Act 6; Scene 14: Easter Weekend

We had such a lovely break last weekend. It is always so fun to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Center at the mission home in St. George. With their mission rapidly coming to a close, we are trying to visit as much as we can, and cross a few St. George to-do's off of our list. 

We started out on Thursday morning, and of course had to visit the swimming pool the first afternoon we arrived. We decided to give our kids an extra treat by planning to visit at the same time that my parents were going down for an art show. So they got BOTH GRANDMAS AND GRANDPAS for two whole days! They were in heaven. Thursday night was a "family dinner" with all of us. 

We also all enjoyed playing with George, Grandma's new puppy. He particularly likes Scarlet--maybe because they are the same size. He's a bit more rambunctious than she is, though! They made good friends in the end.

On Friday we went to hike up the Veyo Volcano. You can't tell from the pictures, but it's actually quite steep, and high up. Tommy was excited to go on a volcano. He kept asking if dragons live in it.

From the side of the volcano. We are holding on to each other because the ground was so loose and unsure we kept losing our footing!

 

We ended up not being able to make it to the top, simply because the lava rock was so fine and loose, we could barely scramble through it up the steep hill. It was a bit of a disappointment.

So we decided to stop in to get some of Veyo's world-famous pies. :-) Delicious! And who's ever heard of Veyo, anyway??? Apparently they make hundreds of pies a day and visitors from all over the world (coming for the national parks, I assume) visit this tiny pie place. Crazy!

The rest of Friday was spent touring the Plein Aire art show my Dad was in, and the St. George Arts Festival happening in the center of town. When we were all "arted out", we spent some time at the park and had a hot dog cook-out for dinner. 

Saturday was the big day for me and Robert. The Centers watched the kids ALL DAY, and we headed to Zion to do an 8 mile hike up to the highest look-out in the park. It was incredible. Here is a picture tour of our hike:

A view from where we were climbing up on the cliff.

There were a few rock canyons like this along the way

I kind of look photo-shopped in, huh?

The backside of the cliff

Almost there! What a view of Zion!

Can you see that zig-zag trail carved into the rock???

From Observation point. That is Angel's Landing we are looking DOWN on. Yep, that's right.

Obligatory selfie.

Robert was hugging the side of the mountain a few times.

Ok, see the tiny bit of red at the very tip top of that gigantic cliff? That's where we hiked to! Wowza!

After hiking Observation Point, we decided to walk back to the Lodge, so we ended up hiking almost 9 miles that day! Awesome! My calves were so sore for three days after! All that straight up and then straight down. Killer!

That night we had an Easter egg hunt with the kids. Tommy ran around finding eggs, then hiding them and finding them again. Scarlet found one egg, opened it, and proceeded to eat its entire contents while Tommy ran around finding and hiding.

Sunday, of course, was Easter! And the day did not disappoint.

After church and naps, we took a visit to the St. George temple and Visitor's Center.

 

my cuties

Scarlet is obsessed with going up and down stairs. Tommy decided to join her at it.

The next morning we checked off another "to-do" and went to the Bear Paw Cafe. The waitress recommended my meal, and when it came out it was on three different plates!

We managed to eat all of it but a few eggs. 

What a trip! We hope we can get down one more time before the Centers head back to Ohio. I know I will cry my eyes out that day. It has been so, so wonderful to have them so close.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter! 

Act 6: Scene 13: Tell Me a Story about Dragons

 

This has been the most popular phrase coming out of Tommy's little mouth the past few days.

Tell me a story about dragons!

I have made up so many stories about dragons in the past two days.

One about a shiny blue dragon that loved to fly over all of the world but had a hard time making friends because people were scared of him.

One about a blue and red dragon that loved to eat blueberries and raspberries and would change colors depending on which berry he ate more of.

One about a big, mean dragon that lived in a cave full of treasure and wouldn't share it with anyone, even when a girl came by needing money for bread, an old man needing money for medicine, and a young woman needing money for a dowry (??? guys, it's just on the spot thinking). He scared everyone away, and then one day he got his tail caught in a trap and no one would help him because they were scared of him and he had never helped anyone else. His fairy godmother showed up and made him promise to share his treasure before she let him go. So he tracked down those people and gave them cold coins and crowns and jewels, and made friends with people. When he got his toe caught in a trap next, everyone came to help him, because now he was nice to people!

About Pete's dragon (well, as much as I could remember of that--and I made up the rest).

One about Raxtus (the little dragon from Fablehaven), who protected a girl from a mean dragon, and flew her to safety.

One about a green dragon who lived on a purple mountain (of course grandma told this one and Tommy asked for it again, so I had to figure it out with Tommy's help).

Tonight, Tommy asked me to tell him a story about, and I quote, "A red dragon who doesn't have wings, can't fly, and doesn't have arms. And likes to sleep. And eats fish, candy, and gold coins." I told Thomas that he just told me a story! Now he can tell me a story about dragons!

...But he still wanted me to tell him about the wingless, arm-less, sleepy dragon who eats fish and candy. And apparently he actually EATS the gold coins rather that merely collecting them. Tommy corrected me on that one.

Now the trouble is trying to remember a dragon story that I told when Tommy happens to request the same one...or especially when he requests on that Robert has told him. This inevitably results in frustration from both parties.

I think maybe I should publish a book, "The Diverse Dragons of the World" or something. 

What have you been discussing lately? Dragons?

Act 6; Scene 12: Happy First Birthday, Scarlet Elizabeth!

Our sweet, tiny baby

is now ONE YEAR OLD

And wearing pigtails. 

 And loves her Daddy more than ever.

She and Tommy are great conspirators

 

 And the best of friends.

She got two birthday cakes. The first, a tiny "rose studded" (or sea urchin) red velvet and cream cheese frosting cake

...with a blue T-Rex candle...

 

 Then a mini vanilla mug cake, with a yellow T-Rex candle

And she got some great toys.

 Skiz has 12 teeth, weighs 22 1/2 pounds, and is 29 inches long. She loves eating food, especially if it came off of someone else's plate/fork/spoon/finger. She is starting to make her own jokes (like giggling hysterically when she drops her food on the floor...) and thinks Tommy is the funniest thing ever. She positively loves stuffed animals--gives them big hugs and kisses whenever she sees one. Her favorite thing to do is dance to music, especially the music from Tommy's walker truck and concrete mixer truck. Her other favorite toys are the bath toys. Any time we're upstairs she crawls over to the bathtub and tries to get in. It is amazing to watch a little one grow and learn. We sure love having this sweetie pie around. 

Happy Birthday, Scarlet!

Act 6; Scene 11: How to use Butternut Squash in a Million Different Ways

...well, maybe not a million. But it felt like a million. 

This year I planted one, ONE butternut squash plant. And it exploded similar to the zucchini plants I've planted in the past. It too up nearly half of our garden, I was constantly trimming it down!

Here is a picture of the last bounty we picked before pulling up the plant. Keep in mind, I had picked a bunch of them all season before this group was collected: 

Oh man, it's been fun to figure out what to do with all of these. 

We did a couple different soups

Butternut Apple Harvest recipe here

Roasted butternut squash and bacon

Cream cheese recipe

I did butternut squash lasagna

Delicious!

Many different kinds of roasted squash:

Did this one a couple times

Surprisingly yummy muffins

My neighbor even asked for this recipe

Even a butternut squash pie!

regular pumpkin pie recipe--just used butternut squash instead.

And now--the votes are in, for the two yummiest butternut squash dishes of the season.

Robert's favorite: butternut squash fries!

Whole recipe and great pictures here

These are so easy! Just slice them thin, drizzle in olive oil and salt, and roast in the oven. Then add some parsley flakes (and more salt if desired). I was so surprised to hear Robert say the word "love" associated with any kind of squash, but he said he loved these!  

And now, Carson's favorite: creamy butternut squash pasta sauce!

Delicious recipe here!

I really have no excuse for not taking a picture of this one myself. I liked it so much, I have made it THREE different times! Once for us, once for our neighbors when they had their baby, and once for our New Year's Eve dinner with my parents, it's THAT good! Some extra pepper on top makes it even better. And it makes a lot. In fact, we just ate leftovers for dinner, and we have more left over for lunch tomorrow (yay!). Scarlet, my 11 month old (well, only a week shy of ONE!! Ah!) especially loves this. And that makes me feel great, because butternut squash is insanely good for you.

I have three butternut squash left in the garage, and some ziplock bags of frozen puree. We still have a few adventures to go! If you feel like planting something that will really go far, try a butternut squash plant this summer. Then you will see how much they charge for them at the store, and pat yourself on the back every time you go through the produce isles. :-)

Happy Squashing! :-)

If you have any great butternut squash recipes, please let me know! I'd love to try them!

Act 6; Scene 10: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Only a day late. It's still a new year :-)

Once again, it's time to reflect on last year's resolutions and start some new ones. 

We started out the year well with food storage and emergency preparedness. We now have 5 big buckets of water stored, water purification, buckets of oats, flour, and sugar; a full fledged 72 hour kit for all of us. And I bought a few food storage items for the pantry...which I think we've already gone through. Except the tuna. :-) And  was just typing how the second half of the year was sadly lacking in a conscientious food storage effort, but then I remembered....canning! This is the first year I attempted canning and bought all of the equipment! We canned a whole bunch of pickles and salsa and a few peaches. That's a good start, right? 

Our family goal for this year is:

1. Attend the temple twice a month.

Does that goal sound familiar?? After having Scarlet this past year, we just couldn't/didn't keep up our twice a month attendance. We loved doing that so much the past year, we decided to make it our goal again. So on to 2016 temple attendance!

For my personal goals, I was able to run a 5k by spring! Tommy and I actually ran TWO 5ks together! I think I have done better at being patient, as well. That is a constant struggle! We have definitely done better at having more meaningful, planned family home evenings. We have not been perfect, but I have noticed a huge difference in our effort at FHE and the blessings from that. 

This year, my personal goals are:

1. Not say "bad words" out loud, under my breath, or in my head. I don't mean swear words, although very occasionally I have thought those in my head, but never out loud (thankfully!). But there are words that mean pretty much the same thing, or are vulgar, or sound angry. I definitely don't want words to be my anger outlet, or my kids'

2. Do the 10 pound challenge with Melanie Douglass. This starts on Monday! I don't want to lose 10 pounds, but maybe a few. And I would love to gain some muscle!

3. Be in a play this year. It's time. I want to. And I will find some place that will take me!

That's it for now. I'd better keep it simple so I can focus and actually accomplish these. 

What are your New Year Resolutions?