Happy Birthday Ethan!

Sweet Ethan turned four today! He had a Star Wars birthday party at Granny and Grandpa's house, complete with balloon lightsabers and a hot-dog roast in the backyard firepit. (By the way, Emily, I put him up to the Cheeto-chewing picture above. Sorry.)

Anasazi Valley Trail

Spring Break Day Three: I take full responsibility for the miserable-ness of this family hike. We left too late in the day and I was following directions on a letterbox posted in 2003. So, the original directions took us down a road that was no longer available due to housing being built, and the new trail built last year wound way out around the hills, through the desert, and finally down to the Santa Clara River. Yeah, my mom was so not happy with me. And Isaac fell asleep so I got to carry him UP the hill back to the cars. Did I mention it was hot? Really, though, the boys enjoyed themselves chasing lizards and watching fire ants and finding the petroglyphs that adorn the walls of rock along the river. And, don't you know, the letterbox wasn't even there!

St. Paddy's Day

Second Day of Spring Break: The leprechauns visited during the night and scattered their gold (chocolate coins and butterscotch discs) all over the house! Some of us got lots of pinches because we forgot to pack green clothes, but we still enjoyed the magic green milk and Lucky Charms cereal the leprechauns left. Later that afternoon we went to a new rock-climbing park and met Aunt Barbara and cousins Patti, Riley and Ron there. The kids climbed, explored, pretended, waded in the creek, and had a great time over all! (Isaac commandeered the camera; that explains the "up the nose" photos of me and my mom above!)

Pirate's Island

First Day of Spring Break: After a day of driving through the deserts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah, we arrived at Granny Paula and Grandpa Tom's house in Washington, Utah. We were welcomed by Aunt Emily and cousins Calvin, Ethan and Austin, too! We went out to dinner at a fun new place in St. George called Pirate's Island. Wow! What a cool place. EVERYTHING was pirate-themed, from the giant Kraken pizza to the shooting gallery to the prizes the boys earned. It is decorated to the hilt like a pirate ship and port town and we had a riot!

Hieroglyphics Trail

I've been helping a ton with our ward Webelos lately because we have no leaders in place. So, I had the great privilege to go with Noah and accompany our pack on a hike up the Hieroglyphics Trail on March 14th. We left at 7 am with 10 bleary-eyed boys but were so glad we started early as the sun beat down on us on the way home. At the top of the trail is a beautiful spring surrounded by rocks engraved with hundreds of petroglyphs. The scouts spent an hour exploring the rocks and chasing frogs (while the leaders rested!) before we left. What a great day!