THEY'RE BAAAAAAAACK

All is right in my world today.

I looked out my kitchen window while rinsing out my cereal bowl.... and saw this:

It just makes everything right. My 5 male yellow headed blackbirds managed to find my home again. I hope they missed me as much as I missed them. I won't see the females for a month or more...I think that is because they are sitting on the nests...who knows. But my yellow-headed beauties will now greet me morning and night until the end of July.

It brightened my day.

EASTER WEEKEND

(This snow-bunny was found hopping around Salt Lake City)

It has been a fun Easter weekend. Filled with family, fun and lots of food (of the sugary variety).

It was very VERY cold though!

Friday night it hailed!

Saturday my sister, BIL and I took the kids to Hill Air Force Base for the Easter hunt. I think we got hypothermia, but the kids had fun. (if you look close you will see remnants of the hail storm from the night before...there should never be frost on your Easter eggs...that is just sooo wrong)

Saturday afternoon was Great Grandma's Easter party. Lots of cousins showed up. It was a ton of fun!

(Brayden & Taiton)

(Mindy and Briella)

(Zach, Kylee, Emmi, Reece, Taiton and his friend)

(Averie and Joey)

(Kylee and Averie)

(Emmi)

Then today we did the hunting egg thing, colored eggs, microwaved a peep and then took a long nap. It has been a relaxing and wonderful day!

WEEKEND IN SAINT GEORGE/ ZION

This weekend Emmi had a dance competition in Saint George. I'm not a Saint George lover, but I do have to say this is one of the best trips I've made that direction.
We headed out on Friday around 2, got into Saint George around 6:30, checked into the hotel and then headed out to find some food.

Yes, we know what is most important....food!

We ate at Brick Oven Pizza, at the end of the St George Boulevard. Yummmy! While we were eating a balloon lady came around and made Emmi "bunny ears". It was quite the fun dinner.



After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed...I was so very tired from driving.

The next morning we were up early for the dance competition. Emmi had three team dances (Jazz, Lyrical, Jazz) and a show routine.

They placed first in all of the dances. Two of the dances were "high gold". I was so very proud of her, but the best part was that they had fun!

After dancing Emmi decided she wanted to swim for a bit.



Then we went on a tour of St George. I've been to the place many times but except for when I was like 14 and went with Janet Dodd and her sister, I really haven't done anything while I was there. So I decided to find the roads that took you to the top of the red rocks and take the roads that lead out of the city to the fun spots. I never found the road that took you to the volcanoes and the dunes, but that is okay....

I found THIS!

Now tell me that doesn't look like a face.... hahahahaha, I love it!

and we found these up on the top of one of the bluffs.

We had a blast that day just driving around and finding all sorts of cool stuff, mostly in the color reddish-orange, but since it isn't a common color up north we enjoyed finding new red rocks.

The next morning we were SUPPOSED TO eat breakfast, hop in the car and just come home. But at breakfast this morning one of the other families was talking about driving through Zion and Emmi decided SHE wanted to drive though Zion too. So I bought a map, called my mom and then took the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way home.

But had we taken the normal route, we would have missed all of this!

(Look, she is sad because we were leaving)

Our 4.5 hour drive took 8.5 hours and 50 extra miles...not to mention the $25 freaking TAX they charge you to drive through the park, but it sure was beautiful. It was worth the extra time, even if I am extremely tired right now because of it.

We stopped at my parents on the way home and Emmi decided to show us how tired she was from the trip.

What a great weekend!

Now I'm off to bed.

Visit to the Mountains

Last weekend one of my coworkers got married. After the ceremony Emmi and I decided to drive to the top of 9th street in Ogden and see the mountains. It was cold out, but the snow topped mountains were hard to resist. They looked so beautiful.

Emmi went exploring at the trail-head. She noticed lots of signs of foot traffic, and not just of the human variety. She decided that she wanted to live at the bottom of a mountain and then said she was cold.


I agreed. It was really windy and cold out.

We couldn't help but take some pictures. (Okay, so we took lots of pictures)

While I really hate the cold winters in Utah, it sure does make for some breathtaking scenery.

Enjoy!

(P.S. I love my new camera and I really really love my new zoom lens!)

WHAT IS MOST PRECIOUS

Sometimes in life we have those moments when everything else around us seems to fade and we realize just how important certain people are to your existence.

I had one of those yesterday.



Yesterday Emmi went swimming to Surf and Swim (a local wave pool) for a friends birthday. While she partied I shopped. At 5:00 I went to pick her up and saw a fire truck parked next to the building. I didn't think anything of it because the police and fire station aren't too far away from the swimming pool.

So I get out of the car, walk into the building only to have a nervous 16 year old worker tell me I can't pick up my daughter that I need to leave the building immediately.

I was then grabbed by a fireman and escorted from the building. He told me I needed to wait on the far side of the parking lot and that they would evacuate the building when it was safe.

My heart stopped, but I reluctantly left the building.

I heard the sirens so I ran for my car to move it so I wouldn't be blocked in by police and fire trucks.

Then I stood at the back of the parking lot and waited.

My first thought was that someone had drown, my second was a gunman... I kept thinking that we had missed the Trolley Square shooting 3 years ago because I was too lazy and decided to leave the house later and then decided on the way that I didn't want to drive to Salt Lake. So as I stood in the parking lot watching firemen and police officers surround the building and enter it I could help but think "what are the odds'?

I was hoping that because the firemen were around and by the door that it was something else and not some freak-job with violence on the mind.

I was seriously freaked that my daughter was inside.

About 5 minutes later people started to evacuated the building so I started walking towards them, looking for Emmi and not seeing her.

When I got closer to the building I knew what the problem was.

I could smell the gas and BOY was it strong. The were taping off the parking lot and didn't want anyone to start their cars. At that time I was seriously glad I had moved my car. It had been parked right next to the building where they were not allowing anyone to get to their vehicles.

Although in hindsight, starting my car was NOT a smart thing to do. But I didn't know it at the time.

I was still standing back from the building watching the last of the people exit and getting more and more upset as the time dragged on. It looked like everyone was out of the building and cuddling in groups to keep from freezing to death. (wet hair and Utah temps in February don't mix well).

I still couldn't find my daughter and was just about ready to have a panic attack when she walked out.

They had come out another exit. They had to turn around and go back through another door to get out.

I don't want to ever again have the feelings I had while standing outside of that building yesterday. I was terrified! She is the most precious part of my life and I couldn't get to her when I most wanted to.

I hugged her extra tight throughout the night.

MY LITTLE VALENTINE

This is my little valentine. She is 4 foot 10 inches tall with short blond hair, blue eyes and a feisty attitude.

For our valentine weekend we held the annual "cousin sleepover" on Friday night. The kids had a blast, as did I. We ate, played games, painted, watched a movie...and didn't get much sleep.

Then Saturday we did some clearance shopping. There is nothing like end of the season sales to get my blood pumping. We went out to lunch with some wacky people and then did some MORE shopping.

Today, valentines day, we slept in. I don't get to do that much so it was a real treat. Then we spent the day playing games and lounging around. I'm not feeling well today, so the lounging around really brightened my day.

Emmi built towers with the Jenga blocks after we played. She got pretty creative with her towers.

It was a GREAT weekend. I hope you each had a wonderful valentines day too.