Spring Snow 2013

One of the annual traditions here, snow after spring has officially started. The kids were okay with it, though.

Amanda's birthday party 2013

Not so long ago it seems, Amanda was born, the very first Muffin. And then she turned 8 this year. How time flies! As usual, Amanda REALLY wanted a party, and since Mom took a year off from parties last year (and since Dad helped out and Grandmother flew in for the occasion), Amanda got her wish. It all started with the pinata:

Dad and Amanda picked it out in hopes that it would help a party to appear (and got one like Mom would have chosen to boot!). Curtis knew all about pinatas, which made it really interesting trying to keep the thing intact up until the actual party. The pinata did indeed survive, and here are Amanda and Curtis and others on the day of the party. We served ice cream and pizza for all, with a ceremonial cake for the birthday girl.

Ah, yes, presents. Need we say more?

Seriously, though, we will say a little more. Amanda got fun presents and also some extra special presents, since it was the day she got baptized. For the record, this day was the day Amanda got the CTR locket that she now wears pretty much 24/7. Another special event was Grandmother coming to visit. Here she is with Clarissa.

And here's Lydia, who really wanted her picture taken, too. (How could Mom resist such cuteness?)

Finally, it was time for the pinata, an event Curtis had been dreaming of for what seemed like forever at that point. The best part of the pinata saga was that it all lived up to Curtis's expectations. He was one happy little boy with his big bag of pinata candy. (Oh, and Amanda had a good time, too.)

Clarissa meets a cat: a photo story

Today, Clarissa met a cat for the first time, an event which fortuitously coincided with Mom having the camera out and ready.

The doughnut affair

There once was a doughnut shop with a drive through. Over the summer, in a land where store doughnuts cost almost the same as doughnuts from the shop, Mom became rather good friends with such doughnut shop drive throughs. The Muffins approved.

When "Talk Like A Pirate" Day rolled around with a special offer from the shop, we were there with eye patches on:

Halloween doughnuts? Yup, we stopped by for some of those, too.

Once Mom even took a few Muffins inside the shop to see the great doughnut machine at work. Lots of good times for our resident doughnut lovers.

Then came the Valentine's Day special doughnuts. They were good, of course, and pretty, too, but . . . Mom also received a very special gift after that particular doughnut run, the gift of doughnut loathing (translation: Mom feels ill at the thought of doughnuts. Same thing happened once with a Facebook game Mom spent too much time on.). Thus ended the doughnut affair.

St. George!

Winter in Utah mountain valleys. At times, fun. And then there are the looong stretches of endless gray, both on the ground, in the sky, and in between (inversion, booo!). At times like that, it's time for a change. In our case, it was a quick trip to St. George. Behold, color!

The Volcano 
Our first adventure was lunch in a volcano (don't worry, it was extinct). Of course, there were all sorts of pesky logistical concerns that cropped up along the way, but the end result of it all was that we climbed up, in, back out, and down the volcano and lived!

The Family Fun Center
After a nice stay at a hotel with a pool and a great breakfast, we headed to a family fun center. Miniature golf, arcade games, stuff to bounce and climb on, who could ask for anything more? At least every couple of weeks since then one of the kids has asked, "When can we go to the family fun center again?"

Dinosaur Tracks!
"So, what's there to do in St. George?" was the question travel agent Mom encountered during the planning phases, when the destination was still potentially different. Let's just say that this particular attraction scored a lot of little Muffin votes.

Look, Ma, it's the volcano we hiked yesterday!

Visit with a Very Old Friend
Ever seen the Piano Guys Charlie Brown medley video? If not, go ahead and watch it below. Don't worry, we'll wait.

So, remember the spunky lady who gets the last word? Once upon a time, she was a substitute teacher at Mom's school. The Muffins enjoyed meeting her, and Mom was glad to see her again, too. Can you believe she's in her 90s? (Update July 2013: here is a link to Mabel Mitchell's obituary.)

Overall, the St. George vacation was a Muffin family win. (And we saw a Mary Kay pink Cadillac on the way home, too.)