Holy Smokes!

Today when our family was coming home from running errands, we found our road blocked off to our apartment with fire trucks. We had to find an alternate route through Wymount to get to our place. Come to find out, our laundry building was smoking! (If you enlarge the first picture, you can see the smoke still coming out.) Someone had overloaded a dryer and then put their basket in front of the machine where the air intake is, and it over heated. They had the clothes on the front lawn/snow and the firefighters were hosing them down. Thank goodness no one was hurt. We aren't sure what this means for our laundry needs yet...do we have to find another building even farther away for a while?!? We'll see!

Draper Temple Open House

Friday morning we got tickets to go to the new Draper Temple open house. It was a really great experience! It's just beautiful inside and out! They started us out at a church building nearby for a short video and then drove us in buses up to the temple site for the tour and then had refreshments at the church building next to temple grounds. In the temple, Robbie loved finding all of the pictures of Jesus. Also, for refreshments they had cookies which we wouldn't have let Robbie have anyway, but we were excited to see they had little signs out with an allergy warning on them saying they could have nuts in them! It's so exciting when we find people that are aware.

They don't allow us to take pictures inside the temple, but these are a few we took outside. The white tent/tunnels off to the side were for us to walk through from the bus so we didn't have to walk in the rain or snow.

I thought this picture was funny...I was leaning sideways to get a good angle and Robbie thought he had to copy ;-)

Grandpa's Birthday!

This past week was Grandpa Wheeler's birthday, and he invited us to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point to celebrate. Of course, anything that Robbie can roar at, he's gonna love! Happy Birthday, and thanks for letting us come!

with Grandma and Grandpa
making some dinosaur prints
at the 3D safari movie
eating at JCW's

Where's My Shoes?

Oh, Robbie must have them! He has started to try on everyone's shoes and walk around the house. I just hope he doesn't hide them somewhere, like he has other items of ours, and we never find them again!

What's That Noise?

The other day, Robbie was with me in our office when we heard the construction guys out back. So I opened the blinds for Robbie to check it out. He loved watching the Bobcat and Back Hoe do their thing. At one point I looked over and he had his hand up directing them to back up! I know it's an awful picture but hopefully it gives you the idea ;-)

Auto Show

While Mom Wheeler and I went to the Family Literacy Symposium, Robbie and the guys went to the Auto Show in Sandy. Brian was checking out the cars and SUV's that we might like to get in the next few years. He still likes the Hyundai Genesis for his commute and maybe the GMC Acadia for the family.

Robbie with the Hyundai Genesis

already driving...

Meeting Nancy Turner

I had the opportunity to go to a Family Literacy Symposium this weekend. It was really fun for me to hear about more books to read! The keynote speaker was one of my favorite authors, Nancy Turner. She wrote the These Is My Words series, and she signed my copy of the book. It's the story based on her great grandmother, Sarah Prine, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a great historical fiction.

All of the Olives

For those who don't know, Robbie is an Olive Monster! He LOVES olives! Anytime they are around he seems to be saying, "Mo, mo!" (translation: more) I made quesadillas the other night for dinner, and put olives in Robbie's. By the end of the night, he had eaten the entire can all by himself! And of course, like any other kid, he eats them off his fingers.
doing an olive dance--because it doesn't matter how many times he has eaten an olive, getting another always calls for celebration ;-)

BYU Gymnastics

On Friday, Brian took Robbie and I on a date to the first BYU Gymnastics home meet. We got front row seats. I really enjoyed watching the events so up close. Another great thing about being front row was Cosmo. He came by and played with Robbie for a little while. After that, Robbie couldn't take his eyes off of him. Everywhere Cosmo went, Robbie was watching. I forgot to bring my camera and we didn't think to bring out Brian's camera phone until later so we didn't capture the fun moment...darn. It was a fun night anyway though!

Cosmo entertaining the crowd between events

Building Buddies

Robbie and Brian got into the building blocks the other day. Robbie was really careful as he put the next block on top to build it the highest it could be. If you look at the blocks closely, you can see that some are in mid-air as they topple over;-)

Oh, the Snow!

Yesterday, we had tons of snow fall! In fact, I was on my way to an activity last night and got stuck in the snow twice. Luckily, Brian was there the first time, and a few young men walking by helped me out the second time. It was awful! Brian cleared off the cars and found himself in snow up to his knee. The sun is shining today though and is melting a lot of it. The grounds crew has plowed our sidewalks and streets so it is safer for us.

Sledding

Today, Brian had a break between classes so we went sledding! We just walked up to Rock Canyon by our apartment. I thought Robbie would just love it, but he was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. He went down the hill a few times and then wouldn't have any more to do with it.

down the hill with Daddy

coming back up
and back down with Mommy
In the end, he liked it the best when I tied my scarf around the handles and took him for a ride on the flat ground.

Our Little Man

Yesterday , Robbie was looking so grown up in his little church outfit. I just had to catch this moment on camera. I can't believe he's getting so big!

This Week in Sports...

On Saturday, we went to our first BYU basketball game of the season against Wake Forest. The game was sold out and they said it was the second largest crowd in Marriott history! We were lucky to find our seats. It was a close game and BYU almost upset the #6 team in the country. Robbie got into the game, and it was fun to watch his reactions to the cheering of the crowd.

We also got to watch the Chargers win their playoff game in Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler's theater. Our seats for the Charger game were better than the BYU game ;-) Go Chargers!

Hogle Zoo

Yesterday we decided to take a trip to the Hogle Zoo. There was hardly anyone there so we really got to see some of the animals up close. Here's a few of our favorites.

all of us in front of the elephant exhibit

This monkey sat there and watched us for a long time.

I think this owl was afraid of something.
He was all puffed up when we saw him.
the penquins
a peacock just roaming the zoo
the rhino
This leopard was very active. He paced the window and stared at you as he walked by.
Robbie roaring at the leopard

the lynx

the tiger
This monkey came down from the tree to visit Robbie while he was eating his carrot. Robbie would stick out his shoe and the monkey loved looking at it.
It was great to see Robbie interact with and see the animals. I think he really enjoyed it!