Ensign Peak

We took advantage of the good weather last Saturday and hiked up Ensign Peak with the kids. It was the perfect evening hike. Berlin even surprised us all by walking the entire way. That was a first. Usually she asks to be carried in the pack after a few minutes. But she rocked the hike. Granted it's a super short hike, but none-the-less, she was awesome. Finley was also great. He took off running and had tons of energy the whole time. I love our little family hikes and I'm so excited for more to come this summer.

Chillin' with the Great Salt Lake in the background. 

Enjoying the view from the top. 

Jumping for joy at the top.

Berlin and her Rapunzel moment with the Sunflowers.

Odds & Ends of May

It's the end of the month and lots of random pictures to be found on the camera ...

I love Spring in Utah. This year, we've had like 7 days of warm Spring sunshine. Literally. The news last night said that out of the last 50 days, 32 have been wet & rainy, the others cold, windy, and overcast. Nice - or not so nice. It seems that every year we get less and less of my two favorite seasons: Spring & Fall. Winter and Summer are pretty much it in this state. But, I will say, that the few days of sunny Spring were put to good use. We spent a lot of time out doors planting some of our container garden, going on adventures in our field, watching the bees flit from flower to flower gathering pollen, and playing at the park.

Here's some random pics of the kids and their field adventures & bee watching. Springtime is when I really love this house & property. The field blooms color, green grasses, all sorts of pretty flowers, and the trees are stunning with their petals. Once Summer hits, the field dries up and my love lessens, but only a tiny bit. 

Below are pics of Finley jumpin' for joy ... not sure about what, but it was really cute. Berlin would have jumped but her arms were full of her favorite dolls: Pounce the black cat and Lily Bunny.

I also love my kiddo's. They are so cute with each other most of the time. Finley is great at making up games and Berlin loves to be included and tag along. I have truly been blessed with them.

Here's some pics of a few of the herbs & veggies the kids helped me to plant.

Here's Berlin just being silly after picking flowers from the field.

With all the rain we've had to find things to do indoors. One day we made bird feeders out of pine cones.

Another day we played with the edible chemistry set Finley got for his birthday. We made our own flavored sodas.

 

 

 By the look on her face, you can guess how it tasted ... yuck! Thank heavens we don't have to make our own soda!

These pics are from around Easter. Berlin is decorating cookies. She's so stinkin' cute.

Berlin going stir crazy one morning. She is my little ham.

And lastly, a random picture of Berlin at the Rosecrest Carnival. This one shows how many dots were on her hair. And even after a couple baths, we are still finding hair paint on her scalp.

Carni' Folk

Rosecrest's Annual Carnival was this past Friday. This was our first time going and the kids had a blast. There were ton of games, bounce houses/slides, and food. The kids got Tattoos, played lots of games, had their face painted, ate popcorn, cotton candy, and snow-cones, and even had their hair painted: Berlin in polka-dots, Finley half yellow / half blue. It was really fun and they are already asking about when the next one is.

Here's our family photo strip from the booth they had on hand:

Dressing up is fun to do...

fun to do, fun to do. Dressing up is fun to do, to do, to do, to do.


Berlin's dance recital is this week and she is so excited to wear her new costume and put makeup on. The girls are NOT supposed to wear their costumes until the recital, however, she did get to put it on for all of 5 minutes a few weeks ago for the studio pictures. She is such a cutie-patootie!

We had a birthday

last month actually. Fin turned the BIG 6 last month. Because of all the rain and snow we were still getting in April, we convinced him it would be ok to have his friend party the end of May/early June. So for now, all I have to share are the pics from our small family party.


Our tradition is that the birthday boy/girl gets to choose where we go out to dinner. Finley in the past has always chosen Spaghetti Factory. But this year, he branched out and chose Five Guys. He loves their cheeseburgers. After dinner we came home, had cupcakes and opened presents.

He got a white owl (he wanted one like Harry Potter's owl). A real watch (lego storm trooper style), one of the Star Wars prequels, Hagrid's Hut lego set, an edible chemistry set, a new leapster game, and a Lego book.

I would say he got everything his heart desired, but he didn't. He really REALLY wanted a DS game system, but I am that "mean mom" and had prepared him for the fact that he wouldn't be getting one. Atleast not until he is 8.  I firmly believe that too many kids have too many electronic gadgets at WAY too young of an age (that's a topic for another day). So, until he's older, he'll have to live with his leapster. But other than that, I think he was pretty happy.


Next up ... planning his friend party ... a Harry Potter one! Yay!

Rainy Days and Mondays

I don't particularly like Mondays and right now, I am a little tired of the rain. But thanks to a quick trip to the library to pick up a few books that I had requested that came in, today actually turned out to be a pretty good wet & rainy Monday ... full of reading, cleaning & blog updating. 


Mother's Day was great. The kids got me some tulips and a bunch of peonies (my favorite flower). 

Ryan took over all the cooking and made a fabulous dinner and dessert for me & the kids. He is a great chef. It all turned out perfect...even the homemade wheat pizza crusts cooked over the fire. Yeah - amazing.

Prosciutto Arrugula pizza

Watermelon Feta salad (was a little nervous about this but it was SOOOO good & fresh!)

Lemon zest mini-cheesecakes with fresh strawberries for dessert

The kids also filled out Mother's Day questions in primary and gave them to us with bags of chocolate (no surprise to me since I assembled all of them the week prior). It's so fun to read the answers and to see how much the do or don't know about you. 

Here are the questions they answered along with their answers (along with my own answers):
My mom's job is:
Fin....teaches
Boo ...{blank}
Me...depends on the day :)  task-master, trainer, maid, gardener, referee, taxi-driver, dish-washer, short-order cook ... but mostly care-taker, nurturer, teacher, and comforter to my kids. 


My mom's favorite food is:
F....pizza
B....ice-cream
M ....sushi & seafood


My mom's favorite color is:
F....yellow
B....silver
M....I don't have just one. I have a few: mustard yellow, robin egg blue, beach glass green, moss green, and citron green (very specific I am)


My mom is ___ feet tall:
F....300 ft
B....5 1/2 ft
M....5 ft 4in


My mom's talent/hobby is:
F....flowers
B....washing dishes & biking
M....sewing/crafts, reading, being outside (gardening, hiking are my favorite)


My mom was born in:
F....May 3rd
B....May
M....it was supposed to be the state, next time I will have to be more specific on the question. California


My favorite thing about my mom is:
F....I love her
B....She loves me


My mom's favorite movie is:
F....not Star Wars
B....Mom movies (this is what we call movies that the kids can't watch)
M....500 days of Summer and About a Boy are at the top


My mom is ____ years old.
F....28
B....30
M....35


My mom is good at:
F....planting flowers
B....washing dishes
M...apparently I wash dishes a lot according to Berlin :)


I love my mom because:
F....she gives me hugs
B....she gives me flowers


Needless to say, I love my kids and I think they are pretty freakin' awesome. They have made motherhood so rewarding for me. I can't imagine being mom to anyone else. I am eternally grateful that they were sent to Ryan and I.


I have one more thing for mother's day, but due to all the rain, it had to be postponed...pictures will come hopefully later this week!

Easter Happenings Catch-up

Here's how our Easter Sunday went...

First up, Church, in all their Spring finery (see here).  Second, an Easter Basket Hunt. Apparently the Easter Bunny decided to come while we were at church. According to tradition, the bunny hid the baskets and left clues all over the house. The kids had such a blast solving each clue and where to go next. The Easter Spoils:

 

One last clue that was hidden in Finley's basket led them outside... 

 

where they discovered these:

 

He must have known we've been wanting a reason to get outside and put our new driveway to use. Finley LOVES these. And so does Berlin, if she could just reach those darn petals!