Another Road Trip

It has been a busy month! We took another road trip last weekend to see the Kirk extended family and to support Clayton and Anne in their marriage. We went to Butte Montana. Six full hours each way (even speeding). It was a long drive on Sunday to arrive by 4:00 for the wedding. The was performed in a Greek Orthodox church and the entire ceremony was sang or chanted. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was over an hour long and was a great review of the Bible. Here is a picture of the church and couple.


The reception/dinner was amazing. They went all out! The food, venue, and decorations were incredible. It was really an outstanding party, and it was followed by a dance. I didn't get any good dance pictures because of the lighting, but here is Cara enjoying the company of Grandma Sharon.


Andy and Josh ate and ate. It was so good! Caleb was busy making friends and eating all of the mints out of the bathroom.


The kids did amazingly well considering the number of hours they have spent in the car this month. The only really annoying thing is that Caleb and Cara ask over and over "how much longer." They have no concept of time so even when we tell them they ask "is that a long time?" Josh remembers making that trip many times as a child in the back of a pick-up truck. I think his parents were smart. They didn't have to listen to the kids ask how much longer. We did take a short pit stop in Idaho Falls both directions. It is fun to sit across from the temple for a snack.

Saint George

Last week we went to Saint George for spring brake. Our friends, and it seems like half of our ward, always go to there the week of spring brake. We have always felt left out and depressed at home in the cold. This year we were determined to go somewhere. We hooked up with a friend who let us use her beautiful vacation home for almost nothing. It was so comfortable with a kitchen and heated pool. We had a fantastic time and stayed from Saturday to Saturday. Usually after a week of vacation I am ready to come home, but I think we could have stayed another week.

I had no idea there were so many fun things to do in Saint George. We really enjoyed our time at Snow Canyon State Park. I think next time we go we will plan to spend even more time there. It will be better as the kids get a little bigger too. It was fun to take pictures. Note the new individual pictures of the kids on the side bar.


Merle made these cute matching hats for the girls in our family so we had to take a girl picture while we were all wearing them.


Cara is our little climber. She always has been. Yes that little speck is her coming down from the top of that rock. Caleb will go exploring with her persuasion, but she has the brave heart.


These are petrified sand dunes. Very cool and great for the kids to climb on. Nerve wracking for me to watch.


We also really enjoyed the park on "Dixie Hill". It was awesome to overlook the city. The kids weren't scared at all. I wish they would have been because my heart was in my toes for them.


There is a place by "Dixie Hill" called the narrows. (Not to be confused with the narrows in Zions.) It is a long split in these giant boulders. Josh went through it with Caleb and Cara. People we AMAZED when he got to the top that he fit. He said that he couldn't believe he still had a shirt on it was so tight and that there was scarcely room to turn his head. These pictures are dark, but it gives you the idea.

Look close to see Josh and the kids in both pictures.


We also really enjoyed the city parks. They have an awesome parks and recreation web site where you can sort the parks by their amenities. There are many parks with splash pads and there are also lots of new parks with great equipment. We spent some time park hopping which is something the kids and I always enjoy. We had an awesome time!


One of the highlights for Josh and I was seeing old friends. We don't have pictures, but I must mention the great time we had with Jenny and Todd, fantastic friends who moved to Cedar City. We stayed up until 4 AM visiting with them the night they came. Time just flew. We also loved seeing Debra and Squire. Debra and her cute kids joined us on three different occasions for our outings which was so fun. Also we saw my cousin Josh and his outstanding wife Sheridan. We have kids almost the same age and they loved playing together. Sheridan was even kind enough to take our kids for a few hours one day while Josh and I went shopping. We are blessed to know such great people!

Swimming, swimming and more swimming

The best part of the trip to Saint George for the kids was the pool. It was cold the first few days we were there so we went to an awesome indoor aquatic center.


Most of the week the kids were out in "our" pool first thing in the morning. They didn't care that the air was cold it just made the pool feel warmer. Their swimming skills really progressed which is good because I have decided not to go to the expense of putting them in swimming lessons this summer. Caleb can get around without a life jacket.


They loved the diving board and learned to do lots of tricks. Anyone who knows what a scaredy Caleb can be should really appreciate these pictures. He is getting brave!

Beautiful Ali

Ali has been so fun and easy going. Pieceful is the one adjetive I would use to describe her. She is on a great schedule and we are all getting well adjusted. Josh supplements her late night feeding at around midnight so I only get up for her middle of the night feeding between four and five. That has been such a blessing to me. If I get that good streatch of sleep I can function quite well.

I caught a few pictures of Ali in her Easter Dress on Sunday. (I have got to get some of Cara too. Her dress is awesome but she changes out of it too fast after church.)






Did I say that we are ALL well adjusted, well, Andy may have his moments that he thinks he should be the baby. He has never even had a binki. He doesn't even know how to use it. Really he is doing great with Ali.

Easter Eggs

Yes, we did the Easter Egg thing, in fact we did it almost two weeks before Easter because I thought Easter was coming right up. The kids love coloring eggs, and they also love eating hard boiled eggs when they have colored them.


Grandma Iva has also created the tradition of doing a family Easter Egg hunt. With the snow storms this year we did the hunt in our basement. Grandma puts change in some of the eggs and candy in the others. The kids LOVE IT!

Andy got into the hunt this year. When he caught on he was all over the place.


As you can see Cara made a haul.


Here is a picture of Caleb trying to eat all of his candy as fast as he could. That kid doesn't even come up for air when there is sugar around. He can't eat it fast enough.

Grandma Alice

Ali was named after her Great Grandma Alice Kirk. (Josh's dad's mom. She was also named after Josh's moms mom, Sophia, but we don't have a picture of her with Grandma Betty yet. Yes, she goes by Betty, but her given first name is Sophia.) Grandma Alice moved in with Josh's parents just a couple of weeks after Ali was born. Grandma is 94 years old and seems to be so pleased and flattered that we named dear Ali after her. She calls her Alice and loves to sing to her and to hold her. We are glad to have Grandma near by so that we can spend time with her.