Arches National Park

First stop on our journey was Arches National Park. Jon had been there when he was a teenager, but I had never been there before.

Even our campsite was amazing. We are lucky enough to have access to Jon's parents motor home, Thank heavens, because I am not a camper. There were tons of short hikes and just great rocks to climb on right outside our door. The girls loved it!

This is Landscape Arch and it was less than 500 steps from where we camped.

Carly is a daddy's girl.

The girls at balanced rock.

Me and my girls at balanced rock.

Turret Arch.

Window Arch.

Delicate Arch. We wanted to hike to it but it was a 3 mile hike and the last bit of it is pretty steep. We didn't think the girls could do it so this one might have to wait a few years.

Brianna holding the sun.

Sunset from our campsite.

Landscape arch. The man that took this picture for us was from Massachusetts, He and his wife were so nice and we chatted with them for quite a while. We really enjoy meeting people from all over the world on our trips. We met another couple from the Netherlands, a family from New Hampshire, a couple from Michigan, and so many more. I was amazed at all the people who had come from far away.

These Juniper trees were all over and they were really cool looking.

This is a hike to a little place called Sand dune Arch. It wasn't a very long hike but it took you through fins to this neat little sand box.

Jon and the girls climbed up to the top of the Arch.

This is a full view of the arch with my little family on top.

Zoom.

Canyonlands

Our next stop was Canyon lands National Park.

Just one of the many little alcoves along the trails.

Mesa Arch. There are sheer cliffs on the other side of that Arch made me very nervous.

Daddy and his girls at Dead Horse Point.

Jon and I at the Colorado river.

Our family at Dead horse point.

Another little cave.

Upheaval dome. The girls were trooper, we probably hiked at least 3 miles a day between all the hikes we went on. The girls also both got their Jr. Ranger badges at both parks so we felt like the trip as even educational.

Our last hike was up Whale Rock. It's a short hike but takes you straight up and you can see everything. It was really windy.

Jon is such a great Daddy. I'm so lucky to get to go fun places with my little family. I can't wait for our next trip!

The best and the Worst

The top 5 best things about coming home from vacation

1. Seeing my house after a long day of driving
2. A long hot shower in my own shower
3. my kids playing for hours with the toys they have missed all week
4. A DVR full of all the good shows I missed while I was gone
5. sleeping in my own bed

The 5 worst things about coming home from vacation.

1. The funny smell of my house after being closed up for a week.
2. Unpacking the motor home
3. A fridge full of iffy food.
4. Unpacking the motor home
5. Mountains of laundry.

Moab trip pictures coming soon!

Confession

Confession: I am a blog stalker. I'm not creepy about it. I'm not obsessed with any one person, or family, I just think it is so interesting to get glimpses into people's lives. Even strangers. So there is this blog I love to read written by a dress maker, and her dresses are amazing. She pretty much has my dream job of making wedding dresses. I would some day like to ask this woman some questions but I wonder if it would freak her out that a stranger is looking at her blog and commenting. I think I would like to know if some one I didn't know was reading my blog on a regular basis. It might startle me at first but I'd love to hear what people have to say.

Fish

The girls got their fish Saturday and they couldn't have been happier.

As much as I don't love having fish, these smiles make it worth it.

Bri released the fish.

Watching them swim.

We ended up getting fish called Platys. The girls were sold once the lady at the store pointed out that they have a Micky Mouse shaped marking on their tails.

Carly got white fish and Bri got red fish. 2 each. Bri named her Micky and Minnie and Carly named hers Donald and Daisy.

They love to sit and watch them hide in the castle and the plants. They have even marked the calendar so they know who feeds them every day.

I have a feeling they are going to spend many many hours just like this.

Easter

I love Easter time! The eggs, the dresses, the candy, it's all so much fun. We had lots of fun this weekend.

We dyed some eggs

With our cousin Atty

And of course the Easter Bunny hopped on by.

The bunny like s to hide our baskets and leave a trail of eggs for the girls to follow.

He left the girls some books and games and clothes

And they each got a zhu-zhu pet.

They had lot of fun.

We had brunch at my brothers and of course had an egg hunt.

Checking out their haul.

Picture with Grandma. Little Jack took a tumble yesterday and had to get stitches, he's still pretty darn cute.

We had a great day with family.

We also got fish this weekend. I'll post about them later.

Tanked

I've blogged recently about our struggle with keeping rooms clean. So in a last ditch effort to get the girls to clean their rooms we resorted to bribery. We (Jon) promised the girls that if they could keep their rooms clean for one month they would get a fish tank. They have always wanted a pet, I'm not a animal person, so I was secretly hoping that they wouldn't do it. But, since daddy wanted the fish more than either of the girls he made it happen. They have been marking off the days on their calendars counting down the days and have done a really good job of keeping thing cleaned up, with very little help from me. Honestly the fish tank has been a better bribe than Santa.

They aren't excited at all.

Starting to fill the tank.

Bri the big helper.

We have to wait a few days for the water to balance the ph and such.

Stay tuned for the fish, coming Saturday.

Rainbow cupcakes and other things that make me happy

So I feel like me posts have been a bit lame and depressing lately, so today I give you a post that is lame and happy!
We got invited to have dinner with some friends on St. Patrick's day. We were asked to bring desert and this is what we came up with.

These rainbow cupcakes were really fun to do and the kids love them. They would be fun for Easter too.

And who doesn't love a good cupcake.

I also got to spend several hours a the fabric store picking out fabrics for some quilts I've been hired to do.

And of course the thing that makes me most happy,besides my Honey, my girls. And they are wearing cute new matching outfits that I made for them.

Happy Spring!

Bedtime

I would love it if the last thing my children heard from me before drifting of to sleep every night was my sweet voice lovingly professing my love for them then wishing them sweet dreams.
But in reality the last thing they usually hear is my schrill scream as I yell at them to just get in bed and go to sleep!
I hate bedtime.
We try to get them to bed at a reasonable time, but it seems that no matter how early we start the routine, we are still trying to convince them to go to sleep at 10 at night. We usually start things out around 8 but with the multiple drinks and snacks, the stories and daddy's special song, otherwise known as Daddy Hum Hum, it's at least 9 before we are done, then we spend another hour or more as they come down and ask for another drink and another snack, potty, and and another round of Daddy Hum Hum before we finally get them to sleep.
Now there is a little miracle pill called melatonin which I am not ashamed to say that we give them from time to time. But I don't like giving it to them every night.
I just wish it wasn't such a battle.
So I'm wondering, what time do you put your kids to bed and is it always a battle?

What a weekend.

Our weekend got off to a bad start and kept getting worse. Thursday Carly the girl with the iron immune system (Seriously the kid lick every railing in Disneyland and didn't get sick) caught a cold. She had the worst hacking cough. Then Friday morning Bri woke up with flu like symptoms. So we spent the day on the couch which was no fun for Willow, Bri's riding teacher's daughter who we were tending. Late in the day we got a call from Bri's riding teacher who had very bad news. Jewels, the horse who took Bri on her wild ride, had gotten colic and had to be put down. So we drove Willow home and Bri went down to see Jewels and took a moment to say good bye. She asked me on the way home if horses go to heaven. I told her that heaven wouldn't be heaven for people like her if there were no horses. Bri was looking forward to riding Jewels again and she will really be missed.

Jewels

We spent the evening camped out on the couch and about 9 we got a call from Jon's dad telling us that his mom had been admitted to the hospital with an irregular heart beat. She is doing fine now and came how this afternoon but she certainly gave us a scare.

Saturday was a bit better as the girls both felt better but it was your typical Saturday running around and not really getting anything done.

Early Sunday morning (2am) Carly came in complaining of an earache She was up most of the rest of the night. We finally got to sleep just it time for the alarm to wake me. I had to be up early to get the weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. My friend Sheila made her debut with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love watching it every week but have never been to a live broadcast so I was so happy for the chance to go support my friend.

Sheila is in the gray coat in the middle. It was a really great experience and I was so happy to be include.

Now I'm going to try to get a nap in before I have to finish dinner to bring to my in-laws.

Sewing ever sewing......

I have been sewing a lot lately. If you want to see all the stuff I've been working on, head on over to my Sewing Blog. But here are two of my favorite projects.

Some sassy outfits for some sassy girls.

And a baby quilt that doesn't have a home yet.