Easter Fun

Since we are new to the area, we were not sure which Easter Egg Hunt to go to this year. The forecast was rain all day; however, this morning it was not raining! We went to Draper City Park for the hunt at 9am. The hunt didn't last long, but Lizzy got enough eggs. On the way home we decided we'd check out the one at the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau Center. Lizzy found the "golden egg" and won the grand prize - a Costco Easter Basket with lots of goodies, and also a city connect tour for each member of the family! The pass gets us into the Hogle Zoo, Discovery Gateway, The Living Planet Aquarium, Clark Planetarium, Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Olympic Park, Red Butte Garden, Thanksgiving Point, Heritage Park and a few others! It made John's day, after we were nearly runoff the road on the way there! He was especially excited about the Aquarium!

We went to Temple Square and walked around for a while, and John took lots of pictures. The observation deck at the church office building was open, and it was an amazing view. I'm glad we went to SLC today.

Trip to Missoula

Well, we are back from our trip to Missoula, Mt. My mom was visiting from California, and we drove up with Sara. Lizzy really got attached to Sara during the trip, and actually preferred her over me at times. It snowed really big flakes one day, it was so peaceful to watch the snow. I love spending time at my aunts place. It was nice to sleep in, have a great breakfast and just relax. Lizzy loved her dog and cats, always asking "Where puppy go?" and "Where kitty go?" and she would also say "hi puppy" and wave - it was cute.
It was nice to meet some relatives; some that I had not seen in a while, and some I had not met before. For some reason I can't upload pictures, so here are some videos.

Colors!

Today we had a lot of fun. Since our trips we had spent a lot of time at home, and we needed to get out of the house! We played some basketball at the indoor court at the apartment complex, then Elizabeth and I played on the playground for a little while, but it was too cold for me. We hadn't been to the malls nearby, so we went to see what stores they had. Here is the run down of our afternoon:

1. South Towne Mall in Sandy
2. Nielson's Frozen Custard in Holladay
3. Fashion Place Mall in Murray
4. Home to pickup Madagascar 2 (on Blu Ray), and look up a good Chinese Food place near by.
5. Hollywood Video to return the movie
6. Dinner at a Chinese place... won't be returning - I guess the online reviews were bias! It was cheap and the service was good, but the food was just ok.
7. Wal-mart
8. Home

We just didn't want to go home... and Elizabeth was very well behaved. I was so happy she stayed in her stroller the whole time we were at the Malls, well she was asleep most of the time at the Sandy Mall.

We got some Play-Doh today, and Elizabeth is loving it. The past couple weeks she has been saying her colors, mostly everything is yellow at first, but then she'll say the right color after I ask again. This past week she as also been drawing a lot and will tell us the colors, but they were not right half the time. I wasn't sure if she really knew her colors but today confirmed that she really did know. She would tell me the color of the Play-Doh ... green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, purple, red, white. It's great watching her learn and grow. She amazes me with things she says and does all the time. She's got quite the personality already too... I think it's a good mix of John and I. We are blessed to have her in our family. I love my little princess.

Elizabeth made these all by herself

February Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trips:

The past month

I forgot to post this when I wrote it a few weeks ago! We have been busy with trips to Las Vegas and California to visit family. John's twin sister was in Utah, for a few days too and we enjoyed spending time with her and going to the Draper Temple open house with her.

Last month we went to the Dinosaur Museum with John’s sister and Grandma.




Before our trips our HP notebook screen broke, and so I can't upload my pictures from the trips yet. We are expecting the notebook to return tomorrow! There are many pictures on my parents website if you are interested... www.easysite.com/Rankinfamily

In Vegas we went to Red Rock and hiked around, then that night we got a babysitter to watch all the kids went to a Valentines Dinner at the top of the Stratosphere, there were 8 of us) It was a lot of fun, the view was amazing, the food was great, but we weren't expecting to pay that much! We decided to go to California from Vegas, because Tina's sister was visiting from Seattle, and we had not seen her daughter Amy, who is almost 6 months old. We went to the Jelly Belly Factory, and hung out at the house. It was nice to see Emma and her family for a couple days. The cousins had a lot fun playing together. We spent a lot of time putting together a puzzle that Aaron G* got at the Jelly Belly Factory.

Since we have been home Lizzy has started talking even more, and wants to count with her fingers, although she doesn't quite get it right yet. She is experimenting with what she can do with her fingers. The other day she had her pinkie and ring finger crossed. She also loves "The Little Mermaid" which she calls “Aerial” She's asks for it first thing in the morning, and would watch it over and over if we let her... which I have to admit sometimes we do. She watched it three times the other day. We were glad today she actually picked to watch Peter Pan... however at this very moment she is watching "Aerial". Yesterday as we turned it on she was 'talking' but we couldn't understand a word she was saying. I then asked her "are you speaking English?" and she said, "I don't know" It was so funny...

Yesterday it was nice enough to play outside for over about an hour. Lizzy loves the swings and slide and wanted to play longer. I'm glad it's warming up!

Random Elizabeth Moments

This was the first time Elizabeth touched snow.

The jacket was a Christmas gift from her Aunt Tiffany. I had to include a picture of the back, it's so cute!

Elizabeth amazes me everyday! I love the little things she says and does. For Christmas we got the wii and wii fit. In the morning I try to get some exercise, and half of the time it's on the wii fit. Elizabeth loves to watch and cheer me on. When I finish a game, or activity she says "more". I do the step aerobics the most, and Elizabeth likes to clap and move her hands to her side... very cute. It's nice that she cheers me on and lets me get in some exercise.

She also loves to help and be a part of everything we do. John loves the banana flavored Creamies (an ice cream bar). When ever he gets one Elizabeth makes sure that we all get one. She even knows that I like the chocolate ones. She likes the banana, just like her daddy. She doesn't like to be messy or sticky. She'll hold out her hand and say 'mess' or 'sticky' and ask for a napkin. She does so many cute things.

Elizabeth moves all over when she sleeps, and her hair was really crazy. I had to take some pictures!

Elizabeth loves music. She loves to play on keyboards or pianos where ever we go, and she loves dancing. At church she even likes to hold the hymn book and 'sings'. Here is a clip from over the holidays with her cousin Ethan.