erica's Blessing

Yesterday was Erica's blessing. We did it at our house so that we could have my parents on Skype from London. 

 She was so sweet during the blessing and didn't even cry. Afterwards was another story......

I love her dress so much. She's going to wear it to church a lot too.  But not the headband. It was super tight on her newborn head so we're done with that.

We had never done a blessing at home before but I think it turned out great. I was less stressed since there weren't as many people and it was just about her. Plus we got Daylight Donuts and I love them.