Snow Canyon

Winter was doing it's thing and we decided to head south for a bit.  It just so happened that the Provo City Center Temple open house was going on, so I made it a point to reserve some tickets.  We rolled into Provo late and spent the night in the Walmart parking lot and froze.  We had early tickets, so as not to interfere with rest of our travel plans.

It is a beautiful temple.  It was a neat experience for the kids to feel the Spirit.  Hudson looks forward to turning 12 and visiting the temple to do baptisms.

From there it was on to St. George with a brief stop in Santaquin to deliver parts.  We weren't quite sure what we had gotten ourselves into when we pulled into the campground and could barely get our camper in.  It wasn't the kind of camping we were used to.  Close quarters and neighbors within arms reach.

It ended up being one of the neatest experiences.  Both sides of neighbors were so interesting and dynamic.  To the right were the Gerasimek's from Pennsylvania who quickly welcomed us and began visiting.  They were on a training tour for their daughter, Veda, who has aspirations of becoming an olympic mountain biker.  Glen, a tree trimmer, and Melody, a yoga instructor, were so genuine and nice.  Pretty soon, all the kids could think about was spending time with them.  They rode around with Veda.  Glen helped fix and tune up our bikes.

We cheered Veda on during one of her training sessions.

They put together a little treasure hunt, geo cache activity for the kids.

One day they took us hiking to some caves.  Melody is recovering from a pretty serious injury often said how this trip had been such good therapy for her.  

The girls creamed Veda in a game of memory, but she was a good sport.

They were so grounded.  Melody often said, "I am not raising an athlete, I'm raising a human being." You would never have guessed that Veda was a high caliber athlete, she was so kind to the kids.

Melody showed the kids a card trick or two and they spent a lot of time trying to perfect it.  Dalanie became pretty good.

They followed a pretty strict diet- all organic meat, no sweets or fast food so we enjoyed our traditional donuts with our other neighbors.

 In addition to our friends at the campground, we had Ginny to visit with.  We took her out to dinner.  She sure is a fun lady.

Ginny lives just a block away from the temple.  It sure is a beautiful one.  We were also able to visit with Brent's old mission, Glen Page, and his family.  They had us over for dinner.  The kids hit it off and enjoyed playing night games.  "What you gonna choose?"

Snow Canyon is such a beautiful and diverse area.  It doesn't cover a lot of ground, so it felt cozy and homey.  We enjoyed running the rc cars, biking, and hiking.  We watched rock climbers at Pioneer Names.

Jenny's Canyon

Ruby smashed her "swear" finger between the roll up screen and a table.  It was throbbing all day long and by night she could hardly stand it.  I told her the solution, poking it with a hot needle.  She decided to give it a go (while Brent was still outside conversing with Allen.)  I turned on the stove to heat it up and she lost it and started screaming.  Outside Hudson proceeded to explain the situation and Allen responded, "Shouldn't she be taken to a hospital where it could be treated properly?"

Hidden Pinyon

Petrified Dunes

Butterfly

White Rocks

One evening our neighbor to the left had set up his telescope.  He wanted to invite the kids to look at the moon.  We soon learned that he is an astronomy professor in Alberta, Canada.  I think he's a genius, but he spoke in terms that we could understand.  He got very excited when he found out that we live near Rexburg because it's the prime viewing spot for an upcoming total solar eclipse in 2017. We tentatively have plans for him to come to the school or meet up when he's here for it next August.

Alan's wife, Jean, was delightful too.  They both have English accents, Jean is from England.  She loves to garden and birdwatch.  Allen showed us his artwork.  When he was teaching us about the things astronomers have been learning about the great expanse of universes, Brent asked if he believed in a greater power.  He agreed that he did and then he turned to Brent and asked, "Are you Mormon?"

The weather, the scenery, and the people... it was all like a wonderful dream.  One that we plan to remember and treasure forever.

LOVE day

Since Valentine's Day fell on Sunday, I had the girls wear red.  And while they were looking so festive, I had them grab the boys for a picture.  Less than cooperative.

The kids thought it was fun when they were behind the camera.

Grandma Hillman had invited us over for dinner, so we made some chocolate covered strawberries.  I don't know if I like looking at the or eating them more, it's a toss up.  They are so pretty.

The kids get to gather around the table in the kitchen where clean up is much easier.  Over the years, things around the table have continued to get louder.  They sure to enjoy being around each other.

We grabbed the box of supplies that were still gathered from Hudson's class party.  The cupid arrow shoot was a hit.  You use a q-tip and straw to create a blow dart that you try to get through the suspended hearts.

Next up, unwrap a chocolate kiss while wearing oven mitts.  I'm pretty sure every single kid cheated on this, but it was fun to watch.

We had heart-shaped notebooks for everyone.  We all took turns writing something nice about each person.  It was fun to watch people read through them and smile.  We're not a very expressive family, so it was fun to hear what people had to say.

Uncle Tracy and Aunt NiCole were swinging people and throwing them onto the couch.  You had to get in line and only the manageable sized kids got a turn.

I found these warm, fuzzy, heart sweatshirts  and thought they made the perfect Valentine's gift.  I like to get everyone a little surprise to show how much I love them.