The SG

We took a last minute trip to St. George this past weekend and had a total blast! It was super fun to go on our own little family trip! We celebrated our 4 year anniversary and took Tan along because we knew that he'd like the trip. My aunt and uncle are so nice and let us use their house for the weekend. The weather was perfect in the mid 80's, which was a welcome change from the 50 degree weather we've had in Salt Lake for the past few weeks. Here's a few things we did while we were in sunny St. George:

Stopped at the grave sites of my ancestors in Fillmore (on the way to St. George). I saw the graves of my great grandparents and great aunts/uncles, and further back than that. One ancestor, Ruben McBride, was in Zions Camp and he had a beautiful headstone. Eli talked me into stopping at the cemetery and I'm really glad we did! This headstone is my grandma Ellie's (my dad's mom) parents.
Walked around Brigham Young's winter home (the yard was gorgeous!)
Hiked on petrified sand dunes and played in real sand dunes (Eli will post photos from his sand dune photoshoot with Tan soon.)

Played at the outdoor water park with a man made shallow river for kids. Tan loved it and liked being around all the other kids (it was crowded)! He especially liked picking up all the shoes laying around and walking off with them. (I LOVE his face in this picture!!!)

Visited the St. George temple and Visitors Center (there was an art display with wonderful pioneer paintings)

Spent a lot of time OUTSIDE!

Had fun chatting, playing, and doing crazy things like sticking raisins to boogers on the drive down and back!
We also went out to eat - that's one of my favorite things about vacations - and went swimming. Well we tried, but Tan didn't like it at all. He used to love it and now he cries so hard when we put him in the water. Why???!! That doesn't bode well for our Lake Powell trip coming up.

We had a fabulous trip!! We came back to Salt Lake refreshed, happy, and full of smiles!

The Shaving Man

I captured these 5 shots of my little buddy shaving after his bath one day. He even learned from me how to inspect the shaving job afterwards.

Tulips, tulips everywhere!

Thanksgiving Point has a tulip festival every year and since we've lived in Utah now for 7 years (5 for Eli), it was about time that we headed on over for some spring time fun! Here's what we did:

Saw lots and lots and lots of tulips! My favorite are the orange and red ones (there are even some right outside of our apartment right now!),

Played peek-a-boo through mommy's hair

Rolled sideways across the hill (down is too scary) while saying "weeee" the whole time and ending up in the dirt next to the tulips.
Worked it with mommy's glasses
The tulips didn't take all the spotlight. The daffodils were also gorgeous! (Don't you just love how the sun is shining on the flowers in the bottom left?!)
Worked on our balance while playing "chase" on the hill
Ran from daddy
Played with his brand new ball, courtesy of grandpa lenny
Ate super delish kettle corn and discussed how to make it turn out so good (Lenny used to make buckets filled with popcorn when Eli and his siblings were growing up so these two men really were trying to figure out how to get the flavor and shape of the popcorn just right!)

Smelled the flowers

Took some "sit-in-front-of-the-flowers-in-a-cheesy-family-photo-pose" pictures.

Watched the sun set over the beautiful gardens.

I told Lenny while I was there that I wished everyday could be like this! We chatted, played, relaxed, and soaked in the gorgeous springtime blossoms.

My son, the flirt

Aly called me from a park in Salt Lake asking if we could meet her. The whole way in the car Tan kept saying her name so I know that he was excited to see her! Well, Aly was with her two cute friends, Liz and Stacey:

After a few minutes of kicking the ball around and warming up to these girls, he had completely forgotten about Aly and me and began flirting with them! He seriously wouldn't even give Aly or I the time of day! He would kick the ball, turn around, and grin so big like "Did you see that?" He was being a complete show-off! He started getting really excited because he falls a lot when he's really excited, which the girls thought was hilarious and just egged him on.

Tan turned on his inner FLIRT and kept giving these faces to the girls:

Aly and I were just watching and laughing through this whole flirt and show-off charade that Tan was putting on. Is flirting innate? Who knows! But Tan was sure good at it, especially for a one year old. What am I going to do when he's older???!!! Yikes!

By the end of our playtime at the park, he was finally loving on his aunt. He just adores her!

I had to add this picture cuz I LOVE the contrast between the giant trees and my teeny tiny little man. He is just explorin' this awesome world!