Natural History Museum of Utah + Giveaway

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are mine..and well the kids that went with me too!

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Natural History Museum of Utah to take one of their highlights tours, and see the traveling Geckos Live! Exhibit. This is one of those adventures we haven't done often, and it was quite the treat!

The Highlights Tours cost a couple of extra dollars on top of admission, but we really enjoyed it. Maybe because we haven't visited this museum a lot, or maybe it was our awesome tour guide. Either way, we would spend the money to do it again! Our tour guide told us so many fun facts that we would have never known otherwise. Our favorite fact was that she told us which dinosaur bones were real, and which ones were casts. The tour only runs for about an hour, so we were still able to go and explore the museum on our own.

The Natural History Museum of Utah has 10 permanent galleries, and as if that wasn't enough they bring in at least 2 traveling exhibits a year. The current one is the Geckos Live! which will be there until May 1st, 2016...and should not be missed. We loved that every gecko habitat had a number on it, so you had to find that many geckos inside. Not as easy as it sounds with some of those little critters. With 55 different geckos the kids were absolutely amazed.  They surprised us with a special behind the scenes look at what they feed the geckos, gecko eggs that are waiting to hatch, and they even took a couple out of their habitats for us to touch. It was awesome!

You know what I really loved about this museum? I have a wide variety of ages in my kids, and there was something for each of them! Sabrina loved the cute little Our Backyard exhibit, Devin loved all the dinosaurs, Savannah loved the gems and minerals. There really was something for everyone.

So, now to the good part. The Natural History Museum was generous and gave me a family 4 pack of tickets to giveaway to one of my readers! Take a looksie at the rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will end April 15th. 

Information:
Name: Natural History Museum of Utah
Address: 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Admission: $9.00-$13.00 + $2.00 for Highlights Tours

Old Farm

We have been going to this spot to feed ducks our entire marriage. When we can't think of anything else to do, we somehow always end up at Old Farm feeding the ducks. It is a beautiful little pond, and the ducks don't seem to be overfed...so they are excited to see people come visit.

A long time ago switched over to corn to feed ducks with instead of bread, and it is surprisingly so much easier. This time Bina wanted to use peas, and the ducks didn't seem to mind at all. 

Information:
Name: Old Farm
Address: 514 E 4090 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Admission/Cost: Free

Easter 2016

Sometimes I like to mix things up for holidays, but after this year I decided I am stickin' to what we like and not going too far from it in the upcoming years.

Our neighborhood has a really fun tradition of doing a flashlight Easter egg hunt. You just have to donate a dozen filled eggs per kid, show up after dark, and get your hunt on. I have never had disappointed kids, and everyone goes away with enough candy to make it fun.

This year I decided to go to the local grocery store for the Easter egg hunt. I am sure not all of them are this way, but it was miserable. So many people, Devin didn't get one single piece of candy, Bina got 3. Lots of rude people with a baby that couldn't even walk, and a basket overflowing with candy. It was the worst. So, I tried something new, and I won't make that mistake again.

I have 2 things I switch back and forth from that the kids both love. The first is, each child is assigned a color egg, and they only hunt for that color Easter morning. The second is, I assign each child a color of string that they follow around to find all of their gifts/eggs. This year since Drake is too little, and I am too exhausted...I just went with the egg colors. The kids were still happy, but next year I will go back to the string.

We enjoyed ham and funeral potatoes, and called it a successful Easter day!

Hogle Zoo.

It has been a long time since we went to the Hogle Zoo as a family. We had a annual pass once upon a time, but I always took the kids while Paul was working.

We were invited to go with friends, and that always makes things more fun. Also, the weather was absolutely perfect. 

Drake had obviously never been to the zoo, and was alert and looking at everything for most of the time we were there. 

I love that no matter what we do together, we still have fun!

#BYOC - 7 Eleven

Last year when 7 Eleven did the BYOC day, I wanted to do it. So this year I was not about to miss out. I started seeing the ads for it, and totally marked it on our calendar so I wouldn't forget. Turns out Paul was out of town on the day of, which made it more of reason to do it...because Momma needed to get her drink on.

We decided our container of choice would be our Easter buckets, which turned out nicely. We figured out we got close to 100 ounces in each bucket, yes that is an insane amount of Slurpee.

We carefully drove to the park so we didn't spill any of our liquid gold, and played and sipped on our deliciousness.

blessing.

We have blessed all of our babies at home, and Drake was no exception. We invited our good friend Delene to come and be with our family. She brought us a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her shop. 

Drake is all sorts of grumpy, all the time. So you can imagine that he cried for his entire blessing, which is a bit distracting. I know Paul struggled to find words while trying to bless this sweet thing.

The best we could get.

Even though he isn't always super fun to be around, we still had fun celebrating him. He did look absolutely adorable in his little outfit, which is what is most important. 

my partner.

*All photo credit goes to Kim Orlandini Photography.

This post is all about my better half. This isn't "normal" for me to get of mushy, but I want it documented.

Having a new baby is always hard for us, so much change and adjustments happen. We usually start moving in different directions, growing apart, and get short with each other. 

Drake so far has been our hardest baby, or maybe he isn't and one of us {me!} always just forget how hard newborns and sleepless nights are.

This go around has been so different for us, and not because of me. I am still the emotional train wreck I usually am, but Paul has been a total stud! I have had lots of days I want to give up, and Paul has been right there willing to pick up the pieces.

My favorite thing Paul has said since Drake is "We are crushing this 4 kid business!"

It really is the little things that Paul has done that have made me realize that he loves us, loves me. 

Vacuuming the stairs. Taking over the morning car pool. Offering and taking a shift at night so I can sleep more. Picking up the odds and ends we need at the grocery store without me asking. Taking me to lunch and dinner so I can get out, and don't have to do the dishes. Putting kids to bed. Gas station runs. Remembering things I said I wanted, and going back to bring them home as gifts. Listening to me cry, and snore from exhaustion. Finding a new pediatrician for Drake. Walking the halls during Relief Society so I can listen and love being spiritually uplifted. Oh, and there is so much more than this.

When I thank Paul for helping or doing something I would normally do, he always responds with something along the lines of, I don't need to thank him it is part of being a Dad.

Even though I have enjoyed the newborn stage this go around the least out of all of our babies, I love what Paul and I have this time. I am a very lucky to have his support. I am thankful to be in this parenting adventure with him, we make some darn cute kids together.