Grand Targhee

Last Spring break looked a little like this:

This year was the total and complete opposite:

Even though MY boys don't have spring break until next week, we decided to skip a couple days of school and join my family for their spring break over in our neck of the woods at Grand Targhee Resort. 500+ inches a year and  view to DIE for! It's only about 1.5 hours away from our house. Awesome!

We skied, swam, ate GREAT food, and had a fantastic time together.

We went on a horse drawn sleigh ride up to a yurt and had en ENORMOUS steak and chicken dinner. The chef kept HEAPING mountains food on our plates. It was SO delicious.

We also got the boys up on some skis for the first time ever. Of course, Parker took to it after about 2 runs. He was doing the pizza and turning all the way down the bunny hill, getting on the magic carpet and getting off with NO assistance! That kid is impressive.
Dal had a harder time but he tried really hard and didn't get frustrated. He had fun and still wants to do it again. Landon had a blast for about an hour and then he was done.
Nate, my dad and I were all EXHAUSTED after an entire morning of teaching boys. ☺

In the afternoon Nate and I went skiing with my parents and brother. It was so beautiful and SUNNY out, no lines, not a lot of people, and tons of fresh snow. It was a good thigh burning workout for my legs since Zumba doesn't work my thighs like skiing does!

We went swimming a few times as well in the hot tub and pool. Nothing makes you feel more ALIVE then running out of the hot tub, rolling in snow and then jumping back in.  Yowie!

Such a fun FUN time! I love my family. I'm so grateful for each one of them. We made memories to last a lifetime! So, what are we doing next week for OUR spring break? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Sleeping in and laying low! Sounds good to me!

Life's tough lessons

Today was a rough day for my Dally boy. Dallin is such a sweet yet tenderhearted guy. He is so smart, and dedicated to whatever he puts his mind to. He is a TOTAL overachiever and sometimes even a perfectionist...always has been even since he was tiny. He is confident, kind, and non judgemental towards others yet he tends to be pretty critical of himself. He has high expectations for himself and I love that about him but today my strong boy fell to pieces.

Today was the day he had been looking forward to for over a month. He has worked SO hard on his science words for the 2nd grade spelling bee. He knew all of those words front and back and knew he had the bee in the bag. Differentiate, comprehension, experimental, expository, he was spelling all of the words in his sleep. 

He made it through the first round and then they started using some words that were not on the spelling list that Dallin had studied. There were 2 lists...the easier words and the more difficult words. Dallin had only been given the difficult words to study so he hadn't even seen the easier list. His next word was "RESPONSE."

R-E-S-P-O-N-C-E. Incorrect.

He was heartbroken. Especially when the kids that continued were asked to spell all of the hard words that he had studied. They missed words right and left and Dallin knew ALL of them. He started to sob. We told him over and over that it didn't matter and that we were incredibly proud of him.

I couldn't help it. Even though school wasn't over for another 2 hours I scooped up that broken hearted 2nd grader and took him home. We've had cake, ice cream, and watched movies all afternoon. Yeah, he has to grow up and there will be much heartache to endure through the years but he is STILL my baby. And for now, if I can ease one little heartache...I will.

Tomorrow is a new day, there will be always be more spelling bees in the future, and I will always be SO proud of my little man.

And I bet he won't EVER forget how to spell RESPONSE from this day forward!

Bustin' a move!

I LOVE to dance (so maybe he gets a little bit of it from me) but I think this little boy takes the term to a WHOLE new level! Enjoy!

Soaking up some SPRING!

It's hard to me to believe that as I sit down and go through all of our pictures from this past weekend that it is SNOWING outside right now. Seriously Idaho Falls? IT'S TIME to warm up already!!

We had such a fantastic time down at the condo in St. George this weekend. Since spring is taking forever to show up over here we decided to head down south and find it! The sun was shining (well, for about 2 days anyway), the flowers were in bloom and the trees were green. Birds were chirping and people were working in their yards! It was beautiful and oh so good for the soul!

Highlights of the trip: hiking the bluffs overlooking St. George (the little caves and big red rocks...a boys paradise!), meeting up with Grandma Leelee, Grandpa Ric and Grandpa Dar, bike rides together (I made it a good 15 miles and wasn't even tired...just a really sore bum), LONG bike rides with only a kit on (that would be Nate's highlight), swimming, going to an AWESOME nearby park and hiking on the huge hills (ignoring the playground....100% boys!), hiking in Zion National Park with EE (and running into some friends from the law school days...small world!), watching the BYU/GU game (Go BYU!),  eating at In N Out and Brick Oven and Kraze Yogurt, and just being together!! Making memories and enjoying the journey....that's what its all about!

Get ready for some picture overload:

A Monday in March.

I'm not sure what the deal is today. It's a Monday. It's grey and gross outside. It is cold and has been raining off and on all day long. It is windy as all get out. Basically its a real let down after having such a beautiful and spring like weekend.

All in all it has been THIS kind of a day:

And then, as I was taking some trash outside (and holding on for dear life so I wouldn't blow away) I saw it.

A little glimmer of hope:

Date night and baby shower!

What a weekend! The shower is officially O-V-E-R! And it was a great success! I'll get to that in a sec but first, I'm going to rewind a little bit.

Friday night I decided that Nate and I NEEDED a date. It has been months since we have been out alone. That is one MAJOR thing I miss about being close to my parents. Anyway, I planned the entire evening. We were going to do something DIFFERENT and really FUN! My good brother and his wife came down and watched the kids for us. I'm thankful that they are always so willing to help us out.

So, we started by going out to eat somewhere neither one of us had ever been. TEXAS ROADHOUSE. YUM! Why have we never been there before? I'm not sure but it was fantastic and not nearly as overpriced as I thought it was going to be! Those rolls were killer!

Then we jumped on the highway and headed to the hills. We went up to Heise Hot Springs! Sorry, no pictures of us WHITEYS are going up on the blog but we had a really fun time:

(Try to ignore how hideous this picture is of me) ☺Time alone is SO necessary and we are really going to make it a priority once more. It felt so good to just get away for an evening and have fun together. We enjoyed floating in the hot water and looking up at the moon and the stars. There were some shall we say, "interesting" people at the hot springs as well. Hey, toothless smiles and random peeking butt crack really helps create a romantic mood wouldn't you say??  Kept us laughing nonetheless. I love my man. I love looking over at him and being so happy that we're still hanging out after all of these years and we still have so much fun just being together. Whenever we get a chance to swim together I always think about our honeymoon in Mexico. Has it really almost been 10 years? I'm more in love with him today then I was back then.........

Anyway...sidetracked.

Saturday was the shower!!! We ended up having about 70 ladies come. Jessi received LOTS of diapers and wipes and lots of darling little outfits. That baby is wearing a new one every day of his life (at least from 0-3 months anyway!) Everything came together so well...even the weather outside cooperated! Sunshine! Hooray!

Her baby should be here anytime! The birth mom is 36 weeks now so any day now! I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am for her. This baby boy is so lucky to join such a loving home.

What a great weekend. And so begins another crazy week!

Dallin's dinner

Tonight was a special night. Dallin has been very driven and determined in his scouting and is working hard to complete his wolf. He had to plan, prepare, and clean up after dinner to check off one of his final goals before he can move up the ranks. He decided to make salmon, carrots, rice, salad and a little dessert.

I'm usually in such a rush to get dinner out and on the table before everyone starts turning into hunger ravaged zombies but Dallin and I took our time and worked hard in the kitchen (well, I supervised) for a good hour and a half from the start of preparing food to cleaning up. I enjoyed every moment! Dallin was fascinated and asked TONS of questions about EVERYTHING. Why do we do this....why do we add that?  

It was SO yummy! (Even more delicious to me because I didn't have to cook it!!!) Parker and Landon kept saying over and over again..."THANKS DALLIN! THIS IS SOOOOO GOOD! This is the BEST dinner EVER!"  Hold up...how come they hardly ever do that when I cook??? Hmmmmm.......

And now that I know what a thorough job he does on the dishes, he just earned himself a new daily chore!!

Dishes with a SMILE on his face. This is definitely a picture to hold fast to once he becomes a cranky teenager. Oh, and while washing dishes he decided to work on his spelling words for the spelling bee coming up at the end of the month. Honestly....who's kid is this??

Grateful he's mine.