Spring Flings & Easter Things...

These are the finished products of the paper mache eggs we started at the Spring Festival at Kelly & Danny's a few weeks back. They turned out really cute and the boys loved filling them with fun springtime scenes. We used them to decorate our mantel and they look oh so cute!

Easter Sunday the boys woke up bright and early, excited as can be about the hunt they had in store for them. The Easter Bunny always sends the boys on a treasure hunt following clues leading them all over the house in search of their baskets. It was so cute to see Will's face light up after listening to Drew reading him the clues. His eye's would open wide and you could literally see the light going on in his head! Then he'd turn around and run to the spot the clue was hinting at. It was adorable! Later, Will told me his favorite part of Easter was the hunt!

Here they are with their goodies in their matching spring jammies! They each got a Lego set (of course), some Peep's & other candy, and the movie Bolt to share. Then we headed out for brunch at G & G Peterson's followed by dinner at G & G Bergstrom's... with an egg hunt at each place. The weather was perfect for egg hunts (and a trip to the park with Grandma Peterson)!

Hooray for another fun holiday! And here's to a wonderful spring!

Spring Break... It's all about the RED ROCKS!

We journeyed to St. George, Utah for what has thankfully become a Spring Break family tradition for us. We all love it and the boys look forward to it each year as much as their birthday's! It's a short 4 hour drive south, and a pleasant 20 degrees or more warmer, so we get to enjoy the weather and hike all over the beautiful red rocks!
Our first stop was my favorite hiking destination when I lived in Cedar City going to college... Red Cliffs! It's beautiful there and holds so many fun memories for me from my college years, as well as when Jeff and I were courting... we used to go camping there to get away from the hustle and bustle of campus/dorm life. I'm so happy to be able to share this place with my boys. They love climbing around on the red rocks and tip-toeing through the water. Even Max got in on the action!

For Drew and Will though, Red Cliffs was the icing on the cake and a great practice site for the Jedi movie that Drew was planning, rehearsing and preparing to film the following day at what we affectionately call "Red Rock Park" in St. George (I think it's actually called "Pioneer Park", but no one cares the real name... ours works just fine). Jeff and the boys all dressed up like Jedi's and I was the camera woman as we scaled the red rocks acting out scenes from Drew's movie (as soon as I edit it all together and figure out how to put the Star Wars music on it I'll post it on here). It was so much fun and we made quite a spectacle of ourselves... we started to gain an audience from fellow hikers.

Once the movie was filmed, we were free to continue our explorations of all the red rocks. We drove out the the Santa Clara River Reserve to hike up to the Anasazi Petroglyphs. We just love climbing around on the rocks and trying to figure out the stories the Anasazi's were trying to tell us. The boys always gather the hardest rocks they can find to try and create a petroglyph message of their own. It's amazing how long the writings have lasted on the mountainsides.

After the 3.5 mile hike in the 79 degree sun, we decided to rest a little, so we drove into Snow Canyon and played around for a while in the soft red sand dunes. Again, it was SOOO beautiful! And the boys had so much fun! I had a great time just sitting quietly and watching them play and listening to the games they were making up. They are such clever, smart, adorable little boys!

One thing I can't forget to mention is the HOTEL! We always stay at the Holiday Inn because they have an indoor/outdoor pool and a continental breakfast. The boys look forward to playing in the pool almost as much as hiking around the red rocks! This time, we even brought our snorkel gear to practice with in the pool. Drew amazed me with his skills (as usual). But I felt like a pervert snorkeling in a public pool... (it's not quite the same as Cancun where you get to see the pretty fishes... all I saw were butts!)

I just love Spring Break and I loved just hanging out with my boys with no schedule or places to be... I wish I could live on Spring Break!

Signs of spring!

Spring in Utah comes slow but steady... just when we have a near 70 degree day, the next day we wake up to a fresh blanket of snow! Still, we've tried to celebrate the season and appreciate every quirky moment of it!

These are bird feeders we made by following an recipe from our Family Fun Magazine... Some of them turned out really cute, but when it snowed the next morning, they were destroyed... Sad... No birdies got to enjoy their heart-shaped goodies.
This is the boys with their cousins James and Jesse after they went on a snake hunt in Kelly's backyard as part of our Spring Festival that we had last Sunday. It was a combination of a belated St. Patrick's day party and a celebration of the Vernal Equinox-the official start of spring.

We paper macheed eggs, ate corned beef & cabbage for lunch and made chocolate worm/snakes for dessert. Then we started corn and bean seeds in plastic eggs and sent the kids on the snake hunt above. Along the way we read stories about St. Patrick, the sacredness of snakes, and Persephone - the Goddess who reins over spring.

Kelly and I have come to the conclusion that our boys probably don't truly appreciate the lessons we are trying to teach them and it's a sad time for us. We love putting these things together, but it seems the boys would rather play video games... What do you do? We've decided to just keep on truckin' and hopefully they'll appreciate it one day.

Another on of my favorite signs of spring is when the neighborhood kids all start to dominate the circle again! This is Will and Drew with our fun neighbors as they prepare for a Jedi battle... so cute!! Drew was in bare feet and it was a beautiful day!!! But of course, in true Utah style... the next day it snowed! LOVE IT! You've just got to love spring in Utah!