Moab

We snuck in a quick trip to Moab this week, with Nonny & Poppa and Brittiny, Brooklyn, and Braden. The weather was very cooperative and the redrock was as beautiful as ever. The kids were good little troopers on the hikes; on the first evening we took a stroll to North and South Window:

Anna told me, "Look, I'm a stywish baby."

North Window

South Window

Turret Arch

After the Windows, we went up to Devil's Kitchen to see how far we could get before the kids ran out of steam. We made it to Landscape Arch, probably the second most "famous" arch in the park, and a even more spectacular by morning than evening, I'm told:

Thursday morning we walked out to Broken Arch. This hike quickly became a favorite: a soft, sandy trail with terrain flat enough for the kids to handle, through beautiful changing scenery. We saw tracks of bighorn sheep, a flock of blue birds chasing each other over and around and through the fins of red rock, and yellow horsetail and silvery-green juniper bushes dotting the landscape, all under a bowl of brilliant blue sky.

Jared had gone ahead with the girls, with Brittiny and Mom and me a few hundred yards behind. As the arch came into view, I was surprised to see somebody standing on top of it. . .hang on, that "somebody" was my husband!


Not to be outdone, Brittiny and I climbed to the top too. We were a little less adventurous, though, and weren't willing to stand quite so close to the edge:


Dad had stayed behind to wait for Braden to finish his nap in the car. By the time they caught up with the rest of us, we were ready to head out, so we left Dad at the base of the arch and started down the trail. A few minutes later we looked back--and of course, now Dad was standing on top of the arch.



"Pussycats always stay together when it's far". I have no clue just how it got started, but this is something Elizabeth and Brooklyn kept telling each other on the hikes. They were so delighted to be together that we probably could've marched them across Siberia and they wouldn't have complained. Every time we got out of the car and they saw each other, they'd shriek and run together for a big bear hug. I'm surprised Brooklyn didn't break her nose, crashing into Elizabeth's sternum every time they reunited.

After a morning of hiking, we stopped to eat lunch and let the kids do a little climbing of their own:

Aww, look at that cute family! (At least one couple thought we were all one nuclear family, until Jared set them straight. I guess it must be confusing when you see four kids who look like they're the right ages to be a set of siblings, plus two adults who could pass for either grandparents or parents, and then three other adults--one of whom is short enough to mistaken for a teenager and the other two who look more like siblings than husband and wife. Jared said something about how with Brandon back at home, maybe other people had thought Brittiny and I were both his wives--till I pointed out that Brittiny is WAY too pretty to be a polygamist:



Thursday evening Jared stayed at the hotel with the girls while the rest of us hiked to Delicate Arch. Dang, I can't believe people are willing to do this hike in July. Insane. You spend the first half-mile trekking up a steep hill of slickrock, with no shade in sight. Even on a cool day with the sun low in the horizon, I was feeling pretty warm. After you schlep up the hill, you've got another half-mile to cross of much easier terrain. The last hundred yards or so take you on a narrow ledge overlooking an enormous sandstone canyon:

Then you turn the corner, and voila:


Suddenly I got why Delicate Arch is on our license plate, on the front page of the Utah tourism site, in every "Scenes of Utah" calendar ever printed. . .Up-close and in person, it really is spectacular.


By Friday, the weather had turned cold and stormy--it even started to snow as we packed up the cars and headed out to Dead Horse Point. I remember being both horrified of the name and terrified of the dropoff at Dead Horse Point when I was a little girl. Dad had to promise that yes, there was a fence, and no, nobody was going to fall off the edge, before I agreed to get out of the car to take a look. I'm afraid Elizabeth was equally reticent about the overlook, though for her it was simply because it was so darned COLD. We ran out to take a quick peek and snap some photos before dashing back to the warmth of the car.

The classic "Dang it, we just paid $10 and drove 30 minutes to get to this site of scenic wonder and we're going to take a picture in front of it, I don't care HOW cold it is" pose.

We got back from our trip Friday evening, just in time to have dinner with the rest of the family and pretend to be surprised when Brandon showed up late that night, having flown in from Newark as a surprise for Brittiny and the kids. As it turns out, the news had slowly leaked out and everyone knew he was coming, but they didn't know everyone else knew. Regardless, we were happy that he made it out for the rest of the visit.

Stagestruck

Ever since Elizabeth started her ballet lessons, we've been looking forward to the big night when she would perform in the studio's production of Swan Lake. When the big night came, I was a little worried that she might get stage fright and back out at the last minute--but to my surprise, it turns out that this kid LOVES the spotlight. She pranced onto the stage with a huge grin plastered to her face, and as you can see (she's in the very middle of the group on the left), she was a little reluctant to leave even after her turn was over:

The performance was a lot of fun, even for Hailey and Anna. Anna was especially taken by the fog machine that would turn on whenever the evil sorceress came onstage: "Look Mommy, dere's da suh-MOKE!" The entire production left quite an impression on her; she still talks about it and asks me to draw "a ballerina wif da suh-MOKE and da moon".

Afterward, Elizabeth greeted her adoring fans. Aunt Sarah and Nonny even brought her flowers, lucky girl.

Despite having a fabulous time at the performance, Elizabeth says she wants to try something new, like gymnastics. I guess in her mind she's already conquered the whole ballet "thing". Well, whatever you choose to do, kiddo, we love you and are very proud of you!

The family who paints together, stays together

When Jared and I began dating, one of the things that really attracted to me was his "can do" attitude. He loves nothing more than hunkering down and fixing a problem--be it a bug in a computer program, a car that won't run, or a home improvement project. So it was no surprise to me that when we started looking for our second house, the place that Jared (and I) fell in love with was one that needed a lot of work.

It's been three years now since we bought this house. Three years of fixing faulty electrical work, overhauling the landscaping, ripping out moldy drywall, and dreaming big. It seems like for every one project that gets crossed off the to-do list, three more are added. A few weeks ago, we tackled something that's been on the list since we moved in: painting Elizabeth's room. (See, we didn't paint it when we first moved in, because Jared needed to do some rewiring--which entailed cutting holes in the wall for the new outlets. Then the holes needed to be patched, mudded, re-textured. . .you get the point.)

Elizabeth was very, very excited for this project--ever since I mentioned it to her, she'd started coming up with great color scheme ideas: "How about we paint one wall pink, one wall green, one wall blue, and the ceiling purple?" I gradually talked her into picking just one color from the curtains I'd bought for the room, and we made the requisite trip to the paint counter. Back at home, we gathered up our paint rollers, cranked the tunes, and went to work.

I was a little worried about having a 5-year-old slinging paint on the wall, but as it turns out, Elizabeth is a very conscientious and neat painter. Neater than me, for sure. (Those of you who've painted with me know that's not saying much.) Her enthusiasm petered out after a couple of CDs, though, and she left me to finish up while she hung out with Anna. When I took a break, I found them snuggled together on the Poang chair:

(Don't be too fooled by the display of sisterly affection. This was about 30 seconds before the pinch-fest began.)

We got their room put back together before the day was out, and the girls were giddy with excitement. Okay, so was I--I'd bought those curtains almost 3 years ago, and it was exciting to finally see the room all come together. All that's left to do now is to procure (build, maybe?) some real beds for the girls. . .and revamp the closet. . .and paint the door. . .and hang some artwork. . .and get some curtains for the other window. . .