novruz 2012

 The Williamses delayed their Novruz celebration until we could all be together.  So on Saturday, March 31st, we gathered to celebrate the New Year!

 Grass, eggs & vodka!

 Alma's first Novruz!

 I brought bread!

 We battled each other with hard boiled eggs to try to be the one left standing with an uncracked egg...

 Jacque feeling a bit guilty for beating a 5 year old??  ;)

 He's such a good sport!

 The winner!

 Getting the fire ready...

 Jesse broke out the umbrella to try to keep the fire burning, but the rain ended up delaying the fire jumping by a little bit.

 Finn jumped anyway, even though the fire was going out...

 When the rain subsided, we went back out & resumed the fire jumping!  Cedar's turn!  "Ağırlıgım- uğurluğum bu odda qalsın!" (all my troubles fall into the fire).

 Jacque

 Stu

 Katrina

 Kenton

 Jesse

 Carolyn

 And Alma!

 Playing in the fire.

Under supervision, of course!  :P

utah wrap up

 We visited Nanalee & Papa Lew's neighborhood park, to try to tire out the boys a bit.

 This area is super fun in the summer when it's warm enough for the water to be turned on!

 These boys managed to turn the water sprayers into fun "shooters".  :P

 Walking home with Papa Lew & Dad.

 Silly boy.

 Cedar & Finn got too warm for their shirts.  :P  

Both seem to have itchy backs by this photo.

 The boys spent a lot of time on this trip playing legos...

 ...playing Angry Birds Space...

...reading books & coloring.

I must have slowed down in capturing photos towards the end of our trip, but we had such a great time!  We tackled the drive home in two stretches, with a stay in a hotel in Burns, Oregon.  It was an uneventful drive & the boys did pretty well.  Thanks so much to Nanalee & Papa Lew for being such gracious & generous hosts!

dinosaur park

 On Sunday (3/25), Marylee & Lew took us to Dinosaur Park!  We had visited before, when we were in Ogden in August of 2010 & it was a hit!  So we wanted to take Cedar, now that he was 18 months older.

 Most of the dinosaur statues had speakers near them, playing sounds of roaring & screaming dinosaurs.  Cedar was actually pretty nervous when we first arrived.  :)

 You can tell Cedar is looking cautiously towards the roaring T-Rex!

 He loosened up pretty quickly & got into the fun of the park...as long as Dad or Mama were not too far away.  ;)

 Ahhhh!  Scary dino!

 It is so pretty in Ogden!  I love how the city sits at the base of the mountains.  Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by huge mountains!

 We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy before playing on the playground.

 Finn was so excited that he got to have a root beer all to himself!  :P

 Riding the dino!

Poor baby triceratops.  :(

Cedar wanted a turn!

Finley & Mama

Doesn't he look handsome?

Mama & Cedar.  Cute boy.

The boys really wanted me to take their picture in the Flintstones display...though I'm certain they've never even heard of the Flintstones.  :P

"World's Most Dangerous Creature(s)!"

This one cracks me up.  At first glance, I think Cedar really looks like his older cousin, Sadie.  He smiles when he sees this picture too & says "I'm a gruirrel (girl)."  :P

Finley in front of the silly dinosaur (age 5).  You can see how much he's grown since our last visit if you compare the picture below.

Finley in front of the silly dinosaur (age 3 1/2).

Cedar's growing too!  What a fun age!