Thunder over Louisville

Saturday night, we went to "the largest annual pyrotechnic display in North America." It was absolutely incredible!! Every year Louisville puts on a fireworks show called "Thunder over Louisville" to kick off Derby. It lasted 28 minutes and was synchronized with a wide variety of songs. According to this website, eight 400-foot barges assemble on both sides of the 2nd Street Bridge to form the stage from which the fireworks spectacular ignites. In other words, it was like a three ring circus trying to watch everything at once.

Thanks to a couple in our ward, we had a fabulous spot downtown to watch the show. The place was crowded (over 700,000 in attendance) and we saw the finest people Louisville has to offer including a rather large and hairy man who decided to expose just about everything right in front of us. Keith and Bryan said it was an instant self-esteem boost while Amber and I still gag at the thought of the scene. See the guy in the red shirt? We call him meal-in-pants guy because he had a fast food bag (with food) tucked into his tight jeans. Fries anyone?

The air show went from 3-9 PM so we were able to catch the last hour of it. You can barely see the plane in this video but I thought the sky was beautifulThe "Belle of Louisville" aka "The Belly"

Posing with the champion

This is what Mackenzie did through the whole fireworks display. I ate it up, I love when she cuddles!

And finally, the videos which absolutely don't do the show justice. The first is a fun clip Keith caught with some fun songs and fireworks. These are small videos but if you look close, you can see hearts and stars.
The second clip was a mini-finale in the middle where there was just a small lag. It gives you an idea of how many fireworks were going off.

And if you're wondering why they call it "Thunder over Louisville" check out this clip. It's from 2007 and at about 42 seconds, the fireworks start sounding like thunder. They do it for the finale of every show and there are no words to describe how they feel and look. Our camera didn't have a chance at capturing it.

Easter

Spring is in the Air!

The weather has been amazing this week! Yesterday we had a high of 77 degrees and today it's supposed to hit 82. I'm thinking we definitely need to fix the AC in our car. I feel like everyone's throwing parties now that the weather's been warming up because we've been out and about the past few weekends getting to know more of our ward members and meeting more people in our complex.

One party in particular we played Rockband where I had the opportunity to sing "If You Wanna Be my Lover" by Spice Girls. As I sang, I was transported back into my 10 year old body to Stephanie Johnson's house where we recorded our scantily dressed selves singing this song. Let's just say I knew every word and rocked it almost to the point of embarrassing myself. The host now calls me Posh every time I see him.

Anyways, We started a babysitting swap with a few couples in our ward so we now have a few hours on Fridays to go on dates, it has been SO nice!!

For our last date, we went to Chick-Fil-A. It was my first time and I have to say that I was impressed. We came back to our apartment after eating and played tennis for the first time in a LONG time. Seriously, I played when I was 4 or 5 months pregnant and threw out my back so I didn't pick up a racket again until the spring after Kenzie was born. That spring we only played once or twice with (our amazing friends) John and Meagan (please move out here!) while our babes were content for a few precious minutes in their strollers.

If we had played a real game, Keith would have killed me. His serves are pretty amazing. I started out pretty shaky but eventually I was outrunning and outhitting Keith. I was also incredibly sore the next day as my arms and glutes were not used to the exercise.

Enough of my rambling, here's the pictures:

This one has Spring written all over it

We've been taking advantage of the playground a lot lately. Keith and I have a lot of fun trying to be kids again going down the fireman's pole (I'll spare you pictures of us):
"Look Mom, no hands"
And doing the monkey bars:
I have video of me crossing the monkey bars and I will save myself the embarrassment by not posting it. I did manage to go back and forth while Keith didn't quite make it across :)Mackenzie begs to go outside at least a few times every day. She runs to the door, pounds on it and jiggles the handle. She's quite the runner once she breaks free. Luckily, after skinning her knees numerous times, she's learning to slow her pace on the sidewalk.

The pigtails really deserve a post of their own. It's taken her a long time to grow that cute hair and a long time for me to buck up and let her scream for the 30 seconds it takes me to put the rubber bands in.
I have to end on this one because it makes me smile every time I look at it. This girl is incredible! A friend asked me the other day, "Is she always happy?"Yes, she really is

Red Nails

Look at that face, pretty innocent huh? Not so much. If you look close (and can look past the gross cracker crumbs) you will see traces of RED nail polish. This little girl managed to find my red nail polish purchased around 2002 for Girls Camp that for one reason or another I've held onto.
After finding it, she proceeded to open it (curse her ability to unscrew lids now) and happily parked her cute rump 2 feet away from me while my visiting teachers were over and proceeded to paint away at her hands, her stomach, shirt and pants. If only I could have captured her hands before the incident. It took 2 of us and a quarter of a bottle of nail polish remover to clean it up.
You might be thinking to yourself, "How did she manage to paint for so long with her mom and two other moms within 5 feet of her and not have any of them notice despite the strong fumes?"
I believe Amber was telling her story about the guy breaking into her 2nd bedroom at night and crawling up to her bed. True story, and it's why we pay extra to live where we do.
Now for some cute pics from Sunday I couldn't resist blogging:

I should also note that she's at a stage where "yes" is her favorite word. Incredible- I'm not counting on it lasting long though. Also, Katie Lambert is to be credited with the cute clothes. She has the cutest daughter who also owns the cutest wardrobe that she selflessly shared with Mackenzie.

Why I hate going to the Dentist: Ironic, don't you think?

Let me give you some background. Due to some very crooked teeth I've had my fair share of dental/orthodontic work done. Each time, I went into the dentist, I would have some minor anxiety which was only amplified with laughing gas. Just about every time the dentist has tried to numb my mouth it's a serious process including a series of shots and on one occasion, pressing forward with the procedure even though I felt a lot of pain.

Tuesday I went into the dental school because I had three bad fillings in the past that needed to be redone. One in particular has gotten so bad, it's almost to the root and that's what I went in to have fixed.

The dentist working on me was a fourth year in our ward that I trust completely and feel is absolutely competent as a dentist. I warned him that I would be a difficult patient and it proved to be true. He tried 3 big (might I add painful) shots in the back of my mouth with no success. We called over a dentist and he tried his hand at it by shooting higher with no luck. Next, they took a little gun to my mouth and tried to isolate the tooth by giving a series of shots all around it. We did this twice and each time, I could feel the nerve shooting pain as soon as the drill got going. No luck.

Two hours = a partly numb mouth, no fixed filling, and one incredibly painful jaw for days to come.

Is it bad that I just want to get knocked out for the rest of my dental work? I mean, I managed to deliver a baby after 25 hours of pitocin and yet I work myself up into a nauseating sweat over a couple hours of dental work. I'm so sorry for being a difficult patient Brandon, maybe we'll get it next time eh?

!

We had a fun weekend making decorations and goodies for our neighbor's birthday and a little V-day bash at our friends house Friday night.
Mackenzie is finally feeling better and back to her sweet nature so we were able to drop her off with our friends and see Avatar in 3D on Saturday. It was an amazing movie (and free thanks to Keith's parents) and if it wasn't so expensive, I would see it again. The graphics are absolutely incredible, I felt like I was truly living in another world for 3 hours.
Yesterday we enjoyed a snow day and Mackenzie and I REALLY enjoyed having Keith home another day. School has really picked up for Keith and we don't get to see him as much as we would like to but time is flying and in just two weeks, he'll have Spring break.
Life is good, we can't complain. Money is tight but we have everything that matters in life and I've been blessed with babysitting jobs here and there.
Mackenzie is so full of personality and attitude lately. She has to feed herself and will no longer eat what we're eating for dinner unless rolls are involved. She demands baby food and as much as I hate buying it, the pediatrician says to give her anything she'll eat because she's barely tipping the scales at 20 pounds. We're praying her ear infections have cleared up because the next step is tubes.
I felt so blessed this weekend to be married to such a wonderful husband. He is always so positive and kind. And though he may be one of the least romantic guys around, he's an excellent provider and one of the sweetest dads I've seen.
Mackenzie was feeling the love this weekend also. She was practicing this little trick all day Sunday:

Look-A-Like