St. George

Warning: There are going to be A LOT of pictures in this post (even by my standards.)

Reason: Not only did Dave surprise the kids and I with an over-night trip to St. George last weekend, he also surprised me the night before we left with a sweet, new camera as an early birthday present. Needless to say I went a little nuts with picture taking...

So we left Saturday morning and came home Sunday morning, so it was a VERY short trip. But so fun and so wonderful.

The first thing we did when we made it to St. George was head to the Farmer's Market they hold every Saturday morning at Tuachan. It was very fun, and very beautiful there.

Most of the booths were jewelry stands.

We did pretty good and didn't buy anything, just looked around.

We did decide to splurge on hot dogs for the kids...

(I don't know why it was so fun taking pictures of my kids

eating hot dogs but it totally was!)

(I love the way Justin eats his...)

Eden as usual just kicked it in her stroller...

Just some cute pictures of the kids...

Emily and Justin enjoyed the bounce house there...

Some pretty flowers I had fun taking pictures of...

Next we drove up Snow Canyon and hiked to some sand dunes there. I had never been there before and it was beautiful.

We borrowed this awesome carrier from my friend Marjorie (thank you!) and Eden loved it. It made the hike so much easier (last time we went hiking a couple of months ago I carried Eden in my baby Bjorn and she was way too big for it...it was way uncomfortable for both of us, so this was awesome!)

The kids really enjoyed running around in the sand and exploring...

Justin on a stroll and checking out some ants...

Poor Emily couldn't stand the sand getting in her shoes, so she stopped to clean them out about every 5-minutes...

Knowing how Eden feels about grass we weren't sure what she would think of the sand...

To our surprise she loved it!

Here's some proof that I was there...

I didn't notice any flowers on our hike but somehow Emily

was able to surprise me with these...

After our hike we headed to our hotel for a swim...

Next we went out to dinner and then visited the beautiful St. George temple...

(Justin was kind of tired of pictures at this point)

So that's it! Well, we actually did go swimming one more time before going to bed. It starting pouring rain while we were all (except Eden) in the hot tub which was kind of a fun way to end our awesome day together. It was really just one of those perfect days that we'll always remember. I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and family!

Justin's Party...(a little late)

Justin turned 5 last monday, but we had his 5th birthday party the Saturday before that. We had a water/pizza party. Super fun and super easy...here's what we did:

(oops, this picture is out of order, I meant to put it last...

but here is Justin after the party is over...telling us how old he is)

(YAY!)

So, now here is what we did:

Decorated foam visors and sunglasses...

(I really wanted a great picture of all of the kids in their

new hats and glasses. But it was pretty much impossible

to get them all together for ANY of the photos, so here

are just a few of the kids in their cool sun gear...)

Next came the slip'n slide...

(it was a big hit)

Then some water balloon games...

and some fun in the kiddie pool...

Pizza time...

Froggie cupcakes to (kind of) go with the whole water theme...

Last of all...present time!

The party was a hit and Justin loved every second of it (which is the whole point of course!) Thank you to our wonderful family and friends for celebrating with us!

Conversations with Justin

(Justin and I at his preschool's Mother's Day Tea Party)

Anyone who knows Justin knows he is a pretty funny little kid. Very quiet, but also very funny. Today is Justin's 5th birthday. I really cannot believe it. I think 5 is a very special birthday...it means kindergarten, and reading, and writing, and extra chores, and hopefully learning to swim without floaties, and maybe even ride a bike without training wheels...It's really a big age with a lot of possibilities. :) So I wanted to share a couple of conversations I've had with Justin recently that I think are funny and meaningful. Especially on his birthday.

Conversation #1:

Justin: Mom, I'm smarter than a 5th-year-old-grader, you know why?

Me: Why, hon?

Justin: Cause I know that anytime anybody gets hit by an asteroid they will be dead.

(I then burst out laughing)

Justin: (Looking deep into my eyes with a very serious look) It's true!

Me: Yes buddy, it is.

Justin: That is why we want no one of our family to go to outer space. O.k. mom?

Me: O.k. bud, I'll see what I can do.

(The above conversation may not sound as funny written down as it was in person, but I just loved it and thought it was hilarious. I wrote it down in my journal right after...so there it is, word for word. :) )

Conversation #2:

This short conversation took place a couple of weeks ago after Justin came running in the house from playing in the backyard. He just looked so happy and healthy and big and grown up and for some reason I was just hit by this feeling of time going by way too fast, so I said to him while giving him a huge hug...

Me: Justin, please stop growing!

Justin: (pulling back and again, looking deep into my eyes) But mommy, that is just the way how life is...growing!

I thought these were very wise words coming from a four-almost-five-year-old. And I thought it would be very fitting to share them right now on his birthday. I just have to say that I am a very lucky mom to have such a sweet and kind-hearted (and also crazy and fun) little boy in our family. I am so thankful for him and feel blessed beyond words.

Happy birthday Justin!!!

She did it!

O.K., remember a few posts back when I wrote about Eden not liking the feel of grass on her legs so she would hold one leg up in the air to keep it from touching the ground? Then I said that I'm sure she would have put both legs up if it were possible? Well, I didn't think it was possible for a baby to pull off sitting with both legs up in the air...but she proved me wrong. Check this out...

She must have killer ab muscles because

she sat like this for quite awhile. :)
Pretty awesome, huh.

I just had to document Eden's cool accomplishment. But this is also going to double as her 11-month update. She's been 11-months-old since Saturday. Her first birthday is coming up on June 2nd! It is going to be a very bittersweet day, time just goes by way too fast (deep sigh.) So, here are a couple of Eden's favorite things to do right now...

I don't know any baby who doesn't love doing this...
or this...



A classic wiggling out of the arms maneuver...

so sweet...

Until next time...

Butterflies + Flowers = Spring

We don't go to The Strip very often. Usually just when we have visitors who want to check it out and see some of the sights. I actually forget most of the time that I live 20 minutes away from a place that thousands of people travel to every year from all over the world to visit. It just obviously doesn't hold a lot of appeal for our family. :) But, there is one place on The Strip that we actually do love to visit...the Bellagio is hands down our favorite place to see there. The fountain shows outside are so, so cool...for reals, We are in awe every time we watch. But our very favorite part of the Bellagio is inside. There is this huge Atrium that is just filled with gorgeous flowers and trees and plants. They redo it every season...decorating it with flowers and colors and landscaping to go along with winter, fall, summer and spring. All the flowers and trees are real and fresh and beautiful. I don't know how they do it, but it's wonderful.

So Emily is studying Butterfly life cycles in school, and her teacher told the class that there were butterflies at the Bellagio atrium right now, so Emily begged us to go see them. Since it was a Saturday and we had tons of cleaning, yard work, and errands to run...we of course said yes. :) We had never seen the atrium in the Spring and it was so, so pretty. We loved it and I'm so glad we took the time to go, it was definitely worth it!

Emily and Justin are walking into the green house where the butterflies are...

It is so hard to see them in pictures but the green house
was filled with gorgeous butterflies of all colors. They were
flying around like crazy and it was so cool to see them.
Emily kept exclaiming... "Oh mommy, they are so gorgeous" or
"Oh mommy, they are just beautiful" and "Oh mommy, they are so graceful."
She was in heaven.


That blue, blurry thing in the middle is an
Azure butterfly...they had a lot of them and
they were huge and so pretty!
Eden loved the butterflies too...
Some of the Spring-y decorations...

And of course, the flowers...

Tulips were everywhere!

These were my favorite...and I don't even know

what they are called! Does anyone know?

Just one more pretty flower...

Happy May everyone!