ode to Earth Day

I am not much a fan of hunting (for animals, that is)...but come Spring I LOVE hunting (for flowers, that is). On Sunday, on our family walk, I found there is a lilac bush around the corner from our home. Oh how I love the sweet smell of lilacs!

Today, for our walk, we hunted for flowers of every color from the Rainbow...Sawyer had a wonderful time on the hunt, and, as you can see below, our neighborhood is just brim full of blossoms of all colors...

Of course, being a little boy, he also had fun finding rocks wherever we went.

I have a confession to make. I stole a lilac. I was looking for one that had fallen to the ground, but there weren't any. I hope no one minds...I just love the smell of the little lilac I stole, and I also wanted to...

put a flower in my girl's hair. She is even more sweet than all those flowers we hunted down today!

Evening stroll on UW campus

On Sunday evenings we have renewed our tradition of going for an evening walk (it was pretty much impossible to do this when Jacob was serving in the Bishopric of our Church, as he would usually get home when it was dark outside). This evening, we decided to go spend some time at the beautiful University of Washington campus (go Huskies!).

We spent most of our time lounging on the lawn at the Quad. Actually, we took turns lounging on the lawn while one of us followed Sawyer on his Grand Explorations...we saw a lot of the back of his head, as he was running at full-speed and enjoying the wide, open spaces to run around.

He climbed mountains and mountains of stairs.

Jacob and Sawyer were trying to find out if there were any good shows coming to town...(oh how we miss going to shows! it is kind of pathetic that we now go to bed at the time we used to just be getting ready to go out!)

The bike safety things (you know, where you lock your bike...do they have a special name for them?) were a huge hit. "Tunnels!" Really...who needs a playground when you can explore UW?

Aspen had a grand time herself. She got to lay on the lawn and watch people toss balls for their dogs, and stare up at the sky and all of the squirrels in the trees.

On our way out, we of course had to stop by the fountain and see if any ducks were out. Not only did we spot a duck and he swam right by quacking hello...it was such a clear and beautiful day that Mt. Rainier was also visible from campus. Breathtaking, I tell you!

It was one of the best Sundays of my life.