Is this spring?!

The days of March this year were typical of every season of the year -- we had chilly winter-type days, hot and humid summer-like days, warm and balmy fall days, and lovely crisp spring days! It took us three separate, dirty days to spread more than 100 bags of mulch that we had the Boy Scouts deliver, which is always a good job to have done. We spent a week traveling in different directions, hosted parties around the fire on the patio, made multiple trips to the Houston Rodeo, and thoroughly enjoyed being outdoors as often as possible.

BYU hosts the United States National Amateur Dancesport Championships every March, where Tara not only scrutineers but also presents scholarships on behalf of Arthur Murray. She also presents her own scholarship established in her own name. This is the perfect opportunity for Gloria and I to share some sister experiences in Utah, spend time with our dad, visit our hometown and lots of other family, and enjoy the dance events with Tara. We always have great fun trying to outwit the judges at Dancesport! Tara and I arrived a couple of days before Gloria and enjoyed chilly but beautiful runs every morning to earn our "Swig" cookie!

Tara took the redeye flight back to Miami Sunday night, but Gloria and I stayed for a couple of extra days. We loved walking around downtown Provo every morning, ending at the Provo Bakery for breakfast; we took Dad for a long ride each afternoon, and had lunch at Brick Oven with Aunt Pearl and Aunt Vivian; we visited Mom and Suzy, and revisited dates in our family history at the cemetery; we browsed through the original Heindselman's Knit Shop, and made plans for new handwork projects; we went shopping, ate Glade's fries, and went to a movie; and, we laughed, and cried, and tried to solve the world's problems! Quality sister time is a great booster shot for me!

While I spent a week in Utah, Lee made a trip to Montana to check out how everything had survived the winter. But...he found that winter at Sigh-Bar was still in full swing! Thanks to a good neighbor, the road in was passable, but the snow was still too deep to do anything outdoors. He was finally able to get his Christmas gift delivered, but decided it was probably best to delay our exodus for the summer until after Easter to give the snow some time to start melting.

March is rodeo time in Houston, and it is a huge, three-week long event. Amy & Alex decided to take one day just to do everything except the actual rodeo, and I jumped in with them. The kids loved the livestock show, the wide variety of exhibits, all of the wild and crazy food, and of course the carnival. It was great fun but we were pooped and glad that we had saved the rodeo for another day. It was super fun to return for just the rodeo and Chris Young in concert the next week.

The best celebration in March is Isabelle's birthday. Belle brings such joy to our family, and we love her so much. She is not only incredibly smart and talented, she is also very creative, sweet, kind, and highly motivated. She has a very tender heart for animals, and is willing to try to do anything/everything! I got to join her for school lunch on the actual day, then we tagged along when she celebrated by taking some of her friends to see the new movie "Beauty and the Beast." Then on the weekend Belle planned the menu for a family party on the patio.

We felt like we had tasted a little bit of all four seasons of the year this March, and we definitely feasted on a plethora of adventures!!