Quick trip to Utah

It has been way too long since we went to Utah: six months to be exact.  I'm pretty sure that is the longest I have ever been away.  Our trip was short but sweet and we got to see a lot of our family while we were there.  Loads of pictures to follow.

Miles posing like the bear at Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory 

Brothers sitting together getting ready for the plane to take off

At my mom's grave

At Avery's Gymnastics Exhibition.  Emily had a soccer game earlier that day that we all went to and it was fun to watch her play.  She also had her gymnastics exhibition that same day, but Miles needed a nap so we had to miss it.    

Miss Avery

Avery and her co-gymnasts

Gramps, Avery & myself 

Miles adoring Gramps -- I have pictures of Oliver doing the exact thing at this age

Hanging out with Gramps before he went to church, then we went to Aunt Rhea's.

All of our family that could come got together at Michele's house for dinner Sunday night.  It was super yummy and fun to hang out with our family.  Her is a serious family photo.

A fun family photo

Miles and Daddy drawing on the floor

Oliver, Emily & Avery in their own band

Layla enjoying the show

These two cute cousins are only seven weeks apart and they played more together this trip than ever before.  It was so cute watching them be more friendly!

The four youngest cousins.  Look at the cute squishy nose smiles on the babies.  :)

Oliver at Solitude showing us where he skied last winter

Gramps at Solitude -- see the snow in the background

My cute boys

Oliver showing us the lift he took and the slopes he used

Cute boys in my family

Oliver with the Link Lift he used to go up the mountain

Just like this mommy

Miles had to try too

Then the three of us

And finally the four of us

My baby sleeping in my arms for the first time in months.  I LOVED it!

My cute big boy wearing my sunglasses on the way home

Oliver's End of Year Performance

 I can hardly believe it is here again.  It seems like Oliver's end of year performance last year was just yesterday.  This is officially Oliver's last performance of preschool and he and I are both a little sad.  Let's hope there are many more to come in Elementary school.  Oliver's Argentina Class Performance was based on the Medillin Columbia Flower Festival.  The boys carried Silleteros on their backs and the girls handed out flowers as the walked in the Sanctuary.  Oliver even had a small speaking part which you can find in the video clip below.  Robynn, Tatia and Penny, joined Clayton, Miles and myself in watching the show and we were all very impressed.  Thanks for your support you three!  Oliver's teachers did a great job orchestrating the entire performance and all the students did amazing;  Especially Oliver in my eyes!  :)  After the show, our little family went to Carmine's Pizzeria for pizza and Oliver's best friend from school was there as well, so they had a lot of fun playing together on their little unplanned play date.  The last picture is of the two of them driving cars together.

Oliver & Hollis

Oliver & Miles

Oliver's class before the performance

Oliver and Maddie

Oliver's speaking part video is above.  Click the arrow to play.

Oliver with Robynn after the performance

Oliver with Penny & Tatia after the performance

Driving cars with Maddie at Carmine's Pizzeria

The best bath EVER!

We have had a great time preparing for St. Patrick's Day this past week. We have made paper bag puppet leprechauns, we have painted rainbows, made naturally green spinach muffins (yummy recipe here), made hand print rainbows, colored leprechaun pictures and had so much fun, but it was all culminated in tonight's bath, aka, "the best bath ever" according to Oliver. How, might you ask, did I achieve the status of giving the "best bath ever"? Easy, I found it on someones blog and followed directions. You can find a link to her blog post here, her rainbow is much better than mine...I'll admit it.

It started out with these washable liquid water colors that I diluted with water and placed in spray bottles.

Next I filled our bathtub with various St. Patrick's Day treasures, coins, bead necklaces, big sunglasses from the dollar store and lots and lots of bubbles. Then, I spray painted the rainbow. The trigger on my green bottle was not cooperative, but it still turned out cute!

just check out how happy they were and this is 30 minutes into the bath just before we emptied the tub and refilled with clean water...they both loved it!

Here are some other fun pictures from the week:

our leprechaun found all their green toys and played with them, colored pictures and hid his gold in the play things

He even dressed up Miles' favorite toy, Gymbo, in green attire and adorned him with gold (candy) filled socks.

Miles with his leprechaun -- this is too long of a craft for a 20 month old.

but perfect for a five year old!

I think this is my favorite craft for the week. It was a very quick craft for them, not so quick for me. I traced their hand prints and then cut it out of six different colors of card stock for them to glue together and make a rainbow. So cute!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)