The Progress...

It's melting!! I just wanted to show proof that the snow is going. Nevermind that we have snow in our forecast today. They keep saying that we are supposed to get snow but it keeps coming as rain. Which is good, because it helps melt our huge piles of snow. We may still get some snow this weekend. In the mean time, we love playing outside. Malia is keenly aware of every dog in the neighborhood and if she hears them barking, she wants to find them. She also loves that the birds are flying around lately. They sit on the telephone line by the house and she points, saying, "Baird, Baird. Toot, toot!". Believe you me, I tried to teach her to say "Tweet, tweet" for birds. The snow in the backyard is melting considerably slower than the front. I wish it would hurry up. I've been letting Malia play in the front yard, but it can get scary. We live right on the main thouroughfare of Lewiston and the speed limit is 40mph. It may not be so bad, if people actually did 40 but they fly by. There is an extra lane of road before you actually get to the road, so that's nice. I usually just stand on the sidewalk being a barrier to the darting Mali. It'll be nice when the backyard melts because it is fenced in. So here is the photo I posted Monday of Malia in the front yard. Next is the same location, on Thursday, only 4 days later! Nice progress, huh?

Mormon Mommies

My friend made up this fun survey for Mormom Mommies. She needs 100 people to take it to make it a good survey. It'll be fun to see the results. So if you're a Mormon Mommy, it would be great to have your input. Once she has enough people, she will post the results and I'll put them on my blog, too.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jCiPc00IaNY0qYiHIXsPIg_3d_3d

Spring is On the Way..

Yesterday Malia and I went out for walk. It was warm enough for me to just put a light jacket on her. After our walk, I let her play in the front yard for a while. She played in the snow for a bit and had lots of fun. I can't wait for it to warm up more. I have been so happy to get out and take walks. Does a girl good!

A Day at the Zoo

Last Thursday, Malia and I went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. We went with some of the ladies in the ward and their kids (the kids had school off). We had lots of fun! It was a bit chilly, but not too bad. It was nice because there weren't very many people there. With most every exhibit, we were the only one's looking. When we rode the train, we had the whole train to ourselves. Also, the animals were pretty active. Only, we didn't get to see the gorilla. Turns out she was having a hysterectomy! It was a great day and Malia loved seeing all of the animals.

Some of our favorite animals. The leopard kept pacing in front of the glass. Malia loved the elephants and kept making her elephant noise. The baby giraffe was beautiful! The red panda didn't stay out very long but we appreciated him making a showing. I'll spare you the picture of the snake swallowing a baby bunny whole!

Malia refused to wear her coat so I tried to keep her warm by covering her extremities. A girl can never wear too many stripes! We tried the monkey backpack/leash but she freaked out and got herself all tangled up in the string. She wore just the backpack for awhile.

The only gorilla we got to see! All the younger kids were confined to their strollers at this time.

Kade and Malia checking out the big marble globe fountain at the entrance of the zoo. At first Malia was scared of it. By the time we left her sleeves were soaked!

Malia and I on the train.

The rest of the group on the train. Fun, fun, fun!

All the kids! Note Malia fleeing the scene. Stinker!

Welcome Max!

On Wednesday, March 5th, my brother and his wife, Lori, had thier second boy. Maxwell Kenneth Caley came at 1:34pm and weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. Great job, Lori! I was so excited to meet him. He is a beautiful baby and you can see the Caley in him. What a beautiful family! Congratulations!

Relief Society Birthday Dinner

Here comes a barage of posts again. Last Tuesday, our Relief Society had our birthday celebration. I was in charge of making a birthday cake for my table. We had a table for each of the birthday months. Actually, we had only 6 tables, so we combined months. We combined months, according to numbers, so I was at the January/May table. I decided to stick with the winer theme since I am a January birthday. I found a recipe for Coconut Cake on http://www.kraftfoods.com/. The recipe called for vanilla pudding but I used coconut creme because that's what I had. Also I sprinkled sugar crystals on it to make it look more "snowy". I also added a strawberry to the top for color and to give the month of May a little decoration. It was pretty yummy. Not good for the waistline, mind you. Nonetheless, a yummy treat. You can find the recipe here http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=65937.

Our Nicknames

I got tagged by Dianne forever ago and am just now getting to this. I thought it was fun to learn what nicknames are used for others, so here goes ours....

DAVID- (which is either pronounced in English or Spanish-- dah-veed)
1. Dave- this actually a nickname that David despises, yet people insist on calling him Dave. He will introduce himself as David and people will respond by saying, "Nice to meet you, Dave". What's that all about? Anyone who knows David at all, knows that he is in no way a Dave.
2. So that's it for David. Fun, huh?

AMANDA-
1. Manda- I've realized a lot of people call me this unintentionally. They just casually drop the "A". Gotta love when they add the Panda.
2. Mana- from heaven... aren't we all?
3. Mandy- This was my nickname until about 6th grade. However, very few have permission to still call me this.
4. Emancipee- That was all Bart. Not sure where it came from.
5. Provolone- That's from Britt. Thanks, Cheddar.
6. Lady Love- That's from my David. He always calls me his lady. Makes a girl feel loved.

MALIA-
1. Mali- This is from David and now we all use it. Pronounced mah-lee. My mom jokes that it is Malia's Irish name (Molly).
2. Mals- That's from Britt. Sometimes lengthened to Malser Palser.
3. Malita- or sometimes Malita Bonita.
4. Little Lady Love- From David. He jokes that Malia is a little Mexican me.
Oops! Almost forgot....
5. Oleo- Nathan's version of Malia- try not to draw a correlation between Malia and butter!
6. Mia- Caleb and Johnathan's version of Malia

So that's our nickname fun... Now I tag all of you ladies to share your families nicknames. I'm not going to name you all individually because I want you ALL to do it. It's interesting to see what others call each other.