Recent Adventures: Antelope Island

One of my favorite places to be is Antelope Island.  Maybe it's because it's sort of the epitome of the high desert we live in.  Maybe it's because it feels like home.  Probably it's both, along with many other things.  One thing is for sure--our kids LOVE being outside no matter where we are!

 And so do we!

 For some reason, Jack was obsessed with putting rocks in the buffalo's nose.  He desperately wanted them to stay there, but they always fell out.  He was not very happy about it or about being taken away from what he was doing!

 I LOVE these next two pictures of my kids!

What's Antelope Island if you don't see some buffalo while you're there? 

Recent Adventures: Temple Square

We love going to Temple Square in the spring to see the beautiful flowers.

 Skye had a great time taking her own pictures with her camera.

 And Jack had a ton of fun just running around and climbing on and off of this little platform.

My Cute Kids

A few pictures from Easter.

More From Farmington Bay

Here are some more photos from our fun day at Farmington Bay. This is Skye being an eagle!

Jack just loves to be outside! Hmm, I wonder where he got that from!

 They have a nature center there. One of the buildings is especially for kids.

 Skye had a great time there making animal tracks in the dirt.

And Jack had fun playing with this frog toy.

They had a bunch of animal skins. Is it weird we had so much fun with them? I love coyotes!

 Here's Lance modeling the skunk!

 What a cute girl! 

 What a cute coyote!

 Great blue herons. They have these tall poles for them to build nests on. It's really cool!

I know this isn't the greatest picture ever, but these are swans people, swans! Not geese, not ducks, swans! Seriously, how often do you see a flock of swans flying right over your head? Well, at least for me, never! This is the first time I've ever seen swans in flight. So cool! Yep, we live in an awesome place! 

We Love Living Here!

This is just one of many reasons why we LOVE living where we do--Farmington Bay and the eagles are only a few minutes away! It's always so amazing seeing these majestic birds so close up. And we always love to be outside!

 We saw a ton of eagles this day as well as many other kinds of birds.

 Here are some pelicans.

 Going in for a landing!

 Isn't this a sweet photo? At least for a point and shoot camera. A bald eagle with the mountains as a backdrop! Love it!

An Update

February was a rather crazy month. Lance's dad passed away on the 6th and the funeral was the following Friday. His dad was already showing signs of Alzheimer's when we got married and had been in an assisted living center the last few years. Although he never remembered me or Skye, we do have some good memories of going to visit him.  One time, he and Skye had a great time playing with this big, inflatable ball and he would let Skye hold his hand as we walked to see his room.  Although I wasn't close to him, I'm sad my kids have already lost a grandparent and that Jack never got to know him at all.  I was grateful for talks two of Lance's step-sisters gave at the funeral that gave me a better insight into the man he was before the Alzheimer's took over.

Alan served in the Air Force.

 Here's Lance's stepbrother giving his step-mom the flag.  He has a career in the national guard so it was really neat to have him do that.

 Even Jack had a good time running around on the mushy ground at the cemetery. My parents were awesome enough to come help keep an eye on the kids. 

 It's a beautiful casket. And he will be buried next to his son, Lance's brother, Farrell who passed away nearly thirty years ago.

 Here we all are. I'm so mad I didn't take my camera back to the church where we had a dinner together.  Both the kids had so much fun running around and playing with their cousins and step-cousins they don't get to see very often.  

The one thing I have to say is that I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and the knowledge it brings that this isn't the end for Alan and that we will all be able to see him again someday.

Skye's New Pet

Skye has always loved animals--since she was just a small baby.  I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up doing something with animals when she grows up.  So several months ago, Lance told me he really wanted to get her a pet--a pet anole to be exact.  What is an anole?  A cute little lizard like this!

 So a few months ago, Lance took Skye to get her anole, whom she named Pascal after Rapunzel's pet chameleon in Tangled.  No, anoles don't look much like chameleons, but they can change colors like them.  It's one of the fun things about Pascal!  We thought he was a girl at first, until Lance saw him like this (pictured below) one night and saw his red dewlap (a flap of skin under his chin) come out--only boys can do that! We love watching for that!

I was really hesitant about getting the little lizard, but it's actually been a lot of fun.  Skye loves Pascal and tells him good morning every morning and good night every night.  It has definitely been a good choice of pet for Skye and for us right now!