Lamberts Gone Wild: Spring Break 2011

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "HOLY COW, that's a LOT of photos."  And you are correct.  If you really look at all of them, you earn a treat.

Jason was in California during most of the kids' spring break.  So we took them on a mini-getaway in Salt Lake City.  I was actually pretty bummed about this plan; I had our car all packed to go to Moab, but alas, it was not meant to be.  So Salt Lake Marriott it was.  And we did have fun.  The rest of the week was crammed full of local fun.  See for yourself:

Hanging out downtown...

Princess and the pea!

At City Hall, one of my fav SLC buildings.

Outside the amazing Salt Lake Library.  This place is seriously cool!  Like mind-boggling cool.

You can't really tell, but there is a huge, gorgeous installation suspended from the ceiling that I am trying to replicate in miniature for Harper's room.  It's made of little books with butterflies emerging from them.  Gorgeous!

Seriously, we skipped Disneyland this year, but the elevator rides made up for it!

Oh, how they loved it!

Kicking up her heels in the big city!

Mid-morning snack behind the library.

 A Day at Hogle Zoo.

Hogle Zoo.  Always fun... but especially when there are no other people there.

Finn LOVED the zoo.

I love this shot.  My pretty, glowy kids.

"Come here... Come here..." Finn kept saying.

I love this wonky picture of Jake and Harper.

 Ice Skating at the Eccles Ice Arena!

Jake was not a fan of ice-skating.  At all.

But Owen LOVED it.  It's his new fav thing.  He has been with his class, and then again for a birthday party this month.  He's getting really good!

Post-skating pizookie.

Harper eats the remnants.

 Adventures at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden with Jaime, Porter, and Blue.

LOOK at my sister.  She's so beautiful. And LOOK at her baby.  He's scrumptious.

Hanging out in a tipi.  Or is it tee-pee?

Harper loved the fire. 

Finn and Porter rustle up some grub.

Porter and his little burro.

Bennett and Owen spent a long time playing a game of chess.

CUTEST COWBOYS!

And this, my friends, is a milkable cow.  The kids were both disgusted and fascinated.

Little farmer boy.

An excellent week.  

The end.

Characters Come to Life!

Bennett has an awesome teacher this year.  For their latest book report, the students were asked to come to school dressed up as a character from their book of choice.  The entire school came to check out the reports, so it was a really big deal.  Bennett did a Star Wars book which he loved.  Of course.  He did an awesome job; I was so proud of him!

Cupcake

Little Miss is growing up on us.  She's got 4 sharp teeth, she claps, waves, and pulls herself up all over the place.  Time, time, where are you going?

Snow Days

When you wake up, and your yard looks like this:

You know you've got to head for the hills to do THIS:

Pow-WOW!

We took the kids to USU campus last week to watch the dancing at the Pow-Wow.  The kids were totally amazed, and so were we.  Jake kept asking if these were "real live Indians?"  I was kind of embarrassed because we were surrounded by real live Indians as he was asking me.  ;)  It was fun to visit with him about the Native American friends we have, the Toledos, and the Jones, who are both in our ward.  I am always jealous of people with such culturally rich heritages.

We got to watch the Iron Man competition, where the man to dance the longest and most technically correct wins.  It was amazing and beautiful.

I've never seen anything like the traditional costumes we saw...  Gorgeous.

During the Grand Entrance.  I wish you could hear the drums.

Blue and Gold

Bennett leading the flag ceremony at this year's Blue and Gold Banquet.

I've got to be honest here- I wasn't really excited for Bennett to start scouts last year.  I looked at it as one more thing- one more meeting, one more book full of things to check off.  But I have truly loved watching Bennett and all he has learned this past year.  (Also, I love that it is a way for him to stay connected to his neighborhood friends since we are now attending Bear River Charter School across town. )

 Bennett is a lucky kid who gets to go camping, hiking, and all that stuff with his family.  He also learns about character and morals in church and at home (I hope!).  But there are so many kids who are not so lucky; scouting provides something that is hard to find in today's world.  And if there is one more place I can send him every week to be uplifted and taught to be a good citizen, I'm all for it.   I'm definitely not a master scout mom, but perhaps by the time Finn finishes scouting I will be.  Maybe I'll even get to be a den leader and have to buy one of those sweet pale yellow uniform shirts...  Lucky!!!!