Rockwood Festival of Colors

The Hare Krishna Hindu believers here in Utah County celebrate the coming of spring each year with the Holi Festival, or Festival of Colors. The Krishna Temple is just south of us in Spanish Fork. When I was in college, I went to the festival and had a blast. The climax of the celebration is when they light the bonfire and then throw brightly colored chalk at each other, like the colors of the flowers opening in the creation. I wanted to take everyone this year, but we couldn't make it Saturday night, so we bought our chalk from the temple early and had our own festival tonight for family home evening. Our good friends the Marshalls joined our celebration, as well as Dave's cousins, Jared and Becky and their gang. Our friend Jaimie came as well and participated in the festivities as you can see in the picture below. We had a great time and plan on making it a tradition to hold our own festival.

The remnants of the festival will probably hang around for a while. The sink and bathtu

b are a little stained (though I think it will wear off eventually), and Brinn's hair now looks strawberry blonde. We'll see how our clothes faired when I finish the laundry tonight, but it was definitely well worth it. Yeah for colors! Now we just need spring to hurry along.

Our Weekend

I keep putting off writing a post because I don't have any pictures...but I'm going to write this anyway and try to add pictures later.

Thursday I stayed home from school because Brinn was sick. In addition to getting my house cleaned, I finished sewing my trial teddy bear. I bought some cute fuzzy material I am planning on making Bean a teddy bear with, but I wanted to make sure I could pull it off first, so I made one with some scrap fabric I had. I am quite proud of myself. It is far from perfect, but still an impressive feat for someone who isn't really a seamstress.

Saturday afternoon we rotatilled our new garden spot, measured out our rows and planted some of the early stuff. We planted some strawberries earlier this week and are getting some blackberry bushes from Dave's dad. Nel came over to help us plant. It was fun and makes me anxious for summer!

Yesterday we had a family meeting and discussed our summer plans. We got a flyer for all of the summer programs offered in the community and decided to let the girls choose one activity they wanted to participate in. We decided we wanted them to take swimming lessons so they can handle themselves in the pool better, but they got to pick their other activity and both decided to do the summer tennis camp. It should be fun!

Last thing, those of you who know Emmett, most assuredly know about the Cherry Festival and might recall that my mom always made us an amazing little kids float for the kids' parade. Well, Springville also has a Children's Parade during its Art City Days, and Nel and I are going to make a float this year. I emailed the director to get an idea about what to expect. I was afraid we might over do it...and yes, we will. It sounds like most kids just come and walk the route. Well, Nel and I will show them how it is really supposed to work. :) Our float is going to be spectacular and definitely over the top from what Springville has experienced before. More details pending, but be excited because the theme is "Living the Sweet Life."

Girls' Night Out

A few weeks ago, a group of us went out to dinner for a girls' night.  It was fabulous!  There are so many amazing women in my neighborhood/ward.  It is always so much fun to get together with them and spend an evening chatting and laughing.

What should we name little Bean?

We're trying out a new polling program. Help us choose what we should name little Bean. Of course, we may end up calling by the nickname Bean anyway. Vote here (only vote once please):

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Kyler's Blessing and Idaho

Friday night we gathered everyone up, including Danielle, and headed to Idaho for Kyler's blessing, Maria's newest little boy.  The drive was uneventful until we had made it almost all the way to my Grandma Hallam's house in Emmett, just coming down Freezeout Hill.  It was 11:30 pm and after a long drive, we were looking forward to getting to bed when we saw the ever ominous flashing lights behind us.  Dave, according to the officer, had been swerving in and out of his lane.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see him walk the line, and were soon on our way again without much trouble.

Saturday my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower at my Aunt Janet's house.  It was fun to see family and fun to start collecting baby things. :)  All so cute.  Then we headed to our lovely hotel.  Remember that the pool was to be the highlight of the trip...the pool was closed for maintenance.  The girls were devastated.  It turns out my parents hotel had a small indoor pool, so the day was saved and the evening was a hit with all the little cousins splashing around.

I think Kyler may have actually trumped the pool, though.  The girls loved him!  They wanted to hold him and play with him all the time.  It was cute.  They are very excited to have their own little live doll in a few months.  Meg even got him to smile in church Sunday.  Dave and I are also a little more baby hungry now.  That's probably a good thing since July is fast approaching.  Baby Bean kicks and plays all the time now, but only kicks hard enough to be felt by others when I am alone.  Stubborn little boy already, but we already love him to pieces.

All in all, a perfectly lovely trip.  It was great to see family and be back in Idaho.  We just wish everyone lived closer so we could get together more often.