The new sandbox

Michael loves sandboxes, so I mentioned to Johnn one night that we should make a sandbox in our backyard. The next night when I got home from work, Johnn was out building this great sandbox. It's so great being married to such a handyman. Michael loves his "box" & has spent many hours in it the last couple months (shows I'm a little behind blogging, as usual).

The sandbox is 4 x 8 feet. I can easily fit in it... with the lid closed that would be a little scary, and way too much like being in a coffin. No thanks. But, I told Johnn not to be surprised when it gets hot this summer to see me out there laying out in the sandbox with my beach towel & a pina colada in my hand. I might need to go by a coconut cup & a little umbrella to go in it to complete the scene. But this is Utah, it's about as close to a beach as I'm gonna get.

Easter/Conference Weekend in St. George

Easter egg hunt with the cousins.
Sorry for all of you that were snowed in on Easter.
Our weather was dreamy.

Dying Easter eggs

Swimming in the new pool.

Easter luncheon at Mike and Suzanne's house in Kayenta.

Our view from the balcony. Isn't it beautiful. I loved running every morning
with the fabulous scenery.
There are caves right behind us (shown below)
that you can hike to.
We just haven't found the trail head yet, as it is unmarked
and not official. But it is definitely on my To Do list.

The dining room. We were excited to get furniture in it so we didn't have to eat on a card table and folding chairs this time. I loved how it turned out. Now we just need wall decor.

Coolest lamps that my parents picked up in San Fran.

Love these.
We spent a lot of time shopping around town for decor
now that we have some furniture.

The cranes

More decor.

My Dad has gotten really involved in the decorating. We love it. Everything he picks out is an animal of some sort. He picked out a lot of great things,
such as the cranes and frog above....
but then there is "the cockroach".
Okay, so it's not really a cockroach.
It's a frog from TaiPan that looks more like a cockroach.
I wish I had a picture, but it's a little ugly.

"Mom, Buzz Stuck!"

Mikey was watching Toy Story a couple weeks ago,

and ran upstairs to get me saying,
"Mom, Buzz stuck"

I went downstairs to find this.

He used my laundry basket
(after dumping out all my neatly folded clean laundry...
serves me right for not putting it away quickly)
to capture his Buzz in it like Woody in the movie.

I though it was pretty clever.

Then he decided to have himself "stuck"

Love my funny little man.

And he definitely loves his Buzz.
Johnn bought him a Buzz on their fun boys Saturday
(while mom was at the bead show).
Michael has wanted one for a long time.

He loves Buzz. He goes everywhere with him
& even gets to sleep with him.

The only trouble...

Buzz is not as indestructible as he may appear.
The first night he had him, Buzz took a tumble off the kitchen counter
and his leg broke off at the knee.

Thanks to my "Mr. Fit It" hubby, we got his leg bolted back on.

However, within 2 hours of Buzz's recovery, he fell down our entire flight of stairs.
This time converting Buzz into the one-armed man.

So, after another minor operation, Johnn was able to get Buzz's arm bolted back on.
His mobility will never be very good with that arm,
but he should be happy to be alive
with a 2 1/2 year old for an owner.

I know I will sound old saying this,
but they sure don't make toys like they used to.

Miller shower for Nikee

One of the things that I love about our new house is having the space to be able to host fun things like this shower for my cousin Nikee. It was so great to be able to get together with the Miller side of the family since I rarely see them.

Grammy, Andrea, and Aunt Suzanne

Anna, Kate, Andrea, KJ, & Suzanne

Nancy and Nikee, our guest of honor. Doesn't she look fabulous? Hard to believe she's a few days from her due date.

"Broke" & Nats

Lisa & Jane

Silly Anna & Ellie

The cutest center piece!

Isn't this bunny mobile that Karol Jean made just the most adorable thing?

Grammy & Hailey

I love their faces in this one :)

Baby Showers for Mindy and Heather

These are the cupcakes that I made for Heather's shower. Don't you think they turned out cute? I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures from the shower, but it turned out really well. Angela had darling decorations and the cutest diaper cake.

Shower for Mindy

We were so glad that we were able to give Mindy and baby Rachel a shower while she was in town. I have to say that baby girl stuff is so cute.

Aunt Sue, Nats, "Broke", Nana, Nance, & Aunt Pat

Lisa, Anna, & Hailey

Nana's Birthday

We had a fun night celebrating Nana's birthday down in Provo. We had a presentation at the retirement home followed by cupcakes, then headed out for pizza.

Mikey is going through a phase where if he has a shirt or coat with a hood, he thinks he had to have it on.

Nance, Nana & Susie

Nana and Amy

Weekend getaway

The first weekend in March... and yes I am a little behind with this whole blogging thing...we had an adventure heading up to "The High Life" cabin. It was a short trip, lasting only 24 hours, but it was great to finally get up there this winter. Mikey and I drove the snow cat up while Johnn took a snowmobile. The powder was so deep that Johnn buried the snowmobile and the snow cat barely made it up the big hill. But with some digging out and towing, we did make it there safely. Johnn spend most of our time there fixing the snowmobile, but my Mr. Fix It was able to come through. I'm starting to think that if Johnn can't fix something than it can't be fixed. He's kinda like duck tape :)

Michael thinks the big truck (aka snow cat) is really fun. He makes great engine sounds while we were riding in it. If you have ever been in a snow cat, you know that they are anything but quiet.

It's a little deceptive how deep the snow was. I stepped out of the cat into the powder on the side and figured that I would sink down a little, but ended up in waist-deep snow.

We were able to accomplish our main goal of the trip and leave the snow cat up at the cabin, which meant that we also got to bring down one of the the 4-wheelers that were stuck out in the snow all winter. The cat packed our track pretty well, but there was no way that I could 4-wheel out in that much snow so Johnn towed me with the snow mobile while I gave it gas. I have never fishtailed so much in my life, and after one near tip over, we made it down safely. We always say that half the adventure of the cabin is getting there & getting back. I am proud to say that we have never turned around an headed home without reaching our destination. We have walked in from miles out when we forgot the key to the lower gate, crawled the last mile up the hill in the deep powder because it was too deep to walk in, gotten the car stuck in yucky mud and hoofed it with 6 inches of mud stuck to our shoes, and even been tracked by a mountain lion while snowshoeing up in the wee hours of the morning. Like I said, it's an adventure.

This is one of the 3 moose that we saw.