St. George (Days 3-4)

Our time in St. George is quickly coming to an end. We're headed back up to Salt Lake tomorrow to spend some time with the family which is always fun too. It just isn't 82 degrees up there DARN IT!

Usually we venture over to Zion's for some hiking but this trip the boys were loving the pool so much we spent the majority of the time over there. My poor sunburned skin is going to pay for it but at the same time it just felt so good to soak up that vitamin D!

Yesterday we drove out to the city of Kayenta and let the kids run in the Desert Rose Labyrinth. It was supposed to be a quiet time to ponder the meaning of life but of course my kids turned it into a no stop screaming running competition.

On the way back through Santa Clara we stopped at the Jacob Hamblin House. The boys thought that was pretty cool. Unfortunately the tour lady hadn't worked there more than 3 hours before we came. She didn't know much about the history or any cool stories. My Grandma ended up teaching everyone about the house and told a bunch of funny stories she had heard through the years or stories she had read. It was humorous.

Today we went to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum. We had a great time there. I'd heard it was boring and overpriced but my boys really enjoyed it.

Later on we met up with Grandpa Whitaker and the boys went swimming at his house. We went to dinner after that.

 

The rest of the day was spent napping, reading, and watching the boys play basketball outside with all of the neighborhood kids. I heart vacation. (Even though its never as much fun without Daddy here.)
☺

St. George (Days 1-2)

It's 8:00pm and I'm sitting in the condo down at St. George. All of the kids and my Grandma are sound asleep. That's what a bunch of SUNSHINE and ACTIVITY can do to you! I have nothing to do so I thought I'd wrap up our little vacation so far. That will make writing all about it when I get back home a little bit easier and not as overwhelming!

The boys ( o yeah....AND GIRL....sometimes I forget still ☺)  and I left Saturday after the awards ceremony for the science fair. I'm still so blown away that the boys got first place. My parents are so excited that we have a great excuse to come over to Boise now for the State Finals! For a girl who never got above a C on a science fair project this is such a big deal. Nate, the STATE CHAMPION from yesteryear is happy the boys are following in his footsteps.

We've always wanted to stop at Hill Air Force Base on our way down to Salt Lake but haven't ever found the time. We only had about an hour to squeeze in but I decided we were going to do it no matter what this trip! An hour was all we needed though! We saw it all....very quickly!

Sunday we went to church with Grandma and then drove down to St. George. Today we headed somewhere neither one of us had ever been before. It is called Red Cliff Recreation Area. It was GREAT! It is like a little oasis out in the middle of the red rock country! It's only about 15 miles north of St. George. We spent the afternoon hiking. We saw some real dinosaur tracks and Anasazi ruins.

 

 

After a day of hiking we came back to the condo and spent the entire afternoon at the pool while Grandma and Anna took a long nap. My poor arms and legs are pretty much burned to a crisp. I am NOT complaining one bit though. I missed the sun SO much.

More to come over the next couple of days!

Our week in pictures

More projects, regional science fair competition (we got 1st place...woohoo!) so we get to compete in the STATE competition in Boise now, and we've started our spring break by heading to Utah! St. George here we come!

 A quick stop at Hill Air Force Base on the way down to SLC.

And there's ALWAYS time for a little In N Out!

 

Sunshine and warmer temps here we come!

Projects

Only a few more days until Spring Break! WooHOO! I can hardly wait!

The house continues to come along! I literally drive up there once a day to see how its coming. It's a good thing too becuase we've caught a couple of mistakes already. ☺

 

Here's a shot of the future kitchen area!

 

Here's the downstairs family room:

 

And a panoramic shot of the view. It is just never going to get old.

We thought it would be really fun to take the entire family to see the house yesterday. We pulled up to the house and the boys and I ran inside. Nate proceeds to inform us that he hears a "Sssssss" noise coming from the car. Sure enough, we ran over (what we thought) was a nail. We JUMPED back into the car and BLITZED over to Big O Tires. Luckily it is pretty close. Check out this BOLT we picked up! It's HUGE! Lesson learned....don't park so close to the house being built. Yikes!

My hunt for furniture and decorating items continues. I found these lampshades on clearance at Target. They were only $6. They'll match my new bedroom perfectly!

 

Back in Boise I absolutely loved my little porch with my black rocking chairs out in front. It was where I would sit out in front of my house and watch my kids play at the park and watch my neighbors walk by with a friendly hello. I only take them out here during Halloween becuase there is no place to put them. (And they are so scary looking that they fit right in with the holiday!) They look so worn and thrashed though so my next project was getting them back to how they used to look so we can put them in our new backyard on the deck. I told Nate that having them re-done was symbolic of a fresh start for us. Cheesy yes, true though.

 

 

Landon's little dresser (it's crappy, particle board) looked SO bad. I sanded it to high heaven and gave it a fresh coat of paint too. Looks brand new again.

 

In other non related house/furniture painting news:

Dallin was able to meet Brandon Mull. He came to his school earlier in the day and was then signing books at Deseret Book. Dal was SO excited! It's his all time favorite author!

 

And last night Nate took me to Fiddler on the Roof. Yes, this was my FIRST time ever seeing it. Of course I was familiar with many of the the songs but I had never seen it in any shape or form. Not even the movie! We got a babysitter for the first time for Anna. I was SO nervous about leaving her becuase I never have. I got a text at the very end of the play from the babysitter saying Anna had woken up. We hurried home....Nate couldn't drive fast enough for me. She is definitely the baby. I am SO protective of her it is ridiculous. The play was fantastic though...I REALLY enjoyed it.

 

Furniture kick

I found the gem of all gem stores here in Eastern Idaho. Should I reveal my source or should I keep it a secret? I'm thinking I want to keep all of these awesome deals to myself. Mwahahaha. Selfish.....yes. If you come visit me I will take you there...how about that? ☺

So I found this desk for Dallin (who has been begging for one for such a long time now) for a whopping $22.

It totally matches the furniture he already has in his room. SCORE!

Then I found this cute little hutch. I didn't know what I would do with it or where it would go but for $30 I had to have it.

 

I sanded the daylights out of it, primed it, sanded it, antiqued it, and sealed it. It turned out so cute. I absolutely love it. It will go in sister's room. She can put her books on it and some toys underneath it.

 

 

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I want to go back right NOW! Oh wait, its almost midnight.