Spring Break Continues

Despite the cold weather of last week, we continued to find fun things to do during our Spring Break:

On Tuesday we met the Mickelson's at the pool and spent the afternoon swimming while it poured rain outside! Most of the time was spent with Brooklyn and Abby making a train from the noodles and giving rides around the pool.On Wednesday we decided to meet the very same Mickelson clan at the movies to see the one and only Monster's VS. Aliens in 3D. Paul even joined us and while it was snowing outside, we were blown away by the movie- very cute and fun, but the 3D was spectacular! As soon as Liv put on her glasses she started reaching out to grab things and Eva put hers on, got scared that everything was right there, took them off and wouldn't put them on for the remainder of the film!!

Thursday we awoke to a foot of snow outside, but we didn't let that keep us from packing our bags, pillows, tents, and coats and making our way south to what we hoped would be warmer weather with my family! Alas the storm followed us and that first night I nearly lost all my toes and the next day was overcast, chilly and windy. This weather did nix my plans to go on a 37 mile bike ride with my brother Kelly across some magnificent landscapes, but we made the best of it and drove ourselves over to Arches National Park instead.
We first had lunch at a picnic area in which everyone got in the mood for climbing!Next we made our way up the trail to see Delicate Arch. Paul had never been there, well neither had Abby for that matter!! It is such a breathtaking structure and I was glad they were able to see it. When later asked what his favorite part of the trip was, Paul said this was by far!!We also took a short hike over to see some Native American Petroglyphs.Then we went over and saw one of the double arches. This hike was even more child friendly so Liv and Eva joined us- we had a great time, and again, so magnificent!

That night we had a BBQ and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed some smores- some of us had more than others, OK I did!!!Saturday morning we awoke to clear blue sky's and no wind, so we made our way to Goblin Valley. Now this is a place that I have been to several times as a child and teenager and I have such fond memories, I couldn't wait to let my girls experience how fun it is. If you have never been it is a 1 mile deep 3 miles wide valley of sand formations that they let all the children climb on and in and explore to their hearts content. I wish I had taken a panoramic view, but I didn't, so these close ups will have to do!!Despite losing Abby in the maze after only 5 min. and finding her quite shaken, we all had a great time and it was perfect weather. Thanks Cory, Jill, Kelly, Bethany, Mom, Aunt Marsha, and the kids for making the trip so fun!

We came home to beautiful weather, our trees and flowers in full bloom. Abby and Liv spent all Sunday afternoon in the backyard constructing bouquet'sand I have again fallen into spring fever love- hopefully this time it won't break my heart!!

Holiday weekend

We have been up to some fun things this last weekend- I thought I would share, since I just now downloaded the pics!

Saturday morning we decided to brave the rain and go to the city egg hunt, it was just at the park by our house, so why not! Liv was very excited to participate, Eva had no clue what was going on and Abby took off with a friend and we didn't see her till it was all over, but she was elated with her loot!! I haven't ever done a city hunt before, it was CRAZY and over in about 30 seconds, but good fun.

That evening my niece Tia came over and babysat for us while Paul and I had a date night out- we went to dinner and a movie. A week or so ago we decided that with all the working Paul has been doing that we NEED to do this at least once a month to help us reconnect somewhat. I can't think of a better use of our money than that right now, and we had a great time together. Thanks Tia for your willingness to watch the girls!!

Easter morning was filled with the usual fun of seeing what the Easter Bunny brought. I love these funny sleepyheads!!Then we tried to quickly get dressed in our Easter attire and make it to church, only 15 min. late this year!!! We ended up combining our Primary class with Abby's so we had 13 kids to teach, but it went very well and the kids were great, which was wonderful while we talked about Christ and the Resurrection.

I think that our girls looked great in their dresses this year, we haven't ever done a green and blue scheme before and I really liked it!!Abby took this picture of Paul and I, it turned out pretty good!!

That afternoon we went up to the Davis' for some egg coloring, egg hunt and of course wonderful food and company. The hit of the day for the girls was finding out that the eggs in the hunt had money in them- Grandma Davis is pretty awesome they think!!!! Here are the cousins all playing together, fun times.
This week is Spring Break so yesterday we met some friends over at the Thanksgiving Point Farm and spent the afternoon feeding the animals, having a picnic and of course riding the ponies- well everyone but poor Eva. She was so excited to ride them for the first time until she sat in the saddle and that pony moved!! It was all over after that, but I was proud of her for trying. Liv rode all by herself and Abby got the "Tall Pony" and was overjoyed. As we were leaving they were very happy to spend their Easter money on a toy from the gift shop, so thanks Grandma!!

After that I went out for a bike ride with my sister Shamae, thank goodness it is Spring Break and her kids could watch mine while we went! We would be out again today but it is pouring rain outside and I hope it clears before we leave south for the weekend- everyone cross your fingers for us!!
Hope you all had a great holiday as well.

Never say Never

I am not a pet person, never really have been, never really will be. I grew up with several cats at different stages, as well as my beloved Charlie, a hamster. But after the girls were so interested in watching those silly Sea Monkeys, that Abby bought a couple weeks ago, grow from egg to little squirmy's and being go delighted with them- that is until I left them up in the kitchen window overnight when it decided to drop below freezing and they, well, passed on!! The girls were all so sad, I even think Paul was quite sad to see them go, that I caved and said, despite all my better judgment, "How about we go and pick out some real fish to take care of". I said it off the cuff, not really planning on following through. But then Abby started coming home from school everyday with her practice sentences written, including "I will get a fish." And she kept telling Asher on the way to school that she was going to get one. She was so excited that I couldn't not do it. I mean, it is fish, that is not hard, they don't get hair everywhere, they don't destroy furniture, they don't smell, they don't cost much to feed... OK, OK, OK, I caved!!!

So last night we took them, all smiley faced and bouncing out of their skin, to pick out some fish and here is the joy it produced:

Meet Goldie- Abby's
Chocolate- Liv'sand last but not least Helmet head- Eva's (thanks Paul for suggesting THAT name!)Now Paul has layed down his bet that I have killed them in three weeks time. I keep telling him I had a very happy and cared for Betta fish for 2 years in College- so I say they live at least that long, after all, I am even more responsible now! What time frame do you put your money on before you see the funeral post!!!

Bunch of Scraps

Not much happening this week, it has decided to be winter again so we are all cooped up! I cleaned the house, did a million loads of laundry and then started back into my scrapbooking again- I am so far behind!! Here are a couple for you to enjoy, I can't believe how much Eva has grown since last summer!! Now that these are lined up, it seems I need to brake out of the "Pink and Green" mode!!

It seems I have let go

The other day I came home from my morning swim and rushed off to shower. I came out and began to gather all my hair and makeup supplies in preparation for the day when Abby comes by, stops short, cocks an eyebrow and says "Mom, is it Sunday today?" I said "No, it is Thursday and I volunteer at your school on Thursdays. Why, do I only get ready on Sunday?" and she says "Yes"!!!!

So this got me thinking- have I really let things go that much? Am I that lazy that if I am not going to be leaving the house to go to church, or the school (where all the kids are in uniform and the teachers wear dresses or shirts and ties) do I not make an effort? Then I remembered that just yesterday morning a lady at the gym complemented me on my skin- she told me I look like an after picture! And this was after getting out of the pool and my hair was a mop on my head! Granted she was older and probably crazy, but I was flattered. See, I don't even need to wear makeup! But then I remember one of my most favorite moments with my mother when I was a teenager. My siblings and I had convinced her that we needed to be driven to the mall for some shopping and she looked down at her Emerald Green sweat suit she was wearing and said "oh, in that case I had better go and change." We all breathed a sigh of relief until she came back out and she was wearing a purple sweat suit!!!! We all laughed and laughed and said she had not changed and she said "but the other one was dirty"!!!!!

I love my mother, and I love that we have moments like this with her, but am I, as a stay at home mom, letting things go just a little too much- should I be making more of an effort? Most of my days start out with either running, swimming or biking and by the time I get girls dressed, hair done, and off to school with lunch in tummies and finally get a shower, it is after noon and I am not going to be leaving the house at all. I do get dressed for the day, I do comb my hair and wash my face, I do put on deodorant!

So tell me, be honest, do you put on a full face of makeup and do your hair everyday, even if you are not going anywhere? I need to know if I am letting myself, my husband, my daughters and everyone that I come in contact with out front of my house down!!! If so, I will make a change!!!! I really don't want to be scaring the neighbors!!

Spring is here, Spring is here

I started out this morning by getting up and going for my run outside, the first time of the season for me, and it was GLORIOUS! The air was crisp, but not too cold, the sky was clear and I kept passing my neighbor on her bike as I ran the loop up and around the Discovery park, and we would motivate each other to keep going! It felt so good to be out and off that treadmill. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my treadmill but I can run sooo much faster and I swear I don't sweat as much outside!!

After Liv rode her bike to and from school for the first time(yeah, she was pretty excited to show all the kids her new wheels) us girls decided that since the day was a spectacular First Day of Spring, and Abby was out of school, we would pack up our lunch and head over to the park and have a picnic and then some playing before naps. Can I say again that the spring bug has bitten, I try not to get too excited because I do live in Utah, the only place in the world where you use your heater and air conditioning on the same day, but truly we had a wonderful time and I am loving the sunshine we have had all week.(Yes, Liv chose to ride her Scoot bike here because she is still timid going down the hills on her new bike)

On another note, I have been working on an ABC's book for Eva to take to church and I am very proud of how they turned out. All the pictures are things that she loves and I used the templates and kits from "The Digi files #2" and some doodle frames from Scrap Orchard to make it. Here are a couple of those pages which will be printed out in an 8X8 format:

Also my beautiful wallpaper was delivered this week, so tomorrow we will be setting off on that adventure. I haven't ever hung wallpaper- OK, I helped my mom once back in the day, but did I REALLY help, of course not! If you have any pointers let us know and I will post picks of the finished playroom as soon as possible.

Have a great sunshinny weekend!! Spring is here, which only means Summer isn't that far behind!

2 dollars and 50 cents of fun

This week is "S" week at Liv's preschool. (every week they do a letter of the alphabet) Because of this she has been pointing at all the stop lights and signs, as well as walking around singing "Yellow Submarine", yes the one by the Beatles, what can I say she has a cool teacher! One of the activities they did was to build fun things with sugar cubes. When she came home and showed Abby her bag full of sugar cubes and started talking up a storm about how much fun she had building with them, well, you should have seen the face of envy that graced my sweet girl. Being the great mother that I am, or not, when I went to the store later I picked up a box of those coveted sugar cubes for her. So last night, while I was armed with the hot glue gun, and their minds were oozing with childhood creativity I can now give you:

Abby's rendition of Rapunzel's tower
Complete with path up to the doorless front and some side bushes, it would have landscaping of course!

And Liv'sTo be honest, I looked at her and said "That is great Liv, is it a castle too?" and she looked at me and said: "Of course NOT mom, it's a refrigerator!"
Of course it is!!!!

PS: Thanks everyone for your imput on the design dilemma. I decided to splurge and it will be at my door next week!!! Everyone tell Paul that it IS worth it!!!!