Fantastic February

Okay, I already did our Disneyland Edition, so now it is time to record our regular comings and goings in February.

This is a picture of Kate and I from the Draper Temple during the open house. You can see a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Valley from the temple. With the new Draper Temple, our family has had lots of opportunities to serve and tour the new temple. I helped on one of the VIP days and got a guided tour. Then in February, Carson, Kate and I took our neighbor on a self-guided tour. It was a neat spiritual experience to be there with the kids. They were so reverent and our friend, Pam, thought it was the most beautiful building she has ever seen. Then that same night, Chad, Audrey and I toured it with a couple Chad knows from work. The chaos of the busy tours at night distracted a little from the quiet reverence we had felt during the day, but of course, it was still wonderful to be there. I especially LOVED the beautiful murals! We have another opportunity to help with the open house in March. And, Chad has had a few more friends ask to go through with us. What a neat thing!!!

Carson's preschool got to tour the Sweet's Candy Factory here in SLC. That is a very cool tour, because you walk down on the floor and watch the machines making the candy. Then, you get to taste a piece of what they were making. The cinnamon bear room smelled fantastic, but the chocolate room was to die for! What a fun sweet field trip. Here are Carson and his friend Ben putting on "candy maker hats" to get ready for the tour.

Okay, I already wrote about our trip to California, but some of the best parts were seeing the family and friends. We got to hang out with Nicole, Andy and Maren for an entire day, plus see Nicole a few times in addition. It was fun to see their cute house and meet their friends and neighbors. Their neighborhood was awesome, and we really enjoyed the walk we took to the little Whittier College a block away from their house. Here is the Hall family on our walk.

Another day trip we made was to the beach. We just acted like it was summer and enjoyed the sand and waves. Nicole joined us with cute Maren. When I took this picture of Maren, I said "smile", and she did! She loves to have her picture taken. Beaches are good for the soul (especially in winter).

Well, the other highlight of California was hooking up with the Kanes. We spent a day with them in Disneyland, and then that night, we had dinner at their house. While we were there, the girls staged a fashion show and we had fun watching them model to HSM soundtracks. It was fun to reconnect with friends (who just moved there from Utah in December). It was like they had never moved away. Listening to them talk about life there and experiencing the nicer weather, it made us wonder why we were living in Utah! Anyway, fun evening, very relaxing and enjoyable.

Well, the highlight of our return to Utah has been a trip to Backyard Adventures. We have wanted to go play for a long time, ever since Carson attended a birthday party there. But, this was my first time with the kids (Carson and Kate). Carson, since he loves dinosaurs, LOVED the dinosaur theme to the play areas. The slides and tunnels were fun for him to explore, and he didn't stop running the entire time we were there. Kate also had a blast, she wanted me to follow her lead through all of the toys and slides. She took me everywhere, and the smiles were the biggest on the bouncing toys.

Well life is getting back to normal, if still very busy. It is amazing how much there is to do when you get back from a trip! I am still enjoying these cute kids. Life is still pretty good.