Birthday Trip

I already posted a few videos of Kate daintily sampling her birthday cake while we were visiting my parents in Utah. I'd mentioned that she was a little tired when the cake was placed before her, and consequently she didn't really attack the cake with gusto. The night before we flew to Utah we gave Kate her own cupcake, and she did pretty well with that:

I'm not so sure she was pleased with herself when she realized she'd stuffed cake up her nose. That's a tough lesson to learn.

As my readers (both of you) will recall, earlier this year Devoted Wife and I made a wager, and the loser had to attend the winner's college homecoming football game. That was the genesis of our trip to Utah, although once we planned the trip we found we were looking forward to visiting family more than the football game. We had a great trip and loved spending time with my parents and the families of my brothers and sisters who live in the area. On Friday we went to Gardner Village to see the Halloween displays. I'm not sure that Kate had ever really worn a coat! I guess that's what So Cal will do to you.

(if you click on this pic and zoom in, you can see how much fun Kate was having)

Afterward we ended up at McDonald's for lunch. I was initially somewhat annoyed that we were going there, as I was ready for something tasty and was having a hard time understanding why anyone would voluntarily eat McDonald's when there were other options. But given that we had 8 children with us under the age of 6, the indoor playground turned out to be a welcome feature. Looks like the McDonald's marketing department has been earning their salaries.

Friday night was a "ladies night" where my dad, two of my brothers, my brother-in-law and I stayed home with all 12 kids and my mom took Devoted Wife, my sisters and sisters-in-law out to dinner. They apparently had a great time together, and we avoided inflicting any grievous bodily harm on our children. Mostly we took turns watching the kids while the others watched a Friday night college football game on my parents 60" big screen HDTV. My parents have wondered why their kids come home to visit more since they bought that . . . . We tried convincing some of the kids that football was more entertaining than the "Swan Princess" DVD they wanted to watch. Not sure they were convinced, but there was no way we were giving up that TV. Anyway, the kids had the World's Greatest Playroom to keep them occupied, as my mom has consistently been spending her children's inheritance in acquiring every child's toy known to man for her playroom. Its a kid paradise. Grandma knows a thing or two about kids.

On Saturday we went to the BYU homecoming football game. Devoted Wife and I were a bit nervous about the forecasted temperatures in the low 40's. But it was a beautiful day in a beautiful location (I'd forgotten what a scenic location the Cougars play in, having lived away from the Wasatch mountains for so long). My brother and his wife joined us for the game, although my dad decided he'd be more comfortable watching the game from his luxurious leather chair in front of the aforementioned 60" HDTV. I'm sure he was right. But the game was a lot of fun and none of us froze to death.

It snowed for the first time on Saturday night, although the weather warmed considerably on Sunday. I wanted to make sure that Kate got to see her first real snow, so I let her explore outside in the snow. She was a bit cautious about the strange white stuff:

At least she didn't stick the snow up her nose. Maybe at Christmas we can get her in some real snow-clothes and teach her how to make a snow angel.