Live or Blog? Plus a really big house!

Seems I can't do both!  The last month or two have been crazy.  I haven't really had any desire to blog, just guilt!  But I do again, not sure what changed.  It may be the sunshine and arrival of spring.  I've popped out of my winter malaise like my crocuses and daffodils have popped out of their winter bulbs!

Last month Matt and I escaped to St. George for a little sunshine and quiet (only taking the 7 month old qualifies as quiet for parents of 6 kids, I'll tell you!)  What we didn't get was much sun and warmth, it snowed!  We did have a wonderful time.  Thank you to the super Grandparents who made it all possible!

We drove into Kolob Canyon of Zion National Park.  It was probably our sunniest day (the drive down).

We always check out the home show while we are there.  This time we saw more houses than usual because of the overall stormy weather which made hiking less than ideal.  In a questionable move, we decided to see the biggest house first.  It was a mere 10,764 square feet with four master suites (sweets!).  They each had these funky bathrooms.

 
But the true master had a shower with the coolest glass surround.

The first thing you saw was this fabulous garage, but admittedly it wasn't the prettiest approach. 
You walked into the courtyard where there was a fabulous seating area with fireplace
 and fountain.  We both loved this and want to make a smaller version for our back patio.  Wouldn't it be perfect?  No pool for little ones to drown in, very natural with real rock and a nice splashing. 

The backyard wasn't hurting in the fountain area either.  This was the coolest!  Here it is in daylight.

 And here it is at dusk!

 Even with the four master suites, there was plenty of room for a huge kitchen.

 The formal sitting area was flanked by huge stone covered columns. 

And the view wasn't too shabby. 

 It was a beautiful house and so fun to look at.  Of course it had a theater room, pool and lots of there pretty stuff, but I had to stop somewhere! 

Hope you enjoyed seeing this monster house.  I'll show you more beautiful desert houses over the next few days. 

Sightseeing Around St. Louis

We had a few days to check out St. Louis. Of course we went downtown to see the Arch, Gateway to the West.

And saw the mighty Mississippi, very high from spring rain and runoff? (that's a very mountain thing and there weren't many mountains out there).

We went to the zoo which was beautiful, but where I took no pictures. We went to the Botanical gardens which were also beautiful and I DID take pictures. Here are just a few.




The koi were something else. They were huge and their big vacuum like mouths just sucked up anything. Honestly, they kind of grossed me out, so I took a break elsewhere while they were well fed.

St. Louis and the Doctors

I recently took a little trip to St. Louis with my mom to attend the graduation of not one, but two brothers from Washington University's Law School. It was my first ever trip without my kids or husband since the beginning of this blessed union, 12 years ago.

We did some fun sightseeing (the Arch, the zoo, the botanical gardens which I'll share tomorrow). We had a lovely night with a leaky ceiling at the local Hilton, not so fun. And we had a great time just visting with family that has been "gone" for several years. It was a wonderful time, and so great to be able to share with my newly "Doctored" brothers.






My nieces and nephew are darling! We had a great time getting reacquainted. Usually I'm so busy being a mom that I don't get to be a very fun aunt. But that changed this trip, and I liked it!




And extra thanks to Lane and Julie who took such good care of us (fed us and housed us). They were great.

MaLM - Salt Lake City Connect Passes

Last week we went on our Salt Lake City "Staycation" using our Conncet Passes. It was so fun! I highly recommend it and will definitely do it again.

On Monday we went to:
1. Discovery Gateway Children's Museum (cost $51)




2. Clark Planetarium with tickets to one IMAX AND one dome theater show (cost $76)



3. Lunch at the Lion House Pantry valued at $10 ($60)
4. Living Planet Aquarium (cost $40)



Then on Tuesday we saw
5. Hogle Zoo including lots of adorable baby animals right now which were so so cute(cost $46)




6. Ride the tram at Snowbird (cost $45)



Total cost without passes $318. Our cost $120!!! or $20 each.
And then we collapsed in a giddy stupor. We didn't have time for the Thanksgiving Point activities, Red Butte Garden, Tracy Aviary, This is the Place Heritage Park, Olympic Park, Utah Museum of Fine Arts and many more!

It looks like the passes have gone up in price to $24. We also got ours on sale for buy one day and get one for free which was a way better deal. Maybe next summer that deal will kick in again. Let's hope so.

14 Steps to a Great Camping Trip

1. Take your trailer (extra points if you just borrow one) up a day early to save a spot.

2. Since you already have the site, go back up on Thursday for a picnic. Just take left-overs; you'll be glad since it may be raining. Be glad you already set up the trailer.

3. Try your best to go up the canyon early, but don't despair when you don't.

4. Also, don't despair if it happens to start raining again on the way there after a beautiful clear day.

5. Play a new game while you try to cook the tin foil dinners in a skillet.

6. Laugh when kids all reject this cool meal.

7. Take advantage of the pause in rain for a campfire.

8. Roast marshmallows and make smores, even if the fire doesn't like the wet weather.

9. Go to bed late, read a little Harry Potter even thought it will be really late.

10. Sleep well!

11. Make sure someone who regularly uses pancake mix has bought the supplies for breakfast, or you might end up with the kind of mix that needs eggs and milk.

12. Pack up early to go have breakfast at home.

13. Make sure you camp by nice people who will move their camper to give your battery a charge after you realize it is dead.

14. Make sure you talk about how much fun it has all been on the ride home, enjoy the leaves, and take a nap later.

A Vacation is a Bit of Heaven

Especially when it's on the beach. Our yearly tromp to Newport Beach was heaven again this year. Mom and Dad loved the relaxing time. Dawn loved the deep waves with Mom and diving under the waves. Rachel loved playing in the water and catching crabs on the jetty. Scott loved the waves this year and started diving under them a bit as well as learned to play smashball. Andrew loved the sand, especially digging and throwing it. Charity liked eating the sand, a lot.




















Thanks Grandpa!