Tulip Festival

There is a gem in Lehi called the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. My favorite time to visit is in the Spring during the Tulip Festival. We took the girls and did a quick walk around on Friday night.

 It smelled so wonderful. I just tried to breath as deeply as I could.

 Date selfie...

Work Day

Warren and Tyler have been working on a project to landscape around the pond in the backyard. They are also creating a waterfall into the pond.  It involves a lot of dirt moving and manual labor.

Tyler learned to use the grinder to cut down the cinderblock to fit where they needed it to go. Milo was not scared of the grinder and got filthy laying next to Tyler.

Melanie and I did not do hard manual labor all day but we were still exhausted. I had Warren take this picture so I could remember that Melanie does occasionally still come sit on my lap for a snuggle.

Canyonlands National Park

I sometimes wonder how I haven't seen part of Utah. I wondered that this weekend when I visited the North end of Canyonlands National Park for the first time. It was amazing.

This is Mesa Arch. It is just beyond a sheer 400 foot cliff.  We got a chuckle out of the sign that said, "Keep off Arch"

We hiked to "The Grainery" in the cliffs.

We like it when they spell these Mountains, "Henrie Mountains"

We stayed until sundown and then made for home.

It was a great weekend.

Four Corners and Bluff

We decided to take the kids to the four corners monument while we were in the area only to find out the local Indian tribe now charges $5 a person (cash only) to visit. We didn't have enough cash and decided it wasn't worth it anyway. Instead we found signs for all four states and took pictures.

Our next stop was the Pioneer Fort in Bluff. A few years ago Tyler, Melanie and I helped build a cabin in the fort in honor of our Great Grandfather Hobbs. Tyler wanted to visit "his" cabin. We found that the new Visitor's Center and store were open and many other improvements had been made to the fort. It was a fun stop. We started by moving through three different rooms in the visitor's center to learn about the pioneer's journey to Bluff. The presentation was very professional and moving. We then set off of explore the fort.

Hobbs Cabin

We ended our visit with a picnic at the Fort.

Federica entertaining us at lunch.

Embracing their inner Native American. 

Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks

It was Alpine School District Spring Break this week but not Spring Break for Melanie. We still wanted to get away and so we took Melanie out of school on Friday and headed to see some National Parks. First stop, breakfast at Arches. Our goal was to leave at 5am and we got away about 5:30am.

Double Arch

Selfie looking out from under one of the double arches.

This reminded Warren of a giant geode. 

The kids fell asleep in the car on the way down. Melanie decided she wasn't awake enough to get out of the car to walk to the arch. Tyler and Federica walked down the path bundled up in blankets. (The weather was cool.)

Tyler doing "Crow" pose.

Our next stop was Mesa Verde National Park. None of us could ever remember visiting this park in the past. It is pretty amazing how these ancient indians built food storage areas, houses, and even whole villages into the top of cliffs. The day was raining a bit cold but we still got to see some cool sites. I didn't realize how high up in the mountains we would be when we visited this park. This is off season for the park and so we were not fighting any crowds. There also weren't any ranger guided tours available.

Melanie made it out of the car to walk through the museum and take a peak at the ruins below.

We were very impressed by these ruins.

The ruins we are looking at here are straight across in the top of the cliff.  

There was no such thing as doors or windows. This house was dug out of the sandstone and there would have been a wood roof on top. The entrance would have been from the top down a ladder inside. This made the houses quite a fire hazard and archaeologists think many of them burned. We thought these pithouses looked a bit like hot tub which made me wonder if they filled with water when there was a lot of rain.

Like I said, no doors, just entrances from above.  Melanie is looking through a window into a hallway of the sun temple. 

It is a tribute to these ancient Indians that these structure still stand today some 1500 years later.

We went back to the hotel, at a little dinner, and had the lights out by 9pm. All that traveling tired everyone out, I guess.

A Perfect Weekend

Recipe for a perfect weekend

2 days of Sunny 60 degree weather

4 kids home

2 cars maintained

1 illness stopped in its tracks

1 big project  - great progress made

35 cinder blocks

9 1/2 hours of General Conference

2 BBQ dinners

1 clean house

1 dog who likes to play fetch and go running

1 Cool Movie (Force Awakens + Special features)

We have wanted for years to landscape in the pond in our backyard. We have been looking at ideas online and have an idea how we want it to all come together. Saturday morning, Tyler worked the early shift from 5-9 and came home wanting to dig some dirt. He dug all morning and Warren joined in on the project in the afternoon. When they moved the pond, they solved the mystery of what happened to Tyler's turtle, Prince Charming. Years ago Prince Charming escaped from the pond and we never found him. When they moved the pond they discovered he dug himself under the pond where he died. Poor Prince Charming.  Finding the remains of his shell reminded us how little Cinderella used to be. They got about half of the cinder blocks placed before it was just too dark to continue.

Melanie came home from school on Friday saying that her throat hurt. Late that night, she was crying hysterically in pain. Luckily, some Advil helped her sleep and Warren took her to the doctor Saturday morning. She has her second strep throat of the year. She got the antibiotic shot and is feeling much better. 

There was such a great spirit in our home all weekend with General Conference. I am excited to study the talks in more depth in the coming months.

Sunday morning I called Graig to see what he was up to and found out that he was at his apartment by himself with no plans for the day but to watch conference on his computer. I decided that was no good and that Melanie needed to practice driving on the freeway anyway.  She and I took off to Provo and picked him up. He was great to finish off the leftover brunch food (waffles and hash browns) and fun to have around. After the second session of General Conference, Warren barbecued chicken for dinner and I roasted some sweet potatoes.

After dinner there was a RISK game, family scripture study and prayer.

Sometimes God gives you a Perfect Weekend.

Coloring Star Wars pictures while watching General Conference on Sunday afternoon.