Gene and I bought Laura a talking doll for her birthday, so she had to go sit down on her little couch so that Kailee could show her how to operate the thing. :o) You use the doll's hand to point to its eyes, nose, mouth, feet, etc., and it says all of those words as you touch the doll's parts. Plus, it says little phrases like "This little piggy", "Patty Cake", and the "ABC" song. I think Kailee was more impressed with it than Laura was. haha!
We didn't want Christiaan to feel left out on Laura's birthday, so we bought him a little squishy green frog--I think he liked it from the look on his face. :o) We also got Laura a squishy pink frog--she didn't like hers as much as Christiaan liked his though.
Kailee bought Laura a BAG full of bracelets--about 10 of them in lots of different colors. Anyway, Laura loved those more than anything, and she had to wear ALL of them at the same time. Notice her pink tutu--she loves to wear it even in the winter. She just wears pants underneath it to stay warm. :o) She was a ballerina for Halloween, but she is still wearing her costume!
This was Laura 'running' over to see her new doll--that's why the picture is a little fuzzy.
We took some chocolate-covered strawberries over to Jared/Shiloh's house to share with them, and Laura LOVES strawberries as you can tell from this picture. These were a little sour for her, but she still managed to eat one of mine. :o)
We had the opportunity to go to the Draper Temple Open House on Monday, February 16, 2009. Our whole family was able to go, so it was a very special experience. We had to meet at one of the nearby churches and ride a city bus up to the temple--they had buses running constantly the whole time we were there. I believe they said that there have already been one million people go through the temple Open House--it is only open to the public from January through March. This picture was taken as we were leaving the temple, and as you can see, it was snowing!! It wasn't snowing when we got there, but by the time we left, a storm moved in. 
We asked a lady to take a picture of us at the end of the tour, so we gathered everyone together real quick and got it done!! Christiaan is peeking out from behind Shiloh--he wasn't that excited about having his picture taken. :o)
We actually couldn't take any pictures inside the temple--after the tour was over, we had to walk through this really LONG tunnel that led to another nearby church where they had refreshments for everyone. Notice the cookies in Adelaide and Joseph's hands. :o) Also, notice his little vest and tie--he looked so cute. 
This is a picture of Laura and Christiaan--Christiaan is enjoying his bottled water that they gave to him. That's a LOT of bottled water if a million people have gone through there!!
