St. George is lovely this time of year

More from our Spring break trip to St. George. 

We took the kids letterboxing and failed at our first location. It was super pretty though. 

Searching for the impossible to find small metal pole with a white stripe. 

The next spot was really fun. We walked through sand,

climbed up the rocks,

and found the container. 

Finishing it off with some fun in the sand: 

Easter

Easter baskets:

 Easter egg hunt: 

Family pictures:

My favorite picture of the day:

Back in the Saddle

I can't remember the last time I rode a bike. Back in the day, I rode my bike regularly. It was my primary mode of transport the first summer I worked in Jackson Hole. But even after all the miles I put on that bike, I still consider myself a recreational rider. I like a leisurely pace, low hills and lots of space. I can go long distance, but I'm not going to set any speed records getting there. I enjoy biking, I'm just not hard-core. 

I married into a family of bike enthusiasts.  If they weren't so nice, I'd be intimidated.  I've made a fool of myself before (Moab) and set the bar pretty low when it comes to my biking skills. There is a fun little ride in St. George called the Green Valley Loop, aka, the Whoop-de-dos.  It was the first mountain bike ride for Noah. He has the Francis biker gene. I am seeing many more biking trips in his future.

 

When we finished, Noah immediately wanted to do it again.

 As for me, I didn't crash and I had fun. Thank heavens for less difficult routes and family members telling me which path to take. Now that Zack's on a two wheeler, we'll probably be putting a few more miles on the bikes. I'm looking forward to it.

Early Easter Eggs-travagana

With a title like that you may want to proceed with caution, there is no telling where this will go.

I am going to guess that we've been Easter egg hunting since 2002. It's a big deal and my kids look forward to it almost as much as Christmas. For the boys, I basically buy three of everything.  I write down the prizes, put the slips of paper in Easter eggs color coded for each kid and they find them. It's a no risk situation. And yet the boys worry. They open each egg and claim their prize like it's a major victory. I love it. It won't be as much fun when they get old and jaded. 

The Francis boys did take a little gamble this year and found grand prize eggs. I was worried that Zack wouldn't be ready for the disappointment, but Noah switched prizes and everyone was happy. Noah is a good kid.

Like I said, we've been doing this awhile and one of the best parts is setting out and arranging all the stuff. This year the kids took on the displaying responsibilities. Noah did our family prizes (on the left) and we discovered a hidden talent.

It takes awhile to get through all the grand kids. There are nine (Shaylee & Brock are not pictured) and 10 prizes per kid. We might need to modify that soon, it is kind of long.

 Grandpa couldn't stay awake. He did have pneumonia, so I suppose he was allowed. 

The adult hunt is a whole different story. There are good prizes and there are great prizes. There are even grand prizes. We can't be bothered to actually hunt for the eggs. Instead, you draw an egg out of a bag, read the number and wait for Mom to reveal your fate. Will it be Brush-ups or the Smash-box makeup set? Reece's peanut butter cups or a tri-pod flashlight? It's heart pounding excitement. I probably look forward to it as much as Christmas too.