Spring Break, Baby!

Kids at Upper Galoot in Snow Canyon...Sydney, Brandon, Taylor, Spencer Our darling kids at Snow Canyon

Above, kids at Upper Galoot. Below, us at the Pioneer Names in Snow Canyon
I can't tell you how much I needed this vacation! We headed to St. George for our Spring Break. The kids and I (and Max) left right after I taught a piano lesson on Monday....so around noon. Then, we made a stop and had lunch with Daddy before logging some serious road time.

The drive down wasn't stress free. We were racing to get down there before a big old storm hit. This same storm Mike texted me about that night that had dumped at least 6 inches in just a few hours.

In between Fillmore and Beaver, we ran into a dust devil that made the car shift about 10 feet! The sagebrush was blowing across the road from the left, but the dust was blowing across the road from the right! Freaky! At least it was small enough that by the time I corrected the car, we were out of the devil. The kids thought it was fun!

We hit really bad rain between Cedar and St. George and I was so white-knuckling it for that last hour. We were so glad to arrive in beautiful St. Gorgeous! A quick trip to the store and to Pizza Factory to pick up dinner and our vacation had begun!

(This is the greatest swing at a rockin' park! The kids loved it!)

Tuesday, we did bigger grocery shopping and visited Aunt Kay and Uncle Bud! We just love them so much. They are the kind of people that make you feel welcome and comfortable and loved. We heard of Bud's new adventure to the top of the rock behind their house to post a new flag (they back up to Tuachan, so the rock is ginormous). We did some shopping to basically get Amanda some new shorts, but everyone walked out of the store with something. We spent the evening watching 'Loser' and 'Idol' without a thought about what time anyone should go to bed! Love it!

Wednesday, our friends headed out to come join us! While we waited for them, we hooked up with more of our friends (our whole neighborhood was down there), Amanda's bff, Maddy, and went to a movie with all of them. The troops arrived around dinnertime and we had a good time having spaghetti and then going to a park and then chatting until around 11pm, when we figured the kids needed to go to bed!

Thursday, Nicole and I took the kids to Snow Canyon. Taylor was the only one to hike clear up to the pioneer names! Then, we played on the petrified sand dune. Spencer, Taylor and Brandon ran up and down that thing more times than I could count. Then, we had some lunch and went to the sand dunes where we buried everyone! Really fun day! Then, we ran home because all the Daddy's were coming that afternoon!

Friday, a trip to the swimming pool and the park again (it was a great park!). Saturday, the boys golfed (brought home a lizard which the kids spent hours with), the girls shopped and then we went to Pirate Island pizza for dinner and then a little sushi run later! Sunday morning, sausage-egg mc muffins and a lot of cleaning! Emily & Nicole left about 2 pm, their hubby's and we stayed to watch the Master's and then took off. I dreaded coming home. I was really enjoying the relaxtion that St. George had to offer! But, I guess we have to get back to normal life.....

More Easter Sunday

How nice to have General Conference on Easter Sunday! The talks were beautiful! And it was wonderful to be home with our little family. Mike spent some time playing dominos with the kids. When it came time to visit the grandparents, the kids didn't even want to go (until later, then it was 8:30pm!). I just really enjoyed being together as a family!

Easter 2010

The dying party! Still a favorite activity!
Waiting...

A picture of the finished products will be shown in another post. They were monster type eggs, with pipe cleaners and stickers for decoration.

Pretty colors!

Easter morning! The Easter Bunny hid the kid's baskets. But it didn't take our smarty kids long to find them!

Checking out the loot!

Yummy!

The bunny left a pooping chicken in the kids baskets! It poops out gumballs and the kids love it!

Loading the pooping chicken!

Waiting

The pooping chicken is a hit!

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

2/3rds at the Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It was freezing!!!! There was still patches of snow on the ground. Usually, there is mingling and breakfast after the hunt is over. Everyone just filled up a plate and walked home to eat. Too cold!!

Brandon and his buddy, Matthew Butler waiting for the signal

And they're off!

Brandon with his haul! Daddy got to help him out and then they headed home because of the cold! What a cute kid! Sydney during the hunt. She was nervous because it was her first year in the big kid's group. She's not one to throw elbows during the rush. She did great, though! Amanda during the hunt! Liz & Brinley in the background. Here's Amanda's haul. It's she and her friends last year as they turn 12 before the next hunt!

They are fine with that. We had to talk them into participating in this year's hunt!

Amanda's state fair!

Amanda's state was Tennesse! This was their program which was darling. It included Miley Cyrus' song, "Party in the USA" Amanda's part was "Groovy Baby!"

Here is Amanda's quadarama (I'm sure I didn't get that word right). She had to design this 3-D model explaining her state (which was Tennessee). She was very creative! Amanda's teacher, Mrs. Duke and the other 5th grade teachers made this really fun. It was a great State Fair!

Amanda's first soccer game was the week before spring break. It was sooooo cold! I had Sydney & Brandon stay home so I wouldn't have to hear the whine about how cold they were. Smart move. I was freezing and wanted to whine to someone!!! Mike was out of town, so he promised her for every goal she made, he would pay her $20! Enough motivation for her....she made two!

I love the contrast of this picture. Our cute girl in her soccer gear wearing her ballet Nutcracker jacket!

Sydney's little creation from school.....she was the photog

Max's first haircut. Boy....does he shed! (I don't know what those funny white marks are on his face...might have been taken through the window).

Snowy Funeral

On Wednesday, Mike, Sydney and I attended Mike's uncle Jack's funeral. We didn't know Jack all that well, so it was nice to hear people talk about him. Mike's Dad, Jim, conducted the meeting. At the end of the service, Jim bore his testimony and it was very powerful and moving. Most of the people there were not active in the Church. Jim reminded them of the sacrifices that their grandparents made to come to America and specifically to Utah so that their posterity could be close to the church. He told them they needed to do more with their Faith. Of course, we wondered if anyone would be offended, but soon the Spirit told us that he was doing the right thing. I know his powerful testimony touched more than just Mike & I.

When we went to the graveside, there was this lone bagpiper playing out in the blowing snow. I'm at a loss for words (strange, I know) on how to describe that. It was just really cool. We also let balloons off into the snow drenched sky. It was neat to see how the balloons stood out against the clouds. They moved in slow motion. I'm sure most of them got so weighed down by the falling snow that they themselves fell.

Afterward, we went to Mimi's for lunch. Matt, Alisa, Kelsey, Jimmy and Mike, Syd and I sat together at a table separated from the others. It was nice, though, to be able to sit and chat with our family. Dad Jim had talked about making excuses for getting together, instead of excuses for not getting together. I know he meant it for the members of his extended family, but it works for our families, too. Families are important. I think when a family member dies, we reassess our relationships. It makes us want to do better and that is the blessing in disguise.

We scream for ice cream!

Last year I misunderstood Mike. I thought he said our ice cream maker was broken and so I threw it away! We don't make homemade ice cream that often, but we sure love it! So, when we were at the kitchen store last week, we noticed this beauty on sale! Combined with a 10% off coupon, we picked up a new, fiery-red ice cream maker! Yea! (With matching ice cream scoop that Mike spotted).

So, this ice cream maker is quiet and does many things including making slushies and sorbet. You stick the bowl in the freezer to get it super cold (takes like 24 hours). Then, when you are ready...pull it out, pour in the ingredients and watch it go!

It's so quiet! We had yummy ice cream in 20 minutes!

No salt or ice needed!

Here are Sydney and her bff, Abby. We made our first ice cream on the same night they were having a 'late night'. Par-tay.
And wa-la! Put in some crushed oreos during the last 5 minutes and we had yummy homemade cookies and cream ice cream! We likey our new ice cream maker!

Here's how we spent April Fools Day.....

No Foolin'!

Springtime in Utah....gotta love it!