st george vaca

Holy moley, we needed this.

Between two boys playing soccer and two boys playing baseball, violin, cello, work, school, homework, playdates, doctor appointments, and everything else that the joy of 4 children bring I was super ready to put everything on hold and get out of town.

I was able to finagle my schedule and take the boys down to St. George a few days before Nick's tournament began for some fun in the sun. It was so delightful to have temps in the high 70s while the poor old Salt Lake saps were having to hang out in their winter coats while it was in the 40s.

It also worked out that my in laws had their condo that week so not only did we have a place to stay for free, Justin's family was down there and we were able to have some fun family time. They are a great support to us and Nicholas was so excited to have his own little cheering section at the games.

What also made the trip even more fantastic was the fact that one of my dear friends also finagled her schedule and went down with her cute family. We overlapped a couple days and spent the day together on Wednesday.

We first went hiking up to The Crack. It was an adventure trying to find it since I had only been there once before and I led everyone all over searching for the darn thing. I don't think the kids minded a bit though...there were plenty of things to explore and rocks to climb on and get dirty on. The girls commented that we were kind of like the Brady Bunch since I had all the boys and they had all the girls. Since I was husband less at the time we decided that I was Alice.

We finally found it. The kids loved it and there was a shady place at the entrance where we ate our picnic lunch. The kids were covered in grime and most of us ate standing up. It was delightful.





After our adventure we went to the pool to cool off and we stayed all afternoon. I definitely could get used to that kind of life. Liam and Meg ran from the pool to the hot tub and back again. Annie and Kate and my other 3 played catch in the pool. Randomly another friend of mine who happens to be the mom of Luke's best friend showed up with her kids and so Luke and Jack were inseparable after that. There is truly nothing like a best friend.








It was so great to hang out with the family. The boys loved being with their cousins non stop. I wish I would have taken a picture of all their beds in the living room--I honestly don't know how they ever fell asleep! Besides swimming there was a trip to see the movie "Hop" and during the baseball games, Luke and Andrew got to go to Pirate Island and a waterpark so they wouldn't be "soo bored". It was super nice of everyone to accommodate them and let them tag along. They had way more fun and it is much more enjoyable to watch the games with out constant whining about how bored and hot someone is the whole time.

We celebrated a little bit of Easter while we were down there. The Easter bunny did not come for my boys but the the adult women put together a fun hunt on Saturday morning before I had to leave to get back to work on Saturday night. My boys had to wait for their baskets until they got home on Sunday and after I woke up from my nap. I don't think that they even noticed. They scored some pretty sweet treats. Although my kids do know the real meaning of Easter, I need to be better about doing more activities that focus on the Savior. Definitely next year.











The tournament was on Friday and Saturday. These pictures are mixed up over the two days but both days the boys played so darn well. There were high points and low points and lessons learned. One of the most heartbreaking things was when Nick hit an amazing run that hit the first baseline that would have won a game but the umpire called it foul. Then after that call he struck out. He came up to me after with tears in his eyes and gave me a hug and said "Mom, it was fair." I wanted to cry right along with him. But he will learn, unfortunately the hard way, that some calls are good and some calls are not. It truly was a bummer though.

I also can't take credit for some of the pictures--one of the moms on the team has an amazing lens and took some awesome pictures. I was very grateful that she took so many, especially on the second day since I had to leave early. Justin was in charge of pictures that day and bless his heart...let's just say I am happy for the extra camera that was capturing some of the awesome moments. Especially when Nick hit his GRAND SLAM HOME RUN! This was definate redemtion for the bad call the day before. I was not there when it happened but she took so many pictures of Nick during that run that you would have thought it was her own son. I am indebted to her!









Here is right before his big hit...


...and the celebration after!






I think I read this one hundred times to Liam. And then he found other willing subjects to read it another hundred times. He would beat anyone on Jeopardy if the subject had anything to do with space.

Until next time!

The other day Liam yelled "Hey, mom! I'll be in my office."





He stayed at "work" for quite a while. I need to invest in some more empty boxes.

april fools

What an absolutely fantastic day. I think the weather outsmarted Mother Nature for its April Fools joke because it was the first warm day in weeks. It was like everything came alive, myself included. The boys even had the day off of school because of parent teacher conferences the night before and so we had the whole day to enjoy and to be together. It was so great to hang out with my darlings since it was most likely the last lazy day off we would have for a long time since all of their various sporting things will be starting full force next weekend. So, we soaked this delicious day in with every fiber of our beings. The first order of business was me making good on a promise to take him to the skate park. He has wanted to go for literally 2 years (maybe more) and I am intimidated by middle school kids and so I never wanted to take him while they were there. So since he had school off and none of the middle school kids did, a Friday morning at the crack of dawn worked out perfectly. He absolutely loved it. I mean, just take a look at that face.


He rode and ran and rode and ran to his little heart's content.




Then later that afternoon after Liam got out of preschool we met my mom and my uncle Scott who was visiting from Wisconsin to hike up to Ensign Peak. It was a nice, easy introductory hike to the many I hope to do this summer. And really, the Salt Lake valley is absolutely stunning. We had a picnic at the top. We ate ham and cheese sandwiches, spicy nacho and cool ranch doritos, baby carrots, cookies, and water.








We went to Arctic Circle for a treat afterwards. My uncle entertained my boys and who knew the words "rich, creamy, and delicious" could be so funny? They are still talking about it.

We had our yearly April Fool's day dinner of turkey meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting, beans with cut up starburst for carrots and lime runts for peas (this was new this year and it was fun to see the boys bite into them and exclaim: "Is this CANDY?"), and water with food coloring in it. I think next year I am going to use my friend's idea of putting a straw in a cup filled with jello and watch them try to suck it up. I can't wait.

Then to top off this day Nick bat 1000% during his baseball game.

I think April Fools was the one that was fooled. Sucker.