Random April pics

"Oops" Something Mike never wants to hear when I'm cutting his hair. 

For some reason Adam's ear lobes got really big. It's happened a couple times, but we don't know what he's allergic to. 

I should have done an entire Easter post, but I was not on my blogging game and it doesn't seem the same to blog about Easter on December 30th. (Go figure)

Moms vs. Dads- Adam was supposed to make a car out of a shoe box. He wanted a pig, so I printed off some Minecraft paper and was going to attach it to the first box. Cool, functional, fast. Only problem is that it wasn't what Adam was expecting. He wanted the wheels under the legs. I had no idea how to make it work and was getting rather frustrated. I allowed Mike to swoop in and work his magic and he was able to make it exactly the way Adam wanted it. 

Starley Dental school- Sarah's orthodontist said she needed to get four teeth out right away so her braces could continue working. She pretended to play with them, but really didn't. She wanted me to take her to the dentist and have them extracted. They were all barely hanging on and I had no desire to pay to have it done. Solution: I pull them out. Three of them came right out. Sarah insisted on pulling out the 4th. It was pretty funny.

Somehow this picture has disappeared, but I have a screenshot of a Facebook post. 

Hiking in the hills around our house. Adam decided to run up a steep hill and beat us all to the top. 

Tulip Festival

While Mike was soaking up the rays in Arizona, Lynette and I took the kids to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. The last time we had gone was in 2011. We didn't want to deal with whining children, so we decided to rent a golf cart. I almost felt bad for being one of "those" people crowding out the walkers, but it made the whole thing a lot more pleasant. 

The opened up a new "I am the Light of the World" section with beautiful statues from the Saviors ministry. It's December as I write this and I realized we never took Mike back to look at them. We'll have to soon. In the main area are the statues depicting scenes from Jesus' life, and off to the side is a path that leads down to statues depicting the first vision. Very beautiful.

Sarah's Sole Hope Project

Fifth Graders at our kids school take part in something called exhibition, where they learn about a problem, research it, and come up with a plan to help. Kids can choose medical, social, economic, political, or basically any area where there is need. Sarah and her friend Jocelyn decided to complete their project on Sole Hope, an organization that makes shoes for children in Uganda that have jiggers in their feet. They collected jeans, lots and lots of jeans, and had shoe cutting "parties". Their friend Maddie helped with the work as well. I was so proud of them for the time and effort they put into this. They also present to students and parents on the actual exhibition night and she and Jocelyn did a great job. 

Escalante Petrified Forest

For our first time out with our new trailer, we decided to visit the Escalante Petrified Forest in southern Utah. Mike and I had never been before and it seemed like a great excuse to head south and try out our trailer on a short overnight trip. We camped at the Wide Hollow Reservoir campground by the park. It was a small reservoir, which was perfect for a small trip. (That sounds kind of cheesy. It was a perfectly picturesque place to park) We started by walking around the lake on Friday. On Saturday we went on a hike in the forest. There is a loop that goes around most of what there is to see. It was really neat to see the colors in the wood and learn how it happened. Nature is pretty cool.

*I don't know if I documented our trailer purchase, so I wanted to make sure I include it. My cousin Rebecca posted on Facebook that she needed someone to move her trailer for her. I told her I would and also asked if she had considered selling it. She and her wife Mary decided to sell it to us for a REALLY good deal. I've wanted one for years, and it was perfect for our needs. 

Visiting Erik

Still August, but playing catch up. In March we visited Erik. I don't know if she had it last time I posted, but Lily finally has her headstone. It's nice to be able to put her flowers somewhere concrete. Mike tried out his future resting place which will be next to Erik and me. It might look morbid, but we thought it was great.

When Erik passed away my friend Sheryl made his funeral handout with the saying, "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our hearts". The cemetery used the handout as his grave marker for a few months while we were out of state and then when his headstone was being made. After we moved home we noticed a little boys marker that had passed away a few months after Erik. They utilized that quote and I'd like to think they got the idea from Erik's grave marker. When we were designing ours they told us where other children were buried so we could get ideas of what we want. (Erik is in an area with numerous children which is both comforting and sad.)