Grand Canyon

This picture is not of the Grand Canyon, but is for my mom--Look, I actually got a daffodil in my garden this year! The bad news is that it is now covered in snow. The good news is that I can put off watering for another week.

This week is National Parks Week. We decided to take the kids to the Grand Canyon since they hadn't been before. It had been 6 years since we had been. Here's the obligatory "Stand there by your brother. No, scoot over. Smile, please!" picture that I think we all have of ourselves and our siblings. I think the only thing that changes is the clothing styles.

I had to document that Annie was there since there was no way I was going to let Sam hold her at the edge of the canyon for a complete siblings shot.

I had been a little nervous about taking 3 kids there with a husband who likes to "live on the edge" (read: sometimes scoffs at safety precautions and is only egged on by the increasingly high-pitched protests of nearby females). I needn't have worried. Here was the view on one side of our picnic spot:

Here's what the boys did the whole time instead:



Could they have played like this 3 minutes from our house? Yes, but that's not the point. It was an excuse to be together and enjoy God's creation.

This is the only part that got a little dicey.

There were so many elk in the forest on the drive home. I got the boys to look up for a second from their obsession with the GPS to see them. I think they were impressed...I know I always am.

Here's the kids with some good friends, Zoe and Joseph. It's not the greatest picture, but I love it how they sit so close on the couch together with all their special knick knacks. We're so blessed with our friends!

Jeremy left early this morning for a mountain biking trip. I am stressing myself out with how to spend my "free time". Should I watch a movie? Should I get work done around the house? Should I be crafty? So many good things to do (and yet the time isn't really going to be much with 3 kiddos underfoot). My Sam must have inherited my desire to "create"--his creations are far more purposeful and technical, but I think the passion is still the same.
(He wanted to make the blocks this way and really only needed a little guidance from me). Today at the Aquaplex, they are doing a kid's coloring contest, so I am thinking of taking my little crafty guy there. The prizes sound really great, so I might coach him a little before we go...that's not unethical, right? :)