More Valentine Fun!

Got some cute Valentine wishes via the e-mail. Thanks Madi and Tahlia.  (Really like that sassy pic of Madi.) Also got some yummy wishes last night which we were too busy eating up to think of taking a picture. Brenden decorated them himself.  Thanks Brenden (and mom and dad).  Eliza entertained us with her giggles when we kissed her toes.  She laughed herself into the hick-ups.  So cute.  Also, my beautiful flower decided to bloom just at the right time to brighten things up for the holiday!  Thanks for sharing your cookies, pictures and love with us.

Valentine bandits strike our front door!

Last night Supe alerted me to the Valentine bandit's strike on my front door.  I had somehow missed it all evening.  The Randall family is fessing up to the strike. We love it and plan to enjoy it for the holiday.  We especially like the little checkered things as we have been sneaking them back and forth to each other for several months now.  I don't know how  we can top this trick, but we will be working on it!  Thanks for the fun.  Happy Valentine's Day to you and we're "nuts about you" too!

Happy #4 Brenden....finally!

This, that and the other got in the way of us celebrating Brenden's birthday, but it finally happened!  He seemed ok with the wait and got enough car toys to make it worth waiting for.  Thanks for being patient.  We love you Brenden!  Can't believe you are already four!

Four candles, three candles, one candle...got 'em all!

More fun last week included a drive to Vegas to get some mat boards for Paul's art.  Later that day the Smiths invited us over for pizza and a movie.  (No pictures of any of this fun.)  Trigg has learned to crawl around and it was funny watching him trying to sneak drinks of root beer from the kids sippee cups and get into whatever else he could!  Thanks for a fun evening!

Brady's baptism

Saturday was a big day for Brady.  He got baptized.  So glad that he lives close enough that lots of us could attend.  Paul and I, the Borrowmans, Lenae and kids and Moss and Christie and kids along with Bryan's folks and Grandma were there.  After the baptism and confirmation we headed over to the Randall's for a so yummy lunch and visiting.  It is so great to be able to enjoy these important days together.  Congratulations Brady.  We are so happy for you and proud of you.  Thanks to Lou and Bryan for inviting us for lunch too.

Just had to get out there while the sun was shining

Friday after school I decided to take time to check out the White Rocks area of Snow Canyon.  Just needed to take a walk while the sun was shining and had seen an article about how pretty the rain pools were up there.  It was beautiful.  There was a family up there playing in the sand and they had one little girl who  was singing about how wonderful the sand was.  It was very cute.  I had to agree with her.  I hiked down the little canyon that I've have only looked down before.  I think I could have gotten clear down to the canyon floor, but decided that time would not permit for it that day. Saw lots of cool little wind/water carved caves on the way. It was worth paying the park fee to get out there and enjoy the sun, sand, rocks and scenery.  Love, love, loved it!

January birthdays group style with the Randalls

We enjoyed a great birthday celebration of all the Randall's January birthdays last Tuesday evening.  Paul, me, Grandma Kurtz and Supe drove up to enjoy it.  It was actually Brady's real birthday and Bryan and Afton had waited for their presents.  Dinner was Brady's favorite - pastrami burgers, home made French fries and salad...and cake of course.  The cakes were the traditional amazing creations.  Brady had a pirate ship complete with pilfered "gold nuggets" and blazing cannons.  Afton's was a "whoo whoo" (an owl). She is into "whoo whoos" right now. Bryan had already enjoyed his carrot cake earlier in the month. Bro. Rupe, a neighbor from across the street, joined the fun too.  He has been helping Bryan make a rocking horse for Afton since before Christmas.  It just lacks a few finishing touches to be done.  It is a beautifully done piece of workmanship.  It was fun to meet Bro. Rupe.  He is a real craftsman and so willing to share his time, talents and workshop.  Thanks for inviting us up to share the fun and food.  Happy Birthday to all of you!  We love you.

Grand times at Little Black Mountain Petroglyphs...again!

Since everyone was out of school and the sun was shining, I decided the grands needed a trip to the petroglyphs.  Juge and Lance were down, so we got to include them in the fun along with Lance's mom and grandma. Ferf and kids (and a couple of  cute Borrowman cousins) and Kaebri and Tasia came along too.  It was a really beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun.  The kids went wild taking out ahead on the trail and doing plenty of exploring on their own.  The petroglyphs are cool, but add the wind and water shaped rocks and it was terrific.  So glad we could all hang out on such a beautiful day in such a beautiful place!  (The only thing that could have made it a better day would have been having Paul along.  Too bad work just couldn't be gotten out of that day.)

15 Wendy's kiddie frosties made for the perfect end to a grand "edventure".

Little Black Mountain Petroglyphs, etc.

Saturday morning we had a little bit of free time between commitments and since the sun was shining we took a short, but round about drive out to see Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site.  We thought we knew the way, but missed the turn off the first time, so we visited a little canyon first.  It had a cool boulder at the entrance that was just standing there held up by mud.  We walked-shinnied our way up it a little way until we ran out of canyon and then decided to go and look for our original goal.  

Don't know how we missed the sign the first time by, but we got there and it was so pretty with all of the crazy water and wind shaped rocks to enjoy along with the petroglyphs.  Too bad some people have to add their own markings and bullet holes to places like this.  Still, we loved getting out in the sun and rocks.  Paul's knee is some better and it was not too strenuous.  We didn't see all there was to see because we needed to get back, but we're going to head back out there soon.

Rock Trip #1 for 2013

Last Friday/Saturday Paul and I had a great time going on our first rock trip of the year.  It was great to just get out of town and we saw some magnificent scenery and enjoyed visiting and eating good food.  We stopped in at Jacob's Lake going and coming back and there were only a few other people there.  Luckily they only have three kinds of cookies in their off season.  That made it easier not to eat too many of them with our hot chocolate.  We spent the night in Flagstaff where it was 7 below, picked up our rock and headed back.  I love that drive.  It is full of amazing views.  Hope we need some more rock soon!

The first views were of the afternoon sun on Zion. 

The next day we saw views of the Vermillion Cliffs with and without snow (north and south exposures).

The Kaibab Forest in snow.

The afternoon sun on the mountains out by Colorado City (don't know the name of these cliffs). 

The final hurrah for 2012!

Moss and Christie were great to host the family New Year's Eve celebration at their house.  Everyone brought food to share.  So many tasty choices, including Ferf's 5 lb. chocolate candy bar.  After getting full for the first time, we got a little exercise playing the Smith's Dance Wii.  I'm such an inhibited creature that it took a while for me to get out there, but it was fun!  The kids had a great time at it and were really good at it.    They inherited their dance moves some place other than from me.  Actually there were lots of the adults with some pretty good moves too.  After that the younger set watched a movie and the oldies played games.    Paul and I didn't quite make it til midnight.  I think we were just crawling into bed as the new year made it's way into existence.  We heard a few fireworks and went off to sleep.  Thanks to everyone for a really fun evening and Happy 2013! 

Didn't get many pics - here's the men's turn doing the Wii Dance.