Calling All Singers (those with good voices and those who just try hard anyway)

While searching for sweet little baby quotes, I found this one:

"The worst feature of a new baby is its mother's singing"

-Kin Hubbard


I just laughed when I saw this because I think it is completely applicable to myself! When Logan was born I think I found 50 different high-pitched voice tones that I never knew I had in me, not all of which are so easy on the ear. But despite my mostly-failing attempts, one of my favorite moments of the day is when I get to rock with Logan before nap or bedtime and sing songs with him (yes, I say with because he sometimes vocalizes along with me now... call me a mother, but it melts my heart every time!)

Before each nap I sing a few lines of Good Night Sweetheart (it is an oldies song, but I'm not sure if that's the right title or who sings it) and each night I try to squeeze in at least one verse of I am a Child of God. Then to end the day off and carry on a tradition from his family, Ben and I sing Family Prayer (a cute little song from the Primary Songbook) before we, that's right you guessed it, say our family prayers.

So this got me curious... who else out there loves to sing with their little ones despite voices good or bad (or at least loves to envision the thought of it someday) and what songs do you sing? Or what songs did your parents sing with you growing up? Don't be shy!

ben's blog

For those of you who know Ben, you know that he has about a bazillion hobbies, which I love about him. As we have been married for 5 years, though, I have noticed that his hobbies go in cycles...in the winter amateur radio takes over, but then spring comes and cycling, hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, wood working and ping-pong take over. And then there's John Wayne and Louis Lamour....they are in season year round.

Well the other day Ben decided to delve into the blogging world and created his own blog, Interests Revolving....very appropriate. I have offered our family blog many times to him to post his latest interests, but he has never taken me up on that offer, and now he insists on keeping his own. So without further adieu, I introduce Ben's newest creation & hobby....blogging (because we all know it is just as addicting as any other hobby we might have, right?) :-)

Interests Revolving

The link is also under my growing list of other bloggers to the right. Enjoy.

bad day

So I went to the dentist today for the first time in five years...do I need to say more?



This cowboy tooth really has nothing to do with my bad day at the dentist. I just thought my post would be incomplete without a picture of a cowboy, but I found something even better... a cowboy tooth. Yeehaw.

a bad case of the balloon blues

Logan's first balloon: Ben got a balloon on his birthday, courtesy of the Cooks, so I thought I would let Logan play with it the next day... it was not the bubbly, happy childhood experience I was hoping for...

viva las vegas

Last Tuesday Ben had a conference for work in Las Vegas, so I thought I would join him for a little vacation time. Heritage covered two nights of hotel (what they would have provided for Ben whether or not I was there) and they booked a room at a Marriott in Henderson. Because the Marriott ran out of one bedroom rooms the day we checked in, they upgraded us to a two bedroom suite, complete with a living room, kitchen (even a dishwasher!), fireplace, two bed and two bath. It was glorious!

I was worried about Logan trying to take his naps and sleeping at night with us in the same room having to tip-toe around him...but thanks to this lovely arrangement he had his own suite!

Here he is making friends in the closet mirror.



This hotel was the best part about Vegas! Our bedroom is that door to the right in the picture below, and Logan's room was on the left side.


On Tuesday, while Ben was in his conference, I got to see my friend, Emily (and Madelyn), who moved to Vegas last year. We had a great time just hanging out and shopping at the mall.

And to make all you unfortunate people jealous who are experiencing cold weather right now, if you can't tell...it was beautiful weather there!


The third night we stayed at Planet Hollywood and got lost in their casinos and mall anytime we tried to come and go. We also toured the strip while staying there to see what family-friendly things the hotels had to offer.

This is in the Bellagio in their garden that they change seasonally. The theme was dedicated to the Chinese new year. It was beautiful!


We also stumbled upon the 4-story M&M store on the strip. Too bad Logan was asleep the whole time...Ben and I were entertained, though. We couldn't resist taking a picture with Blue M...he was everywhere!



What on Earth? Who'da thought there would be a wonderful 7 Eleven right on the strip...


bling bling...



This was my favorite hotel of all, the Venetian. It was just classier than the other hotels, and the only hotel where we actually saw a map to help you navigate...what a novel idea!

This picture is actually on the second floor of the hotel: they patterned it after the city of Venice (hence the name of the hotel) so there is a great canal running along the second floor, hugged by stores on each side, with the ceiling painted like the sky- it was so fun! They even have gondola boats that you can ride and be pushed around by guys wearing the whole striped-shirt-and-red-scarf-around-the-neck outfit.


Unfortunately, the only picture we got of the Vegas lights at night didn't turn out very good...plus it had a half naked woman in it on a huge poster, which we didn't realize until later. I thought I would pass up the opportunity to show you all that special side of Vegas. :-)

Yael Naim - New Soul

i dig this new song (is it new? well, it is new to me, I suppose). enjoy.