Backpacking Videos

Here are a couple of videos we took on the backpacking trip. We didn't video as much as we should have but here it is.

One video is of Campsite 1 where we stayed the last night. The second video is when we are all crossing he river at the end of the hike.

Dance Rehearsal

Courtney has a dance recital tonight and an obligatory dance rehearsal this afternoon. Since this has been a crazy week she didn't go to dance class and she wasn't too keen on her costume either...it's itchy! So this morning I had to sew some nude material in the straps so it wouldn't itch and then I made her a tube top to put around her belly so the seams wouldn't scratch her. I also had to make a hair bow (which I melted because the iron was too hot and I didn't notice) and do her hair a certain way. It was crazy because with all that, I was trying to unpack from the backpacking trip, get things cleaned out and do laundry. Whoa!

But I did it and she got a great nap, got up, had her hair done without fussing, got dressed in her "wonderfully comfortable" costume and went to rehearsal with her friends. She was ready and waiting outside for them to show up and kept dancing around.

Now, hopefully it will all work tonight. Ethan has little league practice at 5:30 and Courtney has to be at the auditorium at 6, so we'll see how it all goes. I'll post video, if we get some, later.

Backpacking in Zion

When we returned home from Provo, we put the kids to bed and Bryan and I began packing for our backpacking trip. We didn't do too much on Sunday night because we knew we had time on Monday.

Monday morning we frantically got things going. I had to get things ready for Grandma Pack to take the kids for 3 days and I had to get myself packed. Bryan had to get all the food, pack himself and then teach me how to pack a backpack. (Note: In my family, we hike 22 miles in one day so we DON'T HAVE to sleep on the ground. In Bryan's family, they hike 1 mile in one day so they DO HAVE to sleep on the ground.)

Grandma, Grandma, Uncle David and Uncle Andrew finally arrived and, after some last minute packing, we were off. Now, we had originally planned on driving to the trail head of Lava Point. The ranger told us that the road was closed, so Bryan hurriedly found another trail that would meet up with the Lava Point trail but it was going to add about 5 miles to our first day hike. We were already starting late so we weren't excited about that. When we drove up there we didn't see the "3 feet of snow" the ranger had said was there so we kept on driving. At the turn off to go the final couple of miles to the trailhead, the mud and snow stopped us. So we started off a few miles from the trailhead, but less than it would have been if we had taken the alternate trail.

We hiked in snow and mud until we reached camp. We ate dinner, had FHE and went to bed. It was cold and windy, but it wasn't too bad.

Morning came and we ate breakfast, broke camp and were back on the trail. Tuesday was our long day and I was ready for it. We hiked a few hours, took a break for lunch and to filter water and then went on. It was A LOT of uphill and really windy! We had originally planned to stop at Campsite 4. When we reached it we were tired and ready to be there, but since the fires had burned down all the trees and bushes a few years ago, there wasn't any protection from the wind and we were 1 1/2 miles (I think) from water. So after a break, we pressed on until we arrived at Campsite 1. (We didn't have this one reserved so we just had to chance it that no one would be there.)

We filtered water, rested our feet, napped, watched deer (which were a little too friendly for my liking) and then ate dinner. After sharing our original and creative verses to the "We are the Mountain Men" song, we went to bed. I was so tired and fell asleep immediately!

The next morning I was stiff and sore but ready to finish hiking. We ate breakfast, broke camp and started on our last day. I had been up the West Rim trail from the Angel's Landing side, so I had seen this hike from the other direction and started to recognize places I was hiking. We encountered a bit more snow and had to hike through it, but it wasn't bad.

We met a ranger near Scout's Lookout and then we hiked down and took a break. From Angel's Landing to the Grotto wasn't a bad hike but it's all downhill and tough on the toes. But I was so happy to finish. It was a great trip and fun, but it certainly is nice to have a flush toilet again! ;)

A HUGE thanks for Grandma Pack for taking care of Ethan and Courtney while we were gone. She came with a bag full of tricks and they LOVED IT!!

Here are some photos. Dad and Andrew took a bunch too that I'll post when I get them.

Baby Carter's Blessing

After we unloaded from camping and loaded again, we drove to Provo to Lisa's birthday and Carter's baby blessing. It was fun. I made a birthday cake for Lisa and a baby cake for Carter. We got to Provo in time to hang out for a bit with the family. Courtney wanted to immediately hold Carter and you almost couldn't find her behind him! Everyone else took photos of that so I'll post some when I get some. Then we ate Lisa's yummy birthday dinner at Brickoven Pizza. We went back to Lisa and Mike's apartment for cake and ice cream and so our kids could beat up and insult their relatives (sorry Mike about the "icky smile" comment, we're working on Courtney's manners) ;) Courtney kept everyone entertained while Ethan played with Uncle David's "game ipod." Then we went to our hotel for sleep.

The next morning the kids woke up REALLY EARLY and so we ate breakfast, got ready and then went to Church. Ethan and Courtney were so excited to go to Primary in another ward, so we stayed for all three hours of meetings. Courtney didn't want to leave Ethan's side so she went to CTR 7 with him. It was a pretty small Primary so it wasn't a problem.

Then we ate a yummy dinner prepared by Mom and Lisa, changed clothes and drove back home. Oh, did I mention that it rained/snowed most of the time we were in Provo? Yup, the ride home was no different. But it was great to see everyone and have some fun. Courtney and Ethan ADORE Carter and couldn't get enough of him.

Our Campout

We try to go camping once each month during the warmer months and Friday/Saturday was our first campout of the year! We had this campout planned for months and had made reservations at our favorite camp spot in Snow Canyon. Bryan came home from work a little early and we set off for camp. It's only about 5-7 minutes from our house so it wasn't a bad trip (no time to ask "are we there yet?"). We set up camp, ate dinner and then began exploring around. Ethan heard someone call his name and found a friend from school that was also camping there. So we had a campfull of kids playing and running around.

After a while we went on a short walk and then we went to the field to play some baseball and a game of "pickle." We had a lot of fun. Then it was time for stories and time to turn in.

There were A LOT of people camping in the overflow camping that night and they were SOOOO loud. It was pretty hard to get some sleep, but we finally managed. In the morning we had breakfast and then ran home to unload the car, reload it for our trip to Provo, and then we were off for our next adventure!

The Homerun Ball!

Ethan had a great little league game last night. It started at 8 p.m., which was WAY past bedtime. We all went to the game but I ended up bringing Courtney home after 10 minutes because she was just too tired. And I missed all the action. Ethan was first up to bat and he hit a homerun!!! It was a ground ball that went almost all the way to the fence. He ran to second base and stopped, but everyone began yelling to him to run home, so he rounded the rest of the bases. He was so excited. His coach gave him the ball that he hit his home run with and he brought it home. He got a sharpie and wrote his name on the ball and that he used that ball to hit his first home run. He even took a shower with the ball (which is nice and clean now) and slept with it last night. Ethan told Bryan, "I love playing baseball." What an exciting night!!! He even had me take a photo of him with his ball.

Courtney's Nap

Courtney has been taking MONSTER naps lately. But today she just didn't want to go down. She kept coming out with a "question" to ask me or to go to the bathroom (a bladder is only so big). Finally she asked me if she could sleep under her bed. I was desperate, so I said "YES!" I went in an hour later to check on her and this is what I saw:



Look closely, she's under there.

Courtney Posing

Courtney wanted me to do her hair "cute" on Sunday. So we put it up and had ribbons in it and then she put on her Easter dress and felt "oh, so pretty." I thought that was it until she told me to grab the camera and follow her. Apparently she had such a wonderful time taking dance pictures last week that she decided she wanted to have her photo taken a few more times. So we went outside to take pictures and these are what we got. She put herself in the poses, I will take none of the credit ;)

Little League

I put together a slide show of Ethan in action...what action there is in Little League. On Saturday, he was playing 3rd base and then had two pretty good hits. It was a fun time but a bit confusing because both teams were dressed in blue shirts. Ethan is #10 and he knows which way to run and where the bases are. But it is entertaining when a little guy misses a base and just keeps on running even when he's out. Little Leaguers are great kids.

Latest Wedding Cake

Here is a photo of the latest wedding cake. It was a 6 inch carrot cake (something I will NEVER eat again) stacked on a 10 inch carrot cake. It's kind of an incomplete photo because the bride wasn't there and we didn't have the cake topper and didn't know where she wanted the flowers put. But here it is. It turned out well. I'm a perfectionist and really hard on myself, so it's not perfect, like I would want it to be. But it looks great!

Drivers!!!

This week has been Spring Break for a lot of people so we have had a lot of extra drivers around town. I don't normally notice all the extra drivers except during the Huntsman Senior Games in the Fall, but this week has been different.

Yesterday we were on our way back from piano lessons and I exited the freeway at Bluff. I had to turn left to go to Ivins and there was a car in front of me that really looked lost and kept switching lanes. I was stopped at the light and the women in the car next to me (the lost car) motioned for me to roll down my window. They asked if this was the exit for Red Mountain Spa. I told them it was and they asked me for directions.

Now, there are a few places in the St. George area that, if you aren't paying attention, are tricky and you could very easily end up back in Vegas. One of those places is on Bluff when you get to Sunset. In order to go to Ivins across Sunset, there is a dedicated right lane so you don't have to stop at the light and you can't go straight in any other lane. But there are a lot of near accidents at the intersection because people don't realize they can't continue straight in any lane other than the right. So they try to veer over to the right without looking and it's a mess.

I nicely told these women that they needed to turn left onto Bluff and then stay in the right hand lane through Sunset and then turn left at Snow Canyon Parkway. From there it is really easy to find the Spa. I repeated again that they needed to stay in the right lane until they passed Sunset or they would get lost. They nodded, rolled up their window and went their way.

When we got close to Sunset I noticed them up ahead, still in the left lane. I knew what was going to happen...and it did. Suddenly they sped up, veered to the right, almost hit a couple of cars who had to slam on their breaks and swerve to miss the women and then they ran through the red light at the left turn onto Snow Canyon!!! I about died!

So if anyone knows two middle-aged CRAZY women driving a white rental car trying to find Red Mountain spa, tell them to listen to directions next time!!

Funny Courtney

Courtney always goes outside to be with the bus stop kids before they load on the bus. They usually play tag but this morning they played karate, or something like that. I was inside cleaning up and I could hear Courtney outside making funny noises. After the bus left, she came inside and began waving her arms around and saying "hi-ya!" It was so funny that I just had to video tape it!

I'm pretty sure she would be safe if anyone ever attacked her because they would either die laughing or realize that she is just too much for them! ;)

Easter Sunday

I made Courtney a new Easter dress. I made Ethan a new tie from one of Bryan's old ones and then bought him a new shirt and Church pants to go with it. The Easter Bunny isn't much in our house so they only got a little box of chocolates each (plus a Easter treat from Grandma Pack), but they loved their clothes.

I got them all ready, took their picture and then Ethan began to complain of a stomach ache. He ended up staying home from Church (too much candy made him pretty sick!) but Courtney went and showed everyone her new dress.

Courtney's Dance Recital

How well do I know my daughter? Well enough to know that I had to take pictures during the practice because she probably wasn't going to get back on stage for the performance. So I have a slide show of the practice, but you'll get the idea.

Courtney and I ran to downtown St. George to Heritage Square for her dance recital. It was at an outdoor stage and it was cold and rainy. I hadn't thought about this when we left so I didn't even grab her a coat. We had to run to the dance studio to pick up her costume and then we drove quick to the Square, got her dressed in a bathroom and lined up for practice. But it was so cold!! Here she was in this little tutu costume and tights...and freezing!

I put her in my coat with me to get her warm but she wasn't too happy. She wanted "daddy!" in the worst way and he wasn't there yet. When it was her group's turn to get on stage for the run-through, she went up without a problem because she was wearing my coat and it wasn't raining too badly.

Bryan and Ethan arrived, along with my parents, and I started taking pictures knowing that she probably was going to freeze and refuse to get up on the stage. And I was right. I took her up when it was their turn at the performance and, when I told her I had to take the coat, she began to scream and cry. So she ended up sitting on Bryan's lap watching her friends. She thought they did "great!" Bryan took video of the dance, so it you want to see Courtney's friends dance, let me know. You can see what her costume looks like because the other girls aren't wearing such large coats.

After the recital, Courtney's dance teacher told her that they would never make her dance in a recital if she didn't want to. But Courtney told her that in a couple of weeks when the recital is indoors, she will be happy to dance. So maybe we'll get a video of her then!

(Bryan can't wait for soccer season to start!)

Special Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood has a big Easter Egg Hunt every year. It's been so much fun because every family is responsible for filling eggs (12 eggs per child they will have attending from their family), delivering them to the organizers and then bringing either juice or muffins the morning of the hunt. Courtney had a surprise dance recital come up that was going to be at the same time as the egg hunt, so she decided to have her own hunt in our backyard early Saturday morning instead. Ethan was going to hide the eggs for her, but it was really cold, so he had me do it. I had one huge purple egg for Ethan to hide so he wouldn't feel bad and then 12 eggs for Courtney.

I hid the eggs on the patio since it had rained the night before and the lawn was soaked. Then we let them go. Courtney loved it and Ethan had fun finding his one egg. We hadn't put much candy in her eggs, but she still had fun finding out what was inside them.

Ethan and Bryan stayed home when Courtney and I went to the dance recital rehearsal and went to the neighborhood hunt and said that it was over really fast since all the kids were cold and it was wet. But Ethan had fun! I'll post picture of him later when I get them developed. It was so cold they didn't even take the usual neighborhood children group photo.

Ethan's Finished Room...kind of

I haven't hung anything on the walls yet (I still have to paint a shelf that Bryan made for Ethan's trophies) but the bed is back and the new bedspread is on the bed. Ethan walked in after school and said, "Oh baby, I'm home!" I thought that was 6-year-old talk for "Cool, thanks Mom for all your hard work. I'll try to keep it clean for as long as possible." I can dream, can't I?!

Ethan's First Game!

Ethan had his first little league game on Thursday and he did great! He started on first base and made a couple of impressive stops. He was hitting really nicely also. It was coach pitch and every player gets to hit the ball before they switch positions, so in an hour there were only 2 innings. The second inning Ethan was in left field and he liked it. His second time at bat he his a long drive to left field that he could have gotten to second base on, but they are just learning where the bases are so he stopped at first. It was fun to watch him and he had a great time. The dugout was kind of like a cage full of monkeys with little boys bouncing all over and jumping off the benches, but they enjoyed themselves.

Ethan's Room

Ethan has been after me since we moved into our house (2 1/2 years ago) to paint his room. I have wanted to but couldn't find the right comforter. When I finally found one that both of us liked, I procastinated getting paint. I don't know why. On Wednesday I got a "bee in my bonnet" and went to Home Depot armed with a pillowsham to get paint. They matched the two colors in the pillowsham Ethan had chosen, mixed the paint and then I was on my way.

Courtney and I pulled everything out of Ethan's room that we could, taped the walls and started to paint. I gave her a small brush and she started to help me. She painted a whale and a fox that was going to eat her. It really was just a bunch of circles, but it kept her busy. I'm not the best painter because I'm usually not patient, but I finally figured out how to paint doing his room. For me, I need a small (5 inch) sponge roller and then I load it up with as much paint as I can. Wednesday I finished "Phase 1" of his paint job which was the base color of the walls...bright blue. The only complaint I have is that I painted on Wednesday. I firmly believe that Satan knows when Bryan has mutual and intentionally reeks havoc on my house that day because he knows Bryan has to leave and I just have to deal with it. Things always go wrong on Wednesdays and last Wednesday was no exception.

With his room full of paint fumes, we decided to have Ethan sleep with Courtney in her room. Bryan put Ethan's mattress on Courtney's floor and, of course, we had to put Courtney's mattress on the floor next to Ethan's. They actually did really well sleeping in the same room.

Thursday morning Courtney and I went to the store to buy more painters tape. Friends and family have tried and tried to explain to me how to paint without taping but it never works for me. I must just be paint challenged. But Ethan wanted a top border (he even specified the size) and I wanted it to look crisp and nice. One friend told me about a technic her friend taught her (the friend is a professional painter) where you use calking. I decided to try it. I spent the morning before the preschool field trip taping and calking the walls (you put up the tape and then run a small bead of clear calking at the top of the tape where the paint will touch and then wipe it into the tape with a wet washcloth, sealing the edge of the tape so paint won't seep under it). When we returned, I started on Phase 2: the dark green border. It actually went really fast, I was surprised. I saved a 1 foot section for Ethan to paint after school and he loved it!

Ethan decided he wants white stars stenciled in the dark green but I'm going to do that later. Tomorrow I'll put his room back together, buy curtains and then take a finished (kind of) picture. I think it turned out well. Ethan has the exact colors he wanted and is really happy with his new room. He said he feels "really special" that we painted it. ;)

Sand Dunes

Today we went on a preschool field trip to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon State Park. Ethan went there on a field trip last Tuesday and prepped Courtney for all the fun she was going to have. Snow Canyon is only about 5 minutes from our house so it was nice. We got there, bought a year pass so we can play a lot and then met up with everyone at the parking lot of the sand dunes. It was quite a walk to get to a secluded spot, especially when I had to carry Courtney part of the way, but it was worth it. The weather was perfect for sitting in chairs and letting the kids play in the sand. They rolled around, made paths down the dunes for balls to roll on and just had fun. We had snacks, talked and then after 1 1/2 hours, decided it was time to go. Courtney loved it and, now that we have a year pass, we'll be going back quite a bit.

Here are some photos:

Baseball Boy

Ethan has just been LOVING baseball, much to Bryan's pleasure! It's funny because during soccer season it's always the MOMS who take their boys to practice. But when it's baseball season it's the DADS who take off work early and get the boys to practice. UMMM.... Anyway, I love it. Yesterday we went to the park and Ethan hit balls off the tee. He is a left hander but hits right and left, so we are working on getting both arms strong enough that he can be an effective switch-hitter.

When we were living in San Diego and Ethan was only a month old, we went to a baseball game there. Ethan wasn't enjoying all the noise so I took him out to the tunnel to hold him and still watch the game. A man came up to me, smiled at me and commented that we were "starting him off right." He told me that if I could get Ethan into baseball, make him a left handed pitcher and get him to switch hit, the man could make Ethan millions. How funny!

Before practice on Saturday (between Conference sessions) Ethan wanted to pose for some photos, which I thought was cute. Here they are:

Love/Hate Relationship

I have a love/hate relationship with my self-cleaning oven. On the one hand, it saves me a lot of work. But on the other, it smells up my house and heats up my kitchen.

Last Sunday I was experimenting with a new carrot cake recipe (I have a wedding cake this month that is a carrot cake, so I thought I should practice). I made the recipe, added a cake extender, poured the batter in a 9x13 pan and put it in the oven. No problem. When the buzzer rang after 30 minutes and I turned on the light in the oven, I froze. The cake had not only overflowed all over the oven, but there was a small little fire happening in my oven. I was talking on the phone and Ethan happened to come in the kitchen right then, saw the fire, began to scream for 911 and went running out the front door. He ran right into Bryan who was coming home from a meeting. I shut the oven door, grabbed some baking soda, opened the oven door and proceeded to dump baking soda on the fire all while still carrying on a conversation on the phone. Bryan just stood there looking at me like I was crazy. I was totally in control!

Anyway, it left a huge mess in my oven. Once it cooled, I cleaned up the charred remains of the spillage and surveyed the damage. I decided I needed to self-clean the oven. But I just hate the smell and the heat that comes from it so I procrastinated. Finally, this morning I did it. It took 4 hours, but you can see the difference.

Before:

After:


Modern conveniences are great!! Lessons learned: 1) don't add an extender to a cake mix that already fills a 9x13 pan, it will always overflow!; 2) talk to children once again about fire safety, both of them are terrified of fires and tend to overreact; and 3) put down the phone while fighting an oven fire if husband is looking on, he may think your nuts!

What was that?

Courtney decided the other day that she has "face cheeks" and she has "bum cheeks" so why can't she have "leg cheeks?" She was riding a horsie on my leg and put her hand on my calf. She turned and said, "Mom, you have pricklies on your leg cheeks." I just started to laugh because a) yes, my legs were prickly and b) I had never heard a calf called a "leg cheek" before. I thought it was funny! I asked her if she had leg cheeks too and she showed me her calf and said, "they're cute." Let's hope she always thinks her legs are cute!

Really UGLY Cake

I helped with Mutual tonight by teaching the Beehives how to decorate cakes. Bryan took Ethan and Courtney with him and the Priests as they did their activity.

I made 6 little 6 inch cakes and then had them split into groups of 2 (there were 11 girls there). I had taken a 9x13 cake for me to use as a demonstration cake so they could see how things were done. At the end of the night they had made some really cute cakes. I was very impressed by how much these girls could do and how creative they were. They split each cake in 2 so they could each take some home. When we were cleaning up a few girls noticed my sad looking demonstration cake and thought it needed something "more." This is what it ended up looking like:



They all had a pretty good laugh using all the left over frosting to make their "masterpiece." Ethan loves the frosting and Courtney loves the cake, so this should disappear pretty quickly! It was a fun night!

Price Matching

I have to laugh at websites who "price match if you can find it ANYWHERE on the web cheaper than we have it!" I always wonder how many times someone calls them on it. I have done it a few times and the companies have always been cool about matching another's price.

Today I was looking for candles for an activity we will have at girl's camp and found one website where they were $15 for 48 candles. After a quick search I found another website had the exact same candles for $14 for 72 candles. I called both companies and found out shipping prices and then mentioned to the more expensive company (who had cheaper shipping costs) that I had found the same candles on another website and asked if they would price match. The woman told me I would have to email proof to them and then call them back and they would "discuss it."

I emailed her a link to the other website and explained that the competitor's candles were only $0.20 per candle and so I would only pay $9.60 for their box of 48 candles and then the additional for shipping. I called them back to see what they thought and, after being on hold for 5 minutes, they agreed to price match it. She was really nice about it and I got a good deal on some nice candles for camp!

And to answer your question, yes I did look around St. George and couldn't get the same candles for that price, so I think I got a good deal. ;)