Murder Mysteries and Warehouse stores!

Last night Dan and I got to go to the funnest murder mystery party planned by my awesome sister in law Haley.  She sent out each persons character and we were to dress up and pretend to be that person, also we had to try to solve the mystery of who killed me "Snow White".  It was fun I got to scream and pretend to be dead on the floor.  If you can't tell from the pictures I was snow white, and Dan was prince charming.  I found our costumes on line and it was fun to be dressed as a couple.  Dan was a good sport and wore his prince costume, he added some of his own flair with the BYU hat. 

Then today marked an exciting new step in Dan's new business, we went and saw a bed on the shelf at a Sam's club in Draper Utah.  It was really awesome to go and see it in the store.  The two older kids were totally embarrassed to be taking pictures in front of people at a warehouse store, but I didn't care I had to document this.  Now we just need to get selling this puppies and we are on our way to a successful business.  So far sales have been pretty modest.  We have them in about ninety Sam's Club stores set up and displayed.  There are about fifty more to come in the next few weeks.  I think the beds attract attention just because of the light, and the great licensed images. 

The beds are just such a new concept that I think it will take some time and marketing to get people to understand it.  What bed can be used as a reading light, night light, has a dimmer and timer, and also has an image which can change in just seconds with endless possibilities?  You like soccer?  You got it, you like Princesses?  You got it.  Basically anything you can dream up, you can create for your bed.  You can even customize with your own photo's.  This isn't easily explained in a small display.  The boy's have a cowboy themed room, so we have horses and elk in their beds.  Kate has butterflies for hers.  Is your child afraid to sleep in their own beds at night?  We were loosing sleep when Benjamin would want to sleep with us everynight.  We got him a lightheaded bed it has a soft night light with a built in timer. The best part about the beds in my opinion is that they have a reading light.  If you want to instill the love of reading in your child, get them this bed.  Get rid of the TV in your kid's room and replace it with a lightheaded bed.  Kate has to read every night for thirty minutes.  I use to be the one with the headache of keeping track of her reading minutes.  Now with her new bed she can be in control, she just sets the timer for thirty minutes on her light, and when the light turns off she knows it's time to go to sleep, and I know that she's keeping up with her schoolwork.  This bed will totally change your child's attitude about reading.  It brings back the old tradition of reading together at bedtime with a new and cool twist.   

Do you recognize the kids and the mom on the box?  It's hard to tell from the small photo, but that's me and the kids! 

Jence Turns Two

This little guy had a birthday!  Jence is Two years old!  We had a weekend full of presents, and a lot of cake.  First his nursery teacher brought him an Elmo cake, and gift.  It was so kind of her, Jence just loved it.  We celebrated with the Mower family at a combined party for Jence and Becca since they are cousins who were born on the same day.  I bought a cake from Bowman's, it had balloons, and confetti on it, and was really cute. 

Finally we celebrated on Sunday with the Black side of the family.  We combined his birthday with my parents farewell dinner.  I made this Panda Bear cake for him.  It turned out really cute, but wasn't very easy to make at all.  I'm just glad it turned out.  I"m disappointed in how the photo turned out with Jence and the cake.  I had to use Dan's phone to take it, and I wish I would have had my camera for it. 

For Jence's birthday he got some blocks, play food, books, stuffed panda bear, and some cars.  He did pretty well.  Grandma Mower also gave him a Lagoon pass for next summer!  This will be the first year we ever tryout Lagoon passes.  Jence went to Dan's work Lagoon day and loved it.  I was surprised because usually kids at his age are very scared of the rides.  He didn't want to get off of the them!  It will be a fun summer activity to do with the kids. 

Jence Makes A Mess

The terrible two's have now commenced at the Mower household.  I can't believe how much trouble this little guy can cause in a 24 hour period.  I took a few photo's of the havoc only to be tired by 10:0 in the morning of all the messes I was taking pictures of, so I quit.  Here Jence wanted some yogurt, so I gave him a yogurt, and then finished the dishes.  I few minutes later I turned around and found him smearing the yogurt all over in his hair.  I have to admit that not very much surprises me anymore, but this completely shocked me!  I took him upstairs to wash him up.  I decided that while he was in the bath I might as well clean the bathroom, and I lifted the toilet seat and found this!  Yes he left me a little surprise in the toilet, all of the bathtub toys!  As you can see it's never a dull moment around here.  I don't know how I even try to keep up with everything.

Fall Photo's

Fall is my very favorite time of the year!  The mountains are just stunning right now.  I dragged my kids to go take some photo's in the mountains last week in between conference sessions.  I enhanced the leaves a little in photo shop.  I love these pictures.  I think our kids are the cutest (however I guess I am a bit partial being they're mother and all.

Nutcracker Time

Kate and I have been going to watch the Nutcracker for the past several years, it's kinda a Christmas tradition for us.  She has always wanted to perform in the Nutcracker.  This year she was finally old enough to audition.  Kate's ballet studio performs a Nutcracker every year, and there is also a professional ballet company Ballet West that has open auditions for the children's roles.  I decided it would be a good experience to tryout for both.  I wasn't expecting Kate to make Ballet West version because I know it's extremely competitive.  They have girls from all over the valley trying out.   The two audition's were on the same day, making it very long day of auditioning.  We started off  the week by taking Kate to Salt Lake to be measured, she found out that she was tall enough to audition for Party Scene girl.  I knew that this was one of the toughest roles to make because of the height range.  I knew Kate would be auditioning against girls that are a 2-3 years older than her.  We woke up Saturday morning early she was to be there to check in at 8:30.  I bought her a bright red leotard and a big red ribbon for her hair.  She looked so pretty, I wish I would have taken a picture.  When we arrived at the rose Wagner theatre and checked in we were surprised at the number of girls that were there to audition.  There had to be well over a hundred.  I think at that point Kate started to get a little nervous watching so many girls do the splits, pirouettes, and leg extensions.  I have to admit that it was more competitive than I expected it to be.  I was proud of Kate though, she was so brave and went right into the audition with a smile.  Hours past, and it seemed like they'd never release the girls.  I wasn't expecting her to make it, but I was still anxious.  The longer it went the more I thought maybe she'd have a chance.  Finally they released the girls, and Kate came out.  She didn't make it, but I was so proud of her for trying.  Once we were in the car she started to cry, I think she just needed an emotional release.  I wanted Kate to have the chance to audition for a part just to get the experience of what it's like to audition for something.  There is a real learning curve to auditioning for roles.  The first time you tryout for something you learn so much regardless whether or not you make it.  Afterwards we went out to eat and stopped by my Grandma Woolsey's house to visit.  My Mom and Grandma went on and on about how beautiful she looked, and I think that made her feel better.  Then we went home and changed into a black Leotard for Clytie's Nutcracker audition.  Kate was very excited.  I felt more confident that she could make clytie's because they have so many more parts in their ballet for students.  Clytie doesn't release the cast list until Monday night so all weekend I was a little nervous.  I started to worry that she wouldn't make Clytie's, and how hard that would be for her.  Well Monday night came and we looked up the list and sure enough she made it.  I surprised her with a big Nutcracker I had found at Costco, she was so excited.   Kate is excited about her part, she will be an Ornament and will get to wear a sparkly costume, and be in the finale.  Kate was actually lucky she made Clytie's nutcracker, it turns out the about half of the girls that auditioned from Kate's ballet class didn't make it.  Kate is a beautiful dancer, and I can't help but wonder if going through Ballet West's audition was a good prep for her.  Kate loves her dance, and she is extremely excited to perform this year!  Way to go Kate we are so proud of you!