Since I last wrote, Curtis, Joe and Peter went to young men’s camp. Zack had swimming lessons. Henry performed his play Finding Nemo.

We’ve been to parks, Storytime, and Splash Summit. I had an overnight trip with my sisters where we played on the lake and went hiking and talked.

For the forth, we went out on the lake and hiked to Upper Falls in Provo Canyon. And set off and watched fireworks.

Evie’s birthday was next, she had a great time. Maybe not so much when she had a diaper disaster in the middle of everything, but that was more Mom’s problem than hers. I loved watched her get all the attention, especially from her brothers.

We had cousins over, and also went to the Space Center for a mission.

Definitely staying busy this summer!

One ambitious Saturday we went up to Salt Lake City and visited Red Butte Garden, The Natural History Museum, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. And I just took pictures of the garden, because it’s my favorite. It is the best public garden in the state.

Zack finished up his soccer program he did. We went to Highland Glen Pond for some nature time, and Joe took the boys camping one evening. Peter had more basketball camps. So we are staying busy and engaged, but there’s still time to have fun at home too.

June is dropping kids off at summer camp. Peter is doing multiple basketball camps, Henry’s in a play, Curtis has football, basketball, and space camp, and Zack has soccer and swimming.

We fill our free time going to parks, Splash Summit (we have season passes this summer), the library, and an occasional adventure. We also put up the pool, and built a swing set in the yard.

Plus there’s still all the normal chores and with kids home more it sometimes means there is more help, but it often means there is just more work.

Go outside. I’ve been working in the garden and also hiking and such.

Finish projects. It feels good to accomplish things. Sometimes this means splitting big projects into smaller ones so I still feel like I’m making progress.

Connect with others. I’ve been going to the school events where everyone is celebrating, inviting people to join me on adventures, saying yes when people offer help, and offering to help to others. Life is better with other people.

Seriously. The snow is melting in the mountains, allowing for more hiking. It’s even warm enough to go out on the lake on the canoe (which we did for our anniversary).

The kids are ending soccer and having preschool graduation and finishing up big projects like the Medieval Fair.

I have one week of school for the kids left. Then summer!

Spring is always busy for me. I usually have lots of clients who want garden designs yesterday. The kids have year-end projects and soccer, and they are going a little stir-crazy with the anticipation of summer. I also have my own garden to plant and take care of.

On Saturday I spent far too long trying to get a drip system to work. I had parts that were faulty and needed to be replaced. We had plans to grab a picnic and hike Bridal Veil Falls, and it was a couple of hours later than I had planned on going. With the encouragement of my husband, we went anyways.

It was beautiful, and the perfect break to the end of a stressful day. I’ve never actually hiked the normal trail up to the base of the waterfall until that day. I enjoyed seeing native plants in bloom, and my children all had a pretty good time. It was lovely. I’m so grateful that we have beautiful places to go, to enliven the soul.

• 1) Invite friends. My sister and her children joined us.
• 2) Go right when they open. Not only is it less crowded, but the animals are more alert and active.
• 3) Get discount tickets. We usually use the PBS Kids Adventure Pass.
• 4) Keep it short and simple. We saw everything and left after a couple of hours.
• 5)Do the carousel. Yes, it is extra, but not that much, and it’s fun.

Sometimes life is monotonous. Joe’s had to pick up more hours at work because they lost some employees, leaving me to pick up more work at home. I don’t mind all the housekeeping, the children, driving, etc (I actually love the children quite a bit)…but it can get boring and unexciting.

This isn’t a post explaining how to make it all better. Sometimes it is just monotonous. But this is a reminder that all those monotonous things still need to get done. And you will be happier doing them rather than procrastinating or ignoring them.

I promise Evie actually adores swings. Just not with her older brothers when Mom is trying to get a cute picture. She hates swings then.

Random pictures from Easter, home, and a hike.