St. George/Zion National Park

Thanks to Mark and his parents, we enjoyed two fun filled days in St. George and Zion National Park this week.  Mark's parents were down in St. George for a work conference.  We went and stayed in the same hotel one night so that we could see them and then they did a little babysitting for us!  Thank you so much Daniel and Alice!  This was a much needed little vacation!

Thursday morning we left from home early and drove to the hotel.  We grabbed some lunch and headed to Zion with the kids for the bus ride and a little hike.  We hiked up to Emerald Pools, because I sadly forgot to pack the backpack for Timmy, and we could only do a really tame hike for him to walk.  We all enjoyed it, but Brian kept saying it was just like walking on the sidewalk and he kept asking were all the rocks were for him to climb on.  Luckily there were a few good places to climb around on the way or he would have been very disappointed.

 Brian held Alice's hand the whole time he was hiking.  He sure loves Nai Nai.

 

 The highlight of the hike was finding this little tunnel just big enough for the kids to climb through over and over and over again.

Timmy particularly liked the waterfall and asked to go through it many times.

 Some of the wildlife we saw included squirrels, deer, beetles, and birds.

After the hike we went back to St. George for some dinner and a little bit of swimming.

On Friday morning, Daniel and Alice watched Brian and Timmy for us.  They took them to a super fun park where Timmy wanted to swing and swing and swing.

After the park, they went swimming.  The boys said their favorite part about the trip was the swimming time. They loved the water.

Meanwhile, Mark and I headed back up to Zion's to do a quick slot canyon called Keyhole.  It is short and sweet, just what we needed for a quick morning adventure without the kids.  Mark has done I think all or almost all of the slot canyons in Zion and he has done some of them numerous times.  For years I have been wanting to go with him and this was my chance.  I LOVED it!

 Pictures just do not do the canyon justice at all.  We did two rappels and scrambled down the other drops.

 The water was freezing, but the wet suits helped immensely   There is one narrow section that we had to swim quite a ways through the frigid water.  Burrrr!

I am so grateful for Mark and his parents for helping to provide such a fun experience for me.  It was so needed and will never be forgotten!

My First Race

I had to document this milestone in my life.  Last weekend I ran my first race ever!  Yes, it was just a 5k, and I didn't run it fast at all, I ran it in 32 minutes, but I did it.  I actually ran, or jogged slowly, for over three miles in a race.

This 5k was a charity event at Wheeler Farm put on by a family in our neighborhood, so we went as a family.  Mark pushed the kids and finished way before I did, and that was with letting both kids run for part of it.  He was definitely the first person pushing a stroller to cross the finish line.  I'm not surprised he's fast, but he never just goes running just to run.  Seriously the guy is good at any sport he does.

Brian particularly enjoyed the event and has been talking about it all week and keeps asking when we can run another race.  He loved it and when he was running I could not keep up with him.  He was fast too!  He keeps his number safe in his room.

  

For me being able to run a 5k was a big deal, because in all my 30 years of life up until a few months ago, I refused to run more that 30 feet anywhere.  I always wondered why in the world would someone run for fun?  Why? It sounds miserable.  Well, come to find out, it is miserable until you actually try it on a consistent basis and then it really can be kind of fun.  I thought the 5k was fun anyway.  We'll see how I feel after training for and running my first half marathon at the end of July.  Yikes!  What have I gotten myself into?     

Easter

We had a quiet and simple Easter this year.  It fell on the same weekend at Brian's Birthday, so there was still plenty to do and plenty of fun.  This year I really tried to talk and teach about what Easter is really all about.  Everyday through the week leading up to Easter Sunday, I gave the boys a little lesson, usually involving what was happening in the life of Christ before His Resurrection.   We never did anything big, but we looked at pictures, read from Matthew, and watched different Bible Videos, and messages from the Church website.  I think the boys learned a lot, and I enjoyed the review of the final events in Christ's life.

Earlier in the week, I knew that the weekend would be so busy with Brian's Birthday, so we dyed and painted eggs for Family Home Evening instead of waiting until Easter Weekend. 

 The kids loved it and Timmy went nuts on painting those eggs.

 Brian liked dying them and watching Daddy draw cool pictures on them.

 On Saturday, Brian helped fill lots of eggs with candy and Mark hid the eggs all over the backyard.  We had our own fun egg hunt.  The kids got too many eggs and too much candy, but they loved finding them all.

 I'm sure you've noticed Timmy's most recent "cheese grin" in some of the pictures.

 Easter Sunday was a bit busy, but very nice at the same time.  I made a special breakfast for the boys and we talked about the Resurrection and watched some more videos.  Then we got ready for church.  I played my cello in Sacrament Meeting with the choir, and then I played the piano for Primary, then I played my cello  for Relief Society.  Mark taught the big Easter lesson to all the Youth, and Brian and Timmy enjoyed their classes and great teachers who had all kinds of Easter handouts and treats.

After church we went over to Mark's parent's for Easter dinner.  It was such a nice evening.  Mark's dad and Uncle tony were burning some sticks in the fire and the kids joined in to help.

Yes, Timmy is wearing pajama pants instead of church pants.  He is potty training, and even with a pull-up on he managed to have several unfortunate mishaps that day.  Now that I think about it I want to record them just to help me laugh about it in the future.  During Easter Sacrament Meeting, luckily it was after I played my cello, he said he needed to go, so I took him to the bathroom.  This was the first time he had gone anywhere outside our house, and as everyone knows most public toilets are shaped differently, and I didn't figure out until after it was too late that I needed to help him sit in a different way at the church than he does at home.  Sorry if this is too much information, but he peed on the floor and sadly all over my shoe.  Wow. The meeting was almost over and I needed to get my cello put away and get to the Primary room to play the piano and my car keys were in my bag at the front of the chapel, so going home to get new shoes was not the best option.  I cleaned up the floor and then took off my shoe and washed the whole thing in the sink.  It was soaked, and it is made of such material that the water made it look so much darker than the other shoe.  So I soaked the other shoe to make it match. I just said in my mind, "Oh well, I can walk around in wet shoes and luckily there is only one other lady in the bathroom that knows about this unfortunate experience." My thoughts changed to horror when we trudged back into the chapel all the way to the second bench in the front and Timmy went straight to Mark and said in a clear loud excited voice followed by a chuckle, "I peed on Mommy and the floor!"  My face went beet red and I quietly tried to explain to Mark what had happened.  Timmy thought it was pretty funny.  Even after all that I didn't learn my lesson on how to help him sit, because the exact same thing happened at Mark's parent's house, except it got his pants instead of my shoe.  Hence the pajama pants in the picture above.  Oh the joys of potty training.  I find myself laughing about it now, and I have definitely learned my lesson on helping Timmy use the potty.

Easter 2013 was still beautiful and definitely memorable.  I love the opportunity it gave me to celebrate and focus on Jesus Christ.

Brian's Brithday

 Brian requested a surprise for his Birthday with red and green balloons.  We decided the best way to surprise him would be first thing in the morning, so even though Mark was really sick, he and Timmy and I waited in the living room with the lights off until Brian came out of his room and we yelled, "Surprise!!! Happy Birthday!!!" and turned on the lights when Brian came in looking to find where everyone was.  He was surprised and happy to see a new bike and presents waiting for him.

A little later, my mom stopped by for a few minutes to give Brian some fun birthday presents!  He was one happy birthday boy.

 We just enjoyed the rest of morning playing with balloons, eating waffles for breakfast, trying the new bike, and playing outside in the yard.  For lunch I took Brian and Timmy to our new favorite Chinese Restaurant called "Sweet Ginger" to meet Mark's parents for a yummy birthday lunch.  I don't know why I didn't take any pictures there, but Nai Nai and Ye Ye gave Brian new clothes and a little bunny, which Brian is holding in the picture of him behind his cake.  He sleeps with that little bunny every night.

 After lunch and naps, the highlight of Brian's day was helping me to make his cake!  He LOVED it and did almost all of it by himself.  I didn't realize that he would enjoy it so much.  I'm glad I didn't make it the night before like I had planned.

 Sadly Mark was sick all day and missed a lot of the fun.  That evening we had Brian's requested dinner of eggs and bacon.  Then the long awaited time came to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake!

Brian is a big five year old now, but I'm so glad he's not too big for a snuggle hug from mom.  Timmy took this picture after I filmed Brian's birthday interview that afternoon.

Brian's Five Year Birthday Interview

• What is your favorite color?   green and red
• What is your favorite food?   Walnut shrimp
• What is your favorite toy?    My birthday presents, everything
• What is your favorite thing to do?   To play with my brother
• What is your favorite animal?   Pandas, because they are black and white
• Who are your friends?    Timmy, Kilee, Emily, Soren and Marley
• What school do you go to?    Woodstock
• What is your favorite time in school?    Playing at the centers
• What is your favorite book?    Library books.  All library books.
• What is your favorite movie or TV show?    Blue's Clues
• What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?    Make cakes
• What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?    Play games like hide and seek
• What is your favorite song?    I Am A Child of God
• What is your favorite holiday?    Christmas
• What is something you like about Dad?    I like to go out to the store with Daddy
• What is something you like about Mom?   When Mom reads to me
• What is something you like about Timmy?   He is fun to play and laugh with
• What is something you want to do this year?  Go outside to play every single day