President's Day weekend fun times!

 Finally Jay and Brynn and girls got to come down for a visit.  They had hoped to come earlier on MLK day, but it was so cold it didn't seem like a great idea.  The weather cooperated very nicely for us to have some good times with family while they were down.  They arrived late Friday evening.  On Saturday morning we went on a little hike with them after an amazing French toast breakfast.  It was the south Hell's Hole hike out in Ivins.  Jem came along with us and it was really fun to listen to all of the cute things he had to say!  He's a great little hiker too.  It did get scary one time when we had to cross a pond that had collected from the rain and in the process of it Jem got dropped into the water.  It was pretty terrifying for him and us, but it all turned out well and no harm was done. The water was so cold, but luckily his mom had packed a full set of extra clothes for him and we got him changed at a sunny spot and he didn't cry anymore.  Most little kids would probably have freaked out and been screaming for a long while, but he was happy again very soon and loved wearing Clara's pink sweatshirt for the rest of the day.  It really scared me!!!  I was so happy that it all turned out with no problem.  Lots of family came over after that and just visited and enjoyed the sunny day.  

That afternoon Jay, Brynn and girls and Juge, Lance and family and Supe went climbing.  (Paul and I stayed home and got in a nap and got dinner ready for the group.)  They seemed to have a really good time.  After dinner the kids played and some of us watched the NBA Slam Dunk Contest with Brenden. It was crazy when a 24 year old, 6'2" white G-team player won it!  It was a pretty fun day!

Sunday turned out to have many different church options with on-line church and a couple of stake conferences to choose from.  After that at 4 pm we had family dinner!  It's pretty crazy with all of those people in one place, but Jay and Brynn cooked up some amazing Cup Bop type Korean rice bowls.  They did the meat and noodles and all of the rest of us brought things to go on them.  They were SO GOOD!  Moss and Christie brought yummy cinnamon roll cake for dessert.  It was still good enough weather we could get outside for lots of the day! Moss and Christie brought a fun adult game and we all hung out and the kids did their crazy thing and seemed to have a good time too.   Jay and Brynn also found a spot of time on Sunday to visit Anna Lou which made her very happy!

On on Monday morning we went to the Sear's Invitational Art Show at UT Tech.  It's kind of a tradition for us each year.  They always have an Art Scavenger Hunt page set up for the kids.  This year they had 2 pages.  Ferf, Koen and Torin joined us.  The kids had such a fun time doing the hunt and eating their candy rewards.  And we all enjoyed the beautiful art too!  Then we invited all who could come (us, Jay and Brynn, Moss and Christie, Ferf and kids, Beacher and kids) and bring their lunch for a picnic at Highland Park in Washington.  It was still great weather and everyone had a great time!  (Jay and Brynn also visited Supe and Beacher that morning.) Later that day Jay, Brynn and girls headed home with terrible traffic, but they made it safe and sound and got to see all the folks at this end of the state! They packed a lot fun into a very short time!!! Good times!!!