Zion Fun

As I mentioned before, we took advantage of free entry into Zion National Park on Friday. We had a few hiccups before we left, like sleeping in and buying a new battery because the car wouldn't start, but we finally made it out of here and were able to meet up with the others (Heather, Chris, McKade, Maycie, and Kaden) at about lunch time. The rest of the day was carefree. 

I tried to put sunscreen on Ethan's head, but of course most of it stayed in his hair. I couldn't resist doing a little mohawk for a minute and showing him in a mirror. :)

 Ethan started out riding on Daddy's back. (btw he says "daddy" loud and clear now.)

 Here's a picture of our crew spread along the trail.

 Kaden boy was quite tired, and he fell asleep pretty soon after we wrapped him on McKade's back. His head looked so awkward, but every time we tried to help him to a more comfortable position, he would wake up. Eventually he settled in better.

 Ethan rode on my back for  most of the ascending trip. Oh, we did the Emerald Pools hike. I forgot to mention that.

 Because there was water pretty much along the whole hike, and "water" is currently Ethan's favorite word, I think we heard it about 500 times. I never get tired of it though. He changes his inflection a lot, and sometimes he really draws out the first syllable. Super cute. Anyway, you can hear him say it in this video. Make sure to watch it till the very end. ;) It makes me giggle.

I had everyone gather for a group shot. It was just a quick thing, and I was trying to not get the people next to the group in the picture. When I got home and looked at the result, I laughed out loud. Poor Chris grew some Shrek ears. :D

 When we got to the middle pools, we took a leisurely break. We ate snacks and let the boys play with sticks, rocks, and water. They had a blast.

 Terral made Ethan his first pair of Unshoes the night before we left, but because Mr. Wiggly made it hard to get accurate tracings, they turned out a little big. I think they are super cute, though! They just need some tweaking to make them more functional.

 Here's Maycie hanging out on our snack rock.

 Ethan loved this little waterfall. You can see how his toes slipped out of the right sandal in this picture. They will be awesome when Terral finds enough time to fix them. :)

 And here's our little family at the top pool. 

 Kaden had fun waving his arms and legs around when we switched him to the front.

 And this is what happens when you hand your camera to Chris so he can take a picture of you.

 "Oh, that's what you wanted me to do!" ;)

I gave Ethan a long piece of grass that had a fuzzy end, and he started tickling Terral with it. I just love his laugh. There is nothing like the laughter of your child.

 Chris' sandals were a little out of place among all the Unshoes. ;)

 When we were done hiking, we decided to just wander Springdale for a while since we always just drive through it. We ended up eating at a restaurant there, which is way against the norm for us, but we felt like we were on vacation and had a little wiggle room in our budget. It was an outdoor eating area, which was really nice with Ethan.

 Speaking of Ethan, he was so tuckered out by all of this (we couldn't get him to nap in the backpack) that he fell asleep within five minutes of the drive.

Since he was asleep, we decided to explore Toquerville a bit since we always just drive through it. (Are you sensing a theme here?) Terral and I liked looking at all the different styles of houses in the quaint side of town. But apparently we looked a little too long, because before we made it home, this little guy woke up. And he was not happy about still being in the car seat.

Luckily, he forgave us after a bath and some cuddles. Sweet little man. He sure makes life fun. :)

Fun Moments from Last Week

Again, I don't feel like posting. Sorry peeps. If any of y'all are still around. I have just been occupied until rather late recently, and then I just feel like crashing. My body is telling me I need more sleep, and I haven't been giving it enough. I suppose I ought to start writing my posts during the day rather than at night. Sounds like a good idea, but no guarantee it'll happen.

In the meantime, here is a picture from last Monday. We had Family Home Evening at our apartment with Terral's parents and Maycie and McKade. We ate dinner and played games, but not as many as we'd hoped because we had some interruptions. We still had fun, though. And Kaden and Ethan had a blast playing in the dirt buckets.

Aaannnd here's a random video from the next day. It's pretty cute. I think.

Check

Don't feel like writing much tonight. My mind is full of other things. And our computer is still acting funny with the pictures. But, hey, at least I checked in, right?

Mini-Vacay

We had such a fantastic day today. We took advantage of National Parks Week and went to Zion. Our computer is acting a little funny right now, and it's a bit late for pictures anyway, so I will tell you all about it later.

We really did have such a nice time. It felt like a mini-vacation. Sometimes you just need to get outside and see God's creations. It was a wonderful break from the day-to-day. I recently read an article on some studies some people from the U are doing that suggest being in wilderness can boost your brainpower. I can't say for sure if my brain got a recharge, but my spirit sure did!

Spring Recital

Today was my studio's Spring Recital. Pretty much all of the day was spent preparing for the recital and teaching lessons. This was my first "solo" recital. When I started teaching voice lessons four years ago, I only had one student. My friend Kristin, who also teaches privately, let me piggyback on her recital so my student could perform. And it just sort of became a tradition that we combined for recitals. But alas, Kristin now lives in Arizona. And my studio has grown enough that it makes sense to do my own anyway.

This recital I had 5 violin students perform, and 1 voice student. I recently had 2 voice students sign up, so next time there should be a bit better balance. I also perform at the recitals (an idea I stole from Kristin) so that the parents get a chance to see my skill set (for lack of a better way to put it), and also so the kids can see that I'm willing to do what I ask them to do. Because I teach violin and voice, I switch instruments every recital. This time I sang "Lachen und Weinen". It's a lovely little Schubert song that works well with my voice.

I brought my camera, but it was all rather a whirlwind, with some students needing to leave quickly, and I didn't break it out until after most people had gone. I did get a picture of the two boys who started with me about three months ago. This was their very first recital, so it was kind of a big deal for them. I enjoy teaching all of my students, but these two are still very excited about learning something new that it makes it even more fun for me.

Ethan had fun at the recital. He thought it was so cool when all of us were tuning. But then he started getting into things he shouldn't while I was trying to make sure everything was in order, so I was very glad when one of the mothers arrived and immediately scooped him up. She kindly watched him for me until Terral came.

It was really cute to see all the other kids gathered around Ethan afterward. I tried to snap a picture of it, but they dispersed every time a grabbed the camera. One of the boys put his glasses on Ethan, and they were having fun with his reaction.

My banana oatmeal cookies were a success, and everyone seemed to enjoy the recital. Yay! And hooray for having one more thing crossed off the list. :)

The Race to The Race, and other short stories

Well, it's already late and we didn't sleep well last night, but I'm going to post about our Saturday excursion anyway.

Friday afternoon, Terral called me and asked me to check the date on something. Sure enough, it turned out that a race we were sponsoring was the next morning. He'd been so busy, he forgot about it. Thus our last-minute trip was born. Heather and Chris were very obliging with our plans thrust upon them.

We wanted to be at the race site by 10 am, when the runners would start to come in. Unfortunately, the car decided to not work. Terral called his dad, and together they figured out that the wires connecting to the battery were corroding. Fortunately, they were able to fix it (temporarily) so we could be on our way. We were rather late to the race, but Terral was still able to do some networking, etc. A big plus for him was that he saw an elder he had served with on his mission. He never runs into people from his mission, so it was really fun for him to catch up.

While he was doing all that, I took Ethan to Heather and Chris' house and we hung out for a while and had lunch. Then H&C watched Ethan for us while I picked Terral up so we could go to the temple. We did some initiatory work, which we hadn't done for quite some time. I really enjoyed it.

After the temple, we met up with Heather and Chris again. They had taken Ethan to a splash pad in a park, and he had lots of fun playing in the water.

 We stayed there for a little bit, and then it was back to the house. After dinner (and a semi-nap for me—I don't know why I was so exhausted!), we decided to enjoy the insanely perfect weather outside. It was so nice. Ethan played in the yard while we played a card game.

 I'm not sure what this expression on Terral's face means, but I can think of some funny captions. ;)

Ethan had a lot of fun playing in the dirt. His new overalls from Grandma Fox were perfect for this sort of thing.

I love this picture because it captures Ethan's silly so well. It really is not surprising he is such a goofball when you consider who his parents are, but it still catches me off guard sometimes because he seems so much older when he gets that way.

After the card game, some tree climbing ensued. Ethan has been in a tree before, but this time he really seemed to have fun with the novelty of it all.

We also took a walk to a park as the sun was setting. We really tired our little guy out. He fell asleep when we got back to the house, and he didn't even wake up when we put him in his car seat. The day was that fun.

He knows me

It's one thing to know in your mind that you are God's child and He knows who you are. It is quite another to really feel it.

Yesterday God gave me a tender mercy that I don't want to forget. I was troubled about something and prayed to know whether I was making the right choice. I was amazed at how quickly the feeling came.

First, "Be still."




And then after a time, "Yes. I love you. I know you. I know your path. Keep going."

Anticipation

I have some fun pictures to share, but I just don't feel like doing the picture thing tonight. I'm too sleepy.

Speaking of sleepy, the past few days I have kind of felt like we're coming out of hibernation. Not that we were lazy all winter, it's just that this warmer weather makes me want to get out and do so many things and get together with friends we haven't seen in a long time. We've already run into several and said "We need to get together soon!"  I hate saying that because it's so easy to just say, but we really mean it. Relationships are important, dang it!

I think our string of illnesses contributes to my feeling of "waking up". Thankfully, we seem to be past that now. But it looks like Ethan's finally working on another tooth or two.

Terral and I are both just so excited for summer. Oh, camping, hiking, and all other wonderful outdoor activities—how we have missed you! We have our first camping trip lined up. Some good friends of ours are coming to visit us in May and we are going to give them their first red rock experience. So fun!

I might as well mention another event that's coming up in May. I'm going to run my first 5k. Whew! I put it out in cyberspace, now I really have to do it. I suppose I ought to start training for it. : / Yeah, I know I should have started a while ago. But I didn't. So. . . yeah. The race is The Naked Foot 5k. Unshoes is sponsoring it, and we're also giving away an entry. You don't have to run barefoot or minimal, so if you like to race you should totally go enter!

We are also looking forward to school being over. This is the last week of classes, so the end is in sight! It will be so nice for Terral to be able to focus on the business. And to be done with all the requirements for his second degree! It's been a long time coming, and he has sometimes wished he didn't go back to school, but we still feel like it was the right decision. It hasn't had the impact we were anticipating when he decided to go for it, but it still has been helpful in many ways. But it will sure be nice for him to be done!

Ah, summer! We eagerly await thee!

Building Change

Well, we had a very different church meeting today. Thursday the word went out that all our regular meetings  were cancelled and we were to meet combined with the 2nd Ward in the old 7th Ward building at 2:30.

(I just realized that I may not have mentioned on her that last August our Stake realigned some ward boundaries and made two wards out of three. Our previous ward, the 7th, no longer exists.)

I had songs planned for this Sunday, but I was glad I had not yet planned the details for singing time. It was kind of nice to have a break from that. And after our trip yesterday, it was nice to sleep in and not worry about rushing to 9:00 church. We had plenty of time to walk and enjoy the (finally!) pleasant weather. It was also nice to sit with some of our friends in the 2nd ward, and see more friends from the 7th Ward. If you can't tell, I rather enjoyed this Sunday. :)

Well, to get to the point of it all, the building we have been meeting in is deemed unsafe. It is currently the oldest church building in Cedar City, and they didn't put reinforcements in the foundation back then. They haven't had time to figure out what they are going to do about it, but it sounded like they would try to save historical aspects of it, like the stained glass window and organ, even if they do have to tear it down. In the indefinite meantime (at the very least a 1 to 1 1/2 years) they have reassigned buildings to the 2nd and 8th Wards. The 2nd Ward will be going to the building we met in today, and we will be going to the other Cedar Stake Center. I'm rather happy to have a building that will better accommodate our needs (and not fall down on us!), but I am just a smidge disappointed that our ward got assigned to the building we did  because now we won't be able to walk to church. Just when the weather is getting better, too. Oh well.

It is sad for some people to hear the state of the building because it does have so much history, and they have a lot of memories there. I, of course, don't have that big of an attachment to it, but it was the site of one of our wedding receptions and also Jaymon's funeral. Terral attended church there from the time his family moved into their current house until we got married. Before that, he actually went to the building we are now assigned to, but he doesn't really remember it.

So it will be interesting to see how things play out. Next week it's back to worship as usual, only we'll have to figure out our new situation. They left everything in the 2nd & 8th Ward building, and I'm not sure when they will transfer things from closets, etc. So now I'm glad I don't really use the closet resources and have all my own stuff at home. :)

We had a very fun day in sunny St. George today. And now we are beat! So I'll have to tell you about it later. :)

Relay for Life

Well, we had a pretty full day again, but the evening was particularly jam packed. I was grocery shopping with Ethan when Terral called to let me know that his mom (a breast cancer survivor) had decided to do the survivors lap at Relay for Life. We were planning on going, but not right at the beginning, so I rushed home, we threw together some pb&j's, and hurried off to the football field. We made it just in time to see the mass of purple coming 'round the corner. I forgot the camera in the mad rush, so we had to make do with using my phone for pictures.

 Here is Terral's mom with her friend who is currently having treatment for breast cancer.

 Ethan could not wait to have a turn on the track. Not even long enough to get his shoes on. It was so cute to seen him running after all those people.

 Everything was just so exciting to him. He wanted to explore everything and run free. Naturally, he through a conniption fit when we had to change his diaper, so we didn't bother putting his pants back on until it got a little cool. His distress was quickly forgotten when he saw the balloons.

Terral stayed on at the track and said that the two of them had an absolute blast. He said Ethan did an entire lap by himself, and they just had so much fun seeing friends and playing with family. While they were doing that, I ran (literally) to the other side of campus to watch my friend play Meg in the musical version of Little Women. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a discount for alumni, so it only cast my $5 rather than the $10 I expected. They really should advertise that. I very nearly didn't go. But I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it, and I got to see some of my friends, which is always nice. :)

Terral and Ethan had just gotten home when I called to say I was done at about 10:00. Ethan had so much fun he didn't seem to mind staying up late, but he was very ready to go to bed. We've got more adventures in the works for tomorrow, so I'd best be getting to bed as well!

**edited to add: Terral just got home (he went back to the relay after taking me home) and shared a couple pictures with me. Apparently there were some pretty awesome Star Wars characters there, but Ethan didn't pay them any mind. Couldn't care less. But a few minutes later, he saw a statue and was enthralled. He kept pointing at it and saying "da da!" Lately, he's been saying "daddy" very clearly, so I'm not sure exactly what he meant by "da da". In any case, Terral thought it was pretty funny.

Muddy Torrents of Joy

Today, the city was doing some sort of work up the street from our house which resulted in occasional muddy torrents coursing down the gutter. Ethan loved it. Here are a few pictures to show you the joy that was his—and consequently mine. :)

Mail Sorter

Well, today I was productive again. It helped that I got up sooner. But it didn't help that the universe was conspiring against Ethan's nap time. When I finally gave up on getting him back to sleep, we were both able to have fun while I worked on the tasks I wanted to.

Speaking of productivity, I mentioned on Monday that I did a little sewing project. And I do mean little.
I made a mail sorter for Unshoes, so we can keep all the business mail separate from our personal stuff and make sure tracings and bills don't get overlooked. I've wanted to make one for our personal mail for a while, but the business needed one more urgently.

I looked around the online for quite a while before I found something that I thought would suit. I took my cue from this post. I only have those felt squares that you can buy at a craft store, so I was a little limited size wise. I suppose I could have sewn some together, but I was trying to keep it simple. Well, it ended up not being as simple as I'd hoped. You see, the top piece of felt was just a little bigger than the bottom. And since it was going to be a tight fit, I decided to use the extra rather than trim it off. So I had to do a lot of exact measuring and pinning to try to get everything distributed evenly, all while taking breaks for the kidlet. If I'd had extra room to work with, I would have just eyeballed it, and it probably would have taken about ten minutes. Instead, I worked on it for, oh, about an hour. The end result is a little wonky, but it works.