Spring Day at the Temple

St Patrick’s Day fell on Sunday this year. Not that we’re big at celebrating this holiday, but we usually do a fun little leprechaun hunt with a treasure for the kids and eat green pancakes and milk cause this seems to be such a treat for Ethan and Ava. I tried to be organized and have everything ready the night before so we could do a bit of fun things in the morning but still make it to church on time. My preparations did not pay off however, as we all woke up late and dragged through the morning. I mainly dragged as I was getting over a cold and was just generally tired from the oh-so-lovely sleepless nights of late pregnancy. So, the slacker in me took over once we realized that we were going to be late for Stake conference and we decided to take things easy and head to the temple to enjoy the sunny spring day and have a family lesson there.

Ava enjoying the flowering trees with daddy

Daddy's little girl heading into the temple grounds

I promise we did not let Ava pick the flowers! This one was laying on the sidewalk so we let her carry it. She was so delighted. 

We did not realize that sun did not equal warm, and with the temple up on the ridge of the canyon it was very crisp and breezy to put it mildly (so please excuse our wind blown hair). Even though we all froze for most of the visit it was still such a peaceful morning walking the grounds of the temple, sharing our testimonies with our children and enjoying God’s beautiful creations. 

Ethan and Ava patiently watching the duck

Summer berries

Since our summers around here are so short yet so beautiful it's always a shame as we near the end ... with the exception of the ripening of the wild blackberries. For one reason or another I missed getting out last year to pick berries so I made an extra effort this year to make sure we not only picked berries, but that I also took the time to make a sweet treat. This is about the one time of year I might attempt a pie. I hate making pies simply because I hate making pie crust. But alas I pushed through and made a delicious blackberry pie. No better way to have it than fresh from the oven with ice cream on top ... unless of course you add home made whip cream too. You can never have too many creamy sweet dairy products!

Sweet Ol' Maddie

This morning while I was downstairs cleaning up from breakfast Ethan asked if I would take a picture of him and Maddie. Of course Ava wanted in on the action. And yes, she’s wearing last year’s Christmas pajamas in September. I purchased for her age which was obviously too big so they’ve had lots of wear and are finally fitting. I digress …  I asked Ethan why he wanted a picture with Maddie and he said so sweetly, “Because I love her.” Oh how I treasure such sweet moments … 

Curler Girl

While I get ready for church or anything really, Ava likes to hang around the bathroom and get into everything, particularly the curlers. She's made far more use of them as stacking rings than I have for their true intended purpose. This particular Sunday I decided to see if she had the patience to learn how curlers are actually supposed to be used. She surprised me as sat perfectly still as I layered her head with curlers. She looked so cute! Funny ... we got a picture of the before but didn't follow through with an after shot. Probably because we were in a whirlwind to get out the door for church as usual. :)

Little Piano Pirate

This past year Ethan has been attending a music class that a very talented friend from church offers to pre-K kids. She always plans such fun themes that the kids love. This week’s theme was a pirate’s treasure hunt where they created their own treasure chests complete with chocolate coins & they got to take turns dressing as the pirate. Ethan’s the cutest little pirate I know. Arrr matey!