SPRING BREAK

We don't technically have spring break at our house but our friends do so we go on our annual camping trip during their spring break. This year we went to Snow Canyon, near St. George, it was farther away than we usually go but lots of fun and sun! It was a little nostalgic for me, I grew up vacationing in red rock. I loved the moment this pic captured, even from behind...



The colors of this picture are amazing, blue sky, red rock and the green... perfect!



We had a few mini lessons about erosion, again some nostalgia, my mom used to give us geography, history, and horticulture lectures as we went.



A little deceptive... this is the same arch from the above pic...



No camp out is complete without S'MORES!!



Kyla loves the BIG marshmallows, and prefers them "not marshed" meaning not roasted.



We spent some time playing in the sand dunes. Steve here being a big kid... needless to say we were all covered!!!



Swimming in the sand.



Johnny loved the sand too, I loved that I finally found a hat that he will wear. Hats usually last 30 seconds but he loves "Lightning a Queen" so he will keep this one on!

Sweet Awakening

My morning usually starts with Johnny or Kyla climbing into my bed and waking me up. I am not much of an alarm person, no need for one right now... Today was unusual, I woke up to Johnny coming out of his room, he likes to shut his door... hard, and then to Kyla and Johnny talking.
"Johnny, are you awake?" Kyla
"Yeah. Bumpy blanket. Softy. Dogie." Johnny naming all the things he slept with.
"Go get them." Ky
"Bumpy stuck." John
"I'll help ya." It is music to my ears when I hear Kyla say that!!
Then for the next half hour they read stories to each other. Kyla was pretty accurate, she memorizes books and "reads" them to herself or to me "when she is the teacher." It was a blissful half hour laying in bed being lazy listening to my two sweet kids being sweet together.
Then it was the 3 ring circus of breakfast, getting dressed and out the door for errands, the usual, but what a great way to start a day!!

What Johnny and Kyla have been up to...

Kyla and Johnny made some video to send to their grandparents... (Thanks for the idea Belle, they love to watch your songs and wanted to do some too!)
ps You have to go to the BOTTOM of my blog and pause the music to hear the video...

What Steve has been up to...

Steve has been wanting to "fix" our closet for awhile. It was poorly designed and always seemed messy. We emptied the closet Friday night, and this is the pile... it amazed me how much stuff you can stuff into a closet!!


By Monday night we had a new closet. He added the shelves for shoes, we were both amazed by the number of shoes we own... He added a second rod on my side, so now both sides have two rods, with a foot at one end of my side that is full length for dresses... smart guy to think of that. He also put in cedar paneling behind the clothes, I didn't take a picture before we put all the clothes back in.


He has also been wanting to fix the stairs that go into our "basement." The previous owners converted the garage into a big family room, as much as we love the space it is not the prettiest room around. (and we really miss a garage!!!) We have gone back and forth on our ideas for the room, turn it back into a garage or fix it up to be a nice space... After three years we decided not to decide and just fix the things that really bug us, future garage or not. So here are the stairs before. They just carpeted the garage stairs, so they were smaller, squeaky and well ugly. They left the door jam, just took the door off the hinges and painted...


Steve took advantage of the kids and I being in Utah for a week and tore out the old stairs. He built new stairs and added the banister. He took out the door jam and made it into an arch. I surprised him and came home a day early so I got to help with the clean up... but he did the rest solo. He likes to work that way, no kids or wife to slow him down or demand his attention...


The arch really made a difference, it feels so much less like a converted garage and more like part of the house. Ky and John wanted to be in all the pictures. This one Ky is showing her pink princess phones. Two because she lost one 6 months ago and got a replacement, then the closet clean out this weekend produced the missing pink princess cell phone.... one less missing toy to keep my up at night. :)