Downs Trip to St. George / Spring Break

Josh called to see if I'd be interested in taking our kids to St. George for their spring break with them and I am never one to turn down a trip to St. George and so I started planning right away. One thing turned into another and before you knew it my whole family was coming down! Ha! We don't like doing anything without the other. Although Joel and Tessa couldn't come down with the twins being so new so we missed them. It turned out to be a great couple of days though! Other then when Toby had to take Kemp home because he got sick and didn't have his nebulizer but that's a story for another post. We swam lots, ate out…once at the Pizza Factory… went on an adventure trying to get to Toquerville falls which didn't work out, and then went on some really great hikes up to slot canyon and the big "D" on the hill. I think that may have been the kids favorite part. We walked around the temple of Sunday and watched movies and just enjoyed being together.  Oh and we took my parents and Josh and the girls over to the new Tonaquint Park and they LOVED it. It was fun to see them get excited about it. Great weekend for sure.

Easter 2017

We had another great Easter this year! It was really fun having a bar b que and Easter Egg hunt out at my parents new place…"the Cottage in the Woods." Their green space is the perfect place to hide eggs for the little kids and they were so cute running around finding their eggs. Kemp really "got it" this year so he was the best to watch. Tate too. He didn't stop long after the last egg was found and so we had to keep throwing more eggs or rather ones that had already been found out there for him to find. I love these ages. Sunday morning we had a great lesson on the Atonement and Easter and then let the kids find their Easter baskets. We tried to cut back a bit this year which I think was good. I love Easter Sunday. The talks in Sacrament meeting were so inspiring and we had a guy in our ward sing one of the best songs I've ever heard sung at church. Had me in tears. After church we headed to Kathys house for a wonderful Easter Dinner and another fun hunt with the kids. Even when you're trying to simplify there is still always just so much to do as an adult around the Holidays. I don't know how my mom has done it all the years, holiday after holiday, birthday after birthday. She made everything so special and I want to do the same for my kids but i'm always just so tired. I try hard…hope I do an okay job if nothing else. Easter is and always has been one of my favorite Holidays. Guess I say that about all of them though:)

A Trip to the Farm

I can't even begin to tell you how many times Elle has asked me to take her to spend some time at the farm. I can't blame her since it's one of my favorite places to be too. A while back I told my Aunt Ginny this and she told me she'd let me know as soon as they had baby piglets and baby chicks to show her. Then the other day I got the text that they were here so we planned a day since they were off track and we headed up to Ogden. Elle is so in love with animals that this was a dream come true for her. We had such a wonderful time! Uncle Doug took them right to the pig pen and showed them the two new piglets and let them get right on in there with them. It cracked me up. And they took them in the chicken coop and let them gather eggs, then over to the canal to catch tadpoles, and over to the horses to feed them carrots. There is never a dull moment at the farm. Tate and Kemp never stopped playing over in the sandpile and the playhouse and went up and down the slide. They love being outside so much. And then to top it all off Doug and Ginny planned a little lunch for us with hot dogs and fruit and veggies and chips. My moms family sure knows how to make everything special. I just loved growing up at the farm and love that my kids get to the same now. I hope they never have to sell that place because it just means so much to all of us. It was the perfect day and I told Ginny thank you for helping me "make a memory" today.