Valentine's to Presidence Day!

I love Valentine's Day...
this is the best tradition...YUMMY!
I shouldn't give in but I let PR have a taste of a peep...she didn't get to eat that whole thing, but I did give her a taste.
PG enjoyed his Valentine chocolate...
So did Miss PD! (Silly Girl)
later through the week, PG sat down at the piano and put his fingers on the keys and was "playing" the piano...Maybe it is getting to be time to start really working on real playing. :o)
It was a HUGE week for Miss Roo...She is now sitting at the table with everyone else and she won't eat baby food anymore....but she loves to get her hands into that can of "lil crunchies"!!! She also got her first tooth on Saturday (19th). it has been a LONG time coming but it finally did! Hallelujah!

and she is finally taking the plunge right before FHE last week she stood up in the middle of the floor and took 7-8 steps to me! We have a starting walker at our house. I will try to get a video and post it soon. :o)
We gave Aunt Manda a break and hung out with the cousins! 3 sets of twins is kind of fun when they get along as well as these sillies do! :o) 2 little princesses!
2 little men and a bucket of parts!
That brings us to today. It was a day off with Daddy...So we took a day of FHE instead of a normal evening. We checked out the conference Center, to see where the prophet talks to us!
after the auditorium tour we checked out the Book of Mormon Pictures and talked about all those really cool prophets! :o) We also checked out the Church History Museum too. It was a fun day...to be topped off with...
dinner out! Look at that silly Girl!!
and that one!
who can resist ice cream?? :o)

our little vacation - day 1 and 2

KJ's work has a condo in St. George (and one in Bear Lake that we have gone to before) and we decided to go south this time. We picked Feb. to get out of the cold. It was nice, the drive was a little long but not too bad. The kids did really well with it. We got in in the evening so we unpacked ate dinner and went swimming then off to bed.
Day 2 was Tuesday and we went on an adventure. ...
we had a coupon for 2 free admissions to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum, so we went and checked it out....
LOTS of taxidermied animals.. it was a little bit lame but a little cool...I am just glad I didn't have to pay a lot to get in. Here is a overview of the animals....
here are the un-taxidermied animals...you should watch out for these guys...they bite!
Me and My babies! :o) (with the camel)
It had a little kids area that they could do puzzles and play camping (it had a tent, a junglegym with netting on it to make a fort, a bunch of supplies for "cooking" with. and a few animals that you could touch. PD liked the puzzles...
They all like to climb...notice Miss Roo too!
She is one "COOL DUDETTE"!!
AAAHHHH it's a bear!
OK, that is over now...whew!
HEre a few shots of us hanging out and chillin' at the condo.
The kids like the playground - BIG surprise!and the company has bikes in the garage for the families to use. they like that too. "
There are my big kids...they are so cute and We all had such a great time!

little vacation - day 3

this was day 3 - lots of driving and site seeing....
wednesday we started with the temple. We spent time in the Visitors center and around the grounds and talking to missionaries.
this kids did AMAZING! When we were busy they would find things to do that were acceptable, like this - they were playing "work" PG worked on the computer and PD wrote notes laying on the floor.
this is such a cute pic, too bad PR was covering her face with my sunglasses. :o)
I like artistic views. :o) I love the temple!

after the temple and a little lunch, we drove to Pine Valley and saw the "Upsidedown Boat church" aka the "Pine Valley Chapel" It is the oldest LDS church still in use. We didn't get to take a tour because in the winter they only do tours on Sunday but we drove up there to see it anyway...it was a pretty drive. The church was built by a man that built boats so he made the hull of the ship and flipped it up side down and made it the roof. then constructed the walls on the ground and then tethered them into the roof. It is still safe and they use it every week still.
on the way back to St George from Pine Valley we stopped at a look out for Snow Canyon. It was pretty and we had fun taking pics and climbing on the rocks.
this is me and my sweetie!
"the ponderer"
PG and I climbing around having a good time.
King of the hill? I don't know why KJ looks so grumpy in this pic but he really wasn't...
Then we went to the Brigham Young Winter Home. and did the tour there.
the hat on the bed was actually worn by the Prophet. I think that is so neat.
PD makes the house look so much more inviting! :o) Cute Girl!
then our last stop was the Jacob Hamblin Home. We had to wait a little bit for a tour so the kids ran around and played in the dirt and rocks until it was time to settle down and go in. They did REALLY good with this, they played when it was time and were well behaved on the tours...it was really nice!
PR was trying to be a part of the tour! :o)
Jacob kept the chairs backwards around the table so that when the family gathered for dinner they would kneel and pray before dinner. It is a cool idea, but I don't think it would work well in my small kitchen, I would stub my toe all the time. :(
This was the large upper room ..it was HUGE for that time period, but he had like 12 kids living there at a time....
we did some hanging out and swimming but that was pretty much our day 3.

little vaction- day 4 and 5...

on thursday we went and checked out Zions National Park...
We ended up seeing most of what there was to see we took a few short hikes until the paths closed due to ice. It was a little on the chilly side but it was blue skies and sunshine and BEAUTIFUL!!!
We drove to the end of the road and took the Temple of Sinawava hike - or the Riverside walk.
We played by the water for a little bit and checked out the grandeur of God's creations.
This is looking straight up the side of the cliff...I LOVE this pic!
our family on the trail...the kids did AWESOME...PG walked the whole time with NO complaining. (we did 2, 1-ish mile hikes .5miles each way...) PD walked 3/4 of the 1st hike and notice the skirt..she got cold and tired..she liked the stroller for the second hike.
water and sticks, what more can a kid ask for?
Grandma and Papa came down to stay with us, and the kids LOVED having them! We all did. :o)
Climbing on the rocks right before we went back to the car for lunch.
This is when we "hied to Kolob" this is how we ended our day but hey, this is where the pic put itself. so enjoy! :o)
This was the second hike, we hiked the lower emerald pool and waterfall trail. It was really pretty, just like this little girl!
this was the tiny bit of the emerald pool that wasn't frozen, it made a pretty reflection. I bet it would be prettier in the summer or Spring!
there's my boys! sitting on a holey wall. I love this pic!!
here is me and PR at the red holey wall.
G-ma and Papa on the bridge with sleeping PD in the stroller.
and here is PG after he climbed through a drain pipe. He seems to be growing up so much, and I can't keep up! :o)
Friday we drove home with a little stop in Provo to see the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. It was nice to have a little vacation and it was nice to come home! :o)