Red Rock

Monday was a perfect day. If you are reading this from a cold climate....I am sorry. We have had the most amazing weather this past week. I don't remember January ever being so nice. As luck would have it, Eric was off of work on Monday, so we were able to thoroughly enjoy the unseasonably warm weather at Red Rock. And to make it even more enjoyable, when we arrived we discovered it was a free day! Woo-hoo, I love going places for free.

Our first stop was Calico Vista. We have never hiked there before, and it was beautiful. We climbed plenty of rocks, and were able to hike pretty deep down into a canyon.

Jackson's naturally cautious demeanor surprisingly leaves him when we hike. He is a wild climbing man!

Megan is always fearless.

See the hole down there, by all the trees? That is where we climbed down. It looked quite scary from this vantage point.

And Sade's always does her best to keep up.

After we explored Calico Vista, we went to Lost Creek. This is one of our favorite hikes, and is perfect if you have small children. 

Especially if you have small children who still like to be carried. You won't tire yourself out too much.

While hiking we experienced quite the traffic jam. Although this is a fairly easy hike, if you have trouble walking on flat ground, walking uphill, over rocks is probably going to prove difficult for you. We were stuck behind a fairly old woman, who could not walk unassisted. I am shocked she did not fall in the river.

But we finally made it! This waterfall generally flows January through March.

Here we are behind the waterfall.

There was even a bit of snow.

Our view while hiking out. We came away mostly unscathed. Except for Jackson who ended up falling in the river on the hike out. Luckily he just laughed it off. It is a good thing it was Jackson who fell, because if it would have been the other two, you can't even begin to imagine the complaining about being wet and cold we would have been subjected to! And that is no way a judgement against my girls, because if I would have fallen in the river, the complaining would have been even worse.

12 X 12 - January 2011

I can't believe I started these 12 X 12 posts 2 years ago! Look at my little baby Sade from that inaugural post:

Many things have changed, but a lot is the same. The kids started off their day, as they usually do with breakfast.

Jackson always has oatmeal. Sadie usually does too, but yesterday she changed it up a bit and had Apple Jacks. Megan (obviously not pictured), ate Apple Jacks everyday for 8 years, but recently has switched to cinnamon/sugar toast. Interesting!!!

Poor Jackson. I was almost completely out of bread, and only had the ends left. Ordinarily he is a fairly picky eater, but amazingly bread end sandwiches don't bother him much.

After the kids left for school, Sadie asked for the first of her extreme number of snacks she asks for everyday. Her and Jackson are habitual snackers.

Eric was home yesterday morning which is good and bad. On the negative: It means no work, which equals no money. But on the positive: He can do the grocery shopping!

After Eric left for work, I took to my bed, while watching Sadie in the bath. I received this cool gadget for Christmas, which among a myriad of other things, has the Kindle on it. I have mixed feelings about the Kindle. The convenience is great. I often run out of reading material, and it affords me the ability to download a book whenever I want. However, I miss the feel of a book in my hand, and there are no page numbers at the bottom, so it is hard to tell how close to the end of the book you actually are. I ended up finishing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which was quite enjoyable.

And when I had finished I was able to go to this large box of books my good friend Behnaz sent me this week. She loves reading as much as I do, and is so good to send me her books. The joy I experience knowing I have numerous books waiting for me to read is immeasurable. And I had plenty of time to read yesterday. I was feeling horrible. Body aches, chills, the whole gamut. Luckily I have a 3 year old who still naps, and loves to watch T.V. because I spent the majority of the day in bed reading and napping.

When Megan and Jackson were due to get home, I decided I needed to pull myself together! I got out of bed and took some medicine.  I am including this picture because I look as bad as I felt. Don't I look dejected?

They soon arrived home thanks to my dear friend Jennie who has been bringing them home everyday for me, due to my lack of car. I was riding my bike everyday, but then it got sooooo cold. As you can tell the front walkway is littered with boxes, which is a familiar site around here. Eric receives shipments like this for work all the time! Megan is also clapping and saying, "Oh joy, its the 12th", in quite the sarcastic tone. She doesn't love 12 X 12 days.

Speaking of lack of car, our neighbor came over and taught us this newfangled way of starting the Volkswagen that involves a screwdriver. It's quite high-tech (NOT). I was excited to try it out, and we did get it started, but then the steering wheel locked up. Of course!

While outside, Sadie and Jackson were playing a game called "SCREAM." I am sure you can imagine the premise.

Although I was out of bed, I was quite lazy, and kept putting off something I really needed to get done, namely, making dessert for 60 for Young Women's that evening. Luckily Eric bailed me out, and helped me with the entire process, and it got done.

I made it just in time for New Beginnings. Notice my new obsession: Arm Warmers! I want them in every color.

Sadie's Birthday Celebration

On their birthday the kids get to decide what they want to do. When I asked Sadie what she wanted to do, she told me she wanted to go to the Princesses houses, or to Dora's house. Hmmmm....I suggested we go see the movie Tangled, and luckily she agreed.

After the movie, we went to dinner, where Sade danced to the background music and showed off some of her moves.

After dinner it was time to open presents.

Then it was time for cake! Sadie decorated it by herself with these edible princess stickers.

Blowing out the candles took quite a few tries, even though she had been practicing her blowing skills all day.

But her birthday wasn't over yet. After the steamers came down, she partied it up.

Happy Birthday Sadie!!!