Staying Busy with Holland

We have had a busy little Spring, my little one and me. This little preschool group keeps us doing things a lot more than I would naturally be inclined to do at home. I think it is great. First was a trip to the zoo with our friends the Davises. Check out how cute she is in that borrowed swimming suit at the splash pad. I love that the zoo has not one, but two splash pads.
I love this picture of the three little kids on the tiger. Holland's big cheesy grin makes me happy.

That big grin made another appearance on the carousel. She's so adorable. 

Then it was a field trip to the fire station. This was interesting to me too! I like tours of places. It was interesting to hear about the logistics of the fire fighter's shifts, 24 hours on, 48 hours off. Also, I learned that ambulances come from the fire station. I thought they came from the hospital. Holland is super cute sitting on the step of the ladder truck, which requires a driver at both ends.

At the end, we were even allowed to spray the hose. That is a happy girl. 

Junior firefighter! Some kids were nervous to in the cab of the firetruck. I thought it was interesting to hear about how much their gear weighs and their different tools. They said that an air tank lasts them only about 20 minutes because of heavy breathing because they are working hard. That doesn't seem very long! Also, their gear can weigh more than 120 pounds, which is insane to me.

We invited a bunch of friends so it was a pretty big group. 

We have been doing preschool at our house too, both with the group and without. Holland loves doing pages from her workbook. She has already worked through a preschool workbook and now is on a basic Kindergarten one. It has been good for her. She still doesn't color very nicely, except occasionally when she feels like it, but she is learning to hold her pencil better., We are slowly working on her forming her letters better. She is also getting better at counting by drawing check marks on the things she is counting (they look like V's). We are actually winding down our preschool year. How time flies! 

One day last week we went to Shamrock farms to take a tour. It was good, but a little crazy because I was rushing home to go look at a minivan (we think we are going to buy one soon) but then once we got home the van didn't work out. 

Sophie and Holland: best buddies!

Of course the best part was the chocolate milk and the ice cream on the way home. You gotta love a big ice cream face.

I love being home with this little munchkin! Also, how awesome are those Desert Rose flowers!

I love how Holland remembers the names of the general authorities after conference. Not surprisingly, her name sake, Elder Holland is her favorite. 

Holland has also come up with the funniest dance recently. Included elements are some hip shaking, feet flying, and scowling face.


I can't resist trying to get it again and again on camera. The other girls are adorable too with their fast paced box step.


Also, she is approaching age 4, which means that she is due to start to sing spontaneously, especially songs of her own making. I seriously can't get enough of it.


It kills me: "Our lord Jesus Christ" "I want to obey my mom and dad" "I want to get out of my room" "I want to drive to Utah" "I want to pet cats and dogs." Yep, that is my adorable, wonderful, spunky Holland.

Gunlock Weekend with the Guinns

This last weekend we took Friday off school and work and drove up near St. George to Gunlock to stay at a vacation rental with our friends the Guinns for the weekend. I love these kind of friends. They are the kind of people that it doesn't matter how much time has passed, you just feel natural around them. 

We got there a little earlier than they did and explored our rental for the first afternoon by ourselves. The yard was gorgeous with blossoms on the trees, green grass, large shade trees, and a mansion for a cabin.

 

There was also a river running near the cabin that we walked along until we came to a big firepit  with huge teepees near by. It was fun to spend the weekend with friends, but our little family is my favorite. I love them. 

The Guinns got there later that evening and we had dinner and figured out the sleeping situation. The girls ended up in the loft above the kitchen. This was such a funky, fun ranch cabin. There were saddles hanging from the rafters, shelves of cowboy boots by the front door. It was very legit. And, actually it was on a working ranch. Pretty fun, although I was on benedryl the whole time because of the horses. Turns out one benedryl was enough to help with the symptoms without knocking me out. This was news to me because I normally only take it when I am having a peanut reaction, which feels 1000x times worse than allergies to horses, so I just jump to the two benedryl dose. 

The next morning we stopped by Gunlock State Park to see the fun waterfalls cascading over the rocks. There were about 500 other people there, but it was still really cool.

I feel like Miriam has been my little buddy recently. She liked to hike with me at this spot. Not really later in the day, but you can't win them all. :) 

These shots are taken near the top. 

Next we drove over to Snow Canyon State Park. John and I went here on our honeymoon, so it has a soft place in our hearts. We went on a walk up to a small slot canyon, called Jenny's Canyon. 

 There was a fun ledge to climb up on that even had an arch to climb through.

Everyone else handled this situation just fine, but Holland only wanted to climb the way she wanted to, which wasn't feasible. It kind of broke her heart. Three year olds aren't very reasonable.

We had a picnic lunch while the kids played on the sand dunes, and then walked up one of the petrified sand dunes. 

 Such a pretty view!

We had to take a pic of us to remember our honeymoon. 

12 years earlier

There were much more people this time, including within our own party. Three kids just from us!

After the walks at Snow Canyon we actually stopped by my friend from high school Erin Moulding to see her new baby and say hi before she moves to Wisconsin. It was so great to see her, and fun to see her in the mom role which I have only been the last 10 years. 

After we visited with her for a few minutes at a park, we drove back to the cabin and let the kids play. We were thinking we were going to go have a fire by the river, but decided to forego that in order to have a more relaxing evening. 

Those kids loved playing on the big trampoline. It really makes our trampoline seem small. The older girls did just fine, but Holland fell off once. She is a little too accustomed to the net, and loved jumping right on the edge. 

I had to take a pic in the pretty light of sunset. Every time I have seen the Guinns I am surprised at how tall Madeleine is compared to Eliza. She is only 2.5 weeks older! 

And of course a silly picture. I just loved those blossoms on the trees. 

Me and my girl! The rental is right behind us. It is actually the historic home and the giant part was added on 15 years ago. They had a bunch of family momentos around the cabin: pictures of the owners with different people, cross sticks of their names with their kids, and even busts of Joseph F. Smith and other historic church leaders. We think they are related because the owners names is Hyrum Smith. 

Check out the saddles on the rafters! Julie cooked a yummy curry dish that night and we played games with the kids. Pie face was a hit, and we really liked the game they brought "Happy Salmon."

Because this rental was a real home, there was a ton of storage. It was really nice. Got to smile though at the old school appliances and the orange countertops. The kids couldn't figure out how to open/work the microwave. Because we decided to skip the campfire, we had banana boats and s'mores via microwave. Maybe not quite as cool, but so much easier! (When did I become so lazy?!)

That evening the adults played some games after the kids went to bed but because our family was on an hour later schedule, our girls got to watch a movie in bed. They are so cute! Honestly they all could have shared this bed, but there was a twin above this one that Miriam slept on and a couch on the other side of the loft that Eliza took. That meant that Holland had this whole bed to herself and she only fell out once! 

The drive home went okay the next day with just a couple of little hiccups. We went to Sacrament meeting that morning and then came back to the rental to change clothes and get our stuff out before check out time. Julie and Madeleine came with us to church but took off after that because they were on their way to the Grand Canyon. Matt took the little ones back home. Unfortunately we found a library book that they left on our last sweep of the rental. But fortunately we were able to meet up with Julie at a park in Kingman to give it back to her. Unfortunately though, there was something that John was super, super allergic to at that park, and it took a couple of days to get out of his system. Fortunately he seems to be recovered now with more normal seasonal allergies at home. It was a good, quick little trip!