Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break this past week. Everything was a little last minute on it, but it all turned out well. We picked up Ethan and Julia right after school on Friday and drove down to visit Rebecca's brother for the weekend. While there, we spent some time with them going on walks, going to the park, eating yummy food, and catching up. In addition, we tried to do some more shopping.

Our big shopping goal was trying to find a piano. Rebecca has been looking for a baby grand. We only have one piano shop here in Pocatello, so while we were in Utah we followed up on a few KSL (like craigslist in Utah) leads and visited several piano stores. Rebecca got to try out many different pianos, and although we didn't end up purchasing any yet, she got a better idea of what she wants at least. It is just so hard to make the final decision because every piano dealer would tell why their particular brand was better than the others and it is so hard to tell which one is truly the best. We also stopped by a few other furniture stores, but no additional purchases there either.

Here are a few pictures of a walk around the Timp temple.





















Then on Monday we made the drive to Bear Lake through Logan. It was a super beautiful drive through Logan canyon. We stopped in Logan to play on the playground equipment at their community center. We had been told about that playground before, but this was our first time actually making it out that way. The playground definitely lived up to its hype. It had a castle, a boat, a train, rock climbing walls, and secret tunnels all over. We just spent about an hour there before getting back on the road again, and the kids loved every minute of it. Logan seems like it would be a fun town and reminded us a little of Pocatello.

































At Bear Lake we had an amazing condo to stay in for a few nights. It was two levels with three bedrooms (one with a king bed, one with a queen bed, one with two twins, and then an extra murphy bed), a full kitchen, dining room, and a living room. It also had two bathrooms, washer and dryer, and four tvs. For the days we were there we would go for a walk in the morning, then do something in the condo for a couple hours while Agnes took a nap in the early afternoon, then hit the indoor pool for a few hours, then dinner and a movie. It was a nice break from our usual routine.







With all the driving we also got in a few books on tape. We listened to Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and the second Great Brain book. If anyone is looking for a good book for a 6-12 range that they would enjoy too, there are a couple Great Brain books that are really fun to read. A friend had recommended them to us when we were up in Alaska. Rebecca and I read Papa Married a Mormon first and enjoyed it. In it the author tells about how his parents met and about their early life together in Utah. His dad was kind of a wild west guy and his mom was an LDS girl in Utah. It talks some about the differences in those two cultures and groups of people in the early Utah days. The two Great Brain books are about him and his brother when they were kids. His brother is the "Great Brain" because he is pretty clever. The books talk about all of the mischief they get into but also the many ways they help out the people in the small town because of his brother's great brain. I would definitely recommend all three books.