Spring Break Fun

We have had our spring break planned for a little over a year now. The plan was to head up to Grand Targhee with a few neighbors & their families for a bit of spring skiing. We did it last year & it was a blast! However, as the time drew nearer, we all began to fear that there just wasn't enough snow left this year to warrant such a venture. So, as a back-up plan, we decided to head down to Moab & do some camping with the kids. This would be fool-proof, right????
Wrong. The week of spring break dawned a balmy 40 degrees, with chances of snow showers all along the Wasatch Front & into Central & Southern Utah as well.
Which left us with PLAN C.

Since several neighbors & friends were left in the same boat, we all decided to try a "stay-cation" (as Mike L. called it). We headed to a nearby hotel which boasted an "indoor waterpark"- perfect for the awful weather. The kids thought this was the neatest thing since sliced bread- who knew???
This was "game night" at the hotel. Erika brought the standard huge orange bucket full of candy & games. Fun for the whole family!


Whilst in the big city, we also visited the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Smurf still asks me every day when he can go back to Dinosaurland. I think in his two year old head it was cooler than Disneyland.

The next day Seth took the kids to see "How to Train your Dragon"- another huge hit.
Saturday, we ventured out to the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, a favorite annual tradition. As you can see, its not your typical EASTER- there is much new-fallen snow visible on the ground & everyone was bundled up nice & proper. Still, we had fun. (P.S.- Seth wants me to mention that he skied some fabulous fresh pow on this day, but I have mixed feelings about doing so because that meant I took the kids to the egg hunt BY MYSELF while he was enjoying FRESH POW. So not cool.)Love this picture of my girls :)

Saturday night while Seth was at Priesthood session I took on the Easter Egg dying all by myself with the kids. They had fun, but I was a bit of a crabby patty. I need to loosen up. I just kept yelling at them for cracking eggs & spilling the dye all over the place. That's what (pregnant) moms do though, right? Please say "right".

Sunday was the big day. I took one or two pics of the kids finding their easter eggs, but seriously forgot to take a picture of them in their nice easter clothes holding their baskets. So unlike me......
Blame it on the pregnancy.


Sunday night Janna's kids spent the night at our house & I took them all to the treehouse museum on Monday. (She is still on strict bedrest, so we are all taking turns with her kids). My friend Trish came with me thank goodness because I was not the best at keeping track of all 6 of them by myself.

You may notice that in our group photo out front I am missing my sister's little girl, Lilianne. I took the picture & then went "Wait a second.......there aren't enough kids here!" Sure enough, she was still in the building, wandering around by herself." I am an awesome babysitter.....

Tuesday I fell on the ground exhausted & exclaimed "WHEN, OH WHEN ARE YOU KIDS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL????????"
Thank the dear Lord they went back Wednesday. I had had all the "Spring Break Fun" that I could manage. Until next year of course....

20 inches

I am dying. Quite literally, I am on death's door. And this is all due to a little thing I woke up to this morning. 20 NEW INCHES OVERNIGHT!!!!! Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't appreciate 20 fresh inches, you are free to leave this post now because you won't get it. I mean, its one thing that my spring break was all but ruined by dreadful weather. We had a sub-par snow year this year & I was fine with that, what with me being a buffalo & all. But NOW, in mid-April, the skies have opened and it has been snowing for the last week! So this morning I wake up, its the last day the kids are out of school. I'm laying in bed trying to decide what we should do for the day (Baby Animal Days was on the agenda, but clearly cancelled due to the weather)- when Seth walks in & announces that 20 INCHES FELL AT SNOWBASIN OVERNIGHT!!!! Well, now its all I can think about. Against my mother's (& my doctors) wishes, I have skied all winter & had a nice time, but never really had a fabulous powder day. But now here we are on the very tail end of the ski season, I am fully SEVEN months pregnant, and I just don't think I should be up there anymore. I gave up on the season nearly a month ago.
Until today.....
I am dying to go skiing!!!!
I am way too fat & awkward to go skiing!!!!!
What is a girl to do?????

So I lie there in bed for at least another hour trying to work up the courage to just put on my gear & sneak up for one or two runs. I mean, its perfect. All the kids are home so Kenni can babysit. I could just zip up the mountain & be right back before anyone had time to yell at me for it :)

And then at last I decide....



I guess I'll just have to settle for the memories. No, I didn't do it. This was me last year.
Boooo Whhooooo hoooo!!!!!! (That's me crying now.....)

Photography by Michelle

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I got a fabulous new camera for Christmas. I have enjoyed playing with it & taking random pictures- trying to figure out how it works. However, my good friend Michelle has enjoyed it more. Every time she comes over (no matter what the reason) she picks it up & starts randomly snapping photos of everyone around her. Some are good, some are terrible & some make me want to kill her. But, still, she shoots away, always exclaiming "I love this camera!" I now have a huge collection of these that I'm not sure what to do with, so I'm sticking them here- as an homage to Michelle. I used a couple in my last post, but there are so many more, I thought they needed documentation of some sort.


















After compiling my favorite photos snapped by Michelle, I realized that there conveniently aren't any pictures of HER, so I drove over to her house, rang the doorbell, waited until she answered & then attacked. So, here you go Michelle. This is for all those other pictures you have taken! A little payback!

Seeing Green

I love St. Patrick's Day! It's an easy holiday without all the expectations, which means you can do whatever you want with it. However, I think this is the reason why this year, I did a little too much to celebrate! We started with a GREEN breakfast of GREEN eggs and GREEN pancakes & GREEN milk. The kids loved the pancakes & milk, but for whatever reason, they were totally disturbed by green scrambled eggs.

Noodle's class had Dr. Seuss pajama day on St. Patty's day which is why his GREEN outfit consists of Christmas PJ's.


I went straight from breakfast & getting the kids on the bus to my zumba class at the gym.
Notice the green workout outfit. Note to reader: this is what you get when you ask a 4-year old to take your picture. But I wanted documentation of my baby bump since it is getting quite profuse.

Next, I hightailed it up to the school to volunteer in P-diddy's class. They did some fun St. Patrick's day activities & games. I was also in charge of the snack for the day, but that came later.

Next, I ran to meet some friends at Chick-fil-a for a special GREEN lunch, but apparently everyone in the state had that same plan on their GREEN day agenda & it was a ZOO, so we ended up at McDonalds with regular old chicken nuggets.
Another note to reader: Here you can see I've changed into my regular GREEN clothes.

My friend Michelle LOVES snapping random pictures of people when their not looking, so I know I look hot, but that's what you get when people sneak up on you.
Next, it was back up to the elementary school to serve the special St. Patty's day snack. I decided instead of baking the traditional GREEN cupcakes or cookies to try to do something a little healthier & unique. Next time I'll think twice. I saw this Rainbow fruit platter in parents magazine & thought it would be a cinch- but I forgot the part about driving up to the school balancing it in one hand & trying to steer & see out the window with the other hand without the fruit going everywhere!!! It was a nightmare, but I made it there in one piece & the kids thought it was great. The layers of "rainbow" are all made of fruit & the clouds were marshmellows & I made yellow jigglers to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So fun!


Ok, next I had a fiasco in the school parking lot trying to collapse a friend's stroller that wouldn't go down & breaking an antique dish all over the pavement. THAT was a special treat. Then I had to go home & babysit for a neighbor & start preparing the GREEN dinner.
We had GREEN mashed potatoes with a hearty meaty gravy, GREEN jello, GREEN broccoli & GREEN juice. (I have no photographic evidence of this meal because at this point I was so exhausted I just wanted to crawl into my bed & be done with GREEN day!!!!)


Last- FINALLY it was off to bed in our GREEN PJ's. Thank goodness! This day was too tiring. GOOD NIGHT St. Patrick's Day. See you again next year!



P.S.- Editor's note: Somehow, during this crazy day, I also managed to stop by the hospital to visit my sister. She is doing much better!! They are doing a circlauge (I have NO idea how to spell that) today & hopefully that will keep that baby in long enough!!!!! Some of her fun friends had come to the hospital & "Shamrock attacked" her room. I had brought my camera to take a picture, but ended up running out of the hospital like a mad woman when I realized I was late to pick up Michelle's kids so she could go up to the school to volunteer at another St. Patrick's day party. Like I said- THIS DAY WAS TOO CRAZY!!!!!

A Good Quote

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

- Helen Keller

I came across this amazing quote a few weeks ago on a friend's blog & it had a special significance at the time for a member of my family.
Today, as my sister is undergoing yet another huge trial in her life, I remembered it again. Janna, I know this door is still open. Hang in there. We all love you & are praying for you!
I love reading other people's blogs because you never know what you'll come across that inspires you.

Why I love my Neighbors.....

This thing. That's why.



I've been driving past it every day for months now & every time I crack up laughing. Why, you ask? Because it reminds me of my childhood. Days long gone when kids played outside until dark & then their parents had to drag them into the house. Days when kids "invented" stuff & spent their summers testing their new inventions. Growing up with three brothers, we had many such contraptions around our house. I remember a dresser that got turned into a human jail cell, a couch with wheels attached that careened down the road from time to time, my brother building huge jumps so he could ski off the roof, the eight man sled that took us sailing into "the hollow" at ridiculous speeds, and more.
Nowadays, its seems like we don't see that kind of spirit out of kids. They spend so much time watching T.V. & playing video games. However, I think my hometown here in the Mountains is a rare exception. And that is why I love it here so much. People LOVE to be outside! Kids play in huge sand piles, ride their bikes, run around, and just enjoy being kids.
The Martin boys, who made this funny "ski-sled", have been amusing me for the last 5 years, and as they are now turning into men (sniff, sniff), I'm sure they will continue, because lets face it- boys never really grow up. Since I've known them, I've watched them spend countless hours riding their 4-wheelers up to the lake to fish or hike. They spent one summer rigging up a zip-line to go across it, which Seth thought was hysterical. I've found little splotches of hot-pink paint all over in my flower beds & chuckled at the realization that it was paint balls strategically aimed at us from their yard. They built a crazy-looking go-cart last year that I'm sure even Olympic lugers would be scared of. I see them out playing night games, building stuff with their dad, taking care of their yard, re-building old cars, and just being boys. AND I LOVE IT!
I'm grateful on a daily basis to live in this beautiful place, surrounding by such amazing people. And for whatever reason, this funny little contraption I see every day brings be joy because it reminds me of that. Just thought I'd share :)

Living with Lizards

Most people who know me well know that I am one of the world's driest creatures. I mean that in the literal sense. (Not as in a dry sense of humor, etc.) I was born with insanely dry skin & have apparently passed that on to my unsuspecting offspring. Therefore, it is an absolute requirement that we have at LEAST three tubs of Eucerin in our house at all times. I keep the stuff everywhere, and lube up each of the kids after their baths to try to negate some of the dryness.

On that note.....



Occasionally, one of the kids decides to go ahead & do their own thing. Case in point. I'm not sure if he thinks its shaving cream, or if his face was just feeling particularly chappy. Who knows what is going through a toddler's mind when he decides to do half of the crazy stuff they do.
Kids. Gotta love 'em. Lets just say they keep me on my toes. :)