Utah Trip

While Matt was in between semesters, we took the boys out of school and headed up to Utah. My sister blessed her darling baby while we were there. It happened to SNOW that day! I kept muttering under my breath that the weather was not enticing us to want to move back there. We had a great time with our family and friends. Below are a few of the highlights from the trip in no particular order....

1. My favorite was being able to run outside in the crisp morning air, down the lake road and hear nothing but the birds, the creek and the horses. It was nice to be able to stop in at my dads barn and visit with him in the early mornings.

2. Dinner at the "Bombay House"! Yummy! It is the best Indian food around and it has been years since we have been there.

3. Visiting Temple Square and lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was Samantha's and Ava's first visit to "the biggest temple ever." We went with my mom and sister and Kambree. The temple grounds were blooming and beautiful!

4. Ridding Maggie! Sami is obsessed with one of my grandpas horses. Every time we go up she wants to ride and grandpa Mel is more than happy to oblige. Austin and Easton love it because Maggie is the best mare in the world. She will follow those two any where they go!

5. Family dinners, lunch at Parkers and hot dog roasts!

6. Splitting and stacking wood with Matt for Grandma and Grandpa. This was by far the boys' favorite part. They do not get the opportunity to work outside all that much, (vacuuming the AstroTurf is not quite the same) so they had a blast.

7. And finally we ran our first family 5K run on Saturday. It was the Annual Law Day Run at the University of Utah. Being that Matts family is overflowing with attorneys, it turned into a family event. The boys did amazing! Matt and I each took a boy and stuck with them. It was raining in sheets the entire time, but all in all we still did pretty good. Austin and I finished in about 37 minutes and Matt and Easton were only about a minute and thirty seconds behind us. They were very tired and cold, but are ready to do it again to beat their time!

We love being able to spend time with our families. Even with the drama and everything else that comes a long with big families, we wouldn't trade it for anything!

Clark County Fair!

Samantha had to dance at the Clark County Fair in Logandale last Saturday. Matt was at school studying for finals, so I decided to take the kids out there for the day. Of course Saturday happened to be the only day in I don't know how long, that it rained ALL day there. After getting pulled over by the local police department (burned out brake light), and trying to kill some time at the only fast food joint in town (McDonalds), we found a little museum. We decided to give it a try and wait and see if the rain would let up. The museum itself was a little drifty, but the pueblo outside was a hit.
(Sami just discovered that people lived there, in the dirt!)

While driving back to the Fairgrounds, Austin spotted this tank on the side of the road and so of course we had to stop for a picture!

We made it to the Fairgrounds and tried to make the best of the rainy day. The kids loved the animals(with the exception of Ava who kept her head buried in the side of her stroller the entire time),

the steam engine display, and Sami did a great job on her dances!

And of course what is a fair without cotton candy and popcorn! It turned out to be a fun day and the kids could not wait to tell their dad everything!

OuR BabY TunRs 2!

I cannot belive that my baby is two years old today. Ava is such a sweetheart and has totally completed our family. She accepts her role of the youngest with pride and knows the power that comes along with it. She already knows how to get what she wants from everyone around her.

Ava Loves:

candy, chocolate, cheese, baby dolls, reading, playing with "sis", swinging at the park, PBS show"Super Why", M&M's, Easton, singing songs, chapstick

Ava Hates:

getting hair washed, carseat, dogs, stuffed animals, babysitters

We love you baby girl!

BouLdeR CitY!

I have always loved Boulder City. The quaint, small town feel that is there is so comforting for me. You actually see kids walking down to the local candy store by themselves and you feel that it is ok. I took the kids out there to day to take a few pictures of Ava for her 2nd birthday.
(Sami had just fallen down, and she was ruined for the day)
After the always fun and non-stressful task of taking pictures of four totally cooperative kids, we headed into the historic part of town to do a little exploring. I had noticed a small candy and ice cream store a while ago and wanted to give it a try. It was so cute. They have a lot of old fashioned candy and they also make hand dipped chocolates, carmel apples and fresh salt water taffy. It is called Grandma Daisys in case any one wants to check it out.

Down the street from the candy store there is an antique store that had a sign for glass blowing demonstrations. We decided to check it out. The store itself is full of antiques and a lot of hand made crafts. A lot of the crafts are made by senior citizens that are "supplementing their social security" as I was told by the sales clerk. The glass blower was a 72 year old man. He showed the kids how he makes the little animals and made each of them a small item to take home.

We then took our picnic to the park for a few hours. We had a great day. I really enjoy the days that we can spend together and I love that my kids are now getting older and it is a little less stressful to take them out in public! (Although Ava did drop her first glass souvenir, but the kind man gave her a new one)

EasTer Egg HunT!

We went to the Easter Egg hunt that our ward playgroup had on Tuesday. The older boys thought they were too cool to be there, but when the candy came out, they soon changed their minds! There was a great turn out and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! I think it was close to the 80's. Spring is the best reason to live here. My mom was here enjoying the warmth and not looking forward to having to go back to the snow!

The kids had a great time. The girls were so cute together. Sami thought that she needed to help Ava, but Ava knew she could handle this task on her own. She is the biggest candy-aholic that there is. She would inspect the candy in the egg before she deemed it worthy to enter her basket. ( I did not get a picture of Austin looking at me, as he was too cool to have his picture taken at a little kid activity)