Kitchen Makeover...

One of my favorite rooms in the Highland house is the kitchen! 

 It is very large with plenty of storage, bright light and excellent counter space. 

We have made several changes, from the simple, like changing the island pendant lights, the wall color, and new appliances, to much larger structural details, including opening a wall, removing stairs and a built in eating banquet, plus the refinishing of the floors.

But the final project (if there is anything final about this house) was painting the cabinets...and what a difference it made!

And just so it's clear, we have done a lot of work in this house ourselves, but this job was hired out and worth every penny!!

I'm loving this room, now if only it stayed this clean all the time!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Another wonderful holiday!
The wee ones showing off their green duds...

Breakfast of champions (on this special leprechaun day).

And green gifts left by our magical friends...

School lunch, all green of course.

Key lime pie yogurt, mini Sprite, green grapes, and an apple breakfast bar...

Me showin' the Love...

Dinner consisted of a hearty soup with potatoes and kale and a side of Irish Soda Bread, and green apple juice to drink.

And finally the legendary cookies...

So here at last is the Legend of the Cookies...

My second year at Ricks College was Glen's first.  I had learned early on, the way to a man's heart was through a plate of cookies and Glen was clearly enjoying that tradition, as he had plates of cookies lining his counter tops on a regular basis from various admirers.  After spending more time with him and "hanging out" for a couple months I decided this was a guy worth keeping!  When St. Patrick's Day rolled around my roommate was putting together a special plate of cookies for her boyfriend and I thought to myself, "Hey, Glen's Irish, I should do something to mark this special day for him", so I grabbed some of her "special" St. Patrick's day cookies (with permission) and fashioned a tray out of cardboard in the shape of a shamrock covered in foil to deliver my gift. 

Well, Glen had received many plates of cookies, but never shamrock cookies in honor of his beloved Ireland!  

Later, when considering our relationship and whether or not to make it an eternal commitment he had a list of three memorable things that tipped the scales of his decision (in my favor, obviously) and the cookies were on that list!

So to mark the occasion and celebrate our fun relationship, I make him a plate of green shamrock cookies and one pink heart as a memento of our love each year on St. Patrick's Day. 

St. George Soccer Special

February 19-21, 2011, Presidents Day Weekend

Our fun Arsenal soccer team decided to enter a  tournament in St. George to get away from the cold weather and enjoy ourselves...it didn't quite go as planned!

The tournament was held at a sod farm.  Games played on the "beautiful" grass and parking on the dirt sections where grass had been removed for sale. 

We drove down Friday evening, checked into a hotel just outside Zion's National Park, and woke up to a very cold and wet Saturday morning!

After driving in to St. George, we joined the mile long line of cars paying for the privilege of parking in a mud pit.  We let our soccer player out on the street and wished him luck in finding his team amoung the 16 fields, and hoped we'd have the same luck. 

After pushing two cars out of a gooey mess we settled in to see what was left of the first game. 

 Mud coated everything!

This was a living nightmare for me.  I spent the entire game attempting to clean every surface before it entered the car. 

The kids were good sports, enjoying treats while they supported their brother in the cold rain. 

Don't let the first picture of a grassy field fool you, out of bounds took it to a whole new level! 

 That night we searched for a car wash and finally found one piled full with other cars from the same tournament.  Driving through town, it was plainly obvious who had been to our soccer tournament even though the town was also hosting a baseball tournament and gymnastics competition, among other things. 

Sunday morning we awoke to snow, a very rare thing for these parts. 

As we entered Zion's National park I couldn't help but chuckle at this sign. 

I'm sure it is not often in this position. 

Zion's is an amazing creation, full of towering rock formations and dessert vistas. 

We were given the rare glimpse of it in snow. 

The kids enjoying a moment: 

Someone else created these very cute visitors to the park. 

To burn a little energy and really experience the park we took a two hour hike up the Emerald Pools Trail. 

At the end (or highest of three sets of pools) we found this amazing frozen waterfall. 

The pile of white in the background is frozen water spray. 

After several trips to Walmart to buy cleaning supplies and warmer clothes, revising our plans to enjoy warm weather and parking our Yukon at each game to watch from inside, the experience can be seen as an adventure!   

I've never seen so much mud or been so glad to have all wheel drive,

but this kid made it worth it!!