The other day as I was making dinner, I could hear Morgan playing with her Barbie's in the other room. Two of the Barbie's were having a pretty involved conversation. I walked into the living room and saw this:
Morgan had given Violet a Barbie and they were playing together. It was so cute I had to take a picture.



We're working on getting Violet to take a bottle. So far the only person she doesn't scream at is Morgan. Violet still doesn't drink much from the bottle, but at least she'll let Morgan hold it. We look at it as progress.

Violet will be four months old this Saturday. She has started grabbing for things and shoving everything into her mouth. She won't take a binki but likes to fall asleep sucking on her blanket. I love watching her grow and learn, and we celebrate each new milestone, but at the same time I miss the stages she's already left. They grow so, so quickly.


We went sledding at a park with some friends last week. The improvised sleds included old cardboard boxes and tops to large plastic storage containers. Morgan had a great time and I got a little sunburn watching all the fun. On a side note, the lack of seasons has made it kind of hard to keep track of where we are in the year. Right now the weather feels very much like fall in Utah and Idaho so I keep forgetting we're heading into summer. But I'm sure once it starts hitting 120 degrees everyday I'll be able to keep it all straight.





Each weekend we try to go on a fun family activity. We're also trying to find all of the fun free or inexpensive things to do with kids so we can entertain you all when you come to visit. This weekend we went to see the lion exhibit at MGM and to the M&M store.



The lions are pretty cool. They aren't owned by the casino and don't live at the exhibit. They belong to a conservation park a few miles outside of Las Vegas and 'visit' the casino two times a week for about 5 hours at a time (I wonder if you can just go visit the conservation park?). There are about a dozen lions that rotate so some are there everyday. The exhibit is pretty cool and they say it's sound and smell proof, otherwise the lions would just climb to the top and hide. They also do a little show at times where the trainer goes inside and plays with the lions. There is a glass tunnel you can walk through that, strangely enough, the lions really like to sleep on top of so you can stand right underneath them. Morgan had a lot of fun watching the lions, but her favorite part was seeing the baby lion cubs. They are in their own little den area and you can even go inside and hold and play with the cubs - for $200. We didn't see anyone go in, but the crowds around the windows were huge. The cubs were only 15 days old and really adorable! I can see why some people might be tempted to pay up and hold them.

This is a shot looking up from inside the tunnel.

After the lions we walked up to the M&M store. It's just what you would expect. A giant store full of M&M stuff. It was so crowded we didn't get any pictures but Morgan had fun exploring all four floors. The coolest part was the wall full of tubes of different colored M&Ms. We let Morgan get a treat and she was almost more excited for the little yellow bag they put her candy in. As we were driving home I looked at the bag and had a realization, I have been to all of the M&M stores in the US. New York, Orlando, and Las Vegas. Completely unintentional, but there you have it, a life goal accomplished.