Luck o' the Irish to Ye

A little peek into our St. Patrick's Day celebration.  That "celebration" should really be in quotes, since we don't do anything over the top.  But we do enjoy our green muffins for breakfast and any excuse to make corned beef and all the fixin's.  So it's a holiday we'll be celebrating for years to come.

A mighty fine stack o' St. Paddy's and generally Irish stories.
We've been reading these all month.

Hulk muffins are naturally green and full of
nutrients!

They taste good, too!

8:30 am - those flakes are huge!

Dinner's in the crockpot!

Time for some mid-morning high jump practice.

What else would we do on a snowy St. Patrick's Day Saturday?

  

bonus video!

"a special message from two cute kiddos"

(P.S. Cal did have more green on earlier, but

opted to change into a short-sleeved shirt

for her high jump practice.  It does have

a few specks of green, so don't even think

about pinching her! ;)

Snow stump!

Snow angels!

Yum!  (Definitely the best corned beef I've ever made.
Don't know why, but I do know that slicing against the grain
was revolutionary (I don't think I've ever really sliced it at all before).
  Overall a fantastic meal!)

Birthday! Birthday!

When I was typing the title of this post, I got this song in my head from an old e-card I used to love to send to anyone and everyone I knew on their birthdays.  This was a long, long time ago.  In the beginnings of the internet, probably, and I thought it was so fun and funny.  Alas, I cannot find any evidence of said card in existence anywhere but my memory.  So you'll just have to imagine with me, and take my word for it that it was fantastic and amazing.  (Ha!)  Picture this: the animated e-card opens with a scene of a stage with a closed curtain.  The curtain opens and you see three (I think?) pigs in bow ties on stage.  They start singing (in operatic voices): "Birthday! Birthday! It's your special day!  Birthday! Birthday! We just want to say, it's your birthday, It's Your Birthday, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY we say!  It's your birthday, it's your birthday, it's your birthday todaaaaaay!"  And then the pigs collapse in a heap, heaving and gasping for breath since they just sang their hearts out.  The curtain closes and the card moves to a personalized message from me to you, wishing you a wonderful day. (Phew!)

Speaking of wonderful days, that's exactly what my birthday was this year.  We went to church since it was Sunday.  After church we played and relaxed and hung out.  We visited with my parents and Mugs from the Columbus airport (thank heavens for FaceTime!) as they were waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) for their flight back to SLC after a weekend of apartment hunting and exploring Meg's new town (as of May).  For dinner, we ate coconut shrimp curry, naan (from the Our Best Bites Savoring the Seasons cookbook), and asparagus (YUM!).  

Then we chatted with Paul and Kim (everyone is in Ohio these days!) and I got to open up my presents.  Cal and Sam had gone shopping with Gregg sometime and they each picked out such fun, awesome presents: a painting and button string made by Cal (my fave!), a new whisk (which I had asked for, so I was thrilled about), new socks (also a need, but man, they're darn cute!), and some yummy treats (salsa, cheetos, and tim tams).  My parents gave me a darling new skirt and shirt (I should have opened them before church, darn it!), my visiting teaching partner, Liz, gave me a cute flowery beach towel (which she had left on the piano bench in the primary room and I wondered all through primary who it was from because I didn't notice her name till I was leaving church - fun surprise).  Paul and Kim had sent me some money to buy new shoes (which I still need to go shopping for) and my grandparents sent a card and money, too (so I need to think of something fun to buy with that, too!).

After presents came birthday cake!  I have often chosen strawberry shortcake as my birthday cake (probably more often than not) though I have started to branch out in the past few years with blueberry lemon cake, lemon lime bundt cake, molten lava cake, and german chocolate bundt cake.  But this year I went back to my roots.  I chose to make Mel's Classic Strawberry Shortcake recipe and it was divine and ginormous and delicious.  And we had it for breakfast the next day, because: Birthday!  (It was the best decision I have made as a thirty-three year old, hands down.)

Spectacular birthday sunrise.  What a lovely way to start the
morning.

post-dinner photo - lots of leftovers!

The haul!

Cards to decorate the pantry door.

Yum.

YUM!

Happy birthday to me!

Sunny St. George Getaway

Last winter we were swamped with so much snow we were really feeling the cabin fever itch to get outside by the end of January, so we booked a little weekend away to Southern Utah.  We planned to make it a tradition, but by the time January finished up this year, we were feeling some very nice spring weather here - lots of bike rides, walks, park trips, etc had kept the cabin fever at bay.  We talked about St. George, but it never felt like as much of a need as last year at this time.  But it still sounded fun, and by the end of February, when winter had somewhat returned to Eden, we were ready to get away, if only for the change of scene (and the chance to swim in a hotel pool).  So we went South again, this time booking a hotel room in the La Verkin La Quinta.  It turned out to be our best hotel stay yet with the kiddos (read: everyone slept!  Including me!).  We filled our days with hiking, frisbeeing, park playing, picnicking, swimming, and general memory making.  What a fun trip!

Thursday, March 8th:

On the road - best travelers ever.

Lunchin' in Leeds.

"I'll just take that cheeto, Dad, thankyouverymuch."

Fun wagon toy at the playground.

Slidin' Sammy was lapping these slides.

Blossoms!!

If you scroll fast through these next few Sliding
Sammy shots, it's almost like watching a movie.
;)

Be still my heart!

Feathers and frisbees.

She learned how to throw and catch the disc on this
day and it was pretty exciting for all of us.

bonus video!

"catching and throwing"

After lunch, we had time to spare before check
in at the hotel, so we took a naptime drive to Kolob
Canyon.

Callie drew and wrote instead of napping, of course.

Amazing views!

I love the contrast of the red rock and white snow.

Ready to hike!

Big step!

All the heart eyes for these guys.

Following the leader.

This is one of those really good days.

My boys.

Happy hikers.  They were just as happy as us
to be back on a trail after a winter hiatus.

Island hopping and counting.

Elevator ride after a dip in the pool.

Dinnertime!  Microwave mac 'n' cheese and chinese.
We know how to do gourmet.  Ha.

Watching the shadows grow towards the hills toward Zion.

Windowseat silouttes.

Friday, March 9th:

Weeping Rock in Zion National Park.

Looking back down the canyon from Weeping Rock.

It was chilly, especially in the shade, which
was most of the canyon in the morning.
We didn't get any hiking other than this one,
but we did enjoy driving through the tunnel before
everyone got too grouchy (including mom)
and we headed back to the hotel for a rest
and regroup.

After lunch at a park near our hotel, it was
time for a nap for everyone.

Snug as two bugs.

Then . . . swimming in the sunshine!

Ring around the rosies . . . 

We all fall down! (Or swim away from each other.)

After our swim, showers, and show, we drove
to Hurricane, where we played at yet another park.

Cal enjoyed riding around the dry splash pad area.

She was pretty precise on that circle riding,
staying on the line all the way around.
We finished up our evening picking up pizza
from Domino's and watching Planet Earth on the
really nice TV in our hotel room.

Saturday, March 10th:

More hiking, this time in Snow Canyon State Park on the
Hidden Pinyon Trail.

This trail was so fun! Lots of varied terrain and
vegetation, caves and narrows to explore, cacti
and views and sand and red rocks.

They loved this hike - it was perfect for their
size and abilities and attention spans.

I loved all the cacti and desert plant life along the trail.

Snack time!

A change in landscape just down the road -
from red to white.

This was called the Whiterocks Amphitheater - it was a big bowl
of this white rock, with a big white sand dune on the side.

Climbing the dune.

Before they realized no shoes was the best plan.

Almost to the top.

I spy my family at the top of the dune.

And down we go!

bonus video!

"down the dune"

bonus video!

"sam sings the abcs"

(I distracted him with my phone out, hence the missing

letters in the middle)

The only time he got tired enough to be carried.
Those little legs had hiked a couple of miles by this
point, so it makes sense.

Our next stop was across St. George at the
Thunder Junction All Abilities Park.  I had heard a
lot of people raving about this playground, so we
decided we better check it out.  The $1 train ride
was the highlight, for sure.

The rest of the park was definitely cool, but it was
definitely crowded, too.  We ate lunch across the
street at yet another little playground.

And then we hit the road heading north.  Sam
was out like a light and slept for over two hours
with his head in this position, poor fellow.

We stopped for dinner in Nephi at J.C. Mickelson's,
where we brought down the average diner's age by
a whole heckuva lot. ;)

The model trains running around the entire dining room were a huge
hit with the kiddos.  (The chicken fried steak was a huge hit with
their parents. ;)  After dinner, we made one more quick park
stop, changed the kids into jammies and finished our journey home.

And now for a recap of our trip stats:

days played: 3

nights stayed: 2

parks visited: 6

hikes done: 4

pool swims: 2

cheetos consumed*: 1 bag 

dogs seen in the hotel: too many!

smiles captured: unlimited

*included because when asked after the trip what he liked best, Sam's answer was: CHEETOS!