Celebrating 36

My birthday was really fun this year -- maybe because it fell on a Saturday and that left our family all sorts of time to play together and relax and enjoy the day without sending Joseph off to work. Earlier in the week my mom took me birthday shopping at Nordstrom and it was very successful!

After a yummy breakfast our family headed out to look at Garmin watches and HRMs --first stop REI at South Towne where I noticed this marker at the doorway. The lighting in my picture is bad but that store was officially marked on March 28th, 2003! Kind of a fun thing to find right on my birthday.

In the afternoon Joseph and I road to Lehi bakery for our favorite donuts and back (a perfect 26 miles round trip). It was the loveliest spring day --we have been so spoiled this year with the best biking weather.

 

Cares and I got to spend the evening together with Cec and Maddie to celebrate my birthday and then attend the general women's meeting that evening.

 Dinner at Cheesecake Factory

 Love these cute little cousin besties

 Gorgeous spring blossoms all over the place on my birthday this year -- they're a little early since we've had such a balmy winter but I can't complain.

 

Amazing cheesecake with this incredible girl made for a very good date!

36 years and I still feel like I should be 25 (except the wrinkles and gray hairs are betraying me ;) I'm very blessed with a happy marriage, a strong, healthy body, a fun, busy family life, lots of love from friends and family and a beautiful, comfortable home. Life is good.

More March

 Gorgeous spring days make us happy cyclists! We rode the full Murdock Canal Trail from Thanksgiving Point to 800 N in Orem. It was a fabulous ride except for a stray car on the teeny tiny lone section of the trail that isn't a hidden bike path but part of the main road...the car zoomed out right in front of me and I was able to mostly stop but still hit its rear view mirror with my hand and then fell over. Sprained ankle and bruised knuckle were all that came of it but I was not loving the last few miles of that ride...

 We went to the new Disney Cinderella movie as a family and it was beautiful and magical and sweet

 Birthday dinner on my mom's birthday at Trio Cafe

 Luke and Ethan playing in the spring sunshine

Bentley had his capstone project presentation in what the 5th graders call "exhibition." He and his group researched earthquakes and specifically what would happen to us locally if the Wasatch Fault were to erupt. His group knew their stuff really well and had a very informed and well thought-out presentation. Since 5th grade is the highest grade at Bean's school he will be in jr high next year!!

St Patrick's Day 2015

We are not huge celebrators of this holiday however, a few fun things happened right on St Patty's that made it a pretty cool day.

First of all it was grandparent's day at the elementary school and Grandma Bobbi made a huge effort to visit with Cares and Bean in their classes and then stop by to read with Livs and Luke since she couldn't stay out here all day.

That evening Bentley had a very festive blue and gold banquet for pack meeting and it definitely made the holiday fun for the kids!

 

 Luke and his buddy Nixon

Ski Day!

 The huge storm we had early in the month fit with our ski plans perfectly! We had a free Friday thanks to parent teacher conferences and scheduled a few months in advance to meet my parents for a ski day at Alta. This year we brought Livs along too and promptly dropped the 3 oldest off at ski school and fit in some glorious runs (Luke stayed with aunt Mary and played with cousin Leo :)

Livs was a champ at first and even skied down the little hill to the ski school! Not an easy feat when you are a total beginner.

Once she was all signed int and ready to go she had to wear her orange ski school vest and for some reason she was not okay with that and lost it for a minute :( I tried to help her feel excited again, wiped away some tears, and left her with her instructor. I knew she'd be great if she could get over the orange vest!

Beans and Cares were much easier to drop off at class!

Ski school is the best :) It provides a lovely 2.5 hour window for a double date on the mountain.

We couldn't have asked for a better day on the slopes. The snow was light and fresh and it was such a glorious day! Skiing is fun because once you've done it enough times it just comes right back and feels so smooth and fun. 

 Beautiful Alta. I love you all year long!

Such a sunny bluebird day that I couldn't even keep my eyes open for this picture!

Ski school ended up being a great adventure and all the kids got an ice cream cone once they were done. Since we had 4 adults we decided to be super brave and take the kids up the lift and try out a real deal run. I rode up with Caroline, Joseph took Olivia and my parents took Bentley. Getting on and off the lift with a beginner was a little tricky but we managed!

 We all made it to the top! Going down that first run was such a workout. I mostly helped Olivia and skied with her right between my legs or skied backwards and had her follow in my tracks. My thighs and back were wasted haha! Caroline was still really unstable but Joseph thought she was more ready than she was and that meant for a lot of crashes and falling over for her early on. She needed a lot more help and once we knew that it was much better going. Bean was such a speedy rock star —skiing totally clicked for him this year and he was ready for another run without any help at all so we sent him up with my mom and dad for one more and he did so well.

 Livs and I skied back to the car with Cares and Joseph and got all packed up and organized while Bean had that last run. It was perfect to have my parents there to take him up and teach him a few new things while we handled the other kids. Skiing is a 4 parent sport!!

We all came down the canyon, grabbed Luke from the Brauns, and met over at my parents' house for delivery pizza and hot-tubbing. It was a tiring, gorgeous, perfect day! I'd so love to be a skiing family but it's such an expensive activity. For right now we'll just have to take a day or two when we can, but I have high hopes of popping up to Beaver Mountain for a ski vacation really soon and getting these kiddos more comfortable on the snow at the cutest ski resort in Utah :)

March is Here

 Had my parents for dinner on their way home from SG the first Sunday of the month.

 We had a spectacular snowfall and I had to shovel the driveway (probably only the 4th or 5th time this year...) These little ones were in heaven playing in it and made me shovel each scoop right on to them so they could be buried in it!

 Parent teacher conferences for all my elementary kids. They are the best students! I am always so proud of them and grateful that they work hard, behave for their teachers and are kind to the other children.

 Sweet sleeping boy. I love how small he looks when he sleeps. Just when I think he has outgrown naps and we skip a day or two, he promptly falls asleep when he finds some downtime. He currently still takes at least 5 or 6 a week and tells me when he's tired so he can have a great rest :)

 Amazing morning sunrise just a few days after daylight savings

 Quick over-nighter with a group of ward friends. Joseph had been in Florida for work for the 3 days prior so it ended up being perfect timing to run away and play when he got back. We stayed in a posh house downtown (just a 1/2 mile away from Temple Square) and stayed up until 4:00 am talking (!!!) but then all slept in until 10:00! Once we were up and going a few of us walked up past the capital building and up City Creek a ways. My Herriman friends always wonder how I know about all these spots in SLC but I remind them I grew up here and hiked/roamed/hung out in these mountains all the time with my HS friends!

Such a stellar group of girls! There were a few more who hung out with us the night before but didn't stay over so we didn't get them in this picture. I can hardly explain how nourishing it is for my soul to know these women and spend quality time with them. They are so fun! And full of life and knowledge, and are trying and working so hard at being good wives and moms and neighbors. I love my little pocket of the world and that it's led me to so many wonderful friendships. There are several other ladies in my ward I'd add to my list of dear friends and I am so lucky to have all these beautiful people in my life.