Sand Hollow

After Rob was cleared to return to work full time we jumped in the car and drove to St. George for the 4th of July weekend. We used up all of his vacation and sick time on his recovery so we took advantage of the long weekend and took a quick family vacation.

The first day we were in St. George was my brother Alex's birthday. Rob, my Dad and Hunter all went with him early in the morning to fish at Sand Hollow, they loved it!!

My Uncle Scott came to pick us girls up later in the morning so we could meet them on the beach and play for a bit. It was so nice to relax on the shore, take the kayaks out on the water, swim, and go for rides on the boats.

It was so much fun, we are all looking forward to going back!!

Goodbye Christmas Tree

The day we took the decorations off the tree a discussion started about how we would properly dispose of our Christmas Tree. Of course we couldn't put it out by the curb like normal people, our tree had to have the proper send off.

We talked about a bonfire, but with all of the snow we have gotten in the last week, it was decided we would pull the tree behind the four wheeler and ride it like a sled.

Samantha was not feeling adventurous and didn't want to ride, but Hunter couldn't wait and was the first one to give it a try. I was surprised when Hannah decided she wanted to go for a ride, and even more surprised when she decided to go by herself.

Hunter and Hannah would have rode longer if the four wheeler hadn't run out of gas, but I think the tree was done by then anyway.  It was a fun way to say goodbye to our tree and spend the last day of winter break!!

General Conference Weekend

This weekend was LDS General Conference, it is one of my two favorite weekends of the year. On Saturday and Sunday we are able to be taught by living Apostles of the Lord and the messages are always uplifting and full of answers to my prayers. I love it!!

A few weeks ago for Family Home Evening we made a countdown to conference, we each colored pictures that had significance to conference. The printables came from The Red Headed Hostess, if you don't follow her already you should, she is always sharing great stuff!!

Because of the baby shower on Saturday I didn't get to listen to many of the talks that day, but I plan on going back and listening to some of them, the rest I will wait until the Ensign comes out.

Sunday I was able to listen to both sessions and I walked away with courage to put my fears aside and trust in the Lord's plan for me, something that is not easy for me and I am constantly working on.

I am already looking forward to April and I have a few ideas in mind to help make it special for our family.

*We will be doing the countdown again!!
*I want to make conference journals for the kids to take notes in
(we did this for Stake conference and it helped them to pay attention)
*Have different bowls of candy that they can eat when certain words or subjects are talked about.
* Sunday morning cinnamon rolls
(we didn't do it this year because we were out of town)

My goal is for my kids to love conference weekend and appreciate all it has to offer in their lives..0

Puzzles

Hannah wanted to play our Littlest Pet Shop game so I headed out to the garage to dig it out of the game box. In my search I found this big box of puzzles I had bought before we moved almost two years ago and then packed away because there was not enough room in our house.

Hannah forgot all about the game and wanted to do puzzles instead, of course I agreed.

I have loved puzzles since I was a kid, they bring back some great memories.

My Grandma Ruby used to put a piece in her pocket so she could be the one to put the last piece in place.

My Grandma Jones always has a puzzle set up at her house and my Mom is the same way, she has a table that is just for puzzles. Her current favorite are the Eric Dowdle puzzles and I love sitting at her house and working on them with her, I think some of our best conversations happen over a good puzzle.

The last time we were at my Mom's house I was working on the puzzle she had set up and pretty soon my kids were all gathered around trying to help us put it together. It wasn't an easy puzzle but they searched the pieces and were so excited when they found one that fit.

So of course when Samantha and Hunter came home from school they joined right in on helping us put the princess puzzle Hannah had picked out together.

I am certain when we finally get into our house there will be a table set up just for puzzles.
In fact I can guarantee it!!

PS. one of my favorite tips to keep all those puzzle pieces together: put a letter, symbol, number, anything on the back of the pieces, and then also put it on the puzzle box. That way when you find the stray piece on the floor you know exactly which puzzle it matches with.