Bring on the love!!

March is my birthday month...yes, that's right...a whole month to celebrate my birthday!! I feel the need after a long winter to take advantage of this pre-spring month and do whatever I can to pamper myself! I grew up thinking that St. Patrick's Day was a preliminary to my day. Everyone dresses up in green (my favorite color) and wears it kind of like a pre party celebration! Then my actual birthday is the 19th. PARTAY!! And then the first day of actual Spring on the 21st. And sometimes, Easter is in March so, of course, candy to end my month of me. March is THE BEST month to have a birthday! All the cute Easter dresses are in the stores to buy and sometimes we get some mild weather. Makes me have spring fever and that makes me euphoric! It's MY MONTH. NOT YOURS! (unless you have a march birthday, too and then you're welcome to partay with me) And Andrew spoils me completely for my present. One year, I was sent to a SPA in Arizona! One year an unlimited shopping spree around town. Last year I received lots of tickets to the Bees games! I love you, Andrew, and I can't wait for my present this year...especially if it was what we were talking about at lunch today!!! I'm singing Happy Birthday to me in my head right now!!!

Hiking in Zion

On our weekend trip to St. George, we decided to drive through Zion Nat'l Park. It was supposed to be 65 degrees and sunny according to the stupid weatherman. It wasn't. But we still had fun. We hiked the 3 Emerald Pools trail. The girls kept up really well until the muddy parts. Then they turned into whiny little high maintenance females. "Eww! I don't want to walk in the mud!!" I thought it was great. A chance to be dirty and it washed right out.
On our way up the trail we heard a rumbling sound that we couldn't figure out. It turned out to be an avalanche! Luckily it was small and we were not in the way. It just fluttered down as a cloud of snow. It was beautiful!
Then we walked up to the Weeping Rock trail. The girls thought it was cool how it seemed to be raining. I don't think we'd taken the girls to Zion before. Or they were too small to remember anything. I've grown up going to Zion on many occasions and this time was good because I've never been in the winter. Whole different experience. No leaves on the trees and you don't have to take the shuttle like they make you the rest of the year. A little chilly in the cove at the top of Emerald Pools but otherwise, we had fun.

Some of My Winter Projects

Walking in a Winter Wonderland 65" x 72" This was a quilt-block-of-the-month club quilt. Every first Saturday I go down to the Quilter's Haven and we get our next block assignment. I'm doing another one this year.

Novantique by Shnibbles 26" x 32" This was just a fun little quilt. It took about 2 weeks from start to finish. Now I need to quilt it.

Rooibos by Shnibbles 26" by 32" Another fun, quick quilt. I had most of the material at home already. About 1 week worth of cutting and sewing. Again, need to quilt it still.

This one was a kit that I purchased from the quilt store. It had all the material pre-cut. All I had to do was sew. One day of cutting pieces and one day of sewing. No one believes me but all you need is a day of heavy snow outside and no where to go...

This was a quilt-block-of-the-month club quilt from a couple of years ago. I finished piecing it in 2006 and just learned to machine quilt this year. So now it is finished. 47" x 62" I'm very proud that I did this one from start to finish. Most people have their quilts sent out to be finished by a professional machine quilter. I didn't want that. I took a class on machine quilting and now I can do it myself! It's not perfect but neither am I!!

The glass is half full...empty...no, full...

I've had a really hard week and so, in order to stay positive, I will report all the good things that have happened this week.
I finished a book, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It was very informative and wish that my children would read it.
I volunteered at preschool today and while there, listened to the kids sing Oh my darlin' Valentine. The girls sang it correctly, singing "I will kiss you, I will hug you, oh my darlin' Valentine" while the boys sang it their way (because they hate love, love, love!!), sang it as"I will punch you, I will shoot you, oh my darlin' Valentine". Even at age 4 and 5, they can think to substitute their own versions of love!
Josh actually thanked me for giving him a ride home.
I finished piecing a mini quilt and was able to move on to a new project.
I heard that my brother actually came through town this week and said Hi to my parents before going back to Colorado.
The sun came out today. There was a line at the car wash. That's very optimistic of people in January...
Trying to get out of this rut I'm in...

Maui is Green. Utah is Grey.

Sunset in Ka'anapali


The perfect ending to the day.



The Olivine pools on the Northern Shore of Maui.

Interesting lava rock formations on the north side.

The Nakalele Blowhole on the north side.

Wailua Falls right off the Hana Highway.

Seven Sacred Pools or the 'Ohe'o Gulch. The runoff was too high to swim in.

The Three Bears (or Waikani) waterfall on the Hana highway.

Watching the surfers and wind surfers at the Ho'okipa lookout just past Pa'ia on the east side of Maui.

Does it look like we had fun? So relaxing to just sit on the beach at sunset or watching the whales from our lounge chair. A hammock on the beach. A ring around the moon. Hiking along waterfalls, to the shoreline, through the rainforest. Swimming in pools just off the shore and watching the wrath of the sea just on the other side of the rocks. Riding in the convertible with the wind blowing your hair. So warm! Smoothies by the pool. Sea turtles in a cove. Lava rocks to climb on. Flowers in my hair. Snorkeling in the ocean. No kids to worry about. I didn't want to leave. I actually cried when I got in the car at the Salt Lake airport. We were home and it is so GREY! Last time we went to Maui, I was pregnant with Maren. So I didn't want to do anything that might be bad for the baby. This time was a dream! Perfect! Every January should be Hawaii...but next time, 2 weeks...

Good Things

For Christmas, Santa brought me a trip to Hawaii. So I'm packing even as I type. Andrew also received a nice present. A blue ray player and a friend who gets him discount Disney DVD's. Josh has a new electric blanket which he thinks is the "most awesome thing ever!" Tim has a new weapon...an AirZooka gun which shoots air instead of ammo. He loves torturing the cats with it. Maren has a new Wii game and lots of Crayola drawing stuff. It keeps her busy. And Emma has a new digital camera and won't stop taking pictures of herself!! All in all, a very nice Christmas. And my next entry will be all about my trip to Maui. Ooh, can't wait!!

Ow! Ow! Ow! My Coccyx!

I slipped on the driveway this morning and I landed on my tail bone. I heard and felt a crack or snap. I'm in pain. Here's how it went...it could have been way worse...
Of course it snowed. I had to work this morning at 10:00 a.m. We also had the ward Christmas breakfast at 9:00 a.m. So Andrew shoveled and then parked my car at the bottom of the driveway because the snow was coming down fast. I started down the driveway and got about halfway down and realized I forgot my cell phone in the kitchen. So I ran back up, got the phone and semi-ran down again. I slipped almost at the bottom of the driveway and fell, heard a snap and screamed in pain! The real problem was that Andrew was driving down in the Pilot and almost ran me over. I had to do a combat roll over the curb, into the snow to avoid being hit by the car. Luckily, he saw me and stopped into the curb to avoid sliding down the driveway until I could get up and move. Another lucky thing is that my cell phone had fallen out of my bag and was laying in the path of the tires. That would've been bad, too!!
We made it to the breakfast and then I went to work, in pain, and did 5 haircuts. Now, I'm in massive pain and taking Ibuprofen. My doctor (Ashley) told me to sit on a doughnut cushion and call her if my symptoms change. (She called me from Disneyland, by the way! I'd much rather be there!!! Lines and all!)
This might actually be a good thing in the long run... I'd been having mild pain in the tail bone area since ice blocking in the summer... I think I fixed that problem!!
Thanks for listening