March 2022

 March brought a calm to our chaos that was much needed.  Although life is still busy, they crazy took a backseat while took a moment to breathe.  

March brought a mixture of warm and cold weather.  So we took advantage of all the warm days by being outside as much as possible.  Park days with friends are always the best.

Quincy had more volleyball tournaments throughout March and we have loved watching her continue to progress in it. She also had a chance to hang out with her team after practice one day. So fun!

Coco gave her first talk in Primary.  I can't believe that she is old enough for this!

Then afterwards she was called up to help and this is the picture that she drew of me.  Love!

We have also started up our hikes with friends again.  Being out in nature in the warm sun is just the best. 

And then we had a blissful week of Spring Break when we headed to Long Beach, CA.  We stayed at a place that was right on the beach and it was amazing.  We had so much fun looking for seashells, walking to the downtown for food and shopping, enjoying the sun, and just being near the ocean.  I will never know what it is about the ocean that soothes my soul, but I just love everything about it.

My girl, Quincy, wanted to get sushi with me while the others ate some mexican food.  

The sunsets and sunrises were amazing over the water!

The next day we decided to go check out Long Beach Pier.  We walked the entire pier, checked out the lighthouse, saw The Queen Mary from afar, and took a harbor cruise. Tess and Quincy weren't super thrilled about the harbor cruise, they were pretty scared.  But we talked them into it and of course they ended up loving it!

After that we headed back to play at the beach. The water was still pretty cold but we had a blast anyways!

The next morning I got up before everyone else and took a long walk on the beach.  Seriously brings so much peace to my soul. 

We then decided to head off to Huntington Beach for the day.  First, we stopped at a place called Old World Market.  This place was awesome!  It was set up to resemble a European market and it was so cute and fun to walk around.  We even found a German Delicatessen where we bought tiny nuttella jars, the most amazing strudel, and even tried (and loved) liverwurst for the first time!

Then we walked the downtown area of Huntington Beach.  We tried playing at the beach again but the weather didn't cooperate so we mostly just hung out close to it.  

Later that night, Devin and I snuck away for a quick date.  It's always fun getting out with him!

On our last day Tess asked me if we could get up early to walk the beach and look for more shells.  This girl is so fun to have 1 on 1 time with so of course I said yes!

And then before heading home we stopped at Seal Beach.  We decided right away that we wish we had more time here.  The beach was clean, the pier was long, we saw dolphins, and the overall vibe was so great.  

Once we were back home we were invited to go hike Angel's Landing in Zion with some friends.  On April 1st, a permit will be required to hike it, and knowing how incredibly hard it is to get permits in Zion, we wanted to do it before then.  Unfortunately Devin had to work, but my adventure girl, Addy, was up for it.  So we woke up crazy early in order to get there around 6am, knowing that the lines would be crazy.  It was cold, and crazy windy but wow-- what an amazing and fun hike.  Addy said that there was only 1 spot that actually scared her and she was incredible the entire 5.6 mile hike.  This was definitely worth it!

Another hike with friends.  This one was so fun for the kids.  They just wanted to climb all over the place!

Next up, Quincy had a volleyball tournament that included a sand volleyball tournament, indoor tournament, and then a beach party at Fire Lake.  It's awesome seeing these girls work hard together and then play hard!

On the same day as Quincy's tournament, Tess' school had a Color Run.  The girls had so much fun with this last year and Tess absolutely had to go again. 

March was awesome!  So much fun and adventure wrapped up neatly into one month.  Though I know the zen of March can't last forever, I'm going to try to hang on to it for as long as possible.  Here's to the adventures that April will bring!