Season Confusion

Here in Utah, during the months of March, April, and in to May we suffer from what I like to call season confusion. The weather can change so much from one day to the next that you really don't know which season you're in. One day it's Spring the next day it's snowing and you seem to be back in winter. Needless you say how you dress from one day to the next becomes a little bit of a challenge. Even the youngest member of our family suffers from the confusion. A few days ago Beckam came in to the house from the garage in this get-up.

He had spent the whole day playing outside in shorts and shirt but seemed to feel that boots and a beanie were still needed. Hopefully as more warm days come and stay we'll be able to break him from the winter wear. Spring hurry and stay please.

Bowling + Birthday - McDonalds = FUN

(Can you tell who's not getting any help from kids?)

This last weekend our good friend Randy had a birthday, so his wife (Viv) set up a little bowling get together. Those that know us well know Brandon's family loves to bowl (We all have our own bowling balls and matching bowling shirts. Doesn't mean I can bowl though.) After a not so fun trip to McDonald's we headed over to the bowling alley. (Let's just say Brylie is possessed. One minute she's happy, next minute she's screaming throwing a fit, pouting nasty, the next minute she's back to being happy and joking around. The joys of being 3.) The kids helped bowl in everyone's game except Brandon's. I was thinking of keeping my game all to myself as well, but the kids were easier to handle if they were kept busy bowling.

(Brylie couldn't leave this little cutie alone)

(Mr. Independent)

(Brylie got a spare in the 10th frame)

(She was a pro and doing it all by herself by the end)

(Where she chose to watch her ball from)

The bowling was great, everyone had fun, and we have started another generation of Harwards that like to bowl.

Fishy Fun

I've been wanting to get the kids to the aquarium for quite some time and earlier this week it finally happened. We jumped on board when a group got together to go on Wednesday. It was kind of crazy with 5 moms, 3 strollers, and 10 kids, but we had a blast.

Brylie couldn't get to everything fast enough and with going back and forth she probably saw everything three times. Her favorite part was trying to touch the sting ray.

When I set Beckam lose (momentary lapse in judgement) he was quick to run right along with the kids and take a few detours by himself. He loved looking at all of the fish and just kept saying fishy, fishy and pointing at everything until he was acknowledged.

I'm glad this little aquarium is so close and the kids like to look at fishes so much. I'm feeling a daddy/kids trip in the near future.

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.