Old News

As promised, here is a pictorial of our wild Spring Break in Utah...

Day 1:

We took Shayla on a tour of BYU campus.

 There was an interesting art 

display in the HFAC...

The contraption below looked like a few

things my kids have done with old

motors and army men....when they were like 7 years old.

Old newspapers on a chain

hmmm...

Looks like someone put off their art project 'til the last minute

and lucky for them someone put off emptying the trash.

It's a win/win.

Day 2:

  Church and nachos...

Then we had a family Quilting Bee and

tied a quilt for Baby Mason

Day 3...

A sweet nautical-themed baby shower

for Shanna and baby Mason

Whilst the girls were oohing and awing over

adorable baby stuff, the boys went out for

Ice Cream Cones

Day 4:

Bonding with guns and ammo

Yep, I'm a pistol packin' Mama

and Seth let me shoot his Mosin-Nagant--

Now I know what I want for Mother's Day.

(I know that's not a pistol or a Mosin--it's the only picture I had

of me shooting--but I did shoot the Mosin. And it was

AWESOME):

Shanna getting Baby Mason started early

learning about the family hobby.

The morning of Day 4:

I ran off to Salt Lake on a charitable

Relief Society errand.

The free quilting supplies I picked up ended up

costing me a whole lot more than nothing.

Thank you Salt Lake's Finest for pulling over a frazzled

Relief Society president looking for the

Humanitarian Headquarters.

I was informed that I was going 5 over the limit.

Was it my BYU license plate in Ute territory perhaps?

And it snowed while I was there.

I told you about our good time at the Macbeth performance our last night...

THEN

I tried to make the trip home fun and adventurous for the 

youngsters by 

stopping off at a roadside petting zoo:

Baby goats!

A zebra!

Actually, the kids didn't want to get out of the car. 

I finally coaxed Shayla out and she humored me

and walked over to look at the animals.

So I tried again at Cove Fort:

They all staggered out of the car and went on the tour with me.

As I was loading these pictures for the blog, Sam said

"I was really kinda mad that you made us get out of

the car for this--but then it turned out to be

really cool. It wasn't boring like I assumed it would be."

That, my friends is a ringing endorsement from

a fifteen year old boy.

And that was our Spring Break in Utah.

One day while I was paying for groceries in the

Smith's in Orem, I overheard two guys talking about

how bad the weather had been. One said to the other,

"We just got back from our Spring Break in San Diego--it was beautiful!"

We can have that beautiful weather anytime so it was worth the

chill and damp to spend some time with people we love.

A Memorable Memorial

The day dawned bright and early with a delicious family breakfast at the Little America--we wanted to beat the crowds and get to our

destination:

Antelope Island

We started out in the Visitor's Center where we learned all about the history and wildlife of the island out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. The wildlife could be summed up in the familiar song:

"Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play,

where seldom is heard, a discouraging word..."

Oh, except they left out the GNATS!

The truth is, we heard more than a few

DISCOURAGING WORDS

And a lot of slapping and itching!

We set out on our "easy" "family friendly" hike up Buffalo Point Trail,

doing our best to keep ourselves from being eaten alive.

Scott and Sam sprinted to the top and were on their way back just as we approached the summit:

"Head back to the car--there's nothing to see!"

they shouted as they continued to fight off the gnats. Scott took Bailey and they hurried down.

We followed as best we could with the loose gravel slowing our progress.

We all jumped into the car and slammed the doors as we slapped and scratched wildly trying to

eradicate any of the lingering plague.

Scott started the car and spun out as we sped out of the parking lot and back to civilization.

As we were leaving, we saw that hundreds of cars were lined up at the entrance waiting to enjoy their Memorial Day on Antelope Island.

We felt helpless to warn them:

Turn Back! Abandon Hope all Ye Who Enter Here!

PS: We came up with a PLAN B and went to Park City where we enjoyed the Alpine Slide and Bailey had fun on the merry-go-round. Then we had our BBQ in a random park where Baily and the uncles had fun playing on the playground.

These pictures are from the day before--we all had a good time playing in the park near

Austin and Shanna's

You are never too old--or too tall to swing!

Bailey got to swing to her heart's content

Uncle Shane and Uncle Sam walkin' Bailey back home.

Let's Talk About the Weather

I may have mentioned we are in Utah for Siara's wedding. Yesterday after church the sun was blazing and the car was like an oven. As the afternoon wore on, a storm moved in and it began to rain cats and dogs. This morning we woke up to SNOW! Then it hailed. Then it continued to snow. Big fluffy flakes that stuck and soon covered the roads. Shane was in the hotel room with only his flip-flops and decided to trek out to the car to get his real shoes. Which,  I just want to state for the record, I packed in spite of his protests that he would ONLY be wearing flip-flops (except of course for the mandatory dressing up for the wedding--and for that he wisely packed his church shoes). So, he put on socks (because it was cold) and flip-flops and headed out. Some time later I heard him pounding on the door. I opened it to a drenched, cold, disgruntled Shane:

"It's FREEZING out there, my socks are soaked and I'm pretty sure I have  FROST-NIP!!"