St George

It has taken me way too long to get around to writing this post... Especially because it was such an awesome weekend! I've been wanting to brag and share our pictures.
Before a few weeks ago, the most I had done in southern Utah was drive through it on my way to Vegas (unless you count the family trip to Lake Powell when I was a kid). It's been on my bucket list to go to Zion National Park and Cove Fort. And I really, honestly love road trips and exploring new places. Our trip to St George had all of that!
Dave got off work at noon on Friday (after waking up at 4:30 AM all week to go in to work early). By the time Dave got home I had the car packed and the kids had eaten lunch and we were ready to go! Of course it was just our luck that when the boys woke up that morning they had runny noses and weren't feeling so hot... But at least it meant they would be ready for a nap in a nice warm car. Zeke slept pretty much the entire car ride and the older two boys were asleep for a good portion of it. Thank goodness for that. My favorite part of the car ride was watching the temperature go up- we started out in the 40's and by the time we got out of the car it was 72! We got to St George about dinner time and I'll tell you what- that place is busy! There was so much traffic everywhere! We ate and got to our hotel where the boys were so excited to be able to run and jump. It's fun to see how exciting a hotel room can be for kids.
And now for the fun part... Our Saturday was amazing! Easily one of the top 10 best days of my life. We slept in, had breakfast (yay no cooking), and our first stop was the St George Temple. Allow me to also mention that it was beautiful out! Clear blue skies and warm enough to wear t-shirts. The temple was beautiful with the white against the blue skies. I wish I could have done a session but it was closed for cleaning. Although the perk of that was that it was so not busy that morning. Ethan was loving all of the palm trees and would point out every time we passed one. After that we drove up the hill to the red rocks above St George. We pulled into one of the parking lots and let the boys run free. Ethan and Emery did what came naturally to little boys and started climbing and running and having a great time. I had Zeke strapped to my chest or I would have been right there with them. It was so much fun to climb and explore- the boys found holes and overhangs to climb through and it was really the perfect temperature for running around. I loved the view of St George from up there as well.
We stopped back by our hotel for lunch and then went off to Dino Discovery at Johnson Farm, which sounded cool, but was in reality pretty lame. We were there for maybe 10 minutes. Oh well. We did finally find this dinosaur poster that we had been looking for (for the boys) so I guess there's our silver lining.
And that's when we went to Zion National Park. Wow. Seriously. When we were getting in the car Dave was looking around at all the scenery and pointed at a set of mountains in the distance and remarked about interesting they were and I told him I thought that was where we were headed. And it was. It was awesome to get closer and closer to the park and watch the stone cliffs get larger and larger. I can't even describe how humbling and awe inspiring it was to drive though the park. We were lucky- it was a beautiful day and the shuttles hadn't started yet so we were able to drive the scenic route ourselves, and it wasn't so packed that we couldn't find parking. Dave and I had seen nothing like Zion. It was just beautiful. I took over 500 pictures to try to capture the feeling of the stone walls looming above us but couldn't adequately capture the scale. We hiked up to the weeping rock with the boys because it was one of the shorter hikes. By the time we got done exploring and hiking we had to head back to St George for dinner (it's the only city in Utah with a Jack in the Box). We finished the day by with swimming and a movie and the boys fell asleep pretty fast- I think they were exhausted. :)
Sunday we had to go home (by that point I was all about calling in sick and staying a few more days). We had decided to go back to Zion on our way home as it was more or less on the way. We did one more hike to Emerald Pools, which was a little bit longer for the boys. Again it was beautiful. And we saw a wild turkey too.
It was hard to watch the temperature go back down as we headed home. But at least the sun followed us home. We did stop at Cove Fort on the way home. It is almost perfectly halfway between St George and Salt Lake. Cove Fort was awesome! We had a fun tour and heard about the history and even learned where a few colloquialisms come from- sleep tight and pop goes the weasel. Alas my camera died so I wasn't able to get many pictures of the fort.
And then we made it home and relaxed before going back to work. It was an amazing weekend!

Spring Fever!

The past few days have brought sunshine and blue (ish) skies and it's actually been above freezing! I am so ready for spring time.  Seriously, if it wasn't still freezing temps at night I'd be tempted to shovel the snow out of my yard and into my neighbors (Brittany, if you see a big pile of snow in your backyard, it wasn't us).  Dave and I have been planning what projects we want to get done this year.  The problem is there are so many things we want to do, but we're trying to be responsible (blah) and pick only a few that we think we can reasonably afford to do, or the highest priority projects.  It looks like Dave will be working on the sprinkling system (we inherited a truly demented sprinkler system) and I'll be working on the garden and adding some flowers. 
Anyway, that's all probably just more interesting to me than to you...
So what have we been up to in the month or so since I last blogged (so much for the weekly blogging).  Well, I started back at work- thankfully at a graduated pace.  My first week back I tried to work 3 hours a day, last week was 4, this week is 5 hours per day and then next week I should be back to my full time of 6 hours a day.  I have no clue how I used to put in that much time before.  This will be an adventure.  But I do have to say it's been nice to get back.  Some of the stuff that I enjoy about my job (aside from adult conversation) is that I feel like I am accomplishing something and a lot of it feels like I am solving complex puzzles.  It's been nice to exercise my brain again.  I've also started doing this jogging/walking/running thingy.  I hesitate to say that I've started running because I'm not, and I'm doing more than walking- I'm sort of doing circuits (mixing walking and running)- again probably too much information.  But this is me, where you couldn't get me to run for any reason.  My new goal is to be able to run a mile- all at once! And then after that I would like to be able to run a 10 minute mile.  So I'm trying to get up there.  My sister has been awesome and has allowed me to use her treadmill (there is no way I'd be dragging this jiggly mess up and down the block in this cold).  And frankly, it gives me a great 30 minute break from the boys in the middle of the day. 
The boys are doing great.  Mid week I always think of things I want to add to the blog about each of the boys and then by the time I actually blog I totally forget.  Everyone is getting along great. Em has totally entered the terrible twos.  I thought that the twos were supposed to be terrible because of temper tantrums, but I've decided they are terrible because Emery is totally and completely out of control.  He's loud, he picks on everyone, and there's no stopping him.  It's like we stuffed this big boy into this little body- I keep forgetting that Em isn't even two yet.  Emery has become a daddy's boy through and through.  Emery likes to wake up at 6 AM on Saturdays (rough) so that he can spend some time with just Daddy.  Dave gets a little frustrated (of course he's very tired) but he sees the smiles and excitement in Emery's face and remembers that Emery is that stage in his life where he is just excited to be awake and alive.  I was reading an article about how to show your child love in the way that they understand (the Languages of Love) and Emery is totally the kid that loves to be touched- he constantly wants to be held or to hold hands and when he crawls in bed with us, he cuddles from the top of his head to his toes- every part of his body is pressed against us.  He is great. I've already started planning his birthday (just 2 months away!)... I am so excited to be able to do something just for him and to celebrate him. :)
As for Ethan- what can I say? He takes his responsibilities as big brother and mama's helper very seriously.  And he is good at it.  :) The other day my sister gave Ethan a bunch of pads of paper and pencils and he took them up to his toy room and made his own "office." He loves writing and drawing (our fridge is covered in his artwork and letters).  We have been watching the cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender and Ethan is just so enthralled (actually so is Em).  Ethan loves practicing his "air bending" and thinks that Aang is just the best person ever (if we want Ethan to eat his vegetables, we tell him that Aang does and then Ethan will chow down!).  I'm really tempted to sign Ethan up for a martial arts class...
Zeke is growing so quickly!  He is about 2 1/2 months old now (10 ish weeks).  At his 2 month check up Zeke weighed in at 15 lbs even.  Such a juicy turkey! I love it.  He is getting to be so much fun as well- he smiles at us (the toothless grins of babies could be the most intoxicating smiles ever), he giggles, and he coos at us.  Zeke loves watching his brothers wrestle (and boy howdy do they ever wrestle).  It amazes me how personal space doesn't matter to kids- Ethan and Emery get seriously nose to nose with Zeke in order to talk to him and Zeke loves it.  Zeke is getting better about sleeping as well... he spends more and more time in his crib each night and he sleeps for longer stretches as well.  It's great! Zeke is totally a night owl though- he has no problem staying up with us in the evening and he loves sleeping in late- he's always the last one awake. 
And how could I forget! We blessed Zeke at the beginning of the month.  Zeke's blessing marked the third February in a row that we have blessed a little boy in our home.  Ethan was first- the February after we moved into this house, Emery was next (last year), and then Zeke!  We had family and friends and it was so much fun to have everyone over.  I love having a big shindig like that once a year and then spending the rest of the year grateful that I don't have to have a million people over.  Zeke was a champ and didn't cry at all and the blessing was beautiful. We did have our "uh-oh" moment though- I had bought a blessing outfit for Zeke and I was so concerned about it being long enough for him.  So I had made sure that it would be long enough for him.  But when I went to dress Zeke before his blessing I was shocked to discover that Zeke was thicker around than his outfit!  I couldn't get the buttons closed on him!  Thankfully there was a cute little vest that covered that fact that I couldn't close up Zeke's little outfit!
And Dave has been hard at work- working to bring home the bacon.  He's also been working on house projects too.  He's not taking classes anymore (I don't know if I mentioned that before).  And he's organized another soccer team- they have their first game on Thursday.  When Dave gets home from work he spends a half hour studying with the bigger boys- with Ethan he works on letters, counting, and reading, and with Emery he works on colors and shapes and just spending time with him.  The boys really like it and it's good to see them spending some quality time together. 
With all of the cold weather we've been trying to come up with some fun things to do inside... We've gone to the Natural History Museum, to Discovery Gateway (the Kids Museum), Boondocks, and today we went to the Church History Museum (Dave had never been there before and he was really impressed by it).  I have been having a hard time with the sheer quantity of time that I spend with the boys- I feel like we do the same things over and over and over and over, etc.  We're bored and sick of each other, so I feel like the only good/quality interactions we have anymore is when we go out and do stuff together (even if it is only for an hour).  And the funny thing is- I think Zeke actually sleeps better when we go than he does at home. 
We've also started doing some house projects- the basement is constantly on our list of things to do, but we haven't done much with it recently.  Dave had to pull down everything the prior owner had put up- the walls were all crooked and when we pulled down the dry wall we discovered that the prior owner didn't even bother to use studs for the framing.  Gah! So it set us back a few months on where we thought we would be, but we feel better knowing for a fact that things were done correctly. 
And we finally painted the boys' room.  It was dark grey and red, which worked for a man cave but didn't work as well for little boys.  It's been on our to do list for a long time and we finally just did it. It is an amazing change.  I just love their room now.  We bought too much paint (it only took about half as much as we expected) so we're going to do the other room upstairs (the toy room) the same color.  Dave and I suck at painting so we were pleasantly surprised by how the room turned out (we're quite proud of ourselves actually).  My sister saved the day- the second we started painting the boys all went crazy and needed our immediate and undivided attention.  Auntie (as we call my sister) came over and entertained the boys so that Dave and I could get the painting done.  As it was, it took a heck of lot longer than I expected.  Also, it was a crazy work out!  It seemed like every part of my body hurt that night (seriously my arms hurt so bad it woke me up in the middle of the night repeatedly).  And today we started working on organizing the garage- buying hooks and an organizing system to get stuff up off of the ground and getting rid of stuff that we didn't need anymore.  We need to get some shelves put up to get the camping stuff out of our basement (because soon we won't be able to use the basement for storage anymore). 
Anyway... now for pictures- and I've got tons! 

 

Look at this big boy!

Em loves to pose for the camera

Daddy and Zeke at his blessing.

Emery and Alivia (our neighbor) playing.

Zeke's smile

Strapping Zeke to my chest..

Look at those lips!

 

I love this picture of all of the boys together (especially Em).

Zeke so happy to be with his brothers...

I have to get one picture of the boys crying when they are babies- it's so cute!

 

The before picture...

The middle picture...

The "too late to turn back now" picture...

And the final result...

Emery giving a "talk" at the Church History Museum...

Snow!

Yeah, I am a little bit late on this post- blame the newborn.

So last weekend we got tons! of snow.  I mean that literally- if you measured it all, I'm sure it would amount to tons.  And also feet if you want to count depth.  At some places in my backyard the snow was up to my knees!  Growing up in Portland, where 2 inches of snow was a miracle, and then in Hawaii where people had only seen snow in pictures, that much snow was truly incredible.  I loved it!  I also loved that I was inside and warm and free to watch the snow come down.  I didn't love so much that my husband had to drive to work in it when it seemed like everyone else was staying home (Dave did end up leaving work before one on Friday so that was pretty awesome). 

Anyway, the point is- we got an awesome amount of snow and we had so much fun playing in it! Dave was the champion of the weekend- he knew just what to do- he dug out pathways throughout the backyard so the boys could actually get around and then he even built a sled run!  It was a lot of fun for everyone.  I also learned why it is called "powder" (before you scoff, see the above paragraph where I describe my prior snow experience).  I was out playing with the boys and I jumped on the sled (which was do-able in Portland) in order to start sledding down a little incline.  Instead I ended up sinking into the snow and sending up a cloud of snow into my face/jacket (visualize someone jumping into a mound of flour for all of you non-utahns).  Yeah, it was a surprise- the boys thought it was hilarious. 

It was a great weekend overall.  Unfortunately the weather has since gotten absolutely frigid!  We had a few below zero nights and days where the high was in the low teens. Suck! If it weren't for the boys I would have just stayed in bed all day (correction- if it weren't for the older boys, I'm sure Zeke would have been content to snuggle with me all day in bed).  Really, there have been moments where it's just been painful to try to go outside... so I haven't. :)

Anyway, check out these pix! Some of them are really fun!

Day one of the storm- our tree is covered in snow!

Ethan leaning on one of the snow banks created by our shoveling the driveway

Emery was so excited about the snow he just ran up and down the driveway (thus the blurry picture).

Snow!

Emery's idea of sledding

At work in the backyard...

Dave about to toss Ethan in the snow

Probably my favorite picture from the weekend... :) Good Timing Huh?

Ethan in the deep snow, after being tossed by Dave

Building the sled run

Dave's first run...

Ethan shoveling the driveway

Ethan's first run

Loving it!

Such a cutie yeah?

Em gets a turn too...

Look at those branches sagging under the weight of that snow..

That's how much snow we got...

And while we were outside, Zeke was fat and happy (and warm) inside...