Easter Weekend

last weekend's festivities began with coloring some easter eggs at Brigette's house.

















then on sunday i went to brigette's ward to help watch the boys while she and justin spoke in sacrament meeting. this is when the basketball hoop fell on my car - while we were at church. after church i stayed at brigette's and helped cook food for our family Easter dinner.


Keyan helped me make peanut butter treats that taste like reese's peanut butter cups. he did a really good job stirring the junk.


after dinner we went for a walk around their neighborhood. we used to go on walks together when they lived in denver. i love going on walks with my family - no distractions, no t.v., to phones, we just go and talk and have fun together.


keyan rode his bike, kaden and carter rode their skateboards and kye got a ride in the stroller. of course by the end of the walk carter and kaden's skateboards were in the stroller and kye was on zane's shoulders.


ain't my mom stylin? i had to get proof that she really did this.


david, lori, justin and carter had to wait for the rest of us to catch up.


zane and kye

and that was Easter sunday. oh wait - zane, dianne, chase and i went to see troy in the hospital later that night. he is home now and doing well.

curious?

so...you're wondering how long i can make it without ruining my new car?
well....3 weeks and 1 day.
that's how long it took me to get some dents and scratches in my new car.

yesterday while i was at brigette and justin's house the wind blew really hard while we were at church and knocked the basketball standard over onto the top of my car.
yep.


this is one side with scratches - where the hoop landed


here's a different view of the same scratches and dents


this is the other side, the driver's side, where the pole hit

i know these pictures don't do justice for how bad it is - but just pretend you can feel my pain here.
the sad part is that the alarm probably went off on the car for awhile. but we were gone at church, so who knows how long their poor neighbors had to listen to it.

AND - i got my license plates yesterday. so, here's to my new, wrecked car.
and with that - i want to wish you all a happy monday.

lame.

here you go...

here are the pics from the jetty.
i sure hope you enjoy them as much as i do.
p.s. - i don't know how the pics showed up in this arrangement on my blog - but it kind of adds a cool element to the display. so, enjoy!


just around the bend, i swear.


almost - look in the top right cornerish - it's peeking at you




there it is!!











































one more time - just in case you missed it


then we drove clear back out on the bumpy county class D roads, talking on the HAM radio with KE7RGU, and went to dinner at maddox in Brigham city.


some pretty good grub. i never went there in all of the years that i lived in Logan, so it was high time i made my way there for some good 'ol fashion grub


i want a family pic like this one day.

ta-da!!! a Utah wonder revealed!!!

this last saturday was my adventure day. i got to plan the adventure with isaac this time and boy, was it a good one!!! i have been waiting for a long time to go and see this Utah wonder, the Spiral Jetty. and let me tell you - it is even better in person to see than the following pics will give it credit for. it was awesome!!! and getting there was half the fun. just ask isaac. fun.

the spiral jetty is in the Great Salt Lake, at the north west tip - by the Golden Spike National Park. it is about 20 miles west of brigham city and then another 10 miles southwest on a dirt road. if you go, take a truck - you'll need it. and you'll need to go during a drought year so the jetty isn't covered by lake water.


along the way we had to stop and see our first utah wonder - Smith & Edwards.


if any of you can hum the theme for Smith & Edwards, you are a true Utahn.


this car was parked next to us when we came out of the store. they had all of these little bears glued to their dashboard. strange folks in that part of the valley.


just in case you ever decide to go visit Smith & Edwards - here is the sign to look for on I-15.


wondering what i bought at Smith & Edwards?
let's take a look...


please notice the orange price stickers. you know you are getting a deal when they use orange stickers on your stuff.


and - a dutch oven lid lifter. can't live without that. came in very handy at the dutch oven / emergency preparedness cook-off at my mom's the next day. (take a look at the previous blog for pics from that adventure)


we saw this alongside the freeway after we got back on the road from Smith & Edwards. reminds me of a rock that used to be by my house. it was the community bulletin board. then they buried the rock. about 5 miles past this, we realized we had missed our exit and had to turn around. oops.


we drove back and turned west towards the Golden Spike visitors center


we passed this interesting sight once we turned on the road to go to the Golden Spike visitor's center. it was a business advertising garages. notice that this particular garage happens to look like a barn. nope! it's a garage. with a real life car inside - just to prove its use.
weird.
but kinda funny.


i thought i should take some pics of the scenery along the way because by this time the sun was setting very quickly and i didn't know if i'd get any of what we were really going to see.


and another one.


and another.


don't forget a pic of our trusty driver.
he's having fun here. know how to tell? he's driving his *brand new* truck and breaking it in on the bumpy roads we were driving on.


a few more fluffly clouds. this picture is my action-shot. i took it while we were driving on a dirt road. sorry about the angle.


once you get to the golden spike visitors center and you drive down the dirt road, you start seeing signs like this that leads you to....THE SPIRAL JETTY!!!

stay tuned for the pics from the jetty..........