Ketchup #6--Easter, Conference, a Funny Story, and . . . It's FINISHED!

Lily and Brad spent Easter/General Conference weekend in Utah.

Where did I go with the three little kids? Dozens of photos to tell that story.

We may have spent two nights at the finished . . .

 . . . CABIN! Well, it isn't completely finished. But finished enough to stay there. This is what it looked like after we unpacked the truck. Peering through the front window.

 All the necessities for life--toilet paper, games, food, and blankets. And some more stuff, too.

I tried not to spend every second unpacking and assembling and placing and cleaning and deciding. It's a place to relax, after all.

They invented games and ran everywhere.

 We walked by the stream a few times a day. This stream dries up around May1st, so we threw stones and waded and rock hopped as much as we could. It's so beautiful down there.

 Every evening, we would walk around the forest, watching for animals. Can you see Hyrum?

 The red windows make it easy to find the cabin through the trees.

 A large herd of elk lives very close to us, and we see them almost every visit. This time we got pretty close to them.

 I took Hyrum and Eve back to the cabin, but Micah stayed in this spot. He stayed so still that he saw a coyote stalking the elk herd. Not wanting to see an elk attacked (this is his rendition of the story), he whooped as loud as he could to scare them both away. We had a talk about how that isn't the smarted thing to do and to observe and sneak away next time.

Saturday morning I vowed to stay in bed a little while. The heater wasn't working yet (they fixed it while we were there), and it was COLD in the cabin (59* upstairs and probably 10* cooler down), and I was cozy with the sunrise creating dancing tree patterns on my bed. I drifted in and out of sleep, but somewhere in my subconscious, I heard a pounding sound, but I quickly fell asleep again.

Again, my sleep was disturbed by the pounding. Hmmm. Hyrum must have pulled out his hammer and he's breaking rocks or something.

I don't know how many times this happened, but what I do know is that all three kids burst into my slumber, exclaiming, "DIDN'T YOU HEAR US????"

Remember, it was less than 60* in the house that morning? Hyrum and Eve had ventured outside and had accidentally locked themselves out--in their AZ pjs and bare feet. They had been pounding on the windows and doors, trying to get Micah away from his book and me away from my dreams. Micah did wander out a little while later, but he shut the door behind him, just as Hyrum lunged to keep it open. They even threw a few small rocks against the window (!!!!) to try and wake me. Eventually, Micah realized that I hadn't latched the window by the front door, and he slid it open and climbed in.

A pretty exciting adventure for the first night at the cabin, right?

It was General Conference weekend, and by the time their toes were thawed (thanks to hot chocolate) and I got dressed, it was time to watch.

 They got their notes, crayons, pens, pillows, and blankets, and we snuggled up close on the couch together.

Although I couldn't figure out how to coordinate the hotspot on my phone with the new TV, we watched on the iPad.

The coziness and quietness and closeness lasted for maybe one of the eight hours we watched conference, but I loved being there on that couch with my kids. First time of many, I hope.

After the first session, we dyed eggs.

 Hyrum was moving a giant cinderblock and dropped it on his favorite egg--at least it was his and not some else's. I learned a lesson this Easter--less eggs equals more creative results. I'm going to remember that next year.

Eve played and stayed up late and got up early every day, and this is how I found her Saturday afternoon--completely worn out.

The Easter bunny also managed to find us.

By the end of the weekend, I could see measurable progress in the house. It had gone from this:

To this:

 Still so much to do, but so so good. I think I'm going to do a whole series of posts once all the rooms are done.

We packed up and headed home after three days in the pines.

Three days. The first of so many more.