May 2015

May was another wet month here in Utah, we certainly made up for our dry winter. The kids are getting better at biking, here is a paved track near our house where they can master their biking skills.

Rachel had Rome day at school in the third grade. Here she is in her Roman attire.

One weekend we decided to explore an area of Utah known as 9-mile canyon. We found a little cabin to stay in which had a wood stove in it, thank goodness because it was a cold and damp weekend. But it was worth the trip! Driving through the canyon we had many opportunities to get out and hike around to see the petroglyphs! So much ancient artwork on the rocks and caves around here, it was amazing to see.

Rachel has been thinking about getting her ears pierced for a long time, but she was too afraid of the pain. Since she did so well at the karate tournament in May we gave her the chance to get her ears pierced afterwards and she was ready to do it! How nice that Claire's will do both ears at once so the pain is over quickly. She was very brave. BTW, Carson did great in the karate tournament too!

We headed to San Diego for Memorial Day weekend to see Veronica graduate from the University of San Diego. Great job Veronica, magna cum laude even!

We decided to visit Sea World for a day while in San Diego. We had lots of fun seeing Shamu and going on rides.

Rachel was in her first play in May, done by Up With Kids, a theater group for children. They put on Frostbite, similar to Frozen, and she had lots of fun doing the performance. 

April 2015

We had a wet spring here in Utah but we were able to get out to Red Butte Gardens to enjoy a sunny day in early April. We had a visit from Grammy and since she loves flowers and gardens we knew she would love Red Butte. The kids favorite part is feeding the fish and ducks at the small pond in the gardens.

April 2015 was a very difficult month for me, Mom. This was the month that rheumatoid arthritis set in and made my joints very painful - mostly hips, shoulders and knees. Walking became difficult and I needed 800 mg of ibuprofen per day just to get by. This is why I have gotten so behind on the family blog. As I write this entry it is now March 2016 and thank goodness I am feeling much better (and off all drugs). Hoping to get caught up and post more pictures in the next few weeks. Thanks everyone for prayers and good wishes.

March 2015

We had a beautiful March here, lots of warmth and sunshine during a month that can typically be quite cold. One sunny weekend we decided to take a picnic lunch to a park in Salt Lake City. It was fun to feed the ducks, try out the playground equipment and enjoy the great outdoors.

Who can pass up the chance to roll down a big, grassy hill?

We celebrated Carson's 8th birthday in March with a party at Kangaroo Zoo. This is a favorite place of ours for parties - lots of bounce houses to jump in, plenty of room to run around, and our own party room for cake and snacks. Cocoa the kangaroo even made an appearance for Carson's party!

I'm always amazed at the vivid imaginations of my children. One day they were bored so went down to the basement to see what they could find in the dress-up bin. They came back up with these outfits on and told me they were immigrants coming to America. Too cute.

February 2015

One of my favorite winter pastimes is ice skating so every year I drag the kids down to the local ice rink and put them on skates hoping that someday they will like it as much as I do. They are getting the hang of it and each year is a little more fun for them.

We celebrated my birthday in February - John and the kids made me a delicious chocolate cake!

Grandma moved into her town home nearby in late February! Its so nice to have a Grandma living close by. Here are the kids testing out her carpet for comfort.

Notice the glasses on Carson! We've discovered that he is near-sighted. He does not mind wearing them, he was amazed at what he could see when he first put them on!

During the move Grandma was getting rid of some unnecessary things and gave us her pasta maker. Rachel and Carson LOVE pasta and were very eager to try making some so we gave it a shot. It was actually very good and easy to make!

In late February Rachel and I had an opportunity to meet Shannon Hale at our local library. She is one of Rachel favorite authors and has written the Ever After High series of books. Shannon gave a great talk about her road to becoming a writer, and even had with her a stack of rejection letters she received before she had anything accepted by a publisher. After the talk we waited in line for over an hour but finally it was Rachel's turn to meet her and have her sign some books. And Rachel's tooth came out while we were standing in line! 

January 2015

Rachel did a biography book report in January and chose to read about Annie Oakley. Her book report was shaped like a person with the report being in the arms and legs, the head drawn to look like Annie Oakley, and the torso drawn to look like a book cover. It was fun to learn about Annie Oakley - Rachel did a great job on the report and I think her artwork is amazing.

One of our New Year's Resolutions is to take more family outings. We started with the new Living Planet Aquarium not too far from us. We saw lots of great things, penguins, sharks, octopus and more! They even had a 4D theater - 3D glasses plus vibrating seats to make it feel even more real.

On the way out the kids posed with their new stuffed friends.

Our next outing this month was Antelope Island, an island in the Great Salt Lake. It is actually a state park and was a beautiful place to visit on a sunny day in January.

A magpie perched on an interesting rock outcrop.

We did a short hike up to some rocks with a commanding view of the lake and mountains surrounding the island. The kids had fun playing on the rocks and it was wonderful to soak up some sunshine in the middle of winter.

gorgeous scenery

December 2014

Imagine my surprise when I picked Carson up from school one day to find this! One of his classmates had a birthday and brought in these sticky mustaches for the whole class. Too cute.

Rachel was giving her barbie dolls a day at the bath/spa one day and she used a straw to create bubbles in barbie's bath. It got more fun as the bubbles expanded and soon Carson was in on it too.

Merry Christmas! It was fun to have lots of family visiting for the holidays. Grandad, Deb & Shivani and Pete & Jen were all here. Here the kids are trying on their light-up Rudolph noses.

Only Grandad can fall asleep while sitting up at a table.

Grandad gets his very own hedgehog!

Rachel and Shivani had fun playing dress-up. Rachel is wearing her 'fashion' glasses.

We had a huge snowstorm on Christmas day so there was plenty of snow for playing and sledding.