Before Spring Break and then Spring Break 2019

Henry had an elaborate idea for a hat and with some scissors and a stapler, he made this crazy thing.

It's kind of like a chefs hat, he said.

Then he helped Erica make a crown but they wouldn't hold still for a proper picture.

I was cleaning the kitchen when James asked me to take his picture. I had no idea where this was going but this was the face he gave me.

And then this one.

I asked him to smile and he did!

Aaaaand then it turned into this face.

And then it turned into this.

I sure love this boy. I could hang out with him all day. And I do.

Henry's been into creating comic books lately. This is one of many that he's made, "Robotic Frog"

They are so cute and I'm going to keep them forever.

March 30 was Sarah's piano recital. She played Canon in D and I am a Child of God. She did great and really likes to do the recitals. She gets a little jittery but it's more excitement than anything.

Her teacher, Melissa Quigg is in the neighboring ward so a few of her students are from our neighborhood. I loved seeing some of my activity days girls perform.

Erica has been working on learning all the letters of the alphabet. I told her once she could pass off all the letters, uppercase and lowercase, I would take her out for ice cream. She finally did it! She worked so hard and was so sweet and patient. She never got frustrated and was so proud of herself for doing it. 

Next we will work on the sounds for all the letters and go out for a treat. She's going to be so ready for kindergarten

I made everyone go through the coat closet and try on coats and whatever we didn't wear this past winter or didn't fit got the Marie Kondo treatment. I asked James to put this jacket on to see if it would still fit him next year. He said with a big smile, "I'm Nana!" He remembered Justin's mom has a similar coat and thought it was so funny. He walked around for awhile laughing and telling us he was Nana. He didn't take it off until his nap.

It's a rare treat to catch James sleeping but this day he was sleeping extra late and we had to leave so I went in to wake him up and he was so out. I watched him for awhile and then grabbed the camera.

Sometimes he doesn't like it when I call him a baby but he looks like a baby to me.

Spring break! Woohoo! Monday was also April Fool's day so Justin and I put together some good pranks before we went to bed like frozen cereal.

And Jell-o juice.

Justin put bubble wrap under the rugs and stuffed the toes of the kids' shoes with napkins.

Henry is turning into quite the little prankster. All his jokes involve lots of tape. He put tape on my doorknob (I woke up to him reaching his hand through my door and sneakily putting tape on the knob) tape across my doorway, and tape on the stairs. His tricks are harmless and ineffective now but I worry what he's going to do as a resourceful teenager.

I worked on Sarah's Easter skirt later that day and then I pulled out a button tin I got from my late aunt's house. I honestly don't know who's button tin this was as most of the stuff in it was really old.

I started looking through it to find something for a skirt I was making Erica but then it turned into a button sorting party with Sarah.

No one spring breaks like I do.

We spent 3+ hours going through it and it was totally fun the entire time.

We found a 1944 dime.

A San Francisco train token used 1921-1944!

This super old thimble.

And a lot of really cool buttons.

And a lot more things that weren't buttons. I sorted the buttons by color then poured them into my super old mason jars. I'm still on the fence on what to do with them. Should they be displayed? Used in sewing projects? Returned to their tin and kept as the time capsule that they were?

Tuesday we went to see How to Train Your Dragon 3 and we all loved it. Then on Wednesday we drove to St. George. First stop on the way down there was Herme's in Cedar City because shakes.

We got to Hurricane late that afternoon and decided to check out the Hurricane museum. It smelled really bad in there, like everyone's grandparent's musty attic. It didn't help that under glass was this:

Take a moment and read the plaque.

You really have to see it for yourself in person.

There's also this little beauty.

And this lovely collection.

The whole museum is pretty much where old people of Hurricane take their stuff. Or maybe where younger people of Hurricane take their parents' stuff after they die.

My dad took us to Sky Ranch, a neighborhood south of Hurricane. This is a subdivision with a runway in the middle and all the houses have airplane hangars next to their garages. We imagine some of them must work in California and commute to their jobs?? Or just super rich and want easy access to a runway. So crazy.

I made Pavlova because I like a culinary challenge. I did not like it.

Thursday we packed up the kids bright and early and went to Justin's favorite place in the St. George area: Red Cliffs.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was cloudy and calm.

The last time we went Erica was 2 so she didn't remember it but she loved it this time around.

James was not a fan of the cold water. I was relieved because that meant I didn't have to worry about him drowning.

He did end up falling down and soaking his shorts so he walked back to the car in his diaper. Many strangers commented on his "nice shorts, bud." Thanks strangers.

James: This is my favorite!

Justin and I laughed at what a textile experience this is for them. They have to touch everything they come near.

Then we went back to Hurricane and ate lunch. We put James down for a nap and left him with my parents while we went shopping at the outlet mall. I rarely if ever take my kids clothes shopping since their stuff comes from online stores or garage sales so it was a treat for them to go into stores. We bought some clothes at Gymboree and some flip flops at Old Navy. You'd think it was Christmas to see how excited they were for $2 flip flops.  Then we got Italian ice at Zeppes (super good) and drove back and Justin made dinner for us all. Henry slept the entire time.

Friday morning, we again got the kids up bright and early and drove to St George to do the Temple Quarry Hike. This is a really easy trail, mostly flat. There's no shade so I'm glad it was cloudy again. It would be great to do in the late evening when the sun is behind his mountain.

James started out in the backpack but once we were past the stairs we let him walk. He turfed it a lot but if I picked him up to comfort him or carry him, he wiggled down and said "I walk!"

I think this is one of those moths pretending to be butterfly.

This isn't the end of the trail but it is about half way. It had a great view so we stopped here to eat a snack and take pictures then headed back.

We could see Thunder Junction Park down there which was our next stop after lunch.

And that, for some reason was the end of my picture taking. After leaving this spot, we ate lunch at Irmita's then let the kids play at Thunder Junction. James was super tired so we went on a drive down I-15 to show the kids the Virgin River Gorge then turned around and came back. Then we went to Gunlock State Park to check out the falls. The falls were amazing but it was so crowded that it made it impossible to explore or really move around but since the falls don't flow every year, I'm glad I saw it and I understand why so many people flocked to it as well.

Then we drove to my sister Julie's house in Santa Clara to see her new house and see my nieces and nephew and my parents and my brother and his wife met us there. My parents took my kids back to Hurricane and the 5 of us went out to eat at an Indian restaurant and it was so good. That was a busy day.

Saturday we ate cinnamon rolls from Muddy Bees bakery and watched conference and cleaned up and packed. We drove home during the Saturday afternoon session and arrived home in time for Justin to watch the priesthood session with his dad. Sunday we watched conference, went for a walk, ate dinner at Justin's parents' and put the kids to bed early.