Grandma's Farm

Bob's Grandma has a farm and his Aunts and cousins have baby sheep and baby goats every spring. My kids love animals, especially H. H was even able to feed a baby sheep with a bottle.

I put G down and he did not want to walk anywhere because of the goat and sheep poop all over. He is such a funny kid sometimes.

Bob's cousin has been living over seas for the past several years and just moved back. She and her boys came to see the baby animals with us. It was fun to be with her and to have our kids play together.Bob even caught a goat. I think he was pretty proud of himself.

Grandma's House

They are getting ready to sale Grandma's house so we had one last party. Grandma had not been to her home for several months, so they brought her to be with us. We were also able to take some things that reminded us of Grandma (and Grandpa) and their home. It was hard to think this may be the last time to visit Grandma at her home, but I think it was easier to do it while she is still with us. She will turn 96 this year.

It was fun to have my kids swing on her swing set, the same swing set that I have so many memories of. Whenever visiting Grandma, she always gave us an ice cream cone after dinner. It was fun that my kids where able to have an ice cream cone after lunch (or dinner as my Grandma always calls it), just like I always did.

My kids love my Grandma and were so excited to go to her house. When we pulled in her driveway H said, "This is Grandma's real house." They are used to visiting her in the assisted living house where she is now staying.

Spring Break in Escalante

For Spring Break this year we went to Escalante. We were worried because the weather forcasted pretty cold nights, and they were. I was grateful our tent trailer has a heater and kept us pretty warm.We did some great slot canyon hikes. There were some parts that were very skinny and I could only go through going sideways and lasted a hundred yards or so. Bob and G had to stay back because the backpack carrier would not fit through and other obstacles would be too difficult carry a child on your back. H and R had a great time running through the slots.

H loved playing in the sand. Every time we would stop for just a minute, or even times we did not stop, I would look and she would be sitting down playing in the sand again. This made for a long hike. She loved hiking with her older cousins and they seemed to be able to get her to keep walking better than I could.

My mom celebrated her 70th birthday on our trip. We are very grateful for her. It was fun to be able to spend the week with her and celebrate.

The second day the girls and I and some of the cousins decided to take a break from the hikes.

On our way home we stopped at Anasazi Ruins. It is amazing at what they built out of rocks, mud and sticks.

April Fools

To begin the day Mother Nature played her own April Fools and sent snow in April. (It snowed all day long yesterday.)

Every year I try to think of a good April Fools joke to play, but never get a good one. When I was expecting G, on April 1st I announced to my family that I was going to have a baby but no one believed me. That was kind of fun.

This year I decided to make a April Fools dinner. We first had cake. (Meat loaf with mashed potato frosting.)

After desert we had our main course, hamburgers and fries. (The hamburgers are brownies, with a yellow cake for the bun, smashed starbursts for the cheese and the fries are sugar cookies.) Sometimes my kids can be pretty picky eaters. I thought for sure they would finish dinner today, but no. It is pretty sad when your kids will not finish dinner and it is really desert. I did find it interesting that G ate his "Cake" pretty well. A lot better than if I would have really just given him meat loaf and potatoes. I guess I better just start calling everything I give him different names and maybe he will eat it better.

Lunch with Loved Ones Day

Our cousin B invited us to lunch at her school for lunch with loved ones day. (Formally called Grandparents day.) So we packed a lunch and ate with Grandma, Aunt B, and Cousin B. My kids did not do a lot of eating lunch, but enjoyed going to B's school, meeting her friends and hanging out with her. (I guess the fact that they do not usually eat at 11:30 AM did not help either.)

Ben & Jerry's

We made our trip for the Annual Free Ice Cream day at Ben and Jerry's. I think it was a little earlier this year than last, and definitely colder. After we got our ice cream we went to sit down and it was freezing, so we took our ice cream at ate it in the car. I think it turned out a lot better eating it where it was warm.

Utah Symphony, The Magic Flute

We were able to attend to Utah Symphony again. They do a couple productions each year geared more towards children. This one we went to was the Magic Flute. Bob and I were talking about the story afterwards and were a little confused. I think they condensed the story so much for the kids that they must have left out a few crucial parts.
We went a little early for the Instrument Petting Zoo. They had instruments from each of the different families for the kids to try. They also had someone by each instrument to show you how to correctly play it. It was really fun and the kids enjoyed it. (Don't worry, they sanitized all of the instruments you play with your mouth in between each person.)

After they had the Magic Flute Characters come out for pictures. My kids thought the girls were princess, so they enjoyed taking pictures with them.

I thought the Symphony did a great job making this production for kids. It was just an hour long and the kids paid attention the whole time. I think these experience are good to help them become familiar with and enjoy the Symphony.