Mothers Day

This weekend I was soooo spoiled that I don't know if I will be able to go back to normal life on Monday. Dennis has pretty much been at my beck and call all weekend doing little projects for me to help me fend off the nesting reflex. He and I went out together Saturday afternoon to lunch and Home Depot. He's making me two more garden boxes that I probably won't finish before I begin my maternity leave but I just had to have them anyway. We spent way too much on bushes and flowers at the nursery and then I went back for just a few more to fill a planter box I just had to have! That and then breakfast and dinner, a flower and a nap on Sunday! All this and then love notes from our children. What more could a mom ask for?!?!?! They know how to make me feel loved!

I also wanted to give a shout out to my mom! This is my mom. What a wonderful woman she is. She's amazing sometimes. Such a creative person and always doing projects of some sort. She crochets, knits, sews, quilts, bakes, smiles, laughs, helps, supports, strengthens, loves. I love you mom! Happy Mothers Day!

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting

Not much going on just the usual trying to get through the last few weeks until our little one finally makes her grand entrance. I'm not good at the waiting game, but I'm making it. Just been doing a little nesting and scrapbooking and walking the dog and taking the boys to baseball practice, waiting for Dennis to get home from work and weeding in the garden and yard. That's about it.

Happy Birthday Dennis

I'm so happy every year when Dennis finally has his birthday. I love it when he gets older. I do wonder why men always get better looking with age and women just get older. At least that's how I feel. Well my honey is now the big three-three. What an amazing, talented, loving man he is. What a blessing he is to me. I love him so much!! Happy Birthday love!!

Our Spring Break

This week for our "Spring Break" we left the children at grandpa and grandma Sorensens' house for 2 days while Dennis and I were able to spend some time together. Dennis was invited to speak at the Utah Municipal Clerks Association conference in Springdale. He's becoming a very popular speaker at these kinds of meetings. He was a hit and had the best presentation at the conference. They just loved him there and he really can speak about any topic they give him. He knows his stuff. I loved watching him. I love that he comes home and talks to me about work because then at these conferences I know the lingo and can follow what he's saying.

There really isn't much in Springdale, besides Zions park, but we did enough to fill 2 days without putting me into labor. Dennis finally got to see Avatar in 3-D on the huge 4 story screen that they have there. I'll spare the review except to say that it felt a lot like Dances with Wolves to me and all the business about it being too political or about worshiping nature was a lot of hot air. It was a very good movie. Not too sure why it was in 3-D though. It was cool, but in my opinion 3-D can be a little too stimulating.We drove around some of the smaller towns in the area just looking around. I loved how green everything was there. They are about a month ahead of us in the season so it was all green and flowery and sunny. We drove to Grafton which is an old ghost town where there have been 5 movies shot there, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There wasn't much to it, but kind of fun to look around and take some photos.

(Small shed in Grafton)

(Bell on Top of old Church/Schoolhouse, in Grafton.)

We also walked down Springdale main street and looked in the galleries and shops. I'm more of a green forest person so to me they all started to look the same, with the oranges and browns, but there is such a beauty in that area around Zions that truly is amazing. We found a lot of fun things in the yards walking around.

(More yard art. Some people are pretty creative.)

(Windart - These were amazing to watch.)

We made it home in one piece and now we're glad to be home and have several projects planned for the weekend. It's been a beautiful week.

Fieldtrip

(Kids petting the sting rays)

Back in March when we were doing our classification unit, we promised the kids that we would make a special trip to the aquarium for our field trip on fish. We found out that the aquarium was adding a new penguin exhibit at the end of March so we thought it best to put off our visit until after the penguins arrived. This weekend we finally made it up there and as we drove into the packed parking lot, my heart sank. There was a line to get into the building clear down the sidewalk. At that point Dennis asked the kids if they wanted to see a movie instead, but they all agreed they wanted to go into the aquarium. By the time we found a parking spot the line was considerably shorter which was encouraging. So we dealt with a huge crowd of people there on this beautiful weekend, didn't loose any of the kids, and saw the marine animals and fish.

Favorites:
Jacob - the piranhas
Isaac - tough choice between the anaconda, cayman, the penguins and petting the sting rays.
Afton - the penguins
Khora - penguins jumping on the rocks
Dad - the sea horses
Mom - coral reef fish, of course the fish who swam with their eyes up out of the water were cool too!

Good news, the aquarium still isn't too big so it didn't take more than a couple hours to walk through everything even with the crowds. Bad news, it was a couple hours on my feet and I'm paying for it now. It's still way over priced in my opinion, as much as a zoo ticket, but we had a discount card which made me feel a little better.

(Dinner at the Mayan)

Dennis thought it would be fun, after seeing the new South American exhibit at the aquarium, that we should go to the Mayan Restaurant for dinner. It was a hit! The kids loved it!!! We had an amazing spot to watch the divers which everyone loved. The kids kept saying that it was like eating in the jungle and not a building. Afton mentioned that this would be a great place to go on a date. Isaac said when he's married and has kids he's going to take them there. Jacob was fascinated with the lighting which he kept pointing out to us as it changed.

It was a long but fun afternoon together! Now it's time for bed!

Easter 2010

Even though we didn't have to go to church on Easter, the kids got all dressed up so I could have a mom moment and take an Easter picture before driving to Fayette. I only do this twice a year so it's not much, right.

On Saturday we braved the bitter chill and stood at the park for 15 minutes freezing for 30 seconds of mad dash to collect eggs. Crazy city tradition, but the kids decided about 15 minutes before that they wanted to go. I agreed because we didn't really have anything else planned, not even coloring Easter eggs.

We did enjoy Conference though and spending time with friends and family this weekend. It really was great!

Blossom by Blossum Spring Begins

Last weekend, because it was snowing and raining, Dennis was so good to work on some inside Honey Do's for me. He took everything down off my shelf in the living room, dusted it and rearranged everything so that I could add a few things that I inherited up there. (How fun it is when a good friend remodels and passes things on!) Even though I almost burst into tears Sunday when I saw all the snow, by Monday night it had all melted and greened up the front lawn. Spring is officially here and what is more important, this week, it's acting like it.

I noticed that we had crocus' up. There were even enough of them for Khora to pick a bunch and give it to our neighbors! So with three amazingly sunny days this week I've built up a good amount of time spent outside with park trips, picnics, and yard work. Dennis has been busy too. He pruned our fruit trees and fertilized the lawn. We had our lawn aerated and we've been clearing out old weeds and getting our grow boxes ready. I'm planning to plant peas this week.

Yesterday we finally knocked out the project of repainting our front door frame. You know that is the one cheap thing you can do to fix up anything! It looks like we have a new front door! Check!!

What a fabulous week. I just LOVE spring!!!! I have been one happy camper. Amazing what a little sunshine on your face can do!!!