Yearning for Summer.....

To be perfectly honest, I'm feeling a little uninspired about this post. I used to be kind of annoyed when people would just post a bunch of pictures of their kids. I thought, "Oh come on. Let's see something besides shots of your kids" Now that I have a little one of my own I realize that it's much more fun to take pictures of your kid than yourself. Forgive me for posting so many Lucy pictures. I also wanted to mention that there are only three weeks left of school. To say that I am excited would be the understatement of the century. I am so ready to spend more time with this girl.

In other news, Jordan and I celebrated our five-year anniversary on May 6th. We spent the night at the Marriott in Park City, went to dinner at Ruth's Chris, and spent the next day browsing the outlets. It was a perfect weekend. I would love to try to get into the head of my almost two-year-old. What purpose does stashing DVD's in Mommy's pot serve?
Are movies more interesting while balancing precariously on your bike?

As you can see, "Tangled" aka "Gohn" is Lucy's new movie of choice. This is a welcome alternative to "Toy Story 3" and "Cars".
For Mother's Day this year, Jordan and Lucy got me these sweet Bose headphones. I have miniature ear canals and ear buds kill me! I was very happy/surprised to get these nice over-the-ears phones. Not quite sure how to say that.
We've been trying to take advantage of every moment of sunshine we can. This past weekend we spent some time at the Hogle Zoo. Lucy talked all day long about seeing the elephents, but freaked out when she actually saw them. I swear she's seen the elephants at least 7-8 times, but for some reason they were "too scawy" for her. She did however LOVE the train ride. Is the train a rip off......?
.....maybe. But look at this face. How can you say no??

The next day we took Lucy to the aquarium. Without conferring with me, Jordan told her that she could have an ice cream cone if she was good on the ride home. Good one Jordan.

After this picture was taken, she decided that it would be fun to stick her toes in her ice cream cone and paint her car seat. I have a very flexible child.

Easter 2011

Easter was wonderful. We lucked out this year and Mike and Erin and their kids were able to be in Utah the entire week. Lucy got some much needed Hale cousin time. We started the week off with a little Glee Karaoke Revolution. You should hear my niece, Abbie, rock it. She knows the lyrics and notes of most of the songs perfectly!

Lucy got in on the action too.

Mike had had enough of Glee, so we switched to Beatles Rock Band.

Whenever the grandkids come into town, they want to swim in "Papa's pool".

Snuggling my babies.

The night before Easter we dyed Easter eggs.

Easter morning: we opened Easter baskets first. Lucy loved looking for her basket.

Landon munching on some gummies.

Scott and Rach. Isn't Rachel looking fabulous for having a baby less than two months ago?

Grandma snuggling baby Adelaide.

Lucy's Easter dress looked so cute on her. We took pictures before church.

Miss Abbie.

Trying to get four wiggly kids to all look the same time in a picture is an impossibility. This is the best we got.

After dinner we headed over to the Walkers. I'm such an idiot and forgot my camera!! We hunted for Easter baskets and then the grandkids had an Easter egg hunt. Happy Easter everyone!

Oh Zion, Dear Zion......

Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Lucy, Jordan and I spent spring break in St. George. We spent some time in Zion National Park, but were unable to do anything too rigorous because my sciatica was so bad. We decided to go back to Zion this weekend to do some of the hikes that we missed out on before. On the first day, we took the shuttle into the park and then realized that we'd left Lucy's sippy cup in the car. Jordan found this water bottle at the convenience store in the park and filled it with juice for Lucy. The thing was huge!

The first hike we did was the Emerald Pools trail. It lead to a beautiful waterfall.

After our hike we stopped and ate our lunch in a shady spot in the park. Lucy was being really cute so I snapped a few pictures.

That afternoon we went for a bike ride around St. George. My bum is still not in "bike shape" so my bum bones are pretty sore. Our friends, Scott and Brandon drove down to St. George that night, because they wanted to hike with us the next morning. We got to Zion around 1:30 and then started the hike to Angel's Landing. If you're not familiar with Angel's Landing, it is a pretty strenuous hike with many steep switchbacks for the first two miles. The last 1/2 mile, is up very narrow fins. There are sheer cliffs on either side of you, and all you have to hold onto are chains bolted into the rock. Jordan was a trooper and carried Lucy in a backpack up all the switchbacks. He didn't want to risk taking her the last 1/2 mile so he headed back. Scott, Brandon and I continued to the top of Angel's Landing, which is 1200 feet high. It was a little nerve-racking, but such a cool feeling when we made it to the summit.


This is before the last 1/2 mile stretch.

You can't tell from the picture, but there are 1000 foot cliffs on either side of me.

The summit.



The hike up was amazing, but pretty brutal going back down. By the time we reached the bottom, my back and knees were killing me. If you can get over your fear of heights, this hike is really fun and the view from the top is spectacular.