I love the fact that the early months of the year are relatively quiet, but that's not to say that we haven't enjoyed a few celebrations and lots of family fun time. Early this month (Saturday, March 9th), we finally broke out the snowmobiles! Jonas (and Jeff and Dallin) were more than ready to rev them up. We have had so many busy Saturdays that we haven't even taken them out once. Grant and Dallin's girlfriend, Audrey, joined us. And yes...I went too. Snowmobiling is not my favorite thing to do, but I do love spending time with family, and I always love grabbing a burger and a shake from Wheelers in Mt. Pleasant afterwards. Because of the group we were with (Jonas, Audrey, & I being fairly novice riders and Dallin still nursing his wrist), we didn't go crazy; however, Audrey still got hurt. I felt so bad! Within 15 minutes of our ride, Dallin went down a hill and encouraged her to join him, except the part she went down had a little drop off. The machine jumped and when they came down, she hit her chin on the handlebars. She got a cut, some minor scrapes, and a little swelling. Yet, she was a trooper. She didn't let it affect the rest of her day. She still got out there and enjoyed the machine...and Dallin made sure he did everything he could to make her comfortable. I loved watching my son treat her right. We spent a few hours riding around before we packed up the machines, grabbed our burgers, and headed home. I'm sure Jeff will go out again and hopefully Jonas & Dallin too.
Thursday, March 14th (3.14) was "Pi" day. I know it may be silly, but I love taking the opportunity to celebrate even the most mundane days...which was pretty much today. Jonas went to school, Jeff went to work, and I cleaned the house...but that night, I grabbed a pizza "pie" and a raspberry pie to celebrate the day.
That Saturday (March 16th), I got tickets to attend the Manti Temple Open House. The church announced that the temple would close in 2021 for renovations. The renovations mostly dealt with plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. They also refurbished the murals and formatted the rooms to allow for a TV viewing experience of the endowment session rather than live acting. Regardless of what was done, I was excited to be able to take my family to this pioneer temple. This was the third temple completed in Utah (behind the St. George and Logan temples). It was originally dedicated in 1888, when my 4th great-grandmother was still alive and living in the area. It is quite possible that she witnessed the temple being built and perhaps contributed in some way. It is also quite possible that she walked down those sacred hallways or even attended the dedication before she passed several months later. It was cool to think about the sacrifice of those early Saints that included my own relatives...and I had THREE hours to think about it before we got in! Yup...we waited in line for three hours. It was crazy! We even had a reservation, but that didn't seem to matter. There were so many people there. I had warned Jacob, Amber, Laurin, and Casey, but they still chose to come. I loved it! I loved that they wanted to join us. Jonas, Carter, and Everly (and Casey too) entertained themselves on the hill in front of the temple. Jonas even discovered that he could slide down the hill with his slick, quick-dry pants. We even (thankfully) had a frisbee that was being thrown around with all the kids on the hill. The wait was worth it simply because we got to spend time together as a family...and we got to wander those sacred halls. We all loved the spiral staircases and the antique apron on display. The assembly room was also a unique experience since most modern day temple don't have one. Once we finished the tour, we quickly made our way to Wheelers for more burgers and shakes. It was a good reward for our patience!
Sunday (March 17th) was St. Patrick's Day! Jonas woke up early (really early...like 1:00 a.m.) because he knew that the "Leprechaun" had hidden a treasure for him to find. I love that even though he knows the leprechaun's secret, he still enjoys the treasure hunt. This year, he told me that he didn't want any clues. He just wanted to try to find it...only I didn't expect that he'd try to find it in the middle of the night or that he would wake me up twice to get verbal clues. It's a good thing I love that little boy! Once he found it, he was able to go back to sleep. In the morning, I made us mini green (spinach) egg frittatas with a rainbow fruit skewer before we attended church. Because it was Sunday, Amber, Jacob, and the Irons came over for dinner and games that night. Most of our little holiday celebrations revolve around themed foods (today was no different) and that's it, but this year, because I knew others would be joining us, I planned a few easy games. We rolled potatoes to knock down stacked cups then we bounced ping pong balls (aka gold balls) into a pot. Yet the favorite game was using large tongue depressors on which to stack a tower of Fruit Loops. Laurin did the best at that. We even had time to break out the wiffle ball set. I love that the weather is finally warming up!
Speaking of warming temperatures, Jonas, Jeff and I celebrated the first day of Spring on Tuesday, March 19th, with some strawberry lemonade and a fruit tart from Kneaders. Bring on warmer temperatures and more outside fun!
