I have completely procrastinated from organizing my downstairs coat closet.  Overrun by mostly cleaning supplies this closet quickly became a broom closet instead of a coat closet.  I had enough of the clutter so I quickly came up with something that would help me regain order in this closet.  I bought the hanging organizer at Target and it has worked out really well.

The closet wasn't the only thing that bothered me about downstairs.  Every time the kids walked in from school they would scatter gloves, hats, and scarfs all over the floor in the laundry room.  I was tired of everyone not being able to find their gloves and hats so I bought an over the door shoe organizer to be used as a place where all of those things were kept.  With six rows everyone got to claim one row for all their cold weather gear.  When the weather warms up we will put things like sunglasses, swimming goggles and sunscreen in the pockets.  

Well, we are getting a bit closer to ruling out what is causing Peter's delayed growth.  Since his blood work showed a low growth hormone level the Endocrinologist decided that it would be best to do an infusion test to get a more accurate reading of his growth hormone levels.  Peter was a trooper and did so well with the IV this time.  The entire test took about 5 hours.  The nurse said that it would only be about 30min until the medication in his IV would make him sleepy.  With the Xbox as a distraction it took  1 1/2 hours for Peter to finally fall asleep.  It was nice that we were in our own private room.  I sat and watched a movie on my iPad while Peter slept.  Every 30 minutes the nurse came in to draw his blood from the IV.  It went a lot smoother than I had anticipated.  When the test was over and they removed his IV he needed to use the rest room.  I helped him out of bed but quickly realized that he got up way too fast.  He passed out right in the middle of the hallway.  It's a good thing he is light because I was able to catch him and then carry him back to the room.  After getting some fluids and some food in him we were finally able to go home.  Back at home he slept for another couple of hours.  The results of his test came back the next day.  It turns out that his growth hormone levels were in the normal range...barely normal.  I am happy for him that he is producing enough growth hormone but the question remains...why isn't he growing?  So, to prayer we head as we continue to help Peter grow at a more normal rate.  If there is anyone who could handle this challenge it is Peter.  He is an amazing kid and no matter how tall he ends up being I know he will be live a happy life if his attitude continues to be the way it is now.  

Mike has really been on the lookout for some good new recipes to try.  While we were at my parent's house for Thanksgiving he spent a better portion of the morning going to different stores to find all the ingredients to make Panang Curry.  It was absolutely delicious and one recipe we will be adding to our mix.

Hands down the best root beer you can get at a restaurant is at the Brick Oven.  I was shocked to see this restaurant all the way down in St. George.  I have so many fond memories of going to the Brick Oven with Mike while we were attending BYU in Provo.  

The drive to and from St. George wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  With 11+ hours in the car it sure is nice to have good scenery.  I think my favorite part of the drive is on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon.  It is definitely prettier in the summertime when everything is green but even in the winter with snow on the mountains it is still breathtaking.  

After finishing our tour at Brigham Young's Winter home we drove by the St. George LDS temple.  I just had to get out and take some photos.  This was my first time seeing this temple and all I could think of was...wow!  It was absolutely gorgeous.  

Today we ventured downtown to take a tour of Brigham Young's winter home.  Brigham Young, as the locals say, was St. George's first snowbird.  As he aged he began suffering from arthritis and found that the warm, dry and snowless winters eased his discomfort.  The original portion of his home was begun in 1869 and completed in 1871.  The front addition to the house was completed in 1873.  One of the things that struck me from the outside appearance of the house was the bright green trim.  Apparently when the paint was ordered for the temple it came as the wrong color.  Instead of wasting the paint Brigham Young decided to use the paint as trim for the house.  

At the beginning of the tour we learned a little about the history of St. George and how it was founded as a cotton mission.  The settlement was named after George A. Smith who was apparently bald but wore a wig.   He wore that wig whichever way he wanted and most of the time he looked like he just slapped it on his head sideways.  He was humorously known for sometimes removing his wig to wipe his brow while preaching. After seeing Smith remove his hair, glasses, and false teeth, the natives gave him the name Non-choko-wicher meaning,  "takes himself apart."  

Walking into the home was like walking into a totally different world.  The chairs in the entry hall were replicas of Thomas Cotton's work.  Thomas Cotton  was one of the early furniture makers in the area.  The tour guide had the kids count the chairs during the tour to see who could get all of them.  There ended up being  32 chairs.  The kids came pretty close, minus one chair I think.  All of the furnishings in the home were either replicas or period antiques.   Most of the wood furniture was made out of pine since that was they had available at the time.  Brigham Young hired craftsmen to paint the pine to look like other kinds of wood.  It was really fascinating to see something that looked like mahogany only to be told that it was indeed pine.  

Brigham Young owned the eight sided table in the parlor.  It was made of pine and grained to look like crotch mahogany.  Also in the parlor, the box piano was a replica of what they had in the house.  The photo above the fireplace of Brigham Young was given to him as a Christmas gift by the people in town.  He was very touched to receive it.  The letter table in the parlor was also a replica and was pine that was painted to look like mahogany.  

In the dining room there were a few things that were authentic.  The dishes on the table in the dining room with the "BY" monogram had been ordered and but didn't arrive until after Brigham's death.  The ruby colored vase on the top shelf of the dining room cabinet was an original artifact and was used in the home by Brigham and his family.  The photos on both sides of the dining room cabinet were also originals that were in Brigham Young's home.  

In the kitchen the kids were able to pick up and see just how heavy the iron was.  Emma was grateful that we didn't have to iron our clothes with something quite that heavy.  Upstairs in the bedrooms we learned what a chamber pot was.  The kids were again grateful that they didn't have to have a bathroom duty like that.  

All the beds upstairs belonged to Brigham Young as well as the dresser with the numbers on it that he used as his traveling wardrobe.  The cane and the hat on the bed also belonged to Brigham Young.  

After 4 years of Thanksgiving without family around it was really nice to be spending Thanksgiving with my parents this year.  With some preparation the night before, the day of Thanksgiving wasn't quite as stressful.  Our morning started with a short little run around the neighborhood to burn some of the calories that we would most likely be eating later in the day.  Abby and Emma helped in the kitchen doing various little jobs.  Both of the girls got to help Grandma stuff stuffing into the turkey.  Abby helped roll out the dough for the rolls and Emma was the peeler.  After getting a short little tutorial by Grandma, Emma peeled all of the potatoes and the sweet potatoes and loved every minute of it.  They both had a great time being able to help prepare the Thanksgiving dinner.  Later on in the morning Grandpa and Mike took the kids to the park to play football and basketball.  They were all smiles when they returned, telling me all about their tackles and touchdowns and showing me their grass stained jeans.  Even Emma was excited to tell me about her touchdown.  There is nothing better than being able to spend Thanksgiving with the people you love.  I am grateful for that this year and for health and safety our family continues to enjoy.  

Yes, Mike grew a beard all week long just because he could.  I thought he looked handsome but I did not like kissing that.  Abby didn't seem to mind too much.

Today we decided to drive up to Zion National Park and hike up to Angels Landing.  The last time Mike and I hiked at Zion we were newly weds.  It was incredible to bring our kids up to this wonderful place and be reminded of what we did so many years before.  The car ride was a little rocky and many of us felt car sick.  We were relieved to finally get out of the car and onto the trail heading up the trail to Angels Landing.  The first part of the hike followed the Virgin River on a sandy path and soon became paved as the ascent become more steep.  The first set of switchbacks was tough on Abby but we stopped every so often to rest with her.  I think the beginning of any hike is hard because our legs are not yet warmed up.  At least that is what I tell Abby every time we start a hike.  

It didn't take too long to ascend the first set of switchbacks and come into the valley between Angels Landing and the Zion Canyon.  This was actually one of my favorite parts of the hike.  The canyon was absolutely beautiful and peaceful.  It wasn't very steep through this part of the canyon.  Eventually we made it to Walter's Wiggles which is a series of 21 steep switchbacks before making it to Scout Lookout.  Once at Scout Lookout, grandma and grandpa gladly volunteered to stay with Abby and eat lunch while the rest of us ventured up to the summit.  

The last half-mile of the trail up to the summit was strenuous and littered with sharp drop offs and narrow paths.  I suppose that is why they have chains to grip onto the entire way up to the summit.  We were very strict with the kids about holding onto the chains at all times and there was no fooling around of any kind while we were on such treacherous terrain.  Even though we had strict rules for climbing this portion of the trail,  we still giggled and had fun the entire way up.  Many of the other travelers were impressed that such a young crowd was making its way up to the top.  We had comments like, "I wish I had kids that would do this."  I guess we do have pretty adventurous kids.  They weren't born that way though.  We have spent lots of time introducing our children to the outdoors.  I am grateful that they have the adventurous bug and are willing to try new things.  

The view from the top was amazing.  We ate our well deserved lunch and then headed back down to meet up with Grandma, Grandpa and Abby.  Abby made a friend while they were waiting for us.  She hiked with her little friend all the way down.  It was the cutest thing ever.  

We loved hiking along the Petrified Dunes Trail.  Emma and Peter were the cutest hiking buddies.  At one point in the trail we came to another sandy area and had to find the trail again.  Once we found the trail we ventured through a heavily treed area and popped out on the other side at the bottom of the main petrified dunes.  The dunes were really cool looking and fairly steep.  I only went up so far with the girls because I wasn't feeling well but the boys ventured upwards trying to find Mike who went ahead of everyone to see the view from the top.  From the top Mike said you could see the vast expanse of the petrified dunes rolling through the canyon.  He especially liked the lone tree in the midst of the great dunes.  This will be a fun canyon to explore every time we visit grandma and grandpa.  

We had a rocky start to our Thanksgiving trip to St. George.  We were all packed up and ready to drive the first portion of our trip when we noticed that we had a flat tire.  With run flat tires it was a little worrisome to see our tire actually deflated.  Everyone was all decked out in their ski gear ready to drive to the slopes for a few hours before heading to Grand Junction.  It would have been a great plan if our tire had not been flat.  We carefully drove to the dealership and were completely bummed to hear that we would need not only one new tire but all four.  Skiing was now out as well as a good chunk of our money.  Our bad luck continued when we got pulled over on Rt. 70.  The blasted cop pulled us over for going too fast as we were descending downhill with a speed limit reduction that we did not see.  We were really close to turning around and going home but thankfully Mike kept going.  We stopped in Grand Junction for the night as initially planned.  I think we all needed some time to recoup both mentally and physically from the events of the day.

After a good night's sleep we packed up the car for the rest of our drive to St. George.  Before getting to St. George we stopped in Cedar City to visit with my step grandfather Don and his wife Josephine. The last time I saw Don was right after Mike and I were married.  It had been 16 years since then and almost 20 years since my grandmother had passed away.  Don was really excited to finally meet my kids.  After some hugs and introductions we showed the kids around the house.  I was really excited to show the girls the back room where all of my grandmother's dolls and various stuffed animals were.  My grandmother loved collecting dolls and making her own dolls.  She was so talented in painting their faces and making their clothes.  As a child I spent a great deal of time in this room admiring all of her dolls.  Of all the dolls she had there was always one that stole my eye.  This tiny doll had a white bonnet and a long white dress with baby blue ribbons.  I loved how delicate her face looked and how the long dress made her seem bigger than she really was.  I couldn't believe that she was in the same place I had last seen her - snuggled in the cradle between two Amish looking dolls.  

The next room I showed the kids was the "pink room" which was where I slept when visiting grandma and Don.  I also loved this room because it was my grandmother's special room adorned with her fancy clothes and her jewelry.  I always felt safe in the pink room.  Abby quickly took interest in the cradle filled with the stuffed cats.  My grandmother loved cats and she always had a couple of cats in the home.  The three I remember were called Midnight, Chine, and Spooks.  The girls loved hearing me tell stories of those cats.  

As it was nearing lunchtime, Josephine made the kids hot chocolate and peanut butter toast.  The kids were enamored by Don's interesting version of butter spread first then peanut butter.  While the kids were eating I was able to ask about some photos of my grandmother.  Josephine was able to find a few for me to take with me.  Luckily Don had remember some of my grandmother's friends that were in the photos.   By the end of our visit the girls had really gotten comfortable around Don and wanted to stay longer.  On our way out of the city we stopped at the cemetery to see where my grandmother was buried.  We found the general area where she was buried and made a game of it to see who could find her tombstone first.  Everyone was looking carefully but in the end I was the one who found the tombstone.  We took some pictures and then I had a moment of silence to reflect on my grandmother's life when I knew her.  It had gotten windy by this point so it wasn't too long before I was back in the car with everyone else.  Our stop in Cedar City was just what I needed to get over the frustration from the day before and to have a positive and grateful attitude for my life and all I have been given.

I had the opportunity to go to both of my girls school Thanksgiving feasts.   In Abby's class the parents were invited to feast with the kids.  The spread was unbelievably awesome.  It was nice to "dine" with Abby and eat a real Thanksgiving meal a week before Thanksgiving.  I always love seeing how excited she gets when I walk into her classroom.  It makes me feel like a million bucks.

In Emma's class I brought a pumpkin pie for dessert and was able to say a quick hi.  Their Thanksgiving feast was just for the kids.  Still, I loved popping in and seeing her enjoy her Thanksgiving feast with her classmates.  

We usually decorate our Christmas tree the week of Thanksgiving but we decided to do it a week earlier this year since we would be away during Thanksgiving break.  I quickly grabbed some red ribbon and wrapped it rather fast around the tree so the kids could put on the ornaments.  We love our mix mash of ornaments that we have collected over the years.  Some of the ornaments are Mike's from when he was a kid and some are ones we have collected from the different countries we have either visited or lived.  Then there are the ornaments the kids have made in school and those that were given to us by different relatives.  Everyone definitely has their favorites.  I always love this tradition of the kids placing the ornaments on the tree.  This year it was Peter's turn to put the star on the tree.  Lucky boy!