Photo Location Play Date

So a few fellow mommies that like to take pictures and I had a fun little play date last Friday. We headed downtown with our kids to see if we could find any fun locations to take pictures in. I love doing this with other moms since we don't get bothered by kids running around, throwing fits, or in general being kids. Thanks for a fun Friday ladies. Can't wait to do it again.

Big Boy

Earlier this week Brandon and I decided to move Beckam to a toddler bed. We were both kind of sick of him throwing everything out of his crib and screaming rather loudly for us to come get it in the morning. The transition has been surprisingly easy. He only got out of his bed on the first night and when I tried to put him down for his first nap.

Since then I've laid him down in his bed to go to sleep and he's stayed there with no problems. He goes to bed at night more willingly and with out the fuss he did when he was in a crib. I think he fells more like Brylie and he has a bed like hers. Everything is about getting to do what Brylie does. He has chosen an interesting place to fall asleep every time though.

Now if we could just convince him he doesn't need to go wake up Brylie as soon as he wakes up in the morning.

Princess Brylie

On Saturday I took Brylie to local cosmetology school for a Princess afternoon. For a donation (that's what it turned up being. The proceeds of the afternoon went to local charities) Brylie got her hair, make-up, and nails done along with a picture taken and a tiara. I thought we'd walk in Brylie would be put in a chair and pampered a little bit, but they had a whole room set up for all the princesses coming for the afternoon. There were balloons everywhere, cut-outs of Disney princesses and Enchanted playing on two t.v. There were also cookies and punch for the girls to snack on and a craft for them to do.

Brylie had a blast and felt like a princess and wouldn't take off the crown until bedtime. I'm glad her and I had this special couple of hours together. I will say I was some what jealous of my 3 1/2 year old...I've never had four hands working on me at the same time.

Draper Temple Open House

Last week we had the opportunity to attend the Draper Temple Open House (thanks again Viv for the tickets). One of the things I love about living in Utah is being so close to so many temples and this year we'll have the opportunity to go to two open houses - one down one to go. I was really excited to show Brylie the inside of the temple and she was excited to go to Jesus's house. Brylie and I started out the "tour" by watching a video about the Draper temple. Brandon spent the video trying to keep Beckam some what quiet. We then took a bus over to the temple.

Once we got in to the temple Brylie was very reverent, looked at all the pictures of Jesus and generally just took everything in. Beckam was pretty good as long as we kept moving and got a little restless when the crowd came to a stop (what do you expect from a 18 month old.) After going through the temple we ended up at another church building where they had some cookies and more information about temples. The cookies helped the kids moods, pictures did not. Brylie also got hold of the camera for a few minutes.

Brylie was a little confused by the fact we had gone to Jesus's house but hadn't seen Jesus. When she got her cookie she looked a little upset. I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to see Jesus. It was kind of a duh mom moment. I tried to explain as best I could why we hadn't seen Jesus in person and then letting her write a note seemed to suffice. I love how simply children's minds work.

It was a great experience and I can't wait to go through the Oquirrh Temple. If anyone is going to be in town during June or July and would like to go to the open house let me know and I can try and get tickets for you when they become available.

Message Not Received

The other morning I came upstairs to find Beckam playing in the bathtub. I'm not quite sure what he was trying to tell me (he needed some time alone, he wants his own space, or he just doesn't get enough baths) but I didn't get it. Guess we'll either figure it out or he could be spending a lot more time playing in the empty bathtub.

Partying Vegas Style

Or at least Dahl family Vegas style that is. We haven't been to Las Vegas to visit my family in a while so Brandon and I decided to head down to celebrate my birthday. It was just what I needed. The weather was wonderful (went from sweaters and layers to capris and flip flops), the company was great, and the kids were entertained (not necessarily by Brandon or I). Brandon and I got a night out alone, I got some shopping in, and we found a new kid favorite restaurant. I know we'll be heading to Rain Forest Cafe whenever we're back down there. (Brylie hasn't stopped talking about it!) For anyone that has small children that need to be entertained while you try to eat I highly recommend this place. Brandon and I actually got to talk with my parents and the kids weren't constantly interrupting us because they were too busy watching the "animals" move and make sounds. We also got to have a great adults only dinner with my parents thanks to my sister babysitting. You can't beat the Melting Pot! And due to all the fun we had during our visit, the camera only came out once the whole visit and that was as we were leaving the Rain Forest Cafe to take a picture of the lions in the MGM. Thanks for a great time family!! The only downside, I had to leave great weather to come back to snow.

Safety Fair

On Friday the kids and I met up with some friends and went to the Safety Fair. We were immediately greeted by someone who did balloon animals, flowers, swords whatever. Beckam wasn't too sure about the lady doing the balloons but he had fun with his sword.

Brylie loved going to all the different booths, talking with a princess (Miss Utah County) and getting her face painted. She sat so still while having it done and didn't want to wash it off later that night.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon with great company.

Budding Photographer

A couple of days ago I needed a few minutes to get something done, so to buy myself some time I showed Brylie how to use our point and shoot digital camera. I seem to have quite the budding photographer on my hands.

She can't wait for me to find the charger so she can take more pictures. And here's one I snapped really quick...I couldn't resist.

The Last Lecture - Jeffery Zaslow Style

Thursday night I had the awesome opportunity to go to a lecture given by the co-author of The Last Lecture, Jeffrey Zaslow. (Thanks again Viv!) If you haven't read this book yet I highly recommend it. You can find it just about anywhere and it is a really easy read. I have really enjoyed reading the book and was looking forward to what Jeffrey had to say about it.

First off, Jeffrey Zaslow writes a column for the Wall Street Journal titled "Moving On" which focuses on life transitions. He started out by sharing some stories regarding writing and his column. He then went in to how the book came about (the stuff I was waiting for).

Jeffrey didn't know Randy Pausch from Adam but coincidentally enough attended the same school where Randy was a professor and giving his last lecture. Someone contacted Jeffrey about this lecture and when hearing that the person giving it was actually dying, Jeffrey decided he wanted to go listen and write a column for the Wall Street Journal about it. After putting a four minute clip of the lecture up on The Wall Street Journal's website a couple days later, things just started snowballing. Good Morning America contacted Jeffrey to see if he could "get that professor" for them. Randy did the interview and a couple more with ABC and also went on Oprah. Jeffrey brought up the idea of a book to Randy and Randy's only requirement was that it didn't take any time away from his family. So to make that happen Randy and Jeff talked via cell phone for an hour a day during Randy's neighborhood bike ride. After 53 days the book was written and published quickly after so that Randy could see it before he died. The book is now is 44 languages and there will be no movie. He said they got offers but Randy said he wanted his kids to see him not Tom Cruise.

The whole lecture was amazing and emotional. He showed clips of the actual lecture and some of the interviews Randy did. Randy was an amazing man and left such an example for everyone. He lived his last months/days to the fullest and left great advise for everyone to keep revisiting. One of my favorite things he said was during one of the ABC interviews, "Don't let tomorrow wreck today." He also told Jeffery to stop googling him and go hug your kids.

After the lecture Jeffery was signing books so Viv and booked it out of the auditorium to be as close to first in line as possible (we had kids to get home to).

I had him sign the book for both Brandon and I and his inscription really applied to me. It was a great night and one I won't soon forget.