I did it!

And here's the proof. This is at the top of Angel's Landing. That's right! We hiked the entire thing, with our kids! Now to some, this may not be the greatest of accomplishments, but you have to consider that I am afraid of heights and have chickened out of the end of hikes before. This is the scariest hike I have ever been on, and I went all the way to the top instead of waiting for Cameron on the less scary part of the trail!

 This is at the very beginning of the hike. That big cliff in the center left of the photo is Angel's Landing.

This is called the wiggles. It's a little difficult to tell from this photo, but we are at the very bottom and there are a series of switchbacks leading up this little hill. If you look closely, you can see some people further up the wiggles. Just before this was refrigerator canyon. Cameron told Eli that we were in the refrigerator and that a big monster was going to come and open it and then pull us out to eat. The entire way through the canyon Eli was asking where the monsters were.

 Eli saw some kids playing in a little "cave" so when he saw this one he wanted to get in.

 This was at the end of the non-scary part of the trail. Just after this, Eli was put in the backpack on Cameron's back.

 All of us at the top.

 Posing at the top.

Eli is turning into quite the motivational speaker. Once we got to the scary part of the trail he kept saying, "Mommy, you can handle this." And, "This is the easy part mommy! You can do it!" I couldn't have done it without him.

This is the kind of view we had from the top.

 

But, don't think I have entirely overcome my fear. I slid down the scary half mile on my bum. I'm sure the hundreds of other people on the trail were getting very tired of waiting for me to go down.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Some things you might not know about Cameron:

• You might already know that he is an amazing photographer, but he is also an amazing artist. His drawings are fantastic!
• Every time we go on a hike together, he tells me that he'll buy me ice cream if I find a snake or a Gila monster.
• When he actually finds a snake or a Gila monster he gets excited like a little boy.
• He is a very tidy person.
• When he is photographing animals he calls them "lil buddy."
• He built a rock staircase beside our house.
• He doesn't have stinky feet, but for some reason he has a pair of REALLY stinky shoes.
• Nearly every night, he makes up stories for Eli.
• His favorite dessert is cheesecake, which I make him every year on his birthday.
• This is his 32nd birthday.

Cameron, I love you so much. You are more than I deserve. Thank you for all that you are. Happy Birthday!

The Best Ever...

 Mmmm.... Doesn't this look scrumptious? That's what Cameron and I thought too when our friends delivered it to us the other night. We were going on and on about how nice it was for them to make us a cake... until... we cut into it, and... it's a fake! It didn't occur to me when they knocked on the door that it was April Fool's day! This beautiful cake is actually some sort of a craft sponge. I laughed and laughed all night about this. I even managed to fool some of my house guests who were also here this weekend.

Also, the inside of the sponge was hollow. So, underneath our fake cake, this is what we found. This was the clincher for Cameron. Both of us agreed, this was the best April Fool's joke EVER!

Look Who's Walking Now

She has actually been walking for a few weeks but this video was taken just a few days ago. Strangely enough, Eli and Brianna both took their very first steps at about the same age but Eli started walking at about 10 months and Brianna was at about 13 months. There seemed to be more falling on Eli's part when he started. I think Brianna wanted to be sure she could really do it before using it as her main form of transportation.

Scare that bear!

This is from our trip to the wildlife museum on Eli's birthday. It was just too cute... I had to share.

Happy Birthday Eli!

3 years old and growing fast! What a handsome boy you are! Eli, you are so smart. Just a couple of weeks ago, after Uncle Brent told you the muffin joke, we had this conversation:

Mom: "Maybe on Sunday we could have muffins for breakfast."

Eli: "Yeah! And then when they are in the oven they'll say, 'Argh! A talking muffin!'"

You make us laugh every day! We love you Eli!

On Eli's birthday we took a trip to the wildlife museum.

 Also at the wildlife museum. This one is inside the fort they had in the kid's room.

Swampy the crocodile! Unfortunately there was a bad case of coxsackie virus going around so only one little boy came to his birthday party. I think we'll have birthday round two, minus swampy. He took a little too long to make so we'll have brownies (or something) instead.

Because you asked

I actually got the instructions for making the cupcakes out of a book my aunt got me for Christmas.

 This book.

Because I didn't come up with the idea myself, I think it would probably be bad form to tell you exactly how I did it. So maybe a basic idea?

The butterflies are made using these:

 

 Make n' Mold chocolate wafers. 

In the book, they include the outline of a butterfly. The wings are separate. I outlined the wings with one color, filled it in with the other color and then used a toothpick to swoop (very technical term, I know) one color into the other. The link at the top is to the amazon page for Hello, Cupcake, which includes videos showing how to make a few of the cupcakes from the book.

P.S. If you are ever at my house, I'd be happy to show you my copy.