Status Update

Where I am.

Where my brain is.

Sping Break

For spring break we decided to visit the San Rafael Valley. We gathered our tent, sleeping bags, coats, and our courage and headed out into the COLDEST spring break ever. We had a lot of fun, but I was grateful we didn't freeze to death that first night...or any other night for that matter. (When we went to bed that first night it was 28 degrees.) Our first day trip took us to Goblin Valley. The kids loved it. They played on, in, around, and through the "goblins" for hours. On day two we hiked the narrows of Little Wild Horse Canyon. It was amazing! I have never seen rock formations like it before. The kids loved climbing around on all the rocks. We tried to talk the children, James and Anna specifically, into following the "don't climb higher than your head" guideline (mainly to keep my nerves from exploding), but as they only followed it half the time we are very thankful no one broke anything. Ellen's favorite part of hiking the canyon was the sand everywhere. She got amazingly dirty, and had the time of her life. Really, I am just glad sand is near the ground. On our last day en route to home we went hunting for ancient rock art. It took a while to find, but it was worth the journey. In addition to our petraglyphs we also found these perfectly round fossilized dirt clods called concretions. They were humongous and very cool. Really the highlight of the trip for me was the face that Ellen slept and hiked well. It was so fun to have everyone enjoying themselves...even me.

When Vampires Attack

Mike recently went to the doctor to have a mole removed. The mole didn't seem that big, but by the time the dermatologist finally removed the whole thing, Mike was left with a long line of stitches on his neck. While he tries to make it inconspicuous by keeping it covered with flesh covered bandages, inevitably someone will notice and ask what happened. The following are just a few of his current stories.
*Vampire Attack
*Neck Lift
*Knife fight
If you have any other ideas we would love to hear them. After all, the truth about most injuries is not usually very interesting....and where's the fun in that?

Turbo Jam

James has recently discovered the wonderful world of calories. Next to light sabers it is his favorite topic of conversation. He doesn't view calories as you and I do, namely a thing to be avoided whenever possible, but in as a healthy amazing source of energy. Because of this, he is constantly trying to get calories so he can have energy to play, do his homework, or in today's case....do the TURBO JAM workout! On the way home from school today James announced that he wanted macaroni and cheese for lunch so he would have time to do the "20-minute workout" before lunch. After we got home he went down stairs and changed into his "workout clothes". Then he turned the workout on in my room, shut the door, and told me I was banished until it was over. Of course, I had to sneek a peak, and let me tell you if I could have gotten some secret video of him doing aerobics it would have been priceless!!! He is such a cutie. I love the enthusiasm this kid has!

Spring Is Here!

We celebrated the beginning of spring with a trip to the park with Auntie J. Anna, our little monkey, had to tryout all of her old tricks. I got them all on video so that I can tell her to not do them anymore because, after Ayzha's monkeybar incident, playground equipment has a whole new menacing image. Ellen was really fun to watch because last summer she was petrified of all park toys but, this year she finds complete delight in everything. It is so fun to watch her play. We followed our HOT (the kids were all dying of heat by the time we left) trip to the park with icecream of course! It was a really fun day. It was so nice to finally have a sunny day to play. Too bad it won't last.

Trip to the Museum

We went to the BYU Museum of Art for the opening of the Walter Wick (he does all the pictures for the I Spy books) exhibition, and happened upon an exhibit of installation art also being shown there. One of the installation pieces included a corner filled with packing peanuts which at various intervals would be blown around like sea waves by source of hidden air. James inparticular was very excited about this. He stood and watched it for several minutes...and then posed for these pictures. What a poser!

Winter Firsts

Because we live in a state famous for its winter sports we decided to introduce the kids to ice skating and cross-country skiing. It was a blast, even though we had our difficulties. These are definitely pass times that take practice. We had a great time learning together!