The highlight of March was having Brendan and Whitney's family come to Utah on a train so that we could play together! It was SO WONDERFUL to have them here. We loved every minute! They got here on a Friday night and we spent Saturday playing, going to Airborne, eating snow cones, watching Alexa in her play, and celebrating Chase's birthday (which was on Friday).
We went to church on Sunday, packed up, and headed south by mid afternoon to hike Delicate Arch at sunset. The sun was setting the whole way up, and then we hiked back with flashlights and headlamps.
We set up base camp at a hotel in Moab. We hiked during the day and then swam in the hotel pool and played games at night. On Monday we hiked more in Arches NP, including Landscape Arch, Navajo Arch, and Partition Arch. We drove past Balanced Rock, the "Indiana Jones arch" (Double Arch), and Parade of Elephants.
On Tuesday we did Canyonlands National Park. It was rainy and cold but the views were beautiful and Brendan and Kyle did some shorter hikes with the big kids. On Tuesday night we played Dungeons and Dragons at the hotel. The kids all wanted to play and had fun.
Wednesday was Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse, a slot canyon. Goblin Valley is other-worldly. It has such amazing rock formations. The kids had fun running, climbing, and playing. Wednesday night we headed home and Brendan and Whitney's family caught the train back Thursday morning. The cousins had a blast playing together all week. There was lots of car swapping so they could sit together, and we even traded Caleb and Alexa in the hotel so that Caleb and Tyler could have a 3-day sleepover and the same with Alexa and Carra.
I was feeling pretty rotten and tested positive for strep while we were in Moab, so I sat out for most of Tuesday and Wednesday. Todd & Melissa stayed at a hotel and did a little staycation for the weekend.
We celebrated Tad the 6 year old with a pancake breakfast. He wanted his name made out of pancakes, so that's what we did! I pulled up to our house from work loaded with pizza, and had to laugh when I found that he was inviting anyone and everyone he could find to come over for dinner and eat pizza for his birthday! Literally any kids who passed by our house were invited to come over haha. It reminded me of Alexa's birthday party when she was 3 or 4. We lived right next to a park at the time and she invited everyone there (complete strangers) to come to her birthday party that afternoon.
He got a Sonic stuffie, new (blue for Sonic) bike, a sonic shirt, and some sonic puzzles. And for his birthday party he wants to see Sonic 2 when it comes out in April.
Liam and I went on a train date and ate ice cream. We missed the return train by about 15 seconds - it pulled away right as our northbound train pulled into the station, so Kyle had to come and rescue us in Draper.
Liam calls vanilla ice cream "banilla" ice cream. And hand sanitizer is "hanitizer." He has also started writing a TON of new words on his own. He has been sounding them out and we'll find notebooks all over the house with words on them like Mario, Stop, Toy, Luigi, and Bowser. All written perfectly. He blows me away. We drove past a trailer full of goats and I said, "Look Liam, goats!" His response: "Those aren't goats! Those are hamsters!"
Tyler is adorable with Nathan. They have a special bond and Tyler loves giving him piggy back rides and making him laugh. Nathan has started talking more this month. He says dada, mama, uh oh, shoes, and will copy or mimic most words. He is constantly going to our shoe holder, grabbing his shoes, and bringing them to us while excitedly saying "shoes!!"
Our Young Men / Young Women at church did a lip sync battle and I got to participate in the leader's lip sync to Proud Mary, complete with a choreographed dance. We dressed in sequins and channeled our inner Tina Turner. Singing and dancing are definitely not strengths of mine...
Alexa has been really looking forward to JA City, a school field trip where they go and run a business for the day. She got all dressed up and was chosen as the CEO. She did an awesome job as one of the flowers in Alice and Wonderland at the school play. She didn't have any lines but sang and danced in most of the group songs. She and I also bought a paint kit from a local studio and painted the northern lights. The kit came with a youtube tutorial that we followed. It was fun to do together.
March was indoor soccer season. Alexa, Tyler, and Tad all played. Tad had a girl from his kindergarten class on the team who has a cute little crush on him. Sometimes he would show up for practice or get subbed in and she would run across the "field" as fast as she could to hug him.
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