Arrow of Light

Seth received his Arrow of Light award and his last four activity badges.  He received all the badges that are available so he also got the Heavy Shoulder Award.

Strong work.  Nice pose!

Old Man Winter

Refuses to die!!!!

The least he could do is make sure the snow sticks to the roads so school can be cancelled.

But no- its just adding  insult to injury.

Come on Spring!! We are sooooo ready for you!

Eh Batter Batter!

The spring like weather brings out the neighbors. 

 Our next door neighbors like to play softball- and we like to join in!

Look at that form.

This picture reminds me of my Dad.  He frequently had his tongue poking out while he was working.  One day I asked him -Why?  To which he replied- Just so you would ask!

Oooozing cuteness!

There are exactly as many special occasions in life
as we choose to celebrate. 

Eggsceptional Easter

I LOVE Easter!  Color some eggs and focus on the Savior.  What a great time of year!  The weather didn't even disappoint.  We had beautiful spring like weather, and considering we woke up to a blanket of snow on Friday- that's saying something!

I love how decorating Easter eggs lets you be creative.  I think it is a great way to honor our Savior who was also the Creator of our beautiful world.

The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world.  Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice.  But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice.  ~Henry Knox Sherrill

We always have an Easter Bunny trail.

And some treats to share at the end.

I completely missed everyone dressed up in their Easter clothes, since I had meetings after church.  You'll just have to trust me- they were adorable.

After church we read scriptures, had home teachers, a Springy meal, a walk around the neighborhood, playing with the neighbors and topped off the day with some roasted Peeps.

My mom sent the idea- and we loved it.  The sugar coating on the peeps caramelize and crunchetize and they were soooo good.

Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.
Pope John Paul II

The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake.
Basil C. Hume

We also had our first watermelon of the season- wait what?- watermelon in April- gotta love modern conveniences.  Yummers!

I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
John

Happy Birthday Kai ! #3

Zebakai Ammon Redd in a nutshell!!!

Kai- energetic, fun loving, happy, joyful, loud, cheerful, buoyant, non-stop chatter or singing, adventurous, fearless, excited.

As many of you know, when we named Kai- we put two words together: Zeb meaning gift from God, and Kai meaning rejoice.  He gives us a reason to rejoice in our gift from God everyday!  

Kai you are delightful and we LOVE you!

Breakfast Bunch

After a week down in Utah and a drive back home- for two soccer games- one of which cancelled- we drove back down to Utah.  Heath and Kelly were dropping by for breakfast and we wanted to be there.  I think we got to visit for all of a half an hour before we had to take off but it was wonderful to see them and we just missed having Micah there with us.  Mom made an amazing breakfast.  She had these fancy ham and egg cups that I am craving right now- potato casserole, fruit triffle, and fruit drink.  Jaleah brought some yummy coffee cakes and everything was so good

We sang happy birthday to this cute little monkey and he was in frosting heaven!

Then we zipped up to Farmington to Jordan and Charity's baby blessing for Faith- which didn't happen until a little later than planned.  Hopefully, I can steal a photo from Charity and add it here.

We had a wonderful weekend visiting with family!

Peekaboo Loop & Queens Garden Loop

Dad, Brigham, Seth and Kaleb got up early on day 4 to take a long hike.  It was foggy and they had a blast.

Dad came back and got the "women and children", and we headed down the mountain to join the other boys.

Teamwork

Then we packed up the car and headed for home.  It was a fantastic vacation!  Its fun to have older kids to go on these adventures with!

Bryce Canyon National Park

We drove from Zions to Bryce Canyon National Park.  There was still a lot of snow in the forecast and more snow on the way.  We drove around to all the look out points.  It was so beautiful and such a different beauty from Zions.

We attempted an "easy" hike but it was still covered in snow.

So we headed to our hotel room, had dinner and spent the evening swimming and relaxing in the hot tub.

Canyon Overlook Trail

On our way out of Zions on Day 3 we hit this gem of a trail.  It had some cool caves and fun things to climb on.

This was also our last morning of good weather.

Goodbye Zions!  You were so enchanting!!!

Riverwalk

Our last hike of day 2 was the Riverwalk.  It is a nice little walk next to the river.  

The kids wanted to leave their own sign and hastily put together a cairn.

We got back to the shuttle in the dark and headed for dinner.  We ate at a great Thai place just outside the park.  We have eaten at Thai places all over the world- and this was definitely in the top two.  Tasty!  If you are ever there- check it out.

The Emerald Pools

We trekked to the lower, middle and upper emerald pools.  That was quite a misnomer as they were decidedly brown.  But it was a fun hike.  This shot is from the middle pools.

Love!

Joy!

Contentment!

The upper falls

Looking Up

A pause to rest- but we still aren't done- one more hiking to go.