Go, Go, River Girl!

Our friends Heather & David Denning own a rafting company in Stanley, Idaho. Last summer, Hannah was asked to come and go rafting for a photo shoot so that they could update their brochure. They got some great photos, and one of them was chosen for their company's homepage. Go check it out! http://www.therivercompany.com/

Spring Skiing at it's Finest!

The week after we got back from Utah was the last day of skiing at Tamarack. It was a fantastic Spring day with slushy snow. That makes it easy for 3 year olds to carve turns. When we pulled up, Jonah's friend Noah and his family parked near us, so we got this photo of those two. Noah is almost 3 and lives around the block from us. We spend at least 1-2 days a week with Noah and his mom Jadie (pronounced Yeah-dee) and little sister Zoe. Noah and Jonah got to ski a bit with each other which was great. Jonah skied better than he had all year. By the end of the day, he was chasing me down the bunny hill on his skis and turning like a pro. I had a blast. It seemed like all the days of snowplowing, picking him up, letting him hold onto my poles, and cheering him on had finally paid off!! Hannah skied with a friend off the Tamarack Express lift. She is a really good skier and gets bored skiing on the easy runs. I am embarassed to say these are the only photos I took of my kids skiing all year, especially since it is one of the most fun things we do as a family. It is truly Nate's favorite thing to do, and it makes him so happy when we all get to do it together. It hasn't been very often the last couple of years, but I have a feeling that now that Jonah is on board (no pun intended) that will make all the difference in the world.
Okay, here is my lame attempt at videotaping Jonah skiing. The first one is super short, and the second one will make you dizzy. Sorry. I was totally unprepared, and then it ended up being our last run of the day. Consider yourself warned. Oh, and PLEASE TURN YOUR SOUND OFF!!

Utah Highs

A few more highlights of our trip (that I actually got photos of) . . .

Playing with Jasmine, Grandma Karen's cat.


Eating Grandma Karen's Chocolate Mousse Pie ~ Yummy!



Seeing my friends Cathie, Keri, Tammy & RuthAnn from Bear Lake. Tammy lucked out and had to go hang out on the 3rd row at a Jazz game before I got the camera out. Hannah also spent some time with her friend Shae from Laketown, and the Jarman boyz. The Jarmans were ever so hospitable letting us sleep over and feeding us and taking time to play the Wii and Scrapbook with us. Yes, I said Scrapbook. We are looking forward to August when we will get to go hang out on the beach with our Bear Lake friends. We miss you guys!!



Getting to see Cathie's little boy Ryder who she and her husband Shane adopted about a year and a half ago. He is such a cutie!

• Going to the FunPark in Cache Valley with Estee & Sam. We did the soft play thing with slides and Hannah played skee-ball & video games.
  
• Hanging with Grandma & Grandpa Hunt.
• Lying on a blanket for 2 hours at the park while my kids played with Zane, Lauren & Abbie. You must understand, there was no grass at home. Not even a trace when we left, so this was a fantastic treat.
• Playing with Sam.
• Going to Tanner's baseball game in Bear River City - COLD AND WINDY!!
• Nate and Aaron snowmobiling & skiing in Cache National Forest.
• Nate, Aaron & Estee taking Hannah on "Spring Road" powder runs at Beaver Mountain.
  

Hogle Zoo with Cousin Sam

One of the fun things we did in Utah was go to the Hogle Zoo. We got to spend the afternoon with Sam and his mom Estee. Estee is married to Nate's brother Aaron. Sam was super funny. He put his head down and RAN everywhere we went. Jonah's favorite animal was the Zebra and Hannah liked the Giraffes. They were so close to us she almost touched one!

Jonah talked about the train all day, and was so excited to finally get to ride on it. It was such a beautiful Spring day, and we were so happy to get out of snow. The kids were in Heaven on the playground. It was great to just sit back and watch them slide, chase, and revel in the Utah sun.

Spring Break in Utah

Well, it's been a month and a half since I posted. I'm sure you are all dying to know what we've been up to, so I will do my best to give you an update. Let's start by going way back to the last week of March . . . . Hannah had a full week off from school, so the kids and I headed down to Utah to visit our family. We spent the first day there in Hyrum with my sister Julie, her husband Gordon, and her kids Tanner, Lauren, Abbie & Zane. Usually the America West Heritage Center has a "Baby Animal Day" on Easter weekend. This year it happened to be later, so we had to settle for baby goats and a baby lamb in the Macy's parking lot.





Oh well, it worked out pretty well because Jonah and Zane got balloon swords. It doesn't get much better than that!

Easter weekend would not be complete with the ever so popular tradition of hard boiling dozens of eggs, coloring them, and throwing them away a couple of days later. By the way, at the expense of sounding like an old woman, how much did y'all pay for a dozen eggs?? Remember when you could get 3 dozen for $1?? I think I paid about $1.50/doz! As mom would say, "That's highway robbery!" Yeah, mom has lots more where that came from. Oh yeah, back to dying Easter eggs . . . it was fun hanging with the cousins. They ROCK!! Tanner is the oldest - not his real hair color. His baseball team bleached their hair in a combined effort to distract the other teams, maybe?? It was very seasonal, however, as he looks like a fuzzy baby chick. Lauren is the blond girl - she has been mistaken for Hannah many, many times. Abbie is the dark one, and Zane is the youngest. He and Jonah had a blast playing together.





Easter Sunday we went to church with Grandma & Grandpa Smith. The Easter Bunny left some treats for Hannah & Jonah. It's so strange, as a mother, trying to explain the concept of the Easter Bunny to Jonah. I did a terrible job. It was especially difficult for me to actually keep that tradition going this year.
I was this close . . .

Later, the kids had an Easter egg hunt. It was super funny to watch Jonah run past the eggs lying right in front of him in the grass. I'm not sure where he was headed, but he did end up getting some in his basket. Hannah was stoked to find $ in most of the eggs. Thanks, Grandma Karen!

I have to point out Hannah's hairstyle. I stole it from a photo I saw of Nicole Richie. I think she looks so cute!

Also, Jonah. Oh, Jonah. He wears that camo hat every day. He must have it when he goes out. Please, turn your attention to his shoes. They are black penny loafers that Grandma Karen got "on sale". Well, Jonah thinks they are his "Link" shoes. If you don't know who Link is, then go rent the movie Hairspray (Zac Efron version). That was the first movie he saw in the theatre, and he LOVED it. He was literally dancing in the aisles. When he got those shoes in the mail, he immediately called them his Link shoes, and he definitely does some dancing in them. He pretends to be Link, and does some serious moves. If he is not wearing these shoes, he has on his cowboy boots. My favorite part of this photo is that the shoes are actually on the wrong feet. I love my Jonah.

And last, but not least, Gordon hopes you all had a Happy Easter, too!

Leprechaun Names

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Hannah's Midge Ettercap Lisa's Sneaky Cabbageleaf Nate's Moneybags O'Shamrock Yeah, right!!! Jonah's Wee Whiskeybreath Mayzie's Hairy O'Fiddles You can't imagine how hard Hannah is laughing right now!

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Celebration of the Arts!

This week was Donnelly Elementary's Spring Choral Concert. It was the 3rd, 4th & 5th graders who performed. It was fantastic! They sang "Hello to all the Children of the World", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (which Jonah loved), an old Slave song called "Hush", "Sing about Martin", "Knock no More", "Tender Shepherd", and "Joy to the World". 4th grade played recorders, and all the grades played the metallophone, xylophone, bass bar and triangle. It was fun to see the kids all dressed up. Can you pick out Hannah?? Her BFF Jordan is the blonde standing right behind her. I'd tell you which boy loves her, but she'd kill me.

Thanks to Jordan's mom Kathy for the photos! (See previous post)