What Did We do This Easter?

What did we not do?

Since Craig works on weekends we had to find a time to commence the Easter celebrations. Well Monday wouldn't work because I was subbing, so we settled on Friday. Since Friday was the tail end of "Free National Parks" week we decided to try and include that in our festivities-- I really need to write down when "Free National Parks" week is because it sneaks up on me every year. The hard part about that is that every Utah park is about 3 hours away. But we finally selected a destination. Our first plan was to make a day trip to Moab. We'd do Easter baskets in the morning. Then head out to Moab and find some where we could have an egg hunt. Well then we heard family was getting together to take in some hikes up at Zions. Well celebrating Easter, and Free National Parks Week with family sounded way more fun. So down south we headed.



We left on Thursday night and stayed with some friends. We did Easter Baskets on Friday morning before we left. Sadly the boys didn't sleep well because we weren't at home, and we woke up earlier then usual. We brought Big H in to see his basket and he just slumped over and laid on the floor in front of it. Little H was on the ball though. He started sneaking around, looking in everyone's basket and stealing their peanut butter cups.

We met up with everyone in LaVerkin and then we all headed to Zions. We hiked the Emerald Pools hike. This was my first time on this hike, the first time we hiked Zion's as a family and the first time the twins have really hiked-- all hikes previous to this the twins rode in packs and just fell asleep. Needless to say I had to stop and take a lot of pictures.



The boys sure loved the mud and the puddles at the lower pool. That red dirt makes for a nice stain!



Big H was adorable. He was just so excited and wanted to explore and take it all in. He kind of reminds me of me in that way. He knew he was somewhere neat and interesting and just wanted to see every little neat and interesting thing he could. We hiked up a short side trail to see this. It was his idea! And it was a good one.



Little H has a sad face here because he stumbled backwards a little which freaked me out and caused me to yell, "No No don't do that!" My heart jumped, and it took me a good while to calm down. If he had fallen here the only thing to catch him was a nice pointy cactus. And I probably would have been grateful if that's what did catch him!



We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on the hike. The boys had a great time, except for the fact that we couldn't stop long enough to play in the dirt.



After the hike we headed to a local park and had some lunch and an egg hunt with the cousins.



We had so much fun with everyone. Thanks for letting us tag along. It was such a fun trip, and it was so nice to get out.

Our next Easter festivity was Baby Animal Days and Heritage Park.



My visiting teacher told me about this and I wanted to make an honest effort to go since Big H has such a fondness for animals. My original plans were to go with Craig because he has a fondness for Heritage Park, but we couldn't make it work so my parents were kind enough to go with me. It was such a fun day!



The twins were skittish at first, and they really didn't like the baby chicks, but they warmed up and it was so sweet to see them petting the animals.




The best moment was when I sat Baby M next to a lamb. My plan was to just get a picture to send to my Aunt who used to raise sheep, but it ended up being the cutest moment ever! The lamb was licking Baby M, and Baby M was giving kisses back. Then the lamb started to paw him-- I think Baby M smelled like food-- so I picked him up before it got too dangerous and the lamb started to follow us. I wasn't sure if we'd get out without adopting that lamb.




Nephew K loved the chicks. He kept asking if I'd buy him one. At 50 cents a piece I was about too.




The twins loved the goats and throwing wood chips into the little stream.



The twins even got to go on their first pony ride. They were fine until the horse started moving. But even after all that crying they were still willing to tell the horse, "Thank you!"





They had tractors on display too. The boys had to watch this one as it drove up onto the trailer.



We had a busy and exhausting weekend, but I still pulled it together and got up for church on Sunday. After all it was Easter Sunday. I set the boys baskets up again just for fun, and this time the Easter Bunny left some stuff for Craig-- he had already given me my Easter present.



On Monday we dyed eggs. I wasn't going to bother with egg dyeing this year, but our Easter just didn't feel complete.






Then when the twins woke up from their nap we had another little egg hunt. After the hunt we enjoyed our traditional "Eggs All-a-Golden Rod" for dinner.

What a wonderful time of year! It's always uplifting and peaceful at Easter time. And no mater what the forecast is the Sun always seems to shine on that Sunday. We our grateful for our savior and his sacrifice. And we are grateful for our yearly reminder that life can be restored and renewed.

Did You Think You'd Get Away Without Helping?

Craig and I have been crazy busy this last week working on the house. We've been rearranging, cleaning, painting, hanging things up and all of the above. We even moved Baby M into the twins room downstairs.




All the improvements we've put off, for the last year, were shoved into last week-- and we're not even done yet.

Tonight we started hanging up frames, etc., around the house.






Well now I have to fill these frames and that is where I need your help. I need some pictures of Craig and his family. Old pictures of grandparents. Favorite family photos. Pictures of his parents-- preferably as a young couple if that is at all possible. I'm also looking for a formal type picture of Craig from Highschool or pre-mission. If anyone has anything you can send it to my email: queen_bee_223@yahoo.com

Or you can email me for my house address.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks! I'll post pics of all our changes as soon as my house looks semi decent again.

On a funner note. The card board boxes from our recent projects went to good use. I built a fort with the boys on Sunday. It was kind of an exhausting ordeal, but I think they enjoyed it. The project kind of sapped my patience so I hope I didn't ruin it for them.

Here's our fort!




The tunnel eventually collapsed, and my nephew requested a chimney, so I took it and turned it into a fireplace with a chimney.



I cut a window too, but I accidentally cut it out of the sticker wall, so we turned the piece I cut out into a masterpiece to be displayed on the mantel.

Sadly a gust of wind took the fort out, and with the latest renovations-- the chimney and fireplace-- I couldn't lift it back up with out it ripping apart. I tried to remake it in the living room, but it never was the same. Off to the recycling bin with this fort!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

The boys got a couple kites each for their birthday, and we couldn't wait to give them a try. With the unexpected nice weather we had this week we thought now was as good a time as ever. Our first attempt was at a Park in Provo. I met a friend there and we let the kids play then afterwards we sat down for a little family picnic.



After the picnic came the kite flying. My nephew kept asking why it wouldn't fly. We told him he needed to let the string out, but that never happened.




This is Baby M's version of Kite Flying.



Nothing like some puppy kisses.



He just can't help but be cute these days.



Thirsty Little H?



Then today Big H got a hold of the kites, so outside we went to see if we could fly them. The trees around our house make it a little hard but out street is pretty clear, and not too busy, so I thought we could just run down it to get the kites up. We used different kites this time. These one's are easier to let the string out. But still the string was never let out on my nephew's kite. He probably could have gotten it up today too.

I'd get one of the kites air born and I'd try to snap a quick shot of Big H holding it, but it always fell to the ground before I could get the picture.



After a while my mom came along and suggested we all go to a park to try flying kites there. But instead of kite flying we just enjoyed the playground.

Look how well he holds his bottle. It's taken some work, but I'm so proud of him!



Big H and Baby M love the swings! In fact Big H wouldn't get out without a fight.






Poor Little H isn't a fan though, and I think he's even less of one after he got hit by a fellow swinger today. The kid was bigger so he was swinging pretty high, and Little H took a good hit. I felt bad for the kid that hit him. He got off the swings and went to play somewhere else. Little H recovered though. He's such a tough boy. Hardly cried. Though that was the longest I've seen him go without taking a breath when the crying first commenced.

Trying to cover up Baby M's head. He is so fair skinned.



So much fun, and yet we still haven't done any kite flying.

They Are Finished!

Little H. . .




. . .and Big H. . .




. . .have found a new love. The boys adore their quilts! Thanks again to all those who contributed. The quilts are so fun, and well loved. I'm sure the boys will treasure them always.

Two Trips to Toquerville

This month we had double the pleasure and double the fun when it came to trips down South. We went down at the beginning of the month and then again at the end.

For our second trip, we were supposed to leave Monday afternoon-ish, but it soon became apparent that that wasn't going to happen. So we set our sights for early Tuesday morning. Well we didn't set our alarms, so we ended up finally pulling out of town at 9:00 on Tuesday morning. We stopped in Scipio to feed the baby, and discovered that they had a free petting zoo right across the street from the gas station. Not only was it free, but it had a baby zebra.







Big H is a huge animal lover, so we had to go. The boys were both scared at first but they warmed up and eventually helped me feed the animals. Big H got so excited about the feeding part he started to feed them anything he could find-- this includes a rock. He was really fond of this ragged little bunny that was up by the fence. It was really sweet to watch him feed that bunny.



I know one little boy who enjoyed the petting zoo.



He enjoyed it so much he didn't want to leave-- seriously that child has a grip!



We really enjoyed this trip. We visited Grandpa's work.



We visited the hospital I worked at. I didn't know anybody there but it was fun to see the changes. The hospital is right across the street from the temple. It would have been fun to take the boys for a walk around the temple, but I settled for a picture because we were short on time-- and Grandma was watching the baby.



We played in Grandma and Grandpa's yard





while Craig and Grandpa worked on the car. We walked by Craig's car earlier and Little H kept saying something. I said, "They're going to fix Daddy's car. Won't that be nice?" He then started to say, "Fix it, Fix it," and he searched for whatever tools he could find-- this includes attempting to lift a hammer. He was so curious about that car, and I'm sure he would have loved to help. However, at his age, his help doesn't look much like help.



We went shopping and had lunch at Taco Bell-- always a favorite. Big H couldn't have anymore cinnamon twists until he ate some of his burrito. We all loved Baby M's face. It almost looked like he was saying, "I get cinnamon twists, and you don't, because I ate my bananas like a good boy!"



And, when we weren't running around like crazy people we tried to just enjoy the view. This is the town hall where our reception was three years, and a month or so, ago.



The boys were all so tired from missed naps and such that they would conk out anywhere. They never do this.




On the way home we stopped in Scipio again to give the boys a breather. At the gas station, across the street from the petting zoo, they had baby ducks and a baby bunny that we missed the first time through. Once again Big H loved the Bunny. They both were kind of timid about the ducks.




This is a shot from a stop in Beaver on the way down. Big H got fussy so we stopped to move around a bit. When we tried to put him back in the car with me he threw a huge fit. See, we took separate cars because we borrowed Grandpa's car while they worked on Craig's car. And we couldn't all ride down together because we wouldn't all fit in Craig's car for the ride back. Well, apparently Big H just wanted to ride with Dad-- plus he needed a nap. Such a daddy's boy!



Thanks for the fun times and the happy memories. We had a great time and we love, and miss, all of you!