I like Valentine's day as a parent just as much as I liked it as a kid, maybe more. This year I sewed each of my kids a paper heart filled with candy. It was hard to keep them a secret while I was making them but I pulled it off.
Sarah and Henry put together their valentines after school the day before. I have so many memories doing this as a kid. Back in my day we had lists of each class member and I always tried to pick just the right card for each person. They also came with little white envelopes I had to lick shut. Anyone else remember that?
Sarah was my only kid that got to bring a box from home and her teacher asked that they not be ginormous. She made a suitcase out of a Costco cracker box.
We even made our own clever travel stickers.
Making soufflé has been on my dessert-to-make list for a long time and I decided Valentine's day would be the perfect day for a fancy chocolate dessert. I was a little nervous they wouldn't turn out because I heard soufflé doesn't do well in our altitude. I took a blogger's advice and under-whipped my egg whites to just barely soft peaks instead of stiff peaks. I think they turned out great! I've never had soufflé before so I don't have anything to compare it to but they were light, airy, and full of yummy warm chocolate flavor. We served it with
crème anglaise (which I had never heard of before) but I'm so glad I did. The yummy vanilla custard sauce was perfect with the rich chocolate. Plus it used up the leftover yolks.
James gobbled his right up.
Even I had a hard time finishing mine but he had no problem.
Erica was not a fan. She doesn't like crème brulee either so don't trust her dessert judgment. Works out great for me because I get to eat hers.
After that I gave the kids their Valentines. They each got their candy paper heart filled with Brach's Royals and some other random candy.
And per tradition, a new book. Then off to bed.
The next day we left for southern Utah to visit my parents. Between packing bags and cleaning, James brought me some toy food so we could have a picnic on my bed. Some day I won't have a child this age that brings me toy food to eat and I will miss it.
Alrighty, so after school Friday we drove to Hurricane where my parents are for the winter. We stopped at a pizza place in Fillmore. The turny seats were a novelty for about 5 minutes but then we had to wait nearly 40 minutes for our pizza so we were all a little sick of the chairs by then. The pizza was good though.
Saturday morning we headed to Zion National Park. It had been 4 years since we were there last so only Sarah remembered anything about it.
We had to ride the shuttle in the park which were weren't expecting but it turned out fine since most of the time we were the only ones onboard and this gave Justin a chance to be a lookie-loo too.
We were expecting cold temperatures but we did not expect snow! It looked like a completely different place.
Henry got super ornery and whiny when we got off the shuttle and whined and whined and whined the whole time we went on this trail.
I was having fun experimenting with exposure settings.
I kinda felt that we were seeing something special. As soon as the sun hit the snow it melted rapidly.
This was the view from the bridge on our way up the trail.
And the view when we came back. The light on the snow was stunning.
This girl is a trooper. James whined about being in the carrier but my girls were hiking pros.
Some of the kids' shoes were soaked from the snow and Henry pretty much ruined that hike for us anyway so we shuttled back to the car and drove to another area of the park.
We pulled over to an area that the kids could get out and climb.
And it turned into a snowball fight. Henry can dish it out but he cannot take it.
See the black dot on the mountain on the right side? That's a window. There's a mile long tunnel that runs through that mountain. I didn't take any pictures but I did take a video of the kids' reaction as we went through it. James loooooves tunnels (every underpass is a tunnel) so we was enthralled.
Check out this waterfall above our roof rack. We saw so many of these. I imagine they only flow right after storms.
This whole mountain was covered when we arrived that morning but by the time we left a few hours later, it was all gone. We'll have to go back again when it's not so cold and snowy so we can take the kids on more hikes. Thank goodness it was free (thanks 4th grader Sarah) and it's not far from my parents so there's never any pressure to get it all done like other national parks.
My parents met us in Springdale for lunch. Erica saw this statue in the parking lot and asked me if she could go look at. Heck yes.
Then my dad led us to the city of Grafton nearby. First off, the Grafton cemetery.
We don't have any ancestors buried there but it's still cool to see. Most of these people were killed by Indians in the 1860s. Drought and Indians caused the settlers to give up on their town in the 1880s or something.
I don't know what keeps the graves covered as there's no grass here.
Cedar Pete was a friendly Piute.
It's a pretty place for a cemetery.
Then we drove into "town."
Little House on the Prairie, anyone?
A proper church/schoolhouse like any frontier town.
I learned the town was used as the set for a 1920s Western.
James would have made a cute pioneer boy.
Check out this wonky wall.
Then we drove back to the "little house" as my kids call my parents' condo. Justin got a mega migraine so we spent the afternoon playing games and doing puzzles and the kids snooped through the house asking my mom "what's this?" a hundred times.
Sunday after church we left sleeping James with my parents and drove to Confluence Park in Hurricane. I wonder if it's better looking when it's not the dead of winter.
We found an old car in a tree at the bottom of a cliff.
I can't find anything online that explains how it got there or why it's still there.
It's a nice trail along the river. I just wish the trees weren't so barren looking.
The kids called this elephant log.
Erica found a piece of broken red glass that she was sure was a jewel.
Then we drove the long way home past a pretty golf course and Henry thought he was going to puke. He lasted until my parents' lawn and then lost his lunch. He felt better after that though.
Monday Justin went to the nearby bakery, Muddy Bees and got us the biggest cinnamon rolls in the world. I didn't take a picture and I didn't share any of mine even though they could probably feed 4 people. So good.
Monday we packed up to go home and Erica was so sad to leave this stuffed bunny she found. Sarah took this picture of her with it so that she can always remember it. See those red puffy eyes?
She named it Bunster. I would not let her bring it home because it would quickly lose it's specialness.
She also got attached to this pillow that she pretended was a purse.
And James walking around with his blanket over his head before it was cool.
We said good-bye to my parents then drove 30ish minutes to St. George because all my kids wanted to do was go to Thunder Junction park. Of course it snowed again that night and St. George got the most of it. Again, we were prepared for the cold but not for the wet.
It was a little challenging to find them things to play on that weren't wet but we managed.
We stopped in Cedar City for lunch because Hermies is delicious and this is the Hermie burger.
It's a perfect size for Justin. I got a regular cheese burger and it was filling. The shakes and malts were so good! And the fries. And there are 3 generations of the family that run the front counter. I love seeing grandma, mom, and daughter taking orders.
We may need to go back soon because I'm already craving another cinnamon roll and French fries and chocolate malt. Mmmm.
I'll leave you with these photos of cute Henry playing basketball. It's his second year and his second orange shirt.
He goofs off too much and doesn't always follow directions very well. I hope that gets better with age.
But he sure loves it and we could see big improvements by the end. But most importantly he loves it so much and has so much fun playing.
