Tulip Festival

I love flowers. One of my favorite things is to have a vase full of some sort of bouquet on my bed side table so I can see and smell them as I go to sleep and then wake up to again in the morning. Poor Bryan, I make it so difficult for him to ever surprise me on Valentines Day or our anniversary with fresh flowers...I'm all too frequently buying them for myself. At this point he's more or less given up. As far as variety goes, I'm not picky...I'm happy with daisies, carnations, lilies, daffodils, roses, what have you. But if I had to pick a favorite, I think it would be tulips. They are in season for much too short of a time, in my opinion. So during the spring, those are most often what I choose to fill my vases when I am in the mood for some colorful, fresh flowers.

I'd heard of the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. I'd always wanted to go. But it's a long drive from my house and for one reason or another, I'd never made it down there during the allotted time that the tulips were in bloom. This year I was determined to go. And though I was happy to wander the gardens on my own, I called my mom and asked if she wanted to join me. When Katie heard we were considering a date to go, she said she had a season pass to Thanksgiving Point and though she had just been there a few days earlier with her children, she offered to come along again and get us in for half price. Sweet! Especially considering the entrance price was more steep than I had expected!

So the three of us wandered those beautiful tulip gardens for hours. I was amazed at how many different varieties of tulips they are...and the individual and delicate details of each. Just so stunningly beautiful. We had such a great girls afternoon! We're thinking maybe we'll go back in a few months to see what the gardens look like with their traditional summer flowers.

Spring chickens

I consider it spring when the calendar hits March 20th. And then of course the weather usually starts to get warmer. The daffodils come up followed closely by hyacinths and crocus', and finally tulips. Grass starts getting greener. The birds chirp and the trees blossom. It's all good stuff. But this year we got another sign of spring that we don't usually experience....baby animals! Realistically, we do have a field of cows behind our house. And they do tend to have the cutest little baby calves in early spring. But other than awwww-ing over them from my back windows, I don't have much contact.

This year was another story entirely. Not for baby calves, mind you. Those were still a window viewing experience only. But take a look at this early spring cuteness....

We had a family Easter dinner and egg hunt at Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Kari's burgeoning farm. They have recently decided to try their hand at raising chickens and goats. I tell you what, it's pretty darn cute to watch those baby goats run around the yard with the kids, just like a dog would do....darn cute, yesiree.

Token Easter Egg hunt pictures:

It's kind of nice to be at a point where though my older daughters may not want to hunt for eggs themselves, they do enjoy hiding said eggs. I didn't have to do a thing. Julianne even stuffed them full of candy for me.

But hey, wait! The baby animal cuteness is not over yet. Because do you want to see what we have roaming around in our very own backyard?

Clearly this a big step beyond the window-viewing or farm-visiting, awww-inspiring, cuteness. This comes along with not only the novelty of soft and fluffy and cute right in your own hands....but also the responsibility of feeding and watering and making sure they don't get stuck in the wagon or squeeze under the fence into the neighbors backyard, shopping at C-A-L Ranch for chicken feed and hay, etc.

As of right now, we are chick-sitting for some neighbors who have been out of town on vacation. But seeing as our backyard is backed up to a farm already and we have all sorts of open space for an enclosed coop beside and behind our man cave...the situation may become more permanent. A partnership of sorts, where we share the financials and chores...but also the eggs. Time will tell what ends up happening with these little feathered friends. But in the meantime, it's been awfully fun to watch them grow. I'm rather shocked at how big they've got in only two weeks time. The yellow duck (that Julianne has temporarily named Sabrina...) is huge! And in another funny little moment, Bryan brought one of the chickens into our kitchen yesterday evening and introduced it to our five parakeets. They all looked a little shocked....the parakeets AND the chicken.

Easter eggs

Every hour.  All day long.  "Is it time to color Easter eggs yet, Mom?  Huh, is it?  When can we?"  Unfortunately I had planned the dyeing of eggs to happen after Brandon came home from gymnastics at 7:30...and dinner which happens even after that.  Which means that I got really very weary of this line of questioning from my 4-year old.

But by 9:00 (!!!) we finally had everything ready and the coloring of eggs commenced.  Rebekah, who despite her advanced age really still did want very much to dye eggs with us, all the same decided that when push came to shove she'd rather go to Jayden's house ("It's his birthday, Mom!").  But that ended up being a good thing for us.  Because despite the fact that I had boiled 32 eggs (!!!) dividing out to 9 eggs per child, Lilian was nowhere near ready to be done at just a measly 9 eggs.  So we let her color the 9 still white eggs that had been meant for her older sister.  Plus 4 of Brandon's that he generously donated.  And even then, Lilian re-dyed some of her eggs that she decided weren't dark enough color.

    Can you say egg salad sandwiches....

Downtime

Well....downtime for the kids, anyhow.  I finished reading Hunger Games to Brandon on Wednesday night.  So this morning I agreed to read to him ONE CHAPTER of Catching Fire.  I read seven.  Which meant that I didn't get dressed till noon.  (Also due to the fact that not a single one of us got out of bed before 10:30.)  Then Rebekah hung out with friends.  Julianne hung out with friends.  Brandon hung out with friends.  All of Lilian's friends are out of town on vacations so she hung out with me.  I had anxiety attacks while realizing that the week was going by far too quickly and I wasn't making even the slightest dent in the my list of things I wanted to accomplish.  So I cleaned my messy house.  And grumped.  And cried a little.  One of the things on my spring break list was to go to the temple with Bryan.  I decided that this was the night it would work out best.  But I didn't want to go.  Truly, deeply, and completely did not want to go.  Because I was grumpy.  And anxiety ridden.  Which is all the more reason why I decided to go regardless....even though I grumped all the way up the mountainside to the temple.  But after our session some sweet temple workers took some time out of their schedules to walk the two of us around and show us some of the artwork newly hung.  It was neat...the artwork itself but also wandering around in areas of the temple that normally I don't go.  Such a beautiful building.  And when we walked out the front door it was twilight with some clouds coming in which made for such interesting lighting around the grounds.  So pretty.  It made my heart feel a little bit better.

And then when we got home (because I had made it clear earlier in the day when I was grumping about all the things I wasn't getting done so I could go to the temple) Bryan helped me make a menu and list and then accompanied me to the grocery store.  At 10:00.  With kids in tow.  We ate dinner at 11:00.  I don't think the kids have been to bed before midnight this entire week.

Seriously, these quick shots I took on my iphone don't even do it justice.  But it's kind of cool how you can look out and see the Great Salt Lake, yes?

iFLY (again)

After enviously watching mine and Bryan's pseudo skydiving experience at iFLY a few months ago (see here) Brandon was absolutely positive that he wanted to try flying himself for his birthday.  But though his actual birthday was last week, it worked out best to wait for spring break and an easier going schedule to make it happen.  Joined by one of his best friends (and gymnastics teammate) Andres, Brandon had a rip-roaring time in the "wind tunnel."  With hair slicked back from the wind, a big smile on his face and an enthusiastic hug for his friend, Brandon exclaimed, "That was the most awesome experience of my life...and it was only two minutes!"
Some photographic evidence of it all...

    

Swimming

We spent our second day of spring break with my good friend Heather and her family.  It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and the flowers blooming.  And even if it wasn't as warm as I wished, it certainly wasn't cold.  And besides, the pool was indoors so swimming worked out perfectly.  We set up a little campfire on the patio just outside the pool house and had a BBQ when we all got hungry.  (My hair STILL smells like smoke.)  So despite the fact that I was a little stressed out on my way over about the fact that I was leaving my house a disaster and was wishing mightily to whip it into shape....I have to admit that the down time with Heather and the kids was truly glorious.  I can clean my house any time, right?

 Feeling brave with the goggles on her face Lilian mastered her nerves and started going underwater.  I guess this was a big deal for her.  I don't remember her having issues with putting her head underwater before but she seemed pretty proud of herself....so, yay for Lilian for corralling her courage and overcoming!  The girl spent so much time in the water that her feet got dramatically prune-y.  I wish I had a picture to show you...but trust me, it was bad!  She couldn't even walk, her feet hurt so bad.  The poor girl was in tears.  Even hours later, there were parts of her feet that were still wrinkled.  Crazy.

 Remember how I am easily entertained with taking pictures of myself in window reflections?  (See here.)  One whole side of the pool house is windows and numerous sliding glass doors leading out to the grassy area and patio.  Yeah, I know.  Cheap thrills. Whatever.

Julianne, Liberty, Morgan and Rebekah....all waterlogged and having a great time.  In fact, because they couldn't stand the thought of ending their time together, I ended up throwing Libby and Morgan into my truck and bringing them home with us for a sleep-over.  I guess that's one of the perks of spring break.  Impulsive and unplanned extras. 

Spring Break Sushi

It's Spring Break around our neck of the woods.  Although half our neighborhood is out of town this week, we've opted to make our spring break a "stay-cation."  And although we don't have anything truly spectacular planned, we're looking forward to some down time, some family time, some fun time, and hopefully lots of sleeping time!
Some pictures from our sushi dinner at Happy Sumo this evening...

Aching for spring

I'm wishing for spring.  Apparently my trees are as well because I noticed little buds on them when I went out to get my mail this morning.  Those who know me realize that this admission early in March is a big deal.  I am a winter girl.  I don't ski, sled or snowshoe but I absolutely love the snow and cold.  I am also a firm believer that seasons should act as they are meant to. Which means that I get irrationally cranky with people who complain about snow storms in February or even March...at least up till the 20th, the official first day of spring.  But I am weary of winter this year.  Maybe because it's been a lackluster and depressingly dry season with not much wintery weather to be excited about.  Whatever it is, I am aching for warmer weather and sun....and these things:

*To kick off the slippers that I wear daily and go barefoot around the house.
*To put together, stain and set up my new potting bench in the backyard.
*To bike my favorite 21 mile route without having to wear all my winter gear.
*To shop the nursery for little herb and vegetable plants...
*...and to dig in the soil and get it all ready for planting.  I literally want to feel the dirt between my fingers.  (I've been reading "The Good Earth" by Pearl Buck...it's making me crave gardening.)
*To be able to wear all those cute sandals sitting on shelves in my closet.  They look lonely...and dusty.
*To paint my toenails and not then immediately hide them inside a pair of socks and boots.
*To wake up to light outside my window.
*To set set up the patio furniture on my back deck.

However...I have a sneaking suspicion that if Mother Nature favored us with a serious walloping of snow (rather than the puny little 1/2 inch we got last night) I'd probably get on board the winter train once again.

"Square Temple"

We took a family outing to Temple Square yesterday. Or "Square Temple" as Lilian kept calling it. It was absolutely gorgeous...which was to be expected, of course. Temple Square at Christmas with lights and during Spring with tulips is one of my very favorite places to be.
Be forewarned...I got a little bit of shutterbug fever while we were there....
Also, you may notice that we are missing a certain member of our family in these pictures. Brandon is on a vacation with his grandparents and cousins.

And so, without further ado...our temple trip in pictures: